PWInsider.com is reporting that Tough Enough finalist Zamariah “ZZ” Loupe was at the WWE Performance Center on Monday training and has signed a WWE developmental deal.
ZZ, one of the most popular figures on Tough Enough this year lost in the final to Josh, surprisingly only gathering 30% of the votes after wiping out the competition every time he was in the bottom three. Many thought he would be winning the competition with Sara Lee, who turned out to be the winner of the female contract.
Loupe got a lot of criticism during the show from his coaches and judges on the panel due to his physical condition and for running out of gas at everything he did.
The Louisiana native who grew up wrestling alligators joins Amanda, the other runner-up, signing a WWE developmental deal after the end of the competition. Amanda has been moved to the cast of Total Divas for the next series, replacing Naomi.
Three more title matches were made official last night on Raw as the Divas, Tag Team and Intercontinental titles will be on the line at Night of Champions.
As reported earlier, Nikki Bella will be defending the Divas title against Charlotte with the stipulation that if Nikki is disqualified or counted out, she will still lose the title. The Intercontinental champion Ryback will be putting his gold on the line as Kevin Owens gets his first crack at the IC title after his failed attempt at getting the United States title from John Cena. Also the Tag Team titles will be up for grabs as The New Day will be defending against The Dudley Boyz following their victory against The PrimeTime Players last night.
There are only two non-title matches on the card plus the pre-show match with 7 matches during the PPV.
Kiara Grindrod, the seven year old who was featured on Raw last night along with her dad during one of the pediatric cancer month segments, got to meet John Cena and Sting after Raw went off the air.
Grindrod got the best birthday gift ever as last Friday when she was told she was cancer free. She was being treated at the St. Jude Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, the same place where yesterday Dolph Ziggler, Stephanie McMahon, the Bella Twins, and Alicia Fox visited to meet the kids.
Cena told the crowd that they had an amazing lady in the crowd who fought a hard battle and she won. At that time, the crowd started chanting ‘Yes! Yes!’
“On behalf of Sting, myself and every person behind that screen, we sincerely want to thank you for being our guest tonight, for being an inspiration to not only us in the ring, but every single person outside the ring around the world,” Cena told Kiara.
Cena and Sting then walked over to Kiara and her family and gave her hugs and Cena gave her his armband and Sting gave her his glove with the crowd making the experience a more memorable one by chanting “This is awesome!”
Nikki Bella broke AJ Lee’s record as the longest Divas champion ever with 296 days and counting after she was disqualified in her match against Charlotte last night on Raw, keeping the title despite losing the match.
Nikki won the title at the Survivor Series last November by defeating the then record holder AJ Lee. AJ was on her third title run back then and her record of 295 days was broken by Paige the night after WrestleMania 30 in New Orleans.
This is Nikki’s second run with the title. Her first title reign only lasted six days after winning a lumber jill match during an episode of Raw from Detroit. She lost the title to Layla at Extreme Rules after the twin magic trick backfired.
Nikki Bella has 302 combined days as Divas champion, placing second behind AJ Lee who has 406 combined days as champion over three different reigns.
Charlotte will have another opportunity to win the Divas title this Sunday at the Night of Champions pay-per-view and if Nikki gets counted out or disqualified she will also lose the title.
WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash is claiming that his Twitter was hacked over the weekend after a nude selfie of a woman was posted on his account.
The selfie shows a woman laying down on her bed with her legs spread as she holds the camera towards the mirror so she gets the full shot from behind. The person in the photo is Jennifer Micheli, a 53 year old fitness model and mother of 3. Micheli has since deleted her Twitter which was under the @RealJenMicheli account. Her Instagram under the account fitgirl4 is still active.
Nash tweeted, “It’s been brought to my attention my Twitter account was hacked. My apologies to anyone that was offended.” Nash has tweeted to Micheli before and even “welcomed” her to Twitter in March of this year when she joined while Micheli has been retweeting certain tweets from Nash.
The tweets were still visible on his WWE.COM profile page however WWE removed the Twitter feed from Nash’s page after realizing about the issue. A simple Google search of “Kevin Nash Twitter” brings up the thumbnail of the image as the first entry although the link leads to a page not found since the Tweet was deleted.
The fact that Nash has communicated with Micheli before is leading to speculation that his Twitter was not really hacked but it was just a mistake of Nash sending the photo public and now he’s trying to cover it up and play it as his account was hacked.
For those interested, the NSFW image can be found here. (Image not hosted by Wrestling-Online.com and can be taken offline without notice.)
Tonight’s Monday Night Raw is being touted as the season premiere and there will be two title matches on the card.
The Dudley Boyz already know they’re going to Night of Champions however their opponents are yet to be determined as The New Day will defend the Tag Team titles against The PrimeTime Players with the champions, whoever that might be, going to the NOC pay-per-view this Sunday.
Also, Nikki Bella will be hoping to break AJ Lee’s Divas title record tonight as victory against the number one contender, Charlotte, will enable her to go over the 295-day record as Divas champion. Win or lose, Charlotte will still face Nikki Bella at Night of Champions.
Sting will also be in the house for the go-home show before Night of Champions for his program with Seth Rollins.
TNA Wrestling has announced that veteran referee Earl Hebner will be inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame during the Bound For Glory weekend on Saturday, October 3. Smashing Pumpkins front man and TNA Senior Producer, Billy Corgan, will induct Hebner, with TNA Ring Announcer and Hebner’s dear friend, Jeremy Borash, emceeing. The induction will take place during the BFG tour live event in Salem, Virginia.
“Earl Hebner is not only one of the most recognizable personalities in professional wrestling, his passion for the sport, in-ring management skills, and ability to entertain audiences has set the standard by which all professional wrestling referees are measured,” said TNA President Dixie Carter. “ It is an honor to have Earl as part of the TNA family and as the newest member of the illustrious TNA Hall of Fame.”
Hebner has been refereeing since 1977 and was shot into stardom when he was unveiled as the “evil” Hebner twin, who was bribed by the Million Dollar Man to count the pin on Hulk Hogan and declare Andre The Giant as the new WWF champion during an episode of NBC’s The Main Event.
He was also part of the Montreal screw job as one of the few people who was in on the act to strip Bret Hart off his title. Hart often said that while he was sure something was going to happen, Hebner – who was one of his friends – always had his back and trusted him completely. It was Hebner who signaled for the bell that night and shot straight out of the arena to a waiting car outside.
“When I received the call from John Gaburick and he told me I am being inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame, I was stunned and my eyes welled up with tears,” said Hebner. “I’ve been working for 37 years for this incredible honor. It is rare for a referee in any sport to be recognized in this way, and I am proud TNA is recognizing me as the first referee to ever be inducted into a professional wrestling Hall of Fame.”
Hebner will be the sixth inductee into the TNA Hall of Fame, joining Sting, Kurt Angle, Bully Ray, Devon and Jeff Jarrett. He has been working for TNA since 2006 and his son Brian is also a referee for the company.
Global Force Wrestling has signed an international TV distribution deal with London-based sales and production house Boulder Creek International (BCI), which will make GFW’s Amped programs available beginning in November.
“We are thrilled to continue our international growth and partner with BCI, an industry leader that inherently understands our product, brand vision and ultimately our fans,” GFW founder and CEO Jeff Jarrett said. “We look forward to BCI helping us bring a variety of entertainment properties to our fans around the world.”
Matt Jeschelnik, managing director of BCI said, “I have always wanted to work with Jeff. I admire his business acumen and his ability to make truly entertaining content. I am delighted that Jeff has chosen BCI to distribute GFW, and I look forward to announcing our broadcast partners.”
The press release which was issued today announcing the deal did not specify where the show would eventually air and on which channel.
Hollywood actor Stephen Amell, the star of CW’s Arrow, and WWE Superstar Stardust today presented a check of $297,557 to Emily’s House in Toronto after Amell and WWE teamed up for commemorative merchandise celebrating his in-ring debut at SummerSlam.
“Sometimes you need to put your differences aside for a good cause. So today… Stardust and I presented Emily’s House in Toronto with a check for $297,557 and helped open the Dream Space Playroom in memory of Oliver “Odd Sock Ollie” Muirhead. Can’t really put into words what a special morning this was,” Amell wrote on his Facebook page accompanied by a photo with Stardust (in full face paint) and the receiving group.
Amell described Cody Rhodes as “one of the most selfless, genuine human beings I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. The two shared a feud throughout the year mostly on Twitter before it moved to the ring, culminating with a match at SummerSlam between Amell and Neville vs Stardust and King Barrett.
During a Q&A session with the fans at the Wizard World Comic Con in Pittsburgh, former two time WWE Divas champion Paige addressed the bar fight from a week ago in Baltimore.
Paige said that she and Alicia Fox were signing karaoke and there was this drunk lady who kept taking videos of them. First they asked nicely to stop recording but the “drunk mess” didn’t listen and grabbed a drink and threw it at them.
“Luckily we had a drink to throw back,” Paige said as fans laughed. The drunk patron then threw another drink and Paige poured water on her in return.
All of a sudden a bunch of friends came over and one of them started poking Paige on the head. At that point everyone got ejected from the bar and Paige said it was hard not to fight back but she didn’t want to get fired from her job. Before getting thrown out of the building, the other party told Paige and Fox that they would see them outside…and they did see them outside as a brawl was about to start.
Eventually the other ladies backed down and told them that they would fight them…on another day.
During non-televised live events, wrestlers are often given the liberty to do stuff that on television are usually a no no.
And that’s what happened at last night’s event in Huntsville, Alabama, as Heath Slater and Jimmy Uso brought the house down with an impromptu dance off. During the match, Slater challenged Uso to a dance off and Slater kicked things off dancing like a goof ball.
However when Uso started his dance, the Von Braun Center came unglued when the song ‘Watch Me’ hit the speakers. And to make things even better, WWE referee Chad Patton even joined Jimmy Uso do the Nae Nae to a large ovation from the crowd.
As you can imagine, Uso won the competition and when Slater was complaining he received a super kick to the face. You can check out the hilarious video below.
David Benoit, the son of Chris Benoit, was backstage at the non-televised live WWE event in Edmonton yesterday.
Benoit, who is an aspiring wrestler and looks very very similar to his late father, is always welcomed backstage when WWE comes to town and is big friends with Chris Jericho. Both Jericho and Natalya posted photos with Benoit on their Instagram accounts. David and his sister Megan, are Chris Benoit’s children from his first marriage. You can see the photos of Benoit with Jericho and Natalya below.
Canadian wrestler Phil Lafon, who wrestled in the WWE as Dan Kroffat with his tag team partner Doug Furnas, was also backstage at the show.
The WWE Performance Center will welcome some new additions this month as PWInsider.com is reporting that Biff Busick, the former CZW champion, and Athena Reese, who wrestled for SHIMMER, have both been signed WWE developmental deals. Also, Sarah Stock who had a career with CMLL and TNA, is now a full time coach at the premises.
Busick is a 29 year old from Boston who has been wrestling since 2007. He worked for Combat Zone Wrestling, Evolve, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, and other independents in the United Kingdom.
Reese is a 27 year old African American wrestler from Texas who also made her debut in 2007. She started wrestling for SHIMMER in September 2010 and also worked for Shine Wrestling and Women Superstars Uncensored. Her finishing move, the O-Face, is a spectacular top rope diving Stunner.
Sarah Stock will join Sara D’Amato as the other female trainer at the Performance Center. The Canadian Stock is 35 years old and has been wrestling since 2002. She wrestled as Dark Angel during her CMLL days as well as Sarita when working for TNA Wrestling between 2009 and 2013. She won the TNA Kockout Tag Team titles twice during her career there, once with Taylor Wilde and once with Rosita.
WWE Diva Lana underwent successful surgery on Thursday to repair a broken wrist she suffered last weekend while training in the ring.
“Lana underwent open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) of a left distal radius fracture with a volar plate,” Dr. Chris Amann told WWE.COM. “The fracture was stabilized and returned to its normal anatomic position during the surgery using the volar plate and screws. Lana did very well without any complications and is expected to make a full recovery.”
That recovery is expected to take up to four months which means that there will be no physical altercations on television if she’s brought in sooner. She was rumored to be tag teaming with Dolph Ziggler to take on Summer Rae and Rusev at an upcoming pay-per-view.
The surgery took place in Nashville, Tennessee, where Lana and her real-life boyfriend Rusev live.
A new episode of WWE Network’s original series Table For 3 will air on Monday night immediately following Raw.
The subjects of the new episode are Xavier Woods, Big E, and Kofi Kingston, who together are the popular and hilarious tag team The New Day. The preview on the WWE Network schedule reads, “The New Day discusses life on the road, their ups and downs, and the special bond that brought them to the top of the WWE Tag Team division!”
WWE aired only one episode of this series so far after Rowdy Roddy Piper passed away. In that episode, Mean Gene Okerlund hosted the show as Piper and Mr Wonderful Paul Orndorff discussed WrestleMania and road stories from their time in the 1980s.
FanPicks.com today announced that Hulk Hogan will be the fantasy sports site’s official spokesman and brand ambassador.
In this morning’s announcement, FanPicks.com spokesperson Shawn Perez said, “We all make mistakes and deserve second chances. Hulk Hogan is an admired athlete and Global Icon. For 3-plus decades, he has been inspiring fans around the world. He spends a good amount of his time doing so much for numerous charities and causes. He’s a perfect partner for us and together we will be making contributions to the Make-A-Wish Foundation on behalf of Hulk Hogan.”
The website is already running a promotion for free money using the promo code HULK25.
FanPicks.com is a fantasy sport industry leader, offering many options for one day fantasy league cash money games. The site offers major sports like football, baseball, basketball, hockey as well as collegiate basketball and football. In addition MMA, Golf and Racing are also offered. FanPicks.com one day leagues remove the tedious long term season commitments, members compete when they want to and are not forced into action by the grind of season long tournaments.
TNA announced on its website that Hall of Famer and former TNA champion Kurt Angle will be returning to the ring during the Bound for Glory weekend.
Angle, who has been out for two months after neck surgery to remove a benign tumor, will wrestle at the BFG Tour non-televised event in Salem, Virginia, on October 3, and then the following night at the Bound For Glory pay-per-view in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Angle stated earlier this week that once his TNA contract is up in January 2016 he will not be signing a new one and will be taking a break from professional wrestling.
Former WWE lead writer Brian Gewirtz has been named the Senior Vice President of Development for Seven Bucks Productions, the company owned by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and his ex-wife and now manager Dany Garcia.
Gewirtz worked for WWE for around 16 years before and was part of the Attitude Era team that put WWE back on the winning track. He served as the Raw lead writer for 11 years and worked with The Rock during his WWE days and was in charge of helping out writing the funny promos.
“Brian and I have had a saying for the last 15 years, every time we work together which is “Let’s knock this outta the park” and we’ve been lucky enough to hit a few bangers that are still sailing,” said Johnson in a story published on Deadline Hollywood.
“This is an exciting time for Seven Bucks and we’re thrilled to work with Brian to continue producing groundbreaking programming that speaks to a global audience,” added Dany Garcia.
In a statement issued to PWInsider.com, WWE stood by developmental talent Nhooph Al-Areebi over the racist remarks that were dug up from her Twitter profile from several years ago.
Earlier this week, a story on Reddit’s SquaredCircle community outed these years old tweets that showed Al-Areebi using the “n” word and making other racial remarks. Al-Areebi, a Canadian of Arab descent, deleted her Twitter account as a result of this.
“WWE conducted a thorough investigation and has determined that Nhooph Al-Areebi’s (aka Jasmin) Twitter account was used without her knowledge when she was 16 and 17 years old. Jasmin remains apologetic for any offensive remarks that were made.”
Al-Areebi said that she used her Twitter account with someone else and called it “poor judgment” from her end.
Japanese female Superstar Kana was at the NXT television tapings yesterday at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, and was given her new WWE name.
The 33 year old from Osaka will now be wrestling under the name of Asuka, a tribute to multi-time champion and retired Japanese pro wrestler Lioness Asuka. Lioness Asuka had a 25 year pro wrestling career and was a major part of the All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling. She retired in 2005 after a neck injury.
The new Asuka taped an in-ring segment that will air on the September 23 edition of NXT on the WWE Network.
