WWE Superstar Emma recently did an interview with Newshub to discuss a number of professional wrestling topics. Emma talked about how she got into pro wrestling, what goals she has for herself in the business, and how she uses social media to stand out in a roster filled with extremely talented women. You can check out the highlights here:
How she got into professional wrestling:
“I fell in love with wrestling. I remember thinking that ‘There must be some way I can learn how to do this’ and I never snapped out of that mind-set. I found an independent wrestling school, learned my trade and just went from there – now I’m here in the WWE.”
What goals she still has for herself in the business:
“The roller coaster that is the wrestling world – the injuries, the matches that I will never forget, all of that is just part of the journey to where I become women’s champion and wrestle at Wrestlemania. At that point, I can look back and just be so thankful and satisfied with everything I have done to get to that moment.”
How she uses social media to stand out in the WWE’s talent-stacked female roster:
“There are so many talented females on our roster, so yes, it can be hard to stand out, but in saying that I have one of the biggest social media following on the entire WWE roster. It has really worked for me recently because of my fans, the comments I had been getting from them made me react to it and you can see it’s really paid off in the last few weeks. It’s about time too, the whole ‘#GiveEmmaAChance’ thing is real. I mean when do I get my chance at the championship, I have never had that and it just goes to show how social media can help.”
You can read Emma’s full interview with Newshubhere.
Upon his initial run with WWE, Sid Vicious was immediately thrusted in to the main event scene against the likes of Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior. It was an incident that occurred backstage between Hogan and McMahon after The Royal Rumble, however, that really ticked him off and made him want to leave the company.
At the 1992 Royal Rumble “The Hulkster” was booed by the crowd who had grown tired of his “American hero” gimmick, despite him being the face of the promotion at the time.
The fan reaction greatly angered Hogan, who took it out on McMahon backstage and blamed him. During a recent interview with Hannibal TV, Vicious claimed Hogan began yelling at McMahon as if he had planned for the boos to happen:
“He [Hogan] is putting on like a woman, screaming at Vince like Vince planned for him to get booed,” Vicious said. “I went to Vince’s office and I said, ‘Vince, I can’t work in a place where a grown man acts like this.’ I said, ‘I’m going home, I’m done.'”
This week at the Performance Center in Orlando, WWE held the 2017 NXT Combine, a 2-day event to test the strength and conditioning of NXT Superstars and WWE signees.
The athletic events included sprints, overhead medicine ball tosses, broad jumps, 1000-meter rows, bench press, deadlifts and weighted chin-ups and more.
WWE.com has published full results from the camp, including the Top 3 male and female performers for each exercise.
On the men’s side, NXT star Tino Sabbatelli, Montez Ford of the The Street Profits and Otis Dozovic of Heavy Machinery had the most impressive performances. Dozovic won the bench press (46 reps of 225 pounds) and trap-bar dead lift (775 pounds max weight) competitions.
For the women, Mae Young Classic competitor Bianca Belair was the clear standout, coming in first place than more even than anybody (including Standing Broad Jump, Overhead Medicine Ball Toss, the 1,000 Meter Row, Bench Press, Weighted Chin-Up, Fireman’s Carry and tied for first on the Trap Bar Dead Lift with Ember Moon).
If you’re not yet familiar with Bianca Belair, check out her first-round match from the Mae Young Classic tournament and her post-match interview:
Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins recently made an appearance on the Sam Roberts’ Wrestling Podcast and discussed his journey through WWE. “The Architect” was asked about his old finishing maneuver, The Curbstomp, which has since been banned by Vince McMahon. Rollins explained why the move was banned by “The Chairman Of The Board,” and claimed that he hated the decision and believed it was silly:
“No more blonde and The Curbstomp is gone, guys. It’s not my fault. Trust me. It’s not like I was [saying], ‘oh yes, I want a new finisher.’ No, they snatched it from me. They took it from me. No, so this is what happened, okay? After WrestleMania, I had won the [WWE] title, and I flew across the country to do the Today Show. For the Today Show, they put together a package of all of Seth Rollins’ awesome maneuvers. At the time, my finish was The Curbstomp”
“So Vince McMahon is sitting wherever Vince McMahon sits on a Monday morning and he’s seeing me on the Today Show and I look good in a suit. I’m representing the company. I look good in a suit. And I’m wearing the title and then he sees this package of me stomping another man’s head into the ground and it being called The Curbstomp on national television. And he thought to himself, ‘well, that’s not a good representation of what I want my top guy to do,’ so he just had a meeting with some of his people, and they decided, ‘well, we don’t need it – we can figure out another finish for you’ and the rest is history. I get it. I hate it. I think it’s silly, but it is what it is and it’s not my company. I’m doing the best I can with it.”
WWE COO Triple H recently did an interview with ESPN to talk about a number of professional wrestling topics. During the interview, “The Game” discussed the poor reactions received from the crowd by John Cena and Roman Reigns. He also revealed what he told “The Leader Of The Cenation” when it seemed as though the reactions were getting under his skin. You can see what he had to say here:
What he told John Cena about the negative fan reactions:
“Fans will say that all the time — ‘I hate Roman Reigns’. They did it with [John] Cena, too. I remember telling Cena years ago, when it started happening to him, ‘Dude, what do you care? You’re the Yankees and the Red Sox at the same time.’ The place is sold out.”
Why it doesn’t make sense to turn Roman Reigns heel:
“For the people that hate him, he’s already turned, and for the people that love him, they don’t want him to turn. And if we turned him, the people who hate him would switch to loving him, and the people who love him would switch to hating him.”
You can check out Triple H’s full interview with ESPN by visiting this link.
WWE has partnered with FOX Sports Mexico to launch a new weekly Spanish-language show, WWE Saturday night. The show premieres tomorrow night (9/2) at 9pm local time on FOX Sports 2.
FOX Sports Mexico and WWE® Announce Exclusive New Weekly Program WWE Saturday Night
MEXICO CITY & STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– FOX Sports Mexico and WWE (NYSE:WWE) today announced the launch of a new weekly Spanish-language show, WWE Saturday Night, featuring the best action and family-friendly entertainment from WWE, beginning tomorrow, September 2 at 9 p.m. CDT on FOX Sports 2.
Distributed throughout Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, WWE Saturday Night features thrilling highlights and pivotal moments from WWE’s flagship programs Raw® and SmackDown®, as well as WWE’s premium live events, including WrestleMania®, SummerSlam®, Royal Rumble® and Survivor Series®. WWE Saturday Night is presented by renowned FOX Sports Mexico broadcasters Verónica Rodríguez and Jimena Sánchez and also includes exclusive interviews with WWE Superstars and social media features, giving viewers in Latin America a unique, localized WWE experience. Additionally, WWE Saturday Night will be available on-demand through the FOX app to authenticated FOX Sports subscribers.
“We are very excited to launch this new project with WWE that we have been working on for many months,” said Ernesto López, Senior Vice President, FOX Sports Mexico production and programming. “We are confident that WWE Saturday Night will strengthen our relationship with a great brand like WWE while also delivering unique and spectacular content to our viewers.”
“We are excited to partner with FOX Sports Mexico to deliver new, localized content throughout the region and expand our reach,” said Joaquin Del Rivero, WWE Vice President & General Manager, Latin America. “WWE Saturday Night offers a premier destination for FOX Sports Latin America’s viewers to enjoy WWE’s blend of action-packed, family-friendly entertainment.”
Former WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens recently spoke with the Argus Leader and discussed the possibility of working as a babyface in WWE.
Owens, one of the best pure heels in the company, says he’s up for the challenge of portraying a ‘good guy’ if the fans get behind him.
“I don’t really know as far as any ideas or plans that anybody would have for that. I think I can make anything work. If I can get people to boo me, then I can get people to cheer for me if I want. I’d be up for the challenge.”
Kevin Owens is also one of the best talkers in WWE and commented on how scripted the promos are.
“I’m sure other performers get different guidelines, and I think it’s a day-by-day scenario of who gets to have more freedom than other people. We always get help with our interviews from our writers, but you learn to find ways to get your own credits instead of using somebody else’s words.”
Not everybody is able to think on their feet and cut a good unscripted promo, but Owens knows he can improvise if given the chance and does incorporate some of his own ideas on the mic.
“Some people are good at it, and other people aren’t as good. But the people who are good at it usually get more leeway of how to speak and what to say because the fact they can carry an interview. I always know where I’m going, and I know what they want me to deliver. But I do get to put my own spin on it most of the time.”
WWE Superstar and Total Bellas reality TV star Nikki Bella recently spoke with Inside The Ropes for a quick video interview during SummerSlam weekend in New York last month.
During the discussion, Nikki spoke about recovering from her neck surgery and plans to return to the ring in 2018 – with sister Brie at her side.
“[I’m] definitely coming back,” she said. “I want to come back when I have my sister by my side. It’s been over two years since the Bella Twins have been in the ring together, so I definitely want to make a comeback with Brie. I’m obviously still waiting for my neck to heal, so I’m hoping 2018 is gonna be the time when we come back. I hope before then, but I don’t know if that can happen. That’s the thing about bones, it’s like ‘c’mon!’”
Due to her neck injury, Nikki’s surgeon told her she should never work a full-time schedule again. “Unfortunately because of my neck, my surgeon… he doesn’t even want me to come back and ever be in the ring again, but, he definitely said you can’t ever be in the ring full-time again.”
Nikki returned to action at last summer and worked a full-time schedule through WrestleMania, but she got injured again and accepts the fact that she’s at the tail end of her wrestling career.
“We kind of saw that when I came back last Summerslam when I went to full-time through Wrestlemania; I ended up getting injured. It’s very tough on my body working a full-time schedule unfortunately.”
– Jim Cornette has announced Matt Sydal vs. GFW World Heavyweight Champion Eli Drake for next Thursday’s GFW Impact (September 7th).
Cornette also announced El Hijo del Fantasma vs. Impact Grand Champion Ethan Carter III for the September 14th show.
– Here is the latest After Impact video with Josh Mathews and Scott D’Amore recapping last night’s show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJBSIFUXyBM
– Former X Division Champion Petey Williams returned to GFW Impact this week and picked up a win over Caleb Konley. It was Petey’s first Impact match in more than 8 years after returning at Destination X a few weeks back.
In a post-match video, Williams talks about his goal to elevate the X Division once again. He also says his Canadian Destroyer move has been “hookered” around the business while he’s been retired for the past 3 years. He claims to be the original ‘Canadian Destroyer’ and he’s going to save pro wrestling while he takes the move back. Williams also knocks Caleb and Trevor Lee, and thanks X Division Sonjay Dutt for having his back.
Former RAW Women’s Champion Sasha Banks joined the the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast this week and spoke about a variety of WWE-related topics.
Back at Money in the Bank, a lot of fans were unhappy that James Ellsworth got involved in the first-ever Women’s Money in the Bank match. With the Women’s Revolution in full swing, it was a questionable booking decision for Carmella to win with a man’s help. Sasha says WWE knows how to get a reaction out of the audience and accomplished that with Ellsworth’s involvement.
“Knowing our company, everyone was talking about it and that is what they wanted,” she said.
Sasha Banks made a name for herself in NXT and is one of the biggest stars to come out of WWE’s developmental system. In NXT, she feels storylines were laid out much more clearly. She knew where her character was headed and was able to give a lot more input. On the main roster, she’ll arrive at RAW and have no idea what’s planned for her. She admits it’s frustrating not knowing what’s next for her in WWE.
“We kind of always knew where we were going [in NXT], so it helped me prepare and think about it ahead of time about how can I make this better. But when I go to Raw, it’s legit like I have no clue what I am doing so I don’t even know what to prepare for. I get handed something and told something and am like ‘okay, I have one hour to get… okay let’s just do it.’ Honestly, I wish we had the opportunity to know what we are doing in the next three months.”
Sasha’s a four-time RAW Women’s Champion, but has lost the title each time within a month. She doesn’t know why the RAW Women’s Championship is passed around so casually and whether it’s a sign WWE doesn’t have faith in her as champion.
“I don’t know if it was something with me or they just want to keep on flipping flopping, I don’t know!”
She also expressed frustration with the fact that she wasn’t able to attend the Mae Young Classic tapings in Orlando. Instead of being ringside like some of the other NXT women who graduated to the main roster, she was doing PR for WWE in Australia.
Sasha questioned, “How am I not a part of this?’ I can’t believe they booked it like that.”
Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s #1 ranked wrestler of 2017 Kazuchika Okada spoke with the magazine about topping this year’s list, the possibility of joining WWE and more.
Several of WWE’s top Superstars, including AJ Styles, Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling before signing with the company. Okada has worked with them all and would love to compete against them again, but he’s not sold that WWE is a good fit for him.
When asked if he’d consider working for WWE, he said, “It’s not something I think about. New Japan is far superior to WWE when it comes to the quality of the roster and the quality of the matches.”
Okada follows the WWE product and has been backstage for several WWE events over the past year. He attended last year’s NXT Takeover: Brooklyn and SummerSlam shows (photo) was backstage at RAW and SmackDown in July (video) when NJPW was in town for the G1 Special tournament in California. He keeps an eye on what Balor, AJ and Nakamura are doing in WWE and says they look like they’re having fun.
“One thing I will say is that I do pay attention to what Finn Balor, AJ, and Nakamura are doing, and they look like they’re having fun. I might want to wrestle them again someday, but I might want to do that in New Japan.”
With so many big name wrestlers crossing over into other fields like movies and even UFC, Okada teased that he might follow in the footsteps of guys like The Rock and Batista.
“Hell, I might want to be like some other people and become a movie star or join the UFC. You never know.”
We noted before how Samoa Joe missed this week’s episode of Raw due to an injury and his absence forced WWE to scrap a major dream match between him and John Cena.
However, another star which was notably missing from the show was none other than the Monster Among Men Braun Strowman, though the reason for his absence was not known.
Now the latest installment of Wrestling Observer Newsletter has revealed that Strowman didn’t miss Raw due to an injury or any other such issue and keeping him off TV this week was a creative decision.
According to the Newsletter, the company wants to save the physical confrontation between Strowman and Brock Lesnar for No Mercy and they want to avoid too much physicality before the PPV.
After their confrontation on last week’s episode of Raw, the belief backstage is that you cannot have both the Monster Sized athletes on the same show without interacting.
Since Brock was scheduled to appear on Raw, the Officials believed that having Braun appear anywhere else on the card didn’t make sense, hence they decided to keep him off Television.
Lesnar is not scheduled to appear on Raw next week so Braun Strowman is expected to return on the next episode of the Red Branded Show.
Although both these stars are currently being advertised for the September 11th episode of Raw and it’d be interesting to see if these two share the ring once again during the show.
Global Force Wrestling (GFW) star Robbie E recently spoke to Wrestling Inc. to discuss his status with the promotion. E discussed being off GFW TV for so long, the backstage changes made by the promotion, and his ‘Dad Bod’ feature for “Muscle And Fitness.” You can see what he had to say here:
His current status with GFW:
“I’m still a part of the company; I think when Jeff [Jarrett] took over, and Jeff is the man and has a lot on his plate right now,” Robbie said. “I think the number one thing he wanted to do when he restarted it was to revamp the GFW roster and give it a whole new look. To do so, you would have to take some people off of TV that have been there a while to make the product look different, so I’m not the only guy. There are a few of us that are still lingering to make our return.”
Having been off TV for so long:
“The cool thing is, like we talked about, with the seven years that I have been there holding the titles, where I’ve been looked at as a comedy guy where I hadn’t been taken seriously; so, this is my chance to start over in a more serious role and be a new Robbie E, so I believe it’s going to be better for everyone involved so I believe it is a good thing,” he said.
Backstage changes that have occurred in the company:
“If someone is going to come in there is going to be massive changes that are going to be made. People are thinking how there are massive changes happening all the time and they are getting sick of it, but I think this will be the last time changes will happen,” he said. “And now they have a direction of where they are going with it and I believe they will continue to go with it, so there won’t be as many changes going forward because I believe they are set on what they want their future to be.
“And again, Jeff Jarrett is the man, he’s been in wrestling for like 100 years; he is super smart, and he is the guy who was with the company when it was on fire and I think he is going to get it back there.”
His new ‘Dad Bod’ feature for “Muscle And Fitness”:
“The thing is, the ‘Dad Bod’ is a real thing. People I know who were somewhat in decent shape, once they become a Dad it all goes down the drain. You know what I mean? Everyone knows someone like that. Before they were a Dad they looked one way, and after they become a Dad they look another way,” he said.
“It happens; so, these videos are just ways to show what you can do to stay fit and your kids are having a good time while you are doing it. Even if you are not a Dad, they are still funny videos to watch, because you know me, everything I do is funny, so it’s a win-win for anyone who clicks and watches it.”
Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns recently spoke with ESPN to talk about a possible reunion with the Shield. Currently Reigns’ former Shield members, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, rule as the RAW Tag Team Champions after dethroning the team of Sheamus and Cesaro at SummerSlam.
Many have been wondering if Reigns would join them soon to fully reunite the beloved stable, but “The Big Dog” says he has unfinished business as a singles competitor first before he can entertain that idea:
“Over the next few weeks, we’ll be able to see it play out,” he said. “But the main thing right now is I’ve been in the title picture for the Raw brand, so I can firmly say neither of those guys would leave [that opportunity] to rejoin The Shield [and] rekindle that flame.”
“Maybe I’m a third wheel at this point,” he said. “It just really depends. I feel like the next few weeks are really going to play out some important things for me. Obviously, I need to transition coming out of this big feud between the four monsters.”
WWE Hall Of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin recently made an appearance on former WWE Superstar Sean “X-Pac” Waltman’s podcast, X-Pac 12360. During the interview “The Texas Rattlesnake” discussed Ric Flair’s health, his reaction to the Roman Reigns and John Cena segment on RAW, his thoughts on The Fashion Police, if he’s planning on attending PWG Battle of LA, and how he can’t find Ring Of Honor (ROH) on TV.
Here are some highlights of what Austin said about:
Ric Flair’s health:
“I talked to him yesterday, on the phone, and he’s laughing. He’s got a ways to go and I will elaborate no further about that.”
Roman Reigns and John Cena’s segment on RAW:
“Anytime you go out to the ring and you didn’t learn something new, you probably missed an opportunity. I don’t care how good you are, you can always get better. So, if Roman learned something from that and he can capitalize on it and gain and improve in the future, props to him.”
The Fashion Police:
“Fandango and Tyler Breeze together… and all of a sudden they put the Fashion Files out and I am like, when I watch Raw those guys, they crack me up. I’ll rewind their s–t, I don’t know how many times.”
If he’ll attend PWG Battle of LA:
“We just got finished filming (Broken Skull Challenge) so I might undertake one evening of that. Because I’ve been wanting to check out that scene because I’ve heard how cool the atmosphere is and everybody buys in.”
Not being able to find ROH on TV:
“I just never know what channel it’s on or how to watch it. I would DVR it because when I was filming (Broken Skull Challenge) I had a satellite and a big TV in my trailer.”
WWE COO Triple H recently made an appearance on ESPN’s First Take to talk about a variety of professional wrestling topics. “The Game” was asked about his thoughts on the promotion of Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor and if the WWE can learn anything from it, who would make a better WWE Superstar – LaVar Ball or Rob Gronkowski, the chances of seeing Ronda Rousey in WWE, and if you can create a personality or if it needs to be authentic. Here are the highlights:
The promotion behind Mayweather vs. McGregor and if WWE can learn from it:
“I think from a promotional standpoint they did a lot of things right. They found two personalities and that’s really what this is all about. Floyd will be the first guy to tell you that it’s personalities that sells fights, it’s what he does, he changed himself from ‘Pretty Boy Floyd’ to ‘Money Mayweather’ and that was based around WWE and the culture of changing Hulk Hogan to ‘Hollywood Hulk Hogan,’ and reinventing yourself. He invented that persona. McGregor created a persona, a lot of it having to do around what, kind of, WWE does and also what Mayweather does.
“When you have personalities like that and you put them in a ring with that type of conflict – it’s what we do no a daily basis. But they did it very well. It was a moment in time that I don’t think you can replicate. The great things is, I think what people where afraid of was that it wouldn’t deliver. I think it did deliver. I think people got an entertaining 10 round fight, it ended up where the educated person would imagine that it’d end up, but I think it was entertaining and it delivered on a lot of levels.”
Who would make a better WWE Superstar – LaVar Ball or Rob Gronkowski:
“LaVar Ball certainly has a pension for winding people up and wanting to see people beat him. I think that’s an important factor, but you never know what’s going to connect to people. Those personalities – when you look at McGregor, you look at Ronda Rousey, you look at Gronk, you look at LaVar Ball – all those people, what connects them is personalities. Whether you love them or hate them, those personalities drive people. They create a connection and that’s really what people pay to see. They’re a very few pure boxing fans in the world, there are very few pure MMA aficionados in the world, there are very few pure WWE or NBA or NFL that really admire the intricacies of all that stuff. The personalities drive them, whether that be the team or the individuals.”
If we’ll see Ronda Rousey in WWE:
“Ronda has been a huge fan of WWE her whole life, she has been very adamant about that. She has done plenty of stuff with us before, I think you’re watching a clip of her throwing me that I don’t know why you’re showing, but yeah she tends to throw me around when I see her – but she’s a huge fan. I think she’s a huge fan and I think it’s something she’s definitely interested – I’ll throw it out right now, if she’s interested I’ll give her the opportunity. But we’re all about personalities and that’s what she brings to the table. I think she has shown it, and you have seen, she has shown it in Hollywood, she has shown it everywhere. Her personality would drive fan interest.”
Can you create a personality or does it have to be authentic:
“I think you can do both. I think there are some people that just have it, they walk in a room and they have that ‘x’ factor. We look for that a lot. But I’m also looking, when I’m recruiting talent I’m looking for, even somebody that is a dormant characteristic or a trait in them that makes them that – they have that ‘x’ factor they don’t know they have it. Or its been held back in them, their whole life they’ve been taught ‘don’t put that out there,’ don’t brag, don’t be this, don’t be that, bring that back in.
“I think there are a million guys in the NFL or are attempting to get in the NFL that look at what we do and they live vicariously through us because they’re told ‘Don’t do that. Don’t celebrate, don’t be unique, don’t be those things.’ We want you to be all that and more. We want you to be unique, we want you to bring something we’ve never seen to the table, and that’s what we’re trying to get out of people. Whether they have that in them and they don’t know it, and we coach that out of them and we teach them how to do that, or whether they already have it and it’s already there, it doesn’t matter. As long as when the red light goes on in front of them, they can put that out to the world, then they can bring in whatever you want. They can make people come to arenas, they can make people follow them whether they love them or hate them. It’s all about charisma.”
The statement, courtesy of Lucha Blog, reads as follows (via Google Translate):
“These days have been very difficult for me. On Saturday I had a championship fight; Was very hard. I think it all went out of hand. I do not know, it’s a situation that right now I’m a bit confused. I want to be silent and when I feel it is time, touch the subject. Men, women, they want to finish me; Retire from this sport. I’m here; As I said at the outset: I will not stop, on behalf of all women who have been mistreated, physically or psychologically. I think I have to be stronger. If at that moment I went through a depression and left, I will leave this one too. I was doing what I had to do, what people deserve, give me a claw until the end. That happened, I gave it up. It seems that the girl is injured; I do not know, I do not know. She is the only one that can say.”
We noted before how the Undertaker was spotted heading to New York a day before SummerSlam. While he did not appear on the PPV, it was later reported that he was backstage during it.
Though now it appears that Taker did more than just hanging out backstage at SummerSlam and a new report about his activities has started the rumors of the former Champion returning to ring once again.
Per report from Pwinsider (Via Wrestlezone), while the Undertaker stayed away from cameras, he worked out in the ring before the SummerSlam PPV went on air and the site notes that it’s a possible sign of his in ring return.
Furthermore, it’s being said that Taker could make his return as soon as next month’s No Mercy PPV to set up a possible match with John Cena at Survivor Series.
It’s worth mentioning here that according to a report, one of the reasons why WWE is filling up No Mercy card with some strong matches is to head into the NFL season strongly and avoid massive drops in the ratings.
So the return of Undertaker certainly feels like a move which the company can pull off to create some massive headlines and keep the ratings up in the upcoming months.
However, it’s notable here that these reports seem a little overblown at this stage and unless WWE gives any hint of The Dead Man’s return, it should only be considered a possibility.
Former WWE Champion Batista recently spoke with Uproxx about various topics including coming up with his name in WWE, the storyline with D-Von Dudley, and more. Here are the highlights:
Reflecting on his Deacon Batista storyline with D-Von Dudley:
“Only in WWE. When I first came up, I did this character called Deacon Batista, so it was the same last name, but I was working with this guy named D-Von Dudley and he was doing this televangelist preacher type deal where he was collecting money and I held this big, goofy box and I was a security guard of his money box. So ridiculous. It was horrible.”
Receiving his ring name:
“I actually didn’t. All right, here’s the funny thing about that, because when I was …when I went up, when I was called up from OVW, which was our training facility, they changed my name and changed it to ‘Batista.’ I didn’t realized they changed the spelling of it. Well, I was told the reason they did that was so people would be able to pronounce it easier, and then I was told later by another wrestler, he said, ‘No, you dummy. They did that so they could own it. They just can’t own your name. They changed the spelling, now they own it.’ Which was true. I left WWE without my wrestling name, went back to my real name, and started over.”
RAW tag team champion Seth Rollins appeared on this week’s Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast for an in-depth discussion about reuniting with Dean Ambrose, being out of the Universal title picture, Roman Reigns and more. Here are some highlights of what Rollins said about:
Teaming with Dean Ambrose and being out of the Universal Championship picture:
“The last couple of weeks and really this whole thing with Ambrose has gone extremely well and I think that’s just a testament to he and I, and The Shield, and the bond we sort of created with the audience over the past five or six years, stuff like that and we’ve been doing it, so it’s cool to see that everyone’s still emotionally invested in us as characters. And the fact that we are now on the same side, people are excited to see where we go moving forward. Keep me away from that world title picture right now! I’m having fun doing what I’m doing here. I think the fact that people are so emotionally invested in myself and Ambrose is really cool.”
Being open to reforming The Shield, as long as it happens organically:
“[Reigns] is obviously doing just fine for himself. Yeah, he’s doing alright. Whether you love him or hate him, he’s doing alright. He’s been in three WrestleManias in the main event now, which is… hey, say what you will about it, but it’s an impressive feat. There are not many men in the history of our industry who’ve been able to do that. So who knows? I mean, right now we’re happy with where we’re at and we’re in a good spot with me and Dean. If we do tell that story, we’ve got a long way to get there and if it happens, I’d welcome it. I’d welcome the possibility, but I’m really happy with the Ambrose situation right now and I don’t want to force anything.”
The original plan for him before teaming with Dean Ambrose:
“I believe what the plan was for me and Bray Wyatt to go a few pay-per-views. And them, whatever happened, happened. Something changed and they shuffled the deck and they ended up having to reposition, which, actually, worked out much better for me, in my personal opinion. But yeah, it [has] been almost a month or so that I’ve kind of known that we were heading in this direction.”
Global Force Wrestling and Pop TV have signed a deal to keep Impact Wrestling on Pop for another year, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
While it’s good news that Impact will continue airing through 2018, GFW barely makes any money from the deal and their viewership performance wasn’t strong enough to bring in any revenue beyond a split on ad revenue from commercials that air during the broadcast.
GFW continues to run on a very tight budget, with the India and U.K. TV deals bringing in the lion’s share of the company’s revenue.
The company has been running fewer TV tapings in recent months (with more shows taped each round) and there’s no live event business to speak of.
WWE Superstar Roman Reigns spoke with ESPN this week for an in-depth discussion on his television character and why he doesn’t define himself as a babyface or a heel. Instead, Reigns described himself as “the first true gray-area guy” in WWE history.
“To me, I’m neither.” said Reigns “If I’m totally off here, then I’m totally off, but I’m the first of my type. I’m the first true gray area guy … just being what he was born to be.”
The man who retired The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33 explained that why he can’t define himself as a heel or babyface.
“I don’t go out there and act crazy and flail around and be a heel,” said Reigns. “I don’t come out there smiling and kissing babies, telling each town it’s my favorite town at the end of the night. I keep it real. Sometimes I’m in a good mood. Sometimes I’m in a bad one. I want my character to be as human as possible, but not just a regular human that you see every single day.”
Reigns continued, “It’s just one of those things that helps me work with everybody. It’s not about, ‘Well, we can’t tell this story because it’s two bad guys going against each other, or it’s two good guys.’ I can adjust to any way [we want to do it]. I can wrestle any way I want. Sometimes you fight pissed off. Sometimes you fight smart with technique. It just depends.”
He also commented on a possible reunion of The Shield. With Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose holding RAW’s tag team championships, he’s the missing piece needed to reform one of the most dominant factions in WWE history. According to Reigns, “we’ll be able to see it play out” over the next few weeks. For now, he’s got other priorities.
“Over the next few weeks, we’ll be able to see it play out,” said Reigns. “The main thing right now is I’ve been in the title picture for the Raw brand, so I can firmly say neither of those guys would leave [that opportunity] to rejoin The Shield [and] rekindle that flame.”
Reigns will face John Cena next month at No Mercy.
Check out the complete Roman Reigns interview at ESPN.com.
WWE will hold the annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony during WrestleMania 34 weekend in New Orleans. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, one name being floated as a possible headliner is Dave Bautista.
Other big names in play as future HOF headliners are The Undertaker and The Rock.
Batista’s Hollywood career has really taken off in recent years and he’ll have a big role (as ‘Drax’ from Guardians of the Galaxy) in Avengers: Infinity War, which hits theaters in May 2018.
Batista has been outspoken about WWE when asked about the company in interviews. He’s stated numerous times that he’d like to wrestle for WWE again, but only live events because he wants nothing to do with WWE’s writers and storylines.
During a recent appearance on Chris Jericho’s Talk is Jericho podcast, Batista said he actually pitched an idea to WWE about returning, but only if he could work a program with Triple H.
“I’ve asked, yeah, I’ve asked,” he said. “Well, there’s… I’ve asked for what I want. I’ll tell you and I’ve talked to Hunter about it and I’ve talked to Vince about it. I said I would come back and run a whole program with Hunter. That’s the only thing I’m interested in doing. They’re just not interested in it, you know?”
When asked if he’d return and work with anybody else besides Triple H, Batista said, “At this point, no, because it would be my retirement thing. It would be what I would go out on. I would come back and I’d do a whole program and then I’d be done.”
He still loves pro wrestling, but told Jericho “it’s just too much bullsh*t” working for the company. “Yeah, I miss it a lot. … There’s nothing like it, you know that. There’s just an adrenaline rush that goes along with it. What I don’t miss is the company, to be honest with you. I don’t miss WWE. I miss wrestling, I just don’t miss dealing with the company and its bullsh*t. Yeah it’s the bullsh*t man, it’s just too much bullsh*t.”
– WWE Superstar Jeff Hardy turns 40 years old today. He was born on August 31, 1977. Jeff Hardy is a 6-time World Champion and is challenging for his 5th Intercontinental Championship reign next Monday when he faces The Miz on RAW.
– The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the current plan for WWE’s rumored ‘United Kingdom’ series is for the show to begin before the end of the year. The original plan was to hold tapings back in June, but WWE has yet to announce any shows. There are a lot of logistics to work out with launching a new series that tapes over seas and according to Dave Meltzer, WWE apparently lost a lot of money on the original UK Championship tournament that aired back in January.
Pete Dunne is the reigning WWE UK Champion and WWE has been using some of the UK talent in NXT while they work on getting the UK series off the ground. WWE’s strong push in to the UK market was initially seen as a response to [UK TV network] ITV airing new episodes of a World of Sport wrestling series, but that project appears to be on hold indefinitely.
According to PWInsider Alberto El Patron may be making his way back to Global Force Wrestling either before or after Bound For Glory, dependent on whether they can film an angle first…
Patron was expected to take part in a major segment at AAA’s TripleMania event which would setup an angle and eventual match at Bound For Glory. AAA reportedly angered Alberto when they copyrighted the ‘Alberto El Patron’ name in Mexico and subsequently he refused to film the angle in their ring.
The only alternative for GFW is to film the angle at an independent show so that the footage would be available for Impact, there are currently no reports on where and how they plan to do so.
