When Hulk Hogan appeared on Ric Flair’s “WOOOOO! Nation” podcast, The Hulkster spoke candidly about his current WWE Hall of Fame status.
You can listen to the full podcast here.
When Hogan was asked to name his most prized possessions in his career, he says the WWE Hall of Fame ring as being the most important to him. He also mentions several championship belts including the belt he used for the filming of Rocky 3.
“That Hall of Fame ring is my life,” Hogan said. “It’s just so sad that I’ve been taken out of the Hall of Fame and I don’t have a presence anymore in the wrestling business. But I’m going to cherish that Hall of Fame ring.”
The duo also competed against the team of Chad Gable and Jason Jordan for the October 28th episode. Tommaso Ciampa is still a free agent, according to F4Wonline.com. No official word yet on Gargano.
– Evie from New Zealand faced Nia Jax for next week’s episode
– Shazza McKenzie from Australia faced Emma for the October 28th episode
– Kay Lee Ray from Scotland faced Nia Jax, also for the October 28th episode.
Former WWE Superstar Rey Mysterio is the new Heavyweight Champion of Destiny Wrestling. He defeated PJ Black (Justin Gabriel) and Ricochet in a triple threat match at their latest event on October 3rd from Mississauga, Ontario.
The promotion is owned by former WWE Superstar Santino Marella.
Both TNA Impact wrestling and Ring of Honor saw significant increases in viewership for this week’s 10/7 shows.
– The post-Bound For Glory edition of TNA Impact Wrestling totaled 447,000 viewers, up over 100,000 from the previous week. This was the most-watched episode of Impact in 3 months, dating back to July 8th.
The first airing of Impact averaged 335,000 viewers, up from 275,000 viewers last week.
The West Coast airing / late-night replay did 112,000, nearly doubling last week’s 69,000.
Overall, a strong showing for TNA and a refreshing sign of momentum for the show.
– Ring of Honor did 175,000 viewers, up from 127,000 viewers last week.
The episode featured matches from MCU Field in Brookly, including Kazuchika Okada vs. Roderick Strong in the main event.
It was the most-watched episode of ROH since July 29th, the week they were bumped from prime time.
Donald Wood from Ring Rust Radio interviewed Lucha Underground Co-Executive Producer Chris DeJoseph this week about the upcoming second season of Lucha Underground.
It was revealed earlier this week that season two of Lucha Underground premieres on the El Rey Network in January with the first round of tapings scheduled for November 14th. Here are some highlights from the interview:
What it was like behind-the-scenes getting the show back on the air:
Chris DeJoseph: I will say that behind the scenes it was a tad bit stressful. I was kind of out of that portion since I handle mainly the creative parts of the show, storylines, and things like that. For me, it was a wait and see game, and I got the news the same time around everyone else did. For me it was exciting because I hadn’t moved on to work on another show and now it gives me the opportunity to come right back and get in the swing of things for Lucha Underground. It was real exciting; everyone behind the scenes is super excited. Talent has reached out to me to let me know how excited they are. We are bringing back a lot of the same crew and people that helped make a fun and magical first season of Lucha Underground. Starting from scratch with something like that you will never know if it’s going to have some type of success or if people will like it. For the most part people enjoyed the show and that’s why we are coming back for season two.
The possibility of Rey Mysterio joining Lucha Underground:
Chris DeJoseph: If Rey was in Lucha Underground at all that would be amazing. What can you say about that guy? He is a former world champion and probably one of the most popular Luchadores ever. That would be amazing. As far as other new talent, that’s something that we are still in the process of. I think we would like to keep it a surprise for people. I will tell you there are some new characters, new faces, and some recognizable ones you will see.
Lucha Underground’s creative process & longterm booking strategy:
Chris DeJoseph: I think that other companies don’t look at their show like a drama for TV. Something you could tune into for every week, they keep looking at it as wrestling. We didn’t want to look at it that way. In my situation here on this show, Mark Burnett and Robert Rodriguez and the El Rey network put their faith in us and trusted us and our opinions and let us do what we were hired to do. Sometimes, not naming names, but in bigger places there are too many people trying to get their input in and sometimes those people at the top don’t see things the same way or just may change their mind just because. I think major politics are in play in those situations too. Somebody could have a bad match at a house show then the next week their story line is killed on Raw. We didn’t have the problem on Lucha. On the start of the very first day I told all the talent, we want everybody to be a part of this show, we want everyone to have some input on this, and we have to make this show together. We don’t get to season two unless everyone works together on season one. We had fun doing it. Toward the end of my WWE time, and I know this is true for a lot of talent and people that work for them, it stops being fun anymore. That’s one thing that we wanted to try to keep going at Lucha. Everyone comes in and has a good time and puts on a damn good show every week. I don’t have all the answers or best ideas and sometimes mine aren’t the best. But if people can come in and give their input and feel free to do those things and be part of the creative process it helps the show in whole.
Wrestling writers leaking news to the media:
Chris DeJoseph: I think when I was there, there were suspicions of some people who were, but you never really could prove it though. I never had a relationship with anyone who wrote any dirt sheet. I was too scared probably to even think about that there especially in my beginning times. There your life is so sheltered, but I think some come from talent not so much creative. I am not really sure on that but I know I never did. Sometimes things would get out that were true, but the majority of the times things that are reported are completely false or they don’t have all the information.
Changes for Season 2:
Chris DeJoseph: I think it’s already out there that we are beginning taping on November 14th, if it isn’t, it is now. You will see a lot of the same characters, but you will also see some new ones. We teased a few at the end of last season; hopefully there will be a little injection of new. You always need that to be successful with any show. Especially in wrestling it’s nice to see new faces and new matchups. As far as the other stuff, I don’t want to give anything away to spoil it for anybody. I will keep my lips sealed as far as everything else and what’s happening.
Former WWE Champion turned Hollywood star Dave Bautista revealed that he will be on the cover of Muscle and Fitness Magazine for the third time next month.
Batista, who was married over the weekend, will be co-starring in the upcoming James Bond film Spectre, due out November 6th.
Paul Heyman’s Heyman Hustle website has released the full behind-the-scenes video from last weekend’s WWE Network special from Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The video shows Heyman and Brock Lesnar leading up to the match with Big Show, including the two of them taking meetings with Vince McMahon and the Dolan family, which owns the Madison Square Garden Company. Also included is post-match footage.
Former TNA World Champion James Storm made his NXT debut Thursday night’s TV tapings from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. Click here to see video from the appearance. Storm tweeted the following after the show:
WWE taped the next 3 weeks of NXT television on Thursday night from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. Here are the spoiler results:
Airing October 14th:
– NXT Women’s Champion Bayley opened the episode with a promo about her match with Sasha Banks at NXT Takeover: Respect. This led to Alexis Bliss walking down to the ring, and they exchanged promos. Bliss grabbed the title then threw it in Bayley’s face. Bliss would then walk away.
– NXT Tag Champions The Vaudevillians defeated Sawyer Fulton and Angelo Dawkins in a non-title match.
– Nia Jax debuts and defeats Evie.
– Apollo Crews won the number contender’s battle royal to earn a future NXT Title Match. The final four came down to Samoa Joe, Crews, Tyler Breeze, and Baron Corbin.
Airing October 21st:
– Asuka defeated Billie Kay by submission.
– Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady with Carmella defeated The Mechanics.
– James Storm defeated Danny Burch with Eye of the Storm.
– Alexa Bliss defeated Peyton Royce with the Sparkle Splash. After the match, Bliss said she’s coming for Bayley’s NXT Women’s Title.
– Baron Corbin defeated Rhyno
Spoilers for the 10/28 episode:
– Emma defeated Shazza McKenzie.
– Chad Gable and Jason Jordan defeated Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano.
– Nia Jax defeated Kay Lee Ray.
– Enzo Amore and Big Cass are walking down to the ring when they are attacked by The Mechanics. They beat them down until referees pull them off of the two NXT stars. A doctor checked on Cass.
WWE Hell in a Cell takes place on Sunday, October 25th from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Join us here on 10/25 for our Live Coverage of the event. You can also access our full coverage of Hell In A Cell on our iOS app here.
Nia Jax made her NXT debut at Thursday night’s TV tapings from Full Sail University. She defeated Kay Lee Ray in a match that will air on next week’s show. Here are some photos from her debut via Twitter:
Apollo Crews is the #1 contender to Finn Balor’s NXT Championship after winning a battle royal at Thursday’s TV tapings from Full Sail University. The final four in the battle royal were Crews, Samoa Joe, Baron Corbin and Tyler Breeze.
No word yet on when the match will take place, NXT Takeover: London on December 16th is still over 2 months away. Crews has looked great since making his NXT debut over the summer and looks to be on the fast track to the top.
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins was a guest on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast this week and spoke candidly about Sting getting injured at Night of Champions.
Sting took a corner powerbomb and got rocked so badly the match was temporarily stopped and they wound up ‘going home’ sooner than planned. Since then, many have been questioning whether the 56-year old icon should be wrestling hard hitting main event matches against guys like Rollins, who is under 30.
Here’s what Rollins said about it:
“It was an amazing experience for me to get to step into the ring with somebody I dressed up [as for] Halloween. I mean, I was Sting two years in a row when I was like 13, 14, so it was pretty rad to be in there with a legend like that.”
“Ironically enough, Sting got a ‘stinger’. It happens to all of us, but it was just bad timing in his situation.” Rollins added, “we got through it, and he’s a professional.”
“I mean nothing against Sting – he’s in phenomenal condition, but he’s also a 56-year-old man.” Rollins continued, “I have taken the buckle bomb myself many times. It’s just one of those things. It’s a freak accident.”
“I feel terrible. I was definitely concerned about his health, still am, but after tests and everything, he seems to be okay, so it’s all good.” Rollins also said, “he’s going to make a good recovery”.
Former TNA World Heavyweight champion James Storm made his NXT debut at Thursday night’s TV tapings from Full Sail University. He competed against Danny Burch in a match that airs next Wednesday on the WWE Network.
Storm attended last night’s NXT Takeover: Respect event and it’s been reported that WWE is looking to use him in a player/coach type role.
WWE.com is now covering the story, referring to Storm as a top international star, an 18-year veteran and former heavyweight champion. WWE COO Triple H also acknowledged Storm’s debut:
We’ve got more details regarding the upcoming second season of Lucha Underground.
The first round of tapings for season two begin on November 14th from Boyle Heights, CA.
https://twitter.com/mlw/status/652239849806790656
Lucha Underground Co-Executive Producer Chris DeJoseph also revealed this week that the show returns to television in January, earlier than a lot of people were expecting.
– Trevor Lee turned down an opportunity to work at the TNA Wrestling live event in Salem, Virginia on October 3rd. Lee turned down the show so that he would be able to appear instead for CWF, an independent show that took place in Gibsonville, North Carolina. That is apparently where Lee got his start in the business. Lee did end up working the Bound For Glory event later in the weekend in the same state.
– Sony SIX is financing the upcoming TNA tour of India, which will feature some taped episodes of Impact Wrestling, as part of a deal with the promotion to push Mahabali Shera, an Indian talent.
– The following are some recent TNA attendance figures:
* October 2nd in Beckley, West Virginia drew around 250 people
* October 3rd in Salem, Virginia drew 450 fans
* October 4th in Charlotte for Bound For Glory drew 1,800 fans with heavy papering
Hulk Hogan was recently interviewed by “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair for Ric’s WOOOOO! Nation podcast. The two Hall of Famers discussed their time in both WWE and TNA. You can stream or download the podcast here.
Hogan reiterated his stance on WWE firing him over his leaked racist rant, saying they did what they had to do. He said the loyalty of the fans is something that WWE can’t take away from him and he won’t take for granted. He has nothing bad to say about Vince or WWE, and says he knows he created some great memories there.
The two ring icons also got into the subject of TNA, where they both worked at the same time. Hogan was a member of the creative team during their runs in the company, and recalled the time he convinced Ric to take a clothesline from him while Ric was rolling down the ramp in a wheelchair. Flair was glad the crowd popped huge for the clothesline, because he says it’s hard to make the old Impact Zone pop as there are a lot of non-wrestling fans in attendance.
Dixie Carter is another person Hulk says he has nothing bad to say about, because she supported him through some tough surgeries. He did concede that being in TNA was a “tough gig.”
Flair put over James Storm and Bobby Roode as great talents. Flair also said that the decline for the company is due to “inconsistent booking” and having, “too many cooks in the kitchen.”
The Nature Boy revealed that TNA had him and Hulk delivered to and from the arena each night, and that most of their time in Orlando was spent at the hotel bar across the street.
Stephanie McMahon explained in this video for WWE.com why she was moved to tears at last night’s Takeover: Respect event.
“Pride brought the tears. I’m still kind of crying,” said Stephanie. “It was such an amazing night. Respect indeed. When you consider the Dusty Cup and what that all means. Seeing his wife in the middle of that ring.”
NXT General Manager William Regal has announced that next week’s show will feature a Battle Royal to determine the next #1 contender to Finn Balor’s NXT Championship.
As noted earlier, The Rock’s cousin Nia Jax will also debut next week.
The show will be taped tonight when NXT tapes the next several weeks of programming from Full Sail University in Winter Park Florida. Check back later for spoiler results.
In addition to The Rock, who as we reported, is in talks with WWE regarding working together before the end of the year, another top WWE Superstar who hasn’t been around, or has been on a very limited, part-time schedule and is open to working more as of late, is The Undertaker.
Undertaker is reportedly open to working more dates this year than he has in past years, but those would probably only be special dates, outside of the tour of Mexico later this month.
The reason Undertaker is said to be willing to work more dates this year is because he is apparently in much better physical shape than he has been in recent years, as he has finally fully healed from injuries and surgeries he had been dealing with for a long time.
– Although he hasn’t been a character on television in what seems like forever, Zeb Colter is still under contract to WWE. Colter is currently listed as “out of action” with the reason listed being that he is recovering from surgery.
– Former TNA star James Storm has been in talks with WWE as of late regarding a possible role as a player/coach kind of figure in NXT. If he were to get the job, he would be working matches as a talent in the company, but would also work to help some of WWE’s up-and-coming developmental talent.
– WWE has inked a new deal with Pez. The candy company is scheduled to make brand new Pez dispensers using the likeness of such WWE stars as John Cena, The Rock and The Undertaker.
As noted last week, John Cena will be taking extended time off following the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view on October 25th. Cena will be gone for approximately 6 weeks time and as of this writing, Cena is scheduled to be off television through December at the earliest.
It’s worth noting that Cena requested this time off several months ago and this is not related to an injury. The fact that Cena had been advertised for WWE live events in November up until recently was an error by WWE, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Of course, this puts the status of his United States Championship reign into question. We’ll find out in the coming weeks if Cena will drop the title before leaving and how WWE will explain his extended absence.
Kane will be replacing John Cena WWE’s upcoming live events and will challenge Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main events of those shows. As an added bonus for fans who were expecting to see John Cena, WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair will be going on the road with WWE as well.
– Regarding Cesaro, WWE has appeared to have broken his fan base. While there were still some “Cesaro Section” signs in the crowd in Boston, there were very few of them. “The King of Swing” still receives good reactions from the fans when he comes out, but the feeling is his crowd reactions have been way down from about a month ago when he was heating up again.
– Part-time WWE performer Chris Jericho has officially signed a deal for his fourth book, tentatively titled, “No Is A Four Letter Word.” The book is currently expected to be released at the end of 2016.
– Longtime WWE veteran Randy Orton is scheduled to get married on November 14th in Las Vegas, Nevada. This will be Orton’s second marriage.
The WWE Shop website recently moved The Rock from the “Alumni roster” to the “current roster,” and apparently this wasn’t a mistake.
There has been some speculation within WWE as of late, particularly since the television ratings started dropping, of WWE trying to bring The Rock back to television in an attempt to boost the numbers during NFL season.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting that WWE’s promotions department has been told that The Rock and company officials are in the middle of serious talks about doing something together before the end of 2015.
– Following last night’s NXT Takeover event, NXT is back at Full Sail tonight to tape the next several weeks of shows. The Rock’s cousin Nia Jax make her NXT TV debut next week. Check back later tonight for spoiler results.
– Bull Dempsey defeated Sawyer Fulton in the dark match prior to NXT Takeover: Respect.
– Triple H and Stephanie McMahon tweeted the following about the Iron Man match featuring Bayley and Sasha Banks that main evented NXT Takeover: Respect:
