News and Notes (May 15th 2015)

> DIVAS HEADLINE NON-TELEVISED NXT EVENT IN PHILLY
- The NXT non-televised live event yesterday in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, was a special one for two particular NXT stars as for the
first time it was two Divas who headlined the show. While the NXT champion
Kevin Owens was in attendance and wrestled, his match did not close the
show, but Sasha Banks and Charlotte did. The two Divas stole the show as
Sasha Banks defended her NXT Women’s title against the daughter of the
Nature Boy Ric Flair. Both Banks and Charlotte were given a standing
ovation after the match from the Philly fans.

> MYSTERY ECW ORIGINAL TO WRESTLE BARON CORBIN IN PHILLY TONIGHT
- During last night’s NXT live event in Philadelphia, Baron Corbin
challenged any ECW Original for tonight’s second live event after he
defeated Rhyno during the show. Joey Styles accepted the challenge on
behalf of whoever will be and “shopped” around on Twitter looking for
volunteers. He said he will officially be a manager for the first time
ever in his wrestling career as he will accompany his ECW Original to take
on Corbin. Styles joked that he asked Taz but he’s retired and he could
not afford him anyway and when a fan asked him about Cactus Jack, Styles
said Foley is retired as well and needs someone who still wrestles. Bully
Ray, who appeared at the Rumble in Philly in January, replied to Styles’
tweet saying “Is that so…” Ray dropped a hint a few days ago saying it’s
not about who’s next, but it’s where’s NXT. This tweet was sent after he
appeared on Impact as the guest referee. In a separate tweet to Corbin,
Ray told him to “be careful what you wish for.”

IMPACT MOVING PERMANENTLY TO WEDNESDAY NIGHTS IN JUNE
- TNA is moving away from the Friday night television slot as Destination
America announced that Impact will be moving permanently to Wednesday
nights at 9PM EST starting June 3. Impact moved to Destination America in
January of this year and was given the Friday night slot which many in the
television industry consider as the death slot since it’s one of the least
watched nights on television. The show aired on Wednesdays during the
final few months on Spike TV after moving from Thursdays, the show’s old
time slot.

> TNA ADDS MORE IMPACT TAPINGS AT UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
- TNA will be recording four days of Impact Wrestling next month as the
company returns to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. The free tapings
start on June 26 and continue on June 29, June 30, and July 1 with doors
opening at 6PM and show kicking off at 7PM. On June 28 TNA will present
Slammiversary live on pay-per-view and since it’s held inside Universal
Studios, admission is free as well.

> SLAMMIVERSARY 2014 TO AIR INSTEAD OF NEW IMPACT NEXT WEEK
- Next Friday’s TNA Impact on Destination America will be pre-empted and
no new episode will air during Memorial Day weekend. Instead, Destination
America will be airing the Slammiversary 2014 pay-per-view in full. TNA
was supposed to air the Destination X themed episode of Impact on May 22
but will now air at a later date. It’s not known why the episode was
pulled from next Friday’s schedule but the fact that it is a holiday
weekend it might explain the reason why.

News and Notes (04/01/2015)

> RAW AFTER MANIA DRAWS HUGE RATINGS
- The Raw after WrestleMania drew huge ratings for WWE, getting an average
of 5,364,000 viewers for the three hour broadcast. That is up 1.1 million
viewers from the last Raw prior to Mania. This was the best number since
the July 23, 2012 edition of Raw, which drew just over 6 million that day.
The first hour started with 5,227,000 viewers, then went up to 5,597,000
for the Brock Lesnar destruction, and then it went down to 5,267,000 for
the third and final hour. (Ratings credit: PWInsider.com)

> WRESTLEMANIA 31 BREAKS SOME MORE RECORDS FOR WWE
- WWE issued a press release announcing more records for WrestleMania,

which broke records for viewership, attendance, social and digital media
engagement and merchandise sales. The company is marketing WrestleMania 31
as the most-watched WrestleMania in history with 1.3 million Network
subscribers plus additional traditional pay-per-view data still to be
counted. As noted elsewhere here, Raw after Mania did nearly 5.4 million
viewers making the show the most-watched program on all of cable
television for the 11th week in a row. As reported before, the attendance
was 76,976 with fans from all 50 states and 40 countries. The previous
record at the new stadium was 70,799. The show grossed $12.6 million. When
it comes to social media, WrestleMania 31 was the most social event in WWE
history with a record 142 worldwide Twitter trends, including 10 number
one worldwide trends, which was more than any broadcast or cable show that
night. WWE-related content saw more than 60 million video views across all
platforms on the day of WrestleMania. WrestleMania 31 garnered a record
165 million impressions on Facebook and 92 million impressions on Twitter,
an increase of 62 percent and 23 percent year-over-year, respectively.
During WrestleMania, the WWE flagship App saw its most usage since launch
in 2012, while reaching nearly 18 million downloads during WrestleMania.
The WrestleMania 31 App had four times as many downloads as last year’s
WrestleMania 30 App although no exact figures on that one were released.
In merchandise, WWE generated an additional $3.3 million in WrestleMania
merchandise revenue, eclipsing the previous record of $2.7 million from
WrestleMania 29.


> ALL THREE RAW ANNOUNCERS BACK TO WORK NEXT WEEK!
- The injury angle from the Raw after Mania where all three announcers
were destroyed by Brock Lesnar will be over by next week’s show as it was
announced on WWE.COM that all three will be returning behind the broadcast
booth on Monday. To play up the angle, the story said that Michael Cole
was diagnosed with a bulging disc and severe neck, back, and shoulder
pain. JBL had an abdominal wall tear and Booker T has contusions and
soreness. All three, in reality, were fine and the only real damage was to
Byron Saxton who didn’t fare well on commentary on his own. Meanwhile,
someone very funny updated Michael Cole’s Wikipedia entry, adding a
“death” section. First, the cause of death was written as “ground shaking
F5” and Lesnar had “yet to be charged in the court of law” but he was
“suspended for his actions.” Then the Wikipedia entry was altered saying
that he died of “anal bleeding!” Whoops!

> NXT LIVE SPECIALS TO REMAIN QUARTERLY
- The NXT Takeover specials that the recent WWE press release indicated
that will be airing monthly has been changed as common sense prevailed and
the decision was changed to leave them as quarterly events. The decision
to go monthly raised some eyebrows as the quarterly live specials are
super popular with fans and changing it to monthly specials would have
somewhat decreased the importance. The press release circulated online
still has monthly specials listed but the WWE.COM story now has “Airs
quarterly on Wednesdays.”

News and Notes (11/04/2014)

> RUSEV WINS THE U.S. TITLE AFTER RAW
- There’s a new United States champion in town and his name is Rusev! The
still undefeated Bulgarian who now calls Russia “his home” defeated
Sheamus last night after Monday Night Raw went off the air, a match which
aired on the WWE Network. Sheamus had a reign of 182 days with the U.S.
title before passing out to The Accolade finishing move.

> ORTON WRITTEN OFF TV TO FILM THE CONDEMNED 2
- Randy Orton was written off television for the next month or so last
night on Raw to explain his absence while he’s out filming The Condemned 2
for Lionsgate and WWE Studios. Orton was on the receiving end of two curb
stomps from Seth Rollins at the conclusion of last night’s episode and now
WWE.COM is playing the storyline saying that Orton suffered a concussion.
The former WWE champion was pulled from the European tour that starts
tomorrow and will not be at the Survivor Series either.

> WWE INVITES PARALYZED U.S. ARMY VETERAN TO SMACKDOWN TONIGHT
- SoldierSocks, a non-profit foundation focused on helping veterans,
announced today that their ambassador, Dan Rose, a veteran living with
paralysis, will be a special guest at WWE's SmackDown tonight in Albany,
New York. Dan Rose was in the Army Reserves for 10 years and served in
support of Operation Enduring Freedom in the Zahri District and Horn of
Panjiwae in the Kandahar Province of Afghanistan until he was injured by
an Improvised Explosive Device on April 27, 2011. "I'm so grateful for my
partnership with SoldierSocks and as a WWE fan, I'm looking forward to
sharing my story at SmackDown,” Rose said. "WWE has a longstanding
commitment to the military and we are extremely grateful for the
sacrifices of our nation's heroes," said WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon.
"We are proud to host Sergeant Rose as our special guest at SmackDown, and
humbled by his perseverance and will to push through any obstacle that he
faces."

> CENA MISSES RAW, MYSTERIO BACKSTAGE
- John Cena was not at Raw last night and before the show started it was
announced that the company would be offering refunds to those who wanted
due to Cena not being there. This is a common practice in WWE when their
top advertised star doesn’t appear. Refunds are always offered and fans
are allowed to stay and watch the show anyway. The majority of fans do not
take the refund even though they are usually given around 30 minutes to go
and collect their money. While Cena was not there, one person who has been
out of action for a while, Rey Mysterio, was there. Mysterio was flown in
to talk with management as the two sides have not been on the same page
for months now. Mysterio’s contract with WWE expired while he was injured
but WWE opted to exercise their clause to extend the contract for the
duration that he has been injured.

> GFW BRINGS WRESTLE KINGDOM 9 TO PPV IN NORTH AMERICA
- Global Force Wrestling today announced that the first event under its
banner will be in conjunction with New Japan Pro Wrestling and its January
4 show from the Tokyo Dome. “GFW Presents New Japan Pro Wrestling’s
Wrestle Kingdom 9” will air live in North America at 2AM EST on January 4.
The four-hour telecast will also air in prime time in North America at 7PM
EST on pay-per-view including DirecTV, Dish, AT&T U-verse, Comcast,
Verizon Fios and all cable systems in the United States, and in Canada on
Bell ExpressVu TV, Rogers, Shaw, Sasktel and Telus. “This is one of the
great events on the wrestling calendar every year, and for GFW to have the
opportunity to bring it to the American audience is an honor and a
privilege,” GFW founder and CEO Jeff Jarrett said. “This event has a
history that involves not only the greatest names in Japanese wrestling
history but some of the greatest names in U.S. wrestling history.” The
show will be available in English and in Japanese via the second audio
program (SAP) button on your TV. GFW will reveal the North American
announcers for the event in the near future.

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

News and Notes

courtesy Wrestling-Online Network and Newsletter

> RAW GETS BEST RATING SINCE JULY 2012
- With the streak over and a new WWE champion crowned, millions of WWE
fans - and some other casual fans - tuned in to RAW for the aftermath. The
post-WrestleMania RAW drew a total of 5,146,000 viewers, up three quarters
of a million from last week’s number. Hour one did 5,313,000 viewers,
followed by 5,094,000 in the second and then 5,032,000 in the third and
final hour. This has been the highest rated RAW since the first three hour
show aired on July 23, 2012. (Ratings credit: PWInsider.com)

> PAIGE BECOMES NEW DIVAS CHAMPION ON RAW
- WWE Divas champion AJ Lee was finally dethroned after 295 days by NXT
newcomer Paige last night on Monday Night RAW. AJ told the fans inside the
arena that she was the “best Diva in the world,” resulting in a big pop
and chant for her boyfriend CM Punk. The celebration was quickly cut off
though as NXT Women’s champion Paige made her WWE TV debut to a thunderous
pop from the New Orleans crowd. AJ challenged Paige in a match however
Paige said she wasn’t ready, and was slapped in the face for her answer.
Eventually the match kicked off and Paige pulled the upset, pinning AJ
with her Paige Turner finishing move.The 21 year old British wrestler
became the youngest ever to hold the Divas title and also the first one to
hold both the NXT Women’s and WWE Divas title simultaneously. After the
match, Paige was greeted backstage by WWE Divas who congratulated her on
her win. An emotional Paige then cried her way through an interview for
WWE.COM which you can see at http://w-o.it/1mWfMce

> MR. T DISAPPOINTED HALL OF FAME SPEECH WAS CUT
- Mr. T used Twitter to air his thanks and frustration regarding his Hall
of Fame speech getting cut before he was finished. “Thank you very much
for all your support! I am very disappointed and saddened that you
couldn’t hear the rest of my speech. I was told my speech went too long?
Really? Seriously?” Mr. T wrote. He said that all the inductees were told
that the fans would want to hear their stories and were instructed to
“take our time and enjoy the moment.” Mr. T added that he was moved by the
support fans showed to him after his speech was cut short and he will post
the remainder of the speech for everyone to read it. “My mother taught me
to stand up for what I believed in. I put a lot of care and love into my
speech. I wanted it to inspire and motivate people when they are hurting.
Since my mother taught me to always try and take the high road, I will. If
my speech helped just 1 mother & 1 son out there, thank you GOD,” he
wrote. Mr. T also thanked Rowdy Roddy Piper for his words after his
speech, saying they meant a lot to him. The two were not very friendly due
to the heat they had at the time of WrestleMania I and II.

> FANDANGO DUMPS SUMMER RAE…ON TWITTER!
- Fandango today posted a tweet dumping Summer Rae as his dance partner in
an angle that will probably end up playing on television. “Hey,
@RealSummerWWE. Did you get my text? Like I said, it's really not me, it's
you. It's over…” he wrote. The 30 year old blond bombshell made her debut
with Fandango in April 2013 during RAW, replacing the previous dancer. She
had been under a developmental contract with the WWE since 2011. Rae is
not leaving the company by any means and will move on as a singles
wrestler in the Divas division.

> CHRISTY HEMME JOINS TNA CREATIVE TEAM
- TNA has gotten themselves a new member on its creative team in the form
of former Knockout Christy Hemme. Hemme has been working for TNA Wrestling
since 2006 but wrestled her last match in 2008 before moving on as a
backstage interviewer and ring announcer. She joins John Gaburick, Dave
Lagana, and Matt Conway on the creative team. Hemme started her
professional wrestling career in the WWE, winning the Diva Search contest
in 2004.

News and Notes 03/19/2014

Courtesy Wrestling-Online Network

 WRESTLEMANIA XXX PRE-SHOW TO RUN FOR TWO HOURS
- The WrestleMania pre-show will not be 30 minutes or 60 minutes as in
previous years, but a whooping two hours! WWE today announced that a
“super-sized” WrestleMania XXX pre-show will air live, with the first hour
starting at 5PM ESTand airing only on the WWE App, WWE.COM, YouTube, and
Facebook, and then at 6PM EST the pre-show will move over exclusively on
the WWE Network. The first hour will only feature analysis of the show
from the yet-to-be announced panel and interviews while the second hour
will also feature a pre-show match. It is going to be a very busy day for
the WWE production team as with the four hours of pay-per-view, they are
now looking at six hours of straight live programming.

> VINCE MCMAHON TOOK 30% PAY CUT IN 2013
- Quoting the latest WWE SEC filings, the Hartford Courant newspaper is
reporting that Vince McMahon took a 30% pay cut last year, getting $1.7
million in salary, down $732,000 from the previous year. The three
quarters of a million less in salary however is not really affecting
McMahon, as his and his wife’s WWE stocks generated an additional $677
million since the start of the new year and the recent spike on Wall
Street. The company’s stock jumped 50% from the end of 2013 to now among
many rumors and the start of the WWE Network.
> WWE NETWORK FREE TRIAL ENDING ON SATURDAY
- The WWE Network free trial will be ending on Saturday, March 22, and
it’s the last chance to try out the product for free most likely till the
Summer. Those who took the free trial already but decided not to take a
subscription are also being offered a second week free via e-mail from
WWE, as the company hopes of a six month commitment the second time
around. If you decide to take the free trial, WWE will charge you $9.99 on
your credit card however you will be refunded if you cancel before the
trial ends.

> RAW RATINGS
- RAW this week drew 4,075,000 in total viewers this week, down 294,000
viewers from last week’s show. Hour one did 4,001,000 viewers, followed by
4,174,000 in the second, and then 4,051,000 in the third and final hour.
RAW drew the lowest number of total viewers since the December 23, 2013
episode. (Ratings credit: PWInsider.com)

> RONDA ROUSEY SAYS SHE’S UP TO APPEAR AT WRESTLEMANIA 31
- TMZ’s latest story involves UFC champion Ronda Rousey and her love of
professional wrestling, saying she’d be up to appear at a WrestleMania.
However, she’d only do it if WWE hires her gang with her - Shayna Baszler,
Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke - who call themselves the Four Horsewomen.
All four are MMA fighters are and all four are huge wrestling fans. Last
week, Rousey posted a video on her Instagram working a wrestling match
with Baszler. Sources close to Rousey told TMZ that while this year’s
WrestleMania is out of the question, she’d be all for WrestleMania 31 next
year in Santa Clara, California. The possibility of this happening however
is close to zero since UFC President Dana White would probably not allow
one of his top stars to participate at a WWE event.

> UNDERTAKER APPEARS AFTER RAW GOES OFF THE AIR
- After RAW went off the air, the show continued for those who were
present in San Antonio, Texas, with the usual post-RAW antics. John Cena
came out to talk to the crowd when all of a sudden Bray Wyatt, Eric Rowan
and Luke Harper of the Wyatt Family tried to spoil the party. The three on
one affair soon turned into a 3 on 2 with help in the form of the
Undertaker. With the lights out and the “gongs” on the speakers, the
Undertaker suddenly appeared in the ring when the lights came back up.
Bray Wyatt quickly exited the ring as Cena and Undertaker beat up Rowan
and Harper and then delivered a chokeslam and Attitude Adjustment in sync
to send the crowd home happy. You can see the video at
http://w-o.it/1daNvM1

> JAKE ROBERTS AND SCOTT HALL TO THROW PARTY IN NEW ORLEANS
- Jake “The Snake” Roberts and Scott Hall will be hosting “A Night with
Wrestling Legends” on Friday, April 4, at the House of Blues in New
Orleans. “Hey yo, ‘The Bad Guy’ and ‘The Snake’ coming to New Orleans,
WrestleMania weekend, big time Hall of Fame party,” Hall says in a
commercial which has Roberts and Hall “playing” musical instruments.
Roberts said on his Twitter that it will be a “star studded party” and
there will be a lot of surprises for those who wish to join them. Hall is
expected to be announced as the final member of the WWE Hall of Fame class
of 2014. Tickets for this event are being sold at Livenation.com with
general admission tickets on sale for $137 and VIP tickets for $512.

> STING TO BE IN NEW ORLEANS ON WRESTLEMANIA SUNDAY
- TNA Hall of Famer and former champion Sting will be in New Orleans on
WrestleMania Sunday, however he will be at the WrestleCon event rather
than on screen at the big pay-per-view. Merchandise website Highspots.com
announced that the Stinger will be their guest at WrestleCon, taking
photos and signing autographs from 10:30AM to 1:30PM on Sunday, April 6.
There are only 250 tickets available to get up close with Sting and they
will sell for $99 each, which includes a photo op and an autograph. You
will also need a WrestleCon entrance ticket. For more information go to
WrestleCon.com.