– If you were watching SmackDown Live last night you probably noticed that three of the company’s biggest stars were missing – The New Day! Stephanie McMahon Tweeted out the following pictures; revealing that she, Triple H, The New Day, Mark Henry, The Miz, Maryse, and WWE Hall Of Famer Shawn Michaels were in California for the Television Critics Association Winter Tour event:
In this post on Instagram, The New Day member implied that he cut off his dreadlocks last night.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BaRtGl3jeTD/
WWE.com acknowledged his haircut tease in an article, stating, “Will Kofi show up on SmackDown LIVE this week with a brand new hairdo? Keep with WWE.com and our social channels to find out!”
– In support of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Goldust painted his face pink at tonight’s WWE live event in Yakima, Washington.
– Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle made his first appearance in Australia in over a decade this week. The RAW GM appeared at a WWE live event in Melbourne where he was greeted by a big pop from the crowd. In a backstage interview posted on WWE’s Twitter, Angle admitted it’s tough not taking part in the action with the wrestlers, but he takes pride in his role as the RAW GM.
– SmackDown Tag Team Champion Kofi Kingston may have suffered a knee injury at last night’s WWE live event in Honolulu, Hawaii. During a match alongside Big E against the team of Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler, Kofi missed a crossbody and was limping after the spot. The New Day member was helped to the back after the match.
– Asuka also appeared on the SmackDown brand live event last night in in Honolulu. She was wearing a sling and was supporting the team of Charlotte, Naomi and Becky as they defeated Natalya, Carmella, Lana and Tamina in a handicap match. Asuka was originally booked to wrestle in the match until she suffered the collarbone injury.
Kofi Kingston and New Day recently spoke to WWE.com about New Day’s accomplishments in the company. Below are some highlights from the interview:
Becoming the first WWE Superstar to hold all four versions of the tag team titles, WWE (with R-Truth, Even Bourne & New Day), World (with CM Punk), RAW and SmackDown (both win New Day):
“I had no idea. I don’t think we look at accomplishments that deeply in terms of pursuing them. We usually find out on Twitter. Like, “Hey! Did you guys know you’re the only ones to win the Raw and SmackDown [Tag Team] Titles?” It’s pretty cool when you sit back and look at it, but it’s weird; the more time that passes, we keep attaining these unsettable goals, if that makes sense. Hosting WrestleMania is not something set for yourself when you’re a kid. You don’t say, “One day, I’m going to host WrestleMania, and this is my goal; I’m going to work toward it.” It just happened. Same thing with winning this championship title. It’s a very strange stat to be celebrating. You don’t set these goals, but we’re very fortunate to have had these things happen to us.”
The positive reaction to New Day’s match against The Usos at WWE Battleground:
“Everything was flowing. It was awesome from top to bottom. We have great chemistry with The Usos. They always bring their best, whether it be in the rap battle or in the ring. We’re two teams that are on the same page in terms of [bringing] the best to the table every single time. We always want to outdo them; they always want to outdo us. What that does is provide the best possible product for anybody watching. Being in the match itself, I knew I was part of something special as it was going on. Hearing the crowd react was one of those things I’m very fortunate to be a part of.”
New Day’s popularity:
“Obviously, what’s more important to me are the accolades that we achieve as a group, because this journey has been wild from the beginning. Obviously, as we’ve said in many interviews, it was a struggle to even get on TV. We finally get on and get rejected by the masses, then finally embraced by the masses. We hosted WrestleMania and, the year before, had the No. 1 merch sales at WrestleMania. This has been the wildest ride ever. So, to me, it’s more important at this time to think about the things we have done as a unit, and the things we can do as a unit, to keep on climbing that ladder.”
You can check out the entire interview with New Day by clicking here.
Kevin Owens posted some cool photos on Twitter yesterday of his parents purchasing his newly released Fight Owens Fight: The Kevin Owens Story DVD. Owens’ parents purchased the DVD at the same store his father used to rent wrestling videos for him when he was a child. Fight Owens Fight: The Kevin Owens Story has been a massive success so far and is completely sold out on Amazon.
Big E and Kofi Kingston were recently in India for a promotional tour and got the opportunity to speak to NDTV Gadgets 360 on a variety of professional wrestling topics. You can check out some of what they had to say here:
If they have creative freedom in WWE:
“We have a long leash for sure. That’s taken time to get trust from the higher ups and people of importance. But yeah, we don’t write everything. A lot of times we’re given scripts and we disagree with the script’s directions and we have some leniency to retool. A lot of times it’s ‘hey we need an overhaul and none of it works’ and sometimes it’s just a few tweaks here and there.
“We’ve been very fortunate. A lot of talent really don’t have that ability to just say ‘hey I want to rewrite this promo’ but it’s really helped us. And one thing we’ve noticed too is that as much as we – as a company – try to attach ourselves to pop culture, we felt also that a lot times they were a little outdated or a little bit, outside of their window of freshness.”
How social media influences their work:
“We’re on Twitter, we’re on Instagram, we like viral videos. It’s something we felt was needed in WWE. Something that was contemporary, something that was just hot on Instagram or Twitter or when Vine was still a thing, we wanted to implement that stuff immediately. Cause that’s the stuff we were just in the car buzzing over that made us laugh so why not use that the next day? I still vividly remember the hubbub over the Steph Curry shoes happened and when we talked in the car I think, it was a day later and we were in New Orleans and Kofi was all like ‘alright I gotta get these shoes’ and we wore them on TV and then we had to clown them for it.
“But it’s things like that people enjoy. People want stuff that’s up to date, that feels current, that feels fresh, that’s in the zeitgeist, that’s still being talked about so that’s an element that we’ve tried to use to separate ourselves and we take a lot of pride in that.”
WWE announced on Monday that Kofi Kingston will undergo arthroscopic surgery to remove bone chips from his ankle. Last week on RAW saw the main roster debut of former NXT tag team champions The Revival. Dash and Dawson scored a victory over New Day’s Big E and Xavier Woods in an impressive showing. After the match, the Revival viciously attacked Kingston, focusing on his ankle and leaving him screaming in pain. The attack, which you can see below, is cited as the cause of Kofi’s injury.
Dr. Chris Amann told WWE.com that Kofi “heard a crack” during the attack and was unable to put weight on his leg afterwards.
“Further evaluation and an MRI revealed that the attack had caused fragments of bone to break off the ankle bone (talus), requiring arthroscopic surgery to remove the bone chips from the damaged joint.”
The report at WWE.com states that Kofi Kingston will only be out of action for a few weeks.
The New Day have been the WWE World Tag Team Champions for over four hundred and fifty days. They need roughly another forty days to break Demolition’s all time record, which they’ll do before the end of the year. After that, there isn’t anything left for them to accomplish aside from putting another tag team over.
Eventually, another team is going to dethrone The New Day and take the Raw World Tag Team titles away from them. The boost from that win is going to be a big deal for another team, but WWE has been delaying that moment until The New Day become the longest reigning tag team champions in WWE history.
According to a report from CageSideSeats, WWE officials have no plans to take the Raw Tag Team titles off The New Day anytime soon. They’re not planning on splitting up the trio, and it’s possible a split may not happen even after they lose the titles. That is leaving some confusion about what’s next for The New Day?
Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods all have the potential to break out as singles stars after the end of their stable. In particular, Kofi could springboard off the success of the stable into the WWE title picture, but it seems that WWE officials want to keep the trio going as long as the WWE Universe accepts them.
– Kofi Kingston needed 9 stitches to close a cut on his forehead at last night’s RAW, following WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day’s win over Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. Kofi posted this photo from backstage:
Kofi Kingston says he was originally laughed at by people when he first said he wanted to become a WWE Superstar.
Despite Ric Flair saying that talent like Finn Balor will never reach the upper-levels of WWE due to his size, Kingston has a different message. In an interview with Do Savannah to promote Saturday’s live event in Savannah, GA, Kingston offered advice to kids who want to pursue a career as a WWE Superstar.
“I always said I would be a WWE Superstar, and they laughed at me,” Kofi said. “They looked at me and said I was too small. You have to be 6 feet, 8 inches, you have to be 275 pounds and you can’t be a WWE Superstar.”
Kinsgston joined WWE as a developmental talent in 2006, and has gone on to win the Intercontinental Title, The U.S. Title, and The Tag Team Titles, all multiple times. He is currently part of one of the company’s hottest acts, The New Day.
“Down the line, 15 to 20 years later,” Kingston continued, “those same people are asking me for my autograph.”
– As promised, R-Truth has released the official music video for his new “I Be Like” hip-hop single.
– In Nielsen’s nightly Twitter TV ratings for series & specials, this week’s WWE RAW had 266,000 tweets with 47,000 unique authors. The show ranked #3 for the night, behind the DNC and The Bachelorette.
– Xavier Woods will host a Street Fighter 5 tournament at Battle and Brew in Atlanta on Thursday evening. Full details on the event are at this link. Prizes include four tickets to Monday’s RAW. On a related note, Woods plays Overwatch, Terror Lab with fellow WWE Tag Team Champion Kofi Kingston and Pokemon Go with Goldust in these new UpUpDownDown videos:
– Following last week’s “Black Friday” that saw the release of 8 WWE performers, PWInsider reports that more releases are expected before the end of this month.
Ryback appears to be on his way out of the company, but its possible WWE will simply allow his contract to expire in a couple months. In light of his recent Wellness policy violation (and subsequent doctor’s note post, deletion and re-post), Adam Rose is another Superstar that could be on thin ice. Additionally, Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Live that another Diva was supposed to be released last week, but Cameron was released in her place as a result of her publicly supporting Ryback.
– Kofi Kingston is scheduled to appear at tonight’s RAW after missing this past weekend’s live events. Enzo Amore is not scheduled for this week’s TV tapings.
– Chris Jericho was asked on Twitter what the most physically enduring thing he’s had to endure as a WWE Superstar. In typical Jericho fashion, he replied:
– TMZ reports that Chyna’s official cause of death will not be known known for several more months, when the results of her toxicology report are released. Chyna’s manager stated last week that she died from a mix of a lethal mix of Ambien and Valium. However, detectives working the case are unable to confirm that claim, since pill bottles found at her bedside each contained at least 4 different types of pills. As a result, they’re unsure exactly what was in her system at the time of death.
– Jim Ross noted in his latest blog at JRsBBQ.com that WWE Hall of Famer “Cowboy” Bill Watts recently underwent spinal surgery. Ross wrote:
“Cowboy Bill Watts recently had spinal surgery as a result of his years in wrestling and is home recovering nicely. My mentor is in great spirits and is as ornery as ever.”
– Congratulations to New Day member Kofi Kingston and his wife Kori Campfield on the birth of their baby boy. This is their second child together. According to WWE.com, the baby’s name is Orion Kingsley Sarkodie-Mensah.
As noted, Kevin Owens blocked Melissa Joan Hart on Twitter on Monday after the actress called Owens a “lazy wrestler” in a tweet that ended up getting addressed on the air during RAW on Monday. Since the story made the rounds on the internet, Melissa Joan Hart has apparently been receiving a lot of backlash from wrestling fans on social media, as she posted this update on Tuesday:
Speaking of Melissa Joan Hart, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods of The New Day made a point to show fans that they blocked the actress on Twitter as well. You can check out the tweets from Kingston and Woods below.
– 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.
– The injured Randy Orton has been pulled from the WWE European tour scheduled for next month. The new top matches set for the Roman Reigns-led side of the tour are now Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan vs. Dean Ambrose and The Usos. As noted, The Usos are set to return to WWE television imminently.
– Tyler Breeze has been added to the Seth Rollins-led side of the tour. Matches for that side of the tour include The Dudley Boyz vs. The New Day and Rusev vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Tyler Breeze in a triple threat match. There is no word yet regarding Rusev’s replacement.
– Kofi Kingston is one of the guests on the latest edition of Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast. You can download the show at PodcastOne.com.
– Xavier Woods is rumored to be missing tonight’s WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view, as he is scheduled to get married this weekend. Bubba Ray Dudley tweeted the following regarding tonight’s pay-per-view, adding a “get well soon” message to Woods. Below is what Bubba wrote, as well as a response from The New Day’s Kofi Kingston.
– Kurt Angle is one of many wrestlers in Los Angeles, California this weekend, the site of tonight’s WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view. Below is a photo of Angle catching up with Booker T in L.A. this weekend.
Kofi Kingston spoke with TechTimes.com to promote Sunday’s WWE Hell in a Cell PPV. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
New Day’s Tag Title Defense Against The Dudley Boyz At Hell in a Cell:
“Anybody who’s been watching knows that there’s a lot of bad blood between us and the Dudleys. We used to be the Dudleys’ fans, watching them while growing up and it was awesome to see them come back to the WWE. Unfortunately, the Dudleys have a problem with The New Day just because we’re tag-team champions.
It’s just a shame because I’m very torn because I was a fan of the Attitude Era and tables and ladders and chairs and everything the Dudleys have done up until this point. Unfortunately now, they have victimized us. I don’t know if you saw Raw this past Monday, but Xavier Woods was powerbombed through a table and he’s in real rough shape. It’s not cool what these Dudleys have been doing.
I know a lot of people have been enjoying them now, but we can’t let them become tag-team champions because they are everything that’s wrong with the WWE in terms of their regard of furniture, respecting the champions and their demeanor. They got a bad attitude and The New Day doesn’t like that.”
New Day Pulling Pranks On Each Other:
“There are a lot of funny stories … we get along so much. There was one time actually where [laughs], we pulled up to a hotel and I forget what it was, but one of us lost a bet, so the consequence was Xavier had to do all of the booking of the rooms and checking in with an English accent. So, he comes in at like 4 in the morning with an English accent and the lady [at the hotel] isn’t trying to hear it.
So, he’s talking [in English accent], ‘I need to check in, my name is Xavier’ and the lady is calming him down and telling him to be quiet. The funny thing is she called E the wrong name, which we still call him to this day. When we go to Hotwire and fill something out, we put in Etmore. She kept calling him Etmore and that kind of stuck. We have a lot of stories like that where things just happen to us. It’s good times all around at all hours of the night.”
WWE Tag-Team Champion Kofi Kingston recently spoke with Men’s Journal to promote Sunday’s WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view. Below are some of the highlights.
On keeping your trainers close: “I’ve always been involved in sports, but I don’t have all the answers. The capoeira is something Eddy Gordo in Tekken would do. I’m a big video-game guy. He did all these different motions, and before you know it, you won by not doing anything at all. But to actually try and do that stuff in life is really complicated. [My capoeira trainer] Marrese Crump is very knowledgeable in that aspect, and if I could learn a tenth of what he knows, I would know so much more I did before. And I have a trainer too, Rob MacIntyre. He’s the same guy who’s been training John Cena his whole life. I go to people who have the knowledge I need to make myself better.”
On the importance of sleep: “It’s definitely important to find the time to fit sleep in. If I have a free moment, I’ll just crash. I don’t have a problem sleeping on planes or car rides or wherever. I try to get a few eight-hour sessions in on the weekends on the road or between shows. I am not the best example for somebody who gets enough sleep. The rest is almost as important as the actual workout. A lot of people run themselves into the ground, but you need that rest time to recuperate and recover.”
– 16 crushing ring post collisions are shown in the latest WWE Fury video on YouTube, which you can check out below.
– WWE Tag Team Champion Kofi Kingston responded to a fan who wrote about World Wrestling Entertainment not selling The New Day merchandise and memoriabilia at live events. Kingston tweeted the following:
I know…BUT the good news is that we've got some real cool stuff on the way very very soon… https://t.co/ZOmfYTT2DY
– The latest Canvas 2 Canvas video from WWE artist Rob Schamberger, which you can check out below, features one of the most decorated tag team duos in the history of sports entertainment; The Dudley Boyz.
– Following a string of recent fan incidents during WWE live events – as well as during RAW and the WWE Night of Champions pay-per-view it appears that WWE have increased their security.
Several fans have noted on social media that on attending live events over the past weekend that there were more security than usual to prevent anyone making their way into the ring.
– On Twitter yesterday New Day member Big E teased that WWE Shop could soon be launching New Day socks which feature their logo and the text “Power of Positivity”.
Tag-team legends The Dudley Boyz — Bubba Ray and Devon — were Michael Cole’s guests on this week’s WWE.com sit-down interview.
During the interview, which you can watch above, Devon noted that they were overwhelmed by the reception they received for their WWE return on RAW in Brooklyn, New York. Bubba Ray added that the great part about the whole situation was that it was kept a secret.
Regarding what The Dudley Boyz have been doing over the past ten years, Bubba Ray said, “everything,” while Devon mentioned All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), however neither alluded to TNA Wrestling in any way, unless you count Devon saying that they have been active all over the world, as they go “non-stop.” (Total “Non-Stop” Action)?
Bubba Ray Dudley then spoke about how he saw the once nearly insignificant WWE tag-team division begin to thrive once again, particularly because of The New Day, and said that it was time for The Dudley Boyz to help get the WWE tag-team scene back to where it once was, and where he feels it belongs again today.
Michael Cole then brought up The New Day and asked if they feel they are entertaining. Devon said that they are a good team and they are very entertaining, but that they are also “kick-ass guys.” He mentions that The New Day is trying to follow in the footsteps of The Dudley Boyz because they are doing everything that The Dudley Boyz used to do to get attention.
Finally, Cole brings up the fact that The Dudley Boyz will be challenging The New Day for the WWE Tag-Team Championships at the next live WWE Network special, scheduled for Saturday, October 3, 2015 from Madison Square Garden in New York City. As far as that fact is concerned, Bubba Ray mentions that it doesn’t get any better than to win the titles back in their hometown, especially in a building like MSG.
Make sure to visit SEScoops.com on Saturday, October 3, 2015 for the best live WWE Network results coverage from Madison Square Garden.
– WWE Tag-Team Champions The New Day will be fielding questions from fans during the WWE Night Of Champions Kickoff Show on the WWE Network tonight. Fans can submit questions to Big E., Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods via Twitter with the hashtag, “#SaveTheTables.”
– WWE Superstar Dolph Ziggler noted via social media that he will be debuting new ring gear for his match against Rusev at tonight’s WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view. Ziggler tweeted the following.
– WWE Diva Lana posted the following video update on Saturday evening, noting that she will be getting her stitches taken out of her wrist soon and will also soon begin physical therapy.
– Although WWE had been indicating that John Cena vs. Seth Rollins would headline this Sunday’s WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view, they are now talking like Cena vs. Rollins will take place prior to Sting vs. Rollins.
– Michael Cole recently noted that he has lost 65 pounds in 11 months.
– The next edition of “Superstar Ink” with Corey Graves will feature Kofi Kingston. You can check out a preview below.
– WWE Network officials have been aware of some buffering issues with their streaming service after complaints by fans in recent weeks. The crew is reportedly working to make sure there will be no issues this weekend, as WWE has two big live events with NXT Takeover: Brooklyn and SummerSlam, back-to-back.
– New footage of Eric Bischoff will be featured on the new WWE DVD and Blu-ray, “The Monday Night War Vol. 2: Know Your Role,” which is scheduled to be released on September 8th. The following is the official synopsis for the new project, where WWE is promoting the fact that Bischoff is involved:
“For the first time in eight years, ERIC BISCHOFF returns to WWE home video and gives his candid and unscripted commentary on the final ten episodes of The Monday Night War in a post-episode analysis.”
– Stephanie McMahon, Renee Young, Eva Marie, Sheamus and Kofi Kingston held an anti-bullying rally at the Boys & Girls Club of New York City on Thursday. Below is a photo of the group at the event: