– For whatever this is worth, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar is not being advertised for next Monday’s post-Night Of Champions edition of WWE RAW in Memphis, Tennessee.
– The WWE Network will be adding Saturday Morning Slam archived episodes at some point after October and archives of Rock ‘N’ Wrestling before the end of the year. There are 36 episodes of Saturday Morning Slam and approximately 25 episodes of Rock ‘N’ Wrestling.
– There will be a RAW pre-show this week on the WWE Network, however there will not be a Backstage Pass post-show after the event. After RAW ends this week on television, the WWE Network will follow it up with episode one of WWE Slam City.
– Speaking of the WWE Network, the WWE Countdown episode that airs this week will look at the top ten moments from Royal Rumble pay-per-views.
– Finally, as noted on Sunday, the Monday Night War episode on the WWE Network this Tuesday will focus on Bret Hart and the Montreal Screwjob. Below is the official synopsis for that show.
“A controversial end to Bret Hart’s WWE career forever changes the fate of Monday Night Raw and Monday Nitro.”
– With the opening weekend of the films, “No Good Deed” and “Dolphin Tale 2,” Batista’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” fell to number three this week, earning a reported $8.04 million this weekend in its seventh week in theaters.
– The “Monday Night War” episode of the WWE Network next week will focus primarily on Bret Hart jumping ship to WCW, the infamous “Montreal Screwjob” and that whole ordeal.
The following are results for the next four weeks of NXT television. The report was written by ProWrestling.net.
Dark Match
1. The Mechanics (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder) beat Buddy Murphy and Wesley Blake.
September 18 Show
The show opened with Titus O’Neil cutting a heel promo on the crowd and proclaiming NXT to be NXTitus. Sami Zayn interrupted Titus and wanted to wrestle him. Adrian Neville came out and said he wanted to face Titus because he’s the champion. Tyson Kidd came out and it was settled that the main event of the show would be a tag match with Neville and Zayn facing Kidd and O’Neil.
1. Charlotte over Emma.
2. Hideo Itami pinned Justin Gabriel. Itami used a diving double stomp as his finisher. After the match, The Ascension ran down and laid out Itami.
3. Baron Corbin squashed CJ Parker.
4. Tyson Kidd and Titus O’Neil beat Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn. There was a lot of one upmanship between Zayn and Neville throughout the match. Kidd scored the pin on Neville after Titus knocked him off the top turnbuckle while the ref was distracted trying to keep Zayn out of the ring.
It was announced that the next set of tapings will take place on September 25.
September 25 Show
1. Bull Dempsey beat Mojo Rawley. After Bull left Mojo lying in the ring, Tyler Breeze came out and beat up Mojo some more before the next match.
2. Tyler Breeze over Justin Gabriel.
3. Bayley defeated Alexa Bliss. After the match, Bayley asked Charlotte to come out to the ring and asked for a rematch from Takeover. Charlotte said that Bayley had earned her respect and she’d get another shot, but warned that the second verse would be the same as the first. The match is set for the following episode.
4. Enzo Amore pinned Marcus Louis. Louis was wearing the Kurt Angle headgear and wig until Enzo pulled it off and rolled up Louis while he scrambled to put it back on.
5. Lucha Dragons retained the NXT Tag Team Championships over The Ascension. Hideo Itami distracted The Ascension which allowed Kalisto to hit Salida del Sol for the win. Afterwards, Itami laid out Konnor on the stage with kicks.
NXT spoilers for Oct. 2nd and Oct. 9th continued on page two …
During the NXT Takeover 2 live special on the WWE Network on Thursday night, KENTA made his official debut for WWE.
KENTA spoke about his goals and revealed during his promo segment that as a sign of tribute to his hero, who he didn’t name, he is changing his name to Hideo Itami.
After his name-change announcement, NXT Tag-Team Champions The Ascension came out and interupted him, likely starting some kind of program that will continue on NXT television.
Hideo Itami makes his NXT in-ring debut next week.
– With WWE announcing that their “Payback” pay-per-view will be taking place on May 17th in Baltimore, Maryland, that means they are looking to widen the gap between the “B” level show that comes after WrestleMania, as there will be seven weeks separating the two.
– Triple H noted during the conference call earlier today to promote this week’s NXT Takeover 2 special on the WWE Network that WWE is in discussions with some former NFL players to come into the company. He refused to reveal any of the names, noting that none of the deals are officially completed at this point.
Expectations are that WWE will be featuring KENTA in a prominent role upon his debut. As noted earlier today, KENTA will not be wrestling at the NXT Takeover 2 special on Thursday, although he will be appearing. The belief is that he will make his official in-ring debut for WWE at the NXT tapings on Friday.
There is talk that Ric Flair, who is also scheduled to appear at the Takeover 2 special, will be linked with KENTA in some form or fashion during the show.
WWE is reportedly hoping that KENTA will help with merchandise sales and WWE Network subscriptions in the Japanese market.
The latest edition of the Michael Cole weekly sit-down interview series has been added to the official WWE YouTube channel.
In this week’s video, which you can view above, Cole talks to Triple H about this week’s NXT Takeover: Fatal 4-Way special on the WWE Network and the arrival of international sensation KENTA.
– WWE stock has been rising lately due to the belief that rolling out the WWE Network internationally will greatly increase the subscriber count.
– Triple H will be hosting a NXT Takeover 2 press conference on Wednesday to promote this Thursday’s live special on the WWE Network.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross is scheduled to appear at the Homeland Grocery store on Lindsey Street in Norman, Oklahoma on Saturday from noon until 2pm. There will be free food available and JR will be taking photos and signing autographs with fans who show up.
WWE officials have clarified KENTA’s status for this Thursday’s NXT Takeover 2 special. The company has made a point to note that while the live WWE Network special will be the official introduction of KENTA, he will not be wrestling an actual match on the show.
Speaking of Thursday’s NXT Takeover 2 special, the official WWE YouTube channel has added the following video preview for the show.
– WWE will be taping their “Tribute to the Troops” special for this year on December 10th.
– Independent wrestlers Rich Swann and Jeff Cobb were among those who took part in the latest WWE tryout camp at the Performance Center in Orlando this past weekend.
– WWE will premiere a preview special for NXT Takeover 2 on the WWE Network this Thursday at 4pm EST. There will also be a NXT Takeover 2 “Kickoff Show” prior to the special on September 11th.
– NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte defeated Bayley in what was said to be an excellent main event at the NXT live event in Citrus Springs, Florida on Sunday night. The reason the NXT Divas were in the headline match of the evening was because several of NXT’s top talents were on the road with the main WWE roster this weekend.
NXT Champion Adrian Neville defeated fellow NXT performer Tyler Breeze at the WWE live event in Dayton, Ohio. Sami Zayn defeated Tyson Kidd and The Ascension lost to Big E. and Kofi Kingston at the WWE live event in Hampton, Virginia.
– Speaking of NXT, several new promos for NXT Takeover 2 have been added to the official NXT Instagram account. The two newest additions feature Sami Zayn and Sasha Banks talking about the upcoming live WWE Network special. You can check those out at Instagram.com/wwenxt.
Former NFL star Shawne Merriman, who we reported several months ago was being groomed for a possible announcer and/or wrestler position in WWE, never actually signed a contract with the company.
The categorization of things now is that Merriman was simply making a guest appearance on the WWE Network during WrestleMania XXX weekend, however the impression at the time was that he was looking to become an announcer for the company while training to become a wrestler.
– Below is the new “Are you ready for WWE Network” promo video:
– Chris Jericho wrote the following message on Twitter, talking about what an honor it is to be included on the new WWE production trucks:
“Then. Now. Forever. Glad to a part of the history of this great company!! Such an honor to be included on the side of this production truck with two of my all time favorite rivals (@TheRock & @ShawnMichaels) along with HOFs Lita, Sarge & Brock Lesnar! @wwe”
You can check out a photo of the trucks he is referencing below:
Then. Now. Forever. Glad to a part of the history of this great company!! Such an… http://t.co/LIIq5ymrE2
Investment website SeekingAlpha.com published an article this week looking at the huge spike in organic Google search traffic that WWE.com received for SummerSlam. Analyst Steven Borovay believes this is a strong indicator that WWE added a significant number of new subscribers to the WWE Network for the show.
Back in April, WWE.com’s organic Google search traffic peaked at around 3.4 million searches for WrestleMania 30. For SummerSlam, Google search traffic spiked 26.9%, peaking around 4.4 million searches. Borovay notes that most WWE Network subscribers go directly to WWE.com (instead of searching through Google to access to the site), which “should substantially increase network subscriptions.”
Combined with WWE’s expansion into over 150 foreign countries, Borovay is confident that WWE is making big gains towards it’s recently-lowered break-even point.
I conclusion, he write that WWE “will body slam all external negative expectations by analysts that are too focused on short term glitches and not looking at the big picture.”
– It was announced on this week’s edition of WWE RAW that on this week’s WWE Main Event show, which airs live on the WWE Network on Tuesday night, The Miz will host a MizTV segment with special guest, WWE Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler.
– Also announced on this week’s RAW is a match for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown, which will be taped on Tuesday night. In a non-title match, WWE Divas Champion Paige will go one-on-one with Brie Bella.
– The Tickld website has a new article up regarding Batista’s role as “Drax” in the wildly successful “Guardians of the Galaxy” film. You can check that out at Tickld.com.
– The following matches are confirmed for this Thursday’s edition of NXT TV on the WWE Network, which is the “go-home” show for the September 11th NXT Takeover 2 special.
*The Vaudevillains vs. Sin Cara & Kalisto [Number 1 Contendership For Tag-Titles]
*Charlotte vs. Alexa Bliss [NXT Women’s Championship]
*Tyler Breeze vs. Tye Dillinger
*Tyson Kidd vs. Adam Rose
*Adrian Neville vs. CJ Parker
– One of the things WWE is advertising for tonight’s RAW is John Cena’s response to the pre-taped interview that aired last week from Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman. As noted earlier, Lesnar is not scheduled for tonight’s show, however that does not necessarily mean that Heyman won’t appear, or that WWE doesn’t have additional pre-taped footage of the two to air on the show.
– NXT star Kalisto taped a rare promo for the upcoming NXT Takeover 2 live special, which airs on the WWE Network on September 11th. You can check that out above.
– The Miz and Eva Marie are scheduled to appear at the Adventureland Store in Voorhees, New Jersey on September 27th from noon until 2pm. It is said that availability is limited and advanced purchase at AdventurelandStore.com is suggested.
– The WWE Network will be airing several “Attitude Era RAW” flashback episodes this week. Each episode is said to have a run-time of 90 minutes.
– Today is the 43rd birthday of former WWE Superstar Jimmy Snuka Jr. It also would have been the 61st birthday of former Public Enemy member Rocco Rock and the 53rd birthday of former WWE Superstar Bam Bam Bigelow.
– As noted earlier today, Alberto Del Rio (as El Patron) is advertised for the AAA events in Puerto Vallarta on September 13th and 14th. Del Rio is included in the promotional posters for the event, which takes place at the Hard Rock Casino, making it the first time he has appeared on a wrestling poster since leaving WWE.
– In a related note, Del Rio is being credited with some of the success of the big AAA “TripleMania” event due to the amount of media coverage he garnered for the show.
– Above is a video promo from Tyson Kidd for the NXT Takeover 2 special, which takes place on September 11th and airs live on the WWE Network.
– As reported several months ago, former WWE Diva Kaitlyn started a clothing company called “Celestial Bodiez.” During this past Friday’s edition of WWE SmackDown, which was taped on Tuesday night, WWE Diva AJ Lee wore a tank-top that was from Kaitlyn’s clothing line. In honor of AJ wearing the shirt on television, Kaitlyn is offering a 20 percent discount this weekend on orders at CelestialBodiez.com for those who used the coupon code, LABOR.
– Following the live edition of WWE Main Event on the WWE Network this Tuesday night, another episode of The Monday Night War original series will air, as well as a new episode of Beyond The Ring and The Very Best Of WCW Nitro.
– There will be a RAW pre-show on the WWE Network this Monday night, however there will not be a RAW post-show. After Monday’s RAW concludes, the debut edition of WCW Nitro will air on the WWE Network.
– WWE Diva Naomi, who as noted will be undergoing a minor procedure on her orbital bone, is featured in the latest edition of WWE’s “30 Second Fury.” You can check that out below.
