SIRIUS-XM personality Sam Roberts caught up with the current WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz in Los Angeles, California this weekend for a new video interview.
During their discussion, Miz spoke about the clothing that he now wears as part of his new character.
“The fun part about it is showing up and the WWE superstars’ reaction when you walk backstage,” said The Miz.
Miz continued, “I’ve done this since day one. where I would wear something knowing that this is not the usual or the norm. If someone says something negatively towards me, I’m wearing it out there, because I know that I have better fashion sense than everyone in the WWE, and I guarantee that when people look at it they go ‘it looks weird, but he looks like a million bucks.”
WWE has finally announced a SummerSlam “Kickoff Show” match for this Sunday, as Rob Van Dam will take on Cesaro during the 30-minute pre-show that airs prior to SummerSlam on the WWE Network.
With that now known, below is a look at the finalized card for this Sunday night.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship
– John Cena (c) vs. Brock Lesnar
WWE Divas Championship
– AJ Lee (c) vs. Paige
WWE Intercontinental Championship
– The Miz (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler
Lumberjack Match
– Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose
Flag Match
– Rusev vs. Jack Swagger
Harper & Rowan Banned From Ringside – Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt
– Stephanie McMahon vs. Brie Bella
– Randy Orton vs. Roman Reigns
Kickoff Show Match
– Rob Van Dam vs. Cesaro
Make sure to join us here on the website this Sunday night for the best WWE SummerSlam live results coverage on the web!
The following matches were taped on Tuesday night in Seattle, Washington for tonight’s WWE SummerSlam “go-home” edition of SmackDown on SyFy:
– Dean Ambrose vs. Cesaro
– Dolph Ziggler vs. Titus O’Neil
– Mark Henry vs. Luke Harper
– Mark Henry & Big Show vs. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan
– A.J. Lee vs. Eva Marie non-title
– Jack Swagger vs. Bo Dallas
– Roman Reigns vs. The Miz
The hottest event of the summer is practically hours away at this point. The card is set, the matches have been hyped, and it’s time to sit back and enjoy the show (after making a few predictions, of course). Here are my predictions for this Sunday’s pay-per-view.
AJ Lee (Divas Champion) vs. Paige
Paige has been a thorn in AJ Lee’s side since arriving on the main roster, especially since turning heel. She has had the upper hand on the champ over the past few weeks, even pushing her off of the stage on SmackDown at one point. Although Paige has been booked strong, the company realizes AJ Lee is the most marketable Diva on the roster right now. She retains after forcing Paige to tap out to the Black Widow.
Result: AJ Lee by submission
The Miz (Intercontinental Champion) vs. Dolph Ziggler
Since his return, the Miz has sort of fallen flat with the audience, especially since picking up the title at last month’s Battleground. Over the past year, it’s safe to assume Dolph Ziggler will lose any match of even moderate significance, but this could be different, as he has been booked strong and is still over with the fans.
The company is trying to promote the Miz’s dud of a movie that will soon be gracing dollar bins across the country, but I think they realize his title reign isn’t catching on. Dolph Ziggler will pick up the upset victory on Sunday after hitting a Zig Zag in what will likely be one of the shorter matches on the card.
Winner: Dolph Ziggler by pinfall
Jack Swagger vs. Rusev (Flag Match)
Call me crazy, but this is perhaps my most anticipated match on the card. The feud has been built very well and given adequate time to develop. Fans still aren’t entirely sure of what the rules will be for this one, but I’m assuming it’s going to involve the winning wrestler grabbing his country’s flag and waving it proudly in the center of the ring to end the contest.
This is the perfect opportunity for Swagger to go over Rusev and extend the feud a bit longer. He doesn’t have to pin the Bulgarian Brute to win so he won’t look as weak as he would if he lost via pinfall or submission. Expect the managers to also play a role in this one, and expect Swagger to walk out victorious to set up a rubber match at Night of Champions.
Winner: Jack Swagger
Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt
Much like the Rusev/Swagger feud, this program has also been given a proper build. The promo/interview the two cut last week on Raw was awesome and really hyped the match well.
Jericho won last month after hitting Wyatt with a Code Breaker. It will be even tougher for Wyatt this time around, as both Harper and Rowan are banned from ringside. This will likely be a back-and-forth contest with several near falls, with the in-ring work hopefully being a little more polished than last month’s affair. There’s no way Wyatt loses again, however, and will walk out victorious after forcing Y2J to succumb to Sister Abigail.
FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE, TRAIN, FLO RIDA, SHARON OSBOURNE, OMAR EPPS AND CHELSEA HIGHTOWER
JOIN WWE® AND THE CREATIVE COALITION TO STOP BULLYING
STAMFORD, Conn., August 14, 2014 – The Creative Coalition and WWE (NYSE:WWE), co-founders of the Be a STAR (Show Tolerance And Respect) anti-bullying initiative, today announced the launch of the S.T.A.R. Alliance, a group of actors, musicians, comedians, athletes, television personalities and members of The Creative Coalition, who have joined together to help put an end to bullying.
Members of the S.T.A.R. Alliance will join WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon, WWE Superstars such as Big Show®, The Miz® and Mark Henry, and The Creative Coalition to spread the Be a STAR message of showing tolerance and respect to help combat bullying, reaching more than 400 million social media followers combined. Select S.T.A.R. Alliance members will also participate and share their stories at Be a STAR anti-bullying rallies across the U.S., including this week in Los Angeles as part of WWE’s community outreach events during SummerSlam® Week.
“The mission of the S.T.A.R. Alliance is to use pop culture’s most influential voices to help eradicate the raging bullying epidemic plaguing America’s schools,” said Robin Bronk, CEO of The Creative Coalition. “We are delighted to partner with WWE to bring these powerful and inspirational voices of the entertainment industry to encourage children to be participatory in standing up to bullies.”
“WWE is proud to help bring together a diverse group of international celebrities who all share the vision to stop bullying forever,” said Stephanie McMahon, Chief Brand Officer, WWE. “Through the joint efforts of WWE, The Creative Coalition and the S.T.A.R. Alliance, we hope to reach millions of young people and provide them with the knowledge and resources they need to help put an end to bullying in their communities.”
Be a STAR is an anti-bullying initiative co-founded in 2011 by The Creative Coalition and WWE. Its mission is to encourage young people to treat each other with tolerance and respect through education and grassroots initiatives. WWE and The Creative Coalition leverage the power of The Creative Coalition’s entertainment industry constituencies and WWE’s global brand and platforms to help combat the bullying epidemic plaguing today’s youth.
– It was announced on Monday’s edition of WWE RAW that on this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown, The Miz will host a “MizTV” segment with special guest Roman Reigns.
– Below is the one-on-one interview between Bray Wyatt and Chris Jericho from Monday’s SummerSlam “go-home” edition of WWE RAW.
WWE has added the latest Michael Cole weekly sit-down interview to their official YouTube channel.
Cole’s guest this week — Dolph Ziggler — talks about his lifelong history with The Miz and their upcoming WWE Intercontinental Championship match at SummerSlam.
You can watch the complete Cole-Ziggler interview above.
According to sources within WWE, the company has yet to come up with anything that would begin Ric Flair as a regular weekly character on television.
The last time Flair was on RAW in Richmond, Virginia, which was an in-ring interview segment with Renee Young, he was scripted to hit on her the way that he did. In fact, the only ad-lib Flair added was the references to his past in the city, where he told fans to “ask your mothers and fathers.”
The Richmond edition of RAW was originally going to be the beginning of Flair’s return as a regular television character, however the creative team has yet to come up with anything for him.
As noted in the past, Flair was at one point going to serve as the manager for The Miz, however those plans are now said to be completely off the table.
The script for last night’s edition of WWE RAW was said to be heavily changed late in the process leading up to the show. A number of planned matches and angles were either modified or scrapped altogether.
One of the original plans was for a Miz TV segment with Bo Dallas as the guest. Initially, one of the plans for SummerSlam was a triple-threat match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, with The Miz defending against both Dolph Ziggler and Bo Dallas. Based on the direction of last night’s show, however, it appears that WWE will be going with a straight one-on-one match between Miz and Ziggler at SummerSlam.
– As of right now, the plan is for a build to a flag match between Rusev and Jack Swagger at the upcoming WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view.
– There is a chance that the WWE Intercontinental Championship match at SummerSlam becomes a triple-threat match, with The Miz defending the title against both Dolph Ziggler and Bo Dallas.
This week’s Raw took place in Miami, Florida in the home of the Miami Heat. LeBron James and Flo Rida both made appearances, and Triple H crowned a new number one contender.
Overall, it was a rather exciting episode of Raw, with the build to SummerSlam officially underway. As always, a few questions were answer, but many still remain. Here are five questions that need to be answered following Monday’s Raw.
5. Is Poor Booking Hurting the Wyatt Family?
Bray Wyatt attacked Chris Jericho backstage at Raw last night and commandeered the Highlight Reel. Wyatt of course lost to Jericho clean at Battleground, while Luke Harper and Erick Rowan also failed to capture the Tag Team Titles once again.
A few weeks back, fans were chanting “boring” during Wyatt’s promo, leading me to wonder if poor booking is hurting he and his family. Ultimately, I think they will be fine, as they are some of the best talents in the business, but better booking could help make them appear stronger and increase their popularity. Here’s to hoping for a clean Wyatt victory at SummerSlam.
4. Has Bo Dallas Actually Won Me Over?
When Bo Dallas first appeared in the WWE, I thought his character was destined for failure. He seemed to be nothing more than a troll hell-bent on annoying anyone within a thousand-mile radius. He was once again victorious last night, extending his undefeated streak.
I must admit though, Dallas has really won me over in recent weeks. His promos have been hilarious and his in-ring work has seemingly improved on a weekly basis. I still feel that he needs a new finisher before he can be taken too seriously, but I’m sure that will come with time. I never thought I’d say this, but I believe Dallas could be one of the better midcard superstars and a run with either the US or IC title could restore some interest in the midcard championships.
WWE held its annual Battleground pay-per-view last night. It was the second incarnation of the event and featured a total of six matches on the actual card and two additional matches on the pre-show.
On paper, the event looked more than solid and seemed like it would be one of the best shows of the year. Things quickly took a turn for the worse, however, and the WWE dropped a massive turd on its fans last night. The event was clearly slopped together and featured some of the laziest storytelling fans will ever encounter.
Lana and Rusev received some serious heat last night after referencing the recent Malaysia Airlines crash. It will be interesting to see if the WWE takes a step back after receiving criticism from multiple news outlets.
The company also pulled a total bait and switch on fans that paid to see the event. The most anticipated match of the night for many was Seth Rollins squaring off with former Shield partner Dean Ambrose. Prior to the event, the match had been heavily advertised and was clearly one of the main reasons fans were tuning in.
Instead of holding the match, however, Triple H cancelled the contest and threw Dean Ambrose out of the building, eventually awarding the victory to Seth Rollins due to forfeit. Fans were expecting an absolute classic of a matchup, but instead were treated to a few backstage brawl segments that were nothing special, and amounted to the same thing fans can see for free each week on Raw.
Last night, the WWE basically told the fans that this matchup was too good to take place at a crummy pay-per-view such as Battleground and will be saved for SummerSlam. Honestly, fans should feel cheated after what they saw with the Ambrose/Rollins program last night.
It appears that the working plan right now is for The Miz and Sheamus to feud in a program that will build to a unification of the Intercontinental and United States Championships, much like Randy Orton and John Cena did with the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships last year.
As noted earlier today, after Miz’s program with Sheamus, which is expected to last past SummerSlam, the man with the “Money Maker” is then set to work a program with Dolph Ziggler.
At Sunday’s WWE Battlegroud, The Miz won the Battle Royal to become the new Intercontinental Champion. Miz dumped Dolph Ziggler out of the ring to win the title after Ziggler thought he had won and didn’t realize Miz was still in the match.
According to a source in WWE, the original plan was for Dolph Ziggler to win the Battle Royal. It was decided last Tuesday at a producers meeting that The Miz would win, since he’s going to be doing a ton of media appearances in the coming weeks and has a new movie coming out, The Marine 4.
The Miz is now scheduled to feud with United States Champion Sheamus before moving into a feud with Ziggler.
On Sunday July 20th, WWE will hold a 20 man over the top rope battle royal to crown a new Intercontinental Champion. Bad News Barrett was on track for the best run of his career until an injury forced him to vacate the title. Now, WWE’s entire mid card will compete and a new champion will emerge.
But who has the best chance of winning? What is the most likely outcome for the battle royal at WWE Battleground?
There are a number of jobbers we can immediately assume won’t win. Those jobbers include Diego, Sin Cara, Titus O’Neil, Zack Ryder, Heath Slater, R-Truth, Xavier Woods, Fandango, RybAxel and the Great Khali. Although they have a slight chance, it would be extremely surprising to see Rob Van Dam, Alberto Del Rio, Big E or Kofi Kingston become the new Intercontinental Champion.
Dolph Ziggler is an interesting choice who has been winning more often lately. However, those matches have been mainly against Fandango and the focus has been on Summer Rae and Layla. Sorry Ziggler, but chances are you won’t win either.
The remaining four superstars all have a legitimate chance at becoming the new Intercontinental Champion at Battleground and here is why.
The Miz made his return from filming WWE Studios’ The Marine 4 on the June 30th edition of Raw. There has been a great deal of hype given to the Miz’s new multi-platform, Money Maker faced character since his return. Although at first Miz was booked as weak with the surprise return of Chris Jericho on the same night, the most must see WWE superstar of all time recently defeated United States Champion and fellow battle royal participant Sheamus on Raw. Having Miz win the Intercontinental Championship yet again would certainly align with his new character push, but there are others who could do more with the title.
Bo Dallas has been impressive since redebuting on the main roster. When Dallas first arrived on the main roster for the 2013 Royal Rumble, he didn’t have a character. He was a weird smiled guy with long hair. Dallas made huge strides in NXT in developing his unBOlieveable gimmick. After seeing it be so successful in NXT, I had concern over whether it would work as well on the main roster. Dallas has a ton of BOlievers and has a good chance of winning the Intercontinental title if WWE feels he is ready.
Someone who is definitely ready for a championship is the newest Paul Heyman guy in the Swiss Superman Cesaro. The King of Swing’s stock has been flying through the roof since he joined forces with Heyman one night after winning the inaugural Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. However, other than winning meaningless mid card matches against the likes of Kofi Kingston and Rob Van Dam, Cesaro hasn’t reached any new heights. Winning the Intercontinental title would be another step in the right direction for Cesaro.
That leaves the current United States Champion Sheamus. The Celtic Warrior is a very intriguing pick since he already holds a mid card title. While Sheamus is not an up and coming star like Dallas or Cesaro, WWE may have been hinting at a possible unification happening at WWE Battleground. Michael Cole referenced the idea on Raw recently. If Sheamus does win the battle royal, he will unify the Intercontinental and United States titles. WWE fans have spent a great deal of time and effort complaining (as they normally do) about the terrible booking mid card titles have had over the last few years. There really is no need for two mid card titles.
If you think about it, WWE recently unified the two world titles. Shortly thereafter, WWE began the discussion on whether or not the United States and Intercontinental Championships would be unified as well.
While I think Dallas or Cesaro would benefit most from winning the Intercontinental Championship, Sheamus winning would benefit the entire WWE Universe.
Who do you think is the most likely winner of the battle royal at WWE Battleground to crown a new Intercontinental Champion? 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
Last night’s Raw was the final episode before this Sunday’s Battleground pay-per-view. The Battleground card was finalized with the inclusion of Jack Swagger vs. Rusev and AJ Lee vs. Paige for the Divas Championship.
Overall, the go-home episode of Raw was fairly entertaining and featured a number of notable segments. However, although many questions were answered, a few still remain. Here are five questions that need to be answered following this week’s edition of Raw.
5. Can Swagger stay over as a face?
The most over superstar this week on Raw was definitely Jack Swagger. The crowd really ate up the USA-Russia détente segment, with thunderous “USA!” chants ringing throughout the arena.
It appears that Swagger’s face turn is proving to be a success, but can he maintain the momentum after ending his program with Rusev? It is a natural rivalry between Rusev and Swagger, so it will be interesting to see where he goes after his match at Battleground. One thing is certain, though: both superstars are getting over during this program, which makes me hope that it is prolonged for a bit longer following Battleground.
4. Is Heyman planning to ditch Cesaro?
Cesaro competed against Big E last night on Raw. Notably absent during the match was Cesaro’s advocate, Paul Heyman. Brock Lesnar is scheduled to return to television within the next few weeks and will definitely be competing at SummerSlam, leading some to believe that the Heyman-Cesaro partnership will soon be dissolved.
This could go a number of ways. The best-case scenario would be for Heyman to continue to represent both superstars, sparking jealousy between the two before starting a feud. This seems rather unlikely though, considering Lesnar will almost certainly challenge for the title at SummerSlam. My hope is that the two are not separated without a legitimate backstory being provided, similar to the Ryback-Axel-Heyman breakup last fall, as it would amount to a pointless alliance for Cesaro.
– Sheamus vs. The Miz was announced for Tuesday’s edition of WWE Main Event, which airs live on the WWE Network. The match is a rematch from their bout on Monday’s RAW.
– The following is the WWE Battleground “All Access” video courtesy of the official WWE YouTube channel:
– Mick Foley noted on Twitter recently that he and Jim Ross will be teaming up for a special Q&A session at his comedy show in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma next Monday.
– According to one source, The Miz using the name “Johnny Russo” on RAW last night was said to be a personal rib directed towards former WWE writer Vince Russo.
Tonight’s episode of Raw took place in Montreal, Canada and featured a total of eleven matches, including a first ever one-on-one meeting between the WWE World Heavyweight champion John Cena and Money in the Bank briefcase holder Seth Rollins.
Canadian icon and WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart graced the WWE Universe with his presence and cut a promo. Of course, he brought up the Montreal Screw Job, but it was a nice moment. Also, WWE continued to promote current on-going storylines leading up to Battleground.
Last week’s episode of Raw was one of the best and most exciting in recent history. Did this edition live up to last week’s high standards? Without further ado, here are highlights, lowlights and my random thoughts on the 7/7/2014 edition of Monday Night Raw:
BEST MATCH: The opening bout between the Usos and the Wyatt Family was the best match of the night. There were two other matches that could have stolen the show, but they failed to do so for a couple of reasons. First, Randy Orton and Dean Ambrose gave it their best effort, but it was clear to see that the two didn’t have very much chemistry, at least when it comes to singles action. Also, the Dean Ambrose botch wasn’t a crowd-pleasing moment.
Chris Jericho vs. the Miz could have been special, but the match didn’t last as long as I hoped. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins had the most promise, but they weren’t given enough time to do anything memorable and the obvious interference by Kane and Randy Orton ruined the match for me.
What was your favorite match of the night?
WORST MATCH: AJ Lee/Paige vs. Naomi/Cameron was the worst match of the night. Aside from the main event and the tag team match between the Usos and the Wyatt Family, there weren’t any real standout matches. However, this bout stood out for all the wrong reasons and it was a poor showing amongst the four Divas involved. Bo Dallas vs. El Torito was a close second for the worst match of the night award because at least the crowd was somewhat into it.
The worst segment of the night was the Nikki Bella/Alicia Fox disaster, but I don’t think there was an opening bell and nobody was declared the winner. Therefore, Idon’t consider this to be a match; otherwise, it would have won the award.
UPSET OF THE NIGHT: Kofi Kingston defeating Cesaro was the upset of the night. I know that Kofi defeated Cesaro last week on Raw, but I didn’t expect him to do it again and I don’t think the fans/crowd did either. I see Cesaro winning the Intercontinental Title at Battleground and Kingston falling into obscurity once again, but at least Kofi is living in the moment now.
To quote the great Mike Adamle, Kofi be Jamaican me crazy.
MOST SHOCKING MOMENT: I expected Randy Orton to defeat Dean Ambrose in their match tonight, but I was anticipating Seth Rollins to screw Ambrose over, resulting in Ambrose losing cleanly. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Ambrose has been really hot as of late and Rollins costing him the match would have protected Ambrose a bit more. Also, it would have spiced things up and furthered the Ambrose/Rollins feud.
The latest sit-down interview between Michael Cole and Triple H has been added to the official YouTube channel of WWE.
During their latest discussion, Triple H talks about the returns of Chris Jericho, The Miz and AJ Lee from this past Monday’s RAW, the fatal four-way match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the WWE Battleground pay-per-view and the “jaw-dropping” conclussion of Monday’s RAW.
– Following last night’s episode of WWE Main Event, here’s an updated list of confirmed participants for the upcoming Battle Royal at WWE Battleground (7/20) to crown a new Intercontinental champion:
– Cesaro
– Kofi Kingston
– Damien Sandow
– The Great Khali
– Rob Van Dam
– Dolph Ziggler
– Big E
– Ryback
– Curtis Axel
– Alberto Del Rio
– Chris Jericho will face The Miz on next week’s episode of WWE RAW from Montreal. WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart will also be appearing.
Speaking of Chris Jericho, he noted on Twitter that he’ll be part of WWE’s upcoming tour of Tokyo and Osaka next weekend.
Monday’s episode of WWE RAW featured the surprise returns of The Miz, Chris Jericho and AJ Lee.
WWE announced on Monday afternoon that a former WWE Champion would be returning on RAW. A limousine arrived backstage and RAW and many fans were expecting Chris Jericho to walk out, after news leaked online that Jericho would be returning to RAW. A lot of people were surprised when that returning WWE Champion turned out to be The Miz. The “Awesome” Superstar talked about being a multi-platform entertainment powerhouse, having just finished his latest movie for WWE Studios, The Marine 4. As Miz was rambling, he was interrupted by yet another returning former WWE Champion, Chris Jericho. Jericho’s homecoming got a thunderous reaction from the live audience, but it was short lived – as The Wyatt Family showed up, crashed the party and left Jericho for dead in the ring.
AJ Lee returned in her first appearance since the night after WrestleMania XXX, when she dropped the Divas Championship to newcomer Paige. AJ returned the favor last night, recapturing the Divas Title and ending Paige’s reign.
UPDATE: According to one source, the former World Champion returning at RAW tonight is none other than Chris Jericho.
Initially, the person was thought to be The Miz or Ric Flair, but it appears that Jericho returns tonight, and he’s also expected at the SmackDown taping tomorrow night.
(Credit: PWInsider.com)
Original story …
As previously reported, WWE is hyping up the return of a former World Champion who has achieved success both inside and outside of the ring for tonight’s post-Money In The Bank edition of RAW.
According to one source, the former champion could be The Miz, who has been at television the past few weeks but has had his return held off. The gimmick he has been using at non-televised live events as of late is that of a heel who thinks he’s a movie star.
Additional speculation is that it could be Ric Flair, however there are those who feel that he wouldn’t be advertised as a “former World Champion” as much as he would be a “legend” or a “WWE Hall Of Famer.”
Of course there is always the chance that it could be both, as Flair is rumored to work with Miz upon returning as a regular character on WWE television.
Roman Reigns sat in with the Sports Junkies and Chad Dukes this morning on 106.7 The Fan.
Reigns said that WWE is “a little bit old school now.” “When people talk about the past time of wrestling and how the guys used to be and there’s all these little stories here and there. I like to think that we shine in that regard. We’re a different breed, the new guys coming up.”
He also talked about characters becoming stale and how it’s imperative talents be able to evolve. When asked specifically about The Miz, he said there was still a chance for him to excel in WWE.
“He had a nice run and he was doing the things he did. He headlined a WrestleMania. He also, he has different ties and crossover connections with what he did before he started wrestling… With any character or any performer there’s always a chance to change yourself, to evolve, to be different, to show something new. I think that anybody who is feeling like they’re stale, if they need to revamp… if they can do that, then there’s respect in that.”
The full interview, including video of the segment, is available on the station’s website at Washington.CBSLocal.com.