Hideo Itami mentioned on Twitter that he will be taking back the move he created that was stolen by CM Punk, the GTS. He sent out the following message while promoting that upcoming NXT Takeover: Chicago event:
It will be interesting to see how the crowd reacts if he attempts to do the move in Punk’s hometown.
According to PWInsider, R-Truth is all set to start his own show on the WWE Network. The series might end up hitting the Network by early fall.
WWE has secretly filmed the pilot for the new show already. The show is supposed to be some kind of a game show which will make it the first of its kind on the WWE Network.
With WWE looking to make the Network more big of a deal, shows like these might end up helping it garner more subscriptions and viewers.
Also, R-Truth is one of the most entertaining superstars on the roster, hence choosing him to be the host of shows like these is a wise move by the company.
Former WWE Superstar Ricardo Rodriguez announced on Facebook that he has retired from in-ring competition.
He wrote, “So I have decided to hang up the boots and just train/teach. I’m better at that, anyways, plus real life is getting in the way.”
For those who don’t remember, Rodriguez was part of Alberto Del Rio’s act as his personal ring announcer during Alberto’s first run with the company. WWE and Rodriguez parted ways on July 30, 2014. Since his departure, he has been working the indie circuit.
Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman are being advertised for the July 3rd RAW event, while John Cena is being advertised for the July 4th SmackDown Live show.
As noted yesterday, both shows are being held at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. WWE is offering a two-for-one deal on the tickets because the feeling is it will be hard to get people in on a holiday week.
The RAW event is the go-home show from the Great Balls of Fire pay-per-view, where Lesnar is being advertised to defend the WWE Universal Championship. Originally, Lesnar was slated to defend that title against Braun Stromwn on the card, whoever those plans are very likely to change. Braun is expected to be out of action for 6-8 weeks to recover from elbow surgery. Finn Balor and Seth Rollins are the top candidates to replace Stromwn on the show.
Cena, who has been off WWE programming since WrestleMania, is out filming movies. With him being advertised for this event, it is possible that he will be returning to WWE television soon. There is no word on who Cena will be feuding with when he returns. We will keep you updated.
As previously noted, Brie Bella and Daniel Bryan welcomed their daughter Bridie this past Tuesday. Brie posted the following photo on their Instagram account:
“The greatest feeling in the world!!! Can’t even express the love I feel for her. From the moment I saw her I was in love. Thank you all for your love and support. Birdie Joe is her Daddy’s mini me!! #Imfinallyamommy #greatestlove #motherhood”
Lana defeated Danielle Kamella at the WWE NXT Live Event in Daytona Beach, FL. The finish of the match came when Lana used Rusev’s Accolade finishing hold on Kamella.
As noted, Lana is working NXT events and training at the Performance Center before she makes her SmackDown Live debut. She is scheduled to work the NXT Live Events in Largo and Dade City this weekend.
Russo says that WWE’s brand split is ‘atrocious’ in his opinion. When he almost returned to WWE in 2002, the first thing he said to Vince McMahon was, ‘You have to get rid of the brand split”. Eventually WWE took Russo’s advice and eliminated the brand split, but now a decade later they’ve returned to this failed concept yet again.
When he worked for TNA, he told Dixie Carter on multiple occasions that there were several performers on the roster that didn’t deserve to be there. He never thought he’d be saying that about WWE, but all these years later that’s the situation he finds himself in.
Russo decided to do a list of the 30 names that he’d want to work with, if he was writing a wrestling television show today. All of these people are stars, have the ‘It’ factor, and deserve to be on National television, unlike a lot of today’s performers.
Brock Lesnar & John Cena – He says that these two guys would have been just as popular in the attitude area as they are today, and they’re clearly in a league of their own right now. He does admit that he has an issue with the fact that Lesnar only shows up for a handful of dates a year, especially since he’s the Champion right now.
WWE is advertising Hideo Itami and Chris Jericho for the upcoming WWE Live Event on June 30th and July 1st in Tokyo, Japan at the Ryogoku Kokugikan. As many of you are ware, Jericho was written off of television so that he could tour with his band Fozzy.
Fozzy is booked for most of this month with their last event listed on their website as June 24th in Seattle. Jericho will most-likely return to WWE television around this time on a regular bases.
Bischoff opens today’s show speaking about RAW’s steadily declining ratings. He says that he’s still not worried about the ratings, because RAW is live 52 weeks a year and its ratings are impacted by seasonal occurrences. With the weather improving, there are less people watching television overall. In addition to that, they’re up against NBA Playoffs.
He says that although the rating is low, they still drew 2.4 Million people over a three hour span. He adds that there are producers of huge shows that have $5-$7 Million dollar budgets that would cut their left leg off to have 2.4 Million people watch their show.
Bischoff says that the recently announced Women’s Tournament that will air on the WWE Network is a very good idea. He thinks that the timing in perfect for this type of tournament, and he predicts that it will be very successful.
While speaking with Kenny McIntosh, AJ Styles was asked about his current entrance theme song and if he liked it. He made the following remarks about it:
“I gotta be honest, when I told them kind of what I was looking for, cause as much I’m from the southern part of the United States, I’m not that much of a country music fan. Do I like it? Sure. But not that much. So I was like ‘Alright, just that little bit of country, but I love rap. So we’re gonna have to find a way with a cool beat.’ And they found a way to make it work for me. I don’t know that they had made that song specifically for me because I think it was made in NXT. But I think it fit me like a glove. Now I can’t imagine any other music I’d walk out to. It’s great man, I can’t say enough good things about it. It worked. I don’t know how or why it just did. I’m very happy with it.”
