– AOL has announced a major relaunch of the AOL.com website, which will offer lots of new video content. They’ve signed deals with WWE, ESPN, Vogue, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Conde Nast and Simon & Schuster.
The site will feature premium video content on their homepage and will consist of original and archived content.
– Zeb Colter tweeted the following on Tuesday asking fans who the next ‘Real American’ should be:
– Since the untimely death of the Ultimate Warrior just one week ago, over a hundred companies began selling unauthorized merchandise donning Warrior’s name and logo. Attorneys for Ultimate Creations (Warrior’s marketing company) have sent out cease and desist letters to over 100 companies who started selling t-shirts with the Ultimate Warrior’s name and logo since he passed.
According to TMZ.com, Ultimate Creations is threatening legal action if the companies continue to profit off Warrior’s trademarks.
– Zeb Colter tweeted the following on Monday night, questioning whether WWE Divas Champion Paige is ‘legal’ –
The following news was revealed during tonight’s post-WrestleMania XXX edition of WWE RAW:
Big Show vs. Cesaro will take place on this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown.
The Wyatt Family will take on The Shield in a six-man tag-team match on this week’s edition of WWE Main Event.
NXT stars Alexander Rusev and Paige debuted. Rusev defeated Zack Ryder with his “Accolade” submission finisher, while Paige defeated AJ Lee to become the new WWE Divas Champion.
Vignettes aired hyping the pending WWE main roster debuts of NXT stars Bo Dallas and Adam Rose. The Rose vignette featured the NXT star on an “Erotic Express” bus.
Rob Van Dam made his return to WWE. He returned in a match against Damien Sandow, which he ended up winning.
Cesaro was revealed as the newest “Paul Heyman guy.” Cesaro turned on Zeb Colter, aligning himself with Heyman and defeating his former “Real American” tag-team partner via count out.
As many expected, WrestleMania XXX turned out to be a memorable and newsworthy event on Sunday night. A number of legendary moments took place, titles changed hands and surprises unfolded throughout the evening. Below is a quick rundown of some of the notable moments from the show.
The show opened up with a “WrestleMania Moment” type segment, as Hulk Hogan, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Rock shared the ring for a promo segment.
The Undertaker’s legendary undefeated streak was broken. Undertaker lost via F-5 to Brock Lesnar, making his new WrestleMania record 21-1.
Daniel Bryan finally had his “big moment,” as he defeated Triple H in the opening match on the pay-per-view and would go on to defeat Randy Orton and Batista in the main event to become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
The Real Americans broke up during the WWE Tag-Team Championship match on the WrestleMania XXX pre-show. After The Usos retained their titles, last eliminating The Real Americans, Cesaro ignored the orders of his manager Zeb Colter and attacked Jack Swagger.
Additionally, Cesaro pulled off an upset by winning the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. He last eliminated The Big Show in what will go down as his first true “WrestleMania Moment” when he body slammed the giant — with ease — over the top rope.
– Forbes Magazine has released the 2014 Billionaires List. For the first time ever, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon is listed as one of the “notable newcomers” with an estimated $1.2 billion in personal wealth.
– The WWE Studios film Legendary starring John Cena has been added back to Netflix streaming on demand.
– WWE Main Event will air live for the first time ever this Tuesday (3/4) on the WWE Network. The show will broadcast at 7 PM (Eastern) and will later air on it’s usual time slot on the Ion Network on Wednesday.
– Zeb Colter is teasing some surprises for tonight’s WWE RAW:
Tomorrow night…going to be interesting in #WWEChicago…#RAW…chatter is that there's a few surprises in store. @WWE
– The latest edition of the “Steve Austin Show” podcast, which features Zeb Colter (aka Dutch Mantel) as a guest, is now available. You can check it out at SteveAustinShow.com.
– WWE Hall Of Famer “Rowdy” Roddy Piper continues to campaign for a match at WrestleMania XXX on his official Twitter account. Piper recently tweeted the following:
#WWE put Piper in WMXXX! He promises, the fans will love it! Or is "What's good for biz" just a line a writer made for you!
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s latest podcast is now available. The latest show features Austin discussing his backstage experience at Monday’s RAW in-depth.
Austin also noted during the podcast that while at the RAW show in Los Angeles this past Monday, he recorded future shows with Zeb Colter, Big Show, William Regal and John Cena. He also noted that he extended an offer to Kevin Dunn to appear on the show, but is still waiting on his answer.
You can check out Austin’s latest podcast at PodcastOne.com.
– It has been confirmed that WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin is backstage at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, the site of tonight’s RAW. As noted earlier, Austin is recording a face-to-face interview with Zeb Colter (aka Dutch Mantel) for a future “Steve Austin Show” podcast.
– Rob Van Dam was also backstage at the Staples Center this afternoon. RVD, who also lives in the area, has not been on TV since October.
– WWE physician Dr. Chris Amann noted that increased swelling led to Naomi getting the CAT scan and that she has been prescribed medication to help with the swelling. A final determination as to whether Naomi will need surgery will be made later in the week.
WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin noted on Twitter recently that he is headed to the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the site of tonight’s WWE RAW show.
Austin also noted that he will be recording an interview with Zeb Colter (aka Dutch Mantel) for a new edition of his “Steve Austin Show” podcast.
The following are highlights from a recent Hampton Roads interview with WWE Superstar Titus O’Neil:
On his friendship with Batista, and how Batista convinced him to become a wrestler: “I used to be, like, ‘No, I’m not doing it. I’m going into coaching; that’s what I want to do,’ Dave, who’s probably one of my best friends, was, like, ‘But I really think you’d do well in it. You have the size and the charisma and the athleticism to do it.’ But I just kept saying, ‘No, I don’t think it’s for me.’ ”
On how he got his start in WWE: “It was really just blind faith based on what Dave had been telling me, but I walked in and had about a 15-minute conversation with (trainer and former WWE wrestler) Steve Keirn about wrestling and trying out and stuff like that. It was only about 15 minutes after I finished talking to him and left that the WWE called me and said they wanted me to try out. They had a show that day, so I went and picked my kids up from school, and I asked them if they wanted to go to a wrestling match. The next thing you know, two weeks after that, Daddy’s wrestling for the WWE.”
On vomiting on Zeb Colter: “I guess that’s something I can put under my belt: I can vomit on cue. Hey, our job is to entertain people, and I guess it entertained a lot of people…. There are a lot of people who want to hit Zeb Colter in the mouth on a regular basis, but me throwing up on him was just as good.”
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Noah Mark is back with his the latest installment of “The YES! & The NO! of WWE RAW.” Comment below and tell us if you agree with this week’s picks.
Here are some quick thoughts about this weeks edition of Christmas Raw. Did you watch it?
The WWE Diva’s are awesome to look at. Not so awesome to watch wrestle.
12-diva’s Jingle Bells Match: The tag team division has been completely turned around. At one point it seemed like there was barely a tag team division. AJ Lee is the best women’s wrestler on the roster, why aren’t we seeing her in great matches. I guess I know why, because of Total Diva’s. That doesn’t mean there can’t be great woman’s wrestling. NO!
John Cena, CM Punk, and Big E. Langston victorious to end Christmas Raw
CM Punk John Cena & Big E Langston vs The Shield I enjoyed the match, Cena, Punk and Big E all out there. The end seemed silly though. Why would there suddenly be a disqualification, because the two illegal Shield members saved themselves from being pinned by Big E? It doesn’t make sense, but still the match was better than the Good Santa vs Bad Santa, which I thought for sure would close the show. Therefore it gets a YES!
The USOS vs The Prime Time Players: The match was fun to watch. Good tag team action YES!|
The USO’s and The Prime Time Players all celebrate after the match. Barf
The USOS & Prime Time Players Curtain Call Before the match Darren Young mistakenly refer to Austin Texas as Houston, to get some sort of heel heat, I didn’t have a problem with this. I did have a problem with after the match, The USO’s and The Prime Time Players all doing the Millions of Dollars dance. Here’s why I have an issue with it. This is starting to become a thing, with Superstars hugging after the match, we saw it a few weeks ago with the Michael Strahan, Miz, Titus O’neil segment. We saw it with Big Show, Rey Mysterio and The Rhodes. Forget about ruthless aggression, these guys are all becoming wimps! It’s OKAY for two fan favorites to dislike each other, and not hug at the end. I’m not saying they need to attack each other after the match… but I’m hoping it’s just a lighthearted Christmas episode thing, and not a growing trend. Although with the recent article of WWEshopping their television shows to TV Network’s including Disney. We might see everyone hug at the end of matches in the future. NO!
“Bad Santa’ full of Christmas Cupcakes
Good Santa Vs Bad Santa:It is what it is I guess. Mark Henry playing the good Santa, Damien Sandow playing the bad Santa with produced backstage segments contrasting the two. The announcers played it up as you would have expected. The whole concept is silly. Bah Humbug! NO!
Live Announcing: I would say it was a good thing that Michael Cole and JBL announced the show live from Stanford CT. (They had pre-recorded cut-in’s from the arena, but voiced most of Raw Live) it gave it a fresh feel, JBL made some topical references as he eluded to on twitter. The Batista announcement which clearly wasn’t scheduled for the show originally was added in, and the live commentary allowed for reaction from JB and Cole. Did you miss Jerry “The King” Lawler? I did not. YES!
@NEIL_MALONE@WWE@GoToBermuda pre taped? Not sure u noticed, our commentary was live. The Romo reference should have given that away.
“Santa Claus is an Illegal Immigrant” – Zeb Colter
The Real Americans vs Los Matadores: Another good tag team match on Raw. We saw the Antonio Cesaro swing, which if you haven’t’ seen live is an awesome thing to watch. With all the tag teams in the WWE, I think the WrestleMania pre-show match should involve all the tag-teams that one make it to the PPV. Perhaps the winner can face the champions. YES!
RAW OVERALL: NO! Call me scrooge if you will, but the over cheesy holiday wrestling show, should go on Smackdown! I think Raw looses it’s coolness by being lame. If Disney pony’s up the cash this could be what you see on RAW every week so get used to it! There was some good action on the show which I enjoyed, no real progression of WWE story lines but the big announcement of The Animal Batista, which was awesome to see.
– According to PWInsider.com, WWE officials are steamed over news of Batista returning to the organization since it was meant to be kept as a surprise. Advertisements featuring the former WWE Champion were removed Saturday from UNLVTickets.com for WWE’s scheduled non-televised event at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sunday, February 16, 2014.
– With WWE in San Antonio, Texas last week for SmackDown, Zeb Colter paid a visit to the The Alamo in order to look out for illegal immigrants. To watch the vignette, click here.
– Former WWE Superstar Rob Van Dam has been announced to appear at a Reality of Wrestling event on Saturday, January 11, 2014 in Houston, Texas. (Event Information)
– This week’s WWE Classics on Demand updates are as follows: WWE SummerSlam (2013), World Wrestling Federation action at the Copps Coliseum (December 4, 1988, featuring Tim Horner vs. Johnny K-9, Hulk Hogan vs. Big Boss Man, Virgil vs. Hercules, Tito Santana vs. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, Mr. Perfect vs. Jose Luis Rivera, “The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase vs. Koko B. Ware, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan vs. Dino Bravo), WWWF Championship Wrestling (February 4, 1978), ECW Hardcore TV (December 4, 1998), WWF Prime Time Wrestling (December 25, 1989).
– Christian returned Monday night during the Slammy Awards pre-show to present the “THIS IS AWESOME!” Moment of the Year. He also appeared on Raw during the Championship Ascension segment with 19 other former WWE and World Champions. Speaking to Renee Young on the WWE App, the former World Heavyweight Champion addressed his injury and shared some big personal news.
He stated, “It’s been kind of a rough go since I was taken out of action a few months back by The Shield, which I haven’t forgotten yet. I had a pretty bad concussion. I had some recurring concussion symptoms and things like that. A lot of stuff going on in my life. Actually, I don’t talk about my personal life all that too much, I’ll do it this one time only, some breaking news here on the App. It’s a blessing in disguise that I got to be home because I welcomed my first child. Had a baby girl, so I was pretty happy about that. And that’s the last time you’ll ever hear me talk about my personal life.”
To view the segment, click here. He has been out of action since suffering a concussion during a match with Randy Orton on the August 26 edition of Raw.
– There was a production error during Raw as last year’s graphic for the 2012 Slammy Awards was shown.
– Zeb Colter came up empty at the 2013 Slammy Awards as he lost the award for Insult of the Year to Stephanie McMahon. Addressing the snub on Twitter, the 64-year-old remarked, “Regardless of what anyone of you say, I got ROBBED!!! NEXT YEAR WILL BE DIFFERENT.”
– Celebrating birthdays today are WWE United States Champion Dean Ambrose (28), WWE Hall of Famer Tammy “Sunny” Sytch (41), and former WWE Superstar Curtis Hughes (49). Plus, today would have marked as the fifty-fifth birthday of WWE Hall of Famer “Ravishing” Rick Rude; he died at the age of 40 on April 20, 1999 due to heart failure.
Sytch, who is currently undergoing treatment for cervical cancer, remarked the following on Facebook on Friday, “Well, the day turned out not as I had planned… The easiest part should have been getting my epidural, but instead, I almost passed out in the table. My pre-op appt and pre-op testing went smoother and faster than I was imaging. That shot hurt like s**t this morning!!!”
– This week’s “Raw Slam of the Week” features the return of Sin Cara, while the tandem of Big Show and Rey Mysterio are highlighted in the “SmackDown Slam of the Week.”
– Zeb Colter’s insults are in the running for “Insult of the Year” at this Monday’s 2013 Slammy Awards (with Stephanie McMahon insults Big Show AJ Lee goes off on Total Divas and Paul Heyman’s insults toward CM Punk). Colter responded to his nomination on Twitter, stating, “When did speaking the truth become an insult? #Slammy Insult of the year #RAW.”
– According to F4WOnline.com, there is a chance WWE will shoot an angle of some sort between Shawn Michaels and Daniel Bryan at this coming Monday’s RAW. HBK will be presenting the “Superstar of the Year” Slammy, while Bryan is expected to win the website vote for the award.
It should be noted that it is strictly a rumor at this point.
– The following are some new tweets from WWE personalities discussing WWE Superstar Rey Mysterio’s return:
SERIOUSLY, @reymysterio SAID HE'S FROM SAN DIEGO…WHO KNOWS IF THATS TRUE? SOMEBODY ALSO SAID YOU COULD KEEP YOUR INSURANCE. HMMM..@WWE
The following are the official nominees for the “LOL Moment of the Year” Slammy Award, which will be presented by The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn) on Monday night.
– The Rock concert during the RAW 20th Anniversary show
– Vickie Guerrero getting fired as RAW General Manager
– Titus O’Neil throwing up on JBL, Michael Cole and Zeb Colter on SmackDown
– The Great Khali and Jinder Mahal attempting to charm Santino Marella’s “Cobra”
– WWE officials are once again interested in having Rey Mysterio face Sin Cara at WrestleMania XXX, with hopes of breaking the world record for the most people wearing a mask in one area.
Though Sin Cara has not appeared on WWE programming since August, his merchandise is reporting selling very well.
– This week on “Backstage Fallout” for SmackDown, WWE cameras catch up with Zeb Colter following his unpleasant incident on the show. Plus, find out how Titus O’Neil is feeling.
The “Backstage Fallout” video for this week’s Survivor Series “go-home” edition of WWE SmackDown has been added to the official YouTube channel of WWE.
This week’s SmackDown “Backstage Fallout” features WWE Superstar Rey Mysterio reacting to his first in-ring return match on WWE television. Mysterio talks about returning to the ring with The Usos to take on The Shield. He also talks about the match scheduled for this Sunday’s WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view.
Also on this week’s “Backstage Fallout” is The Real Americans talking about not winning the WWE Tag-Team Championships from Goldust and Cody Rhodes, as well as Zeb Colter taking over for Renee Young to end the show.
You can watch this week’s “Backstage Fallout” video for SmackDown below:
– Several students from Bully Ray and Devon’s Team 3D Wrestling Academy received tryouts with WWE at last night’s RAW from Orlando. Others were also used as extras during the show.
– After the Real Americans’ non-title win over WWE Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Goldust on RAW, Zeb Colter says his guys won’t be ignored anymore:
– Speaking of WWE’s tag team division, it’s rumored that a four-team match for the WWE Tag titles will take place at Survivor Series. The match will feature Cody Rhodes & Goldust defending against the Real Americans, The Shield and another team, likely the Usos.
(Information from f4wonline.com and pwinsider.com was used in this report)
-WWE has signed the daughter of former pro wrestler Paul Van Dale, Leah Van Damme (Leah Van Dale). Van Dale is a former New England Patriots and Los Angeles Lakers cheerleader. Dale tweeted about being at the WWE Performance Center, writing:
“So pumped to be at the @WWEPerformCtr today! Ready to learn! #wwe #nxt #diva”
-According to reports, there are plans to break up the tag-team of The Real Americans. Apparently WWE feels the “giant swing move” that Antonio Cesaro has been doing lately is a big babyface spot in matches, so they are likely going to be turning Cesaro babyface in the near future.
– In recent weeks, WWE has billed Stephanie McMahon as an “owner” of WWE. This is being done to set up an eventual showdown with her father, WWE CEO Vince McMahon.
It’s been rumored for months that the “Best for Business” storyline will culminate at WrestleMania XXX with a Triple H (or a wrestler representing him) will square off against a wrestler hand picked by Vince McMahon.
– As seen on Monday’s RAW, WWE has released special pink versions of their most popular t-shirts to recognize Breast Cancer Awareness month. To buy a “Rise Above Cancer” pink WWE t-shirt, visit WWEShop.com.
– WWE re-tweeted this message from Zeb Colter, talking about the United States Government shutdown and how it affects the new Los Matadores tag team:
-According to the advertised talent roster on the official website for the Scottrade Center for the October 14th edition of WWE RAW in St. Louis, WWE Superstar Kane, who has been out of action lately filming the sequel to the WWE Studios project, “See No Evil,” is listed as one of the Superstars appearing on the show. It should be noted, however, that WWE.com is not advertising Kane for the 10/14 RAW. Additionally, the Scottrade Center website still lists Randy Orton as the WWE Champion, which would indicate that the advertising, which is listed, as always, as “subject to change,” is out-of-date. For what it’s worth, the website also lists “Mr. McMahon” as appearing on the show as well.
-As previously reported, WWE is taking steps to attempt to cut some unnecessary costs at their non-televised live events by taking some of the non-essential talents, such as performers like Vickie Guerrero and Zeb Colter, off of the road. It’s worth pointing out that despite the reports, while Colter was not at the live events this past weekend, Vickie Guerrero was in fact at the shows.
-WWE Superstar John Cena recently tweeted his tribute to those effected by the tragedies of 9/11, arguably the worst day in United States history, which took place 12 years ago today. Cena wrote:
On this day, loved ones were lost, heroes were found, and an entire nation filled with mourning and courage stood united. 9/11 #neverforget
-WWE Superstar Zack Ryder tweeted this one:
Never forget…
-WWE Superstar David Otunga tweeted:
It’s been 12 years since the WTC tragedy. R.I.P. to all those who lost their lives in the towers and valiantly trying to save others.
-WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross tweeted:
This date September 11 will always have a special place in my heart. Thoughts & prayers go out to all affected by the tragedy of 911.
-WWE Hall Of Famer Howard Finkel tweeted:
I stop to remember and reflect on the events of 12 yrs ago on this date. We’ll never forget those victims, and continue to stand strong!
-WWE personality Zeb Colter tweeted:
Today is 9/11. Please remember those we lost 12 years ago. Sad day for all Americans…#WeThePeople
-WWE Hall Of Famer Trish Stratus announced via her official website that her baby is due next month, and that it will be a baby boy. She also noted that she will be naming the child “Maximum,” or “Max” for short. For more, including photos from her baby shower, visit TrishStratus.com.
-The online pre-sale for the upcoming WWE RAW television show in St. Louis, MO. takes place today. There are two pre-sale passwords fans purchasing tickets today can use, and those are WWERAW and CHAMP.
-As we previously reported, Mark Henry and “surprise guests” are scheduled for the August 22nd WWE NXT television taping from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. WWE has since announced both Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter for the 8/22 NXT taping.
-WWE’s Stephanie McMahon recently posted a new tweet regarding the Vickie Guerrero in-ring job evaluation segment scheduled for tonight’s edition of WWE RAW. Stephanie wrote on Twitter, “I’m looking forward to @ExcuseMeWWE job evaluation on #RAW tonight. Remember Vickie, anything can happen. @TripleH @VinceMcMahon @WWE”
-WWE manager Zeb Colter also posted about tonight’s WWE RAW show. Colter tweeted, “Tonight,@RealJackSwagger @AntonioCesaro will be focused on #mitb. Looking for “several” persons of interest. #wwe”
