WWE has added Brodus Clay, Drew McIntyre, Evan Bourne, Aksana, Curt Hawkins, Jinder Mahal, Yoshi Tatsu, Theodore Long, JTG and Camacho to their “Alumni” section of WWE.com today following their release from the company.
Speaking of today’s releases, Yoshi Tatsu commented on his official Twitter account about his release from WWE today. Tatsu tweeted the following:
"I want to say thank you to @WWE & #WWEUniverse & #YoshiArmy for these 6 years. It's been an amazing experience.
Some details have come to light on today’s WWE releases, which included Brodus Clay, Drew McIntyre, Evan Bourne, Aksana, Curt Hawkins, Jinder Mahal, Yoshi Tatsu, Theodore Long, JTG, Camacho and referee Marc Harris.
Word is that Mark Carrano, who has been featured on Total Divas and works in Talent Relations under Triple H, is the person who made not, if not all, of the WWE releases today by phone. There is a lot of talk among people in WWE that the cuts are not done and that there will be more releases on the administrative side of the company as well, possibly as soon as tomorrow. It’s said that the success, or lack thereof, of the WWE Network is what is causing the talent cuts and the potential office cuts.
Regarding Tatsu’s release, it’s being said that there’s been a feeling for some time within the company that he had really regressed in the ring.
As far as Clay is concerned, there are reports that claim he “fell out of favor” with WWE creative.
In terms of the Teddy Long release, his contract actually expired, and it was well known within WWE that he would be leaving the company as an active performer soon.
Out of all of the releases, the general consensus within those actually in WWE is that Camacho and Hawkins were the two most surprising releases, as Camacho was very popular within NXT circles and Hawkins still had several years remaining on his existing deal.
We reported earlier today that WWE released ten different talents from the active roster. Those names included Drew McIntyre, Jinder Mahal, Aksana, Curt Hawkins, Theodore Long, Camacho, Brodus Clay, Evan Bourne, Yoshi Tatsu and referee Marc Harris.
The official WWE website has updated their list, with JTG being the latest to get the “best wishes in his future endeavors.”
WWE.com has announced the release of 10 talents today:
Aksana
Jinder Mahal
Drew McIntyre
Brodus Clay
Evan Bourne
JTG
Yoshi Tatsu
Curt Hawkins
Teddy Long
Camacho
Marc Harris (referee)
– Aksana, a former bodybuilder, fitness model and personal trainer signed with WWE developmental back in 2009. She was part of the third season of WWE NXT and has been on the main roster since August 2011.
– Jinder Mahal signed with WWE developmental back in 2010 and made his main roster debut in April 2011. He was part of the 3MB stable.
– Drew McIntyre was signed to WWE developmental and trained with Ohio Valley Wrestling and Florida Championship Wrestling. He made his main roster debut in 2009 and was hand picked by Vince McMahon as his “Chosen One.” A former Intercontinental Champion, McIntyre would later join the now-disbanded 3MB stable.
– Brodus Clay originally signed with WWE back in 2006 and trained at the Deep South Wrestling and Florida Championship Wrestling developmental territories before being released in February 2008. He was re-signed in January 2010 and trained at Florida Championship Wrestling before becoming a contestant on NXT Season 4. He made his debut as the “Funkasaurus” back in 2012 and later teamed with Tensai (later known as Sweet T) as part of the Tons of Funk tag team.
– Evan Bourne was signed to a developmental deal back in 2007 and competed at Ohio Valley Wrestling through 2008, when he was brought up to the main roster. He would later capture the WWE Tag Team Titles with Kofi Kingston as part of the Air Boom tag team. In March 2012, he was involved in a car accident which broke his foot in four places and dislocated it in five. He never returned to WWE television, despite telling fans on Twitter that he’s been healthy and ready to return, as soon as WWE had something for him.
– Curt Hawkins was signed to WWE developmental back in 2006 and is a former WWE Tag Team Champion along with Zack Ryder.
– Yoshi Tatsu signed with WWE developmental back in 2007 and wrestled for Florida Championship Wrestling through 2009. In 2009, he was part of the revived ECW promotion and wrestled on the main roster through 2013, when he was brought down to NXT.
– Teddy Long was a longtime authority figure in WWE and had been with the company since 1998.
– Camacho had been with WWE since 2009. His final feud in NXT was with Adam Rose.
These cuts are part of WWE’s ongoing effort to reduce costs. According to sources in WWE, don’t be surprised to see more cuts in the coming months.
The following are results of the matches taped for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars. The matches were taped on Monday night in Albany, New York prior to the start of WWE RAW.
– The Usos def. 3MB in a non-title match. Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal represented 3MB in this one. The finish saw The Usos hit their top-rope splash for the 1-2-3.
– Paige def. Alicia Fox in a non-title match. The Divas champ picked up the win via her Scorpion Cross-Lock submission finisher.
The following are highlights of a new Digital Spy interview with Drew McIntyre:
And how long will you, Jinder Mahal and Heath Slater be sticking together before the inevitable break-up? “Maybe for us personally we’ll try and get one song out before we have the break up. We’ve been talking about bringing out an album for the last year and a half. With Guns N’ Roses and Chinese Democracy it took Axl ten years – maybe we’ll try and break that record.”
Do you think that CM Punk will make a return to the WWE in the foreseeable future? “Personally I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on, I don’t know what’s going to happen. You can never tell what’s going to happen in sports entertainment, that’s what the boss always says.”
And what do you think about the rumors of Sting finally making his debut with the WWE? “He’s somebody who’s never been in the company, if that was to happen it would obviously be a very big thing, but as I always say – don’t believe everything you read on the internet until it actually happens!”
After WrestleMania and that incredible promo, we had the sad death of Warrior – do you have any favorite memories of the Ultimate Warrior? “The first ever VHS I ever owned, my brother and I, was WrestleMania VII. We watched that thing to bits – I think the tape chewed itself up. It was Warrior vs Macho Man [Randy Savage], the Retirement Match. The one time he didn’t run to the ring! The match lasted 40 minutes, so it was probably a good idea!
“That was a fond memory of my childhood… I can probably recite that entire Retirement Match. It was one of his greatest matches and he was such an incredible character. It was crazy, such an unbelievable character that’ll be around forever. He’s immortal now.”
It was so great that he got that Hall of Fame induction… “You could see how much it meant to him – how much it meant to have his family there. You can never say that it’s a good time for something like that to happen. He had an incredible weekend, with his daughters there. It’s such a shame, but he’s going to live forever like all the great Superstars do.”
The following are results of the match taped for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars. The match was taped on Monday night in Washington, D.C. prior to WWE RAW:
– Heath Slater (with Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal) def. Kofi Kingston in singles action. The crowd was pretty into Kingston in this one. This was a mostly back-and-forth type of match, which ended with the 3MB member getting the victory.
The following are highlights of a new Chad Dukes interview with “Rowdy” Roddy Piper:
On sending one of the “zombies” in his film to the hospital: “This poor kid he came in to the kitchen part of the jail, he had a bandage around his head like he was a zombie and I thought, “Okay,” and I saw a kitchen pot, and I threw him onto the table and I was hitting him in the head. But I mean it was going CLANG, but I thought I was hitting the steel of the sink part, but I wasn’t, I was hitting his head! Poor kid, and that gauze, white gauze, blood started coming out and I go, “that’s really good, these guys are good. Somehow they got that blood there.” “Cut! Can somebody call an ambulance!” I’ll just go back to my trailer now.”
“He was a really sweet kid, I wouldn’t of hurt nobody like that I thought I was hitting the sink.”
On wanting to be at WrestleMania XXX: “I wrote a quick note to the WWE saying if you don’t give the fans, what they deserve, the two guys that started it, just let them walk out, you know as more to thank them. I’m not there to have people cheer for me, I’ve had my share of that and I’m very grateful. But to have Hogan in the ring and not hit the bagpipes, the fans would never forget it. Not to give them that, to give them that to remember for the rest of their lives as would we, being Hogan and myself, who I’ve not talked to, I think would be a mistake. This is 30 years, we started with a thing called War to Settle The Score. The promoter put his house and everything up on a tag team match called WrestleMania, no number. I was definitely the dark horse in the race. 30 years later I think that we should say hello, but I don’t think the WWE’s with me, I don’t know what they wanna do. But it’ll tell me, if I don’t come out it’ll probably be the last time.”
On Drew McIntyre: “I think that the organization thinks that I will breed rebel into these kids, and that’s not true. It’s just what I had to do to survive for my family. That’s the only reason, I can’t figure out another one. The kid Drew himself went to them, I went to them, they ended up taking the kilt off of him and making him some kind of a, I’m not sure what he is. He’s a great kid though.”
On Mr. T and WrestleMania I: “I was raised by the last of the Gorgeous George era. You don’t let somebody come from some other business, walk in your business, make a fool of ya and go back into his business and laugh at ya. So if you watch Wrestlemania the very first one , I was the general and here was the rule: don’t let Mr. T throw a punch, keep it strictly amateur with him. You watch that match from beginning to end, I crossfaced him and held him till he ran out of breath and let him tag Hogan. He doesn’t throw one punch and we had complete control over him. That’s why it worked.”
– WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre, Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal spent some time with the members of the rock band “Tool” prior to Monday’s RAW. McIntyre noted on Twitter that the band performed a private concert for 3MB, tweeting the following message (and photo):
WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross has once again updated the Q&A section of his website. The following are some new highlights:
On calling the legendary Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat matches: “It was a honor to call them back when play by play was in fashion. Working w/ Bob Caudle was a privilege. Flair & Steamboat were….legendary. I was at right place at right time.”
On if he feels Tito Santana is underrated: “Tito was a great in ring talent. I don’t know who has underrated him. He was a star.”
On whether or not Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania was the match of the year: “Thanks for your take. I have no dog in this hunt. There weren’t an overabundance of great matches in WWE in 2013 IMO ”
On Jeff Jarrett leaving TNA: “I’m not connected to TNA or Jarrett or to what their relationship together was or has been lately. I don’t know what his departure means to TNA. TNA has many fixable issues. I wish Jeff and his family well.”
On the overrun during WWE RAW on Monday’s: “Enhances the TV ratings minute by minute numbers.”
On a dream match at WrestleMania between Shawn Michaels and Sting: “At the right place at the right time it would have been terrific. A main event. The ship’s sailed on that one or so I think.”
On the possibility of the War Games concept being used by WWE: “Highly unlikely. I don’t see it happening. It wasn’t a WWE creation and the blood is a no-no.”
On Drew McIntyre’s future in WWE: “It’s all about the creative and the production and execution of such. Any one can be made to be relevant in the fictional world of pro wrestling.”
On the importance of Steve Austin during the Attitude Era: “In the Attitude Era, it was Stone Cold who was the straw that stirred the drink. But he was surrounded by some great talents as well.”
On the possibility of Brock Lesnar vs. Batista in 2014: “If both are around with enough TV availabilities I’d say it’s possible. It would be a nice attraction.”
On if the Hardy Boys would ever return to WWE: “I’d say never say never but I’d also guess it would likely be a long shot. Sometimes long shots come through.”
For whatever reason, WWE decided to cut the tag-team match between The Prime Time Players and 3MB that was taped on Tuesday in Atlanta, Georgia for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown.
3MB came out as “The Fabulous 3Birds,” a parody of “The Fabulous Freebirds” gimmick from the 1980s and 1990s. Heath Slater played the role of Michael “P.S.” Hayes, Drew McIntyre played Terry “Bam Bam” Gordy and Jinder Mahal played Buddy Roberts.
You can check out the complete match online at WWE.com.
– Former WWE Superstar Chris Jericho is in Regina and Calgary this weekend with his new cover band, Coverboy. The band features Jericho, Brent and Todd from Slash’s band and Spider from Loverboy. For more information, visit CoverboyRocks.com. (Thanks to reader Brent Donnelly for sending along the info.)
– Former WWE NXT star Xavier Woods made his official WWE main roster debut on RAW Country this past Monday night. Woods debuted as R-Truth’s “new partner” and the two defeated The Rhinestone Cowboys on RAW. The Rhinestone Cowboys, for those who missed it, were 3MB dressed up in country gear.
Woods and R-Truth have teamed together before, wrestling as “Truth & Consequences” in TNA several years ago (when Woods was known as Consequences Creed).
– One of the main angles on this coming Monday’s WWE RAW, the Survivor Series “go-home” edition of the show, will be The Authority (Triple H and Stephanie McMahon) returning from “vacation” to address the performances of Kane, Brad Maddox and Vickie Guerrero on last week’s show.
– There is some speculation that the 3MB group in WWE will be permanently switching to The Union Jacks after debuting the look at last week’s WWE television tapings in England. Additionally, there is speculation that the group will switch up their look for the “RAW Country” edition of RAW this coming Monday night.
– The song used in the promo for the special “RAW Country” show next Monday night is “Round Here” by the band Florida Georgia Line. There is no word yet as to whether or not the band will appear during the show, however their schedule is reportedly open, so they are available if both sides are interested.
– WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre suffered a bit of an arm injury recently. The 3MB member tweeted the following on Tuesday morning:
– It was announced last week that Curtis Axel would defend the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Big E Langston tonight in the WWE Hell in a Cell Kickoff, which streams live at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT. However, it now appears that the match has been nixed, as the match is no longer advertised on the Hell in a Cell page on WWE.com, not to mention that the page previewing the match, has been deleted.
No match is being advertised for the WWE Hell in a Cell Kickoff, with the following stated: “Find out who will be the next WWE Champion and watch John Cena’s in-ring return when WWE Hell in a Cell airs live on pay-per-view tonight at 8 ET/5 PT, and don’t forget to check out the Kickoff, which streams live at 7:30 ET/4:30 PT!”
– Konnan, who is always vocal about WWE on his podcast and on Twitter, feels a number of WWE Superstars should be removed from television—due to poor performance and/or lack of marketability. In response to a fan on Twitter asking him which two talents should be written off television, he responded with eight, including reigning WWE Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel, all three members of 3MB, and three WWE Divas.
“Brad Maddox, JoJo, Rosa, 3MB, Axel, Aksana, would write dem off,” said Konnan.
Konnan, however, is high on two wrestlers he feels are underutilized. In response to a question asking who should be pushed, he stated, “Ziggler and Cesaro.”
– Tonight at WWE Hell in a Cell, Cody Rhodes and Goldust will defend the WWE Tag Team Championship against the team of Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, as well as Jey and Jimmy Uso. Rollins vows to reclaim the gold.
“Tonight is for reclamation. @WWEUsos & the #RhodesDynasty may be bonded by blood, but talent outperforms tradition. Believe that. #HIAC,” he wrote on Twitter.
-Former WWE Superstar Perry Saturn was introduced as a trainer during Saturday night’s WWE NXT live event in Bartow, Florida.
-WWE is continuing the “Where’s Drew?” theme for Drew McIntyre. According to various reports, this could lead to McIntyre splitting from the 3MB group and returning to his “Chosen One” gimmick. The official company Twitter account posted the following on Saturday:
“Is @TheDrewMcIntyre in #WWEAlbany? #WheresDrew”
-WWE has added a video preview of the CM Punk vs. Ryback match scheduled for this Sunday’s WWE Battleground pay-per-view on their official YouTube channel. You can check that out below:
The following are results of the matches taped for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars, which was taped prior to the start of WWE RAW on Monday night.
-Tony Dawson and Alex Riley came down to ringside for commentary.
-Santino Marella defeated JTG via Pinfall.
Santino came out first, to a huge reaction from the fans in attendance. Out next was JTG, who will be his opponent in this one-on-one contest to open this week’s WWE Superstars taping. The match was kept relatively short and was mostly a comedy match, with Santino picking up the pinfall victory after hitting the Cobra on JTG.
-Kofi Kingston defeated Drew McIntyre via Pinfall.
Kofi Kingston came out first to a nice ovation. Out next is his opponent, 3MB member Drew McIntyre. A lot of back-and-forth offense in this one, with several near falls. The finish came when Kingston hit his Trouble In Paradise kick on McIntyre for the 1-2-3.
-After those two matches, the WWE RAW announce team of Michael Cole, Jerry “The King” Lawler and JBL made their way to ringside. That ends this week’s WWE Superstars taping.
-Cody Rhodes recently posted a tweet on his official Twitter account discussuing his father, Dusty Rhodes, returning to WWE television on tonight’s post-Night Of Champions edition of RAW. Cody wrote:
“Dream is my HERO, but I don’t concur with the decision to head to #RAW perhaps he & @StephMcMahon can avoid things going too far. #Outlaw”
-Speaking of Twitter, WWE Superstar and 3MB member Drew McIntyre tweeted about his wild flip over the top-rope spot during the Night Of Champions Kickoff show. McIntyre wrote:
“Why. So. Shocked? You can bet I have more than a flip over the top rope in my move set. I am the most complete sports entertainer #WWENOC”
-And finally, former WWE Tough Enough winner Andy Leavine tweeted about his upcoming participation in a Strongman Competition. Leavine wrote:
The following are highlights from a recent Sky Sports interview with WWE Superstar and 3MB member Drew McIntyre:
skysports.com: Do you enjoy being part of a tag team or do you prefer singles action?
DM: I am happy to do anything that comes my way and I will always do my best in anything that presents itself. However, I will be getting in the ring a lot more now that my wrist injury has cleared and I am back to 100 per cent.
skysports.com: Do you sense there is a resurgence in tag team wrestling at the moment?
DM: I love tag team wrestling. I held the titles in the past with Cody Rhodes – who has just been fired – but tag teams seemed to take a back seat after that. Now, though, with 3MB, The Shield, The Usos and The Prime Time Players, it is coming back in a big way. That’s great because tag teams are a big part of wrestling and we had brilliant teams, like The Hart Foundation, The Rockers, and Legion of Doom, before.
skysports.com: You are good friends with Alberto Del Rio. How did that relationship blossom?
DM: You can probably imagine how a Scot and a Mexican became such good mates! We are very similar personality-wise, we both love wrestling – he grew up in a wrestling family and I’ve always wanted to be a wrestler – and we are both very passionate about what we do and very driven.
skysports.com: Which titles in WWE do you consider to be the most prestigious?
DM: The WWE and World Heavyweight Titles are the ones everyone is aiming for and if you’re not aiming for them you are in the wrong business – and I like to think that when the time is right I will get my shot. I have just turned 28 and have lots of years left in me and after being hindered by injury I am ready to get going. I am hungrier and more vicious than I have ever been and I don’t think anyone can match my aggression.
Check out the complete interview online at SkySports.com.
More details have come to light regarding the brawl that took place this weekend involving WWE Superstars Alberto Del Rio and Drew McIntyre.
Apparently the altercation took place at approximately 3:00am on Saturday. As the story goes, Del Rio and McIntyre went to an Irish bar together. Someone allegedly said something to the girl that McIntyre was with, which prompted Del Rio to step in. From there, somebody reportedly blind-sided Del Rio over the head with a bottle, and things escalated from there.
McIntyre came out of the fracas sporting a black eye, and Del Rio as well suffered a black eye, along with a lot of bad swelling and bruising in his face.
More details have come to light regarding the story we published late Sunday night involving the real-life brawl featuring WWE Superstars Alberto Del Rio and Drew McIntyre.
As the story goes, the two were at an Irish pub on Saturday night and a physical altercation broke out between Del Rio and several of the patrons at the establishment. According to one eye-witness, Del Rio got involved in a verbal confrontation with a gentleman, when several of his friends stepped in. This led to the physicality that broke out, and apparently fellow WWE Superstar McIntyre jumped in on behalf of Del Rio. Apparently the two were beaten up pretty good.
When Del Rio returned to the hotel, he had two black eyes, bad bruising and swelling, and was attempting to cover his face so that he would not be spotted by anyone in the lobby. Del Rio was accompanied by McIntyre, who didn’t have as much actual facial damage, but was said to be pretty lumped up as well.
According to reports, the reason Alberto Del Rio was sporting a black eye heading into his match with Christian at the SummerSlam pay-per-view on Sunday night was because of a physical altercation that took place either late Saturday night, or early into Sunday.
While there isn’t a lot of specifics that can be provided at this point, it is known that the World Heavyweight Champion was involved in a real-life brawl with fellow WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre. Apparently the two got into a scuffle at some point, and the fight resulted in noticeable physical damage to both men.
WWE explained the black eye during the pay-per-view by saying it was the result of Christian hitting the Killswitch on Del Rio during Friday’s edition of SmackDown. However, the black eye, as well as a lot of the bruises on Del Rio’s face, were the direct result of the fight with McIntyre.
We should have an update on this story early Monday morning.