Sam Roberts made a surprise appearance on Friday’s edition of WWE SmackDown.
Roberts interviewed The Usos backstage, and also spoke with Drew McIntyre for a digital exclusive segment.
On the latest episode of his NotSam Wrestling Podcast, Sammy Bran Muffins, now known as Sammy SmackDown, spoke about the experience.
As it turns out, the appearance came together on short notice. Sam got a call from an unnamed WWE employee late Friday afternoon asking if he could be in Hershey, PA by 7:30pm for SmackDown.
Roberts immediately started “map questing” if he could make it from Westchester, NY (where he lives) to Hershey, PA in time. He estimated he could be at the venue by 8:02pm local tim, when SmackDown would already be on the air for two minutes. The WWE employee told him, “Well just get in the car!”
“I mean, when I tell you that for three hours, every 10 seconds, I’m just glancing at the GPS, glancing at the gas take, glancing at the road to make sure that I don’t run over something and end up with a flat tire,” said Roberts. “I think it was the quickest three hour trip that I’ve ever been on because my mind was occupied the entire time. I was like one tense muscle driving the entire way to Hershey, Pennsylvania.”
The rest, as they say, is history. Roberts took care of business on SmackDown to the delight of fans on social media.
This week’s episode of WWE’s Main Event featured a matchup between Tamina and Dana Brooke. During the course of the match, commentator Sam Roberts levelled some sharp criticism towards Dana Brooke.
His fellow Main Event commentators, Renee Young and Bryon Saxton, would attempt to defend Brooke, but Roberts was persistent with his negative opinion—frequently insulting and belittling the Superstar throughout the match.
Naturally, it didn’t take long for word of this to get back to Dana Brooke. She has since lashed back at Roberts via her Twitter account, calling him out for burying people and questioning what he has accomplished. She goes on to say that, unlike him, she doesn’t quit, stating that she simply pushes through and never gives up.
“Sam – always thought we were cool, but Damn, wondering why @WWE doesn’t have u on a lot, you burry people!! what have u accomplished.. prob gave up at it, unlike me I push through never giving up!Maybe @ReneeYoungWWE Will be right when I block you & 1 day make U eat your words!”
Sam – always thought we were cool, but Damn, wondering why @WWE doesn’t have u on a lot, you burry people!! what have u accomplished.. prob gave up at it, unlike me I push through never giving up!Maybe @ReneeYoungWWE Will be right when I block you & 1 day make U eat your words! https://t.co/A5zo3YwAJJ
Dana Brooke recently returned to in-ring competition after a short storyline injury, which she suffered at the hands of former RAW Women’s Champion, Ronda Rousey. In the run-up to the injury angle, she was able to get promo time with Rousey before the matchup took place the week after. Brooke returned during WrestleMania 35 as a participant in the Women’s Battle Royal.
Sam Roberts provides color commentary on this week’s edition of WWE Main Event on Hulu.
Roberts, who called the matches alongside Renee Young and Byron Saxton, opens up about the experience on his wrestling podcast this week.
“To be sitting at that commentary booth, at that broadcast booth, next to Byron Saxton and Renee Young, and doing commentary for WWE, is about as nuts as it gets,” says Roberts.
“The Last Professional Broadcaster” has been appearing as a panelist on WWE pay-per-view pre-shows for some time, but the move to the commentary table is new to him.
In preparation for his opportunity, Roberts says he spent some time studying at the WWE Performance Center.
“I was in Orlando for an afternoon, just kind of learning a couple tricks of the trade,” Roberts says.
Roberts drew the ire of some fans for his comments about Bianca Belair on an NXT pre-show earlier this year.
Whether or not Roberts will be a regular on Main Event going forward is uncertain.
For now, Roberts says, this was simply a one-week experiment.
“WWE invited me to be a guest for one episode,” he says. “I was there simply to give my opinion.”
Last night (Sun. February 17, 2019) Sasha Banks and Bayley won the inaugural WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles. Banks and Bayley outlasted other teams like Nia Jax & Tamina, Sarah Logan & Ruby Riott, Sonya Deville & Mandy Rose, Billie Kay & Peyton Royce, and Carmella & Naomi inside the Elimination Chamber. The victory also resulted in a fairly interesting bit of history.
Shortly after their victory, WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon took to Twitter to congratulate The Boss N Hug Connection. She also had some nice words for all the other women who competed in the historic bout:
Also at Elimination Chamber last night, Finn Balor captured the Intercontinental Championship by defeating Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush in a 2-on-1 Handicap match. This was Balor’s first singles title victory on the main roster since becoming the inaugural WWE Universal Champion back in 2016.
Unfortunately, Balor only held that title for one day before vacating it the following night on Monday Night RAW due to injury. During his interview for WWE’s YouTube channel after his win, Balor took a shot at Sam Roberts:
“Well, unlike Sam Roberts, I like to do my talking in the ring,” Balor said. “And, you know, I know Sam Roberts has a face for radio, so maybe he should stay on it.”
WWE pre-show analyst and Sirius XM Radio host Sam Roberts has responded to some criticism over the comments that he made about NXT star Bianca BelAir.
For those who may have missed the pre-show for NXT TakeOver: Phoenix, Roberts stated that BelAir didn’t belong on the Takeover card. This comes on the same night that she challenged WWE NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler for the strap at the Talking Stick Resort Arena on the WWE Network.
Moving along to a few days after the show, Roberts took to his latest podcast in order to address the reason he said what he did as well as the theory going around that it was scripted.
Roberts started out by stating that WWE asks him to give his opinion on things when they invite him to the kickoff shows. “On Saturday night, I was not fed an opinion in my ear,” Roberts said.
He’s heard one of the theories and ruled that out by stating that he has never been fed an opinion in his ear but rather they have him come to the shows to give his opinion and wouldn’t do so if they told him what to say.
He admitted to having a crisis of conscience as in that moment as he felt like he was just going along with the show and decided to say exactly how he felt at that moment.
“I certainly will not be apologizing to Bianca Belair because my opinion is my opinion,” Roberts added. He continued by stating that not everyone was thrilled with his comments but noted that “we’ll see how things go as we move forward.”
In the interview with Roberts, Balor reveals how he found out he would be facing the Scottish Pyscopath at TLC, and what that means to him.
“I’m still trying to process the fact that I have a match with Drew McIntyre at TLC,” Balor said. “I found out about it the same way you did, through social media.”
While Balor and McIntyre may have come from a similar part of the world to WWE, the two had never wrestled before they found themselves on the Raw roster this year.
“It’s crazy. We come from kind of the same general place on planet earth, we kind of have very similar career paths, but we’ve never had a singles match on TV,” Balor said.
“We never really crossed paths on the indies, we were kind of in the same place at the same time, but it never worked out there.”
Balor went on to say that he feels that their match at TLC will be something of a proving ground for the two superstars.
“I’m sure he has a lot of stuff he wants to prove to me. I have a lot of stuff I want to prove to him,” Balor said.
“Really, I have a lot of stuff I want to prove to everyone that’s watching. I’m looking forward to it. It’s good to be in the mix.”
Balor also says that fans can expect a memorable performance from him at the pay-per-view.
“It’s good to be in that spot. I don’t take it for granted. At TLC, I’m going to pull out all the stops.”
Becky Lynch has become one of the biggest fan favourite performers in the WWE this year. This, despite WWE’s seemingly asinine attempts to position her as a ‘heel’ character have actually propelled her to the top of the card.
Lynch recently spoke to Sam Roberts and had some interesting comments on her fan reaction. Lynch said “I will say that I think around Money in the Bank was when it kind of came to light and people were behind me and people have really supported me along the way. There was a time when I was down and wasn’t really doing anything. I was doing interviews at WrestleMania, so 2017 wasn’t really my best year.” Lynch followed this stating her plans going forward; “I am trying to change that now. I think that at Money in the Bank 2018 people were caring and people really wanted me to win Money in the Bank. When I climbed that ladder, they were heavily cheering me and it was noticed [by WWE officials].”
Cheered as a Heel
Roberts asked Becky if she was surprised by the crowd reaction given her booking as a heel character. Becky replied by saying “I don’t know how surprising that is to me because, like I said, anybody can identify with that story. Anybody can identify with the story of feeling overlooked and feeling frustrated after doing the right thing for three-and-a-half years and not going anywhere with it.” Lynch elaborated by saying that “you finally realize, you know what I am tired of this crap, I am going to do what it takes because I have been cheated out of championships and cheated out of opportunities because there were lines I wasn’t willing to cross, but now it doesn’t matter. I am willing to cross any line to take what I want.”
Credit to Not Sam Wrestling and h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
– In his first match in over a month, Lars Sullivan returned to action at tonight’s NXT live event in Dade City, Florida.
Taking on Babatunde Aiyegbusi, Sullivan beat the six-foot-10, 350-pound former football player in three minutes after putting him down with the Freak Accident.
Before tonight, Sullivan had not wrestled since squashing Lio Rush at an NXT television taping on Jan. 4 in Atlanta, Georgia.
– Renee Young is this week’s guest on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast as the WWE personality talks about her journey to WWE, her marriage to Dean Ambrose, changing her name on Instagram, Talking Smack, and more.
– Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart celebrates his birthday today as the two-time WWF Tag Team Champion turns 63 years old. In honor of his birthday, Natalya posted the following on their close relationship.
– WWE presents Tribute To The Troops tonight on USA, but first, here you can see Jason Jordan “Tased By The Troops” –
https://www.instagram.com/p/BN-GM3ijvQ7/
– Radio host Sam Roberts will be part of the WWE Roadblock kickoff show this Sunday. Roberts hosts the popular Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast. WWE brought in Peter Rosenberg earlier this month for a guest spot on the TLC pre-show. Congrats to Sam Roberts.
– Big Cass is celebrating his 30th birthday today.
– It was announced last night on the WWE Network that the first 5 episodes of “Holy Foley” will be available on-demand after SummerSlam goes off the air on Sunday.
– The woman who Nia Jax squashed on last night’s RAW was Texas indie wrestler Delilah Doom, using the name Rachel Levy. She was trained by former WWE star Funaki.
– Sam Roberts has announced that Kevin Owens, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson will be the special guest this Thursday afternoon for his live podcast from Caroline’s in New York City.
– Here are some more backstage videos from last night’s RAW, Heath Slater requesting medical attention after being manhandled by Brock Lesnar and New Day talking trash aboutThe Club:
– Part two of Steve Austin’s interview with SIRIUS-XM host Sam Roberts on his regular weekly podcast, “The Steve Austin Show,” is now available. You can download the show right now at PodcastOne.com.
– WWE recently released the following “special look” of the WWE Tough Enough “hopefuls” on their official YouTube channel.
https://youtu.be/wHATeN1zW6M
– WWE posted the following tweet with a video of the trailer for the new season of WWE Total Divas, which premieres on E! on Tuesday, July 7th.
– As noted recently, Daniel Bryan is advertised to appear at next Monday’s edition of WWE RAW. Bryan has since been added to the August 24th edition of WWE RAW at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York as well.
– SIRIUS/XM radio personality Sam Roberts is the guest on the latest edition of the “Steve Austin Show” podcast. You can download the show right now at PodcastOne.com.
– Stevie Ray announced on social media this week that he has signed a Legends Deal with WWE. Below is the announcement Ray tweeted:
Suckas gots to know! I've signed a legends deal with @WWE! As my brother @BookerT5x would say, I know ya can dig that! #HarlemHeat#slapjack
The general idea behind Ryback’s lengthy promo segment on Monday’s edition of WWE RAW was to give him an opportunity to connect with the fans on a new level by telling an emotional, personal story.
Ryback told pretty much the same story during his recent appearance on Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast and in an interview with Sam Roberts from back in 2013.
WWE Superstar and current “Mr. Money In The Bank” Seth Rollins told Sam Roberts during a recent podcast interview that he didn’t expect to face Dean Ambrose at the most recent WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view.
“It came about sort of unexpectedly,” Rollins said. “I didn’t think we were going to go back there after SummerSlam and the night after, but the opportunity presented itself and we were able to capitalize on our opportunity as we have on all of our opportunities in the past.”
Rollins alao spoke about not being allowed to bleed during the HIAC match with Ambrose. “I don’t think it was that terribly difficult,” he said. “Sometimes it’s difficult for guys in our era who saw the other Hell in a Cell matches that preceded us and how much in our opinion the blood maybe the blood added to the match. One thing that’s great is we’ve gone without it for so long that a good portion of our audience doesn’t know the difference.”
Check out the complete Seth Rollins appearance on the Sam Roberts podcast above.
Part-time WWE Superstar Chris Jericho recently appeared on the Sam Roberts podcast and spoke about the fact that CM Punk no longer keeps in contact with many people who thought they were his friends since he left WWE.
“Punk and I were pretty tight and I haven’t heard from him since then,” Jericho said. “I’m not surprised that he left, but I’m surprised that he stopped talking to everybody, stopped talking to me, because we talked about a lot of stuff beyond wrestling.”
Jericho continued, “And that kind of surprised me more than anything, he just detached himself. From what I understand, I’m not the only one, that he pretty much of detached himself from a lot of people who thought they were his friends, but that was him. Maybe he’ll come back and maybe he won’t. In 2005 I did the same, I left and couldn’t take it. I came back and was able to be way better than I ever was.”
Check out Jericho’s full appearance on the show above.
Triple H recently spoke to SIRIUS/XM host Sam Roberts and responded to the topic of fans seemingly enjoying the NXT product more so than the main WWE roster product.
“At the end of the day down here, I take the talent that I have and I try to write the best show,” Triple H said. “I try to write a show that I want to watch, and that’s all I do. People can say, ‘Oh, the difference in the shows.’ Listen, if I had to write a three-hour show ever week? You know, I don’t, I have to write a one hour show.”
HHH continued, “The pressure is a lot different. There’s a lot of masters that have to be served – Raw and Smackdown and all of those things. I’m flattered that people love the product. I think it’s great. I’m excited for these kids. At the end of the day, the goal is still to get them up to the main roster, but the bigger I can make the platform for them to jump off onto that main roster, the better it is.”
WWE Superstar Cesaro spoke with radio personality Sam Roberts about the differences in how he got his start in the wrestling business compared to those starting up at the WWE Performance Center.
“When I started out it was a crappy ring in a cold barn, so you saw who was tough enough to make it or not,” he said. “This is different here. It’s just a different age, so to speak, a different era.”
Cesaro continued, “Those people have different difficulties when they come here because the competition level is so high, so it’s just different. Maybe I’m a little too old school for this, but this is the future and this is what’s happening, and it’s a good thing for WWE fans because they can see the future in front of their eyes.”
– Scout.com has a new article up about Sting’s son, Steven Borden, who is a senior and tight-end at the University of Kentucky. In the article, it’s made clear that Borden has no interest in following in his father’s footsteps to become a pro wrestler. You can check out the piece at Scout.com.
– Below is a Sam Roberts interview from SummerSlam weekend with Goldust.
– WWE stock was up by 1.71 percent today, closing at $14.89 per share. The high today was $14.99 per share while the low was $14.66.
– In addition to the matches that we reported about last week, John Cena vs.Triple H from WrestleMania 22 and Cena vs. Shawn Michaels from the April 23, 2007 edition of RAW is also going to be included in the new “John Cena: Greatest Rivalries” DVD.
– Below is a new Sam Roberts interview with Stardust.
TNA stars MVP, Low Ki, Samoa Joe and Homicide all appeared together on a special round table edition of The Sam Roberts Show recently to discuss the current state of TNA.
Additionally, the four guys talk about being independent, their time in WWE, the culture of internet fans, training and more.
SIRIUS-XM personality Sam Roberts caught up with the current WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz in Los Angeles, California this weekend for a new video interview.
During their discussion, Miz spoke about the clothing that he now wears as part of his new character.
“The fun part about it is showing up and the WWE superstars’ reaction when you walk backstage,” said The Miz.
Miz continued, “I’ve done this since day one. where I would wear something knowing that this is not the usual or the norm. If someone says something negatively towards me, I’m wearing it out there, because I know that I have better fashion sense than everyone in the WWE, and I guarantee that when people look at it they go ‘it looks weird, but he looks like a million bucks.”
Sam Roberts of SIRIUS-XM caught up with “The Icon” Sting for an interview in Los Angeles earlier this weekend.
During the interview, Sting made it very clear that he wants to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania 31.
“It doesn’t diminish things. I did have a moment of, “Ah, it’s over, I’ll never be able to get in the ring with Taker.’ But just because he lost doesn’t mean he’s done or leaving. I just can’t imagine Taker leaving or being done. I just can’t imagine that. I don’t know what’s going on with him for sure. Man, I think Taker vs. Sting doesn’t need a streak storyline, we just need Taker and Sting.”
Diamond Dallas Page appeared on the Opie & Anthony post-show with Sam Roberts recently to discuss his appearance on the controversial Ultimate Warrior segment on the Nancy Grace show on CNN.
The official description for the appearance, which you can view above, reads as follows:
“Sam Roberts talks to Diamond Dallas Page about yoga, his appearance on Nancy Grace, Warrior, Scott Hall, Jake Roberts, and more, on SiriusXM’s O&A Post Show.”
SIRIUS-XM personality Sam Roberts recently interviewed “Rowdy” Roddy Piper about the upcoming premiere of the new reality show “Legends House,” which debuts on the WWE Network tonight.
The official description for the video, which you can view above, reads as follows:
“Sam Roberts talks to Rowdy Roddy Piper at WWE’s Legend’s House premiere, about what he didn’t like on the show, his character in wrestling, and a lot more.”
– As previously reported, WWE is breaking up the story line duo of Fandango and Summer Rae. Apparently Summer is in line for a big push now that she has taken off on the Total Divas reality show. Fandango will be paired with Layla, who actually has legitimate dancing credentials, moving forward. The following is one of many in-character comments from Summer on Twitter.
I can't sleep. Can't eat. Can't stop crying. So your just gonna ignore me @WWEFandango?
