– On Monday’s RAW, JBL had a line on commentary where he called East Carolina University the “Harvard of the South.” The remark was a nod to Vince and Linda McMahon, who both attended the school.
– Despite Sin Cara’s renewed push on WWE television, f4wonline.com reports that WWE has essentially given up on the character. The reason Sin Cara remains on television is due to strong merchandise sales and the character appearing in WWE’s upcoming Scooby Doo animated movie.
– William Regal tweeted the following about Antonio Cesaro on Monday night:
I've said it before and know(because he made mincemeat out of me)@AntonioCesaro is 10 times the man and wrestler I've ever been.
Batista Returned to WWE and it’s the go home show before the Royal Rumble, but was it enough for us to say YES! Check out The YES! & The NO! of WWE RAW.” Comment below and tell us your thoughts.
The Animal Is back, with the world’s tightest pants! NO!
The Authority, Randy Orton & Batista I wasn’t exactly thrilled with this segment. Randy Orton Triple H and Stephanie McMahon is just boring me. Orton is way more whinyer these days as well. This isn’t the cold-hearted viper, we all know and love. This is an annoying whimpy sometimes self-doubting viper. Batista comes out wearing a pair of ridiculous tight Jeans. That outfit is what I would expect someone to put on him as a joke in the WWE 2k14 video game, with a diva’s dancing entrance. He’s back to win the Royal Rumble and main event WrestleMania XXX in New Orleans to become the WWE Champion. Part of me want’s to say YES! because Batista is awesome, maybe I’m being to hard on the guy? But if I’m rating the segment by itself I have to go with NO!
Goldust, Cody Rhodes & Big E. Langston vs. The Shield WWE has won me over on tag team wrestling, plain and simple. I enjoy it, I love wathcing Cody and Golddust out there. I think it’s rediciolous that these two are defending their championship on the Royal Rumble pre-show. They deserve mid-card of the Pay-Per-View. Some would arugue, that if you put a solid match on the pre-show that will get people on the fence to buy the PPV. I get it, but still I think this is an attraction worthy of the actual event. Especially because I feel The New Age Outlaws could very well win the titles.YES!
Daniel Bryan is back YES!
Daniel Bryan & Bray Wyatt Great to see Daniel Bryan on Raw, especially since SEScoops.com broke the news a day after last week’s Raw that he had suffered a concussion last week. As a precaution he was pulled of the weekends live events and underwent impact testing to make sure he was good for this Sunday. He’s facing Bray Wyatt in a 1 on 1 match. Currently he is not scheduled to compete in the Royal Rumble. If he doesn’t show up in the Rumble and win it, I will be pretty disappointed, this is his year to win it. Do the right thing WWE, you have a major star on your hands. YES!
Xavier Woods vs. Fandango Fast forwarded this match. I think Fandango won. I have no idea why. Meaningless. NO!
CM Punk vs Billy Gun I didn’t catch Smackdown! on Friday, but I enjoyed The Road Doggs explinatinon here on commentary. The New Age Outlaws aren’t heel’s per se, more like tweeners. I would expect them to win the Tag Team titles to further along a breakup with Golddust and Cody Rhodes. Billy Gun looked a bit blown up in the match with CM Punk, but good match. YES!
Batista gets his revenge on Alberto Del Ro before the Rumble. Now What? – NO!
Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio Another fast forward delight, back in the day before DVR’s and dare I say VCR’s We would change the channel watching this thing live. Truth be told, I fell asleep during this very match live on Monday, and caught up Tuesday. Batista comes out and attacks Alberto Del Rio. Now I thought I was going to have to pay to see Batista get physical with Del Rio? Why give it away on Raw? I can only guess that Alberto Del Rio will cause Batista to be eliminated at the Rumble. We saw Batista destroy him, so something else needs to happen. Perhaps Ricardo Rodriguez comes back and they both get Batista out? Who knows. All I know is I give the match and aftermath a NO!
Brock Lesnar should be Fearless – NO!
Big Show, Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman Brock Lesnar shouldn’t be afraid of anyone at any time, period! I did like the Big Show this week, more serious, more business, calling out Brock Lesnar. I thought it was silly watching Brock backup from the ring, not wanting to get in there with Big Show. Getting thrown out and then throwing a temper tantrum. Brock is going to win this match at the Royal Rumble, a match I am looking forward to. But this segment was silly. I liked Big Show’s impression of Paul Heyman though. NO!
View Page 2 to find out more YES and NO from WWE RAW and our Overall Raw Rating
– JBL recently referenced a story during commentary on WWE television regarding an arm-wrestling challenge between Ryback and Titus O’Neil. According to reports, O’Neil challenged Ryback to an arm-wrestling match, but Ryback didn’t accept. The idea was for the two to compete in an arm-wrestling match for money, with the loser donating to charity.
– According to the latest estimates, WWE has sold approximately 55,000 tickets for WrestleMania XXX, which is considered very good at this point. The legitimate capacity for the set-up they will be using in the arena is 70,000, although WWE will likely claim a figure of 82,000 or more. The current attendance record in the Mercedes Benz Superdome in New Orleans, the site of WrestleMania XXX, is 87,500 for a Rolling Stones cocert in 1981.
– WWE is trying out a new commentary team consisting of Michael Cole, JBL and The Miz at this Friday’s edition of WWE SmackDown.
– Apparently there were very few people within WWE that were aware that Kaitlyn was going to be leaving the company. Generally, many executives in the company will be aware of talent parting ways for weeks, or even months in advance of it actually happening.
With two weeks before the Royal Rumble, Noah Mark is back with his analysis of the second raw of 2014. Check out The YES! & The NO! of WWE RAW.” Comment below and tell us your thoughts.
Daniel Bryan & Bray Wyatt Kick Off Raw vs The USO’S – YES!
The Usos vs. Bray Wyatt & Daniel Bryan (Part 1) Raw starts off with the match advertised last week of Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt. The USO’s were in the ring at the start of Raw ready for the match. The lights blacked out for the Wyatts entrance, and came back on 30 seconds later to reveal Daniel Bryan and The Wyatts already in the ring. I liked the quick entrance. The match was good with Daniel Bryan in a more aggressive style. Luke Harper and Derek Rowan, interfered just before The USO’s were about to get airborne on Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt. This prompted another DQ on the Wyatts in their second week in a row with Daniel Bryan. Daniel Bryan drops to his knees to receive a Sister Abigail from Bray Wyatt. As I said for the last two weeks, I’m okay with this story in it’s context, provided it doesn’t go 16 weeks to WrestleMania. YES!
Damien Sandow holding his own against John Cena – YES!
Damien Sandow vs. John Cena I was fortunate to be in the crowd at Raw in Orlando, FL the night after The Hell-In-A-Cell Pay-Per-View. It was on that night that Damien Sandow cashed in his Money-In-The-Bank briefcase on John Cena. Although he didn’t win the match then, it was a great competitive match with Cena, and this episode of Raw was no different. There is a great chemistry between Sandow and Cena, and proof that Sandow should have a much more elevated status in WWE. All the things about Damien Sandow I enjoy are stripped away, no more robe, no more witty promos, he’s seemingly just an angry body. Where’s the man that would sign autographs with a quill pen? Why do we get “Sandow-Gimmick-Light”? I question this especially, because when he is called upon he delivers. Match was great. Don’t throw away Sandow after this. YES!
Kane & Brad Maddox, No Triple H or Stephanie. Kane and Brad get into it backstage, and Mr Maddox comes up with a Bray Wyatt & Daniel Bryan vs The Uso’s rematch in a steel cage for the main event. With Kane adding that he will personally chain the cage door shut. I thought this would spell disaster for Daniel Bryan, with some ulterior motive for his former Co-Tag Team Champion.
I did like the fact that Triple H and Stephanie were not on the show this week. Although they seem to back Orton, promoting him as the face Of WWE, they haven’t been targeting John Cena, like they did Bryan, with beat-downs and impossible handi-cap matches. YES!
Left – Intense Big Show to confront Brock Lesnar 1/6 YES! Right – Jolly Big Show eventually Beating Up Zed NO!
On an unrelated note, is Kane injured? Kane is one of the longest tenured Superstars on the roster, I know he has been working several holiday house show matches, however I don’t recall him having a TV match since that aforementioned Orlando Raw I was at where, on that show he shed his mask, this was after returning from filming a See No Evil sequel. It looked like he had a noticeable limp coming down the aisle way.
Big Show vs. Jack Swagger I don’t like smiling big show. I liked hoodie and skull cap wearing, intense Big Show from last week. I want all business Big Show. I want a focused Big Show that is going to seriously take on Brock Lesnar. Big show almost has John Cena-itus. Big Show should learn from his mistakes. Smiling Big Show ended 3-4 Raws this fall, then lost the Big One. Big show can smile his way to another loss at the Royal Rumble. I like Zeb Colter, but for some reason I DON’T want to see him hurt. I like Paul Heyman, but I DO want to see him get hurt. NO!
Moments before The New Age Outlaws, pull back their hands and walk out on CM Punk – NO!
CM Punk & The New Age Outlaws vs. The Shield I’m hoping after The Royal Rumble, CM Punk will move away from The Shield. I love Roman Reigns but If the Shield were to break up, I don’t think he should be put against CM Punk one on one, yet. I like the idea of him building up his singles resume, perhaps with a Big E, Dolph Ziggler, a returning Jericho, maybe even Daniel Bryan, before we see CM Punk vs Roman Reigns in a big time match. I love the New Age Outlaws, and I don’t want to boo them. I haven’t checked out the Smackdown Spoilers (They are scheduled to take on Cody Rhodes and Golddust) so I’m curious to see if they are “bad guys” now. They both appear to be in great shape, and would love to see them, hang around till WrestleMania, but not at heels. Besides, book him however you wish, but at WrestleMania XXX they will no doubt be faces one way or another. NO!
Meaningless win for AJ. Waste of talent – NO!
The Funkadactyls vs. AJ Lee & Tamina Snuka Throw-a-way match, AJ being underutilized. AJ hasn’t had many title defenses, the belt isn’t as special, not because of the person, because of the booking. She taps out and pins people left and right, then a silly beat down afterwords. If you’re going to give her a clean win, why bother, having the faces beat her down after the fact, they lost. This is why there is a huge drop off in star power in WWE, because you have someone like an AJ Lee who can cut a dynamite promo, you can cultivate that, make people want to see her, and let her flourish! Instead of losing her in the shuffle of 20 Total Diva® tag matches. NO!
WWE Hall Of Fame 2014 Inductee The Ultimate Warrior will Headline The 2014 Hall Of Fame. Ironic I watched a DVD about how he was horrible person to work with, held up Vince McMahon for money at SummerSlam 1991, and “self destructed” But as the saying goes Money Talks, and there is a lot of people who remember the guy you see below and could care less about what was hapening behind the curtain. So for that (and because our Webmaster is a huge fan of the man from Parts Unknown) we say YES!
View Page 2 to find out more YES and NO from WWE RAW and our Overall Raw Rating
– WWE Diva Naomi is in Tampa, Florida today filming the music video for her single, “Dance All Night.” The music video is being filmed at the Drynk night club, and will likely feature Noami’s fiancee and WWE Superstar Jimmy Uso.
– WWE announcer JBL appeared on the FOX Business “Varney & Co.” program this morning to promote the WWE Network. You can watch footage of his appearance online at FOXBusiness.com.
– Speaking of JBL, the latest edition of The JBL & Cole Show (episode number 59) has been added to the official WWE YouTube channel. The video, which you can watch below, is accompanied by the following description: “The JBL & Cole Show goes OLD SCHOOL with visits from Rowdy Roddy Piper, The Godfather, Mean Gene and more!”
Noah Mark is back with his analysis of Old School Raw! Check out The YES! & The NO! of WWE RAW.” Comment below and tell us if you agree with this week’s picks.
Orton playing the generic Bad Guy, he’s much better than this. NO!
Ric Flair, Randy Orton, & John Cena PromoOld School Raw kicked off with the 16 time “Nature Boy” Ric Flair out first. He was quickly interrupted by former Evolution partner. Randy Orton. Randy Orton said he respected Ric Flair, but he needed the time more to address the one on one rematch putting himself vs John Cena for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at The Royal Rumble. Ric chimes in saying he’s not as good as he thinks. Orton threatens Flair, Cena ends up making the save.
For me this segment fell flat, and seemed forced. Orton was seemingly going through the motions, with “I respect you, but….” going into generic heel mode. This is not The Viper I know and enjoy. I feel some people don’t give Randy Orton the credit he deserves for his promo and character skills, he makes great facial expressions, and conveys a cold-hearted disposition. Well normally he does, this promo didn’t do Orton any favors. Clearly Ric Flair is getting order, or he had a few in the back, because he sounded marble mouth in this segment. Cena didn’t offer anything to this segment either. One month ago Cena may have delivered the best promo of his life in Seattle. Here, I felt the whole thing was boring. NO!
NO!
Jerry Lawler Health Update: Earlier in the day we reportedBreaking News Jerry “The King” Lawler was hospitalized. Of course with Jerry’s Heart Attack last year during Raw, your first thought would be another heart issue. Thankfully it seemed to be a stomach virus or food poisoning. however that didn’t stop the WWE from sensationalizing by directing viewers to turn to the WWE App to get an update on Jerry Lawler. NO!
Daniel Bryan…er Wyatt. So far okay. YES!
Luke Harper, Erick Rowan & Daniel Bryan vs. The Usos & Rey Mysterio Our first chance to see Daniel Bryan on TV as a Wyatt. First the original Wyatt trio appeared for their normal entrance, followed by the fourth Daniel “Wyatt”. Daniel Byran came out looking like he was in a Janitor or prison jump suit. A blank stare on his face, as he teamed up with Rowan and Harper to take on The Usos and Mysterio. I enjoyed this, I thought Bryan looked good with the group. They ended up losing the match due to Harper getting rolled up after a brief disagreement with Bryan as to who should come into the match when Rowan tagged both men. I would have preferred The Wyatts to win clean in this match. Their first week out and they’re arguing, I think an eventual separation from Bryan would be more effective if they were on the same page to start. But I’m still okay with this story line, provided I don’t have to wait 15 more weeks for Bryan to “Snap out of it”. YES!
Too Cool & Rikishi just 3 of the Old School Legends at Raw YES!
WWE Legends On Old School Raw:I was happy to see some of my old school favorites on Raw. Everyone had a good role on the show and for older fans this definitely was a great nostalgia feel. I will say that over the past few years we’ve seen a crop of “usual” legends. Most of which were not actually on a whole lot of episodes of WWE Raw. I would love to have seen a Raw with more attitude era and post era stars. Some of them are still affiliated and working for WWE. Perhaps WWE held a few back for a Royal Rumble appearance. There was also no “old school” diva on this show. I know Mae Young was originally scheduled to attend this show, however Mae Young experienced health issues and was unable to appear. With Brock Lesnar, in attendance this seemed like a perfect time for Sable to make an appearance in the show. YES!
Piper’s Pit – Piper’s still got it plain and simple. His interaction with The Shield, the hottest faction, group, whatever you what to call them. Piper pinching Roman Reigns cheek put goosebumps on my arm. I saw Reigns neck throbbing, great moment! People have compaired Dean Ambrose to Piper in the past, it was great to see Ambrose get to interact with a Legend. This would not be his only legend interaction on this episode of Old School Raw. I enjoyed seeing CM Punk and The New Age Outlaws come in to save piper. YES!
View Page 2 to find out more YES and NO from WWE RAW Old School and our Overall Raw Rating
– WWE announcer JBL tweeted the following photo of himself, Ted DiBiase and Alberto Del Rio from backstage at tonight’s Old School RAW with a pretty great caption:
WWE has added the latest edition of The JBL & Cole Show to their official YouTube channel. The 58th episode of the show, which can be viewed below, is accompanied by the following description: “In this edition of The JBL & Cole Show, the guys along with Renee Young take a tour of the Jerry Lawler Museum in Mississippi, The King himself shows up in his Bat Mobile, and Renee Young announces the start of a MAJOR investigation.”
Happy New Year everyone! Noah Mark is back with his the latest installment of “The YES! & The NO! of WWE RAW.” Comment below and tell us if you agree with this week’s picks.
Alright everyone, I’ve been sitting on writing this article to give all of us enough time to digest what we saw on Monday. I didn’t want to make a knee jerk reaction to what I saw. So hopefully here is my calm observation.
Daniel Bryan Takes On Luke Harper – YES!
Daniel Bryan Joins The Wyatts: Daniel Bryan is an incredible wrestler, he’s got a likable personality, and he’s good on the mic. Shawn Michaels definitely taught him well, but Bryan has that extra ingredient needed to make a star, that unteachable “it” factor. You either have it, or you don’t. Bryan has it, and it has developed over the years to something a massive audience can get behind. We are in in a time where WWE has failed to match the caliber star power and top new talents of the decades before it. So partly due to John Cena’s injury Daniel Bryan is given the ball. The crowds love him, and are behind him. Daniel Bryan headlines Summer Slam with Cena, followed by the next 3 Pay-Per-Views with Orton. The Pay-Per-View buy rates were down from the previous year. It shouldn’t rest squarely on Bryan’s shoulders, there is an incredible short shelf on top stars, with practically all of them on John Cena’s level either retired or part time. Look at Survivor Series, headlined by Big Show vs Randy Orton, drawing one if not the lowest Survivor Series buy rates in the PPV’s history. I could argue that Daniel Bryan in the main event SAVED the prior three pay-per-views from a similar dismal buy rate.
Erick Rowan vs Daniel Bryan – YES!
Nonetheless, back down Daniel Bryan goes on the card, he becomes the scapegoat, pun intended! Bryan’s been in a feud with the Wyatts since the end of October. My anger and frustration has clouded my appreciation for the Wyatts, and this story line. So let me look at it just from the perspective of the story line alone. The Wyatts have a great persona, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan can hang with the likes of just about anyone in the ring. I feel Bray Wyatt is the weakest wrestler out of the group, but wrestling isn’t the most important talent needed for this, Bray could easily fit in a horror movie, he looks the part and is competent enough. So after two months of mostly Daniel Bryan getting the short end of the stick, on this past Monday’s Raw Bryan is given a chance to go one on one with Bray Wyatt. All Bryan must do is defeat Luke Harper and Derrek Rowen.
Daniel Bryan Joins the Wyatt Family. YES!
After the two matches Bray comes in the ring, the match starts, Erick and Luke join in on the attack. Bray tells Bryan he’s afraid this is where their story ends. He says he has no mercy left to give. He says this is his fault. Bryan says you’re right, you were right all along and joins the Wyatts. (View Full Details here) So within the story line itself. I’m okay with this, in fact I’m totally fine with this scenario, provided Daniel Bryan is out of this “spell” by The Royal Rumble. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, in this day in age, with people wanting instant gratification, binge-watching full seasons of TV shows in a sitting, I can’t wait 16 weeks for WrestleMania XXX for Daniel Bryan to come out of his spell. Doing so may inflict permanent damage on his popularity. So if Daniel Bryan is “following the buzzards” for four weeks, I’m on board. YES!
CM Punk takes on Seth Rollins on an “Off Night” – NO!
CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins: Everyone has an off night, Seth Rollins and CM Punk didn’t work. there were a few botches, CM Punk tried to cover by turning a move off the ropes into a small package, but it was sloppy. I would imagine most of the heat goes on Seth Rollins, but it takes two to tango. CM Punk on Twitter knew it was a stinker NO!
“@RMB316: @CMPunk IM sure you hear this a lot. Good match on #Raw really enjoyed it. Keep it up all the best in 2014” it was garbage.
– WWE stock more than doubled in 2013, opening the year at $8.03 and closing on December 31st at $16.58.
– WWE announcers JBL and Michael Cole are starting a 250 day weight loss challenge. JBL noted that he currently weighs 278 lbs. and plans on dropping over 50 pounds by early September. After the weight loss program, they plan on climbing a mountain together.
Day 1 of weight loss challenge w @michaelcole 278lbs today, plan on being below 225 by end of contest! 54 pounds to go! #250daysTillSummit
– WWE.com has published a playlist of the “10 most underrated matches of 2013” – including Daniel Bryan vs. Seth Rollins (6/10 RAW), Chris Jericho vs. Cody Rhodes (6/26 Main Event), and RVD vs. Randy Orton vs. Christian (8/2 SmackDown).
– The latest edition of The Michael Cole & John Layfield radio show, which features the RAW commentators looking back at 2013 and looking ahead to 2014, can be heard at this link.
– WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin recently posted the following on Twitter:
Got a New Years Resolution? Send it to questions@steveaustinshow.com. I will be recording some "motivational" promos for #SASUNLEASHED
If it was up to JBL and one guy had to be called up tomorrow, who would he call up? “Adrian Neville. Not a doubt in my mind. I think he’s just phenomenal. I don’t know about his promo skills as I haven’t seen them as much, but he’s a guy who could go out there and perform on any card, anywhere in the world and be a help to that card. I would love to see him up in the WWE. He’ll be there I just don’t know the time frame.”
The English contingent in NXT: “I believe Paige will be a big star, but as far as shaking up the (divas) division goes that remains to be seen. I hope she does but you don’t know until they get there.
“Danny Burch, I saw him cut a promo the other day which I thought was phenomenal. In fact I told him afterwards that it was one of the best promos I’ve heard done in recent memory. Danny Burch, I’m a big fan of his I think he will do well it’s just a matter of finding a spot for him.”
Calling people up to the WWE: “You don’t want to bring guys in just to bring them in, you want to bring them in and make an impact with them like they have with these other guys and I think that’s why it takes longer sometimes than what people want.”
His experience at NXT: “It’s a revitalization for me. I haven’t been around anything other than the WWE for 15-20 years and so for me to see more of how I started and the passion, not just with the performers but with the crowd down there, it’s a great environment.”
You can listen to the full interview below:
Posted December 26th, 2013 in News, WWE. Tagged: JBL.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Noah Mark is back with his the latest installment of “The YES! & The NO! of WWE RAW.” Comment below and tell us if you agree with this week’s picks.
Complete WWE RAW Results (12/23)
WWE RAW (12/23)
Here are some quick thoughts about this weeks edition of Christmas Raw. Did you watch it?
The WWE Diva’s are awesome to look at. Not so awesome to watch wrestle.
12-diva’s Jingle Bells Match: The tag team division has been completely turned around. At one point it seemed like there was barely a tag team division. AJ Lee is the best women’s wrestler on the roster, why aren’t we seeing her in great matches. I guess I know why, because of Total Diva’s. That doesn’t mean there can’t be great woman’s wrestling. NO!
John Cena, CM Punk, and Big E. Langston victorious to end Christmas Raw
CM Punk John Cena & Big E Langston vs The Shield I enjoyed the match, Cena, Punk and Big E all out there. The end seemed silly though. Why would there suddenly be a disqualification, because the two illegal Shield members saved themselves from being pinned by Big E? It doesn’t make sense, but still the match was better than the Good Santa vs Bad Santa, which I thought for sure would close the show. Therefore it gets a YES!
The USOS vs The Prime Time Players: The match was fun to watch. Good tag team action YES!|
The USO’s and The Prime Time Players all celebrate after the match. Barf
The USOS & Prime Time Players Curtain Call Before the match Darren Young mistakenly refer to Austin Texas as Houston, to get some sort of heel heat, I didn’t have a problem with this. I did have a problem with after the match, The USO’s and The Prime Time Players all doing the Millions of Dollars dance. Here’s why I have an issue with it. This is starting to become a thing, with Superstars hugging after the match, we saw it a few weeks ago with the Michael Strahan, Miz, Titus O’neil segment. We saw it with Big Show, Rey Mysterio and The Rhodes. Forget about ruthless aggression, these guys are all becoming wimps! It’s OKAY for two fan favorites to dislike each other, and not hug at the end. I’m not saying they need to attack each other after the match… but I’m hoping it’s just a lighthearted Christmas episode thing, and not a growing trend. Although with the recent article of WWEshopping their television shows to TV Network’s including Disney. We might see everyone hug at the end of matches in the future. NO!
“Bad Santa’ full of Christmas Cupcakes
Good Santa Vs Bad Santa:It is what it is I guess. Mark Henry playing the good Santa, Damien Sandow playing the bad Santa with produced backstage segments contrasting the two. The announcers played it up as you would have expected. The whole concept is silly. Bah Humbug! NO!
Live Announcing: I would say it was a good thing that Michael Cole and JBL announced the show live from Stanford CT. (They had pre-recorded cut-in’s from the arena, but voiced most of Raw Live) it gave it a fresh feel, JBL made some topical references as he eluded to on twitter. The Batista announcement which clearly wasn’t scheduled for the show originally was added in, and the live commentary allowed for reaction from JB and Cole. Did you miss Jerry “The King” Lawler? I did not. YES!
@NEIL_MALONE@WWE@GoToBermuda pre taped? Not sure u noticed, our commentary was live. The Romo reference should have given that away.
“Santa Claus is an Illegal Immigrant” – Zeb Colter
The Real Americans vs Los Matadores: Another good tag team match on Raw. We saw the Antonio Cesaro swing, which if you haven’t’ seen live is an awesome thing to watch. With all the tag teams in the WWE, I think the WrestleMania pre-show match should involve all the tag-teams that one make it to the PPV. Perhaps the winner can face the champions. YES!
RAW OVERALL: NO! Call me scrooge if you will, but the over cheesy holiday wrestling show, should go on Smackdown! I think Raw looses it’s coolness by being lame. If Disney pony’s up the cash this could be what you see on RAW every week so get used to it! There was some good action on the show which I enjoyed, no real progression of WWE story lines but the big announcement of The Animal Batista, which was awesome to see.
– Part two of Chris Jericho’s new “Talk Is Jericho” interview with WWE Hall Of Famer Adam “Edge” Copeland is now available online. Fans interested in checking that out can do so at PodcastOne.com.
– As if you couldn’t tell just by watching the show and listening to the commentary, due to Monday’s RAW Christmas special being taped a week ago, and the fact that WWE decided to make the Batista announcement last night, among other reasons, Michael Cole and JBL did voice-over work for the show. According to JBL’s Twitter account, the two did the voice-overs live from WWE headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut on Monday night.
– Rey Mysterio turns 39 years old today. He was born on December 11, 1974.
– Jake Roberts noted on Twitter that he’s had no contact at all from WWE regarding a return at the Royal Rumble or a Hall of Fame induction.
– The latest JBL & Michael Cole radio show can be downloaded here. Topics discussed include the passing of Nelson Mandela, the World Cup, President Obama and unemployment.
– WWE is running a deal on “Living Social” December 26th live event at Madison Square Garden. For $85 you get one center 2nd level ticket. For $149 you get two 1st level tickets and a WWE goodie bag. There’s also a $199 package with four 2nd level tickets and two goodie bags. The goodie bags include a WWE DVD, a WWE kids’ magazine and a signed Superstar photo.
– WWE.com noted that the remaining Slammy Awards nominees and presenters will be revealed on Sunday morning. The categories that have yet to be announced are as follows:
“This Is Awesome” Moment Of The Year
Trending Now (Hashtag) Of The Year
Beard Of The Year
Breakout Star Of The Year
– WWE has added the latest edition of The JBL & Cole Show (episode #54) to their official YouTube channel. The video is accompanied by the following description: “In this edition of The JBL & Cole Show, The Bear visits Animal Resources and Kane is NOT happy about it. Also, Aiden English sings a song, Corey Graves transforms into #CoolCorey, and Xavier Woods finds one of the Renee Young’s “secret” tapes…”
Check out episode #54 of The JBL & Cole Show below:
The following are the official nominees for the “LOL Moment of the Year” Slammy Award, which will be presented by The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn) on Monday night.
– The Rock concert during the RAW 20th Anniversary show
– Vickie Guerrero getting fired as RAW General Manager
– Titus O’Neil throwing up on JBL, Michael Cole and Zeb Colter on SmackDown
– The Great Khali and Jinder Mahal attempting to charm Santino Marella’s “Cobra”
There was a pretty big error during the conclusion of the Divas Elimination Match at Sunday’s WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view involving both the commentary team and the ring announcer.
Near the end of the match, the Survivor Series broadcast team of Michael Cole, JBL and Jerry “The King” Lawler consistently referred to Natalya as the only member of her team remaining in the match. Nikki Bella, who was outside the ring selling, was actually still active in the match. Natalya ended up putting AJ Lee in the Sharpshooter to gain the win for her team, and was announced as the “sole survivor” of Team Natalya.
After the match, Lilian Garcia announced Natalya as the sole survivor, as did the announce team, when in fact Nikki was a survivor as well. Later in the show, Michael Cole acknowledged the fact that they had made the mistake, and informed fans that both Natalya and Nikki Bella survived in their match.
The special one-year anniversary edition of The JBL & Cole Show has been added to the official YouTube channel of WWE.
The show this week features a number of guest appearances, including Dolph Ziggler, Santino Marella, Josh Mathews, Road Dogg, Damien Sandow, Renee Young, Hornswoggle, Big E. Langston, John Cena, Daniel Bryan and John Cone.
You can check out episode 52 of The JBL & Cole Show below:
– After the televised portion of RAW ended on Monday, the babyfaces remained in the ring. CM Punk raised JBL and Jerry “The King” Lawler’s hands and went back into the ring. At one point, Goldust convinced Punk to reenact Roman Reigns “fall incident” from one of this past weekend’s WWE live events. All the babyfaces eventually made their way to the back, except for Punk. Punk got back on the microphone and said, “I just wanted to say that to come here and wrestle and perform in front of you is a humbling experience. You’ve been fantastic all night and there’s only one thing I can say, thank you.”
– The following are some off-air notes from Monday’s taped edition of WWE RAW in Manchester, England:
Several signs were confiscated during the show. Security at the show warned several fans for holding their signs up on the hard-camera side too much, including one that read “Stink-Face Me AJ.”
At one point during the main event, CM Punk told the fans that they are “the best motherf**cking crowd ever.”
There was a “fight” in the crowd between a fan dressed as Kane and another fan dressed as Goldust. Arena security eventually sent them on their way. Here’s video of the fans wrestling outside the arena after the show:
– A YouTube user has recently uploaded some leaked behind-the-scenes WWE footage. Below are the videos. The first video features Josh Mathews, Dolph Ziggler, The Miz and Big E. Langston preparing for a segment on the WWE App.
http://youtu.be/Z4fvuREjf70
– The second video features WWE announcers Michael Cole, Jerry “The King” Lawler and JBL preparing for the WWE RAW broadcast from Greenville, South Carolina.
-The official Diamond Dallas Page YouTube channel has added a new video called, “Halloween Havoc At The Accountability Crib.” The video is accompanied by the following description: The Accountability Crib takes time away from doing DDP YOGA to scare a few people! Stay tuned for our other Holiday themed videos! BOO!
Check out the “Halloween Havoc At The Accountability Crib” video below:
-Also new on YouTube is episode number 49 of “The JBL & Cole Show,” which is part two of their Halloween special-edition of the weekly web series. The video is accompanied by the following description: “In this edition of The JBL & Cole Show – The Halloween Special continues. We find out where Hornswoggle ended up after being kidnapped, and Wade Barrett has the epiphany of all epiphanies!”
Check out the “Halloween Special – Part 2! The JBL & Cole Show Ep. #49” video below:
Following Monday’s post-Hell In A Cell edition of WWE RAW in Orlando, Florida, WWE COO Triple H cut a promo on all the fans in the arena.
HHH, standing in the ring with the new WWE Champion, Randy Orton, told all of the fans in attendance to get out of his building for laughing at him. The fans did the Daniel Bryan “No!” chant, which further angered “The Game.” Triple H then hired all of the fans. Seconds after informing all of the fans that they now had jobs with WWE, he told them they were all fired and again demanded that they leave his building.
At one point, the WWE COO even told JBL, who was still seated at ringside alongside his RAW broadcast partners, to call the cops and have all of the fans arrested for trespassing.
You can watch a video of the off-air happenings from Monday’s RAW below:
-Rob Van Dam has posted a new audio blog online updating fans on his official status with WWE. In the audio blog, RVD talks about taking a break from the company, but claims he will return soon. Van Dam noted that he enjoyed his recent WWE run a lot. You can check out the new RVD audio blog online at iPadio.com.
-The official WWE YouTube channel has added episode 48 of The JBL & Cole Show, which has a Halloween-theme. The official description for the show reads as follows:
“Prepare yourself for the most terrifying episode of The JBL & Cole Show ever made. The Bella Twins terrorize Hornswoggle, Renee Young gets possessed, and so much more! Happy Halloween!”