Home Blog Page 3118

Mick Foley Attends SmackDown Taping, Miz To Appear On ‘Psych’

10

— Photos have surfaced online of Mick Foley purportedly leaving last night’s SmackDown taping at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Hardcore Legend was asked on Twitter earlier this week if he would be returning to WWE. Foley replied, “VERY soon, but just as a fan. I’m taking my kids to a show this summer – they are HUGE fans.”

— The Miz has landed a guest starring role on the USA Network detective comedy-drama series Psych. The former WWE Champion plays Mario, who is described as a “bros before hoes” type of gentleman.

— Dolph Ziggler celebrates his 31st birthday today.

source: PWInsider.com

WWE PPV Buy Numbers Improve, Sin Cara Advertised For Event

14

— WWE’s Capitol Punishment pay-per-view event featuring R-Truth vs. John Cena drew approximately 200,000 buys, according to business figures released for the month of June 2011 on their corporate website.

The preliminary figure is up from 143,000 buys for the previous June’s pay-per-view event, Fatal 4-Way.

Capitol Punishment was also up from the previous month’s pay-per-view, Over the Limit, which drew approximately 150,000 buys. Cena was also featured in the main event, but against The Miz in an “I Quit” Match.

— Sin Cara, who is currently serving a 30-day suspension due to his first violation of WWE’s Talent Wellness Program, is advertised for an event WWE.com has just listed; a SmackDown taping in St. Louis, Missouri taking place September 27.

Regarding the masked grappler’s status with WWE, many employees are under the impression that management “had decided to cut bait on him.” Creative wasn’t informed until a day or two prior to Money in the Bank that he needed to be written off television and were also told to not “put any thought into any scenarios for him going forward.” A final decision regarding his immediate future has not been made.

The Miz On MTV & Lopez Tonight, Punk’s Theme, Triple H

10

– WWE’s “new CEO” Triple H turns 42 years old today.

– Reader Stan sent word that Monday’s RAW featured 40 minutes and 6 seconds of in-ring action, up a bit from the week before.

– The Miz will be on MTV tonight hosting “MTV’s The Challenge: Rivals.” After that, at midnight (EST), Miz will be appearing on George Lopez’ late night TBS show, Lopez Tonight.

– Following CM Punk’s return to WWE on Monday’s RAW his new theme song “Cult of Personality” skyrocketed on the iTunes sales charts, breaking the Top 200.

– Tyler Reks wrote the following on Twitter last night in response to fans that commented to him about an apparent babyface turn this week after he was seen celebrating with Rey Mysterio on RAW:

“Lotta talk about me celebrating Rey’s win with everyone last night. Bottom line is that Rey is my friend & I wanted to say congrats. No crime in that.”

Backstage VIDEO: Billy Gunn Lays Out A Match At Indy Show

16

Sean “X-Pac” Waltman posts a backstage video of Billy Gunn laying out a match with two indy workers. It’s an interesting look at how matches are put together.

Kevin Nash Puts Over CM Punk & Teases A WWE Return

16

Kevin Nash is the latest WWE personality to give praise to CM Punk, offering the former WWE champion his protection services:

“Still up trying to unwind from todays shoot.2-3 days left on Rock of Ages. Enjoying Raw, Punk doing a great job. Punk if you want back up you got my number. Your worth me going back on the road full time. Offer stands understand if you want to go it alone.”

He added that he misses that rush he felt when he made a surprise appearance at the Royal Rumble.

Nash is currently filming the big-screen adaptation of the Broadway show Rock of Ages, which stars Tom Cruise, Mary J. Blige, Russell Brand, Catherine Zeta-Jones..

Maryse Has A Stalker & Fears For Her Life

35

WWE diva Maryse Ouellet has filed for a permanent restraining order against an “extremely disturbing and delusional” fan who she claims is obsessed with her and has threatened to “take her to heaven” with him.

According to a report on TMZ.com, the freakshow in question is 61-year-old Lee Silber, who Maryse claims has sent “numerous terrifying letters to my home and left more than 50 voicemails on my personal cell phone all of which are extremely disturbing and delusional.”

Maryse tells the  L.A. County Superior Court that she fears for her life and wants the stalker kept away from her at any cost.

She’s due back in court on August 3rd to follow up on the restraint order request.

WWE Overhauls SummerSlam Card Hours Before Raw

37

Alberto Del Rio has once again been victimized by WWE’s haphazard booking as his long planned match with John Cena at SummerSlam was nixed hours before last night’s Raw telecast in Hampton, Virginia.

Creative overhauled the match line-up for SummerSlam Monday afternoon after deeming their creative plans for CM Punk for the event as “awful.” Del Rio was effectively removed from the title picture as a result. WWE’s braintrust felt that had Punk not been slotted in the title match, his much talked about storyline would extinguish.

Though Del Rio had the rug pulled out from under him once again, creative has the 34-year-old pegged for a title run this fall. WWE announced today they will present a landmark tour across Mexico this October and a number of high ranking officials feel the countryman returning as a conquering hero will garner a great deal of media attention.

Meanwhile, The Miz was at one point scheduled to reign supreme in the WWE Championship Tournament on Raw. Creative later changed their mind and the WWE Championship was awarded to Rey Mysterio, who got to hold the belt for approximately an hour and a half.

source: F4WOnline.com

Raw Stars At SmackDown, FCW Star Works Dark Match, More

6

— Both John Morrison and R-Truth are backstage at tonight’s SmackDown taping in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

— A match pitting Heath Slater against Trent Barreta was taped for this Thursday’s episode of WWE Superstars.

— Justin Gabriel beat WWE developmental wrestler Hunico in a dark match prior to tonight’s SmackDown taping in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Gabriel hit the 450° splash on the masked grappler for the win.

— The July 23 episode of A.M. Raw did a 0.37 rating, with 452,000 viewers.

source: PWInsider.com

Ratings Are In For Monday’s Episode of WWE RAW

13

The ratings are in for Monday’s episode of WWE RAW.

The July 25th edition of WWE RAW drew 3.2 rating with 4.8 million people watching.

A trend worth noting is that show opened with a 3.01 in the first hour and climbed to a 3.4 for the final hour.

This week’s viewership was virtually even with last week’s post-Money in the Bank RAW.

PICTURES Of Zack Ryder As The Ultimate Broski

5

At Sunday night’s WWE house show in Upper Marlboro, MD, Zack Ryder dressed up as the Ultimate Warrior and wrestled as the Ultimate Broski.

The Ultimate Warrior himself responded to the situation -writing the following on Twitter on Tuesday:

“..another one of the ALL TIME GREATS making my “talentless” UW look like a million bucks. Awesome belly laughs! No abs 4 me 2day.”

Now pictures have been sent in, courtesy of SEScoops.com reader @EllisMbeh:

CM Punk T-Shirt Now On Sale, Warrior Responds To Ryder

11

— The T-Shirt CM Punk donned at Money in the Bank, “Best in the World,” is now on sale via WWEShop.com. The shirt has been slightly modified from the original sold at the pay-per-view event as the date of 7/17/11 and “Chicago” have been removed.

The original shirt is a hot seller on eBay, regularly fetching between $300 and $500. Some sellers have even manufactured counterfeits.

— Ultimate Warrior responded to Zack Ryder’s impersonation of him in the latest episode of Z! True Long Island Story (available here). The former WWE Champion wrote via Twitter: “..another one of the ALL TIME GREATS making my “talentless” UW look like a million bucks. Awesome belly laughs! No abs 4 me 2day.”

— The entrance theme CM Punk debuted last night on Raw, “Cult of Personality” by Living Colour, has hit iTunes’ Top 200 Songs chart. The song, which was originally released in 1988, ranked as high as #126.

John Cena Sets Record, Greatest WWE Superstars Highlighted

50

— John Cena has now held the WWE Championship a record nine times following his title victory last night on Raw . The previous record holder was Triple H, who held the WWE Championship on eight occasions.

If Cena holds the belt through Thursday, he will move past Pedro Morales into fourth place as most combined days as WWE Champion at 1028.

Greatest Superstars of the 21st Century is officially out today on DVD and Blu-ray. Twenty of the greatest WWE Superstars of the new millenium are profiled including Chris Jericho, Edge, Triple H, John “Bradshaw” Layfield, Kane, Kurt Angle, The Rock, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, Trish Stratus, Jeff Hardy, Big Show, Eddie Guerrero, Shawn Michaels, Booker T, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, Batista and John Cena.

— WWE has a SmackDown live event scheduled for Saturday, October 9, 2011 at the Century Link Center in Bossier City, Louisiana. Tickets go on sale Saturday, August 27, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. Randy Orton, Christian, Kane, Big Show and Sin Cara are advertised to appear.

VIDEO: CM Punk’s “Cult Of Personality” Theme Song

20

CM Punk returned to RAW with a “new” theme song – “Cult of Personality”  by the group Living Colour ..

We put “new” in quotes – because this is not the first time Punk has used the song as his entrance theme. Punk used the theme during his final days in Ring of Honor back in 2005.

Here’s the music video for “Cult of Personality” –

WWE Booking Long Term, Punk’s Return, Santino Broken Nose

25

– In a move that is sure to please many fans, WWE is planning to make changes to its booking philosphy, namely, focusing on more long-term booking. WWE made an unprecedented move several months back by announcing John Cena vs. The Rock for next year’s WrestleMania a full year in advance – and it appears we’ll be seeing more big matches set up this way.  This is somewhat of an “old school” approach – with the company deciding on a featured match and then ‘working backwards’

– Santino Marella suffered a broken nose during a match taped prior to RAW for Thursday’s Superstars. Santino and Chris Masters wrestled WWE Tag Team Champions David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty.

– According to reliable sources in WWE, the decision to have Punk return on this week’s RAW was not made until Monday afternoon. There had been some discussion about keeping him off television until next week, but WWE hit the “fast forward” button and brought him back earlier than originally planned.

It’s being teased on the WWE website that Triple H signed CM Punk to a new contract over the weekend after Punk confronted Triple H at Comic-Con last week. (VIDEO)

(Source: PWInsider.com, f4wonline.com)

What Happened After RAW, JR, Cena & Miz Tweet RAW

24

– After Monday’s episode of WWE RAW went off the air, CM Punk cut a promo and told the crowd that HE was WWE Champion and was back on RAW for good. The crowd went nuts for punk, who was way more over than John Cena.

– WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross was trending worldwide on Twitter during RAW after making a surprise return.  Other WWE-related topics that were trending on Twitter on Monday night include CM Punk, Kelly Kelly and Zack Ryder.

– Jim Ross tweeted after RAW:

“Thx to everyone for the response re: my return to Raw. Its good to be ‘Home.’. Hopefully I’ll get to stay a while.”

– New WWE Champion John Cena wrote the following on Twitter about last night’s RAW:

“CeNation. The champ is here. The champ is there. Looks like we may have a situation on our hands.”

– The Miz also chimed in on last night’s show:

“Oooooo…Punk and Cena. Triple H’s new WWE seems a hell of a lot like the old one. Yeah I got two words for ya…”

VIDEO: CM Punk Appears On Jimmy Kimmel Live

18

WWE star CM Punk appearaed on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” last night. Kimmel announced that show regular ‘Cousin Sal’ has a six-year-old son named Archie that is a huge John Cena fan – and strongly dislikes CM Punk. This leads to Punk paying Archie a a surprise visit at his home – and hilarity ensues. Check it out here:

SmackDown Preview, Last Week’s Rating Improves & More

9

– WWE will tape tonight’s NXT and this week’s SmackDown from Philadelphia, PA tonight. Confirmed for TV is an appearance by Triple H and more on Mark Henry’s recent devastation. Advertised locally is Randy Orton vs. World Heavyweight Champion in a Street Fight.

– Last week’s July 22 episode of SmackDown scored a 1.89 cable rating, the program’s best mark since May 20—also a 1.89.

SmackDown had not scored in the 1.80 range since May 27, with the number fluctuating between 1.63 and 1.77 during that time.

Friday’s show averaged 2,821,000 viewers over the course of two hours.

— Tyler Reks, who has portrayed a sinister heel character since debuting last October on the SmackDown brand, was among the numerous babyfaces celebrating Rey Mysterio’s WWE Championship celebration last night on Raw. To add further confusion, he performed as both a babyface and heel at this past weekend’s live events.

(Credit to PWInsider.com for the SmackDown ratings data)

VIDEO: Zack Ryder’s “Ultimate Broski” Warrior Gimmick

14

Check out this video of a battle royal at a recent live WWE event from Maryland’s Show Place Arena.

Zack Ryder is apparently now experimenting with an Ultimate Warrior gimmick – the Ultimate Broski.

Are you feeling the power of the Ultimate Broski?

CM Punk, Jim Ross & John Morrison Return, Cena Is Champion

45

Monday’s episode of RAW was newsworthy to say the least ..

– The show opened with the finals of the WWE Championship tournament – which saw Rey Mysterio defeat Rey Mysterio to win the WWE Championship.

– Triple H gave his “State of WWE” address and announced that Mysterio would defend his newly won championship later in the show against John Cena.

– Jim Ross returned to the RAW announcer’s table, in one of the first changes to WWE by the new CEO, Triple H.

– John Morrison returned and attacked R-Truth. Morrison had been sidelined since May after undergoing surgery to correct a pinched nerve in his neck.

– Zack Ryder got his first win on RAW, defeating Michael Cole in a quick match set up by Triple H.

– John Cena defeated Rey Mysterio in a PPV-caliber match to become new WWE champion, ending Mysterio’s hour-long reign.

– CM Punk returned at the end of the show (with new theme music) and had a Champion vs. Champion staredown with John Cena.

It looks like we’ve got our SummerSlam main event.

The Miz Named #1 In “PWI 500”, FCW Stars Appear On Raw

15

— The Miz, who held the WWE Championship for 160 days, has been named number one in Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s “PWI 500” list for 2011. The list, which is now in its 21st year, ranks the top 500 professional wrestlers in the world.

The official announcement has not yet been made, but PWI’s website displays the cover with the news.

The evaluation period for the “PWI 500” is from June 1, 2010, to May 31, 2011.

— WWE developmental wrestlers Aksana, Naomi and Percy Watson could be spotted during Rey Mysterio’s WWE Championship celebration on Raw.

— WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter is advertised to appear at the Bowling Green Hot Rods game at Bowling Green Ballpark 300 8th Ave. Bowling Green, Kentucky on August 17. Game time is 7:05 PM. Gates open at 6:00 p.m. Visit www.bghotrods.com for more information.

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF MONDAY’S WWE RAW?

123

What did you think about Monday’s episode of WWE RAW – Triple H’s first night as the CEO of WWE?

– Rey Mysterio defeated Rey Mysterio to win the WWE Championship, but was forced to defend the title against John Cena later in the show – who defeated Mysterio to become new champion.

– CM Punk returned at the end of the show for a Champion vs. Champion staredown with John Cena. This will most likely be settled in a unification match at SummerSlam.

– Jim Ross returned to the WWE announcer’s booth

– Zack Ryder got his first win on RAW, defeating Michael Cole in a quick match

COMMENT BELOW and tell us what you thought of RAW!

RAW Match For Next Week, Miz On MTV This Week, Superstars

6

— It was announced tonight on Raw that a #1 Contender’s Diva Battle Royal will be held on next week’s show to determine the #1 contender to the Divas Championship. The winner will face Kelly at SummerSlam.

— The Miz is advertised to appear on MTV’s The Challenge: Rivals After Show this Wednesday night at 11:00 p.m.

– Matches taped tonight in Hampton, Virginia for this week’s episode of WWE Superstars are as follows:

* Jack Swagger vs. Alex Riley

* David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty vs. Chris Masters and Santino Marella

Participants are as follows: A.J., Alicia Fox, Beth Phoenix, Brie Bella, Eve, Gail Kim, Kaitlyn, Maryse, Melina, Natalya, Nikki Bella, Rosa Mendes and Tamina.

— Dolph Ziggler debuted a remixed version of his theme song, “I Am Perfection,” tonight on Raw prior to his match against Evan Bourne.

FCW Champ Works Dark Match, Undertaker’s Greatest Moments

3

— Reigning Florida Heavyweight Champion Bo Rotundo worked a dark match prior to tonight’s Raw taping in Hampton, Virginia. He defeated Primo.

Rotundo is the son of Mike Rotunda (a/k/a Irwin R. Schyster) and brother of Raw Superstar Husky Harris. He has been competing in Florida Championship Wrestling since December 2008.

— WWE.com has posted a feature counting down the top 25 moments of The Undertaker’s career.

The synopsis reads: “From The Undertaker’s fiery rivalry with his brother Kane to his brutal Hell in a Cell bout with the sick Mankind, WWE.com digs up The Phenom’s Top 25 “gravest” moments, presented by “Final Destination 5″ in 3D and 2D theaters August 12.”

— Kane is featured on the cover of the September 2011 issue of WWE Magazine.

Generation Me Respond To RVD’s Dismissive Interview Comments

19

The Young Bucks, formerly known as Generation Me in TNA Wrestling, have responded to Rob Van Dam’s dismissive comments towards them in an interview last week with the Miami Herald.

With more than 20 years of success in the wrestling industry, one would think the young upstarts of today would line up to seek the master of the Five-Star Frog Splash for advice or feedback. RVD said in the interview that’s not the case.

“I feel like I get respect, but not in that way,” Van Dam said. “I’m open to it. Most of the guys, I don’t know if they don’t feel welcome to ask me or any of the other veterans or what. That is probably an issue that we have is the young guys should ask some of the older guys. They should be saying, ‘Hey, watch my match. Let me know what I can improve on.’

“That never happens enough. Some of the young guys who are or were there, I don’t want to mention any names. There were two young guys who just left and looked like they were out of high school. The whole time they were there, they never introduced themselves or shook my hand. Things are way different than they used to be.”

Matt Jackson (a/k/a Max Buck) has since responded to Van Dam via Twitter: “I never introduced myself to (Rob Van Dam)? Then who was that guy who wore jean shorts & Golds Gym tank-tops, that I met & always said hi to?

“I’m a 26 yr old, married man w/a child on the way & have been wrestling 8 yrs around the world. I’m not a kid but thx for the compliment!”

Brother Nick (a/k/a Jeremy Buck) added, “Apparently we’re young guys straight out of high school who don’t respect veterans. Well that’s what RVD says at least. Unreal!”

He then said in response to a fan, “We said hello to him many times. We always showed him respect. If anything he didn’t show us or the boys respect because he’s always changed in his own locker room.”

Matt made light of the situation in his Twitter bio, which now reads: “Alleged ‘big-leaguer’ of RVD, one half of The Young Bucks (TNA’s Generation Me).”