The following is the final lineup for tonight’s TNA “One Night Only: #OldSchool” pay-per-view taping in Poughkeepsie, New York:
World Heavyweight Title
– Magnus (c) vs. Samoa Joe
Monster’s Ball
– Abyss vs. Jeff Hardy
Last Man Standing
– Bobby Roode vs. James Storm
Falls Count Anywhere
– Bully Ray vs. Tommy Dreamer
– Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson
Also in action will be Kazarian, Daniels, BroMans, Eric Young, Chris Sabin, Velvet Sky and Lei’D Tapa.
Tonight’s “New Year’s” edition of WWE RAW takes place from The Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, VA. Here is WWE.com’s 5-point preview for the show:
1. Intercontinental Title Up For Grabs: Big E Langston defends against Fandango.
2. World’s Largest New Year’s Baby: Big Show dons a diaper and dresses up like a baby.
3. The Animal To Hunt Again: How will The Authority and the WWE Universe react to the news that Batista is returning to RAW in 3 weeks?
4. What’s Next For John Cena? Will Cena make a bid to go after WWE World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton?
5. What is The Authority Planning for 2014? The Authority has already shown they’re willing to put Randy Orton to the test, what will they have in store for IC Champion Big E Langston, Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes & Goldust and Divas Champion AJ Lee?
WWE is also running a rare Monday night live event tonight from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Superstars advertised for that show (who won’t be at RAW) include John Cena, Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Goldust, Big Show, Kane, Antonio Cesaro, Alberto Del Rio and Sin Cara.
Check out this recent photo of Brock Lesnar and his wife, former WWE Diva Sable:
Following his recent heel turn, the “Main Event Player” Brodus Clay unveiled a new look at last night’s WWE TV tapings from Washington DC.
Set to air on this week’s WWE Main Event, Clay will be a guest on Miz TV. Clay has new theme music and was wearing a pinstripe ‘gangster’ suit. Here’s a look:
A photo has surfaced of John Cena wearing a t-shirt poking fun at Internet fans. The shirt reads, “If Cena Wins, We Complain Online” –
The following are highlights from a recent interview with TNA star Bully Ray:
On having old school respect for the wrestling business: “I am the last of a dying breed. The last of the old-school pro wrestlers. I have the old-school respect for the industry. I think old school in and out of the ring. A lot of these guys coming out of wrestling school today, they ask when they’re going to be on TV. Nobody wants to pay their dues any more. ‘Pay your dues,’ there’s three words every young wrestler should have emblazoned in their forehead. Pay your dues, get out on the road, go live in your car, go eat bologna and cheese sandwiches, go struggle and make no money. When you finally get some success, you’ll appreciate it a whole lot more.”
On why he’s stayed in TNA: “The reason I stayed in TNA is because, right now, it’s the best business decision for me. It’s a good fit for me. I always make my decisions based on business. At the end of the day, this is the wrestling business. I also like the younger guys that are here in TNA, and I’d like to help some of those guys move forward with their futures.”
On TNA vs. WWE: “Why would you want to watch TNA over a John Cena-Randy Orton match?. I’m really not sure. I find John Cena’s matches very entertaining, and I find Randy Orton’s matches very entertaining. I also know, if you watch Bobby Roode and AJ Styles, or Samoa Joe and Austin Aries, you’re going to be even more entertained by watching those guys.”
On his dream match: “Bully Ray vs. CM Punk would be the match. Paul Heyman has told me directly that me and Punk standing across from one another with a microphone in our hands would be deadly. Given the opportunity to have absolutely no restrictions on what we’ say and to just go at it, you’d be looking at the two guys who can spit venom better than anybody else out there in the industry. And I know we could back it up in the ring.”
Check out the complete interview online at WEEI.com.
– Monday’s December 23rd edition of WWE RAW averaged 3,821,000 viewers, down from 4,152,000 the previous week. Considering the show was taped last week and it’s the holiday season, that’s not a bad number. Here’s the hourly viewership:
With almost 4 million viewers during Hour 2, RAW broke the 4-week streak of losing viewers every hour throughout the show.
– WWE has published the following video of Cody Rhodes doing a moonsault off the top of a steel cage at last night’s live event from Madison Square Garden:
“Catch the moment the WWE Universe has been buzzing about all day, Cody Rhodes’ moonsault from the top of a cage at a WWE Live Event at Madison Square Garden, December 26, 2013. This goes to show anything can happen at a WWE Live Event!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9VsIE7nTw_8
– As of today, people within WWE are expecting Brock Lesnar to return to television either the day or week after the Royal Rumble taking place on January 26, 2014. F4WOnline.com reported on Thursday that a match against The Undertaker is currently planned for WrestleMania XXX on April 6, 2014 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
– Bruce Willis and many other actors, musicians and celebrities join WWE in honoring the men and women of the U.S. Military.
– Former WWE Cruiserweight Champion Kid Kash is scheduled to appear at autograph signing on Saturday, January 4, 2014 for Stateline Pro Wrestling at UAW Local 1268 Union Hall 1100 W Chrystler De. Belvedere, Illinois.
(source: F4WOnline.com)
– At Thursday’s WWE live event at Madison Square Garden in New York City, WWE backstage worker Michael Hayes stumbled over the top rope while entering the ring for a segment with a Big Show and Booker T. It was believed to be on a purpose, since Roman Reigns similarly stumbled during a live event last month in Dublin, Ireland, which CM Punk mocked at the following Monday’s Raw event in Manchester, England.
A fan in attendance managed to capture footage of Hayes’ fall.
– The official WWE website has issued a poll on Daniel Bryan’s best match of 2013. His match against John Cena at SummerSlam, which saw him capture the WWE Championship, currently leads at 47%. It is trailed by his partnership with Kane and The Undertaker against The Shield on the Apr. 22 Raw (14%) and a Street Fight against Randy Orton on June 24 (11%).
– As reported earlier, Lisa Maria Varon, famously known as Victoria, attended Thursday’s WWE live event at the AllState Arena in Chicago, Illinois as a fan. One WWE employee would like to see the former Women’s Champion return to their ring.
“You should be experiencing them from the ring,” Joey Styles, WWE’s VP of Digital Media Content, wrote to Varon on Twitter in response to her message noting that it was her first WWE experience in the audience.
– TNA Knockout Madison Rayne will be doing the ImpactWrestling.com “second screen experience” for Thursday’s edition of Impact Wrestling on Spike TV. Rayne will be holding a live Q&A with fans during the television broadcast.
– TNA has posted the latest IMPACT Podcast, which was recorded live in London and featured World Heavyweight Champion Magnus, as well as Rockstar Spud. You can check it out below:
http://youtu.be/pTexiZYulAk
Apparently the WWE tryout of Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards was not at first intended to lead to a deal for them with the company. The idea was that they worked the first week in NXT and if the company liked them, they would be brought to Orlando to work at the Performance Center and some NXT shows for the first few months of 2014. If everything at that point went accordingly, then that would have led to a deal for the two.
As of right now, there is still no real word on whether or not Richards and Edwards will be coming back to WWE after the first of the year, but it is apparently expected.
Additionally, there is some talk that TNA is either getting ready, or may already have, made a play themselves to get Richards and Edwards to join their company.
[Credit: PWInsider.com]
There are some rumors that WWE Diva JoJo Offerman is on thin ice with the company right now.
The fact that WWE has kept her off of multiple recent television tapings mixed with the fact that she was barely acknowledged during the second-half of season one of Total Divas is seen as a bad sign for her future with the company.
JoJo has, however, been in attendance at some of the recent NXT events.
[Credit: F4WOnline.com]
– Former WWE developmental talent Ivelisse Vélez says her father is missing after last being seen in Chicago, Illinois.
She wrote on Facebook Christmas Day with a photo enclosed, “ATTENTION EVERYONE. MY FATHER LUIS VELEZ HAS BEEN MISSING FOR THREE DAYS. HE WAS LAST SEEN IN THE CHICAGO AREA OF ASBURY PLAZA. PLEASE SHARE AND REPOST THIS TO TRY TO FIND HIM. IF ANYONE SEES HIM PLEASE CONTACT THE FOLLOWING NUMBERS: 773.286.3749 or 773.733.6927! PLEASE ;(.”
– According to The I.P.A. Network, the former Kelly Kelly, Barbie Blank, will be appearing at the Niagara Falls Comic Con taking place June 6-8, 2014 at the Scotiabank Convention Center in
Ontario, Canada. Ric Flair, Demolition, Brian Blair and Jim Brunzell will also be on hand for the event.
– The latest edition of WWE en Espanol, with Carlos Cabrera and Marcelo Rodríguez discussing last week’s WWE events, is now online.
Following around round of negotiations, AJ Styles is expected to return to TNA in the near future. As noted previously, Styles was seeking somewhere in the neighborhood of $350,000 per year, and while at first TNA refused to match that request, they have apparently given Styles what he is requesting in order to return to the company.
Bill Behrens, the agent for Styles, recently reached out to independent pro wrestling promoters and informed them that the talks between Styles and TNA were moving along, so if they wanted to book him for a show, they needed to get their deposits in soon.
[Credit: PWInsider.com]
– A photocopy of Maven Huffman’s contract with WWE is currently being auctioned off on eBay.
Following Huffman’s 2005 departure from WWE, the contract, as well as the trophy he was awarded for winning Tough Enough in 2001 and other WWE items, wound up in a storage unit in Virginia (his home state). Huffman, however, stopped paying the bill, and the storage unit and its contents were sold to a man for $100. The man reached out to Huffman to return his possessions, but heard nothing back. He then turned to eBay and sold some of the possessions, including the original contract and the trophy (the trophy sold for $600).
To view the auction, click here.
As far as Huffman’s whereabouts are concerned, mixed martial arts journalist and wrestling fan Ariel Helwani revealed in September via Twitter that he was working at a sports bar in New York City.
– Konnan is apparently no longer on good terms with R-Truth, who he teamed with in TNA Wrestling as members of 3Live Kru.
Earlier this week on Twitter, a wrestling fan who is father, made note of his toddler son selecting a Mattel R-Truth action figure for Christmas. Konnan responded to the fan with the following: “He has bad taste..#AhCmonNow.”
The former WCW United States Champion also continues to slam Curtis Axel on the social media platform. In response to a user writing “[Curtis Axel’s Twitter handle] > [Konnan’s Twitter handle],” he wrote, “Are u referring to da guy dat went from IC champ to teaming w/Ryback 2 now doing jobs for SinCara2.0?..#Awesome.”
The reason Jeff Jarrett is keeping quiet about his TNA departure is due in part to the fact that he signed a non-disclosure.
As far as Jarrett’s future is concerned, there was some rumblings a few months ago that he was going to get involved with some sort of roller derby project. Outside of a lot of speculation, there is no official word on what Jarrett’s future holds.
[Credit: F4WOnline.com]
Roman Reigns recently spoke to The Norfolk Navy Flagship to promote WWE’s Tribute to the Troops. Here are the highlights of what he said:
If His Family Members (The Rock, Afa and Sika of the Wild Samoans, Rikishi) Influenced His Wrestling Style:
“My natural movement, it’s hereditary I’ll say. We all are able to move and do pretty athletic things. My family is the majority of the influence, but going down to FCW (Florida Championship Wrestling, now NXT – WWE’s developmental program) and wrestling all of those guys down there – Dr. Tom Prichard, Joey Mercury, Bill Demott, Norman Smiley, Steve Keirn. Even to this day, talking to Triple H and with all of these resources we have here. When it comes down to it, I try to create a different style. A little more brutal. You can watch fight scenes or MMA and see how they move. There have been a lot of things that influenced me, but I can only be me. That’s what I try to focus on, making everything my own.”
His Favorite Moment In WWE So Far:
“I have to say WrestleMania. I look around and there are guys who have never performed on that stage. Just to say that we did that our very first year and opened the show. That’s a big deal for all three of us. There are a lot of cool moments we have had. When we wrestled The Undertaker, Kane and Daniel Bryan in London (during a recent European tour) – there’s a shot of us flying in on a helicopter. What some people don’t know is that we did a live event earlier that day. We opened that show and then we jumped on a helicopter and flew all the way to London. We went out there and wrestled three of the biggest stars of all time. The next night, we put (The Undertaker) out. That was a surreal moment. WrestleMania and working with The Undertaker are phenomenal moments that I won’t forget for the rest of my life.”
If Edge & Goldberg Influenced His Spear:
“Even to this day, watching matches, I don’t watch the maneuvers. I feel like I am athletic enough to do any maneuver. It’s not the moves, but what you do between them. The mannerisms are where the money is. A spear is a spear. I’d like to think that I deliver the best one ever seen, but that’s up to the fans to judge. It did help playing football all of those years.”
What He Has Planned For 2014 & Dissension With The Shield:
“As far as The Shield – for the past 13 months, it seems like we’ve done it all. People are going pretty nuts about what we’ve done, but there’s so much left to do. Whether we’re working together or fighting each other, there’s just so much more to see. It’s going to be the year of The Shield, whether we’re together or not.”
TNA recently announced a World Heavyweight Championship match between Magnus and Samoa Joe has been added to the scheduled lineup for their “One Night Only: #OldSchool” pay-per-view, which will take place on December 30th in Poughkeepsie, New York.
With that match now added, here is the latest official lineup for the show:
World Heavyweight Title
– Samoa Joe vs. Magnus
Monster’s Ball
– Abyss vs. Jeff Hardy
Last Man Standing Match
– James Storm vs. Bobby Roode
Falls Count Anywhere Match
– Tommy Dreamer vs. Bully Ray
– Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson
Also in action: Daniels & Kazarian, The BroMans, Eric Young, Chris Sabin, Lei’D Tapa and Velvet Sky.
– Alberto Del Rio noted on Twitter that he’ll be in action at tonight’s WWE Live Event from Madison Square Garden in New York City. Del Rio has been out of action for a few weeks after suffering a concussion during a match with Sin Cara on RAW.
– WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. In this installment, JR spoke at length about how tough it is for young people to break into the wrestling business and why WWE’s Performance Center is not necessarily the best route for discovering the next Steve Austin or The Rock:
“Unfortunately, nothing is ever going to replace gaining experience working in front of paying customers no matter how large or small the ‘house’ may be. Today’s talents don’t have multiple territories in which to learn their craft and that is going to affect the genre adversely over time and actually already is …”
“Fans are dying for new attractions on every wrestling TV that airs. These attractions and new stars don’t grow on trees and are next to impossible to manufacture. I’m not even sure that they can be manufactured to last over the long haul. It’s a combined effort of the athletic, young talents who want to play on the first team IE be a star and the daily coaching and mentoring that they receive. Coaches in the genre can’t teach “IT” but they should be able to identify “IT” and at that point heavily invest in the individual.”
The following are highlights from a recent Jim Ross online Q&A update:
On when The Undertaker reached the legendary status that he has today: “I don’t think that it was one thing or one day but his body of work over time that helped him earn his amazing legacy. The Streak has become largely his claim to fame.”
On who the better wrestler is: Eddie Guerrero or Daniel Bryan: “I won’t answer this because one is damned if one does and damned if one doesn’t. They are both different, both excellent and both stars. Eddie got his break and Bryan is working on his.”
On the WWE Network: “Honestly, don’t know the particulars of the WWE Network except that it is going forward from all that I hear. I don’t know the template. I do hope that it works for all involved. It might give some older talents some re-occurring gigs.”
Check out more JR Q&A online at JRsBarBQ.com.
WWE’s Main Event television show will not be airing on the ION Network on New Year’s Day. Wednesday’s show did not air either. The next time WWE Main Event will air on the ION Network is on January 8th. WWE did tape matches for Main Event, so the show will air in the usual international markets that carry it.
Speaking of Main Event, the Christmas-day edition of the show, which was taped previously, was released by WWE on their official website. Fans who would like to check that out can do so at WWE.com.
Gene Snitsky appeared on the v2 Wrestling Podcast and was asked a range of questions about his five-year tenure with WWE that started with an infamous “baby killing” angle. Highlights from the interview are as follows:
On his debut when he knocked Kane into Lita, causing her to miscarry: “The whole storyline was kind of cool I thought. It was so different, it was pushing the envelope. Let’s be realistic, everything’s been done in wrestling that can be done, and back then it wasn’t as corporate so you could get away with a little more. Nowdays, that storyline would never ever be able to take place. A lot of people don’t realize, it was only supposed to be that one incident, and I was then gonna go back to OVW and keep training until they brought me back up. But it got such a reaction that it took off and had a mind of its own, so they rolled with it. I knew it was gonna be good as soon as I hit him with the chair and he fell on her, the whole crowd started chanting “baby killer”. When that happened, I was like, This is great, this is gonna be good.”
On the angle where he punted a baby doll: “I don’t remember exactly who came up with it, but I remember rehearsing it with everybody involved and Vince was very adamant on me kicking the baby doll, and he’s like “You better not f— it up”. And I was like “Don’t worry Vince, I’m not gonna f— it up, I was an all-area punter on my football team in high school. I ain’t gonna f— it up, trust me”. So after we did it and it came off so good, I remember coming back through the curtain and he gave me a standing ovation. The thing that surprised me was that it stayed in once piece; i thought for sure that the head would have popped off it or something. The little brat took it like a champ!”
On his infamous encounter with Heidenreich: “I don’t think two guys ever pulled off a creepier, more homoerotic backstage segment in the history of wrestling.”
On being in the company for the rise of John Cena and Batista: “If the writers want to push a certain character, or Vince wants to push a certain character, they’re getting thrown to the top, whether you like it or not. Once Vince picks his guy and goes with him, he’s gonna go with him. When they made me shave my head and paint my teeth, it was Vince’s idea. Once Vince gets an idea, you do it.”
On why he left WWE: “Basically it was just creative differences. I didn’t like the direction my character was going, and for about six months I would go back and forth with the writers. They were always real big on incorporating your input, so I’d shoot them ideas, and week after week they’d get shot down, and I didn’t really like how they were taking it. It just got to the point where it was best to part ways, but I left on good terms.”
On whether he watches the current WWE product: “I DV-R it every week, and I sort of keep up with it but I fast forward through a lot of it. A lot of it’s too normal for me. I’ve always been an off-the-wall guy, going back to high school, I was always the guy who would do anything to get a reaction. Going to parties and running through walls and stuff like that. To me, that’s fun. The stuff that you see guys doing now is kind of boring if you ask me. They don’t do anything out of the ordinary any more.”
On his foot fetish: “I always liked Torrie Wilson, she was always one of my favorites, and we still joke about it. I’d always tell her, you have such nice feet, and she’d just kind of chuckle. But we’re still friends, I did some bodyguard work for her boyfriend Alex Rodriguez so I still keep in touch with her, she’s really cool. There’s a lot of them that have nice feet, but you don’t walk around backstage and say ‘Can I suck your toes?!'”
The audio interview is available here.
WWE Superstar Darren Young revealing his homosexuality made the list of the “53 Most Powerful Coming Outs” on the Towleroad.com website.
The list, which is in alphabetical order, features the Prime Time Player tag-team member in the number 52 spot.
To view the list, visit Towleroad.com.
WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan was interviewed by the Masked Man of Grantland.com. Here are some highlights of what Bryan said about:
Does He Feel That He’s “Made It” Yet? “To be honest, I don’t feel like I’ve made it. But “making it” is different than being satisfied with what you’ve done. If I got hurt today, I’d be very satisfied with what I’ve done, but I would have said that before I even made it to WWE. I was happy with what I accomplished on the independent scene and internationally — it was already much more than what people ever thought I could do and what even I thought I could do. But one of the things that keeps me going is the pursuit of constantly being better, and I haven’t “made it” like I’m at a point where I’m happy to stay at this level. I was actually talking to John Cena about this. He told me Steve Austin talked to him at one show and asked him how things were going, and John said, “The show’s going pretty well.” And Austin looked up at a part of the arena that was tarped off — the building was maybe 90 percent sold out — and he said, “Back when I was here, these arenas were full.” And that motivated John. There’s always something to strive for. So what do I need to do to feel like I’ve made it? I need to be the main-event guy, the top guy, and we need to be selling out every arena every night. Maybe then I’ll feel like I’ve done what I need to do.”
His Dream Opponent From A Past Era: “For me, the honest answer is Shawn Michaels. It’s sad because I’ve always considered him the best — he trained me — and I’ve never wrestled him. But there’s also the fascination of going back and wrestling somebody like Andre the Giant or the Ultimate Warrior — those guys you grew up watching as a kid just have such a special aura.”
If He Gets Embarrassed Watching His Old Matches: “Oh god, yes. When WWE showed footage of me wrestling at Shawn Michaels’s old promotion, I was like, “Please don’t show this.” It was cool for the story because they had some stuff with me and Shawn, but anybody who goes back and watches their first matches is going to be embarrassed. To put your 18-year-old self on national television — well, it lightens up your ego a little bit. But you know, I didn’t just start out like this. I had to work hard to get good.”
How Daniel Bryan is Different Than Bryan Danielson: “There are so many differences, but mostly I think it’s in my approach to character. In Ring of Honor, I was doing a thing where I was a master wrestler — that was my character. Now in WWE I’m an underdog, and that’s the way I have to approach my matches. I have to fight from underneath and overcome. It’s the opposite of my last days in the indies, where anybody I wrestled was the underdog, because the fans always expected Bryan Danielson to win. In WWE, the size difference is so much greater, the guys are so much bigger, and that just wouldn’t make sense.”
WWE kicks off the annual Holiday Live Events tour tonight with shows in New York City (Madison Square Garden) and Chicago.
Here’s the lineup for tonight’s MSG show:
Also appearing are the Bellas and Zack Ryder.
Richardo Rodriguez mentioned on Twitter that he’ll be teaming with 3MB (replacing Heath Slater) at tonight’s WWE Live Event from Madison Square Garden in New York City. Slater has been off the road dealing with a personal issue.
Tonight’s show from Chicago will feature CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, The Shield, The Wyatt Family, Big E. Langston, Mark Henry, Damien Sandow and Dolph Ziggler.
