There has been some speculation that the current angle between Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose could potentially lead to a Reigns heel turn.
Since being promoted to the main roster, Reigns has been viewed as an obvious main event project, one that WWE has been carefully booking in specific ways pretty much since day one.
Lately, there has been speculation that Ambrose bringing Jimmy Uso into the fold for their battle against The Wyatt Family could lead to the Reigns heel turn, as Reigns would get upset that Ambrose brought his family, Uso, into a situation where he would get destroyed.
Whether or not this is the direction WWE is going remains to be seen, however there are many reasons why turning Reigns heel right now would make sense from a booking standpoint.
WWE taped the following matches for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars on Monday prior to WWE RAW.
– Paige def. Layla in Divas action in the first of two matches taped for the show. The finish saw Paige score the pinfall after hitting Layla with her “Ram-Paige” finisher. Jimmy Uso was on commentary during this match.
– The Ascension def. The Lucha Dragons in tag-team action in the second of two matches. The crowd chanted “Lucha! Lucha!” a lot during the match. In the end, Kalisto scored the pin on Konnor, giving The Lucha Dragons the victory.
WWE taped the following matches for this week’s edition of Main Event prior to the SmackDown television taping on Tuesday night in Houston, Texas.
– Dolph Ziggler def. Adam Rose in singles action to kick off the show. Lana was in Ziggler’s corner and Rosa Mendes was in Rose’s. Jimmy Uso was on commentary for this one. In the end, Ziggler picks up the “W” after blasting Rose with a superkick.
– Paige def. Alicia Fox in Divas action. It’s worth noting that Jimmy Uso was still on commentary for this match. Paige picked up the win with the PTO.
– King Barrett def. Jack Swagger in the final match of the show. R-Truth was on commentary for this one. Truth distracted Barrett a few times by stealing and wearing his crown, however in the end, Barrett managed to score the pin after hitting Swagger with his Bull Hammer Elbow.
Celebrity-gossip website TMZ has a new article up today about three WWE Superstars randomly “crashing” a wedding ceremony in Syracuse, New York on Saturday evening.
Roman Reigns, R-Truth and Jimmy Uso were at a hotel bar in Syracuse when they heard the reception and made their way in. The couple being married, Matt and Beth Samuels, are big WWE fans that knew the company was in the area, so they sent an e-mail inviting any WWE Superstars to stop by.
According to the article, Reigns, Truth and Uso had no knowledge of the e-mail, but just randomly stopped by anyways. The article claims the trio stuck around and had fun at the wedding for about 45 minutes.
WWE Diva Tamina Snuka, who has been off of television for a while now, returned on Monday’s RAW with a new gimmick.
We reported earlier today that Snuka had been working as a bodyguard for Naomi at recent non-televised live events, and that there’s a good possibility that it would be brought to television, and that’s exactly what happened.
As The Bella Twins were making their way to the ring on RAW on Monday night in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, they were attacked from behind by Naomi and Tamina Snuka.
After the beatdown, Naomi says to The Bella Twins, “You’re sibling reign of dominance over the Divas division is over. This is what family is all about.”
The announcers would go on to explain to the viewinng audience that Snuka is the cousin of Jimmy Uso, Naomi’s husband, by marriage, which would explain the family reference in her one-line promo.
It turns out there was a legitimate reason for Naomi turning heel at this past Monday’s edition of WWE RAW.
Naomi, who attacked Paige after Paige won the number one Divas contender battle royal at the RAW show taped in London, England on Monday afternoon, was actually filling the role that was originally set up for AJ Lee.
Prior to announcing her retirement, AJ Lee was scheduled to turn heel on Paige in the very near future on WWE television.
It’s worth noting that despite the coincidental circumstance, Naomi was actually scheduled to turn heel at one point in the WWE storylines as well. When Jimmy Uso and The Miz were feuding a few weeks back, Naomi was originally scheduled to turn heel on her real-life husband Uso, and align herself with The Miz and Damien Mizdow act. For whatever reason, however, WWE ultimately nixed those plans.
– Jey Uso was kept off of the WWE European tour this week due to the shoulder injury he suffered prior to WrestleMania 31. Instead, Jimmy Uso is working singles matches during the tour. The official WWE Twitter account noted that Jey is at home resting up.
– WWE stock was down 2.19 percent on Friday, closing at $13.42 per share. The high yesterday was $13.89 and the low was $13.35.
– This week’s edition of the JBL & Renee Young Show, which you can watch below, features a stop at WWE Headquarters.
The following matches were taped on Monday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California for tonight’s WrestleMania 31 “go-home” edition of WWE SmackDown.
– Cesaro vs. Jimmy Uso vs. Big E vs. Fernando in a four-way match
– AJ Lee promo
– Roman Reigns, John Cena, Daniel Bryan, and Mark Henry vs. Bray Wyatt, Big Show, Kane, and Seth Rollins in an eight-man tag match
As reported over the weekend, WWE Superstar Jey Uso missed the live event in Seattle on Saturday evening. Jimmy Uso ended up working the show by himself, defeating The Miz in singles action.
WWE has since confirmed the fact that Uso suffered a shoulder injury while working a match on SmackDown.
“Following Thursday night’s SmackDown, it was revealed that Jey Uso suffered a shoulder injury during an Eight-Man Tag Team Match. The former WWE Tag Team Champion will be evaluated again this week.”
– Jey Uso did not work the WWE live event on Saturday night in Seattle, Washington. Instead, Jimmy Uso appeared by himself, defeating The Miz in singles competition.
– Bo Dallas and Tyler Breeze have been working as a tag-team at recent WWE live events. At Saturday’s live event in Seattle, the two lost to The Lucha Dragons in tag-team action, however before the match, Dallas cut a promo, telling everyone that they were witnessing history as he and Breeze teamed up, and are now known as “Bo-Breeze.”
Below are photos of Bo-Breeze at last night’s show.
As the entire northeast freezes under a mountain of snow, the WWE decided to dip down to Orlando in an attempt to heat things up heading into Sunday’s Fastlane pay-per-view. The show featured eight matches, as well as appearances from Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes. Without further ado, here are the pros and cons from this week’s episode of Raw.
Pros
Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler was pure gold. Before the match, the two engaged in a hilarious back and forth, with Rollins laying down some burnsauce by telling Ziggler: “I know you fancy yourself a comedian but the only thing funny about you is that joke you call a career.” It was also hilarious to hear Ziggler question whether J&J getting him the wrong chocolates ruined his Valentine’s Day. Something tells me his Valentine’s Day was ruined for other reasons… As for the match, it was fast paced, full of spots, and exactly what you’d expect from two of the best workers in the business. Other than the J&J interference and non-finish, this was pretty much perfect on every level. I suspect a match between these two will be added to Fastlane after Smackdown. Here’s to hoping they give these guys 15 minutes and let them tear the house down. Highlight of the night by far.
I enjoyed the Dusty Rhodes backstage segments. The match between the New Day and Gold and Stardust was also nice, as it served as a nice juxtaposition between the brawling opening contest between Ambrose and Harper. Following the match, Stardust attacked his brother and called Dusty a “polka-dotted freak of a father.” I’ll admit, they’ve dragged this out forever and I wasn’t too excited at first, but I’m now getting into it.
Roman Reigns was the man last night. He sounded like a completely different person during his backstage interview before his match with Kane. His calm, confident, and collected demeanor is a stark contrast from the nervous guy we saw out there a few weeks ago talking about beanstalks while stumbing over every other word. His match with Kane was actually decent too, with Reigns winning via countout after hitting a big Spear. Daniel Bryan was on commentary during the match, with he and Reigns playing off of one another very well. It was also humorous to hear Michael Cole state: “Daniel Bryan is trying to steal Roman Reigns’ thunder. Roman Reigns just beat Kane, guys!” That means about as much as beating the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2015.
For a comedy segment, the Paige bit was actually hilarious. The outfit was funny, it actually served some sort of purpose in furthering her feud with Nikki Bella, the fans seemed to be enjoying it, and the match with Summer Rae was good for the time they were given.
The Dean Ambrose “weekend update” promo, where the Lunatic Fringe was parked at a desk looking like a shady used car dealer, was also entertaining. His match with Luke Harper featuring some nice, brawling action and was a good opening contest. JBL’s “we’ve got an air psycho” line had me cracking up, and his plot to force Barrett to sign the contract for Sunday was perfect. Nobody in the midcard deserves the IC Title more than Ambrose, and it looks like he’s going to find a way to capture the gold on Sunday.
Bray Wyatt’s promos are starting to become a bit repetitive, but I still enjoyed his work this week. He once again attacked the Undertaker, stating: “You’re an empty shell, and any fear that I once of you has turned into nothing more than putrid, hateful pity.” I can’t wait to see this program.
After being postponed last week due to snow, the good ole live, in-ring version of Raw was back last night, emanating from the Mile High City. The company was back in full force, with Triple H making a “major announcement” and a big main event between Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan. Without further ado, here are the pros and cons from last night’s episode of Raw.
Pros
The clear highlight of the night was the main event between Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan. Anytime you get two guys with this type of talent in the same ring, you know you’re in for a treat. They certainly didn’t disappoint either, pulling off a number of impressive spots and exhibiting impeccable chemistry. The spot of the match was probably Rollins countering Bryan’s Running Knee finisher into a Powerbomb. In the end, Bryan picked up the win and will face Roman Reigns at Fast Lane for a chance to go to WrestleMania (more on this later).
The second best part of the night was probably the segment involving Curtis Axel and Dean Ambrose. It’s sad when the first thing Axel has to say when coming out is, “Don’t change the channel.” It’s like he’s a mind reader or something. Anyway, it was hilarious to see Ambrose quickly toss Axel over the top rope before telling him he’s now eliminated. Even more exciting was that Ambrose called out Bad News Barrett. This is a program that really needs to happen, as Ambrose is the type of guy who could bring some prestige back to the Intercontinental Title after the company has played hot potato with it over the past few years.
Bray Wyatt had a big night. His match with Dolph Ziggler was incredible, and it was nice to see two guys who don’t work together much get a chance to shine. Wyatt hit a devastating Sister Abigail that Ziggler sold better than anyone to end the match. Later in the night, he cut a promo saying things like, “I am the new face of fear” and, “We cannot wait to see you again.” It looks like they are going with the rumored Wyatt/Taker program for WrestleMania and I, for one, cannot wait. If only they had gone this route last year instead of wasting the streak on a part-timer…
Rusev’s beating of Rowan and post-match promo was money. I absolutely love this guy and he played off of the Russian flag miscue perfectly. Please push this guy to the top and don’t feed him to Cena.
Jimmy Uso and Cesaro looked great together. The highlights were a Cesaro Swing into a Half Crab and a brutal uppercut to end the contest. It was nice to see Cesaro pick up a victory, but the only downside was that they are already teasing tension between Cesaro and Kidd. I’d like to see these guys stick together for a while and get a run with the titles.
Finally, the Miz/Mizdow promo was absolutely hilarious. It was nice to see the Miz berate his now former stunt double and put the wheels in motion for a breakup. Here’s to hoping for a payoff at WrestleMania.
The following are highlights of a new Norfolk Navy Flagship interview with one-half of the WWE Tag-Team Champions and former Total Divas cast member Jimmy Uso:
JM: With the recent news that neither you nor Trinity will be involved in the next season of the Total Divas series, is there some relief knowing that you will not have cameras on you at all times?
Uso: The work is a lot less now. I almost get to have my privacy back. We come off of these tours and you want to get home and relax, but you’re still working because you’re front of these cameras. They’re in your home and you really just want to sleep all day. I’m OK with it, but my wife really isn’t. We didn’t agree with the terms, but things happen and they work out how they do. We’re enjoying the free time that we have now.
JM: Totals Divas has exposed you to a different demographic of viewers that may not have normally watched WWE programming. Have you noticed this while out in the public?
Uso: Definitely. I get recognized more from Total Divas than I do for WWE. With my wife, you get people that look at her and want a picture, but they’re not really sure if it’s her or not, but when we’re together, they automatically know. I get a lot of older women, actually, that come up to me. They’re like “Hey! You’re Jonathan from Total Divas!” out of nowhere. You’ll know that it’s a Total Divas fan because a WWE fan would have said “Uso!”. It was weird at first being called by my first name and my wife by her first name. It’s cool, and funny in a way.
JM: What are your thoughts on the current state of the WWE tag team division and where you see it in the future as newcomers advance from NXT?
Uso: I feel like my brother and I amped it up because we are a real tag team. There aren’t any real tag teams like back in the day with the Legion of Doom, Hart Foundation, Demolition. Today, we’re trying to get that tag team wrestling back to WWE. I think we’re doing a good job, but it could get better. There are teams coming up from NXT, like The Ascension, coming in with each other and hopefully they will stay with each other. Maybe we can get a nice little run out of these guys with The Usos, or maybe the Wyatts can get back together again, or The Shield. I feel like we had great matches with The Wyatts; great chemistry with those guys, but they broke them up. I hope when more tag teams come in the future that they stay together and we can have a real tag team division like back in the day.
As noted recently, WWE Diva Naomi and her real-life husband, Jimmy Uso, are no longer scheduled to be a part of the Total Divas cast when the next season of the show airs on E!.
Apparently the decision was made because of the fact that the two recently got married.
It’s believed that there wasn’t much that could be done with them on the show after Naomi and Cameron broke up as a tag-team, and because most of the “married couple issues” in the storylines for the show would be used by other married couples that are part of the cast.
Apparently Goldust was backstage at RAW last Monday in Chicago, Illinois, however the vignette with Stardust that aired on the show had already been taped while he was on vacation with his family in Hawaii.
Stardust went on to wrestle Jimmy Uso at the WWE Superstars taping on Monday, but did not work the SmackDown taping the next night.
Both Goldust and Stardust are expected to be back together at Monday’s RAW in Brooklyn, New York, as the two both made appearances at the Ringside Fest event in New York City this weekend.
– After initially keeping him out of the ring during live events to sell his storyline knee injury, WWE had Jey Uso return to action on Sunday night in Dayton, Ohio. Uso worked a six-man tag-team match with his brother Jimmy and The Great Khali, defeating all three members of The Wyatt Family. Jey had his knee heavily taped up and sold it throughout the majority of the match.
– NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte held a live Q&A on Twitter on Sunday night. She spoke about her pre-match ritual, which includes her saying a prayer to her brother Reid before heading out to the ring. She also noted that her first official WWE t-shirt will be released soon.
The WWE rolled through midwest tonight, as they set up shop in Des Moines, Iowa. This week’s card featured a total of eight matches, including a life changing six-man tag main event. It’s time to once again take the WWE to school, and I’ll be the one doling out the grades.
As always, matches will be graded based on usual factors such as workrate, in-ring psychology, move variety, crowd reaction, and overall impact on the storyline. Important in-ring promos will also be graded based on factors such as originality, believability, and importance. Without further ado, here is this week’s Raw report card.
Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel
Tonight’s show started with Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel, and featured a shitload of guests, including the Authority, John Cena, and Roman Reigns. There was some entertaining banter during the segment, including Triple H and Jericho hurling corny insults at one another as Jericho dissed Triple H’s pink tie, while the Game chose to attack Y2J’s scarf during a hilarious back and forth. Rollins was extremely over during the promo and got the biggest pop of the night in his home state. Cena threatening to sue the company was pretty lame, however, and held the promo back a bit. It was an overall decent segment, it set up the main event, and the crowd seemed to be into it.
Grade: B
Sheamus and Dolph Ziggler vs. Cesaro and the Miz
The first match of the night was a tag team match featuring the United States and Intercontinental Champions. The Miz showed up with his body double Damien Mizdow and a personal stylist, complete with chairs and makeup. Miz and Sandow were hilarious throughout the contest and the ending was solid. Ziggler and Cesaro also worked well together during the opening portion of the match, with Cesaro’s fall away slam into a pinning combination being one of the most impressive spots I’ve seen in a long time. Overall, it was an entertaining contest and was a good way to advance both feuds.
– WWE tag team champion Jimmy Uso spoke to Washington D.C.’s 106.7 The Fan on Monday to hype RAW and Sunday’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view. One of the interesting notes discussed was he and Trinity getting busted “having relations” on the luxury bus during the filming of Total Divas. That wasn’t scripted as part of the show.
“I honestly, I couldn’t hold out any longer,” Uso said. “They caught us flat out.”
He also noted that filming for the show’s third season began two weeks ago. he talked to be about his desire to have success as a singles competitor. He said he would “definitely would love to try it,” but only if Jey was able to succeed as well.
There’s a lot more to the interview, including how The Usos found success over the past year and feeling Umaga’s presence with him every time they’re in the ring. He also touched on morale in the company following the recent releases.
– Former WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre spoke with Chris Duke of Scottish sports radio station Eklipse Sports Radio and revealed that he’s returning to the ring in his home country (Scotland) for British Championship Wrestling on August 29th.
The following is a non-spoiler match listing for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown, which was taped on Tuesday night and will air on Friday, May 2, 2014 on the SyFy Network.
– Rob Van Dam vs. Jack Swagger
– Alexander Rusev vs. R-Truth
– The Wyatt Family vs. Sheamus & The Usos
– Damien Sandow vs. Dolph Ziggler
– Big E. vs. Titus O’Neil
– Dean Ambrose vs. Ryback vs. Curtis Axel vs. Alberto Del Rio
For a complete spoiler report for this week’s WWE SmackDown, click ahead to page two …
The following is a non-spoiler match listing for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown, which was taped on April 22nd in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and will air this Friday, April 25th on the SyFy Network.
– “The Great Debate” between Paul Heyman and Cesaro.
– Cesaro vs. Jack Swagger
– Natalya vs. Tamina Snuka
– Curtis Axel vs. Jey Uso
– Luke Harper & Erick Rowan vs. Goldust & Cody Rhodes
– Fandango & Layla vs. Santino Marella & Emma
– The Shield vs. 11 WWE Superstars
For a complete WWE SmackDown spoiler report for this week, click ahead to page two …
The following are results of this week’s WWE Main Event, which aired on the WWE Network on Tuesday, April 22nd from Hershey, Pennsylvania.
– Big E. def Alberto Del Rio in the opening match of the show. The finish comes when Del Rio goes for a tornado-DDT, which Big E. reverses into his “Big Ending” for the 1-2-3. After the match, Bad News Barrett pops up on his podium. He’s afraid he’s got some bad news. He informs Big E. that he’s only got 12 days remaining as WWE Intercontinental Champion.
– Hornswoggle def. El Torito in singles action. The finish comes when El Torito goes for his finisher, but Hornswoggle moves and hits him with his Tadpole Splash for the 1-2-3.
– Sheamus def. Titus O’Neil in another one-on-one contest. The finish in this one saw Sheamus nail O’Neil with a big headbutt and follow it up with his Brogue Kick for the pin and the 1-2-3.
– Ryback def. Jimmy Uso in the headline bout of this week’s Main Event. Both Jey Uso and Curtis Axel were at ringside and after a bunch of distractions, Ryback eventually hits Jimmy with his Shellshocked finisher for the pin and the win.
– Zeb Colter called out Paul Heyman in a new tweet posted on his official Twitter account on Sunday. Colter tweeted the following regarding tonight’s edition of WWE RAW.
– As seen on last night’s edition of WWE Total Divas, Rikishi failed to show up at his sons wedding, as Jimmy Uso and Naomi got married without the former WWE Superstar attending. Rikishi took to Twitter to address the issue.
As previously reported, Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella were officially married on April 11th in Sedona, Arizona. The wedding ceremony was filmed for what is believed to be the final episode of the season of Total Divas that will be airing in the late spring.
Nikki Bella was the maid of honor at the wedding. Other WWE personalities that attended included Cesaro, as well as the regular cast of Total Divas, which includes John Cena, Tyson Kidd, Jimmy Uso, Naomi, Cameron, Natalya and Eva Marie.
Bryan and Bella were given the week off by WWE for their honeymoon, but are both scheduled to return on April 21st at the WWE RAW show in Baltimore.
The following is a non-spoiler match listing for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown. For complete spoiler results, click ahead to page two.
– Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Drew McIntyre & Jinder Mahal
– Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Ryback & Curtis Axel
– Damien Sandow vs. Sin Cara
– Goldust vs. Fandango
– Batista vs. Sheamus
– The Bella Twins vs. AJ Lee & Tamina Snuka
– Jack Swagger vs. Jimmy Uso
– The Miz vs. Mark Henry
– Bray Wyatt vs. Big Show
For complete spoiler results for this week’s WWE SmackDown, click ahead to page two …