Source: PWInsider Elite
Word is that we will be seeing a lot more angles done on the WWE Network pre and post-shows for RAW, SmackDown and pay-per-view events.
There’s been talk within WWE of tightening up these shows and doing angles on them that would lead to the next WWE TV show or pay-per-view. These changes are expected to start taking place soon.
Source: ProWrestling.net
Prowrestling.net notes that recent reports indicating that Batista didn’t want to put over Daniel Bryan at WWE Payback due to his size are incorrect.
A source close to the situation said the following in response to those reports:
“WWE wants that story out, but it’s all twisted. (Batista) would do five jobs for Bryan. They’ve f—ed him in money, booking, broken promises (relating to his) schedule, and promoting his (outside projects). Had that not happened, he would be around until late June, but because Vince (McMahon) f—ed him, he’s not, so they dragged Daniel Bryan into this to vilify Batista. Daniel is beloved and a martyr so he benefits, but it has nothing to do with jobbing. They’ve twisted. It’s classic Vince. Look at Ultimate Warrior and SummerSlam, Bret Hart in Montreal. (Vince) puts out his narrative. There are always two sides.”
Word is that the situation remains in doubt and Vince McMahon is now more involved in trying to work things out with Batista. There is no official word on how long Batista intends on working for WWE before taking time off.
Regarding why Bryan vs. Batista was not booked if Batista is sticking around through Payback, it was said that the feeling is Bryan vs. Batista should be a multi pay-per-view feud and that was unlikely because of Batista needing time off to promote Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
Credit: TNAInsider.com
Below are full spoilers for the May 8th episode of TNA Impact Wrestling. Some segments may have been taped out of order or for the following week.
Taped Monday night 4/28:
* Knux defeated Kazarian. Knux came out with his family, a bunch of carny characters. He had Rebel, the female from his videos, a crazy clown with balloons, a large masked man and two guys walking on stilts.
* Eric Young came out and said he’s a champion who wrestles and will be defending the title every week. Bobby Roode comes out and wants a rematch from last week. Roode sucks up to Young and they shake on the match. Roode says if he loses, he’ll never ask EY for a title shot again.
* Ethan Carter III defeated Kurt Angle. Towards the end of the match, Angle went down on his knee and the referee put up the X symbol to call for help. Angle waved the X off but got caught by a spear from Ethan for the win.
* MVP comes out and says Young vs. Roode won’t be happening. He says Young can’t make his own matches. MVP says he will have a blockbuster opponent for Young at Slammiversary. Roode comes out and he’s pissed off. They have words and Roode shoves MVP. They brawl until referees and security gets in between.
Taped Tuesday night 4/29:
* MVP comes out and brings Eric Young out. MVP puts over Young and introduces a #1 contender for Slammiversary but nobody comes out. MVP says we will find out next week but turns and lays Young out. MVP reveals himself as the new #1 contender and will see Young at Slammiversary.
* Backstage segment with Magnus and a new guy named Bram. He’s actually former NXT star Kenneth Cameron of The Ascension.
* Willow defeated Magnus by DQ when Bram destroyed Willow. Bram beat Willow around ringside and handcuffed him to the ropes. Bram beat Hardy with a piece of the turnbuckle.
* Velvet Sky and Angelina Love defeated Brittany and Madison Rayne in an elimination style Evening Gown match. It came down to Madison and Angelina. Velvet distracted the referee with nothing bu a towel on, allowing Angelina to get the win on Madison by stripping her.
* The Wolves defeated BroMans in a Ladder Match with the TNA Tag Team Titles on the line. Zema Ion tried to get involved but they took him out also
May 8th Episode:
* Triple H kicks off the episode with an in-ring promo. He talks about how NXT is the future and is taking over. He hypes the live Takeover special for May 29th on the WWE Network. He also announces a battle royal to determine a new #1 contender to the NXT Title.
* Charlotte defeated Emma in a match for the NXT Women’s Title tournament.
* Kalisto and El Local (Ricardo Rodriguez) defeated The Legionnaires (Sylvester Lefort & Marcus Louis).
* Camacho defeated Captain Comic from Adam Rose’s group of party people. Camacho had a confrontation with Rose after the match. (Our correspondent originally said Hunico had a confrontation with Rose. We apologize for the error.)
* Alexa Bliss defeated Alicia Fox in a match for the NXT Women’s Title tournament.
* Up next is a battle royal to determine a new #1 contender to the NXT Title. Participants are Xavier Woods, Brodus Clay, Baron Corbin, Curt Hawkins, Aiden English, Jason Jordan, Danny Burch, Oliver Grey, Marcus Louise, Sylvester Lefort, Big Cass, Camacho, Mason Ryan, Kalisto, El Local, Mojo Rawley, Sami Zayn, Yoshi Tatsu, Tyler Breeze, Bo Dallas and Tyson Kidd. Zayn, Breeze and Kidd were all eliminated last at the same time. Triple H comes out and announces a triple threat between them to crown the #1 contender.
WWE Superstars Results for 5/8/14 from Times Union Center in Albany, NY
* WWE Tag Champions The Usos defeated 3MB (Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre)
* WWE Divas Champion Paige defeated Alicia Fox… again
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
– KENTA leaving Pro Wrestling NOAH came as a huge shock to everyone in the Japanese wrestling community. We noted before that it was being reported in Japan that KENTA was indeed headed to WWE. There’s a feeling that KENTA realizes his body has suffered from years of the Japanese style and that if he was going to go to WWE, now is the time. Japanese wrestler Katsuyori Shibata, who is close to KENTA, said it was KENTA’s dream to go to WWE.
– Highspots.com is currently working on a documentary about the life of WWE Hall of Famer Harley Race.
– We noted before that Sin Cara was in the top 10 merchandise sellers at WWE live events. Cara being back in the top 10 could be a fluke as WWE recently ran several successful events in Texas. With that said, it’s worth noting that even with successful live events near the border, Rey Mysterio still didn’t make the top 10 merchandise movers.
– WWE’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view had a sellout of 14,500 fans with 12,900 paid at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, NJ last Sunday. They announced it as 15,907 in attendance.
– If WWE goes through with a second season of Legends House on the WWE Network, they will use a new cast of stars. Hulk Hogan’s name was rumored for the show back around WrestleMania XXX time but now it’s said that there’s been talk of having Ric Flair be the big name for the season season.
WWE officials are reportedly very happy with the streaming numbers for Legends House and may film the second season in Florida. The first season was shot in California.
– Details are still unavailable on how former WCW announcer Lee Marshall passed away but he was 64 years old, not 67 as was reported by some media. Marshall had been living in Oxnard, California and working for KVEN 1450 AM in Ventura, CA. Marshall also taught broadcasting at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, CA. Marshall was survived by his wife, Judie, stepdaughter Eve Borders Ottis and granddaughter Kate. The LA Times has a lengthy obituary for Marshall at this link.
– Matches taped for tonight’s WWE NXT include Emma vs. Charlotte in a Women’s Title tournament match, Alicia Fox vs. Alexa Bliss in a tournament match, Camacho vs. Captain Comic from Adam Rose’s Rosebuds, Kalisto & El Local vs. Sylvester Lefort & Marcus Louis, The Ascension vs. Buddy Murphy and a partner plus a battle royal to crown a new #1 contender to Adrian Neville’s NXT Title.
– John Cena was kept off Monday’s RAW so they could push his appearance on the WWE Network’s Main Event. WWE’s #1 goal right now is to hit 1 million Network subscribers and the idea was that putting Cena on Main Event would raise the profile of that show and might encourage new subscribers.
– When it comes to adding new content to the WWE Network, several factors are involved that make it a lengthy process. What WWE has digitized has to be cleaned up, approved by legal, closed captioned and then processed to be uploaded. As noted, WWE will be adding and removing Network content over time.
– Former WWE star Chavo Guerrero had some kind of emergency surgery last week. Chavo revealed on Twitter that he had to have an appendectomy. He noted that he’s back at home and doing much better now.
– It’s believed that the new season of WWE Tough Enough will begin filming this June at the Performance Center in Orlando and that filming will run 30 to 40 days. There’s talk of limiting the participants on the show to talents that are already under developmental contracts.
– We noted before that WWE recently let go of their Executive Vice President of Programming Matthew Singerman, who was involved in all programming and scheduling decisions for the WWE Network. Word is that it was a Vince McMahon decision.
– The WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event episodes that are coming to the WWE Network soon should be up by July.
Partial Credit: Dana Becker, and Sherdog
– UFC president Dana White made a “State of the Union” address during a recent edition of “UFC Tonight,” breaking down a number of key issues. One of those centered around the recent removal of fighters Nate Diaz and TJ Grant from the official UFC rankings.
“Everyone is taking about Nate being removed and so has TJ for inactivity,” White said in the interview, which you can watch in the video above. “Early on we let Dominick Cruz hold the title for as long as we did. But it’s unfair for the guys who are staying active. When you have a guy like TJ and they have an injury, that’s pretty serious, so they get dropped. But when they come back, they’ll get added back. Same for Diaz. He’s not taking any fights and we’re not sure when he will.”
Diaz (17-9) fought in November, defeating Gray Maynard via knockout. That snapped a two-fight losing streak for Diaz, which included a decision defeat to then-UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson. He has gone on record saying he wants a new contract, despite having just signed one before the Henderson fight in 2012.
Grant (21-5) has been off since last May due to a concussion suffered in training. Cruz, who White mentioned, has not fought since 2011, but remains listed in the bantamweight Top-10.
– Ronda Rousey isn’t a fan of what the producers decide to show and not show when it comes to editing The Ultimate Fighter. The UFC female bantamweight champion coached opposite Miesha Tate on season 18 last year.
“I don’t watch ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ now that I know how much bull is in it,” said Rousey, during an interview with The Canadian Press. “I don’t support it. I used to watch it all the time. Now I won’t watch it.”
Rousey was very critical of the way she was depicted on the program, believing it led many to side with Tate heading into their title match last December. She lashed out at the production team, Pilgrim Studios, who have produced the show since 2005.
“They don’t know the first thing about fighting,” said Rousey, who meets Alexis Davis later this year at UFC 175. “They only know about reality TV and they treated us like we were ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ and not elite athletes that should be respected. I don’t support people like that so I don’t watch the show anymore.”
– Despite receiving clearance from his doctor to amp up his training, former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva remains focused on 2015 – not 2014 – for his return to the Octagon. Silva appeared on “UFC Tonight” to discuss the decision.
“My doctor said, ‘You crazy!’ I say, ‘Yeah, I’m a little crazy,'” Silva said. “(The doctor) said, ‘It’s ok. You’re ready for kick, no problem. You’re ready for bag, when you’re ready, you’re back.’ I’ll be back next year.”
Silva suffered a broken leg in December when Chris Weidman checked a kick of his during their middleweight title match. The Brazilian hasn’t announced any plans regarding who he would like to face in his return.
As noted in an earlier news piece, David Benoit was scheduled to make his pro wrestling debut at a Hart Legacy event in July. The news was announced on Twitter by Smith Hart, Bret Hart’s older brother. It turns out David has never formally trained to wrestle and Smith was trying to convince him to do the show thinking it would help draw ticket sales and drum up a lot of attention.
After word got out about David teaming with Chavo Guerrero on the show, Chris Jericho, who is close to David, contacted the Hart Legacy promotion and wasn’t happy at all. Jericho was furious at the promotion for advertising David for a match because he hadn’t been trained yet. Jericho was reportedly very mad and tried to get the match stopped. This led to Chavo Guerrero canceling his booking for the event.
Smith Hart reportedly told Chavo that David had some in-ring experience and would be fine for their match. Smith then reportedly told Jericho that they were never planning on having David wrestle and that he would just be doing some kind of angle. Smith reportedly told David that that he still wanted him in a match and tried to convince him that he could get through it without training. It’s now said David’s booking for the event may have been canceled altogether.
David spent at least some time at Lance Storm’s school in Canada. David actually enrolled in several training camps but never showed up on the first day and wasn’t trained. David reportedly asked Triple H and William Regal about being a wrestler years ago and they told him to finish high school first and recommended Storm’s school because it was near him.
