Your Daily Source to Wrestling News
While speaking with Sports Illustrated, Cody Rhodes was asked about Daniel Bryan’s challenge to a match once his contract with WWE expires. Cody made the following remarks:
“I don’t think it was a challenge, just fun. Daniel Bryan remains one of my friends. Final Countdown would be a welcomed tune, even as a competitor. I have always looked up to Dan. It would be major, major box office for all involved.”
It was reported back in March via PWInsider that Eva Marie would not be returning to WWE, however those reports appear to be false.
Eva Marie appeared on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Live and indicated that she could still pop up on RAW or SmackDown Live at anytime. She mentioned that her return may not be in the near future as she is still working on two filming projects, but the door is still open for her return.
When asked about reports that Lana has received her gimmick on SmackDown, she said that she couldn’t confirm that but hopes that’s not the case.
Ryback is joined on today’s show by his co-host Pat Buck.
Ryback opens today’s show speaking about the finish of the Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match from last Sunday. There has been plenty of fan backlash since James Ellsworth scaled the ladder and retrieved the briefcase for Carmella, but Ryback believes that means the finish was a success.
He believes that people need to realize that this is a fake scenario, and the events that transpire in the ring are meant to elicit a response from viewers, whether they be positive or negative. With this in mind, WWE succeeded last Sunday because the finish of this match has been a hot topic of discussion ever since.
Buck believes that the Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match should have went on later in the show instead of going first. WWE could have taken advantage of the crowd’s energy early on by having a less impactful match go on first, which would have saved the historic women’s match for later on in the show. Ryback points out that WWE needed to separate those two main event ladder matches, so that’s probably why they started the night with the women’s match and closed the night with the men’s match.
Buck also points out that this finish made James Ellsworth relevant again. It looked to be fairly certain that Ellsworth’s WWE contract wouldn’t be renewed after his one year deal was up, but now WWE creative has some options with Ellsworth moving forward. They might be able to stretch this angle out long enough to secure another contract for Ellsworth.
Quite simply, Ryback calls the finish of that match ‘perfect’.
While speaking to GiveMeSport, Seth Rollins talked about a possible Shield reunion at a future date and revealed what it would take for it to happen. He made the following remarks regarding the topic:
“To make our entrance through the crowd, it would take a common goal and that’s been the big difference I think, you know. In the last few years is that we’ve all got our individual goals and individual things going on so it would take something pretty massive to take us all away from that and get us back on the same page. But, never say never, you know? You never know what could come, that’s the cool thing about the WWE is; that it’s full of surprises so we’ll see. Like I said, we’ve all got our individual goals and aspirations.”
Steve Austin was vocal on a recent installment of his podcast regarding WWE booking Naomi to defend her SmackDown Women’s Championship against Lana at the Money in the Bank event. He made the following remarks:
“Naomi deserves better, the title deserves better. Lana wasn’t up for this task at hand, at this point in her career. I thought she had much more mystique as the valet, whatever the term is, with Rusev. Man, they kind of killed her gimmick off, and reinvented her, and I just liked her the way she was. So, if she wants to be in the ring, that’s more power to her, but a lot of the stuff I got on Twitter was, ‘Hey man. For a first match, she did a lot better than I expected.’ Ok. As I say that, good for her. But as a company who’s striving for excellence in sports entertainment/professional wrestling, the best of the best belong on a pay-per-view.”
You can listen to the podcast here.
Alberto El Patron (Alberto Del Rio) and Paige are no longer an item, as Patron had decided to break up with her.
According to a source who witnessed the breakup yesterday, Alberto said that “enough was enough” and that he reached his limit and knew that it was time to break up.
Paige posted photos earlier in the day with Alberto thanking Jeff Jarrett for VIP treatment at Universal Parks.
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During a Twitter Q&A session ahead of tonight’s episode of American Grit, John Cena was asked about possibly working with Roman Reigns soon. He responded with the following remarks:
As previously noted, there has been talk recently of having Cena work a program with Reigns eventually.
Hulk Hogan may not be interested in returning to WWE now that his Gawker problems are behind him.
According to Fightful, WWE had meetings regarding a possible return for The Hulkster, however the decision on whether or not he wants to return to the company is Hogan’s decision. WWE apparently reached out with the proposal of a “renewed working relationship” and Vince McMahon has also touched base with Hogan.
The feeling is that because of Hogan’s $31 Million settlement with Gawker, he’s in a good place financially and doesn’t need the money that WWE is willing to offer him for his return.
Former Ring of Honor wrestler Bobby Fish has been spotted at Full Sail University, which NXT tapings.
According to our correspondent at the event sent word that he was seen speaking to producer Ryan Katz. While it’s not confirmed, it is very possible that he could make his debut at tonight’s tapings. As of this writing it is unknown if he signed a deal with the company. It’s worth noting that The Wrestling Observer reported back in March that he didn’t want to sign a full-time deal with ROH because it may tamper with his chances of getting hired on by WWE.
We will keep you posted if we find anything out.
The word going around is that Mauro Ranallo has signed a deal for two years with WWE that will also allow him to appear and work for non-wrestling events. This means that he can still work with Bellator MMA under WWE clearance while simultaneously working for WWE.
It was announced earlier that Ranallo will be joining the colour commentating team on WWE’s NXT starting from this week. He will also be calling the iconic and hyped Mayweather vs McGregor fight in August of this year.
