— Matches scheduled to air on tonight’s episode of SmackDown are as follows:
* Sheamus vs. Heath Slater
* Justin Gabriel vs. Wade Barrett
* A.J. and Kaitlyn vs. Beth Phoenix and Natalya
* Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes
* The Great Khali vs. Jinder Mahal
* Daniel Bryan vs. Sin Cara
* Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston vs. Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso
* Mark Henry defends the World Heavyweight Championship against Christian in a Lumberjack Match
— The Miz announced this afternoon on Twitter that he has launched a YouTube Channel. He posted a video of his first words about being fired by WWE, which was filmed Wednesday during his new Sirius XM Radio show, First and Awesome.
— After R-Truth and The Miz were fired on this week’s episode of WWE Raw SuperShow, WWE.com transferred their respective profiles to the Alumni section.
— Following last night’s SmackDown live event in Moncton, New Brunswick, Randy Orton, Sin Cara, Mark Henry, Christian, Sheamus, Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett were told to head to tonight’s Raw SuperShow in Ottawa, Ontario.
— Shawn Michaels is asking fans on Twitter to “Like” the Activision Hunts page on Facebook and say in a post they were sent by him. One person will win a chance to hunt with the WWE Hall of Famer this week in New York City as he promotes Activision’s Dangerous Hunts video game.
— The death of midget wrestling star Little Tokyo (Shigeri Akabane) will be mentioned in this week’s issue of Sports Illustrated. He died last Tuesday of a heart attack in St. Joseph, Missouri at the age of 71.
— Sheamus reportedly signed a new contract with WWE earlier this year.
— Michelle McCool, who retired last April at Extreme Rules, teased on Twitter that she will once again become “Flawless.”
McCool wrote Sunday, “Enough laziness…after 4 mos “off,” tomorrow I will once again become….. FLAWLESS!!! Not that I lost it – (@ExcuseMeWWE inspires me!)”
Diva-Dirt.com wrote to McCool and told her not to play with their emotions. She responded, “whatsoever would you be talking about?!? I’d nevvvvver play with yalls emotions…REAL TALK!!!”
— Eden Stiles handled ring announcing duties for this week’s SmackDown live events in Canada.
— Multi-time WWE Champion Edge is advertised to appear at the Sept. 13 SmackDown taping in Toronto, Ontario.
The official website of the Air Canada Centre states: “Witness the return of Toronto’s own The R-Rated Superstar EDGE to SMACKDOWN!!”
— The Associated Press published a story today noting that the World Wide Web is older than incoming college freshman, with WWE Hall of Famer Andre the Giant receiving a brief mention. It reads, “Consider this: Andre the Giant, River Phoenix, and Frank Zappa all died before these students were born.”
Andre died in his sleep due to congestive heart failure on the night of January 27, 1993, in a Paris hotel room. At the time, he was in Paris to attend the funeral of his father.
— Sheamus is advertised to appear at Slackers CD and Games at the St Louis Mills Mall 5555 St. Louis Mills Blvd Hazelwood, Missouri on Sunday, Sept. 18 beginning at 5:00 p.m. Call 314-227-5950 for more information.
— It was announced during a commercial break on Raw that Mark Henry will face Sheamus on this week’s episode of WWE SmackDown on Syfy. Henry defeated Sheamus via countout at SummerSlam.
— Former WWE talent Harry Smith (a/k/a David Hart Smith) will face Hideki Suzuki on Saturday, August 27 at a Inoki Genome Federation event in Tokyo, Japan.
– Former WWE star Vladimir Kozlov is advertised to appear at this Saturday’s K&S WrestleFest event in Essington, Pennsylvania. Visit www.kandswrestlefest.com for event information.
— WWE Hall of Famer Paul Ellering celebrates his 58th birthday today while former WCW star Stevie Ray turns 51.
— The following matches were taped tonight in Edmonton, Alberta for this week’s episode of WWE Superstars:
* Sheamus vs. Heath Slater
* Daniel Bryan vs. Drew McIntyre
— Millennium Wrestling Federation announced Monday that former WWE star The Boogeyman will be returning to the ring for their Saturday, Sept. 17 show in Melrose, Massachusetts. He is replacing Al Snow at the event, which is their tenth anniversary show.
— The Miz stated the following on Twitter regarding tonight’s Raw: “#Raw 9pm est. tonight on @usa_network no more subway I’m done playing with The Game..”
— Kevin Nash teased on Twitter that he will be appearing on tonight’s episode of Raw. Nash wrote on Monday:
“Rumor has it a tall, dark haired dude is going to be on Raw tonight. You better watch. He has a tendency to disappear for months.”
Nash appeared last night at SummerSlam to assault CM Punk following his WWE Championship victory over John Cena. Following the attack, Alberto Del Rio cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase and defeated Punk for the belt. Freedom Pro Wrestling announced two days earlier that Nash had suffered a neck injury and would miss their Saturday event. He was replaced by “Diamond” Dallas Page.
— Ricky Ortiz, who was released two years ago from his contract with WWE, now competes in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He regularly competes in tournaments for the Florida Federation of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, where he reigns as champion in his weight class. He still wrestles as he recently joined the Urban Wrestling Federation, which is described as an “intense fusion of pro wrestling and hip hop music.” The former WWE star is also looking to head to Japan to both wrestle and fight.
— Sheamus is featured on the cover of the latest issue of Inside Wrestling.
– Sheamus will be appearing on Conan O’Brien’s late night TBS show tonight to hype Sunday’s SummerSlam pay-per-view.
– Edge’s next appearance on the Syfy channel show Haven airs tomorrow night (Friday).
– JBL recently responded to fans on his Facebook page saying that he has no interest in returning to WWE as a full-time wrestler, but says he would be open to announcing or working as a manager.
He did note, however that WWE has not contacted him about returning.
– We are very very happy to report that wrestling legend Paul Orndorff is cancer free after having a major scare earlier this year.
— WWE.com has announced that Sheamus will battle Mark Henry at SummerSlam.
The synopsis reads: “Announced exclusively on WWE.com, Mark Henry and Sheamus will collide at SummerSlam in a rivalry that has quickly grown more intense than the summer sun itself. Will the fight of The Celtic Warrior be enough to defeat the meanest “Fella” in the land?”
— WWE developmental talent Aksana debuted on tonight’s episode of SmackDown in a backstage segment with Theodore Long.
Catsuit clad and with dark hair, the NXT Season 3 contestant tried to seduce the SmackDown General Manager into giving her his phone number. Long gave Aksana his card and wrote his personal number on the back. She said, “I can’t wait to do business with you.”
— CM Punk is featured on the cover of the latest issue of Power Slam.
— CM Punk has been officially reinstated on the WWE roster as his profile has been added back to WWE.com’s Raw Superstars page.
WWE Chief Operating Officer Triple H addressed the WWE Championship situation on last week’s episode of SmackDown and acknowledged that Punk was re-signed late Monday night. He vowed to make a decision on how to handle this troubling dilemma on tonight’s episode of Raw.
— Ultimate Warrior posted a new video announcing the launch of One Warrior Nation, which can be accessed via WarriorUniversity.com.
The former WWE Champion says the mission of One Warrior Nation is to inspire people to make changes in their lives for the better.
— Sheamus appears today from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Cricket Communications Mobile Store 2331 Versailles Road Lexington, Kentucky. Call 859-277-0057 for more information.
— In light of the technical difficulties that occurred during the “Power to the People” edition of Raw on Monday night, WWE will make it up to fans by holding a match between Sin Cara and Evan Bourne on next week’s show.
WWE.com adds: “During Monday’s Raw broadcast, WWE fans were given the option to text A, B or C to 46993 (GOWWE) in order to decide what they wanted to happen on the show. Things went perfectly at first when text votes selected Kelly Kelly (option B) to take on Brie Bella for the Divas Championship. However, our vote tabulating provider’s system became overwhelmed, causing these votes to definitively affect the following contest, in which Mason Ryan (also option B) was voted into a match against Evan Bourne — even though, as it was later discovered, Sin Cara had received 90 percent of the total votes in WWE.com’s Live Chat poll, and should have been Bourne’s opponent.”
— Johnny Curtis beat Tyson Kidd in a dark match prior to tonight’s SmackDown taping in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
— Sheamus is scheduled for an autograph signing at Kmart 1155 Oakton Street, Des Plains, Illinois. The signing takes place on Sunday, July 17 beginning at 11:00 a.m.
– The Ultimate Warrior is now on Twitter and is wasting no time making with his controversial tweets. After releasing a scathing video earlier this week to Hulk Hogan for silencing his Warriors on Twitter, Warrior tweeted the following on Thursday, teasing “big news” coming soon:
“Thank you to all The Warriors out there spreading the word. Big news soon. Always Believe!!!”
Warrior has vowed to expose Hulk Hogan for the man he truly is, while Hogan maintains that Warrior is talking nonsense and is simply a negative person.
– Friday’s episode of SmackDown will feature a main event of Randy Orton defending the World Heavyweight title against Sheamus. The match was taped on Tuesday night from Des Moines, Iowa. Prior to the match taking place, a WWE fan jumped the ringside gate and tried jumping into the ring – but was caught by security and escorted out of the building.
– Following reports that Nexus leader CM Punk is strongly considering leaving WWE when his contract expires this summer, it’s worth noting that WWE’s live event website is only advertising CM Punk to appear at TV tapings and the Money in the Bank pay-per-view from July 6th through August 6th.
— Sheamus beat Christian and Mark Henry in a Triple Threat match last night on SmackDown to become the new No. 1 contender to the World Heavyweight Championship. The Celtic Warrior will challenge Randy Orton for the strap on next week’s episode of SmackDown.
— WWE developmental wrestler A.J. made her official WWE debut on last night’s episode of WWE SmackDown. Accompanied by Natalya, the NXT Season 3 contestant partnered with Kaitlyn in a losing effort to Alicia Fox and Tamina. Her bio has been moved to the SmackDown Superstars section on WWE.com.
A.J., a longtime wrestling fan who as recently as a few years ago would post on WWE Diva message boards, commented on her breakthrough on Twitter.
She wrote, “And it only took me 13 years… So incredibly happy and proud right now. Thanks for all the support. Think I broke my DVR rewind button…”
— The Great Khali turned on Ranjin Singh last night on SmackDown, placing his own brother in the Vise Grip. After leaving Singh completely incapacitated, Khali left the ring with Jinder Mahal.
— As of last week, a match pitting Sin Cara against Chavo Guerrero was planned for this Sunday’s WWE Over the Limit pay-per-view event.
— The SmackDown brand will tour South Africa in early July with two shows scheduled for the 9th and 10th Johannesburg. Justin Gabriel, who is from the country, will be emphasized as a top babyface at the events. He is advertised to partner with Randy Orton in matches against Christian and Sheamus.
— The following bonus features will be included in the Blu-ray version of WWE Extreme Rules, available May 31, 2011:
* Edge’s Retirement Announcement – April 15 SmackDown
* John Cena’s Draft Night – April 25 Monday Night Raw
* The Rock’s Birthday Celebration – May 2 Monday Night Raw
John Cena is a 10-time World Champion after defeating The Miz and John Morrison in a Steel Cage Match tonight at Extreme Rules.
The match concluded with The Miz teased the Skullcrushing Finale, which was countered by Cena using an Attitude Adjustment from the top rope. Cena made the cover to become the new WWE champion.
Earlier in the evening, Christian beat Alberto Del Rio in a Ladder Match to capture his first-ever World Heavyweight Championship.
The 21-minute contest concluded following interference from Edge, who made an unadvertised appearance to distract Del Rio. Christian proceeded to scale a ladder to capture his first major title in WWE.
Also changing hands was the United States Championship. SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long scheduled an impromptu Tables Match between Kofi Kingston and United States Champion Sheamus, which resulted in the high-flyer smashing The Celtic Warrior through the hardwood to capture the title for a second time.
— The following matches will be featured on tonight’s episode of WWE SmackDown on Syfy:
* Jack Swagger vs. Sin Cara
* Big Show and Kane vs. Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater for the WWE Tag Team Championship
* Mark Henry vs. Rey Mysterio
* Layla vs. Michelle McCool
* Alberto Del Rio and Brodus Clay vs. Christian and Randy Orton
— Matches pitting Sin Cara against Sheamus for the WWE United States Championship and Jerry Lawler against Jack Swagger with Michael Cole in his corner are booked for upcoming WWE live events.
— Vickie Guerrero is scheduled for tonight’s Florida Championship Wrestling live event in Gainesville, Florida. Its is likely that she will be participating in an angle with her daughter, who performs as Raquel Diaz.
— WWE has discussed adding a United States Championship Match between Sheamus and Kofi Kingston to this Sunday’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view.
— Jim Ross, who suffered a hand injury on Raw, adamantly stated on Twitter today that he will be ready for his scheduled tag team match at Extreme Rules.
— Jon Moxley of Dragon Gate USA signed a developmental contact with WWE this week. He will report to Florida Championship Wrestling next week.
– Regarding “The Language of WWE” memo that we posted a few weeks back, it should be noted that none of the banned words were given to the English language announcers nor have they been told that some of those words were banned. However, it is known by them to not use some words like “wrestling” and “wrestlers” but some of the words on the list still get used on English language broadcasts.
– Tough Enough producers Shed Media and the USA Network were hoping for Miss USA Rima Fakih to win WWE Tough Enough, knowing her winning the competition would bring the show a great deal of mainstream media exposure and build momentum heading into the second season. As the show went on, it became clear that Rima had little chance of winning and she was ultimately eliminated last week.
– Sin Cara vs. Sheamus for the WWE United States Title and Jerry Lawler vs. Jack Swagger with Michael Cole in his corner is booked for upcoming WWE live events.
– The idea right now is for Jim Ross to remain on WWE TV for as long as the Michael Cole angle goes on. JR’s segments have done very strong quarter-hour ratings so that may play a factor in WWE keeping him around longer. With that said, at least for now there are no plans for Ross to return to announcing full-time.
– Speaking of Jim Ross and Michael Cole, the injuries they sustained on Monday’s RAW will not prevent them from wrestling at Sunday’s Extreme Rules PPV, but JR’s hand injury may limit what he’s able to do in the match.
(Credit to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter for some of the info used in this report)
— WWE issued a survey to fans yesterday querying their thoughts on the following pay-per-view titles:
* WWE Champions
* WWE Revolution
* WWE Uprising
* WWE Vengeance
— Former WCW star Scotty Riggs has been hospitalized in Georgia with what is believed to be bleeding ulcers. He underwent a procedure Thursday to locate the source of the bleeding.
— WWE has a table reserved for the annual Cauliflower Alley Club Reunion, which takes place next week in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jim Ross noted on Twitter that Sunny, Sgt. Slaughter, Ricky Steamboat, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Gerald Brisco and Harvey Wippleman will be on hand for the festivities, as well as himself.
— WWE United States Champion Sheamus is advertised for an autograph signing on April 29 at Stingray Chevrolet in Plant City, Florida. The signing takes place from noon to 2:00 p.m.
– WWE Tough Enough will move to it’s permanent timeslot tonight at 8PM (Eastern) on the USA Network, one hour before RAW. John Cena will be featured on tonight’s show, which is titled “Five for Flinching.”
Steve Austin wrote on Twitter over the weekend that Bill DeMott “totally destroys everthing in his path” on tonight’s show.
– Tonight’s episode of WWE RAW takes place from the Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, Connecticut. As of early Monday afternoon, no matches have been announced yet for the show. With WWE’s next pay-per-view, Extreme Rules, just 3 weeks away, there’s a good chance we’ll find out that show’s RAW brand main event tonight.
The advertised dark match main event will see John Cena and Randy Orton teaming up against WWE champion The Miz and Nexus leader C.M. Punk.
WWE United States Champion Sheamus likely will not be on RAW tonight, as he was overseas in Qatar on Sunday promoting WWE’s upcoming show there. Considering the WWE crews are flying out for Europe later this week, it would be unlikely for them to make him fly back from Qatar to the United States for RAW tonight and then back out to England this week.
Unfortunately for fans of The Rock, he won’t be at RAW tonight, as he’s currently in Brazil promoting his new movie, Fast Five.
– RAW superstaer Sheamus declared at a WWE live event over the weekend that he will no longer be known as “King Sheamus.” Sheamus cut a promo before a match with Yoshi Tatsu and said ever since he won King of the Ring, he has been on the biggest losing streak of his career. He declared, “Long Live the Celtic Warrior.”
– WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross was the ring announcer for the Randy Orton vs. The Miz WWE title match at yesterday’s RAW live event from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Miz got the win after Alex Riley hit Randy Orton with his briefcase.
– Speaking of Alex Riley, on that same live event from Oklahoma City, he competed in a match with John Morrison, with the stipulation being that he’d get a spot on the RAW roster if he won. Riley lost the match, so he’s still in limbo.
— Creative plans on having The Bella Twins join forces with Sheamus in their feud with Daniel Bryan and Gail Kim. Bryan is reportedly scheduled to defend the United States Championship against Bryan at WrestleMania XXVII.
— Sin Cara was scheduled to begin wrestling training in Los Angeles, California with WWE developmental wrestler Peter Orlov (a/k/a Alex Koslov) since he has experience working Lucha Libre style wrestling as well as WWE’s style of wrestling. Orlov will also be used as a stand-in and “opponent” when they film Cara in the ring performing high-flying maneuvers for his entrance video and introductory vignettes since WWE has no footage of him.
— The WWE SmackDown taping on June 21, 2011 will be held at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
– Chavo “Classic” Guerrero recently appeared on ThaOShow.com and was asked about his brother Eddie Guerrero’s daughter, Shaul Guerrero, debuting with WWE’s Florida Championship Wrestling. Chavo said he wished he could have trained Shaul.
In a somewhat surprising comment, he said he believes that if Eddie were still alive, Shaul would not be involved in the wrestling business. Chavo Sr. also said that Vickie Guerrero has really separated herself from the Guerrero family since Eddie passed away.
– King of the Ring winner Sheamus has lost his last 6 pay-per-view matches heading into his WrestleMania feud with United States Champion Daniel Bryan. So far this year, the former WWE champion has a win-loss record on television (and pay-per-views) of 1-8.
RAW producer Kevin Dunn is reportedly not fan of Sheamus, despite Triple H being a strong ally of his.
– The WrestleMania Axxess signings on Saturday night during the WWE Hall of Fame are usually dreaded by some of the WWE talents as they have to miss the start, or sometimes all of the ceremony. The wrestlers signing during the Hall this year are David Hart Smith, Tyson Kidd, The Usos, Primo, Chris Masters, Kaitlyn, Rosa Mendes, Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater, Ezekiel Jackson and Wade Barrett.
– Aside from Shawn Michaels and “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, other names The Road Warriors – Hawk and Animal, Abdullah The Butcher, Sunny and Bullet Bob Armstrong. Armstrong going into the Hall this year is the reason that WWE hired referee Scott Armstrong back over the weekend.
– Steve Austin wrote the following on Twitter last night about Tough Enough:
“it was a rough day at Tough Enough…lots of stuff going on…trainers are working hard with every one…it has been a lot of fun.”
– Several readers in the California area sent in word that a promo aired on RAW last night during a commercial saying that Sheamus and Triple H will wrestle in two weeks.