TNA Wrestling President Dixie Carter announced via Twitter Thursday that three Four-Way “Bound For Glory Series” matches will take place at Hardcore Justice. Each match will feature a different stipulation with the winner receiving 20 points.
* AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe
* Bully Ray vs. James Storm vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Robbie E
* Rob Van Dam vs. Magnus vs. Mr. Anderson vs. “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero
Stipulations for all three matches will be announced during tonight’s live Impact Wrestling broadcast at 8:00 p.m. on Spike TV.
Also scheduled for Hardcore Justice is Austin Aries defending the TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Bobby Roode in a singles match. The pay-per-view event takes place August 12, 2012 at the Impact Wrestling Zone in Orlando, Florida.
– During Thursday’s conference call for 2012 second quarter results, WWE Chairman and CEO, Vince McMahon, said he hopes to make an announcement concerning the WWE Network in three months. “I hope next quarter I will be making an announcement on our Network,” McMahon said.
McMahon acknowledged a delay in announcing details on the WWE Network. He stated at the last conference call in May that he expected an announcement to be made “within the next three months.”
– Jim Powers, who appeared for the World Wrestling Federation from 1984 to 1994, will undergo hip replacement surgery Thursday due to the years of abuse he put his body through while working in the professional wrestling industry.
– According to WrestlingFigs.com, Maria Kanellis will appear at T’s Zone at the Enfield Square Mall 90 Elm St. Enfield, Connecticut on September 29 from from noon to 3:00 p.m. Call 860-756-6522 for more information.
Former WWE Superstar “The Ugandan Giant” Kamala (real name James Harris) released a video message Tuesday condemning two wrestling-based organizations that are claiming to raise money to aid his health recovery, but are only benefiting themselves.
Boston-based independent wrestling promotion Millenium Wrestling Federation has been offering a variety of merchandise to fans with a portion of the proceeds meant to assist Harris, who is struggling with complications from a double leg amputation. Harris says he has received nothing from the organization and specifically tells head Dan Mirade to take any money he may have raised on his behalf “to New Jersey and ram it up Dawn Marie’s ass.”
In response, Mirade issued a statement Wednesday verifying that a money order for the amount of $425.00 was issued last Friday. He also released the contents of an e-mail to Karl Lauer, Executive Vice President of Cauliflower Alley Club, Tuesday that showed the money order had been received and was on its way to Harris.
Mirade is requesting an apology from Harris after he “made the video knowing full well money was sent to him.” Mirade says Millenium Wrestling Federation plans to continue raising money for the former WWE Superstar on their August 19 and September 22 events and will assist him in getting the prosthetic right leg that his insurance company has refused to pay for.
Mirade also slams Harris in his lengthy response, which is available here: “SHAME ON YOU JAMES HARRIS. . . shame on you for not opening your eyes to see that you had people that cared enough to help you when almost NONE of your peers cared enough to hit a re-Tweet button. . . shame on you for trying to run my name and the MWF’s through the mud because you didn’t get your precious check as fast as you wanted to, waking people up at 6AM whining not even 48 hours after the event was over. Shame on you for hiding like a coward after the money was sent to you and trying to prevent people from seeing the truth. I don’t care if you were a WWE Superstar or a homeless person, you should be ashamed of yourself as a man. When I wake up and look in the mirror, I know the face looking back at me is one that cared and is one that did everything he could to help someone that needed it. The face staring back at me has character and integrity. HOW DARE YOU INSULT AND ATTACK ME AFTER ALL I DID FOR YOU, YOU GUTLESS PUSSY!! Grow a spine and be a man. Be grateful someone wanted and tried to help you, not piss on their efforts. What runs through James Harris’ mind would be a psychiatrist’s dream come true. Then again, I’m the guy that’s been working on this column for four hours.”
Wrestler’s Rescue, which was founded by Dawn Marie in 2008, has been a subject of scandal with rumors of embezzlement of funds by the former WWE Diva star. The group was the subject of multiple articles two years ago that questioned the validity of the charity (available here) .
Harris says he has received nothing from Wrestler’s Rescue or Dawn Marie and tells her to take any money she may have raised on his behalf “to Massachusetts and ram it up Dan Mirade’s ass.” He also says Dawn Marie claimed to have made a donation to “Dr. Death” Steve Williams after he passed away in December 2009, but offered no proof.
Wrestler’s Rescue received a donation from TNA Wrestling star Jeff Jarrett in the form of an autographed guitar that was to be auctioned off on their website, WrestlersRescue.org. The website, however, has been offline for weeks as it was suspended by its web host—likely due to unpaid server bills. Dawn Marie has offered no response to Harris’ claims.
– Steve Keirn, President of WWE developmental promotion Florida Championship Wrestling, announced at Wednesday’s FCW live event in Tampa, Florida that The Undertaker and Michelle McCool were expecting their first child. “The Deadman” was at the event for an autograph signing.
The Undertaker has been romantically linked to former WWE Diva Michelle McCool since 2007, whom he married on June 26, 2010, in Houston, Texas. Before Wednesday, their relationship had never been publicly acknowledged by WWE.
– Cryme Tyme founder and former WWE Superstar Shad Gaspard appears on The Exes tonight on TV Land. The program will replay multiple times.
– WWE will hold a SmackDown taping on October 23 at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island.
– Jimmy Golden, who portrayed Bunkhouse Buck in World Championship Wrestling as well as Jack Swagger’s father on SmackDown, turns 62-years-old Wednesday.
The official WWE website announced Monday that John Laurinaitis had resigned from his position as Senior Vice President of Talent Operations, effectively immediately. He will, however, remain with the company as a producer assisting talent with their matches. His resignation is legitimate and not part of any storyline.
According to WWE sources, Laurinaitis had mentioned how exhausted he was with his workload, which consisted of office duties in Stamford, Connecticut and traveling to numerous events as a performer. The writing, however, was on the wall since he was quietly removed from the WWE Corporate website’s index of Executive Officers in April. Paul Levesque, Executive Vice President of Talent and Live Events, was reportedly never a “Big Johnny” booster and it was believed to be a matter of time before Jane Geddes, Vice President of Talent Relations, and Canyon Ceman, Senior Director of Talent Development, understood the WWE machine. With each element they learned, they assumed duties that belonged to Laurinaitis. Creative writer Michael Hayes had already replaced John Laurinaitis as matchmaker of live events and it said that he was taken out of the loop concerning developmental program matters.
The internal belief is that Laurinaitis will wind up back on television as a performer since most people are surprised that WWE has maintained his character’s firing. He is scheduled to appear at live events through at least September.
Laurinaitis was hired as a producer after WWE’s acquisition of certain assets of World Championship Wrestling in March 2001. When Jim Ross desired to move from Stamford, Connecticut to Norman, Oklahoma, he began grooming Laurinaitis to overtake his position as Vice President of Talent Relations. WWE chief Vince McMahon, however, made the switch without informing Ross first in 2004. Laurinatis was at one point one of the most powerful employees in the organization, and in 2009, was promoted to Executive Vice President of Talent Relations. However, when Stephanie McMahon took over Talent Relations and handed over the reins to Levesque, his power weakened and he was ultimately demoted.
The only person remaining in the talent relations department since last year, aside from employees working in travel, is Mark Carrano. Though WWE stated in their article that Laurinaitis was “burned out” from the position, multiple sources have stated that recent changes to the corporate infrastructure represent Levesque assuming control of certain sectors of the organization and re-shaping them to his liking. Despite his demotion, Laurinaitis chose to maintain employment because he bought an expensive Connecticut home and his family doesn’t want to move away from the area.
– Kelly Kelly returns to the WWE ring next week after being granted time off the road in late May. She is scheduled to appear on the SmackDown brand’s tour of Japan beginning August 9 and will be returning full-time.
Kelly, who had been on the road on a weekly basis since joining WWE in 2006, was reportedly granted a break to spend time with her family and boyfriend. She last competed on television on the May 21 Raw SuperShow, losing to Beth Phoenix.
– MVP was among the WWE alumnus contacted to appear on Raw 1,000. WWE officials, however, ultimately changed their minds on bringing him and other former Superstars such as Steve Blackman, Tatanka and Viscera.
– The July 27 Raw live event in Charleston, West Virginia drew 5,500 attendees paying $170,000. The July 28 Raw live event in Lexington, Kentucky drew 6,000 paying $200,000. The July 29 Raw live event at the Broadbent Arena in Louisville, Kentucky drew a legitimate sell-out of 6,000 paying $235,000. The July 28 SmackDown live event in Johnson City, Tennessee drew 3,500 paying $110,000. The July 29 SmackDown live event in Pikeville, Kentucky drew 4,000 paying $120,000.
– WWE officials were impressed with Billy Gunn and his interactions with Shawn Michaels on Raw 1,000 and the belief is he’ll receive at least one match on a future televised show. Meanwhile, many backstage feel Sean “X-Pac” Waltman didn’t appear in great shape on the milestone episode so it is unlikely that he’ll be brought back for a match.
Some people were surprised that with WWE’s TV-PG directive and Linda McMahon running for United States Senate, officials had no problem having Waltman appear on television despite his involvement with a sex tape years ago. Some people backstage were also joking about how friendly Gunn was with everyone considering that he challenged Triple H and Shawn Michaels to a “shoot” fight years ago.
– After AJ Lee was named General Manager of Raw last week on Raw 1,000, her first act in the position was to grant Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson a WWE Championship Match at the Royal Rumble. The angle, however, was nixed due to time constraints and Johnson announced that he would face whoever the WWE Champion is at the pay-per-view event.
WWE plans to downplay Johnson’s upcoming title shot until after the Survivor Series on November 18 as to not draw attention away from any of the other shows they have to promote in the meantime. Officials also want Royal Rumble, which takes place in Phoenix, Arizona, to be sold out by November.
On this week’s episode of MLW Radio presented by www.WWNLive.com, Konnan spoke about how much the culture has changed in the locker room since the 90s as well as past habits that later caused health issues.
“It was really hard [to stay clean] in the era I came in. It was like a party. The very first time I went to WWE for a dark match, Shawn Michaels was in the showers smoking a joint with Curt Hennig out in the open. There’s no way you could do that today. You used to have guys just shaking as they’d walk into a hotel. Just shaking from the somas and nobody really NARC’d on anybody.”
“I did have health issues from pain pills and anti-inflammatories and a whole bunch of other [stuff], but those are the two that really [messed] me up. A lot of vicodin.”
Also, Konnan, Court Bauer and Mister Saint Laurent shared stories about the best wing-men in wrestling, including hilarious road stories about Ted DiBiase, Scott Hall, Dean Malenko, Kevin Nash and more.
The new episode of MLW Radio is available for free at: www.MLW.com and on iTunes each and every Monday. You can also find more information about the show here.
– TNA Wrestling has released the promotional poster for No Surrender, which takes place September 9, 2012 at the Impact Wrestling Zone in Orlando, Florida. The twelve wrestlers participating in the “Bound For Glory” series are featured on the poster: AJ Styles, Bully Ray, Christopher Daniels, D’Angelo Dinero, James Storm, Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle, Magnus, Mr. Anderson, Rob Van Dam, Robbie E and Samoa Joe.
– Sam Shaw has been added to TNA’s roster index on ImpactWrestling.com after being awarded a contract last week on Impact Wrestling in the “Gut Check” challenge.
– Tara has changed her Twitter handle to taralisamarie.
– Three matches were taped Tuesday night in Indianapolis, Indiana for this week’s episode of WWE Superstars: Tyson Kidd vs. Heath Slater, WWE Divas Champion Layla vs. Natalya and Justin Gabriel vs. Cody Rhodes.
In a pre-taping dark match, Brodus Clay squashed a local wrestler whose name was not announced.
– WWE will hold a SmackDown taping in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the Consol Energy Center on December 18.
– Trish Stratus will appear at the Boots and Hearts Music Festival on August 11 in Bowmanville, Ontario. The festival boasts a star-studded line-up of over thirty country music artists including Tim McGraw, Kid Rock, Carrie Underwood, Lionel Richie, Alabama, and Big and Rich. Additional details are available here.
China’s largest pay-per-view and video-on-demand platform, YOU On Demand, has added Paramount Pictures to its roster of studio partners. The entity is the brainchild of former WWE executive and talent Shane McMahon.
YOU on Demand Signs Agreement to Offer Paramount Pictures Titles for Video on Demand In China
New York, NY, 08/01/12 – YOU On Demand Holdings, Inc.’s (NASDAQ: YOD) PRC subsidiary, a leading Pay-Per-View (PPV) and Video On Demand (VOD) platform in China, announced today that it has signed an agreement to offer Paramount Pictures titles through YOU On Demand’s Transactional Video On Demand (TVOD) and Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) services in the People’s Republic of China.
The titles that will be available to YOU On Demand customers rank among the most renowned and successful films in Paramount’s 100-year history. These titles include worldwide box office hits such as the Mission: Impossible franchise starring Tom Cruise, including the latest in the series, “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” Michael Bay’s “Transformers,” the Coen Brothers’ Oscar® winning “No Country For Old Men,” and director/producer J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek.”
“Paramount Pictures is one of Hollywood’s most iconic studios and we are delighted to offer films from its rich library to our customers,” said Shane McMahon, CEO and Chairman of YOU On Demand. “The addition of Paramount’s roster now gives YOU On Demand the most vibrant and compelling titles available in the People’s Republic of China,” he concluded.
Paramount now joins Warner Bros. Entertainment, Disney Media Distribution, Lionsgate, Miramax Pictures, Magnolia Pictures, Gravitas Ventures, Film Buff, K2 Communications, 3net and Big Mama Digital Entertainment (Karaoke) as content providers working with YOU On Demand in its efforts to bring the best in home entertainment to audiences in China.
– Hollymood Entertainment issued a press release that they have taken the documentary 101 Reasons Not To Be A Pro Wrestler off YouTube and are hosting it exclusively at Sikk.tv, a new online video portal website.
The documentary includes DDP, Chyna, Rikishi, Babi Slymm, Sean O’Haire, Psicosis, The Predator, Nozawa, Tylene Buck, New Jack, Vampiro, and Konnan among others talking about issues like drug abuse, the need for a union, Vince McMahon’s monopoly on the business and more.
View all 3 parts here
– Shad Gaspard appears on TV Land’s show The Exes Wednesday night at 10:30 PM ET.
– Kelly Kelly is the cover girl for the Maxim 2013 calendar.
– At The SmackDown! Tappings it was announced that the 2012 Survivor Series will take place November 18, 2012 in Indianapolis, Indiana at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse The pre-sale code for the 2012 WWE Survivor Series is SERIES. The pre-sale begins Wednesday.
– Jesse Ventura’s son, Tyler Ventura recently announced his father’s show Jesse Ventura’s TruTV show Conspiracy Theory is prepping for its third season to air. Tyler, who is a reporter on the upcoming season, said that the eight episodes are currently being re-edited. Listen to the show here.
– Chris Jericho is doing a session of “Rockstars Say the Funniest Things,” a spoken-word show taking place place in London, England on November 25th. Fozzy’s UK tour dates are listed below:
Nov. 27 – Stoke, UK – The Underground
Nov. 28 – Manchester, UK – Moho Live
Nov. 29 – Birmingham, UK – Academy 2
Nov. 30 – Glasgow, UK – The Arches
Dec. 01 – Leeds, UK – Cockpit
Dec. 02 – Hafan Y Mor, UK – Hard Rock Hell Festival
Dec. 04 – Plymouth, UK – White Rabbit
Dec. 05 – London, UK – Electric Ballroom
Dec. 06 – Brighton, UK – Concorde 2
– A Tout video Tensai posted late last night which could be perceived as racially insensitive toward Asian people has been taken down. Read the full story here
Since we asked you about A.W. Let’s ask you for your opinion about Tensai:
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross, has posted his latest blog online. Herea are some Highlights
On the three-hour format at Raw: “The three hour Raws are going to be daunting animals with which to deal. An impossible mountain to climb? Absolutely not even thought some ‘experts’ already have those thoughts. I’m not in that group and feel that the three hour Monday Night Raw broadcasts provide the potential to get more talents exposure, to rebuild the tag team scene, to provide Divas with more match time and to slow down the storytelling process so that we fans have the time to process the information that we hear and see. So, unlike some, I’d prefer to give the new format a chance to succeed rather than behead it after two weeks which seems knee jerk and senseless. Any thing ‘new’ generally needs tweaking and this particular situation isn’t any different. That’s not an indictment but merely a statement of fact. ”
On CM Punk’s RAW promo: “Some fans demanding @CMPunk to have another pipebomb promo will likely get one down the road but Cincy wasn’t the time nor the place. I thought Punk had a great night on air and his verbal jousting with @Jerry Lawler entertained me. Regarding the WWE Title, Punk told many truths which might not sit well with some. I am an old school believer that nothing in WWE is more important than the WWE Title. Some personal issues are on the same level often times but nothing should be MORE important than the WWE’s premier championship. That’s my two cents on that matter. I do think that the potential to build a major issue between @CMPunk and @TheRock is obvious plus a match between the two would be interesting to say the least for many, many reasons. ”
On Daniel Bryan: “Does Daniel Bryan ever have a bad night? Bad match? Bad promo? He certainly hasn’t that I can recall. WWE is lucky to have Bryan on their roster and the two entities have formed an amazing fit when, in the early part of Bryan’s WWE tenure, I’m sure that some thought the relationship wouldn’t last. Now Daniel Bryan is one of WWE’s most valuable assets. He’s a dream for management to have on their roster. No one that I can recall in recent years has improved their verbal skills and overall on air persona as Daniel Bryan. Plus, never disregard just how legit, physically tough Daniel Bryan is. Bryan’s match with Sheamus on Raw was outstanding and rugged. Loved it. ”
On Monday night’s RAW: “It would be easy to say that the Cincy Raw Monday night was on fire but that cliche has already ‘burned out’ over the past 24 hours or so. The ‘Tron supports catching fire caused an inconvenience but no one was injured and the broadcast started on time. When people ask me if I miss broadcasting Raw I always answer yes and being live, live is one of the reasons why. It certainly isn’t the travel and TSA Security that I miss interacting with on a regular basis but I do miss the excitement and unpredictability of broadcasting LIVE TV. I’m not saying that I enjoy a good fire occasionally but the overall unpredictability of Monday Night Raw has always been a rush to me.”
On SummerSlam: “While there are no plans for me to broadcast at Summerslam, I am excited to be attending the PPV in LA plus doing some THQ work at WWE AXXESS. Actually, I have several THQ, talent development, etc projects on which to focus over the several days that I’m in Los Angeles.”
On the NXT Tapings: “The past two taping sessions of NXT in Orlando have been stellar from a production and organization standpoint. I’m also of the opinion that the in ring action continues to improve. Even though NXT doesn’t air currently in the USA, I do expect that to change some day, fans outside America have tweeted me a great deal of positive feedback on the show @JRsBBQ. Byron Saxton and William Regal do the bulk of the broadcasting while I drop by and help with the main events. I look forward to every trip to Orlando, except leaving their security line, deficient airport, and can easily see the improvement in many talents who are starting to ‘get it’ and are receiving outstanding hands on coaching from some of the best in the business including the staff at FCW in Tampa. ”
Smackdown opened with Vince McMahon announcing Booker T was the new General Manager of Smackdown. Alberto Del Rio came out and said he wouldn’t be wrestling until Summerslam. Sheamus came out, leading to Booker announcingt Alberto Del Rio vs. Randy Orton and Sheamus vs. Lord Tensai for tonight.
*World champion Sheamus defeated Tensai.
*Eve Torres attempted to get in with Booker. Instead, it turned out Teddy Long had been given a job and told Eve to take a hike.
*Antonio Cesaro defeated WWE United States champ Santino Marella in a non-title match.
*Matt Striker interviewed Daniel Bryan. Basically a backdrop for Bryan to say “No” a lot.
*Daniel Bryan & WWE Intercontinental champ The Miz & Dolph Ziggler defeated Chris Jericho & Kane & Christian.
*Matt Striker interviewed Randy Orton, who said he would defeat Alberto.
*Ryback defeated Jinder Mahal via DQ when Mahal nailed him with a foreign object and ran to the back.
*Darren Young pinned R-Truth.
*WWE Divas champ Layla congratulated Booker T. Cody Rhodes popped up and said he that although he ended Booker’s career, they can work together. Booker told him he would wrestle Sin Cara next week.
*Randy Orton defeated Alberto Del Rio by DQ when Ricardo interfered as Orton was going for the RKO.
Dark Match: John Cena defeated Big Show and Cody Rhodes
INDIANAPOLIS – At tonight’s live SmackDown event in Indianapolis, Mr. McMahon confirmed the speculation of a new SmackDown General Manager – that man is Booker T. This confirms what was first indicated by WWE’s Breaking News mobile alert service earlier Tuesday.
The six-time World Champion has been a staple voice on the show since finding his place at the SmackDown announce table in February 2011. This exciting development comes just twenty four hours after Raw’s GM, AJ Lee, took the reins of Monday night.
WWE has issued an apology for a video Tensai posted late Monday night on the video sharing network Tout that could be perceived as racially insensitive toward Asian people.
“While in character, Lord Tensai (Matt Bloom) clearly took his storyline too far and he will be reprimanded for his inappropriate comments,” WWE’s statement reads, which was issued to multiple wrestling news outlets by company spokesman Kevin Hennessy.
The video, which has since been deleted, showed him traveling with his “personal chauffeur” Sakamoto to Indianapolis—the site of tonight’s SmackDown taping—following Raw, and he remarked that it’s “very, very dangerous” to drive with a Japanese person. He then slapped Sakamoto as he drove and ordered him “to open his eyes.”
Another racially charged remark toward Sakamoto was made on Raw as commentator Jerry “The King” Lawler quipped following the Tensai vs. Tyson Kidd match, “When Tensai beats up Sakamoto, he changes his name to Sum Ting Wong.”
– Viewership for the July 30 episode of Raw dropped significantly from last week’s 1,000th episode as the program averaged a 3.08 cable rating compared to 3.84. The overall rating was down 20 percent from the milestone show and is the lowest mark since June 4.
Raw averaged 4,490,000 viewers over the course of three hours and 4,710,000 from 9:00 p.m. to past 11:00 p.m. Overall viewership was down 22 percent from last week’s 6,019,000 figure and is the smallest audience since June 4.
Raw drew a 2.79 rating with 4,060,000 viewers in hour one, a 3.21 cable rating with 4,720,000 viewers in hour two, and a 3.25 rating with 4,700,000 viewers in the final hour.
– WWE announced Tuesday that WWE Studios’ No One Lives will debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
No One Lives, which features Brodus Clay in a supporting role, will premiere at TIFF’s Midnight Madness as part of its Special Presentations and Galas programs. TIFF runs from September 6 to 16. It is a described as a “smart and original horror movie about a killer in the grip of a dark and twisted love affair.”
In addition to Clay, No One Lives features Luke Evans (Clash of the Titans, Immortals, The Raven), Adelaide Clemens (Silent Hill: Revelation), Derek Magyar, Lee Tergesen (Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning) and America Olivo (Friday the 13th).
BREAKING NEWS: Mr. McMahon will name the new General Manager of SmackDown at tonight’s live event, and there is strong speculation it will be Booker T.
Bare in mind this could be a swerve. It is also interesting to note WWE doesn’t normally make references to the fact that SmackDown! is tapped on Tuesday.
We’ll have full coverage from Smackdown later tonight on here.
– Tensai made a racial remark in his first Tout video post. Noting he was traveling with his personal chauffeur Sakamoto to Indianapolis—the site of tonight’s SmackDown taping—following Raw, he remarks it’s “very, very dangerous” to drive with a Japanese person. He then slaps Sakamoto as he’s driving and orders him “to open his eyes.”
– WWE.com has uploaded a playlist of The Road Warriors’ greatest moments. Highlights include defeating The Nasty Boys to win the WWF Tag Team Championship, clashing with The Midnight Express in the dangerous Scaffold Match, a WarGames Match against The Four Horsemen at The Great American Bash in 1987, a match against Harlem Heat in 1996 and more.
– Ezekiel Jackson, who has sparingly appeared at WWE events in recent weeks, noted on Twitter that he will not be on hand for tonight’s SmackDown taping in Indianapolis, Indiana.
– Alicia Fox paid a visit to Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health on Tuesday prior to SmackDown. The WWE Diva sent out a Tout noting her appearance.
Randy Orton returned to action Monday night on Raw after serving a 60-day suspension for his second violation of WWE’s Talent Wellness Program.
Heath Slater called out any current WWE Superstar in the back to answer his challenge and The Viper responded by pummeling The One-Man Band all over the ring. After blasting Slater with a powerslam and a DDT off the second rope, Orton nailed him with the RKO to gain the pinfall victory. WWE.com spoke to The Legend Killer after defeating The One-Man Band.
“I gotta say, I am very rested due to my 60-day “vacation.” Guys threw me huge party today, a welcome back party. They literally set the stage on fire,” Orton said. “I feel better than ever. I gotta say during my ten, eleven-year career here in the WWE, I haven’t felt this good, as good as I do today, and I think I just proved that out there a little while ago.”
He continues, “I’ve been at home and I’ve been watching and I see Heath Slater, week in, week out calling out these Legends. I used to to do the same thing and I’m thinking to myself, “I’m the Legend Killer, the original Legend Killer.” But he’s not even doing it right, he’s like the reverse Legend Killer. But tonight, I just couldn’t stand back here and let him go on yapping his gums. He got his a** kicked last week in my hometown of St. Louis at the 1000th episode of Raw and you know what? Sorry Heath, but you’re going to get your a** kicked if you flap your gums like that with Randy Orton backstage.”
– English wrestler Andre Tyson (a/k/a MVK Valkabious), who signed a developmental contract with WWE earlier this year and is awaiting to travel to Florida, was arrested in England over the weekend following a “bar-room bust-up.”
The Yorkshire Evening Post reports a scuffle broke out in one of the booths at the back of the bar and Tyson was asked to leave but resisted the security staff who tried to have him escorted. Police, who were already patrolling the street, arrested Tyson and another man.
Tyson admitted to assaulting the man following the incident and was given caution.
– The social media activity score for Raw dropped off significantly compared to last week’s milestone episode, according to Trendrr.tv. Raw scored 259,203, down 71% from last week’s record-high of 907,443. It was however, up from Raw on July 16, which scored 240,889.
Raw ranked No. 6 on cable television for the night.
– Triple H is today’s spotlighted Superstar on WWE.com.
During Monday’s live WWE Raw broadcast, A.W. made a crass joke referencing NBA player Kobe Bryant’s sexual assault case years ago. As client Titus O’Neil tangled with Kofi Kingston in a singles match, A.W. yelled from ringside, “Titus O’Neil is like Kobe Bryant in a Colorado hotel room. He’s unstoppable!!”
