As noted, WWE is supporting Pediatric Cancer Awareness month and will be encouraging fans to donate to the Connor’s Cure charity throughout the month of September.
Some may have noticed that all WWE talents have been putting a gold marker on their Twitter avatars. WWE will be donating one dollar to the charity for every fan who does the same thing with their Twitter account.
Triple H promoted the effort via the following tweet:
Daniel Bryan also tweeted in reference to the campaign today and is even doing a little bit of dancing to support Connor’s Cure. You can check out a clip of Bryan dancing for the cause below.
WWE COO Triple H has issued the following statement regarding the shooting that took place at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando on Monday afternoon that sent one person to the hospital with a gunshot wound.
Unfortunately a deranged individual with no WWE affiliation, who had a court order prohibiting him from being on WWE property…(1/3)
WWE COO Triple H announced on Monday that NXT will be holding its first live event from Nashville, Tennessee on Friday October 2nd from the War Memorial Auditorium. Tickets for the show go on sale this Friday at 10am local time.
Before @WWENXT heads to @LTLFest, see them LIVE in #NXTNashville at the War Memorial Auditorium, Friday 10/2. Tickets on sale Fri. at 10am.
Top stars advertised to appear include NXT Champion Finn Bálor, NXT Women’s Champion Bayley, NXT Tag Team Champions The Vaudevillains, Samoa Joe, Tyler Breeze and more. For more details, visit WWE.com.
NXT will be in town that weekend for the Louder Than Life music festival, which will feature acts like Rob Zombie, ZZ Top, Lynard Skynard and Slash along with live NXT matches.
WWE has announced that Sting will kick off this coming Monday’s edition of WWE RAW in Tampa, Florida.
As noted, Sting is not currently advertised for any upcoming RAW shows, however some appearances are expected leading up to the WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view regardless.
Sting returned to WWE storylines on last week’s RAW during the main event segment where a Seth Rollins statue was supposed to be unveiled. Instead, Sting made a surprise return and attacked Rollins, prompting Triple H to announce Sting vs. Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WWE Night Of Champions on Sunday, September 20, 2015 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
As seen in the new “The Kliq Rules” WWE DVD and Blu-ray set, WWE contacted Mani Mohtadi and Jason Cosmides, the fans who recorded the infamous Madison Square Garden “Curtain Call” incident with Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall.
In addition to being interviewed for the DVD, Triple H also brought the fans to SummerSlam week and had them backstage at Monday’s RAW at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
– Although the Dudley Boyz have signed multi-year deals to return to WWE on a full-time basis, the two will still keep their Team 3-D Training Academy running in Florida.
– Vince McMahon, who turned 70 this past Monday, wasn’t the only August 24th birthday celebrated in WWE. As it turns out, one of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon’s daughters shares a birthday with Vince.
– As noted, Taz has signed a deal to have his own CBS Radio Show. The former WWE and TNA announcer noted via Twitter that Jim Ross will be featured on his CBS Radio Show in a weekly segment. Taz tweeted the following.
WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross recently updated his official Q&A section with his thoughts and opinions on a number of questions sent in by wrestling fans. Below are some of the highlights:
On possibly doing more announcing for New Japan Pro Wrestling: “I don’t know what NJPW has planned but I’d love to do some more projects with them. Their wrestlers are from top to bottom arguably the best in the world right now.”
On how Undertaker stays this athletic at his age: “Taker is a great natural athlete who is over his surgeries, by and large, is eating clean thanks to his amazingly fit wife and training MMA style which suits his body. In other words he’s working his ass off and living right.”
On who makes the cool video packages in WWE: “Adam Pennucci produced those and they fired me up as well. He also produced my HOF video. Brilliant young man who’s still there working away.”
On main eventing RAW with Steve Austin against Triple H and Chyna: “I was out of place all a cow on ice but I did my job as instructed. Teaming w/ Steve was fun but taking the pedigree from Chyna wasn’t.”
On the late Umaga: “His untapped upside, athleticism and his uncanny in ring abilities for a 350 pounder. Great feet, agility, and quickness.”
Check out more Jim Ross Q&A updates online at JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.
– Former WWE Diva and co-star of the new E! reality show “W.A.G.S. (Wives and Girlfriends)” Barbie Blank (aka Kelly Kelly) is the guest on the first of two new “Steve Austin Show” podcasts this week. You can download the show at PodcastOne.com.
– WWE posted the following video featuring Triple H making the announcement that Seth Rollins will be defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Sting at the upcoming WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view on Sunday, September 20, 2015 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
The Icon Sting made a surprise return in the closing segment of Monday’s RAW, appearing under the curtain where Seth Rollins’ statue was supposed to be and laying a beatdown on the WWE World Heavyweight champion.
Sting will face WWE World Heavyweight champion Seth Rollins at Night Of Champions on Sunday, September 20th from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
Following his surprise return at the conclusion of Monday’s post-SummerSlam edition of RAW, “The Icon” Sting has now found himself in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship picture.
As announced at the end of RAW, Triple H appeared on the WWE Network immediately after the show to address what happened.
Renee Young spoke with both Triple H and Stephanie McMahon on the WWE Network after RAW about Sting crashing the Seth Rollins statue presentation and beating down the WWE World Heavyweight and United States Champion.
From there, HHH made the huge announcement that Sting will be challenging the WWE World Heavyweight and United States Champion Seth Rollins at the WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view on Sunday, September 20, 2015 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Rollins’ WWE World Heavyweight Championship will be on the line, but his WWE United States Championship will not.
– WWE announced a reported attendance of 15,589 fans at the NXT Takeover: Brooklyn show on Saturday night at the Barclays Center.
– As noted, Kevin Nash, along with Scott Hall and Sean Waltman, were in attendance at the NXT Takeover: Brooklyn special on Saturday night. Triple H posted the following photo of he and Nash in the arena before the show.
WWE issued the following press release after last night’s NXT Takeover: Brooklyn event:
WWE NXT to tour United Kingdom for the first time
STAMFORD, Conn. — WWE announced today that, for the first time in history, NXT will embark on a seven-city tour of the United Kingdom from Thursday, Dec. 10, through Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2015.
NXT’s tour of the United Kingdom will include the following locations:
Dec. 10: Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle
Dec. 11: SSE Hydro in Glasgow
Dec. 12: Sheffield Arena in Sheffield
Dec. 13: Empress Ballroom in Blackpool
Dec. 14: Capital FM Arena in Nottingham
Dec. 15: MotorPoint Arena in Cardfiff
Dec. 16: SSE Arena in London
“Coming off NXT’s biggest event in history, NXT Takeover: Brooklyn, we are thrilled to announce our first international tour,” said Paul Levesque, WWE Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events and Creative. “The tour marks a major milestone in the continued expansion of the NXT brand.”
NXT’s tour of the United Kingdom will feature appearances by NXT Champion Finn Bálor, Samoa Joe, Bayley, Tyler Breeze, Dana Brooke, Emma and more.*
“On behalf of all the NXT Superstars and Divas, we are extremely excited at the opportunity to perform for the WWE Universe in the U.K.,” said NXT Champion Finn Bálor. “I look forward to the opportunity to return to where I started my career, giving fans new memories that they will never forget.”
Tickets for the NXT tour of the United Kingdom will go on sale this Friday, Aug. 28 at 9 a.m. GMT through Ticketmaster.co.uk or Ticketmaster Charge By Phone by calling 0844 844 0444. Customers outside the UK can call +44 161 385 3211.
– In addition to the NXT Tag-Team Championships, which as we reported earlier, changed hands from Blake & Murphy to The Vaudevillians, the NXT Women’s Championship also changed hands on Saturday night.
– In the co-main event of NXT Takeover: Brooklyn, which took place at the Barclays Center and aired live on the WWE Network on Saturday night, Bayley defeated Sasha Banks with a Bayley-to-belly suplex to become the new NXT Women’s Champion.
– In the main event of the evening, Finn Balor defeated Kevin Owens to retain his NXT Championship in the third of three title matches during the NXT Takeover: Brooklyn special.
– Finally, it was announced by Triple H that NXT will be traveling to the U.K. from December 10th until December 16th. Tickets for the shows will go on sale to the public in the near future.
– Jushin Thunder Liger won his NXT debut, defeating Tyler Breeze in the opening match of the NXT Takeover: Brooklyn event on Saturday night at the Barclays Center. Liger picked up the win via pinfall after hitting Breeze with his “Liger Bomb” finisher.
– The Vaudevillains — Simon Gotch and Aiden English defeated Blake and Murphy, with the help of Blue Pants, to become the new NXT Tag-Team Champions at the NXT Takeover: Brooklyn special.
– Apollo Crews, the former Uhaa Nation, made his “Takeover” debut on Saturday night, defeating Tye Dillinger in a quick match at the NXT Takeover: Brooklyn event.
– Below is the cool intro that Triple H did at the NXT Takeover: Brooklyn live special from the Barclays Center on Saturday night.
Triple H, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Sasha Banks and Corey Graves held a fan panel at the practice court of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday morning to promote Saturday night’s NXT Takeover: Brooklyn event.
Below are some photos and highlights from Stephanie McMahon, Triple H and others.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair is in town for WWE SummerSlam weekend. Flair is there primarily to watch his daughter Charlotte wrestle at SummerSlam, and apparently other members of the Flair family are also in town for the show. Former WCW star David Flair is among those from the Flair family that made the trip.
– WWE taped the following matches for tonight’s edition of WWE SmackDown:
* Ryback vs. Big Show
* The New Day vs. Los Matadores and El Torito
* Neville vs. Bo Dallas
* Brie Bella vs. Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch
* Randy Orton, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Cesaro vs. Sheamus, Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Kevin Owens
– WWE posted the following video of Triple H looking at the new Ultimate Warrior book, “Ultimate Warrior: A Life Lived Forever.”
On Wednesday morning, WWE COO Triple H a media conference call to promote Saturday’s NXT Takeover: Brooklyn live special on the WWE Network. Below are highlights, courtesy of Tom M.:
– Triple H said it’s a historic week for NXT as far as being its own brand and filling its own niche. SummerSlam weekend is a huge opportunity for the brand and at first he wasn’t a big fan of the idea of running Barclays Center. They wanted to curtain it off at 6,000 seats at first but those sold out before tickets officially went on sale, so they went to 13,000 seats. They are very excited about Takeover in New York City. He said if you can make it in NYC, you can make it anywhere.
– He talked about the card and pushed Jushin “Thunder” Liger, Samoa Joe vs. Corbin and the “dual main events” of Bayley vs. Sasha Banks and Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor. He clarified his Twitter announcement and said all the matches revealed are not for the live WWE Network special. They will first film 90 minutes of NXT TV and then air the live two hour Takeover show.
– He announced the WWE Performance Center All-Access pass for September 28th. Tickets are on sale and the full details were posted earlier.
– They are looking at ideas in regards to doing NXT Takeover events before all major pay-per-views but he prefers when they piggyback NXT specials onto week-long WWE events to make the brand part of the entire experience.
– They’re proud of selling out the Barclays Center three nights in a row, noting he doesn’t know too many entertainment brands that can sell out NYC three straight nights. He says 2015 was to be the year they tried new things and NXT is unique. He doesn’t want it to be like RAW or SmackDown, it needs to have its own identity.
– He talked about Vince McMahon taking to which talents he wants to and that being a battle that will always have to be fought in NXT, in regards to talents coming to the main roster. He says he does not cherry-pick the indies, despite online rumors, and says he just wants talented new people, no matter where they come from – sports or the indies.
– He feels like a proud dad watching the “kids” going to the main roster and getting recognized. He talks about the Divas Revolution and is looking forward to them main eventing. He talks about Sasha Banks and Charlotte wanting to main event WrestleMania and doesn’t doubt it will happen.
– Regarding going up against ROH and a potential deal with EVOLVE to go after ROH, Triple H said it’s funny how people see things differently. He’s not trying to cause harm to ROH. He said other companies piggy-back off major WWE events and it makes sense for WWE to do the same thing. He says it’s part of the discovery process for the NXT brand. He says he was unaware of ROH running in Texas when they booked the Night of Champions weekend events. Regarding EVOLVE and Gabe Sapolsky, they are looking for quality events that can help support the business overall. He acknowledged that indies are important to the health of the business and doesn’t want to see anyone fail but he’s always going to do what’s right for WWE business. He says if that affects someone’s business plan, he can’t help that because WWE is priority for him.
– He talked about William Regal and others scouting and recruiting new talents all over the world, including Canada as the reporter asking the question was in Toronto. He mentioned talents get trained by right by people like Lance Storm and others in Canada, which leads to opportunities but not any additional opportunities.
– He talked about how there’s excitement all through NXT, talents are selling tickets and merchandise. They’re thinking about taking NXT international, to the UK. He’s always bragging on NXT to Vince McMahon and telling him to check stuff out. He says it’s more than just making sure WWE has future talents, that’s an important part of NXT but there’s a lot more.
– Regarding talents who get called up continuing to work NXT events, he says everyone wants to go to the main roster but NXT isn’t a bad spot to be in. He said they might move some talents who aren’t being used back down to NXT to revitalize them. He says there’s no rulebook for NXT, they can do anything with the brand.
– He had a lot of praise for Apollo Crews, the former Uhaa Nation. He’s looking forward to his debut at Takeover this weekend. He said Crews has the young, hungry fire and he’s looking forward to him being a huge star. He also said there will be other big debuts and fresh blood soon as others get called to the main roster.
– Triple H will be holding his usual pre-Takeover conference call with the pro wrestling media on Wednesday morning to promote this Saturday’s NXT Takeover: Brooklyn event at the Barclays Center. Check back here later today for a recap of the call.
– Former WWE Superstar Sean “X-Pac” Waltman is the guest on the latest edition of the “Steve Austin Show” podcast. You can download the show right now at PodcastOne.com.
– The latest edition of WWE’s “5 Things” web-series, which you can check out below, takes a look at five WWE Superstars who have never won at the annual WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view.
– WWE United States Champion John Cena tweeted the following after RAW in response to hit haters and the people who don’t want him to win his 16th World Heavyweight championship this Sunday at SummerSlam:
Call up the interweb, sounds impossible, but tell em they're about to hate me sixteen times more than they already do.
– WWE COO Triple H is teasing an all-access behind-the-scenes look at the WWE Performance Center on Monday, September 28th. While it’s not confirmed, this appears to be another post-RAW WWE Network special.
Chyna has responded to Sean Waltman’s accusations that she “bum rushed” Triple H at Rowdy Roddy Piper’s Funeral and was almost taken down by security.
Chyna said she had no idea Hunter was going to be at Piper’s funeral, but they did come face to face outside after paying their respects.
She calmly embraced Triple H with a hug and whispered into his ear that she is sorry about everything she’s said about him this year. She added that she has been under a great deal of emotional distress and felt the need to make peace with him.
Chyna says there was no ‘altercation’ and no security – “It was a tender moment between two people who once cared about each other.”
– WWE stock was up by 0.05 percent on Wednesday, closing at $20.81 per share. The high for Wednesday was $20.94, while the low was $20.54.
– Linda McMahon was at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida on Wednesday. Stephanie McMahon tweeted the following photo of her mother and her husband, Triple H, together outside of the building.
– On the latest WWE Tough Enough “Digital Extra,” which you can check out below, Chris Jericho talks to the contestants about his legendary ladder match with Shawn Michaels.
Earlier this week, a private funeral was held in Portland, Oregon for WWE Hall of Famer “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. Notable names in attendance included Triple H, Bret Hart, Chael Sonnen, Chyna, Michael Hayes, Brian Knobbs and Ric Flair, who gave a eulogy. Vince McMahon was not in attendance because he had to be in Orlando on Tuesday for WWE Tough Enough.
According to Chyna’s ex-boyfriend Sean Waltman, the former WWE Diva “bum rushed” Triple H, apologized for ‘everything’ and almost got taken down by security.
“That’s great, but don’t punch girls, and you don’t treat them like that, and ruin their entire career and life, and never speak another word to them.”
When asked to elaborate on that claim that Triple H was abusive to her, Chyna elaborated:
“I think Hunter’s plan was to get me to leave the relationship first. That way he could start dating Stephanie and everything would be cool. We got into a heated argument. We were not getting along. I told him ‘I know something’s going on; don’t tell me something’s not going on.’ He swiped my hand, I swiped his hand, and then he hit me. And that’s a deal-breaker for me. The relationship is now over. After that I know that he was crying, and I know that he felt bad that he hit me. I was just in shock; it felt like a Jerry Springer moment, it was very surreal. I just couldn’t believe that he hit me.”
Chyna would go on to repeat the claims in multiple interviews, most recently in June during an appearance on OpieRadio on Sirius XM. Triple H offered the following response to Laurer’s accusations:
“The false statements and reckless allegations Joan Laurer (aka Chyna) continues to make about a physical dispute are a complete fabrication. As I’ve said in the past, while Joan has had significant struggles in life, this does not justify making such claims.”
Television Actor Stephen Amell (‘Arrow’) will be stepping in the ring at SummerSlam, teaming up with Neville in a match against Stardust and King Barrett.
After feuding with Cody Rhodes for weeks, Amell was in attendance for RAW and got physically involved with his nemesis. After Neville defeated King Barrett, Stardust ran in to attack Neville. Stardust tried baiting Amell into getting involved, which led to:
Backstage after the altercation, Amell requested the match, but Triple H initially turned him down. Amell said to call his lawyers because he’ll sign off on whatever to make the match happen. Triple H said the paperwork will be sent over to his agent by 9am tomorrow morning and the two teams will square off at SummerSlam.
– The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has signed on to star in the big scree adaptation of the hit 90’s TV show Baywatch. Seth Gordon (‘Horrible Bosses’) will be directing, with Hollywood heartthrob Zac Effron currently in talks to appear alongside The Rock. According to THR:
“The story centers on a by-the-book and very serious lifeguard (Johnson) who is forced to team up with a young rule-flouting hothead (Efron) in order to save their beach from environmental destruction at the hands of an oil tycoon.”
– Triple H announced on Twitter that next Saturday night’s NXT Takeover: Brooklyn live special from the Barclays Center is officially sold out.