– The Undertaker is being advertised for Monday’s WWE RAW from the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, PA.
– WWE.com has an article up looking at the Undertaker’s upcoming match against CM Punk at WrestleMania 29, including quotes from several of his most memorable opponents. Here are some highlights of what the following Superstars said:
Kane: “The unique thing about The Undertaker, and probably the thing that is most underrated, is that he has the ability to adapt that a lot of people don’t have. The fact that he can change is why he’s been so successful and has been able to endure so long.”
Big Show: “When you see your name on a card next to The Undertaker and know you’re competing against him, your stress level automatically rises. It pushes you to a level that you don’t push yourself to with other talent. I’ll say it on record, I don’t care what anyone says. I think he’s the best ever in the ring, period.”
Mick Foley: “Everyone seems to get it. It’s the perfect guy doing the perfect thing with the perfect music and he makes the situations he’s in perfect as well … The guy is timeless. He is The Undertaker.”
Ric Flair on Wrestling Taker At WM18: “It was awesome. I never saw that opportunity coming because I had just come back in 2001. I didn’t plan on wrestling ever again and then I find myself WrestleMania with The Undertaker. It was a phenomenal experience … I think The Streak is great. No one deserves that position more than him and just the fact that I was able to be there at that point in time was fabulous for me.
– The following matches were taped before RAW for this week’s episode of Superstars:
* Team Rhodes Scholars vs. The Usos.
* Layla vs. Tamina Snuka.
– The Undertaker returned to WWE on Monday’s Old School RAW at the start of the show. The Undertaker signaled that he would be at WrestleMania 29. Later in the show, a 4-way match would be held to determine his opponent.
– CM Punk defeated Sheamus, Big Show and Randy Orton to earn a match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 29. Undertaker came out after Punk’s win and had a staredown with Punk.
– Also on RAW, Triple H challenged Brock Lesnar to a match at WrestleMania 29.
– There is talk that former TNA Knockout Rosita (Thea Trinidad) might be getting a tryout before tonight’s Old School RAW from Buffalo, New York. She was released from TNA earlier this year.
– WWE continues to tease the return of The Undertaker on WWE.com and Facebook, questioning whether the Dead Man will compete at WrestleMania or not.
– Bo Dallas noted on Twitter that he will be at tonight’s RAW.
– Goldust noted on Twitter that he will not be at RAW.
– Aside from the legends already confirmed for tonight’s RAW, other names rumored for the show include Mae Young, Sgt. Slaughter and The Honky Tonk Man.
– WWE’s ongoing xenophobic storyline with “Dirty” Dutch Mantel as Jack Swagger’s manager Zeb Colter was reportedly brainstormed by Kevin Eck, a former writer for Baltimore Sun who joined the sports-entertainment organization in 2011.
– The official WWE website has published rare photos of The Undertaker, while also noting, “The WWE Universe is abuzz with anticipation on when the legendary Phenom will return to television screens.”
– In this interview with PWInsider.com, former ROH World Champion Roderick Strong discusses his favorite memories in Ring of Honor, the tag partner he’d like to work with there, letting more of his personality show in the ring and more.
Following his surprise return at Saturday night’s WWE live event from Waco, Texas, The Undertaker’s television return is imminent and could take place as soon as Monday’s “Old School” RAW.
The long-rumored Undertaker vs. CM Punk match at WrestleMania will in fact be taking place – and now WWE’s creative team is rushing to fast-track the feud with just over 5 weeks until the pay-per-view. WWE already got the ball rolling on Monday’s RAW, when CM Punk cut a promo talking about being a wrestling icon above all other Superstars and God.
One big issue with Punk’s match against The Undertaker is that he’s now lost 3 high profile matches – against The Rock at the Royal Rumble & Elimination Chamber and against John Cena on Monday’s RAW. Punk remains one of WWE’s top draws, but there is concern that another big loss could affect his perception with fans.
The reason why Undertaker returned at a house show instead of a surprise on RAW is because he, Vince McMahon and Triple H all wanted to see how his shoulder held up during a light match before he officially committed to WrestleMania. Some people instantly assumed that his appearance guaranteed that “he’s back” and will be working WrestleMania, however the Dead Man’s WretleMania status was still up in the air prior to the match. The Undertaker has had a number of surgeries in the past year, but his shoulder is still giving him a lot of problems.
A source on the writing team told us that Taker’s return was kept very quiet and only a handful of people within WWE even knew about it. When the match was over and Taker was happy with his own performance, WWE decided to go public with the story.
Aside from the fact that that he looked a bit out of shape,fans were chanting “this is awesome” and “you still got it” during the match.
Our source tells us Undertaker will be wrestling at WrestleMania.
– After breaking the story on Saturday night that the Undertaker made a surprise return at a WWE live event from Waco, Texas, WWE is now teasing that it might not have been the Undertaker who returned.
They took the original Tout video (which said it was the Undertaker) and posted it on Youtube on Saturday with the title, “Is this the Undertaker?” The caption for the video asks, “Did the Deadman make an appearance at a WWE live event in Waco, Texas this Deadman?”
– The Harlem Shake phenomenon continues to spread across the wrestling world, hitting this weekend’s SHINE iPPV event. Here’s a video of the SHINE ladies breaking it down, including former WWE diva Kharma (Awesome Kong):
Randy Orton, Ricardo Rodriguez and Wade Barrett were all at last Saturday night’s WWE live event in Waco, TX for the Undertaker’s surprise return. Here’s what they tweeted about it:
Randy Orton: “Got to watch Undertaker perform in Waco tonight at the #Smackdown live event. Very motivating to watch him do his thing. #Legend Killer”
Ricardo Rodriguez: “Can’t describe the feeling we all got here tonight in Waco, Texas after having The Undertaker compete. I legit got goosebumps!”
Wade Barrett wrote: “Hell of a night at #WWEWaco. Expect the unexpected… #WWECollegeStation tomorrow.”
The Undertaker made a surprised return to WWE on Saturday night at a Smackdown house show in Waco, Texas, teaming with Sheamus to defeat Damien Sandow and Wade Barrett.
This was the first time Undertaker has appeared in a WWE ring since RAW 1000 back in July. This is a good sign that he’ll be wrestling at WrestleMania 29.
WWE posted the following video on Tout of his return:
– The Vince McMahon vs. Paul Heyman fight next week on RAW is likely going to be used as a setup for the Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar match at WrestleMania. It’s possible we’ll see run-ins from the WrestleMania opponents.
– If The Undertaker does commit to wrestle at WrestleMania, Monday’s RAW from Dallas, Texas is a logical opportunity for him to return. One scenario we’ve heard would be The Undertaker costing CM Punk his match with John Cena (and a shot at The Rock at WrestleMania), setting up the match between them.
– An interesting statistic about the age of WWE’s audience. Many people think that WWE’s current PG product means that a very large portion of their audience must be children. Currently, only 21% of WWE’s US audience is under the age of 18. Compare that to the Attitude Era, when that number was almost 40%. Back then, 4.5 million kids under 18 were watching WWE TV each week, compared to only 1.5 million now.
Take this as a rumor for now, but there’s a lot of buzz in New Orleans that tonight’s RAW could feature the return of WWE legend The Undertaker.
We received 2 emails from fans over the weekend stating that they spotted Undertaker’s wife Michelle McCool in the cit of New Orleans.
The Dead Man was spotted in Nashville, Tennessee last weekend, the site of last Monday’s WWE RAW. There was talk that he was in town to meet with WWE officials regarding his status for WrestleMania 29. With the show less than 7 weeks away, if he has agreed to return (which is not confirmed), tonight would be the perfect venue for him to kick off his WM29 program.
As we’ve been reporting, the Undertaker will wrestle CM Punk at WrestleMania 29, if he does compete this year. We’ll find out the truth tonight on RAW, but there’s a decent chance we’ll see the Undertaker tonight.
– Promoting Sunday’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view event, WWE released a sticker Friday featuring The Undertaker through the social entertainment check-in website, GetGlue. To view the sticker, click here.
– The premiere episode of Booker T’s “Reality Check” series is now online. The synopsis reads, “Come get an inside look at the Superstar from Booker T’s promotion “Reality of Wrestling” as we show you the REAL People behind the characters and gimmick hosted by Brad Gilmore!!!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkNem_wFFYM
– Former WWE Superstar Gangrel turns 44-years-old today.
– Former WWE Divas Champion Maryse Ouellet will be signing autographs tomorrow from noon to 2:00 p.m. at JR Sports & Collectibles 90 Wilson Ave / Booth #5 Englishtown, New Jersey.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Here are some highlights of what JR wrote about:
Undertaker’s WM29 Status: Getting tons of questions daily on Twitter about the Undertaker. I get the curiosity but I don’t have any answers. One a more strategic note why would any announcement be made until after the Elimination Chamber when the Road to WrestleMania really starts rolling? I was also asked in the Q&A section if WWE would put Taker in a multiple person match at a WM? I can’t and won’t speak for WWE but I certainly wouldn’t do such a booking. Finally, once again, I NEVER see the STREAK ending at the hands of ANYONE at ANY WrestleMania.
Jack Swagger & Zeb Colter I like the potential of ‘ Zeb’ being added to the presentation of @RealJackSwagger. Key term is ‘potential’ but if it works it will help put Swagger back where I feel he will eventually land and that’s in main events on a regular basis. Winning the Elimination Chamber match this Sunday in #NOLA would give the former #Sooner two sport star significant momentum. I may even pick Swagger to win when I do my predictions for the PPV this Sunday.
WWE Sending Talent To Rehab: WWE has literally spends thousands upon thousands of dollars on helping former talents deal with their personal issues. TONS of big, money for the record. WWE never has received the credit due them for their help especially when they are not contractually obligated to do so but they instead address these matters because it’s the right thing to do. However, people have to want to truly help themselves in order for rehab to work and unfortunately many more don’t and would rather catch their buzz and continue to live the same pre-rehab life that they lead before therapy. I’ve been knee deep in these issues throughout my career and can assure you that relapses by talents and former talents is heartbreaking.
– The USA Network was the #1 rated cable channel in prime time again last week, averaging 2.78 million viewers. Disney ranked #2 with 2.43 million, with Syfy at #15 with 1.22 million and Spike at #23 with 795,000. The three hours of RAW last week were the 4th, 5th and 7th most-viewed hours on prime time cable.
– As of this week, the Undertaker’s status for WrestleMania 29 remains 50/50. After being spotted in Nashville on Sunday night, site of Monday’s RAW, it’s believed that Undertaker was in town to meet face-to-face with Vince McMahon to discuss his physical condition and his status for WrestleMania. The Dead Man has undergone several major surgeries since last year’s WrestleMania and we should have a much better idea as to his status after next week’s RAW.
– The big Team Cena vs. The Shield 6-man tag match that we’ll see at Sunday’s elimination Chamber pay-per-view will be taking place at WWE RAW house shows in March. The match is already being advertised for the RAW live event from Providence, RI on March 16.
– Despite being in Nashville, TN at the Predators hockey game on Sunday, The Undertaker was not backstage at RAW at any point on Monday.
Maybe he’s just a big fan of the Nashville Predators NHL hockey team, but WWE superstar The Undertaker was spotted at last night’s Predator game, the site of tonight’s WWE RAW.
The Undertaker has been off WWE television since the RAW 1,000 special back in July and is rumored to be wrestling CM Punk at WrestleMania 29. There have been conflicting reports as to whether the Dead Man will be able to compete due to his health.
While backstage at the game, Undertaker snapped a picture with the Predators mascot as well as two ladies:
In a major development, we have learned EXCLUSIVELY that the WWE writing team has been told Undertaker is “less than 50 percent for WrestleMania,” and that before the writers can present a “grid” (long term storyline planning) to Vince, HHH and Stephanie for review, Undertaker needs to be examined, as he is “not medically cleared” as of yet.
A member of the writing staff told us “this is going down to the wire, and members of the team actually joke that we’ll find out on the Internet about Taker before we’re told definitively here!”
No word yet on when Undertaker will be evaluated for medical clearance.
The talk backstage at WWE’s TV tapings is that the Undertaker’s status for WrestleMania 29 is uncertain.
There were reports several months ago that the Undertaker told WWE he would be able to wrestle at the show and named CM Punk as the man he wanted to defend his streak against.
As of this week, it sounds like the Undertaker’s badly damaged hip, which was worsened last year during his Hell in a Cell match at WrestleMania, is still a major issue.
This is not the first time that the Undertaker’s health has put his WrestleMania match in jeopardy. If he decides against wrestling this year, there will need to be changes made to several planned WrestleMania matches.
WWE officials have offered Brock Lesnar a new contract, according to a report in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Lesnar’s current deal expires right after WrestleMania 29 and the company is eager to lock him in for another year. The new contract would be very similar to his current arrangement, which pays him several million dollars to work a very limited schedule that includes a few high-profile pay-per-view matches and several WWE television appearances in the weeks leading up to those fights.
It’s believed that Lesnar will not make a decision on the contract extension until the last minute, which is how he’s done business in the past.
Regarding a potential Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker match, WWE officials are skeptical if it could ever take place, due to mileage on Taker’s body. That said, the two opponents WWE has in mind for Brock Lesnar in 2013-2014 are the Undertaker and reigning WWE Champion CM Punk.
– Bret Hart is among the WWE legends who has been contacted to appear at next week’s RAW 20th Anniversary show from Houston, but is only willing to appear if the creative team has a meaningful role for him.
There was talk backstage at this week’s WWE TV that The Undertaker would also be there, since he’s from Houston and has been such a huge part of RAW’s history. While an appearance from the Undertaker makes sense, there’s another side to it. Since the Dead Man shows up so infrequently, it’s believed that his next television appearance would be to set up his WrestleMania 29 program. If he is wrestling CM Punk at Mania, then it wouldn’t make sense for him to confront CM Punk until after his match with The Rock at the Royal Rumble.
– The January 28th edition of WWE RAW from Las Vegas, Nevada is expected to have a RAW Roulette theme, where match stipulations are decided by spinning a “roulette” wheel.
– The official WWE website announced Wednesday that WWE Champion CM Punk has been medically cleared to defend his title against Ryback in a TLC Match on this Monday’s Raw, according to sources.
The match had originally been scheduled for the WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view, but immediate knee surgery on December 4 postponed that contest until he had fully recuperated.
– This week on “WWE Inbox,” WWE stars reveal what intimidates them about The Undertaker. Plus, find who digs crazy chicks or guys.
WWE’s sources indicate that final decision on Punk’s status will be presented on tonight’s episode of WWE Main Event on ION Television.
– WWE Hall of Famer “Rowdy” Roddy Piper is featured in today’s “Superstar Spotlight” on WWE.com.
– Here’s the latest video from DDP TV, featuring a special reading of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas:
The Accountability Crib is full of Christmas cheer, and what better way to spread it than by a reading of the classic Christmas tale by two legends of the ring, and Louie, with a bit of a twist!
– Triple H announced on Monday’s RAW that fans have not seen the last of the Undertaker in a WWE ring. While the natural assumption is that the Undertaker will be defending his undefeated streak at WrestleMania 29, Jim Ross says that’s not a done deal just yet. A fan tweeted JR saying, “taker returns to fight again at wrestlemania.” JR replied:
Unconfirmed. We all hope so. “@chrisallan57: @JRsBBQ taker returns to fight again at wrestlemania” @WWE
– The official WWE website has published an article looking at when The Undertaker may return to the ring after Triple H stated Monday at the 2012 Slammy Awards, “You have not seen the last of The Undertaker.” WWE teases:
“Now the only question is when The Undertaker will make his return again? Will it be at the Royal Rumble, making a bid for a championship opportunity at WrestleMania? Or perhaps the Elimination Chamber, where a similar opportunity may present itself? The past two years, The Phenom resurfaced on Raw both to receive and to accept a WrestleMania challenge. Perhaps in his seclusion, he’s selected a Superstar as a potential opponent.
“It could be tomorrow. It could be next Friday. It could be the week before WrestleMania. Either way, the promise is out there: “You have not seen the last of The Undertaker.” Now, all that’s left to do is wait.”
– WWE will return to the site of Monday’s Raw, the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 25, 2013 with a Raw show. Ticketmaster.com is holding a pre-sale this week with the password RAWPHILLY.
– WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter will be meeting fans on Tuesday, January 08, 2013 at 6:00 p.m. at Chelsea Piers, New York, New York, United States he appears at the MDA Fundraiser at the Chelsea Piers.
Triple H appeared on Monday’s WWE RAW to accept the Slammy Award for Match of the Year for his match against the Undertaker at WrestleMania 28. During his acceptance speech, he said the answer to the million dollar question that everybody wants to know, “You’ve not seen the last of the Undertaker.”
As we’ve reported recently, the Undertaker recently informed WWE that he is training for a match at WrestleMania 29. He reportedly has an opponent in mind that he wants to face, rumored to be CM Punk.
Here’s video from RAW with Triple H accepting their award and revealing that the Dead Man will be back: