NXT announcer Rich Brennan has been promoted to the lead announcer position for WWE SmackDown. Now that WWE Tough Enough is over, it looks like Booker T, who was on hiatus due to the show, will be headed to Thursday nights in two weeks while Byron Saxton will permanently replace him on RAW.
WWE RAW on Monday nights will be called by Michael Cole, JBL and Saxton while SmackDown will feature Brennan, Jerry Lawler and Booker T.
Booker T and Rich Brennan recently had the following exchange on social media.
Congrats to @RichBrennanWWE, enjoy the ride! #SmackDown
– Although there was a six-man tag-team dark match main event scheduled for after RAW on Monday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, it never happened. Instead, after Sting made his exit, Lilian Garcia simply thanked the fans for coming and that was it.
– WWE SummerSlam had more than one million Google searches on Sunday, making it the second most searched term for the day.
– Following their three-day-stretch, WWE will return to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on Monday, December 28th for a live WWE RAW show. The pre-sale for tickets is going on right now with the code WWERAW.
– Michael Cole announced that WWE sold out the Barclays Center for the third night in a row at RAW on Monday, as 15,597 fans were in attendance last night.
– For those curious, Michael Cole and Byron Saxton did the commentary for this weekend’s WWE “Beast In The East” live WWE Network special from WWE Studios in Stamford, Connecticut for the show in Tokyo, Japan. The two were not live in Tokyo, but instead worked from the main WWE offices.
– While many were surprised to see Finn Balor come away with the NXT Championship after the “Beast In The East” special in Tokyo, it has actually been the plan for a while. With Kevin Owens moving up to the main roster full-time, it was always the plan for Owens to drop the title to Balor on the way out.
– WWE will air a new episode of “Culture Shock with Corey Graves” on the WWE Network this Wednesday at 4pm EST. The official description for the show reads as follows:
“Corey Graves dives into a world where Hardcore Bowling and Punk Rock music collide on this thrilling edition of Culture Shock!”
NXT Champion Kevin Owens was Michael Cole’s guest on this week’s WWE.com sit-down interview.
– Cole asked Owens why he attacked Machine Gun Kelly on RAW. Owens says it is what it is – he got carried away. He sent out an apology on Twitter and that’s that. Owens says MGK wanted to be a hero and questioned who that reminds us of (John Cena). Owens says MGK doesn’t belong on RAW but he does and he’s felt that way since he was born.
– Cole brought up Cena congratulating Owens after their match at Money in the Bank. Owens said he knows the match was great, he’s been having great matches for 15 years. Owens said Cena just showed him respect to hot the spotlight for himself.
– Cole asks where the chip on Owens’ shoulder comes from. Owens said he doesn’t have a chip on his shoulder and takes offense to all the attention he’s getting now on WWE TV, since he’s been defending the NXT Title with pride for months now. Owens says when he signed his contract, it didn’t say he was signing to NXT, it said he was signing to WWE. Owens considers himself a part of WWE and has been working his ass off to bring prestige to the NXT Title. He’s doing what he feels he needs to do to provide for his family and to make his career better.
– Owens is asked what he wants now. He says when the feud with Cena first started it wasn’t about the United States Title. Owens says after Cena disrespected him on Sunday, now he wants to take the United States Title.
– Actor Stephen Amell of “Arrow” fame has expressed interest in guest hosting and possibly even wrestling in the past. The actor shot a brief angle with Stardust while attending RAW this past Monday night and now we can confirm that WWE is looking at doing a program of sorts between Amell and Stardust.
– WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins is celebrating his 29th birthday today. Rollins was born on May 28, 1986. Also celebrating birthdays today are WWE legend Kamala (65), former WWE Tag-Team Champion Chaz “Headbanger Mosh” Warrington (44) and Randy Orton’s uncle, former WWE Superstar Barry Orton (57).
– WWE taped the following matches this past Tuesday night for tonight’s edition of SmackDown.
Lumberjack Match: Sin Cara and Kalisto vs. Cesaro and Tyson Kidd
R-Truth vs. King Barrett
Rusev vs. Ryback
Paige vs. Naomi
Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose vs. Kane and Seth Rollins
Michael Cole interviews Kevin Owens
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins was Michael Cole’s guest for this week’s WWE.com sit-down interview.
– Rollins say it’s no secret that the odds are stacked against at Payback, but he’s used to that by now. Rollins ran down his WWE career achievements and said he almost forced Ambrose and Orton into retirement already. He called his WWE Championship win was the greatest moment in WrestleMania history and he likes when the odds are stacked against him.
– Cole asked Rollins about his ongoing issues with Kane. Rollins doesn’t have a personal issue with Kane. His actions may be misguided, but that’s driven by jealousy. Rollins says he can do things in the ring that Kane only dreams of. He’s the hottest thing in WWE and Kane is in the home stretch of his career.
– Cole asks if there will be chaos in the Fatal 4 Way contract signing on SmackDown. Rollins says this is a completely different setting from what happened don RAW and he doesn’t conduct himself in a volatile nature in that type of setting. Rollins says it doesn’t matter what happens on Thursday or leading up to Payback because he will leave with the WWE World Heavyweight Title and The Authority will come out on top.
This week’s WWE.com sitdown interview features Sheamus talking to Michael Cole about his new attitude, his “Kiss My Arse” match against Dolph Ziggler this Sunday at Extreme Rules and more. Here’s a recap:
– Sheamus says he’s having the time of his life with his new look and attitude. The past few weeks have been a breath of fresh air for him and he feels reborn. He’s not worried about fan feedback on his new look and says the only voice that matters is his.
– Cole asks why Sheamus has an issue with underdogs like Neville, Dolph Ziggler and Daniel Bryan. Sheamus says underdogs make a romantic story, but it’s fantasy. All he sees are pretenders who look just like the fans in the audience. All of these “so-called Superstars” seem to be multiplying, but he’s a true Superstar of WWE. He’s going to restore order in WWE and show the fans what a real WWE Superstar is.
– Sheamus took a look at himself when he was out of action with an injury and didn’t like he saw. He realized to be liked is to be yourself and that’s what he’s doing.
– Sheamus previewed his Kiss My Arse match against Dolph Ziggler this Sunday at Extreme Rules. Beating a man is one thing, but taking his soul is another. Sheamus says he’s going to embarrass Ziggler in Chicago – and will send a message to the entire WWE Universe that they can all kiss his arse.
Roman Reigns was Michael Cole’s guest on this week’s WWE.com sitdown interview. Reigns spoke about how his match at WrestleMania against Brock Lesnar changed him, Big Show’s recent attacks on him and more. Here’s a recap:
– Michael Cole returned to the announce table at this week’s edition of WWE RAW, which was taped on Monday afternoon at the O2 Arena in London, England. For complete RAW spoilers, click here.
– WWE has released the official promotional poster for this year’s WWE Payback pay-per-view, which takes place on Sunday, May 17th. Check it out below.
– NFL star Rob Gronkowski cut a promo with NXT star Mojo Rawley. You can check that out below.
It was announced on the RAW Kickoff pre-show that Michael Cole will not be calling tonight’s show as a result of Brock Lesnar’s beatdown last week.
This is change of plans from what was reported by WWE on Smackdown.
WWE.com reported over the weekend that Cole is considering taking legal action against the former WWE World Heavyweight champion, who was suspended for his actions indefinitely by Stephanie McMahon. It was David Otunga who made the announcement on the Kickoff show and he encouraged Cole to pursue litigation.
There was a lot of criticism of WWE at Monday’s post-WrestleMania 31 edition of RAW regarding the storyline injury to Michael Cole following the Brock Lesnar attack angle.
While the WWE writer who initially wrote the angle may not have been aware of Aguayo Jr.’s cause of death, considering how many channels a WWE script goes through, the belief is that at least someone who read the script knew about Perro.
WWE has an article on their official website updating fans on the physical condition of the WWE RAW announce team.
The article states that Michael Cole, JBL and Booker T will all be back at next Monday’s RAW following their “injuries” sustained in the attack by Brock Lesnar at this past Monday’s post-WrestleMania 31 edition of the show.
According to the story, Cole was diagnosed with a bulging disc and is battling severe neck, back and shoulder pain. JBL was diagnosed with an abdominal wall tear, and Booker T suffered contusions and soreness.
– Following last night’s angle with Brock Lesnar attacking Michael Cole, WWE is reporting that Cole suffered a “possible cervical fracture,” which many consider to be in poor taste after the recent tragedy of Perro Aguayo Jr.. The early belief is that he will at least miss this week’s SmackDown to help sell the storyline injury.
– WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin reviews WrestleMania 31 with wrestling journalist Wade Keller on the latest edition of his “Steve Austin Show” podcast, which is available for download right now at PodcastOne.com.
– WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins wasn’t the only one to travel from California to New York and back after WrestleMania 31, NXT Diva Zahra Schreiber also had a busy 48 hours. She posted the following on Twitter on Tuesday.
– For those who missed it, Stephanie McMahon announced that Brock Lesnar is “suspended and fined” after attacking the RAW announcers and a WWE camera man at Monday’s post-WrestleMania 31 edition of RAW.
– Speaking of Lesnar’s attack, it was announced later on during the show, and again on WWE’s official Twitter account, that while JBL and Booker T were stretchered to the back, Michael Cole was hurt and was rushed to a hospital. The company tweeted the following during the show.
– Tonight after RAW, the WWE Network will air Michael Cole’s interview with Triple H and Arnold Schwarzenegger from the Arnold Classic convention a few weeks ago.
– The 2015 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony will air on the WWE Network this Saturday night from 8-11pm eST. There will will be a 1-hour Red Carpet pre-show that kicks off at 7pm EST.
– Darren Young and Titus O’Neil worked out with NFL star (and former WWE prospect) Shawne Merriman in Los Angeles this morning.
– CM Punk noted on Twitter that he found a few urns in his garage, likely from his WrestleMania 29 feud with The Undertaker.
Found some urns in my garage. Y'all want this shit?
WWE lead announcer Michael Cole spoke to Sports Illustrated this week to hype Sunday’s WrestleMania 31 pay-per-view.
Cole spoke about a number of topics, including if he knows match results in advance, who is “in his ear” while he’s doing commentary, what he thinks about RAW being 3 hours and more. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
If He Knows Match Results In Advance:
“If I wanted to know, I could know everything. But I don’t want to know and especially at WrestleMania. A perfect example was last year with the Undertaker and Brock Lesnar. When Undertaker’s streak was ended by Brock, oh, my God, I was as shocked as the people sitting at the stadium that night inside the [New Orleans] Superdome. I had know no idea in a million years that was going to happen, and that was the reaction you got out of our call hopefully. I was expecting The Undertaker to kick out and I did one of my normal ‘One, two…’ and I was expecting to say kick out and all of a sudden it was three. I looked at John and he looked at me and I mouthed to him off-air, ‘Is it over?’ His eyes were big and wide and I said to myself: ‘Okay, the streak is over.’ I want those moments to happen.”
Who is in his ear during RAW:
“So this is the fun part of my job. People think I sit down in a chair and I look at the ring and say, ‘Okay there are two guys fighting and this is what they are doing’ and call the match. That is, and I swear to God, so far from the truth. I sit down and in my headset when I am calling Monday Night Raw for three hours, I have my executive producer, I hear my audio technician, I hear whoever is producing us backstage whether it is [WWE Chairman and CEO] Mr. [Vince] McMahon or Triple H or whoever it may be at the time. I also have two guys I have to listen to that I am working with so we can have a conversation on the air. So at any given time I have my voice, the two guys at ring side, audio, the executive producer and whoever is producing that night. So I sometimes have six voices in my head at once while we are on the air on live television. While that is going on, someone might say that the number one trend in the world on Twitter is this and we have to hit on it. Meanwhile, don’t forget to tell people why Paige is doing this to Nikki Bella. Then John may be telling me a joke and Booker T might be laughing and I have to keep all this going and keep the train on the tracks. I am a traffic cop.
How Hard It Is To Do 3 Hours Of RAW:
“When 11:15 p.m. ET rolls around, people have said to all of us, ‘You guys look like zombies.’ And it’s true. It is mentally exhausting. And it is physically exhausting, too. I sweat through my suit sometimes. When I am done, I get in my car to drive to the next town and I completely zone out for two or three hours. But it is also rewarding every week. I love it.”
Cole named Eddie Guerrero’s WWE Championship win over Brock Lesnar as the greatest match he’s ever called. He also said that calling Sting’s first WWE match is going to be an “absolute thrill” and declared that Paul Heyman is an “absolute genius.” Head over to SportsIllustrated.com to read the full interview.
“The Viper” Randy Orton is the guest on this week’s sit-down interview at WWE.com with Michael Cole, however this week, the full interview will air on Thursday’s edition of WWE SmackDown.
During the portion of the interview that was released online, Orton spoke about “messing with” The Authority and Seth Rollins on Monday’s RAW.
Orton said it has been difficult being around The Authority over the past few weeks, but that it felt good to get that weight off of his shoulders this past Monday night. He said he enjoyed every second of beating down Rollins at RAW.
Check out the Michael Cole sit-down interview with Randy Orton at the top of this page.
Triple H is once again the guest on this week’s sit-down interview with Michael Cole, which you can watch above.
Michael Cole asks whether or not Sting is starting to get under Triple H’s skin. HHH says Sting is good, just like he was in WCW. He mentioned his “firing” of Booker T on RAW and spoke about how no one in WCW could control Sting. He says there’s a reason Sting never came to WWE, and that’s control. He said sometimes you have to show that you still have control.
Cole asked HHH about the problems within The Authority, noting that he appears to be preoccupied as of late. HHH says that when you’re a parent, sometimes you have to let the kids battle things out among themselves. He said when RAW went off the air this week, everyone seemed to be getting along and he doesn’t have a problem letting them work out their issues by themselves.
When asked about WWE and NXT going to Ohio for the Arnold Classic this coming weekend, HHH spoke about his International Sports Hall Of Fame induction and said it’s an honor and having Arnold Schwarzenegger induct him is huge.
The latest weekly sit-down interview between Michael Cole and Triple H is now available.
On this week’s interview, the focus was this Sunday’s WWE Fastlane pay-per-view event. Cole asked HHH about some of the top matches. Regarding the Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns main event, “The Game” pointed out that the leader of the “Yes! Movement” might be the best wrestler in WWE right now, however he questioned if that will be enough to overcome Reigns’ brute strength and power.
Regarding Sting, HHH said he first wanted to apologize to Ric Flair for pushing him down on Monday’s RAW. He blamed it on passion and Sting and said what Sting is trying to do will only get done over Triple H’s “dead body.”
You can check out the complete Cole and HHH interview above.
In the latest weekly sit-down video interview with Michael Cole, Triple H hypes tonight’s NXT TakeOver: Rival special on the WWE Network.
HHH told Cole that it’s a great time to be a WWE fan and a WWE Network subscriber, because NXT TakeOver: Rival is free for fans who signed up in February.
He spoke about some of the matches scheduled for tonight, putting over the Hideo Itami vs. Adrian Neville number one contender’s match and calling the Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens NXT Championship match a “very personal and emotional battle.”
You can check out the complete Triple H interview above.
Triple H is the guest on the latest edition of Michael Cole’s weekly sit-down interview for WWE.com.
In this week’s interview, Triple H talks to Michael Cole about the following topics:
– Weather issues resulting in the cancellation of Monday’s post-Royal Rumble edition of WWE RAW, resulting in WWE airing SmackDown live in Hartford, Connecticut on Thursday night.
– The WWE Network reaching one million subscribers, becoming the fastest growing digital streaming subscription service of all-time.
– WWE offering another free month of the WWE Network in February.
– Triple H appearing as the second guest on the “Stone Cold Podcast” live on the WWE Network next Monday night immediately following WWE RAW.
– The next NXT Takeover live special on the WWE Network on Wednesday, February 11th.
– The controversy stemming from last Sunday’s WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view and his big announcement coming up on next Monday’s edition of WWE RAW.
– His challenge to meet Sting face-to-face at the first ever WWE Fast Lane pay-per-view on Sunday, February 22nd.
Check out the complete Triple H and Michael Cole sit-down video interview at the top of this page.
Triple H is once again the guest on the latest Michael Cole weekly sit-down interview.
In this week’s video interview, which you can view in full above, Triple H talks to Cole about Sting’s appearance on Monday’s RAW Reunion show.
“The Game” got worked up talking about Sting, questioning why he insists on sticking his nose in his business and speculating that he’s either going straight at the top guy, or that he’s simply a crazy man who paints his face.
HHH told Cole that he’s the reason Sting has never been in WWE, and soon he will find out why.
As noted recently, WWE switched up their television announce teams, with RAW now featuring Michael Cole, JBL and Booker T, and SmackDown with Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Byron Saxton. For those curious, the announce team for WWE pay-per-views, for the time being, will still feature Cole, JBL and Lawler.
The feeling within WWE is that the move of Lawler to SmackDown is the beginning of WWE phasing him out of the picture, as the company is age-conscious when it comes to their on-camera broadcasters, particularly for their key programs.
The idea of phasing Lawler out has been floating around for a while, however when he suffered a heart attack, it was pretty much a lock that they couldn’t make the move just yet.
When WWE moved SmackDown from Friday’s to Thursday’s, which begins this week on the SyFy Network in North America, it seemed like the perfect excuse to finally pull the trigger and make the transition of having Lawler move from RAW to SmackDown.
The latest edition of Michael Cole’s weekly WWE.com sit-down video interview, which features Triple H this week, is now online.
In this week’s interview, “The Game” talks to the WWE announcer about WWE SmackDown moving to Thursday night’s beginning this week on the SyFy Network, as well as the Daniel Bryan vs. Kane match scheduled for the show.
HHH also discusses Monday’s RAW, noting that Seth Rollins proved he belongs in the ring with the likes of John Cena and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar, as his Curb Stomp of both men showed why he is referred to as the “undisputed future of the WWE.”
While HHH gave credit to Cena and Lesnar as two of WWE’s key players in the present day, he claimed that Rollins is “something different altogether.”
Triple H concluded the interview by reminding fans that Rollins is still in possession of the “Money in the Bank” briefcase, which ensures him a WWE World Heavyweight Championship opportunity at any time of his choosing.
“If you don’t skin a cat one way, you’ve always got a briefcase in your hand that says you can skin them any time you want,” said Triple H.
You can check out the complete Michael Cole sit-down video interview with Triple H above.
