Among the most controversial moments of a wild Raw in Michigan was the unexpected stoppage of the Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton contest after the submission expert suffered a “stinger” in the middle of the bout and was deemed unfit to compete by WWE officials, with the final decision coming from WWE COO Triple H himself.
“Whether anybody likes it or not, it’s my job as COO of this company,” confirmed Triple H to WWE.com. “I made the call that Daniel Bryan’s health was important and I called the match.”
Bryan – currently battling a self-imposed perception that he is a “weak link” – seemed less than happy at the result on air, and in fact, he let The Game know exactly how he felt once he stepped backstage.
“I saw Daniel face-to-face with Triple H, nose to nose, screaming at him, saying that the match should not have been stopped and he’d worked through several injuries over 13 years,” said referee John Cone, who followed Bryan into the locker room area. “Triple H fired back, saying he’s worked through torn quads, but Bryan was saying it was supposed to be the biggest match of his career and it was taken away from him.
“I’d never seen anything like it, they almost came to blows,” elaborated Cone. “Randy stepped in and pulled Daniel Bryan back, it was the craziest thing I’d ever seen backstage.”
Layla agreed: “It was probably the most intense argument I have ever seen right in front of me.” The former Divas Champion was backstage when Bryan emerged through the curtain.
“Bryan beelined straight for Triple H, and the passion in his voice – [he said] ‘I have wrestled for 13 years, this was supposed to be my biggest match, my biggest accomplishment; you don’t ever stop a match without me!’”
Alicia Fox, who was also backstage with several of the Divas, agreed.
“I think he was just trying to state his fact that he’s very passionate about what he does, his job and how he handles his work in the ring and taking care of his body,” she said. “At the same time, the way Triple H saw it, he was looking out for his safety, his well-being for his future, the company, and future matches to come.”
All the eyewitnesses seemed to agree the two Superstars were coming from a place of passion, not animosity.
“Both Daniel Bryan and Triple H have a ton of passion, if anyone could relate to what Daniel Bryan felt it’d be Triple H,” Natalya said, “But I’d just never heard an exchange so heated like that in my life.”
“I’ve never seen Daniel like that before,” Cameron said. “He was cursing, just saying he’s worked through everything … Triple H was only doing what’s right for Daniel, but Daniel is just so passionate about this business.”
Veteran official Chad Patton drew a haunting parallel in his own summary of the argument: “What I did see when Daniel Bryan and Triple H went at it, for him to talk to his boss and just to the extreme he was doing it, I haven’t seen anything like it since Bret Hart and Vince McMahon.”
Triple H himself confirmed the situation had been smoothed over and both parties apologized to each other, but Bryan’s status for this Friday’s SmackDown is still up in the air. While he has been reviewed by WWE doctors, his injury requires close observation and further tests will be done down the line before his scheduled bout with U.S. Champion Dean Ambrose.
source: wwe.com
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June 18, 2013
Daniel Bryan Confronts Triple H Over Match Stoppage on Raw
June 17, 2013
Interview with Michael Cole
Michael Cole recently spoke with Wrestling101. Below are the interview highlights:
What have been some of your highlights during your time with WWE?
My career was made at the beginning thanks to Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Chyna and Rick Rude, if it wasn’t for D-Generation X who knows if I would’ve ever been discovered to become the personality that I am today, with those guys we had so much fun together and I become their foil.
From there I went onto SmackDown and I was there for ten years straight before I moved to Raw and that was obviously a huge experience for me. Then moving to Monday Night Raw was probably the biggest moment of my career. Finally being asked to get in the ring and have Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler’s only WrestleMania match was a complete honour, I was completely humbled by that and I had a lot of fun doing it.
I like being a bad guy but now I’m a good guy again and it’s all just so much fun, you’re able to reinvent your character so much in this business and that’s why I enjoy it so much.
You were doing commentary on Raw when Jerry Lawler had a heart attack, what instincts kicked in when that incident happened?
My news instincts kicked in, it was just one of those things where Jerry had a heart attack next to me and being a news reporter kicked in. I had to report what was going on in the ring, then I had to report what was going on with Jerry, it was all instinct, there was nothing premeditated about it.
Jerry had a match that night but it was business as usual, he came back and went to work nothing changed. Whatever match it was we were calling, I thought he was snoring and I turned around to look at him and he was passed out on the table and we went from there. It was a surreal thing and I’ve never watched that moment back, I don’t want to but I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life. He was passed out under the table and luckily doc Sampson was three feet away and they got to him quickly and got his heart going again but it was a bizarre time, I didn’t know for the last hour of the show if I was going to have to report that Jerry had passed away or if he was surviving and luckily we got the news right as we were going off the air that he was surviving, it was a really tough time.
Obviously it all came out the way we wanted it to, and it is great having Jerry back on the commentary table. It changed me personally but it also changed me professionally because at that point I became a babyface again and I think for the best, I was a bad guy for a while but it was time to change. Obviously Jerry’s heart attack changed history as we look at it.
What is Vince McMahon like as a boss?
He is wonderful, he’s hard but he is a genius with what we do as a company. If you can understand how to learn from him, here is a guy that is a billionaire and he’s built the wrestling business to where it is today but he still goes out and puts himself in situations, embarrassing situations for the good of the company.
That’s why when I did my role as a heel for a few years and all the things I did to Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler, I did that with Vince in mind. Vince is the owner of the company but he has had his head shoved up Big Shows rear-end, had his head shaved bald at WrestleMania, all the stuff he did over the years I thought if my boss could do that, I could do that.
He is one of my hero’s in this business and even in life, I’ve grown up in this business, I’ve spent 16-years here, I started as a fairly young kid, I’ve raised my family being a part of the WWE. Vince is like a second father to me and he has helped me throughout my career and I hope to spend the rest of my career with the guy, he’s just been an unbelievable mentor.
Have you ever had an ear bashing from Vince?
(Laughs) Yeah it happens every week, the thing is you can’t take it personally. Vince is very obsessive about his product because he should be, he has built the WWE into a global phenomenon, this is his baby and he acts that way because he wants his product to be the best.
You have to understand it’s not a personal attack, it’s him wanting his product to be the best in the world and once you can understand that you’re going to be better than ever and you’ve got to understand it’s a way to motivate you.
June 16, 2013
WWE Announces the Return of Rob Van Dam
A video package aired on Sunday night during the Payback PPV hyping the return of Rob Van Dam at the Money in the Bank PPV next month on July 14.
It should be noted that as of 9:00 p.m. Eastern (8:00 CT) on Sunday night, TNA was still listing RVD as being part of the Impact Wrestling roster.
June 15, 2013
Rumor Mill - Backstage News On Vince McMahon - Triple H Angle, Vince Knocking Curtis Axel
According to a source, the McMahon family is said to be happy with their current angle and feel that it is compelling television that plays off of reality. The storyline is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.
The USA Network actually wanted the McMahon family to be featured prominently again, and Vince and Stephanie both felt that the timing was right since it has been years since they've been recurring characters on TV. Stephanie in particular was open to returning to a televised role throughout the summer since her children are on summer vacation, which allows her to take them on the road along with her maid and assistants.
In a related note, writers apparently checked with Vince during rehearsals about the backstage segment on RAW this past Monday night to confirm that he wanted to tell Triple H that he was "bigger than a match with Curtis Axel." Vince was said to be insistent that the wording be what was shown on the air, which was similar to language on last week's episode knocking Joe Hennig as a top star.
Rumor Mill - CM Punk's WWE Future
PWInsider.com is reporting that there have been many talks backstage on how to book CM Punk upon his return to the WWE. Although he was one of the best heels in the company, WWE knows that he will be cheered when he comes back. There are discussions of turning Punk into a face because of this and because he has one year left on his contract. It will be interesting to see what decision WWE decides to make, but they are leaning towards turning him face sooner rather than later.
June 14, 2013
