– Former ECW World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Lashley announced on Twitter Friday afternoon that he will be attending tonight’s WWE live event in Denver, Colorado.
#Raw is in Denver tonight and Guess who's going?!? #yessir
Lashley parted ways with WWE on February 4, 2008 after being asked to be released from his contract and now competes as a mixed martial arts fighter while occasionally wrestling at independent events. Regarding the nature of his departure from Vince McMahon’s organization, it was widely rumored that Lashley had had problems with the head writer of SmackDown at the time, Michael Hayes. Lashley’s former girlfriend, Kristal Marshall, alleged in a 2009 interview that Hayes, who was suspended from WWE in 2008 after reportedly using a racial slur to Mark Henry, had said several blatantly racist remarks to Lashley, and that this was the main reason he decided to bolt from the company.
– This week’s edition of The JBL & Cole Show is now online and features Rob Van Dam. The synopsis reads, “In this edition of The JBL & Cole Show, RVD blesses us with some narration skills, Cole & Renee continue their tour of the WWE Performance Center, William Regal joins the cleaning crew, and JBL FINALLY makes it to Orlando on time….maybe.”
-WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley noted on his official Twitter account recently that he was in the U.A.E. to help promote WWE this week.
-The Market For Computer & Video Games website has an article up today about a special promotion for the new WWE 2K14 video game centered around Daniel Bryan in the U.K. For more information on that, visit MCVUK.com.
-WWE Superstar Rob Van Dam reportedly just finished some voice-over work for the new Saint’s Row video game franchise.
-Recent plans have WWE talent Ricardo Rodriguez continuing to manage Rob Van Dam until RVD takes some scheduled time off from WWE in October. Once Van Dam is on hiatus, it is possible that Rodriguez may be put with the returning Rey Mysterio as his “personal ring announcer.”
-Expect stipulations to be added to the Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton and Rob Van Dam vs. Alberto Del Rio rematches scheduled for the upcoming WWE Battleground pay-per-view.
According to one report, there is discussion of the Bryan-Orton pay-per-view rematch being contested under “Iron Man” match rules. This would allow WWE to book the match in a way where it leads to another inconclusive finish, which could lead to the final showdown in a cell at the WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view.
The official WWE website has added an article featuring quotes from the WWE Superstars who made the decision to help Daniel Bryan in the main event of Monday’s post-Night Of Champions edition of RAW.
Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, Zack Ryder, The Prime Time Players and R-Truth were among those, in-character, who provided responses as to why they got involved. Absent from the article were Rob Van Dam, The Usos and Justin Gabriel, who were also part of the group of Superstars who were involved on Monday.
As noted in a previous article posted on the website today, WWE COO Triple H will be addressing the aforementioned Superstars in a segment planned for next Monday’s edition of WWE RAW.
– Rob Van Dam will be taking time off from WWE in a few weeks. Van Dam’s current WWE contract has him working 90-day blocks, where’ll tour with WWE for 3 months and then can take time off before returning for another 3 months.
– CM Punk has been working injured for several weeks now, which has often been the case for Punk over the past several years. Punk has been working a very light schedule at WWE live events lately because his knee and ankle are injured, but he’s also dealing with other nagging injuries. He’s expected to be off WWE television for another week or two in order to recover from Ryback’s recent attack and allow him time to heal up.
With Punk’s WWE contract expiring next summer, a lot of people are wondering if he’ll stay with the company or follow through on his previous statements that he’ll be retiring “sooner than later.”
It was announced during the WWE Main Event television taping on Tuesday night in Cincinnati, Ohio that Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton will meet in a rematch from their controversial WWE Night Of Champions match at the upcoming WWE Battleground pay-per-view for the vacant WWE Championship.
It was also announced, this time during the WWE SmackDown television taping, also taped on Tuesday night in Cincinnati, that in another WWE Night Of Champions rematch, World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio will again defend his title against Rob Van Dam.
For those interested, both the WWE Main Event and the WWE SmackDown taping results for this week are up on the main page right now.
WWE returns to Cincinnati, Ohio on Tuesday night to tape this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown and WWE Main Event.
While no official matches or segments have been announced ahead of time, WWE will obviously continue to push the situation surrounding the vacant WWE Championship, as well as the latest developments in the Triple H, Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan saga.
WWE will also focus on the World Heavyweight Championship picture and feud between Alberto Del Rio and Rob Van Dam, which the controversial intentional disqualification during their match at Sunday’s WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view.
Advertised for tonight’s WWE television tapings are Triple H, Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, Alberto Del Rio, Rob Van Dam, Ricardo Rodriguez, Stephanie McMahon, Big Show, Dolph Ziggler, The Shield, The Real Americans, The Wyatt Family, Big E. Langston, AJ Lee and Kaitlyn.
While it is subject to change, the advertised post-show dark-match is Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan for the vacant WWE Championship, as well as a six-man tag match involving The Shield and a trio of babyfaces.
Anyone who is attending tonight’s WWE television tapings in Cincinnati, feel free to send in a live report to be published here on the website.
-Shares of WWE stock dropped below $10 per-share in early trading on Monday morning. This comes after WWE released a statement on Friday downgrading their 2013 Business Outlook, particularly for the second-half of 2013. As of this afternoon, shares of WWE stock were down 4.2 percent from Friday’s close.
-The infamous Reddit user, Dolphins1925, missed one of his predictions for the WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view. Dolphins1925 predicted Del Rio would win the match, however, the match ended up in a disqualification, which means Rob Van Dam technically won the match. While Del Rio did retain his World Heavyweight Championship as a result, the match goes down as a loss for the current champion.
-WWE will return to the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan, the site of Sunday night’s WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view, on December 28th. There is currently an online pre-sale for tickets to the WWE event in Detroit on 12/28, with the password: OLYMPIA.
-Speaking of WWE live events, the company will run Nashville, Tennessee for a live RAW television show on November 16th. Tickets for the event will officially go on sale to the public this Saturday, September 21st.
-WWE Superstars and Divas AJ Lee, Daniel Bryan, Kaitlyn and Rob Van Dam will be appearing and signing autographs at the Ringside Fest on October 26th in New York City. For more information, visit RingsideFest.com.
-WWE executive and part-time Superstar Triple H recently posted a tweet on his official Twitter account hyping tonight’s Floyd Mayweather vs. Canelo Alvarez boxing pay-per-view, including information on how to order the show (which happens to be the same weekend that WWE is asking their fans to buy their show the very next night). HHH wrote:
“You going to watch @FloydMayweather fight? I am!!! 45-0– Order the fight by going here http://sports.sho.com/order #TheOne”
-WWE’s Vickie Guerrero announced on this week’s SmackDown show that Ricardo Rodriguez would not be allowed to be in Rob Van Dam’s corner this weekend at Night Of Champions when he challenges Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship. Rodriguez reacted to the news on Twitter, writing:
“Im sorry guys. I really tried against Del Rio but came up on the losing end tonight on Smackdown. Guess I won’t be at #NOC :(“
-WWE will be taping the next four episodes of NXT on Thursday night at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. The tapings will feature main-roster WWE Superstars Rob Van Dam and Fandango.
-Apparently WWE Superstars were informed about Jim Ross’ “retirement” on Wednesday via text messages sent to them by company officials.
-The new WWE produced Triple H DVD set, “Triple H – Thy Kingdom Come” will be released on September 24th. The DVD set will feature a documentary on HHH’s career as well as some of his most high-profile matches.
-WWE Superstar and long time marijuana advocate Rob Van Dam revealed in a recent podcast that he is thinking about quitting smoking marijuana. RVD used to go by the moniker, “RVD 4:20” and even once appeared on the cover of the infamous High Times magazine. You can check out the new Van Dam podcast online at HipCast.com.
-WWE legend Jake “The Snake” Roberts is currently featured on the official CBS Sports website, as Roberts will be making weekly NFL football picks for the website. You can check that out online at CBSSports.com.
During a recent interview with SLAM! Wrestling, Rob Van Dam talked about backstage morale in WWE:
“The locker room is a different vibe, it’s a more positive vibe, guys are not afraid for their position like they used to be. At the end (of his first run with WWE) it was really miserable. Plus, I have more leverage now. I have more seniority with guys like Rock, Hogan, Flair, DX gone. It’s different how I’m being treated. I’m in a different point in my life. The traveling is not as hard as it was. I’m enjoying it now. We just had an 18-day tour and I was kind of apprehending that tour, but it wasn’t like that at all, it was a pleasure and I enjoyed it a lot.”
He also commented on why he left WWE back in 2007 and why he’s better equipped to cope with the WWE travel schedule:
“I left WWE because I needed more balance in my life, I needed to have my energies balanced and now was the time to come back. The schedule is not lighter. I’d say that it’s even more traveling than when I was here, but it’s not as challenging for me.”
WWE RAW emanates live from Des Moines, Iowa tonight for the Labor Day edition of the show.
The main focus of tonight’s show will be on the Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton feud, with all of the outside involvement from Triple H, as well as Vince and Stephanie McMahon. Also, heavy focus will remain on the storyline involving CM Punk and Curtis Axel/Paul Heyman.
There will be more follow-up on the World Heavyweight Championship program, which features champion Alberto Del Rio and his former manager Ricardo Rodriguez, who is now with Del Rio’s opposition, Rob Van Dam. They will continue the build to their title bout at the upcoming Night Of Champions pay-per-view.
The full talent roster advertised for tonight’s show in Des Moines is as follows: Orton, Bryan, Punk, Heyman, Axel, HHH, Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Del Rio, Van Dam, Rodriguez, Mark Henry, Dolph Ziggler, Big Show, Wade Barrett, AJ Lee, Kaitlyn, The Shield and The Wyatt Family.
The scheduled dark match main event for tonight’s show is The Shield vs. Rob Van Dam, Mark Henry and The Big Show. With Henry being injured, plans for that match may be off the table.
The following is an excerpt from a recent Chris Jericho interview on Ring Rust Radio:
On taking time away from WWE and his match quality during his last run: “People are always putting words in my mouth. I never once used the word hiatus or retirement; I’m just not working there. I don’t know if it’s a long time, if it’s a short time, forever. I’m not taking a hiatus or sabbatical, my contract was up. I have a bunch of other stuff going on. As far as why the matches were great, I don’t know, man.
“It was just a really good roll. It was like every match was better than the last and I was just in the zone. Experience level wise, many don’t have the experience that I have and I also think outside the box when I’m putting together matches, which other guys don’t. It just seemed like every match I had clicked. There were probably a few that weren’t as good as others, but the majority of them I was really, really happy with. Some bona fide best matches I’ve had in a long time. The Rob Van Dam match on Raw and the CM Punk one at Payback, I thought those matches couldn’t have been any better.”
The following are highlights from a recent interview with WWE Superstar Rob Van Dam:
On getting more respect with age: “I’m in a business where, until recently, the average standard for the wrestlers was probably in their young-40?s. You didn’t get respect until you were at that point where your body was starting to break down and, until that point, you were still kind of paying your dues. It’s great for me to have so much experience yet my body is not breaking down.”
On taking care of himself: “I haven’t aged. I’ve always taken care of myself and I’m a non-conformist, so I don’t accept the negativety that comes with birthdays. I’m 42, but I feel way better than I did when I was 18.”
-WWE Hall Of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler will be the next guest on the “Steve Austin Show” podcast. The latest edition of the show, which features Shane “Hurricane” Helms and was released today, can be accessed online at PodcastOne.com.
-WWE Superstar William Regal will be holding “An Audience With A Wrestling Villain 2” on Monday, November 11th at The Frog & Bucket Comedy Club on Oldham Street in Manchester at 11:00PM. For more information, visit Facebook.com/ErosComedy.
-30 Rock star Judah Friedlander has signed on to pen the introduction to the Headlocked comic book, which features contributions from pro wrestling stars such as Jerry “The King” Lawler, Rob Van Dam, Shane “Hurricane” Helms, Ken Anderson, Christopher Daniels, Beth Phoenix and others. For more information, visit Kickstarter.com.
SESCOOPS.COM reader Bootleg Kev sent along the following:
I got to sit down with WWE Heavyweight Champ Alberto Del Rio right before this past Monday’s WWE Monday Night RAW. We speak on his current run as WWE Heavyweight Champ, the double blackeyes he was wearing last week on raw, his recent run as a baby-face, whether he prefers the baby-face or heel role, his upcoming storyline with RVD, how he feels about Darren Young coming out of the closet, who his dream tag-team partner would be, who some of his close friends in the locker room are, and of course the departure of his beloved ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez.
On Monday’s edition of WWE RAW, new matches, with some interesting stipulations, were added to the WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view, scheduled September 15, 2013, which will be headlined by Daniel Bryan challenging “the face of WWE”, Randy Orton, for his WWE Championship.
WWE Superstar Rob Van Dam, through the help of a quick distraction by his new manager, Ricardo Rodriguez, defeated Alberto Del Rio to earn a World Heavyweight Championship match against the champion at the pay-per-view in three weeks.
Also added to Night Of Champions on RAW was a Handicap Elimination match featuring CM Punk against both Curtis Axel and Paul Heyman. It was noted that if Heyman doesn’t fight, he will have to leave WWE.
Here is an updated look at the official WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view lineup thus far:
WWE Championship
-Randy Orton (c) vs. Daniel Bryan
World Heavyweight Championship
-Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. Rob Van Dam (with Ricardo Rodriguez)
Handicap Elimination Match
-CM Punk vs. Curtis Axel & Paul Heyman
Stay tuned to SESCOOPS.COM for continued updates on the WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view.
It was announced on Monday’s edition of WWE RAW in Phoenix, Arizona that if Rob Van Dam could defeat World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio in a singles match on the show, that he would receive a shot at the title at the upcoming WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view.
Van Dam, with help by way of distraction from his new manager, Ricardo Rodriguez, picked up the win over Del Rio. So in three weeks in Detroit, Michigan, at Night Of Champions, Del Rio will be defending his World Heavyweight Championship against Van Dam.
WWE.com recently confirmed an additional match for tonight’s edition of RAW.
Already announced, in one of tonight’s main events, is a match between CM Punk and Curtis Axel (with Paul Heyman). While the bout was announced as a non-title match originally, the latest online rumors point to it most likely being for Axel’s Intercontinental Championship.
Additionally, WWE announced a match between World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio and Rob Van Dam for the show tonight.
-As previously reported, CM Punk vs. Curtis Axel (with Paul Heyman) is being advertised for next Monday’s edition of WWE RAW. According to reports, the WWE Intercontinental Championship may be on the line in that match.
-WWE taped the next four weeks worth of NXT television in Winter Park, Florida on Thursday. Spoiler results for all four of those episodes are on the newsboard now. The next set of WWE NXT television tapings are scheduled for September 12th, with WWE Superstars Rob Van Dam and Fandango scheduled to appear.
SESCOOPS.COM reader Michael Moody sent along the following:
The marijuana documentary featuring current WWE Superstar Rob Van Dam, titled ‘The Emperor, The President & The King’ is still in production and Hollymood Entertainment is very happy with the content and direction of the documentary. The production also features celebrities such as Willie Nelson, Jack Herer and George Noory.
You can watch the nearly 10 minute trailer for the production below:
Michael Moody, the owner of Hollymood Entertainment and the producer/director of the documentary is currently looking for an investor to finish the production the way he envisions it. If you would be interested in investing in the budget of the production and signing on as a producer, you can contact Michael Moody directly at Slowdive626@aol.com.
-WWE Superstar Ricardo Rodriguez recently tweeted about his new association with Rob Van Dam. In a recent tweet, Rodriguez wrote:
“Ironic to be in Bakersfield, where it all began for me and Del Rio 3 years ago. But now replacing those three initials of ADR with R.V.D.!”
-Speaking of Twitter, WWE legend Jake “The Snake” Roberts recently revealed on his official Twitter account that he is undergoing an operation to get new hair. Roberts wrote, “Getting new hair today. Feeling good. Procedure started. Gonna look like Heidi Klum when done. #Neograft.”
Roberts posted photos of the operation, which you can check out on Twitter @JakeSnakeDDT.