– It was announced on RAW that Jack Swagger’s ankle lock submission finisher will now be known as the Patriot Act.
– Vickie Guerrero announced on RAW that she is the reason Brock Lesnar is back on WWE television. She revealed that she re-signed Lesnar to impress Vince McMahon, hoping that he would make her the permanent General Manager of RAW again.
– This week’s “Are You Serious? webisode is highlighted by Kane being featured in the “Fail of the Week” moment. The synopsis reads: “What happened in a 2003 steel cage match the leaves Kane in shock and disbelief? You have to see the “Fail of the Week” moment on “Are You Serious?” with Road Dogg and Josh Mathews now!”
– WWE Champion CM Punk did not appear at Saturday’s Raw live event in Roanoke, Virginia due to appearance at the New Orleans Comic Con. Ryback instead faced and defeated Jack Swagger, with John Cena defeating Dolph Ziggler in the main event.
– The Nickeledeon comedy film Fred 3: Camp Fred, featuring John Cena in the role of the title character’s father, will be released on DVD this Tuesday.
– MMA heavyweight John Shaddock told ProMMANow.com that he wants to be the next man to fight former WWE superstar Batista (1-0). No word yet on whether Batista is interested in another fight or if he’ll focus on his budding acting career.
– WWE referee Brad Maddox, who will be wrestling Ryback on RAW for a chance to earn a $1 million WWE contract, says his training will be documented on WWE.com:
– Jack Swagger, who is currently off television, continues to wrestle WWE live events and picked up another win over Ted DiBiase picked up a win over Ted DiBiase at last night’s live event in Lisbon, Portugal.
Swagger is sporting a new look (long, slicked back hair) and is expected to be repackaged & brought back later this year with a strong push.
WWE superstar Jack Swagger, who is currently off television but is working live events, is currently sporting a new look. Swagger is being kept off television to reset his character and is expected to return later this year with a big push:
– Catalina Hager, wife of Jack Swagger, denies a claim that the Superstar has asked for his release from WWE.
In response to this tweet, “Has jack asked for his wwe release @CrankyVince seems to think so,” she wrote, “Absolutely NOT TRUE.”
The Twitter account spoofing Vince McMahon that also leaks confidential WWE information on occasion cryptically suggested in a message last Thursday that a wrestler had asked for his release from the sports-entertainment organization. In a follow-up, the account indicated Sunday that Swagger asked for his release.”
– On this week’s “Backstage Fallout” for Raw, Antonio Cesaro, The Prime Time Players, Team Co-Bro’s and the Uso brothers discuss happenings from the program.
– An account on Twitter spoofing Vince McMahon that also leaks confidential WWE information on occasion (located @CrankyVince) cryptically suggested in a message last Thursday that a wrestler had asked for his release from the sports-entertainment organization. In a follow-up, the account stated Sunday that Jack Swagger asked for his release: “WELL FUCK JACK SWAGGER AND HIS REQUEST. WHO THE FUCK IS JACK SWAGGER?”
The account has drawn concern from WWE officials since last year, who believe it is being administered by an employee within proximity of McMahon or a former employee with close ties to organization due to the amount of sensitive information being released.
– Former WCW World Heavyweight Champion Diamond Dallas Page has posted a video of himself and Jake “The Snake” Roberts distributing Halloween candy to trick or treaters. Roberts recently moved in with Page to lose weight and train for one last pro wrestling run. (Watch)
– Former WWE Superstar Batista is featured in today’s “Superstar Spotlight” on WWE.com.
– Following up on our earlier report about Vader visiting WWE headquarters last week, he was there to be interviewed for WWE’s upcoming DVD set on the career of Mick Foley. Surprisingly, Shane Douglas was also interviewed for the project, despite how outspoken he’s been about WWE in recent years.
– Chris Jericho’s band Fozzy’s song “Sandpaper,” one of the theme songs for WWE’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, reached #38 on the Active Rock charts this week.
– Jack Swagger has been off television so he can be repackaged and eventually brought back with a big push. After how badly he’s been buried over the past year, the feeling was that he really needed to be out of the spotlight for a while in order for him to be taken seriously in the future. Swagger wrestled at this past weekend’s WWE live events and was sporting a new, longer, slicked-back haircut.
– Last week on Raw, a dejected Jack Swagger revealed he would be taking some extended time off following his latest loss—his last win was on the June 7, 2012, edition of WWE Superstars. Despite the angle, The All-American American is in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the site of tonight’s Raw, according to the official Twitter feed of Live Audio Wrestling.
– Live tonight in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, WWE will pay tribute to the first-ever Intercontinental Champion, Pat Patterson. WWE.com has published an article profiling the WWE Hall of Famer, which also acknowledges his contributions behind-the-scenes.
– Juanita Wright, who portrayed Dusty Rhodes’ valet Sapphire in the World Wrestling Federation, passed away sixteen years ago today at the age of 61. Fritz Von Erich, legendary wrestler, patriarch of the Von Erich family, and owner of the World Class Championship Wrestling territory, passed way fifteen years ago today.
– WWE Tag Team Champion R-Truth is featured in today’s “Superstar Spotlight” on WWE.com.
– Bret Hart arrived to the Bell Centre today for Raw with a police escort. (Thanks to Jesse)
– After 12 days of being shown in very limited number of movie theaters, WWE Studios’ The Day had grossed just $19,222.
– On Monday’s RAW, Jack Swagger told General Manager AJ Lee that he will be taking time off following a multi-month losing streak. Swagger will not be appearing on television for several weeks to sell the angle, but is currently scheduled to appear at the October 1st WWE RAW from his home state of Oklahoma.
– SmackDown General Manager Booker T banning the Brogue Kick on his show is one of the reasons Sheamus recently used the Texas Cloverleaf submission to win a match on RAW. There has been talk of the Brogue Kick being banned from RAW as well, which would likely result in Sheamus continuing to use the cloverleaf as his finisher.
– Following his loss to Dolph Ziggler on Monday’s RAW, Randy Orton tweeted the following message in response to a fan telling him that they had a great match:
– Former WWE star Kenn Doane noted on Twitter that he’s now enrolled in Nichols College in Dudley, Massachusetts. Doane plays tight end for the school’s football team.
– On Monday’s RAW, Jack Swagger told RAW General Manager AJ Lee that he needs to take some time off. Jim Ross commented on the situation via Twitter:
@realjackswagger needs a trip to the woodshed. He's too good to be oh for 2012. Swagger can be great…wait and see. He's a #boomersooner!
– WWE.com updated its roster page this week to reflect recent storyline developments.
Eve and Curt Hawkins are now official members of the SmackDown roster. On last week’s episode of SmackDown, Eve defeated Kaitlyn to become the SmackDown Assistant General Manager to Booker T. Hawkins appeared on the show with Tyler Reks as they debuted male stripper characters. Reks was briefly listed on the page before he was granted his contract release on Tuesday.
AJ Lee is officially a member of the Raw roster after being named Raw General Manager by WWE chief Vince McMahon on Raw 1,000. Despite controlling the program, she continued to be listed as a SmackDown Diva.
– This week’s episode of WWE Superstars is headlined by Justin Gabriel vs. Cody Rhodes. Also featured are Yoshi Tatsu vs. Damien Sandow, Santino Marella vs. Jack Swagger and Alex Riley vs. Drew McIntyre. (Watch)
– Jim Ross, who will commentate matches at tonight’s WWE NXT tapings at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, tweeted prior to the event, “I have plenty of time 4 any NXT talent who wants to be great. To be physical & smart. To work diligently to improve. To the others, nothing.”
– Jack Swagger granted his first wish for the Make-A-Wish organization on Monday night when he met Brandi RedCloud-Owen. Swagger had this to say about the experience to WWE.com:
“Being able to be a part of a Make-A-Wish for Brandi was something that really hit home for me. I know it made her day to have lunch with a WWE Superstar. At the same time, it made my day to be a part of something magical and realize that just the littlest things can make the biggest difference in people’s lives.”
– Zack Ryder is back with Episode 75 of the Z! True Long Island Story. This installment takes place from Comic Con in San Diego, California:
– An image of Brock Lesnar growling is featured on the cover of WWE’s upcoming SummerSlam DVD and Blu-ray release on Sept. 18. The cover is the same graphic used for the pay-per-view event’s promotional poster.
WWE has been building up a match between Lesnar and Triple H and it will headline SummerSlam on August 19, according to F4WOnline.com.
– WWE currently has no Jack Swagger merchandise in stock. WWEShop.com’s page on the former World Heavyweight Champion does not have a single item up for sale. “The All-American American” has struggled greatly since the night after WrestleMania XXVIII, having won only one televised match and losing twenty.
– Jim Ross responded “Total BS” to a Twitter message Wednesday that WWE was replacing Michael Cole with “Good Ol’ J.R.”
– Triple H appeared in front of the live crowd at Monday’s RAW during a commercial break.
After Santino Marella defeated Jack Swagger, Triple H came out and hit Swagger with a Pedigree.
– After RAW went off the air, a dark match main event took place: John Cena vs. Big Show and Tensai in a handicap match. Believe it or not, John Cena won after hitting Tensai with the AA.
John Laurinaitis then hit the ring and attacked Cena with a steel chair. Cena got fired up and hit Laurinaitis with the AA to end the show.
— Announced exclusively on WWE.com, WWE Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston and R-Truth will defend their titles for the very first time at WWE Over the Limit on May 20, taking on Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger. (Match Preview)
— WWE.com has added Rob Van Dam to their Alumni section. The website writes, “Rob Van Dam’s innovative maneuvers, laid back demeanor and airbrushed attire made him ECW’s most popular Superstar of all time, and he later became WWE Champion at a historic contest in New York City. Check out RVD’s career milestones, photos and videos, the latest addition to WWE.com’s Alumni section!” (Profile)
This continues a trend of WWE.com acknowledging former talent affiliated with TNA Wrestling as Sting was added to the section last week and a playlist of Hulk Hogan’s wildest interviews was uploaded. Furthermore, three TNA Wrestling stars who succumbed to Brock Lesnar during his rise to the top of WWE—Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle and Hogan —were shown in a series of video packages on the April 23 Raw SuperShow.
— WWE is expected to hold a Tag Team Championship Match at Over the Limit where Kofi Kingston and R-Truth defend the straps against either Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger or a multiple tag team match including Epico and Primo and possibly Darren Young and Titus O’Neil.
— In attendance news the May 4 Raw live event in Huntsville, Alabama drew 4,000 paying $150,000; May 5 Raw in Knoxville, Tennessee drew 6,000 paying $200,000; SmackDown on May 5 in Asheville, North Carolina drew 2,000 paying $65,000; Raw on May 6 in Chattanooga, Tennessee drew 4,800 paying $115,000; May 6 SmackDown in North Charleston, South Carolina drew 3,500 paying $120,000.
— Alberto Del Rio will arrive in Tokyo, Japan late Wednesday night to embark on a promotional tour. He appears on Television Kanagawa on Friday at noon. He is scheduled for an autograph session on Saturday. He will then attend that day’s Hanshin Tigers vs. Yokohama Bay Stars baseball game at Yokohama Stadium as he is scheduled to shoot T-shirts into the crowd. He’ll also be at Tower Records in Shibuya at 6:00 p.m. (thanks to Jose Gonzalez)
— Following CM Punk’s victory over Chris Jericho at Sunday’s Raw live event in Nottingham, England, the Straight Edge Superstar, John Cena, Zack Ryder, Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger appeared ringside to celebrate Vickie Guerrero’s birthday—she turns 44 years old on Monday. After Cena led the Capital FM Arena audience in singing “Happy Birthday To You” to Guerrero, Punk snuck up on the birthday girl by smashing her in the face with a chocolate cake. She then broke kayfabe by posing in the center of the ring with Punk and Cena.
Guerrero was taken by surprise by the moment. She wrote on Twitter, “My birthday is tomorrow the 16th!!!! The RAW crew surprised me tonight at show! It was so much fun! I showered the cake out of my hair and down my back….that was the sweetest shower ever!!!!”
— Rey Mysterio, who has been sidelined since August due to injury, is heading to Japan next month to promote the SmackDown brand’s upcoming tour of Tokyo. WWE will hold shows at Sumo Hall on August 9 and 10.
— WWE will hold two shows in Germany this November: at the O2 World Arena in Hamburg on November 2 and Arena Leipzig in Leipzig on November 3.
— Mick Foley, who has not appeared on WWE programming since the Royal Rumble, teased a return to company storylines Sunday night via Twitter as he said he received voice-mails from SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long.
“Guess it’s about time I listen to some of these voice-mails from Teddy Long. Wonder what he wants. Catch you all tomorrow,” he wrote. However, he suggested minutes later it was a joke, writing, “No big deal. Teddy was just hoping I had Buff Bagwell’s number – apparently, it’s pretty important.”
Foley is scheduled for an upcoming WWE show as he will appear at the April 9 Raw SuperShow taking place at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C.
— WWE ring announcer Tony Chimel took a jab at Lilian Garcia at Saturday’s SmackDown live event in Bowling Green, Kentucky as during a mic check he announced “1, 2, Long Island Iced Z, Jack Swagger!” This was in reference to Garcia’s mistake at Tuesday’s SmackDown taping in Newark, New Jersey where she introduced Ryder as “Long Island Iced Z, Jack Swagger.” John Cena ridiculed Garcia’s ring announcing ability after the taping had concluded, proclaiming to the live audience, “She looks absolutely beautiful, but doesn’t know what the hell she’s doing!”
— 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.
John Cena berating Lilian Garcia’s ring announcing ability at Tuesday’s SmackDown taping in Newark, New Jersey has drawn the ire of numerous fans of the veteran Diva online as they feel it contradicts “be a STAR,” WWE’s heavily promoted campaign to put an end to bullying. A former WWE talent agrees with the sentiment.
Sinn Bodhi, who formerly competed as Kizarny for the sports entertainment organization, posted the following user comment on Twitter Friday slamming their anti-bullying campaign: “I can’t take the #WWE Be A Star Campaign seriously when it’s known what they said about Lilian Garcia and @SiNNbODHi #Hypocrisy.”
The incident was the latest example of WWE publicly ridiculing Garcia following her decision to leave the company in 2009. She took note of the heavy fan support following this latest mockery and went on Facebook and Twitter to write a thank you message.
“Hey my Lil Rockers, just want to tell you that I LUV YOU, I LUV YOU, I LUV YOU!! You are the BEST fans in the world!! Thank you for being there for me!! Xoxo ;):” she wrote following Friday’s SmackDown broadcast on Syfy.
Following the conclusion of Tuesday’s show, Cena belittled Garcia in front of the Prudential Center audience for mistakenly introducing Zack Ryder earlier as “Long Island Iced Z, Jack Swagger” for his match against Jack Swagger, saying “she looks absolutely beautiful but doesn’t know what the hell she’s doing.” He had a street clothes dressed Tony Chimel brought out to properly introduce Ryder since he’s a professional and “knows what he’s doing.”
— Road Dogg revealed on Twitter that the New Age Outlaws will be featured in THQ’s WWE ’13. When asked about the upcoming video game, which is rumored to focus on “Attitude Era” stars, he responded, “Already did the voiceovers.” He added that Billy Gunn was involved with the process.
— Watch the Photos of a Bella Twin’s wardrobe malfunction of Backstage Fallout, and find out what Sheamus really thinks of his WrestleMania opponent’s girlfriend. Plus, learn the real reason why Eve blew Zack Ryder off. Also featured are The Bella Twins and Jack Swagger.
— WWE is holding a Raw live event tonight at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Bell time is 8:00 p.m. Meanwhile, a SmackDown event will be held at the E. A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
— WWE website content director Joey Styles has joined in on the company’s semi-frequent mockery of ring announcer Lilian Garcia as he took to Twitter to poke fun at her announcing miscue at Tuesday’s SmackDown taping in Newark, New Jersey.
After Garcia stated on the microblogging site that she would be performing with her band Thursday night at the Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood, California, he wrote to her, “Tonight will you be announcing yourself at the Hard Rock Cafe as Lilian Garcia or @RealJackSwagger? :) @ZackRyder @JohnCena.” His comment was retweeted by Ryder.
During Tuesday’s show, Garcia erroneously introduced Ryder as “Long Island Iced Z, Jack Swagger” for his match against Jack Swagger. This led to John Cena hauling out ring announcer Tony Chimel for his post-show dark match since he “knows what he’s doing,” unlike Garcia. Cena had Chimel properly introduce Ryder, but WWE production coordinators kept cutting of his microphone in a practical joke. Cena then properly introduced Ryder himself.
The ordeal was done by WWE brass to publicly embarrass Garcia, who has been subject to various forms of humiliation numerous times throughout her career.
— WWE.com has published an article demanding the return of The Great Khali’s former mouthpiece Ranjin Singh.
WWE.com writes, “The Great Khali is known the world over for his immense stature, but one-time mouthpiece Ranjin Singh played a giant role in The Punjabi Giant’s ascension in WWE. Singh’s many memorable antics included narrating the beloved “Khali Kiss Cam,” and WWE.com thinks it’s time to bring him back!”
— 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.
— Raw Interim General Manager and WWE Executive Vice President of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis, who takes the reins as the board-appointed General Manager of SmackDown on Friday, teased a Steel Cage Match for the show via Twitter. He wrote Thursday afternoon,
“A U.S. Title rematch between @milanmiracle and @RealJackSwagger would make #SmackDown REALLY special. And I’ve always loved steel cages …”
— LocalBozo.com conducted an interview with Edge promoting WWE Studios’ latest release – Bending the Rules. The Rated-R Superstar provided insight into his current state of contentment in retirement, his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame and speech, whether he considers himself an actor now, whether he’ll work with WWE again and more.
— WWE.com has published a photo gallery of WrestleMania VIII, which featured Ric Flair defending the WWE Championship against “Macho Man” Randy Savage.