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Bruno Sammartino Talks About Triple H’s Recent Call To Him

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Wrestling legend Bruno Sammartino spoke to PWInsider.com this week to discuss Triple H recently calling him and trying to get him to accept WWE’s offer to enter their Hall of Fame next year. Here are some highlights of what Sammartino said about Triple H’s phone call to him:

– They spoke for a while. Triple H was a gentleman and impressed him. Triple H tried to open the lines of communication between Bruno and WWE, since Bruno and Vince McMahon have been on bad terms for decades.

– Triple H thinks that Bruno Sammartino being inducted in the NY/NJ area would be a great idea since he wrestled most of his big matches at Madison Square Garden. The Garden was named as a possible location for the Hall of Fame ceremony.

– Bruno turned down the offer because he still has issues with WWE and doesn’t feel right changing the position he’s had for so long. Sammartino said he appreciated everything Triple H and WWE offered but he simply cannot accept the offer.

– Bruno doesn’t like the fact that WWE does not have a physical building for the Hall of Fame and the fact that many non-wrestlers inducted.

– Bruno said he has no interest in working with WWE in any capacity as long as Vince McMahon is part of the company.

– Sammartino believes Triple H wants to do the right things for the business. Triple H told him that WWE has moved away from some of the aspects of the product that turned Sammartino off.

The Rock Named One Of Hollywood’s Top Paid Actors

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Forbes Magazine has ranked Hollywood’s highest paying actors of the year (May 2011-May 2012) and WWE star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson ranked at #4.

Tom Cruise landed the top spot, earning $75 million during that period. Leonardo DiCaprio and Adam Sandler were tied with $37 million a piece. The Rock came in just behind them, making $36 million from his movies. Here’s the blurb about The Rock:

#4 – Dwayne The Rock Johnson

Johnson is the franchise saver. He helped 2011’s Fast and Furious become the franchise’s highest-grossing film. Thanks in large part to Johnson, the second Journey to the Center of the Earth out-earned its predecessor a few months later. We’ll have to wait until spring to see if he can revive G.I. Joe. The sequel was pushed from a summer release so Paramount could retrofit it into 3-D.

What’s even more amazing is that The Rock’s $36 million earnings figure only includes money he’s made from his acting career. Factoring in the money he made working with WWE during that period (WrestleMania 28, Survivor Series 2001) and he would likely be ranked #2 on the list.

Update On Sin Cara’s Squash, FCW Tryouts, Backstage Fallout

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– Following up on Del Rio squashing Sin Cara at Monday’s RAW, f4wonline.com is reporting that there’s no reason to believe Cara is in the dog house or at risk of being released. RAW was in Loredo, Texas (close to the Mexican border) and WWE wanted to get a lot of heat on Del Rio for squashing the Mexican babyface.

– Diamond Dallas Page and Bob Backlund have been added to the Alumni section of WWE.com.

– FCW will hold another round of tryouts from September 28th through October 1st at the FCW Arena in Tampa, Florida. The tryout camp costs $1,000 and at least one developmental contract will be awarded.

Bill DeMott, Dusty Rhodes, Ricky Steamboat, Terry Taylor, Steve Keirn, Norman Smiley, and Joey Mercury will serve as the trainers.

– The latest WWE Backstage Fallout video is now online, featuring backstage interviews from Tuesday’s Smackdown:

“What does Eve have to say about being the punchline of the party in this SuperSmackDown edition of “Backstage Fallout”? Does Tyler Reks feel guilty for Ryback’s destruction of Curt Hawkins? Plus, Cody Rhodes and Dolph Ziggler punch their tickets for Money in the Bank.”

* More WWE Divas Leaving & News On REY MYSTERIO’s WWE Return

Palumbo Not Interested In Returning, Lilian To Sing At NFL Game

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– Lilian Garcia will sing the National Anthem at the September 30th NFL game between the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ (site of WrestleMania 29).

Watch Lilian Garcia’s Latest Music Video

– Today’s wrestling birthdays include Nasty Boy Jerry Sags (47) and WWE Hall of Famer Hillbilly Jim (59).

– Former WWE star Chuck Palumbo says he has no desire to return to WWE. He tweeted this week:

https://twitter.com/ChuckPalumbo/status/220746057326411776

According to his Twitter profile, his current projects include running his own Cross Fit gym, his CP Kustoms bike shop and playing in the band 3SpokeWheel.

MITB Match Finalized, Kidd’s Push, Reks-Hawkins-Ryback

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– WWE is said to have big plans for Tyson Kidd, with him qualifying for the SmackDown brand’s Money in the Bank match just the beginning.

– There had been online reports that the SmackDown brand’s Money in the Bank match would feature nine participants, but the updated preview on the WWE website says the match is finalized at seven (Christian, Santino Marella, Dolph Ziggler, Cody Rhodes, Tyson Kidd, Tensai and Damien Sandow). The preview reads:

“The competitors in the World Heavyweight Championship Contract Money in the Bank Ladder Match have been decided, and the field is an exciting one featuring a diverse mix of styles … With seven qualifiers official, the World Heavyweight Championship Contract Money in the Bank Ladder Match is shaping up to be one of the most thrilling encounters of the year.”

– Following Ryback’s win over Curt Hawkins on Tuesday’s live SmackDown, both Hawkins and his tag partner Tyler Reks sound like they’re not done with WWE’s most dominant superstar.

Impact Preview: Storm vs. Hardy, X Division Qualifying Matches

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Here’s a preview for tonight’s live episode of TNA Impact Wrestling on Spike TV:

MAIN EVENT: “Cowboy” James Storm vs. Jeff Hardy in a Bound For Glory Series match.

– More on Christopher Daniels’ “bombshell accusation” that AJ Styles is the father of Claire Lynch’s child.

– A showdown between TNA World Champion Bobby Roode and #1 contender Austin Aries.

– Gail Kim and Madison Rayne vs. Miss Tessmacher and Tara.

– Four new X Division competitors will fight this week in qualifying matches for the X Division Championship Tournament scheduled for Destination X.

http://youtu.be/DtLeYaEx3s0

Sound Off 226: Bonus Show With More on Bruno’s HOF Rejection

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DOWNLOAD THE PODCAST HERE:
Solomonster Sounds Off (Episode 226)

*right-click, “Save As”, or stream it!

Est. Runtime: 43 minutes

Solomonster is back with a BONUS show for the Fourth of July! Episode 226 covers “Raw is AJ” from Monday night, who she should end up with and it’s not Punk or Bryan, Zack Ryder’s big night on Super Smackdown, more on Bruno Sammartino turning down WWE’s Hall of Fame invite, his conversation with Triple H and who WWE will likely be turning to as a second choice (if they haven’t called him already).

Want your question on the air? Send feedback to [email protected].

Wanna subscribe to the Sound Off via iTunes? CLICK HERE!

Visit The Solomonster on Twitter @ twitter.com/solomonster

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Solomonster Sounds Off by The Solomonster is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Lesnar On SummerSlam DVD Cover, Swagger’s Struggles

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– An image of Brock Lesnar growling is featured on the cover of WWE’s upcoming SummerSlam DVD and Blu-ray release on Sept. 18. The cover is the same graphic used for the pay-per-view event’s promotional poster.

WWE has been building up a match between Lesnar and Triple H and it will headline SummerSlam on August 19, according to F4WOnline.com.

– WWE currently has no Jack Swagger merchandise in stock. WWEShop.com’s page on the former World Heavyweight Champion does not have a single item up for sale. “The All-American American” has struggled greatly since the night after WrestleMania XXVIII, having won only one televised match and losing twenty.

– Jim Ross responded “Total BS” to a Twitter message Wednesday that WWE was replacing Michael Cole with “Good Ol’ J.R.”

Heyman On CM Punk’s Best Career Moment, Sin Cara’s Future

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– There is talk in Mexico’s CMLL and AAA promotions that Sin Cara could be released by WWE soon. Take this as a rumor for now.

– When asked by a fan on Twitter what CM Punk’s best career moment has been, Paul Heyman responded:

– Chris Jericho was named in Kerrang Magazine’s “50 Greatest Rockstars In The World” this week. He tweeted:

Ryder Reacts To Battle Royal Win, After SmackDown Note

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– Zack Ryder tweeted the following after winning theGreat American Bash Battle Royal on SmackDown to become the General Manager of next week’s SmackDown:

WWE.com also has a video up of Zack Ryder talking about his Battle Royal win.

– After Tuesday’s Super SmackDown from Corpus Christi, Texas went off the air, John Cena came back out to congratulate Zack Ryder on winning the Great American Bash Battle Royal. Cena and Ryder celebrated to end the show.

WWE Reporting That Sheamus Was Injured On SmackDown

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WWE.com is running a storyline angle that World Heavyweight champion Sheamus was injured following Del Rio’s attack at Tuesday’s SmackDown. An article at the site states:

“Del Rio – who is known for his flashy ring entrance behind the wheel of a luxury automobile – instead used his car hood to batter The Great White during an intense brawl between the SmackDown rivals.

Sheamus was treated for head contusions and lacerations to the head, rendering him unable to compete in The Great American Bash 20-Man Battle Royal. It remains to be seen what effect this will have on his World Heavyweight Title defense against Del Rio in less than two weeks at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view.”

Former WWE superstar JBL tweeted the following regarding the segment between Sheamus and Del Rio from SmackDown, implying that Del Rio was ripping off his gimmick:

Angelina Love’s Co-Workers React To Her Departure From TNA

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The most decorated female grappler in TNA Wrestling history, Angelina Love, announced Sunday that she has amicably parted ways with the organization. Many of Love’s friends and co-workers offered words of encouragement following her parting of ways.

Velvet Sky: “Such a damn shame!! So much left to do there! I know you’re gonna move on to big things bud, good luck and as always I love u!!”

Madison Rayne: “I’ll miss seeing your beautiful face. I can’t WAIT to see the awesome things you’re about to accomplish though.”

Devon: “God is with you girl, see you soon.”

Tara: “Good luck @ActualALove! You will have success no matter where your journey takes you.”

Traci Brooks: “No doubt Angelina Love was one of the best KOs (being canadian and all). I know she’ll succeed at whatever lies ahead!”

Rosita: “I love Angel so much and it’s gonna suck not being able to work with her and have the great times we have at work BUT I will see her elsewhere and she is such a beautiful and talented woman she will excel in ANYTHING she choses to do next! I had my dark match with her. That was the match that got me signed. I will forever be grateful to her for being so awesome to me as a friend and co-worker.”

The record-setting five-time TNA Women’s Knockout Champion is now representing herself as Angel Williams, according to her Twitter account. She lists herself as pro Wrestler/Model/Actress/Queen of all trades and is accepting appearance requests through [email protected].

Eve Reacts To Being ‘Punched’, Lilian Garcia Singing At NFL Game

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– On SuperSmackDown LIVE: The Great American Bash, a fight between Damien Sandow and Zack Ryder left Eve—wearing a white dress—completely covered in punch. Backstage Fallout caught up with Eve to get her reaction to the party mishap. Tyler Reks also reacts to whether he feels guilty for Ryback’s massacre of Curt Hawkins. Also offering comments on SmackDown events are Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan and Sgt. Slaughter.

– Lilian Garcia will sing the National Anthem on Sept. 30 prior to the NFL game between the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

– Former WWE announcer Todd Grisham is in Las Vegas, Nevada covering UFC 148</em. and will be interviewing company president Dana White for MMA Live on ESPN.

– Following his appearance on Raw SuperShow, Diamond Dallas Page has been added to the Alumni section on WWE.com.

Mysterio Appearing At SummerSlam Axxess, This Week’s Inbox

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– This week on WWE Inbox, Alicia Fox, Darren Young, Dolph Ziggler, Ezekiel Jackson and Titus O’Neil reveal what they would be doing if they weren’t affiliated with WWE. The WWE Superstars also discuss their favorite WrestleMania.

– WWE.com announced Wednesday details for SummerSlam Axxess taking place Saturday, Aug. 18 to Sunday, Aug. 19 at the Nokia Plaza at L.A. LIVE. Among those scheduled for VIP appearances include CM Punk, Sheamus, Triple H, Randy Orton, John Cena and Rey Mysterio, who has not returned to television following the expiration of his 60-day suspension for his second violation of WWE’s Talent Wellness Program.

– Former WWE talent Bobby Lashley and Harry Smith are advertised to appear at the Fighting Back – Wrestling With Cancer show taking place Friday, Aug. 17 at Tudor Hall 3750 North Bowesville Rd. Ottawa, Ontario.

Cody & Dolph In MITB, Next Week’s SmackDown GM, RAW Rating

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– At Tuesday’s live SmackDown, Dolph Ziggler and Cody Rhodes won qualifying matches to compete in the SmackDown brand’s upcoming Money in the Bank match. The participants now include Christian, Damien Sandow, Tyson Kidd, Tensai, Santino, Ziggler and Rhodes.

– Zack Ryder won a 20-man battle royal on Smackdown to become the interim General Manager of next week’s Smackdown.

– Monday’s WWE Monday Night Raw drw a 3.2 cable rating and averaged 4.7 million viewers. This is virtually even with last week.

Target Date For Undertaker’s Return, Spider-Man/Lucha Connection

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– WWE’s creative department are targeting Survivor Series on November 18 for the return of The Undertaker.

After undergoing two major surgeries in the past year and performing suitably at WrestleMania XXVIII, many company employees believe he has several more matches left in the tank and will almost certainly compete at WrestleMania XXIX.

– In The Amazing Spider-Man, which hit theaters Tuesday, Peter Parker is inspired to create a mask after winding up inside a wrestling ring surrounded by posters of masked luchadors. It is not the first wrestling connection in the movie franchise as in the premiere film released in 2002, Peter enters a wrestling tournament and squares off against a character portrayed by the late Randy Savage.

– Silas Young, who was dropped from the Dragon Gate USA roster over the weekend after no-showing events, has been announced to appear at upcoming Ring of Honor shows.

(source: F4WOnline.com)

WWE Finalizes Top SummerSlam Bouts, Who Del Rio Attacked

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– On Monday’s Raw SuperShow, Brock Lesnar’s legal representative, Paul Heyman, announced that in three weeks on the 1,000th episode of Raw, Brock will personally announce his response to Triple H’s challenge for a match at SummerSlam on August 19.

We know that Lesnar versus “The Game” will headline WWE’s annual summer pay-per-view event. According to f4wonline.com, creative has finalized plans for matches two through four, but are being kept “top secret.”

The pay-per-view event will feature seven matches in all including a gimmick match of some sort.

– The “fan” Alberto Del Rio attacked on SuperSmackDown LIVE: The Great American Bash when he failed to produce his “papers” as requested was Luis Vazquez, a cameraman who works full-time for WWE.

– WWE Hall of Famer “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, who appeared on SuperSmackDown LIVE: The Great American Bash, is today’s featured Superstar on WWE.com. He joined WWE United States Champion Santino Marella and WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter in a Six-Man Tag Team Match victory over Drew McIntyre, Hunico and Camacho.

(sources: F4WOnline.com, PWInsider.com)

More Divas Expected To Leave WWE, GAB Revisited, Heyman

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– Maxine, whose real name is Karlee Leilani Perez, quit WWE last week due to frustration with her lack of upward mobility after being affiliated with the sports entertainment organization for over three years. F4Wonline.com reports she wasn’t the only female talent frustrated with her standing in the company and that some employees believe she will not be the last to leave on her own accord. This comes on the heels of Kelly Kelly taking a hiatus in order to return to modeling and see if she can land opportunities in Hollywood.

Maxine continues a trend that began last year of female talent opting to walk away from WWE, which includes Michelle McCool, Gail Kim, Maryse, Brie Bella and Nikki Bella.

WWE.com looks back at the history of the Great American Bash—both WCW and WWE versions—with numerous photos and videos.

– When asked of the possibility of Paul Heyman returning to the announce booth, Jim Ross tweeted, “Unlikely but it’s totally a WWE call.”

(source: F4WOnline.com)

Kharma Ready To Return To The Ring, Tatsu’s English Speaking

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– Kharma, who has not appeared for WWE since the Royal Rumble, is ready to return to the ring and waiting to be reintroduced on television. Many of her Diva peers are frustrated with her absence from television.

– Yoshi Tatsu is not as bad at English as portrayed on WWE programming. According to a friend of the SmackDown Superstar, he began taking English lessons as soon as he signed a contract with WWE in 2007 and is very smart.

“He’s always trying to get better, and is always reading some English shit on his phone,” said Tatsu’s friend.

Tatsu is capable of carrying on perfectly understandable English conversations according to his friend. He also considers him a super hard worker who would do anything WWE asked of him.

– In July 4th birthdays, both Barry Windham and Sid Vicious turn 52 years old.

(source: F4WOnline.com)

The Rock Takes A Low Blow, Another nWo DVD In The Works

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– An unfortunate incident took place during the filming of The Rock and Mark Wahlberg’s new bodybuilder movie, Pain and Gain. Wahlberg took his 3 year-old son to the set one day and introduced him to The Rock. Instead of getting high five, The Great One took a shot right in the People’s Strudel:

“He gives my one son a high five and then the next one he goes to give him a high five and my son punched him right in the [crotch]” Mark told Starpulse.com. “I’m like, ‘What are you doing, dude?’”

Pictures of The Rock & Mark Wahlberg On The Set of PAIN & GAIN

– WWEDVDNews.com is reporting that WWE is planning to release a DVD/Blu-Ray set in November profiling the New World Order (nWo).

This would be WWE’s second nWo-themed DVD, with the first being 2002’s “nWo Back in Black” DVD, which featured a documentary and several memorable moments and matches.

 

Jim Ross Blogs About Monday’s WWE RAW Supershow

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WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Here are some highlights of what JR wrote about Monday’s RAW:

Opening Segment: Opening segment with promo work from several culminating with action. I thought that Chris Jericho and Daniel Bryan stole the verbal show in the first segment of the broadcast.

Paul Heyman’s Promo: “Paul Heyman is SO easy to dislike and so is his TV persona….just kidding.”

AJ: “For my money AJ stole the show Monday night. Her crazy train, dementia riddled, girl next door persona is working. AJ makes Glenn Close’s character in ‘Fatal Attraction’ look like Paula Deen.

“When is the last time that a female garnered the closing shot on a Raw episode? AJ’s image was the last one we saw from the arena Monday night. I remember the RAW that Trish and Lita closed the show in a memorable bout. What else from the ladies has closed the show on RAW?”

As always, you can check out JR’s amazing line of BBQ products at WWEShop.com.

Top 5 RAW Moments (6/2): “Laughing All The Way To The Bank”

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Top 5 Moments of WWE RAW (7/2/12) by Matt Boone

Allow me to preface by saying this: I am not exactly what you would call the most passionate, die-hard fan of the current, weekly television product put forth by the leading sports entertainment conglomerate on the planet these days. In fact, the mere thought of finding five “top moments” from WWE Raw each week seems like an impossibility, to say the least. However, when you actually dig deep and dissect the two-hour program match-by-match, and segment-by-segment, finding five moments worth writing about (big difference) isn’t that hard. In all actuality, narrowing it down to only five is the real task, because once the constructive criticism cap goes on, it’s hard not to break down every second, of every minute, of both hours of the show and explain why some of it is gold, and why most of it is hot, wet garbage.

Having said that, that’s the task I’ve been given to handle each and every week in the newest feature here on SESCOOPS.COM, as every seven days we will break down the “Top 5 Moments From WWE Raw” and rank them, explaining in opinionated-detail why each “moment” is placed where it is.

Without further adieu, let’s take a look at this week’s list …

WM29 Travel Packages, Redneck Island Ratings & More

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– The commercial promoting RAW’s expansion to 3 hours starting July 23rd that we posted earlier today was produced by the USA Network, not WWE. The video can be viewed here.

– The June 30th episode of AM Raw drew a 0.44 cable rating with 523,000 viewers.

– The June 30th episode of Steve Austin’s Redneck Island on CMT drew a 0.37 cable rating with 596,000 viewers.

– WWE has announced that WrestleMania XXIX Travel Packages will be on sale later this month.

(Source: PWInsider.com)

Sammartino’s Rep Denies Reports, RAW Social Media Score

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– Bruno Sammartino’s rep Sal Correnete has issued the following statement regarding online reports that Sammartino was “not impressed” with Triple H and his efforts to convince Sammartino to join WWE’s Hall of Fame next year:

“It has come to our attention that someone has claimed that Bruno was unimpressed with Triple H. That is an absolutely false statement Bruno had no issue what so ever with Triple H. He liked Triple H and enjoyed their conversation but for reasons personal to Bruno he has decided not to accept the induction in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM IS THE REFUSAL A REFLECTION ON TRIPLE H or his presentation or conversations with Bruno”

– Monday’s RAW Supershow saw a 17% drop in social media activity and finished #4 for the night on cable, according to Trendrr.tv. RAW’s social media score was 154,111, down from 186,954 for the June 25th show. This week’s show was down 6% from the 2012 average.

WWE Cuts Out Entrance Theme Lyric?, WWE’s Latest Benoit Edits

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– WWE has apparently removed an offensive lyric from an entrance theme which trivializes the degenerative disorder Parkinson’s disease.

The entrance theme for The Prime Time Players—Darren Young and Titus O’Neil—”Move (Get It In)” by Woo Child features the lyric: “Okay, I get it shaking like Parkinson’s… I’m the one.. Break it down down til the party’s done.” It would appear that WWE has cut out the mention of Parkinson’s from the song’s lyrics as it was inaudible during Young and O’Neil’s appearances on Monday’s Raw SuperShow and last week’s WWE Superstars.

– Numerous mentions of Chris Benoit were removed from a 14-year-old Fit Finlay versus Psychosis match that aired on the most recent episode of WWE Vintage Collection. Finlay was involved in a program with the late Chris Benoit when the match occurred on the June 4, 1998 episode of WCW Thunder and as standard WWE protocol, all mentions of Benoit from the commentators were removed. During the bout, Finlay had Psychosis placed in a chinlock and began screaming, “Benoit, I’m coming for ya.” Not only did WWE make his remark inaudible, but Finlay’s mouth was digitized so viewers couldn’t lip read what he said.

(source: F4WOnline.com)