– During an interview featured in the new WWE Magazine, Daniel Bryan says he’s spoken to William Regal about being his manager:
“I would love to have William Regal as my manager and we’ve actually talked about it. There are so many entertaining bits we could do. He’s such an entertaining character, so we’ve got some ideas, and I would love to do it.”
– John Laurinaitis was not backstage at this week’s WWE television tapings because he is recovering from shoulder surgery, which took place last week. He is working as the head producer at WWE live events and there are still plans to bring him back as a television character this fall.
– Here is the official poster for WWE’s new “Main Event” show, which premieres on the Ion network on October 3rd (click to enlarge):
– CM Punk bleeding on RAW has been a hot topic of conversation this week amongst WWE talent. His tweet about paying a $500,000 fine for bleeding on RAW was [obviously] fictional, as there were no fines levied for the apparent blade job.
Punk bleeding on RAW and repeatedly referring to himself as a “wrestler” has led to some optimisim that RAW is getting edgier.
– John Laurinaitis is said to be recovered from his recent injury and is back working live events. Laurinaitis did a run in during the CM Punk vs. John Cena vs. Big Show main event in Brisbane, attacking John Cena with a steel chair before catching an Attitude Adjustment.
– Speaking of the Big Show, he is sporting a new look on WWE’s tour of Australia. He is now clean shaving after shaving his trademark goatee.
– WWE Diva Rosa Mendes is also back on tour with WWE after her recent domestic violence spat with former WWE wrestler Jackson Andrews. Rosa has been appearing with Epico and Primo and lost to Divas Champion Layla at Thursday’s live event from Brisbane, Australia.
– WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair will be free from his TNA no-compete clause and free to sign with WWE on September 10th. While it’s not a sure thing that Flair will be returning to WWE as soon as he’s legally able to (due to the TNA vs. WWE lawsuit), one storyline proposed for Flair would be to pair him with Dolph Ziggler as a mentor/manager.
Flair is currently in the midst of a divorce from his wife Jacqueline Beems, his 4th time down that road.
– Th reason John Laurinaitis has been pulled from wrestling dark matches after WWE television shows is because he is currently injured. Despite the fact that he was removed as WWE’s Executive Vice President of Talent Relations back in June, Laurinaitis is expected to return as a television character in the coming months.
– As previously reported, WWE is currently working on ways to bring John Laurinaitis back to television as a regular on-air character. Aside from possibly serving as a manager to Jack Swagger, another idea being discussed is for Laurinaitis to return to a position of authority, such as an “Executive Vice President”
– Jim Ross noted on Twitter that he and his wife are planning on attending Mick Foley’s comedy show on Sunday night in Los Angeles (after SummerSlam) at the LA Improv.
– Steve Austin is doing radio appearances this morning to promote his CMT show Redneck Island and will be taking part in a THQ video game shoot later today.
– WWE announced Friday via Twitter that Shawn Michaels will appear on Monday’s episode of Raw, the final episode before SummerSlam. Brock Lesnar issued a threatening warning to HBK on Monday’s show that he would see him before SummerSlam. Michaels will be in Triple H’s corner when he faces Lesnar at the pay-per-view event. Triple H is also advertised to appear at Raw, which will take place at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
– Former WWE Superstar Billy Gunn evaluated WWE developmental talent this week at Florida Championship Wrestling headquarters. Regarding this, Gunn wrote on Twitter, “Thanks to everyone in fcw for a great week of training had fun and learned alot the future is looking great if your a wrestling fan.” Gunn may further his partnership with WWE. As reported last week, management was impressed with Gunn and his interactions with Shawn Michaels on Raw 1,000 and the belief is he’ll receive at least one match on a future televised show.
– WWE.com has published photos from the SmackDown brand’s second night of action in Tokyo, Japan. John Laurinaitis, who competed on the show despite his removal from storylines, is not shown in any of the photos.
The official WWE website announced Monday that John Laurinaitis had resigned from his position as Senior Vice President of Talent Operations, effectively immediately. He will, however, remain with the company as a producer assisting talent with their matches. His resignation is legitimate and not part of any storyline.
According to WWE sources, Laurinaitis had mentioned how exhausted he was with his workload, which consisted of office duties in Stamford, Connecticut and traveling to numerous events as a performer. The writing, however, was on the wall since he was quietly removed from the WWE Corporate website’s index of Executive Officers in April. Paul Levesque, Executive Vice President of Talent and Live Events, was reportedly never a “Big Johnny” booster and it was believed to be a matter of time before Jane Geddes, Vice President of Talent Relations, and Canyon Ceman, Senior Director of Talent Development, understood the WWE machine. With each element they learned, they assumed duties that belonged to Laurinaitis. Creative writer Michael Hayes had already replaced John Laurinaitis as matchmaker of live events and it said that he was taken out of the loop concerning developmental program matters.
The internal belief is that Laurinaitis will wind up back on television as a performer since most people are surprised that WWE has maintained his character’s firing. He is scheduled to appear at live events through at least September.
Laurinaitis was hired as a producer after WWE’s acquisition of certain assets of World Championship Wrestling in March 2001. When Jim Ross desired to move from Stamford, Connecticut to Norman, Oklahoma, he began grooming Laurinaitis to overtake his position as Vice President of Talent Relations. WWE chief Vince McMahon, however, made the switch without informing Ross first in 2004. Laurinatis was at one point one of the most powerful employees in the organization, and in 2009, was promoted to Executive Vice President of Talent Relations. However, when Stephanie McMahon took over Talent Relations and handed over the reins to Levesque, his power weakened and he was ultimately demoted.
The only person remaining in the talent relations department since last year, aside from employees working in travel, is Mark Carrano. Though WWE stated in their article that Laurinaitis was “burned out” from the position, multiple sources have stated that recent changes to the corporate infrastructure represent Levesque assuming control of certain sectors of the organization and re-shaping them to his liking. Despite his demotion, Laurinaitis chose to maintain employment because he bought an expensive Connecticut home and his family doesn’t want to move away from the area.
– After Raw went off the air, John Laurinaitis hit the ring with a steel chair tapped for John Cena. Cena, however, ducked and hit the former Raw General Manager and Executive Vice President of Talent Relations with the Attitude Adjustment. Big Show then tried to attack Cena, but was put to rest with the Attitude Adjustment.
– In her first night as Raw General Manager, AJ was referred to as AJ Lee. It is the alias she used in WWE developmental league Florida Championship Wrestling from 2009 to 2010. When it was announced in August 2010 that she would be part of the third season of WWE NXT, the last name was dropped and she was simply referred to as AJ. However, she maintained the AJ Lee name on her Twitter account.
– John Laurinaitis turns 47-years-old Tuesday. WWE.com announced Monday that Laurinaitis had resigned from his position as Senior Vice President of Talent Operations, citing “burn out.” He will continue to work for the company as a producer assisting talent with their matches as well as performer.
The official WWE website announced Monday that effective immediately, John Laurinaitis is resigning from his position as Senior Vice President of Talent Operations after eight years of service. He will, however, remain with the company as a producer assisting talent with their matches. His resignation is legitimate and not part of any storyline.
In an indication that he was on his way out of the position, Laurinaitis was quietly removed from the WWE Corporate website’s index of Executive Officers in April.
Though WWE stated in their article that Laurinaitis was “burned out” from the position, multiple sources have stated that recent changes to the corporate infrastructure represent Paul Levesque, Executive Vice President of Talent and Live Events, assuming control of certain sectors of the company and re-shaping them to his liking.
Laurinaitis’ duties had been scaled back in recent years as Levesque and fellow executive Stephanie McMahon gained control over Talent Operations and creating line-ups for house shows. He had overseen the department since April 2004, when he replaced Jim Ross. He was hired as a producer after the sport entertainment organization’s acquisition of certain assets of World Championship Wrestling in March 2001.
Effective immediately, John Laurinaitis is resigning his position as WWE Senior Vice President of Talent Operations. WWE.com issued the following statement.
John Laurinaitis resigns as Senior Vice President of Talent Operations
Effective immediately, John Laurinaitis is resigning from his position as Senior Vice President of Talent Operations. Following his very public firing at June’s No Way Out, Laurinaitis continued to work behind-the-scenes in his corporate role. After eight years of service in talent relations, he’s “burned out” and now hopes to concentrate on what he knows best: putting together matches and working with WWE talent as a producer.
– Road Dogg and Josh Mathews introduce a new batch of clips “that will make you laugh, cry, or both” on this week’s episode of “Are You Serious?,” including highlights ridiculing John Laurinaitis’ past as a member of the Dynamic Dudes. Also featured are clips of “Mean” Gene Okerlund hosting “The Mating Game,” Kwee Wee and the World Bodybuilding Federation.
– Dustin Rhodes, formerly known as Goldust in WWE, has launched an official website at dustinrhodes.lockerdome.com. He is holding a contest for autographed action figures and books.
– Former WCW World Heavyweight Champion “Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner celebrates a milestone birthday Sunday as he turns 50 years old.
Speaking to WWE Magazine, CM Punk reveals the most ridiculous thing John Laurinaitis ever said to him—comparing himself to three of the greatest wrestlers of all-time.
“He always tries to tell me some kind of stories that relate to whatever I’m going through at the time with him and his career in Japan. Maybe there are some parallels,” Punk recalls. “One time, he compared himself to Hulk Hogan, Randy “Macho Man” Savage and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin when he talked about signature finishers and whatever the set up was. Hogan would tuck his hand to his ear. Austin would do the double-bird. Savage would point to the sky before dropping his respective finisher. Then he threw his in there—it was the Peace Sign followed by the Ace Crusher.
“I was just dumbfounded that he had the gall to throw his name and his hat in with those historic Superstars.”
Punk was also asked who, other himself, will he play as in the upcoming WWE ’13 video game.
“Mike Tyson!” Punk states. “Yeah, it’s the first time that he’s been in a wrestling title, as far as I know. The last time he was in a video game was Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! So how awesome is that!? For sure—I’m going to knock you out.”
– Chris Jericho, who is not advertised to appear at tonight’s SmackDown taping in Kansas City, Missouri, issued a Tout message this afternoon stating that he was cruising down the highway to the event.
– Despite his character’s removal from television weeks ago, John Laurinaitis continues to work non-televised matches. A Handicap Match featuring the former Raw General Manager and Big Show versus John Cena has been announced to take place at the September 24 Raw taping emanating from Times Union Center in Albany, New York.
Talent advertised to appear at the event include CM Punk, Randy Orton, Sheamus, Kane, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, Christian, Kofi Kingston, Cody Rhodes, Sin Cara and Santino Marella.
– WWE will hold a SmackDown live event at the Civic Center in Anderson, South Carolina on December 2. The event starts at 5:00 p.m.
– As previously reported, Fit Finlay is back with WWE and will resume his role as a producer. Finlay met with WWE during WrestleMania weekend and did state in an interview that he was meeting with WWE to discuss a new deal. Since WrestleMania, Finlay has been working with former WWE wrestler Tajiri and helped launch his new Wrestling New Classics promotion in Japan. Now that Tajiri’s new promotion is off the ground, Finlay was free to return to WWE.
– John Laurinaitis’ power behind the scenes continues to dwindle, with several other people now running the talent development division under Triple H. Laurinaitis had been involved in talent development and booking live events, but now he’s limited to a performer and possibly handling company payroll.
Despite being fired weeks ago, Laurinaitis continues to work dark matches, teaming with the Big Show against John Cena in handicap matches. It’s expected Laurinaitis will be brought back to television in some capacity in the coming months.
– Tag team action is slated for Sunday as Kofi Kingston and R-Truth will defend the WWE Tag Team Championship against Camacho and Hunico in the Money in the Bank Pre-Show, which streams live on WWE.com, YouTube.com/WWE and Facebook.com at 7:30 ET/4:30 PT.
– Despite his removal from WWE programming last month, John Laurinaitis is slated to compete at live shows through at least September. The advertised main event for the Saturday, September 22, 2012 Raw live event taking place at the Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York has ‘Big Johnny’ teaming up with Big Show to take on John Cena in a Handicap Match.
– The Raw SuperShow taking place on Monday, September 17, 2012 at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut will feature John Cena vs. Big Show in a Steel Cage Match.
– WWEShop.com is selling a Brodus Clay Fedora for $29.99.
– Despite being fired by Vince McMahon at No Way Out (and getting disposed of by John Cena on RAW), John Laurinaitis continues to work WWE live events.
The main event of this weekend’s RAW shows (Bethlehem, PA on Friday, Wheeling, WV on Saturday and Huntington, WV on Sunday) will be John Cena vs. Big Show and John Laurinaitis.
The storyline behind Laurinaitis still appearing at live events is that WWE’s Board of Directors are “making him fulfill his contract obligations.”
Fans attending these RAW-brand shows expecting to see WWE Champion CM Punk will be out of luck, because this weekend’s SmackDown shows (Springfield, IL & Bloomington, IL) will feature CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Kane and Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio as the top matches.
– After finishing up shooting scenes in Philadelphia, Wade Barrett is headed to New York this weekend to continue filming for WWE Studios’ Dead Man Down, due out in 2013.
– Vince McMahon issued a directive to WWE scouts recruiting athletes as prospective talent; they must meet a size requirement of 6’2″ and 240 pounds. The WWE chief is concerned that many of his top-tier talents are approximately 200 pounds, thus small by his standards. His remark to Daniel Bryan on last week’s episode of Raw Supershow where nobody would believe him to be a WWE Superstar if he was spotted in a grocery store was based on his frustration with his roster’s lack of sufficient size. McMahon believes many of his top stars are not reaching the masses because they don’t possess ‘the Superstar look.’
– WWE creative writer Michael Hayes has replaced John Laurinaitis as the matchmaker for live event shows.
– Rey Mysterio’s sixty-day suspension for his second violation of WWE’s Talent Wellness Program expires on Monday. WWE has yet to advertise Mysterio for any upcoming events.
– The late Earthquake is today’s featured Superstar on WWE.com. He died on June 7, 2006 at the age of 42 following a lengthy battle with bladder cancer.
– John Cena’s Steel Cage Match victory over Big Show at No Way Out carried the stipulation that John Laurinaitis would be terminated as WWE Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Raw and SmackDown General Manager if The World’s Largest Athlete couldn’t pick up the victory. The former ‘Giant’ lost, and Laurinaitis was subsequently fired by Mr. McMahon. He was then given a ‘painful farewell’ by Cena on Raw SuperShow after Big Show and David Otunga both abandoned him in a 3-on-1 Handicap Match. Despite Sunday and Monday’s events, Laurinaitis is advertised for next Monday’s Raw SuperShow at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The official website of the venue announced: “Mr. McMahon fired Raw and SmackDown General Manager John Laurinaitis at No Way Out, but per The WWE Board of Directors, John Laurinaitis must fulfill his contractual obligations and still team with Big Show to battle John Cena in Fort Wayne!”
– WWE will hold a SmackDown taping on Tuesday, November 27 at Century Link Center in Bossier City, Louisiana.
– Brock Lesnar is featured on the cover of the latest issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated.
– Brock Lesnar is being advertised for August 13th WWE RAW Supershow, the week before SummerSlam. This is the only upcoming show that Lesnar is currently advertised for, so it’s likely that Paul Heyman will continue to appear on WWE television as his representative.
Even though Paul Heyman rejected Triple H’s challenge to Lesnar for a match at SummerSlam, the match will indeed headline WWE’s “biggest party of the summer.
– WWE is still advertising John Laurinaitis for future WWE live events through the summer, despite him getting fired by Vince McMahon at No Way Out.
– Chris Jericho will return to WWE television next week on RAW and is advertised for all upcoming RAW shows through Summerslam.
Jericho’s metal band Fozzy will be featured on the upcoming Rockstar Uproar Tour, which runs from August 15th through September 30th. One of the dates on that tour is August 19th (the night of Summerslam). Fozzy is not performing that night, which will allow Jericho to appear at SummerSlam. He’s not listed at any WWE events after SummerSlam.
– WWE’s Breaking News mobile alert service reported Monday afternoon that former General Manager and Executive Vice President of Talent John Laurinaitis will give his farewell address on tonight’s Raw SuperShow. Laurinaitis added on Twitter:
They haven't taken away my Twitter accounts yet … Tonight on #Raw, I say farewell with the class and dignity that #PeoplePower deserves.
John Cena’s Steel Cage Match victory over Big Show at No Way Out carried the stipulation that Laurinaitis would be terminated if The World’s Largest Athlete couldn’t pick up the duke.
– This week on WWE Download, Dolph Ziggler looks at a few guys who can’t quite hit their targets, and showcases several of Zack Ryder’s “shining” moments.
At Sunday’s WWE No Way Out pay-per-view, John Cena defeated Big Show in their main event steel cage match to save his job and send John Laurinaitis packing.
Shortly after Vince McMahon fired Laurinaitis, the WWE website posted a backstage video of the former RAW General Manager recovering from his post-match beatdown by Cena. Jinder Mahal and Sakamoto came in and The Great Khali also appeared, offered to shake Laurinaitis’ hand before pulling it away. The segment ended with Khali, Mahal and Sakamoto dancing around.
While John Laurinaitis was fired as the General Manager of RAW, he’s is still being advertised for tonight’s RAW and all WWE live events through the summer. In what could be a spoiler regarding his new role in WWE, he’ listed as the new “Assistant to the WWE Board of Directors.”
– WWE will hold the second NXT tapings tonight from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. WWE superstars scheduled to appear include Sheamus, Sin Cara, Hunico, Camacho, Natalya, and Justin Gabriel. Jim Ross will also be in attendance to call some of the action. Check back later tonight spoiler results from the tapings.
– David Otunga and his fiance Jennifer Hudson are rumored to be finally getting married this fall.
– WWE has shut down its European Shopzone website. All European orders will now be handled through the main WWEShop.com site.
– As previously reported, John Laurinaitis is no longer WWE’s Executive Vice President of Talent Relations. That role is now filled by Triple H. Laurinaitis is now working under Triple H, who recently brought in Canyon Cemen (Talent Development) and Jane Geddes (Vice President of Talent Relations). Geddes is now handling a lot of the tasks previously done by Lauirinaitis.
Laurinaitis has had many of his duties scaled back in recent months, but is now on the road much more since he’s an on air character and has been wrestling in handicap matches against John Cena. Laurinaitis is still in charge of booking WWE’s live events and handles talent payroll.
– John Laurinaitis no longer officially serves as WWE’s Executive Vice President of Talent Relations; his bio has been removed from the WWE Corporate website’s index of executive officers. Therefore, the former ‘Dynamic Dude’ is solely an on-air performer for WWE. However, he is still branded as the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations in his WWE.com Superstars profile and on his Twitter account.
Laurinaitis had overseen the Talent Relations department since April 2004, when he replaced Jim Ross. He was hired as a road agent after the sport entertainment organization’s acquisition of certain assets of World Championship Wrestling in March 2001.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque, who oversees the talent relations and talent development departments, has been added to the website.
– Counting down to twelve days remaining on his thirty-day WWE suspension due to an irresponsible act of denigrating the Brazilian flag at a WWE live event in São Paulo on May 24, Chris Jericho tweeted Monday, “I was 12 years old when I started my first band, The Amplifiers. Our song was called ‘Cop Shop’. I still remember how it goes!”
– Triple H is today’s spotlighted WWE Superstar on WWE.com.
– There has been talk of John Laurinaitis joining Vince McMahon’s Kiss My Ass Club. With Vince returning on next week’s 3-hour RAW from Hartford, Connecticut to do a job performance evaluation on Laurinaitis, this could be Vince’s chance to induct him.
-Last week we posted the names of wrestlers who will be featured in the upcoming WWE ’13 video game, but it should be clarified that the final roster will not be released until August.
This year’s game will focus on the Attitude Era stars vs. Modern “PG” Era stars. In recent years, characters like The Rock and Steve Austin appeared as bonus legends. This year, they will featured more prominently.
– Many people within WWE are very worried about RAW expanding to 3-hours on July 23rd. Over the weekend, we spoke to several people who work to WWE and nobody had anything good to say about the expansion. The general feeling is that WWE’s writers and superstars will be spread even thinner and RAW going 3 hours every single week has the potential to do serious damage to not just the RAW television show, but the company as a whole.
– The synopsis for next week’s Raw reads: “John Laurinaitis runs television’s longest-running weekly episodic show.”
– It’s week four of WWE.com’s celebration of the 1,000th episode of Raw. This week, look back at shows from March 1, 1999 to January 22, 2001 in this photo gallery.
– WWE returns to the Civic Center in Peoria, Illinois on August 25, 2012. Tickets go on sale June 29, 2012 at 10:00 a.m.
Tensai failed to impress WWE officials in his pinfall victory over John Cena on the April 16 Raw SuperShow in London, England and was labeled “a flop” as a result. He was initially pegged to face Cena at the company’s Over the Limit and No Way Out pay-per-view events but his poor showing in the main event match led to his push being curtailed and Big Show taking his place. WWE also canceled plans for summer live events to be headlined by Tensai and John Laurinaitis vs. Cena, instead replacing the former tattoo artist with Big Show.
Though Tensai has yet to be defeated on television, he suffered his first pinfall loss before a WWE crowd in a dark match following Monday’s Raw SuperShow—to Cena. He is being largely relegated to WWE Superstars while his character is retooled. He has already undergone tweaks as he appeared sans robe, competed more aggressively and had his named modified within the past two weeks. More changes could be in the works as there was talk this past week of additional modifications.
