WWE Planning Huge Segment for Sunday’s Money in the Bank Event

WWE is reportedly working on putting together a segment at Sunday’s Money in the Bank evebt that will feature several legends.

The Wrestling Observer claims that Ric Flair, Bob Orton Jr., Larry Hennig, Baron Von Raschke and Greg Gagne are all confirmed to appear on the show with Gerald Brisco, Rocky Johnson and Ted DiBiase all mentioned as possibilities.

As of this writing, we are unable to confirm the exactly specifics of the segment, but we will keep you posted if we hear anything.

Commentary Team Revealed for Slammiversary

Impact Wrestling announced the following today:

IMPACT Wrestling Taps MLB/NHL Announcer Robert Flores For Slammiversary
Don West Comes Back For Color Commentary Duties

NASHVILLE (June 13, 2017) — IMPACT Wrestling is dipping into the high-profile sports world for a little broadcasting help at Slammiversary 15, a pay-per-view extravaganza on July 2 in Orlando, Florida.

IMPACT has signed Robert Flores to be the lead announcer for Slammiversary, to work alongside longtime IMPACT color commentator Don West, who is making a one-night return behind the microphone.

IMPACT faced an announcing dilemma for Slammiversary as broadcasters Josh Mathews and Jeremy Borash are wrestling in a tag-team match as the animosity between the two has boiled over in recent weeks. Borash and Joseph Park will team up against Mathews and “Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner, one of the most powerful and feared wrestlers of all time.

Flores is a studio host appearing across MLB Network’s programming, including MLB Network’s Emmy Award-winning daily studio show, MLB Tonight. In addition to MLB Network, Flores is a studio host for NHL Network and contributes across MLB Advanced Media’s digital properties, including MLB.com and Sports On Earth.

Flores joined MLB Network and NHL Network in 2016 from ESPN, where he most recently anchored SportsCenter, ABC’s college football studio updates and ESPN2’s Fantasy Football Now. Flores joined ESPN in 2005 as an ESPNews anchor and later contributed to a variety of studio shows, including Baseball Tonight, NBA Fastbreak and Friday Night Fights.

Flores is a lifelong pro wrestling fan.

“I’m excited to have a part in this year’s Slammiversary and grateful to Jeff Jarrett for this unique opportunity,” Flores said.

Flores said the match that he’s most excited to announce is for the X-Division Championship. “I’m a fan of high-flyers,” Flores said.

A Texas native, Flores earned his bachelor’s degree in radio and television from the University of Houston in 1992. Flores attended J. Frank Dobie High School in Houston and is a member of their JFD Hall of Fame. His wrestling roots are engrained in his Houston childhood.

“To play a role in Slammiversary alongside Don West is really cool,” Flores said. “Slammiversary is an event 15-years in the making, and the best always separate themselves on the biggest stages – be it the in the wrestling ring or the World Series.

“I can’t wait to see what the IMPACT Wrestling stars do on July 2nd at Slammiversary.”

Don West broke onto the broadcasting scene in the 1990s on the Shop At Home Network. He was the popular, loud, energetic, abrasive salesman, pitching countless products on late-night television – and he even was in a parody video (portrayed by actor Will Ferrell) during a segment of Saturday Night Live.

West spent about 10 years as a color commentator for IMPACT Wrestling, dating back to the company’s first-ever event on June 19, 2002.

“I am so excited to be a part of IMPACT again and to be a part of the great Slammiversary weekend,” West said. “As an avid sports and baseball fan, it will be a great honor to work next to Robert Flores as I have admired his professionalism for years. When Jeff Jarrett asked me to do this, I had only one response, ‘YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!’”

“It will be great to see and hear Don West back on an IMPACT Wrestling broadcast; no one brings more energy and excitement to a broadcast than Don,” said Jeff Jarrett, the Chief Creative Officer for IMPACT Wrestling. “Having a broadcaster on Slammiversary at the level that Robert Flores has achieved is unbelievable. We are so excited to have RoFlo in the IMPACT family – and broadcast booth.”

Lana Shoots Down Rumors of Her Inheriting Eva Marie’s Gimmick

While recent reports would suggest that Lana inherited the gimmick that was originally planned for Eva Marie, Lana is saying otherwise. During an interview with USA Today, she claims that she is still using the “Ravishing Russian” gimmick she previously had while she was managing Rusev.

“I’m the same ‘Ravishing Russian’ that you’ve always known. It’s funny to me when I hear people say that it’s a new character. I embody ‘Ravishing.’ I come out in the most ravishing dress. I have a ravishing entrance. I’m ravishing people’s hearts. I was managing Rusev and wearing a suit because if you’re managing someone or an agent in real life, you are going to wear a suit to work. Right now, I’m the focal point, I’m the one competing. If people know anything about Russians, we do things really over the top. We wear high heels everywhere. We show up in the most extravagant outfits. I am just embodying how I was raised and what I grew up in. Some people might think we’re extra, I just think we’re ravishing. I’m the same woman, I’m just going to be crushing people myself.”

You can check out her full interview at this link.

Rumored Matches for This Year’s SummerSlam Event

The following matches are being rumored for this year’s SummerSlam event, courtesy of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman
John Cena vs. Jinder Mahal
Triple H vs. Kurt Angle

With WWE holding for back-to-back shows in the row at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, they are expecting to make this show as big as possible. Those events include NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III on August 19th, SummerSlam on the 20th, RAW on the 21st and SmackDown Live on the 22nd.

How Each Money in the Bank Contestant Should Cash In

There are different types of cash-ins when it comes to the Money in the Bank briefcase. Some people do it like Edge and pick up the pieces after a grueling match. There’s also the RVD method, where you announce when and where you will be cashing in. If you’re truly a mad lad, you can do what Seth Rollins did and insert yourself into a match that’s already happening. There’s a decent amount of variety.

Each contestant in the match is different. They have different agendas, different ways of doing their thing. Not everyone will do it the same way. I hope to show the potentially best way for each man to cash in their contract.

6. Dolph Ziggler

I have a higher chance of meeting pretty much anyone on the WWE roster than Dolph Ziggler does of winning Money in the Bank again. Bear in mind, I live on a completely different side of the globe from pretty much everyone in the WWE. What I’m trying to say is this: Dolph Ziggler is not winning.

However, for the purpose of this article, let’s assume he does. It would be hard to top his original cash-in in 2013. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should. For the newer fans who wonder why so many people still love him, check out when he won the World Heavyweight Championship.

Right now, Dolph is lacking in the heat department. Lots of people simply don’t care. So if he should win (he won’t, though), he needs to cash in on a beloved babyface. Cashing in on a wounded AJ Styles or Sami Zayn could be the spark to rejuvenate Ziggler’s heel turn.

5. AJ Styles

Honestly, AJ Styles doesn’t need Money in the Bank. He’s done so much for Smackdown that he could just say “Hey Shane, could I have a title match?” and we’d all buy it. We’d eat it up. So in my honest opinion, I do not want AJ Styles to win. And I say this as a fan of the guy.

If Styles does win, I wouldn’t be mad. Not at all. However with Styles now acting as a face, that does limit his options somewhat. However, he is still an arrogant guy, so it makes total sense for him to announce when and where he is going to cash in his Money in the Bank contract.

There are so many great opponents for Styles, because he’s had great matches with almost everyone. Styles v. Orton would be must-see. So would Styles v. Zayn. Hell, imagine the anticipation for Styles v. Nakamura. Even something a bit more out-there like Styles v. Rusev or Styles v. Corbin would be a treat to watch.

If Styles wins, expect him to announce when he’ll have his match, and expect a lot of hype and anticipation.

4. Kevin Owens

Kevin Owens is one of the most fleshed-out characters on the roster today. He’s a heartless psychopath who only wants to do what is best for his family. He will destroy anyone and everyone who gets in the way of that. There are a lot of ways that his cash-in could go down, but there’s one idea in particular that I really love, and I found it on Reddit.

Imagine this. Kevin Owens wins Money in the Bank. A few months later, Sami Zayn becomes the number one contender. Come the pay-per-view, Zayn has the champion pinned. 1, 2, 3! Before Sami Zayn’s music can play, Kevin Owens’ music hits, and he strolls to the ring, laughing like a maniac because he once again gets to dick Sami Zayn over.

Of course, this idea isn’t perfect, as it would require Owens to drop the title back to Zayn in a few months, or Zayn losing to Owens again. Still, the heat from that would be like a thousand suns. It’s such an evil thing to do, which is why Kevin Owens would do it.

Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Karma Gets Jeff Jarrett, Responding to Corey Graves, More!

Russo says that he can’t believe how much people are talking about him lately, whether it be on their podcasts or on the WWE Network. He says that he’s currently waiting on a bill from WWE for all the promotion that he has been receiving lately that frankly, he wouldn’t be able to afford. At this point, he’s starting to think it’s all a rib.

Russo comments on the recent passing of Adam West. He says that the original Batman (Adam West) was his first hero, and he looked up to him as a child. There have been only two people in the world that he really wanted to meet, Gene Simmons and Adam West. He was lucky enough to meet Simmons during his time working in WCW, and years later he was able to meet West.

Russo said he had one question that he really wanted to ask West, “How were you able to portray that Batman character so perfectly?” West looked at him and said, “Vince, the first time they gave me the script and I read the script, I got it.” West knew right away what the Producers and Writers wanted from this character and he was able to get into that frame of mind right from the start.

WrestleMania Possibly Heading to London?

The Independent published an article about the possibility of WrestleMania coming to London.

In the piece, they reference a survey that WWE sent out this week to individuals that attended WrestleMania 33, asking for their interest in future venues. It listed locations like New York City and Toronto.

The article points out that the last major show held in England was SumerSlam in 1992 and it drew over 80,000 fans at the Wembley Stadium. The event headliner saw the British Bulldog defeat Bret “The Hitman” Hart for the Intercontinental Championship.

Reason Why Tom Phillips Was Replaced on 205 Live

As seen on this week’s episode of 205 Live, former House of Hardcore announcer Vic Joseph made his debut at the broadcasting booth for the brand. He will be replacing Tom Phillips moving forward.

The reason Vic replaced Tom on 205 Live is because the company wants Tom to focus on other duties in the company and he has a lot on his plate with being the lead announcer for SmackDown Live. With Vic is on the rise within the company, the belief is that he is the perfect replacement. Since arriving in the company, Vic has worked on WWE Main Event and NXT in a short time. The company is very high on his work and that’s why Vic has been chosen as Tom’s replacement.

Tom posted the following on Twitter regarding Vic’s new role on weekly WWE television:

Speculation on John Cena’s Schedule After He Returns

As previously noted, John Cena will be making his return to weekly WWE programming on the July 4th episode of SmackDown Live and will be billed as a “free agent” moving forward. Dave Meltzer discussed Cena’s return on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio and speculated what his schedule could be like when he returns to the company.

While none of this is confirmed, Meltzer presented a scenario that could see Cena work only RAW and SmackDown televised events on Monday’s and Tuesday. He would not work WWE Live Events later in the week. This scenario would leave Cena plenty of time to fulfill his non-WWE commitments and Cena would still have a strong presence on WWE programming. Cena would of course work both pay-per-view events for the RAW and SmackDown Live brands each month. So basically, he would work Sunday-Tuesday and have Wednesday through Saturday off.

Vince Russo Issues Apology to Eric Bischoff

Vince Russo published another video to his YouTube channel where he issues an apology to Eric Bischoff. Here is a transcript of what was said in the video:

Hello, my name is Vince Russo, and we are summoned here tonight in what is a serious manner. Because, as you know I just offered an apology to Jim Cornette, and now suddenly an apology feels necessary to one Eric Bischoff. Let me apologize up front if I break down during this apology because as we all know, Vince Russo is a cryer, especially in meetings, so I’m going to apologize beforehand.

But Eric, I’ve said it all along, when Vince Russo is wrong he is not afraid to say that he is wrong, and I was wrong about you Eric, so I’m going to apologize. I’m going to go all the way back Eric, because there’s a lot to apologize to you for—even in your childhood. As the story goes, your teeth rotted and your hair turned prematurely gray at a very early age, and by the time you went into the 6th grade you had to have your teeth capped and you were dying your hair jet black. I can only imagine those kids on the playground during recess that were laughing at the kid with the chicklet teeth and the shoe polish in his hair.

Eric, you overcame that, which leads me to my next apology. I want to apologize that your former boss, Verne Gagne, Mr. Gagne kept sending you back to that same Deli time and time and time again because his coffee just wasn’t hot enough. I apologize for that Eric. I also want to apologize that a man had to have his lips sewn to another man for the better part of 20 years. It sounds like a bad centipede movie to me Eric, but that was the case—the case between you and Hulk Hogan, wasn’t it, Eric? How do I know this was the case? Here’s how I know it was the case, because I want to apologize that when Dixie Carter wanted to hire Hulk Hogan you rode in on the Hulkster’s coattails and you told Dixie Carter, “Hulkster ain’t comin without me, brother. This is a two for one deal.” Which you ended up milking Dixie for an exuberant amount of money when she never wanted you in TNA in the first place.

But Eric, once you got there, I really need to apologize for a couple of things that you did. I want to apologize for you convincing Dixie Carter that we had to go head to head with Monday Night Raw—it’s time Dixie, we are ready, we got the Hulkster, we can defeat them Dixie. Yes Eric, I believe it was you and the Hulkster, who were the big cheerleaders, why? It wasn’t your money, and what did you do? You embarrassed TNA. You ashamed TNA, and you scarred TNA for life.

You weren’t done there now were you? This leads me to my next apology. “Dixie, the Monday night thing didn’t work, but I got it this time! Screw this Universal Studios. Screw where you’ve been doing the shows for decades, we’re going to take the show live on the road every week. A different venue, a different arena, live! That’ll get the ratings up.” Eric, you know what that got up? That got up TNA’s debt. A debt that they haven’t been able to overcome to this day. This is what great ideas are made of I guess.

Now Eric, I want to apologize on the topic of balls. First of all, I want to apologize that going back to DX, driving that tank up to the doors of WCW, a script written by Vince Russo by the way. When you saw them coming, you screamed backstage like a little biatch, “Shut the doors! Shut the doors! Shut the doors!” You know what Eric? You didn’t have balls then. Anybody with a pair of balls would have let them in. It would have been great for live TV, but Eric let the big steel door come down right before DX can enter the building. That was when I first realized that Eric Bischoff has no balls. Here it is confirmed 20 years later when I apologized because Eric Bischoff does not have the balls to talk to me man to man, face to face, when he has been challenged. I gladly welcome the invite on Eric’s little show on WrestleZone, but no, he’d rather talk behind my back every chance he gets, reminiscent of that steel door coming down on DX.

Now Eric, I also want to apologize that you are now involved in a lawsuit with TNA attempting to milk them for even more money despite the fact that when you were under contract with them and they paid you millions and millions of dollars of the BS that you sold them, you delivered zero. You stole from TNA. You did nothing, but that wasn’t enough, and some would call you a greedy little bastard, but I’m not going to do that, I’m a gentleman. Now, we are going to sue them for even more money because the money that I stole from them just wasn’t enough, and I apologize for that.

Eric, I apologize that you had to bury me to SpikeTV every single chance that you got because that was the only way that you can even the playing field. You had to tear Vince Russo down to build your little self up; that is how politicians do it. That is how Car Salesman do it because they are not good enough to do it the All-American way. They are not good enough to take the challenge head to head and win the game. Why wouldn’t you take that challenge, Eric? Because on that creative playing field you knew you couldn’t touch Vince Russo so the only way to bring Vince Russo down is to bury him to the Television Executives, Eric, just like how you are trying to bury me in your little podcast now; same thing.

I apologize for that Eric, I really do. I also apologize Eric for telling Vince McMahon to hire you in 2002. I did that; despite the way I felt about you, because let’s face it Eric, everyone that worked with you all thought of you as an arrogant wussy, everybody. Despite that, with business being business, I said, “Vince, you have to hire this guy. He is a great performer. You can tell great stories with him.” I did that Eric, me, Vince Russo. Even though you were my arch enemy because it was right for business. You think Vince McMahon would have ever brought you in on his own? He heard the same stories about you that everybody else knew, but it was me that put you over to him that got you the job at the WWE.

How ungrateful can you be? Let’s get to the matter at hand becuase I have two big apologies that I saved until the end. First and foremost Eric—I want to apologize for you for being the reason for being fired by WCW in the first place. You see Eric, you had such a huge astronomical lead in WCW. You were kicking our a** in the ratings week after week after week. Then Vince McMahon brings in somebody by the name of Vince Russo and outside of crying at meetings, this guy had never done anything, but what he was about to do Eric, was going to be historical. Because what he was about to do was school you. What Vince Russo was about to do was beat your a**.

It was like a magic show, Eric. WCW here [showing hand gesture aiming high], and WWE here [showing hand gesture aiming low], and within a matter of months, WCW here [showing hand gesture aiming low] and WWE here [showing hand gesture aiming high] . Eric, it wasn’t all my doing—a lot of it was your doing, so I’m going to apologize for yourself because Eric, at the end of the day, you were the kid with the chicklets; the kid with the black shoe polish in his hair; and the man with one good idea. A whole career—but one good idea.

Eric, there are many that say you stole the nWo angle from Japan; I’m going to give it to you, I’m going to give you the full credit because Eric, you were a one-trick pony. You drove that idea into the ground and you opened the door for me and you allowed me to kick it in and beat your a** and get you fired.

Isn’t that what this is all about bro? How 20 years later you still can’t get over that? Sounds very familiar doesn’t it? The last guy I apologized to had an ax to grind because two employers chose me over him. I beat you bro. A New York Italian beat you and you got fired.

Eric—I really want to apologize to you for this one; I really didn’t mean for this to happen; but you talk about adding insult to injury; not only were you fired, but Brad Siegel replaced you with me. Can you believe that, bro? Not only did I put you out of a job, he gave me your job! Here you are 20 years later whining and crying about—-who is the cry baby Eric? Who is the cry baby?

I didn’t cry at any meeting; you and I both know it, but you cried when I kicked your a**. You cried when you got fired, and you cried when I replaced you.

For all that, I apologize from the bottom of my heart, I apologize. So Eric, going forward, I hope we can turn the page and I hope this is a new beginning. Relax; maybe take some time off. I know you like some night club, stripper club, strip joint in Atlanta, maybe you go down there a couple of days, whatever you have to do.

As I told Jimmy C [Jim Cornette], when a man apologizes, there is not too much more he can do. Eric—I’m sorry for being better than you.

If I had a mic now, I would drop it.