– There was speculation that the segment where Triple H “fired” Booker T on Monday’s RAW was unscripted, however the word is that what happened in the segment went down exactly how it was written in the final script for the show, and that Booker T was well aware that it was coming.
– The second ever NXT live event outside of Florida will take place tonight in Cleveland, Ohio.
– Bo Dallas has somewhat of a new look. Below is a photo of he and Tyler Breeze from this week’s WWE television taping which shows Dallas sporting a beard.
Triple H recently spoke with the Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Snowden to promote his induction into the International Sports Hall Of Fame this weekend. Below are highlights from the interview.
On when it felt like he really made it in WWE: “It’s funny, because it was actually when I was working with Marc Mero that I felt, “OK, clearly they must like me.” Because they had just put a lot of money into bringing Marc Mero in.
I remember George “The Animal” Steele came to me at the TV where Mero made his debut. He worked a dark match and Steele said, “Did we make a mistake bringing this guy in here?” It was just bad.
They put me with him on the road to work with him and get him up to speed. And I thought “if they’re reaching to me to handle this guy and get him going, wow.” It was kind of a confidence boost for me.”
On if he relates to wrestlers today with the same mindset that he had when he was coming up: “As far as the talent goes, when you see somebody who’s really hungry, and talented and has a bright future, you are willing to allow them to spread their wings and try things. And sometimes they are going to make mistakes and you’re going to have to reel them in and control them. And if it gets too bad, you have to really step in.
I have the ability to look at this differently because I went through it. If you’re smart with it, and I think this is how Vince (McMahon) was with us, he allowed us to go through all that without crossing a line that was too much for him. He controlled us but allowed us to expand our wings and grow.
Seth Rollins and I went through a similar thing. He’s so talented, and he was very cocky. Like we were. We were so full of ourselves and thought we knew more than we did. We thought we knew better and were going to show the world.
Some of that is a good thing. You don’t want to squelch that. You want to almost embrace that. But you have to protect those kids from hurting themselves. I could see how much talent Seth Rollins had, but he was manifesting that self-destructively. And I was trying to help him point that in a positive way.
I was trying to help him. And we had to have some pretty stiff conversations about it. We had to get there. But I never tried to hold him back as a talent from growing and trying things. And even using that, using those feelings. If I’m pissing him off and he feels I’m holding him back slightly, use that as a character tool and get that out of him.
He and I have talked about this a lot, from when he was in developmental to today. You have to work with talent no different than you do your kids. You’ve got to let your kids do things and experiment with their lives. And they are going to fall. But you have to be there for when they are really going to cross a line to say “no, not that step.”
On if he feels his matches with Mick Foley helped him to become “The Game”: “Absolutely. And one of the things that working with Mick did, was show people “wow, this guy will go through anything too.” I earned a different level of respect.
I think for Mick and I, through all the different versions of us working together, we’re both trying to prove ourselves. Mick had worked with Undertaker and worked with Shawn (Michaels) and worked with Steve (Austin) when they were the top guys, but he was kind of the guy who was with them. I was a guy trying to come up too.
I remember having a conversation going into the Royal Rumble in 2000, because we were the main event. We were the title match and headlining. It was a big moment for both of us. We both had something to prove that night. It was a step forward. We weren’t working with someone else who was a megastar. We both came alive that night.”
On getting back in the ring to face Sting at WrestleMania 31: “Listen, it’s a lot of pressure. I haven’t wrestled since last year. Sting hasn’t wrestled in God knows how long. We were talking about how I’m getting up there—he’s 10 years older than me.
I don’t know what I’ve got. I don’t know that he knows what he’s got. So, we’re going to see. I guarantee you this though—we will leave it all out there. We’re going to have 75,000 people giving us a lot of motivation to do it.
I know for him, this has kind of been a dream he thought was never going to happen. Both stepping into the WWE ring and going to WrestleMania. I’m glad that we could make it work out for him—and for the WWE Universe.
I think it’s something our fans are really going to enjoy, no matter how it goes physically, just being there and sharing that moment. Witnessing Sting at WrestleMania is huge for them.”
Jane Geddes, who has appeared a few times during the first season of Total Divas and served as the head of WWE Talent Relations before being moved to the position of running Triple H’s office, has quietly parted ways with WWE.
Geddes reportedly left the company on a Friday somewhere between one month and six weeks ago. The reason behind her departure from the company are currently unknown.
Current speculation within those in WWE is that Geddes was actually released from the company, as opposed to leaving on her own.
– The move of voting Triple H and Stephanie McMahon onto the WWE Board of Directors was said to be done in an attempt to give the two more legitimate corporate experience for if and when they end up running the company. It’s believed that with WWE being a public company that Wall Street, at this point, would have qualms about an ex-wrestler with limited business management experience actually being in the CEO position.
– The following is the official video preview for tonight’s edition of NXT television on the WWE Network.
Triple H recently took part in a Q&A with the folks at MensFitness.com to promote his upcoming induction in the International Sports Hall Of Fame, which is scheduled for this coming weekend. Below are some highlights.
On what he feels makes WWE Superstars stand out compared to other athletes from other sports: “I think the well-roundedness. Charisma, quick wit, the ability to perform in front of tens of thousands but also one or two. Our athletes are very well rounded and some of the best in the world physically, and they also have to have the ability to improvise and do theater at the same time. It’s like playing football and doing Shakespeare at the same time. I think that’s a rare combination. It’s a broader skillset. Also, with all these other sports, they want the athletes to be a cog in the wheel. With WWE, we want you to be larger than life. The bigger your brand is the bigger ours is.”
On something he’s done in his career that helped sports entertainment transcend: “One of the cool things for me is growing up as a gym rat and then being on the cover of Flex and Muscle&Fitness and to be representing fitness and health. That was me transcending the WWE world. One of the things I love most about doing a signing is when somebody comes up to me and says they were inspired to lose 100 pounds, or says, “You’re why I went to the gym in the first place.” That means a lot to me. When you can alter someone’s life in a positive way, that’s huge.
That’s one of the things I’m looking forward to most about this Arnold [Sports Festival] weekend. I want to talk to Arnold about health and fitness and how can he and I and my wife work together to affect the world. I brought it up to him a while ago—when he was on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, everybody knew about it and was striving to do these physical challenges. I feel like that’s all been lost and no one is representing that anymore. As many people work out as ever, or maybe more so, but there’s not that front line where kids today are getting it and making working out fun.”
On his favorite moment in his career: “I’ve had a long career. I had a series of matches with Mick Foley in 2000 which was a big turning point in my career. Then, coming back from my quad injury in 2001, a lot of people were saying my career was over. A few years ago I wrestled the Undertaker at Wrestlemania with Shawn Michaels as guest referee. That was sort of a symbol of the end of the Attitude Era and our generation. There’s a moment where the three of us are standing together that I’ll never forget.”
Triple H is once again the guest on this week’s sit-down interview with Michael Cole, which you can watch above.
Michael Cole asks whether or not Sting is starting to get under Triple H’s skin. HHH says Sting is good, just like he was in WCW. He mentioned his “firing” of Booker T on RAW and spoke about how no one in WCW could control Sting. He says there’s a reason Sting never came to WWE, and that’s control. He said sometimes you have to show that you still have control.
Cole asked HHH about the problems within The Authority, noting that he appears to be preoccupied as of late. HHH says that when you’re a parent, sometimes you have to let the kids battle things out among themselves. He said when RAW went off the air this week, everyone seemed to be getting along and he doesn’t have a problem letting them work out their issues by themselves.
When asked about WWE and NXT going to Ohio for the Arnold Classic this coming weekend, HHH spoke about his International Sports Hall Of Fame induction and said it’s an honor and having Arnold Schwarzenegger induct him is huge.
Blue Pants recently spoke with WWE.com to explain how she ended up in NXT. During the interview, it is acknowledged that she is independent star Leva Bates. Below are highlights from the interview.
On how she ended up in NXT: “I actually filled out the recruit page, because you always hear, “Hey, fill out the recruit page,” and I got a call asking if I would be interested in wrestling a match at NXT! So, of course, I said yes. [Laughs] I ended up getting called, and the name Blue Pants actually came about [when] I was stretching near the ring. At that point I was told I was going to wrestle Carmella, and Enzo & Cass were brainstorming an [intro] just off the top of their heads. They were like, “Maybe we should call her out, the girl with the blue pants.” I laughed about that, I just thought it was really funny. I went, “Absolutely! Do that!” I was just wearing the pants to roll around in, I wasn’t sure I was going to actually wrestle in that outfit. I have a crazy amount of costumes. I always over-pack so I have hundreds of things with me. I just put the blue pants on real quick to roll around in the ring, stretch, kind of get comfortable and it just stuck … that’s how Blue Pants was born, and I just embraced it!”
On what Triple H said to her after her first few matches: “The first time I came back he said, “You got a Blue Pants chant. I don’t even. I can’t,” and then he started laughing. I shook his hand and said, “Well, thank you for everything, I really appreciate this opportunity.” He said, “You’re welcome,” and then he just started laughing at my blue pants! That was kind of a really awesome moment for me, to make Triple H laugh.”
On having a more regular role in WWE: “I would absolutely love that! I kind of go with the flow. If they want to keep calling me back, if they want to make it permanent, if they want to say, “Alright, the ship has sailed,” I will roll with it. Right now I could stress out about it, but you gotta have fun with it! Enjoy the moment as it happens, and that’s what I’m doing: enjoying every single second. If it continues to go on and becomes a permanent thing, hallelujah, that’d be awesome. Even if it doesn’t, I still accomplished a dream of mine. Actually a couple of dreams of mine! I got [to wrestle] for WWE, I got to wrestle in front of a huge crowd and I got to win in a match for WWE, so all of these dreams have happened! To keep pursuing it? Absolutely, I would love to do that. I’m just enjoying it while I can.”
– This WrestleMania 31 poster that surfaced last week featuring The Undertaker and Sting, among others, is legitimate. WWE launched this banner ad campaign on Monday promoting the event on the WWE Network featuring a variation of the artwork.
– Lilian Garcia is scheduled to sing the National Anthem on Friday, March 13 the US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona before the Phoenix Suns vs. Atlanta Hawks game.
On Friday night, WWE held a “Hulk Hogan Appreciation Night” at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Among those in attendance for the special event were Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Triple H, Ric Flair and Jimmy Hart. Additionally, a special tribute video package aired that featured comments from the likes of The Rock, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart and The New Age Outlaws.
The ring ropes for the MSG event on Friday were red and yellow, in honor of “The Hulkster.” They also had a special t-shirt to commemorate the event.
WWE had several camera crews at the show to film the Hogan ceremony, likely for future use on television, the WWE Network or a DVD/Blu-ray release.
MSG raised a special Hogan banner, which you can see pictured below, to go along with their other legendary banners that hang from the rafters. They also presented Hogan with a portrait from WrestleMania 1, which was held in MSG back in March of 1985.
Courtesy of WWE and Triple H’s official Twitter accounts, below are a couple of photos from the event.
– The Thursday, February 26th edition of WWE SmackDown scored a final cable rating of 1.86, according to Nielsen Media Research. This week’s rating was up compared to last week’s show, which delivered a 1.77 cable rating. SmackDown this week averaged 2.624 million viewers, which was also up from the 2.403 million viewers who tuned in the previous week.
– WWE broadcast member Renee Young recently held a Q&A on social media. When asked by a fan if she would ever consider wrestling for WWE, she replied with the following joking comment.
Triple H recently spoke with USA Today’s “For The Win” blog to promote his upcoming induction into the International Sports Hall Of Fame. Below are highlights from the interview.
On WWE changing from a cast of larger-than-life guys to a more diverse group of athletes: “It’s changed with the world. You can see the differences in the performers in the WWE from the ’70s and what those bodies looked like, to the ’80s and the ’90s with the Hogans and that era, to the Attitude Era, my era… and the bodies [becoming] sleeker, faster, more versatile…. As crossfit has become more mainstream, as parkour has become a part of the vernacular, you see these guys that are able to do amazing things that 20 years ago we would’ve not even been able to think about doing.”
On if he misses wrestling every week and his transition from wrestler to executive: “Yeah, every now and then I’ll hip toss somebody in the board room by accident. I’ll just walk in there and clobber somebody. Old habits die hard. It’s tough — when I first made the transition, Vince [McMahon] was on me about doing it a lot. He felt like I was getting to a point where I could really contribute. I had been doing it behind the scenes a lot for years and he just wanted me to contribute more in that role. It eventually got to a point where I had an injury, spent some time in the office, and it just sort of morphed into me doing it full time and becoming an executive. When you’re used to traveling 250 days a year and then next thing you know you’re in an office every day wearing a suit and tie having meetings. 90 percent of my day is spent doing either creative or things like developing talent or recruiting talent, so that is the stuff that’s very intriguing and stimulating to me and I love doing. I could do without maybe some of the finance meetings.”
On his biggest accomplishment outside the ring: “We didn’t even have a department called ‘talent development’ when I came in. It was a concept that I pitched to Vince, that I said ‘we have talent relations and all this stuff that we do with talent, but we’re not doing anything to develop the future.’ Or very little, I should say. And we started a division called talent development that I just grabbed, and Vince thankfully gave me the freedom and the trust and confidence and ability to be able to create this.
I started a process of creating something from nothing, and I just looked at it from the standpoint of ‘if I was 20 years old, and I was trying to make it in the WWE knowing everything I know now, what would I want?’ What would I need? What would make it the easiest for me to get where I needed to be? And then I set about creating that system and designing it. We opened up a little less than 30,000-foot Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, partnered with Full Sail college to produce a TV show with us, and NXT was born. We started a recruiting process where we, rather than sitting and waiting for talent to call us, we were going and finding them. We were starting to find out that people were really interested, but they had no idea. Like how do you go about being a WWE superstar? So we created a system and a format for them to be able to do that.”
– WWE.com has published a gallery of rare Vince McMahon photos from throughout the years.
– Triple H was interviewed by USA Today this week about his induction into the International Sports Hall of Fame.
– Hulk Hogan, John Cena and Stephanie McMahon were at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California earlier today as part of the #31to31 Wrestlemania campaign. They each held a Q&A session on Twitter, with #AskCena and #AskSteph still trending. They will also tour the campuses of Twitter and Facebook as part of the tour. Here are some photos from today:
Stephanie McMahon, Paul Levesque (Triple H) and Robyn Peterson have been elected to WWE’s Board of Directors, according to a filing at the company’s corporate website.
WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon commented, “The appointments of Stephanie, Paul and Robyn to WWE’s Board of Directors will be invaluable to the company as we continue to transform our business and look toward a new era of unprecedented growth. I am confident that our Board of Directors and senior management team is stronger than ever and well-positioned for future success.”
Stephanie McMahon currently serves as WWE’s Chief Brand Officer, while Triple H serves as Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events & Creative.
Robyn Peterson is the Chief Technology Officer and Head of Product for Mashable and is “a seasoned technology executive with more than 15 years of experience in web, mobile and video product development.” Peterson is a member of Mashable’s Operating Committee, where he directs product strategy and development and manages the product, design and engineering teams.
For more on the story, you can read the official press release at Corporate.WWE.com.
Michael Cole’s latest weekly sit-down video interview features WWE executives Arn Anderson and Michael Hayes.
Anderson and Hayes spend several minutes talking about their own personal history with Sting, and then discuss the upcoming in-ring debut of “The Icon.”
Check out the video above to watch Anderson and Hayes break down the upcoming Triple H vs. Sting match at WrestleMania 31.
As we reported last week, former WWE Superstar Sean “X-Pac” Waltman spoke out on behalf of his friend Triple H recently, denying claims of physical abuse made by their former girlfriend, Joanie “Chyna” Laurer.
Waltman has since gone on to talk about the subject publicly on social media, as he posted the following series of tweets regarding the subject recently.
– Sting is not scheduled to appear on Raw tonight in Nashville, Tennessee as he was due to fly home to Dallas, Texas after appearing at the inaugural Fastlane pay-per-view last night, PWInsider.com reports. The event, which emanated from Memphis, Tennessee and its FedEx Forum, saw “Stinger” issue a challenge to Triple H for a match at WrestleMania 31.
– Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion The Great Khali attended a state government event in Uttarakhand, India this past weekend. During the event, Khali talked to The Times of India about opening a wrestling school in the state.
“There is a lot of craze for wrestling in the state and we are going to organize a wrestling championship very soon in Uttarakhand,” Khali said.
Khali parted ways with WWE in November after his contract expired and company officials chose not to renew it.
– WWE.com issued this poll asking fans which WWE star made the biggest statement at Fastlane. Sting is currently leading the poll.
– Chyna, who has been on somewhat of an anti-Triple H media tour as of late, has turned heads once again in regards to the WWE executive/performer. Her latest tweet was a bit of a low blow, and reads as follows:
WWE Fastlane was held in Memphis last night at the FedEx Forum. It was a fitting venue, seeing as they pretty much mailed it in for most of the night. After a night of action, we now have a pretty clear idea of what WrestleMania will look like in five weeks. Here are the pros and cons from last night’s WWE Fastlane pay-per-view.
Pros
After a night of non-finishes and botched endings, the main event between Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns was an absolute treat. These two guys started off a bit slow, but once they got going, they really gelled well. Bryan’s wrestling style went so well with the brawling style of Reigns, and it was nice to see both guys getting support from the crowd.
A few of the highlights included Reigns countering Bryan’s dive to the floor into an overhead belly to belly suplex, Bryan countering the spear into a beautiful small package, and also Reigns turning a potential hurricanrana into a brutal powerbomb from the top rope. These two also employed some solid in-ring psychology due to Reigns selling Bryan’s kick to the liver as he tried to hit a Superman punch. Overall, it was an exciting match, both guys looked great, it ended clean, and it’s always nice to see a main event end in a handshake.
The tag team match was a close second for match of the night. These two teams have so much chemistry and it’s really a pleasure to watch them do their thing. Cesaro’s half crab Cesaro swing was cool, as was the combination of Cesaro’s suplex from the apron into a springboard from Kidd.
The Usos looked good as well, teaming up for a double team Samoan drop that I don’t recall seeing them bust out before. In the end, new champions were crowned after Kidd picked up the victory with a swinging fisherman suplex. After their victory, it was nice to find out that they are “still the new WWE Tag Team Champions” (perhaps suggesting the outcome was changed last minute, as the odds shifted after the “smart money” was in).
The Bray Wyatt segment was enjoyable. He had the crowd going nuts in anticipation of the Phenom, only to shatter their dreams by popping out of the coffin. Wyatt called himself “the new face of fear,” and said: “At WrestleMania, I will claim the soul of the Undertaker.” This feud should be entertaining, but it would have been nice to see Wyatt play up the fact that fans weren’t getting ‘Taker, as the company needs more dislikable heels right now.
I’m not totally sure how I feel about the Sting and Triple H segment, so I’ll go ahead and put it in the pros section. Triple H of course continued to bury a long dead company, stating: “My legacy is putting your legacy out of business.” He also threatened Sting with the Benoit treatment, saying he would wipe him from the history books if he didn’t cooperate. It was cool to see Sting use his signature black bat though, and Hunter was very intense throughout the segment. Overall, it could have been better, but it was a decent setup for their match at WrestleMania.
Finally, the Rusev and John Cena match was far from perfect, but it worked out well. There was some hard-hitting action throughout, including a big spinning side slam from Rusev. The action was slow-paced and methodical, but it was entertaining for the most part. It of course ended in another non-clean finish, but it worked well in this case. I have to say, seeing Cena stagger out of the arena was pretty satisfying, even though it means he will definitely get redemption at WrestleMania.
– Sting challenged Triple H to a match at WrestleMania 31 at the WWE Fastlane pay-per-view on Sunday night. During the “face-to-face” confrontation between the two, Sting pointed to the WrestleMania sign with his bat over and over again until Triple H started to agree. Ultimately, Sting took Triple H out with a bat and left him laying, with the announcers hyping a match between the two at WrestleMania.
– The team of Cesaro and Tyson Kidd defeated The Usos in tag-team action at the WWE Fastlane pay-per-view to become the new WWE Tag-Team Champions.
The Road to WrestleMania will become a lot clearer after Sunday’s pay-per-view. Fastlane is available for free to all new WWE Network customers, and even those who previously cancelled their account and re-subscribed, so there’s really no reason to miss out on the action. Here is how I expect the event to play out.
Goldust vs. Stardust
Man, they really should have saved this one for WrestleMania, but I guess there is only room on the card for one tag team breakup storyline, and it looks like that’s going to be Miz and Mizdow. Expect these guys to put on one hell of a match, as they have been lobbying for it for what seems like years. After a solid ten-minute contest with a number of near-falls, Stardust will pick up the win with Cross Rhodes.
Result: Stardust via pinfall
Rusev (United States Champion) vs. John Cena
These guys have done a pretty good of building up this match over the past few weeks, and it genuinely seems like Cena is interested in winning the United States Championship, which is always a plus. It’s almost guaranteed that this feud is going to continue into WrestleMania, so I expect Rusev to pick up the win, but certainly not clean.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHA5g_T227k
Lana will become involved at some point, possibly distracting Cena long enough for Rusev to pounce and pick up the win via the deadliest finisher in all of wrestling (the distraction roll-up), or by using the title as a weapon to knock out Cena while the Ravishing Russian distracts the referee. This will set up a rematch at WrestleMania where Cena will most likely go over.
Result: Rusev via pinfall
Nikki Bella (Divas Champion) vs. Paige
Paige is the most popular diva in the entire company by far right now. They are going to want her to capture the title at WrestleMania. Nikki wins with help from her sister before dropping the title to Paige next month.
– Sting is in Orlando, Florida this week for WWE business-related reasons. It’s believed that he is working on his segment with Triple H scheduled for this Sunday’s WWE Fastlane pay-per-view.
– There continues to be an expectation among many within WWE that Brock Lesnar will actually end up staying with the company after his current contract expires following this year’s WrestleMania.
– Hollymood Entertainment has just released another new trailer for the marijuana documentary featuring Rob Van Dam. The documentary is titled, “The Emperor, The President & The King” and is scheduled to be released late in 2015. You can watch the new trailer below, and can subscribe to the Hollymood Entertainment Youtube channel at Youtube.com/slowdive626.
As noted earlier this month, former WWE Diva Joanie “Chyna” Laurer accused Triple H of assaulting her during their relationship while talking to Vince Russo for a podcast interview. HHH subsequently issued a statement denying the claims by Laurer.
Former WWE Superstar Sean Waltman (X-Pac) who is good friends with HHH and also dated Laurer in the past recently noted that Chyna once told him a similar story about HHH abusing her while they were dating, but claimed she later admitted that all HHH did was push her out of the way once.
Waltman also said he didn’t want to be involved in a public back-and-forth issue with Chyna, but mentioned that she has said a lot of things about him in the past that weren’t true either, including a lie about being raped in college, a story that she once told and later admitted to him wasn’t true.
The latest weekly sit-down interview between Michael Cole and Triple H is now available.
On this week’s interview, the focus was this Sunday’s WWE Fastlane pay-per-view event. Cole asked HHH about some of the top matches. Regarding the Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns main event, “The Game” pointed out that the leader of the “Yes! Movement” might be the best wrestler in WWE right now, however he questioned if that will be enough to overcome Reigns’ brute strength and power.
Regarding Sting, HHH said he first wanted to apologize to Ric Flair for pushing him down on Monday’s RAW. He blamed it on passion and Sting and said what Sting is trying to do will only get done over Triple H’s “dead body.”
You can check out the complete Cole and HHH interview above.
As the entire northeast freezes under a mountain of snow, the WWE decided to dip down to Orlando in an attempt to heat things up heading into Sunday’s Fastlane pay-per-view. The show featured eight matches, as well as appearances from Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes. Without further ado, here are the pros and cons from this week’s episode of Raw.
Pros
Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler was pure gold. Before the match, the two engaged in a hilarious back and forth, with Rollins laying down some burnsauce by telling Ziggler: “I know you fancy yourself a comedian but the only thing funny about you is that joke you call a career.” It was also hilarious to hear Ziggler question whether J&J getting him the wrong chocolates ruined his Valentine’s Day. Something tells me his Valentine’s Day was ruined for other reasons… As for the match, it was fast paced, full of spots, and exactly what you’d expect from two of the best workers in the business. Other than the J&J interference and non-finish, this was pretty much perfect on every level. I suspect a match between these two will be added to Fastlane after Smackdown. Here’s to hoping they give these guys 15 minutes and let them tear the house down. Highlight of the night by far.
I enjoyed the Dusty Rhodes backstage segments. The match between the New Day and Gold and Stardust was also nice, as it served as a nice juxtaposition between the brawling opening contest between Ambrose and Harper. Following the match, Stardust attacked his brother and called Dusty a “polka-dotted freak of a father.” I’ll admit, they’ve dragged this out forever and I wasn’t too excited at first, but I’m now getting into it.
Roman Reigns was the man last night. He sounded like a completely different person during his backstage interview before his match with Kane. His calm, confident, and collected demeanor is a stark contrast from the nervous guy we saw out there a few weeks ago talking about beanstalks while stumbing over every other word. His match with Kane was actually decent too, with Reigns winning via countout after hitting a big Spear. Daniel Bryan was on commentary during the match, with he and Reigns playing off of one another very well. It was also humorous to hear Michael Cole state: “Daniel Bryan is trying to steal Roman Reigns’ thunder. Roman Reigns just beat Kane, guys!” That means about as much as beating the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2015.
For a comedy segment, the Paige bit was actually hilarious. The outfit was funny, it actually served some sort of purpose in furthering her feud with Nikki Bella, the fans seemed to be enjoying it, and the match with Summer Rae was good for the time they were given.
The Dean Ambrose “weekend update” promo, where the Lunatic Fringe was parked at a desk looking like a shady used car dealer, was also entertaining. His match with Luke Harper featuring some nice, brawling action and was a good opening contest. JBL’s “we’ve got an air psycho” line had me cracking up, and his plot to force Barrett to sign the contract for Sunday was perfect. Nobody in the midcard deserves the IC Title more than Ambrose, and it looks like he’s going to find a way to capture the gold on Sunday.
Bray Wyatt’s promos are starting to become a bit repetitive, but I still enjoyed his work this week. He once again attacked the Undertaker, stating: “You’re an empty shell, and any fear that I once of you has turned into nothing more than putrid, hateful pity.” I can’t wait to see this program.
WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair is currently scheduled for tonight’s WWE RAW from Orlando, according to a report at PWInsider.com.
Flair is booked for a segment with Triple H to hype Triple H’s meeting with Sting this Sunday at WWE Fast Lane. The idea is for Flair to talk about his own storied history with Sting in hopes of convincing Triple to take him seriously.
The decision to bring Flair in was made over the weekend.
As always, join us here tonight for Live Coverage of WWE RAW.
