– Finn Balor’s ring entrance was screwed up during the NXT live event in Albany, New York on Saturday night. NXT had a few issues with the sound system throughout the show, but the most glaring issue came during Balor’s entrance for the main event. Tyler Breeze came out first to his usual ring music and had to stall in the ring for several minutes while the NXT production crew was presumably working on fixing whatever the issue was. Unfortunately, they didn’t fix it fast enough, so Balor ended up coming out to no music. By the time he hit the ring and was posing in the corners, his music finally played. Kevin Owens would follow as the third competitor in the triple-threat main event, and by that point, the audio issues had been cleared up.
Balor tweeted the following about his entrance mix-up on Saturday, and re-tweeted the following video of the entrance itself.
– NXT Diva Bayley’s boyfriend Aaron Solow posted the following audition video for the new season of WWE Tough Enough. In the video, Solow addresses the fact that he’s dating Bayley in real life.
Former WWE Superstar Evan Bourne, who is now working under the name Matt Sydal, recently spoke with the Chad Dukes Wrestling Show about his recovery from injury and the opportunity he has to team with one of his idols — Japanese pro wrestling legend Jushin Thunder Liger.
Below are some highlights from the interview.
On recovering from injuries in pro wrestling: “Injuries are two-fold, as professional wrestlers we walk to the ring feeling completely invincible. When I step into the ring, there’s no doubt in my mind, there’s no hesitation, there’s no second thoughts, it’s a 110 percent, full force all the time. If you walk into the ring worried about your ankle, if you walk into the ring worried about your neck, that’s only going to increase the likelihood of something bad or something traumatic happening or getting worse. So when you’re coming back from an injury the keys are that mental game, getting that locked up, and then the physical game’s gonna come because as wrestlers we know what we need our bodies to feel like. That first match back it does not feel good, that second match doesn’t feel good. I mean when I came back I felt like I was drowning in a sea of super athletic young wrestlers. These guys were taking me into the middle of the ring, taking me out into deep waters and seeing if I could sink or swim.”
On teaming with Jushin Thunder Liger: “If there was a Hall of Fame for junior heavyweights he would have his own wing. He’s one of the guys who brought wrestling from Canada, Mexico, and Japan, and combined them into a really magical style of wrestling and that’s what connected with me when I was a young man. The style of Jushin Thunder Liger is how I’ve been molding myself.”
On NXT: “It’s brilliant. This is a third brand that can tour, it’s a third stream of revenue for the WWE, it’s extremely cost effective, and you’re giving amazing talent that has a fanbase a platform that can reach more people. That’s the beauty of NXT, because it just goes to show that the men who walk through Ring of Honor are WWE caliber people. Because there is no difference between Kevin Owens, your NXT Champion, and Kevin Steen, your Ring of Honor Champion. Between Seth Rollins, your Ring of Honor World Champion, and Seth Rollins, your WWE World Champion.”
As of Saturday’s NXT live event in Orlando, WWE is still advertising a NXT Championship match between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens for their upcoming NXT Takeover event on May 20th.
WWE is not expected to officially announce Zayn’s status for the show until after next Wednesday’s NXT episode.
Zayn, as noted earlier this week, suffered an injury while hyping the crowd up prior to his match with John Cena at Monday’s edition of WWE RAW.
NXT Champion Kevin Owens recently spoke with Vaughn Johnson of Philly.com to promote the upcoming NXT live event in Philadelphia. Below are some highlights from the interview.
On returning to Philly: “To come with NXT as NXT champion is cool because the last time I was in Philly it was with Ring of Honor and I knew it was the last time I’d be coming to Philly with Ring of Honor. In my head I didn’t know when I’d be back in Philly. Now to do it with WWE, with NXT and as the champion, it’s a pretty good feeling.”
On learning at the WWE Performance Center: “Everything I knew, and I think I knew quite bit, it was still nothing compared to the wealth of knowledge that NXT and the Performance Center allows you to have access to. If you think you know everything when you get there you’re in for a big surprise. I didn’t know everything, I knew I didn’t know everything and I was so excited to get to learn from all of those people.”
On the NXT brand being praised: “I think [the praise is] well-deserved. Everybody works so hard. I see it everyday. That’s the thing. People watch NXT once a week on the [WWE] Network, and they see one hour of the work we put in. I see every single day the people that are there working hard. The praise that we get is not surprising because we work really hard. We’re going to put on a show Thursday with the knowledge that Friday we have to be better because we have to live up to what we do Thursday and we know we’re going to kick ass on Thursday, so Friday we have to make that even better and we will.”
– NXT Champion Kevin Owens turns 31 years old today. Today would have been the 50th birthday of Owen Hart.
– WWE SmackDown preview for tonight:
Payback Fatal 4 Way contract signing
Dolph Ziggler vs. King Barrett
Luke Harper vs. Fandango
New Day vs. Ryback, Cesaro and Tyson Kidd
Naomi vs. Emma
Lucha Dragons vs. Los Matadores
– On this week’s NXT Breakdown, NXT General Manager William Regal talks hypes the Women’s Championship Match between Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks at Takeover: Unstoppable on May 20th.
Former NXT Champion Sami Zayn’s match with WWE U.S. Champion John Cena was laid out this week to include Bret Hart’s involvement, as we all saw on RAW on Monday night, however things didn’t quite go as planned from there.
The plan was for Zayn to lose but in the process, get over as a big star in front of an audience in Montreal that WWE was sure he would get a huge reaction.
What’s interesting is that this was not apparently going to be Zayn’s official full-time debut on the main WWE roster, even though he was originally scheduled to wrestle on SmackDown again this week. Due to the injury he sustained at RAW, SmackDown this week had to be re-written.
While there’s still no definitive word regarding the specifics of the injury, reports from those close to the situation have described it as “serious.”
There was talk in the locker room on Tuesday night at the SmackDown television tapings that Zayn would be out of action for a few months. Others claimed WWE had not yet received a report from the doctor yet, so it could be anything.
If Zayn is going to be out of action for a few months, WWE would have to cancel his match against NXT Champion Kevin Owens at the NXT Takeover: Unstoppable special on May 20th.
With Zayn out of the picture, if that turns out to be the case, the leading candidates for his replacement in the match with Owens would likely be Finn Balor or Hideo Itami vs. Tyler Breeze in a number one contender match, with the winner of that buot earning the shot at Owens.
The following is a preview for tonight’s episode of NXT on the WWE Network, featuring Alex Riley’s “shot at redemption” against NXT Champion Kevin Owens: (more…)
Next week’s episode of NXT on the WWE Network will feature NXT Champion Kevin Owens vs. Alex Riley and Charlotte vs. Bayley vs. Becky Lynch in a #1 contenders match. Riley posted this video hyping his shot at redemption:
Dana Brooke tweeted the following about her NXT debut, where she defeated Blue Pants:
Sesugh Uhaa (Uha Nation) spoke with Scott Fishman of The Miami Herald about getting advice from some familiar faces before signing on the dotted line with WWE to become part of the new rookie class of NXT.
Below is an excerpt from the interview;
“Kevin Owens was one of the guys I talked to leading up to this process. There was also Finn Balor and Chris Masters, who I became friends with doing work in England. Just talking to them about not just the tryout, but being a part of the roster. Things you had to do to get here. One of the recent conversations was with Kevin Owens because he did one not too long before mine. A good friend of mine, Ricochet, offered advice as well. Kevin and others just told me to be myself and work hard, help other guys, be a leader and things of that nature. It was good to get to talk to them and see how they felt about the tryouts and being here. These were guys who have been on the indies for years and made that transition. In my mind, they made it possible for me to make that transition as well.”
Check out the complete interview at MiamiHerald.com.
There has been talk within WWE as recent as WrestleMania 31 week of bringing both Neville and Finn Balor to the main WWE roster. With Neville getting the call-up two weeks ago, there continues to be speculation that Balor will soon get called up to RAW as well.
Balor, who has been working the main roster live events as part of the WWE European tour, will also be backstage at RAW today in London. The belief is he will move to the main roster permanently without ever having a NXT Championship reign, as Kevin Owens, the current NXT Champion, is expected to have a long run with the title.
– The name of Sheamus’ new theme song is “Hellfire.” The song was done by a band called CFO$.
– Connors Cure bracelets have been selling out at the WWE live events in the U.K. this week.
– 2K Sports noted on social media that the upcoming WWE 2K16 video game will have the largest roster of Superstars and Divas of any WWE video game in history.
– Alex Riley has been calling out NXT Champion Kevin Owens on Twitter lately. In his most recent tweet, Riley claimed he could double the WWE Network subscriber count from 1.3 million to 2.6 million. Riley tweeted the following:
– Coming out of this year’s WrestleMania, it’s worth noting that all but two of WWE’s current male champions (John Cena and Tyson Kidd) came from Ring Of Honor. WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, NXT Champion Kevin Owens, WWE Intercontinental Champion Daniel Bryan and one-half of the WWE Tag-Team Champions, Cesaro, all spent time in ROH.
– This week’s edition of NXT featured a look at Hideo Itami’s “Road to WrestleMania,” which led to the following back-and-forth on Twitter between Itami and NXT Champion Kevin Owens.
Your ring announcer for the evening is Dasha Kuret. Greg Hamilton is your in arena host and MC.
– The show opens up with Sami Zayn coming out and cutting a promo, putting over the Orlando crowd and talking about how NXT has grown and sold out shows in Columbus, Cleveland, and San Jose and it wouldn’t have been possible without the people of Orlando. He then went on to talk about how the last month wasn’t so great to him and that he was disappointed he was not medically cleared to compete in all of those big shows. He says he has a rematch due and he’s going to win his title back from Kevin Owens. This brought out Tyler Breeze who claimed he was the number 1 contender. Bull Dempsey came out and said that while everyone else was pulling the load, Sami was sitting at home and Bull should be the number 1 contender. Baron Corbin came out, and stared them down. Corey Graves came out and said he anticipated something like this would happen and he called William Regal. Smi Zayn would compete in a number 1 contender’s match, but his opponent would be the winner of a Battle Royal held tonight.
Match 1: Battle Royal. Competitors listed by order of elimination: Noah Pang-Potjes (doing a Hawaiin gimmick, complete with lei’s and hula music), Sunny Dhinsa, Sammy Piscatelli, Josh Woods, Steve Cutler, Sawyer Fulton, Marcus Louis, Tye Dillinger, Angelo Dawkins, Mike Rallis, Elias Samson, Colin Cassady, Simon Gotch, Enzo Amore, Bull Dempsey, Tyler Breeze, Dash Wilder, Aiden English, and Baron Corbin (thanks to some help from Tyler Breeze). Winner: Scott Dawson who goes on to face Sami Zayn later tonight.
Match 2: Solomon Crowe def. Chad Gable. Good, solid match. Dillinger came out and held up the number 2. This will be explained a bit later.
Match 3: Bayley and Alexa Bliss def. Dana Brooke and Carmella. Bayley wins with the Bayley to Belly suplex. There were a lot of fun spots meant to get crowd reaction and the fans ate it up. You can tell Brooke and Carmlla are still very much works in progress. At one point, Brooke went to take a head scissors from Bliss and didn’t quite get flipped over and it looked like she nearly knocked herself silly. Still, it was an entertaining match.
Match 4: Tyler Breeze def. Baron Corbin. Breeze won with a rollup and his feet on the ropes. A bit of a rough match in places. You can tell Baron still needs work in places, but not a bad match by any means. After the match, Baron lays out Tyler with the End of Days.
NXT Champion Kevin Owens was on CBS Radio’s The Chad Dukes Wrestling Show this week to discuss NXT, Sami Zayn, his knee injury, Brock Lesnar, and more. At the end of the interview, he even throws out a challenge to Samoa Joe. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
His Experience In NXT So Far:
“I was so excited to sign with WWE because it’s been my dream since I was a kid and I was 11 years old when I first saw WrestleMania and knew that’s what I had to do in life. It took a while to get here but now that I am here I’m not going to wait in line or do anything by the book. I took the bull by the horns as they say and two months after my debut I’m the NXT champion. So it’s going pretty well so far, it’s a really special feeling to be part of something that’s growing and that people are so excited about. To be at the forefront of it because I’m the champion makes it even better.”
Brock Lesnar:
“As a fan him, re-signing is incredibly exciting. As a competitor, it’s even better because of the chance of getting to be in that ring with him one day is something that motivates me. I’ve been a Brock Lesnar fan since the first time I saw him. I was there when he made his debut in Montreal, the night after WrestleMania 18 and from the get go I was like, “this guy’s awesome.” I even named my dog Brock as a tribute, whatever you wanna call it, so I’m a big fan of his. The fact that he’s gonna be sticking around here for a while and gonna do great things with WWE is exciting all around but yeah I’d love to be in the ring with him.”
Who He’s Like To See Join NXT:
“I feel like Adam Cole would be a great addition to NXT, a guy like Cedric Alexander also would be really good but they’d all have to come through me first and that won’t work out that good.”
“I’m open to a challenge from anyone, including Samoa Joe, I’ll just put that one out there.”
NXT Champion Kevin Owens isn’t the only top NXT star currently out of action with injury. Sami Zayn, the man he defeated for the championship at the most recent NXT TakeOver event, is also currently dealing with an unspecified injury.
Zayn was advertised for both of this month NXT live events from Ohio, but did not wrestle at either show and just cut in-ring promos.
His most recent match was with Tyler Breeze at a live event on February 20th. Prior to the Ohio shows, Zayn wrote on Facebook:
“Thanks to everyone who came out and supported NXT in Ohio this past weekend. I meant every word I said. This is a group that is taking control of our own destiny and taking over the industry in the process. Revolution is in the air and thanks for being a part of it.”
WWE ran an injury storyline for Zayn after his match against Kevin Owens at TakeOver, but a report in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter is the first indication he’s legitimately hurt.
– Lana is currently off television because she is filming the WWE Studios movie ‘Interrogation’ with Edge. No word yet on her status for WrestleMania.
– NXT Champion Kevin Owens successful knee surgery last week to repair a meniscus tear. He’s expected to be out of action for 4-6 weeks, so he won’t competing at the NXT live event from San Jose, California during WrestleMania weekend.
Speaking of that show, NXT women’s wrestler Becky Lynch says ticket sales are through the roof for what will be NXT’s biggest live audience yet:
4100 tickets sold in 2 hrs for #NXTSanJose ! Ready to bexceed and bexpectations.
NXT Champion Kevin Owens underwent a partial menisocectomy late last week for a knee injury that he has been dealing with.
Owens made the following comments regarding the operation and his recovery:
“I’m not the kind of person that lets things like this get in my way. I’m already walking around without crutches and doing physical therapy at the WWE Performance Center.”
“Now that I’m at the level I am now, and with as much at stake as there is, I don’t think it’s going to slow me down. I’m on the way back.”
– Hulk Hogan participated in a Q&A session today on Facebook from South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas. Highlights are as follows:
Did you get injuries for your career? which is the most serious one?
“it has to be around about 80 injuries…the back had to be one of the worst.”
What was more fun? Being the all american hero with the (then) wwf? Or one of the best heels ever with the nwo and wcw?
“There was nothing like the 80s. That red and yellow. #Hulkamania running wild was unbelievable.”
What has been the best WWE experience of your life?
“Has to be when I came back home. It was when I was in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The audience was electric it felt like 100 jet planes. So loud HH.”
Besides travel and wear and tear on your body, what would you say has been the hardest part of being a professional wrestler?
“The hardest thing is taking everything in your life and making that second. Work has to be first.”
Are you a fan of NXT, and if so, who impresses you most down there?
“In a huge fan of NXT. Kevin Owens is the guy right now who made me believe again. When Kevin came in and stepped up, it made me say WOW. HH.”
– According to WWE.com, the next inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2015 is expected to be named on Monday.
“The gossip going around WWE is that a former World Champion will be taking his place in sports-entertainment immortality,” WWE states. “Who will be joining “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rikishi, The Bushwhackers, Alundra Blayze and Warrior Award recipient Connor Michalek in the Hall’s Class of 2015 on the eve of WrestleMania 31? Could it be a former WWE World Heavyweight Champion from the company’s early years? Is it an Attitude Era icon? Is it even a WWE competitor, or will it be a WCW or ECW icon joining the Hall?”
One in particular has to do with the Kevin Owens vs. CJ Parker match at the NXT Takeover: R Evolution event back in December. The match that we ended up seeing was the one that the three worked out together ahead of time.
Between not liking Owens, the big guy, doing a flip-dive and not working so many moves into the opening match, DeMott reportedly did not like the match.
Prior to the match, Owens reportedly complained to Triple H about what was planned, to which HHH told him to simply let Owens do what he wants.
This apparently led to some issues, as many felt that Triple H allows “his guys” to do whatever they want while the rest of the guys are said to be micro-managed and told not to wrestle the “independent style” of matches that they are used to.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Hulk Hogan gave his endorsement of NXT talents Kevin Owens and Sasha Banks. “The Hulkster” tweeted a photo out on Saturday that features himself, Triple H and Jimmy Hart with the NXT champions and wrote, “This is why the WWE will live forever brother.”
– Jim Ross touched on the build to this year’s WrestleMania and the fan reaction to the push of Roman Reigns in his latest website blog. Below is an excerpt where JR comments on these two subjects.
“For those looking at the build to this WrestleMania as being not to their personal liking because of not enough hype and a lack of momentum in their eyes, I equate it to the Super Bowl. This year in the Super Bowl I did not have a horse in the race so I did not have an emotional investment to a high degree but I still watched the game with interest simply because I’m a NFL fan and it was, after all, the Super Bowl. Could that analogy apply to WrestleMania as it currently stands? I’m not jacked to the max today about WM31 but I promise you that I will be come that weekend and wouldn’t miss watching the show on the WWE Network for anything. Why? Because I’m still a true, wrestling fan. Let the show happen and then judge it as you choose.”
“Continue to get feedback from fans on Twitter or here at our Q&A’s that Roman Reigns “isn’t ready.” How many of you think that JYD was “ready” when Bill Watts made him the top star in Mid South Wrestling back in the day? Simply ask some of Dog’s opponents. But Dog had much of what many feel that Roman Reigns does. “Charisma” and a marketable look. Time will tell on that one but I say put Roman in the game and let’s see what’s in his heart when he knows he’s being relied on to pull the wagon. I’d enjoy seeing Reigns and Heyman put the screws to Brock this Monday in Pittsburgh on RAW whereby Lesnar goes into the main event at WM31 as a fan favorite defending his title against a stacked deck w/ Heyman ‘making’ a couple of villains by enlisting their help as “backup.” Just an idea much like Fantasy Football from my friends a @DraftKings.”
– WWE announcer Renee Young recently confirmed that she is dating Dean Ambrose. When asked about the rumor during an appearance on the Gorilla Position podcast, she said:
“It’s true, yes. I can’t give away too much, because we are very private about our relationship because we respect it. We don’t need people knowing about it or caring what we’re doing – I’m not going to post pictures of us on the internet… but people berate me no matter what I post on the internet. [I hear:] ‘Tell us about Dean, we hate you!’”
A Twitter account that appears to belong to former WWE developmental wrestler Richie Steamboat, son of WWE Hall Of Famer Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, has new tweets on it calling out NXT Champion Kevin Owens and praising current “Mr. Money In The Bank” Seth Rollins.
Steamboat hasn’t wrestled a match since October of 2012 due to a back injury that appeared to be bad enough that it was career-ending.
The son of the legendary WWE performer was reported to be released back in 2013, however that report ended up being shot down and the current belief is that he could still be signed by WWE.
Below are the aforementioned Steamboat tweets about Owens and Rollins.