WWE has announced that NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha will face The Revival in a “Takeover: Dallas” rematch on June 8th at the next Takeover event from Full Sail University.
As of this writing, the only other match announced is Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe in a Cage Match for the NXT Title.
NXT General Manager William Regal announced on Tuesday morning that Samoa Joe’s upcoming NXT Championship defense against Finn Balor at Takeover will be a steel cage match. The next NXT Takeover is scheduled for Wednesday, June 8th from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
– Next week’s episode of NXT on the WWE Network will feature Nia Jax vs. Bayley and Austin Aries and mystery partner vs. Blake and Murphy.
– William Regal has confirmed Samoa Joe will defend the NXT title against Finn Balor at the next Takeover special on June 8th from Full Sail.
.@wwebalor advises @SamoaJoe to enjoy his title reign… WHILE IT LASTS! #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/03jkPNrxgC
— WWE (@WWE) May 12, 2016
– Ahead of their match at Takeover, Balor sends a warning message to Samoa Joe:
Sami Zayn and Shinsuke Nakamura had arguably the “Match of the Year” inside the WWE at NXT Takeover Dallas.
Fans all around the world were anticipating a spectacle, and both men delivered in a major way. Millions watched as Nakamura’s WWE NXT debut was everything they expected it to be, and more. It was also Zayn’s final match in NXT, which was a somber, but exciting moment.
What’s interesting is how the match came to be behind the scenes. On a recent episode of Talk Is Jericho, Sami Zayn revealed that he and Nakamura didn’t interact before their match at NXT Takeover.
“I think I met him literally once. And we’ve had very parallel careers. He started [at] the same time as me. I think I started two months before him or something. [Him] 14 years, me 14 years. He was in New Japan. I never worked New Japan, so we never worked. We’ve met maybe once. We never touched and I remember Matt Bloom, who’s head of the WWE Performance Center now was saying, ‘Hey, maybe you guys want to get in the PC and spar a little or something like that. I don’t want the first time you guys get in the ring ever, the first time you touch, to be at this big match.’ And unbeknownst to me, Nakamura said the same thing I said, ‘No, no, no. I prefer that,’ which is a dangerous thing, but it’s what I know. Yes, I prefer for the first time to be in the show, instead of a ‘Hey, lets feel it out in the ring’ [and] feel how this guy moves and stuff. So we ended up putting something together.’” – Sami Zayn
Knowing the back story to Zayn and Nakamura’s match at NXT Takeover Dallas immediately makes it more impressive.
It’s a known fact that there are wrestlers who don’t like to outline a match move by move. Clearly, neither of those men like to either and it was one of the greatest matches in NXT history.
– WWE has already locked in the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida for an NXT Takeover show on March 31, 2017 during WrestleMania 33 weekend.
– Last week it was reported that WWE has already sold over 84,000 tickets for WrestleMania 32, shattering the company’s (legitimate) all-time attendance record. That number includes standing-room-only tickets, so the final attendance number will not be significantly higher than that. Of course the company will announce attendance above 93,000 – we’ll see how far they push the envelope regarding the elusive 100,000 figure.
WrestleMania ticket sales have grossed approximately $13 million, another record for the company. The previous record was set at last year’s WrestleMania ($12.6 million). Despite the fact that WWE sold far more tickets for this year’s WrestleMania, ticket prices were lower were this year.
The $13 million gate is larger gate than UFC’s biggest show in history. UFC 129 back in April 2011 featuring GSP vs. Jake Shields grossed over $11 million at the Rogers Centre in Toronto (the former SkyDome, which hosted 2 WrestleManias).
None of these figures some even close to boxing’s top shows. According to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, there have been 10 events that have grossed over $13 million. The record is held by the Mayweather vs. Pacquaiao fight from last May at MGM in Vegas which drew a staggering $72 million.
Today, WrestlingDVDNetwork.com posted their latest update on the upcoming NXT’s Greatest Matches set that WWE Home Video is releasing on Blu-Ray and DVD on March, 2016. Joining the CM Punk & Seth Rollins vs. Kassius Ohno (Chris Hero) & Cesaro dark match announced earlier in the week as well as various TV matches will be more non televised matches in various forms:
They join these matches which were already announced:
Also, as noted earlier, the initial cover art for the set was released today.
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:
They join these matches, which we told you about yesterday:
The set will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on March 8, 2016 and can be pre-ordered now.
– Sasha Banks and her Team BAD buddies Naomi and Tamina are featured in this week’s RAW Fallout video, which you can check out above. Banks tells Eden she did not tap out and insists Naomi and Tamina did not cheat to help her out. The segment ends with Eden running away from Tamina.
– Speaking of the Banks-Lynch match, WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley took to Twitter after the match on RAW to express his disappointment in WWE for not giving them enough time to steal the show. Foley noted that he traveled 12 hours to NXT TakeOver six months ago to watch Banks and Lynch and it was “worth every mile.” Foley tweeted the following:
https://twitter.com/RealMickFoley/status/668974153005817856
https://twitter.com/RealMickFoley/status/668976048147558400
Tonight, NXT presents the latest Takeover event live on the WWE Network titled, “Respect.” The show kicks off at 8pm EST and runs 2 1/2 hours.
History will be made when NXT Women’s Champion Bayley defends against former champion Sasha Banks in a 30-minute Iron Man match. Plus, the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic culminates tonight with the semi-finals and finals.
Here’s the final card for tonight:
30-Minute Iron Man Match for the NXT Women’s Title
Bayley (c) vs. Sasha Banks
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals
TBD vs. TBD
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Semi-Finals
Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder vs. Finn Balor and Samoa Joe
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Semi-Finals
Chad Gable and Jason Jordan vs. Baron Corbin and Rhyno
Asuka vs. Dana Brooke
Apollo Crews vs. Tyler Breeze
There was an NXT talent meeting held on September 3rd having to do with what we reported previously about talent not getting paid on the house for the successful NXT live events, including a $200,000 plus gate in San Jose, California.
The question was whether or not the talent would get paid for the huge gate in Brooklyn, New York at the Barclays Center the night before WWE SummerSlam, as they sold out the venue as well, producing what had to be in the high six-figure range in terms of the gate.
Canyon Ceman told talent that they would not be paid for the Brooklyn show, or paid extra for the upcoming U.K. tour, noting that the overall NXT business model is losing money and they are all still getting paid their guarantees.
It was also noted that unlike the main roster talent, who have to pay for their road expenses, WWE does cover travel expenses for NXT talents when they work WWE live events, where they also get paid extra, and they also get road expenses covered for the first 90 days once they are on the main roster.
Several NXT talents took the idea of NXT being positioned as an alternate touring brand, which it basically is, seriously, and figured that they would be paid like an alternative brand, at least on the bigger events. Essentially, it is a third touring brand for the public, but to the talent, it’s still a developmental system.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
– NXT Women’s Champion Bayley is getting prepared for her upcoming 30-minute Ironwoman Match against Sasha Banks at the NXT Takeover special in October. Below is a photo of Bayley studying the Rick Rude vs. Dustin Rhodes 30-minute Ironman Match from 1993.
Studying a @ScottDawsonWWE recommendation. Dustin Rhodes vs Rick Rude in a 30 minute iron man match. #NXTTakeOver pic.twitter.com/2ueS6qPpQg
— Bayley (@itsBayleyWWE) September 14, 2015
– Former WWE on-air performer Teddy Long celebrates his 68th birthday today. Long was born on September 15, 1947.
– The developers of the new WWE 2K16 video game posted the following video of Natalya beating Eva Marie.
https://youtu.be/OnrkU4D6cNw
The current plan right now is for NXT Women’s Champion Bayley to feud with Dana Brooke and then Eva Marie. WWE executives apparently want to validate Eva Marie by putting the NXT Women’s title on her. The idea is that they can tell the story of how Eva Marie proved her critics wrong through hard work. While this is not confirmed at this point, it looks like Bayley vs. Dana Brooke could kick off at the NXT television taping from Full Sail University on September 10th, with a possible match at the NXT Takeover event on October 7th. Following that set of television tapings, Eva Marie could begin her feud with Bayley at the next set of tapings, with a possible title match at NXT Takeover: London in December. A three-way feud to carry them through December is also a possibility.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
Following the success of this past Saturday’s NXT Takeover: Brooklyn live special on the WWE Network, we now have two more upcoming Takeover shows officially announced.
The next Takeover show will take place on Wednesday, October 7th from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
WWE COO Triple H announced on Thursday that there will also be a live Takeover special in December during NXT’s first-ever UK tour. That show will take place on Wednesday, December 16th from the SSE Wembley Arena.
If you can't be in the UK in person to see @WWENXT take over,#NXTLondon will be LIVE only on @WWENetwork 12/16. pic.twitter.com/8K5esUiO7S
— Triple H (@TripleH) August 27, 2015
Tickets for the NXT tour of the UK go on general sale tomorrow (August 28) at 9am. NXT Champion Finn Balor says:
“On behalf of all the NXT Superstars and Divas, we are extremely excited at the opportunity to perform for the WWE Universe in the UK.
“I look forward to the opportunity to return to where I started my career, giving fans new memories that they will never forget.”
During the NXT event on Saturday night, NXT General Manager William Regal announced the first ever “Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic,” which is scheduled to begin in a few weeks.
The “Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic” tournament will kick off with the September 2nd edition of NXT TV on the WWE Network. The finals of the tournament will be held at NXT Takeover on October 7th.
Regal promised that the “Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic” will be full of action and will make “The American Dream” proud.
– NXT Diva Becky Lynch is out of action for a few weeks due to a hip flexor injury that she suffered during her NXT Takeover match with Sasha Banks. Lynch had continued to work through the injury, however she is now taking some time off to recover.
– WWE Divas Champion Nikki Bella is currently working with a partially separated shoulder. There is currently no word as to whether or not the injury is something that will eventually require her to take time off or not.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
– WWE has announced that NXT Diva Becky Lynch will be returning to action on this week’s edition of NXT television on the WWE Network. Lynch last worked at the NXT Takeover: Unstoppable special, losing to NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks.
– Legendary pro wrestling personality Jim Cornette is the guest on the latest edition of Roddy Piper’s “Piper’s Pit” podcast. You can download the show right now at PodcastOne.com.
– As noted earlier today, WWE touted the fact that they have surpassed the half a billion follower mark on social media. WWE Chairman Vince McMahon has commented on the milestone, as you can see in the following tweet he posted earlier today.
"You can't see me," but thanks to the half a billion people who can see @WWE. pic.twitter.com/kOBE30eCX7
— Vince McMahon (@VinceMcMahon) June 8, 2015
Although the word going around earlier this week was that Sasha Banks was not injured, the talk now is that she suffered either an arm or shoulder injury.
Banks was scheduled to work a match during the fourth episode of Thursday’s NXT television tapings, but she ended up leaving to go to the hospital when her fiancee’ — Sarath Ton, working as Mikaze — was knocked unconscious during a tag-team match.
It’s not currently clear whether or not Banks went into her match at NXT Takeover against Becky Lynch with the injury, or how serious it was if she did.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
As of Saturday’s NXT live event in Orlando, WWE is still advertising a NXT Championship match between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens for their upcoming NXT Takeover event on May 20th.
WWE is not expected to officially announce Zayn’s status for the show until after next Wednesday’s NXT episode.
Zayn, as noted earlier this week, suffered an injury while hyping the crowd up prior to his match with John Cena at Monday’s edition of WWE RAW.
– More likely than not, WWE will not be officially announcing the injury to Hideo Itami, or the official status of Sami Zayn, until after the May 13th episode of NXT television. As things stand now, both Itami and Zayn are still advertised to work the NXT Takeover event on May 20th, although one would assume that one or both of the guys will not be able to compete as scheduled due to their respective injuries.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Hulk Hogan recently took some time to praise an up-and-coming talent in WWE’s developmental system in NXT. Here’s what “The Hulkster” had to say about upcoming NXT star Colin “Big Cass” Cassady:
@WWENXT fish or cut bait,please ,it's Fish this big guy is just a big dollar sign,wish I had a heel like him during my run brother. HH
— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) May 6, 2015
WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley is hyping up the upcoming NXT Women’s Championship match between Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch at the upcoming NXT Takeover live special on the WWE Network.
In his latest official Facebook blog, Foley touched on the Banks-Lynch showdown.
“I’m going out on a limb here and predicting ?#?BeckyLynch? and Sasha Banks will have a ?#?MatchOfTheYear? type of contest on May 20 at ?#?NXTTakeover?. (No pressure at all ladies.),” said Foley. “I just get the feeling that both women are at the right place, at the right time, with the right combination of skills, character, and in-ring chemistry to pull it off.
“One of my GREAT regrets is that I didn’t make it to the WWE NXT show in ?#?SanJose? during ?#?Mania? week, for what I heard was a sure fire contender for Match of the Year with Sasha and Ms Charlotte.”
Foley concluded, “No doubt about it, 2015 is shaping up to be a great year for ?#?WomensWrestling?”
Follow more Mick Foley blogs online at Facebook.com/RealMickFoley.
Following Thursday night’s NXT TV tapings, several matches have been confirmed for the May 20th NXT TakeOver live special on the WWE Network. (more…)
As noted earlier today, WWE filed a lawsuit in California last month to stop undisclosed selling of their merchandise in the area during WrestleMania 31 week. In addition to the dates and locations of the first three pay-per-views of 2016, the full schedule of planned NXT Takeover specials and television tapings through November of this year are revealed.
Below is the NXT schedule from now until November.
– Thursday April 23rd – NXT TV tapings
– Wednesday, May 20th – NXT live special
– Thursday, May 21st – NXT TV tapings
– Thursday, June 18th – NXT TV tapings
– Thursday, July 16th – NXT TV tapings
– Wednesday, August 12th – NXT live special
– Thursday, August 13th – NXT TV tapings
– Thursday, September 10th – NXT TV tapings
– Wednesday, October 7th – NXT live special
– Thursday, October 8th – NXT TV tapings
– Thursday, October 22nd – NXT TV tapings
– Thursday, November 19th – NXT TV tapings
– As reported recently, WWE officials have commissioned artwork for a new United States Championship belt. According to one source, this was done at Cena’s request. WWE is looking to put emphasis on their secondary titles such as the Intercontinental Championship and the U.S. Championship, which is why they were put on two of the top stars in the company.
– It was noted earlier this week that WWE made a mistake in saying that the NXT Takeover specials would become a monthly occurrence, as they will remain a quarterly happening. A lot of the NXT talents were said to be disappointed when hearing the news, but many are also said to be riding a high from being such a big part of WrestleMania week this year.
(Credit: PWInsider.com)
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.
– The Rock was in New York City recently to assist “The Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon with the launch of his new Spike TV show called “Lip Synch Battle.” The show is scheduled to premiere on Spike TV on April 2nd.
– The February 12th NXT television taping at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida are officially sold out. The 2/12 taping will be the night after the next NXT Takeover live special on the WWE Network. Less than 200 tickets remain for the NXT TV taping scheduled for February 18th.