The funeral service of Doris Adkisson, the matriarch of the Von Erich family will be held on November 11 at the First Baptist Dallas and will be laid to rest afterward at the Grove Hill Memorial Park.
DallasNews.com reports that Doris will be buried next to her husband Jack, who wrestled under the name of Fritz, and her five sons who all died tragically, Chris, David, Mike, Kerry and Jack Jr.
The public is invited to her memorial and large crowds are expected considering the Von Erichs were royalty in Dallas and the state of Texas. Visitation begins at 1PM in the Truett Chapel at First Baptist and the service will start an hour later. The funeral will follow at Grove Hill.
Flowers are welcome, but the family would prefer donations made to the Wounded Warrior project in Doris’ name.
82 year old Doris passed away in her home in Hawaii on October 23 surrounded by her remaining family.
The Pontiac Silvedrome, the site of WrestleMania III, is going to crash down after a sale of $29 million ran out of time.
The Detroit Free Press is reporting that the 40 year old stadium will meet its end in the Spring of next year. The high costs of renovating the stadium was a huge factor in not securing a deal. The roof was damaged in 2013 after a storm and it’s completely gone.
The Silverdome hosted the Detroit Lions and the Detroit Pistons, the Super Bowl, Michael Jackson, Pope John Paul II, the 1994 FIFA World Cup, and of course WrestleMania III among other events.
The indoor attendance at that WrestleMania, advertised at 93,173, is still the record for a WWE event, a record which WWE hopes to break at the AT&T Stadium next year with WrestleMania 32. The 93,173 number is considered to be “inflated” as the long running rumor is that only close to 80,000 fans packed the stadium for Hogan vs Andre.
Thursday Night Smackdown! TV Report for October 29th, 2015 – “Halloween Hand-Outs”
Introduction Segment: Picture Promo and Video Promo
Stills of the Hell In A Cell bout between Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker are shown. Bray Wyatt appears on screen and says that he has now taken both The Undertaker’s and Kane’s souls. He dares three more to take on his “monsters,” as we see Erik Rowan, Luke Harper, and Braun Strowman behind.
Segment #2: Welcoming and Arena Promo
The regular Smackdown video plays, then Rich Brennan, Booker T., and Jerry “The King” Lawler acknowledge us. Roman Reigns’ music sounds and he walks through the crowd. Roman goes through the year he has had and the difficulties with WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt, but is now happy to be the #1 Contender again to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens interrupts and mocks the success of Roman, then proclaims that he was “one Pop-Up Powerbomb away” from becoming the man to wrestle for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Of course, this leads to…
Match #1: Single – Roman Reigns VS. Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens (Non-Title)
They lockup and Owens gets the upper with a standing side headlock. Reigns whips him into the ropes and they hit, but stand and face off again. Roman grapples a standing headlock too, and then they smirk again. Both chase around and smile at the “one-ups-man-ship” game, but Reigns quickly gains control after countering a kick and knocking Kevin down.
Commercials.
Roman is still governing, but Owens switches it up. He takes Reigns to the outside and gives him a fall-away slam into the corner barricade. The I.C. Champ controls for a while, hitting big moves like a kick and clothesline, but does not land the cannonball splash as Roman leaped out and clotheslined him! Reigns signals for the Superman Punch, but Kevin escapes to the outside and tries to walk away. Roman runs after and puts him back in, but Owens counters into a German suplex.
Reigns counters again and places Kevin on the top turnbuckle and they battle, but Owens decides to hightail with his title and leaves through the fans, getting counted-out in the process.
Winner via Count-Out: Roman Reigns
Segment #3: Backstage Promo
Rene Young, dressed in a lime-green fairy costume, talks to Dean Ambrose. He eggs her on to ask him if he’s going to stand up to Bray’s request; she does so and he confirms that he is going to be the first to fight the Wyatts. A “ghost” appears and Rene is not impressed, as it is really Bo Dallas. He is going to try and scare someone tonight.
Match #2: “Four-Corners Of Terror” Tag-Team – The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) VS. The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) VS. The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto and Sin Cara) VS. King Barrett and Sheamus
Prior to this contest, Tag-Team Champions The New Day join on commentary and mock the teams on their way to the announce table.
Kalisto and Sheamus begin, with Kalisto getting the better courtesy of his quick-paced moves. He kicks Sheamus and slides under, then twirls around with a headscissors. Bubba Ray and Barrett are tagged in and punch it out, then D-Von and both Ascension members, but Konnor and Viktor are clotheslined over the ropes as Dragons and Dudleyz are standing tall in the ring.
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D-Von and Barrett are wrestling, with D-Von in control after a hard-slamming suplex. Kalisto is back in, but pushed off the top turnbuckle, and double-teamed a short bit later by Sheamus and Barrett. “Mr. Money In The Bank” overpowers Kalisto, kicking him more in the turnbuckle, then giving him a suplex into a slam. He pounds away on Kalisto’s chest and clotheslines him out of the corner, then lets The Ascension team up.
Connor and Viktor take turns punishing Kalisto, until the Dragon moves from the corner and sends Viktor into the ring post. He tags in Cara, who cleans house on both Ascension members and Barrett, then almost takes this with a springboard hurricanrana pin! The bout now breaks down, and the Dudleyz and Dragons give Barrett and Sheamus the “What’s Up” headbutt. Ray and D-Von toss The Luchas to the floor and then brawl with Barrett and Sheamus to the back.
Ascension and Dragons are left, with Kalisto finishing Viktor with his flip-over reverse-DDT and getting the 1 – 2 – 3!
Winners via Pinfall: The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto and Sin Cara)
Later tonight, Dolph Ziggler will take on The Miz!
Commercials.
Segment #4: Backstage Promo
Dean Ambrose is walking backstage into Cesaro. Among many Halloween and other movie puns, Cesaro informs Ambrose that he will be one of his partners tonight! “Boo” Dallas then tries to scare Cesaro, but “The Swiss Superman” just shakes his head and moves on.
Dolph makes his entrance for his bout with Miz, next!
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Match #3: “Treat-Or-Treat Streetfight” Single – Dolph Ziggler VS. The Miz
An elbow/collar tie-up starts with Ziggler taking over with a standing side headlock and shoulder-block. Miz catches Dolph and sling-shots him over the ropes, but “The Show-Off” hangs on and climbs back in. Miz takes a lightsaber (yes, I really just typed that!) and Dolph grabs a kendo stick. Of course, Ziggler gets the better and crotches Miz with the stick.
They go to the outside, where Dolph refreshes Miz by pushing his head into the bucket of apples! He then places a pumpkin (for real!) on Miz’ head and back in the ring, superkicks him, splitting up some of the Halloween decoration!
On the other side of the ring, Dolph has appeared to hurt his knee, which allows Miz to gain advantage. He focuses on Ziggler’s hurt knee, slamming a steel chair against it numerous times while it was wrapped around the ring post.
In the ring, Miz tries the Figure-4, but Dolph reverses into an inside cradle, finishing this one!
Winner via Pinfall: Dolph Ziggler
Post-match, Tyler Breeze and Summer Rae walks out and Tyler proceeds to attack Ziggler, particularly his knee. He does this until referees break him away, although it takes a couple tries. Breeze and Rae pose afterwards.
Up next, a recently-turned-heel Paige will be in action!
Commercials.
Match #4: Single – Paige VS. Natalya
Paige immediately kicks Natalya hard in the face, then becomes aggressive with a headbutt. She kicks away at Nattie’s back, then punches her in the gut more. Natalya makes a comeback with a clothesline and German suplex, which sends Paige tumbling to the floor.
Team B.A.D. suddenly interrupt and Sasha impersonates Natalya’s pleas about Paige assaulting Natalya last week on Smackdown! This distracts Nattie, which allows Paige to turn her around into the Ram-Paige DDT and take this!
Winner via Pinfall: Paige
Post-match, the entirety of Team B.A.D. assails Natalya, with Sasha clamping on the Bank Statement. They pose and walk away, seemingly pleased.
Up next, a review of Alberto Del Rio’s return and United States Championship win!
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Segment #5: Locker Room Promo
Dean Ambrose is taping himself up when he hears a man groaning “more.” The camera pans over and we see Ryback lifting weights. He wants to be a part of the Six-Man, so Ambrose agrees.
Segment #6: Arena Promo
Zeb Colter leads out United States Champion Alberto Del Rio. Colter’s scooter has a combination of the American and Mexican flags attached. They both talk about the unification they want with America and Mexico. They declare that the United States Championship will renamed The MexAmerica Championship. Del Rio walks to the ring for a bout, next.
Commercials.
Match #5: Single – United States Champion Alberto Del Rio VS. R-Truth
Predictably, Del Rio picks this one up after forcing Truth to tap to his cross-armbreaker hold.
Segment #7: Backstage Promo
Dallas pops out of a trunk and attempts to scare Mark Henry, but Henry simply punches him back into the trunk and walks away.
Dean Ambrose makes his entrance for the main-event, next!
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Match #6: Six-Man Tag-Team – Dean Ambrose, Cesaro, and Ryback VS. The Wyatt Family (Luke Harper, Erik Rowan, and Braun Strowman) (with Bray Wyatt)
Ryback and Harper begin, going back-and-forth until Harper tags in Strowman. “The Black Sheep” stares down “The Big Guy,” (and the fans are totally on Ryback’s side with loud “feed me more” chants.) Ryback tries, but Braun dominates with a big suplex.
Commercials.
Rowan is now in and slams Ryback, then Harper lands on him too. Erik’s back, but Ryback takes him down and manages the hot-tag to Ambrose, who hits down Rowan and Harper! He climbs the turnbuckle, but Harper yanks at him and pushes him back in the ring. Rowan delivers a roundhouse kick and covers but only gets two!
Strowman runs into the ring post and Ambrose brings in Cesaro, who uppercuts around. He plants Harper with a reverse Death Valley Drive, then clutches on a crossface! Braun pulls Cesaro out of the ring to break the hold, then both Ambrose and Ryback rocket themselves at Strowman over the announces table. In the ring, Cesaro soars off the top turnbuckle with a crossbody and covers, but Rowan breaks it up!
Ambrose is in and takes out Rowan, and Cesaro gears up for it and goes to swing around Harper, but Strowman distracts Chioda, the referee, and Bray hits Cesaro, giving Harper the chance to clothesline Cesaro and receive the victory!
Winners via Pinfall: The Wyatt Family
The Wyatt Family pose to close as the lights darken to close the show.
End Of Smackdown!
Reporter’s Rumblings
Much like Raw, this was a great wrestling show, and pretty decent one overall. Let’s look at the particulars:
Excellence: Reigns/Owens, Fatal-4-Way Tag, and the Six-Man. I liked how Reigns/Owens was not definitive and could lead to a great feud down the road; perhaps Title VS. Title? The 4 Teams bout was surprisingly good/longer than I expected and I actually enjoyed it. I was skeptical at first, thinking it was a “throw-away”/quick one, but they wrestled longer and it served a purpose with The Luchas winning as potentially new opponents for The New Day. The main-event was just wrestled-well and very popular!
As I wrote on the Raw Report, I am happy (and was shocked) to see Alberto back; he seems to be received well and I hope that continues. The pairing with Zeb and their explanation was interesting, and I hope they don’t get any big backlash for combining the U.S. Championship and renaming it; in this case, it is just a storyline!
Loving the new feud of Tyler Breeze/Dolph Ziggler; now I can fully get into it as it will lead to a Survivor Series bout; not like last week where it was just a few days before Hell In A Cell and Dolph was already booked on the show, so they had nowhere to go at that point.
Bogus: Again, I wish Bo was able to be given another solid run, particularly with the aggressive side he did show; I don’t like the fact they are making a joke out of him.
I would like impressing rivalry between The Dudleyz and Sheamus/Barrett better if Sheamus didn’t have the Money In The Bank Briefcase. He’s done nothing with it since the tease last month and I feel it has been a waste of the meaning of the briefcase in general since he has won it.
Wished that Paige/Natalya went longer and was actually built for Survivor Series instead of squandered fast on Smackdown! I guess they’re leading to a Team B.A.D (with Paige now?) VS. Team N.C.B. (and another women’s wrestler) at Series, but I would’ve preferred one-on-one with Paige and Natalya to close their conflict.
Until Raw, Be Excellent Wrestling-Online Readers and Fans!
WWE Diva Alicia Fox pulled a Sheamus and is now sporting a mohawk. Yes, a mohawk!
The first ever African American Divas champion posted a photo on her Instagram account showing a “sneak preview” of her new look and added the hashtag #girlsthatrockmohawks. The foxy one had been wearing a weave for the past few years and is now back to her natural hair, or what’s left of it.
You can check out the Team Bella member new look below.
The October 3 live event from Madison Square Garden featuring Brock Lesnar vs Big Show and John Cena vs Seth Rollins in a cage match which was broadcast on the WWE Network became the most-watched non-PPV show on the Network.
The announcement came from George Barrios, WWE’s Chief Strategy and Financial Officer, during yesterday’s conference call with investors.
These specials have been doing pretty good as the previous televised house show, the one from Tokyo, Japan on Independence Day, was also one of the most watched shows on the WWE Network back then. The show aired live around the world and very early in the morning in the United States due to the time difference.
Vince McMahon also noted that they’re expecting a bigger audience than the Japan show for the upcoming NXT Takeover: London show due to the show airing at a better time even though it will be halfway across the world. The show is expected to start at 3PM EST in the U.S. with an 8PM local time start in London.
WWE expects to add 90 hours of new content to the Network during this quarter. Last quarter they added 85 hours of original content.
Between November 5 and November 11, WWE champion Seth Rollins, King Barrett, and Ryback will be holding five unique training experiences across the United Kingdom.
All the events will start at 2PM and will take place at Sports Direct Fitness in Glasgow on November 5, the Royal Docks CrossFit in London on November 6, CrossFit Leeds in Leeds on November 7, Second City CrossFit in Birmingham on November 8, and at CrossFit Connect in Hove on November 11.
Participants will be able to do a custom-designed 55-minute workout with the Superstars and then participate in a meet and greet session. The training is open to anyone aged over 18 and the gym sessions will take place ahead of the major WWE Live events that same evenings. All participants will need to confirm and sign a waiver on arrival at the training session.
Tickets are priced £165 per person and are available at Ticketmaster.co.uk.
With Randy Orton and Rusev off the upcoming European tour, WWE has added United States champion Alberto Del Rio to the mix who will be replacing Orton. Del Rio will be joining the tour headlined by Roman Reigns. The other tour is headlined by Seth Rollins.
Del Rio has already a packed schedule with WWE and he’s still the AAA Mega Heavyweight champion. He was supposed to be working some shows with AAA, those already agreed, and eventually drop the title however if he’s doing any of that it will most likely come next month unless he’s brought in for one shot and just drop the title immediately.
There are some rumors that Del Rio was paid a $1.4 million guarantee to return to the company that he was fired from last year.
WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin and El Segundo Brewing Company, one of LA’s premier craft breweries, have teamed up to create the Steve Austin Broken Skull IPA beer.
“Proud to announce my new beer w @ESBCBrews. Broken Skull IPA. One bad ass beer. #cheers,” Austin wrote on his Twitter yesterday. The beer will initially be available in California only but the company hopes to expand into other markets soon.
El Segundo Brewing will launch Broken Skull IPA on Friday, November 13th. Steve Austin will be behind the bar serving up the brew from 1PM to 8PM at 140 Main Street, El Segundo, California. Tickets are already sold out.
Despite beating Wall Street’s estimates with a rather strong quarter, WWE stocks were body slammed throughout the day and lost 12.83% of its value from yesterday’s closing.
Stocks closed the day at 17.39, a decrease of $2.56 from Wednesday’s closing. It had a high of $18.98 but it was clear from the start that things were not going to look good for WWE on the trading floor.
The tiny bump in Network subscribers combined with less average paying subscribers for the quarter and flat outlook for the fourth quarter in terms of subscribers, investors were not that impressed.
Rusev’s injury from the Main Event tapings this past Tuesday prior to Smackdown was confirmed by WWE.COM today.
Rusev sustained a proximal bicep tendon rupture during his match with Neville. AS reported earlier, the match was stopped due to the injury and Rusev was not happy about it, even chasing the timekeeper through the stands.
The injury however doesn’t seem to be that serious and the former U.S. champion is only expected to be out for up to a month. He joins his fiancé Lana who’s sidelined with a wrist injury.
Both John Cena and Brock Lesnar are being advertised for a non-televised house show at The “Fabulous” Forum in Inglewood, California, on Saturday, December 19.
Cena was not advertised for any events until the December 26 live event at Madison Square Garden and Lesnar very, very rarely appears at non-televised live events. The two previously advertised house shows with Lesnar ended up being on the WWE Network – the one in Tokyo in July, and the one in New York earlier this month.
The Forum is now owned by Madison Square Garden and $50 million were spent to rehabilitate the arena which lost most of its business to the Staples Center. Last year The Forum hosted the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards, the first major award show to ever take place inside the venue.
NXT coach William Regal underwent a second neck operation last week which was performed by WWE’s medical director Dr. Joseph Maroon.
In an interview with the WWE.COM, Regal revealed that he underwent a procedure called laminectomy, where they go in and completely clean out the calcium deposits from the back. The surgery lasted just over an hour and involved working on the C3, C4, C5, and C6 vertebrae.
Regal noted that he won’t be able to make the WWE European tour next month however he’ll be good to go to tour with NXT in December. He won’t be wrestling anytime soon and said that it’s too early to see if it’s a good idea or not to step in the ring but he’s not “desperate” to wrestle again.
WrestleMania fever will hit Dallas next week as WWE will hold the official free on-sale party at the AT&T Stadium on Thursday, November 5, from 6PM to 9PM.
The party will feature live NXT matches and include special appearances by Stone Cold Steve Austin, Lita, Booker T, Lana and Mark Henry, as well as Dallas Cowboys Executive Vice President and Chief Brand Officer Charlotte Jones Anderson and Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams. Corey Graves, Fan Axxess emcee Christian Litke and Greg Hudson will co-host the big event.
NXT matches which will take place during the evening include Samoa Joe vs Baron Corbin; Apollo Crews vs Tye Dillinger; Asuka vs Peyton Royce; The Hype Bros. vs Blake & Murphy; Carmella vs Alexa Bliss.
In addition to WrestleMania 32 tickets, select WrestleMania gear will also be available for purchase at AT&T Stadium. WrestleMania 32 tickets will be available at the AT&T Stadium box office beginning at 4PM CT. Doors to the stadium open at 5PM CT for the party. Fans can enter through Entries A, C, K, & H. Complimentary parking will be available at the stadium.
Below are the results by region and business segment for Q3 2015. Out of the total ten different businesses within WWE, seven of them registered an increase over the prior year quarter while three of them were in the red.
Those which performed better include: WWE Network increased to $36.4 million from $22.4 million in the prior year quarter; Television revenues increased 55% to $65.2 million from $42.2 million thanks to Total Divas, Tough Enough, and new International agreements; Digital Media net revenues increased 16% to $5.8 million from $5.0 million; Live Event revenues increased 20% to $26.1 million from $21.8 million in the prior year quarter; Licensing revenues increased 15% to $11.5 million from $10.0 million; Venue Merchandise revenues increased to $4.9 million from $4.2 million; WWEShop revenues increased 40% to $6.0 million as compared to $4.3 million in the prior year quarter.
Those which did not perform as good as the prior year quarter include: PPV revenue which did $4.5 million with approximately 360,000, down 5%; Home Entertainment net revenues decreased to $3.0 million from $3.6 million; and WWE Studios did $1.7 million as compared to revenue of $1.9 million in the prior year quarter.
Embedded in the press release announcing the Q3 2015 results were the buy rates of each pay-per-view that happened throughout the quarter. WWE presented 3 pay-per-views: Battleground, SummerSlam, and Night of Champions.
Battleground did 80,000 worldwide PPV buys as compared to 99,000 last year. SummerSlam had 121,000 buys versus the 147,000 from 2014, while Night of Champions had 77,000 buys, an increase from the 48,000 buys of last year.WWE also listed “other events” at 82,000 buys however these events were not specified. That was an increase from 9,000 listed in 2014.
In total WWE registered 360,000 buys for Q3 2015 compared to 285,000 registered in Q3 2014. As more people get the WWE Network, the PPV buy number will significantly decrease especially those living outside the United States where the Network is not available in their country yet and the shows are on PPV.
WWE today announced financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2015. For the quarter, the Company reported net income of $10.4 million, or $0.14 per share, compared to a net loss of $5.9 million, or $0.08 loss per share, in the third quarter last year.
“During the quarter, we made significant progress on the growth of our global subscription service, WWE Network,” said WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon. “We also continued to strengthen our talent base, achieved significant international growth and increased engagement across our digital and social media platforms. Over the next year, we expect to leverage our brand and content initiatives to further enhance engagement, promote network subscription, and maximize our long-term earnings growth.”
George Barrios, Chief Strategy & Financial Officer, said that the solid earnings growth were primarily thanks to the WWE Network, increase in television right fees, and higher ticket prices at WWE live events.
“Key metrics, such as the record attendance at our SummerSlam events, viewership of our original content, and social media presence demonstrate the increasing strength of our WWE brands, which are the foundation of our long-term growth,” Barrios said.
Today, with the announcement of the Q3 2015 financial results, WWE has revealed that the number of subscribers getting the WWE Network stands at 1,233,000 paid subscribers, an addition of 5,000 subscribers from the last quarterly report. The WWE Network averaged approximately 1,173,000 paid subscribers during the quarter, representing a 62% increase from the prior year quarter.
At the end of Q2 2015 on June 30, WWE announced that it had a total of 1,227,000 active subscribers on the WWE Network, a decrease of 100,000 subscribers from what the company reported right after WrestleMania 31.
During the quarter, WWE lost around 376,000 subscribers but added 453,000 new ones.
Since the last numbers in the Q2 2015 report, the WWE Network has launched in two key markets – Malaysia and Italy. Just last week the Network also launched in India although numbers reflecting those subscribers will be part of Q4 2015. The Network will launch in Germany and Japan in January 2016, and the company continues to develop plans for geographic expansion to China, Thailand and the Philippines.
From inception through September 30, 2015, WWE Network attracted nearly 2.3 million unique subscribers with approximately 54% of these subscribers active as of that date.
In their 2015 business outlook, WWE has projected to end the year with 1.2 million paid subscribers which is basically the same as it is now. For 2016, the press release states that “management will not provide guidance for 2016 subscriber levels” due to the “inherent uncertainty of this nascent and growing business.”
WWE Superstar Adam Rose went back to his home country of South Africa for the first time in five years however his return was not a happy one as he went back to attend the funeral of his sister.
“Good bye my sweet sister,” Rose posted on Twitter, adding that it’s sad to go back home under these circumstances. “My sister was a role model who spent her life trying to help other deal with their own demons.”
Our condolences goes out to his family during these difficult times.
The Undertaker will be traveling to the United Kingdom for the Smackdown television tapings in Manchester on November 10. The Manchester Smackdown is part of an 11-day European tour which will also see Raw being taped in Manchester the day before.
The Undertaker last appeared on a Smackdown episode in 2013 where coincidentally enough it was also held in the United Kingdom, although tapings where held in London and not Manchester at the time. He wrestled Dean Ambrose during the show.
The Phenom will be there to continue his angle with the Wyatt Family which will lead to a Survivor Series match. WWE will be celebrating 25 years of the Undertaker next month with the Survivor Series being exactly the 25 year anniversary since his debut back on November 22, 1990.
It was not announced that the Undertaker will be participating in other non-televised live events during the European tour.
Former WWE United States champion Rusev suffered an injury last night during the Main Event tapings held prior to the Smackdown tapings in Phoenix, Arizona.
Rusev was wrestling Neville when the injury occurred and the match was stopped with Neville declared the winner. It’s not clear what the actual injury is although there are rumors that it’s related to his arm.
The Bulgarian was not happy that the match was called off and even chased the timekeeper afterward with the timekeeper running for his life through the stands.
If the injury is serious he will join his fiancé Lana on the sidelines. Rusev already spent some months out with a leg injury although he stayed on the road and traveled to television shows to continue his angle with Dolph Ziggler, Lana, and Summer Rae.
