Chyna’s Ashes Spread At Sea

Ashes of the late Joan “Chyna” Laurer were dropped in to the Pacific Ocean this week, more than six months after he tragic passing from a drug overdose. A camera crew reportedly filmed the service.

205 Live Will Develop Characters

Corey Graves tells USA Today that WWE’s new cruiserweight show will help flesh out the characters so fans can get more invested in the action:

I am very excited for 205 Live because I think this is the platform the cruiserweights need. They are still new and there’s an unfamiliarity with the characters and the talent. The Cruiserweight Classic on the WWE Network was hugely successful for the company. This works as a companion to the cruiserweights on Monday Night RAW and a chance to develop the characters and learn who these guys are and what they are about. …

On RAW, there is not really time to flesh out their characters with six, seven, eight new guys. You can say this guy was on last week and here’s where he is from and beyond that, we’re a bit limited. With 205 Live focusing solely on the cruiserweights and who they are as people, I think this will be awesome for the division and the company as well.

Graves also discussed Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar:

I would expect not to be disappointed. Goldberg is incredibly determined and one of the most intense people I’ve ever seen. The way he psyches himself up before the cameras are even rolling is amazing. He’s just an absolute animal and in unbelievable shape.

Goldberg wants to go out with a bang. Brock is my favorite Superstar on the roster and I can watch him any day of the week. I think this match will blow people’s expectations out of the water. They are both very competitive and they know the match at Wrestlemania 12 years ago didn’t go as they wanted. This match is going to blow everyone’s mind.

Who Came Up With The List?

Chris Jericho was a recent guest on Live Audio Wrestling and discussed the origins of The List:

“Jimmy Jacobs, who has become a writer in WWE, his name is Chris Scobille but his wrestler name is Jimmy Jacobs, no stranger to anybody who is a fan of Ring of Honor or any of those big independent companies. He said I’ve got this idea of the List of Jericho and you put a couple names on it. Oh yeah, that’s a great idea and we did it. Of course you do it once and it was kind of funny, that’s pretty funny, let’s do it again. So we do it again the next week, it gets a little bit of a buzz and then I go to the props truck and say can you make me big, thick list in case I want to use it to hit somebody over the head with and engrave something on. Then, they just put a red piece of paper on it that said the List of Jericho. Meanwhile, this thing is growing. Then, the one week where I said you just made the list and people cheered, it’s like holy (expletive) this is not what we expected. Then, the week we were in there with New Day and I put all three of them on the list, I said the secret is when I put you on the list, you have to sell it like it’s a horrible thing and Woods was great. If people are laughing at it, then it doesn’t get over but because it’s a serious thing, to be on the list is horrible then suddenly we have this whole new world of stuff to deal with.

“I was talking to Vince the other day and I said the list is more over than half the roster and he said yeah, I wish the list could work. The entity of this thing that doesn’t even exist and is now a character on the show. The best gimmicks and best things that work always happen organically. You can’t shove something down people’s throats. It just happens and it becomes a thing. The only thing I can compare this to is the angle I had with Shawn Michaels back in 2008. That was supposed to be just a one night thing that turned into a 7 month angle, culminating in a battle for the world heavyweight championship. That was not supposed to happen, that was never the plan. It was nothing more than a drop of the bucket sort of thing and that’s kind of what this whole character has been, especially the list. Now, the other day when I came out with the list, it’s like people are going nuts for it. Just a quick story, I was in Edmonton and Calgary the other day. I was in Edmonton, still a heel so I’ve got to be a heel, I don’t want to be a cool heel and I don’t want to embrace it because then I’m a baby face so I’m still doing what I can to stay a heel and I’m doing good. I’m threatening to fight Wayne Gretzky, I’m doing all this stuff in Edmonton, I go are you going to boo me, you know what happens when you boo me, you just made the list and suddenly, people just pop huge. So what do I do? The next night in Calgary, I start insulting the Harts, I’m going to beat up every Hart family member, girls, guys, kids included. Big boos. You know what happens when you boo me? People are starting to build. Oh, you thought you were going to be on the list? No, I’m sorry, you’re not worthy of being on the list. The fine people of Edmonton last night, they belong on the list. Calgary, no chance and that got boos so now not being on the list is the new being on the list and I did that last night on Raw for the first time where I refused to put Roman on the list and I refused to put anyone in Hartford on the list. That made me a heel for the night so you just never really know what’s going to get over but you have to take advantage of it when it does.”

Scott Hall Puts Over NXT

Scott Hall put over Finn Balor and NXT in an interview with Sports Illustrated this week. “I’m such a fan of [Balor], and I was so sorry to see him get hurt right at the zenith of his push,” says the WWE Hall of Famer.

“Now that Triple H is running [NXT] from head to toe, it’s the hottest show out there—so everything is going better than planned.”