WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler will be wrestling for the first time since his heart attack when he teams up with fellow Hall of Famer Dory Funk Jr., on Saturday, May 25 as part of the !Bang! TV show in Florida.
“The King” suffered a heart attack on the September 10, 2012, live edition of Monday Night RAW while doing commentary. The 63 year old Lawler was saved by the ringside WWE doctor who performed CPR and other life-saving measures on him. He had to be shocked several times backstage before he was brought back to life.
Jim Ross, Lawler’s long time broadcast partner said that he is getting back in the ring because he loves professional wrestling and not because he needs the cash. Ross admitted he didn’t speak to Lawler about this decision and said that his cardiologist must have signed off on getting back in the ring.
Can Raw tonight follow up last week’s amazing WRESTLING show? I hope so, as we are live from Roanoke, Virginia.
How will the south-eastern fans of the U.S. take to Fandango? What is the update on WWE Champion John Cena and his (literate) achilles heel?
The Shield continue to dominate, on their way to a potential WWE Tag-Team Championship match with champions Team Hell No, so who will they take out next? Or can Kane and/or Daniel Bryan manage to stop them, even just for one night?
And the path continues to form for World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler for his Triple-Threat Ladder bout at Extreme Rules.
All this and more, so read on!
Monday Night Raw TV Report for May 6th, 2013 – “Let’s Get Extreme!”
Introduction Segment: Recap and Welcoming
Still photos of Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman vandalizing Triple H’s office at WWE Headquarters is aired, as is the main-event match and subsequent events between The Shield, Team Hell No, WWE Champion John Cena, and Ryback.
Michael Cole embraces us and the WWE Champion is out to kick off the show!
Segment #1: Arena Promo
The Champ says there are a lot of unrest and questions in WWE right now. He uses Tag-Team Champion Daniel Bryan’s method of “yes” or “no” to answer some of the inquires. He says “yes,” it was a bad idea for him to wrestle on his injured ankle, but “no” it will not keep him from defending the WWE Title at Extreme Rules.
“Yes,” he was confused about Ryback’s intentions after leaving the arena last week, then coming back at the end to smirk and stand at the top of the stage. Cena makes a few jokes, then tells Ryback that he will realize “the champ is here!”
Supervising Manager Vickie Guerrero “excuses” herself and is excited that Cena will be at Extreme Rules to go through with the contest. Since the pay-per-view will be “extreme,” she invites Ryback to the ring for the stipulation to their match. She does let Cena choose first. He makes fun of Ryback and mocks his voice, then cites that he doesn’t care what type of match they have. He just wants a chance to fight and a chance “to shut up the world’s largest complainer.”
Vickie turns to the challenger, and even though she didn’t appreciate him walking out seven days ago, she says he is very luck and will let him pick the stipulation. Ryback threatens that he will expose Cena’s personal and professional weaknesses, as he will not be able to answer the 10-count. The match will be a Last Man Standing Match!
Later tonight, Triple H will react to Heyman and Lesnar’s raid on his headquarters office, and up next, Randy Orton is in action!
Commercials.
Match #1: Single – “The Viper” Randy Orton VS. “The Intellectual Savior Of The Masses” Damien Sandow
Prior to the bout, Sandow irritates Randy by altering his theme song lyrics to put him down. (Note: he does have a great singing voice!)
Orton is hot at first with punches and knees. He chucks him to the outside and clotheslines Sandow to the floor. Randy backdrops Damien against the barricade. Orton tries to drop a DDT on him from the outside of the apron, but Sandow shoves Randy off. Orton gains control quickly again with a backbreaker and 10-punch in the corner. He brings him overhead with a standard suplex and continues dominance with stomps all over the mat.
Ads.
Back live, Sandow has Orton in a grounding rear chinlock which Orton manages to battle out of a bit until Damien brings him down again and drops the “Elbow Of Distain” to his chest. Damien whips him into the corner, but Orton fires back with clotheslines and a powerslam. He hits a dropkick as Sandow flew off the middle rope, then plants him with the slingshot DDT. Randy “zones up” and nails the R.K.O. for the victory!
Winner via Pinfall: Randy Orton
Post-match, The Big Show blind sides Orton on the stage with a Knockout Punch, as Randy was walking to the back. Show squats over him and doesn’t say anything. Referees are now checking on Orton.
Later tonight, Alberto Del Rio will take on World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler! Up next, Fandango!
Commercials.
Segment #2: Arena Promo
The pyro explodes and “Y2J” Chris Jericho is back! Replays are shown from two weeks ago when he threw Fandango off the ramp and danced with Summer Rae. Jericho brings out Tons Of Funk, who are here to help “Y2J” judge Fandango’s (or the many other nicknames Jericho calls him) moves.
The reaction for Fandango is good from the fans, and he dances his way out with the brunette partner again. Sweet T., Brodus Clay, and Jericho give him a score 2, 2, and 1. Fandango disputes Jericho’s credibility, since he lost on Dancing With The Stars, then his opponent, R-Truth comes out.
Match #2: Single – Fandango (with Dancer) VS. R-Truth
Truth is all over Fandango, dropping him with a suplex-facebuster. Truth gets a perfect score and more for his moves, which irritates Fandango who walks away and is counted-out.
Winner via Count-Out: R-Truth
Ads.
Segment #3: Backstage Promo
Josh Matthews is with Tag-Team Champion Daniel Bryan. Daniel says that he is fine, and says that it takes more than The Shield to put him down. He challenges Ryback to a rematch from Smackdown, but Ryback interrupts and rejects, insinuating that Bryan is too weak after The Shield’s assault. Bryan’s tag-team partner and Tag-Team Champion Kane gets in Ryback’s face and asks him if he is half the man that Ryback is. Ryback responds by telling Kane that he is not the monster he used to be.
Commercials.
It is announced that Guerrero made the match official, Kane will face Ryback tonight!
Match #3: Single – Alberto Del Rio VS. World Heavyweight Champion “The Show Off” Dolph Ziggler (with A.J. Lee and Big E. Langston) (Non-Title)
They circle the ring then engage in an elbow/collar tie-up. Ziggler and Del Rio break, then Alberto grabs Dolph out of a kick into a side headlock takedown. Ziggler is whipped into the ropes and a hip toss, but comes back with a smacking dropkick. Dolph hammers away in the corner, then runs at Del Rio with a splash. 1 – 2 – kickout by Alberto!
Del Rio comes back in the corner, running at Dolph with a jumping kick-to-the-arm for a near-fall. Del Rio tries a suplex, but is reversed by Ziggler. The World Heavyweight Champion punches away in the corner, but misses again and lands in a sitting position between the top and middle ropes. Alberto drops him with the backstabber, and then the drums of Jack Swagger’s music blasts. Alberto is distracted as Swagger and Zeb Colter walk to the ring, then stare down Big E.
Ads.
Back live, Ziggler has Del Rio face down in a grounding facelock, but Alberto battles back a little. Dolph hits another resounding dropkick for two! He hits a series of elbow drops, also for near-falls. Ziggler runs off the ropes but gets caught in a flapjack by Alberto! He tries to hit the running enziguri, but Dolph crawls out of the way first. He reverses a headlock into a swinging neckbreaker, 1 – 2 – Del Rio kicks out! He cuts Ziggler off the top, the brings him back with a reverse suplex from the third turnbuckle!
Ziggler misses another splash in the corner and bounces off the post! Del Rio spins him around with the tilt-a-whirl backbreaker then kicks him square in the face! Alberto locks on the cross armbreaker, but A.J. hops the apron to distract the referee. Langston pulls Del Rio out and throws him into Swagger, causing the dq!
Winner via Disqualification: Alberto Del Rio (with Ricardo Rodriguez)
Post-match, Jack goes ape and takes out everyone but A.J. with a ladder he pulled from under the ring!
Segment #4: Backstage Promo
Natalya, Cameron, Naomi, The Great Khali and Divas Champion Kaitlyn discuss Kaitlyn’s secret admirer. When they walk off, The Bella Twins appear from behind a curtain, overhearing all.
Commercials.
Match #4: 6-Man Tag-Team – The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins) VS. The Usos (Jimmy and Jey) and United States Champion Kofi Kingston (Non-Title)
The Shield dominates this contest, with the power game and strategy. They frequently tag in and out, keeping each man fresh and corner their opponents to their side. Kofi changes the pace when he is finally tagged in, flying all over the place with crossbodies and dropkicks. He goes for move from the top, but Rollins shoves him off, allowing Ambrose to plant him with the bulldog/DDT combo for the 1 – 2 – 3!
Ads.
Match #5: Single – “Long Island Iced-Z” Zack Ryder VS. Antonio Cesaro
Cesaro is stiff right away, with a couple of uppercuts and a scoop slam. He turns him over with a gutwrench suplex, then gives him fast fists in the corner. Snap suplex and quick cover from Antonio, but he gets planted with a facebuster by Ryder. “Long Island Iced-Z” hits a middle-rope dropkick, but is cut off again by another harsh uppercut and The Neutralizer to finish this one.
Winner via Pinfall: Antonio Cesaro
Post-match, Cesaro wonders if there is any more competition for him. He says that he puts the “E” in “WWE,” and goes through all of the WWE shows to say that they can’t “hold a candle to what I can do in this ring.”
Up next, we will find out the destruction that Heyman and Lesnar left behind at Triple H’s office, which has been hyped up all night.
Commercials.
Segment #5: Satellite Promo
Paul Heyman is here as the advocate for the “Beast Incarnate” Brock Lesnar. He airs the footage of Lesnar and him at WWE World Headquarters. In short, they barge through and demolish Triple H’s place. Heyman explains that he is the “voice of reason” whenever Brock goes on a rampage. However, after “The Game” dropped Paul E. with a Pedigree, Heyman will now be the “encourager” to Lesnar, particularly at Extreme Rules inside the Steel Cage! Before he can keep going, the victim interrupts and makes his way to the ring.
Triple H insults Heyman’s hairstyle to begin with, then compares his version of “extreme” to HHH’s. He reminds Paul of D-Generation X, the infamous group he founded, and his stronghold on the Attitude Era, which he ruled with an “iron fist.” HHH says that he has two offices, the one in Stamford, and the one right here, pointing down to the squared circle. Triple H puts over that office as where he grew up to “be a man,” where it has a helluva view (the fans), and where “we fight back.”
Ads.
Match #6: 6-Women Tag-Team – The Bella Twins (Nikki and Brie) and A.J. VS. “The Funkadactyls” (Cameron and Naomi) and Divas Champion Kaitlyn (Non-Title)
A.J. and Cameron start, with A.J. hitting her from behind. She turns her around with two consecutive neckbreakers, and clotheslines her down. Cameron comes back with a second-rope diving crossbody, then tags in the Divas Champ. Kaitlyn slowly walks over to a downed A.J. and stares her down. A.J. slaps her then runs off, but the Bellas will not tag in. Kaitlyn measures and spears A.J. for the victory!
Winners via Pinfall: “The Funkadactyls” (Cameron and Naomi) and Divas Champion Kaitlyn
Commercials.
Segment #6: Arena Promo
“The World’s Strongest Man” Mark Henry is out and is going to face-off with Sheamus. He lists the Irishman’s usual poses, but tells us that while Sheamus will be acting, Henry will not be, as he is already tough. He replays footage of him running over Sheamus backstage from Smackdown last month, and from Raw three weeks ago. “The World’s Strongest Man” challenges Sheamus to a bout at Extreme Rules.
Sheamus responds with a montage of his own, taking out Henry from last week’s Tug-Of-War on Raw, and the Arm-Wrestling on Smackdown (again, read that fine report on this fine website). The two don’t want to put this off until Extreme Rules after all, but are interrupted by the Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett.
Ads.
Match #7: Single – Sheamus VS. Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett (Non-Title)
(Note: Mark Henry is on commentary). Sheamus is locked in a grounding rear chinlock by Barrett, but comes back with a shoulder-tackle in the corner and pounds away against the ropes ten times. He runs and pushes Wade off the apron to the announce table. He chucks Barrett into Henry, then gives him the Brogue Kick as “The World’s Strongest Man” charged at him. Sheamus dives off the top rope with the Battering Ram, and goes for the Texas Cloverleaf submission, but Barrett reverses into a small package for two!
Barrett attempts Wasteland, but Sheamus counters into the Irish Curse backbreaker for a near fall. He tries the Brogue Kick, but Barrett ducks and delivers a kick and forearm of his own. Wade is gearing up for the Bullhammer Elbow, but Sheamus picks him up into White Noise and fires up for the Brogue again. He nails it for the 1 – 2 – 3!
Winner via Pinfall: Sheamus
Post-match, Henry whips Sheamus from behind with a belt, then puts him to the floor with the World’s Strongest Slam.
Up next, Ryback takes on Tag-Team Champion Kane!
Commercials.
It is announced that Chris Jericho will face Fandango on next week’s Raw in a “dance-off!” (This actually could be entertaining for a change, considering who’s involved!)
Match #8: Single – Tag-Team Champion and “Team Hell No” Member Kane VS. Ryback (Non-Title)
(Note: It is also made known that Ryback will be a guest on Chris Jericho’s “Highlight Reel” on this Friday’s Smackdown). They lockup and Ryback shoves Kane off. Kane sweeps Ryback down and sends him off with a side headlock. He catches Ryback with a tilt-a-whirl powerslam and covers for one. Kane signals for the Chokeslam but Ryback ducks and pushes him outside. Kane drags Ryback with him, but the new beast chucks him into the corner of the barricade.
Ads.
Ryback is in firm domination, clasping Kane in a front facelock. He jumps on Kane with a Lou Thesz press and rams his head into the canvas. Ryback gears up for the Meathook Clothesline, but instead eats a big boot from Kane!
“The Big Red Machine” grabs him by the throat, but Ryback fends him off. Kane hits another boot for two and runs him back-to-back corners with clotheslines, but gets caught with a spinebuster. Ryback demands to “finish it,” and attempts the Marching Samoan Drop, but Kane reverses into a suplex.
Kane ascends the to the top rope, but Ryback meets him in the corner. Kane punches him off, but Ryback crotches him. Off the turnbuckle, Kane is position into the ShellShock for the victory by Ryback!
Winner via Pinfall: Ryback
Post-match, the megaphone theme of The Shield signals the trio’s entrance through the crowd. Kane’s partner, Daniel Bryan, enters and stands up, as does WWE Champion John Cena, who runs down too. Ryback has retreated to the announce booth, but he comes back in with a steel chair! He swings at The Shield, and Bryan follows with a suicide dive onto Rollins and Ambrose. Cena had taken out Reigns, when Ryback ambushes Cena with the weapon. He puts him face down and stands over a prone WWE Champion, declaring “Ryback rules – done!” to close the show.
End Of Raw.
Reporter’s Rumblings – By Moe Tapp
This was another fantastic Raw with many more likes than last week, and even less dislikes! Way to go and keep it up. On to the regular analysis.
Excellence: Some more great wrestling – particularly Rhodes/Orton (these two have great chemistry), Del Rio/Ziggler (beautiful in terms of abilities), Antonio/Zack (showed what Cesaro is all about), Barrett/Sheamus (good old British stiffness), and Kane/Ryback (good power game struggle). Cena’s ethic for working through an injury shows again and kudos to him for pushing on with the serious debilitation. The Last Man Standing bout will be intriguing, because it is a way to protect both stars – if they go with Ryback to win the WWE Title, well Cena’s injured so there’s an automatic excuse. If Ryback loses, then they can say he was never pinned, just put down with an “extreme” amount of foreign objects. I’m not sure who will win and I’m not sure who I want to win.
Still liking the feud between Jericho and Fandango – unique way of continuing it with the “judging,” and the psychology of throwing him off with the low scores and forcing him to walk out on the match. As said above, next week’s “dance-off” with it being “Y2J” and Fandango, this usually “lame” segment should be fun to watch! There is no clear-cut winner going into the Triple-Threat Ladder match. This is good, because it does make me/others speculate on who they will have the World Championship be wrapped around come the end of Extreme Rules. (Personally, my choice is of course Dolph for a long run!)
Ceasro’s promo – he really is good on the mike and should be re-elevated more again. I was hoping for someone new (NXT when he mentioned them) to come on out and be a new challenger/rival, but nonetheless, hopefully his speech will be a new restart.
Triple H’s passionate tirade on how he grew up in the “office” of the WWE ring and will get even more “extreme” than he has been in the past. The man does have a desire, and when he cuts talks like tonight’s, it certainly shines through.
Bogus: Big Show/Orton feud – while Randy is having great matches weekly, just not interested in these two going at it. There is no real “thing” up for grabs other than pride, and even that is not exemplifying like it should be. DO NOT CARE who Kaitlyn’s secret admirer is and the backstage segment was some really bad acting! Bad storyline – finish it soon! The Heyman/Lesnar “workplace invasion” (as Michael Cole referred to it as) was way over-hyped and just seemed too fake. No one would get into Triple H’s office that easy without proof of permission and/or security getting in the way. While Heyman commentated during it well as he always does, I feel the segment didn’t push the storyline any further.
Overall, this was another awesome show – only three “boguses,” so not bad! Continued to build Extreme Rules nicely and the flow of Raw was smooth again too. As I have been saying lately, keep it going WWE Creative! Until next week, as always, Be Excellent Wrestling-Online Readers and Wrestling Fans!
Former WWE champion The Miz was advertised to be appearing on Monday Night RAW yesterday however he wasn’t at the show as he was stuck in Vancouver doing some final scenes for his upcoming movie.
Filming for the Christmas Bounty movie – made for TV between WWE Studios and ABC Family – ran a bit longer than expected which prevented The Miz from showing up on RAW.
The Miz noted on his Twitter that he finished his last scene now for the movie which frees him up for next week’s Monday Night RAW in Tulsa.
Christmas Bounty will premiere during ABC Family’s “25 Days of Christmas” programming and the story revolves around a female bounty hunter turned elementary schoolteacher who struggles to hide her wild family business and a bounty hunter ex-boyfriend she thought she’d left behind.
The Miz has been off WWE television since that pretty famous Monday Night RAW in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on the day after WrestleMania where he lost the Intercontinental title to Wade Barrett.
John Cena, Kane, and Daniel Bryan had some fun with the Wheeling, West Virginia, crowd this past weekend during a non-televised live event.
After Kane took both tag titles, and Bryan complained about it, John Cena said they are in WV and it’s a tradition that when WWE comes here, they do a little something different.
Cena told Bryan that he will give him the WWE title instead if he sings the first verse and the chorus of the song “Country Roads.”
Cena said they are a team and he kicked off the song as the crowd sang along and then Bryan sang a bit and started goofing around in the ring. Cena then threw him the WWE title as he celebrated but Kane took the WWE title away from him and gave it back to Cena.
Kane said that if he wants the tag team title, he has to do one thing – hug! Bryan didn’t want to at first and fans chanted yes, yes, yes, and Bryan had some fun with the crowd hugging Kane in slow mo and then jumping up and down.
The hilarious segment went on for 10 minutes and ended with a fan being invited to the ring to hug Cena and get into a yes/no shouting contest with Bryan. Great stuff. Watch it in full below.
In a story carried by the Financial Times it was revealed that YouTube is planning to announce a subscription model where viewers will be able to subscribe to certain channels for as little as $1.99 a month.
WWE was listed in the story however it states that it is unclear which companies have signed up to adopt the new subscription-based service.
WWE’s YouTube channel boasts almost 1.5 million subscribers and contains over 11,000 videos with a massive 528 million video views overall.
Last week WWE announced a new partnership with Yahoo! for a new digital video channel, raising doubts that the deal between WWE and YouTube is about to end.
The main event of Extreme Rules has got itself a stipulation added apart from being for the WWE title.
Current champ John Cena will defend his gold against number one contender Ryback in a last man standing match as announced yesterday on Monday Night RAW.
This is the third gimmick match for the pay-per-view with Lesnar vs Triple H in a steel cage match and Ziggler vs Del Rio vs Swagger in a triple threat ladder match for the World title.
The only other match announced with Sheamus vs Mark Henry is so far a regular match.
The big angle shot for tonight’s Monday Night RAW is Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar showing up at the WWE Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, and destroying Triple H’s office.
The angle was pushed by Paul Heyman on his Twitter account, posting several tweets and photos from the attack. Heyman promised to air footage of the destruction during tonight’s episode. Looks like someone was due for new office furniture!
The two are set to meet at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view in a steel cage match. Tonight’s RAW is taking place at the Roanoke Civic Center in Roanoke, Virginia. Lesnar is not advertised for the show.
WWE will be running public service announcements with Sean “Diddy” Combs for the anti-bullying campaign Be a STAR. The campaign will run on WWE’s weekly TV shows as well as on all its digital platforms.
“I’m thrilled to extend my partnership with WWE and align myself with their Be a STAR, anti-bullying initiative,” said Combs. “Bullying is a very serious issue and needs to stop now.”
Combs has worked with WWE on several different occasions including serving as ambassador for Be a STAR, singing during the Tribute to the Troops show and most recently performing at the past two WrestleManias among other gigs.
“WWE is proud to continue its partnership with Sean “Diddy” Combs and join together to put an end to bullying,” said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman and CEO.
WWE is once again giving a helping hand to the Susan G. Komen foundation to raise awareness against breast cancer with a new campaign titled “Make Mom Proud.”
As part of the campaign, WWE will urge fans to support moms by taking steps to educate themselves about the disease, participate in local Susan G. Komen Races in their communities, and donate to Komen, the world’s largest nonprofit funder of breast cancer research and community outreach programs. The campaign will be promoted through all of WWE’s assets, including TV broadcasts, live events, digital and social media.
“WWE fans are making a tremendous contribution to our mission to help women with breast cancer by supporting our community breast cancer programs for uninsured and underserved women, and through our global breast cancer research,” said Nancy Brinker, founder and CEO of Susan G. Komen. “We’re so grateful for the support of the WWE community in our mission to end suffering from this disease.”
Triple H and WWE Divas Alicia Fox and Layla will be featured in a series of PSAs throughout the month to encourage fans to get involved. Alicia Fox and Layla will also attend the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure and its surrounding events on Mother’s Day weekend in Washington, D.C.
“WWE is dedicated to supporting Susan G. Komen and their fight to eradicate breast cancer,” said Triple H, Executive Vice President, Talent and Live Events, WWE. “Susan G. Komen is at the forefront of breast cancer research and community outreach programs, and I’m proud that the WWE Universe is supporting such an important cause.”
In September 2012, WWE and John Cena partnered with Susan G. Komen to launch the “Rise Above Cancer” campaign. Cena wore co-branded, pink and black ring gear that fans were able to purchase throughout October, raising $1 million to support Susan G. Komen’s mission.
Dwayne Johnson managed to stay in the top 3 box office chart this week with Pain & Gain coming in second place with $7.6 million behind the massive opening of Iron Man 3 which did $175.3 million.
Johnson noted in a tweet last week that the movie will be “knocked out” by Tony Stark’s arrival before taking his fans for making his latest movie the number one movie in the box office chart.
“Aaand here comes #IronMan3 #ITakeThisKOLikeAMan ;)” Johnson tweeted.
So far Pain & Gain did $33,919,000 million nationwide off a $26 million production budget. It opens worldwide in August. His next movie will be Fast & Furious 6 and that is expected to take top spot as well, making his three films this year so far – G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Pain & Gain, and Fast 6 – all number ones on their opening weekend.
TMZ.COM is carrying a story where Chael Sonnen tells them that he wants to buy WWE when he retires from his MMA career!
A representative for Sonnen – who lost his fight against Jon Jones last week – told TMZ that Sonnen isn’t joking and that it is “100% Chael’s intent to buy WWE!”
TMZ reached out to WWE to get their thoughts about the idea and a spokesman for the company said that WWE is a publicly traded company and if Sonnen wants a piece of the company he is “more than welcome to purchase shares of WWE stock and become one of our valued shareholders.”
The new artwork for the WrestleMania 29 Blu-Ray and DVD releases feature a small tribute to the late Paul Bearer who passed away just weeks before the big pay-per-view.
The side artwork has the usual WWE Home Video logo, along with the pay-per-view logo and then a picture of an urn with ‘3 Disc Set’ written for the DVD version and ‘2 Disc Set’ written on the urn for the Blu-Ray version.
The front artwork has a big photo of The Rock and John Cena along with the WrestleMania 29 logo occupying the top half of the artwork and then on the bottom there’s Big Show, Randy Orton, Sheamus, Mark Henry, Alberto Del Rio, Triple H, The Undertaker, CM Punk, Brock Lesnar, Jack Swagger, Ryback, and The Shield all featured. It’s basically everyone who participated at WrestleMania minus Kane, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, Big E Langston, Fandango, and Chris Jericho.
WrestleMania 29 comes out on Blu-Ray and DVD on May 14. You can check out the artwork below.
In their latest 10-Q filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, WWE revealed that they will be spending $27.5 million to purchase a corporate jet and replace their current one.
The agreement was signed on April 30 for a 2006 Bombardier Global 5000 jet assuming the jet passes the necessary inspection and tests by the company’s outside aviation advisors. After improvements and applicable taxes, WWE will end up paying up to $32 million for the jet.
Currently the company has a 1998 Canadair Challenger 604 jet which has been used by WWE since 2001. The 22 seater jet, which carries registration number N247WE, will be sold after the new jet is delivered to WWE.
Triple H won an award at the Revolver Golden Gods 2013 Awards two nights ago in a ceremony hosted by fellow WWE Superstar Chris Jericho. The fifth annual awards show was held in Los Angeles at Club Nokia.
Triple H was nominated for the most metal athlete award with five other athletes – Tom Crabtree from the NFL’s Green Bay Packers, rally driver Tanner Faust, UFC fighter Clay Guida, skateboarder Geoff Rowley, and CJ Wilson from MLB’s Los Angeles Angels.
The former WWE and World Heavyweight champion was not present to collect the award however sent in a video message, jokingly saying he was in Germany substituting Chris Jericho in his band Fozzy. He thanked the fans for voting for him and said he is very proud of the award and that it means a lot to him.
If you live in Canada and you are a WWE fan, there’s some good news for you!
Monday Night RAW will be live on The Score starting with the upcoming episode on May 6 at 8PM EST instead of starting at 8:15PM. The Score was recently purchased by Rogers Communications and it was one of the decisions taken by the new owners.
The good news? You get to sleep 15 minutes earlier on Mondays!
CM Punk has been removed from the upcoming WWE tours in Japan and Australia which will take place in early and late July respectively.
Punk – who is currently on a sabbatical from his WWE duties – was initially advertised on the WWE site to be appearing in both shows however his name has now been taken off the roster.
The former WWE champion is not listed for any shows till SummerSlam.
Impact begins with Hulk Hogan coming to the ring and calling out Sting. Hogan apologizes to Sting for pushing him away when he should have been pulling his friends in closer. Sting and Hogan shake hands and make up.
Matt Morgan comes to the ring to confront Hogan and Sting. Morgan is angry because he thinks Hogan is going to make Sting the #1 contender to face Bully Ray at Slammiversary for the TNA title. Hogan announces that his plan was to have a #1 contenders match later tonight between Sting and Matt Morgan.
Thankfully he didn’t order them to sit down and talk about it until Hogan feels like he wants to pick a winner. I always hated it when they did that. The main event tonight will be Sting versus Morgan in a #1 contenders match.
Chris Sabin is shown recovering from his injuries and will be in action later tonight
Commercial
Match #1: Sonjay Dutt versus Zema Ion versus Chris Sabin to determine the #1 contender to the X division title.
Zema starts the match by pie facing Sonjay and Sabin; they respond by throwing him out of the ring. Sabin hits Sonjay with a kick, Sonjay responds with a hurricanrana. Sabin hits Sonjay with an enzuigiri. Zema flips into the ring and takes Sabin and Sonjay over at the same time with a sunset flip.
Zema hits Sabin with a kick and Sabin falls into the ropes. Zema hits Sabin in the back with a running double knee strike. Sabin hits Zema with a pair of chops and Zema takes Sabin down with a hair pull. Zema ties Sabin and Sonjay up in a weird three way roll up that nearly pins both men.
Sonjay lands a couple punches to Sabin, a tilt a whirl DDT to Zema, and a standing shooting star press to Sabin. Zema hits Sonjay with a DDT. Sabin hits Zema with a clothesline and then a powerbomb. Sabin hits both Sonjay and Zema with a death valley driver. Sabin backdrops Zema into Sonjay and then hits Zema with a version of a fishermans buster suplex for the win.
After the match, Robbie E and Jesse are talking about facing Rob Terry in a handicap match. Jesse suggests they get Joey Ryan to team up with them and make it a 3 way. Jesse thinks it would be the perfect combination of sleazy and easy. Robbie doesn’t think that rhymes.
Commercial
When we return, Bully Ray is addressing the rest of Aces and Eights. Bully thinks Sting and Hogan were mocking them earlier tonight and he’s mad. Bully is also concerned about Kurt Angle and wants to know who is going to take care of him tonight. Vice President D Lo Brown insists he can take care of Angle. I didn’t even know he could still wrestle.
Match #2: Robbie E and Jesse and Joey Ryan versus Rob Terry.
Not much of a match. Rob Terry trades some punches with the three stooges and hits them with some power moves. They tag in and out quickly and take the advantage for a short time, but eventually Terry dominates all three of them at the same time and wins the match with a Beast Bomb to Joey Ryan.
Commercial
When we return, Bobby Roode and Austin Aries enter the ring to address Bad Influences offer last week to reform Fortune. Bobby admits he was thinking about it, but he’s sticking with Austin Aries. They’re both former World Champions, something they claim Kaz and Daniels will never be, and they have a common goal: the tag titles.
Kaz and Daniels come out to confront Roode and Aries. Daniels claims they are going to beat Roode and Aries next week and become the #1 contenders for the tag titles. Daniels also claims no one is feeling any blood flow in their genital area for Roode or Aries. He’s probably wrong but I won’t get into that.
Current tag champs Chavo and Hernandez come out to talk a little trash (but not as well as the other 4 did) and announce that James Storm will be the guest referee for the tag match next week.
Sting approaches Kurt Angle in the back and wants a word with him. He tells the cameraman he wants a word with Angle and then closes the door. It’s like Sting could SEE there was a camera following him around; wrestlers never act like they notice the ever present cameras. Sting must be special.
Commercial
Match #3: D Lo versus Kurt Angle.
D Lo says he isn’t just going to beat Angle, he’s going to do something no one has ever done before; he’s going to make Angle say “I Quit.” The two men exchange strikes and Angle hits D Lo with a clothesline. Angle puts D Lo in a modified STF but Angle gets distracted by the presence of several Aces and Eights members at ringside.
D Lo hits Angle in the back and Angle responds with a suplex. D Lo goes to the floor and Angle goes after him. D Lo slams Angle into the steel post and attacks his arm with a hammer. D Lo focuses on the arm and repeatedly slams it into the post and the mat. D Lo rolls Angle in and steps on his arm.
D Lo hits Angle’s arm with a leg drop and then twists his arm. Angle fights his way out and lands several punches, but D Lo responds with a heel kick and puts Angle in a cross armbreaker. Angle works his way out of the hold and reverses it into an ankle lock. D Lo kicks Angle off and puts him in a modified cobra clutch. Angle slips out of the hold and hits D Lo with 6 straight German Suplexes.
Angle goes for the ankle lock again but D Lo kicks him off. D Lo hits Angle with a Samoan Drop and then tries a powerbomb. Angle slips out of the powerbomb attempt and gets the ankle lock on again and grapevines the leg. D Lo taps, but that’s not good enough.
Angle keeps the pressure on and D Lo says “I quit.” D Lo could be in trouble: he insisted on the match, insisted he would win, insisted that it be I quit, he refused any help, and then he said “I quit.”
After the match, Angle has something else he wants to address. Angle calls out AJ Styles.
Commercial
When we return, Angle is still waiting for AJ, and AJ finally comes out. Angle tells AJ he doesn’t like the look in AJ’s eyes. Angle says he wants the two of them to team up with Sting next week against Aces and Eights. AJ doesn’t answer, and Angle tells him he’s got to pick a side, and if he picks the wrong side, they’re going to have a problem.
Commercial
Match #4: Gail Kim and Tara versus Taryn Terrell and Mickie James.
All 4 knockouts start brawling as the match begins. Eventually Mickie and Taryn slam Gail’s and Tara’s heads together and the heels fall out to the floor. Taryn hits Tara and Gail with a double dropkick and rolls Gail into the ring.
Taryn clotheslines Gail and then takes her down with a snapmare. Taryn tags Mickie and Mickie applies an armbreaker to Gail, but Gail makes it to the ropes. Mickie and Gail exchange forearm shots and kicks. Gail clotheslines Mickie and tags in Tara. Tara and Gail double team Mickie and hit her with a lot of kicks.
Tara slams Mickie to the mat and stretches her out in a bridge until Taryn comes in and breaks it up. Tara tags in Gail and Gail lands a couple kicks. Mickie fights back with an elbow and a hurricanrana. Mickie and Gail knock each other down with stereo cross body attempts. Gail tags in Tara and Mickie tags in Taryn.
Taryn takes Tara down with a pair of clotheslines. Taryn goes to the top rope and hits Tara with a flying cross body. Gail breaks up the pin attempt and Mickie comes in after Gail. Taryn rolls up Tara for the win during the confusion.
After the match, the knockouts start to brawl again. Mickie and Tara battle outside the ring and back to the locker room. Gail hits Taryn with Eat Defeet and then pounds her head into the mat repeatedly. Gail then drags Taryn over to the ropes and applies a figure four leg lock in the steel ring post. ODB eventually breaks it up.
Commercial
Match #5: Matt Morgan versus Sting for the #1 contender spot at Slammiversary.
Morgan shoves Sting to the corner and lands several punches and headbutts. Morgan whips Sting hard into the corner and then clotheslines him. Morgan hits Sting with another headbutt and chokes him in the corner. Sting fights out and lands several punches, and Morgan choke slams Sting to the mat.
Commercial
Sting and Morgan are battling outside the ring, slamming each other into the steps and the security barriers. Sting gets the advantage and rolls Morgan back in. Morgan hits Sting with a side slam and then sits on his back. Morgan stomps on Sting and then hits him with a clothesline.
Sting lands a couple punches and Morgan responds with a bodyslam. Morgan misses an elbow drop and Sting hits Morgan with a series of punches and clotheslines. Sting hits Morgan with a Stinger Splash. Morgan turns Sting around in the corner and hits him with a headbutt and several back elbows. Sting hits Morgan with a clothesline and goes for another Stinger Splash, but Morgan hits him with the Carbon Footprint!
Morgan covers Sting but gets only 2! Morgan goes for the Carbon Footprint again, but Sting ducks it and Morgan jams his leg on the turnbuckle. Sting puts Morgan in the Scorpion death lock, but Morgan gets to the ropes.
Sting gets the Scorpion back on and has it on for a long time, sitting all the way back onto Morgan’s ass. Morgan appears to have passed out from pain. The ref checks on Morgan and confirms he is unconscious. Sting is the #1 contender.
Bully Ray and the rest of Aces and Eights come to the ring. Bully Ray angrily waves his title belt around and shouts at Sting as Impact goes off the air.
Deadline.com is reporting that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is teaming up with HBO after he received the green light for a pilot order for a thirty minute dramedy.
Johnson will reunite with his Pain & Gain co-star Mark Wahlberg and director Peter Berg for the pilot and the still untitled project is written by Boardwalk Empire producer Steve Levinson.
The show will chronicle the lives of athletes – some retired, some still active – living in Miami with the former WWE champion playing one of the leading roles. Filming will start this fall.
Johnson will be on television every week starting June 6 with his new reality competition show The Hero which will air on TNT. He hosts and executive produces the show.
TNA President Dixie Carter announced today while in Glasgow, Scotland, that TNA will be broadcasting its first ever live TV show from outside the United States in 2014.
The important date to mark down is January 30, 2014, with the live show taking place at The Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.
“It’s historical for a number of reasons. One, it’s the first time that we’ve ever broadcast live out of the United States – outside the country and it’s the first time in this big beautiful building that you see behind me that we’re really excited for,” Carter said.
Challenge TV – the broadcast partner of TNA in the United Kingdom – will also be showing the event live.
“That will be the first time they’ve not been delayed for several days. It will be the first time that everyone in the UK will get to see IMPACT Wrestling live,” Carter said.
January 30 will fall on a Monday and the show will only be live in the United Kingdom since different time zones makes it impossible to broadcast the show in the United States live as well.
Out of the 10 major WWE revenue generators departments, three of them decreased when compared to the same period of last year, five made an increase in revenue, while the other two pretty much made the same amount of money.
Those which lost money compared to Q1 2012, live event revenue dropped 5% to $21 million; Home entertainment (DVD/Blu-Ray) dropped to $7 million from $9.2 million; and WWE Studios made $1.9 million compared to $4.8 million.
The departments which saw an increase in revenue are pay-per-view which did $15.1 million, up from $13.5 million; TV revenue went up to $37.5 million from $32.5 million; Magazine sales increased 14% to $1.6 million; WWE.COM revenue shot up 41% to $5.5 million; and WWEShop.com sales registered a 9% increase to 3.5 million.
Venue merchandise and licensing remained the same as Q1 2012 with $5.1 million and $24 million respectively.
