– Evan Bourne’s 60-day suspension for his second violation of WWE’s Wellness Policy will end on March 17.
– The Undertaker is no longer listed the local advertising for Monday’s RAW Supershow from the TD Garden.
As previously reported, the show will feature Shawn Michaels and The Rock.
– WWEDVDNews.com has released the official promo for the upcoming Blu-Ray/DVD set on Edge’s career, “The Story of Edge,” due out April 3rd:
(Source: pwinsider.com)
– The 2012 WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-view scheduled for July 15th has been moved from Las Vegas, Nevada to the US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)
– Actor James Roday of the USA Network’s original series “Psych” will guest star on the March 12th episode of RAW from Cleveland, Ohio. Roday will be promoting that week’s episode of Psych, which will feature an appearance by The Miz.
– One month before WrestleMania 28, WWE has opened a new office in Miami, FL that will focus on “achieving significant growth across all lines of WWE’s business including Media Distribution, Live Event Touring, Consumer Products, and Digital within Latin American markets.”
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. As always, you can buy his delicious line of BBQ products at WWEShop.com. In his latest blog entry, JR answered a ton of questions from his readers. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
Why does WWE change the names of wrestlers?
“WWE is an entertainment company and they want to own all their intellectual property. Changing names of wrestlers allows them to own those names. It’s smart business and I would do the same if I owned a wrestling company. Wrestlers who are using a name that they used prior to joining WWE essentially ‘lease’ their name to WWE during the term of said wrestler’s WWE tenure.”
Is WWE going to do a Cruiserweight TV show?
“I read those rumors online but I have no direct knowledge. If they do, I’d be more than willing to volunteer to do the play by play for those bouts. Smaller, skilled talents need a showcase to display their abilities.:
Thoughts on @CMPunk vs. @IAmJericho?
“I love their in ring banter but at the end of the day it comes down to who leaves as WWE Champion and not who has the most witty repartee leading into the bout. Do I hope to hear them verbally spar on future RAW’s? Absolutely. But I’m much more interested in them delivering a classic, wrestling match come April 1. I think that gets done.”
Anyone in FCW ready to go?
“Several are ‘this close.’ It’s all about timing and how individual talents are intergrated onto WWE TV. Why are they on TV? Who are they? What are they here to accomplish? Are they friend or foe? Can you help me get to know their TV persona? So, there are many elements involved in getting called up. Until then, the individuals themselves just need to continue to out work/perform their competition, put in more quality ring time, study more DVDS, and increase their strength and conditioning regiment.
(please submit YOUR questions to [email protected])
Q: I was wondering if CM Punk and Shawn Michaels ever had a match? – Dallas
A: No, they never did. But they did have a good verbal joust on the June 27th Raw last year, the same show where Punk cut his memorable worked-shoot promo that started his main event push.
Q: Why does the WWE keep Michael Cole? He is annoying and insulting. I know he is supposed to be a heel commentator, but he goes way over the line, making fun of the passing of one’s mother is way overboard. As for Johnny Ace, he is just plain useless. He has the personality of an egg plant. He adds nothing to the business and IMO that is why the ratings for the second hour of RAW drop, people just get sick and tired of them two goofs. I think WWE should just put Teddy Long in charge of both shows. – Hilda D.
A: So your solution to WWE’s ratings woes is to get rid of Johnny Ace and Michael Cole and give more TV time to Teddy Long? Not sure about that one. To be honest, I don’t think we need anyone “in charge” of any shows. The GM concept is beyond played out. We all know Vince McMahon is the chairman and is certainly capable of coming out and making important decisions on occasions where they need to be made. That should be enough. We did just fine in the 90’s when there was one figurehead WWF President who rarely appeared on the shows. Cards were already booked in advance before going on the air. What a concept!
Q: Do you think the women division will ever pick up in WWE again? They have the right talent, yet they are [using them wrong]. Plus, there have been rumors of WWE bringing back the Womens tag team belts. How are they going to run two womens belts when the last time they tried that, they failed? – Cristian A.
A: First, they’re not belts, they’re championship titles. Second, I would slightly disagree that WWE has “all the right talent” when it comes to their Divas division. Beth Phoenix, Natalya, Kharma and Eve (to some degree) are fine workers, but then the division falls off a cliff. Meanwhile, they let go of people like Mickie James and Gail Kim while turning a blind eye to independent workers like Sara Del Ray because they don’t fit the mold of what a WWE Diva should look like. Besides, why even consider Womens tag titles when your average women’s match on Raw goes about 30 seconds every week? They would be well-suited to assign somebody backstage specifically to help repair the damage they’ve done and investigate why TNA Knockouts segments on Impact have done some of that show’s highest ratings while Diva segments typically drive viewers away.
WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin is featured in a new series of ads for the Kyocera Dura series of cell phones ..
Man vs. Phone — Episode 1
Steve Austin vs. Kyocera Dura Series. Who’s tougher?
– Kane is featured on the new poster for WWE’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view, which takes place on April 29th from Chicago, IL. Below are the official event synopsis, courtesy of InDemand:
“Extreme times call for extreme rules. Don’t miss John Cena, CM Punk, Randy Orton, The Miz and all your favorite WWE Superstars put it all on the line at Extreme Rules, Sunday, live on Pay-Per-View.”
– THQ will not be releasing any more Downloadable Content for the WWE ’12 video game.
– The Miz is overseas in Poland today doing promotional work for WWE.
– Happy birthday to WWE announcer Booker T, who turns 47 years old today.
– Zack Ryder is scheduled to appear at The Steiner Sports Store in Garden City, New York at 7pm this evening. For more information, you can call 800-242-7139.
Former 6 time WWE Womens Champion Trish Stratus was recently interviewed by @Arda Ocal of The Score Television Network.. Here are highlights of Part 2 of this exclusive interview:
Comparing fighting in the WWE for so many years to fighting in movies. How is that all different to her :
“So different. we approached it from a tradional movie stand point, which means we have to do stunt work. Thats what moves have stunts. The concept of not making contact in movies was difficult for me cause in WWE we made contact. Its very different from stunt work. I tip my hat off to the director Patrick cause he told his cast, whatever you wanna do with this script, go with it, make it look real, have fun with it, play with it”
Her match at Wrestlemania 18 in her hometown of Toronto, Onatrio where she faced Jazz and Lita in a Triple Threat Match for the WWE Womens Championship. Her match was just after the bout between The Rock and Hulk Hogan. Was it bittersweet for her to be in that position at Wrestlemania 18 :
“Looking at it on the paper, im like oh my god I cant beleive were in this match, it was really a tough act to follow. The crowd actually surprisinaly was with us which was great cause it was a testament to the hard work that the womens division point had done. Something interesting had happened. When the guys ( The Rock and Hulk Hogan ) had their match, the one thing I remember was I was about to go out to preform, its my first Wrestlemania as a wrestler. I got the heads up from Hulk and The Rock. Rock said to me ” good luck go get em kid”, and Hulk Hogan said “you got this kid”
Her yoga studio, “Stratusphere Yoga”. What is the business plan for “Stratusphere Yoga” ? Are there any plans for her to open up new locations anywhere else, also has she ever approached other WWE superstars about recommending trying yoga themselves:
“I have, actually all the girls right now are doing it, the stratusphere yoga right now. DDP and I have been in touch. Randy Orton started doing it. Rey Mysterio, when he came back from his injury was like “you look great what are you doing, how did you make that comeback from that herniated disk” I told him about the yoga and he started trying that as well.”
WWE star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is featured on the new movie poster for the upcoming summer blockbuster, “G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation”
The Rock tweeted the following movie poster on Wednesday, which features him in-character as “Roadblock” holding a machine gun.
Rock tweeted a slogan: “The world ain’t saving itself.”
– We reported on Wednesday that WWE is interested in several top talents from Ring of Honor, including the Briscoe Brothers and Adam Cole. It’s believed WWE sent out “feelers” and expressed interest in them, but they are all under contract to ROH and until they become free agents, it’s a non-issue.
– WWE its monthly “end of month” business figures for February this week and one of the more newsworthy items is that the 2012 Royal Rumble drew approximately 438,000 pay-per-view buys.
272,000 of the 438,000 buys were domestic (from the United States, while 166,000 buys were international.
This year’s 428,000 buys is down from 446,000 in 2011 and the 462,000 in 2010.
(Sources: prowrestling.net, Pro Wrestling Torch)
– Boston’s TD Garden, the site of Monday’s RAW, is advertising The Rock and Shawn Michaels will be appearing in person.
The dark match main event will see CM Punk & John Cena vs. Kane & Chris Jericho.
– As of this week, there is still no word on whether Shaquille O’Neal will be appearing at WrestleMania. Shaq has stated several times that he will be at WrestleMania, even saying back in December that he would be wrestling the Big Show. The WWE website posted an article last week denying that Shaq would be appearing at WrestleMania, which caused even more confusion.
For months, it was rumored that Shaq’s involvement with WWE would kick off next Monday’s RAW from Boston’s TD Garden. If Shaq doesn’t appear on that show or isn’t referenced in some way, he most likely won’t be a part of WrestleMania and it can be assumed his negotiations with the company fell through .
– Chris Jericho’s band Fozzy has been announced to play the Download Festival, one of the biggest rock festivals in the UK. Other bands announced for the show are Metallica, Tenacious D, Killswitch Engage and Corey Taylor. Fozzy will perform on Saturday, June 9th.
(Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
The following is a spoiler-free preview for tonight’s episode of Impact Wrestling from Orlando, FL:
* TNA Champion Bobby Roode, X-Champion Austin Aries & Bully Ray vs. James Storm & TNA Tag Team champions Samoa Joe & Magnus
* Gauntlet Match: AJ Styles vs. Kazarian and Daniels
* Kurt Angle will explain why he attacked Jeff Hardy.
* ODB vs. Madison Rayne.
* Zema Ion vs. Shannon Moore.
* Mickie James & Velvet Sky vs. Angelina Love & Sarita.
As previously reported, the 2012 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony will take place on March 31st (the night before WrestleMania) – but will not air on the USA Network until Monday, April 2nd, as a 1-hour lead-in to RAW.
As of this week, the plan is for the televised ceremony to feature the inductions of Edge and the Four Horsemen only.
It is still expected that former WWE champion Yokozuna will be announced as on of the final members of the Class of 2012. The deceased Samoan/sumo warrior will be inducted by his cousin, The Rock.
Edge is scheduled to be inducted last by Christian.
The Horsemen will be inducted by Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Dusty Rhodes
There was a push include Dusty on the Horsemen induction because he had some legendary wars with the Horsemen back in the 1980s.
Because Hall of Fame speeches tend to run long, both Edge and the Horsemen have been given a 10 minute time limit on their speeches.
(Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
– The Undertaker’s time away from the ring has included surgeries on both his shoulder and hip. He was lighter than ever before when he showed up backstage at last week’s Raw SuperShow, estimated at 275 to 280 pounds. The belief that he would retire following his WrestleMania XXVIII encounter with Triple H is largely gone since it’s not being hinted. Peers expect him to continue wrestling for a few more years if he’s able to compete once annually.
– WWE officials have expressed interest in acquiring Jay and Mark Briscoe, but they are both under contract to Ring of Honor.
– Last Friday’s Raw live event at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California drew 9,000 paying $360,000. Saturday’s Raw show in Ontario, California drew a near sellout with 9,000 paying $275,000. Sunday in Eugene, Oregon drew 5,000 paying $165,000. Smackdown’s tour of Central America opened on Thursday in Tegucigalpa, Honduras with 2,500. Friday in Panama City, Panama drew 4,000. Saturday in Guatemala City, Guatemala drew 2,000.
(source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
— WWE has yet to follow up on Kharma’s appearance last month at the Royal Rumble because she has not fully recovered from giving birth on December 31, 2011 and isn’t ready to work a full-time schedule. Nonetheless, her return to the squared circle is on the horizon.
When asked on Twitter this week what she was doing, she replied, “Working hard to come back at my best.” She was then asked when she would be returning to WWE and said “Soon.”
— Former WWE Champion John “Bradshaw” Layfield wrote the following on Twitter regarding a potential return to WWE: “Sorry, WWE has never asked about coming back more than a one off- happy coaching kids in Bermuda! Gotta make a difference-or try at least!”
— Former WWE stars John Morrison, Maria and Melina have been announced to appear at the Motor City Comic Con taking place May 18-20 at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, Michigan.
— Jeff Hardy was unable to work Tuesday’s Impact Wrestling taping in Orlando, Florida due to a bout with food poisoning. PWInsider.com reports he is feeling well enough today to appear and work today’s show.
— Velvet Sky’s Twitter campaign to appear on the fourteenth season of Dancing with the Stars failed as she was not among the celebrities announced on Tuesday by ABC.
— A match pitting Velvet Sky against former “Beautiful People” mate Angelina Love was taped Tuesday night in Orlando, Florida for an upcoming episode of TNA Xplosion.
— Chelsea has been announced to appear at The Big Event 2 taking place March 10, 2012 at LaGuardia Courtyard Marriott 9010 Ditmars Blvd East Elmhurst, New York.
Matches taped Tuesday night at the Key Arena in Seattle, Washington for this week’s episode of NXT Redemption are as follows:
* Darren Young and Titus O’Neil vs. Alex Riley and Percy Watson
* Michael McGuillicuty vs. Tyson Kidd
* Kaitlyn vs. Maxine
Jinder Mahal faced The Great Khali in a match taped for WWE Superstars
Hunico defeated Ted DiBiase in a pre-show dark match.
The lower bowl of the Key Arena was largely full and most of the upper section was tarped off. Attendance was estimated at 9,000.
source: PWInsider.com
– The latest word internally on the planned WWE Network is that it will launch in November during sweeps. No official launch date has been set, but the compant definitely wants it to air before the end of the year.
– November is also when WWE plans to debut a new show featuring only Crusierweight wrestlers. Talents who had been in touch with WWE about working the show were told that plans to sign anyone were pushed to the fall. WWE is looking for wrestlers in the 200 lb range.
– The dark match main event at last night’s WWE SmackDown tapings had The Big Show defeating Daniel Bryan by DQ. Cody Rhodes interfered. Sheamus then came out and made the save.
– The Eve Torres segment that you saw on RAW was the exact same segment they did at weekend live events.
(Partial Source: PWinsider.com)
At Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings, it was announced that Cody Rhodes will defend his intercontinental championship against Big Show at WrestleMania 28. This apparently puts an end to the rumored Big Show vs. Shaq and Cody vs. Goldust matches.
With Cody vs. Big Show set, here’s the updated card for WrestleMania 28:
John Cena vs. The Rock
WWE Championship Match:
CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho
World Heavyweight Title Match:
Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus
Hell in a Cell:
Triple H vs. The Undertaker
Intercontinental Title Match:
Cody Rhodes vs. Big Show
* Impact opens with Eric Bischoff, Gunner and Ric Flair coming out for a promo, pushing Garett Bischoff and a mystery partner vs. Gunner and a mystery partner. Kurt Angle and says he will team with Gunner tonight because Garett doesn’t respect his father and he will make him tap tonight.
* Eric Young & ODB defeated Gail Kim and Madison Rayne to win the Knockout Tag Team Titles after Madison accidentally nailed Kim. Young proposed to ODB after and she apparently accepted.
* Zema Ion defeated TNA X-Division champion Austin Aries by DQ.
* Bully Ray demanded a TNA title shot and Sting gave it to him.
* Bully Ray vs. Bobby Roode has no winner when James Storm hit the ring to chase off Ray. Storm then turned his attention to Roode, superkicking him and laying him out.
* Crimson and Matt Morgan defeated Robbie E and Robbie T to earn a TNA Tag title shot. They had dissension.
* AJ Styles cut a promo talking about the company’s tenth anniversary. Chris Daniels and Kazarian came out and ripped on Styles. Ken Anderson returned to tease he would team with Styles, I guess, at the next PPV.
* Eric Bischoff came out and told the fans to come back tomorrow to see Garett Bischoff get destroyed. That was it.
source: PWInsider.com
Thanks to Andy and Terra for the following WWE SmackDown spoilers from Tuesday’s tapings in Seattle, Washington:
Dark Match:
* Ted DiBiase beat Hunico
SmackDown, Airing Friday:
* Sheamus kicks off the show and comes out to a big pop. He begins to talk about WrestleMania 28 but is interrupted by Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler is pulling double duty this week on both shows. Teddy Long ends up appearing and makes Sheamus vs. Ziggler for right now.
* Sheamus defeated Dolph Ziggler.
* Segment with John Laurinaitis and Teddy Long. Laurinaitis wants an apology for what happened on RAW. Teddy refuses and makes Mark Henry vs. Big Show for tonight.
* Santino Marella defeated Heath Slater.
* Eve Torres comes out and cuts a promo like she did on RAW. Natalya comes out and farts, which leads to a match.
* Eve beat Natalya in a quick match.
* In-ring segment with Cody Rhodes and Big Show. Teddy Long comes out and makes Show vs. Cody for the Intercontinental Title at WrestleMania 28. Long brings out Mark Henry next.
* Big Show beat Mark Henry with the knockout punch.
* Backstage segment with Laurinaitis, Teddy and David Otunga. Otunga threatens to sue Teddy for pushing Laurinaitis. Otunga vs. Big Show is made for RAW instead.
* Teddy books Drew McIntyre in a match with Justin Gabriel and says if Drew loses, he’s fired.
* Justin Gabriel beat Drew McIntyre with the 450 Splash. This time, Teddy appeared on the big screen and fired Drew. Drew actually cried before leaving.
* Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton fought in the main event until Kane’s pyro went off and he came down the ramp. Orton and Kane brawled as Bryan escaped. Kane got the upperhand in the ring and chokeslammed Orton. Kane took a mic and stood over Orton, welcoming him back.
— Monday’s Raw SuperShow featuring the much anticipated return of The Rock garnered a 3.1 cable rating with 4.65 million viewers. The rating is down from 3.24 the week before.
Viewership was nearly identical to last week’s post-Elimination Chamber program. Raw averaged 4.65 million viewers compared to 4.63 million last week. The first hour averaged 4.70 million viewers before declining to 4.59 million viewers.
— WWE Studios’ Bending the Rules, starring 2012 WWE Hall of Fame inductee, Edge, and Jamie Kennedy – opens in the following theaters for a special, limited engagement on March 9: Hollywood, California (Grauman’s Chinese 7), Aurora, Colorado (Cinema Latino 8), Miami, Florida (Palace 18), Chicago, Illinois (I.C.E. Chatham 14), New York, New York (To Be Announced), East Providence, Rhode Island (East Providence 10), Memphis, Tennessee (Wolfchase Cinema 8), San Antonio, Texas (Santikos Northwest 14), Bremerton, Washington (Olympic Theater 4).
— The February 25 episode of A.M. Raw scored a 0.46 cable rating with 481,000 viewers.
sources: ProWrestling.net, PWInsider.com
— TNA Wrestling ring announcer Christy Hemme stated on Twitter that she suffered a wardrobe malfunction at Tuesday’s Impact Wrestling taping in Orlando, Florida.
“Dear front row at IMPACT, I publicly apologize for my wardrobe malfunction,” she wrote. “My battery pack was too heavy for the string that held it on!”
— Sarita celebrated her ten-year anniversary in professional wrestling last Wednesday—she competed in her first match on February 22, 2002 in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada. Mexican America mate Rosita went on Twitter to show her appreciation for her tag team partner and friend.
She writes, “Special shout to my cuz, big sister & one of my best friends in the whole world, Sarah Stock aka SARITA in celebrating her 10th year in the wrestling business. She is BY FAR one of the strongest people I have ever known and she will continue to kick ass.”
Rosita continued, “Love you Cuzzo!!! You will never know how much I appreciate you!!”
Former WWE superstar John Bradshaw Layfield has updated his Facebook page with a reaction to reports that certain members of the WWE locker room are upset about The Rock taking such a large role at WrestleMania 28. Despite the fact that The Rock is not a full-time member of the WWE roster, JBL says Rock detractors need to wake up and look at the big picture:
“I hear the resentment/jealousy of the Rock backstage and I quite frankly don’t believe it. Four of the world’s biggest superstars in Cena, Rock, Undertaker and Triple H will headline WM-this is huge for WWE and the business-guys should be dying to be on this card and my guess is they are. It’s very simple to those who do have any problem with it, if there is anyone truly that does-replace them and there won’t be a spot for them. Until then just say “thanks!”
JBL also got into former WWE superstars returning to the spotlight – and how they’re able to do so years after their main runs with the company:
“There is a reason why Jericho and others can always come back-they earned that right and they still draw. Shawn Michaels does as well. CM Punk and John Cena earned the right to be on top. If these guys ever quit drawing then they know it’s time to hang it up-that hasn’t happened yet, and I hope it won’t. Piper and Diesel ares guys who still draw interest and create buzz. Shows how great these guys are that they still create interest-it’s Darwinian, once they stop or are replaced then you won’t see them anymore. Batista would draw if he decides to return.”
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross is back with another blog update, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. In this entry, JR talks in-depth about Monday’s eventful RAW, last weekend’s UFC pay-per-view from Japan and more. Here are some highlights of what JR wrote about:
CM Punk & Chris Jericho: “As I thought, Jericho/Punk had a spirited verbal exchange and I expect more between now and April 1 in Miami. These two talented wrestlers are out of the box thinkers and who have both traveled somewhat similar routes to earn WWE main event status. Their upcoming bout, for them, arguably means more to each man on a personal level as any one on the card which is saying a great deal.”
“Both Punk and Jericho have been told that they would never make it over the hump to become a bona fide main event star. Those skeptics were dead wrong … This could be the best, pure wrestling match at WM28 and, if not, it will certainly be in the debate.”
The Rock & John Cena: “The big news of the night, which should come as no surprise, was the verbal exchange between @JohnCena and @TheRock. This one got intensely personal which I like as a fan but which I didn’t care for when I was an administrator.”
“Cena seemed to get the verbal nod in Portland and should have the in ring advantage going into WM28 considering that Cena gets more ring time than does the Rock. With that said, Rock is a 3rd generation talent who is amazingly athletic and hates finishing second in anything that he does. What ever is necessary for Rock to eliminate any ‘ring rust’ before WrestleMania will be done by the man who wants to make a lasting impression in his hometown come WM28. Rock certainly didn’t disappoint in his November Survivor Series tag bout and I expect him to play at National Championship level at ‘Mania.”
