– As things stand right now, the plan is for Curtis Axel to appear on more NXT shows and work angles there similar to how Justin Gabriel, Tyson Kidd and Natalya, other main WWE roster talents, have in the past.
– Brock Lesnar is featured on a nationally televised commercial for the fast-food chain “Harees,” which started airing this week.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
The following matches took place in Washington, D.C. on Monday night prior to WWE RAW for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars.
– Erick Rowan def. Tyson Kidd in singles competition to open the show. This match was said to be pretty good, with Rowan looking impressive in victory.
– Fandango def. R-Truth in the final match for the taping. The crowd wasn’t too alive for this one, which didn’t last that long regardless.
– Rob Van Dam and Sabu are scheduled to reunite as a tag-team for the first time in nine years at the 2015 WrestleCon event during WrestleMania 31 weekend in the Bay Area. Van Dam will not be appearing at the 2015 WWE Hall Of Fame induction ceremony, as he and Sabu will be wrestling at the independent event at WrestleCon that Saturday evening.
– Cesaro and Tyson Kidd are now calling their new tag-team “The Masters of the WWE Universe.” Below is a photo of the two at the WWE live event in Chicago, Illinois on Friday night.
Masters of the WWE Universe#WWEChicago #M pic.twitter.com/4CN7LXHRwX
— TJ Wilson (@TJWilson) December 27, 2014
As promised, here are the top pay-per-view events from 2014.
8. NXT Takeover
This event started off sluggish but certainly ended with a string of entertaining matches. In particular, the match between Tyler Breeze and Sami Zayn featured solid in-ring work and highlighted why both of these guys could succeed if given the opportunity.
The real treat during this pay-per-view, however, was the final two matches of the evening. The match between Charlotte and Natalya for the vacant NXT Women’s Championship was probably the most technically sound women’s match I’ve ever seen, and the main event between Neville and Tyson Kidd was the perfect way to end the show. In my opinion, this was the event that made fans realize NXT is more than simply a developmental league for the main roster.
Worst Match: Adam Rose vs. Camacho
Best Match: Charlotte vs. Natalya
7. Payback
There was some worry heading into this one, largely due to the absence of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The event would carry on just fine without the title, however. It started off strong with a bruising contest between Sheamus and Cesaro.
From there, the Last Man Standing match was entertaining, even if it would have been nice to see Wyatt pick up the victory. With that said, this pay-per-view is all about the main event. It was an awesome 30-minute affair that featured memorable spots, brutal action, and a decisive Shield victory. This was also important because it would set up Seth Rollins’ heel turn the next night on Raw.
Worst Match: Bo Dallas vs. Kofi Kingston
Best Match: The Shield vs. Evolution
As a bit of a reminder, there will be no WWE television tapings tonight, as both Main Event and SmackDown were taped on Sunday in Sioux Falls, Iowa. Below are the matches scheduled for tonight’s edition of WWE Main Event, which airs on the WWE Network.
– Cesaro & Tyson Kidd vs. Los Matadores
– Brie Bella vs. Summer Rae
– Big E. vs. Stardust
– Luke Harper vs. Jack Swagger
For complete spoiler results of this week’s Main Event, click here.
WWE Diva Natalya tweeted the following childhood photo of her husband Tyson Kidd on Monday. As you may know, Kidd owns several cats and has wrestled many times with images of cats spray painted on his ring gear.
I promised @kiddwwe I would never show anyone this school photo of his. I lied. ?? pic.twitter.com/vwEnSeg2ES
— Nattie (@NatbyNature) December 22, 2014
The following are highlights of a new U.K. Mirror interview with WWE Diva and Total Divas star Natalya:
Total Divas season three kicks off on January 4. There’s some marital issues this season…
I never really thought I had marriage problems, I thought I had a perfect relationship with TJ, then I started doing Total Divas and I realised, wait a minute, my relationship’s not perfect at all. I watched the show back and it’s been very therapeutic for me. My mum watched it, and TJ’s mum watched it and she was like, ‘I don’t like this, I don’t like the D-word.’ Nobody, including us, knew how bad our relationship was until we did the show, filmed it and watched it back. It’s been very therapeutic for me to do it and address it.
How real is this, though? Is it just scripted?
I’m glad you asked that question. There was some speculation from people, and I took it as a compliment because people didn’t really want to think TJ and I had problems because they liked us as a couple. Some people were saying, ‘Oh, it’s all fake, Nattie and TJ aren’t fighting.’ I thought it was touching. I wish that was the case, you don’t realise how real things are until you go through it.
I realised doing the show we’re really disconnected. I’ve known him for 17 years. Our relationship started going up in flames and it was hard to watch it and experience it in front of the entire world, and have people go, ‘Oh, it’s not real’ and have my mum say, ‘I know you’re crying over something, those are tears are real, I know my daughter.’ I’m still working through it with TJ.
Some fans were critical of Charlotte losing to you in such a short amount of time on Raw recently…
We don’t control a lot of things in WWE, it’s live TV, you can’t control how long you’re going to get. Sometimes you’re going to get 20 minutes and sometimes you’re going to get 20 seconds, you just have to maximise those minutes and do the best you can.
I’m happy we got a couple of minutes to showcase something – it’s better than nothing. Would I loved to have had the same kind of match we had at Takeover on Raw? Yes. But I don’t control that. It was a way for Takeover to be promoted a little bit. They’d done that with the pay per view prior to this.
In a perfect world, I’d take 25 minutes with Charlotte, but it turned out to be two and guess what? Because I beat Charlotte in two minutes, it’s only meaningful we’d have a rematch – and we better have a rematch because I plan on evening out the odds and beating her and taking her championship from her!
Hit up Page 2 for Naty’s reaction to Vince McMahon’s “Brass Ring” comments and her thoughts on NXT Divas getting more ring time than the women on the main roster.
The following are WWE Main Event taping results for this coming Tuesday’s show on the WWE Network. Results are courtesy of ProWrestling.net.
– Cesaro and Tyson Kidd defeated Los Matadores. Cesaro and Kidd dominated most of the match and got the win with a powerbomb from Cesaro while Kidd performed a flip into a neckbreaker off the top rope.
– Brie Bella beat Summer Rae. Brie hit her running knee and a missile dropkick for the win.
– Big E defeated Stardust (w/Goldust). Starust went to the ropes for the Beautiful Disaster kick, but Goldust accidentally knocked him off the ropes. Big E used the Big Ending to get the win.
– Luke Harper defeated Jack Swagger in a really good match. They both kicked out of the others big moves but Harper won with a huge clothesline.
Sometimes things work out. Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins.
Other times, things don’t. Adam Rose, Bo Dallas, Fandango.
After last week’s NXT Takeover: R Evolution special, which fans are still raving about a week later, it became crystal clear to me that WWE is developing a number of future Superstars that have the potential to lead the company into the next generation.
Today, we are going to look at ten current performers/acts in the NXT system that I feel have the best shot at achieving success on the main WWE roster. With that being said, lets jump right into the list at number ten….
#10. The Lucha Dragons
The Lucha Dragons — Kalisto and Sin Cara, two talents that as individuals could flourish, but as a unit, make up one of the best tag-teams in WWE’s developmental system. Their ring work is solid and entertaining. Crowd pleasing. The gimmick is another story, but unfortunately, with WWE being in the middle of their PG-era, gimmicks and characters such as these two are unavoidable.
With that being said, they are what they are, and that’s a great tag-team combination. They’re the Los Matadores, only better. That’s not a knock against them, despite the fact it could be seen as one. If they remain under their current gimmick, it’s pretty much a given that they’ll never reach past mid-card, comedy-team status, but like I said, we’re going to have that one way or the other. Since that’s the case, it might as well be two guys who are as talented as these two.
I think it’s a given that these two guys will eventually make it to the main roster, and equally as predictable is the way in which they’ll be used. They’ll be two guys in a tag-team division on the main WWE roster that isn’t worth much, but for whatever it is worth, these two guys have the potential to be among the top teams in the company. While that’s not saying much, it’s saying something, and in this day and age, you pretty much have to take what you can get if you’re an aspiring wrestler.
#9. Tyler Breeze
Much like The Lucha Dragons, I feel that Tyler Breeze is an extremely talented worker, but is unfortunately stuck in a lame-duck gimmick. On social media, I’ve read a lot of comments that makes it seem like fans are actually believers of the Tyler Breeze gimmick in the sense that it could actually go somewhere on the main roster.
I am not one of those believers.
I’m of the opinion that if Breeze jumps to the main roster and is used with the same exact character that he has now, it’s one that has a ceiling that comes with it. This type of character can only go so far. Think of talents like Fandango and Adam Rose and how they are positioned on the main roster, and you’ve got my opinion of how Breeze would be used in this type of role.
If they were to change his gimmick, he certainly has the potential to go further than this type of character would allow. He’s got the talent in the ring, he has a unique charisma about him and he’s got a great look. His promo work is decent, nothing to ride home about in my opinion, but he’s got enough tools to work with that if he was given a different type of character, it would be interesting to see how far he could take it. Maybe if they started a character-change in NXT and let it grow a bit, that would be the route to take in terms of preparing him for a call up to the big leagues.
Whether or not that ever happens is another subject entirely.
– Jimmy Jacobs, a well-known wrestler out of Ring Of Honor, appeared on Monday’s edition of WWE RAW. Jacobs was one of the Rosebuds during a backstage segment with Adam Rose and Kane. Former TNA Knockout Taeler Hendrix was also one of the Rosebuds.
– Tyson Kidd and The Bella Twins furthered the angle that was started on Monday’s RAW on Twitter. Below is an exchange between the three.
Checking on old friends @BellaTwins
I have a lot more compassion than people may think, recurring injuries suck.
Just looking out#Raw— TJ Wilson (@TJWilson) December 16, 2014
The following matches were taped prior to Monday’s WWE RAW in Detroit, Michigan for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars.
– Emma def. Summer Rae in a Divas match to open the show. This was said to be your basic Divas match, one that was kept relatively short.
– Tyson Kidd & Cesaro def. Los Matadores in tag-team action. This was said to be somewhat of a comedy match with good action and good crowd response.
The following matches were taped this past Tuesday night for tonight’s TLC “go-home” edition of WWE SmackDown:
– Cesaro and Tyson Kidd vs. The Usos
– Nikki Bella vs. Alicia Fox
– Jack Swagger vs. Titus O’Neil
– Big E. vs. Goldust
– John Cena promo segment with Seth Rollins
For complete WWE SmackDown spoilers, click here.
During Tuesday night’s WWE SmackDown television taping, a vignette aired hyping the main roster debut of NXT tag-team The Ascension. The promo aired during the start of the number one contender’s match between The Usos and Tyson Kidd & Cesaro.
It’s possible that The Ascension will be wrapping up business in NXT at this Thursday’s NXT Takeover: R Evolution special, where they are set to work with Hideo Itami and Finn Balor.
The tag-team made a main roster appearance back in September, defeating Los Matadores on an episode of WWE Main Event.
The following are highlights of the latest blog by WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross:
On Vince McMahon addressing CM Punk during Steve Austin Show: “Was happy that VKM addressed the hot topic of the CM Punk matter and was surprised about the apology he made to Punk about getting his legal paperwork on Punk and AJ’s wedding day. Seems as if the door is open to resume talks some day if both parties are of that mindset. Punk’s overwhelming desire to close the show at a WrestleMania is admirable and if any one in the locker room doesn’t have that same goal every day of their professional life then they need to find another line of work.”
On dead crowd for RAW in Tulsa: “Thought Tulsa crowd could have helped out a little more. Perhaps they did and it merely didn’t come across well on TV.”
On the team of Cesaro and Tyson Kidd: “Something drew my eye to the team of Cesaro and Tyson Kidd as I think that both men are ‘this close’ to being in a spot to where they can better help WWE. Agreed with VKM that Cesaro needs to enhance his personality a bit but his physical skills are special. Being on Total Divas has helped Kidd gain confidence in utilizing his personality.”
Check out the complete blog at JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.
The following are results of this week’s edition of WWE Main Event on the WWE Network. The report was written by Chris Aiken of F4WOnline.com.
WWE Main Event from Fort Wayne, Indiana featured a fairly hot crowd compared to crowd reactions over the last few weeks on WWE TV. The show opened with Miz cutting a promo in the ring shadowed by Mizdow. Miz basically put himself over and also said he wanted to thank someone for helping him win the titles. Mizdow became giddy until Miz said he wanted to thank his moneymaker. By the way, Mizdow was way over with this crowd as this act continues to grow in popularity.
>Tag team champions The Miz & Damien Mizdow beat Los Matadores (with Torito). The bullfighters got in some offense early on. Mizdow caused a distraction and got knocked off the apron, allowing Miz to cut off the bullfighter. Miz started to get heat on him as the crowd chanted “we want Mizdow.” Likewise, the crowd kept popping for Mizdow’s faux-selling and antics during the match. Eventually, the matadors made a hot tag and the fresh matador ran wild with a flying headscissors and a senton off the top rope. Mizdow lowbridged the top rope and sent the fresh matador sailing out to the floor. Mizdow made a blind tag and the crowd popped before he delivered the skull crushing finale. Miz made a bling tag and covered the fallen matador for the pinfall.
Backstage, Renee Young tried to interview Fandango and Rosa Mendes but the couple just gazed lovingly into each other’s eyes. They made out before leaving Renee hanging on the interview.
Fandango (with Rosa Mendes) beat Adam Rosa (with the Bunny & the Rosebuds). The crowd seemed to be unsure who to cheer for. Fandango showed a lot of fire and aggression. He backdropped Rose on the ring apron at one point in the early portion and dominated most of the match. The Bunny led cheers for Rose before flirting with Rosa at ringside. Rose made a comeback and executed a swinging neckbreaker only to run into a boot when charging into a corner. The Bunny tried to cause a distraction but Fandango knocked him off the apron. Fandango threw a clothesline and Rose took a Curt Hennig bump. Then, Fandango delivered a legdrop off the top for the pin.
Somewhere backstage with a Thanksgiving feast as a backdrop, Natalya told Tyson Kidd she was thankful for him. Layla and Summer Rae interrupted a loving embrace and stormed into the scene. Layla said Tyson is thankful for headphones because Nattie talks a lot. Tyson laughed and Nattie was mad he failed to take up for her. Tyson agreed his wife did talk a lot. Layla then shoved a pumpkin pie in the face of Nattie and Summer sprayed whip cream on her face. The heels stormed out as Tyson held Nattie back. He told her to save it for the ring.
Natalya (with Tyson Kidd) beat Layla (with Summer Rae). This was a good, albeit short, match as Nattie sold really well throughout and the crowd was into it. Nattie still had pie on her face as the match began. At the outset, Nattie jumped out of the ring to shove Summer down at ringside. Natalya was a house of fire until Layla cut her off. The crowd would start chanting “Nattie’s husband” at Tyson and he would put on his headphones to drown out the chants. The more Natalya sold the more the crowd got behind her and they even started chanting “Nattie” at one point. Layla applied an upside down vertical leg scissors over the top rope only to get sent crashing to the floor. Nattie made a comeback. Layla missed an attempted double springboard crossbody off the middle rope. Directly thereafter, Natalya applied the sharpshooter and Layla tapped out for the submission.
Dean Ambrose beat Kane. They brawled early on before Ambrose executed a tornado DDT followed by a neckbreaker. Kane cut him off and began to pummel him. Ambrose fired up, hit a dropkick, then a crossbody and he sent Kane over the top rope to the floor. Ambrose looked to do a tope but Kane cut him off before a commercial. After the break, Kane grounded Ambrose and began to get heat on him. Ambrose fired up again and went for his slingshot clothesline but ran into a big boot. Kane got heat on him as the crowd started a “let’s go Ambrose” chant.
Ambrose started a comeback and dove off the middle rope with a missile dropkick. Ambrose followed up an elbow smash in a corner with a running bulldog for a nearfall. Ambrose again went for the slingshot clothesline and Kane once again cut him off. Ambrose blocked a chokeslam and sent Kane over the top rope to the floor. Ambrose dove through the ropes with tope. At ringside, Kane rammed Ambrose into the ringpost. Kane draped Ambrose on the top turnbuckle and went for a superplex. Ambrose blocked it and shoved him off then dove off the top with a flying elbow drop on a standing Kane.
Ambrose climbed to the top again and dove off into a chop to the throat from Kane. Ambrose escaped the clutches of Kane when he went for a tombstone. On the third attempt, Ambrose hit his slingshot clothesline. Kane countered Dirty Deeds and Ambrose countered a chokeslam. A moment later, Ambrose rolled up Kane with a schoolboy for the pinfall.
– On this week’s edition of WWE Main Event, “The Bunny” was played by NXT star Sami Zayn. The Bunny teamed with Adam Rose to take on Tyson Kidd and Natalya.
– Regarding the rumors that WWE Diva AJ Lee is leaving WWE soon, according to the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Lee is not scheduled to leave after the Survivor Series or TLC pay-per-views.
The following are results of this week’s edition of WWE Main Event, which emanated from Knoxville, Tennessee and aired live on the WWE Network.
– The Usos def. Goldust & Stardust in tag-team action. The match was a non-title bout, which saw Uso hit a superkick and top-rope splash on Stardust for the 1-2-3.
– Alicia Fox def. Paige in Divas action. Paige dominated most of the action, however Fox rolled her up out of nowhere for the pinfall victory.
– Renee Young interviewed Adam Rose backstage. The Bunny was also there. Young shows footage of The Bunny humping Rose on RAW. Rose talks about finding The Bunny broke in Times Square. He tells The Bunny not to hump anymore, calls himself a god and says it’s his job to put his “creatures” back in their place.
– Tyson Kidd & Natalya def. Adam Rose & The Bunny in an interspecies tag-team match. The finish saw The Bunny accidentally bump Rose to the floor. Kidd slapped the Sharpshooter on The Bunny, Rose teased making the save, but instead backed off and watched as The Bunny tapped out. After the match, Kidd hit The Bunny with a cheap-shot, which Natalya didn’t like.
– Michael Cole provided an injury update on Sheamus. He said that after being put through a table by Mark Henry on RAW, Sheamus has a number of neck and nerve injuries, which are bad enough that he will not be able to compete at Survivor Series.
– Bray Wyatt cuts an in-ring promo. He talks about the match with Dean Ambrose this Sunday at Survivor Series. He said Ambrose turned his back on him and made a mockery of him, and said because of that, there will be repercussions. He says they could have ruled the world together.
– Bray Wyatt def. Jack Swagger in the main event of the show. It was a competitive match which saw Swagger hit a Swagger Bomb and lock in the Patriot Lock on Wyatt, but ultimately Wyatt fought his way out and nailed Swagger with Sister Abigail for the pin. Prior to hitting his finisher on Swagger, Wyatt yelled out “this is your fate, Dean Ambrose!”
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An interspecies tag-team match has been announced for tonight’s edition of WWE Main Event, which airs live on the WWE Network.
The team of Adam Rose and The Bunny will take on the real-life married couple of Tyson Kidd and Natalya in one of tonight’s featured matches.
– As noted on Monday night, comedian and actor Larry The Cable Guy will be the special celebrity guest host on next week’s post-Survivor Series edition of WWE RAW. The country-style comedian will be at the show to promote the movie “Jingle All The Way 2,” which also features Santino Marella.
– Tyson Kidd and Natalya are featured on this week’s edition of RAW Fallout, which you can watch below.
– Dolph Ziggler talks retaining his title in an elimination match against Tyson Kidd and Cesaro on this week’s edition of “SmackDown Fallout,” which you can watch below.
– Speaking of this week’s SmackDown, below is the latest “Top 10 WWE SmackDown Moments” video.
– There has been some talk of having a Luke Harper vs. Dolph Ziggler non-title match on the WWE Survivor Series “go-home” edition of RAW.
– Georgia Smith, daughter of the late WWE legend “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith, was backstage at the WWE television taping on Tuesday night in Liverpool, England. She was hanging out backstage along with her boyfriend, singer Adam Berry. Below is a photo of the two with Tyson Kidd.
Really good seeing one of my favorites @georgiasmith87 and @AdamBarry81 tonight in Liverpool pic.twitter.com/5QZgkVePoz
— Tyson Kidd (@KiddWWE) November 12, 2014
The following matches were taped earlier today in Liverpool, England for this Friday night’s edition of WWE SmackDown:
– Chris Jericho’s “Highlight Reel” with special guests, The Authority
– Bray Wyatt vs. Sin Cara
– Goldust & Stardust vs. Adam Rose & The Bunny
– Dolph Ziggler vs. Cesaro vs. Tyson Kidd (Elimination Match For WWE Intercontinental Championship)
– Natalya vs. Layla
– Ryback vs. Kane
For complete WWE SmackDown spoilers, click here.
The following are complete spoiler results of the WWE SmackDown taping from Liverpool, England.
– Chris Jericho opens up the WWE SmackDown taping for this week. He comes out to a huge pop from the Liverpool audience. It’s time for the “Highlight Reel” segment. Jericho’s guests, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, make their way out to the ring. The fans break out in a “Where’s Our Network?!” chant, much like at Monday’s RAW, which was also taped in Liverpool, England. Not a lot of details about what was said, just that this was apparently a really good segment.
– Vince McMahon came out of nowhere and cut a promo at the top of the stage. He came out after some more “Where’s Our Network?!” chants broke out. He insulted the fans in attendance, saying that Liverpool sounds like a “skin disease.” This was apparently a dark segment that won’t air as part of the broadcast this Friday night. For a photo of Vince at the SmackDown taping in Liverpool, click here.
– Bray Wyatt def. Sin Cara in what was basically a brief squash match. Wyatt dominated from bell-to-bell, picking up the win with his “Sister Abigail” finisher for the 1-2-3. After the match, Wyatt cut a promo, which prompted Dean Ambrose to come out. Wyatt fled the scene before Ambrose could get to him. The segment ended with Wyatt at the top of the stage laughing at Ambrose.
– Goldust and Stardust def. Adam Rose and The Bunny in tag-team action. This was said to be a decent match, but mostly a comedy bout. They teased more issues between Rose and The Bunny.
SmackDown spoiler results continued on page two …
The following matches are confirmed for tonight’s edition of WWE RAW, which was taped earlier today in Liverpool, England:
– Seth Rollins vs. Jack Swagger
– Paige vs. Alicia Fox
– Rusev vs. Sheamus (U.S. Championship)
– Los Matadores vs. The Miz and Damien Mizdow
– Dolph Ziggler vs. Mark Henry
– A.J. Lee vs. Brie Bella
– Adam Rose vs. Tyson Kidd
– John Cena vs. Ryback
For complete spoilers for tonight’s RAW, click here.
The following are highlights of a recent Jim Ross website Q&A update:
On if TNA should try and be more of a Japanese style product to differentiate themselves from WWE: “Another topic that I’ve blogged about many times and addressed multiple times on my Ross Report Podcast. Yes…Impact should focus on what their talents do best and that is wrestle and do so in a believable, physical style.”
On if he knew WWE was faking marital problems between Tyson Kidd and Natalya: “Yes I did . You know that the presentation is fictional, right?”
On Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury being part of The Authority: “This one might be over thought for now as I enjoy the antics of Noble and Mercury. I see your point but I can also see what they are doing working as well.”
On WWE using smaller wrestlers these days: “There is a changing of the guard but getting smaller by design likely isn’t in the plan.”
On the WrestleMania 31 main event: “I have no idea what WWE is going to do at WM31 but a triple threat match between Rollins-Ambrose-Reigns would shock me.”
On Lucha Underground: “I’ve blogged about it and talked about it on my podcast, The Ross Report at podcastone.com and iTunes. It’s different and unique in many ways…not a fan of intergender stuff but the look of the show is good and the bell to bell product is largely entertaining.”
Check out more JR Q&A updates at JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.
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