– WWE’s Breaking News mobile alert service reported Wednesday that WWE COO Triple H will break his silence and publicly address a multitude of items including his future, pending lawsuits against WWE and Brock Lesnar at No Way Out on Sunday, June 17. WWE.com has published an article raising numerous questions concerning his appearance.
Author John Clapp writes, “Furthermore, what can the WWE Universe expect from Triple H in terms of an update on his arm injury, and what will that prognosis mean for The Cerebral Assassin as a competitor? Even before Lensar cinched in the destructive Kimura Lock in April, Triple H was assuredly recuperating from his incomparably physical “End of an Era” Hell in a Cell Match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVIII. On top of that, he had already reduced his in-ring dates this past year to concentrate on business matters. Might Triple H’s address at No Way Out turn out to be a swan song?”
– David Otunga, Lilian Garcia, Natalya and Zack Ryder have been announced to appear at MCU Park in Brooklyn, New York on Wednesday, June 27 as part of the Brooklyn Cyclones’ and WWE’s Anti-Bullying Night. The WWE Superstars and Divas will make a special pre-game presentation on behalf of WWE’s anti-bullying initiative “be a STAR,” which encourages people to Show Tolerance And Respect for all people, prior to the 7:00 p.m. game with the Hudson Valley Renedages. Following the presentation, they will remain at the ballpark to sign autographs for fans in attendance.
– Former WWE Superstar Matt Hardy is advertised to appear for All Star Wrestling this Friday at 8:00 p.m at the Madison Civic Center in Madison, West Virginia. (Event Details)
– WWE announced Wednesday through their Mobile service that Triple H will be appearing at No Way Out. The announcement states:
“Breaking News: WWE COO Triple H is confirmed to appear at No Way Out on Sunday, June 17, to address his future, pending lawsuits against WWE and Brock Lesnar.”
– Scott Hall and Kevin Nash have been announced to appear at an autograph signing taking place Saturday, June 23 at Frank & Son Collectible Show 19649 San Jose Ave, City of Industry, California. Other wrestling figures appearing at the event include Buff Bagwell, George “The Animal” Steele, Harley Race, Lex Luger, Nikolai Volkoff, Rick Steiner, Scott Steiner, Tito Santana and Wendi Richter.
– Drew McIntyre turns turns 27 years old Wednesday while Konnan turns 48.
As advertised, Triple H and WWE Hall of Famer Arn Anderson appeared at Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown tapings from Columbia, South Carolina. Both men appeared in segments that were off-camera and will not be shown on television.
One of the matches on the show saw Sin Cara wrestle Drew McIntyre. After the match, Drew McIntyre grabbed a microphone and cut a promo demanding a WWE official come out and explain why he is not main eventing SmackDown. That WWE official turned out to be Triple H, who came out, nailed him with a Pedigree and left.
The dark main event after the SmackDown tapings saw Sheamus retain the World Heavyweight Title against Kane in a Steel Cage match. WWE Hall of Famer Arn Anderson served as the special guest enforcer for the match. After Kane shoved Anderson during the match, Double A hit Kane with a low blow and Sheamus nearly took Kane’s head off with the Brogue Kick for the win. Anderson and Sheamus celebrated after the match.
– As previously reported, Triple H and WWE Hall of Famer Arn Anderson will be attending Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown tapings from Columbia, South Carolina.
Anderson is now being advertised as the special enforcer for the Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. Kane World Heavyweight title triple threat cage match that will likely be the dark main event. There has been no mention of Triple H appearing on this week’s SmackDown television broadcast, so it remains to be seen what his role will be at the show.
– WWE has cancelled April 4th live event that was scheduled to take place from Pensacola, Florida. [Thanks to Devin Cutting]
Former WWE creative writer Seth Mates, who WWE Champion CM Punk follows on Twitter, weighed in on the perception that Triple H uses political maneuvering to “bury” top-level talent—degrading a wrestler’s standing to fans and peers. He was asked on Twitter, “Why does Triple H always bury the guy whose on fire?”
“Positioning,” Mates responded. “And not always, just the vast majority of the time.”
He added further, “If ratings dip, guess whhho’s back next week to save the day? Loves to be the “savior”. #positioning.”
During an interview earlier this year with Pro Wrestling Torch Livecast (available here), Mates reacted to the negative sentiment within some WWE circles that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was “stealing someone else’s spot.” He feels the resentment actually stems from jealousy that Johnson found success outside of the walls of WWE, with Triple H being the driving force behind the negativity.
“I know that a lot of the stuff that [John] Cena has said about Rock and his feelings towards Rock sound like something that would be coming directly from, you know Mr. Helmsley and his view,” Mates stated.
“I always sensed some insecurities as related to Rock and to [Steve] Austin and how, again, in my mind and perception, he never was at that level. And so he wanted to position himself as, well, I’m as good, if not better. Which I don’t know that he has done that.”
– Mick Foley worked last night’s WWE SmackDown live event in Lake Charles, Louisiana. As he’s been doing at several recent live events, Foley served as a special enforcer, this time for the United States title match between Santino Marella and Jack Swagger. Santino got the win and Foley gave Swagger a taste of Mr. Socko.
– Triple H and WWE Hall of Famer Arn Anderson are being advertised for the upcoming June 5th SmackDown taping from Columbia, South Carolina. Anderson will serve as the special enforcer for the Sheamus vs. Kane vs. Alberto Del Rio cage match at the event.
– Speaking of Triple H, WWE is advertising that he’ll be appearing at the August 13th RAW Supershow, the final RAW before WWE’s SummerSlam pay-per-view.
There continues to be talk of Triple H and Brock Lesnar’s match taking place at SummerSlam.
WWE COO Triple H appeared on Saturday’s edition of magician Criss Angel’s online video show, CA Uncensored Triple H stayed in-character for most of the interview and was wearing his arm brace to sell the recent attack he suffered at the hands of Brock Lesnar.
Among the topics discussed – His ongoing feud with the former UFC Heavyweight champion, whether he’d ever consider a career in MMA himself, who would win between Hulk Hogan vs. The Incredible Hulk, McMahon family cookouts, his training, WrestleMania 28, Jerry “The King” Lawler having an ‘accident’ in the ring and more.
– Triple H will be appearing on Criss Angel’s CA Uncensored show at CrissAngel.com today at 3:30pm (EST) / 12:30pm (PST). He’ll be there to discuss Brock Lesnar, among other topics.
– WWE wants fans who attend live events to send in their photos from the shows to RawFanPhotos@gmail.com.
– WWE camera crews were filming at last night’s Rancid concert in Albany, New York. WWE Champion CM Punk was in attendance and Lars Frederiksen dedicated a song to him before Punk joined the band on stage to sing. The footage will be used on Punk’s upcoming DVD.
– Below is the latest episode of WWE’s Backstage Fallout from SmackDown featuring interviews with John Laurinaitis, Cody Rhodes, Kofi Kingston and R-Truth:
As we reported earlier this week, there is currently a lot of scrambling behind the scenes regarding Brock Lesnar’s storyline with Triple H and how the angle will play out.
After original plans called for a Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H grudge match at SummerSlam in August, WWE officials are now talking about holding the match at July’s Money In The Bank pay-per-view or even as early as No Way Out next month.
The main issue that’s causing all the problems is the fact that Brock Lesnar’s WWE contract only requires him to make a limited number of appearances. WWE has already burned through 5 of them (4 RAWs and his match at Extreme Rules) and has a certain number set aside for the build to WrestleMania 29 next year.
It’s believed that WWE only has around 24 dates to use Lesnar this year, so they have been changing their plans a lot trying to figure out how to best use him.
WWE will hold its first NXT & Florida Championship Wrestling television tapings from Florida’s Full Sail University later this week. Aside from simply using Full Sail’s production facility to film NXT & FCW, WWE has announced that university’s entertainment-focused degree programs will have the opportunity to gain real-world experience by working with WWE to produce NXT.
Throughout the taping schedule, Full Sail University students, staff, faculty and the general public will be invited to attend the live tapings on the campus. All proceeds from ticket and merchandise sales will go towards a scholarship fund for students enrolled at or planning to attend Full Sail University.
WWE COO Triple H, who has been very hands on with bringing NXT & FCW to Full Sail, had this to say about the new relationship:
“WWE has always been a leader in creating superstars in front of the camera. Now, with this unique partnership with Full Sail University, WWE will develop stars behind the camera as well. With the opportunity to host events at Full Sail’s top-notch facilities and the chance to tap into Full Sail’s greatest resource, its students, we are excited to provide real-world experience while giving us a fresh, creative perspective from ambitious students.”
– There is said to be panic among WWE officials over how to book the Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H. While the initial plan was for the match to take place at SummerSlam in August, certain people are pushing to have the match take place next month at No Way Out.
WWE rushed into the Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena match and had less than three weeks to hype it – leading several employees to believe that doing the same thing with the Lesnar vs. Triple H match would be a huge mistake.
Comment below and tell us if you think WWE would be making a mistake by having Brock Lesnar face Triple H next month instead of at SummerSlam.
– Triple H’s trainer Joe DeFranco has a new blog up looking at the new workout routine he created to get Triple H back into ring shape. It’s a very interesting read and worth checking out. DeFranco also listed Triple H’s staggering list of injuries:
– Over a dozen high ankle sprains
– Torn biceps tendon
– Torn quadriceps muscles/tendons in both legs
– 2 elbow surgeries to remove 9 bone spurs that were the size of teeth
– Torn adductor muscle
– Torn Piriformis muscle
– Knee surgery
– Torn calf muscle
Paul Heyman returned to WWE on Monday’s RAW to announce that Brock Lesnar has quit WWE. The original plan was for Lesnar to appear on last week’s RAW and quit himself – but the decision was made to bring Paul Heyman in instead.
It was widely reported that Monday’s RAW was rewritten several time throughout the day in the hours leading up to the show – and Heyman’s segment was one of the parts that was constantly being edited.
As for how the Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H storyline will play out, we can confirm that match is currently scheduled to be the main event of SummerSlam. Beyond that, there’s a lot of secrecy surrounding the feud, with only a limited few Vince & Stephanie McMahon, John Laurinaitis, Triple H and Brock Lesnar among those in the know. Even the WWE writing team is in the dark about how everything will fall into place.
Earlier this year, WWE Champion CM Punk was forbidden from accompanying UFC fighter Chael Sonnen to the ring when he had a fight in Chicago, so it appears a double standard was in play. Part of the reason Punk wasn’t allowed to appear at the UFC show was because WWE management was concerned nobody would acknowledge Punk as a cornerman, which would hurt his perceived star power.
Despite WWE perceiving Triple H as a bigger name than CM Punk, Triple H did not get any mainstream media attention and was overshadowed by singer Justin Beiber, who was also part of Mayweather’s crew on Saturday night.
– Paul Heyman wrote the following on Twitter about WWE Superstars Jimmy and Jey Uso:
“Amazing seeing @WWEusos … remember, I haven’t been around for half a decade … The last time I saw these two, they were little kids doing splashes off the top rope in the Omni before the show when I managed their Dad. Yes, that makes me old, but I recognize TALENT. @WWEusos are talented. Time for these young Samoans to eat up the competition!”
– Triple H is advertised to appear on next week’s Raw SuperShow as he will address last week’s assault by Brock Lesnar.
– Divas Champion Layla and Kelly Kelly defeated Maxine and Natalya on Monday’s Raw SuperShow. For Maxine, the bout was her first on either Raw, SmackDown or a pay-per-view.
– The WrestleMania XXVIII DVD and Blu-Ray is officially out today. To view a teaser clip, click here.
– Former WCW wrestler Scotty Riggs addressed Paul Heyman’s Raw SuperShow return on Twitter, writing:
“Congrats to @HeymanHustle to bring credibility to “sports entertainment”, an bright light in the darkness of #WWE … Congrats to Paul!!”
Brock Lesnar was extended an invitation to explain his assault on Triple H on last week’s Raw SuperShow, but was nowhere to be found Monday night. Instead, Brock’s representative, Paul Heyman, came out to the ring to read a statement.
Heyman said Lesnar has been underappreciated by the WWE audience since day one, and that holds true with corporate management. Heyman also said that as the only man to ever win the WWE Championship, the UFC Heavyweight Championship and an NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship, Lesnar felt betrayed because his contract demands were not met.
Heyman said Lesnar asked him to appear on Raw and read the statement. In the written address, Lesnar took shots at Triple H, saying the WWE Chief Operating Officer is jealous of him, and expressed anger at how he has been treated. Heyman concluded his statement by saying Lesnar has quit WWE and “will never be coming back.”
— A broken arm wasn’t enough to keep WWE Chief Operating Officer Triple H down, who accompanied boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr. to the ring for his highly anticipated bout against Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas on Saturday night, alongside singer Justin Bieber and rapper 50 Cent. Former WWE Diva Melina, who was posting messages on Twitter while watching the fight, remarked the following upon seeing “The King of Kings” on television:
“Maybe it’s the margaritas but I puked when i saw Bieber & Triple H. #TotalPukage #WhatTheWhat HHH=Pukepukepuke. Boxing at an an all time low.”
— Former WWE Superstar Perry Saturn won his first championship in over a decade on April 27 in Des Moines, Iowa as he beat Arik Cannon and Sir Bradley Charles in a Triple Threat Match to gain the 3XW Pure Wrestling Championship.
— WWE had audio issues at Saturday’s Smackdown live event at the U.S. Cellular Center in Asheville, North Carolina. Jey and Jimmy Uso’s theme song as well as a Kane promo that aired on the video screen was not audible.
– WWE.com has an article looking at Triple H’s appearance at Saturday night’s Floyd Mayweather fight in Las Vegas. The article states that Triple H has been wearing a “mechanical brace that offers various ranges of motion and, fortunately, versatile enough to remove for media photo opportunities while in attendance for the major boxing event.”
Triple H told the WWE website that there’s a lot of misinformation being reported about his injury.
— Selling Monday’s injury, Chief Operating Officer of WWE Triple H could be seen wearing a small sling over his broken left arm as he accompanied undefeated boxing champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr. to the ring for his highly anticipated bout against Miguel Cotto on Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada. Believing that Triple H decided to appear uninjured at the event, former WWE Superstar Carlito commented via Twitter: “I just saw triple h in mayweathers corner! Apparently his arm has already healed. Thank the lord for miracles!”
He added further, “Correction, triple h was wearing a sling…and not many people know that a sling works a lot better than a cast for a broken arm! Right?”
— After the official WWE website transferred Dustin “Goldust” Runnels’ profile from the Raw Superstars section to the Alumni section on Friday, PWInsider.com confirmed that he was released from his contract with the organization last week. An undisclosed incident at the April 24 SmackDown taping in Grand Rapids, Michigan led to his contract being terminated. He had been working behind the scenes since suffering a shoulder injury in December 2010.
— F4WOnline.com reports Robert Zimmerman, WWE’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications, Media Relations, and Public Affairs, has left the company. Additional details on his departure have not been disclosed.
— Chief Operating Officer of WWE Triple H accompanied undefeated boxing champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr. to the ring for his highly anticipated bout against Miguel Cotto on Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was not the only WWE talent on hand for the fight as SmackDown ring announcer Lilian Garcia also attended Saturday’s festivities. Click here to view a photo of the Decade Diva with Mayweather, Jr.
WWE star/executive Triple H walked Floyd Mayweather to the ring ahead of his boxing victory against Miguel Cotto on Saturday night from Las Vegas.
Hunter carried one of Mayweather’s championship belts and discretely wore a sling on his left arm, selling the storyline injury he suffered at the hands of Brock Lesnar on Monday’s RAW. He did, however, hold the title belt above his head at one point, which does conflict with the notion that his arm arm might be broken and need surgery.
Hunter and Mayweather are close friends, dating back to Mayweather’s involvement at WrestleMania 24. Back in 2009, Mayweather talked about wanting Hunter to accompany him to the ring for an upcoming fight:
“Triple H is one of the greatest guys in the world and represents a whole universe of WWE fans that appreciate what he does. He and his stature are huge and I can’t think of a better person to escort me to the ring for my return to boxing.”
Late Friday night, illusionist Criss Angel tweeted a photo (below) of himself with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon at his Believe™ show at Luxor Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, “The King of Kings” was conspicuously not wearing an arm sling after WWE.com announced earlier in the evening that he would require surgery following Brock Lesnar’s vicious application of the Kimura Lock on his left arm Monday night on Raw SuperShow.
To explain Triple H appearing uninjured alongside his wife and Angel, the official Twitter feed of the WWE Insider stated Saturday morning that he was wearing a brace on his left arm in the photo opportunity. However, the alleged brace is not visible as “The Game” has his left arm behind Angel in both photographs not to mention that he is wearing a long-sleeved shirt. Check out the picture here:
Meanwhile, Angel suggested a possible collaboration with WWE in his message as he hashtagged #Summerslam and said he planned to meet the couple on Saturday:
“Friends #tripleH #StephanieMcMahon #WWE #SummerSlam after #BeLIEve tonight. Great 2Cu. C u tomorrow.”
Following Brock Lesnar’s application of the Kimura Lock on Triple H’s left arm Monday night on Raw SuperShow, the Chief Operating Officer of WWE will require surgery, WWE.com reports.
After Lesnar erupted and targeted The Game’s left arm, the WWE Superstar could be heard saying “it’s broken” as he was helped up the ramp and out of the arena. X-rays later confirmed Triple H’s belief.
WWE adds: “Medical officials were initially optimistic that the fracture in Triple H’s left arm could be treated non-invasively, but further examination revealed that the break, in addition to severe ligament and tendon damage around the elbow, would necessitate surgical repair.”
WWE is advertising a follow-up to determine how the “Board of Directors will respond to this sinister assault or what consequences await the former UFC champion.”
The WWE website has a new storyline-driven article up that says the Board of Directors may take action against Brock Lesnar for his attack on Triple H this past Monday. However – the ‘contract demands’ made by Lesnar on the 4/23 episode of RAW and agreed to by John Laurinaitis protect Lesnar from liability.
“Adding one further wrinkle is the revised contract that Laurinaitis agreed to during the April 23 edition of Raw. Among the new terms approved by the GM was a clause that waived any future fines or disciplinary actions against Lesnar.
Triple H has already dismissed those additional contract perks as null and void, but could Lesnar’s camp pursue legal action in the event that the Board of Directors or Triple H comes down on Lesnar?”
The article also mentions that the Board of Directors is considering taking action against Jon Laurinaitis for his role in the whole situation.
The WWE website has an article up looking at possible consequences for Brock Lesnar following his brutal attack on Triple H on Monday’s RAW Supershow.
The article states that Lesnar was escorted from the building by security and may be suspended or fined for attacking the COO. Since Brock Lesnar’s WWE contract stipulates that he is only required to make approximately 2 appearances per month, this will be a way to get him off television for a few weeks.
As per the storyline, Triple H’s arm was placed in a hold that “created a tremendous amount of torque on his upper arm and elbow.” WWE doctor Dr. Chris Amann was quoted in the article:
“He has a non-displaced fracture of distal humorous. Fortunately, this is not something that needs surgery with pins and screws. We’ll be treating him with a sling for comfort and following with him in the next few days.”
According to WWE sources, Triple H is on the list of WWE superstars scheduled to wrestle Brock Lesnar over the next year.
– WWE will tape this week’s NXT and SmackDown tonight from the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Friday’s SmackDown will feature the return of Christian, Michael Cole interviewing Randy Orton and a non-title main event of Sheamus vs. Mark Henry.
The advertised dark match main event is a six-man Street Fight tag match featuring Sheamus, Randy Orton & Big Show vs. Daniel Bryan, Mark Henry & Cody Rhodes.
– WWE plugged a WWE.com article on RAW speculating whether Chris Jericho is the company’s new “Cerebral Assassin” – a nickname Triple H has been using for years. While it appears that WWE might be setting up a Jericho vs. Triple H feud, there are currently no plans to bring Triple H back to television on a regular basis.
– Wade Barrett’s Twitter account has apparently been taken over by his lawyer. Barrett’s account tweeted on Monday night:
“Due to a number of factors, Mr. Barrett has signed the administration of this account over to his attorney for the foreseeable future. Mr. Barrett will be making no further comment at this stage. Regards, Peter Lazarou, Esq.”
Barrett is still injured and is expected to be out of action until around Summerslam.
During an interview with WWE Magazine, Brodus Clay spoke about a backstage conversation he had with Triple H shortly before he disappeared from television for 6 weeks earlier this year.
After wrestling Alex Riley on the January 27th episode of WWE RAW, Clay said he saw Triple H after his match and expressed frustration with the choreograph of his character’s dance moves. Triple H’s response was not what the Funkasaurus was expecting:
“One night, I came backstage after a match against Alex Riley and I was so upset. Triple H said, ‘What’s the matter?’ and I explained that the choreography was off. He’s staring and me and I’m like, ‘Wait. Am I upset over the choreography?’ He said, ‘Yeah, you are.’ I didn’t know how to feel about that. But, I’m always worried about the dancing – that I’ll fall.”
Clay went on to wrestle Drew McIntyre the Royal Rumble that weekend and Tyler Reks on the following week’s RAW before being takent off television until March 12th.
There had been various online reports that Clay was kept off television because WWE management thought his work was sloppy and he needed more training. His comments to WWE Magazine seem to corroborate these reports.