– WWEShop is selling a new Kurt Angle “It’s Damn True” t-shirt.
– As noted earlier, Kofi Kingston is undergoing ankle surgery and will be out of action for the next several weeks. According to WWE storylines, the injury took place last week on RAW when The Revival attacked Kofi in the ring. In response to the news that Kofi’s injury required surgery, Dash & Dawson sent out these tweets on Monday:
– WWE Network added two new Collections this week – Matches of the Year and one on the history between Trish Stratus and Lita.
– Thousand Foot Krutch’s “Different Kind of Dynamite” single has been announced as the official theme song for WWE Roadblock: End of the Line. We will have live coverage from Pittsburgh on 12/18.
– Dolph Ziggler frequently talks politics on his Twitter page but a discussion about President-elect Donald Trump ended with Ziggler abruptly shutting it down after fans got carried away. You can check out some of the comments that Ziggler acknowledged with replies below:
WWE officials have confirmed that Jerry Lawler and Lita have been removed their regular WWE programming duties. They will no longer be part of the RAW, SmackDown and PPV WWE Network panels.
Update: According to WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross, Lita is no longer affiliated with WWE:
Apparently I received erroneous info re: @WWE HOFer @AmyDumas still being with @WWE. According to Amy, she's no longer with the company.
Booker T and Charly Caruso took over the hosting duties for the new RAW pre-show on Monday night. Booker T and Renee Young hosted the SmackDown pre-show, but it’s worth noting that the Youtube video description for the SmackDown pre-show lists Booker T and Charly Caruso as the hosts. The RAW and SmackDown pre-shows were both cut back from 30 minutes to 10.
F4Wonline.com adds that Lawler is “loosely affiliated” with WWE and may be brought back to the WWE Network for special events like WrestleMania weekend, etc.
The latest chapter in the drama between Gawker and Hulk Hogan (real name Terry Bollea) came yesterday, with Gawker attempting to file a stay to block a judge’s ruling while they file an appeal. That’s the ruling from last week, when Judge Pamela Campbell ruled that a forensic investigator can be hired at Hulk Hogan’s request to search Gawker’s computers and phones. The goal? Discovering if Gawker violated a court order in their lawsuit.
Hogan is suing because Gawker published excerpts of a sex tape shot without his permission on a friend’s home security system, and insisting that Gawker is playing dirty. The allegation/ That the leak of Hogan’s racist comments that got him fired by WWE came from Gawker, and that they sourced sealed documents to facilitate said leak. While not the only sealed documents in the lawsuit, everything from the FBI’s investigation into Hogan being extorted via the sex tapes has been sealed from the public.
Gawker is arguing that there is little basis for such a wide examination of employees’ and in-house counsel’s computers. They also cite their earlier filings when they responded to Hogan’s attempt to get the investigation going, which shed more light on, among other things, exactly what Gawker received from the FBI. With the argument being that there’s barely even circumstantial evidence that Gawker was behind the leak, they state that:
* A timeline of what’s contained in the Hogan/Heather Cole sex tapes was circulating in New York and Tampa radio circles by March 2012.
* Other parties who were well aware of Hogan’s racist comments before this past July included Bubba Clem, Heather Cole, Nik Riichie of TheDirty.com, the source of an October 2012 item in the Philadelphia Daily News, Keith Davidson (the lawyer who tried to help a client sell the videos to Hogan or extort money from him depending on your view), Davidson’s client, numerous federal investigators, and TMZ’s Mike Walters,
* Gawker didn’t have most of what was released by the National Enquirer in the first place, with what they have from the FBI being incomplete. The audio of the FBI sting on Davidson (where Hogan, his lawyer, and Davidson watch the videos) “simply does not include most of the quotes reported by the Enquirer.”
The radio community timeline, which Gawker got in discovery, “does not contain the racist language published by the Enquirer. It also does not reference Bollea’s use of homophobic slurs, as reported by the Enquirer.” Davidson’s transcripts, which Gawker’s lawyers got from the FBI, also don’t match what the Enquirer published.
Specific examples of quotes that the Enquirer had that Gawker’s lawyers didn’t included some of the most damning ones. That includes “I guess we’re all a little racist. F**king n***er,” which is probably the most cited one because it’s used to refute people who say Hogan’s not a racist.
* Gawker never had proof of the racist comments “in large part because Bollea successfully thwarted Gawker’s efforts to obtain that proof or take any discovery about the contents of the timeline and transcripts.”
Hogan had, under oath, represented to the court and the Special Discovery Magistrate overseeing the sealed documents that he besides what Gawker got in 2012, he “had no knowledge of the existence of any other tapes.” In actuality, he watched all three (the one Gawker got, the one with the racist comments, and one more) during the FBI sting. He also claimed that any allegations of racist comments on the videos were lies fabricated by an extortionist.
In a hearing on July 1st, a few weeks before the leak, Hogan’s lawyers claimed that if a video with the racist comments existed, then the audio may be from an impersonator hired by the extortionist. They also argued that the rumors of such comments may have been coming from the extortionist. On top of that, it was argued that mentions of the FBI investigation shouldn’t be allowed in the case because it was “predicated on these tapes purportedly saying something that they don’t say.”
* The DVDs of the sex videos Gawker has are heavily edited. None of the racist comments were included. At the time of the leak, “reprocessed” versions of the DVDs (there were issues with the first one) had not yet been seen by Gawker’s lawyers.
— Lachlan Cartwright (@LachCartwright) July 24, 2015
* The Enquirer and its reporters have always claimed that Gawker was not one of their five sources for the articles. They also worded the articles to make it clear that the sources had access to the unedited videos themselves, or at least it seemed that way.
Regardless of your feelings as to the main case and whether Hogan should win that, it does seem like Gawker has a very compelling argument when it comes to this. While the appeals court itself has generally favored Gawker, this attempt at getting a stay is with the trial judge, who has seemingly favored Hogan. It should be interesting to se where this goes, and we’ll keep you apprised of any updates.
The popular Chad Dukes Radio Show out of Washington, D.C. is reporting that fan favorite WWE Tough Enough contestant Patrick Clark has signed a developmental deal with WWE and is currently training at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
Clark was originally scheduled to make two appearances for Maryland Championship Wrestling this weekend, however he did not show up to either of them.
According to PWInsider.com, Clark, age 19, will soon be officially signed to WWE, as he is currently waiting to complete the standard medical tests required to sign with the company as an active performer.
Clark took part in a tryout at the WWE Performance Center a few weeks back and according to one source, Lita (Amy Dumas), who is now working behind-the-scenes in WWE, played a big role in Clark getting his deal.
WWE Hall of Famer Lita (Amy Dumas) is now working for the company full-time as an agent, according to PWInsider.com.
Agents handle a number of functions on the road with WWE, including helping talent plot out their matches and serving as an intermediary between talent and the creative team.
Lita has been attending a lot of recent WWE TV tapings and there’s said to be some talk of her taking on a creative role some time in the future.
– Content featuring Hulk Hogan has returned to the WWE Network after the organization removed references to the legendary wrestler from its various platforms when he was fired and blacklisted on July 24, 2015.
Hulk Hogan Unreleased from 2009, the WWE Rivalries episode on his feud with Roddy Piper and episodes of WrestleMania Rivalry (Hogan vs. Andre the Giant, Hogan vs. The Rock and The Mega Powers Explode) are available to watch again. Episodes of the animated series Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling were not added back though.
– The second season of WWE Rivalries premieres tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. with an episode centered on the storied rivalry between Trish Stratus and Lita.
The synopsis for the episode reads, “Two women revolutionize sports entertainment and raise the bar for WWE’s growing Diva’s Division en route to Hall of Fame careers.”
Stratus commented on the episode on her official website, TrishStratus.com.
“Amy and I have always felt our rivalry was special,” she said. “It was something we felt in our chemistry in the ring — there was an intangible feeling from the crowd whenever we faced off. I can’t wait to see our story unfold on the Network.”
– WWE Hall Of Famer Amy “Lita” Dumas was backstage at the NXT television tapings this week. Below is a photo of Lita backstage at the show with John Laurinaitis, Terry Taylor and Scott Armstrong.
WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus is once again teasing that she wants to get back in the ring and team with fellow Hall of Famer Lita in a match against the Bella Twins.
Later this year, Topps will release “WWE Undisputed”, a high-end product that that will include one autograph per package of cards. Among the prototype images Topps released was a “booklet” card (a double wide card) containing the signatures of Trish Stratus and Lita on one side, and Nikki and Brie Bella on the other.
Trish Stratus commented about the booklet and teased a possible match between the two teams.
“You know, I gotta hand it to Topps. For months, during the Team Bestie Tour, Amy and I heard so many questions about ‘Besties vs. Bellas. This preview of what it would look like if we squared off in a tag team match certainly has me thinking…”
This isn’t the first time that Stratus has hinted that Team Bestie could be reuniting against the Bellas. Earlier this year, Trish told The Miami Herald:
“I don’t mind an easy win. I think the idea is interesting. ‘Team Bestie’ is up for anything. If the fans want it, who knows? When Amy [Lita] and I were working against each other, we were having fantastic matches because we knew each other’s motions and body movements. I think as a team we could utilize that same chemistry, but channel it in a different way.”
– The Wolfpac, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Sean Waltman were all sitting ringside at the NXT Takeover: Brooklyn event on Saturday. The trio were shown on camera during the event.
– Also sitting in the audience on Saturday night was music mogul Rick Rubin.
– A pre-taped vignette aired during the show promoting the upcoming debut of a new NXT Diva. The vignette simply read, “Nia Jax coming soon.”
– WWE Tough Enough finalists Josh, ZZ, Amanda and Sara Lee were also sitting front row during the NXT Takeover: Brooklyn special.
– The following is the complete NXT Takeover: Brooklyn “Kickoff Show” pre-show, which features a panel consisting of Renee Young, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton and WWE Hall Of Famer Amy “Lita” Dumas.
As shown in the video above, on last night’s episode of Tough Enough, Chelsea was the latest competitor to be eliminated from the competition after Paige saved Gigi.
If Gigi hadn’t been saved by Paige, she would have been the one to go home, instead Chelsea was next in line and was given the boot.
The WWE’s YouTube account has shared a couple of Digital Extra videos. The first shows ZZ giving Chelsea advice following her elimination, who also talks with the remaining girls about leaving.
The second video shows Tough Enough coach Lita speaking with Renee Young about Sara Lee’s slam on Gigi which caused quite a bit of discussion during the show.
– In the Tough Enough Digital Extra video shown above, Sara Lee seeks out some advice from Lita with regards to what she’s doing in the ring.
Lita explains that watching Sara is tough in the ring because she has to watch her go through a mental checklist of everything before she does a move, which leads the move coming off “crappy.”
– Bayley, who has been off NXT TV lately due to an injury sent out the following tweet ahead of tonight’s episode of RAW which will take place in San Jose, California:
With #RAW being in my hometown tomorrow night, maybe I'll go visit my Mom..& have her drop me off at the arena..& sneak into some luggage.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Tatsumi Fujinami has signed a new WWE Legends deal. WWE Hall Of Famer J.J. Dillon is also expected to sign a WWE Legends deal in the near future, if he hasn’t already.
– Sean Waltman celebrates his 43rd birthday today. Also celebrating birthdays today are Akira Hokuto (48), Necro Butcher (41) and ECW Original Chris Michaels (54).
– The WWE Tough Enough cast is on their way to tonight’s edition of WWE RAW in Atlanta, Georgia. WWE posted the following photos of the crew, along with WWE Hall Of Famer Amy “Lita” Dumas, heading to the arena.
– WWE Diva and Total Divas star Alicia Fox is scheduled to appear on two episodes of the SyFy television series “Dominion.” The WWE Diva will be appearing on the July 8th and July 16th episodes of the show.
– In addition to the highlights we posted earlier today, during an interview with Female First, WWE Diva Brie Bella revealed an interesting behind-the-scenes note about WrestleMania. According to the Total Divas star, there was talk of having Trish Stratus and Lita vs. The Bella Twins at WrestleMania. Bella noted that she would “love” if it happened, and noted that “it could happen.”
WWE Hall Of Famer Amy “Lita” Dumas recently appeared as a guest on The Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling podcast this week. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On her recent Tough Enough experience and her thoughts on the contestants: “It’s incredible. I’m there with Booker T and Billy Gunn and of course all of us having cut our teeth and not just ending up accidentally signing up for a TV show, it’s hard to not have a slight bit of “what do these kids have”? But I will say some of those kids actually brought it and the ones who didn’t were really gone in an instant. I was excited about doing the show and after the first three days of the mini camp and seeing what we were going to have to work with for the next 10 weeks. I am really excited to develop these potential WWE Superstars or if they don’t make it they will have a super unique experience they were in on. ”
On the respect of the contestants: “Each one of them and especially the ones that come from an acting background or a football background made it a point to come over to me and say what you (guys) do is really, really hard and that they have a whole new level of respect for what we do. I appreciate them coming up and saying that and game on!”
On how the contestants handled the eliminations: “The first group of cuts was the easiest. Even though there are some of the cuts that were a bummer, you can’t have everyone on the show. Those I can’t speak for as much because I do think some of them will find whatever is for them, the ones that weren’t cut it could have easier have been the person next to them and it’s a tough competition. We went through over 11,000 videos to get the 40 that were there in the first place. I’d be curious if there wasn’t just a hair of relief that they weren’t the ones chosen when they walked out the door.”
On the training process: “Myself, Billy Gunn and Booker T will be in the trenches. We are going to be there the most and training them at the performance center. They have unlimited resources there. They aren’t just popping in and filming a TV show. They are going to get some real hands on experience. Then Paige, (Hulk) Hogan and Daniel Bryan will come in and say what do you guys have and then with (Chris) Jericho hosting he will be throwing in his two cents. I think they will really gain an advantage with us getting to know them and if we see something in them and knowing what Paige, Hogan and Daniel Bryan will be looking for having been in there spot, I’ve already seen myself getting an attachment to some of the kids. I am not known for being super emotional but you might see a tear or two because I am getting attached to those kids.”
On her favorite match as a fan: “Victoria and I were in a baby-face feud at the time and I was doing some research to see what stood out to me and there was a double baby-face match of Shawn (Michael) and Bret (Hart) and watching these two incredible personalities and athletes have this match it stands out to me as I was watching it as a great match and then watching at as being in school for an hour watching it and re-watching it again and building such a level of respect for that match and what they did.”
Check out the complete interview at Podomatic.com.
Favourites to win are shown in bold. The odds are so close because they have been revealed earlier than they usually are.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Seth Rollins(+145) vs. Brock Lesnar (-185)
WWE United States Championship John Cena (-170) vs. Kevin Owens(+130)
WWE Tag Team Championship The Prime Time Players (-185) vs. The New Day (+145)
Roman Reigns (-130) vs. Bray Wyatt(-110)
– WWE Hall of Famer Lita recently appeared on the Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling Podcast and spoke about her latest role within the company as a coach on Tough Enough.
She discussed what it was like working with Billy Gunn and Booker T, dealing with eliminations, working with the contestants and she revealed her favourite match of all-time. Hear it at this link.
– Before today’s WWE live event in Singapore today WWE United States Champion John Cena met with US service men, women and their families. WWE shared the following pictures on Twitter:
– The latest edition of Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, which is available right now, features an interview with actor Scott Baio. You can download the show at PodcastOne.com.
– WWE Tough Enough coaches Booker T, Lita and Billy Gunn break down week two of the show in the video featured below.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Trish Stratus carried the torch for the Pan Am Games in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada last week. Below are some photos of Trish at the event.
WWE Hall Of Famer Amy “Lita” Dumas recently appeared as a guest on Busted Open Radio to talk about her upcoming role as trainer on the new season of WWE Tough Enough.
Below are some highlights from the interview.
On the WWE Divas Championship: “Can it be called the Divas Championship, but not have a pink butterfly on the belt?”
On using the term Superstar instead of wrestler: “I would settle for Superstar over Diva, but just plain old wrestler is OK with me.”
On being a trainer for the new season of WWE Tough Enough: “I don’t want to just hand you a script and say put your left leg up… yeah I could train a robot to do that but that’s not who is going to be the next superstar. You need to be able to process this information and make it your own, digest it-go to sleep-wake up and use it. So I love that challenge of how am I going to get through to you to make you the next superstar.”
– WWE officials have begun planting seeds for a possible Triple H vs. Seth Rollins feud.
As seen Monday on Raw, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon threw a celebratory party for WWE World Champion Seth Rollins. During “Architect of a Dream,” Triple H said he sees the reflection of himself in Rollins. Between that line and Rollins adopting the Pedigree, there is talk of the two WWE Superstars clashing in the future (according to Dave Meltzer in the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter).
– Samoa Joe appears on the This is Awesome Wrestling Show to talk about his debut in NXT, whether he will appear on Raw or SmackDown, leaving TNA Wrestling, his current state of mind, touring the independent circuit and more. The audio interview is available here.
– Former WWE Divas Ivory, Lita, Molly Holly, Trish Stratus and Victoria reunited on Saturday in Wilmington, North Carolina at Master of Ring Entertainment’s “Lasting Legacy: A Tribute To Women In Wrestling” event.
WWE Hall Of Fame Diva — and along with Amy “Lita” Dumas — one-half of “Team Bestie,” Trish Stratus, recently spoke with Newsday about her friendship with Dumas and nearly going down the Women’s MMA path years ago.
Below are some highlights from the interview:
On being part of “Team Bestie” with Lita: “Ever since the induction, I think people have been keen on seeing us aligned because all these years they saw us fighting each other. So, now the Trish fans and the Lita fans are kind of united, I guess you could say. Whereas before there were distinct sides.
“Fans really dug it, so we turned it into a little thing and booked the ‘Team Bestie Tour.’ We started our first tour last year. We hit the road and started doing conventions and signings together, and people really loved it — and so did we. I hadn’t really done the circuit in a while because I had been focusing on my business and my family, so I hadn’t had a chance to get on the road and get with the fans.”
On training Muay Thai in Thailand several years ago and nearly pursuing MMA: “I had a fight with one of their prizefighters there,” Trish said. “It was a pretty intense fight. I remember thinking, ‘Ma, I could pick this up and pursue this.’ Of course, it kicked in afterward, ‘Where do I do this?’ It wasn’t really like it is now, where MMA competition for women is more accessible.”
“I was thinking about it, yeah. I think I would have been pretty good at it, I’ve been good at most physical things I’ve taken on, like any sport, and I know I have a fighter in me.”
The format of the returning WWE Tough Enough reality show is going to be completely revamped compared to past seasons.
There will be training and in-house footage shot during the week, which will air on the Tuesday show. So when you watch an episode, the training and drama in the house we see will be from the previous week, very similar to The Ultimate Fighter season that they tried to do semi-live, as well as the UFC Primetime and “Embedded” specials which they try to keep up-to-date.
The television show will air each Tuesday, with footage shot during the week as well as a live show in front of a studio audience.
While Chris Jericho is scheduled to be the host of the show, it’s said that he will have somewhat of a “Ryan Seacrest role,” and won’t be hosting the show in the style that WWE had “Stone Cold” Steve Austin do several years ago.
As far as the rest of the cast, Hulk Hogan, Paige and Daniel Bryan will serve as panelists, mentors and judges, while Booker T, Billy Gunn and Lita will serve as the actual trainers for the contestants. Each week on the show there will be a judges vote and an audience vote to decide who goes home.
WWE has reportedly gone out of their way to recruit certain people to be cast members on the show, including Tessa Blanchard, daughter of WWE Hall Of Famer Tully Blanchard. It’s also said that they badly wanted Moose on the show.
Apparently WWE is telling people that they are recruiting to be on the program that they will be guaranteed a spot on the show, however the actual winner of the season will not be pre-determined and will be completely legitimate based on the fan voting.
Chris Jericho announced on Thursday that he will be hosting the new season of WWE Tough Enough, which premieres on the USA Network on Tuesday, June 23rd.
WWE also issued a press release giving tons more information about the new season, including details on judges, trainers and more.
– Hulk Hogan, Daniel Bryan and Paige will be judges on the series.
– Booker T, Lita and Billy Gunn will be the trainers.
– Tough Enough will be filmed out of the WWE Performance Center and Full Sail University, home of NXT.
– The official Tough Enough app will be launching on May 25th.
– There will be a lot of fan interaction, including the ability to vote via the Tough Enough app and texting to interact with various live elements
– Contestants in the series will “come face to face” with Vince McMahon, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon and John Cena over the course of the series.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Amy “Lita” Dumas mentioned during her “#AskLita” segment on the WrestleMania 31 Kickoff Show that she and fellow WWE Hall Of Famer Trish Stratus have been in discussions with WWE about a possible show of their own on the WWE Network.
– WrestleMania 31 featured several title changes on Sunday night. Seth Rollins cashed in his Money In The Bank briefcase to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion after pinning Roman Reigns following a Curb Stomp. Daniel Bryan won the ladder match to become the new WWE Intercontinental Champion, and John Cena handed Rusev his first loss via pinfall to become the new WWE United States Champion.
You can read our detailed WrestleMania 31 results by clicking here.
– As reported earlier this week, WWE is looking at bringing some legends back for a match at next year’s WrestleMania 32 pay-per-view to help fill Cowboys Stadium and set the all-time attendance record. Today, WWE’s official website is running a poll asking fans which legend they would like to see have one more match at WrestleMania. The options are Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Bill Goldberg, The Rock, Hulk Hogan, Batista, Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, Vince McMahon, Lita, Trish Stratus or The Dudley Boyz.
With over 2,000 votes cast as of this writing, Stone Cold is leading the pack with 30 percent of the vote. Trailing Austin are Goldberg (21%), Shawn Michaels (13%) and Kurt Angle and Jeff Hardy, both of whom have eight percent of the votes. You can vote on the poll at WWE.com.
– The latest WWE Superstar workout video released by WWE features WrestleMania 31 headliner Roman Reigns preparing for his WWE World Heavyweight Championship match against Brock Lesnar this Sunday. You can check out Reigns’ WrestleMania workout video below.
– WWE noted on RAW that the new Immortals mobile video game was the #1 iPad game during its opening weekend. They announced last week that the game had 2.7 million downloads through that first weekend.
– WWE Hall of Famers Trish Stratus and Lita are continuing their “Team Bestie Tour” with a live appearance on May 23rd during the Women In Pro Wrestling Fan Expo at the Coastline Convention Center in Wilmington, NC. For tickets, visit TrishStratus.com.
– WWE fans who took advantage of the free WWE Network month in November but did not renew are able to get this month for free. Also, users previously canceled their subscriptions are also allowed to sign up for the free month.
– WrestlingDVDNews.com has released the following clip of Dean Ambrose talking about his experience working with The Undertaker from WWE’s upcoming “Destruction of The Shield” DVD and Blu-ray that comes out on February 17th:
