– Former WWE developmental wrestler Marcus Owens issued a negative assessment on David Otunga’s working ability after watching him compete on television.
“I swear David Otunga is the most unsafe guy, I’ve ever seen on TV,” he wrote on Facebook. “I’d rather work Sid Vicious back when he was with the IV Horseman…LOL.”
This is not the first time where Otunga’s wrestling ability has been publicly dismissed by a fellow wrestler. Chris Masters stated during an interview following his release from WWE last year, “He’s got two left feet. C’mon, just watch him walk around the ring for five minutes.”
– As reported over the weekend, Tammy “Sunny” Sytch will check out of her WWE-sponsored rehabilitation program on Thursday. She was allowed out of her rehab house on Saturday and made a surprise appearance that day at a Bodyslam Wrestling Organization event in Elmwood Park, New Jersey as the manager of Damien Darling. After Darling lost in the main event, Sytch “revived” him with a kiss, who then carried her to the backstage area to conclude the show. Sytch plans to immediately resume her wrestling career after getting out of rehab as she has a show scheduled on Saturday.
– Gridiron Gang, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, will air on MTV this Sunday at 1:23 p.m.
– David Otunga noted on Twitter that filming has completed for the upcoming WWE Studios film, “The Hive,” which stars Halle Berry and will be in theaters next year. Otunga plays a police officer in the movie and shaved his trademark goatee for the role.
– WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz will be hosting the Season Preview of his “1st and Awesome” radio radio show tonight on Sirius (Channel 210) and XM (Channel 87) at 6pm ET.
– WWE’ SmackDown crew is headed overseas this morning for a live events tour of Asia, with shows scheduled for Japan, China and Taiwan. Here is the tour schedule:
Thursday, August 9th
Ryogoku Kokugikan
Tokyo, Japan
Friday, August 10th
Ryogoku Kokugikan
Tokyo, Japan
Saturday, August 11th
Oriental Sports Center
Shanghai, China
– David Otunga is being advertised for WWE’s upcoming tour of Australia (8/30-9/1), which would be his first appearance since filming the WWE Studios movie “The Hive” with Halle Berry.
John Laurinaitis has also been advertised for your, but was recently removed from the list of superstars on the WWE Live Events Page. Laurinaitis serves as a producer/agent at WWE live events, so he could still appear on the tour.
– UFC President Dana White has responded to Vince McMahon’s recent comments that UFC’s ratings are “abysmal.” During an interview with Ariel Helwani, White says he likes Vince and has a good relationship with him, but Vince says things like that because of the way he is “wired.”
He added that he could say a lot of things about WWE, but doesnt – and says he doesn’t understand why Vince would attack UFC since Vince is so adamant about saying WWE and UFC are totally different products. Here’s video of the interview:
– There are still conflicting reports as to Kharma’s status with WWE. She is still listed as “Alumni” on the WWE website and WWE’s Twitter account. Kharma re-tweeted the following message from a fan on Friday:
– The Miz has finished filming his scenes for the WWE Studios movie, The Marine: Homefront.
– WWE Superstar David Otunga has begin filming the WWE Studios movie The Hive, starring HAlle Berry. Otunga will likely be off television while working on the project. Otunga noted on Twitter that he’s shaved off his signature goatee for the movie and is now clean-shaven. Check out this picture of Otunga’s new look:
– Today would have been the 98th birthday of WWE co-founder Vince McMahon Sr. He passed away in 1984 at age 69.
– Tuesday’s live Super Smackdown drew a 1.70 cable rating with 2,540,000 viewers.
– David Otunga will be appearing in the WWE Studios film “The Hive” starring Halle Berry and Abigail Breslin. Otunga’s fiance Jennifer Hudson tweeted the following:
Big congratulations to my fiancé @DavidOtunga in his 1st movie role with Halle berry in "The Hive" .
— On Monday’s RAW, John Cena cut a promo that included several comments that made many wrestling fans cringe, including using the word “fudgin'” and telling Chris Jericho that WWE’s television audience is mostly comprised of 9 year old children. It’s worth noting that those comments by Cena were edited off the the replay of WWE RAW that aired on English/Spanish channel Mun2.
Cena’s promo with Chris Jericho was not edited off entirely, but his latest attempts at humor (“fudgin'” and 9 year-olds) were.
– Several celebrity news publications are reporting that David Otunga and his celebrity fiance, actress/singer Jennifer Hudson, are once again planning to get married.
Their wedding plans were put on hold during the build-up to the murder trail regarding the deaths of several of Hudson’s family members.
– Today’s wrestling birthdays include The Sandman (49) and the Ultimate Warrior (53).
– WWE ran an angle on SmackDown where David Otunga attacked Brodus Clay, which resulted in Clay tearing the MCL in his left knee. Despite the injury, the two men will still wrestle in the No Way Out pre-show match on Youtube.com tomorrow night.
David Otunga tweeted the following about Brodus Clay’s storyline injury:
“So Brodus has a Grade 2 MCL tear. Is that all I did? Sunday at @WWE #NoWayOut his MCL is going to be completely destroyed = No more dancing!”
The WWE website is reporting that Clay will be undergoing rehab over the next few weeks.
– WWE will hold the second NXT tapings tonight from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. WWE superstars scheduled to appear include Sheamus, Sin Cara, Hunico, Camacho, Natalya, and Justin Gabriel. Jim Ross will also be in attendence and is expected to call some of the action. Check back later tonight spoiler results from the tapings.
– David Otunga and his fiance Jennifer Hudson are rumored to be finally getting married this fall.
– WWE has shut down its European Shopzone website. All European orders will now be handled through the main WWEShop.com site.
– As previously reported, several WWE superstars are hesitant to work with Ryback. There is fear that his inexperience, intensity and sloppiness will lead to a series injury. Despite all this, Vince McMahon is Ryback’s biggest supporter and loves how the character is doing so far. The company is not happy about the Goldberg chants that occur during his matches and the production team has been told to edit them off television when they can, which is really only possible when he wrestles on SmackDown, which is a taped show.
– Following his heel turn at Over The Limit, Big Show will be replacing Tensai and will team with John Laurinaitis against John Cena in handicap matches at several upcoming WWE live events.
– Jim Ross tweeted this week that he currently has no plans to appear at the 1,000th episode of WWE RAW on July 23rd.
– David Otunga has been telling his Twitter followers that he has his sights set on Santino’s United States championship. #OtungaForUSChampion was actually trending worldwide on Twitter on Wednesday.
– The Rock wrote on Twitter about GI Joe 2 being moved back to the week before WrestleMania 29, March 29th, 2013:
“Commitment to make GI JOE a massive world event just got bigger. New release 3/29/13. Rock + Ass kickins + 3D = #AwwwwShit”
As previously reported, GI Joe has been moved so the project can be converted to maximize box office revenue and due to the stiff competition around its original release date from the new Avengers, Spiderman and Batman movies.
— Sin Cara competed in his first match of 2012 at Saturday’s WWE Supershow in Florence, South Carolina, defeating Hunico in the opening match. He had been sidelined since Survivor Series due to a patellar tendon rupture.
— The following matches are advertised for WWE’s post-SummerSlam tour of Australia taking place August 30 through September 1: John Cena vs. Lord Tensai and John Laurinaitis, WWE Champion CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan and United States Champion Santino Marella vs. David Otunga.
— Sunday marks the one-year anniversary of the passing of Randy Savage. The legendary wrestler died after suffering a sudden, massive heart attack while driving with his wife in Seminole, Florida. He became unresponsive and lost control of his Jeep Wrangler, crashing into a tree.
– Earlier this week, the WWE website posted an article talking about the fact that Chris Jericho has yet to win WWE gold since returning in January and speculating whether Jericho will leave WWE again if he does not win the World Heavyweight title at Over The Limit this weekend.
Jericho responded to the writer of the article Twitter:
“Hey Alex Giannini, heres an idea-shut your effen mouth and stop spreading BS rumours.”
– A fan wrote to David Otunga on Twitter this week and brought to his attention that TNA World Champion Bobby Roode recently demanded a bowl of green M&M’s on Impact – which David Otunga also did back when he hosted RAW. Otunga replied and said the following about TNA’s champion:
— WWE Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes revealed on Twitter that he will partner with Daniel Bryan tonight on Raw SuperShow in a tag team match against WWE Champion CM Punk and United States Champion Santino Marella.
— Syfy will air SmackDown live on Tuesday, July 3; the event takes place at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. Ticketmaster.com is holding a pre-sale this Thursday at 10:00 a.m. with the password SMACK.
— Monday’s broadcast of Inside Edition featured a piece on Jennifer Hudson and fiancée David Otunga visiting Six Flags in Illinois 24 hours after the songstress’ former brother-in-law was convicted Thursday of murdering her mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew.
— Former WCW and WWE talent Robert Fuller (a/k/a Col. Robert Parker, Tennessee Lee) turns 61 years old on Monday.
— Jim Ross makes his return to the announce booth this week as he is slated to broadcast the debut episode of WWE NXT at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. It is not known whether he will broadcast the FCW Wrestling taping.
Speaking of the WWE Hall of Famer, he wrote Sunday night on Twitter that he was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—the site of tonight’s Raw SuperShow—with his wife.
— David Otunga is expected to return to television shortly after fiancee’s Jennifer Hudson’s former brother-in-law was convicted Thursday of murdering her mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew. Otunga and Hudson were spotted at Six Flags less than 24 hours after the verdict was announced.
— Daniel Bryan will be appear on 105.7 the X Tuesday morning in Pennsylvania to promote the evening’s SmackDown taping in Hershey.
— Alex Riley, Brodus Clay, David Otunga and Natalya answer your Twitter questions in the latest episode of WWE Inbox. This week’s questions are: “Do you have any pre-show superstitions you must do?” and “If you could team up with any WWE Superstar or Diva, dead or alive, who would it be?”
— CM Punk responded to a report published here Monday stating that WWE officials are concerned with him being “too small” to adequately face Brock Lesnar in a potential match-up as well as his “battered” appearance backstage. He wrote, “Dirt sheets can call me small, skinny, beat up, road-tired, fat, ugly, no friends etc…everyone else calls me champ. Everyone.” Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson saw his message and showed his support for the WWE Champion.
“Amen,” Johnson wrote to Punk. “The credit will always belong to the man who is actually in the arena” #KeepDoingItStrongChamp.”
— The advertised main event for the June 18 Raw SuperShow at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island is WWE Champion CM Punk, John Cena and World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan, Kane and Mark Henry.
— TMZ published a story on “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s Texas ranch being hit by a nasty storm this week. His barn was destroyed as violent winds blew the top off. Austin says fixing it “ain’t gonna be cheap,” but he plans to use the opportunity to add more storage space.
— David Otunga, who has never publicly revealed his age, is believed to be 32 years old as he celebrates his birthday Saturday. He graduated from Larkin High School in 1998.
— Lex Luger was among those on hand for last week’s WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Miami, Florida.
— The April 6 episode of WWE Vintage Collection features the following matches and segments: Junkyard Dog vs. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine (WrestleMania), Junkyard Dog vs. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine (WWF live event – July 12, 1986), Mr. Perfect vs. Lex Luger (WrestleMania IX), Lex Luger vs. Yokozuna with Mr. Perfect as referee (WrestleMania X), Curt Hennig vs. Lex Luger (WCW Monday Nitro – November 17, 1997), Video package about Chris Jericho, Christian and Trish Stratus, Chris Jericho vs. Christian and Trish Stratus (WWE Backlash 2004). (thanks to Devin Cutting)
— Two matches are advertised for tonight’s episode of WWE SmackDown on Syfy as Alberto Del Rio will face World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus while Randy Orton battles Kane in a WrestleMania XXVIII rematch. If Del Rio can defeat The Celtic Warrior, he will earn a chance at the World Heavyweight Championship.
Other matches airing include R-Truth vs. David Otunga and Mark Henry in a Handicap Match and Divas Champion Beth Phoenix vs. Nikki Bella. Also slated is the SmackDown debut of Ryback, who formerly competed as Skip Sheffield.
— WWEShop.com has released a Daniel Bryan Yes Authentic T-Shirt.
— Christian appears for Florida Championship Wrestling on May 18 at Orlando Armory 2809 S. Ferncreek Ave. Orlando, Florida. Belltime is 7:00 p.m.
– Natalya posted a photo of The Rock’s daughter Simone and herself in Miami this weekend. Natalya called her a future WWE Diva.
– TMZ reports that David Otunga met a young refugee from the Haiti earthquake at a WWE anti-bullying campaign event on Friday and after hearing the boy’s tragic story, he’s set up a meet-and-greet backstage at WrestleMania for him and all of the WWE Superstars. At the anti-bullying event, JFK Middle School raffled off a ticket to WrestleMania on Sunday. The young refugee from Haiti won the ticket but Otunga was so moved by his story that he decided the one ticket wasn’t enough. The boy lives with foster parents in the US after being forced to move here two years ago. His mother died in Haiti a few weeks back.
– As we reported Firday, Batista is in Miami this weekend and was reportedly picked up from the airport by a WWE employee. No word yet on talks with WWE but he is scheduled to participate in the Nautica South Beach Triathlon in support of St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital on Sunday. Theoretically, he could still make it to WrestleMania in time to appear, if that’s what they’re planning.
Batista was seen hanging out with WWE Superstar Titus O’Neil on Friday night in Miami.
– WWE Superstar David Otunga was interviewed by the The Miami Herald this week and spoke about competing at WrestleMania for the first time this Sunday:
“Being here is a dream come true. Two years ago around this time I was an NXT rookie watching. Last year I missed my WrestleMania moment. This is my first time actually being in a match on this stage, let alone in a featured match with the 12-man tag match with Team Teddy taking on Team Johnny.”
“I’ve grown in every way imaginable from my ring work to character development and everything. The scary thing is I’m just getting started.”
– WWE.com caught up with John Cena this week at AXXESS and asked him whether there will be blood during his match with The Rock at WrestleMania 28. Cena said:
“It won’t be [my blood] because he hits like a sack of sand. He’s too busy having stunt doubles do his work.”
— Ezekiel Jackson beat Hunico via Torture Rack in the first match held Thursday night at WrestleMania Axxess in Miami, Florida. In a battle of WWE developmental wrestlers, Seth Rollins defeated Dean Ambrose in the second bout. Rollins obtained the victory in the seven-minute match following a foot stomp to Ambrose’s head.
— Alicia Fox, David Otunga, Lilian Garcia, Rey Mysterio and The Miz joined “American Idol’s” James Durbin, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz, and the Miami Dolphins’ Twan Russell and “T.D.” at Miami’s Hialeah Gardens and JFK Middle Schools Thursday to spread the word of anti-bullying and tolerance.
The Miz discussed the barrage of insults he gets over social media every day, and how he uses positivity to counter it. “Every time you have a negative thought or are going to post a negative tweet ,” the former WWE Champion said. “I challenge you to do something positive, say something positive. I guarantee you and that person will feel great about themselves.”
WWE.com has published articles from both events here and here.
— WWE Champion CM Punk revealed his favorite WrestleMania match during an interview with Marvel.com promoting WrestleMania XXVIII.
“WrestleMania 13, right in my backyard of Chicago. Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin,” he said. “I can remember every punch thrown, every bodyslam and every submission move. It’s just one of those perfect matches that told a story. There’s just so many to choose from, but this match is the one that sticks out the most.”
The Straight Edge Superstar also discusses his impending WrestleMania match with Chris Jericho, belief in Captain America, his kinship to Tony Stark and more.
— SmackDown ring announcer Lilian Garcia has joined The Creative Coalition and WWE’s “Be a STAR” campaign as she, American Idol contestant James Durbin, Alicia Fox, David Otunga, The Miz, Rey Mysterio and Dolphins’ mascot T.D. will encourage students at two Miami-Dade schools this week to take a against bullying by showing tolerance and respect.
— Former WWE Women’s Champion Lita will participate in a meet and greet for FWE Wrestling on April 28 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Legged Dog Studios 80 Greenwich Street New York City.
— WWE Superstar David Otunga poked fun at the consistently flat ratings for TNA Wrestling’s Impact Wrestling program, writing on Twitter last week, “If imitation is the highest form of flattery, I’m flatter than Impact’s ratings right now. #OtungaLaw.” X Division Champion Austin Aries responded to Otunga’s message with a shot of his own.
“Shocked @DavidOtunga took time to comment on @ImpactWrestling. I’d think he’d want to become at least a good hand first… #MrJenniferHudson,” he wrote Saturday night.
— Thursday’s Impact Wrestling saw James Storm call out World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Roode to confront him. Roode’s legal advisor, William Kelly, instead appeared. He is Shane Haste, a wrestler from Ohio Valley Wrestling. He received the Last Call from Storm to conclude the segment.
Haste and Mikey Nicholls lost a dark match against Gunner and Kid Kash at Tuesday’s Impact Wrestling taping in Orlando, Florida.
— WWE Superstar David Otunga poked fun at the consistently flat ratings for TNA’s Impact Wrestling.
He wrote on Twitter, “If imitation is the highest form of flattery, I’m flatter than Impact’s ratings right now. #OtungaLaw.”
This is apparently in response to a lawyer character for Bobby Roode appearing on Thursday’s Impact Wrestling.
— Both Epico and Jack Swagger turn 30 years old on Saturday. Former WWE Superstar Barry Horowitz also turns 52.
— Maria Kanellis and Demolition will appear at Royal Collectibles 96-01 Metropolitan Ave. Forest Hills, New York on Saturday, May 5 from noon to 2:00 p.m. Call 718-793-0542 for more information.
— WWE’s Once in a Lifetime: The Rock vs. John Cena airs in the United Kingdom on Sunday at Noon on Sky Sports.
— Before tonight’s Raw SuperShow at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center, Interim Raw General Manager John Laurinaitis announced two new members of Team Johnny for WrestleMania XXVIII—Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger. They join captain David Otunga, Christian and Mark Henry. Announced for Team Teddy is captain Santino Marella, Kofi Kingston and R-Truth. Both teams will feature six WWE Superstars.
To view Laurinaitis’ video announcement, click here.
— Renowned rapper Flo Rida, whose hits “Wild Ones” and “Good Feeling are the official themes for WrestleMania XXVIII, will perform at the event in Miami, Florida. He will not be the only musical artist appearing at WrestleMania as John Cena invited Machine Gun Kelly (MGK) to perform his entrance theme at the event. (Article link)
— The announced attendance for tonight’s Raw SuperShow at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was a sellout crowd of 18,088.
— The seventh episode of WWE’s Are You Serious? web series has Road Dogg and Josh Mathews reviewing a slate of classic video clips including Hulk Hogan confronting the Dungeon of Doom, the debut of Mordecai and a look at The Fabulous Ones. The infamous video of Charlie Haas inadvertently knocking Lilian Garcia to the ground as she stood on the ring apron on a 2006 episode of Raw is named the “Fail of the Week.”
— David Otunga appears as a guest Monday on the syndicated talk show The Wendy Williams Show.
“Looking forward to the @WendyWilliams show on Monday… Because I’m her guest!,” Otunga wrote on Twitter. “Set your DVR’s now. Wendy’s Show will never be the same.”
— Former WWE Superstar Rick Martel turns 56 years old on Sunday.