As noted, King Barrett, who was absent from Monday’s post-TLC edition of RAW in Philadelphia, has been dealing with some nerve damage in his next as of late.
As Barrett describes, the injury is “nothing major, but [is] not worth taking unnecessary risks.”
The former WWE Intercontinental Champion and King of the Ring tweeted the following on Tuesday evening:
Rehabbing a little nerve damage in my neck at the moment, hence the disappearing act. Nothing major, but not worth taking unnecessary risks.
King Barrett was conspicuously absent from Sunday’s TLC PPV and Monday’s RAW, leaving a lot of fans wondering if WWE had lost yet another wrestler due to injury. After initial reports indicated that Barrett was in fact dealing with an unspecified injury, Ryan Satin over at Pro Wrestling Sheethas confirmed Barrett has a nerve injury in his neck.
No word yet during which match Barrett was hurt, but he suffered a bad stinger earlier this month and has been resting up over the past few weeks. Thankfully, the injury isn’t serious and he’s not expected to miss too much ring time.
– WWE posted the above video to wish the WWE Universe “Happy Holidays.”
– King Barrett is suffering from an injury of some kind, which is why he was noticably absent from Monday’s RAW. Barrett was at the TLC pay-per-view on Sunday, but was reportedly already dealing with the injury. The severity of the injury isn’t clear, although F4WOnline.com is reporting that more details regarding Barrett’s injury should become available soon.
– On the latest edition of the “Steve Austin Show” podcast, which is available now at PodcastOne.com, WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin is joined by Wade Keller of PWTorch.com for an extensive review of Sunday’s WWE TLC pay-per-view. The official description for the episode reads as follows:
“Wade Keller of PWTorch.com fame breaks down the WWE “TLC” Pay-Per-View with Steve Austin. Hear their take on the Usos opening match, Lana & Rusev, Ryback, Alberto Del Rio vs Jack Swagger, the 8-man tag team elimination match & why Bubba Ray Dudley was the key to it all, Ric Flair’s appearance, Charlotte & Paige, and Sheamus vs Roman Reigns. Steve also has a special shout-out for Triple H & Stephanie McMahon, and a prediction for what might happen at Wrestlemania 32 in Texas.”
– WWE might be giving the name of “The Family” to the stable with Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and The Usos. The group is currently feuding with The League Of Nations — Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, Rusev and King Barrett.
– There was a Chet Mix ad campaign being filmed at the WWE Performance Center on December 2nd.
– WWE recently announced their debut in Amsterdam for April 15th, as well as an April 21st event in Brussels, for their next major European tour. WWE will be running the Ziggo Dome, which holds 17,000 fans, for their debut in Amsterdam. It’s worth noting that WWE has no television in Holland.
WWE’s William Regal recently appeared as a guest alongside Sheamus and King Barrett on an episode of the WWE Network show, Table For 3. During the show, Regal revealed that dressing in drag during a RAW Roulette show was his favorite moment in his career. He also spoke about how wrestlers shouldn’t take themselves too seriously and how his old WWE character defined his career. Below are some of the highlights.
On dressing in drag on RAW:
“That was probably my favorite thing I’ve ever done in the entire time I’ve been in wrestling. Doing that was the most actual fun I ever had.”
“If I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it right. I want the full Vegas showgirl [regalia]. I want the thing, but where are we going to get [that]? I want red high heels. Where are we going to get that? It just happened that we were in Vegas. Well, actually, I’m nearly a [size] 12 [shoe], so they went and got me 13 size red [heels], but we were in Vegas, so it was okay. It all worked out nicely.”
On how his five week run as a “Real Man’s Man” gimmick in WWE has defined his career:
“It lasted five weeks. I had a 30-year solid wrestling career in 40 countries and I’d been pretty successful at lots of things, but that five weeks has defined my entire career. And people still sing that song to me every day and I’m not making this up, every time I call the office, and they put me on hold, it’s that thing playing down the phone line.”
On how wrestlers shouldn’t take themselves too seriously:
“If you take yourself too seriously, you’ve got no chance in this job. You cannot take yourself seriously. You’ve got to embrace whatever is given and make the most of every opportunity to make it funny or to make it memorable. [Austin and Angle are] two serious fellas, right? So comfortable with themselves they’re happy to do anything. That’s the key to it. When you’re happy and you’re comfortable with yourself and you’re not worried about being a top guy, you’ll make the most out of anything and make it work.”
WWE Superstar King Barrett recently spoke with The International to promote the current WWE tour of the United Kingdom. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On filming a movie recently, changing his Twitter handle to his real name and if he’s enjoying his wrestling career right now:
“I’m still as passionate about wrestling as I ever was, but I think it’s inevitable that at some point in your career you’ve got to start looking for things outside of wrestling. I’m not going to wrestle forever, though I certainly feel that I’ve got a lot of time left in me if I want to. Maybe at some point I’ll be taking a career break, I’m not sure.
I’ve done some movie work lately and that’s an area I really enjoyed and would be looking to explore. Certainly in terms of acting and doing things outside of wrestling, that’s something I’ll be looking to do more of in the not-too-distant future.”
On being a heel throughout his WWE career outside of England and if he’s ever had desires to be a babyface character:
“For the most part I excel as being the bad guy, and that’s definitely a strong point for me. There was a period about a year ago when I was performing as Bad News Barrett that I felt that the company should have turned me into the good guy kind of role because I think the fans were wanting that at that time.
I suggested it, but the powers that be made the decision that they didn’t want me to do that, instead they wanted me to continue as the bad guy. That decision was made at the time, but I feel that at the moment it’s not the right time for me to be a fan favorite because I’m universally hated. Maybe one day it will change, but I’m currently quite happy being the bad guy.”
– In an update from yesterday’s WWE SmackDown television taping in Manchester, England, it appears that The Undertaker and King Barrett segment in the middle of the show was actually a dark segment for the live crowd. As noted, the segment began with Barrett talking about the Wayne Rooney incident from RAW and ended with The Undertaker coming out and hitting him with a Tombstone piledriver.
– As noted, Triple H and Corey Graves recently appeared as Christopher Nowinski’s Concussion Legacy Foundation’s 8th annual Impact Awards in Boston, Mass. and presented the foundation with a check. That check was for $1.5 million. You can check out photos from the event at WWE.com.
– WWE and James Storm are still hyping the former TNA stars’ NXT debut and teasing his eventual return. Storm and the official NXT account tweeted the following this week:
King Barrett’s social media beef with Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney came to a head on Monday night in Manchester, United Kingdom. During Sheamus’ WWE Championship Tournament match against Cesaro, Barrett was at ringside at noticed Rooney and his son sitting ringside in the front row of the Manchester Arena.
Barrett ripped Man U’s chances at winning the Barclays Premier League and said Rooney embarrasses himself every time he steps on a football pitch. Rooney didn’t take kindly to those words and slapped Barrett across the face to the delight of the live crowd.
Rooney’s physical involvement on Monday Night RAW is getting a ton of mainstream media coverage over the in UK, including BBC Sport, ESPN FC, The Independent and more.
Barrett commented on the incident backstage after RAW. Barrett says he is headed to Rooney’s hometown on Tuesday to settle this once and for all.
– According to the L.A. Times, WWE Hall Of Famer Bret Hart is selling his home in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The asking price for the property is $705,000, which is down from the $725,000 they were asking for back in May. Hart originally paid $675,000 back in 2004 for the home, which is 2,064 square feet of living space, three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a wet bar, a center-island kitchen and a personal office.
– Former WWE star Tyler Reks turned 37 today. In other wrestling birthdays today, WWE Hall Of Famer Bobby “The Brain” Heenan turned 71 years old.
– A new poll on WWE.com asks fans which Superstar would make the best MMA fighter. Topping the list is Roman Reigns with 1,000 votes, followed by Seth Rollins, Cesaro, Kofi Kingston, Dean Ambrose, Daniel Brian, Kevin Owens, King Barrett, Neville and Rusev. You can vote on the poll at WWE.com.
– John Cena isn’t slacking off at the gym during his hiatus from WWE. Cena tweeted this video on Wednesday showing that he can still bench as much as the NFL’s top athletes.
Chris Jericho returned to the ring for WWE at their live event on Saturday night in Mexico City, Mexico as part of this weekend’s WWE tour of Mexico, which also featured The Undertaker’s first WWE live event matches in over two years.
Jericho defeated King Barrett during the show in Mexico City last night, in a match that by all accounts was said to be one of the better matches of the evening. After the match, Jericho cut a classy promo in broken Spanish and thanked Mexico City for their rich history in wrestling. He spoke about working for the CMLL promotion out of Mexico years ago, and mentioned stars such as Dr. Wagner, El Dandy, Silver King and Negro Casas.
Jericho took to social media and posted the following after last night’s show.
– Last night’s episode of Monday Night RAW hailed from the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York and King Barrett made his return attacking both Neville and Stardust during their match.
WWE ring announcer Eden caught up with King Barrett backstage as shown in the video above after he attacked both men and asked him why? His response, because Stardust had a debt to pay.
– Prior to RAW airing last night (full results found here) The Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O’Neil) granted a wish as part of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. You can see them with Lucas below.
– King Barrett should be back on television soon, as he recently completed his scenes in the UK for a WWE Studios action-thriller.
The film was originally titled “Eliminators” but Barrett revealed in an interview last week that the name will be changed by release time.
– Cody Rhodes has posted a new blog at BeingBrandiRunnels.com ahead of tonight’s WWE RAW from Buffalo, NY. The city is significant for him because it’s the setting for the very last “Bionic Elbow” delievered by his father (Battleground 2013).
– Big E revealed that New Day Socks are coming soon to WWEShop:
– Here’s another preview for the NXT All Star Panel that airs tonight on the WWE Network immediately following RAW. The panel was taped in Brooklyn during SummerSlam weekend:
Actor Stephen Amell and WWE Superstar Stardust teamed up today to deliver a check to the Emily’s House charity based out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Amell and WWE raised $297,557 for the special t-shirt that was made for the build-up to WWE SummerSlam, where Amell and Stardust competed in a tag-team match alongside Neville and King Barrett, respectively.
WWE and the “Arrow” star were able to raise the aforementioned amount of money in just five days.
The following are some photos and comments from both Stardust and Stepheen Amell.
– WWE is running a new poll asking fans if Seth Rollins really is as good as Triple H was in his prime. With over 1,000 votes, around 80 percent voted, “No, he still has miles to go before he can be compared to Triple H.” The rest of the votes went to, “Yes, Rollins has proven he is on The Game’s legendary level.”
– As noted, King Barrett will be taking some time off to film the new WWE Studios movie, “Eliminators.” Barrett had the day off on Saturday and wrote the following on Twitter:
Back at hotel after a crazy & intense week of shooting @WWEStudios#Eliminators movie. Loving every second. 1 day off, then we roll again.
– King Barrett is going to be off of WWE television for a while as he is scheduled to film a new WWE Studios movie called “Eliminators” in the United Kingdom.
– WWE has announced a new NXT date for October 2nd in Nashville, Tennessee.
– For the replays, and most likely in the DVD of this year’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view, two notable edits are The New Day singing “Empire State of Mind,” likely due to legalty rights, and Brock Lesnar flipping off The Undertaker in the Hell’s Gate, likely due to the non-PG nature of the content.
– Hulk Hogan resurfaced last week and joked to TMZ.com that he wanted to be Donald Trump’s presidential running mate. Apparently Hogan got some backlash over the statement and tweeted:
Yo haters I was just joking about the VP thing"PLEASE!!!!" HH
Eliminators follows a former U.S. federal agent who must abandon the witness protection program and come out of hiding after his London home is mistakenly invaded — leading to him finding himself on the run from Europe’s most dangerous assassin to get his daughter to safety.
– Earlier this week, King Barrett changed his Twitter name to his birth name Stu Bennett, which had many WWE fans questioning if he was leaving the company. There’s really nothing to the story. Barrett was written of TV on RAW after an attack by Stardust and flew to the UK to work on the upcoming WWE Studios action-thriller Eliminators.
– Following the return of the Dudley Boyz on Monday’s RAW, Big E tweeted about getting beat up by a bunch of “old dudes.” Bubba Ray Dudley has since responded to Big E, telling him that he could be the next member of New Day to be put through a table:
Dear @WWEBigE , Be careful Big man…next time it will be you going through that table!! Peace out, Bubba and Devon https://t.co/3Kl8kpXjks
– The New Day won the Fatal Four-Way WWE Tag-Team Championship match at WWE SummerSlam on Sunday night, defeating The Prime Time Players, The Lucha Dragons and Los Matadores to become the new WWE Tag-Team Champions.
– “Arrow” actor Stephen Amell won his in-ring WWE debut at SummerSlam, defeating King Barrett and Stardust with his tag-team partner, Neville. The finish of the match saw Neville hit the Red Arrow for the pinfall victory. Amell actually did a pretty good job of executing some cool moves during the match.
– Seth Rollins debuted new, all-white ring gear in his “Title vs. Title — Winner Take All” match against John Cena at SummerSlam. Rollins would go on to win the match with help from Jon Stewart, who hit Cena with a chair and set up the chair for Rollins to Pedigree Cena on, making himself the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion and the new WWE United States Champion. Below is a photo of Rollins’ new ring gear.
King Barrett hosted a Twitter Q&A on Friday to promote this Sunday’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Below are some of the highlights.
– WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin gave a speech at the WWE 2K16 media event in New York City on Thursday night about Vince McMahon calling him about being the WWE 2K16 cover star. Austin noted that he was surprised, but didn’t want to talk himself out of the opportunity, as he admitted he has made a lot of bad career decisions in the past and he didn’t want this to be another one of them.
– King Barrett will be holding a Twitter Q&A today at 5pm EST. to promote this Sunday’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view, where he will team up with Stardust to take on Neville and “Arrow” actor Stephen Amell. Fans can submit questions to Barrett using the hashtag #SummerSlam.
– Below are the “Top 10 WWE SmackDown Moments” for this week’s show, which was the SummerSlam “go-home” edition of the program.
Actor and SummerSlam performer Stephen Amell is preparing to head to New York for his big tag-team match with Neville against Stardust and King Barrett at this Sunday’s pay-per-view.
Amell posted a new video on his official Facebook page where he reveals that he will be wearing some special “Arrow” gear to the ring on Sunday.
Amell also noted via Twitter that the t-shirt he and WWE collaborated on has already raised $80,000 for the Emily’s House charity.
– As of this past Sunday, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns have worked the most matches so far in 2015 with each former Shield member having worked 136 matches each so far this year. Coming in at fourth is King Barrett with 127 and Cesaro at fifth with 122. Reigns has won 119 matches this year, while Ambrose has 88 wins. John Cena has won 93 of 99 matches so far in 2015.
– In the following video, a WWE 2K16 video game developer shows off the upgraded face import tool used in the “Create-A-Superstar” mode.
– King Barrett dusted off his old “Bad News” promo during a backstage segment at the WWE Main Event television taping on Tuesday night in Portland, Oregon. There is no word yet as to whether or not he will be dropping the “King” gimmick, however it has been talked about for a while.
– Damien Sandow had some issues with United Airlines on Wednesday morning. The WWE Superstar tweeted the following:
WWE taped the following matches for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event prior to the WWE SmackDown television taping on Tuesday night in Portland, Oregon.
– Becky Lynch def. Sasha Banks in Divas action in a dark match taped prior to the start of the WWE Main Event television taping.
– Rusev def. Fandango in the first match taped for Main Event. This match basically amounted to a one-sided squash match, with Rusev picking up the “W” by way of his Accolade submission finisher.
– Jack Swagger def. Adam Rose in singles action in the second of three matches taped for this week’s broadcast. This match was given a little bit of time, but the crowd never really got into it.
– Stardust & King Barrett def. Mark Henry & R-Truth in tag-team action as the headline match taped for Main Event. There was more crowd heat for this match compared to the others taped for the show. After this match, the set was switched to prepare for the SmackDown television taping.
