The hour-long WWE Night Of Champions “Kickoff Show” is officially underway. The panel consists of Renee Young, Alex Riley, Booker T and Big Show. The four are running down all of the matches on tonight’s card, giving their thoughts and insight on each bout.
Peep Show Christian with special guest, Chris Jericho
The “expert panel” just passed the ball to the PPV announce team, which as always, consists of Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and JBL. With that said, Christian’s theme song hits and he makes his way to the ring in a suit. It’s “Peep Show” time with Christian and special guest, Chris Jericho here on the WWE Night Of Champions “Kickoff Show.”
Christian does a little intro-style talking, addressing his “Peeps” in Nashville and then finally addressing his guest, “Y2J” Chris Jericho. With that said, Jericho’s music hits and he makes his way to the ring in his gear, with a t-shirt on.
The two trade some pleasantries and then get into a goofy, comedic-style argument about who used to be the leader of their tag-team back in the day. Funny stuff. From there, Christian introduces a video package showing Randy Orton attacking Jericho backstage at RAW a few weeks ago.
After the video package, Jericho goes to talk but is interrupted by Randy Orton. “The Viper” mocks both guys from backstage, airing live on the titan tron in the arena. Orton is actually in somewhat comedy-mode for this role, mocking Jericho’s catchphrases and goofing on him. Jericho fires back calling Orton a “total jackass.” He then reminds Orton who he’s dealing with and promises that after their match tonight, “The Viper” will never ….ever…be the same, ah-gain.
Michael Cole Wraps Up The “Kickoff Show”
That will end the “Peep Show” and the Night Of Champions “Kickoff Show,” as Michael Cole does a very quick wrap-up on commentary and then informs us that Night Of Champions is up next. From there, we shoot to one final video package and then head directly into the show. Here we go, FOLKS!
Roman Reigns addressed his fans from his hospital bed in a new online video. Reigns spoke about how he went from preparing to battle Seth Rollins at tonight’s WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view in Nashville, Tennessee, to dialing 9-1-1 for help and having emergency surgery to repair an incarcerated hernia.
Reigns said the following in the video, which you can view above.
“Yesterday I was here in Nashville promoting Night of Champions and my match against Seth Rollins. I was laying in bed and all of a sudden I felt a really sharp pain right below my belly button in my bladder region. Tried to gut it out but it just kept getting worse so I ended up calling 911. They sent an ambulance and once I got to the hospital, the doctor said I had a hernia and I needed to go into emergency surgery and here I am now.”
As things stand right now, Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins is 100 percent off of tonight’s Night Of Champions lineup. There is some talk within WWE, as we noted yesterday, of having Dean Ambrose make a surprise appearance at tonight’s pay-per-view to fill in for Reigns against Rollins, however that is purely speculation at this point.
Also as noted yesterday, Reigns will likely be out of action for up to six weeks. WWE is hoping to have him back in time for the Survivor Series pay-per-view, but even under the worst case scenario, he will be back in time for the Royal Rumble in January, meaning he will be able to work WrestleMania and that if WWE was planning on having Reigns be the guy to end Brock Lesnar’s dominant streak, they can continue on with that plan despite Reigns’ current situation.
Speaking of Reigns, he surfaced on Twitter today to thank fans for their support. He tweeted the following:
Thank you everyone for your kind words, support and prayers!! I'm hurting right now but it's great to know good people have my back!!
The following is the final official lineup heading into tonight’s WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view, which takes place from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship
– Brock Lesnar (c) vs. John Cena
WWE United States Championship
– Sheamus (c) vs. Cesaro
WWE Intercontinental Championship
– Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. The Miz
WWE Tag-Team Championship
– The Usos (c) vs. Goldust & Stardust
WWE Divas Championship
– Paige (c) vs. AJ Lee vs. Nikki Bella
– Mark Henry vs. Rusev
– Randy Orton vs. Chris Jericho
WWE Night Of Champions “Kickoff Show”
– “Peep Show” Segment with Christian and Chris Jericho
Make sure to visit SEScoops.com tonight for the best WWE Night Of Champions live play-by-play results coverage on the web!
– BroBible.com has published a feature looking at “14 Wrestlers From Your Childhood That You Probably Don’t Know Are Dead.”
– With Chris Jericho finishing up with WWE at Sunday’s Night of Champions pay-per-view, he teased on this week’s Talk Is Jericho podcast that he may be back “sooner than you think.”
– As noted earlier, Roman Reigns underwent emergency hernia surgery this weekend and will be unable to compete against Seth Rollins at Night of Champions. According to Bryan Alvarez, there were two scripts being worked on for Night of Champions and one of them included Roman Reigns not wrestling. This was prior to him being rushed to the hospital.
It’s unknown who Reigns’ replacement will be against Seth Rollins, but Dean Ambrose is scheduled to return to WWE TV this week so he could fill in.
As noted earlier today, Roman Reigns has been rushed to the hospital in Nashville, Tennessee today to undergo emergency surgery.
WWE.com has updated their official statement, confirming that Reigns is off Sunday’s Night Of Champions pay-per-view, where he was scheduled to compete against Seth Rollins.
WWE wrote the following:
“WWE.com has learned that Roman Reigns has undergone emergency surgery for an incarcerated hernia. Reigns had been in Nashville to promote tomorrow’s Night of Champions pay-per-view. His recovery time will be evaluated by the local surgeon and WWE physician Dr. Chris Amann, but he will be unable to compete against Seth Rollins tomorrow night. Check back with WWE.com for further updates on Reigns’ condition.”
WWE.com broke the news today that Roman Reigns was rushed to a local hospital in Nashville, Tennesee to undergo emergency surgery.
The official WWE website wrote the following:
“WWE.com has learned Roman Reigns has been rushed to a Nashville, Tenn., hospital to undergo emergency surgery for an incarcerated hernia. Reigns had been in Nashville to promote tomorrow’s Night of Champions event. His recovery time will be evaluated by the local surgeon and WWE physician Dr. Chris Amann following today’s operation. Check back with WWE.com for updates on Reigns’ condition.”
Comment below to discuss this developing story. Could there be any upside to Reigns taking time off?
The following are highlights of a new TSN BarDown interview with WWE Hall Of Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart:
DB: Is there a reason that wrestlers come out for their match with their hair soaking wet?
BH: The truth is for me I always wet my hair because it was a way of waking up. You get tired, flying in and driving up and then it’s like your finally ready to go out and you gotta deliver in your big match. So, I always used to take a big cold glass of water and pour it over my head and kind of wake myself up before I went out. And then everyone after that is just trying to look like Bret Hart (laughs).
DB: Favourite heel of all time? Favourite bad guy?
BH: Favourite heel? Ya, I got lots of them that’s a good one. Steve Austin was my favourite. When he was jumping me at every turn back in the 90s, back before he became a good guy. Before our match at Wrestlemania 13, the months leading up to that he was just the baddest bad guy. He was a really good character.
DB: Favourite good guy wrestler? Or favourite babyface in wrestling terms?
BH: John Cena strikes me as one, Sting is maybe another one. They were two guys that always seemed to be faces.
DB: Speaking of John Cena, do you think he’ll rebound this Sunday at Night Of Champions and beat Brock Lesner?
BH: I think Cena is going to win. And I think Cena is going to win big!
– For you trivia buffs out there, Sunday will mark the third straight year that Paul Heyman has managed a champion going into the Night Of Champions pay-per-view. This weekend, Heyman manages WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar. In 2013 he managed Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel and in 2012 he managed WWE Champion CM Punk.
– Below is the latest edition of The JBL (Not Cole) Show:
As noted earlier this week, NXT star Sami Zayn has been the wrestler under the Bunny mask in Adam Rose’s “Rosebuds” group on television recently. Apparently, Justin Gabriel has portrayed the Bunny a few times in the past few weeks as well.
Speaking of the Bunny, there is currently talk within WWE of having him wrestle a match on the WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view “Kickoff Show” this Sunday night.
– Secondary market ticket prices for Sunday’s WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view are said to be the lowest priced thus far for an event headlined by Brock Lesnar. The reason is likely due to the fact that the event isn’t sold out, while other events that featured Lesnar in the main event spot sold out well in advance.
– The next live, two-hour NXT special is expected to take place in December. WWE will be doing another live Thursday special with tapings on Friday. There are two different weeks in the month of December that are currently under consideration.
As noted, several of the top NXT talents, such as Adrian Neville, Sami Zayn, Tyler Breeze and The Ascension are all scheduled to go on the road with the main roster for live events and television to help cross-promote the NXT brand.
The reason none of the guys worked the television tapings this week was said to be because this week was the “go-home” week for Sunday’s WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view.
As noted, Ric Flair was scheduled to return to WWE television this past week, as he was originally supposed to appear at the NXT Takeover 2 special, as well as this Sunday’s WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view, however surgeries kept him from doing so.
While details have been kept under wraps, it has been revealed that he underwent at least two surgeries. He had appendicitis, leading to surgery for both that and a hernia, according to friends close to him.
Flair was also scheduled for the SmackDown television taping last night, however WWE wrote on their website that due to his surgeries, he would be missing his advertised appearance.
The current belief within WWE is that he is scheduled to return to television imminently.
The latest Michael Cole weekly sit-down interview has been added to the official YouTube channel of WWE.
This week, Cole sits down with the WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar to discuss his upcoming rematch with John Cena at Sunday’s WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view.
Check out the video above to hear Lesnar explain why he is the face of WWE and why Cena stands no chance at winning his title back this Sunday night.
Make sure to visit SEScoops.com this Sunday night for the best WWE Night Of Champions play-by-play results coverage on the web!
– When the Fozzy touring schedule was released earlier this summer, it noted that Chris Jericho’s final WWE appearance on his current run would be the September 23rd RAW in Memphis. As things stand now, Jericho is expected to finish up at the Night Of Champions pay-per-view this Sunday. While it’s possible Jericho may work RAW the following night, he is not advertised for the show.
– Speaking of advertising, WWE is advertising a match in addition to the “Peep Show” segment with Christian and Chris Jericho at Sunday’s Night Of Champions “Kickoff Show.” The match has yet to be announced.
– For whatever this is worth, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar is not being advertised for next Monday’s post-Night Of Champions edition of WWE RAW in Memphis, Tennessee.
– The WWE Network will be adding Saturday Morning Slam archived episodes at some point after October and archives of Rock ‘N’ Wrestling before the end of the year. There are 36 episodes of Saturday Morning Slam and approximately 25 episodes of Rock ‘N’ Wrestling.
The reason that WWE ran with the Mark Henry and Rusev segment in the main event slot of Monday’s RAW, despite being the “go-home” show for Sunday’s Night Of Champions pay-per-view, was to save the John Cena, Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman segment for earlier in the show.
Apparently it was Vince McMahon’s call to do so, as the feeling was WWE needed to put their best foot forward to counter NFL’s Monday Night Football game. This was also the reason that Cena and the RAW announcers kept referring to the fight taking place at “halftime.”
WWE revealed via social media that Chris Jericho had to get five stitches to close a cut under his chin after being busted open during his match with Kane on Monday’s WWE Night Of Champions “go-home” edition of RAW.
– It was announced on the WWE Night Of Champions “go-home” edition of RAW on Monday night that at the “Kickoff Show” for this Sunday’s pay-per-view, Christian will conduct a “Peep Show” talk show segment with special guest Chris Jericho.
– Also announced on RAW was a big six-man tag-team match for this week’s SmackDown, which will see Big Show and The Usos vs. Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan.
– During Monday’s WWE Night Of Champions “go-home” edition of RAW, the commentary team of Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and JBL promoted the “Steve Austin Show” podcast, noting that Kevin Nash will be on his show this week. They actually messed up the plug, however, as they sent fans to “Podcast.com,” when it’s actually PodcastOne.com.
– The Friday, September 12th edition of WWE SmackDown scored a final cable rating of 1.95, according to Nielsen Media Research. That marks a decrease compared to the previous week’s show, which delivered a final rating of 2.02. The show averaged 2.821 million viewers last Friday, also down from the average of 2.758 million that tuned in the week before.
As previously reported, WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair has been hospitalized in Georgia for several days due to a series of health issues which resulted in some minor surgeries.
Flair is currently still hospitalized and despite being advertised for this week’s SmackDown taping, he is no longer scheduled to appear. He was also scheduled to appear at Sunday’s Night Of Champions pay-per-view, however that seems to be off as well.
WWE announced a Divas tag-team match for Monday’s RAW, which is the “go-home” show for next Sunday’s Night Of Champions pay-per-view.
Brie Bella and AJ Lee will team up to take on the duo of Paige and Nikki Bella at the show, which emanates from the Cajundone in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Also scheduled for Monday’s RAW, as noted earlier today, is the return of several top NXT talents. Currently booked for RAW (and SmackDown) next week are Adrian Neville, Sami Zayn and Tyler Breeze.
Finally, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar is also scheduled to return at next week’s RAW. As seen on this past Monday night’s show in Baltimore, John Cena promised that he’s either kicking Lesnar’s ass, or Paul Heyman’s, if Lesnar doesn’t show up.