The following matches were taped prior to the WWE SmackDown taping in Dayton, Ohio on Tuesday, February 10th for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event.
Dark Match:
– Nikki Bella def. Emma in a Divas match. Brie Bella was at ringside for this one. The finish saw Nikki hit Emma with her Rack Attack finishing move for the 1-2-3.
WWE Main Event Spoilers
– The Ascension cut a promo to open the taping. They spoke about the “old relics” in the WWE Hall Of Fame, trashing the legends of the sport.
– The Ascension def. two local wrestlers in a quick tag-team squash match. The finish saw The Ascension hit their Fall Of Man finishing move for the pin.
– Naomi def. Natalya in Divas action. This was kept relatively short and for a Divas match, was said to be pretty solid. In the end, Naomi rolled Nattie up with a small package to get the 1-2-3.
– Cesaro def. Sin Cara in the main event of the taping. This was said to be a pretty long match that was competitive throughout. In the end, Cesaro picked up the “W” after hitting Sin Cara for The Neutralizer.
The following matches were taped for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas prior to Monday’s RAW Reunion show.
– Naomi def. Cameron in a Divas match between two former tag-team partners to kick off the evening. This was said to be pretty much exactly what you’d expect in terms of a match.
– Fandando def. Sin Cara in a fun little match to end the always brief Superstars taping. The crowd was said to be pretty behind Sin Cara, however in the end, Fandango picked up the “W” with his finisher.
– Pat Patterson is reportedly pushing for his former tag-team partner, “The Crippler” Ray Stevens to be inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame this year, particularly because of the fact that it is located in Northern California, where Stevens was a major star during the territory days.
– One of the reasons WWE Diva Naomi was taken off of the cast of Total Divas this season is because of the belief that the show can only have so many storylines centered around married couples having issues. The decision was made to take her off of the show in favor of two single women, Paige and Alicia Fox.
Last night’s Raw was the first of 2015 and the company started the year not with a bang but with a whimper. The show was held in Corpus Christi, TX, and it’s unclear whether the audience was drugged prior to filming, because it was probably the most silent crowd I’ve ever heard at a WWE event. Without further ado, here are the pros and cons from last night’s episode of Monday Night Raw.
Pros
The clear highlight of the night was the Ambulance Match between Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt. As always, the two worked pretty well together and delivered a few memorable spots. The ending felt just a bit sloppy, but the rest of the match more than made up for it. In all, it was good to see Wyatt come out on top, as he needed the win more than Ambrose. This program has been one of the only good things going over the past few weeks, so it’s kind of sad to see it come to an end.
Another clear highlight was the Intercontinental Championship match. It was a good way for the Authority to exact revenge against Ziggler, and the 2-out-of-3 falls swerve was decent. It’s also nice to see that the company still has confidence in Bad News Barrett, and this hopefully means that Ziggler will move into the main event picture permanently.
It was nice to see the program actually have an intro and pryo again. This is a minor complaint, but the intro-less format felt really cheap, with it simply going to a lifeless Michael Cole saying, “Welcome to Raw” while panning over the crowd. Unfortunately, the intro and pyro will probably be gone next week due to budget cuts.
Adding Seth Rollins to the main event at the Royal Rumble was brilliant. With Rollins essentially having two chances to win the title in a few weeks, it provides many booking possibilities. My interest level in the main event went from nonexistent to moderately intrigued in a matter of seconds.
Booker T on commentary was a nice change of pace. Hopefully King is well soon, but they really need to shake up the commentary team. I wouldn’t mind seeing Booker become a regular at the table again.
The Kane/Rollins vs. Ryback match was somewhat entertaining but nothing to write home about. The double Curb Stomp was at least a decent finish.
Finally, it was nice to see the company giving guys more time to cut backstage promos. Rusev, Reigns, Ambrose, Wyatt, and possibly a few superstars whom I’m forgetting all received promo time last night. Good to see the company letting the talent speak instead of filling that time with ads or plugs for the Network.
The following are highlights of a new Norfolk Navy Flagship interview with one-half of the WWE Tag-Team Champions and former Total Divas cast member Jimmy Uso:
JM: With the recent news that neither you nor Trinity will be involved in the next season of the Total Divas series, is there some relief knowing that you will not have cameras on you at all times?
Uso: The work is a lot less now. I almost get to have my privacy back. We come off of these tours and you want to get home and relax, but you’re still working because you’re front of these cameras. They’re in your home and you really just want to sleep all day. I’m OK with it, but my wife really isn’t. We didn’t agree with the terms, but things happen and they work out how they do. We’re enjoying the free time that we have now.
JM: Totals Divas has exposed you to a different demographic of viewers that may not have normally watched WWE programming. Have you noticed this while out in the public?
Uso: Definitely. I get recognized more from Total Divas than I do for WWE. With my wife, you get people that look at her and want a picture, but they’re not really sure if it’s her or not, but when we’re together, they automatically know. I get a lot of older women, actually, that come up to me. They’re like “Hey! You’re Jonathan from Total Divas!” out of nowhere. You’ll know that it’s a Total Divas fan because a WWE fan would have said “Uso!”. It was weird at first being called by my first name and my wife by her first name. It’s cool, and funny in a way.
JM: What are your thoughts on the current state of the WWE tag team division and where you see it in the future as newcomers advance from NXT?
Uso: I feel like my brother and I amped it up because we are a real tag team. There aren’t any real tag teams like back in the day with the Legion of Doom, Hart Foundation, Demolition. Today, we’re trying to get that tag team wrestling back to WWE. I think we’re doing a good job, but it could get better. There are teams coming up from NXT, like The Ascension, coming in with each other and hopefully they will stay with each other. Maybe we can get a nice little run out of these guys with The Usos, or maybe the Wyatts can get back together again, or The Shield. I feel like we had great matches with The Wyatts; great chemistry with those guys, but they broke them up. I hope when more tag teams come in the future that they stay together and we can have a real tag team division like back in the day.
WWE Diva AJ Lee is currently on the sidelines with an injury. She had previously been working hurt so that WWE could wrap up her feud with WWE Divas Champion Nikki Bella.
WWE originally intended to do a significant injury angle to write her off of television, but for whatever reason those plans were scrapped.
Lee being away is also said to be the main reason why Naomi and Natalya were moved into title contention. Original plans were going to be Naomi going for Bella’s title, however they may be leaning towards Natalya at this point.
As far as AJ Lee is concerned, the belief among those in the company is that she will be back at some point in 2015.
The following are highlights of a recent online Q&A update by WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross:
On Naomi’s WWE push getting cooled off: “You’re right in that I have no idea nor am I concerned about Naomi as she’s got too much talent for me to worry about her future. Let’s not over think it so, in other worlds, just wait and see what develops.”
On Michelle McCool revealing details about Undertaker’s life and if he will ever wrestle again: “Sorry but I have not kept up with it nor do I know Taker’s thoughts on the business. I also don’t know if he’s going to wrestle again. I’m happy that they keep their personal life private. No one deserves to know what they do in their private time or if Taker’s coming back to the ring.”
On if all of the independent wrestling promotions should work together: “It would be great for all if they would only trust each other and be willing to compromise. That, however, is iffy.”
On the reason Brakkus didn’t last long in WWE: “Jacked up body builder type with a marketable accent and look but no natural skills for the WWE level of pro wrestling IMO. He lacked the aptitude unfortunately.”
On if turning Roman Reigns heel would help him become a legitimate main eventer: “I’m giving Reigns the time that he has to get ready if the main event at WM31 is indeed in his future of which I don’t know. Nothing I’m worrying about in December for an April event.”
Check out more of JR’s online Q&A at his website, JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.
As noted recently, WWE Diva Naomi and her real-life husband, Jimmy Uso, are no longer scheduled to be a part of the Total Divas cast when the next season of the show airs on E!.
Apparently the decision was made because of the fact that the two recently got married.
It’s believed that there wasn’t much that could be done with them on the show after Naomi and Cameron broke up as a tag-team, and because most of the “married couple issues” in the storylines for the show would be used by other married couples that are part of the cast.
During the post-TLC edition of WWE RAW, a “MizTV” segment was announced for this week’s WWE Main Event.
A backstage segment took place on RAW where The Miz (and Damien Mizdow) approached Naomi. After talking about her career for a while, Miz finally invited her to a special “MizTV” segment on Main Event.
WWE Main Event takes place on Tuesday night on the WWE Network at 8pm EST. Make sure to check back here on the website for complete results of the show.
– Below is the official promo for the next season of WWE Total Divas, which returns in January of 2015. As noted, Naomi and Summer Rae will not be included in the next season of the show.
– WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin posted the following tweet after last night’s WWE TLC pay-per-view, praising the Dolph Ziggler vs. Luke Harper ladder match.
– There has been speculation this week that Naomi and Summer Rae are no longer cast members on Total Divas since promotional material hyping all-new episodes beginning Sunday, January 4 on E! does not feature either star. Naomi confirmed the speculation as correct this morning on Twitter.
For many fans who've been asking I am no longer apart of the #TotalDivas cast (not by choice) I still support my girls and I'm excited…
– In this video, Cesaro gives an entertaining review of the 2014 Slammy Awards.
– New content has been added to the WWE Network including the July 23, 1984 episode of Tuesday Night TItans, the May 5, 1986 episode of Prime Time Wrestling and multiple “Quick Hits” videos. The “Quick Hits” clips include funny ECW moments, the infamous debut of The Shockmaster, the first Dog Kennel from Hell Match and more.
– E! aired a new promo for the return of WWE’s “Total Divas” reality show in 2015. The commercials began running this weekend. What’s interesting to note is that in the commercial, WWE Divas and Total Divas cast members Summer Rae and Naomi were not included. Some are taking this as a sign that the two are being phased out of the show.
– WWE Superstar Rey Mysterio was in attendance at the NFL game between the New England Patriots and the San Diego Chargers on Sunday in his hometown of San Diego, California.
Survivor Series is mere hours away at this point. This baby is totally free, so anyone paying for this pay-per-view is doing it all wrong. In total, there are five matches on the main card, including a traditional Survivor Series tag team main event. Without further ado, here are my predictions for tonight’s Survivor Series pay-per-view.
Fandango (with Rosa Mendes) vs. TBA
Although Fandango’s opponent has yet to be announced, I’d put my money on Adam Rose serving as the punching bag. The match will likely be used to further tension between Adam Rose and the Bunny, while also allowing Fandango to pick up a victory in his return to action.
Winner: Fandango by pinfall
Alicia Fox, Emma, Naomi, and Natalya vs. Paige, Cameron, Layla, and Summer Rae (Divas Elimination Match)
This will be similar to last year’s Divas elimination match in that it will be total waste of ten minutes (and if we’re really lucky, we might get to see it again on Raw tomorrow!). This could go in many directions, but my guess is that Paige’s team wins after last eliminating Natalya.
Winners: Paige, Cameron, Layla, and Summer Rae by pinfall
– WWE Diva Naomi had her Twitter account hacked on Friday morning. Her account linked to an adult website with a caption that read: “I never feel more racist than when trying to find my waiter at a Mexican restaurant.”
– The former KENTA, Hideo Itami wrestled his first NXT live event match in Jacksonville, Florida on Thursday night. Itami defeated Tye Dillinger in singles action in a match that was said to be excellent.
The following matches were taped at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee prior to Monday’s post-Night Of Champions edition of RAW for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars.
WWE Superstars Spoilers (Air date: September 25, 2014)
– Naomi def. Alicia Fox in Divas action to open the show. Naomi picked up the win via submission when Fox tapped out after a few minutes in what was described as a decent little Divas match.
– Kofi Kingston def. Justin Gabriel in the main event of the show in what was said to be a pretty fun match with a lot of high-impact and fast-paced offense. In the end, Kingston nailed Gabriel with his “Trouble in Paradise” finisher for the 1-2-3.
The following matches were taped for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars prior to the “season premiere” of RAW on Monday night in Baltimore, Maryland.
– Naomi def. Summer Rae in Divas action to open the show. This was said to be your basic Divas match.
– Justin Gabriel def. Sin Cara in the main event of the show. This was said to be a pretty good match with a lot of high-flying spots.
– The official WWE website is currently running a poll asking fans who they feel will be the next WWE Divas Champion. The options are Alexa Bliss, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Tamina Snuka, Summer Rae, Rosa Mendes, Eva Marie, Naomi, Emma, Charlotte and Cameron. With over 10,000 votes cast, Naomi is leading the pack with over 30 percent of the vote. Trailing Naomi are Charlotte, Eva Marie, Summer Rae, Emma and Tamina Snuka, respectively. You can vote on the poll at WWE.com.
– As noted earlier today, The Rock’s ex-wife and manager, Dany Garcia, won at the IFBB Championships this past weekend. The Rock congratulated her on Twitter, tweeting the following on Sunday:
– There will be a RAW pre-show on the WWE Network this Monday night, however there will not be a RAW post-show. After Monday’s RAW concludes, the debut edition of WCW Nitro will air on the WWE Network.
– WWE Diva Naomi, who as noted will be undergoing a minor procedure on her orbital bone, is featured in the latest edition of WWE’s “30 Second Fury.” You can check that out below.
WWE Diva and Total Divas star Trinity Fatu, better known to WWE fans as Naomi, one-half of the former Diva tag-team “The Funkadactyls,” took to Twitter on Saturday to explain to her fans why we haven’t seen much of her on WWE television as of late.
Naomi revealed that she has to undergo a “minor procedure” to “correct a problem from the orbital fracture” that she suffered during a WWE television match where Aksana dropped a knee on her eye.
Naomi tweeted the following:
To my fans-I had to have a minor procedure done to correct a problem from the orbital fracture, I'll be back with a whole new feel #SLAYOMI
Tonight’s episode of Raw took place in Montreal, Canada and featured a total of eleven matches, including a first ever one-on-one meeting between the WWE World Heavyweight champion John Cena and Money in the Bank briefcase holder Seth Rollins.
Canadian icon and WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart graced the WWE Universe with his presence and cut a promo. Of course, he brought up the Montreal Screw Job, but it was a nice moment. Also, WWE continued to promote current on-going storylines leading up to Battleground.
Last week’s episode of Raw was one of the best and most exciting in recent history. Did this edition live up to last week’s high standards? Without further ado, here are highlights, lowlights and my random thoughts on the 7/7/2014 edition of Monday Night Raw:
BEST MATCH: The opening bout between the Usos and the Wyatt Family was the best match of the night. There were two other matches that could have stolen the show, but they failed to do so for a couple of reasons. First, Randy Orton and Dean Ambrose gave it their best effort, but it was clear to see that the two didn’t have very much chemistry, at least when it comes to singles action. Also, the Dean Ambrose botch wasn’t a crowd-pleasing moment.
Chris Jericho vs. the Miz could have been special, but the match didn’t last as long as I hoped. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins had the most promise, but they weren’t given enough time to do anything memorable and the obvious interference by Kane and Randy Orton ruined the match for me.
What was your favorite match of the night?
WORST MATCH: AJ Lee/Paige vs. Naomi/Cameron was the worst match of the night. Aside from the main event and the tag team match between the Usos and the Wyatt Family, there weren’t any real standout matches. However, this bout stood out for all the wrong reasons and it was a poor showing amongst the four Divas involved. Bo Dallas vs. El Torito was a close second for the worst match of the night award because at least the crowd was somewhat into it.
The worst segment of the night was the Nikki Bella/Alicia Fox disaster, but I don’t think there was an opening bell and nobody was declared the winner. Therefore, Idon’t consider this to be a match; otherwise, it would have won the award.
UPSET OF THE NIGHT: Kofi Kingston defeating Cesaro was the upset of the night. I know that Kofi defeated Cesaro last week on Raw, but I didn’t expect him to do it again and I don’t think the fans/crowd did either. I see Cesaro winning the Intercontinental Title at Battleground and Kingston falling into obscurity once again, but at least Kofi is living in the moment now.
To quote the great Mike Adamle, Kofi be Jamaican me crazy.
MOST SHOCKING MOMENT: I expected Randy Orton to defeat Dean Ambrose in their match tonight, but I was anticipating Seth Rollins to screw Ambrose over, resulting in Ambrose losing cleanly. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Ambrose has been really hot as of late and Rollins costing him the match would have protected Ambrose a bit more. Also, it would have spiced things up and furthered the Ambrose/Rollins feud.
The following are highlights of a new Wrestling 101 interview with Brodus Clay:
Working with Cameron and Naomi: “That was a lot of fun, it was definitely a challenge, I was scared to death initially of doing it because I had trained to be an aggressive monster heel but they threw a curve ball at me and I had to deliver. I went to see the Dusty Rhodes and we sat down and spoke about the character and we danced to Moves Like Jagger and we figured it out after that.”
WWE NXT: “Adrian Neville was an aggressive opponent and I really enjoyed getting to work with him. Adrian was a great competitor and I enjoyed throwing him around but he stood up to me and I enjoyed that. That new Performance Centre down there is amazing, the guys coming in there today, they have all of the tools to succeed, they have everything – perhaps even too much. I kind of like being in the down and dirty dungeon and scratching my way to the top but that is an awesome place.”
“Sami Zayn, he is just incredible, Cory Graves before his injury I thought he was amazing. The Divas division down there in NXT is probably the best in the world, there is a lot of talented people down there who will be worth looking out for but those are the two that really stood out from the crowd for me.”
Highlights from his time with WWE: “Easy, wrestling Edge was one of them, my matches with Heath Slater are some of my all time favourites, tagging with Santino Marella. I’m just really grateful I got to work with many great guys like Jack Swagger, Damien Sandow, Dolph Ziggler was one of my favourite guys to work with – Dolph suplexed me, but it was just a great bunch of guys to work with.”
His future in wrestling: “TNA and Japan are definitely things that are on my list, there are also many great indy organisations out there. Rumour has it Jeff Jarrett also has something going on with his new promotion Global Force Wrestling, so there are a few different options but I’m open to offers and my door is always open, I’m definitely not done and I’m going to keep on working hard. With regards to returning back to WWE, I don’t control those things but I’m going to treat it like I did last time I was released by WWE and keep on working hard and moving forward, I will put it behind me and move onto other things. You can never say never in wrestling, but at the moment my mind is set on doing my own thing.”
How Vince McMahon was as a boss: “He is the boss, he was a gentleman, he tells you exactly what he thinks, if he likes it, he tells you you’ve done a good job, if he doesn’t like something he lets you know about that as well. I got on really well with the agents there as well, Mike Rotunda, Dave Finlay, Arn Anderson, Dean Malenko, Jamie Noble, and Road Dogg, it was just really good getting to work with all of those guys as well, I always respected the chain of command.”
Check out the complete interview at Wrestling101.com.
The following is the final card for tonight’s WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-view:
Money In The Bank Ladder Match (WWE World Heavyweight Championship)
– John Cena vs. Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton vs. Cesaro vs. Kane vs. Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio
Money In The Bank Ladder Match (Briefcase For Title Shot Up To One Year)
– Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Jack Swagger vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Bad News Barrett*
WWE Tag-Team Championship
– The Usos (c) vs. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan
WWE Divas Championship
Paige (c) vs. Naomi
Divas Match (Special Guest Referee: Fandango)
– Summer Rae vs. Layla
Tag-Team Match
– Goldust & Stardust vs. Ryback & Curtis Axel
Singles Match
– Rusev vs. Big E.
* – Barrett suffered a separated shoulder during the SmackDown taping this past Tuesday, however WWE has yet to announce whether or not he has been pulled from his match.
Make sure to join us here later tonight for the absolute best live play-by-play results coverage of the fifth annual WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-view!