WWE news and notes: 19 August, 2013

Daniel Bryan

At SummerSlam, two new WWE champions were crowned. First, in something of a shocker, Daniel Bryan defeated John Cena cleanly to capture his first WWE Championship and become a 2-time World Champion overall. After the match, Randy Orton came out, looking to cash in his MITB briefcase. Before that happened, special referee Triple H laid Bryan out with the Pedigree, and Orton picked up the easy win, becoming the new WWE Champion at the same time.

There were several reasons for this. First, Cena is expected to be out 4-6 months to have surgery done on his triceps, an injury that has been lingering for a while (originally, it was reported as an elbow injury, something else that has been nagging him for a while). Second, this instantly turned Triple H heel, which has been planned for some time. He is now expected to feud with Mr. McMahon for control of the company, possibly culminating at Wrestlemania XXX. Third, Bryan will now move into a feud with Orton for the title as he chases the champion. This is in order to continue building up Bryan as a legitimate threat to the title, likely resulting in a dramatic win over Orton down the road.

Rob Van Dam recently recorded a podcast in order to clarify some comments he made about his former employer, TNA, comments that fans believed were insulting to USA’s number-two company. RVD made the following statement to clear up the confusion:

“So I had mentioned that it’s good to be back in WWE, where the best of the best are. The wrestling calibre here is so much higher than everywhere else I’ve ever been. These fools have taken that to say that I’m putting TNA down. ‘You’re two-faced, you’re a backstabber.’ No, I’m not saying that…TNA has a lot of really really good wrestlers that could easily come to WWE and go right up to the top and still be some of the best wrestlers here.

“They also have a lot of wrestlers that can go to NXT and learn a lot and get a lot more rounded before they go somewhere. And if you ask any TNA wrestlers who’ve been at the top like Jeff Hardy or Kurt Angle or Bubba Dudley or Devon Dudley, I’m pretty sure they would agree with me. …Now better is an opinion, so for you ridiculous fans that want to say, ‘Nu uh, I think the wrestling style is better at Ring of Honor. That’s where it’s a true art.’ Yes, I’m not giving a mark’s perspective. That’s for you. In fact, I’m giving a wrestler’s perspective being in the ring wrestling with wrestlers. Unless you don’t think I qualify, Google me. You might see I’ve been around. But for you marks that want to give your opinion, yes, you have the right to your opinion.”

WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee just hit a social network milestone, passing the one million mark in regards to Twitter followers.

Earlier tonight on RAW, Sin Cara was injured once again. During his match with World Champion Alberto Del Rio, Cara broke the fingers in his right hand after hitting a bad landing off a dive. At this time, it is unknown how severe the breaks were, or how much ring time he will miss, if any. This is not a good sign for Cara, who has been plagued by injuries during his entire WWE tenure. At this rate, there is a good chance he could be released in the near future, being injury prone and unreliable.

Speaking of ADR, also on RAW, we saw the return of his former manager Ricardo Rodriguez. Rodriguez did a face turn and introduced his new client Rob Van Dam, who attacked ADR immediately. This will likely lead to a championship match between the two, especially considering RVD has a non-title win over the champion already.