Source: WWE.com
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Will Seth Rollins’ mind games continue?
Who will earn ‘Money’ momentum?
Has Titus O’Neil put Rusev on notice?
WWE Names New Vice President Of Brand That Will Report Directly To Stephanie McMahon
WWE issued the following:
WWE® NAMES JULIA JENSEN VICE PRESIDENT, BRAND
STAMFORD, Conn., June 6, 2016 – WWE (NYSE: WWE) today announced the appointment of Julia Jensen as Vice President, Brand. Jensen, a global brands and communications executive with more than 20 years of experience, will report directly to WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon.
As Vice President, Brand, Jensen will work across WWE’s business units to help drive revenue and further enhance the company’s brand reputation among key constituencies including advertisers, business partners, media and investors.
Prior to WWE, Jensen spent more than 15 years at Mattel, most recently as Vice President of Global Brands Communications. In this role, she was responsible for overseeing global communications across all businesses and driving brand engagement and relevancy for iconic Mattel brands, including Barbie. Jensen also spent time as Mattel’s Vice President of International Communications where she oversaw a team across 34 markets, responsible for executing communications programs supporting Mattel’s businesses and corporate initiatives around the world.
Before Mattel, Jensen’s agency experience included Ketchum and Fleishman-Hillard, where she provided creative program development and created marketing, advertising and public relations campaigns for global brands including Clorox, Proctor & Gamble, Levi’s Jeans, Cabbage Patch Kids, Maxwell House and Celestial Seasonings.
Jensen holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Syracuse University.
Report: CM Punk Will Make UFC Debut at UFC 202 Or UFC 203
Source: Inquisitr
It’s been almost 18 months since former WWE World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk signed with the UFC, and he still hasn’t made his debut inside the Octagon.
Originally, Punk was supposed to fight on this past Saturday night’s UFC 199 show against Mickey Gall, but a serious back injury that required surgery pushed the former WWE star’s debut back several months. Then, it was rumored that he would be on next month’s UFC 200 card, but Punk himself said that there was almost no chance of that happening.
So, when will he be making his UFC debut? Well, a date hasn’t been announced yet, but according to Dave Meltzer of the Wresting Observer and MMA Fighting, CM Punk may finally step inside the Octagon this coming August or September.
On Saturday’s post-UFC 199 edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer reported that Fox Sports 1 is planning on airing a series of CM Punk specials leading up to his fight, and that they’re planning on airing them in August, which suggests that the ex-WWE Champ will fight at either UFC 202 on August 20, which will be headlined by the Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz rematch, or at UFC 203 on September 10, which will be headlined by the Heavyweight Title fight between Alistair Overeem and Stipe Miocic.
“CM Punk is probably fighting by the way. What I can say about CM Punk is that FS1 is scheduling the CM Punk reality show to build to his fight in August, so that would probably mean [that he’s fighting on] August 20, or September 10 in Cleveland, and I believe that August 20 is in Vegas, and I tend to think that, of the two, they’d do it on August 20.”
There have been some questioning whether or not CM Punk would ever fight due to the fact that he’s always dealing with some kind of nagging injury. Also, there have been reports that he’s been struggling in training, mainly during sparring.
It looks like Punk will still be fighting Mickey Gall whenever he’s ready to step inside the Octagon, as Gall has guaranteed that the fighting between the two will happen at some point.
It seems likely that the UFC will put Punk on the UFC 202 card, which, as previously mentioned, is going to be headlined by McGregor vs. Diaz 2. Of the two dates that were mentioned, UFC 202 is, by far, the bigger show, which is why it’s the better card to debut Punk on.
As of right now, most believe that CM Punk will get destroyed if he ends up fighting Mickey Gall. But, unless Punk fought someone who is a complete unknown, almost every fan wouldn’t believe that Punk had the ability to win his debut or any other fight inside the Octagon.
If the UFC is planning on having Punk fight in August, expect them to announce it very soon, maybe even at UFC 200 next month, as there will be a ton of WWE fans watching that show because of the fact that Brock Lesnar will be on the card.
Brock Lesnar’s UFC 200 Opponent Revealed; Lesnar Talks SummerSlam, UFC Return, More
Source: WrestlingINC
Brock Lesnar’s return to the UFC is set, and so is his opponent. As announced this morning on ESPN SportsCenter, Lesnar will take on Mark Hunt in his return.
Lesnar last fought in 2011, taking on Alistair Overeem. Lesnar battled diverticulitis throughout his career, missing long stretches of action. Last year, Lesnar re-signed with the WWE for three years, and said that he closed the door on a UFC return.
“I couldn’t live with that decision, that decision has haunted me for the last 15 months,” Lesnar said. “I’m a big believer in facing your fears and facing the reality of not sitting 20 years ago saying ‘Son, you should have done that.’ I was on UFC 100, so why not UFC 200?,” Lesnar said.
Lesnar said that this was his idea, and he immediately regretted not making a return to the Octagon.
“I lost to diverticulitis, that’s who beat me. My performance was because of the illness. I feel a thousand percent, I wouldn’t step in the Octagon if I didn’t. I’m not faking it, this is for real,” Lesnar said.
When Lesnar announced that Mark Hunt would take him on, he noted that he’s never turned down a fight in the UFC. “Why not (Mark Hunt), I don’t care,” Lesnar said.
“It’s taken some time for things to play out, but I said ‘What are the chances of having Brock Lesnar at UFC 200?,” Lesnar said. “I’m a crossover athlete, I’m the modern day Bo Jackson, and I couldn’t be more excited that both companies have the faith in Brock Lesnar to return to the Octagon.”
Lesnar said that he spoke to Vince McMahon about the idea and hashed it out. He said that he doesn’t know what the plans for SummerSlam are, but isn’t sure what the plans are for him on the card.
Interviewer Hannah Storm asked about the UFC banning Ariel Helwani over breaking the story of Lesnar’s return, but Lesnar said that he’s not on Twitter and isn’t familiar with Helwani. Lesnar was also asked about the late Muhammad Ali, and said the two shared a handshake and said he felt something powerful in Ali.
Lesnar closes the interview by saying he isn’t sure what any of this means for his legacy, but has to do what’s best for himself and his family.
Breaking News: Brock Lesnar to compete at UFC 200
At UFC199 in a historic event where Michael Bisping defeated Luke Rockhold for the middleweight title, it was announced that the beast Brock Lesnar will be competing at UFC200.
WWE issued an official statement saying
Brock Lesnar remains under contract to WWE, however, he has been granted a one-off opportunity to compete at UFC 200. Following this milestone event on July 9, Brock will return to WWE for SummerSlam on Sunday, August 21, live on WWE Network.
The event will be headlined by Daniel Cormier vs John Jones for the light heavyweight title and the co main event will pit Lesnar against a TBA opponent. Also at the event will have Miesha Tate defending her battemweight title against Amanda Nunes, and the interim featherweight title will be up for grabs as Jose Aldo takes on Frankie Edgar. It all goes down Saturday July 9th live on PPV
UFC199 (complete card)
Main Card (Pay-Per-View)
13. Luke Rockhold (c) (15-2) <USA> vs. {4} Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping (29-7) <England> in a Middleweight bout for the UFC Middleweight Championship!
12. Dominick ‘The Dominator’ Cruz (c) (21-1) <USA> vs. {2} Urijah ‘The California Kid’ Faber (33-8) <USA> in a Bantamweight bout for the UFC Bantamweight Championship!
11. {4} Max ‘Blessed’ Holloway (15-3) <USA> vs. {5} Ricardo ‘The Bully’ Lamas (16-4) <USA> in a Featherweight bout!
10. {15} Dan ‘Hendo’ Henderson (31-14) <USA> vs. {14} Hector ‘Lighting’ Lombard (34-5-1, 2 NC) <Cuba> in a Middleweight bout!
9. {11} Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier (19-4) <USA> vs. {14} Bobby ‘King’ Green (23-6) <USA> in a Lightweight bout!
Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1)
8. {12} Brain ‘T-City’ Ortega (10-0, 1 NC) <USA> vs. Clay ‘The Carpenter’ Guida (32-16) <USA> in a Featherweight bout!
7. {10} Beneil ‘Benny’ Dariush (12-2) <Iran> vs. James ‘The Texcutioner’ Vick (9-0) <USA> in a Lightweight bout.
6. {6} Jessica Penne (12-3) <USA> vs. Jessica ‘Bate Estaca’ Andrade (13-5) <Brasil> in a Women’s Strawweight bout!
5. Cole ‘Magrinho’ Miller (21-9, 1 NC) <USA> vs. Alex ‘Bruce LeeRoy’ Caceres (11-8, 1 NC) <USA> in a Featherweight bout.
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
4. Sean ‘Tarzan’ Strickland (17-1) <USA> vs. Tom ‘The Octopus’ Breese (10-0) <England> in a Welterweight bout.
3. Jonathan ‘Johnny Bravo’ Wilson (7-0) <USA> vs. Luis Henrique ‘Frankenstein’ de Silva (10-0) <Brasil> in a Light Heavyweight bout!
2. Kevin ‘King’ Casey (9-4, 2 NC) <USA> vs. Elvis ‘The King’ Mutapcic (15-4) <Bosnia and Herzegovina> in a Middleweight bout!
1. Marco Polo ‘El Toro’ Reyes (5-2) <Mexico> vs. Dong Hyun ‘Stun Gun’ Kim (13-7-3) <South Korea> in a Lightweight bout.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts On Inventing The DDT
Source: WrestlingINC
WWE Hall of Famer Jake “The Snake” Roberts recently spoke Joshua Maloni of Niagara Frontier Publications to promote his weekend appearance at the Niagara Falls Comic Con. The full interview is at this link.
Inventing the DDT:
Yeah, it was an accident. I was in the ring wrestling. I had a front facelock on a guy. He stepped on my feet and we fell backwards. He went on his head. I went on my back. And the fans went “OOOOHH.” I went, “Wait a minute; I’ve got something here.” And I started working on it, and come with it, and named it after the poison that everybody outlawed. I picked up the paper one day, and the front page was “DDT outlawed.” I was like, “Wait a minute. Very cool.” They had … “DDT poison to the brain.” I said, “Way cool.”
Cody Rhodes To Wrestle TNA Star, More On Him At EVOLVE 66
Source: WrestlingINC
As noted, former WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes will be wrestling Kurt Angle on Saturday, August 27th at Northeast Wrestling’s “Wrestling Under the Stars” event in Wappingers Falls, NY. Cody will actually make his NEW debut the night before, August 26th, in Pittsfield, MA. His opponent will be “The Miracle” Mike Bennett, who was one of the names on Cody’s post-WWE “to do” list.
As noted, Cody Rhodes has been announced for the EVOLVE 66 event on August 19th. WWN Live issued the following alert on the announcement:
“The big news is that Cody Rhodes is coming to EVOLVE! Cody Rhodes will wrestle in singles competition at EVOLVE 66 on August 19th in Joppa, MD at the MCW Arena. This will be Cody’s first post-WWE match so it will be a very special night in the Baltimore area! In addition, Cody will be available for pictures and autographs. Rhodes has asked to wrestle a top talent. We are working out the details now and will have more info next week. Get your tickets now while great ringside seats remain! This event will be broadcast at WWNLive.com on live iPPV.”
Ronda Rousey Had Knee Surgery
Source: MMA Fighting
Will former women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey help make history when the UFC puts on its first event at Madison Square Garden in New York City in November? According to UFC President Dana White, she won’t. In fact, she won’t fight in November at all. White says Rousey recently had minor knee surgery and her timeline for a return is being pushed back.
“Ronda Rousey, I don’t know,” While told ESPN’s Cari Champion on SportsCenter Thursday. “I’m hoping we’re going to get Ronda back this year. She actually just had surgery yesterday on her knee. Nothing serious, just get in there, scope it and clean it out a little bit. She feels great. Her spirits are great. She’s been training.”
According to White, however, November is out of the question. Rousey was originally expected for UFC 200 in July, but pushed back her timeline to October or November due to other commitments. Now, White said, her return is looking more like end of 2016 or early 2017.
“If she fights, I’m hoping she fights in December. If not, then he would probably fight at the New Years show at the beginning of the year,” White noted.
As for who she’ll face, White has remained consistent that Rousey will receive an immediate title shot upon her return. “If Miehsa Tate’s still the champion, she’ll fight Miesha Tate. Whoever has the belt is who Ronda Rousey will fight.”
White didn’t rule out the possibility of Rousey facing Holly Holm, who took Rousey’s belt in November of 2015, but said it would have to be a product of circumstance, not engineering.
“Injuries happen in this sport and a fight is made. Somebody falls out and somebody else slides in,” he explained. “I’m not even saying Holly Holm couldn’t be the champion by the time Ronda comes back. So, whoever holds that belt when Ronda’s ready.”
Bayley Says She Wants To Come To The Main Roster, Talks Her Future, Her Character Being Popular
Source: WrestlingINC
Former NXT Women’s Champion Bayley was recently interviewed by Nashville Scene. You can see some highlights below, and the full interview at this link.
Her character:
“It’s cool because that is what I wanted to do. I wanted kids to feel like I felt when I attended wrestling shows. I wanted them to be involved and be excited and look forward to not just John Cena. It’s the big kid in me. I am just acting like myself when I was 10 years old. It’s so cute how passionate kids can be. And there is also a responsibility to the parents, who thank me for being a role model. I have to make sure I keep my head on.”
Her future:
“Well, I am excited to come to Nashville. It’s one of my favorite towns and the crowd was so amazing last time. And I want to join the WWE (main roster). I really wanna have a match with Natty. She’s been there and she’s been a women’s champion. And Nikki Bella after she comes back.”
