I return today for the second episode of the Wrestling Drive and this time we’re looking at the conclusion of Shinsuke Nakamura vs Finn Balor and what this could be for Finn Balor moving forward. Be sure to be on the lookout for my money guarantee to the spotlight faithful. Then I looks back on last night’s Espys and the job that John Cena did hosting the event. Finally I give my thoughts on the Wrestlemania match that may come out of it involving the Big Show and Shaquille O’Neal.
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The Wrestling Drive Ep. 1 On The WWE Cruiserweight Classic
Check out episode one of the Wrestling Drive as I preview the premiere of tonight’s Cruiserweight Classic. We’ll look at some of the standout contestants and what this may mean for the future of the cruiserweight division in WWE. We’ll also talk about Daniel Bryan’s return to WWE television as an announcer/ host of the Classic. Finally, we’ll turn our attention to tonight’s big episode of NXT and the big number one contender match between Shinsuke Nakamura and Finn Balor. Check it out and be sure to subscribe to us on youtube right here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy_gVqjuaWDp2QW6go6e0Xw
Spotlight Breaking News- Samoa Joe Wins The NXT Title
In a completely shocking story tonight at a live event in Lowell, Massachusetts Samoa Joe defeated Finn Balor to win the NXT world title. Balor was the longest reigning NXT Champion of all time.
This is a pretty big deal as this is the first time a title has changed hands at a live event in many years . Go out of your way to watch that 30 second video above and you can just see how excited the crowd was for Joes title win. They did not see it coming in a million years. We will have more on this story as it develops.
The Spotlight On Wrestlemania 33 Coming To Orlando!
Well it’s official, WWE will be returning to the sunshine state next year for Wrestlemania 33 on April 2nd, 2017! WWE held a press conference earlier today officially announcing that Wrestlemania will return to the, newly renovated, Citrus Bowl for the first time since Wrestlemania 24 in 2008. This is huge news for vacation goers as Orlando is one of, at least to me, biggest vacation spots in all of the United States. Last year my girlfriend and I had an amazing time at Wrestlemania in California and created our own Wrestling & theme park week! Thus, I’m excited to be being able to recreate some of the grandeur of last year, next year in Orlando! Let me get into all you need to know about Wrestlemania from the press conference today.
-First off, we’ll start with some important dates and locations. WWE Axxess will take place at the Orange County Convention Center throughout the weekend. While I haven’t been there myself, I spoke to a friend who lives in Orlando & he told me that the building is really nice & spacious. The Amway Center, home of the Orlando Magic, will play host to both The 2017 Hall Of Fame, April 1st and Monday Night Raw the night after Wrestlemania, April 3rd. There was no date announced for NXT but with the performance center & NXT headquarters, they film most television out of Full Sail University, being right in Orlando, I’d bet NXT will have quite a prescence Wrestlemania weekend.
– As far as the press conference today, kudos to WESH news in Orlando for broadcasting the press conference live. I was able to follow along while at work & it was really cool to see. That said, it’s a shame for those folks that couldn’t follow along live, 11AM on a Tuesday few can, that can’t watch the press conference if they wanted to. WWE has its own network & really should make this stuff available for subscribers who want to watch it. Especially if they aired this kind of stuff live, I feel it would draw more people to the livestream on the WWE Network.
– From the looks of it Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, John Cena, Ric Flair, Charlotte, Roman Reigns and the New Day were all on hand for the press conference and joined different politicians in the local area in sharing their excitement over Wrestlemania returning to Orlando. There were also a number of NXT talents on hand, said to be greeting folks as they entered the conference, including Bayley, Apollo Crews, Baron Corbin and others. John Cena acknowledged the NXT talents, who were sitting front row, and joked that they were given time off to come watch them talk.
-The biggest piece of news, aside from the announcement, was that John Cena officially announced that he will not be taking part in this year’s Wrestlemania. Cena mentioned that for the first time in a decade and a half, he’ll be enjoying Wrestlemania as a fan. I know Cena was doing all he could to return, and it’s tough he won’t be able too, but it’s for the best that he takes his time to recover. The last thing anyone wants is for Cena to return too soon and injure himself more.
Overall this was a nice day for WWE and a big win for the city of Orlando, which Stephanie noted has become the WWE’s second home. Wrestlemania raises hundreds of millions of dollars for any city that plays host for it and it really looked like next year was going to be Minnesota. Thus, Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer had every right to dance with the New Day! As a fan, no offense to Minnesotans but nothing beats that combination of Disney and Wrestling…I can’t wait!
That’s going to do it for now but tomorrow morning I’ll be back as it seems that WWE may not only bringing Wrestlemania to Orlando. Tomorrow we’ll look at whether or not the rumors are true…is WWE creating a physical hall of fame?!
The Spotlight on Mick Foley’s 2016 Wrestlemania Dream Vacation
Over the past few years one of the cool things to come along with WrestleMania each year is WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley’s WrestleMania Dream Vacation. These vacations are a heck of an opportunity for any wrestling fan whatsoever but the purpose for the vacation makes it mean that much more. 100% of the proceeds from each Dream Vacation go directly to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN). This is a cause that means a lot to me personally and Mick’s work for them has been extraordinary through the years. When I saw Mick’s comedy show at Caroline’s back in 2013, he was doing a Meet and Greet and donating all of the money made through merchandise directly to RAINN as well. Mick has mentioned that last year the dream vacation raised over $400,000 and that the goal of this year’s raffle will be to surpass the half million dollar mark. I strongly urge everyone to purchase a few raffle tickets, they really aren’t very expensive. The price per raffle ticket are as follows 5 entries: $10 ($2 each), 10 entries: $15 ($1.50 each), 25 entries: $25 ($1 each), 75 entries: $50 ($0.67 each), 150 entries: $75 ($0.50 each), 400 entries: $100 ($0.25 each), 1000+ entries: ($0.15 each). The sweepstakes is now officially open and runs until March 15th. Let’s get into to what you stand to win.
- Winner and guest will receive round-trip air transportation (this includes two economy-class seats from winner and guest’s closest major U.S. or international city, to an airport within 25 miles of Arlington, TX)
- Winner and guest will receive round-trip transportation between airport and hotel
- Winner and guest will receive five nights lodging at the Comfort Suites in Arlington, TX from Thursday, March 31 — Tuesday, April 5, 2016 (single room, double occupancy)
- Winner will receive $1,000 in spending money
- Winner will receive an original 20×32 Rob Schamberger piece of art featuring the wrestler of his or her choice
- Winner and guest will join Mick Foley for dinner
- Winner will receive two ringside tickets to WrestleMania
- Winner will receive two tickets to the WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
- Winner will receive two tickets to Monday Night Raw
- Winner will receive two tickets to WWE AXXESS
- Winner will receive two tickets to WWE NXT
- Winner will receive two tickets to WWE Ring of Honor + a meet and greet
Talk about a dream vacation, Mick really has you covered in virtually everything you can thing in a package worth nearly $5,000! Kudos have to go out to WWE, NXT, ROH and all of the other companies for assisting in putting together such a great package. In the past I know Mick has continued to add to the package right up until the deadline which has included everything from tickets to Jim Ross’ One Man show, Tickets to Evolve, A Hug from a TNA Knockout and a further trip to Walt Disney World which included a guided tour of the park with Scotty 2 Hotty! Thus, keep checking in to see what else he adds to the package. If you’d like to purchase tickets for the raffle you can do so right here https://rainn.org/wrestlemania!
The Daily Spotlight 