After Clash of Champions went off air, Seth Rollins received a standing ovation from the crowd in attendance. Rollins acknowledged the crowd before he left the arena. Seth Rollins lost his match against Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship at Clash of Champions. He had Owens beat several times with the Pedigree but the referee was either knocked out or Jericho placed Owens’ foot on the bottom rope to break up the pinfall. When Rollins made his return from injury, the first thing he did was insult the crowd. However, it now appears that the WWE Universe is in his corner due to the odds constantly being stacked against him.
Triple H did not show up during the main-event at Clash of Champions. He essentially handed Kevin Owens the Universal Championship, so it was easy to assume that he would play a pivotal role at Clash of Champions. That was not the case. Instead, Chris Jericho was the reason that Kevin Owens remained Universal Champion. Stephanie McMahon also took her time bringing out another referee after the original referee was knocked out accidentally by Seth Rollins. It remains to be seen if Stephanie McMahon and Triple H are working together in making sure that Kevin Owens remains Universal Champion. After Clash of Champions went off the air, WWE uploaded a video that showed Stephanie leaving the arena with Triple H. Surely that will increase the speculation that The Authority is back and Seth Rollins has been replaced by Kevin Owens.
– WWE published a video of Perkins being photographed with his title last night. Triple H shakes his hand and says he hopes TJP didn’t have plans for Monday.
– Triple H made this tweet and welcomed WWE Cruiserweight Classic winner and RAW Cruiserweight Champion TJ Perkins to the main roster:
– AJ Styles and Becky Lynch won big at Sunday night’s Backlash PPV, both winning their first championships in WWE and becoming the new faces of the SmackDown brand. WWE caught up with both of them backstage at the show. Styles delivered a low blow to Dean Ambrose before putting him away with the Styles Clash, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter that he bent the rules en route to capturing the WWE World Championship. At the end of the day, he’s got the gold and he’s in the history books.
After becoming the first SmackDown Women’s Champion, Becky Lyncg still can’t believe her girlhood dream has come true.
– WWE has released the first promo for the SmackDown brand’s next pay-per-view, No Mercy (10/9).
Owens defeated Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Big Cass in the Fatal 4 Way main event of Monday’s RAW to capture the gold. He didn’t do it alone, however. After Big Cass had been eliminated, Triple H appeared out of nowhere delivered a pedigree to Roman Reigns, to the delight of the crowd. He threw Roman Reigns back in the ring and Seth Rollins got the pin, narrowing it down to only two competitors.
Triple H got Owens from outside and and threw him back in the ring. Just as it looked like The Game was setting Seth Rollins up for the win, he shocked the world and delivered a pedigree to Rollins. The crowd went absolutely nuts. A stunned Kevin Owens seized the moment, covered Rollins and scored the pinfall victory.
Owens and Triple H embraced in the ring while Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley looked on in complete disbelief. The crowd chanted “You Deserve It” as Kevin Owens celebrated his win.
Finn Balor, the man who won the Universal Championship just a week ago but had to forfeit the title after 24 just hours due to injury, was quick to congratulate Kevin Owens on his big moment.
– Renee Young filmed new interviews with Becky Lynch, Enzo Amore & Big Cass on Monday night for future episodes of her Unfiltered show on the WWE Network.
– Lana is teasing a more aggressive side of her character. Following Roman Reigns’ attack on her husband at Summerslam, she tweeted:
You know what they say…If you want something done right you got to do it yourself…Someone has to be a leader. Back to micromanaging #Raw
– On Monday Triple H announced new NXT house shows for the East Coast: Norfolk (10/6), Richmond (10/7) and Baltimore (10/8). Tickets go on sale this Friday at NXTTickets.com.
– The Rock is getting a lot of mainstream media attention for an update he gave on the “Jumanji” movie he’s working on. To calm some of the criticism and speculation, Rock stated that the movie will not be a remake or a reboot of the original, but a continuation that takes place 20 years later. He wrote the following on Instagram this week:
After making her RAW roster debut last night in Brooklyn, with a win over Dana Brooke, Bayley spoke with Andrea D’Marco backstage and said the moment exceeded her expectations. Bayley also revealed she had her mother in the crowd and praised the Barclays Center fans, saying she could not have asked for a better crowd.
Triple H has been a longtime supporter of Bayley and must have been proud to watch her roster debut last night. He posted this congratulatory tweet after the match:
Bayley issued a challenge to new Women’s Champion Charlotte on RAW but instead was put in the match with Dana. With RAW GM Mick Foley confirming Bayley as their latest talent acquisition, it will be interesting to see how soon Bayley gets the title shot. For those who missed it, below are shots from her RAW debut:
Chris Jericho ended up in a backstage incident with Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam last night as Jericho was concerned about Randy Orton’s condition.
According to Dave Meltzer, multiple sources report that the incident began when Jericho came to the gorilla position as Lesnar vs. Orton ended, to find out what exactly happened and to see if Orton was alright. Jericho asked Michael Hayes if that was the planned finish and when Hayes wouldn’t respond, Jericho said, “That’s bullshit.”
Lesnar came through the curtain, heard the “that’s bullshit” comment and thought Jericho was talking about the match. One version has Lesnar calling Jericho a “pussy” and the other has him saying “shut up” to Jericho, then telling Jericho to mind his own business. The two came face to face and had words, leading to Lesnar reportedly pushing Jericho with his fingers. Jericho then did a forehead press while another version has him shoving Lesnar against the wall. While the two were up against the wall, Lesnar reportedly told Jericho to kiss him or punch him. Triple H then jumped in and broke things up but the two ended up going at it again until Vince McMahon finally broke it up. Vince told Jericho that everything was a work and to be professional after Jericho continued yelling about Brock.
Triple H reportedly told Vince that Lesnar was to blame, and that Jericho was just standing up for himself. That was the end of the incident between the two. Jericho then saw Orton’s condition and got mad but Orton assured him that he knew what was coming.
– As previously reported, the Miz took his wife Maryse to a high school prom upon learning that she never went to one before. The storyline, whether true or not, was filmed for next season’s Total Divas and featured WWE Superstar Natalya, WWE celebrity superfan Maria Menounos, among others:
– WWE As previously reported, Performance Center Coach Sara “Del Rey” Amato is rumored for a promotion to the main roster where she’ll serve as a producer along with fellow PC coach Adam Pearce. Following last night’s NXT Takeover, Triple H tweeted the following regarding Amato:
– “Holy Foley” – starring WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley, his daughter Noelle, and their family – debuts tonight after Summerslam goes off the air. Below is a preview of the premiere episode:
– Finn Balor’s multi-part road diary continues, with the former NXT Champion picking his parents up at the airport in New York City. They continue on to the Barclay’s Center, where they’re surprised to see a building-sized banner with Finn’s face:
– Triple H announced on Twitter that NXT Takeover: Brooklyn last night was the most watched, most attended and highest grossing Takeover event in NXT history. He tweeted:
– Below is another entry into Finn Balor’s SummerSlam “Diary” as he puts in the final preparations for tonight’s Universal Championship Match against Seth Rollins:
– This WWE 24 bonus clip features Sasha Banks reacting to the announcement of the new WWE Women’s Championship:
– Despite defeating No Way Jose at Takeover last night, Austin Aries is not happy. This backstage video features Aries fuming at Hideo Itami for interrupting a post-match attack and hitting him with the GTS. Aries says he will take care of Itami like he did Jose and Baron Corbin.
– Bayley is featured in this backstage video after her loss to NXT Women’s Champion Asuka last night. Bayley says she really prepared for the match and is just really disappointed at the outcome. Ember Moon interrupts the interview and praises Bayley for taking Asuka to the limit. Bayley congratulated Ember on her debut and said she believes Ember has a bright future ahead.
Former TNA World Champion Bobby Roode made his official in-ring NXT debut at Takeover: Brooklyn last night and defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas. Roode’s “glorious” entrance was all the talk on social media. Below is video of his entrance and comments from Triple H:
Finally, Roode appears in this backstage video to discuss his “glorious” debut. Roode says Takeover was step 1 in his quest to take NXT to the level as he looks to take the brand to a better place, clean it up and make it glorious.
– Takeover: Brooklyn last night saw NXT Tag Team Champions The Revival retain their tag team championships over Gargano & Ciampa. Dash and Dawson react to their win in this backstage video, saying they have beat everyone else, declaring themselves to be the greatest team in the world.
– Violinist Lee England, Jr. made a bunch of new fans at Takeover as he led a special entrance for new NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura. This video features England discussing the experience, noting that he met life-time wrestling hero Triple H as well.
– Triple H had props for Bayley and NXT Women’s Champion Asuka after their Takeover match last night. He tweeted the following backstage photos:
– There had been some speculation on Kota Ibushi wrestling at NXT Takeover: Brookyn last night but he obviously did not. He was shown backstage in Shinsuke Nakamura’s locker room with Funaki and later at ringside with other CWC talents.
– Speaking of Nakamura, Triple H tweeted the following on the new NXT Champion after Takeover:
– The celebration for Nakamura continued in the hallways of the Barclays Center last night. Below is video of fans singing Nakamura’s theme song, something they did often during the main event:
– Below are Twitter and backstage video comments from Nakamura following his big win. Nakamura calls the match against Samoa Joe one of the toughest he’s ever been in.
The winner of the WWE Cruiserweight Classic will receive a custom trophy made by the guys from Orange County Choppers, as seen in the video below.
The trophy was revealed earlier today by Triple H and the crew from OCC. The trophy will be presented live to the CWC winner on 9/14 from Full Sail University.
– Speaking of Takeover, WWE posted this video of No Way Jose greeting fans at the Barclays Center. Jose will be facing Austin Aries tonight and we will have coverage.
– The New Day’s BootyOs cereal must be selling well for WWE and FYE stores because they will be releasing “New Day Rocks” pop rocks candy in October. Big E tweeted this photo:
– WWE posted this video of Enzo Amore visiting his barber as he prepares for SummerSlam on Sunday:
– Speaking of Takeover, CWC competitor HoHo Lun has arrived with WWE’s Chinese Superstar Bin Wang, as seen below. Remember to join us for live Takeover coverage tonight.
Above is video from a WWE Breaking Ground episode where Triple H informs Enzo Amore and Big Cass that they were coming to RAW. The footage was filmed during WrestleMania weekend in Dallas earlier this year. Triple H also mentions that Cass’ girlfriend Carmella won’t be coming up as she has a lot of potential but needed to stay in NXT for the time being.
Cass spoke to Brian Fritz of SportingNews.com at this link and commented on if he knew what was about to happen in the video:
“No. So, we were at NXT TakeOver: Dallas and it was a very emotional night. We train with these guys. We weren’t even on the show, but we felt like we were part of the show because it’s a brotherhood down at the Performance Center. It’s all just a big family down there. It was emotional for us to see the show and to watch everybody go out there and light it up. We were leaving the venue and Triple said he wanted to talk to us. He brings me and Enzo into the room and, I don’t know if it’s on the video, but he congratulated us and I said, “Thank you very much” and then I realized, wait a second, we didn’t even perform tonight. So it was pretty weird to start off the conversation like that. It was a very emotional night and you felt like you were a part of it. I didn’t know what he was congratulating us for. Then he says you’re coming up to the main roster on Monday and then I realized that’s what he said congratulations for.
It was just a very surreal experience. I’ve been signed here for about five years when that conversation took place, so I’ve been working for that moment for five years. Me and Enzo, three years together, have been working at it to get to the main roster. So when we had that conversation with Triple H, it was very surreal and a lot of mixed emotions in that moment. But I’d say the most overwhelming emotion was joy. We were just so ecstatic about finally getting to debut on the main roster.”
Cass also spoke on the SummerSlam match against Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho later this month:
“I’ve been to four SummerSlams all in that area. I was at SummerSlam ’97, ’98, 2002 and 2007. I was there as a fan wishing I could be a WWE superstar. Now I’m walking into Brooklyn, N.Y., as a WWE superstar in front of those fans. Right now, the excitement is indescribable, and I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like on that evening going into SummerSlam in front of the hometown crowd, people I grew up with, friends and family against Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho with Enzo by my side. It’s a blessing to be able to do that on Aug. 21. It’s going to be amazing.”
The full interview is a great read and can be found at this link.
WWE COO Triple H recently spoke with ESPN to promote next Sunday’s SummerSlam PPV. Topics discussed include the return of “enhancement” matches on RAW and SmackDown, a concerted effort to ‘reboot’ Braun Strowman and perception that 50/50 booking is negatively affecting WWE talent. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
WWE Utilizing Enhancement Matches:
“Anytime you do a match, you’re trying to get personalities over, because for the most part, people appreciate great wrestling, but if they don’t care about the performers and they don’t care about the story between the two performers, they don’t care about the match. They just don’t. They’ll get to the end of it and they’ll go, ‘Wow, that was really exciting and they did some crazy stuff when the one guy did the thing, you know, like I don’t remember his name, but he did the crazy move.’
“The moves and the matches only are great when they’re with great stories; when those stories are rich, and the characters are rich and you can get involved in them. And when the matches deliver that and you’re invested in those characters — that’s when it’s magic.”
“Enhancement matches on the shows, to me, are designed to get personalities over. It’s designed for one guy to go out there — yeah, he beats up another guy, but what was he doing while he was doing that? He was establishing his moves, so I see what this guy does and see the kind of a style in which he wrestles?
“But if he just goes out there and just does a few moves with no personality and no charisma, I still don’t care about him. I just know he’s better than the other guy, who didn’t look like he was very good in the first place.”
50/50 Booking & The Perception That Wins & Losses Are Meaning Less:
“It’s just a term somebody came up with. It’s just terms that people throw out there. When somebody goes, ‘Well, you just can’t get people over with 50/50 booking,’ [I’ll always say] ‘Oh, I’m sorry, how’s your territory coming? Because this one seems to be doing pretty good over here.’ We just had the largest WrestleMania in history. People talk a lot of smack about ratings and things, but they don’t understand all of the dynamics of everything we do. They don’t. They sit on the internet and they read one thing and they give their point of view.”
Overall it’s a really good interview that you can check out at ESPN.com.
– With less than two weeks until NXT Takeover: Brooklyn, tonight’s NXT on the WWE Network will feature:
The Authors of Pain vs. Ryzin & Nails
Angelo Dawkins vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas
Liv Morgan vs. Billie Kay
Tucker Knight & Patrick Clark vs. Gargano & Ciampa
Asuka vs. Bayley contract signing for Takeover
Plus, an appearance by Bobby Roode
– The Eva Marie storyline will continue on next Tuesday’s SmackDown after an “injury” and “wardrobe malfunction” have delayed her in-ring debut for two weeks in a row. Eva says she will be ready to go next week in this new backstage video:
– Triple H tweeted the following props on Mojo Rawley from backstage at SmackDown last night:
– Today’s wrestling birthdays include New #1 contender Dolph Ziggler (36) Triple H (47), Shannon Moore (37), Manny Fernandez (62) and Greg Gagne (68). The late Matt Osborne (“Doink the Clown”) would have been 57.
– Former WWE star Wade Barrett started filming his first post-WWE project this week in London, a new film titled Vengeance. Below are comments from Barrett and a photo with co-star Sapphire Elia:
– WWE announced 15,109 fans in attendance from the sold-out Verizon Center for tonight’s PPV.
– Last night at Battleground, we got some more insight to how WWE is going to handle the WWE Championship situation as it pertains to the two brands. The announcers played up that the main event would determine which brand would have possession of the coveted title, with Ambrose retaining and keeping it exclusively on SmackDown. WWE showed the RAW and SmackDown locker rooms back stage watching to see who would win the main event and the SmackDown roster (babyfaces & heels) came to the ring to celebrate with Ambrose after his big win. It’s still very likely that WWE will introduce a second world title belt, as Vince McMahon has historically wanted the live events of both brands to feature a world title.
– After Bayley debuted to be Sasha Banks’ mystery partner for the win over Dana Brooke and Charlotte at Battleground, Triple H congratulated them with this tweet:
Sometimes the fiercest rivals make the best partners… Congratulations @SashaBanksWWE and @itsBayleyWWE#WWEBattleground
– In an update from earlier, there will be a 30-minute WWE SmackDown post-show on the WWE Network tomorrow night before the Draft goes live on the USA Network at 8pm EST. Renee Young will be on the panel with guests to be announced. The second-screen experience that airs on the WWE Network while SmackDown airs on USA will run for three hours.
– WWE will release a new Randy Orton DVD and Blu-ray on 11/14 in the UK and 11/15 in the US. More than 20 matches have been selected for the set and will be revealed soon.
– Triple H tweeted the following to hype the 6 NXT stars being included in the WWE Draft tomorrow night:
During an in-studio interview with Keven Undergaro on The Tomorrow Show, Christy Hemme spoke out on a wide range of topics including her departure from WWE and why she always travels with a Trish Stratus action figure. The former WWE and TNA performer also offered her opinion on various people she’s worked with over the years.
Christy says Triple H gives to everyone while Hulk Hogan is more about himself:
Hulk is great for Hulk. Triple H is great for business. You know, as far as like, bringing people in, bringing people up…he was always giving to the people…Hulk is like an icon and he is legendary and he is building his own brand.
Christy reveals two sure fire ways to tell if a wrestler has “it” and why Sasha Banks does:
There’s two things, there’s a feeling. And that’s something you cannot explain. Like, there’s a feeling you get from her when you watch her in the ring, and that, that’s the that “it” factor, right? That’s like, Wow! Like, you know you get little butterflies like in your heart for what she does. Right? And then the second thing is, you know, I always can see the difference between somebody that’s really in it, and not in it with their in between movements. So people do a big move, they do a move, they do a move, all those in-betweens, like in between the moves, where are they? What are they doing? Are they really there? So it’s believable when you see like, like as a piece of art…she’s a feeler. She’s really there, she’s really being.
Why Gail Kim would beat Awesome Kong in a TNA Knockouts shoot fight:
Everything comes down to passion I think that that wins, and she is probably the most passionate when I picture, as far as being in the ring and physically going.
Why Jacqueline Moore would win in a WWE women shoot fight:
She is someone that will put you in your place. She is very strong. She is, she’s amazing. She is really good…You don’t want to mess with her. You don’t. You just don’t.
What it’s really like to work with Stephanie McMahon:
I really love her. She is so poised and so powerful and as a female…She had worked on a couple of my segments and I was always lost when she was talking to me in the moments because she is really one of those people that she’s a really good producer…She’s really good at connecting and pulling something out of you that she’s looking for…but she’s softer in like, she’s a warm person. She’s a strong person but she’s a warm person and she’s passionate about the females so she’s always fighting for them.
How “politics” kicked her out of WWE
They asked me to move to OVW to train and I was like YES! I get to go train! Like I want to go work hard, I was really excited. And then when I got there, I was there for maybe a week and then I got the call that I was released. And I was heartbroken. Crushed.
When asked why, she responded:
I’m a strong woman that lives by my morals, and if you ask me to do something that’s not within my morals I will say no. So once I put that you know line down, that’s when I got the axe…It was one specific incident, so I’m just gonna leave it at that, cause I don’t need to go into details…It was not a wrestling related risque thing, I did Playboy…it’s just behind the scenes, politics, politics.
Christy shares a funny story about Victoria/Tara being nude in the TNA locker room:
They had hired all of these young girls, like millennials to come in and be on the show and there was like, 8 of them, right? And in the locker room, I walk in and they’re all standing around somebody and everybody’s laughing and I’m like “what is happening” and they’re going crazy, and I see Lisa (Tara/Victoria), in the middle of them, spinning around like this, I’m like ‘what are you doing?’ she’s like ‘I just feel so young.’
Carrying a Trish Stratus action figure in her suitcase:
When I was going through the Diva Search, I had one of her action figures and I kept it in my suit case and it was like my good luck charm right…She’s done so much in this business and she definitely knows how to build a brand and she’s done very well. And so yeah, who doesn’t aspire to be powerful like that.
Triple H recently did an interview with ESPN where Brock Lesnar was a big topic of discussion. Despite Stephanie McMahon saying that WWE didn’t necessarily “support” Brock’s return to UFC, Triple H seemed to indicate that he thought the crossover was a good thing for WWE.
“It’s huge,” Triple H said of Lesnar’s UFC return. “I think any time that you can have a WWE performer that can cross over into something else and have that kind of a night or a performance, whether that’s making a movie or television show or competing in the UFC, that’s huge. To me, it speaks to the amazing athlete that Brock Lesnar is.”
The Game continued to put over Lesnar’s athletic abilities. He says that Lesnar, who is featured on the cover of WWE 2K17, amazed him with his ability to get back into MMA at “such an elite level” and be that dominant.
“We have said it a million times about Brock but I think it’s worth repeating. He’s a once-in-a-lifetime athlete that comes along and is just — you can see it when you look at him,” Triple H said. “Guys don’t come along that quick, that big, that fast, that aggressive and with that mentality. He is a once-in-a-lifetime combat athlete. Certainly he helps UFC, banking on Brock Lesnar’s name in the very beginning of him becoming a UFC star and showing his dominance in it. And now it’s the same thing, back and forth. They benefit from it, we benefit from it and it has been great. My hat’s off to Brock, he’s an amazing, amazing athlete.”
You can read The Game’s entire interview with ESPN here.
Triple H recently spoke at-length about NXT in an interview published by ESPN today. Triple H oversees the NXT brand, and says it’s hard to imagine that just a few years ago NXT was just a concept, and now it’s something “so much more” than that. The Game talked about the importance of NXT not just being a recreation of RAW or SmackDown.
“To me, our industry is kind of like music. There are all different kinds of genres in music and with Raw and SmackDown you are trying to hit the most mainstream level of enjoyment of the product that you can, sort of like in pop music,” Triple H said. “NXT is a bit more of a style of music. It’s a bit more intimate, it’s a bit more designed to hit our hardest core fans and give them something that they will enjoy. To me, at the end of the day, that’s the core of what we do.
“But it’s still understanding that Raw and SmackDown are completely different where you are trying to hit the biggest audience possible,” he continued. “I’m excited that people like NXT so much, obviously, but I’m excited that we have that variety. If it was all the same, I don’t know that the interest level would be the same and that’s part of the magic of what [NXT] is. It’s different. One is not better, they are different.”
The former multi-time World Heavyweight Champion also talked about how the upcoming brand split and draft on the 19th will change NXT. Triple H says NXT isn’t doomed when talent leaves for the RAW or SmackDown rosters, because they make new characters.
“It’s always fresh, it’s always different, it always feels like there is something new going on to me,” HHH said of NXT. “With NXT being different, it complements Raw and SmackDown. You have the opportunity to see these guys come in and make a name for themselves on a bigger platform. They can grow themselves while helping to create NXT’s brand. Then, if you’re following NXT, you’re ahead of the curve when they come to Raw and SmackDown. You know everything about them and their back stories. It’s like being a fan of the band before they hit it big. You have that claim to fame. And to our most passionate fan base that’s an exciting vibe that we have.”
HHH also theorized that the reason why WWE’s social media numbers are strong is because their fans like to be head of the curve and be the first to know new things about their programming.
You can read The Game’s entire interview with ESPN here.