This Day In Wrestling History

Hulk Hogan becomes the first ever 2 time winner of the WWF(E) Royal Rumble.
January 19, 1991

Ric Flair wins the Royal Rumble and the WWF(E) Heavyweight title
January 19, 1992

Shawn Michaels defeated Psycho Sid for the WWF(E) Heavyweight title
January 19, 1997

WWF(E) New York Restaurant opened in Times Square
January 19, 2000

Total Divas Recap 01/18/15

There is some silliness, some seriousness and some sultriness on this week’s episode of E!’s “Total Divas.” We’ll begin, as ever, with the fun stuff: Nikki Bella and John Cena’s competitive genes come to the forefront when a playful argument leads to a truly absurd competition between the two consisting of go-kart racing, mini golf and the like. Not only does Cena wipe the floor with his overwhelmed S.O., but the fratty finale that completes his clean sweep frustrates Nikki so much that she straight-up douses him with a beverage, and then has to be sweet-talked down to earth.

The seriousness next, and it is, in fact, very serious for Eva Marie when she discovers one of her silicone implants is leaking into her bloodstream. With her career picking up steam, Eva decides to ignore doctor’s orders and tough it out in the ring to keep her momentum running. As a result, Jonathan takes matters into his hands and alerts WWE officials to her condition. It’s only a heart-to-heart from The Bellas that convinces Eva to bite the proverbial bullet and have the procedure that will shelve her for months but ensure her continued health and eventual return to form.

As for the last bit? Natalya and Paige are in the midst of a series of matches and Paige, in an effort to rile up both the crowd and her opponent, has been resorting to an unusually sultry form of mind games. Natalya isn’t exactly comfortable with the tactic, which borders on pure PDA, but Paige defies her request to dial back and instead takes it one step further in their rematch by licking the entire side of Nattie’s face. All of this seems destined for a backstage brawl between the two Divas until Paige explains that the match — and Natalya herself — are that much more interesting to watch when The Queen of Harts is really riled up. Nattie, moved to compromise, agrees to a happy medium of harassment in all future contests. Everybody wins.

Two Former WWE Wrestlers File Class-Action 'Concussion Lawsuit' Against WWE

Former WWE stars Vito Lograsso (Big Vito) and Evan Singleton (Adam Mercer in developmental) have filed a class-action "concussion lawsuit" against WWE in the state of Pennsylvania. They are being represented by the same lawyer as former WWE star Billy Jack Haynes, who also has a lawsuit out against WWE.

The complaints from Haynes and Lograsso/Singleton appear to be virtually identical except for short paragraphs about the complainants.

Singleton's complaint mentions wrestling WWE Superstar Erick Rowan in developmental as Singleton claims, "After approximately 15 matches, during which he sustained multiple traumas, he suffered a serious head injury during a match with Eric Rowen [sic]. The WWE cleared him to continue wrestling after inadequate rest time and downplayed his injury."

Singleton was apparently out of action for five months after a match against Rowan. He then worked one more match and was released from his developmental deal. Singleton has suffered from a number of severe neurological symptoms and later found out that he had bleeding in the left hemisphere of his brain.

Lograsso noted that he "suffers from serious neurological damage, including severe headaches, memory loss, depression and anxiety, as well as deafness."

Chris Jericho Comments On Randy Savage Going Into The WWE HOF

It is much deserved and now, finally, I feel the WWE Hall of Fame is legit. Everybody that needs to be in there — and wasn’t because of politics or petty bullshit — is now in there, including [Bruno] Sammartino, Bret Hart, the Ultimate Warrior and now Randy Savage being the last on that list."

WWE NXT Tournament Announced

A #1 contenders tournament has been confirmed to kick off on next week's WWE NXT. The winner will receive a title shot at NXT Champion Sami Zayn.

Seth Rollins Talks Curb Stomping Lesnar & Cena, Triple H Following His Progress, NXT, Taker, Savage

Seth Rollins joined The Rack this past Thursday Night. During the interview, Rollins discussed what it was like to be in the ring and curb stomping both Brock Lesnar and John Cena on RAW, his thoughts on Smackdown moving to Thursdays, who is he looking forward to working with from NXT in the future, what it was like working with The Undertaker, Randy Savage being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015 and more. They sent us the highlights below, you can listen to the full interview by clicking here.

What it's like working with both Triple H and Stephanie McMahon on TV weekly:

"Oh, they're phenomenal; two of the greatest mind in the history of our industry. You've got one, born and bred a McMahon so she knows all there is to know about what we do and she knows all the little tricks of the trade. She sees things from a completely different perspective, so you have that. On the other hand, you have 'The Cerebral Assassin', a man who's been WWE Champion multiple times, who is clearly the heir-apparent to the company itself and already running the ship for the most part. There are really no better mentors; if you're not learning something every single day, every single time you go out there, then you're really just making a mistake trying to progress yourself. If people have kept track over the past 6-8 months, they'll have noticed a lot of improvements in my game, at least I have, and a lot of that is due to having Triple H and Stephanie on my side, nurturing me all the way through."

Triple H following his progress through NXT, The Shield and now:

"Yeah, clearly, the man has an eye for talent, you know? It's been good; NXT was a good experience for me. We were really the first group of guys who were involved in that project and if you look at what it's become now, it's pretty impressive to think about where it started and how it began, very humbly, in a warehouse in Tampa and now, basically, it's its own brand. To have Triple H's support, through and through the entire way, has meant more to me than people will ever understand. It's really helped position me to where I want to be and helped me grow as a person and as a performer."

Is there anyone in the new crop of NXT talent that he's looking forward to facing in the future:

"I have a lot of friends down there; a lot of people who I traveled the road with in my previous life and I think those guys, the Adrian Nevilles and Sami Zayns, Finn Balor, Hideo Itami, Kevin Overs; these are the guys obviously making a name for themselves now in NXT. There's also a lot of young guys too, who are pushing the envelope as well, really trying to make a name for themselves in the shadow, a little bit, of some of those bigger names.

"You've got someone like CJ Parker, who's been down in NXT for a while making waves. You've got Tyler Breeze, who is on the cusp of something big and stuff like that. So, there's a lot of talent down there; I'm looking forward to seeing how the landscape up here in the WWE looks like in 2-5 years, with all of those names I mentioned, up here working with us. It's going to be a very interesting period for the future of WWE."

How Did WWE SmackDown Fare In Its New Timeslot?

Last night's episode of WWE SmackDown on its new night averaged 2.675 million viewers. Viewership was up 10% from last week's episode on Friday night, which averaged 2.432 million viewers. SmackDown was also the number one show on cable last night.

Stephanie Talks Missing Shane In WWE, Why No More Elimination Chamber, More

Stephanie McMahon was a guest on The Wrestling Compadres Slamcast on Nerdist.com to promote the new WWE fitness DVDs. She also talked about Total Divas and other elements. Below are some highlights:

Stephanie talked about Total Divas connecting with their large female audience (she said 1/3 of the audience of WWE’s core programming is female) as well as attract new viewers. She also put over the series being the second most popular on E (behind the Kardashians).

When asked whose idea was Total Divas, Stephanie said it was “hard to say” but it was created with E.

Stephanie talked about her return to the ring at SummerSlam, saying she knew that with her return to TV that she eventually had to get her comeuppance. She called it a pleasure working with Brie Bella. Stephanie said it was fun but challenging.

When asked about the company eliminating the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, Stephanie said from a reality standpoint, the elimination chamber was 10 tons and was becoming increasingly hard to hang in arenas that had scoreboards. She explained that more and more arenas were getting these big beautiful displays and they were unable to hang the structure.

As for what to expect from WWE Fast Lane, Stephanie said they will deliver with the pay-per-view before Wrestlemania.

She said that she missed having Shane McMahon in WWE. Stephanie said she was “stretched quite often” by wrestling with her brother growing up. She said the only way she could win was by not giving up. Stephanie fully supports Shane and put over him being Chairman at You On Demand. He’s also a co-owner of a motorcycle shop.

Click here to listen to the podcast in its entirety.

Assault charges against WWE star Heath Slater dropped

MyFoxAtlanta.com is reporting that the simple assault charges brought against current WWE star Heath Slater have now been dropped. A security guard claimed that Slater had assaulted her back in 2011 during a post-WrestleMania part. The charges were dropped because the statue of limitation expired according to the report.

Kevin Nash reinstated by WWE

WWE has officially reinstated Kevin Nash after he was cleared of all charges in his recent domestic assault case where authorities ruled he was not the instigator of the incident on Christmas Eve involvnig his son Tristen.

WWE issued the following statement tonight:

"Now that Kevin Nash’s legal matter has been resolved with all charges being dropped, his “legends” contract has been immediately reinstated."

Nash had been scheduled for Monday's Raw until his suspension.

Next Live WWE NXT Takeover Special Revealed

The next live WWE NXT Takeover special will take place on Wednesday, February 11th at Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL.

It will air live on the WWE Network.

WWE Tough Enough Returning To USA Network

The official WWE website has released a statement from USA Network President Chris McCumber in which he reveals that WWE reality series "Tough Enough" will be returning to television on USA Network in 2015.

"I am pleased to announce that USA is bringing back 'Tough Enough,' the action-packed competition reality show from the ratings juggernaut, WWE," McCumber said in a speech today during the Television Critics Association winter press tour. "The show will have a completely new format, with live elements that will truly make this event television."

McCumber continued, "After signing another multi-year deal for Raw and SmackDown, this is the perfect time to bring back the series and capitalize on the enormous audience appeal of sports-entertainment."