Source: PWInsider
Tonight’s WWE RAW taping from Hartford, Connecticut will not be taking place.
WWE crews are currently at the XL Center in Hartford packing up their production trucks. A reader who works across the street was told that the taping is canceled.
PWInsider reports that there will be a RAW broadcast tonight but we’re not sure what it will consist of.
Stay tuned for updates.
Source: F4WOnline
Regarding Daniel Bryan possibly being put into a three-way at WrestleMania 31 due to the heat from fans over his Royal Rumble elimination last night, F4WOnline reports that word from backstage at the Rumble is that will not be happening.
Word coming out of the Rumble is that Vince feels putting Bryan into another three-way would be a repeat and that they would be “going to the well” too many times.
WWE officials expected the backlash over Bryan’s elimination but were surprised at the level of it. Due to the atmosphere in the building before the Rumble match even began, officials panicked early in the show and moved some things around.
On a related note, it was said that The Rock was not happy at the Rumble. Rock was presumably upset over the Bryan elimination and the reaction but that hasn’t been confirmed yet.
The Rock also tweeted a comment about “feeling the fans” with their reaction last night.
WWE announced the following:
Arnold Schwarzenegger to be Celebrity Inductee in WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2015
Few individuals in film, politics or athletics are as recognizable across the globe as the one and only Arnold Schwarzenegger, and he mastered all three. And now, as first reported by TMZ, he will be recognized for his contributions to the world of sports-entertainment as the Celebrity Inductee in the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2015.
The Austrian-born Schwarzenegger became interested in bodybuilding in the early ’60s, and in 1967, at just 20 years old, he became the youngest ever Mr. Universe. The following year, he moved to the United States and soon after that, he became close friends with future WWE Champion “Superstar” Billy Graham. In 1970, the “Austrian Oak” won his first of seven Mr. Olympia titles. After WWE icon Bruno Sammartino judged one competition, the two formed a 40-year-plus friendship that culminated in Arnold inducting Bruno into the WWE Hall of Fame two years ago, inside New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
In the 1980s, Schwarzenegger befriended another future WWE Hall of Famer — Jesse “The Body” Ventura — when the two starred together in both “Predator” and “The Running Man.” Their careers continued to run in parallel as each became United States Governors — Ventura of Minnesota and Schwarzenegger of WrestleMania 31’s home, California.
Arnold’s relationship with WWE continued through the Attitude Era when he appeared on the November 11, 1999 edition of SmackDown. In the ring, WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon presented the action movie icon with a replica WWE Title and named him the “World Box Office Champion.” Later that evening, he helped The Rock, Shane McMahon, Kane & Test defeat the villainous D-Generation X when he slid a steel chair to special enforcer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, who connected with Triple H. Following the bout, Triple H took a swing at Schwarzenegger, who ducked and terminated The Game with a series of vicious fists.
In 2014, Arnold appeared on Raw for the first time to promote his new film “Sabotage,” alongside co-star Joe Manganiello. While they discussed Andre the Giant with Hulk Hogan, The Miz interrupted the festivities, but was slugged across his Moneymaker by Schwarzenegger and sent flying out of the ring by The Hulkster.
A quintessential immigrant success story, Arnold Schwarzenegger has already achieved the American Dream. And now, “The Governator” will be enshrined into the WWE Hall of Fame the night before WrestleMania 31, in the state that he once so proudly led.
– Not much happened after The Royal Rumble went off the air. Roman Reigns posed on each corner and left. After the show was over, fans were chanting for refunds.
– WWE will return to Philadelphia for a live event on Friday, July 10th. The pre-sale is underway, the code is WWELIVE.
– The phrase “#CancelWWENetwork” is also the number one trend on Twitter as of this writing.
– Several readers noted that the WWE Network cancellation page crashed tonight.
Source: PWInsider
Sources at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts are indicating to PWInsider that tomorrow night’s WWE Main Event and SmackDown tapings will be canceled due to the weather in the Northeast.
WWE officials are currently working on how they will handle SmackDown. Weather permitting, it’s possible that they tape on Thursday night and run live. There’s also no update on tonight’s RAW but we will keep you updated.
We’re going to jump back to 1966 for a pair of back to back TV episodes of WWWF Heavyweight Wrestling from Washington. On these episodes, the company begins to focus on the new upstart Antonio Pugliese, who is billed as the cousin of Bruno Sammartino. We’ll also get a look at manager Bobby Davis who brings his monsters to the ring, the likes of The Beast, and King Curtis Iaukea. All of that plus Ron Etchison makes his WWWF debut, Smasher Sloan is on the show, and much more.
We’re now in a new year, with new stars headed in and making waves. The Maltese Madman – Baron Mike Scicluna, is currently in the middle of an undefeated streak and challenging the World Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino at the Garden. Prince Curtis Iaukea (the future “King”) has washed ashore from the isle of Hawaii, Bruno’s “cousin” Antonio Pugliese is being groomed, and Bobby Davis is back in town with his wild man, The Beast. That’s just to name a few.
Ray Morgan is your announcer.
Altimore’s biggest “fame” was as one half of the tag team “the Sicilians”, in which he teamed with a young…er Lou Albano. Hulk Hogan has also gone on record as stating Altimore was his chaperone early on in Hogan’s big WWF run. Hulk claims Altimore was stuck with Hogan as sort of an agent, to keep an eye on Hulk and make sure he didn’t party too hard. Pugliese is promoted as the cousin of World Champion Bruno Sammartino. As you’d imagine, that’s a fabricated story in order to get Pugliese (the future Tony Parisi) over.
Fall #1: Altimore is one ugly sucker. He’s like a fat Burt from Sesame Street, unibrow and all. We’ve got Skaaland on Altimore, then Altimore takes over with a front chinlock. Pugliese tags in with a kervat style chinlock, and an arm stretch that Morgan calls a “Vibrator”. Pugliese proceeds to sit on the back of Altimore and ride him around like a horse, but manages to do it in the most boring way possible. The heels get Pugliese in their corner but a moment, but Pugliese comes right back and starts beating the crap out of both men… It’s back and forth, a heel in the face corner, then a face in the heel corner. Finally, Skaaland tags back in and grabs a Full Nelson on Savoldi. Altimore comes in to make the save but accidentally hits Savoldi. Not Angelo and Altimore are threatening to go at it. The heels resolve their issues and Savoldi lands a backdrop on Arnie. Savoldi tries a second backdrop but Skaaland counters with a sunset flip for the first fall in 11:25. Miguel Perez used the same exact finishing sequence on the last show I reviewed.
Fall #2: Skaaland handles himself well as the second fall begins. Savoldi accidentally nails Altimore in the heel corner for more issues between the two heels. Pugliese tags in, and we eventually end up with all four brawling around the ring. Order is restored, Pugliese dominates Altimore, and pins him after a knee to the back and a jackknife pin, which Morgan calls a “crocodile clutch”.
Skaaland & Pugliese win in 2 straight falls.
Good to see Bobby Davis back in the WWWF area. The most famous of the men to use the Beast character is likely Yvon Cormier, but this specific incarnation is John Yachetti, who had a run against Bruno Sammartino. He’s short, stocky, and as you’d imagine, hairy. Yachetti looked the part, barefoot and in a loincloth, but his height, or lack thereof was fairly noticeable, even for the 1960’s. The Beast with lots of chinlocks, bodylocks, and forearms. Bobby Davis yells at the referee for no reason other than effect. Davis also sneaks in some chokes and hair-pulling on Sanchez, he even works over Pete’s leg/knee from the outside. The Beast continuously looks over at his manager for advice, which I felt was a nice touch for the character. Beastie applies a bearhug, and then the Boston Crab finishes this in 5:18. After the match, the Beast won’t release the Crab until manager Bobby Davis makes him. Davis takes all the time in the world to walk over and make his Beast release.
This is Etchison’s debut in the WWWF. you may remember Sloan from my last review… Well, my thoughts on him haven’t changed. He’s like a poor man’s Crusher. The crew cut and the turtleneck bully sweater are about as “cool” as this guy gets. Headlocks, chinlocks, front facelocks. Smasher finally starts unloading with knees and stomps, wow the action. Etchison comes back with a headbutt to the gut that barely connects, but Sloan sells it anyway. Ron lands a dropkick and Smasher goes to the floor to stall for a minute. The bell sounds for a curfew of time while Sloan shits around on the apron. WOW… Just when I thought this guy couldn’t get worse….
Black’s Final Thoughts: The first match was a throwaway, designed to get over the newcomer Pugliese. It’d be less than six weeks before they stuck Pugliese with Johnny Valentine and slapped the US Tag Titles on them for most of 1966. Pugliese would then win the US Titles again before leaving in mid 67, returning sporadically over the next ten years, even having a World Tag Title run with partner Louis Cerdan (Gino Brito). That said, the match was long-winded, Pugliese was hardly impressive at this stage in his career, and Skaaland was more of a manager to Bruno at this point, that also worked the prelims. The Beast was a fun character for the times, but it’s hard to get past his short stature when trying to get yourself over as a wild monster-like character. Even still, Bobby Davis aided this match. Etchison would prove to be a decent worker over his long career, but not on this night. Not sure if Smasher Sloan dragged him down, or if he just hadn’t reached his potential yet. To recap, the tag match is blah, the Sloan match was equally as bad as his prior match I reviewed, and the Beast match was the seasoning on this show to give it a little bit of flavor. Not really an effective show, but I say go ahead and watch the Beast segment. Not only do you get a chance to check out more rare Bobby Davis footage, but you also get a glimpse at one of the earlier characters of the golden age.
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Ray Morgan once again you’re announcer for this show. There’s an MSG card coming up on January 24th and with the NYC transit strike finally over, Morgan voices that repeatedly throughout the show and hard sells the big Sammartino vs. Scicluna match that’s headlining the Garden.
From a once-legendary tag team with brother Gene, Steve Stanlee has been relegated to enhancement status to the point where his heel persona is irrelevant. Probably for the best as Stanlee had to be in his mid 40’s by this point, and his retired brother Gene was really the talent of the duo. Prince Curtis we know better as KING Curtis Iaukea, or as the manager “The Wizard” circa 1986/1987 WWF where he managed Kamala and Sika, or even later in the mid-90’s as “The Master”, the scar headed cave-dwelling leader of WCW’s Dungeon of Doom. Even back then, Iaukea bellowed his grunting voice as he laid into his opponents. Manager Bobby Davis was on a roll with monsters at this time, managing the likes of the Beast, Mongolian Stomper, and now Iaukea. Curtis hasn’t quite scarred his skull up just yet, but he looks to be pushing near 400 lbs. He mauls over Stanlee with some brawling style tactics, but then busts out a rarely seen hammerlock takeover!!! Nice! Iaukea even hooks a grounded headscissors, before feeding Stanlee to manager Bobby Davis who gets in his shots. Iaukea goes back to the brawling, raking at Stanlee’s face, catching him with the toe of his boot, then whipping him out to the floor. Once back inside, Iaukea runs Stanlee over and drops a big splash for the win in 4:32.
Fall #1: Well, we’ve got a pair of enhancement guys here filling in TV time this week with Serrano playing the heel. Lots of feeling out, then Marin uses a leg bar, then it’s Serrano’s turn to work a wristlock. Serrano does some choking and face raking to get over the fact that he’s an evil heel. Some more jockeying for position leads into a crisscross spot and Marin catches Serrano with a dropkick for the fall in 8:10.
Fall #2: Serrano controls most of the early going of the second fall until Marin catches him in a body scissors. Serrano manages to escape and he tosses Marin to the floor. Tomas returns on the apron with a shoulderblock that sends Hector down to the mat… Then MARIN HITS A SLINGSHOT SPLASH back into the ring!!!! 1….2….Serrano kicks out??!?!?!?!?!? Are you serious? All these generic finishes, and THAT doesn’t get a three? Serrano then bails to the floor and stalls for a good TWO TO THREE MINUTES. And I’m not talking “Macho Man” Savage in Memphis stalling that at least drew heat. I’m talking, booooring stalling. Serrano gets back inside a couple of times, but takes a shot and again goes outside… He stalls for a good five minutes in all… FIVE MINUTES!!! This goes on for so long that announcer Ray Morgan starts cutting PSA ads, reminding us to drive safely… Anyway, Serrano finally gets back in the ring and delivers a flying headlock takeover. Serrano tries again, but Marin counters with a back suplex and gets the pin in 11:39. Half of which featured Serrano on the floor…. literally!!!
Marin wins in two straight falls!
It’s big to note that Bruno Sammartino is at ringside to give his “cousin” Pugliese the big rub. The hard sell for the upcoming MSG show continues via Ray Morgan. We’re reminded the NYC Transit Strike has ended after some 12 days and that should encourage fans to come on out to MSG on the 24th of the month. Pugliese works the arm of Altimore early, then a side headlock. They do a Full Nelson spot with a couple of comedy escapes by Altimore thrown in. That livened things up a little. Pugliese does a handspring flip over Altimore as he had dropped down. Pugliese hits a pair of NICE looking dropkicks and Altimore goes to the outside to recover. Pugliese whips Altimore into the corner but runs into a boot from Altimore. Tony Altimore goes for another drop-down, but Pugliese puts on the brakes and scissors his legs around Altimore and winds up executing a body scissors roll up similar to that of Rob Van Dam. The scissors roll-up gets the win in around 9:20.
Bruno jumps in to congratulate Pugliese. Ray Morgan claims this to be Pugliese’s first win in the U.S., I guess that tag match last week doesn’t count…
– It’s interview time to close the show. They’ve been pushing the Baron Mike Scicluna vs. Bruno MSG match hard throughout the entire show, and now a couple of heels stop by to talk with Ray Morgan about said match. We have Tony Altimore and Tarzan Tyler to give their expertise. Altimore feels the Baron is the best challenger to date and will take the belt. New Yorker Altimore then drops his wrestling heel character and quickly address the Transit Strike. In a sincere comment, Altimore acknowledges the recent 12-day NYC transit strike that affected millions of people. Altimore mentions that the strike had just ended and gave his blessings to the NYC community for staying strong and said he looked up to them. With like ten seconds of time left, Tarzan Tyler says he knows what the Baron is going to do to Bruno. Then he just walks away…. Oooooooooookay.
BJack’s Final Thoughts: Lots of good stuff here for me. I loved seeing King Curtis in the WWWF, and with Bobby Davis no less. It was cool to see how Iaukea could brawl, but he was also accomplished as a wrestler as well, which he showed a little here. Just cool to have that footage, period…. I also didn’t mind the Pugliese/Altimore match as once you got past the first half of the match it was pretty good for the time period. Pugliese looked great with his handsprings and dropkicks, even the scissors roll at the end surprised me a little. Altimore was a great heel enhancement, he “got it”, and what time he wasn’t selling, he’d throw in a comedy spot to keep the fans entertained. Even the interview at the end of the show had good intentions. They were really trying to push Baron Mikel Scicluna hard against Bruno. Also, getting to hear the NYC Transit Strike discussed throughout the program on the very day the strike ended, well, that was pretty cool as you’re sort of witnessing history. The only thing that sucks about this show is the jobber vs. jobber 2 out of 3 fall match used as filler to fill out the show. Marin was good in his role, and Serrano is probably one of the best enhancement guys ever, but they were out there to stretch time, and outside of a crisscross spot and sloppy slingshot splash, that entire match was minutes of nothing, LITERALLY NOTHING. Serrano stalling outside the ring for 5 or 6 minutes was inexcusable for TV. Maybe a serious contender heel would have gotten more heat in that position, but an enhancement guy doing it just reminded me of “Iron” Mike Sharpe matches at MSG, and if you’ve seen those then you know what I mean…. In all, I liked this show, everything but the Marin/Serrano match, which unfortunately ate up 20+ minutes of time.
Source: PWInsider
Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy held a news conference this morning and said as of 9pm tonight, the entire state will be under a travel ban due to the huge blizzard that’s headed for the Northeast.
Travel bans usually mean that only emergency vehicles and state vehicles are allowed on the road. CT public transportation will shut down at 8pm.
WWE has RAW scheduled for Hartford, CT tonight and talents would then need to travel to Boston for SmackDown.
Malloy held another press conference and was asked about tonight’s RAW. He acknowledged that apparently the event was still taking place, as of now, but said, “As important to the world economy as wrestling is, public safety tops it.”
The XL Center is currently not accepting phone calls but we will keep you updated on the status of tonight’s RAW.
– WWE’s website spoke with Zack Ryder at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view last night. Ryder made his return from injury in the 30-man Rumble main event and told Tom Phillips that his shoulder is not 100% yet but it’s good enough. Ryder said he proved at the Rumble that the Ryder Revolution is once again going to take over WWE.
– WWE’s website also spoke with Bubba Ray Dudley after making his surprise return to WWE in last night’s 30-man main event. Ray told the WWE.com reporter that WWE is where he belongs and he’s back home. He talked about how this was his first-ever singles Rumble and Philadelphia was the perfect spot for it. Ray said WWE is his home because the fans say so. Bubba tweeted the following…
A HUGE THANK YOU to @WWE, the @WWEUniverse and the fans of Philly for the INCREDIBLE reception. It was great to be back!!
— Bully Ray (@REALBully5150) January 26, 2015
