Michelle McCool:
Posted by Brett Clendaniel on May 17, 2013 at 2:16 pm
Former WWE Diva Michelle McCool has finally broken her silence on the taboo topic of her marriage to The Undertaker. In collaboration with MichelleMcCool.net, the four-time champion candidly addresses her relationship with “The Deadman” in a video blog that will be released this summer. A teaser has been released where she appears to respond to critics attributing her lofty position in WWE to her influential partner rather than her ability to perform.
The four-time champion will address her marriage and other topics in the vlogs, including her dealings with WWE head Vince McMahon. The synopsis of the teaser is as follows: “Michelle McCool is trying something different with MichelleMcCool.Net. For years, she’s answered questions, written blogs, and has even tweeted back-and-forth on occasion with her Faithful Followers. This time, she’s going to change it up — she’s going to vlog. In her vlogs, Michelle’s at her most candid — like you’ve never seen her before. She’s talking about anything and everything, from her precious baby girl, to even her husband… yeah, him. Raw and real, Michelle doesn’t shy away from controversy; it’s a different side of Michelle McCool… the one you thought you’d never see.”
Months after her spring 2011 retirement from the squared circle, McCool was asked in an interview if she received resentment from her colleagues due to her relationship with The Undertaker and responded, “Bottom line: People in our business are always going to look to find reasons to see the negative in somebody and to become resentful. I don’t really know where it began: probably with me getting the tag as “Diva Search reject.” But I don’t know anybody who, if they had an opportunity like the Diva Search, they wouldn’t jump at it. If they didn’t jump at it, they’d be idiots.”
“People can say what they want to say, but at the end of the day, I can look at myself in the mirror. I know how hard I fought. I know how many storylines I pitched. I know how hard I worked in the ring. I can’t tell you the number of times I was one of the first people at the arenas or at TV, constantly trying to better myself. I can honestly say that my hard work paid off. My resilience paid off. My persistence paid off. That’s all there is to it. People are always going to say what they want to say and believe what they want to believe, but that’s the bottom line.”
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on April 25, 2013 at 7:11 pm
Credit – Wrestling Observer
Though Nikki Bella is romantically linked to John Cena, unlike retired wrestler Michelle McCool, there is no animosity toward her among her WWE co-workers for dating a top star. It was noted within some circles recently that McCool had “tremendous heat” among some of her peers when she rose to the top years ago, but was “bullet proof” because of her romantic affiliation with The Undertaker. Nikki and twin sister Brie are well-liked among their peers, with organization officials holding them in high regard.
It’s also said that with Nikki dating Cena, the twin duo can “get away with a lot.”
McCool has been greatly criticized over the years for taking the fast track to WWE glory. After entering an intimate relationship with The Undertaker in late 2007 (who she married in June 2010), many critics attributed her position in the company to her influential partner rather than her ability to perform. Months after her spring 2011 retirement from the squared circle, the four-time champion was asked in an interview why she has received so much flack from her colleagues.
Dan Murphy of Inside Wrestling asked McCool, “I know you like to keep some things private and this was never announced, but you did marry The Undertaker. He’s obviously a veteran and icon in the business with a lot of influence. Was it the Diva Search background or having the relationship with someone like him that’s responsible for the heat and resentment you got?”
She responded, “Bottom line: People in our business are always going to look to find reasons to see the negative in somebody and to become resentful. I don’t really know where it began: probably with me getting the tag as “Diva Search reject.” But I don’t know anybody who, if they had an opportunity like the Diva Search, they wouldn’t jump at it. If they didn’t jump at it, they’d be idiots.
“People can say what they want to say, but at the end of the day, I can look at myself in the mirror. I know how hard I fought. I know how many storylines I pitched. I know how hard I worked in the ring. I can’t tell you the number of times I was one of the first people at the arenas or at TV, constantly trying to better myself. I can honestly say that my hard work paid off. My resilience paid off. My persistence paid off. That’s all there is to it. People are always going to say what they want to say and believe what they want to believe, but that’s the bottom line.”
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on March 1, 2013 at 4:00 pm
In the spring of 2011, Kia Stevens, famously known as Awesome Kong, burst onto the WWE scene by decimating members of the Divas division. Then, almost as suddenly as she first appeared, the internationally-acclaimed grappler took a leave of absence, with her affiliation with the sports-entertainment organization ultimately ceasing last summer. Speaking to Wrestling101.com, Stevens recalled her brief stint in WWE.
Weeks before her debut at Extreme Rules, where she attacked the departing Michelle McCool, vignettes aired on WWE programming with Stevens, whose face was concealed by shadows and her signature braids, dismembering female dolls while cackling maniacally. She says of the creative process behind the vignettes, “They let me know the idea that they were going with so I went in and we shot it, we had a great time and they used some of my ideas and they actually used the first idea, which was in the first vignette where I flicked the doll so that was awesome. I was actually included a lot in the creative process leading up to my debut which I didn’t expect to be so that was a big surprise and very exciting.”
Stevens continued to attack different Divas on both Raw andSmackDown in the following weeks, but soon took a leave of absence without having an actual match. Stevens reveals who she wanted to square off against.
“After seeing how excited people were over the feud between Gail and I, my next goal was to build up to a great feud with Beth Phoenix,” Stevens said. “Fans were already excited for that match and it hadn’t even happened yet; it hadn’t even been alluded to. I always say and I still say, as long as Beth and I are still breathing it still may happen, so fans don’t lose hope. There were also lots of people that wanted to see me get my revenge on the Bella Twins but they have ended up leaving as well.”
Following the departures of Stevens and other notable female wrestlers over the past two years, the Divas division is currently in a state of flux. Regarding this, Stevens says, “Even with the men’s roster there are periods in wrestling in general that we have fluctuation of talent and I’m not saying anything bad about the roster right now but yes they did lose a big person that the fans were invested in which was Beth Phoenix, but also the likes of Kelly Kelly, Michelle McCool and Eve Torres. They do have girls that have come back from injury like Layla and Tamina, and AJ Lee exploded on the scene so that’s a great thing, there are still exciting people there to do stuff. One monkey doesn’t stop a show, with me leaving it was exciting for me to be there, but because I left it doesn’t mean I won’t come back, you never know what is going to happen in wrestling.”
Stevens continues to compete independently after parting ways with WWE last summer and does not rule out a possible return.
“People leave and people come back, I left you never know I may be back,” said Stevens. “Look at Ryback he was in WWE once before and now he’s back and wants people to feed him more, it’s exciting! My god daughter goes crazy when he comes on the television, it’s insane so I have to mimic him sometimes.”
“I watched an Ultimate Warrior DVD the other day and he came back about five or six times, so you never know in this business.”
Stevens also discusses her entry into the professional wrestling industry, her memorable time in TNA Wrestling, working independents and more. The full interview is available here.
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on December 31, 2012 at 10:31 am
- MichelleMcCool.net passed along the following highlights of Michelle McCool talking about working with Mickie James:
Stomping Grounds: “Piggie James was the storyline that brought LayCool to fruition and really started and helped develop our characters. It was a main storyline that, at the time, started giving Divas more screen time and longer matches — we even had a huge celebration. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: I give every single ounce of credit for that storyline to Mickie.”
Keeping It Professional: “It was tough on everybody, but obviously tough on Mickie, to say the least. She was the utmost professional in that situation. She never complained about the material that was being written. She never bitched, moaned, or tried to change it or get it shut down. She knew it was business — she knew it was going to help us.”
Working with The Best: “She was already an incredibly over babyface, she was a great wrestler — people loved her. She was one of those people who came in as a heel during the whole ‘psycho/Trish’ thing, but the fans loved her so much that WWE ended up turning her babyface. I don’t think we could have done that storyline with anybody else.”
Fan Reaction: “We got so much hate from that storyline from fans. People would send stuff in and we’d just be like: ‘holy moly, we’re getting genuine hate — but on the other hand, I feel horrible! What kind of message is this sending out?’ You just have to kind of remember that it’s just a character on TV. A lot of times people just forgot that and it’s easy to do.”
The Birth of Piggie James: “It literally got started out of the clear-blue air. I remember being overseas, and that’s when they told me at the arena that day that I was going to be singing the ‘Old McDonald Had a Farm’ little vignette, and I didn’t know what to think. Honestly? I thought they were joking at first, a rib on me because my singing is so horrible — so I was already nervous about that. I hid all day; ‘I can’t believe they’re making me do this — where is this going?’ I had no idea where the storyline was going to go after that. During rehearsal that day, I’m literally sitting on the ground by the ring, like hiding… I felt awful.”
Advance Apology: “There were so many times, time after time, where we would go up to Mickie and apologize in advance. We’d be like: ‘this sucks and I’m sorry. Obviously, we didn’t write this. I’m just sorry… we don’t know what else to say.’ Like I said: she was always completely cool with it. I’m sure it hurt; things like that do. Obviously she’s not big — she’s one of the smallest people. There’s no way anybody thought she was really overweight or ‘Piggie James.’ Again, that was just our stupid, silly LayCool characters that we had. Like I said: all credit to her. It would have not progressed, gone as far, or had gotten over like it did if it weren’t for her. I don’t think any other babyface could have pulled that off.”
What Goes Around..: “I don’t feel like LayCool ever got our butts handed to us by her enough. I never understood that… it was like: ‘why isn’t she killing us here? Doing this or doing that?’ I think the story could have even gone further because the fans, week after week, wanted her to just embarrass us. At the Rumble we ended up with birthday cake in our face, and everybody loved that. Here we were embarrassed by her — that was great!”
A Night To Remember: “During the Piggie James send-off, LayCool was cutting a promo. Then Maria came, she came, and then she cut a promo. I remember that she almost made me break character. We were talking about how dumb Maria was, or something like that, and Mickie flew off the cuff and said something about: ‘oh, really? We all saw ‘Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?,’ mmmhmm!’ — I’m looking at her like: oh, gosh! I wanted to break character so bad! As soon as we got backstage I told her that she almost got me — almost busted out laughing!”
Vince’s Angels: “Vince ended up loving the LayCool character as a result of that storyline. That’s kind of how things kind of kept happening for us. But, like I said: I give credit to Mickie James. She was fighting with us to get TV time, to get pay-per-view matches, to raise the bar… not many people will always do that. But she did, and I will forever be grateful for that.”
Working With Mickie: “We’ve pulled off some really good matches together. We always kinda clicked; worked well together. That always makes it fun inside the ring when you know you can work with somebody. You can fly off the cuff while you’re in there; you can improvise. We had some fun. Plus, her finisher was always one of my most fun ones to take! It was hard and trying at times, but was fun. She was a true professional and always wanted to do business — what was best for the business.”
Stealing The Show: “Something to add: the night we smashed cake in Mickie’s face, during her send-off… she was just brilliant on her response! That was the point where LayCool finally got to Mickie James, she just looked humiliated as she ran off in tears. Nobody else could have done that the way she did it. As we all came backstage — and very, very rarely does this happen — Vince, Michael Hayes, and everybody in the gorilla position were standing up and clapping saying: ‘the girls just stole the show.’ That was a very, very special moment. I give her all the props in the world. So, thanks Mickie if you hear this — I really, really appreciate you!”
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on December 30, 2012 at 10:52 am
MichelleMcCool.net passed along the following highlights of Michelle McCool talking about Beth Phoenix:
Never a Dream Match: “Everyone always used to ask when I was going to wrestle her or I want to see you in a one-on-one match with her. I think one of the most consistent answers for any of the girls when they’re asked “who do you want to wrestle” is Beth Phoenix — but that was never really the case for me, as far as an opponent or dream opponent. For me, that was always Molly Holly, Lita and Awesome Kong/Kharma. Personally, Beth was never the answer for me.”
Finisher Gone Wrong: For the most part of both of our careers, we were on different brands. She was on RAW for most of the time and I was on SmackDown. Never any ill words towards each other — from what I know. We did have the chance to face off pretty early on in my career [SmackDown, Champion vs. Champion] and that was the first time I had gotten in the ring with her. So she gives me her Glam Slam and I take it straight on my face because my arms didn’t come unhooked.”
Botch Phoenix?: “At the time, I was like: “Oh, man. I’ve never seen that happen before. How did she not get my arms unhooked?” I didn’t understand, but figured it must have just been a mistake. I never said anything, but I did have a concussion from that. But I’ll never give anybody any credit for hurting me — that’s just my stubbornness, it has nothing to do with WWE. I’ve just always been that way. At the time, I just thought she didn’t even know she did it.”
Truth Revealed: “Come to find out, and it wasn’t even that long ago, I remember getting the WWE magazine in the mail and flipping through the pages. Sure enough, she’s doing an interview in the magazine talking about when she gave me the Glam Slam and saying how bad my head hit the mat, how she didn’t unhook my arms and oops! I’m just like: “Wow. Years later, the truth comes out.” She knew that she did that, it definitely sounded like she knew she did it at the time. I was just like: “Dang! What did I ever do to her?” What was that? Was that my “I didn’t come in the ranks” welcome to the rings match — what? I didn’t care. I just blew it off.”
Difficult Times: “So she comes to SmackDown and LayCool was well-established by that time. WWE put us in a program with Beth and LayCool was just doing their usual LayCool stuff: Glam-A-Man, The Manazon… just LayCool being stupid LayCool. Kind of like when nobody thought Mickie was actually fat, nobody thought Beth was actually a man. It was just our stupid gimmick, and I use the term stupid affectionately.
Working With Beth: “It was definitely bumpy, to say the least. It was never easy. I understand that it can’t be easy on the other side of the LayCool gimmick, no matter how tough the exterior is. It was just definitely a struggle. Being a Diva in a man’s world, you’re constantly in an uphill battle; pitching ideas, trying to get TV time, trying to get in-ring time, the whole nine yards.”
Behind Closed Doors: “It seemed like we were on the same page — pitching stuff, throwing ideas off one another in the locker room, but then come to find out… that wasn’t the case behind-the-scenes. We didn’t understand why stuff would keep getting shot down. Steph, agents and writers would come to us and say: “we’re no longer doing this,” or “this hits too close to home.” Whatever. There was definitely some stuff being said on the other end and that made it a struggle. She could have just been at a different place in her life, we all go through tough times or confusing times — I just don’t really know what her case was. I’m sure people will start hating me for my own opinion, but that wasn’t a fun LayCool storyline for us. We had some good matches and I’m always going to do business, but I think I had a different experience with her than most people who wrestle with her or against her.”
Business Is Business: “I hope she’s completely happy now, she’s done some great things — but like I said: she was never a dream opponent for me, and that’s all I really have to say about that. Wish her nothing but the best, hope she’s in a good place and enjoying life. Sadly, my most memorable thing with her is that I’m probably the only person in Glam Slam history to not have had their arms unhooked… ouch.”
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on December 29, 2012 at 10:46 am
MichelleMcCool.net passed on along the following highlights of Michelle McCool’s recent interview where she talks about Torrie Wilson and Mae Young:
In general: “She’s a legend as far as Divas go. I think she’s always overlooked, some people just saw her more as the ‘ultimate Diva,’ but didn’t see her much as a wrestler — and she fought that the whole time she was there. I think everybody will agree that ‘Torrie Wilson’ is a name that nobody — no true wrestling fan — will ever forget.” [...] “I think she’s a great in-ring talent. I don’t think she got nearly enough as much credit as she should have.”
Torrie’s Character: “I honest to goodness don’t think that I can think of a single person in the entire world that is more genuine, nicer, funnier, kinder than she is. I love her absolutely to death. We hit it off from day one. I was able to ride with her a lot, get to know her, and we became dear, dear friends. She’s somebody that I know I’ll have in my life for the rest of my life.”
Forming A Friendship: “We were on different shows for a long time, and I can’t remember which year — it was probably her last, when she got drafted to SmackDown. We never know what’s going on behind the scenes on the night of the draft, so we’re all sitting back there… waiting. They call five or six people up to the guerrilla position for the draft, so that they can get the natural reactions when they tell us who got drafted to RAW or SmackDown. So, they call Torrie up there, and they do the draft that SmackDown got someone. Sure enough, it was Torrie and she walked out there and I remember she was crying on screen. She didn’t want to come to SmackDown! I remember Stephanie saying: “We got a natural reaction but we had to pan out because there were tears in her eyes and do a wide-shot. So I told her, once she got backstage: “Oh, I’m so sorry, Tor! I know this isn’t what you wanted.” She goes: “You’re not sorry!” So I started laughing and I told her, “Yeah, I’m not sorry. I’m kinda glad you’re on my show now!”
Memories With Mae: “A couple of us were in one of those bikini contests, which yeah, could have been any given night. This particular night, they brought out Mae Young — and she is absolutely amazing. She comes out in this one-piece bathing suit and she’s trying to strip down! We are literally trying to keep her from taking her clothes off in the ring, but we’re about to wet ourselves from laughing so much! The referee is telling us: “Girls, contain her! Girls, contain her!” We’re like… what in the world?! She’s strong as can be! I don’t care what age she is, she can probably beat my butt! Mae is just like, “move it, girls” and she’s pushing us to the side. Finally, Torrie just gives up and tells Mae if she’s going to flash somebody, turn towards JBL! We just started dying laughing. She was just ribbing us!”
Girlfriends Forever: “So from driving to the wrong city, hair extensions falling out, teeth coming out… any and everything in between, she’s just the kindest, most genuine person in the entire, entire world. I just mean that from the bottom of my heart. Love her to death and just wish that if anybody deserves ultimate happiness, it is definitely Torrie. She is one sweet girl… that I love.”
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on December 26, 2012 at 12:44 pm
Former WWE Diva Michelle McCool recently spoke with MichelleMcCool.net. Here are some highlights from the interview.
In General: “I don’t have one bad thing to say about her — she’s great! All the years that we were there together, which was pretty much both our entire careers on the road, not one altercation. Not one difference. We just got along. That all started through the Diva Search. Obviously, neither one of us won, but I remember watching RAW a few weeks after the Diva Search ended, and King was on commentary. He mentioned that one of the cast offs was going to be making their debut on RAW, then they opened up a magazine — and it was Maria! I got so excited for her, because her dream was coming true. She was one of the few [contestants] that actually followed wrestling, and she made no qualms about wanting to be an announcer. I just thought that was awesome.”
Life’s A Ditz: “She ended up with the ditzy gimmick for a while, but people don’t realize that she’s not ditzy — she’s actually extremely smart. Business-wise: she’s very savvy, and I admire that about her.”
Working with Maria: “She was on RAW for most of the time when I was on SmackDown, but there were several cross-over shows where we did get to work together — before she eventually moved to SmackDown when she got drafted. She was a fun babyface to work against; she can sell like crazy and the fans always got behind her. She was that underdog, and she was cool. She was all about business. She got it: she was willing to make sacrifices. She understood what some people can’t always understand; she understood that as a babyface, she was going to get beat up. She’d end up being able to return the favor, but she was never one to be like: “All I’m doing is getting beat up!” So, she was fun to work. I really enjoyed working her.”
Maria The Wrestler: “Everyone always said that she wasn’t a wrestler, and that she shouldn’t do this or that. I think it’s all about working together and working on people’s strengths — instead of trying to expose their weaknesses. I think that’s just what you have to do.” [...] “We didn’t have a long stint together, but she was really cool. She was a good worker, a hard worker… she was committed, and I was sad to see her go. I don’t know that we’ve seen the last of her, and I hope to see her again. I miss her — I think she’s going to do big things.”
Making The Transition: “I turned heel on Maria, and when I turned, I gave her a pretty good beating. She took it like a champ, an absolute champ! I remember Arn Anderson always used to say: “You can’t be a heel! I don’t want it, why are they turning you; I don’t want you as a heel!” Then, he ended up coming back to me and saying: “Why were you ever a babyface — you should have always been a heel!” Maria helped in that. You always want that one person that if you’re gonna make a turn, you’re gonna want to make the biggest impact possible — which, at the time, beating down Maria was making the biggest impact possible.”
Diva Search And Beyond: “I knew I liked her in the Diva Search, but then I remember watching her in the DVD, I don’t remember which one it was, but anyway, she ended up giving me a shout out. She was saying something about my body, and how cool she thought I was, and I was like: “Alright, I knew I liked this girl.” The friendship formed and the friendship hasn’t ended. I don’t think that it ever will.”
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on December 4, 2012 at 1:17 pm
Former WWE Diva Kelly Kelly also spoke with Phil Strum ofThe Poughkeepsie Journal. Here are a few highlights:
Phil Strum: Life after WWE, how’s it going for you so far?
Barbie Blank: It’s going good. I’m just relaxing at home. It’s nice to take a break and just be able to live a normal life and being able to do whatever I want to do.
PS: Any desire to get back in the ring now?
BB: You never know. Right now, I’m kind of healing my neck that was kind of a problem for a while. Just resting up and you never know.
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on October 28, 2012 at 3:38 pm
As noted earlier, Trish Stratus was filmed in a video for a single from Mickie James’ upcoming album “Somebody’s Gonna Pay.” The two former rivals filmed a fight scene in the video, you can check out a photo of it below from Stratus’ Twitter account.
@trishstratuscom:Just doin what we do best! mickiejames- so proud of u! Thx @MattWRoberts #somebodysgonnapay #goodoledays instagr.am/p/RMDJsJG5j-/
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on October 23, 2012 at 2:04 pm
WWE’s website has listed the wildest Divas matches of all-time. They listed the following matches in no particular order:
* Beth Phoenix vs. Michelle McCool in an Extreme Makeover Match: Extreme Rules (April 25, 2010)
* Trish Stratus vs. Victoria in a Hardcore Match: Survivor Series (Nov. 17, 2002)
* Stephanie McMahon vs. Trish Stratus: No Way Out (Feb. 25, 2001)
* Natalya & Beth Phoenix vs. Lay-Cool in a Tables Match: WWE TLC (Dec. 19, 2010)
* Jacqueline vs. Lita in a Hardcore Match: Raw (Oct. 9, 2000)
* Beth Phoenix vs. Melina in an “I Quit” Match: One Night Stand (June 1, 2008)
* Victoria vs. Molly Holly in a Hair vs. Title Match: WrestleMania XX (March 14, 2004)
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on August 29, 2012 at 4:34 pm
Credit – DivaDirt
Courtesy of a tweet by the Undertaker’s eldest son Gunner, we’ve learned that Michelle McCool has given birth.
The baby is a girl, and has been named Kaia Faith Calaway. Calaway is, of course, the Undertaker’s real last name.
A tweet by Lilian Garcia was what first caught the attention of news sites. Earlier today, she tweeted: “Congrats @McCoolMichelleL & Taker! Soooooo happy 2 hear about ur new bundle of joy!!! #BestWishes!! ;))”
Michelle and the Undertaker were married back in June 2010, and Michelle retired from in-ring competition in May 2011.
The baby is the Michelle’s first and Calaway’s fourth. Congratulations to the whole family!
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on August 20, 2012 at 11:40 am
The former Bella Twins, Nicole and Brianna Garcia, recently participated in a multi-hour shoot interview with RF Video where they discussed their entire WWE careers. Here is a preview of what you can expect in the soon-to-be released video.
“What a fun interview this was for us to conduct. These girls were great story tellers, and their chemistry together was amazing as you will see when you watch this interview. They play off each other amazing. We talked all about their pre WWE history as soccer players and models and talked about their 2006 Diva Search contest which they lost. Then we chat with them for hours about their entire WWE career. You will hear stories all about every girl in the company. From Beth Phinoex, Kelly Kelly, Katie Lee, Mickie James, Gail Kim, Kharma, Layla, Alicia Fox, Michelle McCool to everyone in between. You will hear about how Bri got off screen feeling for Daniel Bryan which lead to a real life relationship…There are plenty of road stories and backstage scoops. If your a fan of the WWE you will love this career perspective interview.”
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on August 2, 2012 at 9:32 am
- ESPN’s ‘Around The Horn’ mentioned the remark Abraham Washington made about Kobe Bryant on Raw this past week.
- Steve Keirn announced in front of the live crowd at tonight’s FCW show in Tampa, FL., that The Undertaker and Michelle McCool were expecting their first child together.
- WWE will report their second quarter 2012 earnings this morning before the quarterly conference call with investors takes place at 11am EST. Vince McMahon will host the call.
- Matches for today’s WWE Superstars include Cody Rhodes vs. Zack Ryder, Layla vs. Natalya and Tyson Kidd vs. Heath Slater. Justin Gabriel vs. Cody Rhodes also took place on Tuesday night but could have been a dark match as Cody wrestled Ryder at Monday’s Superstars tapings.
- Former WWE star Marty Jannetty is said to be in really bad shape these days. Jannetty worked an independent show in Orlando on July 28th against Steve Corino and his ankles were so bad that his feet turn out sideways and the inside of his ankles almost touch the ground when he walks. He needs surgery on both ankles in the worst way. Jannetty then no-showed the Chikara show the next night in Massachusetts.
- WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels begins filming the third season of his MacMillan River Adventures TV show today.
- The latest information released by WWE indicates that WrestleMania 28 is now back up to the estimated 1,216,000 worldwide pay-per-view buys. This is up from the 1,114,000 buys that the show was listed doing as of one month ago. The new number breaks down to 713,000 domestic buys and 503,000 international buys. We should know more after today’s earnings call.
- WWE’s shop website has released a new Iron Wrath t-shirt for Triple H as well as new retro t-shirts for Starrcade and The Great American Bash, among others.
- Since Randy Orton has returned, WWE Champion CM Punk will be moving back to the RAW live event tours. Following SummerSlam, top stars for each tour are John Cena, CM Punk, Big Show, Rey Mysterio and Daniel Bryan on the RAW shows and Sheamus, Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio, Dolph Ziggler, Christian, Cody Rhodes and Sin Cara on the SmackDown shows. However, when it comes to TV, Mysterio will still be on the blue brand. Triple H will continue to be pushed with Sheamus and Orton as the top three stars for SmackDown TV tapings even though his role is just to do off-camera angles.
- WWE is doing another big tryout camp with more than 50 athletes they’ve recruited two days after SummerSlam. The tryouts will take place in Southern California. Regarding WWE’s recent recruiting, some in the company have noted criticism of them for trying to recruit former Division I college athletes as opposed to independent wrestlers.
- WWE’s average attendance at domestic live events in June was 4,501 – down 22% from 5,771 in June of 2011. One could blame the economy but in comparison, attendance for Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer are both up this year while the Women’s NBA is even with last year.
- It was noted that Vince McMahon wanted the RAW 1000 show to be completely positive and made the call not to humiliate Jim Ross as he often likes to do. Vince has been trying to soften Michael Cole’s character lately, as to not be an outlandish heel. Vince seems to change his view on Cole’s character often but realizes that he can’t make him a typical face announcer at this point.
- As of this week, plans are for the Shawn Michaels Appreciation Night festivities to be held off-camera at RAW from San Antonio, Texas next Monday. A source expects that to change and Michaels be featured on TV in an angle with Brock Lesnar.
- Vader was down at WWE developmental working with some of the talents last week. He wrote on Twitter:
“Finished my first day at FCW WWE Developmental with Bill Demott & the rest of the coaches. Very impressed with the entire organization. What a great opportunity, experience. My thanks to HHH, Bill Demott, & WWE.”
By the looks of DeMott’s Twitter, Vader was back working with the FCW talents again this week.
- After reporting to WWE developmental earlier this summer, Lance Storm student Tenille Tayla made her in-ring debut for FCW this past Saturday night at a live event in Melbourne, Florida. She competed in a battle royal with Audrey Marie, Raquel Diaz, Paige and Natalie, which was won by Paige, reports Diva-Dirt.
- Former WWE star Dennis “Mideon” Knight was in visiting friends at last night’s FCW live event in Tampa, Florida at The Bull.
- Diva-Dirt reports that WWE has signed a new women’s wrestler named Anya, who is of Russian descent. She was spotted with Ashley Fliehr Johnson and another new male signing at a weekend FCW live event in Melbourne, Florida. She bills herself as The Russian Bruiser and can be found on Twitter at @russianbruiser.
- Speaking of Ric Flair’s daughter, she is on Twitter at @AshFliehrJohnso.
- WWE officials feel that Jinder Mahal has the potential to be one of their top heels, which is part of the reason why he’s currently working a feud with Ryback.
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on August 2, 2012 at 9:31 am
Around 600 fans came to The Bull in Tampa, Florida last night for a FCW live event that benefited The Angelus, a group that volunteers their services to raise money for handicapped children. A group of handicapped children were sitting on the left and right sides of the entrance where the wrestlers came down at. The big draw of the night was a special appearance by The Undertaker, who also did a meet-and-greet before the show.
We noted before that FCW President Steve Keirn cut a promo before the show and thanked Undertaker for coming, mentioning that Taker and wife Michelle McCool were expecting a child. In an update, Keirn added that McCool is expecting their child any day now. Keirn added that Taker said he wouldn’t miss the event for anything.
The Undertaker later suddenly appeared on stage after a Fatal 4 Way tag team match and the crowd gave him a standing ovation. Taker saluted the crowd and posed on stage with the handicapped children as the crowd chanted his name. The moment was described as out of character but completely classy for The Undertaker.
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Posted by Brett Clendaniel on August 1, 2012 at 9:45 pm
Credit – PWInsider
At tonight’s FCW show in Tampa, FL, where The Undertaker was signing autographs, Steve Keirn announced in front of the crowd that Taker and wife Michelle McCool were expecting their first child.
We first got word of this back in March when Vickie Guerrero seemed to spoil the news on Twitter.
“My surprise party was flawless for Michelle McCool!!! Great lunch with friends and family. Im so excited for her bundle of joy!” Guerrero wrote.
We send along our best wishes to the happy couple.
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