Adult film company Brazzers is filming a parody of WWE’s Montreal Screwjob this week titled “The F**kjob.” Porn stars Johnny Castle (as Vince McMahon), Mia Malkova (as Shawn Michaels) and Romi Rain (as Bret Hart) are starring in the film.
Filming just began this week and no official release date has been announced.
You can see behind-the-scenes / promo photos below:
– During an appearance on NBC’s Today morning show, John Cena announced that he’ll be hosting this year’s Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards. The event takes place on March 11th. Cena has appeared at the awards show several times and got positive reviews for his job hosting last year’s ESPY Awards.
– WWE announced during RAW that San Antonio native Shawn Michaels will be appearing during the Kickoff show for Sunday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view. HBK has history in the Royal Rumble and at the Alamodome, having captured his second WWE Championship at the venue when he defeated Sid at the 1997 Rumble.
– Smackdown star Naomi returned to action at last night’s live event from Saginaw, Michigan. She had been out of action with an ankle injury.
WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels spoke with ESPN this week to promote his new movie, The Resurrection of Gavin Stone. Topics discussed include whether or not WWE has approached him to get back in the ring, his dream opponent if he did ever wrestle another match, AJ Styles wanting to face him and more.
The Royal Rumble is fast approaching and it’s clear that HBK won’t be coming out of retirement to wrestle one more match in front of his hometown crowd at San Antonio’s Alamodome. Fans have wondered for years if we’ll ever get a chance to see Michaels wrestle again, but it turns out he’s never been approached about it.
“It’s funny because the two guys who really make the decisions, which is Vince [McMahon] and Hunter [Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque], in seven years have never even approached me. I guess I’m semi-amused that people think ‘Vince is saying this’ and whatnot because those are the two people that understand why and respect why I retired and understood it.”
Shawn Michaels will probably never wrestle again, but that hasn’t stopped him from thinking about which WWE Superstar he’d want to wrestle if he did stage a comeback.
“I look at Samoa Joe and I’ve told him a number of times that I see his stuff at NXT and think to myself, ‘Man, I could have a great deal of fun with you.’ He’s a guy I have sort of enjoyed, and one of those sleeper guys that no one talks about.
“We have contrasting styles. I get that everybody wants to see me and AJ or Seth or Dolph [Ziggler]. From my standpoint, I think really telling a great story out there [is most important]. I could do it with a guy like Samoa Joe. His stuff looks really good, and sometimes he just looks like he’s beating the tar out of somebody.”
The WWE is hyping up Shawn Michael’s return to Monday Night Raw tonight on Twitter by posting Michaels return in 2002 in which he was announced as the newest member of the NWO.
Last night at the Golden Globes, actress Meryl Streep gave a political speech. During the speech, Streep also took a jab at MMA and the NFL. Streep stated:
Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners, if we kick them all out you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts.
Dolph Ziggler sent out a Tweet earlier in response to that comment from Streep. The WWE’s official account has since retweeted Ziggler’s post.
John Cena continues to post photos on Instagram in an effort to get fans discussing Kenny Omega joining the WWE. Cena recently posted a picture of Omega on his Instagram and has now posted a picture of Kenny from South Park. You can view that post by clicking here.
Slaw is a parody of the horror franchise Saw and it is looking like it will be finally be released. The film was originally announced in July of 2015 but little has been heard of it since. Recently, Green Apple Entertainment acquired the film and stated in a press release today that they plan on releasing Slaw later this year. Below is the only video I could find of the film. As you can see in the trailer, Kevin Nash is in the film. Luke Gallows and other Bullet Club members also appear in the film. There was a screening of Slaw last year and some reviews came out. Cody Hamman of JoBlo gave Slaw a 6 out of 10. Hamman stated “if you like wrestlers and staggeringly dopey jokes, Slaw is out there for you”.
The WWE released a new video of The Resurrection of Gavin Stone with Shawn Michaelson their YouTube account.
Local advertising lists The Undertaker and WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels for the 1/9 RAW from The Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.
This is being billed as a “special appearance” for HBK and Taker’s “return to Monday Night RAW.”
It’s possible that HBK’s appearance is tied to The Resurrection of Gavin Stone, a faith-based movie he’s starring in. WWE Studios will be distributing that movie on 1/20. We will keep you updated on their appearances when more information is available.
The WWE released a video today of Shawn Michaels discussing his journey. In the video, Michaels went into detail about his substance abuse and when he finally realized that he had to stop. Michaels also talked about his new WWE Studios film The Resurrection of Gavin Stone.
Sin Cara had a photo shoot recently for Krown City Clothing.
Rob Schamberger is a WWE artist and he posted a painting he made of Dusty Rhodes and Blackjack Mulligan. In the twitter post, Schamberger pointed out that the painting was made for the families of Rhodes and Mulligan. Goldust retweeted the painting and gave a nod to Schamberger for his work.
Shawn Michaels appeared on Dallas, TX radio station 105.3 The Fan today to promote his new movie The Resurrection of Gavin Stone, and during the interview he addressed a hot topic in the wrestling world. The Heart Break Kid finally spoke on rumors about a possible “dream match” between him and AJ Styles at the Royal Rumble, which takes place in Michael’s hometown of San Antonio.
Michaels said that while no one from WWE has even contacted him about the Royal Rumble yet, he would love hearing the reaction from his hometown crowd if he came out from behind the curtain at the Alamodome. He recalled meeting AJ Styles once in-person, and called him “phenomenal.”
The WWE Hall of Famer added that he believes both him and WWE have happily moved on from each other, and said he’s enjoying his retirement.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety over at JRsBarBQ.com. In this installment, JR spoke about Monday’s RAW, recent shakeups with WWE’s broadcast teams, the Royal Rumble and more.
One of the top stories of the week is the announcement that Charlotte & Sasha Banks will participate in WWE’s (main roster) first-ever 30-minute Women’s “Iron Man” match at Roadblock later this month. JR believes both women will have to step up in order for the match to be a success, but WWE is to be commended for their handling of women’s wrestling.
“The 30 minute Ironman, (why not Ironwomen BTW?) match will be a challenge to Sasha and Charlotte as it will require a logical pace, timely selling, a on going, under lying thread to their match I.E. someone has a dinged body part and it is exploited,” Ross said. “I applaud WWE and the two ladies for this booking and wish them the best of luck in telling a great story while continuing to advance their gender’s place within the ‘man’s world’ of pro wrestling.”
The 2017 Royal Rumble is shaping up to be one of the biggest ever with Brock Lesnar and Goldberg already confirmed as two of the 30 entrants. JR thinks WWE should utilize Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker at the Rumble to ensure the Alamo Dome show is a success.
“I like that both Lesnar and Goldberg are both in the Royal Rumble match as it should help move tickets locally for the Alamo Dome extravaganza. I’d love to see an official announcement that both HBK and Taker are going to be on hand in some role as to add to the marketable nostalgia for the event. The two legends do not need to wrestle but being creatively utilized in some manageable manner would help the event feel bigger and more desirable to attend.”
Speaking of the Royal Rumble, JR will be hosting a “RINGSIDE with Jim Ross” show the day of the Royal Rumble (2:30pm local time) at the Improv at River Center in San Antonio. If you’re in town for the Rumble, head over to Rivercitycomedyclub.com for ticket information.
Seth Rollins recently appeared on TalkSport’s Gorilla Position podcast and commented on speculation of Shawn Michaels getting back in the ring. It’s important to clarify there are no credible reports that Michaels plans to ever wrestle again, but some fans are fantasy booking Michaels as the ideal opponent for AJ Styles for January’s Royal Rumble PPV at the Alamo Dome.
In response to this hypothetical match up, Seth Rollins says if Michaels does wrestle again, it should be at WrestleMania – against him. Since AJ Styles’ name has been thrown around as a potential opponent for Michaels, Rollins is more than happy to fight Styles for the honor.
“If he’s ever coming out of retirement it better be at WrestleMania. Kudos to AJ for giving it a shot but he can take a backseat. I would like that match before he gets his hands on Shawn. A lot of people would pay good money to see Shawn and AJ. Me and AJ might have to fight it out. Winner gets Shawn.”
As one of the top workers in the business today, Rollins says he’s modeled himself after the Hearbreak Kid as a performer who can work wrestle any style.
“I’ve always fancied myself as the guy who can do it all pretty well. I don’t see myself in the ring as a high flyer or brawler or technical guy, but I feel I can do everything, work with everybody, and bring out the best in different people.
I would never compare myself to him, but like a Shawn Michaels, a guy who can do everything. I’ve always prided myself on doing different types of matches with different opponents.”
Head over to Talksport.com to listen to the full interview.
Discussion; If Shawn Michaels ever returns to the ring for one last match, who should be his opponent?
The WWE Hall of Famer was advertised to appear for DREAMWAVE Wrestling on Saturday in La Salle, Illinois, but was a no-show. Following this, DREAMWAVE Wrestling CEO Jay Repsel sent out a tweet asking for someone to check on Hall’s whereabouts. According to Repsel, Hall is not returning his calls or texts after failing to board a flight to the event.
Hall was advertised to appear alongside Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash and Sean Waltman at the event. Ultimately, only HBK and Nash appeared as Waltman also wasn’t able to make it for undisclosed reasons. Waltman, however, sent out an apology on Twitter and has agreed to appear at a show in December.
Former WWE Superstar “The Genius” Lanny Poffo appeared on Sean Waltman’s X-Pac 1,2,360 podcast this week and shed some light on the final years of his brother, the late Macho Man Randy Savage. Here are some highlights of what Poffo said about:
Randy reconciling with Hulk Hogan shortly before his death:
“About a month before Randy died. My brother took my mom to the cardiologist, and the nurse said, ‘Hulk Hogan is here.’ Randy said, well keep him there. So Randy goes in there and gives him a hug or something. Here’s your scoop in the midst of all this drivel. Randy had a ‘blank you’ list a mile long, right? It seemed like the last two months of his life he went around making amends to everybody that he ever had any problem with, including Hulk Hogan. Let me tell you what. Even at the worst it was a love/hate relationship. Even at the worst, because Hulk was the Babe Ruth of wrestling and anybody that was lucky enough to be in his shadow for a moment was instantly catapulted to success. That was Randy in 1985, and they just clicked personally, professionally, inside the ring, outside the ring. But you know things happen.”
Randy Planning To Return To WWE & Wanting To Work With Shawn Michaels:
“Randy had a very bad leaving with the WWE. It was right about the time Randy was on the announcing table, right? You were there, the 1-2-3 Kid, and doing fantastic for yourself. Well Randy started watching and getting the bug back, you see what I mean? He started getting that, maybe I’m not too old. Maybe I can have one more match. He was always known for his match with Ricky Steamboat. So he thought that he could possibly start a little something with Shawn Michaels, and then have a two year program, then have the showdown at WrestleMania. His intention was to have a Hair vs. Career match, where Shawn Michaels would shave his head or Randy would give up his career and go to the announcing booth. Randy would drop the match, go back to the announcing booth, but he wanted to end his career with a better match than he had with Steamboat.”
Lanny offers inside insight on two infamous matches:
“When Bruno Sammartino defeated Buddy Rogers, that was a shoot. Bruno walked over, put him up on a bear hug, he said, give up or I’ll break your back. Yeah Buddy had heart problems. Or that’s what he said. You see what I mean? Listen, I got the story from Buddy and Bruno, and I know whose story had the hole in it, OK? Before that, you know what happens when a guy becomes a megastar, he doesn’t want to lose, right? So you got Argentina Rocca against Buddy Rogers and Vince McMahon, Sr. wanted Buddy to win. Rocca didn’t want to lose. So Buddy was a very charming guy…Well Buddy said, OK Daddy, here’s what we’re going to do, and he’s real charismatic when he spoke and he’s charming too, you know—makes you fall in love with him. He says, I’ll win the first fall, you win the second fall and the third fall, two out of three match. So he goes out there, wins the first fall and everybody goes home. The fans go home, the referee goes home, Buddy goes and leaves. He told him there was going to be a two out of three match…and it was just a one fall match.”
How he felt about Hulk Hogan inducting Randy into the WWE Hall of Fame:
“First of all, I didn’t choose Hulk Hogan. Secondly, if I were given a choice I would’ve picked Hulk Hogan. That would be the final olive branch. I personally love Hulk Hogan. I know Randy really did too. Some of the trouble was because of the [Miss] Elizabeth thing.”
Debunking a rumor about Randy & Elizabeth:
“They were on [the WWE Randy Savage DVD] saying Randy locked Elizabeth in the locker room. I happen to know this was false because I was there. See what I mean? First of all, Elizabeth didn’t want to be taking a shower with Brian Knobbs…Put yourself in her shoes. These wrestlers were not the Boy Scouts. They were using people’s suitcases for toilets.”
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog at JRsBarBQ.com with some thoughts on a potential AJ Styles vs. Shawn Michaels dream match. It’s important to clarify that there are zero credible reports of this match actually happening or Michaels ever wrestling again.
With the 2017 Royal Rumble taking place from the Alamo Dome in Michaels’ home town of San Antonio and WWE looking to pack over 60,000 fans in the stadium – some fans have speculated that a Styles vs. Michaels dream match could help make the show a success. That said, time for the speculation. JR thinks the odds of this match happening are a “definite long shot,” but expressed optimism that anything could happen if WWE reached out to Michaels looking for help selling out the Rumble.
“The odds of Shawn Michaels wrestling at the Royal Rumble vs AJ Styles is a definite long shot as HBK has stressed to me on multiple occasions including the Ross Report podcast that he’s done with in ring activities in the wrestling biz. However, Shawn is a ‘company man’ and if WWE really needed a main event that could move a large amount of tickets in San Antonio at the Alamo Dome, I think that HBK would consider the company’s request. Without question, a Michaels vs Styles match in San Antonio at the Royal Rumble would be coveted by all involved if it were to occur. I’d realistically put the odds of this main event happening at less than 50-50 but I’d love to be wrong on this one.”
Styles himself recently commented on the hypothetical dream match. During an interview with Sports Illustrated, the WWE World Champion said he’d love to work with Michaels, but there’s no concrete evidence to get excited just yet.
“I’d love to learn from him, but who’s to say if that’s going to happen,” AJ explained. “Right now, it’s all speculation and rumors that I’m finding out like everyone else is, but man, what a match that would be.”
He also tweeted this fan-created image hyping the dream match:
WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart made a surprise appearance during the recent “Inside The Ropes: An Evening with Jim Ross and Jim Cornette” event from London and revealed some interesting details regarding the WrestleMania 13 main event that never happened.
Following up on their Iron Man Match at WrestleMania 12 that saw the realization of Shawn Michaels’ boyhood dream, there were talks of a rematch taking place the following year. “I remember we talked about — my understanding was when I left that meeting that day was that I was gonna come back, and I was gonna have a bit of a chip on my shoulder towards Shawn, start ragging on him for not being a good role model, and then to — cause I remember watching him on TV and he’d pull his pants down and show his pubes and all that,” Hart said.
“Being the ‘so called’ hero- baby face of the company, that’s not a good way to present yourself. I just remember sort of making note in my head, and the more I saw Shawn doing stuff like that, pulling his pants down and getting the kids dancing and all that in the ring, it’d be easy for me as a babyface to take exception to what Shawn was doing. But I thought really what it was was a chance for me to make a storyline here with Shawn where I lost the title to him at Wrestlemania 12 and I got a bit of a chip on my shoulder that I lost, the way the whole thing was set up was perfect for me to come back with a bit of an attitude about Shawn. And what I had wanted to do was work a storyline with Shawn where I’d wrestle him at Wrestlemania, we woulda had a really good match.”
Bret put Shawn over as a great wrestle and one of the best he’s ever worked with – “maybe the best I ever worked with in a lot of ways.”
Bret wanted to have a great 35 minute match that would have resulted in him snapping – both figuratively and literally (Shawn’s foot). “Basically a duplicate of the ironman match all over again, but we wouldn’t go the full hour again. I wanted to do a thing where Shawn was stomping his foot, getting ready to give me the big kick, and I’m in trouble like I’m pulling myself up form the ropes on the other side of the ring and Shawn goes to give me that big kick as I stagger over to him, just like at the iron man match. Except this time I would take Shawn’s foot, catch it in the air and get him to the ground and put some kind of a shoot hold on his foot and break his foot right in the middle of the ring. I wanted Shawn to tap out like they do in UFC, where it’s like when they break somebody’s arm they tap out pretty fast and everyone jumps in and it’s a very serious kind of thing. I wanted to break Shawn’s foot and then they hand me the belt and I would’ve gone over and stand over the top of him and go ‘f*ck you.’
Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be for a variety of reasons. Bret still went heel and wrestled “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in the classic double-turn match that saw Austin passing out while in the sharpshooter. Shawn Michaels was involved in the main event – doing color commentary for The Undertaker’s WWE Championship victory over Sycho Sid.
Props to WrestleZone.com for the transcribed quotes.
– WWE Studios released the first trailer for Shawn Michaels’ new movie The Resurrection of Gavin Stone over the weekend. The film is currently scheduled for a January release. It was produced by Vertical Church Films and bought by WWE Studios.
– In a recent interview with Channel Guide Magazine, NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura talks about getting help from Terry Taylor behind the scenes. “I have gotten a chance to talk with Terry Taylor, his opinion has been very interesting for me,” Nakamura said. “He knows there is a psychology and certain things American fans like. I really enjoy studying from him…Most NXT guys are young guys. They keep me young working with them. They challenge me in a different way. I can teach them and also can study. I learn from them.” Nakamura also talked about his decision to join WWE, explaining that he already accomplished everything he wanted in NJPW. You can read the entire interview here.
– Several fans on Twitter have noted that attendance has seemed low at recent WWE live events. One user on Twitter noted that half of the lower section of the arena was tarped off at Saturday’s Louisville, KY show.
– Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is officially the highest paid actor in the world. According to Forbes, The Rock will make a staggering $64.5 million this year. He more than doubled his 2015 earnings to knock Robert Downey Jr. out of the top spot this year.
– The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels in attendance for tonight’s NXT TV tapings from Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL. HBK has been working as a coach at the WWE Performance Center in recent weeks. This will be Shinsuke Nakamura’s first shows as NXT champion and it will be interesting to see who the next challenger is to Asuka’s NXT Women’s championship. Check back later tonight for complete results from the tapings.
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 said about:
Goldberg’s In-Ring Future: “Bill Goldberg, representing WWE 2K17 will be in Brooklyn this weekend doing some promotional work for the video game but could we end up seeing more? Goldberg is in fighting shape and has publicly expressed that he would love to step back in the ring one more time, can you say Wrestlemania in Orlando? That feels like a long shot at best but it is certainly an intriguing idea that many fans would covet. ”
Shawn Michaels Coaching NXT Students: “Upon talking to Shawn Michaels for our next Fox piece, he shared with me that he and his family have relocated to Florida from Texas and that he will be doing some work in the WWE Performance Center which will be a Godsend for the students there … This is a tremendous ‘get’ for WWE even if Shawn is only part time and will make their Performance Center even stronger. Shawn shared with me his genuine excitement to help coach they young talents when his schedule permits and also be a much needed mentor to them.”
Billy Corgan As TNA President: “”I’m told from TNA personnel that the announcement that Billy Corrigan taking over the day to day management of the company has largely reinvigorated the roster. “We now have a chance” I was told. I’m a wrestling fan and hope that all companies promoting the genre are successful and any fan who thinks otherwise isn’t truly a fan.”
Catch JR’s weekly Ross Report podcast over at PodcastOne.com.
– Regarding The Solomonster’s scoop that Shawn Michaels has been training students at the WWE Performance Center, PWInsider reports that it’s not a done deal yet that he’ll be working there full time. Michaels is said to have a full-time offer on the table, but the main issue is having to relocate his family from Texas to Florida. Michaels was not at the PC today and is not scheduled to be back this week.
– At one point there were plans for The Muppets to appear at Sunday’s SummerSlam PPV, but a scheduling conflict led to the plans to be nixed. (Source: PWInsider)
– For whatever reason, WWE has pulled the video of Brock Lesnar challenging Goldberg, which was posted earlier today. The video featured Paul Heyman mocking Goldberg for being the “supporting player” of the WWE 2K17 video game and Lesnar telling Bill, “You’re next!”
– SmackDown’s Mojo Rawley tweeted this photo of a nasty bruise he ended up with after a recent match with “Hype Bros.” partner Zack Ryder against The Ascension, blaming it on Konnor:
– On the latest episode of The Solomonster Sounds Off podcast, Solomonster noted that Shawn Michaels recently relocated to Orlando, Florida and is now teaching a class at the Performance Center. He’s now working there there full-time, taking over for Terry Taylor, who previously worked as a “finishing coach” helping talents polish their acts. As such, Michaels will be working closely with with top NXT talent.
Michaels (along with Rudy Boy Gonzalez) previously ran the Texas Wrestling Academy (founded in 1999) which produced names such as Daniel Bryan, Brian Kendrick and the late Lance Cade.
You can listen to the latest Sound Off episode here:
SOUND OFF 456 discusses Billy Corgan replacing Dixie Carter, Sandow's #TNA debut, Cedric Alexander, WCPW and more https://t.co/Rd6sG0qmlv
– Shelton Benjamin called into the latest episode of Jim Ross’ Ross Report Podcast and spoke about the shoulder injury that has put his WWE return on hold. Shelton said its been a very emotional month for him, going from an extreme high to an extreme low. He’s staying positive and injuries are just part of the business. Doctors have told him he’ll be out 6-12 months and he’s mentally preparing to be out for a year. His ultimate goal is to get back to WWE and that’s been his goal since leaving the company 6-7 years ago.
Fellow WWE Hall of Famers Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels recently sat down together to record the latest edition of Flair’s podcast and did some serious reminiscing.
Michaels and Flair went all the way back to when they first met in 1985, while working for Central States Wrestling in Kansas City. Michaels said he met Flair at a very small bar when he was 19, and Flair bought him drinks the rest of the night. Michaels recalls taking the opportunity to tell Flair what he meant to him as a pro wrestler after having watched him for years before that night.
Later on, they faced off in the ring in December of ’91 for six minutes in what Michaels calls the biggest match of his career at that point.
“I think everybody knew that I just was such a huge fan of Ric’s, so just to give me the opportunity to be in there with him, I think, is probably somebody, a booker, or a producer, or somebody, an agent, that knew that and said, ‘Shawn would get a kick out of that opportunity, so let him do it,'” Michaels recalled. “Yeah, we had six minutes. There was very little time. You just do the best you can.” Michaels recalled his mindset at the time, “heck, I don’t know the future, so for me, this is a huge opportunity. You’re in there with the guy that you always dreamed about being in there with. It’s a huge opportunity and then, gosh, it was the fastest six minutes you ever have.”
Fast-forwarding to Flair’s retirement match against Michaels at WrestleMania 24, The Nature Boy took issue with repeatedly being called “Old Yeller” during the build-up to the match. Michaels explained the Old Yeller references, saying it wasn’t about age as much as it was having to kill a beloved character.
“For me, all the Old Yeller stuff was more about love.” Michaels explained, “it was about someone being put into a position that they did not envy and they were going to have to do something and put an end to something that they didn’t want to put an end to. And the reason they didn’t want to put an end to it was because that person, that everything about that meant so much. And again, that’s the conflict that ‘HBK’ and the character were going through in the whole storyline with Ric. And that’s what made it so, for me, enjoyable to do.”
You can listen to Michaels’ entire appearance on The Ric Flair Show here.
– Wrestling data analyst Chris Harrington dug into this week’s RAW viewership numbers and found an interesting (troubling) fact about this week’s 3rd hour. Monday’s RAW averaged 3.255 million viewers, with the following hourly breakdown:
Hour 1: 3.371 million
Hour 2: 3.490 million
Hour 3: 2.903 million
Harrington notes that the 3rd hour drop in viewership (578,000 viewers) is the 2nd largest loss in viewership for the final hour of RAW in over 90 weeks. For a much more in-depth look at which Superstars’ “Hour 3” matches have lost the most viewers over time, check out Harrington’s latest #Wrestlenomics article over at Indeedwrestling.blogspot.com.
– Kliq members Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash visited Triple H at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando on Tuesday. Nash called it an “unbelievable facility” and noted that he saw some great looking talent training there.
AJ Styles appeared on ESPN SportsCenter on Tuesday night for Jonathan Coachman’s weekly WWE segment. Coach asked if there was ever a point AJ felt he wouldn’t make it to WWE. AJ said yes and he was coming to terms with it. It was depressing thinking that he’d never get a WrestleMania moment.
Styles talked about his WWE debut at the Royal Rumble and being unsure if anybody would know who he was. Coach talked about social media educating WWE fans to performers who are not part of the Universe, which helped AJ come in to great fanfare. Styles credits a big part of his success to social media.
They spoke about WrestleMania, with Styles calling it “mind-boggling” to perform in front of the largest crowd of his career.
Styles talked about his dream opponent, Shawn Michaels. He thinks HBK made everything mean something in the ring, whether it was a punch or a slam. Even if HBK was performing crazy moves, he did all the little things right and always put on great matches. Unfortunately, he doesn’t think HBK will ever wrestle again.
Other topics discussed includes Styles being a big fan of video games and Christian hip-hop.
Shawn Michaels was a guest on Vince Russo’s podcast this week and didn’t hold anything back on his opinion of the current WWE product. When asked if he misses wrestling for WWE, he responded:
“Everybody asks me, ‘Do you miss it?’ No, I don’t miss it because what’s on TV now isn’t what I used to do. So it’s easy not to miss.”
It’s an interesting quote that’s hard to disagree with. To be fair, every generation says that things were better when they were growing up. It is the old “back in my day” argument that has been had millions of times. However, Shawn Michaels was a key figure for wrestling fans who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s so it is a bit shocking to hear him give a quote like that.
Michaels also addressed fans who complain about the WWE on the internet.
“I get what those hardcore fans say and they don’t like it, but at the same time, and I’m going to get a lot of heat for this, but it is true: You do keep watching. The ratings may go down, but we’re not losing you.”
Isn’t that just the brutal truth that all of us wrestling fans hate to hear. If you are reading this right now, I’m guessing you’ve probably said to yourself “I’m never watching this again” hundreds of times. I know I certainly have. There were so many times I wondered why I was watching wrestling when it seemed like Cena was winning every match. Then, I was reminded why I watch it when I saw Edge beat him at SummerSlam 2006 live. It is the same thing now with Roman Reigns. He is not popular amongst the hardcore fans but there is no way they are going to stop watching.