-It was announced on Monday’s edition of WWE RAW that on Friday’s edition of WWE SmackDown, which will be taped Tuesday niight, there will be a MizTV segment with special guests Big E. Langston and AJ Lee.
-WWE RAW on Monday also featured the return of two WWE Superstars. First, Ricardo Rodriguez made his return from a Wellness Policy suspension. Rodriguez returned as World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio’s special ring announcer for his match against Rob Van Dam. Rodriguez, who tried helping Del Rio by cheating for him during the match, ended up costing him the match. Following the loss, Del Rio snapped and attacked Rodriguez. He beat down Rodriguez with the bucket he tried using to help Del Rio, as well as a nasty dropkick onto Rodriguez while his head was wedged between the steel steps and the ring.
Also returning on Monday’s RAW was former WWE Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston. Kingston returned in singles competition, as he took on Fandango. Kingston picked up the win in his first match back, as he defeated Fandango via clean pinfall after hitting him with his Trouble In Paradise finisher.
-The WWE RAW crew finishes up their final stop on the current international tour as they run Shangai, China on Friday. The scheduled main event for the show is another Tables Match between WWE Champion John Cena and Ryback for the title. Another title match scheduled for the show features Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns vs. Kane and Daniel Bryan for the WWE Tag-Team Championships.
Interestingly enough, Kofi Kingston, who has been off of television recently with an injury, and didn’t work the WWE live events in Australia, is scheduled for the card in Shanghai.
Other talent scheduled to appear on the final stop of the RAW tour includes WWE U.S. Champion Dean Ambrose, WWE Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel, The Miz, Antonio Cesaro, The Great Khali, Sin Cara, 3MB, Natalya and Aksana.
-Meanwhile, the WWE SmackDown crew hits their second-to-last stop on the international tour on Friday, as they run Johannesburg, South Africa. The final stop will be Monday, August 3rd with another show in Johannesburg.
While there is no advertised lineup for tonight’s event in South Africa, several top WWE Superstars and WWE Divas are advertised, including World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio, Rob Van Dam, Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus, Justin Gabriel, Fandango, Jack Swagger, Big E. Langston, AJ Lee and Kaitlyn.
Also, as reported previously, WWE Superstar Randy Orton will fulfill his commitment to appear on the show, despite being attacked by a fan/independent wrestler at the WWE SmackDown live event in Cape Town, South Africa this past Tuesday.
Fans attending any of the final shows on the current WWE international tour, feel free to send in live reports to be published here at SESCOOPS.COM.
– In this week’s edition of The JBL & Cole Show, the duo visit a trifecta of Sioux Cities and John JBL gears up for the duel with some heavy artillery.
– Kofi Kingston, who has sidelined since since May 30 due to elbow surgery, is being advertised to participate in this month’s tour of Australia in matches against Dean Ambrose—July 26-July 30. The original prognosis for his recovery was up to eight weeks.
– Promoting Money in the Bank, the official WWE website has published an article entitled “WWE Money Horoscopes.” The synopsis reads, “Are you destined to live the life of a millionaire? Will you trade corn flakes for caviar? With the upcoming Money in the Bank pay-per-view fast approaching, WWE.com forecasts your financial future and reveals your lucky numbers with the following WWE Money Horoscopes. So, what are you waiting for? Time is money!”
– Superstar Graham will be having a kidney stone removed soon, according to PWInsider.com.
– Legendary tag team wrestler Bobby Eaton remains hospitalized.
– WWE.com posted the following storyline-driven injury update for Kofi Kingston:
“Today, WWE.com caught up with Dr. Chris Amann about the condition of Kofi Kingston after the Superstar underwent elbow surgery.”
“Kofi underwent left elbow arthroscopy last week with Dr. Dugas in Birmingham, Alabama,” said Amann. At that time, he was found to have two large bone chips about the size of a marble in his elbow joint. Those were removed. He’s in a sling. He’s starting physical therapy and doing very well.”
WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston will be undergoing elbow surgery tomorrow (Thursday), which will keep him out of action for 4-8 weeks.
WWE.com has a storyline-driven article up, stating that the injury took place at Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown tapings, following an attack by Ryback:
“According to WWE medical physician Doctor Michael Sampson, Kingston would walk out of Edmonton with a c-collar neck brace as a result of this incident, strictly as a safety precaution. Sampson further diagnosed that Ryback’s attack actually accelerating Kingston’s already-existing elbow injury. “
– A report at PWInsider.com states that there is currently lot of tension between The Rock and WWE management, although neither side will admit it publicly. While The Rock always has his detractors in the WWE locker room, some people feel that The Rock didn’t do right by WWE during his most recent run.
It’s unclear exactly what the issue is, but it could have to do with The Rock not appearing on WWE television enough due to his busy schedule and not promoting WWE enough during his media appearances. That said, The Rock is still a valuable member of the WWE family and the general feeling is that things will eventually get worked out.
New WWE United States Champion Kofi Kingston was recently interviewed by the UK’s Evening Times to promote this week’s overseas live events tour. Here are highlights of what he said about:
Returning Overseas With WWE:
“This is one of the tours we look forward to the most as the environment and culture are both very different to the USA. We often hear some pretty unique football chants at the Scottish shows.”
Part-Time Wrestlers In Top WrestleMania Matches:
“The Rock and Brock Lesnar have really paved the way for guys like me. Maybe somewhere down the line we can be the ones coming back for the big appearances and there is certainly a desire for young talent to come through to high profile matches. I’m sure you’ll see that in the coming years.”
Turning Heel:
“Everybody on Twitter seems to want me to turn bad… I would try my hand at anything and I think I could do it well.”
Monday on Raw, Kofi Kingston put an end to Antonio Cesaro’s 239-day reign as United States Champion. “The Dreadlocked Dynamo” landed a Trouble in Paradise to Cesaro’s chin to ground “The Swiss Superman” to the mat.
This is Kingston’s tenth championship in WWE, as he captured the United States Championship three times, the Intercontinental Championship four times, the World Tag Team Championship once, and the WWE Tag Team Championship twice. Kingston addressed his victory on Twitter:
First and foremost, hats off to Cesaro. My body feels like it’s been through a war! But you guys make all worth it! #3TimeUSChamp.
WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston appeared on the 4th & Pain show this week and says he constantly gets confused for NFL Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III. “I get a lot of RGIII comparisons. I’ve been stopped at several airports,” he joking recalled. “People want to know… ‘Hey! Are you… are you RGIII?’”
Kingston says people will go so far to ask for his autograph thinking he’s actually the Heisman Trophy winning quarterback. “I’m just like ‘Come on man!’ We just have long hair. I’ve got dreadlocks, he has twists. They’re not even the same thing!”
Kofi also claims to be the fastest man in WWE. “I guarantee you that!”
– A commercial that aired during RAW revealed that Trish Stratus, Donald Trump and Bruno Sammartino will be the inductees shown on next Tuesday’s WWE Hall of Fame television special.
– Pee-wee Herman revealed that he would be at WrestleMania 29 on Sunday. He tweeted:
– The official WWE website has posted an article listing ten wrestlers who were “ahead of their time.” This list includes Dynamite Kid, Gorgeous George, Brian Pillman, Nick Bockwinkel, Bad News Brown, Goldust, Sabu, “Superstar” Billy Graham, Raven and Antonino Rocca.
WWE compares Pillman to CM Punk, stating, “Before CM Punk broke the fourth wall with his unforgettable “pipe bomb” tirade in June 2011, Pillman regularly cast his wild eyes right at the camera’s lens and unleashed bold messages that captured the unbridled emotion of The Attitude Era. Despite Pillman’s relatively short career, his body of work — including rivalries that took deeply personal turns — continues to influence a new generation of performers.”
– Highlights from this week’s episode of WWE Superstars are now online, which features Natalya going one-on-one with Aksana.
Also featured is Kofi Kingston squaring off against Primo.
WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston was interviewed by Brian Soscia of Philadelphia’s Mix 106.1radio station this week and addressed the rumors that he will be turning heel soon:
“Here’s the thing. I get asked that question all the time,” he said. “It’s really funny because there’s a rumor on the Internet right now. ‘Oh, Kofi’s turning heel.’ And, I’m like, ‘I am?’ I’m always the last one to find these things out. But, I’m very confident as a performer and if that’s the case, I’m sure I’ll knock it out of the park. I don’t even know what’s going to happen tonight, so for me to even think about what’s going to happen way down the line, who knows,” Kingston added. “I guess we’ll wait and see what happens. I have no idea.”
As for WrestleMania 29, Kofi says it’s “crunch time for WWE:
“This is crunch time right now. As of now, I’m doing anything at WrestleMania, so it’s a matter of working your way onto the card. Every match now, every moment that you have on TV is working towards that.”
Kingston also addressed the Jamaican gimmick he had when he entered WWE:
“It’s a miracle that I’m still here based on those vignettes because it makes me cringe every time I go back and look at them.”
Kofi Kingston recently spoke to Digital Sky WrestleMania 29. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
His tag team partners:
“As long as I’m winning, it doesn’t really matter to me. I have had the opportunity to have some great tag team partners. Between Punk and Evan and Truth, I mean gosh, every time me and Truth get together, whether we’re doing media interviews together or backstage, it’s just constant banter. We’re always just joking around and stuff. It was a very natural fit when he and I decided to team up.”
CM Punk losing the WWE Championship:
“It’s really tough, because I think that we all saw just the road that Punk was on and he’s really be kind of trail blazer in terms of becoming the star of this new generation. Between his pipe bombs, or whatever, every time he gets a microphone you know he’s going to say something that’s either going to tick people off or mainly get you to remember what he’s going to say. He always has a point to make. And then in the ring, he’s very very good, one of the best, definitely of our era, and probably one of the best of all time. “
If it’s harder to come up with good material now, as opposed to the Attitude Era:
“I don’t know if it’s necessarily harder. I just think that we’re a lot more conscious about the product that we put out. Even in the Attitude Era we were able to reach a whole lot of people. So it’s very important because in the broad spectrum of people that we reach, our children are included and families are included. So, I think we’re just a lot more conscious now that we have a responsibility to do the right thing and represent for our kids and provide good role models for our kids. So I don’t think it’s necessarily harder, I think we are more creative in the way that we think.”
Paul Bearer:
“I had received a text that he had passed, and instantly I was just crestfallen because he was just a genuinely good person. I’ve never heard anyone say anything bad about him. When I first got involved in the business, we always used to have these camps at the school I trained at, Chaotic in New England, and he was the first actual star that came and talked to us, for like three hours. And he was telling us about his upcomings and how he came up through the business. That was like the first experience I had, where I was able to hear first hand, how somebody came up, what the business was like back in his day. It was really really cool. Being a wrestling fan growing up you always wondered what happened behind the scenes and now finally, 10-15 years later I’m actually getting to hear what’s going on and his story. I was very fortunate to be able to share that.”
– There has been talk of adding an 8-Divas tag team match at WrestleMania 29, which would feature The Bella Twins, Layla and Tamina vs. Kaitlyn, Cameron, Naomi and TV personality Maria Menounos. Menounos wrestled at last year’s WrestleMania, teaming with Kelly Kelly against Beth Phoenix & Eve Torres.
– WWE Superstar Randy Orton has been pushing WWE management to turn him heel for quite some time now – and it appears that the Viper could finally get his wish at WrestleMania 29. There has been talk of Orton turning on his teammates Sheamus and Big Show at WrestleMania 29 during or after their match against The Shield, who are expected to win the contest.
– Another superstar that could be turning heel is Kofi Kingston. Kofi has been a babyface for his entire WWE career since his debut in 2007, but there’s a feeling that his character needs to be freshened up.
WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston was recently did some media work in the UK to promote next month’s overseas Wrestlemania Revenge tour. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
Who He Thinks Will Win At WM29 Between The Rock & John Cena: “For me, I always grew up as a Rock fan, I had his poster on my wall in college. He’s just so captivating in the ring, and for me as a fan it’s great to see him back. It’s crazy to see him as WWE champion – I feel like I’m a kid again, watching, and I’m doing it from the absolute best seat in the house.
“But… John Cena is our workhorse. How can I root against John Cena? It’s so hard because I was such a Rock fan growing up and I’m still a Rock fan but in terms of paving the way for me while I’m here John Cena has been everything. He’s on every single live event and does all this media, he does a whole bunch of appearances with kids… Not that Rock doesn’t do all of that, but again for me right now on the roster, it’s very hard to root against the guy that I see do so much.”
British NXT Star Adrian Neville (Formerly PAC): “I’ve always heard so much about him. I knew of him before he got signed with WWE. But to see him in person, he’s very, very impressive. He does some incredible things – and that’s coming from me! He does a lot of superhero-esque things – he’s almost like a cartoon character with his flips. He makes it look so, so easy. Once he makes his debut on WWE television, I think a lot of people will really be in for a treat.”
William “Paul Bearer” Moody’s passing: “It’s hit home for a lot of people because he was just a very, very good person. A lot of us got the chance to know him when he was on the main roster recently with Edge and Kane and that whole story that they had going on. What a presence. Even with him and the Undertaker back in the day for the old school fans, you can’t imagine the Undertaker without Paul Bearer. He made the Undertaker and really added to that whole persona and tied it all together.
“He was a very special individual… In terms of his persona backstage, he was somebody that everyone always listened to, he was always trying to make people laugh and smile. A very genuine and good person. He will definitely be missed by all of the WWE superstars.”
– The official WWE website has announced that Triple H will appear at this Monday’s Raw in Buffalo, New York.
“The Game” returned on Monday’s show to brawl with Brock Lesnar, who was about to attack Vince McMahon again after defending Paul Heyman from McMahon’s retaliations. WWE teases, “The Game’s plans are known only to him, but it’s only a few days until he lets the WWE Universe — and Lesnar — in on his next move. Be sure to tune in to Raw Monday at 8/7 CT on USA Network to see what happens!”
– Highlights from this week’s episode of WWE Superstars are now available online, with Brodus Clay and Tensai facing Primo and Epico, and Kofi Kingston facing David Otunga (match available here).
– Ryback is today’s featured Superstar on WWE.com.
– Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson touted the ratings success of Raw since becoming WWE Champion at Royal Rumble.
He tweeted Wednesday, “People’s Era – highest #RAW ratings in over a year. @WWE Universe’s powerful voice. #WeBringIt.”
Last week’s post-Royal Rumble show drew a 3.68 cable rating and averaged 5.02 million viewers over the course of three hours. Not including the heavily promoted 1,000th episode of Raw, the numbers are the show’s highest marks since the night after WrestleMania XXVII in 2011. This week’s show also drew high viewership with a 3.56 cable rating and 4.81 million viewers.
– Prior to Raw Monday in Atlanta, Georgia, WWE held a ‘be a STAR’ anti-bullying rally at Hope-Hill Elementary School. Stephanie McMahon, Kofi Kingston, Layla and Hornswoggle appeared. WWE has released footage from the event.
– The longest-running WWE Champion of all-time, Bruno Sammartino, who was announced on Monday as the latest inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame, is today’s featured Superstar on WWE.com.
WWE taped this week’s SmackDown on Tuesday night from Jacksonville, Florida. Here are the results:
* Big Show is shown arriving on his bus. He comes to the ring and talks about how Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez are suspended. Big Show says the recent events between he and Del Rio are Booker T’s fault, which brings out the SmackDown GM. Booker announcers Big Show vs. Kane for tonight.
* Cody Rhodes defeated Kofi Kingston.
* The Great Khali defeated Titus O’Neil.
* Mark Henry came out and destroys Khali, which the crowd loved. Henry announces the Hall of Pain is back and he wants a spot in the SmackDown brand’s Elimination Chamber match. Booker came out and announced Henry vs. Randy Orton.
* Big Show defeated Kane in a quick match.
* Alberto Del Rio is shown outside in the parking lot, where he’s taken the wheels off Show’s tour bus. Show ran out to the parking lot but gets a bunch of paint dropped on top of him from the roof. Del Rio laughed and drove off.
* Jack Swagger squashed Justin Gabriel.
* Tensai beat Drew McIntyre by DQ when 3MB attacked him. Brodus Clay made the save for Tensai.
* Antonio Cesaro beat Sin Cara.
* Mark Henry defeated Randy Orton to earn a spot in the Elimination Chamber match.
Kofi Kingston spoke with AZCentral.com this week to promote Sunday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view. The title of the article reads, “Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson mentors WWE’s Kofi Kingston,” but Kofi says AZCentral greatly exaggerated his comments about The Rock’s influence on his career.
In the article, Kofi stated:
“I met him when he first came back last year. He’s real cool. He had some advice for me, I had a chance to pick his brain a bit … I spoke to him about certain things about the business, just general questions about how he got to where he was. Obviously you see a guy like The Rock, you see his success, you want to know exactly – from his mind and his mouth – how he got there, because I want to emulate that. If you don’t want the success The Rock has had, then you probably shouldn’t be in the WWE.”
After seeing how his words were presented in the article, he tweeted the following:
“Ah, nothing like exaggeration in the media! Tell em that you received a piece of career advice, they print you’re being mentored! As honored as I would be were that the case, i must say, regrettably, it’s untrue!”
– WWE.com published an article listing the “20 Greatest WCW Matches of All Time. Here are the top 5:
1. Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat (Clash of the Champions VI in 1989)
2. Ric Flair vs. Sting (Great American Bash 1990)
3. Goldberg vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Halloween Havoc 1998)
4. Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero (Halloween Havoc 1997)
5. Ric Flair vs. Sting (Clash of Champions XXVII).
– Kofi Kingston celebrated 5 years with WWE on Tuesday and posted the following video on Tout commemorating the occasion:
– In the latest edition of WWE Inbox, WWE Superstars and Divas dance “Gangnam Style”:
Arda Ocal of theScore Television Network and the Baltimore Sun spoke with WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston. Highlights:
– Talking about RAW’s 20 anniversary episode, how special it will be being a part and how special it was being a part of RAW 1000, and being a fan as a kid watching RAW #1
– How his Jamaican character came about and how he was able to keep the same character through the indies and in WWE, even keeping his legit first name
“I trained up in Boston. At the time, the rumor was, ‘if you want to get signed by WWE you have to be a character, they are looking for characters right now.’ I didn’t really know what that meant at the time, then one of the guys, (ROH referee) Todd Sinclair said to come up with a name and character otherwise I’d get stuck with a silly name…. (story continues in video)”
– The story of how he “lost his Jamaican accent” on RAW
– Addressing the fact that he has only had to title matches on PPV involving the WWE title or World Heavyweight championship – admitting that he wants to be a World champion
– Last year’s “Royal Rumble dodge” and how soon before the Rumble he plans a spot like that
– Triple H announced on Monday’s RAW that fans have not seen the last of the Undertaker in a WWE ring. While the natural assumption is that the Undertaker will be defending his undefeated streak at WrestleMania 29, Jim Ross says that’s not a done deal just yet. A fan tweeted JR saying, “taker returns to fight again at wrestlemania.” JR replied:
Unconfirmed. We all hope so. “@chrisallan57: @JRsBBQ taker returns to fight again at wrestlemania” @WWE
– With Triple H taking over WWE’s developmental system earlier this year, it’s almost unanimous that talent development has been strong than it has been in a long time. A few of Triple H’s pet projects (Kharma, Sin Cara) have been busts so far, but time will and it will take more talents getting called up before a fair assessment can be made.
– WWE’s current plans for the World Heavyweight title match at WrestleMania 29 is for Sheamus to wrestle Randy Orton for the gold This would obviously require one of them winning the belt in early 2013 and Randy Orton will probably get his wish of turning heel again soon.
– WWE Intercontinental champion Kofi Kingston is featured on the latest episode of WWE’s Outside The Ring Youtube series.
Will Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston be the next Regis? Go “Outside the Ring” with the high-flying Superstar as he co-hosts the entertainment and lifetime show, “Daytime.” Watch this webisode
WWE Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston spoke to AM New York this week to promote Sunday’s Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view from Brooklyn. Here are some highlights of what Kofi said about:
How He’s Prepping For His Match Against Wade Barrett At TLC:
“What are you doing to get ready for your match on Sunday? It’s been more of a mental preparation. I’m a guy who alwaystries to play by the rules, and Wade Barrett is pretty much the opposite ofthat. So initially, he and I had a match on “Raw” a couple weeks ago and I wasn’t ready as far as knowing the lows that he would go to win a match. And kudos to him. But I know what I have to do now to compete and to win and retain my Intercontinental Championship.”
His Favorite Match:
“Well, right now, the first one that comes to my head is whenI beat Sheamus for the United States Championship [last year at the ExtremeRules event], and we had a tables match. … Winning the United StatesChampionship was awesome. And even being able to put a guy like Sheamus througha table is no easy feat. When you see this guy, and you know that he’s abrawler, so I know it was going to be a fight, but that’s probably my bestmemory so far. Hopefully, this Sunday will be an even better memory when I beat Wade!”
Which TLC Match He Can’t Wait To See: “Well, to be honest, I’m excited about all of them. You’ve got so many here. Cena versus Dolph with the Money in the Bank contract at stake – this is awesome. You think that once you win Money in the Bank, you’re set. Pretty much 99% of the people who have cashed in that brief case have won.And for people who don’t know Money in the Bank, basically you have a contract to be able to challenge for [the] title at any time, and that’s a huge advantage. To put that on the line, it’s almost like another championship, so Ithink that’s going to be a great match. I know Dolph and Cena are two guys that definitely despise each other and that always makes for a great match. The Big Show and Sheamus – two brawlers who have been going at it for a couple of months and they have a chairs match. You put a chair in hands of a guy like Sheamus, it’s probably not good news, even if you are 7 feet, 500 pounds like the Big Show. Like I said, there’s a lot of great matches. You’ve got the Shield taking on Ryback and Team Hell No in a TLC match. It’s going to be a great pay-per-view all around. I can’t get excited enough to let people know.And being in the Barclays is going to be awesome, because obviously this is a brand new arena. I know a lot of people have been looking forward to being there. It’s going to be great all around.”