It was announced on this week’s edition of WWE RAW, which took place from Austin, Texas, that on next week’s RAW, which takes place in London, England, a battle royal will be held to determine the next number one contender to WWE Divas Champion Nikki Bella.
Also on this week’s RAW, a tag-tem match was announced for this week’s SmackDown. On SmackDown this week, which will be taped on Tuesday night, Sheamus and Bad News Barrett team up to take on Dolph Ziggler and WWE Intercotinental Champion Daniel Bryan in tag-team action.
Make sure to join us here at SEScoops.com on Tuesday evening for live SmackDown spoiler play-by-play results coverage!
– The official WWE website recently published an article listing the celebrities that were in attendance inside Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California this past Sunday night for WWE’s WrestleMania 31 pay-per-view event. The article lists the following celebrities:
– TV host Maria Menounos
– Legendary music producer Rick Rubin
– ESPN’s Michelle Beadle and her boyfriend actor/singer Steve Kazee
– Drummer Travis Barker and his kids
– Hot 97 DJ Peter Rosenberg
– Nick Hogan and his girlfriend
– Brooke Hogan and her boyfriend
– TV host Katie Linendoll with radio personality Sam Roberts
– Singer Skylar Grey with music mogul Jimmy Iovine
– Cousin Sal from Jimmy Kimmel Live! with his son
– San Francisco 49er Vernon Davis
– The Four Horsewomen – Ronda Rousey, Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir
– Sheamus took to Twitter this weekend to address the rumors that he worked “reckless” during his match with Daniel Bryan on this week’s SmackDown, resulting in Bryan needing stitches. Below is what Sheamus had to say.
– Although as of this week he has yet to officially sign with Lucha Underground, former WWE Superstar Rey Mysterio told the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the two sides are close to finalizing a deal.
– WWE is teasing that Sheamus, who returned as a heel at last week’s RAW, may be the first Superstar to challenge WWE Intercontinental Champion Daniel Bryan on this Monday’s show in Austin, Texas. After last week’s RAW, there has been speculation that Bryan may be defending the I-C title in a fatal four-way at the upcoming WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view, with Sheamus, Dolph Ziggler and Bad News Barrett being the other three participants.
– WWE posted the following video on their official YouTube channel, which shows Daniel Bryan receiving stitches in his head after Thursday’s SmackDown main event against Sheamus.
– There was a bit of a WCW reunion at the DDP Yoga Performance Center on Thursday. Diamond Dallas Page, Scott Hall, Buff Bagwell, Stevie Richards, Marc Mero and Erik Watts were all in attendance. DDP posted the following photo of the guys together on Twitter:
The following matches were taped for tonight’s post-WrestleMania 31 edition of WWE SmackDown this past Tuesday in Fresno, California.
– Randy Orton vs. Big Show
– Natalya vs. Naomi
– Roman Reigns interview with Byron Saxton
– The Miz vs. R-Truth
– Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper
– Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus
For complete spoilers for tonight’s WWE SmackDown, click here.
– The reason Lana was not at Monday’s post-WrestleMania 31 edition of RAW was because she is back filming the WWE Studios film “Interrogation” with WWE Hall Of Famer Edge.
– In this week’s RAW Fallout videos, which you can see below, Neville takes about making his RAW debut, Sheamus talks about his WWE television return and John Cena and Ryback comment on the rowdy fans in San Jose, California.
– It was announced on Monday’s post-WrestleMania 31 edition of WWE RAW at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, that Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler will team up to take on the duo of Bad News Barrett and the returning Sheamus in tag-team action on this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown.
– Also announced for this week’s SmackDown, John Cena, Randy Orton and Roman Reigns will all be appearing on the show.
– Former NXT Champion Adrian Neville made his main roster WWE debut on Monday’s RAW. He was billed as simply “Neville” – The Man That Gaviroty Forgot, and defeated Curtis Axel in a match that showcased his fluid in-ring style.
– Former NXT Tag-Team Champions The Lucha Dragons — Sin Cara and Kalisto — made their WWE RAW debut on the post-WrestleMania 31 edition of the show on Monday night. The Lucha Dragons teamed with The New Day, working an eight-man tag-team match against The Ascension and the WWE Tag-Team Champions, Tyson Kidd and Cesaro.
– “The Celtic Warrior” Sheamus returned on Monday’s post-WrestleMania 31 edition of WWE RAW sporting a new look. Sheamus has a red mohawk now and a beard tied up in rubber bands. Sheamus turned heel during his return, beating down Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler after the first match of the show. Below is a photo of Sheamus’ new look.
WWE has announced that “The Celtic Warrior” Sheamus will be making his return at tonight’s post-WrestleMania 31 edition of RAW.
Sheamus, who was expected to take part in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal last night but never showed up, is also rumored to turn heel upon returning to television.
WWE tweeted the following on Monday afternoon confirming Sheamus’ return tonight.
– SEScoops.com reader Jorge Romero sent along the following photo of the entrance way set up inside Levi’s Stadium for tonight’s WrestleMania 31 event.
– Sheamus took part in a Q&A inside the NXT ring at WrestleMania Axxess on Saturday. One fan in attendance noted that Sheamus came out to a huge pop from the fans, but teased a heel turn. Sheamus said that when he comes back, there will be no more jokes, unlike the way he conducted himself the last time we saw him on television. He also noted how much fun it was “knocking Daniel Bryan around” over the years, which was viewed as another hint at the fact that he could be returning as a heel.
– CMLL wrestler Rey Bucanero says he has spoken with Rey Mysterio following the Perro Aguayo Jr. tragedy and claims Mysterio is leaning towards retirement. Mysterio’s first public appearance since the Aguayo Jr. tragedy is actually scheduled for tonight in San Jose, California.
– According to a new F4WOnline.com report, Sheamus has been scripted into this Sunday’s WrestleMania 31 pay-per-view in Santa Clara, California. What his role on the show will be remains to be seen.
Earlier this week, WWE insider ‘MetsFan4Ever’ made a post on Reddit revealing some major developments in WWE’s booking plans for WrestleMania. With Brock Lesnar close to signing a new deal with WWE, Triple H has reportedly been pushing for Brock Lesnar to retain the WWE Championship at WrestleMania, John Cena and Daniel Bryan to win the US & IC titles and for those secondary belts to be elevated to compensate for Lesnar’s limited schedule.
To update the situation, MetsFan4Ever says that another idea being discussed for the IC title ladder match is for Sheamus to return as a surprise entrant in the match, cost Bryan the win and capture the gold himself. This would lead to Sheamus and Bryan feuding over the title in the coming weeks & months.
He clarified that Sheamus winning the IC title and feuding with Bryan is only a rumor at this point and less likely than the original scenario of Bryan and Cena coming out of Mania as champions.
With WrestleMania only 9 days away, WWE will be finalizing booking plans very soon and we’ll see how it all goes down next weekend.
– On Monday’s RAW, The Undertaker accepted Bray Wyatt’s challenge to a match at WrestleMania with a recorded audio message (and a lightning bolt that set Bray Wyatt’s rocking char on fire). There have been conflicting reports regarding when the Dead Man will be back on television. As of this week, the plan is still for the Undertaker to be kept off television until he makes his grand entrance at WrestleMania. As we reported earlier this week, he might be using a new entrance theme at the show.
– Another returning Superstar we won’t see until WrestleMania is Sheamus. In recent weeks we’ve seen vignettes hyping his return and he’s rumored to be working either the Intercontinental Title Ladder Match or the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
While nothing is official yet, there is speculation going around that Sheamus could potentially make his WWE return on tonight’s edition of RAW from Newark, New Jersey.
Speaking of tonight’s RAW, the WWE Network is advertising Alex Riley to return to the RAW pre-show tonight, however that appears to be a case of the Network not updating their listings. As things stand now, tonight’s RAW pre-show is set to feature the usual trio of Scott Stanford, Corey Graves and David Otunga.
Part-time WWE performer Chris Jericho has launched an official t-shirt store at ProWrestlingTees.com. He tweeted the following about the store, which shows off some of the t-shirt designs.
– As seen based on the vignettes on television for the past few weeks, Sheamus is scheduled to make his WWE return after being on the sidelines for several months.
As things stand now, WWE is looking at bringing back Sheamus as a heel. In fact, there’s talk that he will be in for a main event push as one of the top heels in the company.
– Below is this week’s “Top 10 WWE SmackDown Moments” video.
– Finally, here is this week’s “JBL (Not Cole) Show.”
– Last night at Fastlane, Roman Reigns defeated Daniel Bryan in the main event to retain his No. 1 contender status for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship heading into WrestleMania 31. With the main event now out of the picture for Bryan, what will he be doing at the show.
According to PWInsider.com, the names being talked about most for his opponents are Dolph Ziggler and Sheamus.
– According to the WWE Network schedule, Alex Riley is slated to host tonight’s Raw Pre-show with Corey Graves and Scott Stanford. David Otunga had been serving as an analyst in place of Riley in recent weeks.
– Click here to check out WWE.com’s Five-Point Preview for tonight’s RAW.
– WWE Money In The Bank 2015 will take place at The Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio this year. The event is scheduled for Sunday, June 14th. A pre-sale is currently underway for the show, with the code set as: MITB.
– Sheamus, who is gearing up for a WWE return in the near future, will be signing autographs at the World of Wheels event in Kansas City, Missouri this Friday from 6-8pm. For more information, visit Autorama.com.
– Below is Big Show’s anti-bullying video that aired on this past Monday’s edition of WWE RAW.
WWE issued the following statement regarding the passing of U.K. wrestling legend Drew McDonald.
WWE is saddened to learn that U.K. wrestling legend Drew McDonald has passed away following a battle with cancer. Born in Scotland, McDonald competed throughout the 1980s, ‘90s and ‘00s, and fought against the likes of William Regal, Finlay and Robbie Brookside.
Paige, who McDonald helped recruit into WWE, paid tribute to him on last night’s Raw, wearing the script “RIP Drew McDonald” on her forearms.
“He’s the one who got me here, so that’s only the littlest bit of what I can give back to him,” Paige told WWE.com. “I wanted people not to forget him. I wanted people to know his name.”
Below are several tweets from many of WWE’s European talent regarding McDonald’s passing:
The Road to WrestleMania took a brief detour last night, stopping at THE Ohio State University for Raw. Sting finally answered Triple H’s challenge, and the show was bookended by a pair of nearly identical matches. Without further ado, here are the pros and cons from last night’s episode of Raw.
Pros
The highlight of the night was easily Dolph Ziggler vs. Bray Wyatt. These guys have competed over the past two weeks, and have exhibited amazing chemistry on both occasions. There were a number of impressive spots in this one, including Wyatt delivering a brutal blow to Ziggler’s midsection and a devastating clothesline outside the ring that eventually set up Sister Abilgail for the win. Wyatt later cut another promo, presumably directed toward the Dead Man.
Triple H calling out Sting was a close second. The video package, which featured Sting’s makeup being transposed onto Triple H’s face, was both eerie and entertaining. The only downside to this was the absolutely dreadful Sting doppelganger they sent into the ring. With that said, I absolutely can’t wait to see what these guys have planned for Fastlane.
The Usos squared off with Tyson Kidd and Cesaro. Kidd and Cesaro put in some decent heel work by crashing the dinner party on SmackDown, and it’s certainly nice to see them getting some television time.
Rusev continues to improve on a weekly basis, in my opinion. I loved his promo, where he made claims such as, “You don’t want me. I am a hero.” His brawl with Cena was also entertaining and helped further their feud heading into Fastlane.
The opening promo was also entertaining, but nothing to really write home about. Reigns seems to be more confident on the mic each week, despite a minor flub. It was also nice to see Bryan on the mic, taking a humorous shot at Triple H for his involvement in the Katie Vick storyline.
It’s nice to see Axel getting more time on the mic. His promo was humorous, even if he was quickly dispelled after being hit with Dirty Deeds. Barrett’s new BNZ segment could also be entertaining, but I’m not totally sure how much shelf life it has.
Finally, the main event helped further the tension between Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan. The match was nothing incredible, by any means, but there were a few memorable moments, including Dolph Ziggler getting involved at the end. Roman’s spear to Bryan was also the perfect way to end the show. It seems like the next step in Roman’s evolution will be to turn him heel and possibly pair him with Heyman following WrestleMania.
– On Monday’s edition of WWE RAW, Sting aired a vignette accepting Triple H’s challenge and confirming his appearance for a “face-to-face confrontation” at the upcoming WWE Fast Lane pay-per-view.
– Below is the return vignette for Sheamus that aired on Monday’s RAW.
WWE Superstar Sheamus is currently backstage at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus Ohio, site of tonight’s RAW. The Celtic Warrior has been out of action since dropping the United States Championship to Rusev on the November 3rd episode of RAW.
The day after Sheamus lost the title, WWE announced that he would be sidelined after suffering left cervical neurapraxia (stinger in arm), bone spurring, narrowing of the spinal canal (spinal stenosis) and narrowing of the nerve canals (neuroforaminal) along with nerve compression in his neck.
On Nov. 20, Sheamus tweeted a photo of himself in a hospital bed, noting that he was going “under the knife.”
As seen on Monday’s RAW, Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns is now set as the main event for the February 22nd WWE Fast Lane pay-per-view, with the winner going on to face Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 31.
Prior to the Royal Rumble backlash, the original plans for Fast Lane was to have Reigns defeat a top heel, possibly Big Show, in the main event on the show, while Bryan was likely to lose to Bray Wyatt in order to keep Wyatt strong for The Undertaker.
Regarding booking for Bryan, WWE originally wanted to put him in a match with Sheamus at WrestleMania 31, however Bryan himself requested that he work with Dolph Ziggler instead. It’s worth noting that it’s considered possible that Bryan still ends up working with Sheamus, although it is considered unlikely at this point.
– As reported over the weekend, Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler is expected to be the opening match at WrestleMania 31. Like last year, the original plan was for Bryan to wrestle Sheamus at WrestleMania. Daniel Bryan requested to fight Ziggler instead and their discussion on Twitter about a potential match has been part of the updated storyline plans. Expect to see Bryan and Ziggler discussing a WrestleMania match on WWE TV as soon as tonight.
– The upcoming WWE Fast Lane pay-per-view on February 22nd will have some stiff competition, with the 87th Academy Awards and UFC’s Fight Night Brazil live event both taking place on the same night.
– WWE Tag Team Champions The Usos are expected to defend against Cesaro and Tyson Kidd at Fast Lane.
– Speaking of Cesaro and Kidd, WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart was backstage for this weekend’s WWE live event from Calgary and took a photo with the team:
In his latest website blog, WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross shares some more random thoughts about the controversy stemming from this past Sunday’s WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view, as well as thoughts from Thursday’s live WWE SmackDown broadcast.
Below are highlights:
On some more random Royal Rumble thoughts: “No one was booing Roman Reigns at live events prior to the Rumble. People booed Reigns because Daniel Byran did NOT win the Rumble match and not because Roman DID.
In hindsight, like Orton, and Sheamus, Daniel Bryan should not have been booked in the Rumble match.
I still feel that the next several WWE TV broadcasts will hold new and provocative content as it relates to the Rumble matters leading into WM31.
Fans often times forget that there are multiple, ‘right’ ways to do something regarding storylines, etc in the biz. It’s been that way since I can remember.”
On the casket match at SmackDown: “Daniel Bryan got a key victory over Kane on Thursday night Smackdown but I still am leery that most fans won’t like who DB faces at WM31 unless it’s in a title bout or should I say it’s in THE title bout.”
On Roman Reigns and Triple H’s announcement on next week’s RAW: “While many still question WWE’s decision to postilion Roman Reigns where he’s headed apparently, I applaud the long term planning component of the process. I do agree with many that Reigns is a work in progress but he’s got a great upside IMO.
I love this, any time a villain says he’s going to put an end to a particular controversy, it generally means he’s going to add to said controversy.”
Check out the complete blog at JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.
As noted recently, Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan was rumored to be in the works for WrestleMania 31, however WWE has changed their mind and are expected to go in a different direction.
The recent interaction between Dolph Ziggler and Daniel Bryan is not just social media chatter, as WWE is currently building towards an eventual Ziggler vs. Bryan match for WrestleMania.
Speaking of WrestleMania, another battle royal is expected for this year’s show. There is no definitive word yet as to whether or not the battle royal, which is designed to get as many talents on the card as possible, will be another Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, although there was talk at one point that the match would become a new annual tradition.
