WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Here are some highlights of what JR wrote about:
Fandango vs. Randy Orton from RAW: “Fandango made a nice showing vs the MITB winner Randy Orton. Summer Rae’s ringside work adds to Fandango’s TV persona. Fandango’s best days are ahead especially as Summer Rae continues to develop while @RandyOrton is at the top of his game.”
RVD vs. Chris Jericho from RAW: “Loved the Jericho-RVD match. Generally a cold match featuring two, fan favorites challenges the crowd to emotionally invest as the rule of thumb is that the fans don’t want either man to lose. These two men put on such a great performance that it embraced all that were in Brooklyn live and that emotion translated well on TV. In 48 hours, RVD is already more relevant than he was the entire time that he was away from WWE.”
Daniel Bryan vs. John Cena at SummerSlam: “John Cena picked the only man that he should have logically picked, in my opinion, for the main event for the WWE Title bout at SummerSlam and that was the red hot Daniel Bryan. I will not be surprised if DB beats Cena in LA as that outcome would be HUGE in WWE-land and significantly re-shuffle the deck. Plus, MITB winner Randy Orton is obviously and largely in play no mater the main event’s outcome as Orton could realistically leave Summer Slam as the WWE Champion no matter who wins the Cena-Bryan match.”
-Monday’s WWE RAW show shot up 24.5 percent in social media activity as compared to last week’s Money In The Bank “go-home” edition of the show.
RAW scored 355,138 in social activity, according to Trendrr.TV. The number marks the highest score since the post-WrestleMania edition of RAW. RAW topped the annual average by 24.3 percent.
-The following is this week’s RAW Backstage Fallout, which features Rob Van Dam, The Real Americans and the Prime Time Players:
-WWE.com caught up with Rob Van Dam following his return at Sunday’s Money In The Bank pay-per-view. Among other topics, RVD noted that the reaction he received from the fans in Philadelphia on Sunday night was awesome. Additionally, Van Dam spoke about how there’s a whole lot more to come from “Mr. Monday Night.” Check out the full feature online at WWE.com.
-As previously noted, both Ric Flair and Bill Watts were not going to be appearing at the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Pro Wrestling Hall Of Fame induction ceremony this past weekend. However, WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross appeared to accept on behalf of his longtime personal friend, Watts, and WWE Hall Of Famer Gerald Brisco accepted on behalf of “The Nature Boy.”
-WWE cameras caught up with WWE Champion John Cena following his successful title defense against “The World’s Strongest Man” Mark Henry at Money In The Bank. Cena put Henry over and mentioned that his match against him at the PPV was one of the most difficult challenges he’s ever faced. Check out that feature online as well at WWE.com.
-WWE Hall Of Famer Jesse Ventura celebrates his 62nd birthday today. Current WWE Superstar Heath Slater turns 30 today. Finally, Mexican wrestling legend and WWE Hall Of Famer Mil Mascaras turns 71 today.
According to reports, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns of The Shield have had some backstage heat on them since their debut in WWE. Though there is some speculation, no definite reasoning has been brought to light as to what is causing the backstage heat.
There were talks at the Money In The Bank pay-per-view on Sunday night, which took place in Philadelphia, PA, of having Damien Sandow defend his briefcase against Cody Rhodes at this year’s SummerSlam pay-per-view.
Rob Van Dam took to Twitter following the Money in the Bank pay-per-view tweeting about having to recieve fourteen stitches after his match saying, “Always wanted a Frankenstein zipper.”
Both WWE Superstars Rob Van Dam and CM Punk required stitches following the WWE “All-Stars” Money In The Bank ladder match.
WWE.com has published photos of both RVD and Punk receiving stitches and medical treatment from WWE doctors backstage at the pay-per-view on Sunday night.
Additionally, Punk published some photos on his official Twitter page of his cuts before they were closed with staples by WWE doctors:
– TNA Knockout Velvet Sky announced on Twitter that she missed a TNA live event this weekend because she was involved in a car accident:
“As I write this I’m on the side of the highway where I was en route to Poughkeepsie’s house show until my truck spun out and ended up in a ditch due to the blizzard that’s going on right now.
Sorry to the fans that were wanting to see me tonight, but I won’t be at the Impact show. I’m ok, just really shaken up from the accident, and I’m sitting in wait for a tow truck to rescue me.
All those traveling tonight in the CT/NY area and beyond, plz be careful. I have seen so many accidents today already and the roads are dangerous tonight. God Bless those traveling.”
– TNA X-Division champion has announced that his Youtube show RVD TV is returning soon:
New Japan WrestleKings V show
Tokyo, Japan at the Tokyo Dome
Report by reader Nick
I don’t know the exact attendance figure, but the whole first tier was filled along with the ground level seating. My friend and I speculated there were about 10,000-12,000 people there. We paid 3,000 yen (approximately 35 US dollars) for a seat in the first tier, with a nice view of the action.
As is expected in Japan, the Japanese wrestlers received the biggest pops and heat. Notable mention must go to Kenny Omega and Prince Devitt though – they seem to have created a pretty nice following in Japan.
From TNA, Jeremy Borash was doing the ring introductions, and Beer Money, RVD and Jeff Hardy were in action. Quite a few people seemed to be familiar with Beer Money as they have been to Japan
before, but unfortunately Jeff Hardy and RVD received little to no reaction. It was quite funny with RVD, as the Japanese wrestler he faced received a way bigger pop when he mockingly did the RVD gesture with his name than RVD did himself.
Props go to Jeff Hardy for making the trip to Japan with all the personal issues he has going on right now, but he was far from top form today, and put on arguably the worst match of the night. He faced Tetsuya Naitoh (part of No Limit who were in TNA briefly), but the match never got going, had a couple of botched spots, and there was a “was that it?” feeling in the crowd after it ended.
The match may have finished early for some reason as Naitoh didn’t even take his t-shirt off (he usually takes it off during one his signature moves), and Jeff did look noticeably exhausted a couple of minutes into the match. Like I say though, props to Jeff for coming to Japan and putting on the show with everything he has going on at the moment.
All TNA wrestlers used their TNA music and entrance videos.
There was also an announcement during the show that New Japan will be putting on 3 shows under the “Strong Style” slogan in the U.S. in May this year. I think it was May 13 in New Jersey, May 14 in New York, and May 15 in Philadelphia. You may want to confirm those dates, but it was definitely in those cities.
Dark Match
1. Wataru Inoue, Tiger Mask, Tama Tonga and Tomoaki Honma defeated Yujiro Takahashi, Tomohiro Ishi, Gedo and Jado in an 8-man tag match. Short 8-man tag match, was disappointing to see Tiger Mask relegated to dark match status.
Main Card
1. Kouji Kanemoto and Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Kenny Omega and Taichi. Kenny Omega looked great, and the fans seem to be really behind him.
2. Giant Bernard (A-Train/Prince Albert) and Machine Gun Anderson defeated Beer Money and the team of Nakanishi Manabu and Strongman in a three way tag match. I liked Machine Gun Anderson – he and Bernard got a nice reaction. Beer Money did the Beer Money suplex, DWI, and James Storm did the beer spitting spot which backfired. Fun match which ended with Bernard telling TNA that “NJPW is No. 1!”
3. La Sombra and Mascara Dorada (from CMLL) defeated Jushin Thunder Liger and Hector Garza. Lucha libre style tag match with lots of high risk athletic spots. La Sombra performed an inwards somersault dive to the outside and Mascara Dorada did a tightrope walk moonsault to the outside. Really impressive stuff from all 4 guys.
4. Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Takashi Iizuka in a “Deep Sleep” (first person unconscious) match. Finally a singles match! Very physical grudge match – Iizuka is an awesome heel. Tenzan finished with an move similar to the Anaconda Vice to put Iizuka away. The crowd loved Tenzan – he was out for a long time with an injured neck and seems to be somewhat of a crowd favourite.
5. Rob Van Dam defeated Toru Yano in a hardcore match. Poor RVD. He put on a good effort here, but received little to no love from the crowd. Japanese crowds are tough to win over. Standard hardcore rules match with chairs, trash cans, ladders, etc involved. RVD did the Van Daminator a couple of times (to no reaction) and hit the Five Star Frog Splash to Yano holding a chair (to no reaction) for the win.
6. Yuji Nagata defeated Minoru Suzuki. Grudge match – apparently there is legit heat between these two guys going back over 20 years. Nagata hit some mega stiff kicks, very much a Japanese strong style match.
7. Prince Devitt defeated Kouta Ibushi to retain the IWGP Jr Heavyweight Title. Easily the best match of the night. Both these guys are so impressive in the ring, and shook hands at the end after a very high paced match. I urge you all to check this out on YouTube if it gets uploaded.
8. Sugiura and Yoshihiro Takayama defeated Hirooki Goto and Kazuchika Okada. Takayama was as stiff as ever, everyone was “oooh”-ing every time he hit a knee. They did a Go To Sleep style move where Sugiura threw Goto off his shoulders and onto Takayama’s oncoming knee. Looked nasty. Takayama got the win for his team with a bridging german suplex.
9. Jeff Hardy defeated Tetsuya Naitoh to retain the TNA Title. As I mentioned, a disappointing match. Never got going. Jeff hit the Whisper in the Wind, Twist of Hate, and finished with the Swanton Bomb. Naitoh did all the heavy lifting before that, and did his best to create some movement, but Jeff didn’t have a great day at the office.
10. Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Go Shiozaki. Great match, Nakamura has some nasty looking chops. He was even chopping Shiozaki’s knee at one point.
11. Tougi Makabe defeated Masato Tanaka.
12. Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Satoshi Kojima to become the 56th IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Tanahashi, who was in TNA for a while, had the crowd behind him in an entertaining title match, and sent everyone home happy with a title win.
TNA Champion Rob Van Dam spoke to SLAM Wrestling this week to promote Sunday’s TNA Sacrifice pay-per-view. Here are some highlights of what Mr. Monday Thursday Night said about:
The Way He’s Used in TNA vs. How He Was Used In WWE: “In WWE, a lot of times friends would come to the show and say, ‘Wow, you get the loudest reaction out of all the wrestlers here, how come you’re not in the main event and how come they don’t have any RVD T-shirts?’ and that’s what I always dealt with before. Now, I feel like I’m in a great position as champ. I have no doubt I’m going to do my part to show the best matches anybody has seen in TNA, so it’s pretty exciting.”
TNA’s Move Back to Thursday Nights: “It’s going to allow us to shine and grow. And from what I can see, most of the other boys seem to feel the same way. Dixie told us that this was from listening to polls from the fans and I think probably SpikeTV also wanted it and it really seems like it will be a good thing now. WWE, they own Monday night and that’s not going to change.”
TNA’s Monday Night Run: “Dixie (Carter) never said, ‘Hey, we’re going to beat the hell out of them on Monday nights, we’re going to take over and own it. She always said, ‘We know we’re going up against a much bigger company, we’re doing this slowly, we’re going to try to win battle-by-battle.’ She always seemed to have everything in perspective. As long as it didn’t put too big of a hole in them financially, I think it was a great move.”
To read the full interview, including what RVD thinks about working with AJ Styles and an update on his wife Sony’a health, visit Slam.Canoe.ca.
Former WWE & ECW champion Rob Van Dam has a new blog up on his MySpace, talking about the Monday Night War from this week between WWE and TNA. Here’s what he wrote:
Monday night wrestling, let’s talk about it. Many people have called,texted or emailed me to get my opinion of the live wrestling shows that competed for our viewership earlier this week. I can critique just like you, but let’s talk about what we liked. I switched back and forth between both shows, just like you did. It was cool seeing the crowd reaction for Brett the Hitman Hart. I know he has wanted to step back in the ring for a long time and I have no doubt that the “welcome back†felt like a warm blanket in Canada. On the other show, the NWO appearing was a nice surprise, as was Jeff hardy in a big way. I was a little concerned since all the pre-Monday advertisements just said “We got Hoganâ€. They had a lot of ex-WWE’ers-whether money drawers or not-so the element of change and hope was in the air. I thought that was nice. They also had some good matches. fans like that. I’m still confused on the schedule for TNA’s Monday night shows.
I thought this was going to be an every-Monday night thing but I’ve heard I’m wrong on that. Anyone else confused with me? Anyone know what they’re doing?
Do we tune in again next week or next quarter or WTF?
I’m sure that wrestling had it’s highest ratings in awhile so that’s good and TNA must’ve had their largest viewing audience. Many people have told me that they were glad I wasn’t on Monday night. I don’t think that I feel more inspired to return than I did before Monday, for that matter. I do hope that public interest in wrestling does grow as it would be good for everybody…except that guy that tried to blow up that airplane in Detroit. He’s f-cked!
I probably feel the same way that you do about Monday night. It intrigued me to watch, which I normally don’t, and I believe I’ll watch again next week…if it’s on.
Former WWE superstar and free agent Rob Van Dam posted on Twitter that he had “big wrestling plans” for January 4, with a link to his website, RobVanDam.com.
In a new blog posted on Sunday, Van Dam addressed the rumors that he will appear at TNA iMPACT! He wrote:
The wrestling business is exciting for the first time in quite awhile. This Monday kicks off the new ratings war between WWE and TNA-like I have to tell you! I admit, I am interested in the hype. In fact, I feel like I’m involved with this new era just because of the ginormous rumors involving me and a return. I’m going to say this-even though I know it won’t do much good-don’t be mad at me that you tuned in to see your favorite wrestler and I wasn’t there. I’m going to be watching with you.
What do you think – is RVD really staying home or could this be a swerve to keep it unexpected? Comment below.
Posted January 4th, 2010 in News, TNA. Tagged: RVD.
— To clear up an unfortunate rumor, Mick Foley is alive and well. Foley posted a blog today on his MySpace.com page saying a friend informed him of an Internet rumor that he had died. Foley wrote, “A friend of mine since middle school actually heard I had died on the Internet today. Just want to clear that one up. I am very much alive and well,” Foley said. “I don’t know how these things get started, but hopefully no one beside my friend took it seriously.”
— Former WWE superstar and Spirit Squad member Ken Doane (“Kenny Dykstra”) will be appearing in a new FOX Reality channel series called “Seducing Cindy” – where a group of young guys compete to win the love of model/actress Cindy Margolis. Doane wrote on Twitter, “WWE don’t want me,TNA don’t want me right now. Guess I’m gonna get ready for “Seducing Cindy” Jan 30th 2010 glassmanmedia.com see the promo!”
Visit PWTweets.com to read more Tweets from pro wrestlers and divas.
— TNA Champion A.J. Styles and free agent Rob Van Dam are scheduled to appear on tonight’s Between The Ropes radio show, hosted by Brian Fritz and D-Lo Brown. The show airs at 6PM (ET) at BetweenTheRopes.com.
– The ongoing speculation that TNA will wind up on Monday nights competing head-to-head with WWE Raw continues. While nobody from TNA or Spike TV have commented directly about the rumor, people who are being contacted by Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff about joining them in TNA are “under the impression” that a Monday night show is inevitable. There has been talk of TNA holding a live television special on Monday night, January 4th to test he waters and see how they would do up against Raw.
– Hulk Hogan is not a fan of TNA’s 6-sided ring and has been telling people that it’s one of the first things he’s like to change when he comes into power next month.
– Hogan and Bischoff are said to be confident that Rob Van Dam and Ric Flair will wind up in TNA.
– Despite being featured on the TNA Genesis PPV poster, Hulk Hogan will not be wrestling on the show. It’s likely that he will eventually step in the ring, but not until the right match has been set up with months of storyline build leading up to it.
– It’s interesting to note that the DVD cover for “End Game†which starred Kurt Angle and former TNA Knockout Jenna Morasca promotes Angle as a WWE star with no mention of TNA. There is also no mention of Jenna’s run in wrestling.
(Credit to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter for some of the information used in this report)
Former WWE & ECW champion Rob Van Dam appeared on the Between The Ropes radio show with Brian Fritz on Tuesday night and talked about his experience at Sunday’s TNA Bound For Glory event. Van Dam met Vince Russo and Dixie Carter for the first time at the show.
Regarding his meeting with Vince Russo, he said, “I think that was the first I’ve met him,” Van Dam said. “I’ve talked to him on the phone a few times. I stood there and talked with him for a few minutes the other day. I’ve only known him by reputation before, which was a little choppy.” Van Dam sounded a bit skeptical of Russo, but acknowledged that most of what he’s heard has been second and third hand information.
Van Dam also described his brief encounter with TNA president Dixie Carter. “It was real short,” Van Dam said. I introduced myself to her. She said, ‘Yeah, we’ve talked on the phone.’ And then it was it was real awkward like she wanted to talk, but there wasn’t anything to say.”
– Rob Van Dam appeared on Between The Ropes radio show Tuesday night and when asked about rumors of him attending TNA’s Bound For Glory pay-per-view this Sunday in his hometown area, he mentioned that he would be there but said, “Well, I certainly don’t have any plans of bringing my wrestling boots.” RVD added that his wife Sonya has been talking to Sharmell and that he planned on seeing Booker T while he was there.
— Speaking of Booker T, he and fellow Main Event Mafia member Scott Steiner are on their ways out of TNA Wrestling. Booker T’s unhappiness in TNA has been well documented and he’s almost certainly leaving when his TNA contract expires shortly. As much as we’ve heard about Booker T leaving TNA soon, Scott Steiner is heavily rumored to be on his way out of TNA following this Sunday’s Bound for Glory pay-per-view. He is said to be on the bubble as a result of his friendship with Jeff Jarrett and because company president Dixie Carter has never been a big fan of his. There were rumors a few weeks ago indicating he had given notice, but it appears management made the call in this case.
— There’s a rumor that former WWE superstar Ken “Mr. Kennedy” Anderson will make his TNA Wrestling debut at Sunday’s Bound For Glory PPV. While we can confirm Kennedy making his unannounced TNA debut this weekend has been discussed, there’s no