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DDP Talks About Backstage Interaction With The Rock, Idea He Had For His WWE Debut

Matt Boone
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Diamond Dallas Page recently spoke with Chris Featherstone for the Pancakes And Powerslams Show about his thoughts on The Rock, an idea for a “People’s Champion” angle and more. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.

On his idea for an angle with The Rock since they both had the “People’s Champion” moniker:

“First of all: I am the biggest Rock fan on the planet,” DDP said. “I love that he is the biggest star in the world right now, because he’s one of us. I met him in either 1999 or 2000. [He and Big Show] were wrestling in Canada, and we had a pay per view in Canada the night earlier. I went to the show, which nobody ever did. No one ever goes to the other guy’s show in WCW or [WWE], unless you were looking for a job. I wasn’t looking for a job. I just signed a multi-million dollar deal, so I wasn’t going anywhere. After the show, me and [Big Show] were getting ready to leave the building and he goes, ‘Do you want to meet The Rock?’ I said, ‘Sure. I’d love to.’ So we walked in the locker room and The Rock was there. We had a great talk. [He is] very humble. Rock has the ability to make you feel like you’re the only person in the room.

“I was quite a step or two over him, at that time, but Jake told me to keep an eye out on him, because is gonna be a huge star in our business; and that was when he was booked as Rocky Maivia in 1996. He said that this gimmick that he has right now is lame, but at some point he is going to break away from this and become a huge star. So I told Rock that story, and I said I’ve really been watching your career, and I love what’s happening with it, especially now. We shook hands, and as we were walking out, almost halfway down the hallway I hear, ‘Hey Diamond.’ Big Show gets out of my way, and I see him in the far corner of that locker room. He says to me – and I can see he’s rolling in the character – ‘Ya know, there’s only one People’s Champion.’ Big Show just about blew his guts out, he laughed so hard. I just stared at him. And I bet you I didn’t say anything for 15 seconds. And I said, ‘You know, Rock? You’re right. And you, my friend? Well, you’re looking at him!’ [Big] Show went, ‘Oh my God, you stuffed him! Nobody stuffs him!'”

On how that exchange inspired him to propose an idea for his WWE debut to his then-wife Kimberly Page:

“I woke her up and made her listen to me talk about how I was going to debut in the [WWE]. This isn’t now, but I am going to work a WrestleMania. I am going to end my career in the WWE. That’s just the way it is. I’ve never seen it any other way. I said here’s what’s gonna happen: they’re gonna cut all the lights in the building, and everybody is going to be for sure that it’s [Chris] Jericho. But it’s gonna go 15, 20, 30 seconds, no one says anything, people are grumbling. Jim Ross is saying ‘Hold on! Don’t change the channel. We’ve got some technical difficulties!’ And then, for the first time ever in a [WWE] arena, you hear my voice. Blacked out building. ‘Who’s the real “People’s Champion”‘? Spotlight hits me. ‘You’re lookin’ at him.’ Throw up the diamond cutter. Bang. I would have got boos, I would have got cheers out the building. Rock’s gonna be hurt, he’s gonna be out, so he can’t answer my challenge. But that’s how it’s gonna be. I’ll go to the ring, I’ll cut this promo on him and go on a rant until he gets there. Then we’ll start our promos. They’ll be unbelievable!”

WWE TLC 2015 Betting Odds

Matt Boone
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With Sunday night’s WWE TLC pay-per-view drawing closer, the betting odds for the show have now become available.

As things stand right now, all of the champions headed into Sunday night are favorites to retain their titles. Keep in mind that the odds usually see a dramatic shift as the “smart money” comes in hours before the start of the pay-per-view.

BetWrestling.com are offering the following odds on tomorrow night’s WWE TLC pay-per-view. A plus sign (+) indicates a betting underdog and a minus sign (-) represents an underdog.

WWE World Heavyweight Championship – TLC Match
Sheamus -750 vs Roman Reigns +450

WWE Intercontinental Championship
Kevin Owens -280 vs Dean Ambrose +200

WWE United States Championship – Chairs Match
Albero Del Rio -400 vs Jack Swagger +280

WWE Tag Team Championship – Ladder Match
New Day -210 vs The Usos +230 vs Lucha Dragons +700

WWE Divas Championship
Charlotte -530 vs Paige +350

Elimination Tables Match
Team ECW +325 vs The Wyatt Family -475

Ryback +150 vs Rusev -190

Join us here at SEScoops.com on Sunday evening for the best WWE TLC pay-per-view results coverage on the web!

Becky Lynch On Origins Of “Lass Kicker,” How She Got Signed By WWE & More

Matt Boone
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WWE Diva Becky Lynch recently appeared as a guest on Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho and spoke about the process of getting into WWE, picking her ring name and more. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.

On moving to Orlando to have TNA as a “Plan B”

“Orlando was where TNA was at the time, so I was like, ‘oh, okay. If I’m in Orlando studying, I’ll have a Plan B and also I’ll be close to TNA.”

On the origins of the Lass Kicker nickname:

“I didn’t [come up with ‘Lass Kicker’]. I had my match with Sasha [Banks at NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable] and then I woke up. And I was looking at my tweets that morning and there was a t-shirt with ‘Lass Kicker’ on it and I thought maybe Sheamus had a female version and then I thought, ‘but that’s kind of a bit weird if he has a t-shirt that’s ‘Lass Kicker” and I had no idea until I actually went on WWE Shop and saw that there was a ‘Lass Kicker’ t-shirt and I was like, ‘oh, that’s for me!'”

On studying the art of clowning:

“What I loved about wrestling was just being foolish, so I studied clown. I studied clown. I studied the art of clown. I actually did my thesis on clown.” Lynch added, “I feel like you just become very vulnerable and it’s very honest.”

“Well, everybody thinks that you just do tricks and learn to juggle and this, that, and whatever, but no! It’s actually [a] really powerful acting technique because you put on this little red nose and it’s like an arrow to your eyes and they say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. It’s like people can see through you or you feel like that. There’s just this thing that comes over you when you have that little red nose on you.”

On her WWE tryout in Birmingham, England:

“It was just lots of drills, lots of rolls, [and] a lot of it came down to just cardio and just how you moved in the ring. And then promos, and so, promos are like my favorite thing in the world. And then just telling your story. And I think because I’d worked on my promos so much I just felt so happy to be back in the ring, whether I was good or not, it was just an energy.”

On getting signed right away but being told that Vince McMahon might only be looking for models:

“They said that they liked me and that I did well. They said, ‘we never know. They might just be looking for models, so it depends what day you show up on Vince [McMahon]’s desk’ and I was like, ‘okay’, but I had faith.”

On the origins of her WWE ring name and other choices she considered:

“I kind of wanted to keep my own name. Yes, my real name is Rebecca and I’ve got twenty-something years of putting my name into other words.” Lynch continued, “and then ‘Lynch’ was, they just needed Irish names and then ‘Lynch’ was just one that came up, but I remember the owner of the gym that I was training out of before I got my tryout. The name of the gym was Raw and his name was Lynch and I thought that was kind of a good omen.”

“Robin Daly was one of the names I wanted to pick because I could be all like, ‘I’m Robin Daly, like, I’m robbing daily.’ It could be a ‘daily thing’ [or] a ‘daily habit’.”

(H/T For Transcribing: WrestlingInc.com)

Stardust’s Injury Keeps Him Off WWE TTT Taping, WWE Announcer Meets George Takei (Video)

Matt Boone
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– WWE announcer Scott Stanford, who also works for PIX11 out of New York City, posted the above video clip that shows him meeting George Takei of Star Trek and Howard Stern Show fame.

– As noted earlier this week, Stardust was examined for potential fractures at a local hospital following Monday’s WWE RAW match against Jack Swagger. It turned out that Stardust did not have any fractures, but the injury was bad enough that it kept him off the WWE Tribute To The Troops taping on Tuesday night in Jacksonville, Florida. Stardust and his real-life wife, NXT ring announcer Eden, had the following exchange on social media this weekend about the injury keeping him off of the taping.

Jake Roberts “Clean, Sober, Happy” & Gives Advice To People Struggling With Addiction (Videos)

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Jake Roberts checked in on Twitter on Friday after a video he dedicated to Bray Wyatt got some attention earlier in the week. Jake tweeted:

He also made a few inspirational videos for people dealing with addiction:

Jack Swagger On Alberto Del Rio’s Return, Seth Rollins’ Injury & More

Matt Boone
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Jack Swagger recently spoke with Philly.com to promote the WWE’s Tribute To The Troops. During the interview, Swagger spoke about his own return to WWE television, Alberto Del Rio re-joining the company, Seth Rollins’ injury and more. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.

On how it feels to be back on WWE television again:

“It’s always exciting. When a character is exposed to weekly live television shows, it’s sometimes necessary to be off for a little bit and reboot and just come back fresh in the minds of our audience. Coming back is exciting. Hopefully, we can build a nice run into a championship title maybe going into WrestleMania, have a good showing at the [Royal] Rumble. It’s a fun time of year to come back because every show from here on out is going to have a heightened importance to it because, believe it or not, WrestleMania is just around the corner.”

On WWE re-signing Alberto Del Rio and feuding with him:

“Alberto Del Rio is an incredible talent. He’s an incredible superstar. I think he has gotten better since the last time he was here. I see a big difference in the way he handles himself, the way he’s wrestling and just a general look about him. It’s going to be a big test. Him and I have a lot of history together. We know each other very well. I’m definitely going to have to raise my level of competition in order to come out successful against him. Now, we’ve got a big chairs match for the United States championship coming up at TLC. Adding an x-factor like a chair into the mix is really going to change the outlook.”

On what it’s like when top WWE Superstars go down with significant injuries:

“You know, no matter how technically sound a superstar is, injuries are going to happen. The physicality is very real inside that ring, and it’s a part of the sport. It just reinforces the fact that we need a great medical squad so we can actively take care of our bodies and prevent pain becoming actual injuries or much worse. For Seth Rollins, to his credit, that man is a tough one — still being able to power-bomb Glenn [Jacobs, aka Kane] after that.”

Stardust Hypes Dusty Rhodes Project, WWE Congratulates Layla & Ricky Ortiz On Marriage

Matt Boone
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– It appears that a movie or documentary on late WWE Hall Of Famer Dusty Rhodes is going to be released in 2017. Dusty’s son, Cody Rhodes (Stardust), took to social media on Friday to post the following teaser for the project, which he claims will be called, “The Last Cowboy.”

– Former WWE Divas Champion Layla and former WWE Superstar Ricky Ortiz were married earlier this month in Arizona. WWE has since acknowledged the marriage, as they wrote the following congratulatory message on their official website on Friday:

“After revealing their engagement this past summer, former WWE Divas Champion Layla and former WWE Superstar Ricky Ortiz (Richard Young) were married earlier this month. Join the rest of the WWE Universe in congratulating Layla and Ortiz on this exciting new chapter in their lives!”

Bayley Talks NXT’s Growth Over The Years, Current NXT U.K. Tour, Favorite WWE Theme Songs

Matt Boone
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NXT Women’s Champion Bayley recently spoke with Kerrang.com to promote the ongoing NXT U.K. Tour. During the interview, the current NXT Women’s Champion spoke about NXT’s growth over the years, the first-ever NXT U.K. tour, her faorite all-time WWE theme songs and more. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.

On the importance of NXT:

“It’s really important. Like, even when I first started to where it is now, it’s kind of like a whole different place. If you look at the roster now and WWE, its kind of everybody who’s come from NXT and there’s such huge stars, and it has a lot to do with where they come from and how we’ve been coached and trained and the Performance Center and everything we have there. It’s all the tools we need to have everyone succeed up here, and it’s obvious that NXT works.”

NXT’s growth over the years:

“Yeah, it’s amazing just to see how much, not just in Florida, that it’s grown. When I first started in FCW, we had 12 people there and I wasn’t even used to that. I came from independent wrestling and I was like, ‘Wow, this is crazy! How many people out there?’ And then to see it grow and grow and grow, and then just in Florida we’d have sell-out armories and that was a huge deal. And we used to have to bring people into Full Sail, names, to just draw an attraction just to have fans there, and now we don’t even have anybody from the main roster. It’s just us. And now we’re outside of Florida and to see how many people actually show up and sell out buildings of, like, 1,200 people, and the Barclays Center [in Brooklyn], it’s great – it’s kind of like that ECW feeling and it’s really special.”

NXT’s roster enjoying the first-ever U.K. tour:

“I think everybody’s so pumped, everybody keeps talking about it. I’m texting everyone back home like, ‘I can’t wait until we get to come out here!’ because once Sasha and I are in the ring, just doing this stuff, once we’re both in the ring, everybody here watches NXT. I expect nobody to know who I am when I’m coming out on this tour. But everybody knows who we are when they watch NXT. And I’m just so excited for everybody else to be able to share that, because it’s gonna be crazy. It’s the first time ever that we have the special there, and it’s sold out at Wembley Arena. It’s gonna be amazing.”

On her favorite WWE theme songs of all-time:

“Do I have to go in order? No? Steve Blackman, I don’t know why, I just thought it was so cool the way it started out. It doesn’t even have any lyrics, but I just loved it. This is embarrassing because he’s right there (motioning to Michael Hayes, ex-manager of The Hardy Boyz], but The Hardy Boyz. I was just a huge Hardy Boyz fan – and that didn’t have any lyrics, either – but just the guitar in it and everything, it’s just… ahh, it felt so cool. The Rock’s, because right when it’s like, ‘If you smell…’ you just get out of your seat! [Stone Cold Steve] Austin’s, Glass Shatters. I guess it’s how it always starts out, and it’s always unexpected. You don’t know when he’s gonna come out and it just hits and you’re like, ‘Ahh!’ This was never a favorite growing up, but just recently… The Undertaker. I started to really appreciate him. I was like, ‘Man, this song!’ It’s like watching a movie – watching him come down the ramp and watching him get into the ring. Everything he does goes with the entrance song, and he’s had it forever.”

John Cena Taking More Time Off After Royal Rumble

Matt Boone
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Although it won’t be long after he will have returned from his current hiatus from the WWE television and live event schedule, veteran WWE Superstar John Cena has already been given time off from live events after the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view on January 24th. Cena isn’t scheduled to return on the road with WWE for non-televised shows until the company’s European tour, which kicks off on February 10th.

During his absence from WWE, Cena has been filming the new military-themed competition show “American Grit” for FOX and doing the media rounds promoting his role in the Amy Poehler and Tiny Fey comedy “Sisters.” This week alone, Cena has appeared on “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon,” “The Today Show” and the red carpet premiere of the aforementioned “Sisters.”

WWE 2K16 Creation Studio App Released For Android & iOS

David Bixenspan
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The best WWE game in years just got better, as 2K Sports officially released the WWE 2K16 Creation Studio app for mobile devices running both Android and iOS. 2K has all of the details in a post on their blog, but here are some of the key features they listed:

• Works with photos taken with your device’s camera or from your photo library
• Can upload images to use as either face photos or logos for general use in WWE Creations modes
• Built-in tools allow for photo cropping, size adjustment, and edge smoothing
• Adjust your images by altering values for contrast, brightness, color hue/saturation, and more
• The erase tool allows you to easily remove the background or other unwanted details from an image
• Color mask tool allows you to filter out parts of an image by color
• Upload your images to WWE Community Creations to access them in the console version of WWE 2K16 within seconds!

The blog post also includes a guide showing how to use the app.

KimberLee Talks About Becoming CHIKARA Grand Champion, Wanting To Wrestle For WWE

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CHIKARA Grand Champion KimberLee spoke with Rolling Stone about her big win at last weekend’s Top Banana show from the former ECW Arena in Philadelphia, PA. Here are some highlights of what she said about:

Chyna’s influence on her & wrestling men: “I never really thought I would. Somebody who influenced me a lot when I was younger was Chyna. I never was allowed to watch wrestling when I was younger – my mom didn’t like it. So I had to sneak and watch it, and when I did, she always stuck out to me. She had the Intercontinental title at one point. So when I started to wrestle, that’s who I looked up to, and that’s what I wanted to do. Even from the beginning, I was saying that I wanted to wrestle men – I wanted to be looked at the same. I didn’t want to have to wrestle just girls. I didn’t want to have to do girly stuff. I wanted to do the same things that all the guys got to do. That’s how I’ve always been talking.”

Fans who are against inter-gender matches:

“I’m sorry that’s their opinion, but not everybody is a fan of every single wrestling company. Everybody has their flavor of choice. I think that intergender is becoming more popular and is becoming a bigger entity now. Not everybody is going to like the same artist; everyone has their own opinion. But I want to get as many people as I can to like intergender wrestling. That’s my goal, to turn everybody’s opinion around.”

Does she see herself in WWE one day?

“Absolutely. That’s the biggest platform that we have to perform. It’s a way to reach more people. It’s also one of the only avenues that you have to do this as a full-time job, which would be amazing. But I don’t want to go there to be what the Divas have been, I would want to make a change.”

You can read the full interview at RollingStone.com.

Video: Erick Rowan Destroys Old Mask, Debuts “New Face Of Vengeance”

Matt Boone
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In a rare social media post on Thursday, Erick Rowan took to Twitter to post a new video that shows him destroying his old “Sheep Mask” and debuting a newer, slightly modified version.

In the video, which is available above and features no actual talking, Rowan simply puts the mask he has become associated with on a table and smashes it before picking up a new one and putting it on.

Rowan wrote the following about the mask, which WWE.com referred to as, “The new Face of Vengeance.”

“some things are meant to be shattered..”

Behold, the new New Face of Vengeance.

In a rare post to his Twitter account, Erick Rowan transmitted an ominous clip of himself undergoing a bone-chilling transformation. In the video, the former NXT Tag Team Champion takes a bare fist to his signature sheep mask, laid before him on a table. The white wool façade shatters beneath his power, only to reveal a new, mangled-looking mask among its ruins, which Rowan then dons in place of the original.

Are we looking at the reincarnation of the bearded beast? Has Rowan discovered his true self after rounding out the expanded Wyatt Family? Perhaps the Family’s latest war, against the ECW Originals at WWE TLC this Sunday, will provide answers.

Daniel Bryan Says If He Could Wrestle Anyone Right Now, It Would Be Shinsuke Nakamura

Matt Boone
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WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan was in Singapore again yesterday for his ongoing promotional tour of Asia. It was the Singapore publication The New Paper where Bryan revealed the fact that if WWE doctors don’t clear him to return, despite the fact that other doctors have, his WWE career could very well be over.

On Thursday, Bryan spoke more about his status with PopSpoken.com and answered some fun questions such as who he would bring in for a match if he could pick anyone, who has given him his best WWE match in recent memory, his infamous 18-second WrestleMania match and more. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.

– Bryan said he’s “passed every test” in order to return to action, but WWE doctors haven’t cleared him yet.

– He still suffers from partial blindness in his right eye due to a detached retina he suffered back in 2007. He also has a ruptured ear drum dating back to 2007 that would take a lot of time off to heal, if he were to get that fixed.

– Regarding today’s young wrestlers working a rough style to get noticed, Bryan said that’s just part of the business. If you’re not the type of guy that management sees as a star (he cited The Rock), then you have to work really really hard.

– Bryan named Sheamus as the opponent that gave him the best match in recent memory.

– When asked which wrestler from the independent circuit he’d like to face in a WWE ring, Bryan did not hesitate to name NJPW’s Shinsuke Nakamura.

“I wouldn’t call the Japanese promotions ‘indie,’ but I’d love to bring Shinsuke Nakamura over,” Bryan said. “I love Shinsuke and I’ve known him for ages. What I love about his style is that he incorporates facets of reality into his matches.”

Impact Wrestling Viewership Rebounds As Destination America Era Winds Down

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02e2vPAo7p8

This week’s 12/9 edition of TNA Impact Wrestling on Destination America drew a total of 337,000 viewers for both airings, up from last week (294,000).

The show featured quarterfinal matches of the ongoing TNA World Title Series. The semi-finals and finals will take place on the live January 5th premiere of Impact Wrestling on Pop TV.

Jake Roberts Posts Bizarre Video Message To Bray Wyatt, Jake’s Rep Comments

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WWE Hall of Famer Jake Roberts released a bizarre video message to Bray Way on Thursday morning that had a lot of fans wondering if he had once again fallen on hard times in his battle to remain sober.

The video features Jake cutting a promo on Bray Wyatt, with Jake telling Bray that he’s waiting for him with a garlic-flavored condom and what looks to be a fur-lined jock strap. Jake proceeded to remove his fake teeth and offer up a “gum job.”

ProWrestlingSheet.com reached out to Jake’s rep, who says the video was simply a joke and Jake is 100% sober. “This is just Jake being the goofball we all know and love!”

WWE Network Launching In Japan On January 5th

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The WWE Network is launching in Japan on Tuesday, January 5th.

“Beginning Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016, WWE fans in Japan can order WWE Network online by visiting WWENetwork.com to receive their first month of service free. WWE Network in Japan will cost $9.99 USD per month, with no commitment and the ability to cancel any time.

Subscribers will have access to the U.S. English language version of WWE Network and get all 12 WWE pay-per-view events at no additional cost, as well as 24/7 scheduled programming and the most comprehensive video-on-demand library with more than 4,000 hours of content, including Raw and SmackDown re-airs, and every WWE, WCW and ECW pay-per-view.

WWE Network will first be available on desktop, laptop and mobile devices, followed by Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Roku and Smart TVs in time for Royal Rumble.”

George Barrios, WWE Chief Strategy & Financial Officer, says,  “Japan is strategically important for WWE given our passionate and engaged fan base in the market. The global expansion of WWE Network is critical to the continued growth of our brand internationally.”

Devon Talks About Retirement, Feuding With The New Day

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Devon Dudley spoke with The Philly Voice this week to promote Sunday’s WWE TLC pay-per-view. When asked about the possibility of retirement, the legendary tag team wrestler said he and Bubba Ray will continue to put people through tables as long as they’re physically able to.

“Brother, everybody thought we were done 10 years ago and we surprised the world. As far as I’m concerned, we’ll be 90 years old and still putting people through tables – whether it be at WrestleMania or an old age home – we’ll still be going on and on. It doesn’t matter, brother. We’re gonna rock from now until the day they tell us we can’t do it no more. And when I say ‘they,’ I mean the Good Lord above.”

He also had some very positive things to say about the top dogs in today’s WWE tag team division, The New Day. Devon admits there things about the New Day that really piss him off, but he loves being in the ring with them and they plan on making history once again this Sunday.

“Love The New Day. Although I wanna put their behinds through a table, love them. They’re exciting, they’re new, they’re doing things Bubba and I would do without the dancing and the twerking. They love to get under people’s skin. Listen, this is no different than what Bubba and I used to do when we were trying to make a name for ourselves. These guys are going out there and doing it. Do they piss us off and get us angry? Absolutely. Do we realize that? Absolutely, because that was us at one point in time.

“New Day is an up and coming tag team. They’re doing extremely well. It’s only a matter of time before we take those titles away from them, so we’re going to let them have their day in the sun, do what they gotta do. Again, they’re an extraordinary tag team. We’re very, very happy to be in the ring with them, and for us to kick their butts, for them to kick ours, and we’re gonna make history. Just like we did with Edge and Christian and the Hardy Boys, we’re gonna be doing that with not only The New Day, but we’re gonna be doing that with the Usos, we’re gonna do it with every one of those tag teams in theWWE right now. We’re gonna make sure we go out there and just tear it down. We’re gonna continue where we left off.”

You can check out the full interview at PhillyVloice.com.

Val Venis Running A Marijuana Dispensary In Arizona

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https://youtu.be/8taD_ZRIKCI

Former WWE Superstar Val Venis (Sean Morley) is now running a marijuana dispensary in Mesa, Arizona called Health 4 Life Dispensaries.

Now going by the name Kaptain Kannabis,  Morley has been a longtime proponent of medical marijuana and claims it saved his life by helping him get off pain pills and other pharmaceutical drugs. During an interview with High Times magazine earlier this year, he explained,

“When I found out about marijuana and started utilizing that instead, in 2008, I came off all pharmaceuticals and never looked back,” he said. “I could smoke marijuana and eat marijuana for the rest of my life and never suffer any liver disease or kidney failure due to pills.The pills will get you every single time, with marijuana, you could be 110-years old and still smoke it. There is so much cannabis can do. I don’t think people have any reason to fear it at all.”

Sami Zayn Returns To Action In The UK Against Finn Balor

Matt Boone
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Sami Zayn returned to the ring on Thursday night on the first show of the NXT UK tour in Newcastle, England. Zayn got a huge ovation from the crowd and looked to be in great ring shape, according to correspondents in attendance.

In his first match back since undergoing shoulder surgery back around May-June, Zayn wrestled NXT Champion Finn Balor in the main event. In their first-ever match, Finn Balor was victorious.

In addition to the above video that WWE posted on the official NXT Twitter page of Zayn’s electric ring entrance in Newcastle on Thursday night, the former NXT Champion had a surprise up his sleeve. Zayn borrowed a page out of UFC Fight Night 80 headliner Rose Namajunas’ page by surprising fans with a new shaved head look at the official weigh-ins for her fight against Paige VanZant in Las Vegas, which also takes place tonight.

During Triple H’s NXT TakeOver: London conference call on Thursday morning, it was revealed that Zayn will be working a match at the NXT TakeOver: London event at the SSE Arena, Wembley on Wednesday, December 16th. His match will be taped for next week’s NXT TV episode on the WWE Network, as opposed to being included on the live WWE Network special.

Welcome back Sami! #OleOleOleOle #NXTNewcastle #NXTUKTour

A photo posted by WWE NXT (@wwenxt) on

Jay Lethal Q&A Highlights: If He’s Ever Been Offered A WWE Contract, Favorite Matches & More

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ROH World Champion Jay Lethal took part in an ‘Ask Me Anything’ Q&A session on Reddit earlier today. Here are some highlights:

Why he is the best wrestler in the world:

“Because i believe it to be true. If i don’t believe it, how can i get you to believe it?”

Working with Low Ki:

“I learned so much from being in the ring with him… also learned how to take a good old fashion butt kicking! lol”

Has WWE ever offered him a contract?

“No”

Working With CM Punk, Samoa Joe & Christopher Daniels in ROH:

“It was one of the greatest learning experiences of my life”

His favorite matches:

“Me vs Chris Sabin on a TNA house show was a really good one… Also Bret vs Piper at mania is my fav to watch.”

Jay Lethal puts his ROH title on the line against AJ Styles at ROH’s next PPV, Final Battle 2015 live from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 18th. Follow him on Twitter @TheLethalJay.

Ric Flair On If Vince McMahon Would Have Worked In WCW If He Lost Monday Night Wars

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WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair took part in another “Ask Naitch” segment during a recent edition of his “WOOOOO! Nation”

On replacing Steve Austin in the match against Brock Lesnar on the July 1, 2002 edition of RAW after Austin walked out on WWE over the creative for the show:

“It was fun for everybody except me! Lesnar was twirling me around and I was going, ‘please be careful! Please be careful!’ Actually, I’ve played that match back. It was pretty good! Yeah, it’s not because I wasn’t afraid of him. I was scared to death of him. I’m 65 years old and I’m in there with this powerhouse, man! But, once again, another guy that was very careful with me. Thank you. And then I ended up wrestling him ten times, so it wasn’t bad at all. He never did anything, but you couldn’t tell me that walking down the aisle.”

On his longstanding beef with Shane Douglas:

“My take on Shane Douglas is should’ve, would’ve, could’ve. Never had to. Never will be. And [WOOOOO! Nation co-host Conrad Thompson], he does shoot on me. I don’t know why. I guess he blames me for his career. I guess he blames everybody. But every time I see him, he walks up and shakes my hand like nothing’s going on, so I win. And why waste one minute of negativity on someone like that?”

On if he thinks Vince McMahon would have come to work for WCW the way Eric Bischoff came to work for WWE if the Monday Night Wars were won by the other side:

“I never, ever thought that Vince would lose because I could see from behind the scenes the internal problems everyday and you can’t have individuals arrive at the building at six o’clock for a show that starts live at eight [o’clock] and then change the whole show around. That went on [in WCW] for a year and a half.” Flair continued, “Vince’s ego would never let him come down [to WCW] and run a Turner company. Never. Never. And he wouldn’t have. He never would have gone out of business. He would have figured a way out. Even if it got close, he may have had to do something with Rupert Murdoch or something, but he and [Ted] Turner didn’t care for each other. And I just don’t think you’d ever see Vince McMahon come to Atlanta [Georgia] to run that company.”

Triple H Media Call Recap

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Triple H held a conference call with the wrestling media on Thursday morning to discuss next week’s NXT Takeover: London live special. He spoke at length about NXT, and addressed the recent complaints from both fans and wrestlers about WWE’s current direction. Here are some highlights:

The idea of NXT replacing one hour of each RAW broadcast:

“If the thought would be to do it there that night, then you’re just doing a third hour. Then, it’s not NXT, then it’s not different and not a different feel and flavor. Is there a way to do that? Maybe. I think at the end of the day, three hours – no matter how you do it – is extremely difficult. I’ll be the first guy to admit that if I go to a movie and it’s longer than two hours, then I’m looking at my watch, no matter how good it is.”

On RAW being three-hours long, and dealing with fans’ frustrations:

“We just have to become more disciplined and more creative with how we do things, and how we operate the shows,” Hunter said. “We’ve had some unfortunate situations with injuries and everything else. It’s on us to be more creative and come up with a better format; a better show. We hear people’s frustrations and in a lot of ways feel the same way. It’s fixing it. And, trying to fix it. It is what it is. How we fix it, we’re not 100 percent sure yet. But, we will get there. Trust me.”

If WWE will call NXT talents up to the main roster to help strengthen RAW & SmackDown:

“The thing that I hate doing is, ‘Well, there’s a lot of injuries right now, so we’re going to pull this guy up,’ but then the injured guys will come back and then we’re not sure what we’ll do – now we have too many guys for the space,” Hunter said.

“I hate taking a guy as talented as Finn Balor and saying, ‘You’re the band-aid to hold us over until all these other guys come back and then we’ll see from there.’ If we don’t have that gameplan for when we call these guys up, especially for a Finn Balor, then it’s not the right time. You need to have something in your mind, and hopefully a long-term plan in place that gets them to where you want them to be. At least that would be the goal for me when guys come up.”

Brock Lesnar’s Next Opponent Revealed

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In an effort to boost disappointing ticket sales for next week’s WWE live event from The Forum in Inglewood, California, WWE has announced a special “Holiday Meal Deal” to boost sales, with each ticket now including a soda plus a choice of hot dog or popcorn.

The Forum website has also revealed three big title matches for the show, including Brock Lesnar facing Alberto Del Rio for the Untied States Championship. Here are the announced matches:

WWE World Heavyweight Championship:
Sheamus (c) vs. Roman Reigns

United States Championship:
Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. Brock Lesnar

Intercontinental Championship:
Kevin Owens (c) vs. Dean Ambrose

Also appearing, Bray Wyatt, Kane, The Dudley Boys, The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, the WWE Divas, plus many more.

Daniel Bryan Says WWE Offered Him Jobs As TV Announcer, NXT Trainer

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As we reported on Wednesday evening, while in Asia doing promotional work former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan told The New Paper out of Singapore that he thinks his WWE career might be over as a result of his injuries. Bryan also spoke with PassThePopcorn.My out of Malaysia. Below are some of the highlights from that interview.

On whether or not he would change his in-ring style if he were ever to the ring:

“My wife would like me to! She’d like me to take fewer risks. But here’s the problem with that – I’m the underdog. I’m not six feet tall; I’m five foot eight and one hundred eighty five pounds, so I am going to get thrown around. I’ve been trying to come up with some ideas and stuff, but that’s the style of wrestling I enjoy doing. I like flying around but yeah, I’m going to have to do some things to limit the injuries I think.”

On WWE contacting him to offer him other roles in the company:

“They [WWE] asked me a bunch of stuff of what I’d like to do like announce or be a trainer at NXT. I’m sure at some point in my life I would, but right now it would be too soon.”

On advice for Seth Rollins and Cesaro:

“I would say just make sure to be healthy when you come back and don’t rush it. But man, Cesaro, I’ve known him for years and this is his first major injury. For a guy who’s been wrestling that long, that’s pretty incredible. Rollins had neck surgery when he was on the independents but other than that he’s been relatively injury free. He and Cesaro are the two guys who actually wrestled more matches than anybody in the WWE. I mean in 2013, the year before my neck surgery, I wrestled more matches than anybody on the roster by a long shot. I did 227 matches that year and that what happens when you’re one of the work horses and are out there doing all those matches, you’re bound to get injured.”

Elias Samson’s “Haunting” Vignette, NXT U.K. Tour Note, Hype Bros Talk NXT Tag-Titles

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– WWE posted the above vignette for the NXT re-debut of Elias Samson on their official YouTube channel following this week’s edition of NXT TV on the WWE Network on Wednesday evening. WWE referred to the vignette as “A haunting ballad for the NXT Universe.”

– The following is a WWE.com exclusive post-NXT interview with The Hype Bros following their victory over former NXT Tag-Team Champions Blake & Murphy on last night’s show.

– Limited tickets are still available for the NXT U.K. Tour stop in Glasgow, Scotland on Friday. WWE posted the following notice on the official NXT Twutter page regarding the event, which takes place at The SSE Hydro.

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