– This week’s edition of “Santino’s Foreign Exchange” is now online. Here is the synopsis: “It’s Thanksgiving, Santino style! To cap off a “very American year” for the former U.S. Champion, Santino and crew head out to find the perfect holiday meal … and you won’t believe what’s – or is that, WHO’S – for dinner.”
– Friday’s SmackDown broadcast on Syfy concluded with John Cena emerging from the backstage area to lock Dolph Ziggler into the STF on the ramp. Following the episode, AJ Lee remarked on Twitter, “Yay for Cena beating up Dolph. I love when Cena ends up on top. *…waits for the Internet to explode…*
– Former WWE Women’s and Divas Champion Beth Phoenix turns 32-years-old on Saturday.
– In this edition of “Backstage Fallout” for SmackDown World Heavyweight Champion Big Show has some words of warning for Sheamus for their Chairs Match at WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs. Plus, Rosa Mendes “scouts” Alberto Del Rio.
– SmackDown color commentator John “Bradshaw” Layfield announced via Twitter that he will debut a new show on WWE.com next week: “Looking forward to The JBL Show debut next week! @wwe .com will carry it. @MichaelCole may also appear some. #dollarwithadime.”
– In the United Kingdom, The Miz is currently featured in a television commercial for Smyths Toys.
Courtesy of WWEDVDNews.com, the full content listing for WWE’s The Best Pay-Per-View Matches: 2012 DVD and Blu-ray has been released. This title is scheduled for release on December 26, 2012.
DISC 1
A Remarkable Year
WWE Championship Match
CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler
Special Guest Referee: John Laurinaitis
Royal Rumble • January 29, 2012
Elimination Chamber Match for the World Heavyweight Championship
Daniel Bryan vs. Big Show vs. The Great Khali vs. Santino Marella vs. Wade Barrett vs. Cody Rhodes
Elimination Chamber • February 19, 2012
One Man, One Legend, One Streak
End of an Era Hell in a Cell Match
Triple H vs. Undertaker
Special Guest Referee: Shawn Michaels
WrestleMania XXVIII • April 1, 2012
DISC 2
Hometown Return
Once in a Lifetime
The Rock vs. John Cena
WrestleMania XXVIII • April 1, 2012
Divas Championship Match
Layla vs. Beth Phoenix
Over the Limit • May 20, 2012
Intercontinental Championship Match
Christian vs. Cody Rhodes
No Way Out • June 17, 2012
Complicated Situations
No Disqualification Match for the WWE Championship
CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan
Special Guest Referee: AJ
Money in the Bank • July 15, 2012
DISC 3
Colossal Collision
The Perfect Storm
Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar
SummerSlam • August 19, 2012
Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler
Night of Champions • September 16, 2012
WWE Championship Match
CM Punk vs. John Cena
Night of Champions • September 16, 2012
World Heavyweight Championship Match
Sheamus vs. Big Show
Hell in a Cell • October 28, 2012
A Sizzling Year
BLU-RAY EXCLUSIVES
Best PPV Matches 2012 WWE Blu-ray Content Listing
Ambulance Match
John Cena vs. Kane
Elimination Chamber • February 19, 2012
2 out of 3 Falls Match for the World Heavyweight Championship
Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan
Extreme Rules • April 29, 2012
SmackDown Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Christian vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Tensai vs. Santino Marella vs. Damien Sandow vs. Tyson Kidd vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Sin Cara
Money in the Bank • July 15, 2012
WWE Championship Hell in a Cell Match
CM Punk vs. Ryback
Hell in a Cell • October 28, 2012
Backstage Pay-Per View Access:
* CM Punk discusses his match at the Royal Rumble
* Sheamus discusses his involvement at Elimination Chamber
* Layla discusses her match at Extreme Rules
* Christian discusses his match at Over The Limit
* Paul Heyman discusses Brock Lesnar’s match at SummerSlam
* The Miz discusses his match at SummerSlam
* John Cena discusses his match at SummerSlam
* CM Punk discusses his match at SummerSlam
– This week’s episode of Z! True Long Island Story is a “Best Of” episode.
– The official WWE website has released highlights of this week’s episode of WWE Superstars, featuring Santino Marella and Zack Ryder vs. 3MB, as well as Justin Gabriel vs. Darren Young. The full episode is available on WWEOnHulu.com.
– WWE announced the following Facebook regarding its return to Australia next year: “The RAW World Tour comes to Australia this July with 5 stops in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. Tickets will be available starting Wednesday, November 28 at 9:00am local time on Ticketek.com.”
– Alberto Del Rio is featured in today’s “Superstar Spotlight” on WWE.com.
While serving as the Official Grand Marshal of McDonald’s Thanksgiving Parade in Chicago, WWE Champion CM Punk was interviewed by a WGN reported, who noted hearing that Punk will be wrestling The Rock soon. “Yes,” Punk said in response. He was then asked to give a Thanksgiving message for his upcoming opponent.
“The Rock knows he’s going to get hurt. And afterwards he’s going to go back to making movies and I’m going to go back to doing what I do, which is hurting other people,” said Punk.
Though an encounter between the two has been teased since the summer, it had not been confirmed. On the 1000th episode of Raw, The Rock announced that would he would face the WWE Champion at Royal Rumble.
– The Watts family’s Universal Wrestling website confirms that they have sold their tape library to WWE but will continue to sell Universal merchandise and remaining DVD titles that are still in stock.
– Sources close to the WWE Network report that officials are looking to hold Network-exclusive Supershow events in places like the UK and other countries overseas.
– Jake Roberts posted the following video on Thanksgiving talking about what he’s thankful for:
– Canada’s CTVNews.ca has published an interview with WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart. Hart talks about the new WWE ’13 video game, WWE’s Attitude Era and says he’s got plenty of respect for today’s talent “especially because it’s a much more drug-free environment.”
“There’s a lot of innovators,” he said, citing Rey Mysterio, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. “They’ve really stepped up a lot. They might not be as big and as bulky as the wrestlers back in the ’80s were, but they’re every bit as hard-workers as this industry has seen. I think they’re working harder today than they’ve ever been working.”
– The Rock tweeted the following on Friday, giving a shout out to his buddy CM Punk:
@CMPunk Just stopped by to say hello to the @WWE Champion – The Best In The World. See ya soon my friend.. #Rumble2013
As previously reported, Eve will be joined by Vince McMahon, The Miz, R-Truth and Layla. Footage of their visit will be shown on WWE’s upcoming Tribute to the Troops special
– Speaking of Eve Torres, she appears in this new video from The Combos Files, where she samples pumpkin pie flavored Combos:
Check out the following image of WWE’s official WrestleMania 29 tour bus, which will be traveling the country in the coming months. The bus features images of John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Rey Mysterio, Big Show, Daniel Bryan and AJ.
– The next Extreme Rising show is scheduled for December 29th from Philadelphia, PA featuring:
* The crowning of the first Extreme Rising World Champion.
* Steel Cage match featuring the Gangstas New Jack & Mustafa vs. Blk Out Jeez & Ruckus
Also appearing are Sabu, Jerry Lynn, Matt Hardy, Reby Sky, Stevie Richards, Devon Storm, Besita 666, Pesadilla, Luke Hawx, Blue Meanie, Balls Mahoney and and Hijo de Rey Misterio.
– New Jack suffered a hairline fracture on his right heel and foot at last week’s iPPV after diving from the balcony through a table. He also suffered deep bruises of his thigh, ribs, and kidney.
– Facade broke a bone in his foot at lat week’s Extreme Rising iPPV.
– Here’s a backstage video of Matt Hardy and Reby Sky at the Extreme Rising iPPV.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross posted a special Thanksgiving blog on Thursday talking about what he’s thankful for. You can read the full entry at JRsBarBQ.com. Here are some highlights of what JR wrote about:
WWE: The best professional move that I ever made was coming to WWE in 1993. In approximately two months, I will be a 20 year guy in WWE while celebrating 39 years in the business in 2013. The McMahon family has facilitated all my wrestling dreams coming true and a quality of life that I never foresaw.
WCW: I’m thankful that I left there in 1993. Had some fun years despite the corporate dysfunction and the run away egos that were in positions of power. Nonetheless, Atlanta was my second favorite city in which to live.
Jerry Lawler: I’m grateful that my friend is still alive. I’m hopeful that he wakes up every day realizing how lucky and blessed that he is to still be above ground.
Michael Cole: Pleased that our controversial storyline issues are behind us and that we’ve been able to collaborate in a productive manner. I sincerely enjoyed working with Michael while the King was on the mend and have the utmost respect for @MichaelCole. Hopefully we can do it again some day under better circumstances.
Steve Austin: We’ve remained our friendship through so much that has occurred in our personal and professional lives. In the wrestling business, long term friendships are challenging to maintain but we have. Hopefully, I will live to see Stone Cold wrestle one, last, big time match in his career and, if I’m lucky, I’ll be there to call it. Hey, a guy can dream, right? Steve Austin will always be known as WWE’s Greatest Superstar for a variety of reasons.
Other topics include the Attitude Era, NXT, WrestleMania and more.
– The Yahoo! OMG! gossip blog has joined Lindsay Lohan, Donald Trump, Arhnold Schwarzenegger and Chris Brown as one of their biggest “Celebrity Turkeys” of 2012. To see a slideshow of this year’s Celebrity Turkeys, visit omg.yahoo.com.
– Aces & Eights member Devon still has not had his profile added back to the TNA website. That said, Ric Flair’s profile still remains up and he’s been gone from the company for weeks.
– Here’s the TNA Impact Wrestling post show from Thursday night:
“Jeremy Borash and Todd Keneley wrap up the Thanksgiving Edition of Open Fight Night on IMPACT WRESTLING. Keneley gets some insight from Christian York about his choice to call out the World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Hardy. Borash interviews Taryn Terrell about Taeler Hendrix’s bold move calling out the Knockouts Champ, Tara, for Open Fight Night. Watch IMPACT WRESTLING every Thursday night at 8/7c on Spike TV”
– The Rock noted on Twitter that he was in the United States visiting family for Thanksgiving on Thursday and is now headed back to London for to finish the final scenes for Fast 6. With The Rock scheduled to wrestle CM Punk at the Royal Rumble, he will be making a few appearances on WWE television in the coming weeks.
– Former WWE superstar John Morrison will be doing some acting later this month in Los Angeles, California. Morrison wil be appearing in the stage play “A Christmas Carol: Twist Your Dickens” at the Kirk Douglas Theater. The show runs from November 24th through December 30th.
– Former WWE diva Serena Deeb did some volunteer work in Washington DC on Thursday. She tweeted:
So enjoyed volunteering at DC's Feast of Sharing today. Perfect reminder that happiness is not based on having material things/possessions.
– Matt and Jeff Hardy will be be promoting a special benefit show on January 15th for a friend of theirs who is battling cancer. The show will be billed as an OMEGA show, the name of their defunct indy promotion. Matt and Jeff will be teaming up with Shane Helms in the main event against opponents to be announced. Also confirmed for the show is TNA star James Storm.
– TNA Tag Champion Hernandez will be holding a clinic in Denton, Texas on Saturday, Dec 15th at 12pm. Registration costs $50. For more information, visit Facebook.com/xcwinstitute, or email David Fuller at [email protected].
– Following Thursday’s episode of Impact Wrestling, here’s the updated card for next month’s TNA Final Resolution pay-per-view:
TNA World Heavyweight Title Match
Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Bobby Roode
TNA Knockouts Title Match
Tara (c) vs. Mickie James
– WWE’s Gerald Brisco was scouting amateur wrestler Chad Hanke over the weekend. Hanke is a senior at Oregon State and was ranked #16 nationally going into this season. He’s currently just under 200 pounds but is looking to move up to heavyweight.
– Following the main roster WWE debuts of Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns, the next group of NXT stars in line to be called up look to be Big E Langston, Bray Wyatt and his brother, Bo Dallas. Earlier this week, Bray Wyatt tweeted “2 months #raw” – sign that he could be debuting in early 2013.
Two more NXT stars rumored to be ready for WWE are the tag team The Ascension, Conor O’Brian and Kenneth Cameron. The duo has a very polished act and have been been developing a move set that uses a lot of double team moves used by some classic 1980’s heel teams. With WWE’s tag team division picking up in recent months, it would be a good time for WWE to introduce another strong tag team act.
Here’s a look at several matches that are being discussed for next month’s WWE Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view:
– C.M. Punk vs. Ryback (Tables match for the WWE Championship)
– Kofi Kignston vs. Wade Barrett (IC title match)
– Antonio Cesaro vs. R-Truth (US title match)
– Team Hell No vs. Sin Cara & Rey Mysterio vs. Prime Time Players (Ladders match for the Tag Team Titles)
– Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio (Last Man Standing)
The only match confirmed for the show is Big Show vs. Sheamus in a Chairs match for the World Heavyweight title, which will be announced on Friday’s SmackDown.
– Survivor Series drew only 8,500 fans at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. The event was reportedly heavily papered, with tons of free tickets given out in the days leading up to the show.
– The October 22nd edition WWE RAW had 337,000 homes watching on DVR or tape delay. The following week, October 29th, had 241,000 homes watching delayed.
– Following her recent departure from WWE developmental, there are currently no plans to bring Raquel Diaz (Shaul Guerrero) back to the company.
– Earlier this week, Mick Foley tweeted that he won’t be wrestling WWE Champion CM Punk because he can’t and rumors to the contrary are false. While there was talk of a Punk vs. Foley match at one point, the belief is that Foley is no longer physically able to wrestle a full match and we’ve probably seen the last of him in a WWE ring.
Webmaster Mike here. Today is Thanksgiving in the United States, a day to stuff our faces and reflect on how lucky we all are for the countless blessings we enjoy on a daily basis – friends, family, health, etc. I’m also very thankful for you guys, the fans of the site.
We bust our butts on a daily basis to provide you with the best pro wrestling news content on the web, and your loyalty to us keeps the whole thing going – so we say, thank you!
CM Punk spoke to WGN during the parade and said that Thanksgiving is his second favorite holiday (behind Halloween) because he loves to eat.
When asked about his upcoming match with the Rock at the Royal Rumble, Punk said he’s going to hurt The Rock and send Mr. Movie Star back to Hollywood.
WWE.com tweeted this image of Grand Marshal Punk .. You’ll notice that CM Punk is rocking a white t-shirt with a leopard-print vest – the same outfit worn by Matthew Broderick in the classic 1980’s comedy Ferris Beuler’s Day Off when he attended a parade in Chicago. Epic.
– 2013 will mark WWE’s 50th Anniversary, with a DVD set and other events planned to commemorate the milestone. Technically, the WWWF was around before 1963, but that’s the year when it was announced that Buddy Rogers had won a tournament in Rio de Janeiro to become the first Worldwide Wrestling Federation world champion.
– Michael Hayes is still the head booker of WWE’s live events. That job used to be done by WWE’s head of talent relations, but the company feels that Hayes is better suited for running the house shows than the current head of talent relations, Jane Geddes.
– There are several reasons for WWE turning The Miz to a babyface character. Aside from the fact that he’s got two movies coming out next year and would have a harder time promoting them as a heel, fans have really been getting behind him in recent months. The Miz did a great job being an annoying, self-centered jerk for most of his WWE career, but it’s also clear that he loves his job and is passionate about the business.
Politifact.com has an article up comparing WWE WrestleMania ticket sales vs. NFL Super Bowl ticket sales. WWE has sold more tickets than the NFL did 5 out of the 6 times when WrestleMania was held from a stadium that previously hosted the SuperBowl.
Triple H was quoted in the article, saying, “We’ve outdrawn the Super Bowl for a little while now in the arenas and stadiums that we’ve followed them in for the Super Bowl. We’ve gone in after [the NFL] and surpassed their ticket sales.”
The article calls Triple H’s claims “Mostly True” because the seating configuration for WWE events allows for more seating than football games.
“The difference between WrestleMania and Super Bowl staging is that WrestleMania has a stage much like a concert so seats behind the stage are unavailable but would be used for football,” Kevin Hennessy, WWE senior director of publicity, said in an e-mail.
“However, for WrestleMania, seats are added to field level which would not be done for football. That is why we feel justified in making the comparison.”
– WWE has released new “plush” backpacks of Rey Mysterio and John Cena called “Backpack Pals.”
– WWE sent out a survey this week asking fans if they ordered Survivor Series, and if they didn’t, why not.
– The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey is running a promotion where you can get 4 tickets to the upcoming December 10th RAW taping for $100 by using the code WWEPROCK.
– Here’s a schedule of WWE’s upcoming DVD releases:
* 11/27: WWE Hell in A Cell 2012
* 12/11: The Top 100 Raw Moments
* 12/18: WWE Survivor Series 2012
* 12/26: The Best of WWE PPV Matches 2012
* 1/15: WWE TLC 2012
* 1/29: The Best of Raw and Smackdown 2012
* 2/12: The Very Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 2
* 2/25: Royal Rumble 2013
Emmy winning entertainment reporter Chris Van Vliet from WOIO recently spoke with Dolph Ziggler in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. He talks about breaking away from Vickie Guerrero, how he would have been pushed sooner if he was bigger and his thoughts on John Cena and CM Punk.
He talked about how if he was bigger he would have been pushed earlier, saying if he was 4 inches taller and 40 pounds heavier he would be “a multiple time world champion”. However he admits that he’s he glad he has had to work for all of his success because he feels it has made him better.
He also discussed CM Punk’s claim to being the best the world saying “He has to put it on a shirt. It’s almost like ‘Guys, I’m the best in the world, right? Just ask me!’ It comes off like he’s begging for it and if you keep saying it I guess you think it’s true.”
On being great at selling moves, “I do everything, especially when I’m getting beat up, If I’m going to run into something, I’m running into it full force and it hurts. But instead of hearing ‘oh, is that guy ok?’ you hear ‘OOOOH!!’. My body’s on the line because I love this and I do it for a living”
On the topic of John Cena, Ziggler says, “The eight-year old kids, they still think that John Cena’s really good at stuff, other than being strong. And they buy the t-shirts and that’s great. Everybody else goes ‘well, I graduated high school. I get that [Ziggler’s] better than everybody else’”
On being compared to Shawn Michaels and Mr. Perfect: “Mr. Perfect, I was a big fan of his because we kind of had similar deals like wow, we’re almost too good at this that it looks easy sometimes. Huge fan of his, huge fan of Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair. Those guys who always wanted the spotlight even if they weren’t supposed to be in it. They were the guys, if they weren’t the main event, they showed up the main event to let everyone know that next time you put me in there”
On whether he or any of the [WWE] guys in the back follow what’s going on in TNA: “Me, personally as a wrestling fan, it’s something I’ve said before where I study movies, I study comedians, why they are getting these reactions; I watch all wrestling. And lots of us, because of the ever-changing roster for both sides, we’re friends with half of those guys anyway because we were wrestling with them a few months ago. So that community, we all kind of follow each other. A lot of us watch it just because we love wrestling. We’ll watch TNA. We’ll watch Ring of Honor. I watch everything just to see what’s going on and know where I need to be.
“Even a good friend of mine, Mike Mondo, who was with me in the Spirit Squad, he’s in Ring of Honor tearing it up. Everyone’s always saying how great he’s doing.”
In a follow-up question, Ziggler is then asked, “There seems to be some storylines between TNA and WWE that are kind of overlapping right now. Isn’t that weird? He responds, “I’m a little behind on [TNA] storylines, but yes. I heard that from several different people. So, maybe…”
Other topics covered were: getting more mic time, breaking away from Vickie Guerrero and his Twitter feud with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
