WWE taped the following matches for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event prior to taping WWE SmackDown on Tuesday night in Norfolk, Virginia.
– Luke Harper & Erick Rowan def. Zack Ryder & Fandango in tag-team action to kick off the show. This was said to be a pretty basic tag-team opener.
– Bo Dallas def. Jack Swagger in a singles match to follow up. The crowd had a good time ragging on Dallas throughout this one.
– Alicia Fox def. Summer Rae in Divas action. This was said to be the same as any other Diva match you’ll see. The crowd wasn’t super-into this one.
– The New Day def. The Prime Time Players in tag-team action to close out the taping. The crowd did the New Day-sucks chant many times during this match.
Corey Graves’ new WWE Network show Culture Shock premieres tonight immediately following NXT. On this week’s show, Graves will tour the headquarters of Marvel Entertainment. (more…)
– After returning to action at Tuesday’s WWE television taping in London, England, Layla is sparking rumors that she will be hosting a show.
The 37-year-old updated her bio on Instagram to list herself as a host, in addition to WWE Diva, dancer and actress.
– This week on WWE Superstars, R-Truth takes on Curtis Axel while Zack Ryder goes one-on-one with Heath Slater. Highlights from both contest are as follows:
– Celebrating birthdays today are The Brooklyn Brawler, who works behind-the-scenes for WWE, and WWE developmental talent Zahra Schreiber. The Brawler turns 54-years-old, whereas Schreiber turns 28 (according to her profile on ExploreTalent.com).
The following matches were taped prior to Monday’s WWE RAW at the O2 Arena in London, England for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars.
– Zack Ryder def. Heath Slater in singles action. Both guys got decent reactions from the fans in London. In the end, Ryder picked up the pinfall victory after hitting Slater with his finisher in a match that lasted approximately five minutes.
– R-Truth def. Curtis Axel in the second of two matches taped for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars. Truth did his rap entrance and Axel got a loud “Axel-Mania! Axel-Mania!” chant from the U.K. fans. Truth won in a match that lasted around six minutes.
The following are spoiler results for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event, which was taped on Tuesday night, March 31st, in Fresno, California. Results are courtesy of ProWrestling.net.
Dark Match
– Zack Ryder beat Adam Rose. The crowd was firmly behind Ryder, who won with his finisher.
WWE Main Event Taping
– Stardust beat Jack Swagger.
– Paige and Emma beat Summer Rae and Cameron. Emma was destroyed most of the match, but Paige made Cameron tap to the PTO.
– The Lucha Dragons beat The Ascension.
– The New Day came out to boos. Big E referred to Fresno as San Jose. The Prime Time Players came out, and Titus O’Neil corrected Big E.
Over the past several weeks, Zack Ryder and Adam Rose have been feuding on Twitter, exchanging trash talk and cheap shots. The two eventually met on WWE Superstars, with Ryder earning the victory.
Celebrity WWE fans William Shatner and Dennis “Mr. Belding” Haskins are now getting involved, with WWE.com teasing we could see appearances from Shatner or Haskins. Shatner, who guest-hosted WWE RAW back in February 2010, offered to a guest referee for another Ryder vs. Rose match, while Zack Ryder suggested that Haskins could serve as his manager.
Here are some of the tweets from Shatner and Haskins:
.@WWEAdamRose so what is your beef with @ZackRyder? He seems like a nice guy. 😱
Former WWE Superstar Curt Hawkins (Brian Myers) recently spoke with Alex Obert of the Journey of a Frontman website while at Tommy Dreamer’s “House Of Hardcore VIII” event in Philadelphia last weekend. Below are highlights from the interview.
On what he took out of House of Hardcore VIII: “Probably the most fun and most unpredictable good time that any wrestling fan could ever have at a show. I have a blast doing this because I love it. It’s my job and all that, but sometimes these shows are so fun and exciting, I almost wish I could go back in time and somehow be sixteen and go to these shows. It reminds me of how much fun ECW was when I went to the shows live as a kid.”
On Rey Mysterio leaving WWE and appearing at HOH: “Rey Mysterio is hands down the greatest luchador of all time. If you want to dispute that, tweet me. I don’t think anyone else is comparable. He’s the most successful, he’s the most talented, he is an absolutely special performer. I think it’s a huge loss for WWE and a huge gain for all of us wrestlers that get to be around him and have him on our shows and learn from him and work with him. It’s just a win.”
On the Bill DeMott controversy: “I trained under Bill and he is what he is. He’s a drill sergeant and he’s tough, it takes a lot out of you. I wasn’t there for all the new allegations, so I’m not too sure what happened.”
On Zack Ryder being in the Royal Rumble: “I hope the world of him, I’m always pushing for him. He deserves it. He’s a great guy. I don’t think we’d be anywhere without each other. We were very fortunate to find each other and go through this business together. I’m thrilled to see him and I’m glad to see he got the reaction that he got. I always hope for the best.”
– NXT Diva Dana Brooke was in attendance at the NBA’s Orlando Magic basketball game in Orlando, Florida on Sunday night. The official Twitter account for the Orlando Magic tweeted the following photo of her at the game.
– As reported over the weekend, Brad Maddox made his WWE return at the live event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Saturday night. Maddox came out to a big drum roll tease with spotlights, and lost in a singles match to Zack Ryder. Below is a photo of Maddox at the show.
– WWE’s “Jerry Lawler: It’s Good To Be King” DVD and Blu-ray is now scheduled for a May 19th release. The DVD and Blu-ray are available for pre-order right now via Amazon.
– A new edition of Adam Rose’s “Rose Garden” segment is now online at WWE.com. In the latest installment, Rose discusses his rivalry with Zack Ryder and Ryder’s promise to eliminate him first in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 31.
– The latest edition of Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, which as noted features former TNA star Samoa Joe, is now online. You can download the show right now at PodcastOne.com.
– Dolph Ziggler is now officially added to the WWE Intercontinental Championship ladder match at WrestleMania 31. Other participants confirmed for the match include Bad News Barrett, Luke Harper, R-Truth and Dean Ambrose.
– WWE has officially announced Big Show and Kane as the newest entrants in this year’s Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 31. With those two added, the following is the updated list of participants, which as noted, is expected to feature 20 competitors in total.
* The Miz
* Curtis Axel
* Ryback
* Fandango
* Adam Rose
* Zack Ryder
* Jack Swagger
* Titus O’Neil
* Darren Young
* Big Show
* Kane
– The Prime Time Players, Titus O’Neil and Darren Young, have both officially been added to the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal match at WrestleMania 31. WWE is reportedly planning on having 20 Superstars involved in this year’s battle royal, down from the 31 participants who competed in the match last year. With the Prime Time Players now included, the following updated list for the match is as follows:
* Titus O’Neil
* Darren Young
* The Miz
* Curtis Axel
* Ryback
* Fandango
* Adam Rose
* Zack Ryder
* Jack Swagger
– WWE Superstar Xavier Woods recently got a new tattoo, which was inspired by the “Zelda” video game. Below, courtesy of Woods’ official Instagram page, is a photo of him getting the new ink.
WWE taped the following matches for this week’s edition of Main Event prior to Tuesday night’s SmackDown taping in Washington, D.C.
Dark Match
– Natalya def. Sasha Banks in Divas action to kick off the taping. Nattie picked up the win by submission after locking Sasha in the Sharpshooter.
WWE Main Event
– Fandango def. Curtis Axel in the first match taped for this week’s Main Event. Fandango won what was described as a pretty basic match with a roll-up.
– Adam Rose def. Zack Ryder in singles action. Rose picked up the “W” when he caught Ryder coming in the ring by smashing his head into the ring.
– Paige def. Summer Rae in Divas action. Paige picked up the victory after getting Summer with her PTO.
– The Usos (with Naomi) def. The Ascension in tag-team action in the final match taped for this week’s Main Event. The Usos got the win when Jey hit the top rope splash for the 1-2-3.
Dark Match
– The Lucha Dragons def. Bo Dallas & Tyler Breeze in tag-team action in another dark match. The Lucha Dragons picked up the win by pinning Dallas.
The following matches were taped on Monday night in Newark, New Jersey for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars on the WWE Network.
– The Ascension def. The Prime Time Players in tag-team action to kick off the taping. The Ascension picked up the win at about the four or five minute mark after hitting Darren Young with “The Fall of Man” for the pin fall victory.
– Zack Ryder def. Adam Rose in singles competition to close out the taping. Ryder got a great reaction coming out, as he lives close to the area. Rose was boo’d throughout. In the end, Ryder picked up the “W” after hitting his finisher.
WWE Superstar Zack Ryder posted a video on YouTube, updating fans on the status of his shoulder injury.
In the video, which you can see above, Ryder says he received a stem cell injection to try and avoid surgery for a full thickness tear in his rotator cuff.
Ryder says he hopes to know if he will require surgery at some point in the next two months. As things stand now, there is no timetable for his WWE return.
John Cena spoke about the fact that Zack Ryder is having surgery during Monday’s edition of WWE RAW. Cena noted that Ryder will be out of action for six months.
In the storylines, Cena blamed Ryder’s injury on Rusev and The Authority, noting he suffered that fate because of a tweet he posted about “Team Cena.”
Ryder’s last match was against Rusev on last week’s edition of RAW.
WWE Superstar Zack Ryder posted the following tweet on his official Twitter account earlier today, prompting certain websites to jump to conclusions and speculate about what it means.
Sorry to my European Zack Pack…won't be making the tour this year…I'll let you know why in a few days when I have definite news.
The following matches were taped prior to Monday’s RAW in Atlanta, Georgia for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars.
– Bo Dallas def. Zack Ryder in singles action to open the show. Ryder got some offense in early on and was setting up his finisher, but Dallas knocked him out to the floor. Dallas followed up with a Bo-Dog for the 1-2-3.
– Cesaro def. Kofi Kingston in a good match to close out the taping. There were a lot of fun spots throughout the match. Cesaro teased the big swing at one point. Kingston reversed a Cesaro move attempt but ended up getting launched into a European uppercut for the pin.
– Mark Crozer, who wrote and sings The Wyatt Family’s theme song, will be performing it with his band live at The Pyramid Club in New York City on October 9th.
– Zack Ryder and his “internet championship” made an appearance on the latest edition of “The JBL (Not Cole) Show,” which you can see below.
Apparently one of the reasons behind Zack Ryder’s loss to Rusev on Monday night was because of some of the negative tweets that he has been posting on Twitter as of late.
Some are going as far as to say Ryder had a “JTG moment” on RAW last night, referring to when JTG spoke out against WWE in public, which WWE followed up on by having him come to RAW the next week to get squashed by Ryback.
After his loss to Rusev on Monday night, Ryder tweeted the following:
The WWE rolled through midwest tonight, as they set up shop in Des Moines, Iowa. This week’s card featured a total of eight matches, including a life changing six-man tag main event. It’s time to once again take the WWE to school, and I’ll be the one doling out the grades.
As always, matches will be graded based on usual factors such as workrate, in-ring psychology, move variety, crowd reaction, and overall impact on the storyline. Important in-ring promos will also be graded based on factors such as originality, believability, and importance. Without further ado, here is this week’s Raw report card.
Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel
Tonight’s show started with Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel, and featured a shitload of guests, including the Authority, John Cena, and Roman Reigns. There was some entertaining banter during the segment, including Triple H and Jericho hurling corny insults at one another as Jericho dissed Triple H’s pink tie, while the Game chose to attack Y2J’s scarf during a hilarious back and forth. Rollins was extremely over during the promo and got the biggest pop of the night in his home state. Cena threatening to sue the company was pretty lame, however, and held the promo back a bit. It was an overall decent segment, it set up the main event, and the crowd seemed to be into it.
Grade: B
Sheamus and Dolph Ziggler vs. Cesaro and the Miz
The first match of the night was a tag team match featuring the United States and Intercontinental Champions. The Miz showed up with his body double Damien Mizdow and a personal stylist, complete with chairs and makeup. Miz and Sandow were hilarious throughout the contest and the ending was solid. Ziggler and Cesaro also worked well together during the opening portion of the match, with Cesaro’s fall away slam into a pinning combination being one of the most impressive spots I’ve seen in a long time. Overall, it was an entertaining contest and was a good way to advance both feuds.
– The weekly “Backstage Pass” post-show will return on the WWE Network following tonight’s live edition of WWE RAW.
– Zack Ryder will again miss this week’s RAW and SmackDown. Ryder worked the non-televised live events this weekend, however he noted on Twitter that he flew home to New York this morning, in “middle economy” as opposed to first class.
The following matches were taped prior to Monday’s RAW for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars.
– Alberto Del Rio def. Justin Gabriel via Submission after applying his Cross Armbreaker, forcing the tap out from Gabriel.
– Heath Slater & Titus O’Neil def. Sin Cara & Zack Ryder in tag-team action via pinfall. Ryder ended up being the man on his team who had to look up at the lights, as you would expect.
– WWE United States Champion Sheamus was announced to appear on last night’s episode of WWE Main Event, as well as in the dark match main event after the conclusion of the SmackDown television taping, but for whatever reason ended up not working the show at all.
– Zack Ryder will be the guest on Chris Jericho’s next edition of “Talk Is Jericho.” The show drops on Friday at PodcastOne.com.
– The official website for News 13 in Orlando added a video of the Cesaro segment from their television broadcast earlier today. The interview features the WWE Superstar promoting SmackDown in the area this week, discussion about why Cesaro is “The King of Swing” and more. You can check out the video interview at MyNews13.com.
Former WWE Superstar Brian Myers (Curt Hawkins) was a guest on The LAW: Live Audio Wrestling this week. During an interview with host John Pollock, Myers explained how WWE’s treatment of Zack “broke the spirit” of the locker room:
“The worst part of that whole thing is that it really kind of broke the spirit of the locker room. For years, we were told in all these pep talks that there’s a brass ring, you’ve gotta reach for it and it’s there for the taking if you work hard enough and get yourself over. And he did it; he defied the odds and actually does it, and all the boys are rooting for him, like ‘Oh wow, this is cool as sh*t. This has never been done before.’ He got over without the office, without TV time.
It was pretty mind-blowing. And then they did just crush it and take it all away from him. To me, I felt the example that set for the rest of the boys was pretty brutal, because then it’s like it almost feels hopeless. It’s like, you’re not going to get pushed unless they pick you to get pushed, and that’s kind of it. I thought, above all, that message they sent to the boys was the worst part.
They crushed the spirits of a lot of people, like ‘Okay, so my hard work here isn’t going to pay off, huh?'”
You can download the full interview here (.MP3). Other topics discussed include:
– His WWE release and reaction to it
– Frustration over the past year or so
– His injury in 2012 and how it impacted his road schedule in the company
– Working with The Rock for his comeback matches over the past few years
– Going from The Major Brothers to the Edge Heads with Zack Ryder
– Learning from Edge
– Getting back into the ring on the independent scene right away
– The launch of the WWE Network and what his impressions have been
– Filming WWE Countdown – who are the big wrestling fans in the locker room and which ones are not
– What he is watching on the WWE Network and lots more
The following are highlights of a recent Live Audio Wrestling interview with Curt Hawkins:
On WWE release: “I was with the WWE for eight and a half years, and I saw so many guys get let go and just sit around and feel sorry for themselves, and I feel like nothing good comes of that. To me, wrestling is wrestling. It’s what I love to do. If I was able to do it that weekend, why wouldn’t I? I was thrilled at the idea that…you know, originally I would be sitting home as a WWE employee like I was doing, collecting a check but not really having any fun. So I was like, “Woo! Alright, sweet.” Hit the ground running, you know?
For one, it’s been like a weight has been lifted. It was just going nowhere, and I sensed that, and I’m thrilled to be back being my own boss and actively wrestling every weekend, which is really just what I want to do. That’s all I can ask for. I’m a desperate hopeless romantic for pro wrestling since I was five years old, I just love it. I’m happiest in the ring; I don’t care whose ring it is or who owns it, I just want to be in there performing and I’m happy. And I know I’m a sucker in that sense, because it’s a business, but that’s what makes me happy and that’s the truth. What really happened, in my opinion, is when I got hurt in late summer 2012 – I tore my PCL and meniscus, and that was the first time I had to actively stop. I had to have surgery. Ever since then, I never was put on a full road schedule again. It was almost a year and a half of just sitting home and they’d randomly call me for something. It was just bizarre, it never got going again. I think a lot of it was a cost-cutting thing to keep a lot of talent off the road because they weren’t going to be used.”
On working with The Rock for his comeback matches: “That started for his comeback match, the Survivor Series match in 2011. I got a call from John Laurinaitis one afternoon, and that’s never a good thing, so I’m like “Oh sh*t, what could this be about?” It was a conference call with me and Joe Hennig on the line, and he basically explained that Rock needs guy to train with to get ready for his matches, and he’s not gonna be at every TV and whatnot. We were basically like his punching bags for whatever he wants to do, whenever he wants to do it. It wound up being incredible. Basically, I could be at home at any point and someone from the office would call me and say, “Hey, Dwayne wants to train tomorrow in Miami, we’ll send you the information” and WWE would basically set up a ring, they’d send a ring crew guy and a ref. They’d set up a ring in a warehouse near wherever he was filming. We did it in Miami, we did it in New Orleans. At the drop of a hat, my daily commute would be Miami and back in one day just to get a workout in with Dwayne. It was a blast. Honestly, he could not have been cooler. From jump street, he was the coolest guy.”
