– Christian recently spoke with the Corpus-Christi Caller to hype Tuesday’s live Smackdown from the city and spoke about the recent ankle sprain that kept him out of action for months and forced him to miss WrestleMania 28:
“After talking with a couple different doctors, they said that on a scale of 1-10 of the severity of the sprain, it was a 10. It was as bad as it could have possibly been,” Christian told the Corpus-Christi Caller newspaper promoting Tuesday’s live Smackdown taping. “It was a little bit frustrating to say the least, but it’s just one of those things where you got to get through it.”
Christian also said he hopes to hold the World Heavyweight championship again before he retires.
– In Episode 23 of “WWE Download” with Dolph Ziggler:
“Dolph Ziggler explores Kieth Apicary’s dating methods and admits that Zack Ryder might be a little less of a nerd. #WWEDOWNLOAD”
– Thursday’s IMPACT Wrestling will feature Jeff Hardy vs. James Storm in a Bound for Glory series match, the latest in the Styles/Dixie storyline, more new X-Division talents debuting and more.
– Kurt Angle, Austin Aries, and Miss Tessmacher will be doing a signing on July 6th from 2-4PM at Direct Auto Insurance on 2110 Greenridge Road in Charleston, SC.
– If you enjoy watching TNA’s Impact Wrestling live on Thursday nights, you can email Spike TV at [email protected] and tell them you want Impact to remain live every week after the summer.
– WWE.com has a poll up asking what will Brock Lesnar’s response be to Triple H’s SummerSlam challenge tonight on Raw.
As of Monday afternoon, 75% think Lesnar will accept the challenge while 25% think he will reject the challenge due to his ongoing storyline lawsuit against WWE.
– Randy Orton is featured on the cover of the latest issue of Power Slam magazine.
– WWE talent will be at San Diego Comic-Con on July 12th along with Mattel toy designers Bill Miekina, Derek Handy and Mattel’s director of marketing Enrique Ruvalcaba.
– John Cena attended a New York Mets MLB baseball game last week.
– To update the news of Brock Lesnar responding to Triple H’s SummerSlam challenge tonight on RAW, WWE is now advertising that Lesnar’s “camp” will respond on his behalf.
As noted earlier in our RAW preview, neither Lesnar or Triple H are advertised/expected to appear live tonight.
– As the Interim General Manager of this week’s RAW and SmackDown shows, Teddy Long wrote on Twitter that he’s been granted access to the @WWERawGM Twitter account this week. The account has been inactive since John Laurinaitis was fired last month.
– The final part of “Cut That Promo” featuring former WWE superstar John Morrison and TNA Gutcheck reject Joey Ryan is now online. The footage was originally Filmed on June 7th during the 10th Annual Los Angeles Improv Comedy Festival at IO West. The earlier parts can be viewed at host Christian Rosenberg’s Youtube channel. Here’s the 6th and final part:
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Here are some highlights of what JR wrote about:
Pro Wrestling Bias: “I strongly dislike this unflattering trait that many in our society have. Perhaps that’s why acting, for some wrestlers, is a viable alternative for performers leaving the business. Society isn’t geared to afford many other opportunities for former wrestlers without them having a marketable skill set and especially without an education. ”
WWE’s Wellness Policy: “I’m not against two strikes and out being the benchmark.”
Austin, Goldberg & Batista Returning To WWE: “I get these Tweets daily, will @steveaustinBSR or @Goldberg ever return to WWE? I’m wondering why those asking don’t Tweet the talents themselves. Not everyone that has had a wrestling career wants to return to the grind. It’s not that glamorous. Same goes for @DaveBautista who’s also building a film career.”
As always, you can check out JR’s amazing line of BBQ products at WWEShop.com.
– Maxine’s profile on WWE.com has been removed from the NXT talent index after the Tampa, Florida native announced Friday on Twitter that both parties have come to terms on her contract release. The profile now resides in the Alumni section. WWE, however, has not released an official statement regarding her departure from the organization.
According to PWInsider.com, Maxine quit WWE due to frustrations with “not being offered a guaranteed deal and not having the chance to prove herself on TV beyond the WWE NXT level.” She continues a trend that began last year of female talent leaving WWE on their own accord, which includes Michelle McCool, Gail Kim, Maryse, Brie Bella and Nikki Bella.
– Lilian Garcia has announced that her new EP album is titled “My Time.” A pre-sale for the album will be available beginning July 4 on LilianGarcia.com with a limited number of autographed CD’s.
– Randy Orton is featured on the cover of the latest issue of Power Slam.
– WWE will be holding a RAW brand live event from the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas on January 13th, the same venue that will host Tuesday’s Great American Bash live SmackDown show. Tickets will go on sale at Tuesday’s show. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)
– WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart is 55 years old today. He was born on July 2, 1957.
Hart was asked by a fan on Twitter if he’ll be appearing at the upcoming RAW 1,000th episode celebration. He replied:
@ATweetFromScott Haven't heard from them yet, but I expect a call soon
– There was talk in recent weeks of Cody Rhodes winning the SmackDown brand’s upcoming Money in the Bank match. Cody did not qualify on Friday’s SmackDown, but he is currently protesting WWE’s Board of Directors for a spot in the match. With more qualifying matches taking place on Tuesday’s live SmackDown special, expect to see Rhodes qualify tomorrow night.
– As reported earlier in our RAW preview, expect to see at least one more wrestler added to the RAW brand’s Money in the Bank match. WWE.com is teasing:
“Thus far, John Cena, Big Show, Chris Jericho and Kane are the only competitors announced for the contest, but we’d be surprised if a former champion or two didn’t rear his head from an unexpected location and throw his hat (so to speak) into the mix.”
– WWE Tag Team Champion R-Truth hinted on Twitter over the weekend that he could be on RAW tonight. Due to an injury, Zack Ryder replaced R-Truth and tagged with Kofi Kingston at this weekend’s live events.
– People of Walmart, a comedy website featuring user-submitted photos of overweight, poorly dressed, or awkward looking people shopping at Wal-Mart, has published a photo of John Cena participating in an autograph signing. The website’s editor is unsure of the premiere WWE Superstar’s popularity status and asks whether he is popular in 2012 or a has-been residing in “weird Ric Flair territory.”
– WWE.com has posted the infamous video clip of Charlie Haas inadvertently knocking Lilian Garcia off the ring apron on the June 5, 2006 episode of Raw. Also featured in the video is Garcia screaming in pain before she is escorted to the backstage area by medical personnel.
Garcia legitimately suffered a sprained wrist from the accident. One week later, the mishap was turned into a storyline, with Haas incurring the wrath of Viscera.
– WWE.com has released a poll asking what will Brock Lesnar’s response be to Triple H’s SummerSlam challenge tonight on Raw. According to the poll results thus far, 75% think he will not pass up the opportunity to fight The Game while 25% think he will reject the challenge due to his interest in filing lawsuits.
With WrestleMania 29 approximately 9 months away, WWE officials continue to lay out plans for the card’s top matches, including who current WWE Champion CM Punk will wretle.
CM Punk has been pushing hard behind the scenes to wrestle WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin, but the latest is that there are no guarantees the match will take place.
Austin has been very outspoken over the past year about the fact that he’s healthy to wrestle again – and if he did return, he’d want to wrestle CM Punk.
That said, it’s far from a lock that Austin will return to the year. In fact, a WWE source recently stated that the possibility of Austin wrestling at WrestleMania 29 next year is still “more likely a no than a yes.”
– Alberto Del Rio attacked his personal ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez at this weekend’s live events after losing to Sheamus.
– Following Tensai’s recent attack on Sakamoto a few weeks ago on RAW, appeared that Tensai dropping Sakamoto was part of his character being repackaged.
Sakamoto was back with Tensai on Friday’s SmackDown when Tensai qualified for Money in the Bank.
– In recent weeks, we’ve seen Dolph Ziggler job to World Heavyweight champion Sheamus several times. While this might seem like WWE is not entirely sold on Ziggler as a main eventer yet, WWE sources indicate that WWE has big things planned for Ziggler in the second half of 2012 and he is viewed as one of the top WWE superstars with breakout potential.
– WWE has reached out to Hall of Famer Tammy “Sunny” Sytch in the last week about making an appearance building to or for the historic 1000th episode of Raw.
– Brutus Beefcake is advertised to appear for Abbotsford Agrifair in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada on August 4 and 5, 2012.
– Amy “Lita” Dumas appears on the debut album of JD & the FDCs as a guest vocalist for the song “From the Shadows.” Additional information is available here.
– Big Show is today’s Superstar of the Day on WWE.com.
WWE is reportedly interested in wrestling legend Bruno Sammartino being the headline inductee for the 2013 Hall of Fame Class.
According to f4wonline.com, WWE has already reached out to Sammartino, but no word yet as to whether the 76 year old former WWWF champion is interested.
Sammartino has been very outspoken against Vince McMahon and WWE since the two sides had a bad falling out in the late 1980’s.
WWE has reached out to Sammartino several times over the years (DVD projects, Hall of Fame, etc.) but so far, he’s been unwilling to bury the hatchet and has wanted nothing to do with WWE.
Another name discussed for the 2013 Hall of Fame is Rena “Sable” Lesnar, wife of Brock Lesnar.
Tonight’s WWE RAW Supershow takes place from the Laredo Energy Arena in Laredo, Texas. Here’s a preview for tonight:
– Teddy Long will serve as the Interim General Manager.
– Brock Lesnar will give his official response to Triple H’s challenge for a match at SummerSlam. Neither Triple H or Lesnar are advertised to appear in Laredo, so his response could come via satellite.
– Sin Cara vs. Alberto Del Rio
– Another WWE Legend is expected to appear and wrestle Heath Slater.
– Continued hype for Money in the Bank, including the news that AJ Lee will be the special referee for the CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan WE title match. Plus – after 4 Superstars were announced for the RAW brand’s Money in the Bank match, will we see more names announced?
– After qualifying for the SmackDown brand’s Money in the Bank match, Tyson Kidd is looking to continue his hot streak.
The dark match main event is scheduled to be John Cena vs. Big Show & John Laurinaitis in a handicap match.
It’s also worth noting that Eve Torres announced on Twitter over the weekend that she’s back on the road with WWE this week, so she could return tonight.
Angelina Love, a record-setting five-time TNA Women’s Knockout Champion, announced Sunday via Twitter that she has been granted her release from TNA Wrestling.
“To all my wonderful fans, just want to let you know I have been granted my release from TNA,” she wrote. “It was completely amicable parting of ways and I want to thank TNA and all of its employees for the wonderful journey I’ve had there over the years. Now I’m on to the next amazing chapter of my life! If you are looking to book me please contact John at [email protected] Thank you so much!”
Velvet Sky, who initially drew fame alongside Love as “The Beautiful People,” addressed the departure of her friend and former tag team partner.
“Such a damn shame!! So much left to do there! I know you’re gonna move on to big things bud, good luck and as always I love u!!” Sky wrote on Twitter.
Love responded to Sky, “I love u with all my heart, we did something so amazing with TBP and the memories from that will last forever! I cherish our friendship so much, thank you for EVERYTHING Ebud!!”
Their characters were portrayed as arrogant blonde Barbie dolls, whose main goal as a team was to “cleanse” the TNA roster “one ugly person at a time,” based on their belief that their physical appearance was superior to all others. The duo was such a success that even WWE took notice and made their own group of narcissistic and vain bullies. Wrestling Observer editor Dave Meltzer has said that LayCool was devised due to WWE’s creative department being embarrassed by the Love/Sky tandem making their female roster look second-rate by comparison.
“The Gunn Show” enters the world of “shoot” this week in the first of a multi-part, in-depth interview with former WWE and TNA superstar, Billy Gunn. See the softer side of Billy Gunn as he opens up about his family, music, TV and more in a fun segment called “Hashtag Hijinks” (word association). Then, watch him get serious as he starts discussing the wrestling business, including the WWE tag team division, bringing back NAO, breaking into the business, and more. Hosted by Vegas Fuel Marketing Director and wrestling host, JMC, this is a very entertaining interview that you don’t want to miss. Follow Billy Gunn on Twitter @RealBillyGunn. For bookings, e-mail [email protected].
Quotes? We’ve got quotes!
Billy Gunn on the worst movie ever (in “Hashtag Hijinks”):
“#MARINE – and let me give you a good reason why. If you know my wife — some people know my wife, some people don’t — she hates wrestling. But she is in love with John Cena. So, she couldn’t wait for the movie to come out…she walked out ten minutes in. Now, if my wife walks out, that’s a bad movie.”
Billy Gunn on whether or not he was ever held back on the microphone:
“I just don’t like to do it. Plus, I never had to do it when I was with Brian [BG “Road Dogg” James]. Good Lord…he is the number one guy on the mic. I don’t care what they say about Cena, I don’t care what they do about Rock — usually they have to look at some stuff, and I’m not saying they go by what they look at, but Brian never, ever, ever did it..and it was doing it night in, night out, something different, every time he walked down the ramp. So, in my opinion, in my book, Brian is the number one mic guy because he can come up with anything, at anytime, and hit every bullet point he has to hit.”
Also included in part-one of “The Gunn Show Shoot”, Billy discusses how hard it is to break into the wrestling business these days, one of his regrets, his opinion of good music and TV shows, “Family Day”, and the US Government. It’s candid, funny, and informative — you won’t want to miss the next three episodes of “The Gunn Show” on Vegas Fuel TV (youtube.com/vegasfueltv).
Solomonster talks about attending a WWE “Be A Star” rally, John Cena entering Money in the Bank and whether his match will headline the PPV, Psycho Sid’s return, Maxine quits WWE and the Diva revolt that appears to be taking place, Ryback squashes one of our listeners, Bray Wyatt suffers an injury, great X Division action on Impact and thoughts on the greatness of Macho Man vs. Ric Flair at WrestleMania VIII!
– PPV provider iN DEMAND has released the latest promotional poster for the next installment of TNA’s “Unfinished Business” specials.
The feud of Jeff Hardy vs. Mr. Anderson will be the subject of the next offering, which will be available for purchase on Saturday, August 4. Here’s the poster:
– Hulk Hogan says the “main topic” of conversation when he talks to Dixie Carter and Spike TV is upgrading TNA’s minor league feel of the Impact Zone in Orlando. A fan wrote Hogan, “You guys have really stepped up your game. Great job. Only problem is the small ‘arena’ comes off as minor league. Major turnoff.”
Hogan replied:
@A_Al_Shammari yo brother you hit the nail on the head ,that is always the main topic when we talk to Dixie or Spike TV,still trying. HH
– WWE Hall of Famer “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan did a live appearance on Sunday and reportedly told fans that he’ll be at Tuesday’s live Super SmackDown “Great American Bash” show.
– Rhyno has been added to the Alumni section of WWE.com this week.
– Episode 22 of WWE’s “Are You Serious?” video series is now online.
“Road Dogg and Josh Mathews are back with more cringe-worthy clips from the WWE vaults. This week, Scott Steiner is the newest inductee into the “Hall of Fail.”
The episode also includes footage of DX visiting Little People’s Court with Hornswoggle from several years ago and the WCW Bad Gimmicks Roulette Wheel.
A backstage fight took place at Saturday night’s Extreme Rising show in Philadelphia between New Jack and Balls Mahoney.
The ECW originals have had heat for a while and almost fought at Extreme Rising’s April show.
New Jack reportedly punched Balls Mahoney when he walked to into the backstage area. The two were separated and were kept apart for the rest of the night.
It’s believed that comments made by Balls Mahoney about New Jack during a recent shoot interview were the cause of their fight.
– Perry Saturn suffered a stinger during his match with Papadon. Saturn was reportedly unable to feel his left arm for most of the match. Papadon is liked by company officials.
– Backstage access was much stricter than in the past. Nick Berg and Boogalou were backstage visiting.
– More luchadors will be brought in for future Extreme Rising show, including Super Crazy.
– Shane Douglas was said to be “feverishly” taking notes about the show all night. Douglas was walking around and talking to fans, asking for feedback and thanking them for their support.
– Saturday night’s Extreme Rising show from Philadelphia drew approximately 800-900 fans. Company officials were happy with the show and there is a feeling that the company has “stabilized” after a critically panned first show.
– The ring and other equipment from the CZW promotion were used this weekend. Several people from CZW were at the Philly show.
– The next Extreme Rising shows will take place in the weekend of September 21st with shows from Pittsburgh and Cleveland. There are tentative plans to return to the Northeast in November.
