– WWE’s production crew is in the midst of a crazy week, with Backlash on Sunday night, RAW on Monday, SmackDown on Tuesday, last night’s Cruiserweight Classic live finale and now tonight’s NXT tapings from Full Sail University.
– The second annual NXT Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament is now “back on” after WWE officials had put the idea on hold in recent months.
– WWE officials have discussed doing a tournament series featuring all women, similar to the Cruiserweight Classic. It’s still in the preliminary stages of planning, but the event would take place during the first quarter of 2017.
– 2K has released the official trailer for WWE 2K17’s creation suite:
– The dark match before last night’s WWE Cruiserweight Classic finale at Full Sail featured The Bollywood Boyz defeating Sean Maluta and Martin Stone.
– Below is video of NXT Tag Team Champions The Revival attacking Gargano & Ciampa in their post-CWC interview. Gargano & Ciampa defeated Noam Dar and Cedric Alexander last night.
– WWE CWC announcer Daniel Bryan tweeted the following after the show:
During an interview with The Philly Voice to promote Tuesday’s SmackDown Live, Daniel Bryan spoke about CM Punk getting wrecked at UFC 203 this past weekend.
“I have the utmost respect for him trying to go do it.”
Bryan shed some light on their friendship, explaining they’ve never been best friends and he’s not even sure if he’s got Punk’s number in his phone. However he did watch the fight and he was pulling for Punk. “I was really hoping he would win,” Bryan said. “The reality is that even though he lost, he was dead on in his promo afterwards. It’s the whole thing with me and him, and guys like Sami Zayn and Neville even trying to wrestle. Right? It’s just this idea of you have this dream that everybody tells you that you can’t do, but you just keep going after it. Sometimes, you’re not successful, right? He wasn’t “successful” in the fight. But he fought a professional fight in UFC. That’s crazy! You know? It’s crazy and it’s awesome and he may have lost and he may have gotten beat up, but hey, he tried it.”
Bryan is no stranger to martial arts. He trains trains in jiu jitsu and muay thai and most of the people who he trains with would never attempt fighting professionally. At 37 years old, CM Punk was on the older side to be getting into the fight game. Bryan says that adds even more to the respectability of what Punk attempted.
“At that age, and I know at my age and how many injuries I have, just getting up out of bed every morning, you know, for the most part, I feel really good. But then to get up and go train with killers – that camp is a great camp. And so you go in there and train with great guys and getting beat up every day. It’s tough. That’s the job. The job is getting beat up every day. And right towards the fight, then you have to lose a bunch of weight. So, it’s like, ‘OK I get beat up every day, now go lose 15 pounds. Oh, just like that? Oh, OK.’”
Daniel Bryan says he plans to wrestle again one day and would have pushed for his WWE release to work on the independent scene if it wasn’t for his family.
AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston got some quotes from Bryan earlier this week, who was in Philadelphia this week for Tuesday’s SmackDown Live. Prior to SmackDown, Bryan threw the opening pitch prior to Monday’s Philadelphia Phillies baseball game. In promoting SmackDown, Bryan spoke at length about the 10+ documented concussions and at least four post-concussion seizures that forced him into retirement. As bad as all that sounds, Bryan says there are still doctors who say he’s healthy enough to wrestle.
“All the real concussion specialists who deal with concussions every day, all of them think I am fine,” he said. Daniel Bryan understands WWE’s position. Even if a dozen doctors give him the green light to wrestle, the media would bury WWE if something were to happen to him.
He’s under contract with WWE for two more years and didn’t have a choice regarding his new position as SmackDown’s General Manager. Daniel Bryan enjoys the role, but still gets so frustrated at times that he wants to leave the company. “There are times I just get all worked up and I’m like, I need to call them and I’m just going to ask for my release,” he said.
If Daniel Bryan didn’t have a family who care so deeply for him, he might quit by now so he could get back in the ring elsewhere. “Hell, I might even be wearing a mask at an independent show next week dressed up as Star Man,” he said. “Because it’s what I love to do. But, it becomes different when you have a wife and you’re trying to have kids.”
– The recent Talking Smack segment featuring Daniel Bryan and The Miz was loosely scripted, but WWE officials were surprised with how it played out. Both men were given some leeway with what they could say, but few people expected it to get the attention it did. While The Miz cut one of the best promos of his career and showed a fire rarely tapped into by the Intercontinental champion, there’s also a feeling that it won’t lead to a real payoff since Daniel Bryan can’t wrestle.
– With Curt Hawkins returning to WWE television soon as part of the SmackDown brand, the former tag team champion stopped by the Performance Center in Orlando to check out the world class training facility.
What an awesome stop through the @WWEPerformCtr …That's truly a special place for anybody that loves professional wrestling. Fact.
– WWE has posted a new video looking at the 4 hottest free agents in WWE, including The Undertaker, The Rock, Luke Harper and Emma. As noted over the weekend, Luke Harper is headed to the Performance Center this week to see how his knee is doing after undergoing ACL surgery back in March.
– WWE has released two more 360 degree videos from NXT Takeover. Below, you can experience Bobby Roode and Shinsuke Nakamura’s entrances like never before. You can control the videos with your mouse or by tilting your mobile device.
– The Dudley Boyz recently parted ways with WWE after previously agreeing to terms for new contracts. PWInsider.com reports that both sides had came to an agreement, but not yet signed the contracts. They reportedly agreed on money and neither side has heat with the other, but there’s no word on exactly why the deal didn’t happen. They Dudleyz are still operating their Team 3D Wrestling Academy in Kissimmee, Florida.
– Contrary to speculation on the web, WWE is reportedly not open to the idea of Daniel Bryan returning to the ring. Dave Meltzer reported in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter that a Forbes article inaccurately claimed WWE would allow Bryan to compete again. Meltzer reports that while outside doctors did clear Bryan, WWE’s doctor Joseph Maroon is the one whose decision matters to the company, and Dr. Maroon says it’s a no-go. Bryan would have to change Dr. Maroon’s mind in order for anything to change regarding his WWE status. Bryan’s WWE contract expires in 2018.
Gran Metalik defeated Akira Tozawa and Kota Ibushi defeated Brian Kendrick on tonight’s WWE Cruiserweight Classic episode to advance to the Final Four.
Metalik will now face the winner of Noam Dar vs. Zack Sabre, Jr. and Ibushi will face the winner of TJ Perkins vs. Rich Swann, which will air next Wednesday. The live CWC finale then will take place on 9/14 from Full Sail.
Below are post-show videos with Ibushi getting checked by a trainer and emotional moment between Kendrick and his friend Daniel Bryan:
– Rusev and Lana are heading to Bulgaria next week for their second wedding ceremony, so they won’t be at RAW. The first wedding took place on a beach in Malibu, California back in July. Footage from the wedding will be shown on the upcoming season of Total Divas.
This private ceremony will be for their friends and family. Additionally, Rusev and Lana will not be part of the RAW brand’s overseas tour next week, which will include stops in London, Manila and Shanghai.
– SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan will be Jonathan Coachman’s guest tonight on ESPN SportsCenter.
– Insane Championship Wrestling has announced Noam Dar will be making his final appearance for the promotion on Sunday, September 11th from Glasgow, Scotland. Dar is expected to be part of the RAW brand’s new Cruiserweight Division, which launches the following week (9/19).
On Tuesday night’s Talking Smack show on the WWE Network, SmackDown general manager informed The Miz that he’ll have to put his Intercontinental championship on the line at Backlash. His challenger will be 4-time IC champion Dolph Ziggler.
With that match set, here’s the updated card for WWE Backlash:
– WWE Champion Dean Ambrose vs. AJ Styles
– Intercontinental Champion The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler
– SmackDown Women’s Championship 6-Pack Challenge: Natalya vs. Nikki Bella vs. Naomi vs. Becky Lynch vs. Carmella vs. Alexa Bliss
– SmackDown Tag Team Championship Tournament Finals
– Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt
Join us here on Sunday, September 11th for our Live Coverage of WWE Backlash.
– NXT Superstar Ember Moon turns 28 today while Mickie James turns 37 and Jeff Hardy turns 39.
– Tonight’s NXT episode on the WWE Network will feature Shinsuke Nakamura speaking as NXT Champion, Tye Dillinger vs. Murphy, Aliyah vs. Liv Morgan, Angelo Dawkins vs. No Way Jose and Kenneth Crawford vs. Steve Cutler.
– Tonight’s Cruiserweight Classic episode will feature the quarterfinals beginning. Matches include Rich Swann vs. TJ Perkins, Brian Kendrick vs. Kota Ibushi, Gran Metalik vs. Akira Tozawa and Zack Sabre, Jr. vs. Noam Dar.
– SmackDown GM Daniel Bryan will be the “Off the Top Rope” guest for Jonathan Coachman on ESPN SportsCenter tonight.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross’ latest blog focuses on The Miz’s promo on Daniel Bryan from this week’s Talking Smack. Many have called the promo one of the best of The Miz’s career and JR echoes that sentiment. In an era where such a large majority of promos are over-scripted, The Miz knocked it out of the park by expressing himself from the heart instead of delivering a memorized monologue.
“Few wrestlers in today’s marketplace are truly accomplished in being able to have a quick turnaround upon once receiving their promo copy, memorizing it, and then being able to deliver the copy in a real, authentic manner when it counts and that’s on live, TV,” he said.
“All promotions should consider putting more confidence in their own talents to let them create a large portion of their own promos but with the help of a producer who also realizes that less is truly more when it comes to the heavily scripting of promos and inadvertently producing the personality out of these verbal adventures.”
He commended The Miz for kicking some “verbal ass” and hopes there’s more to come from the reigning Intercontinental champion. He also made the distinction that it wasn’t The Miz yelling that made his promo so good. It’s always about authenticity and passion – and the Miz delivered both in spades.
“Final note on cutting promos is to do all that you can to be yourself and not ‘work’ the audience as it relates to one’s delivery and sincerity,” he said.
Head over to JRsBarBQ.com to read the full blog and don’t forget to check out The Ross Report podcast at Podcastone.com.
While WWE won’t medically clear him to wrestle, Daniel Bryan may be able to make big bucks wrestling elsewhere. In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported on Daniel Bryan’s current contract status with WWE.
Now that Bryan is back to work for the company as the SmackDown General Manager, time on his contract is ticking, which means at some point he’ll be able to leve and work elsewhere. It’s very likely that Bryan would be paid more to wrestle main events for a company like NJPW than he would for his GM role on SmackDown. If he were to leave the company, he would also take home more money from his merchandise than the small percentage he gets from his official WWE merch.
Different doctors have reportedly given Bryan different answers as to whether he could wrestle again. Bryan is currently 35 years old, and most wrestlers compete well into their 40’s. Bryan announced his retirement in February after undergoing concussion testing.
The Miz delivered one of the best promos of the year on this week’s Talk Smack in a heated exchange with Daniel Bryan that saw the SmackDown General Manager storm off the set.
If you don’t have the WWE Network you are missing out on some awesome stuff after Smackdown. Each week after SmackDown goes off the air, Renee Young and Daniel Bryan host Talking Smack, a panel discussion that always produces interesting moments. Whether it is poking fun at the Universal Championship or Daniel Bryan agreeing with Ambrose’s assessment of Brock Lesnar being lazy. On this week’s episode, Nikki Bella was a guest and she was describing her long road to recovery from neck surgery. As she was discussing this, Carmella once again attacked her and the two brawled on the set. After the brawl, Daniel Bryan and Renee Young looked shocked.
The highlight of this week’s Talking Smack came when The Miz perhaps the best promo of his career on Daniel Bryan. SmackDown’s General Manager has made it known that he’s not a fan of The Miz’s in-ring work. Even though he’s the Intercontinental champion and won his match at SummerSlam, he thinks The Miz wrestles like a coward and is the personification of the “WWE style” wrestler. In response, The Miz absolutely went off on Bryan. Miz says Bryan is the coward for promising his fans he’d be back and then retiring. Bryan said he would love to wrestle again, but WWE won’t allow him to. Miz asked Bryan if he really loved wrestling and the fans so much,
”Why don’t you go quit and wrestle in Bingo Halls then?”
Bryan eventually stormed off and the show abruptly ended.
The Miz showed fire in this promo rarely seen from WWE Superstars delivering scripted monologues. Even if there are certain wrestlers who need to be scripted, this segment was damning evidence that the men and women who can speak should be left to their own devices.
Maryse, who was on set during the argument, tweeted about what happened:
As seen on SmackDown, Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon introduced a new SmackDown Women’s Championship and new SmackDown Tag Team Championships.
The women’s title will be decided by a 6 Pack Challenge at the 9/11 Backlash PPV with Natalya, Carmella, Alexa Bliss, Nikki Bella, Naomi and Becky Lynch.
The tag champions will be crowned by a tournament that begins on SmackDown with The Usos, The Ascension, The Hype Bros, The Vaudevillains, Breezango and American Alpha.
Following the unveiling of WWE’s new Universal Championship at SummerSlam, Daniel Bryan announced on Tuesday afternoon that two new championships will be introduced on tonight’s SmackDown Live.
Based on recent statements made by the SmackDown General Manager, it’s safe to assume that these will be the SmackDown women’s and tag team titles.
WWE.com’s official SmackDown preview questions if Bryan introducing the new titles could somehow be a response to Brock Lesnar’s destruction of Randy Orton at SummerSlam. The preview also teases that the new champions could be determined at Backlash, the blue brand’s first exclusive PPV scheduled for September 11th.
Reddit user @Dvizzle, who has previously provided accurate information about WWE belts, noted earlier today that SmackDown’s tag titles will have a new design (different than the RAW titles) and the SmackDown women’s championship will be white leather with blue behind the logo. He added that Dean Ambrose is also getting a WWE Championship with blue swoosh and blue behind the WWE logo.
– The “Best of 7 Series” between Cesaro and Sheamus kicked off at SummerSlam last night on the pre-show and saw Sheamus pick up the first win. The second match in the series will take place on RAW tonight.
– A segment with Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan took place at SummerSlam for the live crowd, with the two SmackDown bosses thanking the Brooklyn crowd. Video is below:
– This backstage video from SummerSlam features WWE IC Champion The Miz bragging to Charly Caruso about his never-ending Intercontinental World Tour and the win over Apollo Crews:
– Caruso talks to WWE Champion Dean Ambrose in this backstage video from SummerSlam. Ambrose admits he’s been acting like a jerk to get in Dolph Ziggler’s head for the past few weeks but also admits that it didn’t work because he couldn’t crack Ziggler. Ambrose gives The Show-Off props and says he almost beat him but even at his best, Ziggler can’t take the championship from him. Ambrose goes on to say no one can will take the title from him any time soon.
Daniel Bryan spoke with Fansided to promote tonight’s WWE SummerSlam PPV from Brooklyn. Below are highlights:
You spoke on the image of wrestling and there are many various definitions of what wrestling is. As the Smackdown Live General Manager, what is the image of wrestling in your eyes?
It’s weird because my idea of wrestling is always evolving. When I first started I wanted it to be a pure sport with rankings and that sort of thing. With the story-telling, it’s different on a week-to-week basis. The motto that was followed is that you build all the climaxes to the PPV’s. But now with the roster split, you need for people to watch the shows. I want to see mini-climaxes along with the actual climax at the end of the show.
I compare it to the show “Game of Thrones.” Every character and every segment is unique and interesting. Different characters main event Game of Thrones depending on where they are at on their particular story arch. To be honest, though, I’m not the smartest guy in the room but those are some of the suggestions I make.
Conor McGregor has been the talk of the town on social media with a recent tweet. What did you think of his tweet calling out WWE wrestlers and saying he would slap the heads off of everyone?
HA! I can’t imagine caring at all what Conor McGregor says about anything. It’s the same guy who said he retired on Twitter just to get a rise out of people. There’s a lot of awesome stuff going on like the Olympics and he’s out there trying to promote a fight. So I get it, but it doesn’t affect me one way or another. There’s been better people than him insulting wrestlers for years.
Dolph Ziggler is taking on Dean Ambrose at SummerSlam for the WWE World Championship. As being the one putting this match into motion, what are you looking from each on Sunday?
I want to see what Dolph says he does all the time and that is “steal the show.” I want everyone at the end of SummerSlam to be talking about that match. I think they can do it. But don’t forget, there are a lot of great matches on this night so it’s going to be tough for both of them. I really want them to be the talk of the show and with their talent it’s very possible.
You can check out the full interview with Bryan at Fansided.com.
Daniel Bryan did a new Q&A with Yahoo to promote the WWE SummerSlam PPV and SmackDown Live. Below are highlights:
Has traveling on the road again on a weekly basis as GM of “SmackDown” helped or hurt whatever wrestling itch you still might have?
It’s kind of hurt it. It’s not the traveling part of it … I was doing OK, right. I was like, OK, this isn’t my jam anymore, I can’t do this. Until they had me sit out by ringside for a couple of matches and it’s just like, c’mon, I’m ready to go. That’s the hard part. Or when I go out to the arena and get such a great reaction. That’s when I want to wrestle.
What’s been the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far in your short broadcast career calling the “Cruiserweight Classic?”
For me, it’s trying to keep my voice up. So [last] Wednesday, there was an amazing match between Cedric Alexander and Kota Ibushi. We filmed three tapings in a row that day and that was the main event of the first taping. I was so excited calling the match that I lost my voice completely and then I had to do two more hours of calling matches. Mauro [Ranallo] is great because he’s trained to do that. My voice isn’t trained for it. I can only talk for so long before my voice just goes out. That’s been the hard part but the “Cruiserweight Classic” has been a blast.
Do you feel directly responsible for the number of smaller wrestlers in the main event picture?
No, I think it was a natural evolution. I think what’s happened is there’s so many hours of TV that’s put out there that people who are more exciting in the ring are going to be the ones that become more popular. Because of “RAW” being there hours and “SmackDown” two hours, there has to be more matches and longer matches. Smaller wrestlers are built for more exciting matches.
The full Q&A with the SmackDown GM is at this link.
SmackDown General Manager is doing the media rounds this week to promote SummerSlam weekend. During an interview with Jan Murphy of Canada’s Kingston Whig-Standard, the leader of the Yes! Movement reveals that he had a “horrible mental breakdown” shortly after announcing his retirement from the ring back in February.
One of the storylines for the upcoming season of Total Divas will feature Daniel Bryan and wife Brie Bella moving in to John Cena and Nikki Bella’s Florida home for a number of weeks. It was during this period, after the retirement speech and with cameras constantly filming him, that his emotions came to the surface.
“I just had this horrible mental breakdown,” he said. As a lifelong outdoorsman, it was spending time in nature that helped him achieve mental peace. “That’s what I needed. I needed to get away from all of that and just get out to be by some trees,” Bryan said.
Even to this day, he still hasn’t fully come to terms with the reality of his wrestling career coming to an end. “It’s interesting because I guess the real answer is no, but it’s weird,” Bryan said. “I don’t necessarily agree that there’s something wrong with me, right. The whole issue with concussions is so subjective.”
Visit Recorder.ca to read the full interview, including more detail on his quest to get medically cleared prior to retirement, his refusal to change his in-ring style as his career was coming to an end, the Cruiserweight Classic and of course, SummerSlam.
SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan recently spoke with FOX Sports to promote SummerSlam. Running SmackDown’s day-to-day operations is a demanding job, but so far it has not been the hardest part about returning to WWE.
“The hardest part actually is not the task of being the GM, it’s moreso being around wrestling and not being able to actually wrestle,” he said. “That’s the hardest part. The other stuff is …. I feel like I’m not the greatest general manager in the history of general managers, but I do OK and I’m learning as I go. I try to just do my best with it.”
Interviewer Nick Schwartz asked Bryan if he could pick one star from RAW and bring them to SmackDown, who would it be? ” So, if you would have asked me three weeks ago I would have said Cesaro, but he’s actually got some really great opportunities on Raw the last couple weeks, this past Monday he had two matches including being in the main event on Raw, so I hope that leads to him getting a larger role.” he said.
“But, because of that, now I would say Sami Zayn. I mean Sami Zayn just had this incredible match with Kevin Owens that he won at Battleground, and fans really like him and he wasn’t even on Raw on Monday. We could really use somebody like that on SmackDown.”
Head over to FOXSports.com to read the full interview.
On this week’s Talking Smack, SmackDown GM Daniel Bryan commented on Dean Ambrose calling Brock Lesnar lazy on Monday night’s Stone Cold Podcast.
During his candid conversation with Steve Austin, Ambrose expressed frustration with Lesnar over their WrestleMania 32 match, essentially accusing Lesnar of ‘phoning it in’ and doing the bare minimum. Perhaps Lesnar wasn’t thrilled about being booked in a mid-card match. With the hindsight of Lesnar returning to the MMA cage at UFC 200, maybe he didn’t want to risk an injury. Whatever the case, the Lesnar vs. Ambrose match fell flat and the WWE Champion had no problem publicizing his grievances.
Daniel Bryan agrees that Brock Lesnar is lazy, like much of the RAW roster is. He questioned what Lesnar did this past Monday night, “Sit on his couch?” He added, “It’s not easy doing farm work” but pointed out that Lesnar isn’t coming to WWE shows and fighting week in and week out. His comments were “in character” as the SmackDown GM hyping up Randy Orton ahead of his match with Lesnar at SummerSlam. However, it’s interesting to see WWE running with the storyline of Brock Lesnar being “lazy.” Bryan took Ambrose’s complaint about the WM32 match and pivoted to criticize Lesnar’s part-time schedule.
Discussion: Is Lesnar “lazy” for being able to command millions of dollars for a part-time schedule?
You can see Bryan’s comments about Brock Lesnar below:
With the interest surrounding his next career move, this week’s Free Match Thursday sees current free agent Roderick Strong taking on Daniel Bryan at Ring of Honor’s 2005 PPV Event ‘Vendetta’.
Bryan won the Ring of Honor World Championship at ‘Glory by Honor 4’ in September of 2005 and successfully defended against Strong in their first match at ‘This Means War.’ This return bout between the two highlights the vicious streak that Bryan had started to develop at this time and is a very intriguing to watch back now.
– Dolph Ziggler will be Michael Cole’s guest on Friday for the weekly sitdown interview while Baron Corbin will be Corey Graves’ guest on Superstar Ink this Thursday.
– As heard on last night’s SmackDown commentary, JBL made several references to new Women’s and Tag Team Championships coming to the blue brand. This video from the SmackDown Live post-show features GM Daniel Bryan talking about how they’re slowly building to the new tag team championships:
– This backstage video from last night’s SmackDown features American Alpha after they fought off the other SmackDown tag teams. They cut promos on how they’re going to beat the others at their best, to prove they’re the best, and how they’re making SmackDown the place to be:
– To promote the new Ben-Hur movie, WWE looks at great upsets in these new videos:
The SmackDown vs. RAW war may be heating up on Monday’s RAW from Anaheim as RAW GM Mick Foley has invited SmackDown GM Daniel Bryan to the show.
Previously announced for Monday’s RAW is guest star Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs.
WWE.com’s updated RAW preview says the meeting is a result of Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton attacking each other on RAW and SmackDown this past week. “Will the competition between Team Red and Team Blue stay friendly for long?”
Whatever they have planned for Monday night, it’s clear that this is not the “hard split” most fans were hoping for.