– SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan had some choice words for John Cena on the series premiere of Talking Smack. Bryan’s comments are in response to Cena telling AJ Styles that he’s only in WWE to prove he’s a good wrestler and if things don’t work out for him in WWE. He said Styles has already proven that if it doesn’t work out for him in WWE, he’ll leave and go work for another company. Cena said, “There is no place else for me.”
As somebody who was fired by WWE at one point and did travel the world working for other promotions, Bryan feels that his career is much more similar to Styles’and Cena doesn’t appreciate what it’s like to travel their path.
– “Superstar” Billy Graham is dealing with more health issues, according to this statement by Great North Wrestling:
GNW has been informed through his wife Valerie that former WWE Champion and WWE Hall of Famer” Superstar Billy Graham has been admitted to the Mayo Clinic due to some serious medical symptoms. Graham will undergo a procedure Wednesday morning to identify the cause of his medical issues.
Graham’s son Joseph added that he was hospitalized for internal bleeding but things are currently under control.
– Ring of Honor star Dalton Castle’s “boys” appeared on this week’s SmackDown as security guards:
The women of WWE SmackDown will soon have something tangible to fight over.
During a Tuesday morning appearance on the Bear Hug It Out wrestling & comedy podcast, SmackDown’s General Manager Daniel Bryan confirmed that his show will soon be getting its own Women’s Championship.
SmackDown has a healthy Women’s division, featuring the likes of Becky Lynch, Natalya, Naomi, Alexa Bliss, Carmella and who could forget, Eva Marie.
Bryan noted that there’s “no rush” to introduce the new gold, adding credence to Jim Ross’ philosophy that WWE can and will be rolling out additional changes to RAW and SmackDown in the coming weeks/months to differentiate the brands.
As part of this new Brand Extension era, RAW and SmackDown General Managers Mick Foley and Daniel Bryan have revealed new logos for their respective brands. What do you think?
Mick Foley and Daniel Bryan are the new General Managers of RAW and SmackDown. Here are some video highlights from RAW, including Stephanie and Shane announcing their picks as well as the two new GM’s already showing their competitive sides.
We noted last Tuesday how the WWE App apparently spoiled Daniel Bryan as the new SmackDown General Manager.
To update the story, we can confirm Bryan is booked for tonight’s RAW and tomorrow’s SmackDown.
There’s been no word yet on who the RAW GM role will go to but it was noted that there has not been a lot of talk within WWE about an outside name being brought in.
Stay tuned as Shane and Stephanie McMahon will reveal their picks for GM on tonight’s RAW.
On Monday’s RAW, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon returned to appoint new commissioners for RAW and SmackDown. Vince put Shane McMahon in charge of SmackDown live and Stephanie will now have sole control over the flagship Monday Night RAW. Vince encouraged them to ruthlessly compete with each other and expressed dissatisfaction that there had been no proverbial back stabbing or throat slashing amongst them in recent months.
With Shane and Stephanie competing for television ratings, live event attendance and merchandise sales, they will have too much on their plates to run the day-to-day operations of their shows and must appoint new General Managers.
Whoever wrote the WWE RAW preview for the WWE mobile app screwed up and spilled the beans – The Yes! Movement is taking over SmackDown Live. That’s right, former WWE Champion Daniel Bryan, who recently returned to WWE as the co-host of the new Cruiserweight Classic series, will be the new General Manager of SmackDown when it goes live starting next week.
Former WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan spoke with The Daily World to promote his role as co-host of WWE’s new Cruiserweight Classic series, which premieres on the WWE Network Wednesday, July 13th.
Even though it’s been several months since his official retirement from the ring, it’s still difficult for him to embrace the fact that his in-ring career is over. He’s been at the WWE Performance Center this week meeting the Cruiserweight Classic competitors and will be calling the action at tonight’s CWC tapings from Full Sail, but says it’s “borderline painful” to be around wrestling.
“It has been good, but it is weird, because my life had been so busy before retirement.” he said. “Now, you have all of this extra space and time. Because I was forced into retirement and not wanting to retire, I have to keep my mind away from wrestling. It is borderline painful. OK, so how do you fill your mind when you have filled it with this one thing for so long?”
During his time away from active competition, Bryan has been keeping busy with new hobbies, including gardening, taking classes at Arizona State University and Olympic weightlifting.
Despite his efforts to move on, the reality of his situation has still not fully sunk in.
“I’ve experimented with gardening. I love it, but you don’t love it like that,” he said. “A part of my mind hasn’t accepted it. I wake up sometimes with dreams of wrestling. This literally happened to me (the night before the speech). I was in Las Vegas and I flew in. I woke up this morning from a dream where I was going to wrestle and I’m not. I have to remind myself at times.”
He’s moving on, but said he would “drop everything” and return to the ring if WWE ever called up him. “Realistically, no one should feel bad for me,” he said. “I am getting paid to figure out what I want to do. Who gets to do that?”
WWE has announced Daniel Bryan and Mauro Ranallo will host the upcoming WWE Cruiserweight Classic series, which begins taping Thursday from Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University.
The 10-week tournament will air every Wednesday night and culminate with a live two-hour special on Wednesday, September 14. WWE Network will also air an exclusive Cruiserweight Classic special entitled CWC: Bracketology on Wednesday, July 6 at 9 PM ET.
Here’s the official announcement:
WWE® Cruiserweight Classic™ to Premiere on WWE Network Wednesday, July 13
STAFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– WWE(NYSE:WWE) announced today that the WWE Cruiserweight Classic will premiere Wednesday, July 13 at 9 PM ET exclusively on WWE Network. The 10-week tournament will air every Wednesday night and culminate with a live two-hour special on Wednesday, September 14.
The WWE Cruiserweight Classic will be hosted by WWE Legend Daniel Bryan® and the voice of WWE SmackDown® Mauro Ranallo.
“We scoured the globe to find 32 of the best Cruiserweights to compete in this inaugural tournament,” said WWE Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events & Creative Paul “Triple H®” Levesque. “These performers will be given an unprecedented opportunity to showcase their elite athleticism and unbridled passion across WWE’s global platforms.”
The WWE Cruiserweight Classic is a 32-man, single-elimination tournament that will feature the best cruiserweights from all over the world including Rich Swann, Johnny Gargano, Cedric Alexander and Tommaso Ciampa from the United States, Kota Ibushi and Akira Tozawa from Japan, Zack Sabre, Jr from England, Noam Dar from Scotland, Ho Ho Lun and Jason Lee from Hong Kong, Gran Metalik from Mexico, Tyson Dux from Canada, Da Mack from Germany, Damian Slater from Australia and many more.
WWE Network will also air an exclusive Cruiserweight Classic special entitled CWC: Bracketology on Wednesday, July 6 at 9 PM ET.
Former WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan took part in his first Olympic weightlifting competition this weekend.
In recent weeks, Bryan has been posting photos and videos on social media showing off his lifting (and jiujitsu) training. On Saturday, Bryan was in his hometown of Aberdeen, Washington for his first competition.
Bryan has been training for the event at Timber Gym in Aberdeen. Bryan was awarded a ninja sword for his performance in the competition.
– Daniel Bryan and WWE writer Brian “Road Dogg” James also tweeted interesting reactions to the WWE brand split and Smackdown going live. Bryan says he can’t wait to see the changes but would rather be involved.
Big news today out of the @WWE today. Lets take the next step in the evolution together @WWEUniverse#OUDK
– Finn Balor represented NXT at Runway to Hope’s Spring Fashion Soiree in Orlando last night. The benefit was held to aid children and their families affected by pediatric cancer.
– Reddit user bootybootybootyrocki noted that Extreme Rules will be Charlotte’s 11th straight PPV match – the longest streak of PPV appearances by a woman in WWE history:
“During the uni-branded PPV era of 03-07, I’ve only counted the PPVs of each brand. For example, if a particular woman was on Raw, only Raw PPVs will be factored into a streak, unless she happened to wrestle on a SmackDown PPV, in which case that will be added to the streak. The Big 4 PPVs featured all brands, so those were always factored. Even with all that in account, Charlotte still holds the longest streak. I have to imagine, barring injuries or some craziness with the title, even if Charlotte loses on Sunday, she will get a rematch at Money in the Bank, making it her 12th straight PPV.”
– Tonight’s WWE TV tapings will be held at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, SC. Confirmed as of this writing is MizTV with Cesaro, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. As always, we’ll have live coverage of the tapings here at SEScoops.
– The Dudley Boyz will be filming an episode of Ride Along for the WWE Network this weekend.
Me and @TestifyDVon will be filming an episode of @wwe "Ride Along" this weekend. What would the @WWEUniverse like us to talk about? #RAW RT
– After missing several WWE live events, Heath Slater was back to work this weekend. He did not wrestle, but appeared at ringside for Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel matches.
– Daniel Bryan was involved in an Olympic Weightlifting seminar with USAW athlete Leo Hernandez this weekend, setting his personal snatch record:
Brie Bella has confirmed her retirement from pro wrestling. Reports surfaced a few months ago that she would be retiring this summer to start a family with Daniel Bryan. Last month, Pro Wrestling Sheet broke the news that that Brie would be retiring early, in part due to Bryan’s retirement and his reported health issues.
On Monday, she posted this heartfelt message after her what would be her retirement match at WrestleMania 32.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BDw6KM4saNC/
During a Twitter Q&A session on Tuesday, she commented further.
Daniel Bryan’s final remaining appearance for WWE has been cancelled.
Earlier this week, word came out that Bryan was pulled from Friday night’s WWE live event from Madison Square Garden, which had been advertised as Daniel Bryan Appreciation Night. He was later pulled from Saturday night’s live event from Trenton, New Jersey as well next month’s WrestleMania Revenue tour of Europe.
WWE issued a brief comment regarding Bryan’s situation, noting that he has requested time off and it was granted.
Late Wednesday night, it was announced that Daniel Bryan’s WrestleMania AXXESS VIP signing on Sunday, April 3rd has also been cancelled. WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels will be replacing Bryan at the Sunday AXXESS session.
As noted earlier, the “Daniel Bryan Appreciation Night” that was scheduled for Friday night’s WWE live event from Madison Square Garden has been postponed indefinitely.
Bryan has now also been pulled from Saturday’s live event in Trenton, NJ, Sunday’s show from Washington, DC as well as next month’s WrestleMania Revenge tour of Europe.
WWE issued the brief statement, “Daniel Bryan requested time off and it was granted.”
Ticket holders for Friday night’s WWE live event from Madison Square Garden in New York City received an email on Tuesday afternoon announcing that “Daniel Bryan Appreciation Night” has been postponed due to a scheduling conflict.
The following matches have been advertised:
Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens vs. Dean Ambrose in a 30-minute Iron Man Match
Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus with Triple H in his corner
United States Champion Kalisto vs. Alberto Del Rio
Bray Wyatt vs. Big Show
AJ Styles makes his MSG debut
Here’s the official announcement regarding the postponement:
Dear WWE Ticket Holder,
Due to a scheduling conflict, the ceremony to honor former WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Daniel Bryan on March 25, 2016 has been postponed.
While this honoring may occur at a later date, WWE Live – Road to WrestleMania, this Friday at Madison Square Garden, will take place as scheduled. The event will feature many of your favorite WWE Supertars. After nearly 5 years, Triple H returns to action in the ring in the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden! Also see Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Ric Flair, Sheamus, AJ Styles, Bray Wyatt, Kevin Owens and many more!
WE apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and look forward to your continued support of the WWE and Madison Square Garden.
There have been several reports of Daniel Bryan sightings in Pittsburgh, PA on Sunday night. Tonight’s episode of RAW takes place at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, and it’s speculated with Bryan will be there. His last RAW appearance was on the February 8th episode for his retirement speech.
Bryan’s name has been coming up in the feud between Brie Bella and Lana, but there’s no word on what his involvement will be on-air, if any.
The retired former WWE World Heavyweight Champion will be featured at a Madison Square Garden house show dubbed “Daniel Bryan night.” Bryan is also booked to appear on WWE’s tour of the UK after WrestleMania. Here are his confirmed appearances for this month:
3/25 in New York City (‘Daniel Bryan Appreciation Night’ at MSG)
– Daniel Bryan will be doing an autograph signing at the World of Wheels convention in Chicago this Friday, March 4th.
– WWE announced on Monday that the company has surpassed 10 million Youtube subscribers.
– The big bodyslam challenge that Rusev was hyping for RAW never aired on the show. WWE filmed a brief segment with Rusev and R-Truth and posted it on social media.
– On Saturday, tickets went on sale for Daniel Bryan’s WrestleMania AXXESS appearance. The pre-sale password leaked online before tickets were made available to the general public and sold out instantly. There are still some tickets available on Stubhub, but they’ll set you back at least $400.
– This past week, Pawn Stars featured the sale of a WWE Hall of Fame ring purported to be Paul Bearer’s. His son Daniel Moody posted a statement on Facebook claiming that the ring was a fake and he’s been in touch with the History Channel to rectify the situation.
– Here’s the latest video of Shane McMahon training for WrestleMania with Muay Thai expert Ajam Phil Nurse:
WWE’s Madison Square Garden house show that takes place in the weeks leading up to WrestleMania is usually up there with the biggest WWE live events of the year, along with the Christmas week Garden show. WWE usually loads up that particular MSG show, and this year’s is no different, as they’ve announced that it’s going to be Daniel Bryan Appreciation night, much like they’ve done similar events for Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan at MSG.
The lineup as advertised right now is Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus (with WWE World Heavyweight Champion Triple H), the Madison Square Garden debut of AJ Styles, Kevin Owens (c) vs. Dean Ambrose in a 30 Minute Iron Man Match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, Big Show vs. Bray Wyatt, Kalisto vs. Alberto Del Rio for the WWE United States championship, and “also appearing” are Ric Flair, WWE Tag Team champions The New Day, The Dudley Boyz, The Usos, Rusev, The Miz, The Wyatt Family, and Ryback. It wouldn’t necessarily surprise me if Triple H’s role changed at all, because in the past, he’s used this show to get his timing back before WrestleMania, but that’s just baseless speculation.
WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin recently spoke on Daniel Bryan’s retirement and admitted that Bryan’s retirement speech brought a tear in his eye. On a recent episode of his podcast The Steve Austin Show, The Texas Rattlesnake discussed his thoughts on the now-retired Bryan.
Austin said Bryan is a sure fire Hall of Famer because he knocked it out of the park every time he stepped in the ring, could work any style and connected with the crowd like we haven’t seen in years. He then explained why Daniel Bryan’s career reminds him of Bret Hart for both his in-ring work as well as other political forces at work.
“From what I’ve seen out of him, it’s just bad ass work. He tells a great story, sells his ass off, makes everything look good, goes through great sequences, great psychology. He’s the real deal,” Austin said. “Daniel Bryan’s run kind of reminds me to a similar degree, or just the way he presented himself almost in a vein, he was a smaller version of Bret Hart because Bret was never really going to be the chosen guy. All of a sudden, he got the opportunity and he was an understated guy, wasn’t over the top. I always liked Bret Hart’s promos. He felt he was a little weak in them. One of the greatest workers in the history of the business. And finally he got his time.”
“He got his just due, and all of a sudden, that was the transition of the bigger guys [to] the guys that could really work, [and it] opened the door for guys like Shawn Michaels and so Daniel Bryan, just his persistence, his determination, and the fact that he was consistent every single time he went out there, he delivered and it’s fine to see the big guys with the charisma going through their stuff because everybody wants to see the heavyweights clash, but also, people want to see bad ass wrestling and to me that’s what Daniel was all about.”
