The following are highlights from a recent More Like Radio interview with former WWE writer Alex Greenfield:
On Daniel Bryan’s recent WWE push: “It’s flashback city for me because i feel like it’s exactly what Vince did to us with Rey you know? During my run, well David Lagana first and then my run as lead writer on Smackdown you know, we were all super excited A. to be done with the exploiting Eddie thing and B. to make Rey, make him our champion, make him a giant killer. Vince was like ‘Goddamn, pal, he’s gonna change things.’ Our Latino demographics were going up, our minority demographics were going up like we were gaining audience when Raw was losing audience and it was on Rey’s back and then once he got there (Alex impersonates Vince) ‘Well nobody’s gonna believe he can beat Mark Henry, lets have Mark Henry just kill him and we’ll find some la la ending.’ He just cut Rey out at the legs during that World Title run and we’ve talked about my screaming fights with Vince and it was more of that. He just couldn’t see the little guy beating the big guy. It just didn’t work for Vince McMahon and it’s super frustrating and i feel like that’s what happened with Daniel Bryan.”
On TNA creative team member Dave Lagana: “I tend to watch TNA only when somebody tells me theres this great thing. Like I haven’t really been keyed in since the original Angle/Samoa Joe deal which is years ago at this point. There’s certainly been really good angles. I love what Dave (Lagana) did on Ring Ka King, which I just thought was so bizarre the indian sub show they did. I thought it was so bizarre and fun with the Bollywood wrestling. I was super into that and Dave was the creative mastermind behind that. I just find it difficult to get into TNA, like I was super into Mickie James’s evolution into a heel and sort of the build of her, and then she left and I sort of dropped away at that point. But like Aces & Eights, Hogan and Bischoff, like none of it resonated with me so I can’t say I watch very often at all. I like Dave a lot and I think he does good work it’s just that TNA for whatever reason, the mix of talent or the type of stories that are dictated to tell just don’t grab me.”
– CM Punk and Daniel Bryan were unable to answer the question, “will they remain a tag-team following their win at Survivor Seires” when asked by Renee Young in an exclusive WWE.com post-match interview. The two claimed that “they don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow,” when working in WWE.
– WWE Superstar Mark Henry, who returned with his new look to answer the open challenge issued by Ryback at Survivor Series, spoke to WWE.com about his reason for coming out. Henry claimed that he answered Ryback’s challenge due to the fact that Ryback was disrespecting Bret Hart, Booker T and Mick Foley, who he cut off when he came out to the ring.
Also featured in post-match interviews at Survivor Series on Sunday night were The Shield, Curtis Axel, Natalya and The Bella Twins. You can watch these interviews online at WWE.com.
– TMZ recentlly reported that WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan’s dog, Asparagus, passed away. Asparagus had been featured a number of times in segments with Bryan and Brie Bella on the WWE Total Divas reality show.
– The official WWE website recently posted a new article about a fan named Lori Medina. Medina won a role in the new “Christmas Bounty” movie, which stars The Miz, by auditioning at WrestleMania AXXESS. You can check out the article online at WWE.com.
– Speaking of “Christmas Bounty,” the ABC Family movie is set to premiere this coming Tuesday, November 26th.
– You can check out a new interview with The Miz at StarryMag.com, where he talks about having his first-ever on-screen kiss in the “Christmas Bounty” movie with his co-star Francia Raisa.
The special one-year anniversary edition of The JBL & Cole Show has been added to the official YouTube channel of WWE.
The show this week features a number of guest appearances, including Dolph Ziggler, Santino Marella, Josh Mathews, Road Dogg, Damien Sandow, Renee Young, Hornswoggle, Big E. Langston, John Cena, Daniel Bryan and John Cone.
You can check out episode 52 of The JBL & Cole Show below:
WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan recently did an interview with The Bleacher Report where he discussed giving fans the opportunity to help him name his running knee finishing move. Bryan tweeted a link to the interview, which you can watch below.
The options for the name of the finishing move are:
– The Yes Strike
– The Bearded Wizard
– Little-Big-Man Knee
– The Aberdeen Face Buster
– The Washington Wizard
WWE has added a new video to their official YouTube channel, which features WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan and MLB star Josh Reddick in their “beard off” challenge that the two have been talking about for months.
The video is accompanied by the following description: “7 months ago, Daniel Bryan challenged Josh Reddick of the Oakland A’s to a ‘Beard Off’ on the WWE App. Finally the ‘Beard Off’ winner is chosen and the loser’s beard is shaved off!”
– Stephanie McMahon is scheduled to participate in CableFAX’s “Most Powerful Women In Cable Breakfast” this Thursday from 8-10am at the Grand Hyatt in New York Ciy, New York.
– MLB star Josh Reddick, who as we mentioned previously has been teasing a “beard-off” with Daniel Bryan at “RAW Country” tonight, posted the following tweet on his official Twitter account on Monday afternoon:
– Speaking to Larry Nickel of CBS Sports 920 in St. Louis, Missouri, former WWE Champion Daniel Bryan admits that when he first joined WWE, he could not tell Brie Bella, who he’s now engaged to be married to, from her sister Nikki.
“Now, they are so different to me, I don’t even see how people think that they look alike. It’s crazy. They definitely look like sisters, but they’re no longer twins to me,” said Bryan.
Nickel tells Bryan that he can tell them apart for “different reasons,” leading the WWE Superstar to ask him to name them.
“Nikki had the…uh…yeah,” Nickel remarked, alluding to her sizable breast augmentation last year.
– WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee didn’t miss a beat after fainting during her match on Friday in London, England as she competed at tonight’s show in Minehead. Partnering with Tamina, the duo again lost to The Bella Twins.
Today’s show in Minehead marks as the eleventh day of WWE’s grueling tour across Europe, which has been described as exhausting by some wrestlers.
– While still unofficial, it appears as though the six-on-six confrontation featuring The Wyatt Family and The Shield vs. CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Goldust, Cody Rhodes and The Usos on Monday’s RAW was the beginning of the build towards a traditional elimination match with all twelve men at the WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view on Sunday, November 24th.
– According to reports, WWE Superstar Damien Sandow is currently being groomed for a top position in the company. Sandow, who was given a win over Kofi Kingston on RAW on Monday, recently cashed in his Money In The Bank briefcase unsuccessfully against current World Heavyweight Champion John Cena. Since then, company officials within WWE are starting to work Sandow into a top-tier position.
Day seven of the WWE European tour continues on Tuesday with half of the WWE roster remaining in Manchester, England for the WWE SmackDown and WWE Main Event television taping, while the rest of the roster travels to Newcastle, England for a non-televised live event.
Announced already for the SmackDown television taping is an arm-wrestling contest between World Heavyweight Champion John Cena and former champion Alberto Del Rio. The two will continue to hype their upcoming title rematch at the WWE Survivor Series on Sunday, November 24th.
Confirmed for the WWE Main Event portion of the television taping is a WWE Divas Championship match between current title-holder AJ Lee and Natalya.
Also official for the SmackDown television taping is an appearance of WWE Superstar CM Punk.
Unless WWE continues their recent trend of false-advertising, you can count the following Superstars out of SmackDown and Main Event on Tuesday: Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, Big Show, Dolph Ziggler, The Miz and The Shield. Orton vs. Bryan is advertised as the main event for the WWE Championship at the live event in Newcastle, as well as a six-man tag-team match featuring Big Show, Dolph Ziggler and The Miz vs. The Shield.
Make sure to check back here at the website on Tuesday afternoon for live play-by-play spoiler results of the WWE SmackDown and WWE Main Event television taping.
The following are highlights from a new interview with former WWE Superstar Chris Jericho:
On his new web series “But I’m Chris Jericho”: “Well obviously, it’s kind of an extended universe for me and almost a kind of mockumentary, Christopher Guest kind of a vibe of this initial concept that I had from a nugget of truth of when I first moved out of wrestling and came out to Los Angeles to study acting and break into this world over here; I realized very early on that while I was a ‘superstar’ from another genre of entertainment, a lot of people out in Hollywood really didn’t care what I had accomplished in the past. So, I would come to do an audition with 10 other people who would look just like me for ‘Bachelor part #12’ to deliver one line, like ‘This telephone is not working’ and they’d say ‘Thanks, next!’ And I’d go ‘But I’m Chris Jericho, don’t I get a chance? A better shot?’
View Here: The First 4 Episodes of “But I’m Chris Jericho!”
So, I started thinking: what would happen if (Chris) Jericho got kicked out of wrestling, got blackballed and had nowhere to go, nowhere to turn, so I had to get into acting, but I had to take what I could get and kind of start at the lowest level to survive. And so, that’s kind of the whole concept of the show, and it took us about 6 years to sell it. We worked long and hard in doing the pilot and writing the scripts and we tried to pitch it and no one was really interested. Then, about a year and a half ago, my partner called me and he’s like ‘I sold the show’. I was like ‘What show is that?’, he said ‘But I’m Chris Jericho’. I said ‘You’re still working on that?!’ and he told me yeah.
So that’s how it all got started and to come and do it as a web series was even smarter in this day and age because I think 3 or 4 years ago, doing a web series was like doing a direct-to-dvd movie or something, but now to do a web series, it’s the smartest way to have content in this day and age and it’s almost the way of the future as far as the way people will be watching tv shows from now on, I’d have to say.”
On the current WWE product: “I don’t watch a lot because of my schedule being super crazy, over-the-top busy, but I follow along with what’s going on online and stuff. I like what the Shield was doing. I like the Daniel Bryan character. I like some of the more underrated characters; I think Antonio Cesaro is a tremendous performer. You know, there’s a lot of different guys that I think are really coming into their own and a lot of guys that WILL come into their own over the next few years and that’s basically the most important thing when you’re in that business, playing character, is that you really have to get the confidence and the ability to know what it is that you’re doing and where it is you want to go with your character and once you can kind of stumble upon that, you’ll grow by leaps and bounds. Sometimes it just takes time to figure out ‘Who am I, as this character?’ and ‘What do I need to do to bring this guy forward?’”
– Camera crews from The Travel Channel were at Hogan’s Beach Shop in Clearwater, Florida on Saturday evening filming footage of WWE Hall Of Famer Hulk Hogan for a future piece on their channel.
– As previously reported, WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan did not appear at the WWE live event in Birmingham, England on Saturday. As noted in our complete live report from the event, WWE Superstar Randy Orton jumped on the microphone during the main event and told the fans who were boo’ing and chanting Bryan’s name that he was not in attendance, and to basically get over it.
Apparently WWE Superstar Big Show, who was Orton’s opponent at the show, got on the microphone after the match to thank the fans and apologize to them for the absence of Bryan.
– As previously reported, WWE is currently making an effort to push larger-sized Superstars. The feeling is the company has a lot of average-sized talent and that now is the time to sign more head-turning attractions. WWE is putting heavy emphasis on bigger and stronger Superstars instead of guys like CM Punk and Daniel Bryan.
– Speaking of Punk and Bryan, the reason WWE has the two in a program currently with The Wyatt Family is to attempt to elevate Erick Rowan and Luke Harper. As much as WWE believes in the talents of Bray Wyatt, they also want to give a push to Rowan and Harper.
With Total Divas returning tomorrow night at 10/9 CT on E!, viewers can expect to see Eva Marie’s off-putting behavior and John Cena and Nikki Bella’s relationship take center stage.
The Nov. 17 episode, titled “Nurse Nikki,” will focus on the three. Courtesy of TVGuide.com, the synopsis reads, “Nikki moves in with John Cena and he shocks her with an unexpected demand; at the same time, Eva Marie considers cheating after she’s asked to announce on live TV.”
The Nov. 24 episode, as well as tomorrow night’s show, will center around Eva Marie. In a new twist, Natalya suspects that she is attempting to get in touch with Tyson Kidd. The official synopsis for “Seeing Red,” which also features the continuation of the Cena and Bella storyline, is as follows: “Nattie has a feeling that Eva Marie is trying to cozy up to her man; Nikki wonders if she can accept John Cena’s demand; and Brie has issues with Bryan’s increasing fame.”
As reported earlier, the synopsis for tomorrow night’s “SummerSlam” show reads: “Eva Marie’s rising popularity is seen as a threat by Nikki; Ariane works on anger management; and an accident during a match leaves Nattie worried about returning to the ring for SummerSlam.”
Brie Bella has her own suspicions of Eva Marie. Speaking to OK! Magazine, she stated the following of her peer’s behavior at SummerSlam for her match against Natalya, “The thing is, you are putting so many different personalities together trying to force friendships and it is like, we are still going for one spot. Especially in the first episode because it is SummerSlam, that is a big night for us and I was lucky enough to have a singles match but how can someone just walk in and try to capitalize off that?! We definitely have our moments where we get along great but you will see a lot more of Eva just kind of being herself and just trying to get ahead without working hard. She has her ways.”
Eva Marie, who scored her first pinfall victory last Monday on Raw, is currently in Europe promoting Total Divas.
– WWE NXT stars Conor O’Brian and Rick Victor have been re-named, according to their respective Twitter accounts. On the social media platform, O’Brian is referring to himself as Konnor (@KonnorWWE) and Victor is now Viktor (@ViktorRiseWWE). Together, they appear as The Ascension.
– This week’s WWE Classics On Demand updates are as follows: The New and Improved DX (Parts 4,5, and 6), New World Order: The Revolution, World Wrestling Federation action at Nassau Coliseum (June 10, 1989), AWA All Star Wrestling (November 7, 1981), ECW Hardcore TV (November 13, 1998), Stampede Wrestling (May 1979).
– The latest issue of WWE Magazine features Big Show, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, John Cena and The Miz on the cover. The headline reads: “SUPERSTARS UNITED! WHO’LL BE THE FACE OF WWE IN 2014?”
As previously reported, WWE is putting added emphasis on larger Superstars in recent weeks. This is apparently the reason we’ve seen a push for Big Show to the main event level, as well as the reason behind his match with Randy Orton for the WWE Championship at the upcoming Survivor Series pay-per-view on November 24th. Additionally, the large-guy-push in WWE is the reason for the added television exposure of guys like Luke Harper and The Great Khali.
A lot of the blame, as far as WWE is concerned, belongs to the recent attempt to push Daniel Bryan to the top. Bryan is getting the blame by WWE management for the recent drop in pay-per-views, as they feel they gave him a shot in the top spot for the last few months-worth of pay-per-views, and they consider the buyrates dropping to be a direct result of trying to push a smaller guy as opposed to a larger guy, which WWE feels the fans want these days.
– With WWE Chairman Vince McMahon recently blaming the “attractions” at SummerSlam being responsible for the show drawing a disappointing buyrate, a good part of that blame is going on Daniel Bryan. As we’re already seeing with the Big Show vs. Randy Orton Survivor Series main event, the feeling is that Daniel Bryan is too small and too “average” – so there’s a push to feature WWE’s larger-than-life characters at the top of the card.
That’s not to say that Daniel Bryan isn’t still very highly regarded behind the scenes as a world-class worker who is extremely over, but it’s unlikely that we’ll be seeing another WWE title reign for the Aberdeen, Washington native anytime soon. Bryan is scheduled to team with CM Punk against The Wyatt Family at Survivor Series.
– Even though he is not currently being utilized on WWE television, Ricardo Rodriguez is headed to the UK for next week’s tapings. Vickie Guerrero isn’t working this weekend’s live events but is flying into the UK for next week’s TV tapings.
– WWE still has plans to use some of their smaller wrestlers on a cruiserweight type show when the WWE Network launches.
-Originally the plan for WWE Survivor Series was to feature a traditional eight-man elimination match with The Wyatt Family and one other WWE Superstar against CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and two other WWE Superstars. According to recent reports, those plans have changed and the new idea is to have Erick Rowan and Luke Harper against Punk and Bryan in a regular tag-team match at the Survivor Series pay-per-view.
-Another match planned for Survivor Series on November 24th is a WWE Tag-Team Championship match between current champions Goldust and Cody Rhodes and The Real Americans, Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro. There is a chance that The Usos and The Shield will be added to the match, however that is unofficial at this point.
-WWE Diva and co-star of the Total Divas reality show, Brie Bella, is said to have impressed WWE officials with the improvement of her in-ring work as of late. Many are crediting her real-life fiancee’ Daniel Bryan for her improvement, as Bryan and Bella reportedly spend two hours before each show in the ring working on various things together.
Speaking of Brie Bella, there is talk of WWE releasing some “Brie-Mode” merchandise soon. Fans of Total Divas will remember “Brie-Mode” as the name her twin sister Nikki gave her to describe her behavior when she is drunk and partying.
-According to reports, a new priority for the future in WWE is tag-team wrestling. Triple H is strongly behind the idea and will apparently put additional focus on tag-teams during the next set of WWE NXT television tapings, which is scheduled for November 21st at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
-The main event angle on Monday’s edition of WWE RAW saw WWE Superstar Big Show get re-hired by WWE COO Triple H, ending what was probably the shortest “banned for life” sentence in WWE history. Additionally, Big Show was guaranteed a WWE Championship match against Randy Orton at the upcoming WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view.
-Daniel Bryan was officially removed from the WWE Championship picture. As noted, Big Show will receive the next shot at the title, with Bryan now positioned in a feud alongside CM Punk against The Wyatt Family.
-Paul Heyman re-emerged on RAW on Monday in the form of a live telephone interview with RAW announcer Michael Cole. Heyman claimed multiple injuries suffered at the hands of CM Punk at the WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view, and was reportedly scripted to say that he was getting medical treatment in Europe, which is where next week’s RAW will take place.
For more news from this week’s RAW, you can read our detailed report of the show here: WWE RAW Results (11/4/13)
WWE will tape their weekly Main Event and SmackDown television programs tonight in Charlotte, North Carolina, before heading out for their bi-annual European tour on Wednesday.
The main event for this week’s SmackDown, as announced on WWE RAW on Monday night, is Daniel Bryan vs. Luke Harper.
Also announced on Monday’s RAW was a match pitting the current Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel against Big E. Langston, in a match that was originally slated to serve as the Kickoff Show match prior to the WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view in late-October.
World Heavyweight Champion John Cena was advertised on RAW as appearing on this week’s SmackDown for the second time in a row, as he will continue the build to his rematch against the former champion, Alberto Del Rio, at the upcoming WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view.
In addition to the aforementioned WWE Superstars, the following names are being advertised locally for the SmackDown and Main Event television taping in Charlotte are Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, Randy Orton, Big Show, The Shield, The Wyatt Family, Dolph Ziggler and Wade Barrett.
The post-show dark match scheduled for the taping tonight is John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship. That match, which also served as the dark match main event at RAW in Greenville, South Carolina on Monday night, is subject to change.
Make sure to check back here later tonight for complete WWE Main Event and WWE SmackDown spoiler results.
WWE announced Big Show vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship as the main event of the upcoming WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view on Sunday, November 24th in Boston, Massachusetts.
Also announced on RAW for this week’s WWE television taping on Tuesday night are Curtis Axel vs. Big E. Langston for WWE Main Event on Wednesday, as well as Daniel Bryan vs. Luke Harper for WWE SmackDown on Friday. Both shows will be taped on Tuesday night in Charlotte, North Carolina.
WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan recently took part in a lengthy panel discussion at the Wizard World Comic-Con event in Nashville, Tennessee. Among many other topics, Bryan spoke about the most disappointing moment of his career, being trained by Shawn Michaels and William Regal, the Total Divas reality show, his dream match at WrestleMania and teaming with Kane.
You can check out the complete, 50-minute Daniel Bryan panel discussion from the Nashville Wizard World event below: