New York City DJ Peter Rosenberg scored another exclusive interview with a top WWE superstar this week – none other than WWE Champion CM Punk.
In this candid 20-minute 1-on-1 interview, Rosenberg and Punk talk in-depth about “The Promo” from last summer that changed CM Punk’s career more than he could have ever imagined, their philosophies on the business, working with John Cena, smart fans, Chris Jericho, Mark Herny and much more.
– Following Rey Mysterio’s visit backstage at last week’s Raw SuperShow in San Diego, California, any mention of his name to WWE brass reportedly resulted in a very negative speech. There has been underlying friction for years between WWE management and Rey Mystero due to several tough contract negotiations and not returning from injuries as early as they’d like. Also, some feel because of his small stature, he’s lucky to be employed to WWE.
– Vickie Guerrero will participate in a live chat with fans on MyVickieGuerrero.com Thursday from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. MST.
– Monday’s Raw SuperShow at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota drew just over 9,000 fans.
– Jerry Lawler will face Tommy Dreamer on March 16 in Nashville, Tennessee at 1056 East Trinity Lane. The show also features a match between Doug Gilbert and Larry Zbyszko.
(Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
— Although WWE.com stated Tuesday that Shaquille O’Neal would not be competing at WrestleMania XXVIII, the 15-time NBA All-Star appeared on ESPN Radio’s Mike and Mike in the Morning Wednesday stating that he would.
— The USA Network will air a program profiling the rivalry between The Rock and John Cena on March 26 at 8:00 p.m. It will air again on March 31.
— Amazing Red and T.J. Perkins vs. Michael Elgin and Roderick Strong has been announced for the March 4 Ring of Honor event at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.
— Alex Koslov, who was released by WWE earlier this month, is available for bookings and appearances through Bill Behrens at [email protected]. He is currently based in Tampa, Florida but expects to move to Los Angeles, California soon.
source: F4WOnline.com
— A commercial promoting WWE’s Over the Limit pay-per-view event on May 20, 2012 at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina is advertising a Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Championship between Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton and Sheamus.
— CM Punk is scheduled to appear on CNN Headline News’ Showbiz Tonight at 11:00 p.m. He will be interviewed about his war of words on Twitter with recording artist Chris Brown.
— Joey Styles wrote the following on Twitter regarding a video release highlighting ECW: “Coming this summer, a home video release unlike any other you have seen before. Please RT and spread the word of Extreme #ECWDVD.”
— A match involving the WWE Divas is expected to take place WrestleMania XXVIII although some company officials are against utilizing the women for the sake of it since the affair would take away time from the bouts people are most interested in seeing.
It’s also been suggested as the pre-show dark match.
— In light of her actions involving John Cena and Zack Ryder on Monday’s Raw SuperShow, Eve addressed fans during an unaired segment at last night’s SuperSmackDown LIVE! show. The two-time WWE Divas Champion described herself as a “woman of class” and that she does not deserve the angry reaction she has been receiving. Eve admitted to using Ryder but that she is no different than everybody else.
To see her speech as well as Zack Ryder’s video response, click here.
— The February 18, 2012 episode of A.M. Raw scored a 0.64 cable rating with 755,000 viewers.
sources: Wrestling Observer Newsletter, PWInsider.com
— WWE’s Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Raw John Laurinaitis’s campaign to not only become the permanent Raw General Manager, but take over Theodore Long’s job as General Manager of SmackDown is expected to culminate with a winner takes all match at WrestleMania XXVIII in Miami, Florida.
The Wrestling Observer reports that a Laurinaitis captained team of heel WWE stars will likely face a babyface team captained by Long at the pay-per-view extravaganza with the winning captain becoming General Manager of both Raw and SmackDown. There is also talk that the bout would replace the Money in the Bank Ladder Match.
— On behalf of ‘be a STAR,’ the anti-bullying alliance co-founded by WWE and The Creative Coalition, David Otunga paid a visit to German Valley Elementary outside Rockford, Illinois today to speak with students about the dangers of bullying.
A photo of Otunga’s appearance is available here.
— It was reported last week that Brodus Clay was removed from television due to Vince McMahon’s unhappiness with the voluminous grappler’s ring work. To add further detail, the WWE head believes he’s unsafe and reckless in the ring; he doesn’t want him competing until his ring work is brought up to par.
Eyebrows were raised backstage about McMahon pushing forth talent safety since Mark Henry and Cody Rhodes competed on this week’s Raw SuperShow hurt.
Clay dismissed last week’s negative report via Twitter, writing, “Don’t believe the hater hype plant funk still in orbit ya dig!”
— Vince McMahon is looking to tap into digital publishing as he feels it could be a major revenue stream for WWE as early as this year. His belief is based on what colleagues have told him about the Amazon Kindle, an e-book reader.
source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
– Monday’s post-Elimination Chamber RAW Supershow drew a a 3.2 rating and averaged 4,629,000 viewers. The show did hours of 3.3 and 3.19.
– WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2012 inductee Ron Simmons appeared on the Busted Open radio show this week and said he’d love a role in one of The Rock’s movies. Simmons, who worked closely with The Rock when both men were members of the Nation of Domination stable, had this to say about The Rock’s success in Hollywood:
“As far as getting as big as he did, I don’t even think he knew he would get this big. I can say I am proud of him and the only thing I would like for him to do is offer Farooq a part in one of his movies. Let me be a stand in, I don’t even need a speech, just offer me something (laughing).”
– After an apparent heel turn on Monday’s RAW, WWE diva Eve is still scheduled to wrestle heel Divas champion Beth Phoenix at this weekend’s WWE live event from Ontario, Canada at the Citizens Business Bank Arena.
– With the recent announcement that WrestleMania 29 will take place from New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, it’s worth noting that WWE has still not decided on a location for the historic WrestleMania 30 event, which will take place in 2014.
The bidding deadline for potential WrestleMania 30 host cities is approaching soon.
(Sources: bustedopen.net, pwtorch.com, pwinsider.com)
— WWE has not followed up on Kharma’s appearance last month at the Royal Rumble because she hasn’t fully recovered from giving birth on December 31, 2011 and isn’t ready to work a full-time schedule. She competed in the Rumble Match because creative felt it would create a good story since it wasn’t expected.
— John “Bradshaw” Layfield inducting Ron Simmons into the WWE Hall of Fame is not official but it is the planned idea.
Layfield wrote Tuesday on Facebook in regards to inducting his longtime tag team partner, “As far as who is inducting Ron into the HOF-I would consider one of my greatest lifetime honors if I am chosen. However, it hasn’t been announced-SO, if I knew who was I couldn’t say. And, if I don’t know I couldn’t say either obviously. So, I wait on the announcement like everyone else.”
— The January 17, 2012 WWE SmackDown taping at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada drew 5,287 paying $214,735.
source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
— WWE officials have talked lately of cutting and/or repackaging bottom level WWE Superstars and developmental talent. However, moves are not expected until after WrestleMania as it is their prime focus.
— Former WWE Divas Melina and Jillian Hall have been announced to appear on Lucha Libre USA’s “Masked Warriors Live” tour in late March. Events are scheduled for March 23 at Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada, March 25 at Stockton Arena in Stockton, California and March 30 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.
— Former WWE talent Shawn Daivari was the booker of the February 4 WWFX Champion Showcase Tour 2012 event in Manila, Philippines. No return date has been announced but he stated during an interview that the show was considered a success and a return would take place.
source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
(Courtesy of Diva-Dirt.com)
Former WWE Diva turned First Lady of Ring of Honor, Maria Kanellis, joins us to talk about her first wrestling match in two years since her WWE release. This weekend, Kanellis faces fellow former Diva and current TNA star, Tara, in New York on her 30th birthday, no less. Maria talks to us about the match, why she’s returning to the ring and her training for her ring return.
The First Lady of ROH dishes on how her ROH appointment came about, the differences between working in ROH and WWE, the reactions from the notoriously tough ROH crowd, and her response to fans who questioned her passion for wrestling & assumed she’d quit the business after her WWE release.
Maria also tells us about her recent backstage visit to WWE and what happened when she spoke to Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis, the very people who fired her two years ago this week.
Full interview here.
Highlights:
Working in ROH vs working in WWE: “I’m much more relaxed! I’m very relaxed at Ring of Honor. I don’t feel the pressure that I did at WWE. But I’m also, so I think that a lot of it comes with maturity and being comfortable in your own skin. I’m more confident in myself than I was when I was in WWE. That goes with being outside of WWE and starting to see the world through different eyes. Now coming back into wrestling and being like, ‘You know what? This is where you have fun’, and I just want to have fun with my wrestling career now. I don’t want to be stressed out or worrying about where’s my next storyline. I don’t want to be worrying about all that stuff.”
Why she’s returning to the ring: “There was a lot of things I wanted to accomplish that I didn’t get to accomplish before. I never really felt like I was that great in the ring, and then I also felt that I didn’t get a whole lot of time to be in the ring. My goal is to go out there and do the best that I can, and if I get out there and I’m like, ‘Okay, this is it for me and I’m not going to wrestle anymore’, that’s one thing. Or if I get out there and I’m like, ‘You know what? I really want to continue moving forward with this part of wrestling’ then that’s what I’m going to do. But there was so many things I wanted to accomplish in the ring and so many things I loved doing in the house shows that I never got to really show off on WWE TV.”?
“I never won a championship and that was a big thing for me. I didn’t want to win the greatest championship in the world and I didn’t need to hold it forever, but just winning it by a fluke would’ve been nice, just to say I was on that great list.”
“There’s just a lot of things I want to accomplish in the ring.”
Being backstage recently at a WWE Raw taping: “I stood there and talked to Vince for probably 10-15 minutes, just shooting the shit. I talked to him about the new network. I told him that I thought the show was great as of late, I really enjoyed last week’s episode. I talked to him about, ‘How’s the family?’ and ‘Give Linda my best’. At the same time that I’m not there, it’s still part of my family. Sometimes I don’t like the things that John Laurinaitis does but at the same time, for a long time I was on the road with him all the time. He’s the one that initially called me and sad, ‘Maria, we want you to go down to OVW’, so you still have to have an appreciation.”
?“At the end of the day, wrestling’s still a business and I try to remember that every day when I do anything with wrestling.”
Earlier this week, we published text messages from a WWE superstar who asked to remain anonymous that was complaining about The Rock coming back to WWE and getting a huge payday without elevating anybody but himself.
To follow up on the backstage heat on The Rock, there is said to be “more than a few people” in WWE that are very angry about The Rock being featured so prominently at WrestleMania.
The feeling amongst the disgruntled talent is that The Rock does not work for WWE full time and is taking a valuable spot at the top of the card, when that spot could be used to elevate an up and coming full-time wrestler. The other side of the argument is that The Rock is a special attraction, should not be featured as a full-time performer and brings so much interest and extra pay-per-view buys that he more than covers his price tag and everybody earns more with The Rock on the card.
(Partial Source: f4wonline.com)
WWE Champion CM Punk appeared on Hot 97’s morning show on Wednesday and continued his crusade against R&B singer / woman beater Chris Brown. Props to Peter Rosenberg of RosenbergRadio.com for the footage:
– Teddy Long says he’ll be appearing on Mondy’s RAW to continue his ongoing battle for power with John Laurinaitis. Long tweeted:
“Since @WWERawGM did MY dance on MY show, next week, I’m gonna be on #Raw making declarations in a husky monotone. Eye for an eye, playa.”
– As previously reported, former ROH star Chris Hero is now wrestling as Kassius Ohno at WWE developmental. The initials, KO, are inspired by Hero’s nickname in Ring of Honor – “That Young Knockout Kid.”
– Eve Torres wrote a “get well message” to Zack Ryder via Twitter. Ryder responded with the following:
“@EveMarieTorres ’cause in time you will find what goes around goes around goes around comes all the way back around #hoeski”
Torres also shot back at the “haters” calling her all sorts of bad names for her recent actions:
“All of you calling me names and degrading women are no better than I. How dare you judge me!”
– Chris Jericho has chimed in on the Twitter feud between his WrestleMania 28 opponent CM Punk and singer Chris Brown. Jericho says Punk is wasting his time and should be focused on more important things:
“Glad to see @cmpunk wasting his time threatening rappers. I don’t care about anybody else’s business except mine-which is winning at WM28.”
-FCW star Seth Rollins (formerly Tyler Black) confirmed on Twitter that FCW diva Leah West (Irena Janjic) has indeed been let go. West was trained by former WWE star Lance Storm and was signed to a developmental deal early last year.
– Speaking of Seth Rollins, he’s been campaigning on Twitter to have the song “2nd Sucks” by A Day To Remember become his new theme song. Rollins has been asking followers to tweet @whereisadtr and @jeremymckinnon and tell them that “2nd Sucks” would be a perfect theme for him.
– Jennifer Hudson, fiance of David Otunga, was backstage at Tuesday’s live SmackDown special. Lillian Garcia tweeted a photo of the two of them backstage at the event, which you can see to the right. It has been rumored as of late that WWE is trying to get Jennifer Hudson to sing the National Anthem at WrestleMania.
– After SmackDownwent off the air, The Big Show came out to face Daniel Bryan for the World Heavyweight Title. During the match, Cody Rhodes hit the ring and caused Bryan to get disqualified.
Rhodes and Bryan then attacked Show until CM Punk came out to make the save. Punk hit a GTS on Bryan while Big Show hit his Weapon of Mass Destruction finisher on Bryan. That ended the show, sending the crowd home happy.
R&B singer Chris Brown has responded to the scathing video CM Punk tweeted on Tuesday night, which you can read watch here in case you missed it
“@cmpunk the video u just posted was cute! It’s so funny how defensive u are.
And the fact that I really don’t know who you are and could give a shit is the funny part!
I really hope this 15 minutes of fame is paying you for the long run becuz music last forever! Wrestlers come and go according to ratings!
Ok back to rehearsal! Love u team breezy
Just so teambreezy knows… I’m never “ANGRY” when I speak my mind on twitter! They want me to be mad! Thats the difference! Love
I miss the real wrestlers! ( Hacksaw Jim duggan, Brett the hitman heart, coco beware, rowdy roddy piper) #Notnopunks
This shit funny!
Bret “the hitman” Hart! ***** typo
@KREAYSHAWN u got that one! Goldberg was the shit!
THE ROCK #Notnopunks
Number one trend! IM DONE!
We got them #Notnopunks tshirts on deck! Ask @TwonABMG and @Bighoodboss for yall sizes! Lol
Former WWE & TNA star Matt Hardy released the following this week, hyping his return to the ring this Friday night. Matt Hardy will be wrestling former WWE star Luke Gallows at a live event promoted by the UCW promotion in Norcross, GA.
The WWE website has released a statement denying NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal’s claims that he will be wrestling at WrestleMania 28. The statement reads:
“Despite Shaquille O’Neal’s claim that he will compete at WrestleMania XXVIII in Miami, WWE officials have informed WWE.com that the 15-time NBA All-Star is not scheduled to appear on the card.”
The WWE article incorrectly states that Shaq told HollywoodLife.com that he will wrestle at WrestleMania. Shaq told HollywoodLife.com that he would be present at WrestleMania, but did not clarify whether he’d be getting in the ring.
Back on Thursday, December 22nd, Shaq appeared on the Abe Kanan radio show (based out of Chicago) and told Kanan that he was in negotiations to wrestle Big Show at WrestleMania.
WWE’s recent storyline that “Big Show has never had his WrestleMania moment” seemed like a perfect set up to Big Show wrestling Shaq, who won an NBA championship with the Miami Heat back in 2006.
— Matches taped tonight in Rockford, Illinois for this week’s episode of WWE NXT Redemption were Tyler Reks vs. Tyson Kidd and Alex Riley vs. Titus O’Neil.
A match pitting Jinder Mahal against Justin Gabriel was taped for WWE Superstars. Matches taped Monday night were Alex Riley vs. Michael McGillicutty and Mason Ryan vs. Tyler Reks.
No pre-taping dark match was held.
— The February 17 episode of WWE SmackDown scored a 1.97 cable rating with 2,953,000 viewers. The previous week’s show garnered a 2.17 cable rating with 3,261,000 viewers.
The February 17 show was the first SmackDown episode to draw less than 3 million viewers since January 6.
— Sean Waltman has been announced to appear at Legends of the Ring 14 taking place Saturday, June 2 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Monroe, New Jersey.
source: PWInsider.com
The ongoing war of words between WWE Champion CM Punk and R&B singer Chris Brown has escalated.
Over the weekend, CM Punk tweeted:
“I would like @chrisbrown fight somebody that can defend themselves. Me curb stomping that turd would be a #wrestlemania moment.”
Chris Brown replied:
“@CMpunk needs more followers. He’s such a leader! Not to mention the roids hes on has made it utterly impossible for him pleasure a women.
“Positivity regardless of how u feel! @CMpunk contact my assistant and I’ll have em send u an autographed pic for my biggest FAN!!!”
After re-tweeting a message saying he and Chris Brown should fight an MMA fight, Punk posted the following video online on Tuesday night with the caption: This Must Be Said.
– To follow up on CM Punk and singer Chris Brown exchanging insults on Twitter over the weekend, Punk re-tweeted a comment from a fan that stated Punk and Brown should compete in an MMA fight with 5 minute rounds.
– The segment on Monday’s RAW between The Undertaker and Triple H ran 8-9 minutes longer than it was scheduled for, which led to WWE taking time away from the Divas tag match and John Cena’s ring entrance.
– Ezekiel Jackson was recently considered for another push, but it appears those plans have been nixed. After losing clean to David Otunga on RAW, Jackson has lost 5 straight televised matches and has yet to win a televised match this year.
(Sources: PWInsider.com, f4wonline.com)
The Rock has responded to John Cena’s promo from RAW, tweeting on Tuesday:
“@JohnCena @WWE The truth comes out this Monday. John you have no idea.”
The Rock is scheduled for RAW next week and will be appearing on RAW regularly through the night after WrestleMania 28.
During his most recent blog, Jim Ross called John Cena’s RAW promo the best of his entire career:
“John Cena delivered the best promo of his career in my opinion when addressing the Rock and their long awaited WM28 main event. Cena spoke from the heart and I’m certain meant every word that he said. Cena’s words stepped away from the world of entertainment and squarely into reality or so it seemed to me.”
“Rock’s ‘rebuttal’ next week on Raw in Portland will be must see TV. The Rock/Cena issue has gotten personal as Cena touched some legit nerves with his remarks in Minneapolis.”
Here’s video of John Cena’s promo from RAW:
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety over at JRsBarBQ.com. Here are some highlights of what JR wrote about:
Hell In A Cell At WrestleMania: “The Undertaker confronting HHH and subsequently pushing the appropriate buttons to get a vengeance oriented rematch at WM28 was captivating TV for me. Both men have more tenure than any others on the WWE roster that are still competing. They are truly is the last of a breed and now that it’s in Helll in a Cell, the game has changed. Stakes have risen and it going to be a tough act to follow in Miami.
“[WWE] will build a massive structure to not only hold the ring lighting grid but the HIAC as well. It will be impressive I assure you.”
John Cena’s Best Promo Ever: John Cena delivered the best promo of his career in my opinion when addressing the Rock and their long awaited WM28 main event. Cena spoke from the heart and I’m certain meant every word that he said. Cena’s words stepped away from the world of entertainment and squarely into reality or so it seemed to me.”
“Rock’s ‘rebuttal’ next week on Raw in Portland will be must see TV. The Rock/Cena issue has gotten personal as Cena touched some legit nerves with his remarks in Minneapolis.”
Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk at WrestleMania: “The injury riddled, #1 contender Battle Royal sees Chris Jericho getting his ticket punched to meet CM Punk for the WWE Title at WM28 in a bout that could be the best, pure wrestling match on the entire card on April 1.”
