First reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Rusev and Lana have set a date! The couple known in their real lives as Catherine Jo Perry and Miroslav Barnyashev have announced that they will be married on September 2nd. With Perry joining the cast of Total Divas for the next season, it would have to be assumed that the wedding will be a big part of that show, as weddings generally are good for ratings to that audience.
Lana will be known as CJ on that show and will not use the accent that she floats in and out of on RAW and Smackdown. The couple announced their engagement earlier this year at the time that Rusev was injured and Lana was linked in storyline to Dolph Ziggler. The announcement forced plans to change and it was acknowledged on RAW that the two were engaged. The push of Lana seemed to stall after that point and it’s only been recently when she’s appeared with Rusev onscreen.
From this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
“The Rusev and Lana wedding, actually Miroslav and Catherine, will be on 9/2. It would be almost a lock that their wedding would air on Total Divas since that show, aimed at the women’s audience, is all about engagements and marriages.”
I’m here in Largo FL for NXT Live in front of approximately 250 people.
– Mikey Nicholls and Shane Veryzer beat The Authors Of Pain
Early power work by Dhinsa and Selmani with bearhugs, stomps, and overall destroying Mikey. The finish was a flash pin as Shane dropkicked one of the big men which allowed Mikey to get a roll up for the win.
– Adrienne Reese beat Peyton Royce
Early lock-up and mat work before Reese took to the ropes for a big cross body. She hit lots of speed moves and finished Royce off with the top rope jumping stunner.
– Alexander Wolfe beat Josh Woods
Wolfe and tag partner Fulton are out together. Wolfe puts a beating on Woods before the hope spot of Woods catching an ankle lock on Wolfe. Wolfe then hit a big boot for the win. Post match, Fulton and Wolfe cut a promo but were completely drowned out. The gist: Fulton challenged anyone in the back which leads to…
– Angelo Dawkins beat Sawyer Fulton
Hoss match; two large men just throwing each other around. The finish came out of nowhere when Dawkins rocked Fulton with a big punch.
– Chris Girard beat Patrick Clark
Hard-hitting action with Chris taking the attack to Patrick. The finish was a vicious running uppercut by Girard to lay Patrick out.
– Daria and Carmella beat Mandy Rose and Lana
Pre-match promo by Lana saying she is excited to be back in this poor village. This was a safe and basic match. Lana did headlocks when she was in, and Mandy did most of the selling for her team. Carmella ran wild on Mandy and then tagged out to allow Daria the win via submission.
– Tye Dillinger beat Manny Andrade
Great match and they added even more from last night. Early grappling followed by flashy rope running and one upsmanship. Tye had Manny up for an apparent GTS yet it was countered in to a front roll pin attempt and near fall. Big slingshot dive over the top by Manny onto Tye. Action really picked up towards the finish when Tye had Manny up for a powerbomb yet again it was reversed into a forward roll. Yet, Tye countered and kept rolling through and scored the pin. Post-match, the two shook hands and their live event series is 1-1.
Paige, Natalya and Brie Bella def. Summer Rae and Team B.A.D. by submission
Some rare six-diva tag action to kick off this week’s Main Event. Jerry Lawler, the star of the show most weeks, responds to a Rich Brennan call by asking “Basement dropkick!? Who do you think you are, Mauro Ranallo?!”
The entrance music of Lana interrupts this match early on, as her new-found foe Brie goes at it with Summer Rae. Lana sits on the announce desk to take in proceedings; Lawler accuses Brennan of being “sweaty” in response.
The heel divas get the heat on Nattie (who else?), before she makes a quick, and therefore underwhelming, lukewarm tag to Brie. Brie delivers her husband’s kicks to Naomi to piped in “Yes!” chants, before Tamina interferes and the match breaks down. All the girls hit various moves on each other, before the fog clears and Brie reverses a Naomi high cross into the Yes Lock for the submission victory. Is there anything else of Daniel’s she can co-opt to compensate for being the worst babyface ever?
After the match, the victors stare at Lana, who just stands there and applauds. Well, at least we didn’t get any shitty, Oscars reference-laden dialogue. Small mercies.
Ryback def. Heath Slater w/ Social Outcasts by pinfall
The Outcasts get in-ring promo time before the match, in which they acknowledge Adam Rose’s mauling at the hands of Big Guy (thanks, Granny!) on RAW. Rose says that tonight it’s going to be Legends with The Crimson Werewolf, instead of JBL. Hilarious. Axel cuts in, admonishing Rose for his nicknaming. He says he knows Ryback and that it’s time to get serious. He then goes insane, chopping the air and screaming. The other three join in. Jerry Lawler: “Well, I’m glad we were all part of that little experience!”. Quite.
The actual match is wrapped inside three minutes. Ryback repeated the spot from RAW where he grounds and pounds his opponent; although this time the ref’s credibility was spared as Slater made the ropes. Slater ate the Shellshock moments later.
Lucha Dragons def. The Ascension by pinfall
At this point, I noticed that NXT’s Greg Hamilton was announcing in Eden Stiles’ stead. I also noticed that Kalisto was STILL the US Champion, despite being slotted back into tags and completely de-emphasised on television since Fastlane.
This was another three minute match. The heels got the heat on Sin Cara, leading into the usual Kalisto hot tag stuff. Finish was cool however, with Sin Cara doing a suicide dive through Kalisto’s legs. Kalisto then reversed Viktor’s electric chair into a ‘rana, before hitting the SDS. Sin Cara followed up with the Swanton Bomb for the pin.
– Stardust is backstage in the Star Room, rambling about dealing with Zack Ryder on the road to Wrestlemania. I think. Presumably he’s comfortable cutting promos in the ol’ Star Room again now that Vince’s roughhouser has been suspended.
Stardust def. Zack Ryder by pinfall
These guys have been feuding on Superstars of late, with Cody up 2-1 thus far. This win-loss record was not mentioned on commentary, of course. Perish the thought.
Good match here, eight minutes of which was televised either side of the commercial break. The nearfall segment of it was particularly good, with some nice reversals; including Ryder smoothly countering a suplex into a neckbreaker for two. Ryder also hit a nice looking top rope elbow for two after foiling a Stardust superplex attempt.
The finish saw Ryder attempt the go-behind off a whip to the corner, only for Stardust to scout him, take a step back, and grab him for the Queen’s Crossbow. 3-1 to Stardust!
After the match, Stardust stood on the desk and stared at the crowd to celebrate, prompting Lawler to quip “Can we get Lana back out here!?” as the show went off the air. Heh.
Final Thoughts
Featured contest between Stardust and Ryder was worth watching; some nice chemistry has developed between the two after their recent series. Other than that, there’s not much to see here. The confirmation that we are in fact getting a Lana/Brie feud is probably the biggest news to come out of this week’s edition.
A PACKED edition of Wrestling Observer Radio today! Over 30 minutes on the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame, plus news on Lana and Rusev, WWE record low ratings, Seth on ESPN and why Dave thought it was pretty awful, Smackdown tapings, New Japan upcoming line-up, Ronda’s mom saying crazy things, a bunch of questions and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA including notes on Rusev and Lana’s engagement, New Japan King of Pro Wrestling, then Dr. Lucha Steve Sims joins us to talk Mistico’s return to CMLL, Lucha Underground and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer returns today to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA including tons of thoughts on New Japan, the return of Mistico to CMLL, TNA Impact TV and the title tournament, the new Rizin promotion and Kazushi Sakuraba, your questions and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
It was reported today on TMZ that Rusev, aka Miroslav Barnyashev, and Lana, aka Catherine Joy Perry, are engaged.
The two had been dating for some time. Perry often posted pictures of them on various non-wrestling trips together on her Instagram account. Eventually they bought a house together in Nashville.
The TMZ report said that the engagement took place last month, and that the engagement was filmed at the pool in their backyard.
Earlier this year the two broke up in storyline, which historically does not bode well for real-life relationships. Barnyashev later suffered an ankle injury, and instead of staying home to recover traveled from city to city with Perry and the rest of the crew.
This probably was the impetus to the angle where Rusev and Summer Rae somewhat got engaged on Raw. Summer asked Rusev to marry him, and at first he said yes, but then stated, “not yet.” He said before she could put gold around her finger he needed to put gold around his waist, meaning he needed to win a title. The belief is that this was a way to drag the storyline out since Perry suffered a wrist injury and won’t be able to return to physical action for awhile. Dolph Ziggler, who is also involved in the storyline, also took time off to film a movie, so the only person involved who has not missed TV time is Summer Rae.
Lana suffered a wrist injury yesterday while in the ring training before the show in Fairfax, VA.
X-rays showed a fracture, described by Dr. Chris Amann as a Colles fracture and her wrist was put in a splint. Amann said that most likely she would undergo surgery. She would be unable to perform physically in the ring for about four months.
The WWE web site has a report on this at http://www.wwe.com/inside/lana-injured-while-training
