Former WWE Diva and TNA Knockout Mickie James recently posted a blog on her official Facebook account celebrating her 15-year anniversary as a pro wrestler. Mickie posted the following:
“I just realized November is over… So I feel the need to reminisce… The 1st time I ever stepped into a ring was Nov 98′! In Manassas VA at a little school called KYDAPro. My 1st day of training I was learning the basics in a boxing ring that felt like cement. In the back of a martial arts center I fell in love with this crazy business & 15yrs later I couldn’t be any more in love. Through it all… The ups & downs & all arounds… The journey has molded me into who I am today! Not just in that squared circle but in life. I was born a fighter… It’s all I know… It’s all I’ll ever be! I want to thank all of you for being on this crazy road with me and supporting me in everything I do. Both in the ring and rocking the stage the last few years. I couldn’t be where I am and who I am without you alls loving support! I can’t truly express my gratitude for it. I just do my very best every time I’m in that beautiful spotlight. I thank you for giving me the chance to do that. Love ya Gang!”
– WWE Superstar The Miz and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey filmed a segment with The Muppets on Tuesday for a YouTube series that Ramsey is involved with. The story of the segment is that the two went to visit a food truck run by the Swedish chef. For those interested, the segment will be online in the next week.
– Apparently WWE Superstar CM Punk pooped himself during his match at the WWE SmackDown television taping. Punk wrote about the incident on his official Twitter account on Tuesday evening. He tweeted the following:
– WWE is looking to hire a new “Director of Human Resources.” Those interested can apply online at Careers-WWECorp.icims.com.
– WWE CFO George A. Barrios will be participating at the UBS’s 41st Annual Global Media and Communications Conference in New York City, New York on Tuesday, December 10th. Barrios is expected to speak at approximately 1:30pm E.T. A live audio stream of the speech will be available online at IR.Corporate.WWE.com.
– Apparently the movie ticket service called “Fandango” is in the process of opposing WWE’s trademark registration of “Fandango.” We should have more information on that on Wednesday afternoon.
The following is an excerpt from a recent Las Vegas Review-Journal interview with WWE Divas and co-stars of the Total Divas reality show, The Bella Twins:
On if they ever plan to fight in the UFC like other WWE Superstars have done:
Nikki: “That would be so cool. But in the end: No. I’ve broken bones, and the healing process on broken bones is horrible. I just came back from a stress fracture, and stress fractures are so fragile. It made me think about the rest of my life. If I have kids someday, I want to play with them without pain.”
Brie: “The Ronda Rousey arm bar doesn’t look too pleasant. I wouldn’t want to get stuck in a (UFC) cage with that.”
Nikki: “But I could break her arm.”
Brie:“You think you could break Ronda Rousey’s arm?”
WWE has switched up the lineups for their live events during the upcoming holidays.
The “John Cena, Randy Orton and friends tour” in New York City, Hartford and Newark will now feature the following Superstars and Divas:
– John Cena
– Randy Orton
– Goldust & Cody Rhodes
– Big Show
– Kane
– Rey Mysterio
– Curtis Axel
– Alberto Del Rio
– The Real Americans
– The Bella Twins
The “CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and friends tour” in Chicago, Indianapolis and Detroit will now feature the following Superstars and Divas:
– Mark Henry
– Ryback
– The Shield
– Big E. Langston
– The Wyatt Family
– R-Truth
– Damien Sandow
– Dolph Ziggler
– The Miz
– Kofi Kingston
The December 29th WWE SmackDown television taping in Washington, D.C. is advertising CM Punk, The Shield, Triple H, Daniel Bryan and Mark Henry, while the live event in Hershey, Pennsylvania is advertising John Cena, Randy Orton, Big Show, Kane, Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, The Real Americans, Dolph Ziggler, Alberto Del Rio, Ryback and Roman Reigns (on his own, so he will likely be pulling double-duty and working both shows).
The December 30th WWE RAW television taping in Richmond, Virginia has CM Punk, Mark Henry, Daniel Bryan, The Wyatt Family, The Shield, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon and Curtis Axel, while the live event in Toronto, Ontario, Canada is advertising John Cena, Randy Orton, Big Show, Kane, Goldust, Cody Rhodes, The Real Americans, Zeb Colter, Rey Mysterio and Alberto Del Rio.
In a match taped for TNA’s “Final Resolution” edition of Impact Wrestling on Tuesday night, Magnus defeated Jeff Hardy in a “Steel Cage Dixieland” match to become the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion.
The rules of the match stated that the wrestler must escape the cape and advance to the TNA stage where a ladder was set up. The wrestler must then climb the ladder to retrieve the belt. As Hardy was going to do exactly that, Rockstar Spud came out and knocked the ladder over, which allowed Magnus to pick up the win.
With the victory, Magnus is now set up for a unification match against fellow TNA Champion AJ Styles whenever TNA decides to pull the trigger.
For those interested, full TNA Impact Wrestling taping results are available on the newsboard.
– The debut edition of Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, which features an interview with WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, is now available online. Fans interested in checking out the debut of Jericho’s new podcast can download it for free at PodcastOne.com.
– WWE Superstar and current World Heavyweight Champion John Cena recently took to Twitter to address the feedback from WWE fans regarding his upcoming title unification match against Randy Orton at the WWE TLC pay-per-view. Cena tweeted the following:
I truly have taken great pleasure in seeing the quite strong opinions of the @WWEUniverse in regards to #TLC
As noted previously, WWE Hall Of Famers Bret “The Hitman” Hart and “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels, along with Christian and former WWE Diva Eve Torres are all scheduled to return during the Slammy Awards on next week’s live edition of WWE RAW. The following is the awards that they will be presenting:
– Shawn Michaels will present the “Superstar of the Year” award.
– Bret Hart will present the “Match of the Year” award.
– Christian will present the “This Is Awesome Moment of the Year” award.
– Eve Torres will present the “Total Diva of the Year” award.
As noted previously, the Slammy Awards will be hosted by WWE Hall Of Famers Jerry “The King” Lawler and Booker T.
The following are results from the TNA Impact Wrestling television tapings that were held on Tuesday, December 3, 2013. The following results will air during the December 19th edition of Impact Wrestling on Spike TV:
– Bobby Roode def. Kurt Angle in a two-out-of-three falls match. Roode put his feet on the ropes the gain the final fall that won him the match.
– Magnus & Jeff Hardy did a face-to-face promo. Magnus said the Hardy claims to love the fans but he sold them out and will again in the future.
– ODB & Madison Rayne def. Gail Kim & Lei’D Tapa in a Knockouts tag-team match.
– Eric Young and Joseph Park did an in-ring segment where they announced Park will face Bad Influence in a Monster’s Ball match. Park was scared at first, so Young presented him with some Christmas presents that were wrapped up. Park opened them to reveal a steel chair, a coil of barbed wire and Janice the nail embedded in a baseball bat, so Park ended up agreeing to do the match.
– Jeff Hardy and Dixe Carter had an in-ring segment. Hardy said that he wouldn’t repeat the past and let the fans down. Dixie Carter came out and said that the fans turned their backs on Hardy but that she never would.
– Magnus def. Jeff Hardy in a Steel Cage “Dixieland” match to become the new TNA Champion. The match started as a Steel Cage match. To win the match you needed to escape the cage and then get to the TNA stage to climb a ladder where the belt was hanging. Hardy almost had the title in his hands but the ladder was knocked over by Rockstar Spud and Magnus ended up winning as a result.
As previously reported, WWE began sending out media invites on Tuesday to a “special event” on Wednesday, January 8th at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
That same week is also the 2014 International CES, which is an international consumer and electronics trade show that WWE has had a regular presence at. Last year, WWE showcased their new WWE App, which debuted a few months prior to the 2013 CES.
The media invite for the trade show in January announced that Vince McMahon himself would be in attendance. This is interesting to note because McMahon rarely attends these type of events. In most cases, George Barrios or Stephanie McMahon would represent WWE at these kind of events, so it seems as though something big is planned this time around.
While it is still unofficial at this point, many are speculating that this could be the announcement of the official launch of the highly anticipated WWE Network.
We should have an update on this story on Wednesday afternoon.
WWE Hall Of Famers Bret “The Hitman” Hart and “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels are both scheduled to appear on WWE RAW next Monday night as guest presenters during the Slammy Awards. Hart will present the award for “Match of the Year,” while HBK will present the award for “Superstar of the Year.”
Also scheduled to appear during the Slammy Awards on RAW next week is current WWE Superstar Christian and former WWE Diva Eve Torres.
As noted previously, the Slammy Awards next week will be hosted by WWE Hall Of Famers Jerry “The King” Lawler and Booker T.
The following is a non-spoiler match listing for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event, which was taped in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Tuesday, December 3, 2013. The show is scheduled to air on Wednesday, December 4, 2013.
WWE Main Event
– Goldust vs. Ryback
– The Usos vs. 3MB
– Damien Sandow vs. R-Truth
For those interested, full spoiler results for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event are available right now on the newsboard.
The following is a non-spoiler match listing for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown, which was taped in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Tuesday, December 3, 2013. The show is scheduled to air on Friday, December 6, 2013.
Dark Match
– Tyson Kidd vs. Justin Gabriel
SmackDown
– Big E. Langston vs. Fandango
– Alberto Del Rio vs. Kofi Kingston
– Ryback & Curtis Axel vs. Goldust & Cody Rhodes [Non-Title Match]
– CM Punk vs. Dean Ambrose [Non-Title Match]
– Tamina Snuka vs. Natalya
– The Real Americans vs. Rey Mysterio & Big Show
– Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan
For those interested, full spoiler results for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown are available right now on the newsboard.
– The official hosts for the Slammy Awards on next Monday night’s edition of WWE RAW, which will also serve as the WWE Tables, Ladders & Chairs “go-home” show, will be WWE Hall Of Famers Jerry “The King” Lawler and Booker T.
– For whatever this is worth, which probably isn’t much, Paul Heyman is being advertised locally for next week’s edition of WWE RAW. It should be pointed out that Heyman was also advertised locally for RAW this past Monday night in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and never appeared.
The following is a non-spoiler match listing for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown, which was taped in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Tuesday, December 3, 2013. The show is scheduled to air on Friday, December 6, 2013.
Dark Match
– Tyson Kidd vs. Justin Gabriel
SmackDown
– Big E. Langston vs. Fandango
– Alberto Del Rio vs. Kofi Kingston
– Ryback & Curtis Axel vs. Goldust & Cody Rhodes [Non-Title Match]
– CM Punk vs. Dean Ambrose [Non-Title Match]
– Tamina Snuka vs. Natalya
– The Real Americans vs. Rey Mysterio & Big Show
– Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan
To read complete spoiler results for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown, click ahead to page two below …
The following are results from the WWE Main Event television taping, which was held in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Tuesday, December 3, 2013. The show will air on Wednesday, December 4, 2013.
WWE Main Event
– Goldust def. Ryback via Disqualification. This was the opening match of the evening. Cody Rhodes was at ringside in Goldust’s corner, while Curtis Axel was at ringside in Ryback’s corner. The disqualification happened when Axel interfered in the match to break up a pinfall attempt by Goldust.
– The Usos def. 3MB. Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal represented 3MB in the actual match. Heath Slater was not at ringside during the bout. The Usos picked up the win in this tag-team match via pinfall.
– Clips from the latest sit-down interview between Michael Cole and Triple H were aired. This time the clips hyped the upcoming WWE TLC main event match between John Cena and Randy Orton.
– Damien Sandow def. R-Truth in the headline match for this week’s WWE Main Event show. Sandow picked up the win in this singles match by way of pinfall.
WCW nostalgia continues to drive WWE DVD sales, according to the latest monthly business figures released by the company this week.
Of the DVDs WWE has released in the past nine months, WrestleMania 29 continues to lead the way with 172,000 units shipped. Behind WrestleMania 29 is the “Best Of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 2” DVD, with 121,000 units. Coming in at number three is the “WCW War Games” DVD with 79,000 units, and the Goldberg DVD that was just recently released finishes fourth with 74,000 units.
To read more from WWE’s latest monthly business figures, visit IR.Corporate.WWE.com.
The Friday, November 29th edition of WWE SmackDown scored a final cable rating of 1.86, according to Nielsen Media Research. The 1.86 final draw marks a significant decrease from the 2.15 cable rating that the show drew just one week earlier.
As previously reported, Friday’s SmackDown averaged 2.641 million viewers, which was also down quite a bit from the 3.106 million viewers that the show averaged the previous week.
Last week’s SmackDown aired on “Black Friday,” and by comparison, when SmackDown fell on “Black Friday” the previous year, it scored a final cable rating of 1.81. The year before that on “Black Friday,” SmackDown scored a 1.87 cable rating.
– Friday’s edition of WWE SmackDown drew an average of 2.641 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. The 2.641 million average marks a pretty significant decrease from the impressive 3.106 million viewers that the show averaged the previous week.
– As previously reported, WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan appeared on the “Steve Austin Show” podcast, which is available online right now. During the interview, Bryan revealed that he and his fiancee, Brie Bella, intend to get married during WrestleMania weekend in April of 2014. Bryan said the reason they are likely to tie the knot at that time is because it is a rare time when WWE Superstars actually get a break from their hectic travel schedule.
You can listen to the full interview with Bryan on Austin’s podcast online at PodcastOne.com.
– TNA wrestler James Storm recently spoke with TMZ and revealed graphic details about once popping a guy’s eye out of the socket during a bar-fight he once had. Fans interested in reading more on this story, or watching Storm tell it to TMZ cameras, can check out TMZ.com.
– TNA has added a new video to their official YouTube channel of TNA president Dixie Carter addressing the current World Title situation. The video, which can be viewed below, is accompanied by the following description: “TNA President Dixie Carter updates the AJ Styles/World Title Situation with an email from AJ’s agent – tune into Thursday’s IMPACT WRESTLING broadcast on SpikeTV at 9/8c”
– Several WWE Superstars have tweeted today about “Giving Tuesday,” a national movement to attempt to give back to your community. Below is one of the tweets WWE has posted which contains a link to more information on the “Giving Tuesday” movement:
– Speaking of Twitter, WWE Superstar and one-half of the current WWE Tag-Team Champions Cody Rhodes is holding a contest on Twitter encouraging fans to bring signs to tonight’s WWE SmackDown television taping at the BOK Center in Oklahoma. Rhodes tweeted the following:
– WWE has added the latest edition of their “Backstage Fallout” series following Monday’s live WWE RAW show in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The video, which can be seen below, is accompanied by the following description: “Tons of Funk, Xavier Woods, R-Truth and The Miz react to this week’s Raw.”
– Pro wrestler Colt Cabana will be appearing in Cleveland on December 26th and Muncie, IN on December 29th doing his comedy shows. For more information, visit ColtCabana.com.
Joe Dombrowski sent along the following …
Matt Striker Seminar – Friday, Dec 13 in Pittsburgh
Attention all pro-wrestlers and those in training! Former WWE Superstar & Announcer Matt Striker will hold a seminar on Friday night, December 13th at the ICWA training facility beginning at 7:00 PM. Matt will cover in ring work along with character development. Matt has a unique knowledge of the business having worked closely with WWE production, management and wrestlers. He’s a student of the game and wants to share his experience and skills. The cost is $30.00 per wrestler. If you would like to attend, please reserve your spot today by emailing IWC announcer Joe Dombrowski at [email protected].
SESCOOPS.COM reader Neal Jones sent along the following:
Recap of “Mad Dog” Vachon tribute on In Your Head Wrestling Radio, 11/27/2013 by Vic Schiavone
Hosts Jack E. Jones and One Inch Biceps paid tribute to the late Maurice “Mad Dog” Vachon, who passed away on November 21, 2013. Several associates of the Mad Dog shared their memories of working with him.
Highlights included the following:
Baron von Raschke (former tag-team partner):
“Our tag team clicked immediately…the people would go crazy. And usually, the Mad Dog loved heat; so he kept letting it build and letting it build and letting it build. And I didn’t know any better, so I kept helping him build it and build it. For three months during the summer, the first summer I was there, we had a riot every night wherever we were. The matches always ended in a riot; we had to fight our way out of the ring. We even had a cage match…and they put up the cage and the babyfaces got in the cage. We started to come toward the ring, and before we got to the ring the people got so excited they tore the cage down…We had a lot of heat in that territory.”
Danny Hodge:
“He was mad and terrific…I would put him right up at the top. He was a heck of a wrestler; a heck of a guy…he was a tough cookie…He had strength, he had knowledge, he had conditioning; he was there for the fight.”
Ox Baker:
“One of the true gentlemen in wrestling, and a legend, was Mad Dog Vachon…In the ring, he was surpassed by nobody.”
Nick Bockwinkel:
“He set his own tempo, and he cut his own path…He was respected without any question as far as his talent; his style and his class was all his own. I can’t deny him one ounce of space, because if you wanted a complete rugged SOB he would be the man.”
The Destroyer (Dick Beyer):
“I’m wrestling the Mad Dog in his hometown…and he was a babyface. So when he got in the middle of the ring, the Mad Dog says to me, ‘We got to give them a barnburner here. They expect that we’re going to knock the hell out of each other.’ So we started out the match wrestling, and then all of a sudden it was kick, stomp, throw out of the ring…Mad Dog came out, he hit me with a chair, and out the aisle we went. We ended up in the dressing room fighting, and I yelled… ‘Mad Dog, there’s no people here! It’s just the boys; let’s get the hell out in the arena!’ So we finished off the match…we gave them what Mad Dog wanted; he wanted a barnburner and we gave them a barnburner. Mad Dog I think carried it a little bit too far.”
“Mean Gene” Okerlund:
“Mad Dog was probably the consummate interview guy. Whether it was behind the cage or it was in a workshop trying to construct a coffin, or whatever it happened to be, he was a classic in every sense of the word…I think what everybody has said about him is what it is. He was kind of a favorite of mine and I think he was a favorite of the boys in the locker room, and certainly even though the fans at one time or another probably hated him vehemently, he ended up being kind of the guy that they loved to hate.”
WWE released its monthly business figures today at Corporate.WWE.com, including preliminary buyrates for October’s Battleground and Hell in a Cell pay-per-views.
The exact numbers were not revealed, but a chart in the report shows that Battleground was the least-ordered WWE pay-per-view of the year.
The two shows averaged 167,000 buys – with Battleground around 150,000 and Hell in a Cell around 200,000 buys.
Battleground was headlined by Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton for the vacant WWE Championship, which ended with Big Show knocking out both men.
Hell in a Cell was headlined by a Bryan vs. Orton cage match, with Shawn Michaels as special referee.
Here is a chart showing the past 3 years of WWE PPV buyrates (click to enlarge), including Battleground and Hell in a Cell:
