– Monday’s Labor Day RAW had 175,000 tweets with 31,000 unique authors on Twitter and 238,000 Facebook interactions with 151,000 unique authors. Both of these are down from the previous week. RAW still ranked #1 among series & specials for the night in Nielsen’s social media TV ratings.
– Ring of Honor star Prince Nana tweeted this photo of Wade Barrett yesterday, teasing a ROH debut for the former WWE Superstar:
– With a new cruiserweight division coming soon to WWE RAW, General Manager Mick Foley has his eye on Cruiserweight Classic competitor Jack Gallagher. After Gallagher’s impressive win over Fabian Aichner on this week’s episode, Foley tweeted:
– The final rating for this week’s SmackDown was a 1.86, down slightly from last week’s 1.92 rating. As noted in our original SmackDown viewership report, the audience is still way up since going live on Tuesday nights.
– Rosa Mendes was training at the the WWE Performance Center earlier this week. She gave birth to her first child earlier this year and wrote:
Off to wrestling practice, busting my butt to give my baby girl the best future ever.… https://t.co/3pHOJ9D2be
– Following up on the WWE storyline that Heath Slater is in talks with EVOLVE, WWN Live furthered the angle in their latest e-mail blast:
“WWE.com reported that Heath Slater was in talks with EVOLVE after becoming a free agent following the WWE draft. We can now confirm that negotiations are at a standstill. Slater is now focused on his match against Rhyno this Tuesday on Smackdown Live on the USA Network. If Slater wins this match, he will be signed to the Smackdown brand.”
– Next week’s live WWE SmackDown will feature Heath Slater vs. Rhyno. If Slater wins, he will receive a SmackDown contract from GM Daniel Bryan. Rhyno is one of the talents brought back for the blue brand.
– Cathy Kelley and Corey Graves look at Ron Simmons winning the WCW Title from Vader and making history in the latest This Week in WWE History video, seen here:
– Former NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha have received a lot of praise after making their debuts and defeating The Vaudevillains on this week’s SmackDown. Below are comments from Triple H and Kevin Owens:
– Another new WWE Network Collection that went live this week features IC Title matches from previous SummerSlam events, titled Summer’s Intercontinental Glory. The trailer is below:
– Former NXT Tag Team Champions Chad Gable and Jason Jordan will make their main roster debuts on next Tuesday’s SmackDown.
– Rhyno returned on tonight’s SmackDown and it was revealed that he has signed to the blue brand. He attacked Heath Slater, who is still a free agent, with a Gore.
Any independent promotion with an ear to the ground knows Slater would be a respectable acquisition. Rumors have even surfaced that sports-entertainment’s newest free agent has already been in talks with EVOLVE Wrestling’s Gabe Sapolsky and has reached out to William Regal regarding promotions in the United Kingdom.
Heath Slater has declared himself a free agent after going unpicked at last night’s WWE Draft. WWE.com has published an article up looking at what’s next for the former 3MB member, noting that he’s already in talks with EVOLVE and several UK promotions regarding the next stage of his career:
“Any independent promotion with an ear to the ground knows Slater would be a respectable acquisition. Rumors have even surfaced that sports-entertainment’s newest free agent has already been in talks with EVOLVE Wrestling’s Gabe Sapolsky and has reached out to William Regal regarding promotions in the United Kingdom.”
A “respectable acquisition” – you can’t get a stronger endorsement than that!
On Wednesday afternoon, he issued the following statement on Twitter, assuring fans we’ll be seeing a lot of him in the near future.
WWE announced this morning that Heath Slater was injured at Saturday night’s WWE Live Event in Bangor, Maine when a gash developed over his right eye during a match against Titus O’Neil. The contest was immediately stopped and O’Neil was declared the winner.
WWE ringside physician Dr. Stephen Daquino, who treated Slater, relayed the following to WWE.com: “Heath has a six centimeter laceration above his right eye. It was quite open, right down to the bone. He got 18 sutures and hopefully that will close it up.”
After the show, Slater tweeted a photo of the gash.
– Zack Ryder vs. WWE US Champion Rusev has not been confirmed for Monday’s RAW. Ryder did issue a challenge on SmackDown this week but Rusev indicated in a backstage interview that Ryder needed to issue the challenge to his face on this coming Monday’s show. Ryder tweeted the following about what appears to be a renewed push:
An Entrance…New Music…Mic Time…A Win! It's a WOO Day, yes it is! #SmackDown#WooEra
On a related note, Justin Call of Downstait tweeted the following and revealed that the band actually recorded the song a few years back and that it was Ryder who helped get the song in use:
– Heath Slater and his wife are in their home state of West Virginia this week to help with relief for victims of the recent flooding. Slater spoke with WVVA.com and commented on giving back:
“To me, it was just heartbreaking to see the pictures, and knowing that I had time off to come up here and try to put some smiles on kids faces and uplift some people…I think I can help too.”
– Playing off the “Surprise John Cena” Internet meme, the Cricket Wireless mobile carrier teamed up with Cena himself to surprise fans at an in-store promotional event. It’s a really cool video that once again demonstrates how Cena is larger than life and an inspiration to fans of all ages. As WWE looks to coronate Roman Reigns the next “face of the company,” it becomes even more apparent what an uphill battle they’re facing.
– Heath Slater has launched a GoFundMe to raise money for victims of the severe flooding in West Virginia, where he’s from. The campaign has a goal of $25,000 and can be found in the tweet below from Slater:
– The status of Eric Young has been unclear since the former TNA World Heavyweight Champion appeared at two NXT events in late April. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, however, revealed over the weekend that the 36-year-old will continue to appear for WWE’s developmental branch.
Meltzer responded with the following after being asked about Young’s status with NXT.
– Filming for WWE Studios’ The Marine 5: Battleground, which stars The Miz, Maryse, Naomi and The Social Outcasts, wraps up this week in Vancouver. Director James Nunn tweeted the following on Monday.
The Miz will be back in action next week as the official WWE website has him listed for Tuesday’s SmackDown taping in Miami, Florida. He has an autograph signing scheduled that same day at the Cricket Wireless Store at 12530A Pines Blvd, Pembroke Pines, Florida.
– Former WWE ring announcer Eden is celebrating her birthday today as she turns 33-years-old. She was granted her release from WWE on May 24, just days after her husband, Cody Rhodes, also requested his release.
WWE Studios and Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions partner for ‘The Marine 5: Battleground’
WWE Studios and Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions (SPWA) today announced that the two studios will partner on the upcoming action film, “The Marine 5: Battleground.” Directed by James Nunn (“Eliminators”), the film will feature WWE Superstars The Miz, Maryse, Heath Slater, Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel and Naomi. The film will begin production this Tuesday, May 31, in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
The Miz returns as Jake Carter, an ex-Marine who served in the Middle East and is now saving civilian lives stateside as an EMT. After responding to an emergency call in an abandoned parking lot, Carter finds himself protecting an injured man from a ruthless biker gang. With the odds stacked against him, Carter utilizes his unique Marine skills to stop the bikers’ rampage before any more innocent blood is shed.
“The ‘Marine’ series is a true fan-favorite and we are thrilled to join with Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions and director James Nunn to launch this next installment,” said Michael Luisi, President of WWE Studios. “For the first time ever, we will have six WWE Superstars in one live action film to ramp up the excitement and thrill audiences worldwide.”
The film is written by Ed McHenry and Rory McHenry.
– In Nielsen’s nightly Twitter TV ratings for series & specials, Monday’s post-Extreme Rules Raw episode had 153,000 tweets with 32,000 unique authors. The show ranked #2 for the night, behind The Bachelorette.
– Here’s video of Heath Slater, Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas after Slater was smashed with a birthday cake on Raw by The New Day. It looks like an upset Slater is going to film some kind of movie.
– Scott Hall is featured in this new teaser for his “Living on a Razor’s Edge” WWE DVD and Bluray that hits stores in July:
– After missing several WWE live events, Heath Slater was back to work this weekend. He did not wrestle, but appeared at ringside for Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel matches.
– Daniel Bryan was involved in an Olympic Weightlifting seminar with USAW athlete Leo Hernandez this weekend, setting his personal snatch record:
– A few quick notes for Extreme Rules. As you probably figured out by now, Intercontinental champion The Miz is scheduled to defend against Sami Zayn, Cesaro and Kevin Owens. There are also plans for a stipulation to be added to Dean Ambrose’s match against Chris Jericho. Extreme Rules takes place in less than two weeks on Sunday, 5/22 from Newark, New Jersey.
– No word yet on why Heath Slater was pulled from last Monday’s battle royal on RAW and then wasn’t ringside for Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings but he did not work this weekend’s house shows either.
– WWE tag team champions The New Day are now coming out with a giant box of Booty O’s at WWE live events.
WWE taped the following matches on Tuesday night in Knoxville, Tennessee for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event.
– The Usos def. Adam Rose & Brad Maddox in tag-team action to kick off the show. Rose and Maddox, both of whom had blonde hair, cut a promo before the match. The finish in this one saw The Usos score the pin after a top-rope splash.
– JoJo interviews The Prime Time Players backstage. Titus O’Neil will be in action later against Heath Slater.
– Naomi def. Alicia Fox via submission in Divas action. Tamina Snuka and Sasha Banks were at ringside with Naomi, while Brie Bella was out with Fox.
– Titus O’Neil def. Heath Slater in the final match taped for this week’s show. The Prime Time Players member got the win with his finisher in the end, in a match that was said to be somewhat flat.
WWE taped the following matches on Monday night in Dallas, Texas, prior to the WWE Hell In A Cell “go-home” edition of WWE RAW for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars.
– Fandango def. Heath Slater in one-on-one action to kick off the evening in Dallas, Texas. The match was given only a few minutes and in the end, it was Fandango who managed to score the pinfall victory.
– Cody Rhodes def. Zack Ryder in the second of two matches taped for this week’s Superstars. During the match, the ring rew was covering the Susan G. Komen logo on the ramp and the stage, appearing to be setting up some special entrances or camera shots for RAW. In the match itself, Stardust ended up scoring the “W” after hitting Ryder with his finisher.
– Heath Slater fans took part in a “Hit Slater’s Music” campaign on social networks this week to try and get Slater a United States Title shot on Raw. Slater did’t get the match, but he is featured in the above Raw Fallout video to discuss Cena’s U.S. title.
– Seth Rollins will be appearing live on the 9pm EST edition of SportsCenter Tuesday night alongside Jonathan Coachman. Coachman had previously teased that an announcement from WWE & ESPN would be coming within 48 hours. Rollins’ appearance will likely be to help make the announcement with Coachman. WrestleMania 32 travel packages go on sale tomorrow, and the announcement reportedly has to do with that.
– Next week’s Raw is the last show before Hell In A Cell, and WWE is promoting some big names for it on Twitter. Stone Cold Steve Austin will be in the house to interview Brock Lesnar after the show, but WWE is not promoting him for the Raw broadcast as of yet. WWE is advertising both Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels for Raw, as they are likely to take part in a panel discussing the Hell In A Cell main event.
– The Dudley Boyz worked a dark match at the television taping on Tuesday night. Bubba Ray and Devon defeated the team of Heath Slater and Brad Maddox prior to the start of the Main Event and SmackDown tapings.
– The band “Bring Me The Horizon” from the United Kingdom will be at the NXT Takeover: Respect event on October 7th. Below they are with Corey Graves making the announcement.
WWE taped the following for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars prior to RAW on Monday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
– Zack Ryder def. Heath Slater in the opening match of the evening. It looked as though Xavier Woods was on commentary during this match, which Ryder ended up winning with the Rough Ryder in about five minutes.
– Los Matadores def. The Ascension in the second of two matches taped for this week’s WWE Superstars. The finish here saw Matadores score the pin after a cool series of moves, winning the contest at about the seven minute mark.
WWE taped the following matches for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event prior to the WWE SmackDown television tapings on Tuesday night in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Dark Match:
– Hornswoggle def. Heath Slater in the dark match for the live crowd. The Wisconsin native Hornswoggle actually picked up the “W” after hitting a top-rope tadpole splash.
WWE Main Event:
– Charlotte def. Alicia Fox in Divas action to kick off the taping. Charlotte won via the Figure Eight. A solid match with good pop from the crowd.
– Stardust def. Jack Swagger in the second match taped for Main Event. Stardust won with Dark Matter. A below average match, writes Shane. “I didn’t really see the point of having them wrestle. Barrett had no impact on the match. It really just seemed to be a time filler. The crowd wasn’t really into it either.”
– The Prime Time Players def. The Ascension in tag-team action. Titus O’Neil got the win via Clash of the Titus. Decent match. The first half was slow, but it picked up and ended well., according to Shane. The finish was pretty quick and didn’t have much build up.
– Fandango def. Adam Rose in the final match taped for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event. Rose performed his heel act before the match. Very short match. Apparently, Fandango is a babyface again? This concluded the Main Event taping.
WWE taped the following matches for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars prior to Monday night’s edition of WWE RAW in San Jose, California.
– Fandango def. Heath Slater in one-on-one action to kick off this week’s WWE Superstars taping in San Jose. There were a lot of comedy spots in this match, which the crowd seemed to get a kick out of. In the end, Fandango hit his finishing move on Slater to secure the pinfall victory.
– Jack Swagger def. Bo Dallas in the second of two matches taped for Superstars. The crowd was super into boo’ing Bo Dallas. In the end, Swagger caught Dallas in his Patriot Lock submission finisher. Dallas eventually tapped out, giving Swagger the submission victory. That is how this week’s Superstars ended.
The following matches were taped prior to WWE RAW on Monday night in Kansas City for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars.
– R-Truth defeated Heath Slater in the opening contest. This was a pretty good match with some comedy spots. The crowd seemed to enjoy it for what it was. Truth ended up picking up the “W” in a match that lasted a few minutes.
– Neville defeated Bo Dallas in the second of two matches taped for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars. This was said to be an excellent match that the crowd in Kansas City was super into. In the end, Neville managed to pick up the victory after hitting his “Red Arrow” finisher off the top-rope for the 1-2-3.
WWE taped the following matches prior to the SmackDown television taping on Tuesday night in Toledo, Ohio for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event.
Dark Match
– Fandando def. Brad Maddox in singles action to kick off the evening inside the building.
WWE Main Event
– Neville def. Heath Slater in the first match taped for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event. This was said to be a high-paced, crowd-pleasing match that saw the finish come when Neville hit his Red Arrow to finish off Slater in what was about a five minute match.
– The Ascension def. The Meta Powers in tag-team action. The match, which lasted about four minutes, saw The Ascension pick up the win after hitting Curtis Axel and Macho Mandow with The Fall Of Man finisher.
– R-Truth def. Adam Rose in a quick singles match. King Barrett was out for commentary during this match, which saw him leave the announce table to attack Truth, only for Truth to catch him coming and blast him with his finisher. In the end, Truth picked up the “W” in the official match with Rose as well.
– Luke Harper def. Cesaro in the headline match of the evening on this week’s edition of WWE Main Event. This was another crowd pleasing match, as Harper and Cesaro put on a hell of a show in a match that lasted about seven minutes. The finish saw Harper hit Cesaro with his clothesline from hell to score the 1-2-3 and end the Main Event taping.
The following matches were taped in Indianapolis, Indiana prior to Monday’s WWE RAW for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars.
– The Lucha Dragons def. Bo Dallas & Heath Slater in tag-team action. This was described as a very fun opening contest that really did a good job of setting the tone for the evening.
– Cesaro def. Luke Harper In the second of two matches taped before RAW for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars, Cesaro pleased the crowd hitting a lot of his trademark power spots on Luke Harper, who he defeated clean in singles competition.
WWE taped the following matches for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event prior to taping WWE SmackDown on Tuesday night in Buffalo, New York.
Dark Match
– Zack Ryder def. Brad Maddox in what was apparently a quick, basic opening contest.
WWE Main Event
– The Prime Time Players def. The Ascension in tag-team action to kick off the Main Event taping. Prior to the match, the PTP taught the crowd how to do their “Millions of Dollars” dance, while The Ascension cut a promo welcoming us to “Wasteland.” In the end, Young hit the gut buster on Viktor to score the 1-2-3.
– King Barrett def. Heath Slater in singles competition. Barrett won in what was said to be a good little match. Afterwards, R-Truth came out as “King What’s Up?” He pardoned “Lil’ Jimmy” and declared Barrett “King Jackass.”
– Naomi def. Summer Rae via submission in Divas action. Tamina was in Naomi’s corner during this one.
– Ryback def. Adam Rose in a pretty quick match with Rose surprisingly enough getting in a good bit of offense. Ryback ended up winning with the Shellshock. After the match, Ryback scared Miz to the back and then celebrated with the crowd.
– Luke Harper & Erick Rowan def. The Lucha Dragons with their new 3-D finisher. This was said to be a very face-paced and entertaining tag-team contest.