As seen on the website yesterday, Paul Heyman cut a promo prior to Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown television taping in Philadelphia that ended up being posted on YouTube. While there is no word yet as to whether or not the promo will air on SmackDown this Friday night, the plan right now is to keep Heyman off of television for a while. He was reportedly not at Monday’s RAW in Brooklyn.
While plans could change, the idea is to keep Heyman off of television for a while, as to not call attention to the fact that WWE’s World Heavyweight Champion is away and missing pay-per-view events.
As noted, Brock Lesnar is not scheduled to return to WWE until January.
Paul Heyman appeared at last night’s SmackDown tapings from Philadelphia and cut a promo on John Cena and Dean Ambrose.
Heyman spoke about the news of Cena and Ambrose facing each other at Hell in a Cell for the right to wrestle Dean Ambrose in the main event of the PPV. Heyman said this is all part of Cena’s downward spiral that began when Cena lost WWE World Heavyweight Championship to his client Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam.
Since the promo took place after Main Event and before the SmackDown broadcast began taping, it’s unknown if this segment will appear on Friday’s SmackDown 15th Anniversary show.
– The latest edition of Adam Rose’s “Rose Garden” feature on the official WWE website features Rose giving The Bunny a surprise, which is The Bunny’s official WWE.com profile. The Bunny is now listed and considered to be an official WWE Superstar. Rose and The Bunny then did a photo shoot for his profile. You can check out the latest “Rose Garden” feature at WWE.com.
– The Chicago Tribune has a new article up on their official website regarding The Squared Circle restaurant, an establishment owned by former WWE Diva Lisa Marie Varon (aka Victoria). The article notes that the restaurant is coming out with a new burger named after Paul Heyman. You can read more about this story at ChicagoTribune.com.
The Washington Post has an article up on their website today featuring comments from hip-hop artist, noted WWE fan and recently confirmed “Paul Heyman Guy” Wale talking about his feelings on the current WWE product during a recent interview with HOT 97 radio out of New York.
“It’s been bad, man,” said Wale. “You think it will get better, but then you see the top stars, Roman’s hurt, Bryan’s hurt. What do you do?”
Wale continued, “It almost seems like they’re throwing in the towel.”
The following are highlights of the latest blog by WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross:
On Randy Orton: “Hard to believe it’s been 12 years since we introduced Randy Orton on WWE TV and the son of a HOFer hasn’t disappointed on his way to his own HOF career. @RandyOrton is one of WWE’s most valuable commodities especially with the company rebuilding it’s main event talent roster to a large degree. Randy was one of the most interesting talents to manage that I was ever around and he always kept me on my toes but at the end of the day I am immensely proud of the talent that he has evolved to be.”
On the WWE Intercontinental Championship change on RAW: “Good move putting the IC Title on Dolph Ziggler again as I was perplexed as to why he lost it the night before at Night of Champions. I’m beginning to wonder if the holders of the IC & US Titles are blessed or cursed.”
On Paul Heyman’s absence from RAW: “Curious as to why no Paul Heyman and few mentions of WWE World Champion Brock Lesnar on RAW. I missed a @HeymanHustle verbal presentation.”
Check out the complete blog at JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.
Ronda Rousey vs. TRANSSEXUAL?!, Wanderlei Silva BANNED FOR LIFE From MMA + MORE!
With WWE’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view just under five weeks away, many fans are speculating about which match will headline the show. After retaining the WWE Championship at night of Champions due to interference by Seth Rollins, neither Brock Lesnar nor Paul Heyman appeared on Monday’s RAW.
While another Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena rematch, this time inside Hell in a Cell, seems to make sense, it appears WWE is still uncertain about whether that match will take place. Paul Heyman was reportedly scheduled to appear on RAW to address his client’s “successful” title defense, Heyman was kept off the show due the uncertainty of the HIAC main event.
As of Tuesday morning, WWE is not planning for Lesnar vs. Cena at HIAC.
No matches have been announced for the show as of this writing.
Jared St. Laurent from MLW sent along the following …
WHO IS PAUL HEYMAN MENTORING FROM THE WORLD OF HIP HOP?
On today’s episode of MLW Radio (www.MLWradio.com), top recording hip hop artist Wale, who just released a new single called ‘The Body’ stopped by to talk his two passions in life: pro wrestling and music.
Wale has been a fixture at major WWE events for years. During the course of the conversation with Konnan and Court Bauer, Wale revealed that he’s been recently sitting under the learning tree of prolific wrestling mind Paul Heyman:
“He’s a smart guy. He gets it…. He knows the game. It’s always good to get advice from guys like that. He’s been so influential on so many guys’ careers.”
Wale is hard at work on his next album, “The Album About Nothing,” which features comedian Jerry Seinfeld. ‘The Body’ is currently available at www.walemusic.com, iTunes and AmazonMP3.
MLW Radio is available for free on www.MLWradio.com and iTunes, with new episodes released each and every Monday.
– 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:
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.”
– Paul Heyman has issued a statement to John Cena on his Heyman Hustle website. Brock Lesnar returns to WWE RAW tonight – and Cena is looking for a fight. In typical Heyman fashion, he explains exactly why this is a disastrous idea from Cena just 6 days ahead of their rematch this Sunday at Night of Champions. Heyman explains:
“Brock Lesnar is going to kick John Cena’s ass all over Monday Night RAW, and John Cena will not have enough time to recover to be 100% for his contractually-invoked rematch at WWE Night of Champions next Sunday. “
“Martyrdom does not guarantee immortality. Bluntly, it guarantees the opposite. Martyrdom only offers death. In this case, the death of John Cena’s dream of proving himself anything but inferior to my client, the reigning defending WWE Heavyweight Champion of the World, Brock Lesnar! “
You can (and should) read the full statement at HeymanHustle.com.
– WWE Superstar Bad News Barrett is back on tour with WWE, traveling to India for this week’s International tour. He posted the following on Instagram on Sunday:
“About to take off on tour… @WWEIndia, see you in Bangalore in about 24hrs! Can’t wait. #BNB”
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.
– In what could be viewed as a response to the 22-page legal letter that was sent to WWE on behalf of CM Punk, the company has removed nearly all of his merchandise from his Alumni page on WWEShop.com this week. There are only four items available on the site now, three of which were lowered in price.
– Below is a new Michelle Beadle interview where she talks about her love for WWE and Paul Heyman.
It was announced on Monday’s “season premiere” of WWE RAW that on next week’s show, which is the WWE Night Of Champions “go-home” edition of RAW, Brock Lesnar will return live.
Also announced on RAW in an excellent promo segment in the ring between John Cena and Paul Heyman, it was revealed by Cena that if Lesnar didn’t show up to RAW next week, that Cena would beat up Heyman. So, you can likely expect some sort of confrontation between Lesnar and Cena on the final RAW leading into their rematch at the Night Of Champions pay-per-view,.
Finally, it was announced on RAW that on this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown, an “International Arm-Wrestling Contest” will take place between Rusev and Mark Henry.
As everyone knows by now, the Beast and the (former) Champ will once again square off in less than two weeks at Night of Champions. This contest will be John Cena’s championship rematch and figures to be the last time the two competitors will square off.
Since losing his title last month at SummerSlam, John Cena has been running through the roster, destroying everyone in his path while being booked as a threat to Lesnar. Along the way, he wiped out the entire Wyatt Family, took out Seth Rollins, and has vowed to kick Lesnar’s ass during their next meeting.
John Cena will hope to exact a bit of revenge in two weeks at Night of Champions.
It seems apparent that Cena will not be reunited with his precious championship belt. Instead, he is being booked very strong in an attempt to make things believable, but he could be hurting other members of the roster during the build (Bray Wyatt, in particular). It makes little sense to have Cena run through one of your top guys (especially one who was building momentum) like he’s a nobody when there are plenty of other guys that could have done the job.
Nonetheless, the build in this case is not as important as the aftermath. The consensus seems to be that Cena will not regain his title in a few weeks at Night of Champions. This leaves fans with one question: Who is next for Brock Lesnar?
The Beast Incarnate has expanded his deal to allow for the company to book its champion for more dates, but it remains to be seen who his next opponent will be. It’s likely that Lesnar will hold the title until WrestleMania to generate interest before passing it on to the next generation, leaving many pay-per-views between now and March.
– In light of Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar’s current reign of dominance over WWE, the company website has published a feature looking at the 10 Best Manager-Client Partnerships.
– Speaking of Paul Heyman, his HeymanHustle.com website has published exclusive photos of former WWE Diva Maria Kanellis and her soon-to-be-husband Mike Bennett at a recent indy show.
– Michael Cole revealed in his latest sit-down interview with Triple H that Stephanie McMahon will have an announcement on The Bella Twins this Friday on SmackDown.
The WWE rolled through midwest tonight, as they set up shop in Des Moines, Iowa. This week’s card featured a total of eight matches, including a life changing six-man tag main event. It’s time to once again take the WWE to school, and I’ll be the one doling out the grades.
As always, matches will be graded based on usual factors such as workrate, in-ring psychology, move variety, crowd reaction, and overall impact on the storyline. Important in-ring promos will also be graded based on factors such as originality, believability, and importance. Without further ado, here is this week’s Raw report card.
Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel
Tonight’s show started with Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel, and featured a shitload of guests, including the Authority, John Cena, and Roman Reigns. There was some entertaining banter during the segment, including Triple H and Jericho hurling corny insults at one another as Jericho dissed Triple H’s pink tie, while the Game chose to attack Y2J’s scarf during a hilarious back and forth. Rollins was extremely over during the promo and got the biggest pop of the night in his home state. Cena threatening to sue the company was pretty lame, however, and held the promo back a bit. It was an overall decent segment, it set up the main event, and the crowd seemed to be into it.
Grade: B
Sheamus and Dolph Ziggler vs. Cesaro and the Miz
The first match of the night was a tag team match featuring the United States and Intercontinental Champions. The Miz showed up with his body double Damien Mizdow and a personal stylist, complete with chairs and makeup. Miz and Sandow were hilarious throughout the contest and the ending was solid. Ziggler and Cesaro also worked well together during the opening portion of the match, with Cesaro’s fall away slam into a pinning combination being one of the most impressive spots I’ve seen in a long time. Overall, it was an entertaining contest and was a good way to advance both feuds.
– 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.
For those wondering, Brock Lesnar is not scheduled to appear at tonight’s edition of WWE RAW in Des Moines, Iowa.
Lesnar’s next scheduled RAW appearance is at the September 15th edition of the show, which is the final RAW before the WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view. That is not to say, however, that more pre-taped footage of Lesnar and Paul Heyman will not air on the RAW shows that he does not personally attend.
It’s worth noting that the recent pre-taped Lesnar/Heyman interview that aired on RAW last week was actually originally scheduled to air on tonight’s show.
– The latest edition of Steve Austin’s “Steve Austin Show” podcast, which features an interview with Paul Heyman, is now online. The official description for the show reads as follows:
SASu – EP146 – WWE’s Paul Heyman
“Paul Heyman is back, and this time he and Stone Cold are breaking down the current Brock Lesnar/John Cena feud… and making some interesting predictions! They’re also talking old-school ECW philosophy, booking, gimmicks, and most popular faces. Plus, Paul E. remembers Bam Bam Bigelow’s wrestling debut, his own early days as a ring photographer, and the very first promotion he ever produced…at New York’s infamous Studio 54.”
The following are highlights of the latest Jim Ross blog:
On how John Cena was booked on RAW: “I wasn’t overwhelmed with how John Cena was booked on RAW as I would have been in favor of leaving him off TV another week or doing a vignette from Cena’s home where he could express himself about “Do I have it in me to beat a healthy Brock Lesnar?
When the hero says he’s not going to a major event to win his title back but to beat the champion’s ass it usually means that the champ IE Brock Lesnar retains as he should in this re-match.”
On the way Bray Wyatt has been used lately: “Bray Wyatt has been feeling main event special the past several weeks but not so much Monday night. Hopefully, he gets back on his roll next Monday. A potential Lesnar vs. Wyatt match down the road interests me if it could be presented in a compelling manner.”
On the Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman video on RAW: “The Lesnar-Heyman video was excellent and it confirmed even more my Ross Report take that Lesnar doesn’t have to be on most RAW’s to be an effective champion. If Lesnar just wrestles on PPV’s or on most PPV’s I will be just fine with that. This scenario forces all involved parties to accelerate the advancement of new main event stars and to, hopefully, try new talents in fresh spots.”
Check out the complete blog at JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.
WWE performer Paul Heyman accepted the ALS “Ice Bucket Challenge” and posted it in the latest edition of his “Heyman Hustle” video series.
Instead of dumping a bucket of ice water on himself, Heyman had model Luci Ford dump it on herself and then had her take her shirt off and model for the camera. After that, Heyman cut a promo calling out God to get rid of the disease.
Check out Heyman’s “Ice Bucket Challenge” video above.
– WWE will be releasing a new Stardust t-shirt today at WWE Shop.
– Paul Heyman mentioned recently that he will be accepting the ALS “Ice Bucket Challenge” today with the help of model Luci Ford.
– The latest edition of Jesse Ventura’s “We The People” podcast, which features an interview with “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, is now online. You can download the show right now at PodcastOne.com.
As noted earlier today, Brock Lesnar spoke to TMZ after SummerSlam last night, informing the celebrity-gossip website that he “ain’t carrying two belts around.”
According to one source, that isn’t a simple throw-away comment and it is believed that the two title belt situation will play into an angle on tonight’s edition of RAW.
The word going around today is that on tonight’s RAW, Lesnar will make it clear that he isn’t carrying two belts around and thus the new WWE Championship belt that was made recently, which we posted photos of a week ago (pictured above), will debut on the show when he ditches the two belts that he won last night.
TMZ caught up with the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar, along with his “advocate,” Paul Heyman, outside of Morton’s Steakhouse in Los Angeles, California on Sunday night after WWE’s SummerSlam pay-per-view.
Lesnar spoke about his plans for the title belts now that he is the champion. “I ain’t carrying two belts around,” Lesnar said. “Are you kidding me? That ain’t happening.”