Cody and The Rock shared an embrace during SmackDown, in what many have seen as confirmation that Rock will face Reigns at WrestleMania instead of Rhodes. Many online have disagreed with the idea, given Rhodes’ heartbreaking loss to Reigns last year and how his story has always been about winning the WWE Championship (now part of the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship) that his father never captured.
On Twitter, Brandi Rhodes referred to her husband as a quarterback, indicating that he is a reliable hand that WWE can count on.
Danielle Moinet, better known to WWE fans as Summer Rae, was far from pleased, stating that after two years of build, this twist doesn’t make sense.
Imagine handing over your Wrestlemania match that you beat 29 other ppl for…AFTER a two year build
I’m all for twists & turns but make it make sense! Gosh I hope we are ALL wrong. I hope it all makes sense next Fri in a Rock Roman promo, that is if either of them show up to tv
Echoing Cody’s comment about taking everything from Reigns, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful said that this storyline is doing much more harm to the American Nightmare.
One of the most surprising names WWE announced for the upcoming Royal Rumble PPV is Summer Rae. She will be returning to the company after more than 4 years. The female star recently appeared on Oral Sessions With Renee Paquette. Among other things she detailed how her deal for this comeback came about.
Rae revealed that it was WWE referee and Senior Manager of Talent Relations John Cone who called her about the potential return in December:
“I’m packing for Abu Dhabi and 9 at night and I see Cone’s name on my phone, and I went, ‘Whaaaat.’ You just know. I picked up the phone and went, ‘What do you want? It’s been four and a half years.’ ‘Well, we have you on our list of potential girls and wanted to get your interest.'”
Though the first call wasn’t a confirmation of her return. According to Summer Rae, she was initially told that it will be a while before they gave her an answer:
“They were like, ‘you probably won’t find out until the New Year.’ Five days later he called me and was like, ‘Merry Christmas. We have an answer with you, it’s yes.'”
Summer Rae also admitted that it ‘stinks’ that WWE announced her return in advance. She mentioned that it was Vince McMahon’s idea to announce the entrances. The former Total Divas star was part of the WWE roster from 2011 to 2017. She was officially released from her contract in October 2017.
Last night on WWE Smackdown, Summer Rae was announced as a participant in the Royal Rumble this year. Summer was released from WWE in the fall of 2017.
“I’m a 3 time world record holder, bitch. If you have any more correspondence, please reach out to my assistant. I’m super busy,” Natalya responded.
I’m a 3 time world record holder, bitch. If you have any more correspondence, please reach out to my assistant. I’m super busy. https://t.co/pdDYrulHF1
WWE revealed several names set for the Royal Rumble on last night’s Smackdown. These included multiple performers not on the current WWE roster. Mickie James, the Bella Twins, Kelly Kelly, and Lita will all take part in the Rumble this year.
Earlier this year, Summer Rae commented on her relationship with Vince McMahon on the TWC Show.
“Oh, Vince loved me. I love it, I would walk my butt straight into Vince’s office all the time. Vince did not scare me at all. Mind you, you have to be respectful. I would never just walk in there. I would knock and then wait for hours and hours, but if I ever was having an issue or when I was thinking of leaving, I went and talked to him.”
Danielle Moinet (FKA Summer Rae) was spotted recently at the Impact Wrestling television tapings in Las Vegas. According to a report from PW Insider, it is not clear if Moinet was just visiting at the tapings or if she’ll be taking part in upcoming Impact programming.
Moinet also teased a potential return to the ring recently when she Tweeted out a picture of her in a wrestling ring along with the caption “Still feels like home.”
Moinet signed with WWE in 2011 and made her main roster debut as Fandango’s dance partner in April of 2013. She would be involved in several programs during her run, even once as Rusev’s girlfriend while Lana became involved with Dolph Ziggler. Moinet also performed in The Marine 4: Moving Target. She was also featured on several seasons of the reality show, Total Divas.
In April of this year, it was revealed that Moinet is currently an executive with the cryptocurrency company, Cornerstone Global. Moinet graduated from East Carolina University with a degree in business.
In addition to her wrestling career, Moinet also competed in the Lingerie Football League as a quarterback. She played 2 seasons with the Chicago Bliss and in 2011 was named to the All-Star team.
Many WWE superstars find it hard to reach out to the boss Vince McMahon and talk to him but it wasn’t the case with the former WWE star Summer Rae.
The female star recently had an interview with Casual Conversations where she talked about a number of things including her start in wrestling and more.
Elaborating her relationship with the chairman of WWE, Summer said that Vince loved her and opposite to the stories about him, the boss did not scare her at all:
“Oh Vince loved me, I love it, I would walk my butt straight into Vince’s office all the time. Vince did not scare me at all. Mind you like I have to be respectful.
I would never just walk in there, I would knock and then wait for hours and hours” said Summer Rae, “But if I ever was having an issue or was thinking about leaving, I went and talked to him.”
The former Total Divas star also talked about a potential return and explained that personally, she knows that she cannot make a full-time return due to her injuries.
Though she didn’t completely turn down the idea and Summer Rae said that she could return for a Royal Rumble appearance or such after some rehab.
Danielle Moinet, who is better known as Summer Rae, recently did a Reddit Q&A with fans where she talked about various topics. During the Q&A, she was asked about a potential WWE return. “Of course WWE is a huge part of me & I will never shut that door fully. I would love to still do thing in the future if medically I could. Right now it is great to build a new chapter in my life.”
She continued by stating that when you’re on the road so much while on the main roster, you don’t have time for anything else. She made it known that it’s a huge passion for her and does feel a void not being there. Rae also stated that she misses the fans as it’s hard to get the feeling you feel stepping out of the curtain than you do from anything else in life. She added that the WWE fanbase is unlike any other group of people.
Rae also talked about the WWE Evolution pay-per-view event on Sunday night in Long Island, New York at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on the WWE Network. “I’m super excited to watch Evolution! I think it’s safe to say we all dreamed this moment would come around and to see it actually happen is amazing – a true milestone for women in sports everywhere.”
WWE will be presenting a special episode of SmackDown Live in the near future as it was reported by Pwinsider.com that the 1,000th episode celebration for the show that the blue brand represents is currently scheduled to go down on October 16th in Washington, DC.
It was also noted that WWE is already making plans for the big event, which is similar to what the company did for the 1000 episode of Monday Night RAW back in 2012.
SmackDown made its debut on television back on August 29, 1999 in Kansas City, Missouri and has aired on several networks over the years including UPN television network, The CW, MyNetworkTV, SYFY, The USA Network, and will air on FOX starting next October which is expected to make SmackDown the A-show of the company.
Summer Rae’s New Look
Former WWE star Summer Rae has changed up her look as she dyed her hair red after years of being blonde.
Rae, who departed from the WWE last year and is currently a successful model, posted the following photo on her official Instagram account:
Scott Hall posted a photo on Twitter this morning in which he is reunited with fellow Kliq members Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash and Sean Waltman. The four were reunited at the 53rd Cauliflower Alley Club Reunion yesterday and this past weekend in Las Vegas. Hall noted that Triple H was missing from the photo, captioning it “Miss you @TripleH”:
Summer Rae Returning To Wrestling After Nearly Two Years
Former WWE Superstar Danielle Moinet (a.k.a. Summer Rae) will return to the wrestling ring at Battle Championship Wrestling in Melbourne, Australia on Friday, May 25th from the Whitehorse Function & Convention Centre. Moinet is set to face Ivelisse in the second half of the first round of the BCW Women’s Championship Tournament.
Moinet was released by WWE last October and hasn’t wrestled a match since August in 2016. Her career has been plagued by neck and back injuries and had been cleared to compete by WWE since May of 2017 but was never used, thus leading to her subsequent release.
Advocate for WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, Tweeted out a never-before-seen photo of former WWE star Summer Rae for his Heyman Hustle website. Check it out here:
WWE Superstars and their work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation is unprecedented. With stars such as John Cena and Daniel Bryan having granted plenty of wishes in their day, a new Superstar has joined the club – former SmackDown Live Women’s Champion Naomi.
She Tweeted out this photo with Make-A-Wish kid Arianna:
“Thanks to @MakeAWish@WWE for allowing me to grant my 1st wish & meet Arianna! I truly made a new friend. Although i surprised her tonight, I couldn’t feel more rewarded bc I was impacted by her strength & joy.?? Tonights moments & memories I will never forget!”
Thanks to @MakeAWish@WWE for allowing me to grant my 1st wish & meet Arianna! I truly made a new friend. Although i surprised her tonight, I couldn’t feel more rewarded bc I was impacted by her strength & joy.? Tonights moments & memories I will never forget! pic.twitter.com/uwsCecfJ33
– For those who are wondering, WWE’s next pay-per-view event, Backlash, is slated to have a one-hour Kickoff Show and three-hour pay-per-view event on the WWE Network. There is also scheduled to be a 30-minute post-show.
With the WWE making the decision to feature both RAW and SmackDown brands on PPV events going forward, there was some speculation that WWE would be switching to four-hour main shows with the move to dual brand pay-per-views. However, that is not the case.
– Former WWE Superstar Summer Rae aka Danielle Moinet is officially set to make a return to in-ring action by making her independent scene debut on May 25th, 2018 by competing at a Battle Championship Wrestling event in Burwood East, Victoria, Australia.
She’s advertised to compete in the ongoing women’s championship tournament. This marks her first match since 2016 and her first appearance at a wrestling show since her departure from the WWE back in October.
What are your thoughts on WWE keeping pay-per-view events outside of the traditional big four just three hours? Sound off in the comment section below.
– After being released by WWE last October, Darren Young has plans to continue his wrestling career on the independent circuit. Under his real name Fred Rosser, he wrestled first match since leaving WWE last night in Union, New Jersey for WrestlePro against Impact Wrestling star Fallah Bahh.
Rosser was victorious in his return bout and put over Bahh afterward on Twitter.
I am very proud of @FALLAH1 and consider him one of the best big man I know. The rate of change is not going to slow down anytime soon for you. Thanks is for strangers. You are absolutely amazing to share the ring with once again. Anytime, anyplace.?? pic.twitter.com/GLXypfX4In
— nodaysoff FRED ROSSER III (@realfredrosser) March 10, 2018
– Danielle Moinet, also known as Summer Rae, made her first appearance at a wrestling function since her release from WWE last October today at a wrestling convention in East Elmhurst, New York. The former WWE star appeared at The Big Event 14, where she met fans. Afterward, she posted the following on Instagram.
https://instagram.com/p/BgKWMDpHAXq/
Moinet also posted some videos and photos from her appearance on Instagram Stories.
– The official Twitter feed of Manchester United sent out this video of Rey Mysterio hyping their soccer game against Liverpool today.
– Former WWE Superstar Danielle Moinet (Summer Rae) is keeping busy since becoming a free agent. Moinet recently took part in a #HustleBootyTempTats supermodel photo shoot with world renowned photographer Mike Cohen at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Las Vegas. Check out Paul Heyman’s Heyman Hustle site to view Summer Rae’s latest poolside photos.
– For those wondering where Lio Rush has been, the word going around is that he’s been sidelined as a disciplinary measure related to his tweet about Emma’s WWE release. Rush’s joke about Emma getting fired got strong negative backlash from fellow wrestlers and his job was considered in jeopardy before he issued an apology.
– AML Wrestling has announced former WWE Superstar Tenille Dashwood (Emma) will be appearing at their February 25th live event.
BREAKING! Former WWE Superstar fka Emma (now known as Tenille Dashwood) is coming to #AMLWrestling on Sunday, February 25, 2018!
Summer Rae posted the following on Instagram about her WWE career:
“They say you’ll never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory. Well that wasn’t true in this situation. I knew the value of this moment, I knew the magnitude of this moment. I hear some of you say “but you didn’t become champ”, “you didn’t get the push you deserved”, “you didn’t get a title run”. But see, I got MY title. I became a WWE Diva.
In this picture [below], my in ring debut on TV, I knew the value of that moment. In that moment I became a WWE Diva. I could take a small, very small breath of relief because I did it! For so many years I dreamt of stepping onto that main stage of Monday Night Raw & then getting into that ring with these strong, beautiful, smart & courageous women. I wanted to be one of them. I knew I could be one of them! I felt it SO deep down in my heart. Once it happened I of course set more goals for myself within the company & trained harder to reach them.
But the people that flood my comments with these things that I ‘should have’ gotten — you guys are missing the overall dream that I achieved. That I went to Monday Night RAW as a fan & sat in the crowd & watched the girls & wanted that more than anything I had ever felt in my body ever before. Then, I did it. I did it. ? I’ve wrestled in over 15 countries on 4 continents & made friends in fans all over the world. I have had the opportunity to live out my dream! And that is because God blessed me with obtaining my dream through hard work & determination. So please don’t fight with one another about me & start boards about Justice for Summer Rae.
Know that I DID IT! I am a WWE Diva, a WWE Superstar. And no one will ever be able to take that away from me! ??”
Earlier today, WWE.com announced the release of Emma. That article has since been updated to mention that Darren Young and Summer Rae are also no longer with the company.
“WWE wishes them the best in all of their future endeavors.”
Darren Young (Frederick Rosser III) had been with the company since 2005, working for FCW and later NXT. He joined the main roster back in 2010 as part of the memorable Nexus storyline before returning to NXT in 2011. He was back on the main roster in 2012 and teamed with Titus O’Neil as part of the Prime Time Players. He later had a singles run as the protege of Bob Backlund
Summer Rae had been with WWE since 2011 and was a Total Divas cast member for the show’s second and third seasons.
– WWE fans haven’t seen Summer Rae on WWE TV since last August, but it appears that she may be making her return to the squared circle soon. Back in May Rae was cleared to return to the ring after suffering injuries to her neck and back. She Tweeted the following earlier today (Wed. October 18, 2017):
– Brie Bella recently did a Q&A video on her YouTube channel to answer questions from fans. Bella confirmed that she is planning an in-ring return in 2018 and also commented on training again. She is set to work with a personal trainer in the first week of November and is hoping to be ready by January of 2018.
She also noted that she and Daniel Bryan are hoping to try for their second child in late 2018:
On a recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer provided an update on the statues of WWE Superstars Paige, Summer Rae and Eva Marie.
Paige is still out of action recovering from neck surgery, but the feeling is that she wouldn’t be brought back to television at this time even if she was cleared to wrestle. In light of her personal issues and how outspoken Alberto has been about WWE, her status with the company is helped by the fact that WWE and The Rock are developing the movie based on her family.
Summer Rae is ready to return, but WWE does not currently have anything planned for her in the short term.
Eva Marie will not be appearing on the upcoming season of Total Divas and could be done with WWE entirely. She has several projects going outside of WWE and we’ve come a long way from the days when Eva Marie was seen internally as ‘the female Roman Reigns’ (ie. in line for a monster push and one of the faces of the company).
Meltzer noted, “There’s an even number of women on both [RAW and Smackdown], so they don’t want to mess with that right now.”
Visit f4wonline.com for details on how you can subscribe to the Wrestling Observer.
Thanks, I agree @wwe made a mistake. It was great content-not because of me but because of the legends who had a format to tell their story. https://t.co/EGCxLHCoh5
Last night, Ronda Rousey made her long awaited return to the octagon. Her last bout was over a year ago and we was knocked out by Holly Holm. At UFC 207, Rousey returned and was immediately given a shot at the Women’s Bantamweight title. Rousey went up against the current champion Amanda Nunes and this fight was even more lopsided than her fight against Holm. Nunes retained her title and knocked out Rousey in 48 seconds. It has led to an onslaught of jokes on social media. Many pointing out the fact that it the Lesnar/Goldberg match was longer and that CM Punk lasted longer in his UFC debut.
Rousey has made it known that she is a fan of the WWE. She also made an appearance at Wrestlemania 31 along with The Rock in a confrontation with Stephanie McMahon and Triple H. It took Rousey a lot of time to recover from her last loss. If Rousey does ever wind up joining the WWE, it probably will not be for awhile.
Discussion: Do you think that Rousey’s disappointing defeat to Amanda Nunes will prevent her from joining the WWE? Eric Bischoff also stated that the mystique surrounding Rousey is gone and she wound’t draw as much money now. Do you agree with that sentiment or do you believe that Ronda Rousey would still succeed in the WWE? Share your thoughts below.
Several weeks ago, Summer Rae posted a message on Instagram revealing that she’s been dealing with an injury that has kept her off WWE television for months. She did not discuss the nature of the injury, but said, “Im lucky to be surrounded by an amazing team of doctors & physical therapists. Its a lot harder than I thought it would be to fix things but you only have one body so taking care of mine is a top priority right now. ”
On Friday, she provided another update discussing her road to recovery. While she still did not explain exactly what she’s been recovering from, she said she’s been undergoing intense physical therapy. She had a breakthrough with her recovery this week and was finally able to lift light weights without being in pain for days afterwards.
Since being drafted to Raw in July, Summer Rae has been missing from WWE television. While she continued to wrestle following the Draft, she has not competed in three months. Her most recent match took place on August 14 in a tag team contest at a non-televised show.
With fans in the dark over her WWE status, this led fans to ask Raw General Manager Mick Foley to give her a chance on the show last month.
In a lengthy Instagram post late last night, Summer Rae explained why she’s been missing these past few months. The 32-year-old revealed that she’s been very carefully recovering from an injury that she initially chose to not publicly address.
Well it’s almost mid November now, so maybe it’s time to answer the question I get flooded with every single day on social media. For the past 2 & a half months I have been dealing with an injury. I’ve been very private & not shared my journey during this time. I don’t know why that is actually. Perhaps talking about it & putting a spotlight on it makes it more real & that wasn’t something I was ready for.
A spotlight is put on us in every aspect of our lives so maybe I thought ‘let me deal with this privately since it effects so many things in my life in & out of the ring’. Or maybe why I haven’t talked about it is because I assumed it would be an easy fix & wouldn’t take that long to get back to normal. That it wouldn’t take this long to not only fix but diagnose as well. That alone is so frustrating. That holding pattern that your life is put in.
For 9 years I’ve been lucky to lead a healthy athletic career in both football & wrestling so these aren’t things or emotions I’ve had to experience before. I’ve gone thru so many emotions during this time but been very private with it all. I love what I do. I am absolutely in love with wrestling & the WWE universe. It’s so unique & unlike anything else in the world!
In this business you just go go go & putting your body on the line every night becomes second nature & you don’t think much of it. But that isn’t a normal thing. Our bodies aren’t made to do this. But you forget that when you hear the roar of the crowd!
I’ve been so humbled by the overwhelming support towards me on social media & seeing the fans outpouring love & passion. I must say it’s bittersweet seeing it from home. Im lucky to be surrounded by an amazing team of doctors & physical therapists. Its a lot harder than I thought it would be to fix things but you only have one body so taking care of mine is a top priority right now.
Sharing this with you guys has been weighing heavily on my heart lately & I felt like I needed to. It’s been one of the most frustrating times of my life filled with so many different emotions. Generally speaking, the unknown is scary. But thru the greatest times of uncertainty in my life have come immeasurable things.
– It appears The Dudley Boyz won’t be doing much work together on the indy scene. There’s talk of Devon Dudley coming to work for WWE as an agent, which indicates a singles run for Bubba Ray Dudley on the indys. The two would still run their Team 3D wrestling school together in Kissimmee, Florida.
– Despite Summer Rae indicating on Twitter that she is not suffering from an injury, The Wrestling Observer reports that she is suffering from neck, elbow and back injuries. There’s no word yet on when she will be back but she hasn’t wrestled since August.
– Renee Young filmed new interviews with Becky Lynch, Enzo Amore & Big Cass on Monday night for future episodes of her Unfiltered show on the WWE Network.
– Lana is teasing a more aggressive side of her character. Following Roman Reigns’ attack on her husband at Summerslam, she tweeted:
You know what they say…If you want something done right you got to do it yourself…Someone has to be a leader. Back to micromanaging #Raw
– On Monday Triple H announced new NXT house shows for the East Coast: Norfolk (10/6), Richmond (10/7) and Baltimore (10/8). Tickets go on sale this Friday at NXTTickets.com.
– The Rock is getting a lot of mainstream media attention for an update he gave on the “Jumanji” movie he’s working on. To calm some of the criticism and speculation, Rock stated that the movie will not be a remake or a reboot of the original, but a continuation that takes place 20 years later. He wrote the following on Instagram this week:
– Advertising industry publication AdWeek has named John Cena one of the most popular celebrity influencers on their annual Creative 100 list.
– WWE has announced that the weekly RAW and SmackDown Live pre-shows will no longer be exclusive to the WWE Network. Starting this week, that pre-shows will be available on “all digital platforms.”
“Led by WWE Hall of Famers Jerry “The King” Lawler, Booker T and Lita, the Raw and SmackDown Live Pre-Shows will provide expert analysis and highlight the main points of both brands every week at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT.”
Starting tonight, the kickoff show will be available on WWE.com, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest and Google Plus.
– Ahead of tonight’s RAW from Pittsburgh, several WWE Superstars including Titus O’Neil, Neville and Summer Rae visited the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.
Summer Rae recently took part in a Q&A session with Naluda Interviews. Here are some highlights:
Her best body part:
I’m 5’10” and all legs. I use them in the ring as weapons so I make sure to train them hard in the gym.
What is fun and rewarding about her job:
The most rewarding part of my job is seeing the smiles we put on people’s faces. No matter what kind of day or week or month they were having, when they step into that arena they get to forget about all of that for a couple hours. That is why I do this!
What is not fun about the job?
Spending so much time on the road is the biggest challenge for me with WWE. I’ve missed weddings and births. I’ve spent a lot of time away from my friends and family for so many years. That part is really hard.
Her thoughts on Social Media:
There’s the good and the bad aspects to Social Media. What I do find great is how much social media has changed business’ and the way they structure their marketing. Social media currently has such a strong influence that it has changed how products are marketed and distributed. There’s huge opportunities for both companies and influencers that didn’t exist a couple years ago. Also the influence of social media is so strong that you can really spread your message and make an impact in today’s society.