While appearing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, The Rock discussed his new movie Baywatch and possibly running for president of the United States. While he didn’t confirm anything, Rock said that he would have “more poise, less noise” as president.
Heading into Sunday’s WWE Backlash event, there was a huge shift in the betting odds for the WWE Championship match.
Randy Orton was originally the favorite to win his match against Jinder Mahal but is now a 7/4 underdog. As of this writing, Jinder is sitting at a 2/5 favorite to win the match on Sunday night.
With “smart money” bets still coming in, it’s still very possible for the odds to shift again before the event. Keep in mind, being the favorite doesn’t exactly mean Mahal is leaving the event as champion, as he could also win via DQ or count-out.
Tommaso Ciampa suffered an injury at Thursday’s NXT Live Event in Highland Heights, KY.
Ciampa and Johnny Gargano were facing Sanity and after a few minutes into the match, Ciampa dived off the ring apron onto Sanity and hurt his left leg. The match was stopped and ruled a no-contest. Ciampa hopped to the back yelling, “get me the f–k out of here.”
Ciampa and Gargano are scheduled to face NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain for the titles at NXT: Takeover this Saturday. It’s unknown at this time if that match is still taking place. We will keep you updated.
Update: Triple H brought up Tommaso Ciampa’s injury during today’s conference call and said that Ciampa turned his ankle but there was no break or fracture. The match for tomorrow night is still on but the medical team will make the final decision if Ciampa will be cleared to wrestle or not.
Earl Hebner recently appeared on Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling, here are the highlights from his appearance:
Did he think after that night in Montreal, the wrestling business would still be talking about the Screwjob 20 years later: “Not at all. Not at all. But it is just one of those things that it is like Hogan and Andre it was shocking to the world and believe me the people in Canada still hate me. I have talked to Bret and we are great friends and we’ve had a couple personal appearances together and hugged me and he hugged my brother (Dave) and we all know the deal. I really don’t want to go into all that because we all know the deal.”
Doing the “You Damn Right I Did” act at shows and who did “screw Bret”: “Whenever I’m around Bret I don’t bring them and truthfully Vince screwed Bret. Earl didn’t screw Bret, Vince screwed Bret. Earl did what he had to do. It was his (Vince’s) command and that is what happened but I think most Americans understand but I don’t think any Canadians will ever forgive me but I hope that they do. If you look at my track record, I’ve been put in a lot of tough spots in my career. Where other referees would not volunteer, Vince knew what I would do and whatever his demands were is what I did. So you can’t put the blame on me, you’ve got to put it on him.”
Will he ever be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame and being inducted into the IMPACT Wrestling Hall of Fame: “It an honor and since I’ll probably never go into the WWE Hall of Fame because we still have problems down the road and it doesn’t really matter to me whether I do or I don’t, anybody that knows me will know who I am. If Vince doesn’t ever want to induct me into it that is fine. I really think I should be but the problems that we still have, it is what it is. If I never get in there that is fine and it is no problem to me but people know who I am and I’ll let it be my legend of being a Hebner and I’ll just base it on that.”
Being the “evil twin” referee in Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant’s Main Event title match his first night in the WWE: “I was nervous. They invented this whole program over about I’d say a good three weeks in Connecticut. Bu it was great for me that I was the evil twin (and I’m still evil) and if you look at my past record you can tell I’m evil (laughing), I’m actually not I am a nice guy but it worked great for me that they put me on the goal line of working for somebody and I’m not knocking the NWA but to make a life in this business and to make money. It was so quiet or if you want to say it was kayfabed so long and nobody knew anything until it happened. It was so great. It is the way the business should be but today it isn’t like it was when I first started. What a great opportunity for me and it made me who I am today and is one of the main angles that made me who I am today.”
The injury sustained after Hulk Hogan launched Earl over his intended target of Ted Dibiase, Virgil and Andre: “When he started running and I was in his arms, I was saying to myself that is not the plan. He was supposed to walk to the ropes and throw me in their arms. When he shot me I missed everybody including Andre and when I hit the floor I destroyed my rotator cuff in my right arm. When I hit that floor it just exploded my whole right arm and rotator cuff and I was out for about eight weeks or nine weeks getting it repaired. When I got to the back I was thinking that this is sure a good way to get into the front door because when I hit that concrete floor and it exploded, brother it was horrible.”
While appearing on Busted Open Radio, Jim Ross confirmed that he will be doing the play-by-play commentary for the upcoming WWE Women’s tournament which will take place this summer.
.@JRsBBQ confirms on @BustedOpenRadio he will be calling the WWE Women’s Tournament this summer on the WWE Network! pic.twitter.com/316uktvFza
— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) May 19, 2017
This Sunday, Backlash will grace our screens. Many bemoaned the event’s lackluster build-up. Jinder Mahal is challenging for the WWE Championship. The women’s division is caught in a six-man tag team match that doesn’t look too promising. Many would even say that Smackdown has lost its groove. While it may be true, Backlash still looks exciting. Hopefully the event sets in motion a return to action and excellence for the blue brand. Even if it doesn’t, it looks like it will be hard to be disappointed with Backlash.
This doesn’t sound too exciting, I know. Erick Rowan’s wrestling skills are quite pedestrian. It’s hard to imagine him having a match on pay-per-view. Yet here he is. The reason this match has a lot of promise, though, is because of Rowan’s opponent, Luke Harper.
Harper was on a roll on the Road to Wrestlemania. For a while, it seemed like he would be added to the WWE Championship match between Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton. He wasn’t, but fans were behind the big man, and it wasn’t hard to see why. He had an organic face turn in a well-crafted story (that bombed in the end, but it was good for a while), and he is a skilled athlete. He’s tall and heavy, but he can perform frankensteiners and suicide dives as if he was significantly lighter. He was given time to develop his character, and the fans loved it. Combine all of this with Erick Rowan’s unsettling Talking Smack promo, an you have a match with a surprising amount of potential.
Rowan is the potential perfect counterpart for Harper. Harper will shine in this match, which is what many of us want to see. Hopefully their styles can mesh well and they can deliver a good match.
People often talk about Cesaro or Sami Zayn being underutilized. They may be, but at least they appear on TV regularly. Not Breezango, though. Last month, many people even forgot they existed. Fandango has been on the roster for almost a decade. How many Fandango matches can you name?
Both Tyler Breeze and Fandango are criminally underrated performers. Wrestlers like Dolph Ziggler have praised Breeze’s skill. He was part of a 5-star match, for goodness’ sake. As for Fandango, he’s not even bad in the ring. He’s more than capable of having good matches. Together both men work well, and their charisma and charm works well. They’re also quite funny, and it’s nice to see them getting such a high-profile match.
However, standing in their way is the Usos. Many people didn’t like them, but the Usos are quite skilled at this whole “wrestling” thing. Look back at their matches with American Alpha over the Tag Team Championship. Those were TV matches, but by god they felt like PPV quality matches. It’s insane.
The two teams had an exciting contest last year on the Battleground pre-show, so there’s no reason for them not to have another good match.
Eric Bischoff is joined on today’s show by his co-host Nick Hausman.
Bischoff opens today’s show speaking about the tweets sent out by Rip Rogers and Randy Orton last weekend. He says that for the most part, he agrees with the points made by both men. He says that he has always liked Orton and he has a lot of respect for Orton personally and professionally.
On the other hand, for as long as Bischoff can remember, veteran performers have had an issue with the young wave of performers that were making their way into the business.
When he was working in WCW, veteran performers in their late 30s and 40s at that time were complaining about guys like Chirs Jericho and Rey Mysterio Jr., because those guys were bringing a new element to the wrestling business and it was different compared to what the veteran performers were accustomed to. Bischoff says that this cycle appears to repeat itself in 5-7 year cycles.
WWE posted a gallery of unseen photos from various shoots by WWE Superstars. Finn Balor shared the photo below on Twitter teasing a possible Bullet Club reunion with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson.
Imagine …. @KarlAndersonWWE @LukeGallowsWWE pic.twitter.com/Azl6FEwe4b
— Finn Bálor (@FinnBalor) May 18, 2017
Dave Metlzer discussed Paige’s status with WWE following her suspension and neck injury on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio.
Meltzer mentioned that she is still under contract with the company and is still recovering from her recent neck surgery. He noted that she would not be used again if not for the WWE Studios production, Fighting With My Family.
Meltzer did not indicate exactly when the company plans to bring her back. If we hear anything new, we will keep you updated.
Bray Wyatt revealed in the new book, “NXT: The Future Is Now”, that he once went and did jury duty in full character. Here is a transcript of what Wyatt said:
“Bray began with my real-life lunacy, I’ve always been an against-all-authority kind of child. I was a big fan of Rage Against the Machine, they were a big influence on my life as a child, so when I started working with Dusty Rhodes, I began losing my mind on a very real level. I became obsessed with this character.”
“I was going to jury duty in my hometown, and Dusty made me go to jury duty as Bray. Dusty told me, ‘This is the perfect exercise, become Bray.’ I literally went to jury duty as Bray Wyatt. I was so immersed in the character that I didn’t break once. Obviously, I didn’t get picked for jury duty, but I had the white pants, Hawaiian shirt, the whole nine yards. There were no fragments of Husky Harris, Husky Harris was dead and he was to stay dead. I was Bray Wyatt, we were one.”
While speaking with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, former WWE Superstar Alberto Del Rio talked about WWE having a monopoly on the wrestling industry. He also claims that several talents that left the indecent promotions have taken pay cuts up to 80 percent and he feels that several top Superstars of the company are being paid nothing.
“It’s horrible for the business, but you cannot blame that company. That company is doing what a company is supposed to do—monopolize, get the best talent from everywhere, and try to destroy the competition. They’re smart, you cannot blame them. The problem is with the talent. Just going there to be there with the promise of being on TV, but not even charging good money for your work, is not good business. We as wrestlers need to remember that this is a business. We started because we love the business and we stay in it because we have a lot of passion for it, but you have to be rewarded for your work. I was there and saw some of the main guys, new top heels, and new top babyfaces, get paid nothing for their matches. The new talent joining NXT is taking pay cuts to work there, sometimes even 80 percent less. You need to be rewarded for your work in a business.”
You can check out the full interview here.
