– The official WWE website has issued a poll asking fans which member of The Shield is most likely to become the first WWE Champion. Roman Reigns is currently leading the poll with 51% of the vote, with Dean Ambrose (35%) and Seth Rollins (14%) trailing.
– This week on WWE Superstars, The Real Americans take on Tons of Funk in the feature match. Plus, Damien Sandow teams up with Big E Langston to take on the team of Justin Gabriel and Zack Ryder. Highlights from both bouts are available below.
– Tonight on SmackDown, Dolph Ziggler faces Dean Ambrose in a Night of Champions rematch for the United States Championship, while WWE COO Triple H will address fans at the top of the show. Click here to read WWE.com’s “SmackDown Five-Point Preview.”
-You can officially pencil in WWE United States Champion Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler as one of the main events for this week’s WWE SmackDown, which will be taped live from Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Tuesday night, September 24, 2013.
-The repackaged WWE tag-team of Primo and Epico, now known as Los Matadores, will officially make their WWE television debut on RAW next week.
-The new Triple H DVD documentary, “Triple H: Thy Kingdom Come” will be officially released on Tuesday.
The following are highlights from a recent interview with WWE Superstar and member of The Shield, Dean Ambrose:
On what about pro wrestling first appealed to him: “The appealing thing is it’s drama you can get sucked into. It’s like any other entertainment like a book or a movie that takes you out of your real life for a while and puts you in the fantasy world because you believe these are real people — and they are real people and they are going through real struggles. You feel the triumph and you feel the failure of these people … the athleticism, the endurance, the creativity of the maneuvers, and the realism. And then there’s the high-flying stuff that makes your jaw drop. And not to be cliché, but it’s larger than life. It’s kind of like mixing your favorite rock ‘n’ roll show with your favorite sport, there’s so much wrapped up into one exciting package and I don’t think you could ask for more.”
On what the goal of The Shield is in WWE: “Our goal, from a personal standpoint, is to work harder than everyone else day in, day out. Get up earlier, train harder and work harder in the ring. This business is ours for the taking and we can take it and we’re going to. And if anyone has a problem with that, then, too bad. Also, I wouldn’t call us cheaters, I would call us winners. We’re not mercenaries, we’re not thugs. We just do what’s best for business by whatever means possible. That’s all kind of up to you to make your own decision about whether that’s good or bad.”
On if it’s surreal that he used to watch wrestling and now he is a part of it: “It’s still very hard to wrap my brain around. I was in a main event overall last night, and that doesn’t sink in. I always expected to be here, from day one, it was just a question of when, but it was going to happen. And from the minute I got (to WWE), I expected to be in main events (I’m not in main events all the time, I’m still climbing the ladder). I try to stay pretty humble. Just being in the locker room with guys that I watched on TV; getting advice from Arn Anderson or William Regal, that kind of stuff is really cool to me; getting to work really closely with Triple H, it’s, no pun intended, a trip. It’s weird because you dream of being in this world one day and then you are and then it’s just everyday life, and it’s like, 7-foot (Big Show) walks into catering and it’s like, “What’s up, Show?”
On if he could meet anyone in the ring, who it would be: “I’ve had the opportunity to wrestle pretty much everybody, a huge litany of stars, and in my crystal ball, I see myself and CM Punk crossing paths and colliding. It’s not anything that’s boiling right now.
Check out the complete interview online at TheMonitor.com.
-At WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley’s comedy show in Boston this weekend, he was asked if there were any current pro wrestlers around that he felt could be the next Mick Foley. Foley said he thinks Dean Ambrose or Bray Wyatt could be the next Mick Foley.
-Former WWE Superstar John Morrison was featured in a brief appearance on the Adult Swim show STSF-SD-SUV last week playing an undercover version of the robot SAM.
-Former WWE Superstar Giovanni Roselli will be featured on the MTV show Nikki And Sara Life on Tuesday at 11:00pm ET.
The Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler match for Ziggler’s WWE United States Championship has officially been added to Sunday’s WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view. The match had been rumored for a while, but is now official for this Sunday.
With that now known, here is an updated look at the official lineup for this weekend’s Night Of Champions pay-per-view:
WWE Night Of Champions PPV:
-Randy Orton (c) vs. Daniel Bryan [WWE Championship]
-Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. Rob Van Dam [World Heavyweight Championship]
-CM Punk vs. Curtis Axel & Paul Heyman [Handicap Elimination Match]
-Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler [WWE United States Championship]
-AJ Lee (c) vs. Natalya vs. Brie Bella vs. Naomi [WWE Divas Championship]
-Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins (c) vs. Tag-Team Turmoil Match Winners
WWE Night Of Champions Kickoff Show:
-Prime Time Players vs. The Usos vs. 3MB vs. Tons Of Funk vs. Real Americans [Tag-Team Turmoil Elimination #1 Contender’s Match]
Make sure to join us this Snuday for the best WWE Night Of Champions live pay-per-view results coverage.
WWE United States Champion Dean Ambrose of The Shield recently spoke to CityBeat.com to promote next Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown tapings from the U.S. Bank Area in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.
During the interview, Ambrose talks about how he got into wrestling, paying his dues on the indy circuit as Jon Moxley and his transition from WWE developmental to the main roster.
He also revealed his goals in WWE, which are nothing short of ambitious:
“To me, anything less than being the top guy in the industry, the top villain in the industry, the WWE Champion, is a failure. That’s a lot of pressure to put on yourself, but whenever I look at it realistically, that’s just how it is.”
-The main event of the WWE live event in Fresno, California on Friday featured Randy Orton defending the WWE Championship against Daniel Bryan. The finish saw Orton nearly tapping to the “Yes! Lock” submission hold by Bryan until The Shield did a run-in, causing a disqualification. This led to Big Show and Mark Henry coming in to make the save, while Orton scurried off and escaped up the aisle while all three members of The Shield ate the finishing moves of Show and Henry. With John Cena on the shelf for the remainder of 2013, this will likely be the main event finish on the “A” live events from WWE going forward.
-Speaking of the WWE live event in Fresno, WWE Superstar Rey Mysterio made an appearance, as advertised, and announced during the show that he would be back to in-ring action in September.
The following are highlights from a recent interview with WWE Superstar and leader of The Shield faction, Dean Ambrose:
Being US Champion: “That’s one of those things you don’t really realize how cool it is until you hold that belt in your hands for the first time and you hear the crowd. Now for me the biggest part of it is elevating the belt. I don’t believe a championship makes a wrestler and a wrestler makes a champion. I have to raise the profile even higher than the championship and make everybody want it because I have it. I want my performance to be at the highest level of anybody in the company. I want to make everybody step up to me. I’ll create my own challenges; I want to make sure the energy is pointing to me and the United States championship. I don’t want it to be a trinket.”
Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns: “Those two guys are great to work with. I couldn’t ask for better partners. We travel together, we train together, we eat, sleep, breathe and wrestle, and we brainstorm to come up with ideas on how to be better wrestlers. We have kind of an ongoing, ever evolving process. We’re making it up as we go along and once we get a little crack, doors open full steam ahead. We have a rapport; we really try to set a standard. We’re gonna work everybody every single night, every single day. That’s what we do.”
The Shield’s goal: “The goal, for the SHIELD is to eventually take over the circuit. Once we climb to the top of the mountain than, yeah, ideally we will be wrestling each other one day for a whole lot of money. That could definitely happen sometime in the future… I think we’ll have a hell of a long trip for justice to be served.”
Check out the complete interview online at IEWeekly.com.
According to one source, an angle is likely going to be shot during the Dean Ambrose vs. Rob Van Dam WWE United States Championship match during the WWE SummerSlam Kickoff Show on Sunday night prior to SummerSlam.
The report claims that the angle will either lead to a trios match featuring The Shield against Big Show, Mark Henry and Rob Van Dam, or a regular tag-team match between Show and Henry and Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins.
Regardless, all of the aforementioned WWE Superstars have been informed that they will be working on the actual SummerSlam pay-per-view card itself.
According to one source, The Wyatt Family is currently considered a pet project of Triple H in WWE these days. The general consensus within WWE is that HHH is grooming the Wyatt Family for a big push, even more so than the one they are currently riding.
One report claims HHH is specifically grooming them for the spot that was one designated for The Shield. Apparently The Shield is about to be bumped down a notch or two in favor of the Wyatt’s.
Past pet projects of Hunter’s included Kharma and Sin Cara. The general feeling there is both of those projects bombed, so “The Game” is expected to go all out when it comes to getting the Wyatt’s over in a major way.
It was announced on Monday’s edition of WWE RAW that the winner of a 20-man Battle Royal match would earn the right to challenge WWE United States Champion and leader of The Shield, Dean Ambrose, at Sunday’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view. Later, it was announced that the title bout would be the featured match on the SummerSlam Kickoff Pre-Show.
Rob Van Dam won the Battle Royal on RAW, which means you can officially pencil in Rob Van Dam vs. Dean Ambrose for the WWE United States Championship this Sunday during the SummerSlam Kickoff pay-per-view pre-show.
Also announced for the Kickoff show, as we reported earlier, is a panel featuring WWE Hall Of Famers Shawn Michaels and Booker T, along with WWE Diva and Total Divas star Natalya, who will also compete against Brie Bella in a Divas match on the show.
-Former WWE Superstar Matt Hardy recently posted a video clip of himself presenting his fiancee’ Reby Sky with her birthday present. You can check out the video at Facebook.com.
-All three members of The Shield, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns will be appearing at The Chicago Wizard World Comic Con on August 10th at 3pm. Roman Reigns promoted the appearance in a new tweet posted on his official Twitter account on Tuesday. For more information, visit WizardWorld.com.
-Jim Ross recently noted on Twitter that he will be appearing at Homeland Stores on Lindsey Street in Norman, Oklahoma on Saturday from 1-3pm.
-Mick Foley posted a new tweet on Tuesday where he confirmed that Lisa Marie Varon, aka former TNA Knockout Tara and former WWE Diva Victoria, will be appearing at the WWE Hall Of Famer’s stand-up comedy show in Chicago on Thursday, August 8th.
This week’s WWE SmackDown and Main Event television shows will be taped before a live audience at the BHO Harris Bank Center in Rockford, Illinois this evening.
Already confirmed for the show, as announced on Monday’s WWE RAW show, is a MizTV segment with special guests Big E. Langston and AJ Lee.
The advertised dark match main event is Sheamus, Randy Orton and Rob Van Dam vs. The Shield. However, for whatever this is worth, the advertised dark match main event for RAW between John Cena and Alberto Del Rio never took place on Monday night.
Make sure to check back here on the website later this evening for live WWE SmackDown spoiler results.
-WWE is advertising a dark match main event of Randy Orton, Sheamus and Rob Van Dam vs. The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns) for Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown and Main Event television taping.
-As previously noted, the WWE RAW dark match main event for tonight’s show in Green Bay features John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio in a “Champion vs. Champion” match. Starting with next Monday’s RAW, the dark match main event will feature John Cena and Mark Henry taking on all three members of The Shield in a Handicap Match.
-For whatever this is worth, WWE is no longer advertising Brock Lesnar for the post-SummerSlam edition of WWE RAW. Lesnar is still scheduled for tonight’s RAW and next week’s RAW, the final two editions of the show leading into the annual SummerSlam pay-per-view.
-WWE is advertising the following lineup for the live event on September 22nd in Hidalgo, Texas:
–John Cena vs. Dean Ambrose [Champion vs. Champion Match]
–Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton [Special Challenge Match]
–Mark Henry vs. Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns [2-On-1 Handicap Match]
WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross has once again updated the Q&A section of his official website. Below are highlights:
On Goldberg’s new DVD and a match between he and The Undertaker: “The compliation Goldberg DVD will do good. I’ve not seen it but likely will check it out. Goldberg vs. Taker in their heyday would have been nice. Who wins would have depended on where and when it was but I’d lean toward Taker.”
On whether or not JR will ever start his own podcast: “Likely not. Too much work. :) Not enough money.”
On Bray Wyatt’s in-ring ability: “Many of us have seen him wrestle a great deal in NXT. He’s a keeper.”
On his favorite Mid-South Wrestling angles: “Had many favorites and am looking forward to the Mid South DVD WWE is releasing on Sept 10. Ted [DiBiase] and [Junkyard] Dog were hard to beat.”
On one-legged wrestler Zach Gowen’s WWE run: “He had great heart and passion.”
On Dean Ambrose’s potential when The Shield eventually breaks up: “The goal is always for any entity to have more sizzle and potential when they split and become single stars. Ambrose will be interesting to follow along with Rolins and Reigns.”
On if he feels the U.S. and Intercontinental Titles should be unified: “I don’t see the value in doing so. It’s not hard to make them both mean more.”
Check out more Jim Ross Q&A at his official website, JRsBarBQ.com.
-As of this writing, there are no concrete plans for WWE Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel as far as a match at the upcoming WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view. It is possible that Axel will be added to the SummerSlam pay-per-view pre-show, as the company has recently been putting title matches on the “PPV kickoff” specials.
-Despite the fact that he has not yet been officially cleared to return to in-ring action, WWE Superstar The Big Show is expected to be ready to return to the ring in time to follow-through on SummerSlam booking plans. Current plans feature a two-on-three handicap match between all three members of The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns) and the big-man duo of The Big Show and Mark Henry.
Additionally, Big Show is expected to return at the WWE RAW show on August 5th to shoot the angle for the aforementioned pay-per-view match.
WWE United States champion Dean Ambrose recently spoke to the Poughkeepsie Journal. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
The Shield & Why They’re Different From Other WWE Superstars:
“I can tell you it’s been an ever-evolving process. I don’t think we knew where we wanted to go. Every week, it’s been a new idea. An on-the-fly idea. Coming out of the crowd was not a pre-planned, premeditated idea that someone came up with in a meeting room. Everything has kind of organically evolved. Instead of coming through the entrance way, we wanted to make a statement to people that what you see is not like every other WWE superstar, every other normal wrestler. It was done to separate ourselves. We’re not like everyone in the back. We’re completely different and more dangerous and something you’ve got to keep your eyes on. “Everything from the moves we do to the things we wear to the things we say, all of them have been on the fly. We’re making it up as we go along. If something feels natural, we do it. If somebody says a good line, it’s like, hey I like that line, let’s go with it. Or someone does a good move, hey I like that move, let’s do that again. It’s been an on-the job process. You’re watching it unfold with your eyes as much as we are and I think that’s one of the exciting things for the fans.”
His Promo Style:
“Cutting a promo has always come very naturally and it’s nothing I ever had to work on. I don’t know how to explain it. I don’t have a particular process. You have to not be afraid to be yourself and let go and tap into how you really feel. You need to let loose. If you can do that, you can show people a different side of your personality. Get in front of the camera and be free. I enjoy being in front of the camera and I use it as an outlet. In real life, I’m a pretty private person. I’m not a flashy, attention-seeking, kind of guy. When the red light goes on, you have an opportunity to be whatever you want and let loose and use it as an outlet. I’m able to take a lot of aggression off my choice. I guess my best advice would be to just cut loose and not be afraid to just let your real self come out from inside. If you get intimidated by the camera, that shows through. Just enjoy cutting it loose.”
“Guys today, a lot of them only learned one way to do it. They came up in developmental or whatever and are told what to say and that’s the only way they know how to do it. I didn’t come up that way, fortunately. I don’t want anybody to tell me what to say. When you put words in my mouth, I don’t like that. With a promo, you have an opportunity to sell tickets and sell pay-per-views and create interest. Every single time, the camera’s on you, you have a chance to expand your bank account and puts (butts) in the seats and help your performance. It’s all a big part of a masterpiece of an angle or a story that climaxes in a match. It all ties together.”
WWE is advertising several high-profile matches for this week’s episodes of WWE Main Event & SmackDown, to be taped this evening from Edmonton, AB:
– WWE Main Event will see Alberto Del Rio and The Miz teaming up against Intercontinental champion Wade Barrett and Big E Langston. Del Rio and Big E Langston have exchanged wins on the past 2 weeks of RAW, while Miz and Barrett exchanged the Intercontinental championship around WrestleMania 29.
– Friday’s SmackDown will see WWE United States Champion Dean Ambrose of The Shield vs. Randy Orton. Ambrose (and The Shield) promised to elevate the status of their new championship titles – and a main event title defense against Randy Orton is a sign that he’s following through on that claim.
– WWE Diva Naomi and Jimmy Uso are currently dating, according to WWE Diva Layla. It’s been rumored for quite some time that they were in a relationship – and Uso was recently seen in photos with Naomi while she was filming the Total Divas reality show. Here’s a picture of the couple together:
– WWE COO Triple H was recently asked on Twitter what he thinks about The Shield member Dean Ambrose. He replied:
“@mcguire28: @TripleH Hey Hunter. Whats ur Opinion on Dean ambrose" Bright future
– The Shield member Dean Ambrose suffered an eye injury at Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings. According to WWE.com, he was checked out by WWE’s medical staff after his match against Daniel Bryan.
– Here are updated breakdowns of Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber pay-per-view buyrates, courtesy of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
Royal Rumble:
2013: 512,000 buys worldwide with 322,000 domestic
– WWE NXT Diva Summer Rae once again appeared as Fandango’s dancing partner on RAW. She was acknowledged by name for the first time since debuting, so it looks like she’s joining the main roster.
– Friday’s WWE SmackDown will feature The Shield member Dean Ambrose vs. Kane, Ambrose’s second singles match in WWE after facing the Undertaker last week. Ambrose has long been pegged as the Shield member with the most breakout potential, so it’s interesting to see what he can do on his own.
– Speaking of Rollins, he tweeted this late Monday night after RAW:
Tearing down that wall. Brick by brick by brick. We don't need no thought control. #BelieveInTheShield#raw
– WWE confirmed on this week’s Main Event broadcast that the Undertaker vs. Dean Ambrose match taped at the end of Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings will in fact air on Friday’s SmackDown broadcast. There had been a lot of confusion as to whether the match was a dark match or not.
It’s worth noting that this will be the first time a member of The Shield wrestles a singles match on WWE TV.
– Stephanie McMahon revealed on Twitter earlier this month that The Rock will be on the cover of the new WWE 2K14 video game, due out this fall. While the official box artwork has not yet been revealed, the @WWEGames Twitter account tweeted the following image, playing off The Rock’s surgery from earlier this week:
“Hey @TheRock, what do you think about this for a #WWE2K14 cover? Wishing you a speedy recovery!”
There are conflicting reports about the Undertaker vs. Dean Ambrose match that took place at the end of Tuesday’s London SmackDown tapings.
Initially, fan reports that were being sent in (and Twitter activity) indicated that the match was the non-televised dark match main event. Plus, the Undertaker’s appearance was promoted in advance as a “London Exclusive” – another sign that it was for the live crowd only.
However, other fans who were in attendance stated that the match was probably taped for Friday’s SmackDown broadcast, since a graphic aired on the big screen earlier in the show hyping the match and WWE announcers were still ringside calling the action.
It’s still unclear at this point where the TV taping concluded and WWE has not yet acknowledged that Undertaker will be competing on Friday’s show.
We’ll post an update when more details become available. In the event that the match does air on television, we apologize for “spoiling” the result for fans who try to avoid spoilers.
At Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown tapings from London, England, The Undertaker made a rare in-ring appearance, wrestling The Shield member Dean Ambrose. It’s still unclear at this time whether the match will air on SmackDown or was a dark match main event, but here’s an in-person from SEScoops.com correspondent Jen Lee of Dean-ambrose.net:
The commentators (I could hear them) kept going right up until, after powerbombing Taker through the announce desk, Ambrose started yelling at him. At that point JBL and Cole left and things seemed to clear out while The Shield ‘celebrated’ and went back in to the ring. Pretty much the only people left after that were Lilian and one camera guy, the others were done. Thats when the Outlaws and Triple H came out, cleared out The Shield and went to pick up Taker from the wreckage. There was a funny spot after that where they walked up the ramp, stopped by the Taxi at the top and opened the door as if to put Taker in it. He just glared and they closed it again.
But yeah, it was still full systems go all the way up to Ambrose yelling after the powerbomb. 3 cameras, 2 photographers, commentators shouting. Heard most of it. So I’d say it’s getting aired. They also showed a graphic several times through the night for it, and Ambrose did a backstage promo talking about taking out Undertaker ‘tonight’.
After tonight’s WWE RAW in Lafayette ended, Cody Rhodes came to the ring to look at the new WWE Title belt.
The Rock picked on Cody’s mustache and asked several fans at ringside if he should get a look at a Rock Bottom. Cody gets back on the mic and says he made a mistake.
Cody ended up taking a Rock Bottom and People’s Elbow. The Rock grabbed the new WWE Championship belt and celebrated with it to end the show.
