— Two ‘legends’ are reportedly scheduled for Sunday’s 40-Man Royal Rumble Match. Another wrestler that would be considered a surprise is also set to appear.
— It was disclosed at a WWE-sponsored web conference yesterday that the Diva Search competition would be brought back to company programming. The concept will reportedly be similar to NXT as the contestants would be mentored by WWE Divas. Additionally, it is said that company officials will make a concentrated effort to recruit female talent from the independent wrestling scene.
— Former WWE Champion Shawn Michaels has been nominated for a Shorty.com Award in the sports category, which honors the best producers of short real time content (on Twitter).
— For weekend live events, the Raw tour saw Friday’s show in Trenton, NJ draw 6,500 paying $189,000. Saturday in State College, PA, drew 4,200 paying $120,000. Sunday in Youngstown, OH, drew 5,400 paying $170,000. Monday’s Raw in Detroit drew 9,000. The SmackDown events saw Saturday’s show in Kalamazoo, MI draw 4,400 and $128,000 and Sunday’s show in Hammond, IN drew 3,300 pay $98,000.
– When WWE legend Shawn Michaels is inducted into the Hall of Fame during WrestleMania weekend, he reportedly wants longtime friend Ric Flair to be at the ceremony. While there’s no word yet on whether Flair will appear, feeling is that WWE would have no problem with Flair attending, but they likely would not show him on camera. It remains to be seen whether TNA would have a problem with Flair attending a WWE event.
– Michelle McCool was back on the road for WWE live events this past weekend, indicating that The Undertaker is doing well recovering from surgery.
As noted earlier this week, it’s now expected that he will work WrestleMania 27 this year. McCool had been given time off from live events to stay at home and tend to her husband, The Deadman.
WWE Hall of Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart was a guest on Sunday night’s Live Audio Wrestling radio show on Sirius XM. Among the topics discussed was the announcement that Shawn Michaels will be joining him in the Hall of Fame during WrestleMania weekend in April. Hart says despite the long standing issues he and Shawn had in the past, they buried the hatchet last year when he returned to WWE television on January 4th and remain friends to this day. When asked whether he would induct Shawn into the Hall of Fame, Bret responded:
“I wouldn’t have any problem inducting Shawn. The truth is Shawn was a great wrestler and I had a lot of great matches with him. I’m proud of some of the great memories I had with Shawn and I would be happy to induct him into the Hall of Fame if they asked me to,” Hart told John Pollock of the Fight Network for an interview on Sunday’s Live Audio Wrestling show.
Regarding his future with WWE and whether he’d be open to working this year’s WrestleMania and future storylines, Bret said:
“I’m not expecting to be involved in WrestleMania, but at the same time, I could get a call tomorrow to ask me to play some sort of part. I would be happy to be involved with WrestleMania or something that comes up the next few months.”
The Hitman also spoke about concussions in wrestling, saying that the lingering effects of concussions suffered during his career are more of an issue for him today than the career-ending stroke he suffered several years ago.
Visit TheFightNetwork.com to download an MP3 of Bret’s appearance on the LAW show.
— It was reported earlier that Hulk Hogan would be appearing in THQ’s upcoming WWE All Stars video game as he is featured on the preliminary cover for the game. Screenshots of Hogan in the video game, however, have yet to surface. It is rumored that WWE officials nixed THQ’s decision to feature Hogan in the game.
— It was reported Thursday on various websites that Shawn Michaels cut his hair as part of a benefit for the Arnold S. Leonard Cancer Research Fund. Michaels said on Twitter that his friend’s hair was cut, but did not indicate whether his own hair was cut. Michaels enclosed photos of himself about to cut hair.
Michaels also said that he ran into Steve Austin yesterday in Las Vegas, Nevada. He wrote: “Saw “Stone Cold” this morning. The “Texas Rattlesnake” looks as good as ever. There will only be one Stone Cold Steve Austin. Cool.”
— WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter will be on hand for the Richard Karn Golf Tournament, which takes place Saturday, April 9 through Monday, April 11 in Scottsdale, Arizona.
– This year’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view takes place on February 20th from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. A new promotional poster for the event has been released and it features World Heavyweight champion Edge.
– Add Paul Heyman and Bill Goldberg to the long list of people who congratulated Shawn Michaels on Twitter this week for his upcoming induction into the WWE Hall of Fame.
– A few SEScoops readers who were in attendance at last night’s RAW live event in Tennessee sent in word that that John Cena looked good in his match against CM Punk and The Miz, showing no signs of injury. As we reported on Friday, Cena is back on the road as of this weekend.
WWE issues a press release on Thursday regarding Shawn Michaels’ upcoming inducting into the company’s Hall of Fame as part of WrestleMania weekend.
Many people in the wrestling industry have been congratulating Michaels this week, including former rival Steve Austin, who called him the best in-ring worker he’s ever seen. As part of today’s press release, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon echoed Austin’s opinion, with this strong endorsement:
“Shawn Michaels was the best in-ring performer in the history of WWE.”
The induction ceremony will take place on Saturday, April 2 at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, GA, the evening before WrestleMania XXVII.
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:
HBK In The WWE Hall of Fame: “I agree w/ a recent Kevin Nash Tweet that if WWE had a physical Hall of Fame that Shawn Michaels should have a statue erected in his honor. Was anyone in the modern age of wrestling ever a better all around performer? Only Ric Flair is likely in the same zip code considering years of service at the top of the card. As great a fan favorite as HBK was, I think his best work was as a villain.”
Scouting Talent At FCW This Week: “Good to visit w/ Arn Anderson Wednesday in Tampa @ FCW. I hope the trainees learned some useful info as both Double A and I enjoy interacting w/ the rookies. Thursday night FCW will tape three, one hour TV shows .. The rookies are evaluated daily which is why it’s imperative that they come to work each day and give 100% of themselves mentally and physically. I’ve encouraged them all to read plenty of wrestling books and self help/financial books. Financial planning is so important for individuals who potentially have shorter ‘shelf lives’ than those in other vocations.”
Brock Lesnar’s Next Fight & Hosting TUF: “Really surprised to read of the great ‘get’ of Brock Lesnar and his next opponent Junior Dos Santos as the next coaches for the UFC’s TUF series. This will not only build to a mega fight w/ the two heavyweights but will also afford Brock the opportunity to promote his upcoming biography and his clothing line.”
“Some ask what motivated Lesnar to commit to several weeks of taping the program away from Minnesota and living in Las Vegas for approximately 6 weeks. The answer is marketing opportunities, building a PPV, and helping the company that the former WWE Champion works for to continue to build their brand. Bottom line….it’s a win/win for all involved. Again, a great ‘get’ for Dana White and company. But I’m still surprised.”
— WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin congratulated Shawn Michaels on Twitter for his upcoming induction into the Hall of Fame. Austin, who defeated Michaels to win his first WWE championship in the main event of WrestleMania 14, wrote on @SteveAustinBSR:
“Congrats to Shawn Michaels going into HOF. He is the greatest in ring performer I have ever seen.”
— Ric Flair will be returning to the ring once again later this month during TNA’s UK tour. Flair will wrestle Douglas Williams at the Wembley Arena in London on 1/29.
— It’s also worth noting that Jeff Hardy is being advertised for TNA’s UK tour, which begins on 1/21, the day after he is scheduled to plead guilty to at least one of the drug charges pending against him.
Last month, former WWE wrestler Gregory Helms made headlines with a scathing attack against Shawn Michaels, calling him a druggie and one of the biggest hypocrites in the history of the pro wrestling business. Helms blamed Michaels for hurting families by holding people back in WWE and questioned Michaels’ Christian faith.
Helms is now back with another rant against Shawn Michaels, who was named as the first member of the WWE Hall of Fame’s Class of 2010 earlier this week. Helms wrote on Twitter:
“The HOF is great but I take more pride & comfort in the fact that I’ve never “screwjobbed” ANYONE in life or the biz! $$$ isn’t everything.”
Former WWE star Chris Jericho came to Michaels’ defense, calling him the greatest performer of all-time. Helms re-tweeted Jericho’s message, saying Ric Flair is actually the best of all time:
“BS! Flair did more & got more people over.”
Helms didn’t stop there. He continues to back Ric Flair as the greatest of all time, appears to take a shot at Chris Jericho in the process and compared Shawn Michaels to … Hitler?!
“If u got something to say, say it public. Enough ass-kissing. He wasn’t the greatest when he was cussing u out in catering.”
“Flair got over people that absolutely SUCKED!! Shawn hadn’t gotten over anyone but himself in the last decade!!”
“I’m sorry being honest comes off bad on Twitter, I’m not hating, I’m stating FACTS!! Facts that I would swear by on my life.”
“And wearing a cross doesn’t make u right. Hitler wore one too! Don’t be FOOLED by a TV persona!! I’m always honest. NO ONE can accuse me.”
– Kevin Nash wrote the following on his Twitter yesterday about Shawn Michaels:
“Congratulations to @ShawnMichaels_ the greatest. Is the HOF even enough? Come on Vince. Bronze statue in the lobby?”
For what it’s worth, Sean Waltman, Nash and Scott Hall are all three saying they will be at the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony in Atlanta to see Shawn get inducted.
– As we reported on Tuesday, WWE developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling will hold a tryout clinic from March 4th through the 7th. WWE star Joey Mercury will join Norman Smiley, Tom Prichard, Steve Keirn and Ricky Steamboat as the trainers for the clinic.
– The band Paramore visited Monday’s RAW as guests of CM Punk. MTV.com had an article up this week covering the visit.
– Former WWE creative team member Court Bauer revealed on yesterday’s Figure Four Daily radio show that he was in talks with WWE last spring about developing original programming for the planned WWE cable network. Bauer told the hosts that he had several meetings at WWE headquarters in Stamford, CT but decided not to take the job.
He mentioned that WWE’s vision about their cable network has changed many times from what they originally had planned, especially after they began to shop it around to potential cable partners.
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:
Shwan Michaels Joining WWE’s Hall of Fame:
“HBK is SO deserving and is arguably the greatest in ring performer of all time and let me tell you folks that statement covers a lot of ground.”
“HBK was a ‘natural’ for the wrestling biz. He was a life long fan. He was a very good athlete. He had a natural swagger and loads of confidence, some critics would likely say too much confidence, once he stepped inside the ring. HBK knew that he was going to be great because he was willing to put in the work and study to get there.”
“Congratulations Shawn. You are special in so many ways. The man you have grown to become is admirable. I am so proud of you for a multitude of reasons but nothing as much as you becoming the wonderful husband and father that you are.”
Jerry Lawler’s Recent Push On RAW:
“Outside of John Cena, Orton, and John Morrison, perhaps, Jerry Lawler is on as nice a protagonist roll as any one on Raw. Good for Jerry and perhaps this will necessitate the King finally getting his long awaited, highly desired wrestling match at WM27.”
CM Punk As The Leader Of Nexus:
“CM Punk is ultra talented and in the span of a couple of episodes he has given me reasons to reinvest in Nexus again as I am curious as to how the Punk leading Nexus business plays out over time. More importantly, I’m curious as to what young athletes will ‘breakout of the group in time as individual stars.”
As always, visit JRsBarBQ.com to check out JR’s great line of BBQ products!
– After Monday’s WWE RAW went off the air, John Cena made his return and looked to be in pretty good shape. Cena teamed with Randy Orton to beat The Miz and CM Punk. Michael Cole was the special ref. Cena didn’t take a lot of bumps but did hit all his signature spots. Towards the end of the match, Cole got knocked out and another referee came down to replace him. The ending of the match was said to be very exciting, Orton and Cena hit their finishers for the win.
– Several people in WWE have commented on Shawn Michaels being the first name announced for the WWE Hall of Fame’s Class of 2011.
Joey Styles: “Shawn Michaels is the best all around wrestler I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching. Calling his matches was always fun. Congrats Shawn.”
Jim Ross: “When I had dinner w/ hbk in okc few wks ago, shawn mentioned the wwe hof & how much it meant 2 him. Congrats Shawn & welcome 2 the club.”
Howard Finkle: “Congrats of your forthcoming induction into the WWE Hall of Fame! Welcome to the club, my friend!”
On RAW, it was announced that the one and only Shawn Michaels will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in April as part of the Class of 2011. Michaels returned for an in-ring segment with SmackDown star Alberto Del Rio .. If you didn’t catch it on Monday – here’s a clip of what went down, courtesy of WWE’s YouTube channel:
After it was announced that Shawn Michaels will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 2nd, longtime friend Sean “X-Pac” Waltman wrote the following on Twitter.com/TheRealXPac:
“I have no words right now to describe how happy I am for Shawn,” Waltman wrote.
“No one deserves it more. I will be there to see him inducted if I have to f—ing hitchhike to get there… I would love for the Wolfpac to be in attendance that night. I’m trying to think of the last time The Kliq were all together. 2002?”
— Shawn Michaels was announced tonight on Raw by Jerry “The King” Lawler as the first inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2011. He took to Twitter to comment on the honor, writing: “Surprise! Surprise! Seriously, thanks to all of u for making my career such a joy. I will carry those moments w/me all my life. Thx 4 sharing it w/me.”
The term “HBK HBK HBK” topped Twitter’s worldwide trend list shortly after the announcement. “Shawn Michaels” and “Sweet Chin Music” also trended.
— F4WOnline.com reports that tonight’s WWE Hall of Fame inductee announcement is one of “three big ones” that have been finalized.
— On Monday’s RAW, Shawn Michaels was announced as the first inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame’s Class of 2011. No announcement was made regarding who would induct Michaels. This year’s ceremony will take place at the Phillips Arena from Atlanta, Georgia on April 2nd during WrestleMania 27 weekend. Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10:00 A.M. EST via Ticketmaster.
— An 8-Man Tag Team Match was taped tonight in Nashville, Tennessee for this Thursday’s episode of WWE Superstars pitting Yoshi Tatsu, David Hart Smith, Primo and Darren Young against Zack Ryder, William Regal and The Usos. Also taped was a match between Gail Kim and Alicia Fox.
— John Cena is featured on the cover of the latest issue of WWE Kids Magazine.
— WWEDVDNews.com has confirmed that World Wrestling Entertainment will release a video on D-Generation X titled Final Conflict on April 5 in North America. It will be released on both DVD and Blu-ray.
The three-disc set will pick off where the 2007 set left off with matches from their rivalries with The Legacy and JeriShow. It will also contain brand new interviews with Shawn Michaels and Triple H.
— Continuing their angle from Monday’s Raw, SmackDown Superstar Alberto Del Rio lost to R-Truth in a singles match at Friday’s Raw live event in Augusta, Georgia. He lost to the former United States Champion for the second consecutive night at Saturday’s SmackDown live event in Lexington, Kentucky.
— Chris Masters celebrated his 27th birthday Saturday.
— Advertised for tonight’s episode of WWE SmackDown is a tag team match featuring Rey Mysterio and World Heavyweight Champion Edge against Kane and Alberto Del Rio. Other matches scheduled to take place include: Big Show vs. “Dashing” Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre vs. Trent Barreta, Lay-Cool vs. Beth Phoenix and Divas Champion Natalya, and Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger in a Triple Threat Match for the Intercontinental Championship.
— Shawn Michaels will be participating in an autograph signing on Sunday, February 27 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Detroit Auto Show at the Cobo Arena.
— WWE is posting episodes of WWE Superstars online again via Youtube.com.
— Shawn Michaels was backstage at tonight’s SmackDown taping, which took place in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. He wrote on Twitter:
“Great to see everybody today. Great show & all had a blast. Fun just to be a spectator. Merry Christmas to the WWE family.”
— A tag team match pitting World Heavyweight Champion Edge and Rey Mysterio against Kane and Alberto Del Rio was announced for next week’s episode of SmackDown, which takes place on New Year’s Eve.
— For the second consecutive night, the term “Vickie” was a trending topic on Twitter.
Former WWE superstar Shawn Michaels has posted a video on Youtube revealing his future plans with the company. HBK fans are going to like this one – Shawn announced that he and WWE have reached a deal that will keep him with the organization for a long time.
Don’t get your hopes up just yet – Shawn said he will not be returning to the ring, there are no plans for him to return as an on-air character and he is NOT the Anonymous RAW General Manager.
With those options off the table, it appears he will have some sort of behind-the-scenes role with WWE. He said he wants to give back to WWE, so that could entail anything from making live appearances, becoming a backstage agent/producer or working with WWE’s developmental talent.
Here’s the official statement from the Heartbreak Kid himself:
— Shawn Michaels teased a return to WWE with the following tweet yesterday:
“It was gr8 seeing the WWE gang @ Tribute show. Got some business done too. Seems there may be a future w/the WWE & yours truly:-)”
— A match pitting JTG against Curt Hawkins was taped last night in Lafayette, Louisiana for this week’s episode of WWE Superstars.
— Edge beat Kane via disqualification in a dark match following last night’s SmackDown taping due to the World Heavyweight Champion using a chair. Edge subsequently speared Kane.
— Today is former WWE star Rene Dupree’s birthday, who turns 27 years old. He now competes in All Japan Pro Wrestling and has dramatically changed his appearance since parting ways with WWE. He is now covered in tattoos and for a few months had patterned his look after the devil.
— Shawn Michaels teased a pre-taped appearance for tonight’s Slammy Awards themed Raw.
He noted on Twitter that he taped “something extra” for Raw this past weekend at the Tribute to the Troops event in Fort. Hood, Texas.
“I almost 4got. I taped something “extra” this weekend. Not sure what it was 4. They gave me this shiny thing. Suppose I’ll watch Raw,” he wrote.
The retired wrestler was nominated for the “WWE Moment of the Year” category for his final match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVI.
— Former ROH World Champion CM Punk was backstage at Ring of Honor’s second night of television tapings last week in Louisville, Kentucky visiting friends.
Once again, Helms has gone on Twitter and essentially called Michaels a hypocrite for claiming to be a devout Christian while still “murdering animals” and hanging their heads on his wall (ie. hunting). Helms wrote:
“I think I might go murder some animals for fun and hang their heads on my wall cuz that’s what Jesus would do. Right @ShawnMichaels_ ?”
Once again, HBK was prompted by his Twitter followers to respond to Helms’ remarks. Like last time, Michaels takes a cool, laid back approach and signs off with another smiley face..
“Jus got bak. Wow u guys r fired up! Sorry u have 2 deal w/it. Don’t worry, I don’t. Comes w/the territory. have zero desire 2 do the internet stuff other than corresponding w/u. U can make ur own decisions & I will respect them. May I now return to having fun w/ u all please. Life is 2 short 4 me 2 go thru High school again:-) “
Our readers have been very vocal about this topic on the SEScoops comments section … Comment below and let us know what you think about the situation – does Helms have a point attacking HBK – or is he way out of line by judging his religious faith?
After calling Shawn Michaels one of the biggest drug abusers and hypocrites in the history of pro wrestling and a “cock-eyed cross-eyed piece of sh**”, former WWE star Shane Helms is back with some more words for the Heartbreak Kid.
“I wonder if I backstab a bunch of people and hurt careers & families and slaughter animals for fun but then pray on stage, that make it ok? Just wondering? :-) But enough about that hypocrite, I’m home after a great but hard working tour and got to catch up on my DVR’s.”
Shawn Michaels has issued his first comments regarding Helms’ verbal attack, responded to his fans on Twitter who asked if he’s heard what Helms said about him. Michaels wrote:
“From u all I hav. Verbal attack? Wow pretty scary. Thoughts? Sticks & stones I guess? :-)”
Former WWE star Shane “Hurricane” Helms has made some pretty shocking allegations about Shawn Michaels, saying he’s one of the biggest drug abusers and hypocrites in the history of pro wrestling and calling him a “cock-eyed cross-eyed piece of sh**.
On the latest episode of his weekly “Highway 2 Helms” online video show, Helms’ co-host Marty Gardner him who his least favorite wrestler of all-time is. Helms did not hesitate to name Shawn Michaels.
Helms stated that Michaels was one of his idols growing up, but “he really let me down as a person” when he got to work with him in WWE.
Helms then took the gloves off and tore into Michaels, calling him “the biggest hypocrite in the business” and claiming “his whole religious gimmick is a f***ing work.”
Helms said that he can’t deny Michaels is one of the best WWE performers of all time and his matches WrestleMania matches with The Undertaker were classics – but as a person, Michaels is a “cock-eyed cross-eyed piece of sh**.
Helms then told a story about being so angry at Michaels at a show last year that he wanted to attack him – even if he’d lose his job over it. Michaels was having an argument with Chris Jericho backstage, with Michaels yelling loudly at Jericho. Helms did not say what the argument was about, but said he sided with Jericho in the situation.
Helms went on to say Michaels is “one of the biggest drug users in the history of the business…who has snorted more coke and done more steroids” than anybody else in wrestling. Yikes!