– CM Punk and Colt Cabana are both scheduled to appear on a future episode of IFC’s “Maron” with Marc Maron.
– Following this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown, Adam Rose and Fandango are now both official for the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 31. With those two added to the mix, the updated list features Rose, Fandango, The Miz, Curtis Axel and Ryback. More names will likely be added on Monday’s RAW.
– Speaking of the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, Alex Riley has continued his social media campaign with his focus now being on obtaining a spot in the match. He tweeted the following today:
– The following matches were taped on Tuesday night in Atlanta, Georgia for tonight’s edition of WWE SmackDown on the SyFy Network:
– Dean Ambrose vs. The Miz
– Naomi vs. Natalya
– Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett vs. Daniel Bryan in a non-title match
– Curtis Axel vs. Fandango
– Goldust vs. Adam Rose
– Dolph Ziggler, Ryback, and Erick Rowan vs. Seth Rollins, Big Show, and Kane
– The following press release was sent out today regarding Jim Ross’ one-man show during WrestleMania weekend …
PinUp Productions is proud to present RINGSIDE: An Afternoon with Jim Ross Saturday March 28th at the Rockbar Theater at 360 Saratoga Avenue San Jose, CA 95129. Tickets are currently on sale on TicketWeb and at the Rockbar Theater Box Office.
There will be a pre-show meet and greet for VIP ticket holders. The meet & greet runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Doors open for General Admission ticket holders at 12 p.m. with the show beginning at 1 p.m.
Known to sports entertainment fans around the world as the Voice of Professional Wrestling, “Good Ol’ J.R.” has nearly done it all.
From sports entertainment executive to New York Times Bestselling Author, to enduring the struggle of Bell’s palsy and even playing the role of entrepreneur with his own barbeque sauce brand, Jim Ross has certainly worn many hats. But, come March 28th, he will puts on his most famous hat: a 200X Resistol when he takes the stage for a matinee performance to share his life story.
As one of the most influential sports executives of the past 40 years, J.R. has been welcomed into the homes of millions of viewers each and every week. His cool yet dry Southern charm became the soundtrack for wrestling’s most memorable clashes in the sport’s rich history. J.R.’s tales of the road and personal anecdotes featuring some of wrestling’s most legendary stars will have you howling with laughter.
After a successful performances around the world including the United Kingdom, Manhattan and most recently in Philadelphia, J.R. will bring his one-man show to San Jose for a special matinee performance: sharing his stories with wrestling fans in the intimate setting of the Rockbar Theater on March 28th, 2015.
The event will also feature a no holds barred question and answer session with J.R. where the fans become the stars!
Listen to the Ross Report with Jim Ross on PodcastOne to learn more about this event.
“Like” RINGSIDE with Jim Ross on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/JimRossLIVE
Follow Jim Ross on Twitter: @JRsBBQ
Visit Jim Ross online at: http://jrsbarbq.com
– On Monday’s post-Fastlane edition of RAW, WWE confirmed that there will in fact be a second annual Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at this year’s WrestleMania 31 pay-per-view in March.
The first three participants in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal were announced on RAW, as The Miz, Ryback and Curtis Axel all announced themselves as entrants in the match.
– Z.Z. Top member Dusty Hill was in attendance at Monday’s RAW in Nashville, Tennessee. Below is a photo of the legendary rock star at the show.
On Monday’s post-Fastlane edition of WWE RAW, a big Fastlane rematch was announced for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown.
On SmackDown, which will be taped on Tuesday night, there will be a six-person tag-team match featuring Seth Rollins, Kane and Big Show taking on the trio of Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan.
After months on the sidelines, Randy Orton made his return at the WWE Fastlane pay-per-view on Sunday night, which took place at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee.
During the opening match of the evening, which saw Seth Rollins, Kane and Big Show defeat Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan, the heels continued to beat up the babyfaces after their victory until Orton’s theme hit.
Orton made the save, RKO’ing several people and going for the kill on Rollins, who was ultimately saved by the Big Show.
As we have been reporting for several months, Orton and Rollins are expected to work a program heading into WrestleMania 31.
The Road to WrestleMania will become a lot clearer after Sunday’s pay-per-view. Fastlane is available for free to all new WWE Network customers, and even those who previously cancelled their account and re-subscribed, so there’s really no reason to miss out on the action. Here is how I expect the event to play out.
Goldust vs. Stardust
Man, they really should have saved this one for WrestleMania, but I guess there is only room on the card for one tag team breakup storyline, and it looks like that’s going to be Miz and Mizdow. Expect these guys to put on one hell of a match, as they have been lobbying for it for what seems like years. After a solid ten-minute contest with a number of near-falls, Stardust will pick up the win with Cross Rhodes.
Result: Stardust via pinfall
Rusev (United States Champion) vs. John Cena
These guys have done a pretty good of building up this match over the past few weeks, and it genuinely seems like Cena is interested in winning the United States Championship, which is always a plus. It’s almost guaranteed that this feud is going to continue into WrestleMania, so I expect Rusev to pick up the win, but certainly not clean.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHA5g_T227k
Lana will become involved at some point, possibly distracting Cena long enough for Rusev to pounce and pick up the win via the deadliest finisher in all of wrestling (the distraction roll-up), or by using the title as a weapon to knock out Cena while the Ravishing Russian distracts the referee. This will set up a rematch at WrestleMania where Cena will most likely go over.
Result: Rusev via pinfall
Nikki Bella (Divas Champion) vs. Paige
Paige is the most popular diva in the entire company by far right now. They are going to want her to capture the title at WrestleMania. Nikki wins with help from her sister before dropping the title to Paige next month.
WWE Superstar Ryback recently spoke with Jim Varsallone of The Miami Herald about a number of topics. Below are highlights from the interview.
On the Nexus’ debut in 2010: “We were pretty much told that if we don’t nail this thing, we’re probably going to be fired or definitely not going to be given the opportunity they were going to give us. So we were all on the same page that night…We all knew we had to work together that night, and we were all in position to do that, because if we were going to make this thing work, we had to work together. When you’re out there with seven other guys, working together, it kind of makes it a little bit easier. It wasn’t solely just on one of us. So that definitely helped, but to say nerves didn’t exist would be crazy. We definitely were all nervous before we went out there. That was the first night of the beginning of my WWE career, so to speak, as far as being in the big leagues. That night in Miami we were given a huge opportunity to sink or swim, and a group of us went out there, and we tore everything up.”
On working with John Cena: “Working with John has been a great experience. He’s been on top in WWE for a very long time, and he’s done extremely well for himself. He has set the bar very high. John’s been able to [be on top] for an extended period of time, which is a rarity in this business. So being in the ring with John was a great learning tool for me to see where I had to be, what areas I had to improve for me to go where I wanted to go with Ryback.”
On working with Paul Heyman: “Being with Paul Heyman, if you look back at the wrestling footage throughout the years, he’s been around for a very long time, and he’s been around a lot of the greats. So for Paul to want to align himself with me and be with me was a great compliment to me. It was a lot of fun. At that stage of my career and where I was at, I always liked being out there by myself to speak and say what I want to say and not have a mouthpiece, but it was a great learning experience for me, seeing how Paul approached promos and how he spoke to people and controlled the crowd, because he is truly very gifted in that aspect.”
On his time in WWE: “In anything in life, there’s going to be ups and downs, but my time in WWE thus far has been amazing. Each and everyday I get to show up to my job. I love it. I’m very thankful. Everyday is a different opportunity, a different challenge, and I love that.”
Check out the complete interview at MiamiHerald.com.
As we all know, Raw is tonight. By show of hands, how many people are planning to bail before the end of the program? If this question were posed to last week’s viewing audience, over 250,000 hands would be in the air right now. That number represents the number of viewers who tuned in for the first hour but were long gone by hour three, and that’s not even counting the 600,000 viewers from the previous week who called in sick and didn’t show up at all.
Since Raw 1000, the program has been a three-hour fixture on Monday night, even though the company has done little with the additional hour in most cases. In all, the numbers show that it’s time to turn back the clock to Raw 999 and cut back to two hours.
Emma vs. Summer Rae in a dance-off? No thanks!
There are a number of reasons this makes sense. Most importantly, this roster is as thin as a two-dollar blanket right now. Take last week’s show, for instance. The company bookended the show with the nearly identical matches – neither of which was particularly memorable. By the end of the first hour, the crowd had already seen every participant in the main event compete in a match (aside from J&J, but they interfered in the Rollins/Ryback match). And please don’t get me started on how many times we’ve seen the Usos battle Miz and Mizdow over the past few months.
It would be a massive understatement to say that the shows have lacked direction in recent months too. I went back and watched a few episodes of Raw from 2012, right before Raw was permanently extended to three hours. Mind you, this was during the dreadful John Cena/Kane “embrace the hate” program, and even those shows featured more direction than the current product.
If the past is any indication, expect to see The Authority opening tonight’s episode of Raw.
By putting less stress on the writers and limiting exposure, they were able to establish a conflict (Kane attempting to terrorize Zack Ryder/John Cena), provide a climax near the middle of the show (Cena kissing Eve while Ryder hilariously looked on), and finally a resolution in the form of a catastrophe (Kane launching Ryder off of the stage).
They were able to build around this central storyline by sprinkling in five matches and a few entertaining segments that highlighted other members of the roster, ultimately creating a neat two hours of wrestling (or sports entertainment, whichever term you prefer). In recent weeks, the program has been an absolute mess, with the typical structure usually as follows:
The Authority starts the program by cutting the same boring 20-minute promo they cut every week and setting up a main event involving Kane and/or Big Show. Next is a match that they say will start after the break, usually trying to invoke some sense of suspense as to which superstars will be involved, but the roster is so thin that we know it will be Seth Rollins or an over-the-hill Authority goon competing against either Dolph Ziggler, Daniel Bryan, Ryback or Roman Reigns – usually ending in a non-finish. We next get a sagging middle with “comedy” matches and backstage segments that rarely go anywhere. Paul Heyman is sent out somewhere near the middle to try to save the crowd. A few more filler matches typically come next, and finally a tag match to end the show, which also usually ends in a non-finish. Eat. Sleep. Lose A Quarter Million Viewers. Repeat.
Even with the help of Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar, Raw lost over a quarter of a million viewers by the end of last week’s program.
The overexposure is killing everyone involved in the process, including talent, announcers, and even the fans, hence the reason they aren’t sticking around for the full three hours. I get that the company is trying to appease shareholders, and increased ad revenue is one of the easiest ways to do so, but in the end, they are doing long-term damage in exchange for short-term ad revenue.
This is also not to say that a wrestling promotion can’t put on an entertaining three-hour program. It is simply stating that this wrestling promotion has proven they are incapable of doing so. There are a lot of problems with the current product, from hotshotting anything that is remotely popular to underutilizing some of the company’s best talent to even dragging out storylines fans are disinterested in. However, the biggest problem with Raw, and perhaps the company as a whole, can be summed up in one word: overexposure.
How would you feel about Raw going back to two hours? Do you think it would improve the product? Voice your opinion in the comments section.
WWE Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett recently spoke with Graham Caygill of The National to promote the WWE tour of Abu Dhabi. Below are highlights:
On WrestleMania: “I am always down for being on WrestleMania. It is kind of a tough spot to get on to as we have a lot of legends that comeback for matches and it is sometimes very difficult to get on the card. But I would love to have a match. I think my ideal WrestleMania match would be me against Sheamus in a retirement match. I would get him out of the WWE for good so we would never have to look at his stupid face again.”
On being Intercontinental Champion: “The first time I had it was in 2011. I have had it five times now and when I look back and when I was a kid my favourites were the British Bull Dog Davey Boy Smith, Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart, the Ultimate Warrior, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, The Rock and as you mentioned they have all had that title. So it was a huge thing for me when I first won it in 2011. I am kind of used to carrying it around now and in this era I am the guy who has had it more than anyone I think, so I am very proud to carry that title.”
On guys he would like to face in the ring: “I think Roman Reigns is someone I have been in the ring with once before and he was very good. He beat me very quickly unfortunately, but he is someone I think is going to be a big star in the future in the WWE. Bray Wyatt is another one. I know we’re both bad guys at the moment, but one day I think I’d definitely like to do some work with him.”
On the Nexus angle in 2010: “A lot of people were telling me at the time they were surprised how well I was coping with that pressure, but to me I felt more pressure trying to get to WWE and struggling as an up and coming wrestler as opposed to being the guy at the very top. I loved that run. I had a lot of fun doing it, I thought we got some great reactions and we got some great storylines and TV out of it.”
On Ryback’s cricket ability after the pair took part in a cricket day while in the UAE: “He used to play baseball so I thought he was going to have skills that might crossover but I saw him trying to catch, I saw him bowling, I saw him batting and it was like he had never used his arms before. So yeah, he was pretty terrible. He was worse than me, which is saying something.”
There’s a possibility that plans for a Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler match at WrestleMania 31 may be off.
Some are speculating that once Bryan vs. Roman Reigns was made for the WWE Fast Lane pay-per-view in a number one contender’s match that the company had already started heading in a different direction leading into WrestleMania.
While it’s unlikely, there is a possibility that Bryan ends up working against Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, however most assume that the main event will remain Reigns vs. Lesnar for the title.
Regarding the Bryan-Ziggler match, there is said to be a reason why WWE has Ziggler teaming up with Ryback for a tag-team match on tonight’s SmackDown show. Apparently there is talk of keeping Ziggler and Ryback as a duo and having them work a tag-team match at WrestleMania 31, which would obviously scrap the possibility of a Bryan-Ziggler singles match.
– The dark match main event after last night’s live editio of WWE SmackDown saw John Cena and Dean Ambrose defeat Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt in tag-team action.
– The first of a three-part SmackDown Fallout for this week, which you can watch below, features Goldust telling Stardust to get his head on straight. Whether or not this is the beginning of a Goldust vs. Stardust feud, which has been rumored for quite some time, remains to be seen.
– In part two of this week’s SmackDown Fallout, which you can see below, Seth Rollins complains about Ryback, Dolph Ziggler and Erick Rowan getting into his business again.
– Finally, in the third and final portion of this week’s SmackDown Fallout, Kane rises from the casket after being defeated by Daniel Bryan.
– Heath Slater returns on the road with WWE at this weekend’s live events. As noted recently, all charges against Slater stemming from an alleged domestic violence incident at a 2011 WrestleMania after-party have been dropped.
– The latest edition of “WWE Top 10,” which you can view below, looks at the ten most dramatic endings to past Royal Rumble matches.
– Below is a video of Dolph Ziggler and Ryback “returning to work” after being re-hired thanks to Sting and John Cena on this past Monday’s RAW.
Below are this week’s “RAW Fallout” videos. The first video shows The Authority, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, storming out of the arena after Sting showed up and helped John Cena win the main event, which allowed Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan to get their jobs back.
In the second video, the New Age Outlaws talk about The Ascension, who they will meet in the ring at this Sunday’s WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
And finally, here’s the third RAW Fallout video, which features Cena gloating about his friends getting their jobs back.
WWE Superstars Sheamus, Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan were all backstage at the WWE RAW Reunion show on Monday night in Dallas, Texas.
None of the four stars were used on television, but are expected to be at tonight’s WWE SmackDown television taping in Austin, Texas.
Since Ziggler, Ryback and Rowan won their jobs back on RAW, it’s believed that they’ll make their official return and be used on tonight’s taping.
As far as Sheamus goes, he has been out with an injury, however he cut a promo that didn’t air on the television show, so his return is imminent as well.
Sting made a surprise appearance at the end of Monday’s WWE RAW Reunion and once again stuck it to The Authority.
The 3-on-1 main event match featuring John Cena vs. Seth Rollins, Big Show and Kane. If Cena lost, he would be removed from the Royal Rumble title match this Sunday. If he won, Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan get their jobs back.
When it looked like Cena on the verge of succumbing to the odds, Sting appeared on the big screen. He made his way to the stage and distracted Seth Rollins, allowing Cena to roll him up for the pin.
As a result, Ziggler, Ryback and Rowan get their jobs back.
Make sure to check back this Sunday for our WWE Royal Rumble Live Coverage play-by-play results.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Booker T has a new radio show with CBS Houston, which debuted on Saturday night. The show airs on SportsRadio610.com, as well as on radio stations in the local market. The people involved with the show are still working on coming up with a name for the program, which is scheduled to air every Saturday at 7pm local time.
– Ryback is working his “firing” angle on social media, as he posted the following on Friday evening.
– “Fired” WWE Superstars Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan have been spotted in the Dallas, Texas area—the site of tonight’s Raw—according to PWInsider.com. It was not noted whether they will be appearing on the show.
– WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs … and Stairs, which was released last week on DVD, is the first video title to be released under its home video distribution agreement with Warner Bros. There is a line on the back of the box which reads “Distributed by Warner Home Video.”
– The official WWE website has issued a poll asking fans how many Superstars Roman Reigns will eliminate in the Royal Rumble. Over 50% fans believe he’ll break his own record with 13 or more.
– While the WWE Network has been available in the United Kingdom and Ireland for several days, today marks as the official launch of the video streaming service.
As things stand right now, aside from the 30-man over-the-top Royal Rumble match itself, there are only two matches that have been officially announced for the 2015 WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view, those being Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, and The Usos vs. The Miz & Damien Mizdow for the WWE Tag-Team Championship.
It appears that Nikki Bella vs. Natalya for the WWE Divas Championship will be added, and with the Rumble match itself being such a lengthy match, and one with so many competitors involved, there’s a good possibility that only one or two additional matches will end up being added to the card.
Matches such as Roman Reigns vs. Big Show and Ryback vs. Rusev were being pushed, however three of those four are announced as Rumble participants, and nothing can be officially booked for Ryback until WWE wraps up the “firing” angle from last week’s RAW.
– WWE broadcast team member Scott Stanford will be back on the official WWE RAW pre-show on the WWE Network tonight. Stanford will join the regular RAW pre-show hosts Byron Saxton and Alex Riley in place of the usual third member of the team, Booker T.
– Ryback posted the following tweet to follow up on the “firing” storyline from last Monday’s edition of WWE RAW.
The storyline “firing” of Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan, which took place on this past Monday’s edition of WWE RAW, is expected to be resolved before or during the upcoming WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view on January 25th.
As things stand right now, Ziggler, Ryback and Rowan are all expected to be participants in the 30-man over-the-top Royal Rumble match during the pay-per-view.
– With SmackDown moving to Thursday nights on Syfy, WWE announced changes to the announce teams for both SmackDown and Raw yesterday. Beginning this Monday, Michael Cole, Booker T and John “Bradshaw” Layfield will handle play-by-play and color commentary on Raw. Then, when SmackDown debuts next Thursday on Syfy, Cole, Jerry “The King” Lawler and Byron Saxton will call the action—Tom Phillips is off the announce team. The broadcast team for WWE pay-per-view events will continue to feature Cole, Lawler and Layfield.
While this change appears sudden, in the case of Lawler, WWE officials have wanted to remove him from the broadcast booth at Raw “for a long time.”
“They wanted to get rid of Lawler on Raw for a long time, but after the heart attack, they figured they couldn’t,” stated Wrestling Observer editor Dave Meltzer on the F4WOnline.com message board Thursday night in a thread about the announce team changes. “This relaunch of Smackdown gave them the chance.”
– The official WWE website has issued a poll asking fans which fired WWE Superstar they would bring back if allowed. With over 15,000 votes cast, Dolph Ziggler is leading the poll at 68%. Ryback follows at 26% with Erick Rowan following him at 7%.
– Stephanie McMahon and WWE Chief Financial Officer George A. Barrios will participate in a presentation at the 17th Annual Needham Growth Conference for investors in New York City on Tuesday. Their remarks are expected to being around 5:30 pm ET. You can listen to a live audio webcast on the presentation online at ir.corporate.wwe.com under Events & Presentations.
– As noted earlier this week, WWE Hall Of Famer Jerry Lawler was hospitalized with diverticulitis, which is why he was replaced by Booker T on commentary at this past Monday’s RAW. Lawler was reportedly released from the hospital on Monday, January 5th and is said to be doing a lot better right now.
– Also reported recently, Dolph Ziggler was pulled from the WWE live events scheduled for this weekend as a way to continue the “firing” storyline from RAW. Since then, it has been revealed that both Ryback and Erick Rowan, who were also “fired” on Monday, will not be working the live events this weekend as well.
The latest edition of Michael Cole’s weekly sit-down interview, which features the return of Triple H, is now available.
On this week’s interview, Triple H talks in-depth about the return of The Authority and the angles from RAW, namely the “firing” storyline involving Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan.
HHH also brought up Sting, noting that “he has had his 15 seconds of fame.”
As noted earlier today, Seth Rollins did not appear on “Miz TV” at the SmackDown tapings on Tuesday night as was advertised on Monday’s RAW. HHH revealed during the interview that Rollins wouldn’t be appearing on the talk show segment, because “he doesn’t need to be.”
You can check out the complete Michael Cole sit-down interview with “The Game” above.
In what is likely a follow-up to the “firing” storyline from Monday’s edition of WWE RAW, Dolph Ziggler has been removed from the advertised lineups for this coming weekend’s WWE live events. Ziggler has been replaced on the shows by the new WWE Intercontinental Champion, Bad News Barrett.
As things stand right now, Ryback and Erick Rowan have not been removed from the lineups, despite the fact that they too were “fired” on Monday’s show.
It’s possible that fans at the live events this weekend will be told that Ryback and Rowan are “fulfilling contractual obligations,” or something along those lines, as a way of getting around the television storyline, as that is how WWE has handled similar situations like this in the past.
After being fired along with Ryback and Erick Rowan by The Authority on Monday’s edition of WWE RAW, Dolph Ziggler posted the following statement today:
“it’s the same old situation … the authority is back, again. I’m sorry. to all the hard working superstars that spend 300 nights a year on the road, entertaining the fans the only way they know how, by giving them everything they can! I’m sorry. I’ve done absolutely everything in my power to not only deliver every night, but improve my unique skill set, daily. In any other job that would be rewarded, certainly not frowned upon. I may be out of new york, but I have a lot of connections in LA. I will see you all again soon & know that I miss THIS more than anything in the world, ANYTHING! but you don’t know what’s best for you, THEY do. then again, THEY probably think 4/10 is as good as it gets… same old ball and chain.”