One week from today, WWE’s annual Money in the Bank pay-per-view will be held in Boston, Massachusetts. The event has quickly become one of the most anticipated programs of the year, as it provides exciting action and sets up the storyline for months by allowing a WWE superstar to stalk his prey while holding a contract for a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match.
There will be two Money in the Bank ladder matches this year. One will be held for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship, and the other will be a traditional contest for a shot at the title. The first contest will feature perennial title contenders such as John Cena, Randy Orton, Sheamus, and Alberto Del Rio, as well as up-and-coming stars such as Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, and Cesaro.
It seems like John Cena is once again the favorite to leave Boston as the champ.
The second ladder match will feature Seth Rollins, with the rest of the lineup to be determined in a series of qualifying matches. Thus far, only three matches have been announced for the entire pay-per-view, and with only one week left before the event, one has to wonder how the WWE will tie everything together in such a brief period.
Other than the two ladder matches, a matchup between the Usos and Luke Harper and Erick Rowan of the Wyatt family is the only confirmed contest on the card. It seems apparent that Dean Ambrose will be one of the participants in the traditional ladder match. Potential options also include those who did not qualify for the championship ladder match, including Bad News Barrett, Dolph Ziggler, and Rob Van Dam.
The two ladder matches will soak up a large portion of the roster, meaning the midcard will have to pick up some slack in order to fill up the three hours of airtime. Rumored contests include Cody Rhodes and Goldust vs. RybAxel, Rusev vs. Big E, and a Divas Championship match involving Paige and all or part of the Funkadactyls.
The main event for the June 29th WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-view will be the ladder match for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship, which features John Cena, Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, Sheamus, Cesaro, Bray Wyatt and Alberto Del Rio. As noted recently, Cena or Reigns (and Cesaro as a long-shot) will likely come out on top, as the winner is the likely candidate for Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam.
Also confirmed for the 6/29 PPV is a WWE Tag-Team Championship match with The Usos defending against Luke Harper and Erick Rowan of The Wyatt Family.
The second ladder match, which was made official recently and will be for the usual Money In The Bank briefcase, as of right now only features Seth Rollins. Additional names rumored for the match include Dean Ambrose, Big E., Rob Van Dam, Bo Dallas, as well as Bad News Barrett and Dolph Ziggler, the latter two of which will either be part of that match or in an Intercontinental Championship match with each other.
Additionally, the direction for the WWE Divas Championship match at Money In The Bank seems to be Paige defending against Naomi of The Funkadactyls.
The following are highlights from the latest Jim Ross blog:
On his upcoming Hall Of Fame MC gig: “Excited to head to Waterloo, Iowa July 18-19 for the annual National Wrestling Hall of Fame weekend at the Dan Gable Museum. All wrestling fans no matter amateur or pro should see the museum once in their life as it is truly fascinating and one of the bucket list days of my entire year. Randy Couture, The Steiner Brothers, DDP, Larry Hennig, Larry Matysik, For info on tickets to attend this weekend that includes a banquet, live, pro wrestling event, pro tryouts and the chance to meet the greats of the game you can call 319-233-0745 or visit them on Facebook. I will MC the banquet on Saturday July 19 and will also attend the pro wrestling event with WWE HOFer Jerry Brisco on Friday night July 18.”
On a Bray Wyatt face turn: “What do you think of Bray Wyatt being a character baby face after being turned on by Harper and Rowan who then become managed by Jake Roberts who builds his own faction?”
“Harper is a star in the waiting and the key to Rowan achieving a high level of success is him showing more animation and personality in the ring and being able to master a promo.”
On Bo Dallas: “Bo Dallas was the consummate, ivory snow baby face in NXT for a long, long time until the fans organically turned on him for being too goody-goody. The current incarnation of Bo Dallas isn’t as organic as what made him an antagonist in NXT but I hope it will eventually work for the young man’s sake. He’s a good kid who works hard and is a natural athlete. Only time will tell if this presentation clicks and the timing inasmuch as how long the persona is left to evolve and/or to tweak is critical.”
On Brodus Clay: “Brodus Clay always reminded me of the UWF version or the One Man Gang. Perhaps some day Brodus can see if my premonition actually is accurate. If Brodus can maintain a healthy, athletic weight so he can feed the comebacks approiately he has a shot at becoming a main event level heel IMO.”
Check out the complete blog at JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.
While it appears that Wyatt Family members Luke Harper and Erick Rowan are headed towards a run as WWE Tag-Team Champions, there are those within the company who feel that will not happen.
The belief in the company right now is that NXT tag-team The Ascension will be called up soon, and that The Usos will hang onto the titles until that happens.
– Following the WWE SmackDown television taping on Tuesday night in Cincinnati, Ohio, a six-man tag-team dark match took place that saw Big Show, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose defeat The Wyatt Family.
– For those who have asked, Dolph Ziggler’s new ring trunks, which he wore this past Monday night on RAW, says “Over It” on the back.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Nick Bockwinkel has stepped down as the president of the Cauliflower Alley Club due to health issues. Former Killer Bees member Brian Blair will now serve as the president going forward.
It’s being reported that the complete script for tonight’s WWE Payback pay-per-view was written in full this past Tuesday.
It should be noted, however, that while the script doesn’t include a WWE Tag-Team Championship match, nor has one been advertised on television leading into tonight’s show, there has been talk of a last-minute addition of The Usos vs. Luke Harper vs. Erick Rowan.
Currently there are three matches officially announced for the upcoming WWE Payback pay-per-view on June 1st in Chicago, Illinois. Those matches are The Shield vs. Evolution in a No Holds Barred Elimination match, John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt in a Last Man Standing match and Bad News Barrett vs. Rob Van Dam for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
Other matches likely for WWE Payback include The Usos vs. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan for the WWE Tag-Team Championships, Paige vs. Alicia Fox for the WWE Divas Championship, Sheamus vs. Cesaro for the WWE United States Championship, Adam Rose vs. Jack Swagger, Rusev vs. Big E. and Summer Rae vs. Layla with Fandango as special guest referee.
As far as the No Holds Barred Elimination main event, a possible scenario being considered is one that would see Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins eliminated early, leaving Roman Reigns to make a huge comeback on all three Evolution members by himself.
The match will be Batista’s final match in WWE for several months, and based on plans for the future, could be one of Triple H’s last for a while as well.
It seemed as if the tag team division had been revitalized last year. However, almost as soon as fans started to become excited about the division again, half of the teams were broken up and it has been largely ignored.
The Usos are the current champions, and I think their pay-per-view exposure shows how confident the WWE is that the Uso brothers will draw. After all, they defended their tag titles on the pre-show at WrestleMania and did not appear in any capacity at Extreme Rules.
With that said, it would not take much effort to get the division back to where it was at the end of last year. Here are five current or potential tag teams that could help make the division relevant again (or at the very least, get it onto the pay-per-view card).
5. Rybaxel – At first, this team seemed like it would go nowhere. They had both just basically flopped while under the tutelage of Paul Heyman, so why would anyone believe that they would fare well without him? Surprisingly, both have improved since leaving Heyman, especially Ryback. He is hilarious on the microphone and can actually be pretty entertaining when he’s allowed to speak. I think the WWE still has plans to push both guys in the future, and a run with the Tag Team Championships could help elevate both superstars.
4. Damien Sandow and Dolph Ziggler – These guys have adopted similar personality traits in recent weeks, most notably because both guys seem disgruntled, annoyed, and displeased that their talents are not being properly utilized. Sandow and Ziggler would make a great team if paired together, as both are impressive in the ring and on the mic. There were rumors a while back of a possible stable of disgruntled superstars being formed, including Ziggler and the Miz, but a team of Sandow and Ziggler would work even better and could make the tag title picture exciting again.
3. Jack Swagger and Cody Rhodes – It is no secret that Zeb Colter has been trying to recruit a new member to the Real Americans since Cesaro betrayed him a few weeks back. With Cody being the son of the American Dream Dusty Rhodes, it would make sense for him to become a Real American. Cody and Goldust are definitely going to part ways soon, with Cody likely being the one to turn heel, so it would provide the perfect opportunity for Cody to align with Swagger and Colter afterward.
– The kid who played “Little Johnny” during the Bray Wyatt vs. John Cena steel cage match at Sunday’s WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view was the son of Jameson, a former WWE character who at one point co-hosted the “Bobby Heenan Show” on the USA Network.
– Short Sleeve Sampson apparently received massive heat from WWE for posting a photo on his official Facebook account prior to last night’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view. The reason is because the photo had John Cena with Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan in the background going over their match.
The following are highlights of a recent IGN interview with Seth Rollins:
On The Shield playing off each other well against The Wyatt Family: “Yeah, definitely. From the first time we had any sort of interaction with them, when we were over in the UK last November, there was definitely some crazy electricity that was going on. We knew that once we got into it that it was going to be awesome. I think it exceeded whatever hype it had laid in front of it, and that’s really tough to do nowadays, to have a match where people wanted to see that. They were genuinely like, “Damn, I want to see that. That’s going to be awesome.” So I was really happy we got the opportunity to do that with those guys.”
On the energy in the crowd when they had their first confrontation with The Wyatt Family: “Yeah, that’s what we live for. Those moments are what we do it for. That’s what keeps us coming back. It’s a rush every time we come down the stairs and through the crowd and get in the ring and have a great match. It’s special moments like that where you can’t describe the electricity; it’s a lighting-in-a-bottle sort of thing. That’s what keeps you coming back and really why you do it. Make people really feel something; that’s pretty impressive. That’s an awesome thing to be able to do.”
On if he’d prefer to stay with The Shield for a bit longer before the inevitable split: “I definitely do. I think there’s a lot of life left in The Shield, especially with the different direction the crowd has taken on with us. I think there’s a long way to go for us as a group — as individuals as well. There’s no reason we can’t advance in both situations. I think people assume that for whatever reason there’s an exclusivity to being a single star and a great stable. But for me it’s never about that. We can all grow as individuals, and we can all be big stars in our own right. The Shield can be as big as it’s ever been. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.”
The following is a non-spoiler match listing for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown, which was taped on Tuesday night and will air on Friday, May 2, 2014 on the SyFy Network.
– Rob Van Dam vs. Jack Swagger
– Alexander Rusev vs. R-Truth
– The Wyatt Family vs. Sheamus & The Usos
– Damien Sandow vs. Dolph Ziggler
– Big E. vs. Titus O’Neil
– Dean Ambrose vs. Ryback vs. Curtis Axel vs. Alberto Del Rio
For a complete spoiler report for this week’s WWE SmackDown, click ahead to page two …
The following are results for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event, which aired live on the WWE Network on Tuesday, April 29, 2014.
– Goldust def. Alberto Del Rio in a singles bout to open the show. The match saw a lot of back-and-forth action until Goldust counters Del Rio’s superkick attempt and blasts him with his Final Cut finisher for the 1-2-3 and the victory.
– After Goldust picks up the victory, Cody Rhodes comes in and congratulates him. Renee Young enters the ring and interviews both guys. She asks if their recent singles matches means they are going their separate ways. Goldust says that the Brotherhood is still together. He says they may work singles matches from time-to-time, but ultimately they have each others backs. Young asks Rhodes if he is proud of his brother. He seems offended at the question and asks if she thinks Goldust is better than him because he won tonight and Cody lost on RAW. Eventually he apologizes and reiterates the fact that the Brotherhood is together and says things will stay that way. The two hug and that’s that.
– Paige def. Alicia Fox in Divas action to retain her WWE Divas Championship. The match went back-and-forth, with Paige taking a lot of punishment before ultimately hitting Fox with a big DDT to score the pin fall victory. After the match, as Paige was walking up the ramp, Tamina Snuka comes out to the top of the stage and the two have a staredown.
– Backstage, Renee Young is with Sheamus. She asks Sheamus for his level of concern knowing he has to face Bray Wyatt in the main event tonight. Sheamus talks briefly about how he’s not afraid and informs Wyatt that tonight — it’s time to fight.
– Bad News Barrett def. Kofi Kingston in singles competition. Barrett cuts a promo before the match dressing down Big E., informing him that he’s going to take his WWE Intercontinental Championship this Sunday at Extreme Rules. The two have a solid back-and-forth match that ends when Kingston leaps in the air off of the ringside steps, but gets caught on the way down with the Bull Hammer Elbow from Barrett. Barrett rolls Kingston back in the ring and covers him. 1-2-3. Barrett wins.
– Bray Wyatt def. Sheamus in the headline bout of this week’s edition of WWE Main Event. Bray Wyatt sings along with the crowd, singing of course, “he’s got the whole world in his hands.” He sings along with them until Sheamus’ music hits to interupt him. The two end up having an extremely competitive match that sees Erick Rowan and Luke Harper distract Sheamus at the end, allowing Wyatt to hit him with his Sister Abigail finisher for the 1-2-3.
– After the main event ends, Rowan and Harper join Wyatt in a three-on-one beatdown of Sheamus until The Usos come out to make the save. The show goes off the air with all six guys staring each other down.
The following is a non-spoiler match listing for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown, which was taped on April 22nd in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and will air this Friday, April 25th on the SyFy Network.
– “The Great Debate” between Paul Heyman and Cesaro.
– Cesaro vs. Jack Swagger
– Natalya vs. Tamina Snuka
– Curtis Axel vs. Jey Uso
– Luke Harper & Erick Rowan vs. Goldust & Cody Rhodes
– Fandango & Layla vs. Santino Marella & Emma
– The Shield vs. 11 WWE Superstars
For a complete WWE SmackDown spoiler report for this week, click ahead to page two …
The following is a non-spoiler match listing for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown. For complete spoiler results, click ahead to page two.
– Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Drew McIntyre & Jinder Mahal
– Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Ryback & Curtis Axel
– Damien Sandow vs. Sin Cara
– Goldust vs. Fandango
– Batista vs. Sheamus
– The Bella Twins vs. AJ Lee & Tamina Snuka
– Jack Swagger vs. Jimmy Uso
– The Miz vs. Mark Henry
– Bray Wyatt vs. Big Show
For complete spoiler results for this week’s WWE SmackDown, click ahead to page two …
Shortly after announcing the John Cena vs. Luke Harper main event for tonight’s edition of WWE RAW, the company changed it to the other member of The Wyatt Family.
So instead, Cena will be facing Erick Rowan in one-on-one action on tonight’s RAW in Memphis.
– In addition to the Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins vs. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan and Dean Ambrose vs. Big E. title unification match rumors for WrestleMania XXX, there continues to be discussion about a possible triple-threat match with Reigns, Ambrose and Rollins competing against each other at WrestleMania XXX.
– WWE ring announcer Lilian Garcia sang the National Anthem and participated in a 5K race to support the Susan G. Komen Foundation earlier today in Los Angeles, California.
According to reports, WWE is strongly considering the possibility of adding a third person to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship main event at WrestleMania XXX between Randy Orton and Batista. The latest internal lineup in the company reads, “Batista vs. Orton vs. ?”
Other WrestleMania XXX matches that have been discussed internally, but not yet decided on, include Big E. vs. Dean Ambrose in a match to unify the WWE United States and WWE Intercontinental Championships, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan vs. Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, Sheamus vs. Christian, Goldust vs. Cody Rhodes and a match pitting two NXT wrestlers against each other in a match on the main card.
John Cena suffered a legitimate injury during the attack he suffered from The Wyatt Family at Monday’s post-Elimination Chamber edition of WWE RAW.
The injury took place when Erick Rowan took him down as soon as The Wyatt Family hit the ring to start their attack. There is early fear that Cena either dislocated or hyper-extended his knee.
As seen on RAW, Cena was taken out of the ring on a stretcher. Michael Cole informed fans that he had a lot of swelling around his knee and was being checked on by WWE trainers backstage.
– The dark match main event at the WWE SmackDown television taping on Tuesday night in Des Moines, Iowa featured Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt in one-on-one action. Bryan would go on to win the match via disqualification when Erick Rowan and Luke Harper interfered. The Usos would then come out to make the save for Bryan and “send the fans home happy.”
– The latest edition of Chris Jericho’s new “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, which as reported recently will be expanding to two shows per week, is now online. As noted, Jericho’s guest this week is Chavo Guerrero. Part one of their two-part interview is available right now at PodcastOne.com.
– As previously reported, Daniel Bryan was taken off of his scheduled appearances at WWE live events this weekend due to the concussion he suffered at RAW on Monday. As noted, Big Show served as Bryan’s replacement in singles matches against Bray Wyatt. As a result, Kane, who was originally slated to compete against Big Show on the opposing WWE live event tour, ended up working as somewhat of a babyface against Luke Harper and Erick Rowan in two-on-one handicap matches.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Pat Patterson celebrates his 73rd birthday today. Patterson was born on January 19, 1940. Also celebrating a birthday today was current WWE Superstar R-Truth, who turned 42. Truth was born on January 19, 1971.
The final WWE RAW show of 2013 ended with Daniel Bryan joining The Wyatt Family. The RAW main event featured Daniel Bryan facing Luke Harper first. If Bryan defeated Harper, then he had to beat Erick Rowan. If he defeated them both, then he could get his hands on Bray Wyatt. Bryan ended up beating them both. When Bray’s turn to face Bryan came up, he stopped himself from attacking Bryan. Bryan ended up telling Bray he was right. He said fans chanted “Yes!” in every building he went to, and “they” still didn’t care. Bray then hit Bryan with his Sister Abigail finisher, but the two still ended up leaving together. Bryan stopped at the top of the stage to think over his decision, but ultimately decided to do it anyway.
Also on RAW on Monday night, both Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman returned. The two returned as part of Triple H’s “blockbuster announcement.” They announced their intentions on becoming the WWE World Heavyweight Champion by defeating whoever wins the Royal Rumble main event between John Cena and Randy Orton. This led to Mark Henry coming out, only to get beat up by Lesnar. Lesnar speared Henry through the barricade on the floor and then hit him with an F-5 on the floor.
– Though UNLVTickets.com’s advertisement promoting an appearance by Batista for WWE’s upcoming live event at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sunday, February 16, 2014 was removed, there are still some radio ads in the area saying he’ll be at the show.
– A Six-Man Tag Team Match pitting Daniel Bryan, Cody Rhodes and Goldust against The Wyatt Family that was taped Wednesday night in San Antonio, Texas was edited off Friday’s SmackDown broadcast on Syfy.
– Eddie Edwards, who is currently working for WWE on a trial basis in Orlando, Florida, said at last night’s Pro Wrestling Guerrilla show in Reseda, California said that it would be his farewell show. Edwards, however, did not reveal his future plans.
– Independent wrestler Slyk Wagner Brown now runs a wrestling school in Waterbury, Connecticut. Those interested in visiting the school can contact him at SWB4Real@yahoo.com. He says he trained Eddie Edwards and former TNA Knockout Roxxi.
According to reports, WWE is planning on putting the WWE Tag-Team Championships on Luke Harper and Erick Rowan at some point before the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event in January.
Harper and Rowan were already expected to become the WWE Tag-Team Champions before the WrestleMania XXX event in April, however it appears now as though WWE has moved those plans up and will do the title change earlier than originally planned.
– As seen on Monday’s Raw in Manchester, England, the show concluded with The Shield battling The Wyatt Family in a short-lived brawl before both parties turned their attention to the babyfaces. Despite what we saw on Monday, they are not expected to begin a full program together yet.
On this week’s SmackDown, video package aired highlighting the heated conclusion of Raw and the brawl is not shown. According to F4WOnline.com today, people within WWE feel it was a seed being planted that that will be touched again early next year. Meanwhile, Dave Meltzer stated in this week’s issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that creative had suggested they fight at WrestleMania XXX.
– As reported earlier today, WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee collapsed during her match at tonight’s WWE live event in London, England. The official WWE website has published a brief article on the unfortunate event, which at this time solely mentions the company’s official statement to the media on her status:
“Tonight in London, WWE Diva AJ Lee briefly fainted during a match with Brie Bella due to dehydration. She is currently being evaluated by WWE medical staff.”
TMZ.com is also covering the story, which adds that Lee walked to the backstage area on her own power.
– 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.