WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins made a special appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Thursday.
Stewart, a longtime WWE fan who often references WWE on The Daily Show, did an angle with Rollins earlier this year prior to WrestleMania.
Backstage, Rollins presented Stewart with a personalized WWE championship belt.
https://instagram.com/p/5yRZeFNOWa/
WWE has announced that Brock Lesnar will be working the October 3rd live event from Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Currently, there is no word on who Lesnar will be wrestling, however we can confirm that Paul Heyman will also be part of the show, which is Lesnar’s first domestic live event since returning to WWE back in 2012.
Also announced for the show is John Cena vs. Seth Rollins, Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev, Randy Orton vs. Sheamus and an appearance by Chris Jericho.
WWE taped the following matches on Tuesday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown.
– Seth Rollins kicks off this week’s show by coming out to the ring. He talks about John Cena and what happened on Monday’s RAW. Eventually, Rollins is interrupted by Cesaro. Cesaro comes out for our first match of the evening.
– Cesaro def. Seth Rollins via Disqualification in the first match taped for this week’s SmackDown. Kevin Owens joined the gang on commentary during this match and became involved in the finish, which saw Owens attack Cesaro for the DQ. Rollins teased a showdown with Owens but they ended up double-teaming Cesaro instead.
– Los Matadores & The Lucha Dragons def. The New Day & The Ascension in eight-man tag-team action in the second match taped for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown.
– Summer Rae and Rusev come out for a promo segment in the ring. They address what went down on Monday with Lana and the dead fish at RAW.
– Rusev def. Jack Swagger in the third match taped for SmackDown. Swagger got a big hometown pop since he is from Oklahoma. After the match, which Rusev won, he tried to attack Swagger some more, however Swagger ended up countering him and applying the Patriot Lock.
– Stardust def. R-Truth in the fourth match taped for this week’s SmackDown. Stardust was cutting a promo in the ring after the match when Neville ran out and attacked him.
– Cesaro & Dean Ambrose def. Kevin Owens & Seth Rollins in the fifth and final match taped for this week’s show. Cesaro picked Ambrose as his mystery partner. The finish of this match saw Ambrose counter a Pop-Up Powerbomb attempt by Owens, which allowed Cesaro to roll Owens up for the 1-2-3. This is how SmackDown will go off the air this week.
WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley gave praise to WWE United States Champion John Cena for being tough enough to finish his main event against Seth Rollins on Monday’s RAW with a badly broken nose.
The Hardcore Legend posted the following blog on his official Facebook page:
SUPERMAN
Whatever you do, please don’t disregard what I say about John Cena – WWE Universe by mentioning that I finished a match with a tooth in my nose, or without an ear. I did those things. But after watching Cena continue a great match with ??WWE? champion Seth Rollins, despite a nose broken so badly that it looked like it had been applied by a Hollywood FX master, does anyone out there believe that John Cena, if placed in a situation where his tooth was stuck in his nose, or an ear was lost along the way WOULDN’T continue wrestling?
A week ago, I named my mid-season WWE all-star team. Today – for consistently having great matches and going above and beyond the call of duty to entertain the ??WWE Universe?, I name John Cena was my mid-season MVP.
– As confirmed during RAW last night, in a non-title match, Becky Lynch will take on Divas Champion Nikki Bella in singles competition on SmackDown.
– During last night’s main event on RAW (shown above), John Cena broke his nose after taking a knee to the face from Seth Rollins who was challenging him for the United States title.
After RAW went off the air, Joey Styles posted the following photo of Cena and his broken nose, linking to various others which can be seen on the WWE website at this link:
https://twitter.com/JoeyStyles/status/625879266148896768
WWE also posted a photo of Cena on their official Instagram page:
https://instagram.com/p/5qrGI8AFJH/?taken-by=wwe
During the main event of Monday’s edition of WWE RAW, which was billed “A Night of Firsts,” John Cena suffered a busted nose during his WWE United States Championship match against Seth Rollins.
Late into the match, which served as the headline attraction of this week’s RAW, Rollins caught Cena with a huge knee to the face that left Cena bleeding on the mat.
https://twitter.com/JimmyTraina/status/625865428850606081
Despite the injury, the US Champion from tapping out the WWE World Heavyweight Champion in the middle of the ring in a RAW MOTY candidate.
https://twitter.com/theredstandard/status/625865793717301248
John Cena's nose is proof that pro wrestling is no joke #sportsrants #RAW pic.twitter.com/uHYD9MkfAX
— Anthony DiMoro (@AnthonyDiMoro) July 28, 2015
WWE World Heavyweight champion Seth Rollins made a special appearance on this week’s episode of Extreme Weight Loss on the ABC Network. Rollins got in a workout with Mason, one of the show’s contestants who is a big WWE fan.
Earlier this month, former WWE trainer Dr. Tom Prichard appeared on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling and spoke about a number of topics.
The former tag team champion spoke about Seth Rollins being the future of the WWE, what he taught The Rock, what made things easy in his own matches, and much more.
If you want to check out the interview in full, you can do so at this link, you can also check out highlights from the podcast below:
On why Seth Rollins was chosen as “The Future of the WWE”:
Rollins had that cocksure-ness, he knew he was good, and he was good, he was great. He and Ambrose had their angle in FCW, that was our top angle up until they went to the Performance Center. You knew that Roman Reigns was going to be great because he had the stock, he came from the stock they wanted.
Now, the way it turned out, once again, you have to peel back the layers and look at the business end of things, how does Seth Rollins get in that position? Seth’s a smart guy, Ambrose is a smart guy but I don’t know if he is as good a politician as Seth Rollins is, and that’s not taking anything away from Seth but you have to know how to play the game and you have to know who is running the game up there.
Seth got in with the right people and he has talent and he had everything going for him. Ambrose, I thought was very talented but there were some in FCW who didn’t think he had the look or the talent to be a top guy.
They were high on Reigns from the start because he had the family background, he had everything going for him, Ambrose and Rollins were going to be bit players in FCW that was the take on them but as time went on and other factors came into play, The Shield came about and they fractioned off and they became.
On what he was able to teach The Rock:
I don’t know that I was able to teach him that much. He came in August and debuted in October and had been in Memphis for a year and we just trained and worked out at that time with Achim (Brakkus) and Mark Henry.
He was a young kid, a great guy, had the Chia Pet haircut and you knew he had talent but once again you couldn’t tell, no one could tell at that time that he was going to be as big as he is today, but he had personality. To go over his finish, I gave him the shoulder-breaker, well, that was terrible.
I worked some of his first matches on the road and worked with him in the warehouse in the ring on a daily basis. He had that charisma, he had that personality but once again, you looked at him and he was this smiling, good looking kid with a Chia Pet haircut coming out and wanting everybody to cheer him and it just didn’t work.
People were revolting against that typical baby-face guy from back then and it was to his advantage because he knew and he understood once it was explained to him, once he got the feel of it, once he got to be who he really is, it was that smart-Alec come back with a comment kind of guy. That really gave him a platform, I had no idea that his goal in life was to be the performer or the actor that he is.
Jim Ross recently appeared on The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast to promote his “Ringside: An Evening With Jim Ross” shows. Here are some highlights:
Seth Rollins Being The New Face Of WWE:
“I don’t know that the WWE Champion has to be the future of the company. I don’t know that any one person should be the future of the company. If it is, it’s poor management, because you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket. I don’t believe in that at all. But I am very proud of the worker that he has become. He has a great mind for the business, extremely strong work ethic, he’s a booker’s dream. He’s a beatable champion. In the territory days, theoretically, on any given night that he’s defending the title, he can be beaten. He’s not so physically imposing that he looks unbeatable. So I like that. If you’re going to have a heel champion, then I like one that has vulnerability. This kid has built his body up well, he trains religiously, he eats amazingly well and he’s very serious about all that. That means to me that he has made a commitment, so I am a big big Seth Rollins fan.
I would not take the championship of Seth Rollins until WrestleMania. At WrestleMania if I have something that I believes work then that is where he would drop the title. By then he would have had a full year and if he is not over and he is not a “made man” after being champion then you can’t blame the promotion.”
The Role of Villains In Pro Wrestling:
“[Rollins is] like any of the villains on TV whether it is WWE, Ring of Honor, TNA or Lucha Underground there is not enough of guys that cheat to gain an unfair advantage. Villains must stop working for the “pop” or the “this is awesome”. If I were a villain in a true sense of the word that would piss me off to no end. My work should be menacing, dangerous and dirty. It is supposed to enhance your dance partner and make the baby-face more of a bigger, stronger and powerful ticket selling, merchandise selling entity. Too many heels would rather work for a “pop”, then work for “heat”. When you take that angst away there is a fine line between good and evil and if it disappears I say good luck to the business. When you take away the “heel”/”villain dynamic I don’t know what you have got?”
As seen on Monday’s post-Battleground edition of WWE RAW, former NXT Champion Kevin Owens was one of the wrestlers involved in breaking up the brawl between The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar, a spot usually designed for lower to mid-card talent.
Since beating John Cena at the WWE Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in May, Owens has not had a televised victory over a main event talent. In fact, Owens’ last win on television — excluding NXT — was at the June 16th SmackDown television taping, where he pinned Cesaro.
Wrestling Observer Live’s Bryan Alvarez reported on Tuesday that Owens has been dropped to an “upper mid-card position” due to the fact that WWE officials do not see him being on the level of Cena, Randy Orton or Seth Rollins.
Based on recent storylines, it appears that Owens will be feuding with Cesaro and Rusev for the foreseeable future.
– The dark segment after the WWE SmackDown television taping on Tuesday night in Lincoln, Nebraska saw WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins and former NXT Champion Kevin Owens double-teaming Cesaro until Dean Ambrose finally ran out and made the save. Ambrose closed out the show by putting Rollins through a table to send the fans home happy.
– Corey Graves is filming “Culture Shock” at the Alternative Press Music Awards this week. Visiting this week while Graves records the show are WWE Divas Paige and Summer Rae, as well as Paige’s boyfriend Kevin Skaff.
– The latest edition of WWE’s “5 Things” web show, which you can watch below, looks at five Superstars who faced themselves.
https://youtu.be/gK0bW86THE0
– The official result of the Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at WWE Battleground last night is a “No Contest,” according to WWE.com. As seen during the show last night, the Lesnar-Rollins match ended when The Undertaker returned and attacked Lesnar.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross will review WWE Battleground on his “Ross Report” podcast this week with The Fight Network’s John Pollock. The show will be available tomorrow night at PodcastOne.com.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair took the following photo backstage at WWE Battleground last night with his daughter Charlotte, as well as Paige and Becky Lynch.
. @BeckyLynchWWE @RealPaigeWWE @MsCharlotteWWE @WWE @WWENXT pic.twitter.com/Ve0fv3a7X1
— Ric Flair® (@RicFlairNatrBoy) July 20, 2015
As expected, The Undertaker made his WWE return at the WWE Battleground pay-per-view in St. Louis on Sunday night.
“The Dead Man” made his surprise return during the main event, just as challenger Brock Lesnar was attempting to pin champion Seth Rollins following an F-5.
Below is a recap of what transpired, courtesy of our WWE Battleground play-by-play:
Lesnar hits an F-5 on Rollins and covers him, however The Undertaker’s gong hits. The lights go out. When they come back on, Undertaker is standing in the ring staring at Lesnar.
Undertaker and Lesnar go at it until Undertaker finally hits a Tombstone piledriver. We see Heyman watching on in horror. Taker drops down to one knee and does his famous pose as his music plays and the lights go out again. Taker leaves and heads to the back, stopping to raise his fist as the crowd pops. WWE Battleground goes off the air on that note.
It’s been rumored for quite some time, but now it looks like the Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar rematch is set for SummerSlam.
– WWE Tag-Team Champions The Prime Time Players, Titus O’Neil and Darren Young, are working out at the NFL’s St. Louis Rams facility before tonight’s WWE Battleground pay-per-view event.
– The official WWE website has a Suplex City-themed poll today asking fans how many times they think Brock Lesnar will suplex Seth Rollins tonight at Battleground. The options are 5, 10, 17, more than anyone will be able to count or none at all. Leading the pack with 58 percent of the vote is “more than anyone will be able to count.”
– Scott Stanford noted via social media that a top player at tonight’s WWE Battleground pay-per-view will be calling into Monday’s RAW Pre-Show on the WWE Network.
WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross recently updated his official blog with his predictions and thoughts on tonight’s WWE Battleground pay-per-view. Below are some of the highlights.
On Undertaker and Sting rumors: “There is no reason for WWE to ‘save’ Taker and/or Sting for Monday night when they can easily creatively position both on the PPV Sunday leaving the air with more questions posed than answers provided that would drive viewers to the Monday night flagship broadcast. Sting still has a massive fan following as his two appearances on my podcast garnered over 3M+ downloads combined for the two shows.”
On WWE Battleground main event: “I do not feel that it is time for Seth Rollins to lose the WWE Title and in my mind, as I’ve discussed on my podcast, I’d have Rollins hold the title until Wrestlemania Texas in April in Arlington, Texas where Brock Lesnar would beat him after Lesnar wins the Royal Rumble in January. That’s one school of thought but that scenario could be efficiently changed if decided early and worked toward whatever plan is chosen with strategic, long term planning.
So I have Rollins retaining the title Sunday and it’s certainly possible for Taker to leave both Lesnar and Rollins in a bad way as the show goes off the air. I don’t know and I’m happy that I don’t as I don’t lke the spoilers aka the Jardine’s and prefer to watch the big shows just as I would a movie without knowing all the details.”
On John Cena vs. Kevin Owens: “John Cena will likely retain the US Title unless WWE is really going to be bold and do all they can to make Kevin Owens a ‘made man’ which would not hurt Cena one iota. I can also see the underutilized Cesaro playing into this equation Sunday night. Cesaro is as I’ve expressed here before a main event level talent who could be the WWE World Champion as easy as anyone on the roster….he’s that good.”
Check out the complete blog at JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.
– The St. Lucie Mets minor league baseball team in Florida will be having WWE NXT Night on Wednesday, July 22nd from Tradition Field. NXT Champion Finn Balor and Bayley will be appearing.
– The Ultimate Warrior’s widow Dana will be signing copies of WWE’s new Ultimate Warrior book during SummerSlam weekend in Brooklyn. She’ll be at the Powerhouse Arena in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday, July 22nd. There will also be Warrior memorabilia on display, face painting and the Ultimate Warrior statue that was unveiled back in April during WrestleMania weekend.
– 2K Sports has released the following video of WWE Champion Seth Rollins calling out “Stone Cold” Steve Austin to promote the new WWE 2K16 video game
– WWE Network does not have a Battleground post-show scheduled for this Sunday.
– Next week’s edition of NXT on the WWE Network will feature a “Takeover: Brooklyn” contract signing between NXT Champion Finn Balor and challenger Kevin Owens. NXT General Manager William Regal will be on hand to oversee things.
– The following are some recent WWE and NXT attendance figures:
* July 9th in Largo, FL for NXT drew a sellout of 375 fans
* July 10th in Orlando for NXT drew 275 fans
* July 10th in Philadelphia drew 8,000 fans (John Cena, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins)
* July 11th in Jacksonville for NXT drew a sellout of 500 fans
* July 11th in Pittsburgh drew 6,000 fans (Cena tour)
* July 11th in Nashville drew 4,500 fans (Reigns tour)
* July 12th in Macon, GA drew 2,000 fans (Randy Orton headlined)
* July 12th in Knoxville, TN drew 4,500 fans (Rollins and Reigns)
* July 13th in Atlanta for RAW drew 12,500 fans
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins recently appeared as a guest on the PodNasty Wrestling Podcast. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On upcoming match against Brock Lesnar being the biggest of his career: “I feel like I’ve had a lot of ‘biggest matches of my career’ up until this point. I would say this one is certainly special. I mean, there’s not a lot of guys who get the opportunity to go one-on-one with Brock Lesnar at this point in his career, so to be one of those guys to main event a pay-per-view with Brock Lesnar over a very prestigious title it all adds up to being certainly one of if not—I’ll leave that up to you and the other media pundits to decide what is the biggest match of my career—but it certainly ranks up there with the very, very biggest of my career.”
On the U.S. title vs. the WWE title and competing with John Cena: “(The WWE World Heavyweight Championship) is (the most dominant title in the company) no matter what, no matter who is wearing what other title, this is the big boy, this is the one that everybody wants and if John (Cena) tells you any different he’s a liar,” said Rollins.
“But the bottom line, though, is that I’m always competing with John Cena, John’s a guy who has set the bar extremely high for the past 10, 12-15 years, he’s a guy who—not only in the ring, but outside the ring—is an example of what a WWE Superstar should be and he has put in the work over that period of time to prove that and that’s definitely something I strive to be as well. I strive to have that work ethic and instill that in people around me the way John has over the past decade and a half so I’m always competing with John Cena in my mind, but my title is the title and there’s definitely no doubt about that.”
On Tough Enough contestants not standing out: “Not one person stood out to me (on Tough Enough. Not a single one, nope, not one. I went down there and I tried to help them out, give them a few pointers here and there, let them know what it takes to be a star but, let me tell you, those kids got it easy.
“They don’t know anything about anything when it comes to putting in the time, they think they’re going to get through this little three-month course and they’re going to be WWE Superstars and they’re going to be famous, and rich and travel the world. That’s not how it works, it’s a whole lot of hard work and I think they’re going to figure that out along the way, or they’re going to fall by the wayside. For me, I didn’t see a whole lot, maybe as they move along in the process they’ll show more personality and a little more guts, but for now I’m not holding my breath.”
If there will be any tension between Tough Enough winners and WWE/NXT talent: “Absolutely, that’s what I’m talking about. Tough Enough is phenomenal, it’s great, don’t get me wrong. It pushes WWE out into the masses and everyone can see it’s physical and they get an inside look at kind of what it’s like to be a WWE Superstar,” said Rollins.
“But at the same time you’ve got to understand that’s not all that it takes, you don’t just get to be on a reality gameshow and all of a sudden you’re just a top star in 12 weeks. They’re going to have to put in a lot of time, and a lot of hard work, and they’re going to have to sacrifice a lot of relationships, they’re going to be injured often, it’s going to take a toll on them physically and emotionally that they’re not prepared for and I think it will be very interesting to see who comes out of Tough Enough, who really is Tough Enough I guess when you look at it. Who’s going to come out of it alive and who’s going to make a success out of themselves?”
On John Morrison recently stating he would destroy Seth Rollins in everything: “If I’m not mistaken, I believe John Morrison is a zero-time WWE World Heavyweight champion. Mind you, zero. As in never once did he win the big one. And I’m, what, not even three years into my WWE career and I’ve already won Money in the Bank, won the WWE title at WrestleMania, first-ever NXT champion so there’s a lot of things that I’ve already destroyed John Morrison at and if John Morrison thinks he can take me in any of those endeavors, I would love for John Morrison to step up and say something like that to my face.”
Check out the complete interview above.
WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross recently updated his official blog with his latest thoughts and opinions on a number of subjects. Below are some of the highlights.
On Monday’s RAW: “Interesting RAW Monday night from Atlanta as the new, females from NXT had more people talking on my timelines than anyone else on the show including the combatants for the WWE World Title. Sara Del Ray has done an amazing of training/coaching the women who pass through NXT. Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch should be stalwarts for years to come in WWE and I see no reason why they cannot move to the top or near the top of primary WWE events sooner than later. It’s a sign of the times and a changing of he guard not unlike the days of Jennie Finch putting women’s softball on the map or Ronda Rousey becoming a mega star in UFC. The only thing that can hold these women back is old school thinking and not being willing to take a chance on adding something new to the top of the cards.”
On Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar: “WWE has positioned Seth Rollins to lose to Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Title Sunday night in St. Louis which is why I don’t think it happens. Sunday would be a great place to add a new talent or two to the mix as allies of Rollins considering that Lesnar and Heyman have eliminated the rest. Could HHH cost Lesnar the title and then face Brock at Summer Slam? Bottom line is that I don’t see Rollins losing Sunday at Battleground.”
On a SummerSlam prediction he has: “Here’s one for you…Undertaker comes back to Summer Slam, causes Lesnar to lose to Rollins and then Taker faces Lesnar at Summer Slam. Yes, I’m on meds.”
On TNA and ROH: “Hope TNA and ROH have a good TV ratings night tonight (Wednesday) on Destination America. This is especially important for TNA. I don’t need to see their World Champion wrestle three times on one show, that I do know and I am a fan of the talent that EC3 has evolved into. TNA needs to really hone in on their booking right now, not allow too many cooks in the kitchen and focus on the handful of stars that they know that they have access to over the long haul.”
Check out the complete blog at JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.
– The new Diva trio of Naomi, Tamina and NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks are going by the team name of “Team B.A.D. (Best at Dominating).”
– With Kane suffering a storyline leg injury during RAW last night and J&J Security being out of action indefinitely, the idea is that Seth Rollins has no back-up going into his WWE World Heavyweight Championship match against Brock Lesnar at this Sunday’s WWE Battleground pay-per-view.
– WWE posted the following video of the Tough Enough cast meeting The Bella Twins backstage at Monday’s RAW.
WWE held a dark match main event after last night’s WWE Battleground “go-home” edition of WWE RAW.
In a match held strictly for the live audience in Atlanta, Georgia, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins retained his title over Roman Reigns when Bray Wyatt interfered, causing the disqualification.
As the post-match fireworks exploded, eventually Dean Ambrose hit the ring to make the save for Reigns.
Monday’s RAW ended when Reigns and Ambrose cleaned house of Rollins and Wyatt. The two stood tall and celebrated together to send the fans home happy.
Troy Rivers filed a lawsuit against WWE claiming that he was hit with a chair to the head while working as a security guard at a WWE live event.
Rivers was working a show in Savannah, Georgia when he claims he was struck. “Suddenly, and with no warning whatsoever… struck about the head, neck, and back by a folding chair.” Rivers believes Dean Ambrose (a/k/a Jonathan Good) swung the chair. However, his attorney said that’s unclear.
“We haven’t reviewed the video from the event yet, so we’re bringing in everyone on the card that night,” Rivers’ attorney, Kevin Elwell, told Courthouse News. “Only one guy did it, but we don’t know which one yet.”
The lawsuit lists John Cena, Seth Rollins, Ryback, Kane, Daniel Bryan, R-Truth, and other wrestlers who worked the show as defendants.
Tonight’s edition (July 13th) of Monday Night RAW, the go-home show before Battleground on Sunday comes to you live from the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
WWE have confirmed Brock Lesnar for the show and are looking at who will protect Seth Rollins’ back after the beast took out J&J Security during last week’s show.
The following is the Five-Point Preview for tonight’s RAW:
– What does Lesnar want more? The title or for Rollins to suffer?
– Is Roman Reigns more afraid of Bray Wyatt than he’s willing to admit?
– How will Sheamus respond to The Viper?
– Can anyone stop Team Bella?
– Is Owens rethinking his Cena strategy?
Make sure you join us here tonight for live coverage of RAW.
TNA World Champion Ethan Carter III recently spoke with the Phoenix New Times to promote Clickjab’s Summer Bash event. Below are some of the highlights.
On working with Kurt Angle: “It’s been the greatest honor of my life to be able to work with that man and do what we did together. It’s not often you get to have the dream match you envisioned when you were 8… a child watching wrestling. If it wasn’t for Kurt Angle, I would’ve never made it this far because I never would have pursued wrestling because he’s the kind of guy… the guy that made me love it. And to have that match with those stakes on the line, it meant the world to me.”
On if he was disappointed that his match with Kurt Angle was on TV instead of PPV: “You know, we’re at a point in the business where, I mean, everything leading up to that match has been perfect in the build for it that I couldn’t be disappointed, per se. The only thing is that the crowd at Slammiversary was so good that I would’ve liked to have that match in front of that crowd, but I think the crowd we had was great as well. So it ended up not really mattering. But we had a very special crowd at Slammiversary, there was a lot of loyals and die-hard that could’ve made that match [better], if it could’ve been made it any better, which it couldn’t have been.”
On getting a shout out from Seth Rollins after his win: “For him to do that… it was cool, because the way WWE handles social media and tries not to say anything else about any other [wrestling] company. You know, I got a lot of texts from a lot of those guys, but [Seth] went out on social media and said that. That meant a lot to me because we did both go through the [WWE developmental] system together and we have a ton of respect for each other and he’s awesome. It was cool that he went out of his way to do that.
“You think about world champions — he’s WWE world heavyweight champion and I’m TNA world champion and I think that banter between the two of us is pretty special from a respect standpoint. It’s between two hard-working professionals who fully respect where each other came from and the work ethic we both have to be represented by our respective companies.”
On if he feels vindicated after being cut by WWE: “You know, every second of every day I’m motivated by whatever’s happened to me in the past. It’s vindication, in a sense, but my vindication’s coming just being successful with where I am and who I represent. My vindcation came when these people gave me an opportunity and they believed in me, invested in me, and hopefully I paid off for them.”
On his undefeated streak versus Goldberg’s: “I think it’s two completely separate entities. Goldberg was a monster babyface who ran through the competition, while EC3 is an entitled, smarmy kind of a jerk who lucked into a lot his [success] but has become battle-tested in the process and has solidified himself. But we’re two different entities. He’s a monster and I’m a champion that doesn’t lose, but there’s been some help along the way. I can hang, but sometimes I choose not to.”
On Pro Wrestling Illustrated no longer recognizing the TNA World Title: “The wrestling business is speculative. If they were a governing body of any sort of promotion in wrestling, maybe it would be something .But to me, that’s just outside noise and does not affect me one bit. If they don’t think I’m a world champion, they could talk to me about it, I can tell them why, and we could respectfully disagree. But, it doesn’t affect my business one bit, it doesn’t affect my paycheck one bit, it doesn’t affect my company one bit, and just as if I said, “PWI isn’t legitimate wrestling journalism,” it would not affect their business, it would not affect their paychecks, it doesn’t affect anything. It’s all opinion based. And everyone’s warranted to their opinion.”
On rumors that TNA morale is down due to the uncertainty with the company: “Well, my morale’s high as can frickin’ be, isn’t it? Look, a lot of people read into rumors that may come from unwarranted sources. This is all speculation. As far as I know, the people that want to be there are going to be there, they’re in it to win it, and they are motivated, and their morale is where it should be. Morale’s based on what you bring up yourself, and if you have low morale, then maybe you shouldn’t be there. And if your morale’s high and you want to work hard and succeed, then you should.
Of course, their all rumors, because rumors aren’t based in truth. The thing about [TNA], people just tend to believe ’em — unwarranted, unjustified. And that’s fine. I can handle any rumor we have.”
On if he thinks TNA will go out of business if they lose Destination America in September: “No. Why would I think that? We’re internationally in so many markets. Domestically, do I know what the direct future holds? I have a pretty good idea, and I think we’re going to be just fine. But people have been saying this company has been going out of business for 13 years and it continues to go. We’re doing some of our best work now and the people doing it won’t let it fail.”
On if he has a backup plan just in case: “Why do I need one? I just said no. TNA isn’t going anywhere.”
Check out the complete interview at PhoenixNewTimes.com.
Below is the current card for this year’s WWE Battleground PPV which will take place on July 19th from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri and will be available on the WWE Network.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman)
Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt
WWE United States Championship
John Cena vs. Kevin Owens
WWE Tag Team Championship
The Prime Time Players vs. The New Day
WWE Intercontinental Championship
Ryback vs. Big Show vs. Miz
*Champions shown in bold.