– According to tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com, Monday’s Christmas Eve episode of Raw averaged 3.167 million viewers over the course of two hours, down from 4.23 million the week before for a show that drew a 2.9 cable rating.
Here’s the hourly breakdown, which saw viewership drop again during the third and final hour.
Hour one: 2.94 million viewers
Hour two: 3.271 million viewers
Hour three: 3.219 million viewers
– Today’s episode of WWE Vintage Collection on The Score was a Mick Foley-themed show highlighting the Hardcore Legend’s legendary career. The following matches aired on the program: Cactus Jack vs. Kevin Sullivan (WCW Fall Brawl 1994), Mankind vs. Bob Holly (His WWF debut on WWF Monday Night Raw – April 1, 1996), Mankind vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley (WWF Summerslam 1997), Mick Foley vs. Terry Funk (WWF Raw is War – May 4th, 1998), Mankind vs. Carlito (WWE Taboo Tuesday 2005).
– Tomorrow beginning at 3:00 p.m., Zack Ryder appears at FYE 3601 Hempstead Turnpike, Levittown, New York, as he signs autograph for the first 400 fans. Call 516-579-5300 for more information.
MichelleMcCool.Net has released more highlights from their recent interview with former WWE diva Michelle McCool, wife of the Undertaker.
Coming Up: “I guess Melina and I came in around the same time, because her guys are the ones that put me out with their finisher so that I could train at Deep South [Wrestling] for a little bit longer. We’ve started around the same time in WWE, but obviously she’s been in the business longer.”
Melina’s Reputation: “Throughout her career, she may have had some run-ins or problems with a lot of people backstage. Personally, I was never one of them. All of the things that she supposedly had done or whatever issues were going on, I was not a part of that. So, I didn’t have a problem with her. That’s not my business — I try to stay out of people’s business, if it doesn’t personally affect me, then I don’t really need to get into the drama!”
Working with Melina: “So, I never actually had a problem with Melina and we worked a lot together. When she came to SmackDown, we worked a program together. We had a match at the Pay-Per-View, Night of Champions. There, we put a mark on things — we totally got in trouble!”
Punished For Being Good: “We got in trouble for our match at Night of Champions. We got in trouble for our match being quote-on-quote “too good… for girls.” So, I don’t care how much I get in trouble if that’s what I’m getting in trouble for. It started where I dropped kicked her on her slipt-entrance to the mat — crazy, crazy bump — which she was always game for. The crazier, the better! We always worked well with each other, always wanted to come up with something different; some new way to come out of her moves, get into one of my moves, something you don’t always see the girls do.”
Pushing the Envelope: “It was that day [Night of Champions] I was like: “could you not tell anybody, but do you think we could do a DDT on the barricade?” And she was like: “Ohhhh! Yeah!!!” — Not even thinking twice about it. We kind of hid it all day, even though we did ask our agent for approval, I think it was Fit — which is no secret that he was always fighting for the girls. We just made sure that we can stand up and get our balance, but we never actually did the bump. She was the one who was going to take the huge bump, and there was no doubt, no hesitation, that she would make it look ridiculous — and it did! [During the match] She finally takes the bump, it looks sick, pops off — up to that point, that was the best match I’ve ever had. We had the pay-per-view, we had time, I was really proud of that match.”
Big Time Trouble: “The next day, one of the agents came up to us and was like: “I can’t believe y’all did that! You have no idea! We were all backstage, scared to death!” We were like: “…What? We know how to safely bump. We wouldn’t do anything that would put either one of us at risk. We’re totally fine! If the men can do it, why can’t we do it?” He said: “It looked too good! You can’t go out there throwing punches like that, or taking bumps like that — that looks better than some of the guys! You can’t do that!” Finally, I remember Chris Jericho, who was by the ring, hears all of this going on. He said: “Look, if the guys can’t follow what the girls are doing, then the guys need to step it up! I thought it was awesome. They did great. And it’s not their problem that it looked that great!” I was like… “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” Because out of respect, we can’t say anything, and here comes one of the boys — Jericho, of all people, sticking up for us!”
Trouble before: “Off topic, But Lisa [Tara/Victoria] and I got in trouble before, too. After finishing our match, Lisa comes into the locker room, and I’ve already changed, I’m in my business/casual, ready to leave the arena, and she comes in and says: “Get dressed! We have to go out there and do the match again!” I’m like: “What?! You’re always joking, always ribbing…” She goes: “No!! I swear!! The punches we threw on the turnbuckle, we can’t throw them — they look too good!” So, we went out and we had to re-do our whole entire match. That’s just like me and Melina getting in trouble.”
OK. One Backstage Altercation: “I’ve never personally had a problem with her, but towards the end of my career, there was one little incident. People wanna know: this is the “juicy, juicy details” of the Michelle and Melina problem! We were in the locker room and it was one of those Halloween deals. All of the girls were dressed, and literally ten minutes before we’re all going out, nobody has a clue what is going on. Nobody is giving us finishers, nobody has no idea what is going on. So, we’re bouncing ideas, and I remember it was me, The Bellas, and Melina… I can’t remember who may or may have not been in there. I do remember throwing an idea out there and it was Brie or Nicole who said, “Yeah. That sounds like a cool idea,” then there’s Melina, who just kind of rolls her eyes and huffs. Her back is to me, but I’m like: “Melina, if you don’t like the idea, just tell me what you want to do — I’ll do it. I don’t care.” She says: “Nope. That’s fine.” So I say: “Well, we’re in a room full of mirrors. The next time you want to roll your eyes, you might want to kinda not do it in a room full of mirrors.” That’s the biggest problem I’ve ever had with Melina! Isn’t that just awful?! …I hope you can hear the sarcasm in my voice. It’s the silliest thing ever, obviously. We got over it, but it was kind of humorous. So, that was my only Melina run-in right there. Honest to God, nothing else between us… but a bunch of good matches.”
– WWE Hall of Famers “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Bret “Hit Man” Hart, Harley Race, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Hillbilly Jim and Tito Santana, participants in the inaugural Royal Rumble Match in 1988, look back at the event in interviews with WWE.com.
Duggan, winner of the inaugural match, says of his other favorite Rumble, “It was the 2009 Rumble, and I was one of the later guys coming out. I got a good pop, as a lot of the guys from my generation do. Fans remember us, which we are grateful for. I came through the curtain and stormed to the ring and, of course, one of the first guys I roll into and am nose-to-nose with is The Undertaker. When he first came into WWE, I actually contested a lot of his first matches, against him and Paul Bearer. So here I am, face to face, with the big Deadman. I give him a shot, and a shot, and a real big shot and he went down like a big tank hit him. Then, of course, Big Show came down and tossed my a** out, but I shined there for a good couple of minutes.”
– Crush is the latest addition to the Alumni section on WWE.com. All of his personas are acknowledged; third member of Demolition, fan favorite Hawaiian powerhouse turned villain, jailbird, biker thug and his time in World Championship Wrestling. His passing in August 2007, however, is not acknowledged.
– This week’s issue of The National Enquirer features a story on a wedding that took place at a recent Resistance Pro event in Chicago, Illinois.
– During his appearance on this week’s Busted Open Radio show, Damien Sandow revealed two new matches for tonight’s WWE Holiday live event from Madison Square Garden in New York City:
* The Shield vs. Kane, Daniel Bryan, and The Miz.
* The New Age Outlaws vs. Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes.
Already announced for the show are John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler in a steel cage match and Ryback vs. Paul Heyman. Plus, there will be an announcement made regarding the 2013 WWE Hall of Fame, with a ticket pre-sale beginning after the show.
Yours truly will be attending tonight’s WWE MSG show and will have a live report up tomorrow, so make sure to check back for that.
– ESPN.com has recognized THQ’s WWE ’13 video game in their “Best of 2012” video game awards. Specifically, the game’s Attitude Era mode was awarded the “Best New Feature” in a video game. Here’s their description:
Best new feature: WWE 13’s Attitude Era
It’s one thing to have the Montreal Screwjob in a video game. But THQ takes the Attitude Era story mode to unheard-of levels for a wrestling video game, even delivering details like Bret Hart’s polygonal spit smacking Vince McMahon in the face. The Rock, D-X, the Brothers of Destruction, and even Mike Tyson make appearances, bringing wrestling fans back to their happy place of crotch chops and beer baths.
– Hulk Hogan’s Micro Championship Wrestling returns to the Tailgaters Sports Bar in Bolingbrook, Illinois on April 13th, 2013. Bell time is 9 PM. For more information, visit Tailgatersgrill.com.
– Here are some TNA Wrestling business figures for November 2012 compared to the previous year, courtesy of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
* Impact Wrestling averaged a 0.96 rating with 1.27 million viewers. Compared to 2011, the average rating is down 18% and the audience is down 21%, when the show was averaging a 1.17 rating with 1.61 million viewers.
Impact’s decline in ratings and viewership is more significant than the losses seen by WWE RAW and SmackDown for November.
* TNA’s Live Events averaged 581 fans. This is down 40% from the previous November, when they averaged 975 fans.
The Rock is now confirmed for the January 22nd SmackDown taping from the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, California. The Sleep Train Arena is hyping The Rock’s appearance for the final SmackDown taping prior to the Royal Rumble:
“The Rock has been added to the card… This WWE Smackdown guarantees to be an electrifying show as ‘The Most Electrifying Man in Entertainment,’ THE ROCK, will be in Sleep Train Arena LIVE! Here is your chance to witness ‘The Great One’ lay the smack down!”
With that appearance set, here’s an updated look at The Rock’s scheduled appearances for WWE in early 2013:
– 1/7: RAW TV from Tampa, FL
– 1/8: SmackDown TV taping from Miami, FL
– 1/21: RAW TV from San Jose, CA
– 1/22. SmackDown TV from Sacramento, CA
– 1/27: Royal Rumble PPV from Phoenix, AZ
– 1/28: RAW TV from Las Vegas, NV.
– 2/17: Elimination Chamber PPV from New Orleans, LA
– 2/18: RAW TV from Lafayette, LA
The Rock will also be appearing at WrestleMania 29 in April and will likely be on several RAW and SmackDown broadcasts leading up to Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania 29.
– The Great Khali won a Battle Royal on Wednesday’s WWE Main Event to earn a shot at Antonio Cesaro’s United States championship. Khali vs. Cesaro will take place on next week’s Main Event broadcast.
– R-Truth is expected to return to action in early January, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. He’s been on the sidelines since his match with Antonio Cesaro at TLC, where he suffered a nasty gash on his knee. The injury reportedly took place when Truth’s knee struck one of the TLC props at ringside.
– The New Age Outlaws were victorious against Team Rhodes Scholars at Wednesday night’s WWE Holiday live event from Detroit, Michigan. As you can imagine, the Outlaws were very over with the live crowd and the finish saw Billy Gunn getting the pin on Cody Rhodes. The Outlaws will be in action again tonight for the RAW brand’s live event from Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The following is TNAWrestling.com’s official preview for tonight’s episode of Impact Wrestling on Spike TV, featuring the return of Open Fight Night:
– Thursday’s broadcast features the return of OPEN FIGHT NIGHT! It’s the last chance for the IMPACT WRESTLING Superstars to settle any and all grudges before the New Year! Who will get called out? Tune in and find out!
– Austin Aries is still enraged that Bobby Roode cost him his chance at regaining the World Heavyweight Title during last week’s CHAMPIONSHIP THURSDAY! Will Aries call out Roode this week during OPEN FIGHT NIGHT? If so, will Roode step up to the challenge?
– This week’s IMPACT WRESTLING broadcast will also feature the first ever “BRO-OFF” between Robbie E and Jessie! Who is the biggest “BRO” on IMPACT? How will Robbie and Jessie settle the challenge?
– The lovely TNA Knockouts will be in action on OPEN FIGHT NIGHT! Gail Kim has made it known that she plans to call out a specific Knockout to fight her! Who does Gail have a score to settle with? Find out on Thursday night!
– PLUS, what will be the fallout from the shocking ending to last week’s broadcast when Hulk Hogan walked up on Bully Ray and his daughter Brooke?
All this and much more on Thursday’s “OPEN FIGHT NIGHT” edition of IMPACT WRESTLING on SpikeTV at 8/7c!
– Paul Heyman will make his wrestling debut at Madison Square Garden tonight against Ryback. Heyman says he’s ready for the match and sounds very confident against CM Punk’s next WWE Championship challenger:
The storm pounding New York City tonight is NOTHING compared to the beating I'm handing Ryback tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden!
SEScoops.com’s Mr. 561, The Solomonster & Bryan Blade will be in the house for tonight’s WWE RAW live event from Madison Square Garden – stay tuned for our live report and pictures from the show.
– WWE Superstar Ezekiel Jackson told fans on Twitter that he’ll be returning to the ring very soon after being out of action for months due to injury.
– WWE has signed independent wrestler Alexander Jones to a developmental deal. Jones was trained at former WWE superstar Rikishi’s Knox Pro Wrestling school in Simi Valley, California.
– Today’s wrestling birthdays include Andy Leavine (25), WWE United States Champion Antonio Cesaro (32), Chyna (42), Bill Goldberg (46), Bart Gunn and Bill “Demolition Axe” Eadie (65).
– Here are some WWE business notes for the month of November 2012:
* Live Event attendance in North America averaged 4,786 paid fans, down 12% from last year (5,429).
* European tour attendance was down 11% from last year.
* DVD unites shipped were 556,000, up 107% from 268,000 the year before. WrestleMania 28 remains the top-selling DVD of the year, followed by The Rock’s DVD, CM Punk’s DVD and the Undertaker’s DVD.
* WWE.com had 11.1 million unique visitors in November, down 4% from the year before.
* WWEShop.com averaged 1,267 orders per day, the same as the previous year.
* WWE RAW averaged a 2.78 rating with 4 million viewers in November. The rating is down 10.9% from last November and the viewership audience is down 10.7%.
* WWE SmackDown averaged a 1.88 rating with 2.67 million viewers for November. The rating is down 8.3% from last November and the viewership audience is down 11.3%.
– It was reported last week that WWE was talking to at least one investor group about partnering up for the WWE Network launch. According to a source in WWE, those reports are false and WWE is still looking to launch the project by themselves.
– Former WWE superstar David Hart Smith, who is currently wrestling over in Japan for NJPW, met with the legendary Dynamite Kid last week when he was in England for Christmas. Dynamite Kid is, of course, the former tag team partner of Smith’s late father, Davey Boy Smith. Dynamite Kid said there is no chance of him going into the WWE Hall of Fame.
– Randy Orton is currently dealing with his latest shoulder injury after dislocating it at the recent Tribute to the Troops tapings earlier this month. Orton suffers from a condition called hypermobile shoulders, which allows his shoulders to stretch back in a much greater range of motion than the averge person. The downside of the condition is that he’s more prone to dislocating his shoulders and his shoulder joints will wear down much faster than the average person. This could result in more health issues when he gets older.
– This week’s WWE Classics Five-Star Match of the Week was chosen by Matt Striker. He chose the Best of 3 Falls Match between Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko that aired on the August 26th, 1995 episode of ECW TV. Striker explained to WWE.com why this classic match was worthy of the five-star rating:
“During this time, I had dreams of being a professional wrestler. I would study these tapes and steal these moves. I tried to emulate Dean and Eddie to a tee and I was nowhere near as talented as either of those guys. Watch that match and see the story that these two men are telling. There are no catchphrases. There are no T-shirts being sold. There’s no cool fanfare on a TitanTron behind you. It’s just two guys in a dingy wrestling hall in front of true wrestling fans doing what the sign on the arena says. They are wrestling. The ovation, the appreciation, the camaraderie and the brotherhood is something that transcends all of sports, all of pop culture. For one brief moment, you believed in what Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko were doing. And because of those men and their dedication to our craft, that moment that you believe stays with you for the rest of your life.”
– WWE has released more information regarding the Superstar Panels that will take place during the Royal Rumble Fan Fest weekend in Phoenix Arizona:
* The Montreal Screwjob Panel on Saturday (3-6pm) will be hosted by Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and Jerry Lawler.
* The DeGeneration-X Panel on Saturday (6:30-9:30pm) will be hosted by Triple H, Sean “X-Pac” Waltman, “Road Dogg” BG James and Billy Gunn.
* The WCW Nitro & Monday Night Wars Panel on Sunday (9am-12pm) will be hosted by Kevin Nash, Big Show and Booker T.
– Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson ranks among “Hollywood’s Best Actors For The Buck.”
Forbes published an article Wednesday ranking stars that offer Hollywood the best return on their investment and it is estimated that the actor/wrestler returned $22.70 for every dollar he was paid for his last three starring roles. By comparison, Natalie Portman, the best investment of 2012, drew 42.70 times what she was paid. Overall, Johnson ranked No. 8., also trailing Kristen Stewart ($40.60), Shia LaBeouf ($35.80), Robert Pattinson ($31.70), Daniel Radcliffe ($30.50), Taylor Lautner ($29.50) and Bradley Cooper ($25.00).
– Tickets for the 2013 WWE Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony go on sale Saturday, January 12, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. The pre-sale kicks off Thursday, December 27, 2012 at 10:30 p.m. and ends Friday, January 11, 2013 at 11:59 p.m. The password is FAMOUS.
Price range from $55.00 to $155.00. The annual event takes place Saturday, April 6, 2013 in New York City at Madison Square Garden.
– Dennis Knight, who appeared as Mideon and Phineas Godwinn in WWE, turns 44-years-old Wednesday.
MichelleMcCool.Net has released more highlights from their recent interview with former WWE diva Michelle McCool, wife of the Undertaker.
In General: “I don’t have one bad thing to say about her — she’s great! All the years that we were there together, which was pretty much both our entire careers on the road, not one altercation. Not one difference. We just got along. That all started through the Diva Search. Obviously, neither one of us won, but I remember watching RAW a few weeks after the Diva Search ended, and King was on commentary. He mentioned that one of the cast offs was going to be making their debut on RAW, then they opened up a magazine — and it was Maria! I got so excited for her, because her dream was coming true. She was one of the few [contestants] that actually followed wrestling, and she made no qualms about wanting to be an announcer. I just thought that was awesome.”
Life’s A Ditz: “She ended up with the ditzy gimmick for a while, but people don’t realize that she’s not ditzy — she’s actually extremely smart. Business-wise: she’s very savvy, and I admire that about her.”
Working with Maria: “She was on RAW for most of the time when I was on SmackDown, but there were several cross-over shows where we did get to work together — before she eventually moved to SmackDown when she got drafted. She was a fun babyface to work against; she can sell like crazy and the fans always got behind her. She was that underdog, and she was cool. She was all about business. She got it: she was willing to make sacrifices. She understood what some people can’t always understand; she understood that as a babyface, she was going to get beat up. She’d end up being able to return the favor, but she was never one to be like: “All I’m doing is getting beat up!” So, she was fun to work. I really enjoyed working her.”
Maria The Wrestler: “Everyone always said that she wasn’t a wrestler, and that she shouldn’t do this or that. I think it’s all about working together and working on people’s strengths — instead of trying to expose their weaknesses. I think that’s just what you have to do.” […] “We didn’t have a long stint together, but she was really cool. She was a good worker, a hard worker… she was committed, and I was sad to see her go. I don’t know that we’ve seen the last of her, and I hope to see her again. I miss her — I think she’s going to do big things.”
Making The Transition: “I turned heel on Maria, and when I turned, I gave her a pretty good beating. She took it like a champ, an absolute champ! I remember Arn Anderson always used to say: “You can’t be a heel! I don’t want it, why are they turning you; I don’t want you as a heel!” Then, he ended up coming back to me and saying: “Why were you ever a babyface — you should have always been a heel!” Maria helped in that. You always want that one person that if you’re gonna make a turn, you’re gonna want to make the biggest impact possible — which, at the time, beating down Maria was making the biggest impact possible.”
Diva Search And Beyond: “I knew I liked her in the Diva Search, but then I remember watching her in the DVD, I don’t remember which one it was, but anyway, she ended up giving me a shout out. She was saying something about my body, and how cool she thought I was, and I was like: “Alright, I knew I liked this girl.” The friendship formed and the friendship hasn’t ended. I don’t think that it ever will.”
The USA Network has issued a press release touting that Monday’s episode of WWE RAW (to be taped Saturday night) will be one of the anchors of their New Years Eve programming:
“The Superstars and Divas from the World Wrestling Entertainment Universe take the stage in front of thousands in attendance at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC and millions watching at home. Monday Night Raw continues to be the most watched regularly scheduled year-round program on basic cable television and recently celebrated its 1,000th episode. Raw Superstars include John Cena, C.M. Punk, A.J. Lee, Daniel Bryan, Kane, The Miz, Eve, and Zack Ryder.”
WWE.com has published Part 2 of their recent interview with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
Paul Heyman Being A Genius “I always give credit to Paul for helping me to understand what a promo was. And giving me a chance to cut them and giving me the confidence and the platform to cut promos. Man, if it hadn’t been for Paul Heyman offering me a job in ECW, I don’t know if “Stone Cold” would have ever been.”
“You look at those rosters they used to have down in ECW, and they had some damn good talent, and they also had a bunch of misfits. Damn near all of them? Damn good promos.”
“And that was a product of working with Paul Heyman, and Paul Heyman working — however he worked — with each individual talent. I can’t speak to that because I only know how Paul worked with me, but you look at all the great promos that came out of that territory, and I remember watching ECW when I could find it on TV and watching a lot of the old VHS tapes or whatever it was back in the day. Man, that was a badass show with a lot of energy, a lot of attitude and testosterone.”
“Paul Heyman — I give him that “G” word. I give him that “genius” word. I got nothing but respect for that guy. He’s an old buddy from back in the day, when we met in WCW and he was my manager and we drove down the road together.””
If John Cena Would Succeed In The Attitude Era: “Yeah, had he been placed in it, and been dealt with accordingly, the John Cena you see now — the face of the franchise, the leader of the pack? Not so much. But I guarantee if you’d have gotten him face to face with “Stone Cold” in an interview, and you know John cuts a good interview himself, if I slapped the s*** out of that son of a b****, I think we’re off and running to make a lot of money.”
“All he needs is to be poked and prodded in the right way. I think John Cena has a hell of a lot of fire and he needs to be in the ring with the right opponent, or the right cat, to bring that out. So in the current environment, you really don’t see that in him.”
“Place [Cena] back 10 years in the ring with “Stone Cold”? You’d have rung the cash register, big time.”
To read what Steve Austin said about working with Bret Hart, his thoughts on “Superstar” Billy Graham and his favorite moment in pro wrestling history, head over to WWE.com to for the full interview.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ. Here are some highlights of what JR wrote about:
The Highlight of his Year: “Been asked the highlight of my WWE year and without question it was being afforded the opportunity by WWE upper management to broadcast the HIAC bout at WM28 featuring the Undertaker, HHH and @ShawnMichaels. Big time bucket list memory for me and a night that I’ll always fondly remember. I’m hopeful that I can call one bout at WM29 just to be a part of the event. Many of us worked some amazing hours over the years to contribute to building this amazing event.
When I sit back and see where WrestleMania has come since I made my debut in Vegas at WM9, I am honestly amazed. I see continued use of stadiums for future WrestleMania events and hope that I can be a small part of the proceedings for as long as I’m able. It’s our Super Bowl and who wouldn’t want to be associated with the biggest event in our profession? Old players still like to play.”
Advice For Young Talent: “If I were a young in ring talent in today’s word (no jokes please), then DVD study of my predecessors would be a a regular part of my weekly routine just as is going to the gym and eating smartly. Some talents will spend more time ‘tanning,’ playing video games, etc than watching the work of stars of previous generations which is somewhat pathetic when one thinks about it.”
On Monday’s Christmas Eve edition of WWE RAW, Ryback interrupted a promo by CM Punk and Paul Heyman to once again challenge Punk to a TLC match for the WWE Championship at the first live RAW of 2013 on January 7th. You can see video of that challenge below.
WWE officials are still going back and forth as to whether the CM Punk vs. Ryback TLC match will actually take place on the show. CM Punk is still scheduled to defend the WWE Championship match against The Rock at the Royal Rumble, so he won’t be dropping the title to Ryback on 1/7.
Ryback losing another WWE Championship match is also not doing his character’s momentum any favors. The TLC stipulation would allow for Ryback to lose the match without getting pinned or submitting, but the possibility remains that the match somehow does not take place.
The Rock being in the house adds another dimension to the Punk vs. Ryback TLC match. While there are no plans for Ryback to wrestle The Rock any time soon, the “possibility” of Ryback defeating CM Punk for the WWE Championship to set up a Ryback vs. Rock match is something WWE is sure to tease that night.
Here’s the video from RAW of Ryback’s latest challenge to Punk:
– WWE.com has posted a new “Where Are They Now” feature looking at Scotty 2 Hotty, which you can view here. The article notes that the former WWE superstar is currently training for a new career as a firefighter.
– This Friday on the JBL & Cole Show, their guest will be the Great Khali. Michael Cole noted on Twitter that Khali will be there to teach them the “secrets to tweeting.”
– Speaking of Michael Cole, some of his commentary from Monday’s Christmas Eve edition of RAW was taped from his home, where he has a full recording studio set up.
– Tonight’s episode of WWE Main Event will feature a battle royal to determine a new #1 contender to Antonio Cesaro’s United States Title and tag team action featuring 3MB’s Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre vs. Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel.
– Here is the first trailer video for the WWE Studios film The Marine 3 starring The Miz:
– After taking a break for Christmas, WWE is back on the road tonight with the first WWE Holiday Tour shows. RAW is in Detroit, Michigan while SmackDown is in Chicago, IL. Top matches on the RAW card include John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler, Antonio Cesaro vs. The Miz, The Shield vs. Ryback & Team Hell No and more. SmackDown will be headlined by Sheamus vs. Big Show.
Former WWE tag team champions the New Age Outlaws return to action tonight in Detroit, wrestling Team Rhodes Scholars. “Road Dogg” BG James wrote this on Twitter about the Outlaws riding again tonight:
Tonight, in Detroit rock city, the Outlaws ride again! Team Rhodes Scholars will be educated; Old School Education. #NAO#DGenerationX
– NXT champion Big E. Langston has been added to the Superstars section of WWE.com.
– Last Friday’s episode of WWE SmackDown, a replay of Tuesday’s live special, drew 1.85 million viewers. With the original Tuesday airing drawing 3.33 million viewers, that brings the total viewership to 5.18 million. The previous week drew 2.63 million viewers.
– Monday’s Christmas Eve edition of WWE RAW scored a Trendrr.tv social media score of 114,187. This was enough to make the show the #1 most socially active show on cable for the night, but was also the lowest score of the 3-hour RAW era, due to the holiday.
– With the recent announcement that WWE video game publisher THQ has filed for bankruptcy, WWEGaming.com reports that next year’s WWE ’14 game will be released as planned.
The site notes that despite the company’s perilous financial situation, there is enough money budgeted to develop next year’s installment of the game. No word yet on the game’s theme, but we can confirm that it’s currently in development.
Formation of LayCool: “It all just kind of happened. They randomly put Layla and I together in some match, and we were pretty good friends at this point, but we weren’t near as close as how we ended up before I left. When we went out there on camera, Vince just saw something that he liked. He liked the dynamic of us together and that literally was it. As far as coming up with the name, it was just during the time the media was joining everybody’s names together, like Brangelina. So we thought: why not? We’re just as cool as these other celebrities, or so we thought in our own minds of course, so we said “let’s come up with something!” We spit them in half, came up with a bunch of different combinations and ultimately ended up with LayCool.”
LayCool Chemistry: “So, they kept putting us on camera together and somehow I guess you just have a connection with certain people; we just fed off of one another. We couldn’t be completely different: she was this cute little petite fireball, full of energy, funny as can be — and then you have me: this amazon, this more serious, more athletic character. It was where opposites attract. I can’t tell you how happy I am for them putting us together; to not only build this character, but to build this bond — this friendship.”
Growing Together: “When we got together, she had just come off dancing on ECW with Kelly and Brooke, and didn’t really do much in the ring. You all know how much she’s grown as an in-ring competitor. She grew, as we both did. I give her all the glory in the world for helping me with my character and mic skills, and all of our promos. I’m just so thankful for her.”
Backstage Animosity: “It can be a pretty stressful environment backstage, there is a lot of drama that goes on when it comes to the girls working together, especially fighting for storylines. With our character, it was already controversial to begin with, so that was a touchy subject. You never knew what they were going to give us, feelings would get hurt — obviously, we didn’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings, but that was our character on TV.”
Art Imitating Life: “I can’t tell you how many times we’d be sitting around backstage doing something stupid, and then we’d make a storyline out of it. We’d be like: “Oh! We could use this!” We just bounced off each other, and that’s where our best work came from. We were given bullet points not scripts, per se, and we could just do whatever we wanted.”
LayCool vs. Piggie James: “We were always trying to think of something where it could backfire on us and make us look foolish. You know we’d sit here and dish out all of this stuff — but somebody’s got to stick it to us! I think what put us on the map was, sadly enough, the Piggie James storyline. I’ve said it a gazillion times: I give all the credit in the world to Mickie James. True professional. She was a true professional in the ring, in the pre-tapes… so many times we’d get the script and I’d get a pit in my stomach. We didn’t want to say the stuff, so we’d apologize beforehand. But, she always sucked it up — and I know it was hard. Even though those things aren’t true, obviously, she’s beautiful and not overweight by any stretch of the imagination. But despite all of those things: we all still have feelings. That was really tough, but Vince loved it, the writers loved it — and that was all because of her. I don’t think anybody else could have pulled that off. All the credit in the world to her.”
Last Match: “My last match; going out against her in the loser leaves. I wouldn’t want to do it, at that time, with anybody else. It was hard! You’re sitting here trying to be serious, but you have all of these emotions inside that are just ready to out. I was thinking: “Man, this is my last match. Here I am with my best friend.” It was tough. But that is definitely a day I’ll neverforget.”
A Lifetime of Layla: “She’s just funny. She’s always chipper, she’s crazy — she’d be the first to tell you that I’d be the first to tell her that she is legitimately nutso half the time. But that’s why I love her. She was always who she was, I was always who I am. We just clicked. There’s nothing that I wouldn’t do for that girl. We’re still dear friends to this day, and that is a friendship that I can honestly say will last a lifetime. I wish her nothing but the best. Y’all keep cheering her on because she deserves every ounce of it.”
– WWE has officially announced that the January 14th episode of RAW from Houston, Texas will be a special 20th Anniversary show. It’s expected that the show will feature appearances from various legends and highlight clips from the show’s 20 year history, but it won’t be anywhere as big as RAW’s 1,000th episode celebration from the past summer.
Local commercials in the Houston market that aired during Monday’s RAW advertised John Cena & Sheamus vs. Big Show & Dolph Ziggler as the dark match main event.
– Here is the latest Backstage Fallout from Monday’s Christmas-themed episode of Raw:
– Last week on WWE Main Event, the Prime Time Players (Titus O’Neil and Darren Young) defeated Team CoBro (Zack Ryder and Santino Marella). Prior to their win, O’Neal and Young had lost 11 televised matches in a row.
Speaking of losing streaks, Wade Barrett’s loss on last week’s Super SmackDown brought his televised-losing streak to 7 matches.
Former WWE Wrestler MVP recently spoke with Wrestling 101 about being mentored by SmackDown general manager Booker T and whether he’d consider returning to WWE in 2013.
“It’s quite funny, Booker chose me, and he saw something in me. Years ago when I had my first dark match against Norman Smiley, Norman took me to the side and introduced me to Booker and we spent a few minutes talking and he gave me some advice and back then he was kind enough to give me his number and told me to give him a call if I ever needed any advice.
“Years later when it looked like I might have an opportunity to sign with the WWE, Steve Keirn asked me about my ability to get into other countries with my felony conviction. Even though I hadn’t spoken to Booker for quite some time I put the call into him and he remembered me and was gracious enough to spend some time on the phone talking to me about his experiences being signed and his criminal background getting in the way.
“When I got signed and called up to the WWE, Booker invited me to come and train at his school on my days off, which I did and when I got released from developmental and called up to the full time roster I decided to move over to Houston so I could continue training with Booker because when a six-time World champion says I want to train with you, you would be a fool not to.”
What It Was Like To Debut For WWE:
“The WWE is the NFL or the Premier League it is the top of the tops. For me Japan was my dream and the WWE was my goal, so making it to the WWE and actually standing in that ring for the first time in front of millions of people nationally and tens of millions of people internationally, I was there, I was at the show! it was so real, that’s the best way I can describe it. It took a while before I was actually able to believe it was happening.”
His Career Highlights So Far:
“I have so many but I would definitely have to say my very first WrestleMania wrestling the late Chris Benoit who was one of my in-ring idols, talk about surreal – a guy I used to watch on tape for years and then being on the biggest show in the biggest company standing across the ring from the guy I idolised.
“Wrestling Ric Flair at Madison Square Garden at the Royal Rumble was another career highlight and I’ve been fortunate to have quite a few but those two really stand out.”
Returning To WWE:
“There is a very likely possibility, I feel like I’ve got some unfinished business there. I would say there is a very realistic chance if it’s up to me barring injury or any unforeseen circumstances, before it is all said and done I will probably show up in a WWE ring again.“
