WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Here are some highlights of what JR wrote about:
Possible WWE Hall of Fame Candidate: “Another 2013 HOF candidate for consideration….@RealKKBundy who was a major player in WWE in their breakout, national expansion years and was one of the best super heavyweights ever in the business. “King Kong Tonnage” as Ernie Ladd used to call Bundy, is hilarious to follow on Twitter.”
Barrett, Bryan & Kingston: “I’m encouraged by the on going development of such talents as @wadebarrett, @wwedanielbryan. @TrueKofi, among others. WWE is doing a nice job of continuing to build some new, foundation players for the future which, as I’ve often said, simply takes time. ”
The Shield “Enjoyed the Shield presentation Monday night on RAW. Not sure what I would have changed. I liked the succinct, cut to the chase interview and particularly liked the fact that it was pre-taped in a controlled environment.”
“@thedeanambrose, @wwerollins, and @romanreigns are have unique qualities that they bring to the dance as was somewhat illustrated Monday night. Bottom line is that they all ‘want it’ and seem to be willing to continue to work harder than many of their young peers in accomplishing their goals. They are not at a place where they can essentially take a ‘day off’ of preparation. I know these three to be aggressive, in ring talents and that trait alone will help them on their journey. All three are totally different personalities which is a positive but I love the fact that they are all young and are being provided an opportunity to push others already on the main roster aside on their way to main event status.”
– Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson addressed the record breaking ticket sales for WrestleMania 29 ticket sales via Twitter: “NY/NJ – @WWE #TeamBringIt breaks all time tix sale record! @Giants @nyjets #MetLifeStadium #WrestleMania2013 #HomeOfTheRock.”
Tickets for WrestleMania 29 went on sale to the general public last Saturday and sold out almost immediately. All told, WWE sold 52,029 tickets, which broke the record set in 2002 for first day sales, which was at 51,620, according to the Wrestling Observer. The company also broke the record for the biggest gate in pro wrestling history, as the show has topped $10 million already.
– This week’s “Backstage Fallout” for SmackDown is online. Here is the synopsis: “Does Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston trust his Team Foley teammate The Miz? In this edition of “Backstage Fallout,” find out if “The Wildcat” can leave the “past in the past” and work with The Awesome One at Survivor Series. Plus, Wade Barrett tells the WWE Universe what they can expect from him at this weekend’s pay-per-view.”
– The roster page of WWE’s official NXT website, FCWWrestling.info, no longer lists Chase Donovan or Nick Rogers. This is generally an indication that WWE has released talent.
Donovan is 27-year-old New England based wrestler the company signed earlier this year after moving to Florida to become a bodybuilder. He previously competed on the independent circuit from 2004 to 2009 as Bryce Andrews. He largely put over talent during his few appearances for NXT.
Rogers is a Canadian wrestler the company signed last year. Albeit undersized by WWE standards, he billed himself as a physical specimen. He had not been used in a high-profile manner as of late.
Chad Baxter and Louis Fontaine were also released from their developmental contracts with WWE this week.
– This morning’s episode of WWE Saturday Morning Slam will feature WWE Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston vs. Zack Ryder. Kofi remarked of the encounter on Twitter: “Tomorrow on #SaturdayMorningSlam: a friendly sparring session between me and Long Island Iced-Z @ZackRyder. Tune in! 10am on the CW #Vortexx.”
– WWE developmental wrestlers Anya, Audrey Rae, Charlotte, Paige, Sasha Banks and Summer Rae paid a visit to Dunbar Elementary School in Florida on Friday. The future Divas shared their success stories and answered questions.
Smacktalk Radio Live with Kofi Kingston
Hosts: James McDonald and Corey Callahan
Audio interview available at SmacktalkRadioLive.com.
Kofi on the Survivor Series elimination match: “Obviously with myself, I’ve had a rivalry pretty much (at some point in the past) with everyone who is on my team right now…The Miz, he and I have gone back and forth and pretty much hating each other for the past month and a half, so it really brings an interesting dynamic because no one really knows where the Miz’s mind is at right now…I can’t say that I trust him…I’ve never known him to be a good guy so I need to have my eyes peeled for the Miz specifically and then everyone on my team, but hopefully we can put our differences aside and come together and win this match because none of us want to lose to anyone on Team Ziggler.”
Kofi on Evan Bourne: “Yeah, Evan is doing alright, he has been doing some rehab for his ankle. For those who don’t know, he got into a pretty bad motorcycle accident and pretty much broke almost every bone in his foot…but he’s doing great and he has a real positive attitude…he’ll be back before we know it and doing what he does best and that’s fly around the ring and do all types of superhero/action figure-esque video game type moves…he should be back hopefully soon, not sure the exact timetable on it but yeah he’s doing great.”
On his Triple Threat match in early 2010 against Randy Orton and John Cena onMonday Night Raw where Randy was heard yelling ‘stupid’: “Everyone knows Randy kinda has an attitude, so that’s Randy being Randy. What everyone doesn’t remember is that we were in a heated rivalry so a lot of what you saw was him being his character and him kinda playing to that. I thought it was real funny when I started reading these things like ‘Randy Orton doesn’t like Kofi’, which I think is fine because it added to what we were doing at the time, it made people more interested in what we were doing…it is what it is….”
Here’s video of the spot Kofi’s talking about.. Apparently Kofi was supposed to stay down and get into position for a punt kick, but got up instead – and Orton nails him with a stiff-looking RKO:
http://youtu.be/N-kxxFjiD6s
On whether Kofi has ever wanted to turn on the WWE Universe and become a bad-guy: “To be honest, I’ve always been a guy who looks at everything with a pretty positive outlook. As far as going the other way, it really is up to the WWE Universe…As long as everyone is boom-clapping with me, I’ll stay with them because I appreciate the WWE Universe and I realize that without them there is no us, there is no me….I don’t want to say never, you never say never in the WWE…
“As far as me becoming a bad guy, the line is so blurred these days, not like back in the 80’s where you had Hulk Hogan come out and tell people to eat their vegetables and take their vitamins and he was a good guy, and then you had other guys come out and frown at the crowd and insult the crowd and automatically be bad guys….all of a sudden you had ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin do bad guy things and he was getting cheered where Bret Hart was doing everything right and all of a sudden he was getting booed. There is no clear-cut good-guy and bad-guy line these days, it really depends on the WWE Universe and how they start reacting to certain people. Specifically me, I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”
Zack Ryder can now add “recording artist” to his list of talents. Ryder released his first song, titled “Hoeski” and you can hear it below. He says a video will be coming soon.
– Sales for WWE’s CM Punk – Best in the World DVD and Blu-ray were strong in its first week of release. The DVD sold 28,938 copies for $576,472 and the Blu-ray version sold 23,272 for $581,571. It was No. 19 in overall DVD sales and No. 9 in Blu-Ray. No other sports titles ranked nearly as well.
– WWE has published a video of Kofi Kingston unboxing THQ’s WWE ’13 video game. WWE teases, “Check out what awesome surprises lay in store for the WWE Universe with WWE’s latest and most innovative video game ever!”
– WWE will be holding SmackDown live events at the Unipol Arena in Bologna, Italy on April 25, 2013 and the PalaTrieste Arena in Trieste, Italy on April 26, 2013.
– WWE returns to the Bercy Sports Palace in Paris, France on April 20, 2013. Tickets go on sale November 19 at 10:00 a.m.
– In Thursday’s birthdays, WWE Hall of Famer Bobby Heenan turns 68-years-old and former WWE star Tyler Reks turns 34.
– WWE Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston recently spoke with the Creative Loafing Atlanta website to promote Sunday’s Hell In a Cell pay-per-view. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
How His Past Experience With The Miz Will Help Him In His Title Defense At HIAC:
Yeah, the Miz and I have feuded for the Intercontinental Championship before and for the United States Championship. I feel like this time it’s a little bit different. This isn’t about finesse or anything like that. It’s about both of us being able to show different sides of our characters that we haven’t really had the opportunity to show in the past. So I think this one’s a little bit more special and we have our noses to the grindstone. We’re both pretty excited about being able to showcase these different sides of ourselves.
How Important Is It For Him To Retain The IC Title?
Yeah, I’m pretty sure we were gaining momentum around the same time. We’re both trying to do everything we can to kick, claw and scratch our way into that main event track to the top. I think you’re seeing a lot of that. As a WWE superstar, it can be frustrating sometimes because we’re the best athletes in the world and we all want to be the best. Anything less than that is unsatisfying. He and I both have an opportunity to step our games up, which is kind of what we’ve been doing over the past couple of weeks. A lot of people have been talking about this rivalry we’ve had and we’ve really only had about two weeks to build it. I think we’ve both done a good job of that and I see it as an opportunity to step up and be noticed in a different way. I’m sure he’s feeling the same way. So when you have two guys who are that hungry for the same thing in the ring against each other, both wanting to steel the show every night, it makes for a great match.
What’s Next For Him After This Sunday:
I don’t try to look too far into the future because things change so much and you have no idea what’s going to happen, who’s going to get hurt, what’s going to get shuffled around. But Hell in a Cell is going to be an amazing pay-per-view. The Miz and I will definitely have an amazing match, but I have no idea what the future holds. All I can do is the best I can do in this moment.
– In this SmackDown edition of “Backstage Fallout,” Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston explains why he won’t lose his title to The Miz this Sunday, while Kaitlyn shares her “extraordinary” gameplan to winning the Triple Threat Match at Hell in a Cell.
– Beth Phoenix, whose WWE run is reporting drawing near, tweeted Tuesday that she will be on hand for Monday’s Raw in Charlotte, North Carolina.
– John “Bradshaw” Layfield is featured in today’s “Superstar Spotlight” on WWE.com.
– Zack Ryder will be signing copies of WWE DVDs at the FYE store in Levittown, New York on December 28 at 3:00 p.m.
Hoping to regain the Intercontinental Championship from the Superstar who took it away from him on Main Event, The Miz announced during Friday’s SmackDown broadcast that he will invoke his rematch clause against Kofi Kingston at Hell in a Cell.
The official WWE website has released a match preview.
Delayed one week due to Rey Mysterio having the flu, the Tag Team Tournament Final will be finalized on Raw when Sin Cara and Rey Mysterio take on Team Rhodes Scholars. The winners will face WWE Tag Team Champions Kane and Daniel Bryan at Hell in a Cell.
The announced card for Hell in a Cell, which takes place Oct. 28 at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, is as follows:
* WWE Champion CM Punk vs. Ryback
* World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus vs. Big Show
* WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No vs. Tag Team Tournament Winners
* Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz
WWE.com caught up with Kofi Kingston after his title win on Main Event and said The Miz talking trash about him on RAW brought out a different side of him that led him to victory. Kofi said there are so many legends who have carried the white Intercontinental Title belt andhe’s ready to continue the legacy.
– WWE.com has released video of Jerry Lawler’s return to WWE at Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings from Memphis, Tennessee. Lawler was interviewed by Michael Cole in the ring and said he feels fully recovered from his heart attack (aside from his scratchy voice) and hopes to return to RAW soon.
– John Cena tweeted on Thursday that he’s headed to Arizona for a Make A Wish conference:
– The 10/6 episode of WWE’s “Saturday Morning Slam” show on CW averaged 1.24 million viewers. Viewership has grown since the show premiered on August 25th with 1.13 million viewers.
– Last week’s (10/10) episode of “WWE Main Event” on Ion Television 1.33 million viewers, down just a bit from the previous week’s premiere, which averaged 1.40 million viewers.
– WWE spoiled the news of Kofi Kingston defeating The Miz for the Intercontinental championship at Tuesday’s “WWE Main Event” tapings, announcing the title change on WWE.com and via social media. Kofi Kignston posted this video message on Tout after winning the gold:
The Great Khali returned to action Tuesday night in Memphis, Tennessee, in a match taped for WWE Saturday Morning Slam. He faced Primo.
The former World Heavyweight Champion had been sidelined since undergoing surgery on July 26 to remove a tumor from his pituitary gland on July 26.
Also taped for the program was a match pitting Jey and Jimmy Uso against The Prime Time Players.
Two matches were taped for tomorrow night’s episode of WWE Main Event on ION Television. Zack Ryder took on Dolph Ziggler, and as previously announced, The Miz defended the Intercontinental Championship against Kofi Kingston.
In a dark match result, Johnny Curtis squashed Drew Haskins, a local wrestler.
At Tuesday night’s WWE television tapings from Memphis, Tennessee, Kofi Kingston defeated The Miz for the Intercontinental championship in a match taped for tonight’s WWE Main Event broadcast.
It was the second consecutive night that Kofi Kingston defeated The Miz. Their match on RAW resulted in a concussion scare for the now-former IC champion. After taking a stiff kick to the face on Monday night, Miz was under medical observation through Tuesday and it was determined that he did not suffer a concussion.
Check out these pictures of Kofi Kingston celebrating with the Intercontinental championship:
WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz has been medically cleared to compete at tonight’s television taping in Memphis, Tennessee after being struck hard in the head by Kofi Kingston’s “Trouble In Paradise” maneuver during their match on Raw Monday. He will defend his belt against Kingston in a match that will air tomorrow night on WWE Main Event on ION Television.
Michael J. Sampson, WWE’s ringside physician, determined that The Miz did not suffer a concussion after being struck by Kingston’s devastating kick at the conclusion of their match on Raw. He stated in a video published on WWE.com that the Superstar has some pain on his forehead and required sutures, but has no signs of concussion-like symptoms after undergoing neurological testing.
In another video, The Miz offers insight into his state of mind as he heads into a title match against Kingston. He says “he’s coming” for him.
– Linda McMahon’s next US Senate debate against Chris Murphy is tonight and will air on the Fox affiliate in Connecticut. The third debate will take place next Monday and the final debate takes place next Thursday.
– NFL player Adam Carriker recently lost a bet to Bill Goldberg and as a result, had to dress up like the former World Heavyweight Champion. The bet was over who would win last week’s game between the Atlanta Falcons (Goldberg’s former team) and Carriker’s Washington Redskins. Click here to view the picture of Carriker dressed up like Goldberg in the Redskins’ locker room.
– Kofi Kingston challenge The Miz for the Intercontinental championship on next week WWE Main Event. Kofi issued the challenge on this week’s show.
– After losing to The Prime Time Players in the WWE Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contenders’ Tournament last Friday on SmackDown, Kofi Kingston and R-Truth have amicably parted ways. The duo announced in a video posted on WWE.com that they have accomplished everything they wanted to do as a tag team and want continue their careers as singles competitors.
– The official WWE website has published video and photos of last Thursday’s premiere of CM Punk: Best in the World at Chicago’s Portage Theater. The DVD and Blu-ray, which documents Punk’s rise to the top of WWE, is officially out Tuesday.
– Tuesday would have marked as Eddie Guerrero’s 45th birthday. He was found dead on November 13, 2005 as a result of acute heart failure due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
Vickie Guerrero, the widow of Eddie, is remembering him on his birthday. She tweeted, “October 9, Tuesday is Eddie’s birthday! I will always love you with all of my heart!!”
Also celebrating a birthday Friday is former WWE Superstar Steven Richards, who turns 41-years-old.
– Per a huge announcement by SmackDown General Manager Booker T, Kane and Daniel Bryan will defend the WWE Tag Team Championship on Oct. 28 at Hell in a Cell against the winners of an eight-team tournament.
The bracket revealed on SmackDown showed the following first-round match-ups: Team Rhodes Scholars (Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow) vs. Jimmy and Jey Uso; Santino Marella and Zack Ryder vs. Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd; Kofi Kingston and R-Truth vs. The Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O’Neil); and Epico and Primo vs. Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara.
– This week on “Backstage Fallout” for SmackDown, The Miz addressed the chaos on “Miz TV,” which resulted in the show’s host being punched in the face by World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus. Wade Barrett also boasted about his dominance after defeating Zack Ryder. Plus, Big Show talks about becoming the No. 1 contender to World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus at Hell in a Cell. (Watch)
– WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler appeared on WREG-TV in Memphis, Tennessee, Friday promoting an independent show he was appearing at in South Haven, Mississippi. During the appearance, Lawler stated that had he suffered his recent heart attack anywhere but where he was—at a WWE event near paramedics—he would likely have died.
Lawler intends to return to the ring and plans to make his WWE return at the October 16 SmackDown taping in Memphis, Tennessee.
Video of his appearance is available here.
– This week’s episode of WWE Superstars is now online via WWE.com, featuring a Raw rematch between Kofi Kingston and Dolph Ziggler. Also see Yoshi Tatsu battle Heath Slater, Layla take on Divas Champion Eve, and Ted DiBiase competes against Michael McGillicutty.
– WWE Hall of Famer Edge joins Jack Encarnacao on The Mouthpiece Wrestling Show at 10:00 a.m. Saturday on NBC Sports Radio 1510 AM in Boston, Massachusetts. He will talk about his life after WWE, who the smoothest person he’s ever wrestled, how different his character would be coming up in WWE today, and more.
WWE and ION Television have announced the upcoming taping schedule for WWE Main Event, premiering Wednesday, October 3, 2012 at 8/7 PM CT. Each episode will be taped at the previous night’s SmackDown television taping, beginning with next Tuesday in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The following press release was issued Thursday:
ION TELEVISION GETS IN THE RING WITH THE DEBUT OF WWE MAIN EVENT PREMIERING WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3 AT 8:00 PM EST/PST
NEW YORK, NY (September 27, 2012) – Fans of WWE are finally getting their midweek fix with the brand new installment WWE Main Event, a weekly, action-packed series premiering Wednesday, October 3 at 8:00 p.m. EST/PST on Ion Television. Featuring the WWE Superstars and Divas of Monday Night Raw and Friday Night Smackdown, including John Cena®, WWE Champion CM Punk™, World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus™, Alberto Del Rio®, The Miz®, Kofi Kingston®, Eve® and Alicia Fox®, it’s a must-see for longtime devotees and those looking for character-driven, high-octane entertainment.
The original series will showcase live events filmed across the country, as well as a stop in Europe. The taping schedule, which takes place one day prior to airing, is currently as follows:
October 2 – BOK Center, Tulsa, Okla.
October 9 – HP Pavilion, San Jose, Calif.
October 16 – FedExForum, Memphis, Tenn.
October 23 – Dunkin’ Donuts Center, Providence, R.I.
October 30 – Crown Coliseum, Fayetteville, N.C.
November 6 – LG Arena, Birmingham, England
November 13 – Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
November 20 – Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Mich.
– After sustaining a season-ending injury during last Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Rams, Washington Redskins defensive end Adam Carriker immediately thought about Triple H.
“I’m laying there on the turf at the Edward Jones Dome and there’s one thing going through my mind and it’s the image of Triple H tearing his quad tendon off his knee in the ring,” Carriker said on 4th & Pain. “Why I’m thinking about that, I don’t know… I think that’s because it’s exactly where I felt it in my leg.”
Like Carriker, the WWE Superstar tore his left quadriceps muscle in May 2001 and suffered a similar injury at a pay-per-view event in January 2007. The full story is available here.
– The top two matches advertised for Saturday’s SmackDown live event in Sarnia, Ontario did not take place. Originally scheduled for the event were Sheamus vs. Wade Barrett vs. Dolph Ziggler in a Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Championship and Daniel Bryan and Kane defending the WWE Tag Team Championship against Kofi Kingston and R-Truth. Instead, Sheamus defended the belt against Alberto Del Rio in a singles match, Dolph Ziggler faced Tyson Kidd, Wade Barrett took on Yoshi Tatsu, Kofi Kingston wrestled Ted DiBiase, and Kane and Bryan faced The Prime Time Players.
– WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler’s miraculous recovery from a heart attack on the Sept. 10 Raw is featured in a full page story in the latest issue of The Globe tabloid.
Matches taped Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center for this week’s episode of WWE Superstars were Tyson Kidd vs. David Otunga, and The Prime Time Players vs. Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso.
A taping was also held for WWE Saturday Morning Slam on The CW. Bouts taped were Sin Cara vs. Jinder Mahal, and Justin Gabriel vs. Zack Ryder.
A dark match was held before both tapings as Kofi Kingston beat WWE developmental wrestler Dean Ambrose following Trouble In Paradise.
– In this week’s “Backstage Fallout” for Raw, Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara respond to The Prime Time Players’ attack from behind. Plus, Layla suspects Eve had something to do with Kaitlyn’s being viciously attacked at Night of Champions, Wade Barrett discusses his future plans and Kofi Kingston and R-Truth vow to regain the WWE Tag Team Championship from Daniel Bryan and Kane.
http://youtu.be/V-qgFn0xlUDcY
– The official WWE website announced last week that a new Bret Hart video title, Bret Hart: Unreleased Matches, will be released on March 5, 2013. The WWE Hall of Famer is giving input to the project.
He tweeted Tuesday, “Starting to review matches for the new “Unreleased Matches” DVD.”
– On this special edition of Superstar Toyz, Kofi Kingston shows off his “BOOM Room” where he displays his championship titles and favorite WrestleMania gear.
http://youtu.be/V-nr3gCerkptY
– WWEShop.com has released the Jerry Lawler shirt broadcaster Michael Cole sported on Raw Monday, “Jerry Lawler Long Live the King Authentic Men’s T-Shirt.”
– According to WrestlingFigs.com, WWE Hall of Famer “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan appears at the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame located on 30 East Main St. Amsterdam, New York on Saturday, October 27 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
– WWE will return to Boston’s TD Garden two days after WrestleMania 29 (4/9/2013) for a SmackDown taping. A ticket pre-sale began at Night of Champions.
– Michael Cole and JBL went on Twitter after Night of Champions together and congratulated each other.
– Kevin Nash noted on Twitter that he’s off to Japan this weekend to wrestle for All Japan Pro Wrestling:
Leave Thursday to work for All Japan on Sunday.Looking so forward to getting back to my favorite place in the world to hang.