The official TNA website posted the following on Saturday night:
BREAKING NEWS: Bully Ray invades “House of Hardcore”; #OldSchool One Night Only set for Dec 30
On Saturday night in Poughkeepsie, New York, Tommy Dreamer’s “House of Hardcore” promotion held a live event – and all hell broke loose when BULLY RAY made a surprise appearance! After the main event match featuring Dreamer teaming with the legendary Terry Funk, Dreamer was thanking the fans for attending when Bully Ray hit the ring and attacked both Dreamer and Funk with a steel chain! Bully Ray was irate that Dreamer didn’t invite him to the event, and challenged Dreamer to face him in a “Falls Counting Anywhere Street Fight” at TNA’s “One Night Only: #OldSchool” in Poughkeepsie on Monday, December 30! Bully Ray’s attack also featured a reunion with Devon as the longtime Tag Team fought off everyone trying to help Dreamer and Funk!
Monday, December 30: Poughkeepsie, NY (One Night Only)
TNA Wrestling will present a special “One Night Only: #OldSchool” event on Monday, December 30 in Poughkeepsie, New York at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center! This exclusive TNA Live Event will be taped to later air exclusively on Pay-Per-View! Tickets go on sale on November 15 at Ticketmaster.com. A limited number of 1st & 2nd row tickets will be available starting this Monday as part of a special VIP Package available through ShopTNA! Fans in the Tri-States area – don’t miss your chance to experience this special “One Night Only” event coming to New York!
The official TNA Twitter account recently posted a tweet with a link to the above video of Bully Ray’s appearance at Tommy Dreamer’s House Of Hardcore 3 event from Saturday night:
– TNA star Bully Ray appeared at the House Of Hardcore 3 event in Poughkeepsie, New York on Saturday night. Ray showed up during the tag-team main event match featuring Tommy Dreamer & Terry Funk vs. Sean Waltman & Lance Storm. Ray came to the ring after Dreamer and Funk won the match and beat both guys up with his chain. We will have a complete House Of Hardcore 3 report up on Sunday morning.
– Former WWE Superstar Batista was in attendance at the Vic Darchinyan vs. Nonito Donaire boxing fight on HBO on Saturday evening. Batista stood in the corner of Donaire, holding the Philippine flag during the official introductions prior to the bout. Donaire would go on to win the rematch against Darchinyan via TKO in the ninth round. Batista appeared again during Donaire’s post-fight interview with HBO boxing analyst Max Kellerman.
– WWE Superstar and current World Heavyweight Champion John Cena promoted the return of the WWE Total Divas reality show, which airs on E! on Sunday night, in a new tweet posted on his official Twitter account. Cena wrote the following:
The following are results from the WWE live event in Birmingham, England. The event was held on Saturday, November 9, 2013.
– Diego def. Jack Swagger in the opening match. Diego, of the Los Matadores tag-team, picked up thr win after pulling the twin-switch with Fernando. Prior to the match, Zeb Colter cut a heel promo. Lots of comedy spots with El Torito.
– Dean Ambrose def. Dolph Ziggler & Big E. Langston in a three-way match to retain the WWE United States Championship.
– Natalya def. Aksana in Divas action via submission. Natalya got the win using her Sharpshooter submission hold.
– Kofi Kingston def. The Miz. Both guys worked as babyfaces early on, but later in the match The Miz starting playing heel.
– Goldust & Cody Rhodes def. The Shield to retain the WWE Tag-Team Championships. This was said to be one of the best matches on the show.
–Intermission–
– Santino Marella def. Fandango. This started off as a dance-off. Damien Sandow ended up coming out, beating him up and started his match against Zack Ryder.
– Damien Sandow def. Zack Ryder. Sandow picked up the win after a thumb in the eye. Sandow also cut a heel promo before the match.
– Randy Orton def. Big Show to retain the WWE Championship. Kane came out, in a suit and tie once again, to distract Big Show. Daniel Bryan was apparently advertised but wasn’t there, so the crowd jumped all over this match with lots of boo’s and “Daniel Bryan” chants. Orton at one point got on the microphone and said Bryan wasn’t here, to which the crowd boo’d even louder.
– As previously reported, WWE is currently making an effort to push larger-sized Superstars. The feeling is the company has a lot of average-sized talent and that now is the time to sign more head-turning attractions. WWE is putting heavy emphasis on bigger and stronger Superstars instead of guys like CM Punk and Daniel Bryan.
– Speaking of Punk and Bryan, the reason WWE has the two in a program currently with The Wyatt Family is to attempt to elevate Erick Rowan and Luke Harper. As much as WWE believes in the talents of Bray Wyatt, they also want to give a push to Rowan and Harper.
– WWE Superstar Evan Bourne will be making his return to the company in the near future. Bourne, who has been sidelined for several months, is slated to return at some point within the next four-to-six weeks. While Bourne’s television return is still unknown, the company does expect him to return on live events before the end of 2013..
– The official Twitter account for WrestleMania recently posted the following tweet with details on the WrestleMania XXX on-sale party:
– As previously reported, The Miz turned heel at a recent WWE live event in Belfast. Since then, Miz has continued to work as a heel on the recent WWE European shows, but will apparently return as a babyface on WWE television next week. The reason Miz has been working as a heel during the overseas tour is because the company feels they are short on heel performers.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Edge put over this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown on his official Twitter account. Edge tweeted the following:
– WWE Superstar Kane had his “first day on the job” as the “Director of Operations” for WWE during Friday’s live event in Brussels, Belgium. Kane came out in a suit and tie and interfered in the Randy Orton vs. Big Show match. Kane helped Orton get the win over Big Show and then called out The Shield to give Big Show a beatdown. Show ended up clearing house of all the heels and challenged Kane to come in the ring and face him one-on-one. Kane backed down and ended up leaving. After the show, Kane tweeted “First day on the job. #WWEBrussels.”
– For those keeping track of the Sheamus facial hair story, the former World Heavyweight Champion appears to be growing his beard back out.
Photo Of Sheamus Clean Shaven (No Beard)
Below is a photo of a recent personal appearance that shows Sheamus’ beard growing back in:
WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan, who is currently in New York for an autograph signing, is teasing the possibility of a reunion with his former New World Order cohorts, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Sean Waltman. The legendary grappler tweeted:
Totally freaked out how good and in shape Big Kev,Scott"amazing",XPac are in, with Hollywood we could rule the world again or take on any
On Twitter, Hall posted this photo of himself with Nash, Waltman and Lisa Marie Varon. In a trivia note, Varon made her first wrestling-related appearance in a backstage segment with Hall (a non-speaking eye candy role on a January 2000 episode of WCW Monday Nitro).
With Total Divas returning tomorrow night at 10/9 CT on E!, viewers can expect to see Eva Marie’s off-putting behavior and John Cena and Nikki Bella’s relationship take center stage.
The Nov. 17 episode, titled “Nurse Nikki,” will focus on the three. Courtesy of TVGuide.com, the synopsis reads, “Nikki moves in with John Cena and he shocks her with an unexpected demand; at the same time, Eva Marie considers cheating after she’s asked to announce on live TV.”
The Nov. 24 episode, as well as tomorrow night’s show, will center around Eva Marie. In a new twist, Natalya suspects that she is attempting to get in touch with Tyson Kidd. The official synopsis for “Seeing Red,” which also features the continuation of the Cena and Bella storyline, is as follows: “Nattie has a feeling that Eva Marie is trying to cozy up to her man; Nikki wonders if she can accept John Cena’s demand; and Brie has issues with Bryan’s increasing fame.”
As reported earlier, the synopsis for tomorrow night’s “SummerSlam” show reads: “Eva Marie’s rising popularity is seen as a threat by Nikki; Ariane works on anger management; and an accident during a match leaves Nattie worried about returning to the ring for SummerSlam.”
Brie Bella has her own suspicions of Eva Marie. Speaking to OK! Magazine, she stated the following of her peer’s behavior at SummerSlam for her match against Natalya, “The thing is, you are putting so many different personalities together trying to force friendships and it is like, we are still going for one spot. Especially in the first episode because it is SummerSlam, that is a big night for us and I was lucky enough to have a singles match but how can someone just walk in and try to capitalize off that?! We definitely have our moments where we get along great but you will see a lot more of Eva just kind of being herself and just trying to get ahead without working hard. She has her ways.”
Eva Marie, who scored her first pinfall victory last Monday on Raw, is currently in Europe promoting Total Divas.
– As reported last night, WWE has cut ties with developmental wrestler Kassius Ohno, real name Chris Spradlin. Some main roster talent were surprised with the news, since Triple H had praised his recent WWE NXT match against Luke Harper (it airs on this week’s show).
– WWE Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel, who often responds to fans on Twitter, continues to address criticism over his sports-entertaining abilities. During SmackDown, a fan wrote, “Yeah. CM Punk vs Broomstick would be more interesting than this match. @RealCurtisAxel have less charisma than The Broom.” He responded, “hey!!! Don’t offend broomsticks! They have feelings too.” The fan then remarked on “Mr. Charisma” responding to him, leading Axel to write back, “ur right! I have no charisma. All I do all day is stare at the wall with a blank look on my face… It’s fun!”
Earlier in the week, a fan cautioned Axel on being branded as uncharismatic again by Konnan, leading the Raw wrestler to snap back, “Who cares what that piece of crap thinks.”
Meanwhile, Konnan said his critical remarks toward Axel aren’t out of hatred. “Not hatin, just stating…#GetInformed,” he said to a fan on Twitter telling him to “stop hating.”
– Former WWE Superstar Matt Hardy issued this “Public Service Announcement” promoting two events taking place in New York tonight, “Big Event” and “House Of Hardcore #3.”
The following are results from the WWE live event in Brussels, Belgium. The event was held on Friday, November 8, 2013.
– Goldust & Cody Rhodes def. The Shield to retain the WWE Tag-Team Championships in the opening match of the evening.
– Santino Marella def. Fandango in what was mostly a typical comedy match.
– Kofi Kingston def. The Miz in a pretty decent one-on-one contest. The Miz again teased a heel turn throughout the match.
– Damien Sandow def. Zack Ryder. Sandow cut a heel promo before the match, again putting himself over as the “uncrowned champion” of WWE.
– Natalya def. Aksana in what was a pretty basic Divas match. Natalya got the win via submission with her Sharpshooter finishing hold.
– Dean Ambrose def. Big E. Langston and Dolph Ziggler in a three-way match to retain his WWE United States Championship.
–Intermission–
– Los Matador vs. Jack Swagger of The Real Americans. This was a one-on-one match with only one of the Los Matadores tag-team against Swagger of The Real Americans tag-team.
– Randy Orton def. Big Show to retain the WWE Championship in the semi-main event of the evening. The crowd was very into this match.
– John Cena def. Alberto Del Rio to retain the World Heavyweight Championship in the official main event of the evening. Cena got his usual mixed-bag reaction, while Del Rio had a ton of heat with the Brussels fans.
– The Friday, November 8th edition of WWE SmackDown drew a final social media score of 65,508, according to Trendrr.tv. The 65k final number marks the highest score the show has delivered in over a month.
– Speaking of this SmackDown, WWE has added the official “Backstage Fallout” video for this week’s show to their YouTube channel. This week’s SmackDown “Backstage Fallout” features CM Punk talking about his beef with The Wyatt Family, as well as Vickie Guerrero talking about her decision-making taking charge of the show.
You can watch the “Backstage Fallout” for this week’s SmackDown below:
The Thursday, November 7th edition of TNA Impact Wrestling on Spike TV scored a final cable rating of 0.87, according to Nielsen Media Research. The 0.87 final draw marks a decrease from the 0.9 rating the show drew last week.
Impact Wrestling on Thursday averaged 1.019 million viewers, which was also down from the 1.104 million viewers that the show averaged the previous week.
The following are highlights from the latest online blog by WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross:
On TNA issues: “The creative process at most wrestling companies has become much too over thought in my view and I feel that what many of fans often see on TV bear out that opinion. While back on the topic of TNA, their issues allegedly are many. I don’t know their internal status so when people ask me what I would do to ‘fix their problems’ any answer that I would provide would be less than thought out or based on a through study of the company. It’s irrelevant any way… Wrestling TV shows all need to be unique. They all need to have exclusive features and benefits that best fits their talent roster and corporate philosophy of entertaining their viewers. However, for any one company to blatantly copy another is just downright silly.”
On plans for his one-man show: “We’re a little closer to getting my one man show concept being launched in North America and it looks as if NYC may well be the kickoff event for one night only in the Big Apple sometime in the early part of 2014. Details are still being discussed. Follow me on Twitter @JRsBBQ for the most up to date info. 2014 is going to be a fun year and I hope that you will support our effort and join me when I come to a city near you.”
On women in the Royal Rumble match: No…not a fan of women being in the Royal Rumble. Not even remotely interested and feels it lessens the suspension of disbelief of the entertainment performance. Intergender wrestling is of no interest to me. You asked and I answered. Is that being sexist? Don’t think so.”
Check out the complete blog online at JRsBarBQ.com.
– Russ Bacon, who worked in WWE’s production department for nearly twenty years as a director and producer, has left the company. WWE employees were shocked at his departure – it’s not clear at this point if he quit or was let go by management.
– WWE.com is running a poll asking fans to pick The Undertaker’s greatest WrestleMania opponent. Shawn Michaels is currently in the lead (58%), followed by Kane (39%), Triple H (2%) and Batista (1%).
– WWE has published the following video of the “Top 10 Bad Guys Gone Good” – including Andre The Giant, The Undertaker, The Rock, Randy Orton and Steve Austin:
In the video above, Reigns falls while jumping jumping over the top rope as The Shield were entering the ring. The fall, which occurs around the 1:15 mark, led Big E Langston to break out laughing:
Free agent Hulk Hogan did an autograph signing on Friday 11/8 at the Sports Vault shop in King Of Prussia, Pennsylvania and spoke about his TNA departure and the possibility of returning to WWE . Hogan tweeted the following about the appearance:
Great night in Philly tonight and HULKAMANIACS and nWoites everywhere,and they all were asking the same question!!!!! Brother. HH
WWE has released Kassius Ohno, formerly Chris Hero, from developmental. He was informed of the news on Friday morning while waiting to begin training at the WWE Performance Center.
Ohno was one of the top independent workers in the world before signing with WWE, wrestling main event programs for Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling NOAH, CHIKARA, IWA Mid-South and CZW.
He signed with WWE in 2012 and has long been considered one of the most promising talents in developmental. He had some issues with management this year due to them feeling he needed to get into better physical shape. He was pulled from several NXT shows during this time, but eventually hit the gym and improved his physique and conditioning.
Jim Ross Talks About Kassius Ohno’s Big Potential In WWE
He recently returned to NXT television, with his now-final match airing on this past week’s show, where he lost to The Wyatt Family’s Luke Harper.
The release is a surprising one, as Ohno was believed to be on the fast track to the main roster and was cut from the same cloth as guys like CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, who also worked their way up the independent circuit.
Ohno is already accepting indy bookings and has signed on for a PWS show on 11/16 (against Hurricane Helms) and Pro Wrestling Guerilla’s All Star Weekend in December.
Kassius Ohno’s Main Roster Call Up On Hold Due To Disobeying Management?
The December 2013 issue of WWE Magazine features an in-depth interview with Shawn Michaels, who weighed in on his most memorable matches and how he became one of the greatest wrestlers of all-time. Without mentioning Daniel Bryan by name, he addresses the topic of undersized WWE Superstars being overlooked for main event positions and how he personally responded to Vince McMahon’s perceptions at a time when larger-than-life individuals ruled the promotion.
On fighting an uphill battle to stand out in WWE, Michaels states, “I’m always slightly amused by how people talk about how so-and-so ‘isn’t big enough.’ And hoe someone is fighting an uphill battle because of his size. You don’t know the first thing about an uphill battle. Try doing it in 1994 and 1995, even earlier than that. Try doing it back when there hadn’t been—with all due respect—me complaining about how size shouldn’t matter. Now there’s a list of guys as long as my arm who complain about getting looked over.
“When I got here, I didn’t have a name. I didn’t have a legacy. I didn’t have a famous family. And there was only one guy who was gonna kick down the door and piss and moan until—quite frankly, and thankfully—the old man finally relented. Ha ha.”
Michael lays claim to being the originator of the ‘pipe bomb,’ which he used to push the Chairman’s buttons in the mid-1990s.
“I also chuckle at the notion of a ‘pipe bomb’ being something new. Back in 1994, 1995, and 1996, those were the original ‘pipe bombs,’ said Michaels. “That’s one of the things we were pushing for back then—bringing more of the reality of the situation to the forefront. I used to say stuff and The Chairman had no idea what was coming out. It’s just different now. We were also privately owned then. That’s why we just got yelled at, not fired. (Laughs)”
Ironically, Michaels doing away with his rebellious personality upon his return to the promotion in 2002 and becoming a ‘model employee’ incensed McMahon.
“Now, my faith and my family are what’s important. I’m not sure Mr. McMahon’s aware there is a life outside WWE. Over the years, he and I butted heads many times behind the scenes. And, honestly, I think there was a part of him that liked those confrontations. So when I came back (in 2002), and had re-prioritized my life, I was actually sort of a ‘model employee.’ That’s what sent him over the edge with me,” said Michaels.
– WWE NXT stars Conor O’Brian and Rick Victor have been re-named, according to their respective Twitter accounts. On the social media platform, O’Brian is referring to himself as Konnor (@KonnorWWE) and Victor is now Viktor (@ViktorRiseWWE). Together, they appear as The Ascension.
– This week’s WWE Classics On Demand updates are as follows: The New and Improved DX (Parts 4,5, and 6), New World Order: The Revolution, World Wrestling Federation action at Nassau Coliseum (June 10, 1989), AWA All Star Wrestling (November 7, 1981), ECW Hardcore TV (November 13, 1998), Stampede Wrestling (May 1979).
– The latest issue of WWE Magazine features Big Show, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, John Cena and The Miz on the cover. The headline reads: “SUPERSTARS UNITED! WHO’LL BE THE FACE OF WWE IN 2014?”
– In his first appearance since Hell in a Cell, Paul Heyman resurfaced at Friday’s WWE live event in Glasgow, Scotland. Opening the show with his leg in a brace, his arm in a sling, his neck in a collar and donning a full back brace, the Scarsdale, New York native blamed the fans for his injuries. CM Punk then appeared and took matters into his own hands by brutalizing Heyman with a kendo stick.
– Courtesy of Ticketmaster.com, the seating chart for WrestleMania XXX has been released. Tickets for the pay-per-view event, which takes place April 6, 2014 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, go on sale next Saturday at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. CT.
– Six-time World Champion Chris Jericho turns 43-years-old on Saturday. Also celebrating a birthday today is former WWE and WCW referee Nick Patrick, who turns 54.
To promote his recently released autobiography, Wrestling with the Devil: The True Story of a World Champion Professional Wrestler – His Reign, Ruin, and Redemption, former WCW World Heavyweight Champion Lex Luger appeared on Wrestling’s Glory Day Weekly podcast to address his memorable career. Topics discussed include the Four Horsemen, Vince McMahon acquiring World Championship Wrestling, WrestleMania X, and even the tragic death of Miss Elizabeth.
On April 19, 2003, Luger was involved in a domestic dispute with Elizabeth Hulette, then his live-in girlfriend, in the garage of their townhouse in Marietta, Georgia, during which Luger allegedly struck her-he was charged with battery. Two weeks later, Hulette died in the townhouse they shared, after mixing pills of hydrocodone, and Xanax with vodka. Regarding this tragic event, Luger states, “It was a very dark, sad time in my personal life.
“I’ve made a lot of bad choices outside of the ring over the years that led to me giving up my family, my beautiful wife and two children. I developed a double life and there was a lot of collateral damage from that to my friends, my family and those closest to me including Miss Elizabeth. She always will be the first lady of wrestling. It was a real tragedy, I was living a lifestyle back then, a lot of drugs, alcohol, I call it the life of folly in my book. It led to a lot of tragic things. and that was the biggest tragedy you could ever think of to have a close friend like Elizabeth as a result of it. People say, ‘well Lex, you didn’t make her drink or shove pills down her throat,’ but I was a very big influence on her life at the time and I was doing that and she wanted to do what I did. So if you talk about regrets in the past guys, we can’t erase the past and we have got to take responsibility and I take a lot of responsibility for that tragic event and what happened.”
Additional highlights from the interview are as follows:
His thoughts on first finding out about Vince McMahon buying WCW and being on the last Nitro: “I was happy for Vince because I knew, man, he had won, that was a genuine moment for him. I was like, ‘yeah, buddy, everybody had you counted out there when we were beating you for ‘x’ amount of weeks straight. I was happy for him.”
On the night before WrestleMania X, not becoming WWF Champion, and online rumors: “Contrary to what is said, Vince never promised me the belt. He never made me any promises at WrestleMania between Bret, or I, or Yoko. Nor did I expect him to make any. Why would he? I was thrilled to be a part of the main event of WrestleMania. Visit Wrestling Inc It’s funny, I was talking to a guy in an interview recently and a guy said, ‘It was on your Wikipedia that you were drunk the night before at a bar at WrestleMania X and you were supposed to win the belt and Vince got mad at you.’ I wasn’t even anywhere near New York. I was with my wife and two kids in Hartford, Connecticut, staying with friends the night before WrestleMania. I did a lot of stupid stuff back then, but that wasn’t one of them. Rumor becomes fact sometimes, I laughed at that for years. Of all the stupid dumb stuff I did outside of the ring, that was one that I didn’t do. I always found that humorous, crazy how rumors can start. Who came up with that one?”
Vince Russo coming in as head writer in WCW: “I think that Russo and Ferrara did their best to create a young, fresh group of guys, kind of doing an invasion like the now did and really on paper, a pretty good idea. They had a great reputation coming from the WWF for being very creative, really when we found ourselves slipping, consensus wise most of the guys were pretty excited that they were coming in. I think they gave it their very best effort, and the young guys came in and gave it their best effort.
“I think part of the problem was for when the young guys were beating these legendary guys like Hogan in the middle of the ring… I think the fans, as much as they love seeing young talent emerge, I think it was almost like a little bit too much too soon, in my opinion, and the fans didn’t really buy into it like they had hoped. It was a good idea but the fans didn’t quite buy into it. They did their best, but things just didn’t work out the way they hoped. It wasn’t from a lack of effort on the new guys part, the writers or the young wrestlers, it just didn’t get over the way they had hoped. But I didn’t think it was a bad idea.”
Ric Flair and being a member of the Four Horsemen: “Well, Ric lived his persona both in the ring and out of the ring. I found that out right away, I feel like for about three years there hanging out with the Horseman, I feel like I didn’t sleep for almost three years. Ric could stay up all night, then he go to the gym and work out with me, then he go and wrestle an hour. I don’t know how he did it. Ric will always tell you image is everything. He always had a limo waiting for us, we flew usually private or if we flew commercial, first class, stay at really nice hotels. Ric was everything he said he was both in and out of the ring, that’s for sure.”
Flair leaving WCW in 1991 with the title before their scheduled cage match and showing on WWE TV with it: “I was scheduled to wrestle Ric in the cage and I was scheduled to win the title that night. I wasn’t told a lot, but they told me, we’re putting you in the cage with Ric and you’re winning the world title. As far as what happened after that, it was political stuff behind the scenes that I was not privy to. I heard that Ric was trying to negotiate a new contract, and I wanted the best for Ric, so when Ric ended up on television with the belt in the competing organization, I never had any hard feelings about that because I knew Ric had worked so hard and had such an incredible career. He was trying to do what was best for him and his family, from a business sense, I never took it personally. Check out Wrestling Inc. I was disappointed I didn’t get to wrestle Ric in the cage to win the world title, but I wasn’t upset with Ric that he went and did what he had to do and what he thought was best business wise for Ric Flair.
“WCW at the time, they were negotiating with Ric almost right up until the day of the match. To still come in and do the match, it just fell apart at the last minute. Ric almost was WCW, so for Ric to leave was a huge void and vacuum that myself and nobody could possibly even entertain the thought of replacing. They didn’t even have a belt ready yet. I think a lot of the guys were disappointed that Ric wasn’t there, but the show must go on.”
