As we exclusively reported at SESCOOPS.COM on Monday, Daniel Bryan will be undergoing surgery to repair a broken neck this coming Thursday.
Word coming out of RAW on Monday night is that Bryan will be out of action for six-to-eight weeks, with a potential return likely at Money In The Bank, or possibly SummerSlam, depending on how his recovery process goes.
With the six-to-eight week time frame, WWE is looking at keeping the title on Bryan. If the surgery and recovery process changes after he has the operation on Thursday, there is a possibility that WWE will strip him of the title.
It’s being said that at this point, plans are up in the air regarding Bryan and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. We should know more regarding the situation after he has the neck operation on Thursday.
– UFC will be running their UFC 176 pay-per-view on August 2nd at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California with a show headlined by Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes for the UFC Featherweight Championship. While the event will take place in the same venue two weeks before WWE SummerSlam, it won’t hurt WWE business because SummerSlam is already sold out.
– WWE Diva Summer Rae cut her hair off for the movie she’s filming right now with The Miz. Her new haircut is described as looking similar to Charlotte, the NXT Diva who is the daughter of Ric Flair, only shorter.
The fact that Brock Lesnar is not scheduled to work this year’s WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view, which he generally has in the past, could be a sign about how he will be used when he does return.
According to one suorce, the fact that Lesnar isn’t going to be used at Extreme Rules could be a sign that he will work the September pay-per-view, which is Night Of Champions, which would mean whatever program he starts for SummerSlam, where he’s almost guaranteed to appear, will continue on after the show, leading into a rematch or something along those lines at Night Of Champions.
– According to one report, when Sheamus kicked Dean Ambrose during the WWE United States Championship battle royal on Monday’s RAW, it was supposed to be the beginning of his heel turn. Apparently fans haven’t quite caught on to that fact yet, so it will be interesting to see if they make it more apparent this coming Monday, or if they continue a slow-build sort of heel turn for “The Celtic Warrior.”
– It’s being said within WWE that John Cena has made it clear that he would like to work with Big E. at some point, possibly after this year’s SummerSlam pay-per-view.
– Speaking of Cena, he recently hit a new social media milestone, as he now has 25 million friends on his official Facebook page.
According to one source, the reports that claim Batista refused to work a program with Daniel Bryan are untrue. A source recently told ProWrestling.net:
“WWE wants that story out, but it’s all twisted. (Batista) would do five jobs for Bryan. They’ve f—ed him in money, booking, broken promises (relating to his) schedule, and promoting his (outside projects).”
The source continued:
“Had that not happened, he would be around until late June, but because Vince (McMahon) f—ed him, he’s not, so they dragged Daniel Bryan into this to vilify Batista. Daniel is beloved and a martyr so he benefits, but it has nothing to do with jobbing. They’ve twisted. It’s classic Vince. Look at Ultimate Warrior and SummerSlam, Bret Hart in Montreal. (Vince) puts out his narrative. There are always two sides.”
As previously reported, WWE has plans for a Cesaro baby face push in the future. The general consensus is that when Cesaro eventually splits from Paul Heyman, he will enter into a program with Brock Lesnar, one that could possibly take place as one of the main events at this year’s SummerSlam pay-per-view.
Another idea for SummerSlam, while not yet confirmed, and is actually up in the air based on how things turn out for The Shield, is a Roman Reigns vs. Triple H main event at SummerSlam.
The idea seems to be that Cesaro goes over on Lesnar and Reigns goes over on HHH at SummerSlam, with the mindset being it would help elevate them to top-tier baby face status.
It’s worth noting that when WWE maps things out that far in advance, that plans change a lot as everything is a moving target that tends to change on a month-to-month basis.
– According to one source, Adam Rose’s in-ring debut on the main WWE roster is expected to take place at the WWE Payback pay-per-view on June 1st, where Rose will compete against Jack Swagger.
– The WWE SummerSlam themed edition of “Chasing Maria Menounos” debuts tonight on the Oxygem channel. You can check out a video promoting the show below:
– As previously reported, WWE is branding all of their live events this summer as “The SummerSlam Heatwave Tour.” The idea is that it will continue to make SummerSlam feel like the “WrestleMania of the summer.”
– The following is the second edition of WWE Warehouse with Joey Styles and WWE’s Archivist Ben Brown:
– WWE has continued to make CM Punk edits on the WWE Network. The official artwork for SummerSlam 2013, which is available on the Network, originally featured a number of WWE Superstars — Punk included — riding a roller coaster. In the updated edited version, Punk is the only person removed from the original.
– The following are some preview clips for this Sunday’s edition of WWE Total Divas:
The following is an updated list of official dates and locations for WWE’s pay-per-view events all the way through WrestleMania 31.
May 4th – Extreme Rules, IZOD Center in East Rutherford, NJ
June 1st – Payback, Allstate Arena in Chicago, IL
June 29th – Money In the Bank, TD Garden in Boston, MA
July 20th – Battleground, Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa, FL
August 17th – SummerSlam, Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA
September 21st – Night of Champions, Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN
October 26th – Hell In A Cell, American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX
November 23rd – Survivor Series, Scottrade Center in St. Louis, MO
December 14th – TLC, Quickens Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH
January 25th – Royal Rumble, Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA
February 22nd – Elimination Chamber, Fedex Forum in Memphis, TN
March 29th – WrestleMania 31, Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA
Adapt or perish. That is the message Triple H has been sending to the Shield in recent weeks since reforming Evolution. The concept seems simple enough when applied to professional wrestling: either evolve your character over time or quickly become irrelevant.
However, Triple H should be heeding his own advice, because it appears Evolution is the stable that will need to adapt in the near future in order to survive. With Batista taking some time off after Extreme Rules and Triple H only working a part-time in-ring schedule, Randy Orton will be the only full-time competitor left in Evolution in a few weeks.
The ultimate goal of the entire Evolution/Shield feud is to set up a contest between Triple H and Roman Reigns sometime this fall, most likely at SummerSlam. If Batista takes a significant amount of time off and Triple H only appears to cut promos, it seems like it will be difficult to drag out the program until August.
Batista is taking some time off after Extreme Rules, leaving only one full-time competitor in Evolution.
Ric Flair is scheduled to appear on Raw this week, meaning he could also be inserted into the program for a brief period of time. I highly doubt that Flair will be around for long though, as he was not originally slated to rejoin Evolution, and considering the fact that he hasn’t shown up to a WWE event sober in months, it seems unlikely that too much importance will be placed on the Nature Boy.
Flair’s sobriety, or lack thereof, aside, he is also not someone who is going to compete in the ring, so his involvement seems rather pointless, especially when considering that Triple H is basically playing the same managerial role that Flair occupied during the stable’s original incarnation.
WWE Hall Of Famer Superstar Billy Graham posted the follownig message on his official Facebook page. In the message, he predicts that CM Punk will make his WWE return at SummerSlam this year.
“Hi fans, I thought you might enjoy seeing this shot from 1977 with the pink cap on and the belt over my shoulder. The question I have for all of you good fans out there is this, when do you think we will see the return of C M Punk and why ? I say he will once again be in a WWE ring at this coming SummerSlam 2014. Why ? Because its a perfect PPV event and tons of time has past since he left and he doesn’t want us to forget about him does he ? The man does bring a lot of talent to the table. Superstar”
When the Shield debuted over a year ago, Roman Reigns was like the shadowy muscle of the group. He was the least featured member of the trio. He was given few lines during their promos. Yet he was always there to deliver a devastating spear or triple powerbomb when needed.
With the rich indy wrestling history of both Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, it is no surprise that they were expected to carry most of the load during the early days of the stable. After all, Roman Reigns was a former football player and started wrestling in 2010, whereas both Ambrose and Rollins had been wrestling since the early 2000’s.
Reigns does have a rich family history though, as he is a member of the famous Anoa’i family that includes past superstars such as Yokozuna, Rikishi, and The Rock, so it is not like he was a complete stranger to the world of wrestling.
After his dominating performance at last year’s Survivor Series, it seemed obvious that there were big plans for Roman Reigns.
A little over a year ago, it appeared that Dean Ambrose was the member being groomed for a breakout solo career. He was considered the de facto of the group and is the only member of the group to win a solo title while Rollins and Reigns shared the Tag Team Championships.
Something changed last fall, however, and it appeared that Reigns was the one gaining momentum in the Shield after Ambrose seemed enter a lull. Coincidentally enough, it was as soon as Rollins and Reigns lost their championships that his push began. The first hint that he was going to be a breakout star was at last year’s Survivor Series, where he was the sole survivor and dominated the competition, eliminating four opponents during the contest.
Reigns later eliminated the most competitors in Royal Rumble history during the 2014 contest and he has not looked back since. With the Shield now entering into a program with the newly reformed Evolution, there are reports that the ultimate goal of the feud is to set up a matchup between Triple H and Roman Reigns at this year’s SummerSlam. The reports make one wonder: is Roman Reigns ready for a massive solo push?
Jim Ross took to Twitter to answer some questions from wrestling fans. Among some of the questions asked where who JR feels should be the next WWE World Heavyweight Champion, as well as questions regarding Daniel Bryan and SummerSlam. Below are some of JR’s tweets.
“@Kyriacou352: @JRsBBQ who should be the next @WWE Heavyweight Champion coming from your good self?”
Lesnar..now cue the "part time" debate
The key objective in WWE doing a feud between The Shield and the reunited Evolution faction is apparently to establish Roman Reigns as a top singles competitor and get him into a match with Triple H.
As previously reported, the original idea is for the rumored HHH vs. Reigns bout to take place at SummerSlam, although there is a possibility that it won’t happen until Hell In A Cell or Survivor Series, depending on how long the story between the two plays out.
– Apparently many in WWE were said to be “incredibly amused” when TNA put their World Heavyweight Championship on Eric Young as somewhat of a knock-off of Daniel Bryan winning his title at WrestleMania XXX.
– As previously reported, WWE is planning on phasing out the use of the term “pay-per-view” for their big shows, instead referring to them as “special events.” Despite that fact, SummerSlam is still benig billed as a “pay-per-view,” so it’s likely that the “big four” shows will still be dubbed pay-per-views.
The Big Red Monster is back, and it appears he is on a collision course with Daniel Bryan. After reclaiming his mask last week on Raw, Kane vowed to take care of the WWE Champion and send him to the depths of hell.
In true WWE storytelling fashion, they had a Kane video package queued up and ready to go about five minutes later, leading me to believe that he will be featured prominently in the storyline in the coming weeks.
With Evolution set to take on the Shield at Extreme Rules and seemingly no other contenders in line, it appears that Daniel Bryan’s first pay-per-view title defense will be against his former tag team partner.
Kane has temporarily retired his suit in favor of his signature mask in an attempt to exact revenge.
The thought of Kane headlining a pay-per-view in 2014 and competing for the WWE Championship could leave some fans scratching their heads, but I believe it could work well if planned appropriately. With other storylines, particularly the Shield/Evolution program, eating up a good portion of the main event roster, creative was left with few options for Bryan’s matchup at Extreme Rules.
Randy Orton still holds a rematch clause but is fighting with Evolution, not to mention that Orton/Bryan headlined three pay-per-views last year and most fans would like something fresh. I think Brock Lesnar is being built up to eventually challenge Bryan for the title, but it would be too soon and neither superstar could afford a loss immediately following WrestleMania. Lesnar needs to continue winning to validate his win against the Undertaker and Bryan cannot lose the title just one month after finally winning it. A no contest would also leave the crowd unsatisfied with the outcome.
Therefore, I think Bryan and Lesnar will both be built up over the coming months to set up a blockbuster showdown at SummerSlam. Bryan’s first victim will almost assuredly be Kane. It is no secret that Kane is past his prime, but he can still put on a decent match if paired with the right opponent.
At the very least, the two have been involved with one another in the storyline over the past several months and creative can rely on that to tell a decent story. It certainly works a little better than randomly choosing someone like Sheamus or Alberto Del Rio to challenge for the title.
– Brock Lesnar is expected to be back in WWE by SummerSlam. There’s been talk that he will challenge Daniel Bryan for he will eventually challenge WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the show.
As reported last week, Triple H vs. Roman Reigns is also planned for SummerSlam.
– WWE’s 4/12 live event from Hidalgo, Texas drew 6,000. The 4/13 event the following night from Chattanooga, Tennessee drew 5,200 fans.
– NXT star Enzo Amore returned to training this past week after being out of action since the fall with a broken leg.
On Tuesday, April 8, 2014, the professional wrestling world lost another one of the greats. The Ultimate Warrior, who for millions of fans who jumped on the pro wrestling bandwagon during the late 1980s boom period, was among the biggest and most recognizable Superstars in history. Today, we are going to look back at five matches that helped establish Warrior as the undeniable legend that he became.
It’s no secret that Ultimate Warrior wasn’t what one would call a “catch-as-catch-can” classic type of in-ring performer, but if you look back at his career from an unbiased point of view, there were certainly some diamonds in the rough. He had some great moments in the ring, and at times was absolutely more than just “a cool ring entrance.”
WWE SummerSlam 1988 (vs. The Honky Tonk Man)
On August 29, 1988 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, The Ultimate Warrior captured his first WWE Championship. In just 31 seconds, Warrior ended The Honky Tonk Man’s legendary 454-day reign as WWE Intercontinental Champion.
Going into the show, which was actually the inaugural edition of what became WWE’s annual summer tradition, Honky Tonk Man was originally supposed to square-off with Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake. Beefcake ended up on the sidelines, however, and it was announced, live during the show, that Honky Tonk Man would still have an opponent and would still be defending his title.
To make a long story short, the infamous guitar riff hit the big speakers, thousands of fans in MSG exploded, and 31 seconds later, Warrior’s first WWE title reign began. History was made.
WWE SummerSlam 1989 (vs. “Ravishing” Rick Rude)
Nearly a year later to the day, Ultimate Warrior found himself capturing WWE Intercontinental gold once again at WWE’s SummerSlam pay-per-view. Several months prior, Warrior suffered his first official defeat in WWE at the hands of “Ravishing” Rick Rude, who was arguably Warrior’s best in-ring opponent.
This was the rematch.
The bout took place on August 28, 1989 at The Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It was the second annual WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view event.
In what turned out to be a pretty good little contest, Warrior prevailed and in the end, managed to get his hand raised and once again become the WWE Intercontinental Champion.
We are a little over a quarter of the way through the year. With WrestleMania behind us, the WWE will now begin its summer programs and hope to build toward its second biggest pay-per-view of the year, SummerSlam.
With that said, I felt it would be interesting to look at the top five matches from the first quarter of 2014. I included full match videos and highlights where possible, but WWE licensing restrictions made it difficult at times. (I also apologize for the terrible music in a few of the videos.)
5. John Cena vs. Cesaro (February 17 Raw) – Say what you will about John Cena’s in-ring ability, but he has put on some great matches so far this year, with none better than this matchup with Cesaro. There were a number of amazing spots during the contest, with Cesaro’s counter of the AA certainly ranking near the top. It appears the WWE is going to push Cesaro hard, and this was the week where his push began after he defeated Randy Orton and pushed Cena to the limit.
4. Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H (WrestleMania) – After weeks of begging for a match with Triple H, Daniel Bryan finally got his wish at WrestleMania. He took full advantage of it during the opening contest of the night. Both superstars really shined during the match and it was, in my opinion, the highlight of the show. It also ranks as quite possibly the best opening match in WrestleMania history, with only Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart at WrestleMania X giving it a run for its money.
– Triple H vs. Roman Reigns is currently being discussed as a top match for SummerSlam on August 17th. The seeds have already been planted for this feud, which will likely feature a Shield vs. Evolution showdown en route to this blockbuster match.
– WrestleMania XXX was just a week away, but there is already talk about who Brock Lesnar will wrestle next year in Santa Clara, California. The first rumored opponent is The Rock, who at one point was slated to face Lesnar at this year’s show.
The other big name who could face the Beast at WrestleMania 31 is Cesaro. Both men are currently represented by Paul Heyman and it remains to be seen how the two will interact when Lesnar eventually returns to television.
Brock Lesnar’s current WWE deal expires shortly after WrestleMania 31.
Bray Wyatt refers to himself as “The Eater of Worlds.” After his first few months with the company, he could also easily refer to himself as “The King of the Promo” and not many would object.
No character in recent memory has used the promo to build up his character as well as Wyatt. Starting with a series of haunting videos preceding the stable’s debut, the Wyatt Family were able to build the foundation that would allow them to become one of the top heel groups in the company.
After a perfect debut (minus the Husky Harris chants) and successful feuds with Daniel Bryan and the Shield, it was revealed that Wyatt would be entering a program with John Cena during the WrestleMania season.
http://youtu.be/x7QJruEbKL4
Many cringed at the thought of Wyatt battling Cena at WrestleMania. I personally thought the match would result in nothing more than the WWE further elevating its biggest star while taking one of the hottest superstars in the company down a notch.
After all, Cena isn’t exactly notorious for putting over stars at WrestleMania, although he has put over the Miz and the Rock in the past. I am not here to make predictions regarding the matchup, but to instead discuss how the two have used masterful promos to build the fight into possibly the most anticipated match on the card.
The Rock is the only man to ever pin Cena clean at WrestleMania? Will Wyatt be able to defeat Superman?
Cena has discussed how his legacy is at stake at WrestleMania, while Wyatt has criticized Cena for being primarily concerned with selling merchandise and achieving fame. This is certainly not a new line of criticism directed at Cena.
In fact, Daniel Bryan levied the same insults at Cena during their build-up to SummerSlam, where he said Cena was in the WWE for fame, while he (Bryan) was there because he loves to wrestle.
Bryan’s rebukes never really felt personal though, largely due to the fact that he had to hold back because he was a face. Wyatt, on the other hand, has not held back one bit, criticizing Cena for living in a castle with his plastic girlfriend during his latest promo (seen above), which is also quite possibly his best yet.
– According to one source, the three names that were initially listed internally for opponents for Batista at this year’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view were Daniel Bryan, John Cena or CM Punk. With Punk no longer actively working with the company, the latest word is that it will still be either Bryan or Cena facing “The Animal” in the main event for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
– The latest word going around WWE is that there will not be a “brother vs. brother” match between Goldust and Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania XXX.
– An online pre-sale will be held on Tuesday for WWE SummerSlam tickets with the password WWEFAN. SummerSlam 2014 takes place on Sunday, August 17th from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California
– NXT star Adam Rose (formerly Leo Kruger) is getting a lot of positive feedback following the debut of his new gimmick on this week’s NXT show.
– Here’s the latest SmackDown Fallout video, “Total Divas Reign Supreme” –