– Hulk Hogan and The Boogeyman are among some of the guests featured on this week’s edition of “The JBL Show,” which you can watch below.
– The latest edition of Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, which features an interview with WWE announcer JBL, is now online. The official description for the show reads as follows:
TIJ – EP105 – WWE’s JBL & Peter Thomas Fornatale
“WWE announcer JBL has stories about the Von Erichs, Vampiro, the European circuit, the Monday Night Wars, the Westminster Dog Show, the APA and Ron Simmons, Public Enemy, The Dudleys, Vince Russo and the Attitude Era, and the WWE Tribute To The Troops! He also talks “Seven Summits,” helping at-risk kids, and running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain! And Y2J welcomes special guest, Peter Thomas Fornatale, who collaborated with Chris on all three of his NY Times best-selling books! ”
– On the latest edition of “The JBL Show,” WWE Superstar Cesaro takes a look back at some of the biggest WWE bloopers in 2014. You can check it out below.
– WWE issued the following regarding the return of the 2014 “Slammy Awards” show on the December 8th edition of WWE RAW:
“He’s coming! Find out which WWE Superstars and Divas will walk away with a coveted golden grappler when the 2014 Slammy Awards air LIVE on Raw at 8/7 CT on Dec. 8 on USA Network.”
– NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte is scheduled for the WWE RAW show in Greenville, South Carolina on December 8th and the WWE SmackDown television taping in Columbus, Georgia on December 9th.
– This week’s edition of “The JBL Show” (no longer called “The JBL (Not Cole) Show”) features the final part of their two-year anniversary celebration. You can check out the episode below.
– The latest edition of Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, which features WWE Diva Paige, is now available. The official description for the show reads as follows:
TIJ – EP91 – WWE Diva Paige & Ash The Fish Expert
“2X WWE Divas Champ Paige talks to Y2J about British wrestling, her WWE tryout, learning to cut promos from Dusty Rhodes, her two Championship title victories, which of the divas she calls “friend,” why she loves being a heel, and cockney slang! And Ash The Fish Expert returns to discuss recent Lake Monster sightings and answer your questions!”
– This week’s edition of “The JBL (Not Cole) Show,” which you can watch below, takes a look at the history of the show and some of its’ finest moments.
– Below is the latest edition of the “JBL (Not Cole) Show.”
– WWE issued a survey earlier this week asking fans which sports they like to watch. Included in the survey as an option is “Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling (TNA),” which is listed as the final choice in the survey. Below is a photo copy of the survey.
JBL posted the following on Facebook in response to reports that Justin Roberts’ WWE release was related to an alleged argument with Michael Cole from Monday’s RAW:
“I saw on the Internet that Michael Cole and Justin Roberts got into a fight at ringside-during a live Raw. Do you realize how preposterous this is? Michael has ZERO break during the three hours (King and I barely have enough to tweet!), we go straight to WWE App during commercials (which Maggle is so helpful in showing everyone how to download) and back to TV action. This ‘fight’ never happened and couldn’t have happened due to lack of time. I have no idea how these things start-but happy that people care enough to write about what we do and what goes on, sometimes though the ‘news’ is wrong as in this case.
I wish Justin the best obviously and I know nothing of his departure other than what was announced-but wanted to clear this up as the Internet was buying this for fact for some reason.
I do want to wish Maggle a happy birthday (yesterday) I do think Maggle is the best play by play guy WWE has ever had, and before all of you hop on the JR or Gorilla bandwagon-I mean no insult to either of those guys, both all time greats. I have worked with Michael since my broadcast start and have never seen anyone better-that is obviously subject to my opinion. The stuff he has to do with all the social media, app, network, etc makes his job the hardest play by play in the world imo and as much as I love getting him on air, I think he is great at it.
Now, I just hope this monster hurricane somehow misses Bermuda!!”
– Mark Crozer, who wrote and sings The Wyatt Family’s theme song, will be performing it with his band live at The Pyramid Club in New York City on October 9th.
– Zack Ryder and his “internet championship” made an appearance on the latest edition of “The JBL (Not Cole) Show,” which you can see below.
JBL posted the following on his LayfieldReport.com website today, explaining why he is shutting down the site.
The Layfield Report Signing Off
“We want to thank all the readers and people who have viewed Layfield Report. It has been a pleasure building a site that, hopefully, has been a joy to visit. Unfortunately for the site, Michael Cole and I are joining another media company that will house our podcast, videos, radio shows and our social media. This has been a hard decision but we feel confident that our new platform will give us the opportunity to spread our message more. We believe the world is centrist and that our politicians on both sides have let us down-we want to offer solutions and feel that the bigger established platform will help us do just that. We also just enjoy discussing current events as we are both news junkies. Thank you kindly for visiting our site and subscribing to our newsletter. We will have more info the week of October 20th to share. Because we are going to a bigger platform we are shutting down our site since it would be competition against our new home.
Soon, John and Michael both will be on over 300 terrestrial radio stations in the US and all the elements of the Layfield Report will live on, just a different form. Thank you again and we will give plenty of updates as soon as we are allowed.”
– Diamond Dallas Page announced recently that he has been asked to host a Volume 3 of “The Best of Nitro” DVD that WWE will be putting out in the near future. DDP has hosted past “Best of Nitro” DVDs as well.
– WWE has commissioned a book called “The Attitude Era” that is scheduled to be released in May of 2015.
– Below is the latest edition of The JBL (Not Cole) Show.
– For you trivia buffs out there, Sunday will mark the third straight year that Paul Heyman has managed a champion going into the Night Of Champions pay-per-view. This weekend, Heyman manages WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar. In 2013 he managed Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel and in 2012 he managed WWE Champion CM Punk.
– Below is the latest edition of The JBL (Not Cole) Show:
– During Monday’s WWE Night Of Champions “go-home” edition of RAW, the commentary team of Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and JBL promoted the “Steve Austin Show” podcast, noting that Kevin Nash will be on his show this week. They actually messed up the plug, however, as they sent fans to “Podcast.com,” when it’s actually PodcastOne.com.
– The Friday, September 12th edition of WWE SmackDown scored a final cable rating of 1.95, according to Nielsen Media Research. That marks a decrease compared to the previous week’s show, which delivered a final rating of 2.02. The show averaged 2.821 million viewers last Friday, also down from the average of 2.758 million that tuned in the week before.
– Hideo Itami, formerly known as KENTA, has changed his official Twitter handle to reflect his new ring name. You can now reach him on Twitter @HideoItami.
– Brie Bella’s new theme song is called “Beautiful Life” and is now available online via iTunes.
– Below is a new episode of The JBL (not Cole) Show:
The following are highlights from the latest Jim Ross blog:
On WWE Night Of Champions: “WWE’s Night of Champions PPV in a few weeks headlined by Lesnar vs Cena in the rubber match for the WWE title is by far the strongest match on the card which provides Sheamus vs. Cesaro US Title bout and/or Ziggler vs. Miz IC Title bout a dark horse chance to over achieve what is expected of them and turn heads. Their only enemy is to be saddled with not enough time to tell a viable story.”
On Jerry Springer and Michael Sam: “So, Michael Sam is out and Jerry Springer is in next week on RAW. Nice payday and exposure for the 70 year old talk show host who actually tapes his TV show in Stamford, Ct. Unfortunately some fans will ‘damn’ this segment before it even airs which isn’t fair but it’s reality.”
On pro wrestling announcing: “As I said on a recent Ross Report Podcast, I’m of the mindset that WWE would serve its self well if they had separate announce teams for RAW and Smackdown. I’ve expressed this sentiment for months. I’m reluctant to talk announcing because it’s often times thought that I’m angling for work which is laughably ridiculous. It’s just my opinion that WWE shows need different sound tracks to give each program some exclusive identity. I’d have @MichaelCole anchor the flagship RAW broadcast with @JCLayfield and @JerryLawler and utilize @WWETomPhillips to anchor Smackdown perhaps with @ReneeYoungWWE before another network nabs her. Adding a third member of the Smackdown crew would be fine too as it’s good to experiment to see where the chemistry exists.”
“Again, I honestly say that @MichaelCole is much better suited to navigate today’s sports entertainment presentation than I ever was. I was a wrestling play by play guy of which there’s little demand for these days on the biggest stages. Times change and it’s challenging for some WWE broadcasts to sound more like an infomercial than an entertaining, ‘sporting’ event with so many agendas and masters to serve.”
“I sincerely wish all the talents broadcasting wrestling in today’s world the best because those days were the best of my life within the wrestling biz but, again, I will reiterate that I have no desire to re-engage. Just too many new, irons in the fire. Nonetheless, someone will turn what I’ve said here into some sort of covert message or accuse me of not being truthful but don’t waste too much of your time on that concept and finish your homework or jump back on the internet.”
Check out the complete blog at JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.
It was announced on this week’s edition of WWE RAW, which took place in Des Moines, Iowa, that on next week’s show an invitation has been extended to Michael Sam to appear.
Michael Sam is the first openly gay player in NFL history, a player that was cut recently from the league. The announce team of Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and JBL noted during Monday’s RAW that if Michael Sam accepts WWE’s invitation to appear on RAW, they will give him an “open mic” and allow him to tell his side of the story.
Next week’s edition of WWE RAW emanates from Baltimore, Maryland.
WWE.com announced that WWE broadcaster Tom Phillips is the latest addition to the weekly WWE SmackDown announce team.
Phillips will join the SmackDown announce team, which consists of Michael Cole and JBL.
“It was incredible to do that in front of the WWE Universe here in Phoenix,” Phillips told WWE.com after this week’s SmackDown taping had concluded. “They are loud, they are having a blast. Sitting out there with Michael Cole and JBL, they’re pretty intense, but it was fun, man. I was a little nervous, but it was fun.”
For more information, check out the complete article over at WWE.com.
Tonight’s episode of Raw took place in Montreal, Canada and featured a total of eleven matches, including a first ever one-on-one meeting between the WWE World Heavyweight champion John Cena and Money in the Bank briefcase holder Seth Rollins.
Canadian icon and WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart graced the WWE Universe with his presence and cut a promo. Of course, he brought up the Montreal Screw Job, but it was a nice moment. Also, WWE continued to promote current on-going storylines leading up to Battleground.
Last week’s episode of Raw was one of the best and most exciting in recent history. Did this edition live up to last week’s high standards? Without further ado, here are highlights, lowlights and my random thoughts on the 7/7/2014 edition of Monday Night Raw:
BEST MATCH: The opening bout between the Usos and the Wyatt Family was the best match of the night. There were two other matches that could have stolen the show, but they failed to do so for a couple of reasons. First, Randy Orton and Dean Ambrose gave it their best effort, but it was clear to see that the two didn’t have very much chemistry, at least when it comes to singles action. Also, the Dean Ambrose botch wasn’t a crowd-pleasing moment.
Chris Jericho vs. the Miz could have been special, but the match didn’t last as long as I hoped. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins had the most promise, but they weren’t given enough time to do anything memorable and the obvious interference by Kane and Randy Orton ruined the match for me.
What was your favorite match of the night?
WORST MATCH: AJ Lee/Paige vs. Naomi/Cameron was the worst match of the night. Aside from the main event and the tag team match between the Usos and the Wyatt Family, there weren’t any real standout matches. However, this bout stood out for all the wrong reasons and it was a poor showing amongst the four Divas involved. Bo Dallas vs. El Torito was a close second for the worst match of the night award because at least the crowd was somewhat into it.
The worst segment of the night was the Nikki Bella/Alicia Fox disaster, but I don’t think there was an opening bell and nobody was declared the winner. Therefore, Idon’t consider this to be a match; otherwise, it would have won the award.
UPSET OF THE NIGHT: Kofi Kingston defeating Cesaro was the upset of the night. I know that Kofi defeated Cesaro last week on Raw, but I didn’t expect him to do it again and I don’t think the fans/crowd did either. I see Cesaro winning the Intercontinental Title at Battleground and Kingston falling into obscurity once again, but at least Kofi is living in the moment now.
To quote the great Mike Adamle, Kofi be Jamaican me crazy.
MOST SHOCKING MOMENT: I expected Randy Orton to defeat Dean Ambrose in their match tonight, but I was anticipating Seth Rollins to screw Ambrose over, resulting in Ambrose losing cleanly. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Ambrose has been really hot as of late and Rollins costing him the match would have protected Ambrose a bit more. Also, it would have spiced things up and furthered the Ambrose/Rollins feud.
– With Daniel Bryan recently undergoing neck surgery, there is talk in WWE that he’ll be toning down his ring style when he returns. Hopefully we’ve seen the last top rope flying headbutt from the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
– The @CrankyVince parody Twitter account has been deleted. The account has leaked sensitive information in the past, which led WWE officials to believe that the account mocking Vince McMahon was operated by somebody high up in the company.
– WWE is already talking about ideas for a future feud between John Cena and Rusev. The company is looking to build Rusev up some more before pulling the trigger on a main event caliber program such as that, but ultimately that is where they will be heading at some point down the line.
– The following is the latest edition of the JBL & Cole Show:
Here are some highlights of what Dolph Ziggler said during a recent interview with Alex of the Journey Of a Frontman website:
How He Prepares For His Matches: “I’m not one of those guys that has to, one of those guys that walks around with their Beats headphones on and get in the zone and bounce around. I do the opposite of that. I sit around in a corner and I focus on a game plan or psychology going into the match so I can get all my focusing in, think of everything I can that I can possible use against my opponent out there. So I like to sit and plot quietly. I listen to music on the treadmill every morning, little bit of a mixture of pop music and mostly hair bands and rock.”
Doing Stand Up Comedy: “Mick Foley has some stand up things going on also, so he’s giving me an opening invite if I ever have a day off. I can speak on stage with him and get a couple minutes in. Whenever I have a free minute, which is very rare, I am looking for mic time one way or another. Just know that a lot of my set has to do with Chipotle in a positive way. A lot of Chipotle talk!”
Who He Hopes to Face at Summerslam: “I would like to face Bad News Barrett at Summerslam. That guy, he’s come back from an injury, he’s come a long way. He’s found a way to recreate himself on The JBL and Cole YouTube show and actually bringing that over to television. He brought it over to television and it’s great. I love hearing him talk. He’s good and he knows what he’s doing. We’ve only been in the ring maybe two times together and we tore it down. I would love to get out there with him and put on a match that nobody else could follow.”
Could Sami Zayn Be The Next Paul Heyman Guy?: “I actually got to have a match with him overseas and it went really well. I think he could be next to hit the roster and maybe he will be a Paul Heyman Guy. When you walk through the door and you become a Paul Heyman Guy, there’s dollar signs around you. It makes you a main player in the game.”
If He’d Want To Be RAW General Manager: “I would hate that! That’s like having an office job. I need to be out there, I need to be out there in the ring. I would go crazy if I was GM.”
His All-Time Favorite Match: “One of my favorites for sure was me versus Edge at the 2011 Royal Rumble. We were the opening match for the World Heavyweight title. Edge was someone I had rode with and he’s been a mentor to me. It was cool to be in the ring with him and me being the bad guy. The crowd understands I’m good at my job. And I was able to hang in the ring with him. In the last ten minutes of that match, everybody was on the edge of their seats. It was a real special time for me. It was a great match. Edge was awesome, I hung in there with him and definitely held my own. We tore it down that night.”
