WWE has released photos of the suggested designs for the WWE title which eventually were scrapped in favor of the current design which made its debut under The Rock and now us around the waist of John Cena.
From circled, to shield-type, square, with fire, chains, and even a pretty cool looking eagle one, the sketches and color rendering of these titles are mostly horrific and it does seem like WWE got it right when choosing the new title.
You can see the photos here.
Is Fandangoing the new Harlem Shake? It could very well be after this week thanks to some 16,000 crazy, hyped up wrestling fans who jam packed the IZOD Center this past Monday night.
To show just how big this is getting, the 51 finalists competing to be Texans Cheerleaders took a break from their competition and decided to make the most “epic fit of Fandangoing” out at practice.
“No…. no no no it’s…” says the Cheerleaders’ YouTube account description!
Yes, if you’re into watching 51 of the hottest females dancing and singing to Fandango’s theme in tiny outfits, this is the video for you. Come on, you know you want to see it. Check it out below.
As ridiculous as it may sound, the Fandango Revolution has kicked in although how long it will last remains to be seen.
The strong online support has catapulted the song to the top charts on iTunes in the US, UK, and Canada as well on Amazon. WWE has made a ton of money with purchases of the song and hopefully, the composer/producer of the song Jim Johnston is receiving some kind of royalties or a pay bump for his effort.
Four days after International fans put the artist formerly known as Johnny Curtis on the map with their sing alongs, it’s now in WWE’s hands to give him the chance and up to him to take the ball and run with it.
In the meantime, a funny exchange on Twitter between a fan of England Premier League club Everton (football/soccer) and Fandango resulted in a reply from the @Everton account.
Fandango asked “Who’s @everton ever beat?” saying he never even heard of them, adding “Hockey team?” at the end while replying to a fan’s question.
The official Twitter account of Everton replied to Fandango, telling him that they have a rich history and the club would be happy to welcome him to their home – Goodison Park – to tell him more and “maybe even play your theme song.”
A fan quickly replied back telling @Everton that they didn’t say that a few hours ago when they refused to play his song when they were requested to do so for tomorrow.
“To clarify, we won’t be playing it in the stadium tomorrow,” Everton said. HAH!
Fans in New Jersey sang the song in the arena, in the hallways of the IZOD Center, in the parking lot, on the buses, on the train, and even honking their cars in rhythm with the song. It was a crazy sight indeed, and you can watch the different ways fans tackled the song in our special Fandango fans playlist below.
The Sun Herald newspaper is reporting that Jack Swagger is set for trial on June 25 in Gulfport Municipal Court to answer the charges of driving under the influence, speeding, and possession of marijuana from back in February.
Swagger was arrested right after he finished taping Smackdown after the cops stopped his car for speeding. Cops then smelled marijuana and found him in possession of a small amount. He was released later that night and WWE didn’t punish him (yet) as he was in one of the main events of WrestleMania.
According to the report, the City prosecutor always recommends the maximum sentence of two days in jail for first-time offenders and a completion of victim-impact classes.
The fines associated with his charges are $437.25 for possession of marijuana, $180 for driving 10 mph over the speed limit, and $1,300 for driving impaired.
W-O reader Ian Hamilton sent in word that the UK Chart Company has placed Fandango’s theme song at number 37 in the provisional sales chart.
That means that by the end of this week, if sales continue to be strong thanks to strong support from WWE fans worldwide, the song titled ChaChaLaLa and produced by WWE’s Jim Johnston would be the first ever wrestler theme song to make it in the UK top 40.
And the Fandango revolution continues…
Keith Cohen has been a wrestling fan since that fateful day in 1983 when he saw Bob Backlund viciously assaulted by the Iron Sheik. 30 years later, he still loves it just as much. He welcomes you to send all feedback to blackdiamond1974@yahoo.com or on twitter @strutter71 (where you are also welcome to follow him).
The WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony, held annually the night before WrestleMania, has always fascinated me. I always thought it was cool to see some of the stars of yesteryear being given the spotlight one more time, and WWE always does a great job on video packages to both entertain and educate current fans who may not be aware of some of the industry’s history.
So when it was announced at last year’s WrestleMania that the big show would be held in my neck of the woods in 2013, the decision was made pretty early on to attend not just Mania itself, but also Fan Axxess and the Hall of Fame.
After a great time at Axxess on Saturday morning with my daughter and brother, we anxiously headed into the city to see one of the most loaded Hall of Fame classes in recent memory get their due.
For those who have never attended the HOF ceremony live, there are a few things to be aware of. Signs were posted on every entrance door stating that this was a classy affair, and respect was expected to be shown to all the wrestlers and their inductors. Chanting, cat-calls, and boos were not only inappropriate, but would not be tolerated and would lead to violators being ejected from the building.
This fact was reinforced by Michael Cole, who came to the podium twice before the show started to remind the crowd that this was not a typical wrestling event and fans, while encouraged to enjoy themselves, should not engage in any offensive behavior.
For the most part, the audience complied. At least for a little while.
Then, Maria Menounos came out to induct Bob Backlund. Before the event, many fans had expressed confusion, if not displeasure, over the fact that Menounos had been tapped to induct Backlund. Whether you agreed with the choice or not, the way she was treated by the crowd during her speech was unbelievably disrespectful. For what it’s worth, I was fine with the choice.
Menounos has appeared on WWE television several times in the past and is a self-professed fan of the business. On top of this, she and Backlund have been close friends for many years. Plus, to the best of my knowledge, the inductees do have a say in choosing their inductors. None of these facts, apparently, were enough for many ignorant so-called “fans” who proceeded to ignore all previous warnings and jeered her loudly while she spoke.
The Menounos incident was not an isolated case, either. While it was certainly the most egregious case of fan misbehavior, there were several other instances were I felt the crowd crossed the line.
The funny thing about all this? I don’t really blame the crowd, at least not fully.
Certainly, people need to be held accountable for their actions and many of the fans that I shared the experience with should be ashamed of themselves. But a good portion of the blame must be placed on WWE itself. In thinking about the entire night, I have come to the inescapable conclusion that they need to make a change to the HOF experience.
First, don’t hand out warnings of ejection from the building if you have no intention of carrying through. Granted, Madison Square Garden is a huge arena and it is obviously impossible to police everyone. However, there was no effort made whatsoever.
I counted ZERO security personnel at any point during the evening. I’m not talking about MSG employees, I mean WWE staff. If they don’t want fans shouting out at inappropriate times, they need to have people in place to stop these incidents. This would be made easier by moving the ceremony into smaller venues. It’s too easy for people to act like morons when they are in such a large space and nearly impossible to detect.
A move to a more intimate setting should be accompanied by higher ticket prices. Would a higher price point be a deterrent for many fans? Exactly. That’s the point. People paying higher prices for a nice evening in a smaller setting would be less likely to act out inappropriately.
Of course, it is not likely that the McMahon’s would be willing to give up the amount of revenue they make from selling out an arena like MSG in exchange for a smaller venue.
Even with an increased ticket price, a 2,000 seat theater is going to bring in less money than a 20,000 seat arena. The alternative, then, is to make changes to the event itself.
The sad fact is that three and a half hours of speeches is too long for the attention span of the average wrestling fan. Put strict time limits on the speeches. I happen to be a HUGE fan of Mick Foley, but his speech Saturday night was simply too long.
Later on, during Bob Backlund’s highly energetic and entertaining induction, Vince McMahon came out to try and get him to wrap up. Why let Foley go for so long only to try and cut Backlund short?
If they are going to stay in large arenas, they need to do more to keep the fans engaged. We need more moments like the bit with Foley dropping an elbow on Jericho, and less of the 45 minutes of talking that preceded it. Have more fun with it and don’t take it as seriously. It would be a more entertaining show and everyone involved would have more fun.
Your move, WWE.
If you want to see the full Hall of Fame induction ceremony from last week, the good news is that you don’t have to wait till the WrestleMania 29 Blu-Ray or DVD is released and can actually watch it this week.
The bad news is that WWE has decided to put it up as an online pay-per-view starting from tomorrow and airing through April 19 for $7.99 if you’re in the U.S., or $4.99 for everywhere else. The PPV is available only on WWE.com, the WWE Mobile App, Xbox Live and Samsung SMART TVs.
The three and a half hour broadcast is one of the best Hall of Fames of the past years, with a memorable speech from Mick Foley, the craziness of Bob Backlund, Trish revealing she’s pregnant, Trump getting booed out of the building, Booker T’s on-stage spinaroonie, and the induction of one of the greatest wrestlers in the history of professional wrestling, Bruno Sammartino.
To order online go to http://ppv.wwe.com/product.html?productId=60298
Former WWE producer Andrew Green is suing the company and the Big Show after Green claimed that Show choked him and hit him in the face while he was doing an interview for WWE.COM at the Royal Rumble according to Courthousenews.com.
Green says that he was tasked with a job to interview the Big Show on that night in Phoenix, Arizona, and Show refused to do it until he told him that a Senior Vice President wanted him to do it.
The lawsuit says that Big Show used profanity and then agreed to do the interview, shouting at him, waving his fist in Green’s face, grabbing him by the throat and striking his face while backing him up against a truck. The lawsuit also states that Show said, “You son of a bitch … Are you having fun right now … Don’t even come up to me again … I don’t give a shit who you are.”
Triple H told Big Show to redo the interview and show the same emotion however Show said that he couldn’t do it as the original shoot had his “real emotions.” After Show was instructed to tape it again, it was determined that the original shoot was better and they decided to go ahead with it on the WWE site.
Green claims that he was unable to work for WWE again after the pay-per-view as he didn’t feel comfortable around Big Show and other wrestlers and said that WWE “encouraged its wrestlers, including Big Show, to act in a violent and threatening manner both inside and outside of the wrestling ring relative to their appearances and participation in staged wrestling events as a means of entertainment.”
Green and his wife are seeking damages for assault and negligence. The interview has been removed from the WWE.COM website.
TNA Knockout Mickie James released a new music video for her song “Somebody’s Gonna Pay” featuring TNA Superstar Magnus and former WWE Divas champion and Hall of Famer Trish Stratus.
The video is about a guy – played by Magnus – who is going out with a girl and dumps her and then goes to a bar where his former girl is there and hooks up with another woman. Trish Stratus plays a bartender and even lands her chick kick to a guy while Mickie pulls a Jeff Jarrett and slams the guitar onto Magnus’ head.
James and Trish are big friends and Trish name checked her during her Hall of Fame speech when thanking her former rivals during her time in WWE. Magnus is Mickie James’ real-life boyfriend.
You can see the video of the song – which comes out on May 7th – below.
The Rock is back training after suffering an abdominal and abductor tear off the bone during his WrestleMania match against John Cena.
“My dr’s said that starting back training w/ torn abdominals would be a bitch. Just found out they were right;). We gotta push thru..” he wrote on his Twitter, interestingly enough only after he earlier posted another tweet saying that he’s up at 5:48AM doing AM cardio.
Maybe some fans pointed out to him that his injuries prevented him to appear on RAW but he was still doing cardio as usual!
If you were wondering what was that weird white stuff on Triple H’s torso when he walked out for his WrestleMania 29 match against Brock Lesnar last Sunday, it’s called dry ice and apparently, it hurts like a bitch too!
The former WWE and World Heavyweight champion wrote on Twitter that he suffered 2nd degree burns at Mania, right as soon as he walked through his set which was firing dry ice to create the smoke. The problem was that HHH walked right as the machine started firing the ice instead of letting it firing first.
“For those wondering… Stuff stuck to me at mania was dry ice. Gave me 2nd degree burns on torso & arms,” he wrote, linking to a photo at http://pic.twitter.com/35Q4KUxcXo of how 2nd degree burns look on skin.
The story was also picked up by TMZ.
WWE has released the WrestleMania: The Music 2013 album on iTunes containing 23 songs and selling for $7.99 and it is currently sitting in the 8th place in the Soundtracks chart on the U.S. iTunes store.
The themes part of the album are of The Rock, The Shield, Brock Lesnar, Undertaker, Randy Orton, Mark Henry, Kane, Alberto Del Rio, The Miz, Chris Jericho, Wade Barrett, Bella Twins, Fandango, Tons of Funk, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, AJ Lee, Big Show, Jack Swagger, Ryback, Sheamus, Triple H, and John Cena.
The craziness over Fandango’s theme has translated into thousands of sales of the actual song on iTunes in the United Stads and United Kingdom, pushing the song – officially titled “ChaChaLaLa” in the top 10 charts.
In the U.S., the song, which was written by WWE’s resident music producer Jim Johnston, is currently sitting in the number six position in the top songs under the soundtrack category. Dolph Ziggler’s theme “Here To Show The World” also had a big bump since he won the World title and was in 63rd place at time of this writing.
In the UK chart, Fandango’s theme went as far up as second place, where it sits now at time of this writing. The whole madness on RAW was mainly due to the International fans who are used to chanting several songs, making up their own, at football stadiums across Europe.
The song is selling for $1.29.
Several WWE personalities took it to Twitter to congratulate the New Jersey crowd on Monday for their unbelievable efforts in making RAW one of the most memorable ones in its 20 year history.
“Just wrassled Randy on RAW. Anyone notice?? #ManiaFallout #NJChantMob,” wrote Sheamus, whose match against Randy Orton was totally ignored by the fans for the chanting and Mexican wave. “New Jersey. Mexico called. They want their wave back! #NJChantMob,” Sheamus added, saying that he will be telling his grand kids “I was there!” when they grow up.
Two of the commentators – Michael Cole and JBL – also had their names chanted during the broadcast, probably a first for Michael Cole.
“Still buzzing after an incredible raw tonight! Best in years! Huge props to an insane crowd,” wrote Cole, with JBL adding, “I’ve never seen a crowd like we had last night for @wwe Raw! Incredible, fun crowd! I LOVED it! Thanks to u great guys!”
Hornswoggle was stuck backstage during the show but he snuck out to see the show with the fans. “I will be watching the rest of #Raw live from the crowd! Most amazing crowd I have EVER heard!!! #clapclapclapclapclap”
Fandango – who was the star of the night with everyone singing along to his theme song – had two words, or better yet, two hashtags, to say. “#saymyname #singmymusic”
Triple H also congratulated the crowd, calling them the MVP of RAW. “WOW. What a week!! #WRESTLEMANIA29 #Raw last nights MVP #WWEUniverse. you were awesome!!!! THANK YOU !!!!”
For the first time since WrestleMania XXII in 2006, my Dad and I did NOT watch the “Granddaddy Of Them All.” Simple reason – we just had no interest in the overall show. However, I also have NO idea what happened last night, and am really excited for Raw, to see how the landscape has changed as the old cliche goes. So, let’s just right to it!
Monday Night Raw Report for April 8th, 2013 – “One Wild and Crazy Night, and It’s About Damn Time!”
Introduction Segment: Welcoming and Recap
Michael Cole, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and John “Bradshaw” Layfield” bring us to the IZOD Center in New Jersey, where picture stills are used to recall WrestleMania XXIX and in particular, the main event between John Cena and The Rock for the WWE Championship. The winner? John Cena! (Dang!)
The NEW WWE Champion is all smiles as he embraces the (mostly) hateful jeers from the Jersey boys and girls. He plays it up, saying that it should be every superstar’s dream to be in the main event and win at WrestleMania – to enjoy all the “cheers.” (loud boos ring out). Cena riles up the fans, mocking a “championship dance.” He declares “the champ is here!”
Cena immediately puts the WWE Title up for challengers, saying that he is ready to fight tonight, and he doesn’t care who it is. The man who answers the call – “The World’s Strongest Man” Mark Henry.
Henry asks the champ what’s up, then informs him that trouble has found him. (The crowd chants “Sexual Chocolate,” referring to Henry’s former moniker.) Cena pokes fun at that. Mark tells us that he destroyed Ryback last night, and tonight he wants some more. Cena accepts, however a General Manager interrupts.
New Hall-Of-Famer Booker T. rejects the bout, saying that Cena can’t be the one to book the matches. He reminds Cena that The Rock is still the #1 Contender to the WWE Championship, since it is automatic in the rematch clause. The Rock, though, is not in attendance tonight due to an injury (the crowd chants “bullshit”) and Booker T. does make a non-title contest between Henry and Cena, and if “The World’s Strongest Man” wins, he gets a title shot at Cena.
Also tonight, The Undertaker, who is now at 21 – 0 (yay!), will make an appearance. As well, STILL World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio (okay – woulda been better for Swagger to win, but let’s see where this goes), will face Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter in a 2 on 1 match. And, the in-ring Raw debut of Big E. Langston (minus the Tag Titles for him and Dolph, it appears)
Commercials.
Match #1: Single – Tag-Team Champion Daniel Bryan (with Tag-Team Champion and “Team Hell No” partner Kane) VS. Big E. Langston (with “The Show Off/Mr. Money In The Bank” Dolph Ziggler and A.J.) (Non-Title)
Bryan hits a mid-dropkick right away and kicks in the corner, but Langston comes back with a powerful one-arm slam, then runs his shoulder into Daniel’s stomach. He tosses Bryan high with a back body drop, but Daniel soon counters into a sunset flip and more kicks. As he climbs the turnbuckle, A.J. distracts the referee, which allows Dolph to crotch him against the post. Big E. hurls Bryan over the ropes on to Kane. Inside the ring, Langston picks Bryan up and drops him with his finisher, “The Big Ending” for the victory!
Winner via Pinfall: Big E. Langston (with “The Show Off/Mr. Money In The Bank” Dolph Ziggler and A.J.)
Segment #2: Arena Promo
Kurt Warner, N.F.L. Superbowl-winning Quarterback, plugs his new show about giving everyday Americans second chances to live their dreams.
Up next, NEW Intercontinental Champion The Miz will defend his title against the man who he defeated last night, Wade Barrett.
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Match #2: Single for the Intercontinental Championship – Wade Barrett (Challenger) VS. The Miz (Champion)
Barrett kicks away at Miz in the corner to start off, but Miz leaps over and brings Wade down with a clothesline. Suplex by Miz for a one-count, then he clamps on a grounding rear chinlock. (Note, the fans are chanting “let’s go Barrett!”) Wade tosses Miz to the apron, but the I.C. Champ slides under for a two-count in a sunset flip! Barrett counters a wristlock with a stiff punch, then drops a big elbow. 1 – 2 – Miz kicks out! Miz flips out of a rear chinlock and throws Barrett out of the ring. He runs with a front-dropkick through the ropes, and dives off the top. He misses a second jump and Wade takes control with a neckbreaker through the ropes, onto the ring apron!
Commercials.
Back live, both are in the ring and Barrett spins Miz around with the “Winds Of Change” slam. 1 – 2 – Miz kicks out! Wade takes it back to the outside, running off the apron with an elbow to a down Miz! Miz counters a rear chinlock with a spinning back drop, then slugs away at Wade against the ropes. He goes for the neckbreaker, but the spot was blown and Wade slipped down.
Miz continues to control, and attempts the Figure-4 Leglock, but Barrett kicks him off. He gets planted with a DDT for another near fall! Miz elbows out of a “Wasteland” try, then catches Wade’s leg into the Figure-4! Barrett struggles but manages to slide to the ropes and break the hold. He nails Miz in the face with a big boot, but is cut off the top rope. Miz wants a superplex, but Barrett counters and rams Miz’s head into the ring post. He winds up and pounds Miz with the “Bull-Hammer” spinning elbow for the 1 – 2 – 3! (That was a surprise!)
Winner via Pinfall and NEW Intercontinental Champion: Wade Barrett
Segment #3: Office Promo
Supervising Manager Vickie Guerrero and her assistant Brad Maddox are discussing how great WrestleMania XXIX was. Sheamus barges in and is steamed about Big Show’s turn, knocking him out. He demands a match with the “giant piece of crap.” Vickie gives it to him.
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Segment #4: Backstage Promo
Hall-Of-Famer and General Manager Booker T. is walking through the halls and Randy Orton sucks up to him to book Orton against Big Show. Booker gives in and makes the bout.
Match #3: Two-On-one – Zeb Colter and “The Real American” Jack Swagger VS. World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio (with Ricardo Rodriguez) (Non-Title)
Prior to the bout, Colter cuts a promo asking for the fans’ support and to chant “U.S.A.” at Alberto Del Rio as he walks to the stage.
Commercials.
Del Rio and Swagger start out with a lockup. Alberto punches away and whips Swagger into the corner. He delivers a smacking kick, then dives through head-first onto Jack to the outside. He ascends the top rope and flies with a crossbody for a two-count! Colter gives Del Rio a hit from behind, giving Swagger the advantage to work over the leg/ankle of Alberto.
He gives repeated knees in the corner and Colter rips at his face from behind. Swagger soon clutches on the “Patriot Lock” ankle lock, but Del Rio fights out of it and clamps on an armbar against the ropes! Swagger shoves Del Rio off the apron harshly into the barricade.
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Back live, Swagger is still dominating, working over Del Rio’s ankle. He manages to gain a bit of momentum, hitting clotheslines and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on Swagger! He sets up Jack for the Cross Armbreaker, but Swagger reverses into a takedown slam and then locks in the Ankle Lock again. Alberto kicks away out of it, and manages to lock in the Cross Armbreaker, forcing Swagger to submit!
Winner via Pinfall: World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio (with Ricardo Rodriguez)
Post-match, Del Rio appears to be injured and the doctor is checking on him. Just now “I’m here to show the world!” blasts the speakers and “The Show Off/Mr. Money In The Bank” Dolph Ziggler is ready to cash in is “Money In The Bank” briefcase! The crowd is super-behind Ziggler, as the match is made official by referee Scott Armstrong!
Match #4: Single for the World Heavyweight Championship – “Mr. Money In The Bank/The Show Off” Dolph Ziggler (with Big E. Langston and A.J.) (Challenger) VS. Alberto Del Rio (with Ricardo Rodriguez) (Champion)
Ziggler is all over Del Rio immediately, hitting the “Fameasser.” Del Rio kicks out after two, and manages to bring Ziggler down with the enziguri and lock in the Cross Armbreaker. Ziggler refuses to give in, grabbing Del Rio’s hurt ankle and breaking out of it. He measures Alberto from behind with the “Zig-Zag” neckbreaker drop and 1 – 2 – 3!
Winner via Pinfall and NEW World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler
Post-match, Ziggler celebrates genuinely, alongside A.J., Big. E, and the roaring fans in the arena!
(very cool, and I could feel the raw [no pun intended] emotion from Dolph in this victory!)
Up next, The Undertaker is out!
Commercials.
Segment #5: Arena Promo
The Undertaker begins to talk about his dedication to the late-great Paul Bearer (a.k.a. William Moody), but is quickly interrupted by … “The Shield!” Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns walk down through the crowd and circle ‘Taker. Boom! The pyro of Kane goes off and the Tag-Team Champion/”Team Hell No” member/Undertaker’s brother runs out with Daniel Bryan to chase off “The Shield.” They stare down the renegade trio as they leave back through the fans.
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Segment #6: Backstage Promo
Josh Matthews interviews NEW World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler. He puts himself over and claims it as “my WrestleMania moment.” He’s going to “shine it up and show it off.” Ziggler walks off with A.J. and Big E.
Match #5: 6-Man Tag-Team – “3.M.B.” (Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre, and Jinder Mahal) VS. Santino Marella, R-Truth, and “Long Island Iced-Z” Zack Ryder
(Really? On Raw?) In short, “3.M.B.” dominate until it breaks down. Santino is left with Heath, and nails “The Cobra” chop to Slater for the W. (Absolutely POINTLESS!)
Winners via Pinfall: Santino Marella, R-Truth, and “Long Island Iced-Z” Zack Ryder
Segment #7: Video Recap: All the events that led up to WrestleMania are aired.
Segment #8: Locker Room Promo
Randy Orton and Sheamus are arguing over who’s facing The Big Show.
Commercials.
Segment #9: Video Promo
The Big Show explains why he knocked out his “partners” on the WrestleMania XXIX post-show last night. He says it was because that he didn’t get the chance to prove that he could do what he does. He declares that he is going “lone ranger” forever now and “the only thing in this world that is important to The Big Show is The Big Show.”
Segment #10: Arena Promo
Sheamus is taking a vocal poll from the WWE fans to let him face Big Show tonight. He wants Vickie Guerrero to come out, but instead gets Randy Orton, who emphasizes “Big Show’s mine tonight!” In the end, it is up to us, as the fans will “tweet” who they want to take on Show.
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The results are in, very quickly. (#rigged!) Orton gets 77% of the vote, but both directors for Raw and Smackdown (Vickie and Booker) announce that instead it will be Sheamus and Orton facing each other to face The Big Show.
Match #6: Single – Sheamus VS. “The Viper” Randy Orton
A slow start to this bout picks up after Orton misses a kneedrop, but comes back with a clothesline. Sheamus counters a hip toss attempt into a clothesline for two. He locks in an armbar but Randy fights out of it, clamping on the grounding rear chinlock. Sheamus counters with a backdrop, as does Orton a bit later. (The fans are chanting everything else except for this bout, showing they don’t really care about this storyline/match). Sheamus dives off the top rope but gets dropkicked by Randy!
Commercials.
Back live, the fans are still not really paying attention, but Orton and Sheamus are putting in an effort. They slug it out with fists and Sheamus drops Orton with the Irish Curse backbreaker. Sheamus has gained huge momentum and hammers Orton against the ropes. He suplexes Randy back into the ring, but Orton wiggles out and hits the backbreaker. He fires up with a couple clotheslines and then a powerslam. Sheamus is set up on the apron, allowing Orton to plant him with the slingshot DDT.
Orton pounds the mat and signals for the R.K.O., but Sheamus pushes him off and drops him with the “White Noise.” He’s feeling it and getting ready for the Brogue Kick. He goes for it, but Orton ducks and Sheamus topples over to the floor. Just now, The Big Show interferes and chucks Sheamus face-first into the ring post.
To a huge “pop” from the crowd, The Big Show K.O.’s Orton with the W.M.D. punch. He drags Orton to the floor and whips him into the wall. He lines up Orton and runs at him with the spear. Show stands over and glares with a scowl on his mug. He clutches “The Viper” by the throat and throws him over the announce table. He tosses two of the commentator’s chairs against the ring (presumably trying to get them inside, but greatly missed!) and stomps on Orton. Show walks off, all this without saying a word.
Winner: No Contest due to Interference
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It is announced that Triple H will return this Friday to Smackdown! (So I guess he won?)
Match #7: Single – Fandango (with Dancer) VS. Kofi Kingston
Fandango plays mind games with Kofi, dancing around the ring. Kingston gets his hands on him eventually, but is quickly slammed down. A huge crowd reaction erupts, because Chris Jericho runs out and assaults Fandango!
Winner via Disqualification: Fandango (with Dancer)
Post-match, Jericho brawls with Fandango all around the ring and tears off the top to the commentary table. He runs Fandango into the steel steps and kicks him down in the ring. After whipping him into the corner, Jericho locks him in the Walls Of Jericho until referees step in and break it up. “Y2J” runs back at Fandango with the Codebreaker to knock him out.
Commercials.
Segment #11: Backstage Promo
Josh Matthews welcomes New York’s own, Paul Heyman. Despite the losses for “Paul Heyman guys,” Heyman still revels in the monster-like attitude of Brock Lesnar. He also announces that C.M. Punk will talk about his feelings, next week!
Match #8: 8-Person Tag-Team – “Team Rhodes Scholars” (Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow) and The Bella Twins (Nikki and Brie) VS. “Tons Of Funk” (Sweet T. and “The Funkasaurus” Brodus Clay) and “The Funkadactyls” (Cameron and Naomi)
Prior to the break, both teams make their entrance. Back live, “Tons Of Funk” control and then this breaks down with Sweet T. and Brodus double-splashing Sandow for the quick victory!
Winners via Pinfall: “Tons Of Funk” (Sweet T. and “The Funkasaurus” Brodus Clay) and “The Funkadactyls” (Cameron and Naomi)
Up next, WWE Champ John Cena will take on Mark Henry!
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Match #8: Single for a Title Shot – “The World’s Strongest Man” Mark Henry VS. WWE Champion John Cena (Non-Title)
The bell rings and they circle around each other. Cena ducks a couple clotheslines, then gets flattened by Henry. He dominates for a bit before missing a splash, allowing Cena to come back with a shoulder-tackle. Henry gets out of the ring for a break, then slams Cena’s head against the announce table. He takes it apart, then tries a World’s Strongest Slam through it, but Cena gets out and pushes Henry into the steps. The count was nearing 10, and Henry didn’t answer, so he is counted-out. (That was quick and boring!)
Winner via Count-Out: WWE Champion John Cena
Post-match, a displeased Henry lays out Cena and holds up the WWE Championship, but Ryback comes on out and takes out “The World’s Strongest Man.” He then turns his attention to Cena, holds out his hand, stares closely at him, and nods his head “yes.” Cena poses on the turnbuckle, as Ryback gets the crowd going for “feed me more.” He then grabs Cena and plants him with the “Shellshock” marching Samoan drop, to another LOUD ovation! He olds up the WWE Championship to the happiness of the New Jersey crowd to close the show.
End Of Raw.
Reporter’s Rumblings – By Moe Tapp
Welcome to “bizarro world, part two!” Raw was jam-packed, and in good way for the most part. Of course, the fans made the show tonight, but the wrestlers also put in a solid effort following Wrestlmania. On to the critiques.
Excellence: Even though I think The Rock should’ve kept the title, I did love John Cena’s promo, especially how he played to the crowd. Fantastic, passionate match between The Miz and Wade Barrett for the I.C. Championship. Didn’t like the outcome though, so more on that in “bogus.”
Love the new angle for “The Shield” and The Undertaker/Kane/Daniel Bryan. That was a good little twist, and I truly didn’t expect Rollins/Reigns/Ambrose to pick on “The Deadman” next. All three would match up well with the legend in their own right.
While I couldn’t care less about the whole storyline with Sheamus/Orton/Show (no “reason” for me to invest in it), Orton and Sheamus did put on a great bout with tons of physicality. On one hand, too bad the fans totally ignored the hard-working brutes, but on the other, it was cool to see Sheamus and Orton react to them and prove themselves even more.
Chris Jericho (and the fans in tonight’s case) got Fandango super-over. I was very sceptical at first (and couldn’t care at times) about him originally, but with tonight’s performance, and what I read from WrestleMania XXIX, I am going to give the new superstar a shot. As always proven, Jericho is the right man to help get him to the next level.
The main-event picture is new, fresh, and looking very interesting, which is nice. It’ll be real intriguing to see how long they keep the WWE Title on John Cena, or will they pull the trigger on a quick switch to Ryback/Henry, to heat up even more?
A small note – I absolutely adore how they now won’t have a pay-per-view until May 19th – that gives plenty of time for build-up and better (hopefully) storytelling. I really think they need to take a lesson from TNA’s book and start to eliminate their ppvs – keep the big four, plus a June spectacle, just like the early/mid 90s. This allows for more creative and longer feuds, giving fans the actual time to invest in them – in theory.
The best for last – NEW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION! As Ziggler said, it really is “ABOUT DAMN TIME!” From being a “Spirit Squad” male cheerleader to now one of the best natural athletes on the roster today, Dolph truly deserves this, and a HUGE kudos to the fans in Jersey for making him look like a million bucks and praising him to no end! My only other though – imagine how insane, and a great turn of events, it would’ve been if he had done that on Cena for the WWE Championship!
Bogus: Bryan/Big E. With the outcome for Dolph, and “Team Hell No” looking like they’re moving on, what was the point of this match? Especially since that chapter seemed to be closed at WrestleMania with the champs retaining? Speaking of pointless, the 6-man with “3.M.B.” and Ryder/Santino/R-Truth. That meant absolutely NOTHING. I was waiting for someone just to come out and destroy them, as is usually the case with matches like that, but this time, it was literately just a match. And a bad one at that!
What did The Miz do? First, his I.C. title match at WrestleMania is bumped to the pre-show, and then he wins the championship, but loses 24 hours later! I was looking forward to him as champ, I thought he could bring some vitality back to the division.
As mentioned above, while they are very hard-working and I appreciate Orton/Sheamus/Show individually for the wrestlers they are and their accomplishments, their currently storyline all together is just too bland and I’m not enjoying it. There is no “factor” on the line or anything for me to get a hold of.
The main-event itself fell really flat. I wasn’t expecting an outright classic, but I honestly thought they would have Henry go over to kick off this new feud, and still potentially insert Ryback for the triple-threat scenario. They did that, just backwards and a little more lame than I would’ve.
All in all, this was a great follow-up to what was apparently a pretty lame WrestleMania. Of course, the crowd for sure made Raw tonight, but with the booking for most of it, I am satisfied and looking forward to what lies a head as the new “year” begins in WWE!
As always, until next week, Be Excellent Wrestling-Online Readers and Wrestling Fans!
HollywoodLife.com is reporting that John Cena wrestled on Sunday at WrestleMania sick and with a broken thumb despite going a long way in his match against The Rock.
Cena had a bad case of food poisoning which he suffered earlier in the week but nothing was going to stop him from being part of the main event of WrestleMania again.
“With The Rock’s limited schedule, I didn’t think it was a shoe-in to ever have the chance again,” Cena told the website regarding their once in a lifetime turned twice feud.
The Rock suffered an injury during his match with Cena, tearing his abdominal and abductor muscles off the bone.
Ian Hamilton has been a wrestling fan since 1992, and has watched the best of the best and the worst of the worst… and has been to two WrestleManias. Formerly host of the “Ringside” podcast, Ian has also released several books available on Kindle, iTunes and also in dead tree (paperback) formats. Twitter @theianhamilton or visit theianhamilton.com.
Over 80,000 fans descended onto New Jersey’s MetLife stadium, marking the climax of a hectic weekend of wrestling. Although WrestleMania has been an annual tradition since 1984, it’s only been in the last decade that other wrestling companies have sought to piggyback on the gathering of wrestling fans.
With WrestleMania returning to the New York market, the wrestling convention business attempted to capitalise on the invasion of fans with an event called WrestleCon, with the usual array of wrestlers and vendors available hawking their wares and signing autographs. Also part of WrestleCon was a myriad of independent events, most of which were available for those fans unable to make the trip to the Meadowlands Convention Centre in Secaucus, via the emerging internet PPV format.
I was one of those fans who didn’t make the trip to New Jersey, and having had the privilege of attending two prior WrestleManias (and also having the foresight to book Monday morning off work this year!), I decided to dip my toe into some of this weekend’s action.
Having to contend with a five hour time difference in the UK, a lot of my action was to be viewed on demand, with Evolve on Friday night at 9pm, Ring of Honor at 12.30am (early Saturday), Kaiju Big Battel at 4am on Saturday morning (which I did not watch); followed by SHIMMER on Saturday afternoon at 5pm, Dragon Gate USA at 1am (late Saturday night), then another Dragon Gate on Sunday evening at 6pm. There were other shows, like CZW who aired on iPPV also, and CHIKARA (who did not) as well as a Ring of Honor television taping, and you’ve got all the ingredients for a serious wrestling overdose before a WWE bell is even rung!
The following timings are in the order I saw the shows, not the order they took place…
FRIDAY NIGHT
My wrestling weekend started on Friday night then, with the EVOLVE show – the first effort that I’d seen from this group. For the uninformed, EVOLVE is an independent promotion that was set up in 2010 with the idea that it would be presented more like a sport, with emphasis on things like rules and wrestlers’ win-loss records. The group was set up by former Ring of Honor booker Gabe Sapolsky, among others, and recently merged with Sapolsky’s other effort, Dragon Gate USA, although the two continue to run separately branded shows.
This EVOLVE show was centred around a one night title tournament, to crown the company’s first champion. In the weeks building up to the event, brackets were unveiled, showing a less than conventional tournament, with a singles match and a four-way match being held as “qualifiers” of sorts. The show actually opened with the four-way, but despite the live show being held up for half an hour to sort out internet problems, the main bugbears of iPPVs rearered their ugly head, as most of the first hour of the show was unwatchable due to problems at the venue.
To EVOLVE’s credit, the company sorted the problem within the opening hour and arranged for make goods for everyone who’d paid to see the iPPV – effectively upgrading people or giving them a freebie.
Unfortunately by this point, the live crowd had been deflated by the delay and the opening match which took their breath away, as the four-way between Rich Swann, rumoured WWE-signees Sami Callihan and Samuray del Sol and Jigsaw (aka Rubix in TNA) blew the roof off of the convention centre. The second qualifier, between Jon Davis and AR Fox felt somewhat anticlimactic in comparison, as a simple ref bump with Davis accidentally clotheslining the referee ended the match by DQ.
Later in the tournament, the top two seeds – Ricochet and Chuck Taylor – ended up losing to the qualifiers Sami Callihan and AR Fox, setting up the finale, although by that point a stuttering internet stream had dampened my enthusiasm, although the entertaining act of the Gentlemen’s Club (accompanied by the Swamp Monster!) did manage to revive things somewhat in their loss to Johnny Gargano and former “current” WWE champion Brian Kendrick.
One wrestler I’d not seen before (but had heard plenty of) was Uhaa Nation. He made his EVOLVE return following a year out with a serious knee injury, helping Arik Cannon overcome Scott Reed. If you’ve not seen Uhaa before, the best way I can describe him is as a more athletic version of Bobby Lashley, with standing moonsaults and standing shooting star presses in his repertoire. Tailor-made for one-day making it to WWE, watch him while you can because those moves won’t make it onto Raw!
I tapped out after the tag team match between the Young Bucks (formerly TNA’s Generation Me) and the Super Smash Brothers, but was able to watch the finals on demand the next day, as AR Fox overcame Sami Callihan to become the first EVOLVE champion as the show ended with barely an hour to go before Ring of Honor opened their “Supercard of Honor 7” event back in New York City.
SATURDAY
The Hammerstein Ballrom has been more famous among wrestling fans for ECW in their dying days… and also the start of WWE’s revival of Extreme. In more recent times, Ring of Honor have used the Manhattan Centre as their New York base. Friday night’s Supercard of Honor was their latest foray into iPPV, a medium which the company has had extremely mixed results in.
On WrestleMania weekend last year, ROH’s iPPVs were a mitigated disaster, with internet connections and local weather combining to ruin both night’s shows, and force the company to leave their iPPV providers (GoFightLive) and create an in-house solution with extremely mixed results that have severely tarnished the reputation of internet pay-per-view as a whole.
As a live experience, ROH’s iPPV apparently cut out in the vital moments of the main event, killing all of the suspense as Jay Briscoe survived an onslaught from SCUM to unseat Kevin Steen as the ROH World Champion. Watching the show on demand the following day revealed the same problem, as the show rolled along well until the end of the main event, where the picture quality dropped, then the image froze until the end of show celebrations.
Elsewhere in the “Supercard of Honor”, Michael Elgin and former TNA X-Division champion Jay Lethal battled it out in a stellar number one contender’s match, whilst Matt Hardy continued his rehabilitation in wrestling with a loss in the three way for the company’s television title, as a low blow and small package allowed Adam Cole score the elimination before he eventually fell to defending champion Matt Taven. Speaking of Taven, his act as part of the “House of Truth” with Truth Martini was bordering on the X-rated, as was former WWE Playboy model Maria, whose partnership with the returning Mike Bennett was laiden with chemistry. Sadly, if either of those two get picked up by WWE, I cannot see their entire entourage making the trip to Titan Tours with them.
At 5pm UK time, the SHIMMER women athletes promotion held a matinee show at WrestleCon, broadcast worldwide on iPPV. Although they had some issues, the show was at least watchable. If your only exposure of women wrestling was from WWE and TNA, then this was a world away – women who can wrestle, and aren’t hired primarily on their appearances. Compared to promotions like ROH and EVOLVE, Shimmer’s matches were a lot more basic, and dare I say, old-school. Matches ending after a finisher or a big move, as opposed to a WrestleMania finish in every match. The fact that the main event cage match, which could only have been won by pinfall or submission, ended with Cheerleader Melissa (formerly Raisha Saeed and Alissa Flash in TNA) winning the title from Saraya Knight following a top rope huracanrana on the Brit, says it all. No overdone false finishes, just a match building up to a big spot which ended the match. Refreshing.
SUNDAY
My plan was to catch up with Saturday night’s DG:USA show before following up with the company’s live matinee. Sadly, the video on demand of the show didn’t get posted until after Sunday’s event, so I was left to watch “Mercury Rising” out of order.
By this point I must admit that I was starting to get distracted as the build-up to WrestleMania continued. An opening match featuring former TNA man Tony Nese was perfectly acceptable – the polar opposite of the second match of the night, as “The Scene” exploded, with Scott Reed beating Caleb Konley in a match that made zero sense unless you’d seen Saturday’s show. Which I hadn’t.
A tag team victory for the Super Smash Brothers and Brian Kendrick’s win over Chuck Taylor then led us into a weird elimination style gauntlet match with ladders. Billed as the “ladders are legal fray”, this was a seven person match which had staggered entries, and the introduction of ladders once everyone had joined the match. If you wanted to be critical of the Young Bucks, you could say that their main move here was the superkick, although it was clear that this match was clearly designed to put over Uhaa Nation, as he ended up eliminating both of the Bucks to claim victory.
The show was rounded off with two matches – first a Dragon Gate six man tag. Those of you with a decent memory may recall these matches stealing the show for Ring of Honor over WrestleMania weekends past. In fact, it was the success of these matches that led to the creation of DG:USA after Gabe Sapolsky’s departure from Ring of Honor. However, those matches were pretty much transplanting a Dragon Gate feud and putting them on a ROH card. Nowadays, the Dragon Gate six man tags are three Dragon Gate guys vs three DG:USA guys, which really takes the lustre of fof the match. The main event of Akira Tozawa vs Shingo was skipped by yours truly: another one to stick on the “watch later” list.
And then… we make it to WrestleMania. This was the first year that WWE ran a pre-game and post-game show, and it felt like a nice addition to the WrestleMania experience, with Jim Ross (in the role of legendary commentary), Dusty Rhodes (legendary wrestler) and Kofi Kingston (best spoken guy who couldn’t get on the card). If this gets copied into all other PPVs, though, it will quickly lose it’s shine. The pre-show match between Wade Barrett and The Miz only went four minutes, which was sadly a precursor for things to come as too many matches went way too short.
We all know the story of recent WrestleManias – a pedestrian first half of the show, with the main event matches knocking the ball out of the park. This year, it didn’t quite work out like that.
The opening match of the Shield vs Big Show, Randy Orton and Sheamus may have ended in a win for the invading forces, but at the end of they played second fiddle to Big Show’s umpteenth turn, as his spell as a babyface of convenience came to an end. Ryback vs Mark Henry was what we all expected, save for the finish, as WWE opted to extend Ryback’s pay-per-view losing streak in favour of having him perform the Shellshock after the match instead.
Daniel Bryan finally got his WrestleMania moment after last year’s 18 second loss and the prior year’s dumping to the pre-show, as he and Kane retained the tag team titles over the debuting Big E Langston and Dolph “I never win” Ziggler. The placement of this match only added fuel to the fire for those hoping that Dolph would finally exchange his flattened blue briefcase for the World Heavyweight title, but it was not to be on this night.
Jack Swagger’s curious jobber entrance at WrestleMania of all places may have been sending a message after the challenger’s recent DUI went unpunished (or perhaps they just didn’t want to show him driving). The match was pretty good, although the crowd didn’t seem to react to this, or most things on the match. Alberto del Rio retained the title with the cross armbreaker, and as the picture faded to black, it became clear that we’d be seeing no cash in tonight.
The Undertaker extended his streak with his annual blowaway match, with CM Punk being the victim this year. I’m fine with the Undertaker wrestling once a year if it means we’ve got someone capable of saving WrestleManias, but it’s clear that the Dead Man is in the twilight of his in-ring years, so we’d best make the most of the spectacle that surrounds him.
At this point, we sure could have used a Divas match, a concert or even the mixed tag team match to bring the crowd down. We got none of those, with P Diddy having gone out earlier, so we went straight to Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H… and man, that killed the crowd. WWE always used to put divas matches in the fake “semi main event” spot for a reason… because if you didn’t, you got this! If you added crowd noise, this probably would have been a good match, but as the crowd didn’t care, it came across really badly on TV. Somehow, Brock Lesnar is bulletproof as he takes yet another loss but still remains a scary guy, but something needs to be done if they plan to use him to headline WrestleMania against the Rock next year.
Finally, WrestleMania rounded up with once, sorry, twice in a lifetime, as John Cena claimed redemption against the Rock. I knew that before the bell even rang, as all of the promos were about Cena getting his win back. On paper, the match was about the same level as last year’s, just minus the rabid Miami crowd, which left this main event feeling as flat as a pancake.
All in all, if you take WrestleMania on a match by match basis, it was a pretty good show. However, the poor running order left the fans with a bad taste in their mouth, and the feeling you have at the end of the night is always the feeling you remember in years to come. That being said, after watching an ungodly amount of wrestling for someone not called Dave Meltzer, and all in a short space of time, I was left feeling burnt out and glad that I’d paid the extra for the on-demand options.
Looking back on WrestleMania weekend, my favourite show in terms of wrestling would have to be the SHIMMER Women’s Athlete show from Saturday, followed by ROH’s Supercard of Honor. Both of those shows, on demand, would cost you $30, vs the $70 that WrestleMania cost you. In hindsight, with only the Punk vs Undertaker match being a must-see, you could probably wait for the DVD and save a few bucks, but hingsight is always 20-20.
So, next year, WrestleCon and WrestleMania head to New Orleans and doubtless we’ll be doing all of this again. Despite the problems with internet PPVs, regardless of whether I’m live in New Orleans or sat on my couch at home, I’ll be doing this again next April, albeit a lot more selectively.
WWE will air an edited version of the Hall of Fame ceremony tonight on USA Network starting at 10PM EST.
The 75 minute broadcast – extended by 15 minutes – will feature some of the best moments from Saturday’s three and a half hour Hall of Fame event which took place on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
Originally the show was going to be 60 minutes featuring Sammartino, Trump, and Stratus, however WWE fans complained that Foley was not going to be featured and WWE decided to include him as well.
TNA’s Chris Sabin is making his return to TNA Wrestling this month, 9 months after suffering a torn ACL.
The former TNA X Division and Tag Team title holder suffered an injury during an episode of IMPACT back in June 2012 and it was then announced that he tore his left ACL while wrestling Austin Aries and Zema Ion in an Ultimate X match.
He appeared on the July 5 edition of the show where he was attacked by the then TNA champ Bobby Roode and he has been off television since that day.
His return was revealed by TNA President Dixie Carter who said she received a text message saying that he’s ready.
