The following are highlights of a new Sky Sports interview with Rey Mysterio:
On Tyson Kidd: “He hasn’t really been given the opportunity but when he gets it he will blow people’s minds. He will wow Superstars – including even myself – and fans because top to bottom and all around he is a complete athlete with a ton of potential.”
On his style: “I am always on the lookout for new gear. If I walk into a Louis Vuitton store and they have a belt that I don’t have, I want it straightaway. I am always updating and coming up with something fresh, whether it’s a colour, a trend or a design, as my uncle always taught me to be unique and different. He told me not to be plain and dull like everyone else, and that you have to spice things up and catch people’s attention with more than just your in-ring work. My uncle inspired me and it was because of him that I become a wrestler, but besides him, the one Superstar that really caught my attention growing up as a kid was ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage.”
– Former WWE Superstar and UFC Hall Of Famer Ken Shamrock celebrates his 51st birthday today. Shamrock was born on February 12, 1963. As noted, Shamrock has recently sent out feelers to Ring Of Honor.
– Despite rumors, Shelton Benjamin did not work a pre-show dark match at the WWE television tapings on Monday night in Los Angeles. A rumor was circulating that claimed Benjamin worked a match with Tyson Kidd prior to RAW.
– In addition to Wiz Khalifa and Stephan Bonnar, music producer and executive Jimmy Iovine was another celebrity in attendance at RAW on Monday night.
– Natalya and Tyson Kidd are in New York City today filming some material for the next season of WWE’s “Total Divas” reality show. Natalya tweeted the following:
– Wrestling legend “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton recently spoke to long-time wrestling journalist Bill Apter recently about his health issues. You can watch their chat below:
As noted in our full WWE live event report from Sunday’s show in Yakima, Washington, WWE Superstar Fandango came to the ring with a heart painted on his belly-button and the words, “I Love Nattie” written on his body. Fandango worked a mixed-tag-team match on the show with Summer Rae, losing to The Great Khali and Natalya.
There is speculation that WWE may be running an angle between the two stemming from the recent jealousy incident on Total Divas where Natalya’s real-life fiancee’ Tyson Kidd helped train Eva Marie, leading to Natalya trying to get him jealous by working with Fandango.
For those interested, you can read a full report from the WWE live event in Yakima on the main page.
The following are highlights from a recent WOIO-TV CBS-19 Cleveland interview with WWE Superstar Dolph Ziggler:
On the most underutilized Superstar in WWE: “Tyson Kidd, Heath Slater, Alex Riley I’m a big fan of his work. There’s a million guys that don’t always get the spotlight… I’ve worked 100 jobs in my life and I’ve never been with more hard working people that aren’t just in it for themselves, they’re in it for the fans and for the respect of their peers. There’s one or two probably that got under my radar that aren’t the hardest workers in the world, everybody else wants what’s best for the company. They want what’s best for themselves. We’re there to help the company and there’s so many other names on that list, Curt Hawkins, Zack Ryder those guys that have been fans since they were 5-years old.”
On Nicky of The Spirit Squad or Kerwin White’s caddy was a better gimmick: “It depends, because they both kinda sucked. Let’s see, which one was more heartbreaking to hear about? Actually, the Kerwin White caddy thing was pretty cool… you’re going off with Chavo Guerrero, this name that’s synonymous with awesome history for years. We don’t have too many Attitude era guys that are still around, or before that, who can take people under their wing, and I got that chance. That was amazing. But also in the Spirit Squad, losing every night – which is kinda my thing anyway – but sharing the spotlight with 5 guys… I had a blast with those guys by the way, working with DX, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, everybody you could possibly name and we had a blast. So both ended up being pretty cool.”
On his diet and workout routines: “I would say 70% of the time I eat moderately healthy and 30% of the time I eat whatever the hell I want because I work out so hard. Because I know that every Monday, maybe Tuesday or Wednesday I have to be in a pair of underwear trying not only to be in OK shape, but I want the boss to say ‘that guy can be my champion’, so I have to look like a million bucks every single day…. Every morning no matter what, six days a week if not seven I force myself up and on that treadmill or elliptical and get your body going… Eat and enjoy yourself, we’ve got too many nerdy people who are weighing turkey slices. Get out of here, you know what’s good and you know what’s bad. Eat what you like and be moderately healthy but go kill it in the gym.”
– The season one finale of Total Divas on E! will air on Sunday, Dec. 15 and will be highlighted by former WWE and World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan asking Brie Bella for her hand in marriage. According to TVGuide.com, the official synopsis for the episode, titled “Ready to Ride,” is as follows: “In the Season 1 finale, Bryan pops the question to Brie in a romantic setting; at the same time, Nikki feels uncertain about her future with John Cena after a heated discussion about marriage and children; and the first meeting between Eva Marie’s fiancé and her family goes horribly wrong.”
The penultimate episode will air on Sunday, Dec. 8. Details are as follows: “Nattie and TJ are forced to say goodbye to a beloved pet; Trinity has it out with Jon over his jealous behavior; and Nikki’s medical leave causes tensions between herself and Brie.”
– Former WWE Diva Amy Weber, who served as John “Bradshaw” Layfield’s image consultant when the Texas native reigned as WWE Champion in 2004 and 2005, was honored with Best Dance Song at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards in Hollywood, California last week. She also opened the show with a performance, footage of which is available here.
– In addition to Christian (40) and Jushin “Thunder” Liger (51), two former WWE wrestlers are celebrating birthdays today. “The Z-Man” Tom Zenk turns 55 while Jimmy Del Rey turns 51.
– WWE Hall of Famer “Mean” Gene Okerlund appeared on ESPN Radio’s The Herd with Colin Cowherd this week as a celebrity guest picking NFL games.
– In this week’s edition of the “WWE Top 10,” the most memorable announcer table crashes are counted down. Mick Foley, Vince McMahon and Jeff Hardy, among others, are featured.
– In this WWE App video highlighting Tyson Kidd’s road to recovery, the Calgary native shows off his ring gear from the past, and takes a look at the old Hart Family Dungeon.
– The official WWE website has issued a poll asking fans who has the most devastating submission maneuver. With over 21,000 votes cast, Natalya leads at 32% with her Sharpshooter. She is followed by CM Punk’s Anaconda Vice (28%), Daniel Bryan’s “YES!” Lock (26%) and Alberto Del Rio’s Cross Arm Breaker (14%).
With Total Divas returning tomorrow night at 10/9 CT on E!, viewers can expect to see Eva Marie’s off-putting behavior and John Cena and Nikki Bella’s relationship take center stage.
The Nov. 17 episode, titled “Nurse Nikki,” will focus on the three. Courtesy of TVGuide.com, the synopsis reads, “Nikki moves in with John Cena and he shocks her with an unexpected demand; at the same time, Eva Marie considers cheating after she’s asked to announce on live TV.”
The Nov. 24 episode, as well as tomorrow night’s show, will center around Eva Marie. In a new twist, Natalya suspects that she is attempting to get in touch with Tyson Kidd. The official synopsis for “Seeing Red,” which also features the continuation of the Cena and Bella storyline, is as follows: “Nattie has a feeling that Eva Marie is trying to cozy up to her man; Nikki wonders if she can accept John Cena’s demand; and Brie has issues with Bryan’s increasing fame.”
As reported earlier, the synopsis for tomorrow night’s “SummerSlam” show reads: “Eva Marie’s rising popularity is seen as a threat by Nikki; Ariane works on anger management; and an accident during a match leaves Nattie worried about returning to the ring for SummerSlam.”
Brie Bella has her own suspicions of Eva Marie. Speaking to OK! Magazine, she stated the following of her peer’s behavior at SummerSlam for her match against Natalya, “The thing is, you are putting so many different personalities together trying to force friendships and it is like, we are still going for one spot. Especially in the first episode because it is SummerSlam, that is a big night for us and I was lucky enough to have a singles match but how can someone just walk in and try to capitalize off that?! We definitely have our moments where we get along great but you will see a lot more of Eva just kind of being herself and just trying to get ahead without working hard. She has her ways.”
Eva Marie, who scored her first pinfall victory last Monday on Raw, is currently in Europe promoting Total Divas.
The following are highlights from a recent WWE.com interview with WWE Superstar Tyson Kidd:
On if he’s had to change his in-ring style due to knee surgery: “I originally thought I would, but I’m very, very stubborn. I’d been doing cardio since week six of my rehab, and after two minutes in the ring the day I got cleared, I was done. It felt like I’d wrestled a 30-Minute Handicap Match. I was dying. I mean, this sounds bad, but in terms of my conditioning and my wind, I may as well have been sitting on my couch for eight months.”
“There’s only one way to train, and that’s being in the ring. And even in practice, it’s not the same as performing in front of a crowd. You’re constantly feeding off their energy and their reactions and trying to feel them out. It’s a different aspect than practicing in the ring on your own. That’s been my limitation. But the only way to improve is to run that tank on empty, and then refill again. If you’re afraid and don’t let yourself get to empty, you’ll never build your conditioning. I learned that from my Japanese trainer, Tokyo Joe, a long time ago. But I’m not going to let my knee alter anything I do in the ring. My move set is part of what makes me unique and there’s no way I’m going to throw that away out of fear.”
On receiving support from CM Punk: “When I got hurt, before I got the MRI, I was going down to the school at NXT [now the WWE Performance Center] and doing some pre-surgical therapy on my knee. [CM] Punk was down there too, rehabbing his knee. I told him about my MRI, and the same day I got the MRI I went to my doctor, and Punk told me to text him as soon as I was done to let him know how it went.”
“Punk and I have always gotten along and he’s always been friendly to me. I met him in Ring of Honor on the independent scene in 2003. When he said that workhorse thing, it blew up my Twitter, and now I have people tweeting me every day using #workhorse. That was definitely going through my head the whole time.”
“I remember thinking, “if my knee is never the same again, but I tried my hardest, then that’s just how it is. But if my knee isn’t the same again because I didn’t try my hardest, then that’s me letting everyone down — including myself.” And that’s just not the kind of person that I am.”
On being on the Total Divas reality show and having his wedding on TV: “It’s funny. These cameras are in your house and you know they’re there. I don’t know if this because I’ve been in sports-entertainment for almost 18 years now, but after a couple of hours, I honestly forget the cameras are there. The next thing I know, I’m watching “Total Divas” back and I see things like my mom playing with my hair while we’re eating and I’m like, “I honestly don’t remember that happening.” I’m not saying they’re sneaky — I know they’re there — but they’re so good at what they do that you just feel so comfortable.”
“I love that. It wasn’t being on the road, but I still felt like I was in the mix even though I was hurt, and it made me want to get back out there even more. “Total Divas” kind of fell in my lap. Obviously, it’s Nattie’s story and I’m part of it, but the fact that I was at home injured and was still able to contribute to something within the company meant the world to me.”
Check out the complete interview online at WWE.com.
-WWE Superstar Tyson Kidd recently posted a new tweet on his official Twitter account talking about his WWE television return on RAW on Monday night in Greenville, South Carolina. Kidd wrote the following:
Tonight surely answered the 'when are you coming back?' tweets I've been receiving for the past 11 months. Couldn't have been better
#RAW
-WWE has added the “Backstage Fallout” video for this week’s edition of WWE RAW to their official YouTube channel. This week’s RAW “Backstage Fallout” video features The Miz complaining about the fans not voting for him to face Randy Orton on RAW, as well as Kaitlyn, Zack Ryder and The Prime Time Players talking about the Big Show situation.
Check out this week’s RAW “Backstage Fallout” video below:
As noted, WWE will air their “mid-season finale” tonight on E!, which will feature the wedding of WWE Superstar Tyson Kidd and WWE Diva Natalya.
The official promotional description for tonight’s show reads as follows:
“Nattie and TJ’s wedding takes an unexpected turn when Jaret gets involved. John asks Nikki to meet his family. Ariane is rushed to the hospital. Eva and JoJo’s friendship starts to fall apart.”
In addition to the mid-season finale, there will be a Total Divas reunion show immediately following tonight’s episode. The reunion show will feature the cast of the program discussing the first half of the season. The reunion show was filmed about a week ago in Florida.
WWE is currently shooting footage for the second-half of the season, which begins airing on E! in November.
-The official website for the E! cable channel has posted a new video preview for this Sunday’s season finale edition of WWE Total Divas, featuring the wedding of Natalya and Tyson Kidd. You can watch that online at EOnline.com.
-Speaking of videos, former WWE Superstar Diamond Dallas Page has posted a new video on his official YouTube channel of himself and WWE legend Jake “The Snake” Roberts as The Odd Couple. For those interested, you can watch that below:
-Monday’s WWE RAW, which was the Night Of Champions “go-home” edition of the show, scored a final cable rating of 2.9, according to Nielsen Media Research.
-The following matches were taped on Tuesday night in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event:
–Kofi Kingston vs. Antonio Cesaro
–R-Truth vs. Big E. Langston
–The Prime Time Players vs. 3MB
-Recently injured WWE Superstar, and co-star of the Total Divas reality show, Tyson Kidd, worked a dark match prior to the taping, defeating NXT Champion Bo Dallas.
-This coming Sunday’s edition of Total Divas will finally feature the wedding of Tyson Kidd and Natalya that has been hyped up all season. Total Divas airs on the E! channel on Sunday night’s at 10:00PM Eastern Time.
-In the latest edition of ESPN Magazine, former WWE broadcaster Jonathan Coachman, who now works for ESPN, is featured in a brief story where he comments on WWE Superstar Darren Young coming out of the closet to TMZ prior to this year’s SummerSlam event. The Coach basically described it as no big deal and talked about how Pat Patterson, who is Vince McMahon’s right-hand-man, has been out for 40 years.
Sami Zayn, the former El Generico, is listed in the advertisements for tonight’s WWE live event at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Zayn is a pretty big name pro wrestler who is actually from the Montreal area.
Also listed for the WWE live event in Montreal is WWE Superstar Tyson Kidd, who hasn’t wrestled or appeared on WWE programming (outside of Total Divas) since he underwent knee surgery earlier this year.
The scheduled lineup for the Montreal live event is as follows:
-Randy Orton (c) vs. Daniel Bryan [WWE Championship]
-Curtis Axel (c) vs. CM Punk [WWE Intercontinental Championship]*
-Rob Van Dam & Big Show & Mark Henry vs. The Shield**
-Natalya vs. Brie Bella
-Tyson Kidd vs. Wade Barrett
-Jack Swagger vs. Antonio Cesaro
* – The Axel-Punk matches, although advertised as title matches, have been changed to non-title matches at the last several WWE live events.
** – As noted, Mark Henry was cleared in the middle of the week to return to the ring following his hamstring injury at the Saturday live event in Boston. However, WWE has a tendency to keep guys out longer, especially on non-televised events.
– Monday’s Raw saw AJ Lee unleash a scathing “pipe bomb” towards her fellow Divas as she passionately complained they were handed opportunities she had to sacrifice for. “You’re all worthless excuses for women, and you will never be able to touch me,” said Lee in her promo. “And that’s reality.” The official WWE website has issued a poll asking fans which person did she burn the worst during her tirade—The Bella Twins, The Funkadactyls, Natalya, Eva Marie, JoJo, or Tyson Kidd.
Though The Bella Twins were not specifically referenced in Lee’s tirade, they are currently leading the poll at 40%. They are trailed by Natalya, and Tyson Kidd, who she labeled as “not much of a man” based on his dealings with Natalya on Sunday’s episode of Total Divas.
– TVTechnology.com has published an article on WWE recently completing a major upgrade of it technical operations center in Stamford, Connecticut that included “HD ingest and edit rooms, QC and transmission, core router replacement and upgrade, and Audio Post 3, the newest 5.1 surround sound audio suite in the facility.”
WWE commissioned a company in Mahopac, New York to upgrade the center.
“WWE brought me in to do my thing, within the budget, not to give them more than they needed, but not undershoot either,” said Francis Manzella of Design Limited. “They gave me complete freedom in the design of the new room. I was told not to duplicate the old room [that Audio 3 replaced] nor the other audio post rooms in the facility.”
For additional details on the upgrade, click here.
– John “Bradshaw” Layfield revealed on Twitter that this week’s episode of The JBL & Cole Show was filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada, the site of last night’s SmackDown taping.
-As we reported yesterday, Tyson Kidd is set to return to WWE television sometime in September of this year. Kidd responded to the report on his Twitter account with the following tweet:
“Apparently I’m coming back in September, I really hope my knee is listening to the ‘journalists’ on the Internet……. #workhorse”
-WWE Superstar Sin Cara was backstage at the CMLL show at Arena Mexico on July 19th visiting family and friends who were at the show. This was Sin Cara’s first time back at Arena Mexico, as he was previously banned from the building after he left CMLL to sign with WWE.
-KTBC FOX 7, the local FOX affiliate out of Austin, Texas has a new one-on-one video interview up on their official website with current WWE Superstar Mark Henry. You can check that out online at MyFOXAustin.com.
-The following is the latest edition of the JBL & Cole Show from the official YouTube channel of WWE. The description for this week’s show reads: “Cody Rhodes can’t seem to get JBL’s cowboy hat off of his head – no matter which Superstar he enlists to help him…”
-WWE is currently scheduled to hold another developmental training camp in Orlando, Florida from August 28th through August 30th.
-Current WWE Superstar Tyson Kidd, who has been on the sidelines as of late, is scheduled to make his return to WWE television sometime in September.
-Below are some recent WWE attendance figures:
–July 30th in Capetown, South Africa drew 5,000 fans for $150,000
–July 31st in Capetown drew 4,500 fans for $160,000
–August 1st in Shanghai, Chine drew 4,000 fans for $375,000
–August 1st in Durban, South Africa drew 6,700 fans for $225,000
–August 2nd in Johannesburg, South Africa drew 10,500 fans for $470,000
–August 3rd in Johannesburg drew 11,000 fans for $485,000
-The following is a video of WWE Superstar Santino Marella, out-of-character, showing off his new Battle Arts Academy:
-WWE Studios’ “Leprechaun” movie starring Hornswoggle finishes filming this weekend. “Leprechaun” is currently slated for a March 2014 release.
-Michael Cole and Alex Riley were the announcers for next week’s edition of WWE SmackDown, which was taped on Thursday evening in Houston, Texas. If interested, you can check out our full WWE SmackDown Spoiler Results from the show.
-WWE Diva Natalya was recently interviewed by FOX News to promote the debut of “Total Divas” on E! this Sunday. Natalya, who is currently married to WWE Superstar Tyson Kidd, will be featured on the show. You can check out the interview online at FOXNews.com.
-WWE.com recently posted a new “WWE Top 10 Countdown” video on their official YouTube channel. The latest Top 10 takes a look at the best spears. Check it out below:
-During a recent interview with Motor Trend, WWE Diva Natalya discussed her relationship with her new husband Tyson Kidd. Natalya commented:
“He’s been the only person I’ve ever dated or been with. I’ve known him since I was a kid. He’s actually one of the people that also taught me how to wrestle. But I have never, ever, ever talked about my relationship publicly.”
Check out the complete interview online at MotorTrend.com.
– The official WWE website announced Saturday that Natalya and Tyson Kidd have tied the knot.
Their statement reads, “The former Divas Champion and former Tag Team Champion, who have dated for more than a decade, were married this week. Natalya revealed that her Las Vegas bachelorette party as well as her upcoming nuptials to fellow Hart Dungeon graduate, Kidd, will be televised on the E! reality series, “Total Divas,” which premieres July 28 at 10/9 CT!”
– In the latest edition of “Outside the Ring,” see how one lucky got to have lunch with Triple H.
– In this video, Ryback addresses his ongoing issues with his opponent at Money in the Bank, Chris Jericho.
– Former WWE Superstar Colt Cabana (known as Scotty Goldman during his brief run from 2007-2009) recently received a tryout with WWE to be a color commentator. At this time, there’s no word on whether he’ll be hired, but we do know the tryout was set up by his longtime friend, CM Punk.
– As reported earlier this month, WWE Diva Natalya is engaged to Tyson Kidd. WWE cameras were in Vegas last week for Natalya’s bachelorette party, recording footage for the Total Divas reality show. According to reports, the actual wedding will be taking place on the show as well. Since filming is currently underway and the show premieres this summer, it’s possible their wedding could be taking place very soon.
– Injured WWE Superstar Tyson Kidd was asked by a fan on Twitter when he’ll be returning to action. He replied, “likely another few months.”
– Conspicuously absent from the past 3 weeks of WWE television has been Jack Swagger. Swagger is due back in court on June 25th from his pre-WrestleMania DUI arrest and is not advertised for any upcoming WWE live events until June 29th when WWE is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
– WWE is once again refocusing its efforts on rebuilding the tag team division. With The Shield recentlhy capturing the Tag Team Championships from Team Hell No, WWE is already building up the repackaged Uso’s as their first babyface challengers.
While it’s unknown whether Team Hell No will attempt to recapture their titles (and based on Daniel Bryan breaking out lately, they might not), expect to see more non-title matches from the Prime Time Players, Team Rhodes Scholars and other new tag teams made up of lower & mid-card wrestles.
The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper & Eric Rowan) will be debuting soon and Harper & Rowan will be another new team in the mix.