While preparing for his WrestleMania 31 match against The Undertaker, Bray Wyatt reportedly suffered an injury.
Wyatt, who was working out in the ring inside Levi’s Stadium on Sunday afternoon, apparently suffered a sprained ankle and had to be taken to the back by a car.
We will keep you updated on Wyatt’s condition if any new information surfaces.
Make sure to join us here at SEScoops.com later this evening for the best WrestleMania 31 live results on the web!
(Credit: PWInsider.com)
– UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey, along with the rest of the Four Horsewomen, are in attendance for WrestleMania 31 tonight. For a photo of the four with WWE Diva Natalya, and notes on their possible involvement on the show tonight, click here.
– Sting recently spoke with the folks at ATHLEAN-X about his workout and training advice. Check out the video below to see Sting, without his face-paint, talking about his workout.
– Variety’s Marc Graser attended the WWE Business Partner Summit on Saturday. Graser posted the following tweets on his official Twitter account about some new WWE programming, as well as the return of Tough Enough.
#WWE to announce 8 new series for the #WWENetwork on Monday, including "Divas Search" and an animated show with Seth Green.
— Marc Graser (@marcgraser) March 28, 2015
#WWE's Tough Enough coming back with a new format on USA Network in June.
— Marc Graser (@marcgraser) March 28, 2015
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has arrived to California for tonight’s WrestleMania at Levi’s Stadium. A fan on hand for this weekend’s festivities in Santa Clara met the actor/sports entertainer this morning and posted this photo on Instagram.
https://instagram.com/p/00S76lR2dH/
Johnson acknowledged the fan on Twitter, thanking him for “waiting in the cold.”
@GuyInGreenWWE Pleasure bud. Thx for waitin in the cold. Enjoy Mania
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) March 29, 2015
There is said to be a feeling among many within WWE that because the company had WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar make the announcement that he has re-signed with WWE on ESPN’s SportsCenter earlier this week, it’s likely that he will retain the title when he defends it against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 31 tonight.
Another reason people think Lesnar is retaining is the belief that Roman Reigns becoming the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion would be a bigger issue among fans than Reigns losing his first WrestleMania main event. There’s a feeling within WWE that if they put the title on Reigns this early, it could be a situation that he can’t recover from in the long-term.
Speaking of tonight’s main event, there has been talk this week that WWE has made some creative changes to the match, although what those are remain to be seen.
Make sure to join us here at SEScoops.com for live WrestleMania 31 play-by-play results coverage tonight.
(Credit: PWInsider.com)
– SEScoops.com reader Jorge Romero sent along the following photo of the entrance way set up inside Levi’s Stadium for tonight’s WrestleMania 31 event.
– Sheamus took part in a Q&A inside the NXT ring at WrestleMania Axxess on Saturday. One fan in attendance noted that Sheamus came out to a huge pop from the fans, but teased a heel turn. Sheamus said that when he comes back, there will be no more jokes, unlike the way he conducted himself the last time we saw him on television. He also noted how much fun it was “knocking Daniel Bryan around” over the years, which was viewed as another hint at the fact that he could be returning as a heel.
UFC Light Heavyweight contender Daniel Cormier and television personality Michelle Beadle were among the celebrities in attendance at Jim Ross’ “An Evening With Jim Ross” one-man show on Saturday night.
JR’s surprise on-stage guest for the show was former TNA star Samoa Joe.
A fan in attendance asked Joe if he would prefer to be on the main WWE roster, or if he would like to pass through NXT first. Joe gave a politically correct answer, saying that either option would be fine for him.
– WWE posted the following video on their official YouTube channel, showing LL Cool J kicking off this year’s WrestleMania 31 event, which takes place tonight at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
– WWE posted a preview of ESPN’s “E:60” documentary on NXT called “WWE: Behind The Curtain.” Check out the preview for the special, which premieres on May 5th, below.
Get a sneak preview of @E60's look at @WWENXT: http://t.co/0H7Amp4FcV @WWEPerformCtr #May5 #WrestleMania
— WWE (@WWE) March 29, 2015
Former NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte spoke with Brian Fritz of Sporting News to promote Sunday’s WrestleMania 31 event. Below are highlights from the interview.
On the rise of the NXT women’s division: “Honestly, I want to go back, it started with Emma and Paige at Arrival. I really think that sparked the interest of the writers. I want to say Triple H has always been hands on, but since then like, ‘okay, we’ve got a lot of hungry women down here that really want it that will continue to work hard that know how to work.’ From Arrival, then it was me and (Natalya’s) match, and I feel like we continue to get better each and every time. Starting with Arrival, it was eye opening to everyone and it was, ‘okay, they killed it, let’s see if they can kill it again.'”
On losing her main roster debut match on RAW: “I guess I can understand why people were so vocal because they’re used to seeing me in longer matches. For me, I was like, heck yeah, here is the NXT Women’s Champion showing up on Raw. To me it was the main roster giving NXT as a whole a chance to be seen. Whether it was 30 minutes or whether it was four minutes, I still got the NXT Title on television.”
Check out the complete interview at SportingNews.com.
Triple H and Stephanie McMahon hosted WWE’s annual Business Partner Summit in San Jose, California on Saturday.
The two were joined on stage by Vince McMahon and John Cena, who made special appearances at the event as well to present Warner Bros with the Business Partner of the Year award.
Below are some photos from the event.
"philanthropy is the future of marketing, it's the way brands r going 2 win" –@biz Stone co-founder @twitter #WWEBPS pic.twitter.com/KEI3i4zdbg
— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) March 28, 2015
#WWE Family Friendly Partner of the Year @kraftfoods #CapriSun! #WWEBPS pic.twitter.com/1JKbQVdhwk
— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) March 28, 2015
#WWE Innovation Partner of the year Rogers Communications Canada! #WWEBPS that's A Mountie, not The Mountie! :))) pic.twitter.com/ScDtp4n055
— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) March 28, 2015
Congratulations to @AdCouncil #WWE Multicultural Business Partner of the Year! #WWEBPS @TripleH @TitusONeilWWE pic.twitter.com/cUPeByczSz
— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) March 28, 2015
#WWEBPS Fan Engagement Partner of the Year @GeneralMills #MamasBoy! @TripleH #WWE pic.twitter.com/yKiSpRV4z8
— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) March 28, 2015
.@TripleH & I at the annual #WWE Business Partner Summit! #WWEBPS @SpecialOlympics just won the Pro-Social Award! pic.twitter.com/oM6MqKGeEv
— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) March 28, 2015
Congratulations to our #WWE Business Partner of the Year #WarnerBrothers! @VinceMcMahon @JohnCena @TripleH #WWEBPS! pic.twitter.com/PFzqrCIrrt
— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) March 28, 2015
NXT standout Finn Balor spoke with SportingNews.com to promote Sunday’s WrestleMania 31 pay-per-view, and admitted that he was apprehensive about making the move to WWE.
“I’ll be honest with you, I had a very comfortable life before I came here,” said Balor. “I was very on the fence about whether I was making the right decision. I was very apprehensive about the move to WWE and whether I was doing the right thing.”
Balor continued, “I had established a very good career in New Japan Pro Wrestling and a good life on the independent scene as well. I was very happy. There’s always that question, should I do it or should I not. I didn’t want to be looking back at 40 years old saying what if I had done this or what if I had done that.”
“I can safely say six months down the line, hands down the best decision I’ve ever made,” Balor concluded.
Check out the complete interview at SportingNews.com.
– In the above video, WWE Hall Of Famer Hulk Hogan teases that there are a few “little surprises” planned for tonight’s WrestleMania 31 event. There has been some speculation that Hogan will be involved in some type of segment involving Curtis Axel and “Axelmania” at tonight’s show.
– Dana Warrior, the widow of the late Ultimate Warrior, posted the following on Facebook regarding Connor “The Crusher” Michalek being the first ever Warrior Award winner at last night’s WWE Hall Of Fame induction ceremony.
Warriors Represent…
I felt your love and so much pride for helping induct the inaugural recipient of The Warrior Award!! Connor The Crusher is forever immortal and his spirit now runs with the Warrior FOREVER!!
I believe in all you warriors…Always!
xo Dana
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who hosted Saturday Night Live on Saturday night, took part in a pro wrestling skit during his appearance on the show.
Check out the above video to watch as The Rock plays an over-the-top wrestling character cutting a promo on another wrestler in a segment that features a WWE logo backdrop.
As noted earlier this week, The Rock is rumored to take part at WrestleMania 31 tonight, despite the fact that he was in New York last night and the show takes place in California in just a few hours.
Former WWE Superstar Scott Garland, who worked under the name “Scotty Too Hotty” during the Attitude Era, expressed disappointment over failing to be mentioned during Rikishi’s WWE Hall Of Fame speech on Saturday night.
Garland, who along with Brian “Grandmaster Sexay” Lawler, worked alongside Rikishi as an act called “Too Cool,” yet Rikishi failed to mention Garland or Lawler when delivering his acceptance speech at the induction ceremony.
“I guess we were just props,” wrote Garland on social media. “It’s not at all bitter, it’s hurt,” he added. “It’s not at all about us being in the HOF.”
Garland concluded, “He absolutely deserved it, just as we deserved a mention.”
For a detailed recap of the 2015 WWE Hall Of Fame induction ceremony, click here.
WWE held the induction ceremony for the 2015 class of the WWE Hall Of Fame on Saturday night. Below is a very detailed report written by Jason Powell of ProWrestling.net.
The opening video aired and focussed on each of the inductees… The event is sponsored by the Terminator movie with the weird spelling of the word genesis…
Jerry Lawler was introduced as the host of the show. He entered to a nice round of applause and “Jerry” chants. He welcomes viewers to the show and said it’s by far his favorite night of the year. He set up the first inductee’s video package. A Rikishi video aired…
Rikishi: Presented by Jimmy and Jey Uso
Jimmy and Jey Uso served as the presenters for their father. They said they’ve been asked a lot about growing up the son of Rikishi and they said it was the norm for them. They said they grew up watching him on television. They spoke about him going through various characters until he found the one that stick.
They humorously set up a shot of Rikishi’s ass in the thong on the big screen and said it bought them Christmas presents and other perks. They said they were happy he never gave them the Stinkface. They got serious and spoke about Rikishi’s hard work, passion, and sacrifice for WWE. They introduced their father, who came out wearing a Hawaiian leis.
Rikishi said he was hanging out backstage with Vince McMahon and Triple H. He held up his hand and quoted Iron Sheik by telling the cameraman to zoom in as he held up his Hall of Fame ring. He spoke about coming from the Anoi’a family “known as the Samoan dynasty.”
Rikishi noted that that there has been at least one member of the family on the WWE roster for five decades. The audio cut or he was censored when he said WWF rather than WWE, which is ridiculous if it’s the latter. He ran through the list of those wrestlers. He said Afa and Sika laid roadmaps for him and he is forever grateful.
Rikishi thanked his wife and “the best fans in the entire world.” They responded with a Rikishi chant. He said he feels like his life has become full circle. He mentioned that he’s a trainer with his brother and Gangrel, who was shown sitting in the crowd. He gave a shoutout to “Miro, Rusev.” Rikishi spoke about his passion for the business and said it’s in his DNA and is his entire being.
Rikishi spoke about how he remembers all the shows and the missed birthdays and family events (he looked at his sons who were standing off to the side while saying the last part). He said he remembers all the dance moves, the pyro, and every Stinkface. He said he remembers the face of every fan he’s ever performed in front of.
Rikishi said the thing he will remember most of all is this moment with the fans. He said he is honored and humbled to be inducted into the 2015 WWE Hall of Fame. He said WWE is where he was born and where he was raised. He spoke in Samoan to close out his speech.
“This is my night, right?” he asked. He said he can’t leave his fans like this. He said he’d been stretching and the did a couple moves that he said Mark Henry taught him. One of his sons pulled out his shades and put them on his father. Rikishi and his sons did the Rikishi and Too Cool dance routine…
Lawler set up the video package for Larry Zbyszko…
Larry Zbyszko: Presented by Bruno Sammartino
Bruno cracked that after all they’d been through, “can you believe I’m inducting this guy into the Hall of Fame tonight?” Bruno praised the class of 2015 and specifically mentioned Arnold Schwarzenegger. Bruno recalled meeting Larry when he was just a young man. He said Larry told him he would like to become a pro wrestler someday.
Bruno said Larry kept popping up and telling him he wants to be a wrestler. He said Larry was a terrific amateur wrestler and he told him to stick with that, then told him to get his college degree. Bruno said Larry didn’t want to go to college, but he did and graduated, then called Bruno and told him he hopes he’d keep his word.
Bruno said he used Larry on smaller shows around Pittsburgh and eventually told Vincent J. McMahon about him, who agreed to bring him in. Bruno recalled the angle where Larry turned on him and how successful it was. He spoke about the remainder of Larry’s career and how he went on to become a broadcaster before introducing him.
Zbyszko came out to a nice round of applause and shook hands with Bruno. Larry said standing in the WWE Hall of Fame “truly is a dream come true.” He said he couldn’t help but drive Bruno crazy about getting into the business. He said his dream at age 16 was to be a pro wrestler.
Larry said his mother gave him Bruno’s address. He told a story about climbing through the hedges and then introducing himself to Bruno and telling him he wanted to be a wrestler. “Bruno started me out,” he said. “He started me out on a career that was indescribable.” Larry said he doesn’t know why Bruno took him under his wing. “I don’t know why,” he said. “I really don’t know why. Oh, God, this is amazing.”
Larry said that after all the years of having a reputation for having a big mouth, “…man.” He said Bruno was gracious enough to get in the ring with him. He said maybe it was just meant to me that he didn’t throw him out of his yard when he introduced himself. “I lost my train of thought,” Zbyszko said. “I thought this was going to be easy.”
Larry said that after Bruno took the time to talk to him, “my dream was going to come true come hell or high water.” He said things were great and then “one day came the hell and the high water.” He said destiny threw him around like a leaf in the wind and he drove everyone crazy around him.
Zbyszko said Bruno broke his neck and it shocked the world when he hung up his boots and became a color commentator. He said something wasn’t right and that the old school wasn’t ready to go out yet. “Something wasn’t complete, the old school era wasn’t going out this way, not with Bruno breaking his neck,” he said. “So off we went.”
Larry said so much for a speech, “let’s just tell it like it is.” The fans chanted “thank you, Larry.” Zbyszko thanked Bruno from the bottom of his heart for “letting a young boy’s dream come true when you didn’t have to do it.” Larry said there was another man involved – Vince McMahon Sr.
Larry said that even though he drove Vince Sr. nuts, he believed in Larry’s dream and rented Shea Stadium anyway. He said it gave birth to a new era of national television, nationwide pay-per-view, “and it was awesome.” Larry said that “47 glorious years ago” he dove into the rabbit hole and Bruno was standing there to open the door to a wrestling wonderland. “Still not sure why,” he said.
Larry said he just walked out the other end of that rabbit hole a few minutes ago and Bruno was standing there to open the door to finally let him out. Larry said he’s standing there wearing the same ring as his hero. He said it’s a perfect ending to an outrageous dream he had. He said he gets to go home and become what he was once upon a time – one of the biggest wrestling fans alive.
Larry said there’s something he has wanted to say about the fans for a long time. He said that without each other to share the powers of our imagination with there would be no dreams at all. “I have felt the love of standing in the ring with millions and millions of people chanting my name,” he said.
The fans chanted Larry. “Mean Gene Okerlund announcing me as wrestling’s living legend, and for that glorious moment in time I became like my hero. And my dream was coming true. And I have felt the wrath of fighting my way out of riots night after night.” Larry spoke about having cabs overturned and being stabbed in the ass “by the greatest fans in the world,” he said. He said he hopes all their dreams come true as well…
WWE’s biggest show of the year takes place this Sunday, March 29, 2015, as WrestleMania 31 takes place live from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Below is the final lineup for this Sunday’s event, which we will be covering in-depth live right here at SEScoops.com:
WrestleMania 31 Kickoff Show Lineup
– Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal
– Tyson Kidd & Cesaro (c) vs. The New Day vs. Los Matadores vs. The Usos [WWE Tag-Team Championship]
WrestleMania 31 Lineup
– Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins
– Rusev (c) vs. John Cena [WWE United States Championship]
– AJ Lee & Paige vs. The Bella Twins
– The Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt
– Ladder Match: Bad News Barrett (c) vs. R-Truth vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Stardust vs. Daniel Bryan [WWE Intercontinental Championship]
– Sting vs. Triple H
– Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Roman Reigns [WWE World Heavyweight Championship]
Make sure to join us here at SEScoops.com on Sunday, March 29, 2015 for the absolute fastest and most-detailed WrestleMania 31 live play-by-play results coverage on the web!
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar’s “advocate” spoke with IGN this week to promote Sunday’s WrestleMania 31 event. Below are highlights from the interview.
On Brock Lesnar going into WrestleMania as WWE World Heavyweight Champion: “Well, this is really Bock Lesnar’s rightful place. He is a once in a lifetime athlete and a once in a lifetime performer and a once in a lifetime attraction in this industry. This is clearly his time. There is no one like Brock Lesnar, not in WWE or UFC or Mixed Martial Arts, so you like to walk into a situation saying “I’m so blessed. I’m so fortunate. What an honor it is to be…” To be blunt with you, I don’t think there’s any other place for Brock Lesnar to be but on top.”
On talk about Roman Reigns not being ready: “I think anyone who questions whether or not Roman Reigns is ready for where he is in his career is blind to how talented this young man is. I don’t see the criticism. I don’t agree with any of the critiques. Clearly he is a total bad ass that can bring it in the ring, and walked away from a promising football career to get into the business that has fed his family for many, many years. He has adapted to this business as fast as anyone I’ve ever seen. The biggest criticism that can be valid on Roman Reigns is he didn’t spend a lot of time in NXT. He didn’t have to. He was ready for the main roster faster than anyone else was ready for the main roster that came out of the NXT system. It’s like one of these prodigy kids that graduated high school at 14 and graduated college at 16, because they can. And he did and he graduated the developmental system faster than anybody else in history because he could. Anybody that’s sitting there saying “Roman Reigns isn’t ready,” by what criteria are they making that judgment?”
On Brock Lesnar re-signing with WWE: “I was ready for Brock to make any decision that Brock deemed appropriate. So if Brock’s desire was to go back and fight in the UFC then I would be riding his coattails that way. If Brock decided he wanted to slam dunk a basketball and get into the NBA and mow down the competition, then I was going to pick up that game real fast. He decided to stay here and set records both on subscriptions to the network or pay per view buys or ticket sales for major events in WWE, I’m happy to ride his coat tails here as well.”
On Reigns vs. Lesnar on Sunday: “My personal desire in this match is for Brock Lesnar to make this match the defining moment of his championship run. His first WrestleMania title defense ever and the declarative statement that he is the Beast, he is the conqueror and he has conquered the WWE universe like no one else has ever even dared to dream of doing in the past.”
Check out the complete interview at IGN.com.
WrestleMania is right around the corner. Although the build has been a little subpar, it’s still WrestleMania so it should be entertaining. Here’s how yours truly expects it all to play out.
Tyson Kidd & Cesaro (Tag Team Champions) vs. The New Day vs. Los Matadores vs. The Usos
Kidd and Cesaro really deserve better than the pre-show treatment, but hey, what can you do? This is clearly between the Usos and the champs, as the other two teams are simply jobbers eating up space. Expect a few entertaining spots between the two, with Naomi and Natalya ultimately playing a role in the outcome. In the end, the champs will retain after Cesaro pins one of the Usos.
Winners: Kidd & Cesaro by pinfall
Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
Remember a few weeks back when Stephanie McMahon was on Raw promoting this battle royal as the most important thing since Hogan/Andre at WrestleMania III? So much for that, as it’s now on the pre-show. Hideo Itami has been added to the match after winning a tournament at Axxess over the weekend. I think they will use this as an attempt to put over NXT and increase viewership by having Itami pick up the win after hitting the GTS. Expect Mizdow to eliminate Miz during this one as well to set up a match between the two next month at Extreme Rules.
Winner: Hideo Itami
Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins
This could easily be one of the most entertaining matches of the night, as Orton and Rollins are two of the best workers in the business. It will be filled with multiple near-falls, and J&J will undoubtedly try to help Rollins pick up the win. It’s hard to say what the hell they’re doing with this one, especially considering they blew the payoff for Orton weeks ago. I still think Orton wins and it will be a rough night for Mr. Money in the Bank (more on that later).
Winner: Orton by pinfall
WWE Hall Of Famer Hulk Hogan recently spoke with TheNational.ae to promote this Sunday’s WrestleMania 31 event at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Below are highlights from the interview.
On the possibility of having one more match: “I don’t know. Today, maybe it’s the weather, it is a little rough for me today, but I think it’s got to do with being 61 years old and inheriting all this arthritis from my mum and dad. I am still in really good shape. If you put me in the ring right now with someone’s that over, and when I mean over I mean we just look at each other like the Rock and the crowd starts rumbling. If you put me in the ring right now with Roman Reigns, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock or John Cena’ I could tear it down right now. The thing is getting everybody else talked into letting me do that! Vince McMahon [the WWE chairman] had his last match when he was 66 or 67 and I am only 61 years old. I am a lot younger than him’ and Vince is the guy who says never say never. So I am going to hang on to that for a while.”
On dealing with getting older: “It hit me about 15 years ago when I realised they could take out a whole knee joint, throw it away and put a piece of metal in there, so I thought wow, this stuff really does wind down. Then they took the other knee and threw that away, then they took both hips and threw them away and I had nine back surgeries and I was like ‘wow, this mortality thing is for real,’ But because of the WWE Network I get to live forever. But it is tough. The hardest thing being here and not wrestling. It is hard to explain, but it just hard to be around all these guys, watching all these matches … sitting back and going ‘if you only did that, only did this instead, or when the guy slammed you, why did you get up before he got up. I mean come on.’ It is hard to watch without getting into it so it is tough, so the mortality thing can get to you a little bit.”
On what he’s looking forward to at WrestleMania 31 the most: “There is a couple of things. The whole thing with Roman Reigns and Brock [Lesnar] has got me really interested. Roman has a lot of potential, he reminds me a lot of his father [former wrestler Sika Anoa’i] His dad saved me when I was lost and got me going in the right direction a long time ago. And then there is the whole thing with the Undertaker. I ran into the Undertaker last night, my God is he in good shape. Compared to last year, and nothing personal ‘Taker, wherever he is at, but the guy is in crazy shape all of a sudden. I hear he has been training really hard. I know how good Bray Wyatt is in the ring, so I know they are going to tear it down.”
On inducting Randy Savage into the WWE Hall of Fame tonight: “The guy was the consummate professional and he lived hard, he worked hard in the ring, he was really intense. When Randy and I first hooked up, our wives started to worry about us as we were together 24 hours a day and were the best of friends. He was right down the beach from me. We were really good friends and then we had this crazy blow-up. There was a lot of things going down with his split with Liz [Miss Elizabeth, Savage’s first wife] and the whole thing went bad. But then we got back together. Lanny, his brother, helped a lot, and we got back together then. To have Randy have a heart attack and pass on was a tough one, so inducting him into the Hall of Fame is a special deal for me.”
Check out the complete interview at TheNational.ae.
WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston recently spoke with XXL Magazine to promote this Sunday’s WrestleMania 31 event at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Below are highlights from the interview.
On his three favorite WrestleMania moments of all-time: “Well, selfishly, I was gonna make all of them include myself, but I’ll only do that for two of them. My favorite one was my first Money In The Bank match. I believe it was in 2009. It was the first time I got to be on Wrestlemania. And you know, ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to be a WWE superstar. So I always pictured myself in Wrestlemania matches. So when that happened it was like a dream come true, literally. So that’s probably my top favorite moment.
My second favorite moment is when Shawn Michaels faced the Undertaker. That to me was awesome. I got to watch it from the crowd. It was just an amazing match. Shawn Michaels is one of my favorite competitors of all time. And just to see him in there with Undertaker, them going back and forth, like from their entrances all the way to the end… And again, I got to be out in the crowd to watch that, which I normally don’t get to do.
And my third favorite Wrestlemania moment would probably be the Money In The Bank I was in. I believe it was my second. I’m terrible with years so it was either 2010 or 2011. But I got to walk on stilts. Basically, Kane had split a ladder in half and I got to use those two parts of the ladder to kind of walk myself to the middle of the ring and climb up, which was a pretty cool moment.”
On his thoughts on The Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt match: “It’ll be really interesting. If you would have asked me like a year ago I would have said Undertaker because he had never lost at Wrestlemania. But then he lost to Brock Lesnar. So it’s like when Rocky made the Russian bleed. Mick comes out of the corner and he’s like, “He’s just a man. He’s human.” So now I feel like Undertaker is beatable, ya know? Because it has been done. So if anyone can do it again, it might be Bray. Either way it’s gonna be an interesting match with two really cool characters squaring up against each other. It’s kinda like a fantasy booking situation where you’re like, “What would happen if Bray Wyatt faced the Undertaker?” And we’re all gonna find out at Wrestlemania.”
On his thoughts on the Sting vs. Triple H match: “Yeah, man. You know who the real winners are? The fans who get to see it. Because I know a lot of people, myself included, who never expected to see Sting in a WWE ring, and now it is happening. It’s Triple H in there with him, too. So any time Triple H has a match at Wrestlemania, it’s always an awesome match. Now you get to see these guys go up against each other. I’m pulling for Sting. I was always a big Sting fan with the colorful rainbow face paint and also with the Crow-like, black and white stuff. So I’m pulling for Sting, but we’ll see.”
Check out the complete interview at XXLMag.com.
WWE Superstar John Cena recently spoke with Digital Spy to promote this Sunday’s WrestleMania 31 event at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Below are highlights from the interview.
On retirement: “The long and short of it is I really like my job. Everyone always asks the question, ‘How do you do it?’. I love working. You’ll hear everybody say that, but I prove it. I’m not saying that to condescend anybody else’s opinion, I’m saying it because I love it, truly. I want to be in this industry as long as I can, and I’m going to. When I’m a step slower than I should be and I shouldn’t be out there, I’m not gonna be out there. That’ll be very, very relevant to the entire audience – as you know they’re very vocal. When it’s time to go it’ll be time to go.”
On what else he can achieve in the business: “If the chairman was sitting here you could say, ‘Hey man, you took it from territory to nationwide and then you took it global. You started pay-per-views, you developed the WWE Network, you pretty much put everybody else out of business, what’s next for you?’ He doesn’t have a stopping goal. We can always go some place else. I really, really want the WWE to be able to perform on a regular basis in China. I think we should be able go to India on a regular basis. I’m not the person who’s booking Live Events, but whatever I can do to push that message forwards and help those things happen. WrestleMania is at Levi’s Stadium. We should do every show in a stadium! And then we should build a bigger stadium. That’s what’s great about WWE. We’re always extending families, there’s always another story to tell, it’s never essentially over. You can tell I still have passion for this. I really love it and we’ll see what’s next when we see what’s next.”
On advice for Roman Reigns as he prepares for Brock Lesnar: “I told him to just be himself out there and as long as they make a noise I think he’s doing just fine.”
On a potential rematch with Daniel Bryan: “I think right now especially if you look at Sunday he probably has the same goal that I have. [He wants] to win the Intercontinental Championship and make it as important as he can. I’m trying to win the US Championship and make it as important as I can. We do have a lot of events in recent memory, so I’m not saying it’s never gonna happen, but it probably won’t happen on Sunday. We’ll have to wait and see, but I’m glad there’s a want and anticipation for that. Daniel’s a hell of a competitor for that and it’s a pleasure to be in the ring with him.”
Check out the complete interview at DigitalSpy.com.
Despite their original plans, WWE will not be running two shows in the United Kingdom on April 13th, the date of the RAW show overseas.
RAW will be taped at the O2 Arena in London, England on the 4/13 date, but will no longer run a live event in Leeds as scheduled.
Advertised for the Leeds house show were Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan, Bray Wyatt and Dolph Ziggler, which meant they wouldn’t have been available for RAW that night.
The decision was made to move the Leeds live event to Sunday at 1pm, so that everyone can be at RAW on Monday.
(Credit: F4WOnline.com)
Rey Mysterio spoke about the Perro Aguayo Jr. tragedy from last weekend and the rumors of his retirement during the WaleMania event in San Jose, California on Friday evening.
When asked how he is holding up since the Aguayo Jr. tragedy, Mysterio spoke about receiving tremendous support from his wife, kids, parents, the fans and his buddy Konnan, who was also present at WaleMania.
Mysterio also had Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter inform everyone in attendance that he is not retiring, despite recent rumors, noting that he feels Perro Aguayo Jr. would have wanted him to continue on with his career.
Mysterio also spoke about his WWE departure, pointing out that he wanted to do his own thing, call his own shots and spend more time with his family.
You can watch highlights from the Rey Mysterio Q&A at WaleMania above.
Bill Goldberg recently spoke with Steven Muehlhausen of the SportingNews.com. During the interview, Goldberg explained why he feels Triple H and Vince McMahon have “great disdain” for him.
Below is an excerpt from the interview, which you can listen to in full above.
“I think there’s great disdain for me because I wasn’t one of their boys because I didn’t want to play there game because I felt like I was part of the team and all I needed to do was come in and play my part and I didn’t have to fraternize and just play that game. I came from the NFL. I wanted to treat this as a business and I’m going to come in, so my thing and leave. I didn’t take things personally until they brought it to a personal level. I think that was cheesy and I think its carnish. Its like being a carny. I just chose not to deal with it because life’s too short. I don’t want to have to look over my shoulder for my boss. That’s ridiculous, I’m 48 years old. I’m not a kid. I don’t need to crawl back to anybody for anything. I’ll dig a ditch before I do that. I had a lot of fun digging ditches.”
Sam Roberts and Katie Linedoll of SIRIUS/XM radio caught up with Bray Wyatt this weekend for an interview heading into Sunday’s WrestleMania 31 pay-per-view and spoke about the fact that The Undertaker is going into this year’s WrestleMania without his undefeated streak.
“What I like about it is there is no Streak now,” Wyatt said. “There’s no reward held over his head anymore, there’s no pressure.”
Wyatt was also asked whether or not winning and losing is important to his character.
“I think a mixture of both,” said Wyatt. “This is something I wanted to get across. I’m not trying to become Undertaker in no way, shape, or form. I’m Bray and I’m trying to create my own legacy.”
Wyatt continued, “Going forward, all these big matches …it all will end with a message that I will be remembered for. I want one day for a young guy to find out that he is going to be wrestling Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania, and I want everyone in the room to come congratulate me, just like you are congratulating me on this epic opportunity to wrestle Undertaker at WrestleMania. I want that.”
You can watch the complete Bray Wyatt video interview above.
Daniel Bryan recently spoke with SFWeekly.com to promote this Sunday’s WrestleMania 31 pay-per-view. Below are highlights from the interview.
On how he feels physically and the fact that his injury issues hasn’t changed his in-ring style: “I actually feel real good. The only time I’ve had any setbacks was that match against Luke Harper. That was the only time I had some stuff going down my arm. Mentally when I came back I thought, “I’m not going to do any of this stuff. I need to wrestle an easier style.”
But the problem is I love doing this. I get excited when I’m in there. Shawn Michaels trained me when he had what was supposedly a career-ending back injury. So we were training in a boxing ring and he was teaching us how to take a back body drop, which is one of the bigger back bumps. I was training with Brian Kendrick, who came into the WWE around the same time as me, and we were taking back body drops and were doing them OK.
Shawn tells us “Guys like us, we need to get higher.” And he keeps saying we need to get higher and higher and explaining “you do this and this to get higher.” You know, telling us the techniques to get higher. So we keep trying but it’s not good enough. Then he goes “No, no, no! Like this!” and he storms the ring and takes this huge back body drop. Like, he hit the ceiling. We were all like “Whoa! That was awesome.” But he could barely walk the next day. So sometimes you know what you should and shouldn’t do, but when you love what you do it’s hard to always do what you should.”
On the WrestleMania 31 ladder match and if there was any hesitation on his part to be in it: “No, no hesitation to participate. Do I get a little nervous when I think about it? Yes. Coming back I didn’t know how strong my neck was. I can do all the tests. I can go in to the performance center in Orlando and take a couple bumps, my neck holds up. Then a match at the performance center, my neck holds up. OK, now let’s see a live event — it held up. You just keep going into deeper water testing how much it will hold up.
I got suplexed on my head [in the Luke Harper match] and my neck held up. So now I’m in this ladder match. Will it hold up? I think so. Am I nervous? Yes, but every time you’re in a ladder match you get nervous. But it’s important to not hesitate because that’s when you really get hurt. Everyone else in the match is going to go full bore. So I have to too. If I hesitate or worry I will get hurt then that actually increases my chances of getting hurt.”
Check out the complete interview at SFWeekly.com.
