Sunday night’s Survivor Series wasn’t just the 30th anniversary of The Undertaker; it was also the 30th anniversary of the often mocked Gobbledy Gooker. For those unaware, the character was supposed to be a new mascot for the WWE but was ridiculed as soon as Héctor Guerrero hatched from a giant egg dressed as a giant turkey.
Over the years, the character has made sporadic appearances on WWE television, most famously as part of the WrestleMania X-Seven Gimmick Battle Royal. However, last night the Gobbledy Gooker made history by winning the 24/7 Championship from R-Truth, with Drew Gulak donning the costume. Sadly for Gulak, he won’t receive the credit, as WWE officially recognizes Gooker as the titleholder on WWE.com, as you can see below.
This is the second time Gulak has dressed as the character, as he wore it on the November 21, 2017, edition of 205 Live, and called himself “The Gobbledy Gulaker.” Sadly though for fans of both Gooker and Gulak, the title reign was short, as Akira Tozawa would win the title later in the evening before losing it to R-Truth. While silly, it was a fun throwback and showed WWE can poke fun at their history.
This is the second time Gulak has dressed as the character, as he wore it on the November 21, 2017, edition of 205 Live, and called himself “The Gobbledy Gulaker.” Sadly though for fans of both Gooker and Gulak, the title reign was short, as Akira Tozawa would win the title later in the evening before losing it to R-Truth. While silly, it was a fun throwback and showed WWE can poke fun at their history. XYZ
WrestleMania X8 in 2002 featured The Undertaker versus Ric Flair in a memorable no disqualification match on the undercard. Famously Arn Anderson would interfere and hit The Undertaker with a spinebuster. That, though, only lead to a near fall, and The Undertaker would go to increase his WrestleMania winning streak to 10–0.
Now, The Undertaker has revealed on his second appearance on Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions that Vince McMahon had another wrestler lined up as his potential opponent for the show. McMahon’s thinking was The Undertaker would have preferred to have worked with the younger Rob Van Dam, who he’d previously feuded with over the WWF Hardcore Title. The Undertaker, though, jumped at the opportunity to face Flair.
Going into that year, I remember Vince pulling me into the office at a TV, and he goes, “Mark, I’m so sorry, I haven’t got you figured in, right, to Mania,” and I was like, “yeah, I kinda noticed” right? Everyone’s deep into their builds already, right? And he goes, “I mean I got two guys, I got two guys for ya, I got RVD, and I got Flair,” and I don’t think he got Flair all the way out before I said Flair.
And he was shocked, right? Vince was shocked because he thought I was gonna go with the younger, y’know, the guy, and RVD, was on his way up, and you know he was doing good things. But it was like, “I wanna work with Flair,” and he was still trying to like, “you don’t wanna work with RVD?” I said, “nah, I got plenty of time to work with RVD. I wanna work with Flair.”The Undertaker
Despite missing out on a match against The Undertaker, RVD still wrestle at WrestleMania X8 and defeated William Regal for the Intercontinental Championship. Later that year, RVD would work with The Undertaker again, mostly on house shows, but would challenge him for the Undisputed World Heavyweight Title on Raw.
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Tonight’s Survivor Series pay-per-view on November 22nd will be The Undertaker’s “Final Farewell,” seemingly making his retirement official. Fittingly the event is precisely 30 years to the day when The Undertaker made his on-camera debut at the fourth annual Survivor Series. What is planned isn’t yet known, but there are numerous names from The Undertaker’s past currently backstage at the Amway Center.
PWInsider.com has reported that Mick Foley, Kevin Nash, Rikishi, Kurt Angle, Kane, Edge, Big Show, Dennis Knight, Mark Canterbury, The Godfather, Savio Vega, and Tim White.
It isn’t known if any of these names will make an appearance on the show or are just there to meet with The Undertaker privately. But with the Survivor Series being only a few hours away, fans don’t have long to wait to find out.
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Rhea Ripley significantly impacted last year’s Survivor Series by captaining Team NXT to victory and securing the decisive elimination herself by pinning Sasha Banks. Ever since then, it’s been a case of when rather than if Ripley would get called up to the main roster, with the belief being it is imminent.
Over the last few days, the big rumor circulating is that it may be about to happen and coincide with an appearance at tonight’s Survivor Series. Seemingly aware of this story, Ripley tweeted the below photo along with a smirking face emoji.
While there are no confirmed reports as of writing that Ripley will be appearing at Survivor Series, this tweet has added to the speculation. We’ll have to wait and see if Ripley does appear, or her tweet was just was mischief-making.
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Lana is the subject of the latest episode of WWE Chronicle and documents events from October 20, 2020, to November 16, 2020. During one segment, the producer asks Lana about remaining positive, and she breaks down first talking about there being no fans in attendance and then not being able to travel with Miro, who she seemingly couldn’t refer to by name. She’d go on to say fans are mean to her on social media and post comments like “you should be fired,” “why are you not fired?” and “you suck.” This lead to her asking her parents to pray for her because her mental health was suffering. You can watch an excerpt of this upsetting interview for yourself below.
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Lana should be living a great life as a WWE superstar, but she clearly isn’t. Last year she was on the receiving end of death threats due to her storyline with Bobby Lashley and earlier this year threatened to quit social media due to her cyberbullies. Hopefully, some of the so-called fans who wish ill upon her will rethink after seeing how much distressing it is causing her.
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Kenny Omega is currently the #1 contender for Jon Moxley’s AEW World Heavyweight Championship, and the pair are scheduled to wrestle on 2nd December. It’s arguably the biggest match that will have ever aired on Dynamite and highly anticipated by fans. However, according to Kenny Omega himself, he won’t be coming into the match 100%, as he explained on Wrestling Observer Radio.
So, you know, a torn labrum, as you know, is no laughing matter. That’s a surgery, but I have a very talented and unbelievable trainer, and you know our doctors, of course, are always monitoring and making sure we’re doing okay, but our trainer Bryce Ready is just next level kind of guy. He has kept me together and in a condition where I’m able to perform. As long as I make that that I see him two or three times a week. I can lift, I have full range of motion. I just need to make sure that I can look after it, and I can avoid having that surgery. I can’t afford having that time off. If things get worse that’s an option I’ll have to consider. Kenny Omega
A labrum tear is a tear to the ring of cartilage surrounding a shoulder socket. It’s prevalent in athletics and can come from falls or general wear and tear. Physical therapy often resolves the problem, and it sounds like Omega is getting the best care possible.
Hopefully, the injury won’t worsen because Nick Jackson previously told ScreenCrush that “year two’s going to be all about Kenny Omega.” If Omega does require surgery, it will significantly change AEW’s long-term plans.
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TBS is rebooting Wipeout, a game show that aired on ABC between 2008 and 2014, taking place on a cushioned obstacle course. In September announced they’d signed John Cena to co-host along with Nicole Byer and Camille Kostek. With the show scheduled to air next year, filming is currently underway in Los Angeles on all 20 episodes of the first season.
Tragically it has been reported that during filming on Wednesday 18th November, a contestant began suffering chest pains after completing the course. Despite on-site paramedics using a defibrillator, the contestant who had undergone a medical exam before participating passed away at the hospital. TBS would tell TMZ.com, “We are devastated to have learned of his passing, and our deepest sympathy goes out to the family.” Production company Endemol Shine North America would go to say, “We offer our heartfelt condolences to the family, and our thoughts are with them at this time.”
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In March, the City of Warren Police and Fire Retirement System, whose pension fund invested heavily in WWE stock, filed a class-action lawsuit against Vince McMahon’s company. Their belief was WWE failed to reveal their failed negotiations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia over a new broadcasting deal, resulting in WWE executives selling over $280 million worth of shares at fraudulently inflated prices.
Eight months on, and WWE has announced through a SEC Filing that on November 18th, they had settled out of court for a sum of $39 million with the Michigan based pension fund. They’d include that despite settling, they made no admission of the claims’ validity and believed the company’s insurance carriers would cover the payout. They’d add this was a business decision and done to end an uncertain class action process. You can read the full filing here.
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Four months ago, WWE announced a Triple H / Motörhead merchandise collaboration, which made total sense. Over five years, Motörhead recorded three of Triple H’s theme songs, and in doing so, Triple H became synonymous with Motörhead. They’d even go on to perform live at WrestleMania 17 and WrestleMania 21 during his entrances.
WWE has now followed-up with another collaboration, this time between The Undertaker and Snoop Dogg. Despite the iconic stars not having any apparent connection, WWE has made available to purchase at WWEShop.com: 8 t-shirts, 1 long sleeve t-shirt, 1 hoodie, 1 beanie, and a poster.
The collaboration would have made more sense had it been between Snoop and Sasha Banks, his cousin; however, it was probably thought The Undertaker would sell more.
Snoop first worked with WWE when he was the Master of Ceremonies for a tag team match between Maria and Ashley Massaro against Beth Phoenix and Melina at WrestleMania XXIV, and returned in 2009 and 2015 for appearances on Raw. This would warrant his inclusion in the WWE Hall of Fame celebrity wing in 2016 and an appearance at WrestleMania 32.
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Vince McMahon didn’t want to lose Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood when they were in the WWE. He turned down their requests to be released and would offer them $750,000 each to re-sign when their contracts were getting close to expiring. McMahon also took the time to personally create a new gimmick for the duo, which involved them wearing flashy colors, having tassels, waving glowsticks, and a “Shatter Machine” chain necklace. The team would turn down the offer, as they were still unhappy with WWE’s portrayal of the tag-team division, citing Braun Strowman and a 10-year old winning the Raw Tag Team Championships as their example.
Once they finally received their release, the pair would join All Elite Wrestling under the name FTR and be allowed to be pro wrestlers instead of sports entertainers. This lead to a great run of matches and now being named #1 on the inaugural >Pro Wrestling Illustrated Tag Team 50 list, a neat achievement for anyone who grew up reading the PWI 500.
Following PWI’s announcement, Dax Harwood decided to have some fun at Vince McMahon’s expense. He did this by sharing a photoshopped image of FTR and their former boss in an art gallery admiring the magazine cover, captained with “Good shit.”
It’s highly unlikely that had Wheeler and Harwood remained in WWE, they would have had the opportunity to showcase their ability to the level they would be considered the best tag team in the world. So while turning down such large figure contracts and leaving WWE was a risky move, it seems to have paid off.
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The Undertaker will be making what is believed to be his final in-character appearance for WWE at this Sunday’s Survivor Series pay-per-view, which marks the 30th anniversary of his debut. To commemorate this, WWE has released lots of new memorabilia at WWEShop.com and has been running special episodes on the WWE Network under the 30 Days Of The Deadman banner.
Now WWE has partnered with Cameo and is selling 30 personalized video messages by The Undertaker at $1000 each, which will be fulfilled at the Survivor Series. At that price, you might think WWE would struggle to sell them. However, ten have already sold over the past few hours, so if you are interested, you should probably act quickly and visit cameo.com/theundertaker now.
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WWE has to leave the Amway Center soon because the Orlando Magic needs the venue to begin their pre-season. The company has been looking into various locations over the previous few weeks, and earlier today, they issued a press release confirming they are moving to Tropicana Field, a domed stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida.
The venue, nicknamed “The Trop,” is the home of the Tampa Bay Rays MLB team first opened in 1990, and can hold up to 42,735 fans. For the time being, the TunderDome will remain a closed set with only essential personnel in attendance. However, it is believed WWE is hoping to have fans in attendance for the Royal Rumble in January.
WWE’s first event at Tropicana Field will be the Friday, December 11 episode of SmackDown. No details on how long WWE has rented the stadium have yet been confirmed. However, the Tampa Bay Rays have an exhibition game scheduled for March 30, 2021, ahead of the new Major League Baseball season, so WWE will need to leave by then.
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