WWE announced on Tuesday night that United States Champion Kalisto will not appear at tonight’s SmackDown tapings due to an injury sustained at the hands of Rusev last night on RAW.
“WWE medical staff confirmed that Kalisto suffered a strained intercostal muscle and erectus spinae muscle, attributed to Rusev’s Accolade submission maneuver.”
WWE.com notes that Kalisto is “still planning” to defend his US title this Sunday again Rusev.
This seems like a storyline to put heat on Rusev heading into Extreme Rules, but we will post an update if there is anything more to the story.
Here are RAW Fallout videos from this week with Lana and Rusev accusing the WWE referees of a conspiracy, Sami Zayn talking about dreaming of going for the WWE IC Title since he was 10 and Kevin Owens predicting he will get “his” title back in the Fatal 4 Way at Extreme Rules:
– John Cena will be back co-hosting the “Today” show on NBC Monday, May 9th, Tuesday, May 10th and Friday, May 13th. Cena returns to WWE RAW on Memorial Day later this month.
– Hornswoggle tweeted the following on taking bookings after his WWE departure was announced yesterday:
Well no time is better than now. Wrestling shows, conventions, signings, bat mitzvahs, whatever you'd like…bookhornswoggle@gmail.com
Rusev and Lana were Michael Cole’s guests for this week’s WWE.com interview. Here are some highlights:
– Cole asked them how their wedding planning is going. Rusev says it’s expensive, unlike Cole’s wedding, but he’ll do anything for his bride to be. Cole said he hasn’t received a ‘Save the date’ card yet and volunteered his address in case they need it. Lana said they don’t, because he’s not invited.
– Cole congratulated Lana on joining the cast of Total Divas cast and asked how the show has changed their lives. Lana said nothing has changed simply because cameras follow them. It’s an honor for Total Divas to have them, because Rusev is a hero and she’s the definition of a true woman. Lana predicts ratings will go way up when they’re on the show.
Cole asked if it concerns them to have cameras filming their personal lives. With a smile and a wink, Rusev replied, “I could care less. I have cameras in my house anyways. Filming some stuff, you know what I mean?”
– Regarding Rusev becoming #1 contender to Kalisto’s United States championship, Rusev says he’s been #1 contender for more than a year and winning the battle royal on RAW was simply a formality. Lana says Kalisto is a small man, almost like a little child. She’s happy for Kalisto overcoming the odds as champion, but says Rusev is going to eat his heart.
– Cole shared his observation that Lana has been around a lot more since the League of Nations broke up. Rusev said the whole League faction started over a card game they were playing backstage. Lana tried warning him that joining forces with the other guys was a bad idea – and she was right. Rusev says they backstabbed him. Lana knew from the start the League of Nations would be a failure and that’s why she waited in the wings for the group to implode.
– Back to Kalisto, Rusev says it’s simple: he’s going to eat Kalisto’s heart and take his title back. He’ll be seeing Kalisto soon and when he does, he will crush him.
– Rusev won a battle royal on RAW to become the #1 contender to Kalisto’s United States Championship. Rusev eliminated Zack Ryder to win after the League of Nations members turned on each other. After the match, Rusev celebrated with Lana and taunted Kalisto, who was on commentary. The title match will likely take place at Extreme Rules in less than 3 weeks.
– WWE Hall of Famer and local legend Harley Race was backstage at Monday’s RAW from St. Louis.
– John Cena and Nikki Bella have been invited to President Obama’s final White House Correspondents Dinner this Saturday, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
– WWE won 3 Cynopsis Sports Media Awards this past week, including best streaming content service, best mobile app and best social media campaign for Conor’s Cure. It was also announced this week that the WWE Network won a Webby Award for the best online sports channel/network.
– Rusev confirms that he’s done with the dissolving League of Nations stable:
I'm done with LON I'm gonna go so hard motherbrother wanna fine me….. What's another title for a BRUTE like me can you please remind me
– Daniel Bryan will be doing an autograph signing at the World of Wheels convention in Chicago this Friday, March 4th.
– WWE announced on Monday that the company has surpassed 10 million Youtube subscribers.
– The big bodyslam challenge that Rusev was hyping for RAW never aired on the show. WWE filmed a brief segment with Rusev and R-Truth and posted it on social media.
Rusev has been teasing a big announcement for tonight’s RAW from Nashville. Turns out, it’s a bodyslam challenge. If anybody can slam him, they’ll win a new Maserati sports car.
On Sunday night, Rusev teased that he will be making a big announcement on tonight’s episode of WWE RAW on the USA Network. Rusev tweeted that RAW is taking place in “his city,” and to stay tuned for his announcement.
“Tomorrow #RAW is in my city NASHVILLE. stay tune for big announcement.”
WWE airs RAW live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN, where Rusev and Lana live.
Other superstars advertised to appear tonight include The Undertaker, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and many more.
Tomorrow #RAW is in my city NASHVILLE. stay tune for big announcement.
Earlier this week, Dave Meltzer reported that there was more heat on Lana within WWE stemming from another incident. Meltzer didn’t go into details, but Konnan did on his podcast. Konnan said on MLW Radio that he was told about an incident at an airport recently where Rusev got heat from some of his fellow wrestlers. Konnan claimed that Lana yelled at Rusev in an airport and he didn’t stand up for himself, which reportedly reflected badly on both of them. This was what Meltzer referred to as something that “has added to her legacy, so to speak.”
Rusev went on Twitter and addressed the rumors with some sarcastic remarks. “Podcasts are soooooooo cool bro,” Rusev said of Konnan’s MLW Radio claims, “you can make up all kinds of stories and it’s like world news.” Here are his tweets referencing the issue:
This just in breaking news @LanaWWE injured Del Rio. Reasons are unknown. I don't know what "heat" is but she has so much of it.
A topic that’s gotten some attention this past week on wrestling websites and social media has been the continuing discussion of WWE’s treatment of women both behind the scenes and in terms of their storytelling. While this has been brewing for a while because of the whole NXT Women’s Division vs. WWE Divas’ Division dynamic, it came to a head this past week because of two moments on WWE programming:
Ric Flair forcibly kissing Becky Lynch as a distraction spot and the announcers laughing it off as a comedy spot.
The Rock’s entire interaction with Lana, who was returning to TV after a noticeable absence, being about the idea that she cheated on Rusev with him when he last appeared on Monday Night Raw.
Today, the topic was explored in an article at Vocative by Alex Groot titled “WWE’s Looming Sexism Problem.” When asked for comment on the piece, WWE issued the following statement:
WWE programming, which features fictional characters that cover a range of personalities similar to movies and television shows, tells stories of good versus evil. In addition, as our on-going storylines develop, we will continue to position women as both strong competitors and compelling individuals.
Of course, as mentioned by Groot, even if you can argue that at least Flair was an evil villain doing evil things, The Rock was the babyface and Lana was the heel.
On a recent episode of his podcast, Konnan may have shed some light on why Lana reportedly has more heat with the WWE locker room. As we reported earlier, Dave Meltzer said on Monday that “there was another thing that happened with her and I don’t know all the details, but it has added to her legacy so to speak.”
Meltzer didn’t get into specifics of the incident, but on Konnan’s MLW Radio podcast, he claims there was an incident at an airport recently where Lana was yelling at Rusev in front of people. Konnan claimed that Rusev also had some heat on him for not sticking up for himself to her.
Prior to this incident, she had heat with Vince McMahon himself after she exposed her real-life engagement with Rusev, which conflicted with an on-air storyline.
Last night, using the hashtag #MilkIsForBabies for some reason, Rusev held an impromptu question and answer session on Twitter. Being Rusev’s Twitter account, it was mostly hilarious, favorably comparing Vince McMahon’s hugs to Bayley’s, claiming that a bear no-showed a fight with him in a WWE ring, and more. But it also took a turn when a fan asked him what his favorite moment in WWE was so far:
Then, this morning, after the Q&A, when a fan replied to the “reading lies” tweet with “I’ll trust @davemeltzerWON over a WWE employee who can & will be punished if he doesn’t say exactly what Vince tells him to,” Rusev quoted the reply and said this:
Of course, other than the injury issue (and even then, there are all sorts of degrees of injuries and it’s not as if there aren’t minor knee injuries that someone would be cleared to work on), he didn’t really call out anything specific. On Monday’s edition of Wrestling Observer Radio for F4WOnline.com subscribers, Meltzer said this about Lana when going over The Rock’s segment on Raw (transcript h/t to Keith Harris at Cageside Seats):
By the way, there was another thing that happened with her and I don’t know all the details, but it has added to her legacy so to speak. Something happened where, you know, she said something. It’s probably nothing except everyone is talking about it and essentially she’s got the new round [of heat]. If people had calmed down about her and just said ‘well, OK, she made a mistake,’ well they haven’t.
[…]
I was just told about it tonight after the show and it was actually by someone who had not even watched the show, but had heard the story, just saying that like there’s a new round of heat, everyone likes Rusev and there was something, and, you know, they are just mad at her again.
This continues the recent trend of WWE talent attempting to refute rumors without actually saying anything. Plus, of course, it should go without saying, but Rusev’s choice of words implies that Meltzer just made up whatever story he was theoretically refuting, and even in the event the rumor was false, that’s obviously something Dave would never do. It’s disingenuous to even imply that about someone who’s been reporting on the business for decades.
As we noted earlier in the week, it was reported by Dave Meltzer that Rusev had tweaked his knee at the Bossier City house show a week ago. Rusev then proceeded to head to Twitter and deny that he had injured his knee in any way:
It's stupid American propaganda. I'm not injured. Just because I didn't go beat up Brock It doesn't mean I'm injured. I go to India now.
Yes, the tweet was in character, but it still continued the recent pattern of WWE performers making a point to try to debunk reports that they were injured. Well, this photo popped up from the ongoing WWE tour of India courtesy of popular wrestling Twitter account Death to All Marks:
Remember: Meltzer said it was a minor injury in the first place and that Rusev should be back before the Royal Rumble. There he is, back before the Royal Rumble and working with a pad/support sleeve on his knee. Clearly, there is nothing wrong with his knee that would lead to him wearing this on only one of his knees…at least according to Rusev.
– WWE Diva Summer Rae recently took part in her first supermodel photoshoot. Paul Heyman’s Heyman Hustle website has the exclusive photos shot by renowned fashion photographer Christos Sewell.
– Rusev tweaked his knee at Saturday night’s WWE live event from Bossier City, Louisiana, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. The injury does not appear serious and Rusev should be back in action before the Royal Rumble.
– Sheamus received stitches after his match against Dean Ambrose on RAW. With Rusev and Barrett injured, Sheamus getting busted open and Alberto Del Rio dropping the US title to Kalisto, not a great week for the League of Nations.
– MMANews.com has a new article looking at the new EA Sports UFC video game, which is scheduled to be released in the Spring of 2016. In the article, it is noted that former WWE Superstar CM Punk is included in the roster for the game.
– WWE Superstar Rusev celebrates his 30th birthday today. “The Bulgarian Brute” was born on December 25, 1985. Also celebrating birthdays today are former TNA Knockout Rhaka Khan (34) and former WWE and TNA star Chris “Braden Walker” Harris (42).
– E! Online recently spoke with WWE Diva Rosa Mendes about her move to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with fiancee’ Bobby Schubenski this weekend. During the discussion, Rosa also spoke about her WWE family checking in on her while she has been away pregnant. “It’s really cool that all the Divas have been calling me and checking up on me,” said Rosa. “Everyone’s just been so great!” Check out the complete article at EOnline.com.
– On Saturday night, Brock Lesnar made a rare live event appearance, taking on Alberto Del Rio in Inglewood, California. The match ended by disqualification when Rusev interfered and attacked Lesnar. It didn’t take long for Lesnar to fight back and throw both men around the ring with German suplexes and F5’s.
Rusev tweeted the following after the incident:
I'm still standing tall. U can't hurt me. I'm Rusev
– It appears that Sheamus may have been injured at Sunday afternoon’s WWE live event from Winnipeg. After Roman Reigns successfully defended the WWE World Heavyweight champion against Sheamus, the referee threw up the “X” symbol for Sheamus. During Reigns’ post-match celebration, Sheamus was helped to the back and appeared to be limping.
Brock Lesnar made his WWE in-ring return at the live event at The Forum in Inglewood, California on Saturday evening, defeating WWE United States Champion Alberto Del Rio via disqualification.
Lesnar returned with Paul Heyman by his side at the WWE live event last night, picking up the win via DQ over Del Rio when Rusev hit the ring and attacked “The Beast Incarnate” just as he was taking the U.S. champ to “Suplex City.”
Lesnar ended up fighting off Rusev, hitting him with a German suplex and an F-5. He teased leaving the ring at this point, however decided to turn around to hit Del Rio with a German suplex and an F-5 for good measure.
– WWE might be giving the name of “The Family” to the stable with Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and The Usos. The group is currently feuding with The League Of Nations — Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, Rusev and King Barrett.
– There was a Chet Mix ad campaign being filmed at the WWE Performance Center on December 2nd.
– WWE recently announced their debut in Amsterdam for April 15th, as well as an April 21st event in Brussels, for their next major European tour. WWE will be running the Ziggo Dome, which holds 17,000 fans, for their debut in Amsterdam. It’s worth noting that WWE has no television in Holland.
Featured above is Michael Cole’s latest weekly sit-down interview, which this week features real-life engaged couple Rusev and Lana.
During the interview Cole brings up Lana not “going all the way” with Dolph Ziggler, which Lana says is true, noting she has always been a “good girl.” She mentioned that her father, a Russian minister, raised her to “save herself for marriage,” which she claims is exactly what she’s doing.
Cole also asks about Rusev “going all the way” with Summer Rae, noting he has a source that claims Rusev wasn’t being honest, as he did “go all the way” with Summer on more than one occasion.
The two talk about their real-life engagement, which is now being used in the current WWE storylines. Lana mentions that she tried not to show it when they were fighting, but she always loved Rusev. Rusev said he loves Lana with all his heart and that he might have done some things wrong in the past, but they’ve talked it over and are moving on.
Finally, Rusev and Lana mention that they will be having two weddings. One will be in September in Bulgaria, and the second one will be a three-day wedding in Russia. Rusev says their American friends are invited, but their ceremony will not be televised and won’t be on the WWE Network.
Last night on RAW, Lana returned and reunited with her real-life fiancé, Rusev on MizTV. Their segment was interrupted by Ryback, who delivered a line about Dolph Ziggler informing him that he “went all the way” with Lana during their time as a [fictional] couple.
According to Wrestling Observer Radio, Rusev and Lana were not told about that line in advance. It was in the script for RAW, but Lana was caught off guard by it in what Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez called a “double cross.”
As we’ve been reporting for several weeks, there’s been a lot of heat on Lana for revealing on social media that she and Rusev were still an item while they were at odds on television, as well as her social media beef with Paige.
– The 200th episode of Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast will be released on Wednesday. The guest for Jericho’s milestone episode will be comedian and one-time RAW guest host Dennis Miller.
– Rusev has been outspoken about NBA star Kobe Bryant’s announcement that he will be retiring at the end of this season. “The Bulgarian Brute” tweeted the following:
Kobe is retiring….. Well good. He is old and can't play anymore. Jordan was better anyways
– In the following video, Xavier Woods previews Rainbow Six Siege for the WWE gaming channel UpUpDownDown, which has recently surpassed 264,000 subscribers.
– WWE CFO George Barrios will take part presenting WWE at the UBS 43rd Annual Global Media and Communications Conference taking place in New York City on December 8th.
– Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park will be tearing down the “Streets of America” attraction to make room for the expansion of “Star Wars Land.” The Streets of America area was the location for Hulk Hogan’s WCW contract signing parade back in 1995 as well as the set for the WCW Monday Nitro’s opening montage.
– Rusev tweeted the following reaction to Kobe Bryant announcing he is retiring from the NBA at the end of this season:
Kobe is retiring….. Well good. He is old and can't play anymore. Jordan was better anyways
– There continues to be a ton of heat on Lana behind the scenes in WWE. According to Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Lana still has “nuclear heat” as a result of her leaking the news of her engagement to Rusev, as well as her recent Twitter war with Paige.
As seen last night on RAW, Rusev returned to action while Lana remained off television.
– Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins is beginning his rehab today at Quad City Crossfit in his hometown of Davenport, Iowa. Rollins posted the following on Instagram today:
On Monday’s post-Survivor Series edition of WWE RAW in Nashville, Tennessee, the main event for the WWE TLC pay-per-view in December was officially announced.
During the opening segment, Roman Reigns confronted Sheamus and said he wanted his rematch at RAW. Triple H would deny him that opportunity, instead watching on as Rusev attacked Reigns from behind and Sheamus hit him with another Brogue Kick to add insult to injury for the second night in a row.
After Reigns was attacked, Triple H told him that he would get his WWE World Heavyweight Championship rematch against Sheamus in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match at the WWE TLC pay-per-view.
WWE TLC is scheduled to air live on Sunday, December 13, 2015 from the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
