– Although WWE had been indicating that John Cena vs. Seth Rollins would headline this Sunday’s WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view, they are now talking like Cena vs. Rollins will take place prior to Sting vs. Rollins.
– Michael Cole recently noted that he has lost 65 pounds in 11 months.
– The next edition of “Superstar Ink” with Corey Graves will feature Kofi Kingston. You can check out a preview below.
– The Dudley Boyz worked a dark match at the television taping on Tuesday night. Bubba Ray and Devon defeated the team of Heath Slater and Brad Maddox prior to the start of the Main Event and SmackDown tapings.
– The band “Bring Me The Horizon” from the United Kingdom will be at the NXT Takeover: Respect event on October 7th. Below they are with Corey Graves making the announcement.
– It is now confirmed that Kane will be at Monday’s edition of WWE RAW in Baltimore, Maryland. Whether or not he returns on television remains to be seen, however there is talk that WWE has something ready for Kane.
– The latest edition of “Culture Shock with Corey Graves” will air on the WWE Network on Wednesday at 4pm. The official description for the show reads: “Corey Graves finds himself having a ball at the one and only ‘Testy Fest’ in Montana!”
– Nikki Bella talks with Complex Magazine in the video below about the custom Nike sneakers she wore at WWE SummerSlam this year, which were made by designer Mache.
– NXT live event host Greg Hamilton announced during Friday’s NXT event in Tampa, Florida that he is being called up to the main WWE roster to work their live events. Hamilton recently worked the crowds for the WWE Tough Enough tapings and was apparently well-liked by WWE management. He will continue to work some NXT events while covering the WWE main roster live events as well.
– WWE posted the following video of WWE World Heavyweight Champion and WWE United States Champion Seth Rollins talking to Corey Graves about his tattoos.
– The Wolfpac, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Sean Waltman were all sitting ringside at the NXT Takeover: Brooklyn event on Saturday. The trio were shown on camera during the event.
– Also sitting in the audience on Saturday night was music mogul Rick Rubin.
– A pre-taped vignette aired during the show promoting the upcoming debut of a new NXT Diva. The vignette simply read, “Nia Jax coming soon.”
– WWE Tough Enough finalists Josh, ZZ, Amanda and Sara Lee were also sitting front row during the NXT Takeover: Brooklyn special.
– The following is the complete NXT Takeover: Brooklyn “Kickoff Show” pre-show, which features a panel consisting of Renee Young, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton and WWE Hall Of Famer Amy “Lita” Dumas.
– The following matches are scheduled for tonight’s NXT television tapings, which are scheduled to take place immediately before the NXT Takeover: Brooklyn event.
* Eva Marie vs. Carmella
* Enzo Amore, Big Cass, Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley vs. Jason Jordan, Chad Gable, Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson
* Charlotte vs. Emma vs. Becky Lynch vs. Dana Brooke
* Bull Dempsey vs. Elias Samson
– The final episode of the WWE Tough Enough post-show “Tough Talk” on the WWE Network airs next Tuesday night with host Byron Saxton. The official description for the show reads as follows:
“Join Byron Saxton as he recaps the TOUGH ENOUGH highlights and sits down with the eliminated competitor whose WWE journey came to an end.”
– The latest edition of “Culture Shock with Corey Graves” airs on the WWE Network on Wednesday at 4pm EST. The official description for that one reads:
“Corey Graves heads to Baltimore, Maryland to experience BronyCon, the fan convention dedicated to all things ‘My Little Pony.'”
Triple H, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Sasha Banks and Corey Graves held a fan panel at the practice court of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday morning to promote Saturday night’s NXT Takeover: Brooklyn event.
Below are some photos and highlights from Stephanie McMahon, Triple H and others.
– The dark segment after the WWE SmackDown television taping on Tuesday night in Lincoln, Nebraska saw WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins and former NXT Champion Kevin Owens double-teaming Cesaro until Dean Ambrose finally ran out and made the save. Ambrose closed out the show by putting Rollins through a table to send the fans home happy.
– Corey Graves is filming “Culture Shock” at the Alternative Press Music Awards this week. Visiting this week while Graves records the show are WWE Divas Paige and Summer Rae, as well as Paige’s boyfriend Kevin Skaff.
– The latest edition of WWE’s “5 Things” web show, which you can watch below, looks at five Superstars who faced themselves.
– For those curious, Michael Cole and Byron Saxton did the commentary for this weekend’s WWE “Beast In The East” live WWE Network special from WWE Studios in Stamford, Connecticut for the show in Tokyo, Japan. The two were not live in Tokyo, but instead worked from the main WWE offices.
– While many were surprised to see Finn Balor come away with the NXT Championship after the “Beast In The East” special in Tokyo, it has actually been the plan for a while. With Kevin Owens moving up to the main roster full-time, it was always the plan for Owens to drop the title to Balor on the way out.
– WWE will air a new episode of “Culture Shock with Corey Graves” on the WWE Network this Wednesday at 4pm EST. The official description for the show reads as follows:
“Corey Graves dives into a world where Hardcore Bowling and Punk Rock music collide on this thrilling edition of Culture Shock!”
WWE has released trailers for the new WWE Network original program “Swerved,” which is the show made by the producer of the popular television and film franchise, “Jackass.” Check out the trailers below.
Speaking of WWE Network programming, a new episode of “Unfiltered With Renee Young” is scheduled to air on Tuesday at 4pm EST. Young’s guest will be WWE Superstar Darren Young. The official description for the show reads as follows: “Renee sits down with Darren Young in this unfiltered and revealing conversation.”
Finally, a new episode of “Culture Shock With Corey Graves” will air on the WWE Network on Wednesday at 4pm EST. In the new episode, Graves visits the X-Games in Austin, Texas. The official description for that show reads: “Corey Graves hits up Austin, Texas for this year’s X Games!”
– WWE Network has a one-hour Money In The Bank “Kickoff Show” scheduled to begin at 7pm EST. next Sunday night. The “Kickoff Show” panel will consist of Renee Young, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves and Booker T.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley is celebrating a milestone birthday today, as the Hardcore Legend turns 50 years old. Foley was born on June 7, 1965. Also celebrating birthdays today are Howard Finkel (65) and former TNA Knockout Taeler Hendrix (26).
– WWE recently posted the following video of Superstars and Divas playing with puppies.
– The latest episode of Beyond The Ring will be added to the WWE Network this coming week and will feature the documentary from WWE’s “Straight To The Top: Money In The Bank Anthology” DVD that was released in 2013.
– There are no new episodes of Unfiltered with Renee Young or Culture Shock with Corey Graves scheduled to be added to the WWE Network next week.
– The only new, first-run program airing on the WWE Network this coming week will be a new show called, “The WWE List.” The 30-minute show begins after Monday’s RAW and runs until 11:36pm EST. The first episode will look at Trending Divas. The description for the first episode of the show reads: “”Whether it’s winning the Diva’s Championship, or posting a very flattering photos on Twitter… These Divas do it all to stay trending.”
– The hosts for the panel on Sunday’s WWE Elimination Chamber “Kickoff Show” on the WWE Network will be Renee Young, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves and Booker T. The preview special is scheduled to begin on the WWE Network at 7pm EST., leading into the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, which begins at 8pm EST. and ends at 11pm EST.
– The official Entertainment Weekly website has a list of the best and worst performances by pro wrestlers in movies. Of course part-time WWE performer Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson tops the list. You can check out the full list at EW.com.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart will be the guest on the next edition of Jim Ross’ weekly “Ross Report” podcast. The show is scheduled to drop at PodcastOne.com on Tuesday, June 2nd at 9pm EST.
– ESPN and FOX have both expressed interest in hiring Renee Paquette (Renee Young) to do mainstream sports news reporting for them once her deal with WWE expires. Whether or not Young is entertaining these offers is unclear as of right now.
– The talk going around backstage in WWE among the staff is that Vince McMahon has made it abundantly clear to everyone that WrestleMania absolutely has to sell out next year at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
– The ESPN E:60 piece on NXT, which focuses primarily on Xavier Woods, Corey Graves and Adam Rose, will be replaying on ABC on June 21st at 5pm EST.
– Triple H will be hosting a conference call on Tuesday morning to promote Wednesday’s NXT Takeover: Unstoppable live special on the WWE Network.
– Speaking of Wednesday’s “Unstoppable” special, the pre-show is scheduled to begin on the WWE Network at 7:30pm EST. The hosts of the pre-show will be Renee Young, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton. There is no post-show scheduled at this point.
– Tommy Dreamer announced that The Young Bucks and Rhyno will be appearing on his next “House Of Hardcore” event, which is scheduled for Saturday, July 18th in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
– NXT’s Shoot Nation stable is now simply a tag team with Sawyer Fulton and Angelo Dawkins. They will continue using the Shoot Nation name, while the former leader Chad Gable is going solo.
– Below, in order, are the top five most-watched shows on the WWE Network for the past week:
1. WWE 24: Roman Reigns
2. Chris Jericho interviews Stephanie McMahon
3. WWE NXT, May 6th episode
4. Jerry Springer Too Hot for TV: Love Hurts
5. Extreme Rules
– Other shows that drew well on the WWE Network include the special on Floyd Mayweather vs. Big Show, the previous week’s NXT show, the Culture Shock show with Corey Graves, Unfiltered with Renee Young, Mick Foley’s “Cheap Pops” special, the sneak peek at ECW Uncensored Volume 3 and Jerry Springer’s new show.
– On the other side of the coin, two shows that aren’t getting a lot of views at all are the Cinco de Mayo special with Los Matadores, and pretty much any episode of WWE Superstars.
Several of the wrestlers who were featured in last night’s “ESPN E:60: Behind The Curtain” documentary on NXT posted their reactions to the special on social media shortly after it concluded.
Below are comments from Adam Rose, Corey Graves, Tyler Breeze and Xavier Woods, all of whom were featured prominently in the special.
For those who missed the documentary last night, you can read a detailed recap by clicking here.
– A new episode of Corey Graves’ “Culture Shock” premieres this Wednesday at 5pm EST on the WWE Network with Graves visiting a Star Wars convention.
– Pro wrestling documentary titled “The Old Boys” will be released via DVD and On Demand on July 20th. The doc looks at the 1980’s through the 1990’s and features interviews with Bret Hart, Scott Hall, Jake Roberts, Roddy Piper, The Dynamite Kid, Marty Jannetty, Ted DiBiase and many others.
Corey Graves’ new WWE Network show Culture Shock premieres tonight immediately following NXT. On this week’s show, Graves will tour the headquarters of Marvel Entertainment. (more…)
While nothing is official yet, there is speculation going around that Sheamus could potentially make his WWE return on tonight’s edition of RAW from Newark, New Jersey.
Speaking of tonight’s RAW, the WWE Network is advertising Alex Riley to return to the RAW pre-show tonight, however that appears to be a case of the Network not updating their listings. As things stand now, tonight’s RAW pre-show is set to feature the usual trio of Scott Stanford, Corey Graves and David Otunga.
Part-time WWE performer Chris Jericho has launched an official t-shirt store at ProWrestlingTees.com. He tweeted the following about the store, which shows off some of the t-shirt designs.
– The latest edition of Roddy Piper’s “Piper’s Pit” podcast, which is now available, features Luke, one-half of the former WWE tag-team, The Bushwhackers. The official description for the show reads as follows:
PP-Ep44 – Luke Williams of the Bushwhackers
“Luke Williams of the Bushwhackers makes a pilgrimage to Piper’s Pit this week to reconnect with his old friend and fans. Luke and Roddy talk about what it really takes to be part of a successful tag-team, Macho Man Randy Savage, Captain Lou Albano and why Roddy thinks that the next inductees into the Wrestling Hall of Fame should be The Bushwhackers and Cyndi Lauper.”
– Courtesy of the official WWE Instagram page, below is a photo of WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin backstage at Monday’s WWE RAW in Denver, Colorado.
– Speaking of RAW, below is the complete WWE RAW pre-show, which aired live on the WWE Network prior to this week’s show. This week’s RAW pre-show was hosted by Scott Stanford, Corey Graves and David Otunga.
– For those wondering, fans who canceled their WWE Network subscriptions in the past are still allowed to sign up today and get the entire month of February for free. Additionally, those who signed up just to get the WWE Network for free in November, but didn’t renew once their free month expired, are also allowed to sign up today and get the full month of February for free.
– Speaking of the WWE Network, there will be an hour long “Best of WWE Hall of Fame” special featuring several WWE Hall Of Fame induction speeches from the past airing this coming Saturday night.
– The Daily Local News website has an article up looking at the lawsuit filed against WWE by former WWE Superstar Big Vito LoGrasso and independent pro wrestler Evan Singleton. You can check that out at DailyLocal.com.
– The movie “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which features former WWE Superstar Batista in a prominent role, won the “Best Fantasy Film” award by the Art Directors Guild.
– Former NXT star turned WWE broadcaster Corey Graves posted the following on his official Twitter account on Monday, confirming a WWE RAW pre-show tonight on the WWE Network. The pre-show is scheduled to begin at 7:30pm EST. / 4:30pm PST.
– On Monday’s edition of WWE RAW, which was both the Royal Rumble “go-home” show and the “RAW Reunion” special, the “expert panel” for this Sunday’s pay-per-view was announced. Hosting the official Royal Rumble “Kickoff Show” this Sunday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania will be Renee Young, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves and Booker T.
– Below is the video package WWE aired at the beginning of Monday’s RAW to honor the Martin Luther King Jr. day holiday.
– WWE executives have been planning on making the announcement that NXT star Corey Graves was going to be retiring from in-ring competition and moving to his new announcer role since the summer.
– WWE officials are said to be afraid of hurting Bray Wyatt by having him lose to Dean Ambrose in their series of matches recently. The plan is to keep Wyatt strong in case the rumored match with The Undertaker at WrestleMania 31 comes to fruition.
MAJOR Backstage Heat On AJ Lee For Her Slammy Awards Speech AND A Separate Incident (Full Story)
(News from The Wrestling Observer was used in this post. Visit F4WOnline.com for subscription information.)
For those who saw the NXT Takeover: R Evolution special on the WWE Network last Thursday, you saw former wrestler Corey Graves talk about how WWE’s “world-class doctors” advised him to retire after concussion issues.
Apparently the Graves segment where he made that comment was purposely planned, partially designed as a shot towards CM Punk.
It’s said that Graves putting over WWE’s doctors as world-class and talking about how they identified his problem with no issues and did the right thing, resulting in him keeping a job with the company, was all aimed as a response to comments made by Punk on the “Art of Wrestling” podcast.
