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.
– JoJo Offerman, who was one of the stars of season one of WWE Total Divas, was the ring announcer for NXT Takeover 2 on Thursday night. She also worked as the ring announcer for the NXT television tapings the following night and sang the national anthem before both of the events.
– As noted, Hideo Itami made his official WWE in-ring debut at the aforementioned NXT TV tapings on Friday. Itami’s first match will air on next Thursday’s edition of NXT TV on the WWE Network. Itami’s first match was against Justin Gabriel. He taped additional matches at the tapings and will be featured in each NXT TV show over the next four weeks.
“The Game” also promoted Floyd Mayweather’s pay-per-view boxing rematch against Marcos Maidana. HHH has appeared in the corner of Mayweather in the past for some of his big fights. He tweeted this one regarding the one-time WrestleMania co-headliner:
Several of the top talents in NXT are booked for next week’s WWE television tapings. NXT Champion Adrian Neville, Sami Zayn and Tyler Breeze are all scheduled to work both the RAW and SmackDown TV shows in Lafayette and Biloxi, respectively.
Triple H noted during the NXT Takeover 2 promotional conference call that WWE will be doing more cross-promotion with the NXT roster and the main WWE roster. With several NXT talents scheduled for next week’s TV, this seems to be the beginning of that cross-promotion.
– Stephanie McMahon is featured in the October edition of “Shape” magazine. In the magazine, Stephanie talks about how she stays in shape while not only juggling her WWE career, but while also being a mother to three children. The article promotes the upcoming release of she and Triple H’s upcoming WWE Fit DVD series.
– The Divas who were featured in the NXT Takeover 2 backstage segment with Tyler Breeze were Dasha Kuret, Dana Brooke and Leyvonna.
– While Baron Corbin has appeared on NXT in the past, WWE officials reportedly considered his match at the NXT Takeover 2 special on Thursday to be his “debut,” as they are planning on pushing him as a featured talent from now on.
– Speaking of NXT, Vince McMahon tweeted the following after NXT Takeover 2 earlier this week:
The following are highlights of the latest blog by WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross:
On NXT Takeover 2: “The match quality and the the flow of the NXT show was well produced and organized. The matches, by and large, were allowed time to tell the best story that they could. The matches that were being counted on to deliver certainly did. Especially impressed with the women’s match and how it was laid out and executed. Good stuff by all involved. Bailey is evolving very well and Charlotte is simply ‘special’ and so naturally athletic. Her nuances are far beyond someone with her experience level. My only hope is that Flair’s daughter doesn’t get any more tat’s. Small point but it was something that I noticed. She has the chance, tats or not, to be a true star on the main roster much sooner than later.”
On the main event at NXT Takeover 2: “Thought the main event, fatal four way, which can be a cluster, was well booked and executed. All the talents in this match plus the producers who put it together deserve a big time attaboy. Lots of effort and a nice story was told. Several unique agendas were touched on in this contest which is the mark of solid booking. Tyson Kidd once again demonstrated why he is one of the most under utilized talents in WWE IMO. Sami Zayn has been stellar since day one in NXT and has a bright future ahead of him. the Lance Storm trained Tyler Breeze has a great, TV persona and has every heel trait one could want in a talent. He gets it. Adrian Neville continues to remind me of a young, Tommy Billington which is a good thing as it relates to his in ring work and he, too, has a future on the WWE main roster at some point in time.”
On Bobby Heenan: “Thoughts go out to the great, Bobby Heenan who apparently has suffered a broken hip to add to his other physical challenges. I love ‘The Wease’ who was one of my all time favorite people with which to work in my 40 year career. No one in the business that I’ve seen or read about was better than Bobby when it came to wrestling, managing, and being a TV commentator. When he was on, no one could touch him and he took bigger and better bumps than any manager that I ever saw. Plus, his natural sense of timing in the ring and on the mic were unsurpassed.”
Check out the complete blog at JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.
The following are results of the NXT Takeover 2 special, which aired on the WWE Network on Thursday, September 11, 2014.
– The Lucha Dragons (Sin Cara & Kalisto) def. The Ascension to become the new NXT Tag-Team Champions in the opening match of the show. The finish came when Kalisto pinned Viktor.
– Baron Corbin def. C.J. Parker in a quick squash match that lasted all of 29 seconds.
– Enzo Amore def. Sylvester Lefort with a rolling reverse cradle, holding his trunks during the pin. Lefort tried to run away after the match, but Big Cass clotheslined him. Louis attacked Cass and Lefort ran off, leaving Louis alone. Cass hit a big kick on Louis. Cass said to Amore, “Enzo, get the bucket!” in Dudley Boyz fashion. He poured the bucket on Louis and Louis ran off.
– KENTA came out to the ring after being introduced by William Regal. KENTA announced that his new name is Hideo Itami. The Acension came out and threw him out of the ring and demanded a tag-title rematch. He came back in and cleaned house of both guys.
– Bull Dempsey def. Mojo Rawley in about a minute with a diving head-butt. After the match, he gave Rowley another diving head-butt for good measure.
– Backstage, Enzo Amore and Big Cass wanted to see somebody bald. They found Louis and Lefort ran away, leaving him alone yet again. Cass attacked him and carried him to the ring. Cass hit him with a reverse atomic drop and Amore took the towel off that was covering his head, revealing that he only had a little bit of hair left and no eyebrows.
– Charlotte def. Bayley to retain the NXT Women’s Championship. The finish saw Charlotte hit a moonsault, followed by a neck-snapper for the pin. After the match, Sasha Banks came out and taunted Bayley and then attacked her. Charlotte ended up making the save.
– It was announced that Hideo Itami (formerly known as KENTA) will be making his in-ring debut on NXT TV next week, which is actually being taped on Saturday night, September 12th.
– Adrian Neville def. Tyler Breeze, Sami Zayn & Tyson Kidd to retain the NXT Championship. The finish saw Neville hit his spectacular Red Arrow on Kidd for the pin after Zayn had hit the running kick into the corner and had the match won, but Neville pulled the referee out of the ring so he couldn’t make the three count. This was definitely a “match of the year” candidate.
During the NXT Takeover 2 live special on the WWE Network on Thursday night, KENTA made his official debut for WWE.
KENTA spoke about his goals and revealed during his promo segment that as a sign of tribute to his hero, who he didn’t name, he is changing his name to Hideo Itami.
After his name-change announcement, NXT Tag-Team Champions The Ascension came out and interupted him, likely starting some kind of program that will continue on NXT television.
Hideo Itami makes his NXT in-ring debut next week.
– With WWE announcing that their “Payback” pay-per-view will be taking place on May 17th in Baltimore, Maryland, that means they are looking to widen the gap between the “B” level show that comes after WrestleMania, as there will be seven weeks separating the two.
– Triple H noted during the conference call earlier today to promote this week’s NXT Takeover 2 special on the WWE Network that WWE is in discussions with some former NFL players to come into the company. He refused to reveal any of the names, noting that none of the deals are officially completed at this point.
Expectations are that WWE will be featuring KENTA in a prominent role upon his debut. As noted earlier today, KENTA will not be wrestling at the NXT Takeover 2 special on Thursday, although he will be appearing. The belief is that he will make his official in-ring debut for WWE at the NXT tapings on Friday.
There is talk that Ric Flair, who is also scheduled to appear at the Takeover 2 special, will be linked with KENTA in some form or fashion during the show.
WWE is reportedly hoping that KENTA will help with merchandise sales and WWE Network subscriptions in the Japanese market.
The latest edition of the Michael Cole weekly sit-down interview series has been added to the official WWE YouTube channel.
In this week’s video, which you can view above, Cole talks to Triple H about this week’s NXT Takeover: Fatal 4-Way special on the WWE Network and the arrival of international sensation KENTA.
– In addition to the press conference that is scheduled for today to promote this week’s NXT Takeover 2 special on the WWE Network, Triple H will also be hosting a live Twitter Q&A at 3pm EST. on Thursday. Fans can submit questions by using the hash-tag “#NXTTakeover.”
– The cast of Total Divas will be on Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast this coming Friday. The show will be available at PodcastOne.com.
– Diamond Dallas Page noted during a recent interview that Chris Jericho texted him after last night’s RAW, telling him that while he was fine after doing the dive off of the top of the steel cage during his match with Bray Wyatt, he thinks he suffered a broken toe while doing the Lionsault spot during the bout.
– As noted earlier today, while KENTA will be appearing at the NXT Takeover 2 special on the WWE Network this Thursday, he will not be wrestling an actual match. The belief right now is that they will shoot an angle during the special to set up his first official match, which is expected to take place at the NXT television taping the following night.
– WWE stock has been rising lately due to the belief that rolling out the WWE Network internationally will greatly increase the subscriber count.
– Triple H will be hosting a NXT Takeover 2 press conference on Wednesday to promote this Thursday’s live special on the WWE Network.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross is scheduled to appear at the Homeland Grocery store on Lindsey Street in Norman, Oklahoma on Saturday from noon until 2pm. There will be free food available and JR will be taking photos and signing autographs with fans who show up.
WWE officials have clarified KENTA’s status for this Thursday’s NXT Takeover 2 special. The company has made a point to note that while the live WWE Network special will be the official introduction of KENTA, he will not be wrestling an actual match on the show.
Speaking of Thursday’s NXT Takeover 2 special, the official WWE YouTube channel has added the following video preview for the show.
– WWE will be taping their “Tribute to the Troops” special for this year on December 10th.
– Independent wrestlers Rich Swann and Jeff Cobb were among those who took part in the latest WWE tryout camp at the Performance Center in Orlando this past weekend.
– WWE will premiere a preview special for NXT Takeover 2 on the WWE Network this Thursday at 4pm EST. There will also be a NXT Takeover 2 “Kickoff Show” prior to the special on September 11th.
– NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte defeated Bayley in what was said to be an excellent main event at the NXT live event in Citrus Springs, Florida on Sunday night. The reason the NXT Divas were in the headline match of the evening was because several of NXT’s top talents were on the road with the main WWE roster this weekend.
NXT Champion Adrian Neville defeated fellow NXT performer Tyler Breeze at the WWE live event in Dayton, Ohio. Sami Zayn defeated Tyson Kidd and The Ascension lost to Big E. and Kofi Kingston at the WWE live event in Hampton, Virginia.
– Speaking of NXT, several new promos for NXT Takeover 2 have been added to the official NXT Instagram account. The two newest additions feature Sami Zayn and Sasha Banks talking about the upcoming live WWE Network special. You can check those out at Instagram.com/wwenxt.
– The Tickld website has a new article up regarding Batista’s role as “Drax” in the wildly successful “Guardians of the Galaxy” film. You can check that out at Tickld.com.
– The following matches are confirmed for this Thursday’s edition of NXT TV on the WWE Network, which is the “go-home” show for the September 11th NXT Takeover 2 special.
*The Vaudevillains vs. Sin Cara & Kalisto [Number 1 Contendership For Tag-Titles]
*Charlotte vs. Alexa Bliss [NXT Women’s Championship]
*Tyler Breeze vs. Tye Dillinger
*Tyson Kidd vs. Adam Rose
*Adrian Neville vs. CJ Parker
– One of the things WWE is advertising for tonight’s RAW is John Cena’s response to the pre-taped interview that aired last week from Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman. As noted earlier, Lesnar is not scheduled for tonight’s show, however that does not necessarily mean that Heyman won’t appear, or that WWE doesn’t have additional pre-taped footage of the two to air on the show.
– NXT star Kalisto taped a rare promo for the upcoming NXT Takeover 2 live special, which airs on the WWE Network on September 11th. You can check that out above.
– As noted earlier today, Alberto Del Rio (as El Patron) is advertised for the AAA events in Puerto Vallarta on September 13th and 14th. Del Rio is included in the promotional posters for the event, which takes place at the Hard Rock Casino, making it the first time he has appeared on a wrestling poster since leaving WWE.
– In a related note, Del Rio is being credited with some of the success of the big AAA “TripleMania” event due to the amount of media coverage he garnered for the show.
– Above is a video promo from Tyson Kidd for the NXT Takeover 2 special, which takes place on September 11th and airs live on the WWE Network.
– The official WWE website has a new interview up with NXT wrestler Bull Dempsey, who will take on Mojo Rawley at the upcoming NXT Takeover 2 live special on the WWE Network. You can check out the interview at WWE.com.
– Below is a new double-interview with WWE Hall Of Famer Bruno Sammartino and TNA star Kurt Angle.
– WWE and Rogers Communications in Canada decided to include a small archive of content on the WWE Network due to the fact that the launch was rushed so that the company could improve their subscription numbers between now and the end of the year.
– There is talk of having Bayley defeat Charlotte for the NXT Women’s Championship at the upcoming NXT Takeover 2 special. The idea behind this is to get the belt off of Charlotte so that she can be called up to the main roster, which would also give Ric Flair a regular role on WWE television.