WWE has announced Finn Balor & Hideo Itami vs. The Ascension for thr upcoming “NXT Takeover: R Evolution” live WWE Network special on December 11th.
Above is a hype video from the official WWE YouTube channel regarding the match, with NXT General Manager William Regal commenting.
Survivor Series is less than two weeks away, and while three matches on the card are essentially set, much of the program is still unannounced. So, will the WWE work to build a pay-per-view that is solid from top to bottom, or are they simply throwing in the towel because this is a “free” event? Here is the card is expect to see on November 23rd in St. Louis.
Adam Rose vs. The Bunny
After attacking the Bunny last week on Raw, it appears these two legends of the squared circle will square off sooner rather than later. This pairing has kickoff show written all over it, as the company tries to get the crowd going with a “humorous” contest.
Gold & Stardust (Tag Team Champions) vs. The Miz & Damien Mizdow vs. Los Matadores vs. The Usos
Los Matadores have picked up a few victories over Gold & Stardust over the past few weeks, and the Miz and his stunt double have also feuded with the champs. Throw in the Usos to make an even number of teams, and you’ve got yourself an elimination tag team match for the straps.
If there was ever an awful time for a ten-person pay-per-view main event … this is it.
Why WWE is choosing to run with a ten-person elimination match for the upcoming Survivor Series show is completely beyond me. At this point in time, the depth among WWE’s roster is at one of the lowest that I can ever recall.
With top stars such as Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns on the shelf, and guys like CM Punk leaving at the peak of their popularity and Brock Lesnar working infrequently, WWE is left with very little at the top of the card. The only positive is that it forces them to move guys up the ladder at a faster rate than they normally might do.
With that being said, and I’m well aware that it’s a tradition to have multi-person elimination matches at Survivor Series, but I just can’t fathom why WWE is running with that concept this year, considering the state of their roster.
There’s been plenty of times in the past where they abandoned the elimination match concept at Survivor Series, so it’s not like something they have to make work because they do it every single year.
Regardless, that’s the direction we’re headed this year.
Having said that, one has to wonder how Survivor Series will come off later this month. WWE has put on some pretty solid pay-per-view shows in recent months, but I’ve got my reservations as to how well this show will come off in two weeks.
With pretty much all of the top guys either injured or involved in the main event, what is the rest of the show going to look like? Outside of Bray Wyatt vs. Dean Ambrose, thus far there’s virtually nothing on the Survivor Series undercard that I’m looking forward to.
Sure, Adam Rose vs. The Bunny will no doubt be an instant ring classic, but I digress.
All kidding aside, what’s left for the Survivor Series undercard? How many people that matter that aren’t tied up in the main event are left? The answer — not many.
It will be interesting to watch as the card continues to take shape in the final week of television next week leading up to the event.
By the way, if the stipulation in the Survivor Series main event has The Authority losing power if “Team Authority” loses the ten-man elimination main event, why isn’t Triple H trading his suit in for a pair of tights?
Beats me.
You would think with so much on the line, “The Game” would take matters into his own hands, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Unless I’m missing something, however, I guess it’s still possible, as last I checked there is one spot yet to be filled on the heel team. One would assume Triple H will fill that spot, although I haven’t seen any hints aimed in that direction.
While the roster is badly in need of some more depth right now, it is refreshing to know that the talent pool in developmental is as deep — if not deeper — than the current main roster in terms of promising young talent.
I can’t wait for guys like KENTA (Hideo Itami), Kevin Steen (Kevin Owens), Prince Devitt (Finn Balor), Sami Zayn, Adrian Neville, Tyler Breeze and The Ascension to get their chance to make a splash on the main roster.
Look at some of the recent call-ups from NXT and how they are performing on the main roster. Guys like Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt and others are among WWE’s absolute top-tier performers these days. If WWE brings in guys like the names I just mentioned the way those guys were, as opposed to say, the way Adam Rose and Bo Dallas were brought up, the WWE main roster could be quite the group this time next year.
If and when that day comes, WWE can put on as many ten-man elimination matches as they’d like. For now, however, it just boggles my mind that they are choosing to do so with the roster in the state that it’s in.
What do you guys think? Leave your feedback in the “Comments” section below. You can also hit me up on Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBooneWZR and/or on Twitter @MBoone420.
– Paul Heyman’s Heyman Hustle website has published exclusive photos of Dean Ambrose from the recent Ringside Fest event in New York City.
– NXT stars The Ascension are expected to be called up soon and WWE will be releasing Ascension action figures in the coming months.
– As expected, Justin Roberts’ WWE departure is a big shock to the WWE locker room. Roberts was very well liked backstage and many people were in disbelief at the news.
Roberts worked RAW last night and he was reportedly informed of his departure after RAW went off the air.
While there is still one more set of television tapings before the next NXT live special, which is expected to take place on December 11th on the WWE Network, based on what has been taped thus far, the following matches are rumored for the fourth live NXT special:
NXT Championship:
– Adrian Neville vs. Sami Zayn
NXT Women’s Championship:
– Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks or Becky Lynch, or a multi-Diva match with Bayley included
NXT Tag-Team Championships:
– The Vaudevillians vs. The Lucha Dragons
– Hideo Itami and Finn Balor vs. The Ascension
NXT newcomer Finn Balor (formerly Prince Devitt) made his in-ring debut on Thursday night’s TV tapings from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
During the show set to air on November 6th, Hideo Itami (formerly Kenta) told the NXT fans that he had a friend coming to NXT that would help him battle The Ascension, with Balor making his first appearance in front of an NXT crowd and helping Itami take out the Ascension.
Chuck Carroll of CBS’s Washington DC affiliate sent along the the following recap of his interview with WWE Superstar Stardust, calling it “hands down, it was the strangest and most fun interview I’ve done. He stayed in character the whole time and honestly it was hard to keep a straight face.”
One of the newsworthy highlights was Stardust’s response to who he and Goldust want to feud with if they capture the WWE tag team championships from The Usos at Night of Champions. He said:
“The inevitable is that a new challenger needs to step up. Perhaps, someone we haven’t seen,” he said. “There is all types. I am not naive enough to not look at the [deep talent pool] that is the tag team division. Even a team like NXT’s The Ascension would be a fitting little appetizer.”
Other topics discussed include wrestling in Dusty Rhodes’ shadow and how he was able to build a career that speaks for itself.
He also said he and his wife (WWE Diva Eden) would be interested in doing Total Divas if asked.
The full interview can be heard on CBS Washington’s website.
As noted, several of the top NXT talents, such as Adrian Neville, Sami Zayn, Tyler Breeze and The Ascension are all scheduled to go on the road with the main roster for live events and television to help cross-promote the NXT brand.
The reason none of the guys worked the television tapings this week was said to be because this week was the “go-home” week for Sunday’s WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
In addition to the NXT names we reported earlier today that are scheduled to work next week’s WWE television tapings, which included Adrian Neville, Sami Zayn and Tyler Breeze, former NXT Tag-Team Champions The Ascension are also scheduled to be among the NXT talents traveling with the main roster.
All of those NXT names are set to work the non-televised live events with the main roster next week as well. It’s also believed that all of those NXT talents — including others from time-to-time — will be working a pretty regular road schedule with the main roster, meaning next week will not be a one-time thing.
As we reported earlier today, WWE is looking to use NXT stars on the main roster events as a way to cross-promote both brands in a more legitimate fashion.
As far as the opposite-side of cross-promotion is concerned, as has been the case for a while now, main roster WWE Superstars and Divas will continue appearing on the NXT television and live event shows from time-to-time as well.
(Credit: F4WOnline.com)
The following are results of the NXT Takeover 2 special, which aired on the WWE Network on Thursday, September 11, 2014.
– The Lucha Dragons (Sin Cara & Kalisto) def. The Ascension to become the new NXT Tag-Team Champions in the opening match of the show. The finish came when Kalisto pinned Viktor.
– Baron Corbin def. C.J. Parker in a quick squash match that lasted all of 29 seconds.
– Enzo Amore def. Sylvester Lefort with a rolling reverse cradle, holding his trunks during the pin. Lefort tried to run away after the match, but Big Cass clotheslined him. Louis attacked Cass and Lefort ran off, leaving Louis alone. Cass hit a big kick on Louis. Cass said to Amore, “Enzo, get the bucket!” in Dudley Boyz fashion. He poured the bucket on Louis and Louis ran off.
– KENTA came out to the ring after being introduced by William Regal. KENTA announced that his new name is Hideo Itami. The Acension came out and threw him out of the ring and demanded a tag-title rematch. He came back in and cleaned house of both guys.
– Bull Dempsey def. Mojo Rawley in about a minute with a diving head-butt. After the match, he gave Rowley another diving head-butt for good measure.
– Backstage, Enzo Amore and Big Cass wanted to see somebody bald. They found Louis and Lefort ran away, leaving him alone yet again. Cass attacked him and carried him to the ring. Cass hit him with a reverse atomic drop and Amore took the towel off that was covering his head, revealing that he only had a little bit of hair left and no eyebrows.
– Charlotte def. Bayley to retain the NXT Women’s Championship. The finish saw Charlotte hit a moonsault, followed by a neck-snapper for the pin. After the match, Sasha Banks came out and taunted Bayley and then attacked her. Charlotte ended up making the save.
– It was announced that Hideo Itami (formerly known as KENTA) will be making his in-ring debut on NXT TV next week, which is actually being taped on Saturday night, September 12th.
– Adrian Neville def. Tyler Breeze, Sami Zayn & Tyson Kidd to retain the NXT Championship. The finish saw Neville hit his spectacular Red Arrow on Kidd for the pin after Zayn had hit the running kick into the corner and had the match won, but Neville pulled the referee out of the ring so he couldn’t make the three count. This was definitely a “match of the year” candidate.
During the NXT Takeover 2 live special on the WWE Network on Thursday night, KENTA made his official debut for WWE.
KENTA spoke about his goals and revealed during his promo segment that as a sign of tribute to his hero, who he didn’t name, he is changing his name to Hideo Itami.
After his name-change announcement, NXT Tag-Team Champions The Ascension came out and interupted him, likely starting some kind of program that will continue on NXT television.
Hideo Itami makes his NXT in-ring debut next week.
#HideoItami makes his #WWE #NXT in-ring debut next week #NXTTakeOver pic.twitter.com/BicOlp8KYQ
— SEScoops (@sescoops) September 12, 2014
– As noted in our WWE Main Event report last night, NXT Tag-Team Champions The Ascension made their WWE main roster debut in the main event of the show, defeating Los Matadores.
– Mick Foley recently spoke with the folks at Lethbridge Herald and spoke about still being a fan of WWE. Below is an excerpt from the interview.
“I watch it almost every week with my children. I’m still a fan of the product, which means I can voice my opinion, usually positive but occasionally I’ll have some constructive criticism that I’m not shy about voicing. All in all, I like the direction of the company and I think they’ve got a lot of great talent and building for the future.”
You can check out the complete interview at LethbridgeHerald.com.
– NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte defeated Bayley in what was said to be an excellent main event at the NXT live event in Citrus Springs, Florida on Sunday night. The reason the NXT Divas were in the headline match of the evening was because several of NXT’s top talents were on the road with the main WWE roster this weekend.
NXT Champion Adrian Neville defeated fellow NXT performer Tyler Breeze at the WWE live event in Dayton, Ohio. Sami Zayn defeated Tyson Kidd and The Ascension lost to Big E. and Kofi Kingston at the WWE live event in Hampton, Virginia.
– Speaking of NXT, several new promos for NXT Takeover 2 have been added to the official NXT Instagram account. The two newest additions feature Sami Zayn and Sasha Banks talking about the upcoming live WWE Network special. You can check those out at Instagram.com/wwenxt.
NXT star Solomon Crowe suffered an injury during a tag-team match with himself and Kalisto against The Ascension at the NXT live event on Saturday night in Palatka, Florida.
Crowe suffered the injury when he went for a flying head scissors on Viktor and landed hard on the mat. After the awkward landing, Crowe reportedly didn’t move for several seconds. After the match, he had to be helped to the back by trainers and he was grabbing his leg in pain.
Earlier today, Crowe confirmed the fact that he was injured last night, tweeting the following:
Chipped my tibia bone in my leg….. Such a great birthday present! Lol #CawCaw
— Solomon Crowe (@WWECrowe) August 31, 2014
The dog days of summer are winding down and the biggest wrestling event of the season is just around the corner. With the card for SummerSlam essentially finalized, it’s time to look at the possibilities.
In recent years, the WWE has saved its biggest surprises for the most important pay-per-views of the year, and with SummerSlam being the last special event for the first cycle of WWE Network subscribers, the company will undoubtedly be pulling out all stops in an attempt to entice fans to renew. With that said, here are five potential SummerSlam shockers.
Tag team wrestling in WWE has had its’ high and low periods of time, but now fans of the big company have NXT as well. The Ascension has dominated the NXT tag team division since winning the titles in October of 2013, while three different tag teams on WWE’s main roster have held tag team gold.
Let’s take a moment and investigate each brand’s tag team division in full. On the main roster in WWE are the champions the Usos, The Wyatt Family’s Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, Rybaxel, Goldust and Stardust and even R-Truth and Xavier Woods. I would include Los Matadores, but one of them is currently injured and they were not seen regularly anyway. The Usos and Wyatt Family are currently feuding over the titles. Harper and Rowan are former NXT tag champions and it seems like it’s only a matter of time until they capture the main roster titles. Rybaxel and the Rhodes brothers seem unable to wrestle anyone else these days. Every show it seems like they have a match. The Rhodes brothers are former champions and with Cody’s new Stardust gimmick, it could lead them to another title reign. Rybaxel and R-Truth and Xavier Woods (who rarely appear on WWE programming) are the jobbers of WWE’s tag team division. Never expect to see them win the titles.
wwe.com
In the meanwhile, NXT has a similar number of tag teams in their division. As said earlier, the Ascension hold the titles and they were most recently feuding with Kalisto and El Local. The two teams squared off at NXT’s Takeover special event. Kalisto is brand new to WWE and NXT, while El Local is portrayed by Ricardo Rodriguez. These two lucha libres are super fun to watch and certainly deserve a run with the titles at some point. Enzo Amore and Colin Cassidy have been on NXT for a while now, but Amore is just returning from injury so they need a little time to get back into the groove. Then, we have some new teams. The Legionnaires, which includes Sylvester Lefort and Marcus Louis haven’t been exposed to the NXT enough just yet. Jason Jordan and Tye Dillinger seem like two guys that were just thrown together. Finally, the Vaudevillians. Aidan English was holding his own as a singles star in NXT, but just like that he found the perfect partner in Simon Gotch. If the current tag team champions were babyface, the Vaudevillians would immediately be feuding with them.
While both divisions have their hierarchy of tag teams, NXT’s division has a lot more potential. WWE’s main roster only has three potential champions in Usos, Wyatt Family and the Rhodes brothers. NXT’s division has The Ascension, Kalisto and El Local, as well as the returning Amore and Cassidy, Legionnaires and Vaudevillians. The whole point of NXT is to develop characters and help wrestlers get to the next level in their careers. You don’t see that as much in WWE. The main roster’s tag team division would immediately get a lot more interesting with the addition of some of these up and coming tag teams.
What are your thoughts on the tag team divisions of WWE and NXT? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Seth Guttenplan is a math and computer technology teacher for special education students in New Jersey. In his free time, Seth writes about wrestling for Camel Clutch Blog and SEScoops. Follow Seth on twitter @sethgutt
The following matches were taped on May 30th at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida for tonight’s edition of WWE NXT on the WWE Network:
– Sami Zayn & Tyson Kidd vs. The Ascension
– The Vaudevillians vs. A local tag-team
– Xavier Woods vs. Bull Dempsey
– Summer Rae vs. Becky Lynch
– Sawyer Fulton vs. Colin Cassady
– Adrian Neville vs. Rob Van Dam
It appears the masked NXT tag team of Kalisto and El Local (Ricardo Rodriguez) has already been disbanded.
Following their loss to NXT Tag Champions The Ascension at NXT Takeover, Kalisto teamed with fellow masked wrestler Sin Cara at last Thursday’s NXT television tapings.
As for Ricardo Rodriguez, he’s been backstage at several recent WWE television tapings and continues to work out at the WWE Performance Center and has been training WWE’s developmental Divas.
While it appears that Wyatt Family members Luke Harper and Erick Rowan are headed towards a run as WWE Tag-Team Champions, there are those within the company who feel that will not happen.
The belief in the company right now is that NXT tag-team The Ascension will be called up soon, and that The Usos will hang onto the titles until that happens.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
Following Thursday’s edition of WWE NXT TV, the following matches are confirmed for the upcoming NXT Takeover live special, which airs on the WWE Network on May 29th:
WWE NXT Championship
– Adrian Neville (c) vs. Tyson Kidd
WWE NXT Championships
– The Ascension vs. Kalisto & El Local
Vacant NXT Women’s Championship
– Charlotte vs. Natalya or Sasha Banks
The following are results for the WWE NXT episodes that will air on May 1st, May 8th, May 15th and May 22nd. All four episodes were taped on Thursday night at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
Dark Match
– Alexander Rusev def. an unknown wrestler in a dark match to open up the tapings.
Spoiler Results for May 1, 2014
– Tyson Kidd def. Bo Dallas in the first television match of the evening.
– Sasha Banks (with Charlotte) def. Bayley in an opening round match of the NXT Women’s Championship tournament.
– Adam Rose def. Danny Burch. After the match, Camacho appeared during Rose’s big after-match party.
– Natalya def. Layla in an opening round match of the NXT Women’s Championship tournament.
– Mojo Rawley def. Oliver Grey. After the match, Aiden English came out and cut a promo on Rawley.
– Adrian Neville def. Brodus Clay in a no-disqualification match to retain the NXT Championship in a what that served as the main event for this episode.
Spoiler Results for May 8, 2014
– This show kicks off with Triple H in the ring for a promo. He talks about how NXT is the future and is taking over wrestling. He pushes the NXT Takeover special, which will take place live on the WWE Network on May 29th. Additionally, he announces a battle royal to determine the new number one contender to the NXT Championship.
– Charlotte def. Emma in a second round match in the NXT Women’s Championship tournament.
– Kalisto & El Locale (Ricardo Rodriguez under a mask) def. The Legionnaires (Sylvester Lefort & Marcus Louise).
– Camacho def. Captain Comic from Adam Rose’s party group. After the match, Camacho came out and had a confrontation with Rose.
– Alexa Bliss def. Alicia Fox in another match in the NXT Women’s Championship tournament.
– Next up was the battle royal announced by Triple H earlier in the show to crown the new number one contender to the NXT Championship. The participants were Xavier Woods, Brodus Clay, Baron Corbin, Curt Hawkins, Aiden English, Jason Jordan, Danny Burch, Oliver Grey, Marcus Louise, Sylvester Lefort, Big Cass, Camacho, Mason Ryan, Kalisto, El Local, Mojo Rawley, Sami Zayn, Yoshi Tatsu, Tyler Breeze, Bo Dallas and Tyson Kidd. In the end, Breeze, Zayn and Kidd were the final three and all were eliminated at the same time. This leads to Triple H coming back out and announcing that the three will compete in a triple-threat match to determine the official number one contender to the title.
– The Ascension def. Buddy Murphy and an unknown wrestler in the main event of this episode.
For results of the May 15, 2014 edition of WWE NXT TV, as well as the May 22, 2014 edition of the show, click ahead to page two …
Near the end of last year, it appeared the WWE would once again focus on promoting its tag team division. After the championships were practically ignored and bounced around between random teams that were comprised of young talent for over a year, Team Hell No helped legitimize the titles once again.
Kane and Bryan held the titles for nearly a year before eventually dropping the straps to Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. The division picked up even more after the Shield got their hands on the titles and was straight up stacked for months. At one point the company was even relying a lot on six-man tag matches just to get as many guys as possible on the broadcast.
Team Hell No helped spark fan interest after a dull period in the tag division.
Near the end of last year, the Rhodes Brothers, the Shield (Rollins and Reigns), the Wyatt Family (Harper and Rowan), the Real Americans, the Usos, the Prime Time Players, and the New Age Outlaws were all in contention for the Tag Team titles at some point.
Since then, nearly every one of those teams has fallen off the face of the Earth, save the Usos who are now the champions. The Rhodes Brothers are barely competing together, the Shield is beyond competing for the championships at this point, the Wyatt Family has been involved in other affairs, both the Real Americans and Prime Time Players have split, and it appears the New Age Outlaws do not want to exercise that rematch clause after all.
The dissolution and promotion of various teams has resulted in the tag team division entering into a transitional state where the company needs to develop new teams or promote others from NXT. Think about the current teams on the roster. We have the Usos who are obviously champions, but who are their challengers? The only other teams even on the roster are Los Matadores, Ryback and Axel, and 3MB, unless I am forgetting someone.
– The following is a photo of Randy Orton backstage at WrestleMania XXX with the lead singer of Rev Theory, the band that sings his “Voices” theme song.
Rev theory singer & Randy orton hanging out backstage
#WWE #Raw #WrestleMania30 #RandyOrton @MBoone420 @RyanClarkWZR pic.twitter.com/Dtd6VjSWiJ
— Jorge Romero (@Jromer0) April 8, 2014
– The Ascension recently teased an upcoming main roster debut on RAW on social media. You can check out a screen capture of their message below.
Viktor of #NXT Of The Ascension teased they will be on #Raw soon
#NXTInvasion #WWE #WWERAW
@MBoone420 @RyanClarkWZR pic.twitter.com/cSA1ygTIbu
— Jorge Romero (@Jromer0) April 8, 2014
– The official events page on WWE.com for this Monday’s RAW in Chicago, Illinois features both The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar pictured under the “Included Superstars” section.
As previously reported, Lesnar has been announced for Monday’s RAW in a segment where he will respond to the actions of Undertaker from last Monday’s RAW in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
– NXT Tag-Team Champions The Ascension recently received new entrance music. The name of the new theme song is “Rebellion.” You can check it out on iTunes at Apple.com.
– WWE Studios’ Christmas Bounty starring The Miz has been added to Netflix.
– WWE has announced that NXT Tag Team Champions The Ascension will be in action tonight on the NXT ArRival live event airing on the WWE Network.
– Here is the full conference call with Triple H, discussing the developmental philosophy, NXT expanding, and the Arrival PPV that will kick off the WWE Network’s live in-ring programming.