– It was announced at the SmackDown tapings that Randy Orton will face Kane at Extreme Rules 2012 in a Falls Count Anywhere match.
– It was also announced at the SmackDown tapings from London, England that Titus O’Neil and Darren Young have been added to the SmackDown roster.
ONGOING RESULTS at 24Wrestling.com – WWE is taping Friday’s SmackDown on Tuesday afternoon from London, England.
Marty Jannetty recently spoke to Not In Hall of Fame about WWE’s company policy to only offer rehabilitation assistance to former talent struggling with drug abuse, but not assist wrestlers with degenerative injuries caused by their time wrestling for the organization.
“It is really hard for me to say, because I am not the person in charge of something like that. But I think that if someone is working for a company full time, especially with the money that is involved if we are talking straight WWE…I may be getting myself in trouble saying this, but in my opinion; and it is just that one goofy Rock and Rollers opinion; if you pretty much committed your life to working for that company for a period of time than the answer is yes. You are going to get hurt wrestling. Every match is at least a bruise. There are fractures and breaks, and often you work through it.”
“Why does the WWE spend money on those who did stuff recreationally. I’ll use Scott Hall as an example. He is a friend, but it is out there, it was on ESPN, so it is no secret. From what I understand, he has been in and out of rehab ten times. That was from the partying and choices made that had nothing to do with what was work related.
“Using myself as an example, I have asked them (WWE) if there is anything that can be done about my ankles. I have to take a lot of pain medication for it; way more than what is an average dose. Really, no more than anyone else who is in full contact sports. We all (wrestlers) have a very high threshold of pain to begin with and we are in good condition. We can handle more than most. Where one person can take a Vicodin and have the pain go away, a highly trained professional athlete has to take four or five times that dosage, and that is where you are getting into a danger zone. If I’m trying to take care of everybody pain, and walking is something we take for granted and I need pain medication just for that and it is work related than the answer should be yes.”
TNA star Austin Aries, the only man to ever hold the ROH World title twice, recently spoke to Sports Vibe UK to promote this past weekend’s TNA LockDown pay-per-view. During the interview, Aries had a harsh critique of today’s Ring of Honor product, saying it’s a far cry from its glory days:
“I’ll be really honest with you, the Ring of Honor today is not anything like the Ring of Honor that the likes of C.M. Punk, Daniel Bryan, and myself came from. Obviously they are still operating under the same name, but the company has changed so much over the years and it’s really a shell of it’s former self in terms of the vision and thought process.”
He added, “The original Ring of Honor and the Ring of Honor today are two completely different things, I like to call it Smokey Mountain of Honor.”
Aside from the creative aspect of the company being in bad shape, Aries also thinks [the lack of] money is a big issue that could lead to ROH losing it’s most important asset – talent.
“There is no money in Ring of Honor, and that means they will only be able to secure talent for a certain amount of time before they move somewhere else.”
— The latest issue of The Wrestler has a feature on CM Punk revealing elements of his past including the origin of his ring name, why he left TNA Wrestling, the meaning of some of his tattoos and even which women wrestlers he has dated. Regarding the women’s wrestlers Punk has been romantically linked to, the magazine writes:
“We all know women love the bad boys. Though Punk isn’t really a bad boy in the traditional sense given the way he lives his life, he looks the part. Whatever the reason, he has been romantically linked to several Divas and Knockouts, including Daffney, Traci Brooks, Maria Kanellis, Amy “Lita” Dumas, and most recently, Beth Phoenix. What is Punk’s type?”
— Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has addressed the meaning behind one of his most famous catchphrases, “Jabroni.”
When asked of the meaning of the word Tuesday on Twitter, he wrote, “Jabroni was a term I started using to describe a phony, goof, punk or a ham & egger. #NoCandyAssJabronis.”
— WWE has updated the logo for their Over the Limit pay-per-view—see here. This year’s show takes place on May 20 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina.
— Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is set to appear in The Hero, a new competitive reality series looking to find the “next great hero,” reports Variety. Johnson is an executive producer for the show, and will be appearing in “various incarnations” to encourage contestants.
— WWE.com takes a look back at the 10 best rookie years in WWE and WCW history. Brock Lesnar is ranked number one on this list, beating out Goldberg, Kurt Angle and The Undertaker, among others. (The 10 best rookie years).
— Former WWE talent Shane “Hurricane” Helms is not a fan of WWE’s “CM Drunk” storyline. He wrote during Monday’s Raw SuperShow where Chris Jericho claimed CM Punk was spotted drinking alcohol before defending his title against Mark Henry: “I like both Punk and Jericho but I could care less about this “straight edge vs alcoholic” angle. Just wrestle.”
Helms also critiqued a WWE star’s bumping ability: “Otunga … geez. You’re on TV with the biggest wrestling company in the world. Please learn how to bump bro.”
— Traci Brooks has confirmed her departure from TNA Wrestling after her profile was removed from the company’s official website over weekend.
“Yes it’s true my time with TNA has come to an end, what a great time I had,” she wrote on Twitter. “I love the TNA family and will miss everyone but will be watching every Thursday!
Following a one and a half year hiatus, Brooks returned to the organization last summer to help Velvet Sky combat ODB and Jacqueline. She was then made Karen Jarrett’s executive assistant, a title she held until Jarrett’s on-screen firing in December. Brooks began competing following Thanksgiving but became inactive again a few weeks later and wasn’t used again.
— Bruce Prichard, TNA Wrestling’s Senior Vice President of Programming and Talent Relations, returned to work at Sunday’s Lockdown pay-per-view. It was his first appearance at an event since suffering a pair of recent heart attacks.
source: ProWrestling.net
– The bar that CM Punk walked into on RAW was The Pilot Inn in Greenwich, about a 10 minute walk from the O2 Arena. A reader who was at the pub when Punk and the WWE camera crew arrived says Punk did not have any fish & chips like he said because the bar wasn’t serving food at that time.
The WWE website continues to speculate whether Punk drank alcohol while at the bar and says we’ll find out more about Punk’s struggle to remain sober on next week’s 3-hour show.
– Kevin Nash is the latest WWE legend to publicly endorse WWE Champion CM Punk. Nash tweeted after RAW:
“just got done with Raw.Punk needs to keep the belt at least till next May”
A fan replied that WWE would never have anyone hold the WWE Title for that long. Nash replied:
“what is old is now new. let him have that love affair with the fans make them pat to see him get beat make it epic. Make a heel”
– We published a picture on Monday of Brock Lesnar’s new WWE ring gear, which consists of MMA-style trunks with sponsor logos on it. Lesnar’s new WWE t-shirt also features the logos of Lesnar’s various sponsors, including Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches. A WWE superstar wearing sponsor logos is unprecedented – so it appears Lesnar’s team negotiated a very unique agreement with WWE.
Speaking of Lesnar, WWE officials were said to be very happy with the Lesnar promo that aired on Monday’s RAW. The video was taped last week.
Lesnar has also been added to the RAW Supershow opening video.
– Tickets are still available for the RAW brand’s upcoming tour of Brazil. Tickets are also now on sale for WWE’s upcoming Over The Limit PPV on 5/20 from Raleigh, North Carolina.
– The Bella Twins were backstage for Monday’s WWE RAW Supershow in London but did not appear on television. Over the weekend, there were plans to use them on television this week. Despite the fact that the Bellas have been making various storyline-driven comments about wanting to challenge for the Divas title, they are still expected to leave WWE when their contracts expire later this month.
WWE’s YouTube channel has published an exclusive interview with Brock Lesnar, who talks about why he’s returned to WWE.
“I’m not a superstar. I’m an ass kicker. I am Brock Lesnar. That’s it.”
In his latest blog at MickFoley.Typepad.com titled, “An Answer For Ambrose,” Mick Foley says he could never work with Dean Ambrose because he does not trust him. Foley wrote:
“Look, sports-entertainment has to involve a certain ammount of respect and trust. It’s pretty obvious Dean Ambrose doesn’t have the slightest ammount of respect for me, and therefore I can’t place the slightest ammount of trust in him. Anyone wondering if I’m feeling better following the concussion I spoke of in that promo with Flair? I’m not. I tend to have two types of days when it comes to that muted, under-water feeling I spoke of in that promo – bad and worse. Given my history of concussions, I would have to be an absolute idiot to place my future in the hands of someone I don’t trust. Since I like to think I am not an idiot, I won’t be placing any trust in him. He had the golden ticket, and he blew it, because he would not honor the simple request I made – to his face – to not include my children in any way in his tweets. If I can’t trust him to honor that simple request, I certainly can’t trust him not to take liberties in the ring. It’s tough to get over in WWE. I certainly wouldn’t want to be one of the young guys facing someone like Skip Sheffield (yeah, I know he has a new name, but I don’t know it yet) knowing that the priority placed on getting over will be somewhat higher than looking out for the well being of an opponent. I went through that with The Dynamite Kid in 1986, when I was 21 years old. I could do it then. I can’t do it at 46..especialy not for someone like Dean Ambrose. To quote the original Willy Wonka movie, “You get nothing! You lose! Good day sir!”
Former WCW star Konnan recently appeared on the MLW.com podcast and stated that Alberto Del Rio was ready to quit WWE and return to Mexico before he was called up to the main roster:
“The trainers over at FCW told me that when [Del Rio] came in, he was terrible. He said basically, I’m not making any money here [in developmental], I’m going home. My wife is pregnant and I’m out. I’m going back to Mexico.”
“John Laurinaitis told one of the trainers, we’re going to be inducting Mil Mascaras into the Hall of Fame and we kind of want someone to induct him. We need to push a Latino guy. Just put him on the road and see how he does.”
– Evan Bourne is still on crutches after breaking his foot several weeks ago. Bourne, who has two Wellness Policy strikes against him, tweeted on Monday:
“Getting very good at hopping around on one foot. Friends report my crutching skills are 8/10. #mobile”
– ECW original “Tajiri” was trending worldwide on Twitter on Monday night after Lord Tensai spit green mist (one of Tajiri’s signature moves) at John Cena. Other terms that trended on Monday night were Chief Jay Strongbow, Yes Lock and fish & chips.
– Michael Cole announced on RAW that Daniel Bryan has renamed his LaBell Lock submission finisher. It will now be known as the Yes Lock.
Speaking of Bryan, he spoke to HuffingtonPost.com this week about his vegan lifestyle:
“My health is so much better. I’m bigger now than I was eating meat. My lifts in the gym are better. I’m in better shape. A lot of people thought you couldn’t be a top-level athlete as a vegan, but people like Mac Danzig and Jake Shields are proving that’s wrong. And it’s better for me as a performer. The other wrestlers just think it’s weird. They don’t understand it.”
* WWE Releasing Talent VERY Soon, Storyline Plans Revealed Headed Into Summer
WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin continues to tease that he’s got at least one more match left in him. During a recent interview with ZooToday.com to promote the DVD release of his latest action movie, Recoil, Austin had this to say about a return:
“If the right situation, the right opponent and the right circumstances came up for the WWE, then it would certainly be something worth considering. Could I have another match or two? Yeah. Physically I am in really good shape right now.”
* VIDEO: CM PUNK Calls Out STEVE AUSTIN Again (From Last Week)
“People seem to think I am half-dead!… In my movies, I do some pretty hellacious fight scenes that, maybe, a normal person couldn’t do. So my physicality is fine, my neck is fine after having it all fused-up.”
“I am not pitching for another match but if it was a win-win situation for everybody, then absolutely, I would consider it.”
Time and time again, we’ve heard CM Punk as the likely opponent for Steve Austin, should Austin return to the ring. We want to know – who do you think Austin should wrestle? Hit up the comments below.
– Earlier this week, MVP was asked by a fan on Twitter when we’ll hear him say, “I’m Comin” [to WWE]. He replied, “Never again.” MVP later clarified the tweet, saying that he was referring to using his “I’m Coming” theme song again, and not specifically a return to WWE. He wrote:
“I was actually referring to using that theme song he mentioned. I’ve never said I’d ‘never return’ to the WWE. Thanks.”
– The dark match after Monday’s WWE RAW tapings from London saw CM Punk defend the WWE Title against Chris Jericho. Daniel Bryan interfered and attacked Punk, causing a disqualification. Shamus then came out and nailed Bryan with a Brogue Kick. Cody Rhodes, Big Show and Alberto Del Rio all came out next followed by Randy Orton. The babyfaces hit their finishers on the heels to end it.
– Diamond Dallas Page’s DDP Yoga program continues to gain popularity among WWE’s active superstars. WWE Superstars Primo and Titus O’Neil are the latest wrestlers who are using the product. Primo noted on Twitter that he has been pain-free since he began the program.
– Last Friday’s SmackDown replay drew a 1.52 cable rating and 2,300,000 viewers. The Friday replay outdrew Tuesday’s live broadcast, which did a 1.50 cable rating with 2,250,000 viewers. Friday’s replay did a better rating than the last SmackDown replay on February 20.
— WWE will hold two Raw live events in Kentucky this July: July 28 at the Rupp Arena in Lexington and July 29 at Broadbent Arena in Louisville.
— It was announced on Monday’s RAW that next week’s 3-hour special will feature an Extreme Rules contract signing between Brock Lesnar and John Cena. The two will compete in an Extreme Rules match (no-disqualification, no count-out) on April 29th.
— WWE’s Breaking News mobile alert service issued a text message to mobile subscribers Monday reading
“BREAKING NEWS: CM Punk spotted in London pub. Is it CM Punk or CM Drunk? Exclusive video on Raw tonight.”
WWE.com published an article regarding this, advertising: “What will the footage show? What does this mean for CM Punk’s longtime pledge against alcohol? How might this news affect the main event of Raw, featuring the WWE Champion against Mark Henry in a No Count-Out, No Disqualification Match for the title?”
— English wrestler Pac was backstage at Monday’s Raw SuperShow in London, England. He currently works for Dragon Gate and Dragon Gate USA.
— Ryback’s opponent on last week’s episode of SmackDown was independent wrestler Bobby Shields.
source: PWInsider.com
Brock Lesnar is expected to wear MMA-inspired ring gear when he steps back into the ring against John Cena at Extreme Rules, his first WWE match in 8 years.
The WWE website released a photo of Brock Lesnar on Monday his new WWE ring gear, which is clearly inspired by his days as an MMA fighter.
Lesnar’s new ring gear features MMA-inspired trunks (featuring sponsor logos), XXL Mixed Martial Arts gloves and black boots.
Hit up the comments below and tell us what you think about Lesnar’s new gear.
At Monday’s WWE RAW tapings from the O2 Arena in London, England, it was announced that WWE Extreme Rules 2012 will feature WWE Champion CM Punk defending against Chris Jericho in a Chicago Street Fight.
With that match set, here’s the updated card for WWE Extreme Rules 2012:
Extreme Rules Match:
Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena
Chicago Street Fight for the WWE Championship:
CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho
Best Of 3 Falls Match for the World Heavyweight Title:
Sheamus (c) vs. Daniel Bryan
WWE taped tonight’s RAW this afternoon from the O2 Arena in London, England
WWE is taping tonight’s RAW Supershow this afternoon from the O2 Arena in London, England. We’ll have full results up later this afternoon.
– Dean Ambrose defeated Alex Riley in a dark match that took place prior to this afternoon’s tapings.
Ambrose got the win after nailing Riley with a running knee to the head.
– WWE taped the following matches before RAW for this week’s WWE Superstars show:
* Eve Torres vs. Kelly Kelly
* R-Truth vs. Jack Swagger
WWE proudly announced Monday that WrestleMania XXVIII set new records for pay-per-view buys and gross sales. According to WWE.com, preliminary estimates show that WrestleMania garnered 1.3 million pay-per-view buys with global gross sales in excess of $67 million.
The event was seen around the world on pay-per-view in more than 105 countries and 20 languages
WWE superstar The Rock tweeted a message on Monday stating that Wrestlemania 28 set the all time record for pay-per-view buys & made more money in one day than any PPV event ever:
“BREAKING NEWS: Wrestlemania 28 sets all time PPV buys & one day global gross record. #TeamBringItWorldwide THANK YOU!
The final number will be reported during WWE’s second quarter 2012 earnings later this year.
— Courtesy of Raw General Manager John Laurinaitis, the Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena match at Extreme Rules has been changed to a no-disqualification, no count-out “Extreme Rules” Match, WWE.com has confirmed.
More details on the match are available here.
— WWE has released the synopsis for Classics On Demand programming during the month of May: “Relive the insane moments that made you say…OMG! From unbelievable moves to shocking moments, it’s a jaw-dropping month full of the unexpected. It’s “OMG! Month” all May on WWE Classics On Demand.”
— WWE will hold a SmackDown taping on Tuesday, July 24, 2012 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
— Alicia Fox and William Regal will be signing autographs Thursday in Cardiff, Wales to promote WWE’s The Best of Raw and SmackDown 2011 video release at the HMV on Queen Street.
— During an interview with Steven Muehlhausen of The Fight Club Chicago, boxing analyst Percy Crawford said he spoke to Paul Heyman about Brock Lesnar working with famed boxing trainer Floyd Mayweather, Sr. before Lesnar fought Shane Carwin in July 2010. Crawford says Lesnar rejected the offer.
“I actually offered … his close friend Paul Heyman to hook him [Lesnar] up with Floyd Mayweather, Sr. [and] Heyman said, ‘You know, that’s not a bad idea. Let me talk to Brock and get back with ya’,” Crawford said. “And then it was like, ‘uh, Brock’s kinda comfortable in Minnesota. We’re gonna go with what we have’.”
— WWE conducted an angle at SmackDown live events last week where ring announcer Lilian Garcia nearly came to blows with Natalya during a heated confrontation. Fed up with the third generation wrestler’s shabby treatment of her, Garcia aggressively shoved Natalya’s jacket back at the SmackDown Diva following her losses to AJ. Garcia addressed the matter on Twitter Sunday, writing, “She bettr watch out 4 this Latina Heat!!”
Natalya responded, “Latina heat? Maybe try showing The Queen of Harts a little respect… Thank you!” She also vowed to make Garcia tap out to the Sharpshooter.
— Following CM Punk’s victory over Chris Jericho at Sunday’s Raw live event in Nottingham, England, the Straight Edge Superstar, John Cena, Zack Ryder, Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger appeared ringside to celebrate Vickie Guerrero’s birthday—she turns 44 years old on Monday. After Cena led the Capital FM Arena audience in singing “Happy Birthday To You” to Guerrero, Punk snuck up on the birthday girl by smashing her in the face with a chocolate cake. She then broke kayfabe by posing in the center of the ring with Punk and Cena.
Guerrero was taken by surprise by the moment. She wrote on Twitter, “My birthday is tomorrow the 16th!!!! The RAW crew surprised me tonight at show! It was so much fun! I showered the cake out of my hair and down my back….that was the sweetest shower ever!!!!”
— Rey Mysterio, who has been sidelined since August due to injury, is heading to Japan next month to promote the SmackDown brand’s upcoming tour of Tokyo. WWE will hold shows at Sumo Hall on August 9 and 10.
— WWE will hold two shows in Germany this November: at the O2 World Arena in Hamburg on November 2 and Arena Leipzig in Leipzig on November 3.
