WWE News and Notes

News and Notes

courtesy Wrestling Online Network

> RAW RATING
- Monday Night RAW this week which featured a small tribute to the
Ultimate Warrior did a total of 4,770,000 viewers, down from last week's
5,146,000 post-WrestleMania show. Taking out last week, it was the highest
rated show since the return of Batista on January 20. Hour one did
4,811,000 viewers which then increased slightly to 4,831,000 in the second
hour before going down to 4,669,000 for the third and final hour. (Ratings
credit: PWinsider.com)

> FOUR ADVANCE IN IC TITLE TOURNAMENT
- Four WWE Superstars advanced in the Intercontinental Title #1 contenders
tournament yesterday on Monday Night RAW. In the first match, Rob Van Dam
defeated Alberto Del Rio, Cesaro defeated Mark Henry in the second bout,
Sheamus defeated Jack Swagger in the third, and in the final match, Bad
News Barrett defeated Dolph Ziggler. The second round of the tournament
will see Van Dam vs Cesaro and then Sheamus vs Bad News Barrett with the
winners of each match advancing to the finals where the winner will meet
Big E for the Intercontinental title at Extreme Rules.

> DIRECTV DUMPS WWE PAY-PER-VIEWS
- DirecTV has followed DISH Network in dropping WWE pay-per-views going
forward, reserving the right to broadcast any show on an event-by-event
basis. DISH Network was the first company to drop WWE, refusing to
broadcast Elimination Chamber but then putting WrestleMania XXX on their
schedule since it’s one of the big money-making events for PPV providers.
PWTorch.com is now reporting that DirecTV will not carry Extreme Rules or
anything following that due to the unfair advantage of the WWE Network,
where all twelve pay-per-views are available as part of the $9.99 a month
package. WWE admitted to the Torch that DirecTV has dropped them both
commercially and residentially. DirecTV were the first company to speak
out against WWE’s new business model after the Network was launched and
told the LA Times that they will re-evaluate their business partnership
with WWE.

> TOTAL DIVAS RATING
- A pre-emption for WrestleMania didn’t help the return of Total Divas
this past weekend as episode four of season two got 1.16 million viewers,
a drop of 386,000 viewers from two weeks ago. Titled ‘Inhale, Exhale,’
episode four now ranks amongst the lowest when it comes to viewership of
the whole series so far.

> WARRIOR WEEK ON WWE NETWORK
- It is Warrior Week on the WWE Network this week as WWE continues to
honor the Ultimate Warrior who passed away a week ago in Scottsdale,
Arizona. Every day at 10PM EST, WWE will present Warrior: The Ultimate
Legend, a 4-part series focusing on the life, times, and matches of the
Ultimate Warrior. WWE Network cameras were following Warrior and his
family throughout the whole weekend but it’s not clear if any of that
footage will make it to this series. The original idea was to have a
documentary-style show on the Network featuring the Warrior family as they
prepare for the Hall of Fame, WrestleMania, and RAW.

> WRESTLEMANIA REACHES OVER MILLION HOUSEHOLDS IN THE U.S.
- WWE today announced that WrestleMania XXX reached a record 1 million
households in the United States alone. With more than 667,000 Network
subscribers and over 400,000 domestic PPV buys, WrestleMania XXX is
currently the most watched WrestleMania domestically and that’s without
adding International numbers. WWE also announced that over 7.1 million
hours of video were streamed on the WWE Network from April 1 through April
8 by its subscribers. The company is hoping to reach 1 million domestic
subscribers to the Network by the end of 2014.

> TAMINA BECOMES #1 CONTENDER FOR DIVAS TITLE
- Tamina, the daughter of WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, became
the number one contender for the Divas title after she won a 10 Diva
battle royal. The ten participants were Nikki Bella, Cameron, Naomi, Emma,
Tamina, Alicia Fox, Aksana, Eva Marie, Layla, and Natalya. The last Divas
champion, AJ, was not in the battle royal and not even Brie Bella, who is
still on her honeymoon. Tamina will now face Paige for the title at
Extreme Rules, joining Bray Wyatt vs John Cena in a cage match as the only
two matches announced so far for the pay-per-view.

> JERICHO ON TBS PRANK SHOW TOMORROW
- Former WWE champion Chris Jericho will be the celebrity guest on
Wednesday’s TBS prank series Deal With It which is hosted by Theo Von.
Jericho will be part of the segment called Witness Relocation, where a
contestant is instructed to disguise her identity after a run-in with a
couple of mobsters reveals a clue about her mysterious past. Deal With It
offers ridiculous and hilarious pranks to contestants as they try to earn
cash in a hidden camera series. You can see two clips of Jericho on the
show at http://w-o.it/1eEOgh8