It sounds like Neville may be returning to the ring a little sooner than originally expected. PWInsider.com reports that the injured WWE star is expected back in the ring within the next month. He was previously scheduled to return at the September 9th WWE live event in the Philippines.
WWE officials are hopeful that he can come back before the end of the month, but he’ll reportedly be in action no later than mid-July.
Neville has been on the sidelines since breaking his ankle on the March 14th episode of RAW. The accident occurred while coming off the ropes in a match against Chris Jericho, and forced him to pull out of his scheduled WrestleMania debut in the Intercontinental Title ladder match.
– It looks like Neville will be returning to the ring soon. He’s being advertised for the September 9th WWE live event in Manila, Philippines from the Mall of Asia Arena. Tickets go on sale Friday, June 3rd.
– Dixie Carter “liked” Ryback’s controversial tweet about appearing in the Impact Zone during Extreme Rules. For those that missed it, he wrote: “#FeedMeMore during #ExtremeRules if you want to see Ryborg in the Impact zone…”
While the announced figure of 101,763 for Wrestlemania 32 was always believed to be an inflated number, Bryan Alvarez of F4WOnline.com commented on Wrestlemania’s actual attendance number based on information he got from Dave Meltzer:
Dave got the actual number from the building, legit did just under 94,000 and $17 million gate. Legit broke fake record! #WrestleMania
Neville will not need surgery to repair a fractured ankle, according WWE’s Dr. Chris Amann.
Amann spoke with WWE.com on Tuesday and revealed that x-rays and a CAT scan showed that Neville will be able rehabilitate the injury with a cast and crutches. Dr. Amman explained,
“Neville had some repeat testing done in Orlando today which included X-Rays and a cat scan of his ankle. Upon further review, it has been determined that surgical repair of the ankle would not be necessary. Instead, he will be treated non-operatively with a cast and crutches. The estimated return for this type of fracture is usually 2 to 3 months.”
That means he’ll be back before SummerSlam, around the time of John Cena, Randy Orton, Seth Rollins and Cesaro.
– It looks like WWE has finally put an end to Roman Reigns’ crowd entrance. After entering from the stage (like the rest of the roster) on Monday’s RAW, Reigns came out the same way at Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings from Cincinnati.
– At Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings, The Social Outcasts announced themselves as the first participants in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 32.
– Neville is thanking fans for their support after he was injured during his match against Chris Jericho on Monday’s RAW. WWE released footage of Neville being checked out by medical personnel backstage after the match and it was confirmed that his ankle is fractured. He tweeted on Tuesday night:
Overwhelmed by the love and support. Thank you all.
Neville suffered a broken left ankle last night on RAW during his match against Chris Jericho. As Neville was attempting a baseball slide through Chris Jericho’s legs, his ankle buckled on the canvas. He worked on the injury for a few minutes before Jericho called an audible and shoved referee Charles Robinson to get disqualified. Jericho could be heard yelling, “He’s hurt.” Neville was helped to the back by WWE officials.
WWE released this video of Neville being checked out backstage by medical personnel. Neville is visibly shaken up when he is told the ankle is broken. No word yet on how long he will be out of action
Neville appeared to suffer an ankle injury during his match against Chris Jericho on Monday’s RAW. Mid-way through their match, Neville came off the ropes and attempted to slide between Chris Jericho’s knees. Neville’s ankle buckled on the canvas and Chris Jericho was heard telling the referee, “He’s hurt.” They went to an abrupt finish, with Jericho shoving the referee to get disqualified.
Here is a slow-motion clip from the match which shows the moment of injury. Hopefully it’s nothing serious. There’s no good time to get injured, but 3 weeks before WrestleMania is very unfortunate timing for the Man that Gravity Forgot.
– Kane and Neville teamed together at Sunday’s WWE live event from Bakersfield, CA. The team defeated the Wyatt Family’s Harper and Rowan after a Red Arrow and Chokeslam. After the match, the shared a hug in the ring.
With SmackDown moving to the USA Network last week, WWE appears to be attempting to give fans more of a reason to tune in each Thursday evening.
On Monday’s RAW, WWE announced three matches as opposed to the usual one match or Superstar that they would air as a weekly commercial in the third hour of RAW for SmackDown, all of which either have a stipulation, a title on the line or a WWE title-holder involved.
The following matches were announced on Monday’s RAW for this week’s edition of SmackDown on the USA Network, which will be taped on Tuesday evening in Lafayette, Louisiana:
* The Dudley Boyz vs. The Wyatt Family (Tables Match)
* Dean Ambrose & Neville vs. Kevin Owens & Sheamus
* Kalisto (c) vs. Alberto Del Rio (WWE United States Title)
Make sure to visit SEScoops.com on Tuesday evening for a complete report from the WWE SmackDown television tapings in Lafayette, Louisiana.
– WWE posted the above video, which premiered on Monday’s TLC “go-home” edition of RAW, for this year’s special Slammy Awards edition of RAW. The 2015 Slammy Awards take place in two weeks at the RAW show on December 21st in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
– NXT will return to Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida on Thursday, January 7, 2016 for the first set of NXT television tapings of the new year. Tickets for the show quickly sold out shortly after going on sale on Monday morning.
– As seen below via WWE’s official Twitter page, Donny Deutsch made a cameo during Monday’s RAW in a backstage segment with The Miz and Neville to promote his new USA Network show “Donny!” The show airs Tuesday nights at 10:30pm EST.
– It looks as though former Neville may be undergoing some character changes in the near future. Featured above is a video clip from this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown that shows The Miz approaching the former NXT Champion backstage and offering to help by taking Neville under his wing.
– In addition to WWE Tough Enough winner Josh Bredl revealing his new WWE ring name, Bronson Mathews, during a promo segment at the NXT live event in Orlando, Florida on Thursday evening, another former Tough Enough contestant made her in-ring debut.
Daria Berenato, who was signed to a developmental deal with WWE after Tough Enough ended, worked a match at the NXT live event. Berenato is currently working under her real name, but is also using the “Jersey Devil” nickname. She was squashed by Nia Jax in her in-ring debut at Thursday’s live event.
– WWE Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens missed WWE television this week due to being ill. Owens was in Pittsburgh on Monday night, but had a bad flu bug and was sent home as a result. The expectation is that Owens will be okay by the weekend.
– Neville has been added to at least some of the upcoming NXT shows on their upcoming tour. The tour runs from December 10th until December 16th and thus far, Neville is advertised for the first two shows, which includes the opening night in Newcastle, where he is from.
Sami Zayn is advertised for the entire tour. He has been back training as of late and his return was being pushed on NXT TV this week. At this point, it is unclear if Zayn will just be appearing or wrestling on the NXT tour.
Neville recently spoke with TalkSport.com and said that he’s got his sights on Kevin Owens’ Intercontinental championship. The two competitors have squared off many times since their first encounter a decade ago and Neville wants a shot at taking Owens’ IC title at WrestleMania.
“I’ve got a lot of goals in this business – the current goal is the Intercontinental Championship. I can’t say who’ll be champion by the time Wrestlemania rolls around. If it is Kevin Owens, I’d the love the opportunity to do that.”
I’ve got a lot of history with Kevin. We came up together through the business.I first competed against Kevin when I was 19 years old, in Orpington in Kent. So to do it at Wrestlemania for the Intercontinental championship would really be full circle and it would be the biggest match I could imagine.”
You can head over to TalkSport.com to check out the full interview.
The crew at WrestlingDVDNetwork.com continued their week of match reveals for the upcoming NXT’s Greatest Matches Vol. 1 DVD and Blu-Ray set today by announcing that these three will be included:
NXT Championship Finals: Seth Rollins vs. Jinder Mahal (NXT August 29, 2012)
Ladder Match for the NXT Championship: Bo Dallas vs. Adrian Neville (NXT ArRival February 27, 2014)
NXT Championship Match: Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens (NXT Takeover: Rival February 11, 2015)
Former NXT Champion Sami Zayn is being advertised for the NXT tour of the U.K. coming up in December, including all of the regular live events and the NXT TakeOver: London special on December 16th.
It’s possible that Zayn is just appearing at the shows in a non-physical capacity, as we haven’t heard that he is ready to make his in-ring return just yet.
Other talents advertised for the NXT tour that is scheduled to kick off on December 10th in Newcastle, England include NXT Champion Finn Balor, NXT Women’s Champion Bayley, NXT Tag-Team Champions Dash and Dawson, Neville, Baron Corbin, Apollo Crews, Samoa Joe, Dana Brooke and Emma.
Neville recently spoke with The Mirror while overseas on the current WWE U.K. tour. Below are some of the highlights.
On training with actor Stephen Amell for their tag-team match at WWE SummerSlam:
“It was very cool. That’s the thing with WWE, we have such a broad variety of acts and entertainments, so hopefully there is always something for everybody. That match was meant to be the spectacle, the celebrity attraction match, and I’m very proud of how it came off. I thought we pulled it off very well and Stephen Amell did phenomenally well. He’s a great athlete in his own right and it was such a cool experience in the Barclays Center in New York City, in the center of Brooklyn, to be able to do that with him.”
On WWE having several Europeans on the current roster:
“We are taking over. It’s pretty cool huh? I feel like recently WWE has been more dominated by Americans, but in the past five years or so the British and the Europeans are starting to come through again, which is a testament to the wrestling scene over here and the talent that we are producing. We did Glasgow and the reception received for myself and other British performers was exceptional. I’m so ready for Raw and Smackdown. We’re in Newcastle on Thursday again, I’m super excited for that, I’ll get to see my family, everyone is coming out, and I get to perform in the arena where I grew up watching wrestling. Whenever I talk about it I can’t stop grinning. It’s surreal and such a highlight of the year and of my life. Being able to do that in front of my mum and my dad and my family and the city, it’s the best man.”
On the Seth Rollins injury:
“Yeah, I mean it is the nature of this business and you know when you get into it that you have to accept this happens – because it does happen and often there is no way of avoiding it. And obviously the timing of it is terrible, but Seth is one of the most naturally talented, hardest working athletes I’ve ever met, so I know he’s going to bounce right back. It’s just going to be a case of taking a few months downtime and reassessing and rebuilding, but I’ve got no doubt he will be back better than ever soon enough. It’s just such a shame it happened now when he’s on such a run.”
During his recent appearance alongside Bo Dallas and Neville on WWE Network’s “Table For 3” original series, veteran wrestler and NXT star Samoa Joe spoke about working with a young John Cena in UPW and how Jim Ross told Joe he wasn’t what WWE was looking for back then.
“That’s where John started,” said Joe. “Actually, I worked with him a ton. He was dedicated back then, so anyways, John got the [WWE] deal. I met Jim Ross at the time and Jim Ross said, ‘you know, maybe you’re not really what we’re looking for right now’.”
Joe also spoke about working international territories and ultimately making it to WWE.
“Contrary to wisdom back when I first started out, way back when, I find myself here in WWE.”
Samoa Joe also spoke about the reason he was brought to NXT, and how he still has aspirations of joining the main WWE roster.
“I was kind of brought in to add to the momentum that NXT has going. I mean, obviously, I think we all want to go win the big one, but I also wouldn’t mind helping NXT be part of a bigger thing.” Joe added, “it’s a real unusual kind of time, to kind of be a part of this process and a very unique position for me, kind of, coming in, so, I don’t know, man. I’m kind of laying back and seeing what cards are dealt and playing the best hand.”
“Table For 3” featuring Samoa Joe, Neville and Bo Dallas is available on the WWE Network right now.
– 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.
WWE taped the following matches in Austin, Texas on Tuesday night for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event.
– The Dudley Boyz def. The Ascension in a tag-team dark match put on for the live crowd in Austin, Texas. The Dudleyz picked up the win via pinfall after a 3D.
– Sasha Banks def. Brie Bella in the first match taped for WWE Main Event this week. Banks picked up the win via her submission finisher.
– Erick Rowan and Braun Strowman def. The Prime Time Players in tag-team action for the second match of Main Event. Strowman won the match via bearhug submission over Titus O’Neil.
– Kevin Owens def. Neville in non-title action. The Intercontinental Champion beat Neville after throwing him face-first into the middle turnbuckle and then hitting him with his Pop-Up Powerbomb finisher for the 1-2-3. This was the final match taped for this week’s Main Event.
– Here’s the WWE Night Of Champions “Kickoff Show” pre-show featured Stardust & The Ascension vs. Neville & The Lucha Dragons in six man tag-team action:
https://youtu.be/guYuwZ3AaCY
– The following is a video preview of the new WWE Network show “Breaking Ground,” which premieres on the WWE Network on Monday, October 26th.
– Take this for what it’s worth, but WWE has been using the name “450 Splash” instead of the “Red Arrow” when describing Neville’s finishing move more often in recent weeks.
– “Mr. Money In The Bank” Sheamus is teasing that he will be cashing in his briefcase at tonight’s WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view. WWE is running a poll asking fans if Sheamus should cash in or wait, and 70 percent of the votes are for Sheamus cashing in tonight.
– WWE Superstar Damien Sandow appeared at the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards on Saturday night in Louisville, Kentucky, presenting the award for Humanitarian of the Year to Dr. Andrew Moore. You can check out a photo below.
Actor Stephen Amell and WWE Superstar Stardust teamed up today to deliver a check to the Emily’s House charity based out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Amell and WWE raised $297,557 for the special t-shirt that was made for the build-up to WWE SummerSlam, where Amell and Stardust competed in a tag-team match alongside Neville and King Barrett, respectively.
WWE and the “Arrow” star were able to raise the aforementioned amount of money in just five days.
The following are some photos and comments from both Stardust and Stepheen Amell.
