The IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey is expected to shut down later this month, according to a report at NorthJersey.com. The venue was scheduled to host SummerSlam 2015.

An official from Governor Christie’s administration said all events scheduled for February and March will be moving to the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. All events beyond March 31st (including SummerSlam on August 23rd) can check the scheduling of the Prudential Center or go elsewhere .

Wayne Hasenbalg, the President of the local sports authority, said the decision was a matter of economics.

“Just about everyone in New Jersey and the region has great memories of big-name concerts, basketball or hockey games or other family entertainment at the arena,” he said. “Times have changed, however, and this should be viewed as a new opportunity for the entire Meadowlands entertainment complex, as interested parties – including the owners of American Dream Meadowlands – look at ways to rejuvenate and reintegrate the arena for optimal use, value and long-term success.”

The IZOD Center, formerly the Meadowlands Arena and Continental Airlines Arena, has hosted numerous WWE pay-per-view events over the years (SummerSlam 1989, 1997 and 2007, King of the Ring 2001, No Mercy 2004, Extreme Rules 2014) as well as numerous RAW, SmackDown and live events.

When I was a youngster, I remember how I used to have to beg my parents to let me order a WWE pay-per-view every once in a while. The thing is, I didn’t mind doing it because I knew that if I ordered the show, whatever feuds were going on at the time would culminate in the matches on the pay-per-view.

These days? Not so much.

I can’t imagine being a kid now-a-days that has to bug your parents to let you buy a WWE pay-per-view, so that you can see your favorite wrestlers finally blow off their program in a match inside the squared circle, only to come out of the show and realize that the next pay-per-view features the same matches.

Basically, your begging and nagging ways sound something like this. “Mom, dad, PLEASE let me buy SummerSlam! It’s the second biggest WWE show of the year and I just HAVE to see John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar!!”

Let’s say you convinced them. Your begging and nagging worked. They let you buy SummerSlam.

Good stuff right? Wrong.

You come out of SummerSlam and head into the following week of WWE television, only to find out that you didn’t see the culmination of the Cena-Lesnar feud at all.

Not even close.

As it turns out, SummerSlam was only the beginning. You find out that a rematch is going to take place between the two at the next WWE pay-per-view, Night Of Champions.

Now what do you do?!

“Mom, dad PLEASE let me buy Night Of Champions! I just HAVE to see John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar!!”

Their response will probably sound something like this. “But Timmy, you said that last time!”

Poor fella.

Now let’s say you figured out a way to order Night Of Champions. You went to a friend’s house, you found an illegal stream online, you robbed a 7/11. You figured it out somehow, someway. Brock Lesnar disappears afterwards, only to re-appear and begin the build-up to what? You guessed it!

Cena vs. Lesnar III at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view in January.

Do you even bother bugging your folks to let you buy it? Do you even bother going to a friend’s house? Do you even bother risking finding an illegal stream on the internet? Do you even bother risking your butt robbing that 7/11?

At what point do you say enough is enough?

Maybe we’ll find out when the numbers come in for the Rumble, who knows. Be sure to save a couple of bucks, because hell, we might have Cena-Lesnar IV at WWE Fast Lane in February!

Unfortunately, while this isn’t anything new, it seems to be happening more and more lately. The pattern seems to be that wrestler A and wrestler B begin an issue, it boils for four weeks or so and a match takes place at a pay-per-view. Then you turn around and the very next pay-per-view look nearly identical to the previous one.

As I see it, the ONLY silver lining to all of this is this: at least these days when you throw your money down the toilet, you’re only throwing away $9.99 a month!

ZING!

What do you guys think? Let us know by posting your feedback in the “Comments” section below. You can also add me on Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBooneWZR and/or on Twitter @MBoone420.

– The recent “Journey to SummerSlam” special that aired on the WWE Network focusing on Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins embarking on their first post-Shield journeys, is scheduled to be extended and released as a DVD/Blu-ray project next year.

– There’s been some talk recently that Finn Balor and Hideo Itami will be making a run as NXT Tag-Team Champions before having singles runs in NXT. While there is no word regarding when the two will be called up to the main roster, it is believed that part of Balor’s deal when he signed with WWE was that he would not stay in the developmental system for too long.

WWE has officially announced that SummerSlam 2015 will take place from the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sunday, August 23, 2015.

WWE and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority will once again form a local organizing committee with partners that include the Meadowlands Regional Chamber, MetLife Stadium, the New York Football Giants and the New York Jets.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to extend our phenomenal relationship with our partners in the region for SummerSlam weekend next year,” said John P. Saboor, executive vice president of Special Events for WWE. “This partnership would not be possible without the support of the NJSEA as they welcome WWE’s second largest destination event of the year to the New Jersey area.”

“On behalf of all of our area partners, we are excited to have SummerSlam come to IZOD Center in 2015,” said Wayne Hasenbalg, president and CEO of the NJSEA. “We are proud to continue our incredible partnership with WWE and build on the success of last year’s sold-out WrestleMania 29 at MetLife Stadium.”

SummerSlam has been held at the IZOD Center three previous times in 1989, 1997 and 2007. STAPLES Center in Los Angeles hosted the sold-out event the past six years.

Ticket information for SummerSlam will be announced in the coming months.

WWE released new data that shows the 2014 SummerSlam pay-per-view drawing between 140,000 and 150,000 preliminary buys. This would be around 60,000 domestic buys and approximately 80,000 international buys.

These numbers are up from the WWE Battleground pay-per-view, which drew around 99,000 buys — 31,000 domestic and 68,000 international. It’s also up from the Money In The Bank show, which drew around 122,000 buys on pay-per-view.

By comparison, the 2013 SummerSlam pay-per-view drew around 298,000 buys prior to the launch of the WWE Network, with 168,000 of those coming from domestic orders on pay-per-view and 112,000 being international.

– For trivia buffs out there, last night’s WWE Night Of Champions show marked the first WWE pay-per-view event since SummerSlam 2013 that Roman Reigns did not wrestle a match on. Additionally, last night was the first PPV that Bray Wyatt did not compete on since the Hell In A Cell 2013 show.

– Courtesy of Michael Moody and HollymoodEntertainment.com, below is the edited, condensed and re-released version of the main trailer for the marijuana documentary titled, ‘The Emperor, The President & The King’ which features Rob Van Dam and other celebrities.

For the past few weeks, Vince McMahon has reportedly been all over the WWE creative team to book John Cena stronger to prove to his fans that he’s “still in the fight” after being dominated in what amounted to a squash match at the hands of Brock Lesnar at WWE SummerSlam.

When Cena returned to RAW the following week and dominated The Wyatt Family, we noted that it was Vince who was responsible for the way Cena was booked that night. Apparently many backstage felt that this was the wrong thing to do, especially against Bray Wyatt and The Wyatt Family, however Vince reportedly insisted that it be booked that way and was unwilling to change his mind.

The deal for Jerry Springer to appear on next Monday’s edition of WWE RAW reportedly came at the last minute. The fact that it wasn’t mentioned during the WWE Main Event broadcast on Tuesday night, even though WWE had announced it on their website before the show aired, points to the fact that the Springer deal was likely done at some point in the past day or so.

Additionally, WWE decided to push next week’s RAW as the “season premiere” episode, so for the rest of the week leading up to Monday, expect that angle to be promoted by WWE as well.

As noted, with the NFL’s Monday Night Football returning against RAW next Monday night, WWE has tried everything from inviting Michael Sam to the show, to booking Jerry Springer, to announcing two SummerSlam rematches, one of which is in a steel cage, all to try and combat the expected drop in ratings.

WWE issued the following today …

RAW GOES SPRINGER

STAMFORD, Conn., Sept. 3, 2014 – “I will conduct an intervention with the Bella Twins in an effort to achieve sibling harmony,” said Jerry Springer, legendary talk show host, who will make an appearance on the season premiere of Raw® this Monday at 8/7C on USA Network.

The Bella Twins™ have been embroiled in a sibling war since Nikki turned on her sister Brie at SummerSlam two weeks ago.

Nikki and Brie Bella are also featured on the popular E! reality series Total Divas, which will debut its third season this Sunday at 9pm ET/PT.

Springer will bring more than 20 years of experience in moderating family feuds to bear when he steps in the ring this Monday night. Springer has been the host of the tabloid talk show The Jerry Springer Show since its debut in 1991, and last appeared on Monday Night Raw in February, 2010.

Investment website SeekingAlpha.com published an article this week looking at the huge spike in organic Google search traffic that WWE.com received for SummerSlam. Analyst Steven Borovay believes this is a strong indicator that WWE added a significant number of new subscribers to the WWE Network for the show.

Back in April, WWE.com’s organic Google search traffic peaked at around 3.4 million searches for WrestleMania 30. For SummerSlam, Google search traffic spiked 26.9%, peaking around 4.4 million searches. Borovay notes that most WWE Network subscribers go directly to WWE.com (instead of searching through Google to access to the site), which “should substantially increase network subscriptions.”

Combined with WWE’s expansion into over 150 foreign countries, Borovay is confident that WWE is making big gains towards it’s recently-lowered break-even point.

I conclusion, he write that WWE “will body slam all external negative expectations by analysts that are too focused on short term glitches and not looking at the big picture.”

– It was announced on Monday’s edition of WWE RAW in Des Moines, Iowa that Total Divas star and WWE Diva Eva Marie is on the cover of the latest issue of “Iron Man” magazine, which is available on newsstands now.

– Also on Monday’s RAW, Jack Swagger’s manager — Zeb Colter — finally made his return to WWE television. Colter had not appeared on WWE television since the SummerSlam “Flag Match” between Swagger and Rusev.

– Zeb Colter, who has been absent from WWE television since the SummerSlam pay-per-view a few weeks ago, announced that he has returned. Colter tweeted the following on Sunday night:

HELLO @WWE UNIVERSE. AFTER AN EXTENDED ABSENCE, I HAVE RETURNED. ANYBODY MISS ME? #WeThePeople

— Zeb Colter (@WWEZeb) August 31, 2014

"@LittlePhilz: @WWEZeb Welcome back! What caused your twitter absence?" I WAS ON A COVERT MISSION WITH THE CIA IN IRAQ. DON'T TELL ANYBODY

— Zeb Colter (@WWEZeb) September 1, 2014

– Below is yet another preview clip for the season three premiere of WWE Total Divas, which airs this Sunday, September 7th on E!:

– Scout.com has a new article up about Sting’s son, Steven Borden, who is a senior and tight-end at the University of Kentucky. In the article, it’s made clear that Borden has no interest in following in his father’s footsteps to become a pro wrestler. You can check out the piece at Scout.com.

– Below is a Sam Roberts interview from SummerSlam weekend with Goldust.

– For all of the statistic junkies out there, it’s worth noting that when John Cena lost to Brock Lesnar at the WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view, it broke a 15-match winning streak that Cena was riding, which included television and pay-per-view matches.

– Below is the latest edition of WWE Inbox, which features several WWE Superstars and WWE Divas talking about the new official WWE logo.

– The reason that Chris Jericho and Randy Orton were not on this past Monday’s edition of RAW was because WWE gave the two some time off. As noted, both are scheduled to return at next week’s RAW, where Orton will be a guest on Jericho’s “Highlight Reel” segment.

– Zeb Colter has been telling friends that he suffered an injury as a result of the stiff kick he took from Rusev at the SummerSlam pay-per-view. There is also a story making the rounds that claims Colter was injured outside the ring as well.

– It looks like Goldust and Stardust may have turned heel on this week’s edition of RAW. After winning a WWE Tag-Team title match via count out, Goldust got on the microphone and accused The Usos of getting counted out on purpose. After demanding a rematch right then and there, Goldust and Stardust instead attacked The Usos in heel fashion, focusing on the injured knee of Uso and attacking it violently.

– As noted last week, WWE filmed some footage and interviews with Brock Lesnar backstage at last Monday night’s RAW. The footage is scheduled to air on some of the week’s that Lesnar isn’t scheduled for television. On this week’s edition of RAW, the first of those segments aired, which featured Lesnar talking about his destruction of John Cena at SummerSlam while clips were shown of their match. They also touched on the scheduled immediate rematch between the two at the upcoming WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view.

As noted last week, the current working plan in WWE is for Roman Reigns to challenge Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at next year’s WrestleMania 31 event in Santa Clara, California. Apparently, the decision for Reigns-Lesnar was decided upon shortly before or immediately after this year’s WrestleMania XXX event in New Orleans. While plans are always subject to change, especially in WWE, the direction right now still appears to be Reigns-Lesnar at the next WrestleMania.

Originally, Lesnar’s SummerSlam and Night Of Champions matches were scheduled to be against Daniel Bryan for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The idea was that Lesnar, after breaking Undertaker’s streak, would continue to break the hearts of wrestling fans by killing Bryan’s big moment, continuing his dominance until Reigns saved the day and ended Lesnar’s reign at WrestleMania 31.

Obviously the plans were changed to Lesnar-Cena when Bryan went down with an injury, however the rest of the story seems to be still in place.

WWE RAW takes place tonight at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

The main focus on this week’s show is the first televised appearance by John Cena since he was destroyed by Brock Lesnar at WWE SummerSlam.

Also advertised for tonight is a Hall Of Fame segment, which will include Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels talking about the upcoming Lesnar vs. Cena rematch at WWE Night Of Champions.

Make sure to join us here on the website tonight for live WWE RAW results coverage.

The following are highlights of a new interview with Washington Redskins star Adam Gettis:

On his former college teammate Big E’s strength: “Before he had his ACL injuries he was squatting 600 or 700 pounds, he was benching 600 or 700 pounds… he’s just a monster in the weight room.”

On Big E’s future in WWE: “I’m thinking if he can get back into the Intercontinental Championship look or get pushed for the U.S. Title or one of the belts, he can get put over on some guys and it’ll make him the man.”

On John Cena possibly suffering a concussion at the hands of Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam: “After that second suplex, you could just see it in his face. He started turning red and he was holding his neck and he just had that glazed look over his eyes. I just knew after that it wasn’t a good deal at all.”

On Brock Lesnar winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship: “I think it’s a great idea that he won. I went to Mick Foley’s (comedy show) and he said that the perfect person to go over on John Cena and win the championship was Brock Lesnar. And I agree with him totally. But the way he did it though, I thought it was awesome. Finally somebody just went out and dominated John Cena for the first time. I was happy to see it. I am a John Cena fan, but it was good for somebody else to go over on him as good as he did.”

Check out the complete interview at CBSLocal.com.

– There has been no mention of Zeb Colter’s character being dropped from WWE storylines, however it’s worth noting that he was kept off of RAW and SmackDown this week after taking the kick from Rusev at SummerSlam.

– Kevin Nash is featured on the latest edition of “The JBL & Cole Show,” which you can see below.

One of the reasons WWE had Brock Lesnar destroy John Cena in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at this past Sunday’s SummerSlam pay-per-view was to portray him as a monster and get him over as strong as possible to separate him from the pack.

Another reason was because WWE felt it showed Cena in a positive light, showcasing his ability to “never give up,” like his motto says, even in a situation as brutal as that, and for taking the beating and keep coming, as he is doing by challenging him to an immediate rematch at the upcoming Night Of Champions pay-per-view.

On a related note, WWE filmed a bunch of footage with Lesnar backstage at RAW in Las Vegas on Monday. The footage will air on future episodes of the show since his deal doesn’t call for him to be there every week.

WWE will be premiering a new SummerSlam special on the WWE Network tonight called “Journey To SummerSlam.”

The show, which follows Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose as they prepare to do battle at this year’s SummerSlam paty-per-view, airs on the WWE Network at 8pm EST.

Below is the official description for the show:

“As the Shield, they were the most dominant faction inside the ring, taking the entire WWE by storm. Now, the Hounds of Justice have disbanded, and all roads lead to SummerSlam. Witness the journey of three superstars – Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns – from their humble beginnings en route to the biggest event of the summer, SummerSlam 2014.

SummerSlam 2014 aired live on WWE Network on Sunday, August 17. Subscribers can re-watch SummerSlam along with every other past WWE, WCW and ECW pay-per-view, as part of the most comprehensive video-on-demand library available. After its premiere, Journey to SummerSlam will be available in the video-on-demand library as well.”

To check out a video preview of the show, click here.

WWE announced that they will break an annual tradition with next year’s SummerSlam, moving the event from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California to the New York/New Jersey market.

As things stand now, WWE will most likely run the show at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, or the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. There is also talk of trying to run MetLife Stadium.

Apparently the feeling in the company is that it’s just too expensive to run Madison Square Garden in New York for a major show these days compared to other arenas in the market.

Monday’s post-SummerSlam edition of WWE RAW averaged 4.18 million viewers, down three percent from last week’s show.

The hourly breakdown for the show is as follows:

Hour One: 4.28 million viewers
Hour Two: 4.33 million viewers
Hour Three: 3.97 million viewers

The final rating, which should be out shortly, will likely fall between a 2.9 or a 3.0.

– On Wednesday, WWE will premiere their special, “The Shield: Journey to SummerSlam” on the WWE Network.

– The Los Angeles Times website currently features an interview with the cast of Total Divas. You can check that out at LATimes.com.

– The official WWE website has a new “WWE.com Exclusive” video interview with Rob Van Dam where he talks about his recent string of good luck. You can check that out at WWE.com.

– “Rowdy” Roddy Piper discusses his experience at last week’s RAW in Portland and also interviews “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan on the latest edition of his “Piper’s Pit” podcast. You can check that out at PodcastOne.com.