Hulk Hogan has broken his silence regarding his racist comments that surfaced earlier today that resulted in WWE terminating his contract and erasing all traces of him from the company website.
Hogan issued the following statement to People.com, apologizing for what he said and explaining that his remarks do not represent who he is.
“Eight years ago I used offensive language during a conversation. It was unacceptable for me to have used that offensive language; there is no excuse for it; and I apologize for having done it.”
“This is not who I am. I believe very strongly that every person in the world is important and should not be treated differently based on race, gender, orientation, religious beliefs or otherwise. I am disappointed with myself that I used language that is offensive and inconsistent with my own beliefs.”
Dolph Ziggler is scheduled to return to WWE television the week before SummerSlam to set up a match against Rusev at SummerSlam.
Ziggler has been off television for several weeks with a “throat injury” to give him time off to film the WWE Studios thriller “6:42” in Vancouver, British Columbia
WWE SummerSlam takes place on Sunday, August 23rd from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Bully Ray, who just returned as the new General Manager brought in by Dixie Carter, is already done with the company.
The Former TNA World Champion has not been at this week’s Impact Wrestling tapings from Orlando, where he lives. According to PWInsider.com, Ray told the company he was not happy with the current state of TNA and told them he wouldn’t be making any more appearances.
Bully Ray’s return has been one of the focal points of TNA television over the past week, so it remains to be seen how they will handle the situation.
TNA Wrestling taped several additional matches in Orlando, Florida on Thursday evening. Below are quick spoiler results.
As was the case with James Storm, Austin Aries and others at Wednesday’s tapings, several wrestlers who are no longer under contract to TNA worked the taping.
Bram b Grado
Austin Aries b Ken Anderson
Bobby Lashley b Drew Galloway
Matt Hardy b Robbie E
Davey Richards d Eddie Edwards
Bobby Roode b Abyss
Tigre Uno (without the belt) b Mandrews
Eli Drake b Jessie Godderz
Gail Kim b Madison Rayne
Eric Young b Jamesw Storm
Aiden O’Shea b Crazzy Steve
Mahabili Shera b Kenny King
They announced that at Genesis, which is probably a PPV, that Shera faces Tommy Dreamer
Global Force Wrestling issued the following lineup and photo of the ring for their “Amped” television taping tonight in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Global Force Wrestling’s first TV tapings take place tonight, July 24th from Las Vegas. Be there for a historic night of professional wrestling action as the TV cameras roll for the very first time!
Here is the card for GFW Amped:
Global Championship Tournament
Brian Myers (formerly Curt Hawkins) vs. Chris Mordetzky (formerly Chris Masters)
Global Championship Tournament
Bobby Roode vs. “The Tollman” Kevin Kross
Global Championship Tournament
Kongo Kong vs. Nick Aldis (formerly Magnus)
Tag Team Championship Tournament
The Bollywood Boys vs. The Akbars
NEX*GEN Championship Tournament
PJ Black (formerly Justin Gabriel) vs. Seiya Sanada
NEX*GEN Championship Tournament
Jigsaw vs. Sonjay Dutt
Women’s Championship Tournament
Christina Von Eerie vs. Mickie James vs. Lei’D Tapa
– Bestia 666, Blood Eagle & Steve Pain vs. Phoenix Star, Zokre & Misterioso Jr.
– Plus, KUSHIDA will be wrestling in a NEX*GEN one on one match!
WWE has released a statement regarding the ongoing situation with Hulk Hogan.
News broke last night that evidence that surfaced in Hogan’s ongoing lawsuit against Gawker Media showed Hogan making vile racist comments to Heather Clem, the woman involved in the sex tape at the center of the lawsuit.
After removing every trace of Hogan from the company website, WWE issued the following statement:
“WWE has terminated its contract with Terry Bollea (aka Hulk Hogan). WWE is committed to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds as evidenced by the diversity of our employees, performers and fans worldwide. “
The National Enquirer has published their ‘World Exclusive’ report detailing the racist comments made by Hulk Hogan that has led to WWE severing all ties with him.
The racist comments were made on a sex tape which was entered as evidence during Hogan’s ongoing lawsuit with Gawker Media. Hogan unleashes a rant about his daughter Brooke, who he accused of sleeping with a black man. Hogan drops the N-word and other racial insults multiple times on the tape.
While talking to Heather Clem, the woman involved in the original sex tape that Gawker leaked, Hogan said,
“She is making some real bad decisions now. My daughter Brooke jumped sides on me. I spent $2-3 million on her music career, I’ve done everything like a jackass for her.”
“The one option Brooke had, Brooke’s career besides me, is [to] sell beach records.”
At that point on the tape, Hogan vents his frustrations that a “black billionaire guy” offered to fund her music career.
“I don’t know if Brooke was f*cking the black guy’s son,” Hulk said, the sources add.
“I mean, I don’t have double standards. I mean, I am a racist, to a point, f*cking n***ers. But then when it comes to nice people and sh*t, and whatever.”
According to their sources, Hogan also said:
“I mean, I’d rather if she was going to f*ck some n***er, I’d rather have her marry an 8-foot-tall n***er worth a hundred million dollars! Like a basketball player! I guess we’re all a little racist. f–king n***er.”
WWE has severed all ties with Hulk Hogan reportedly as a result of Hogan using racist language.
WWE’s website has removed all traces of Hogan, including his Superstar bio, merchandise, photo galleries and more. Hogan is no longer listed as a judge on Tough Enough and even Curtis Axel’s “Axelmania” gimmick has been removed from the site.
There is a clip of Hulk Hogan talking to DJ Whoo Kid from 3 years ago that’s been circulating, with Hogan using the N-word multiple times, but that is not the racist language that is at the center of this latest controversy.
The National Enquirer is claiming that they have tapes of Hulk Hogan repeatedly making racist statements, which they shared with WWE yesterday, leading the company to completely distance itself from the wrestling legend. The new tapes will be released today and surfaced during the discovery period in Hogan’s ongoing lawsuit with Gawker. MediaTakeout.com writes:
“After listening to the tape, which is DISGUSTING, there can be NO DOUBT that Hulk Hogan is a racist . . . at the level of the KU KLUX KLAN. “
Since the news broke, Hogan tweeted:
In the storm I release control,God and his Universe will sail me where he wants me to be,one love. HH
Eva Marie, who made her televised return to the ring on this week’s episode of WWE NXT, appeared on AfterBuzz TV to discuss fan scrutiny, heat from fellow WWE Divas, when she may have children and more. Highlights from the interview are as follows:
TOTAL DIVAS STAR EVA MARIE TALKS RECENT NXT MATCHES & DUELING DIVAS, RECALLS WORKING BEHIND A DESK
July 22, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LOS ANGELES, CA – Total Divas star Eva Marie visits Maria Menounos‘ AfterBuzz TV, responding to the WWE Universe scrutiny and disclosing which Divas have her back and when she may have children. Joining hosts Kaori Takee and Christy Olson, of the Total Divas After Show, Eva reveals she once worked a desk job and talks about her famous red hair.
Both fans and Eva’s Total Divas‘ co-stars have questioned her devotion to the WWE and wrestling skills. Speaking out in this exclusive interview, the reality star says, “I’m still trying to wrap my head around why there was so much heat, for me training when I’m just trying to get better at my job. So I’m still, you know, trying to figure that one out.”
Talking about the future, Eva dishes details on her recent return to the ring and her plans for having kids with husband of nearly one year, Jonathan Coyle. “I don’t think anytime soon because I feel, like I said, I just arrived within the WWE,” adding that her hubby joking says, “‘I don’t know if I can handle another one of you.’”
While the reality star describes laying it all on the line on Total Divas, one thing we may not have known about Eva is that she counted cookies to pay her way through college. “And so I remember working at the office for like a little, little bit,” she recalls about a job at Mother’s Cookies. “Basically I was in charge of the orders of how many iced oatmeal cookies or whatever this store gets and…Can you imagine? I used to go to all these different grocery stores and have to count the shelves and figure it out.”
As fans continue to watch her relationship with Nikki Bella and the rest of the Divas play out, Eva makes a definitive promise, in this exclusive interview. “All red everything is here to stay.”
TNA star Kurt Angle has posted a new article at his official website talking about who he would like to wrestle his final match against.
Angle said if he could go back to the 1980’s, he’d love to wrestle Ric Flair in his prime. He also says he wished he could have wrestled Bret Hart and talked about his classic battles with the likes of Steve Austin, The Rock, Shawn Michaels, Eddie Guerrero, Brock Lesnar and others.
Angle said he’d love to get in the ring with guys like Roman Reigns, Cesaro, Rusev, Dolph Ziggler and Bad News Barrett, but the man he’d like to retire against is Daniel Bryan. Angle said:
“Epic matches in the future? The first that comes to mind is Daniel Bryan. He is Shawn Michaels reborn. I would love to retire against a wrestler I believe has won over the hearts of millions of fans. How did he win their hearts? He’s that good. Give me 30 minutes with Daniel Bryan and I will give you the match of the century.”
WWE’s announcement that Japanese wrestling legend Jushin “Thunder” Liger will be appearing at the NXT Takeover: Brooklyn event on August 22nd has opened up a “political hornet’s nest” according to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Liger is a New Japan Pro Wrestling talent and with NJPW having a long running affiliation with Ring of Honor (which runs head-to-head with NXT in Brooklyn on 8/22), the relationship between WWE and ROH is now considered to be more strained than ever. ROH was not aware of Liger being booked for Takeover until the news broke online and Meltzer notes that even by pro wrestling standards, the move is considered to be a major ‘double-cross.’
ROH has sold approximately 1,100 for their Field of Honor show that night, which they were said to be happy with. They were expecting the show to eventually sell out with around 2,000 fans in attendance, but ticket sales have stalled out since WWE announced Takeover: Brooklyn. Ticket sales for the “Ringside with Jim Ross” show in Manhattan on the same night have also taken a hit due to NXT Takeover.
It remains to be seen whether WWE using Jushin Liger is the start of a working relationship with NJPW, but it’s not good news for ROH, which does not have much recourse against WWE.
WWE’s relationship with ROH taking a step (or two) backwards is surprising. Triple H has publicly stated that a strong Ring of Honor is good for WWE, since ROH is another place for wrestlers to learn their craft and the company has produced countless talents who have gone on to great success in WWE. That said, the strong push to make NXT a bonafide means that ROH is now a direct competitor in a market they are looking to corner.
Jim Ross recently appeared on The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast to promote his “Ringside: An Evening With Jim Ross” shows. Here are some highlights:
Seth Rollins Being The New Face Of WWE:
“I don’t know that the WWE Champion has to be the future of the company. I don’t know that any one person should be the future of the company. If it is, it’s poor management, because you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket. I don’t believe in that at all. But I am very proud of the worker that he has become. He has a great mind for the business, extremely strong work ethic, he’s a booker’s dream. He’s a beatable champion. In the territory days, theoretically, on any given night that he’s defending the title, he can be beaten. He’s not so physically imposing that he looks unbeatable. So I like that. If you’re going to have a heel champion, then I like one that has vulnerability. This kid has built his body up well, he trains religiously, he eats amazingly well and he’s very serious about all that. That means to me that he has made a commitment, so I am a big big Seth Rollins fan.
I would not take the championship of Seth Rollins until WrestleMania. At WrestleMania if I have something that I believes work then that is where he would drop the title. By then he would have had a full year and if he is not over and he is not a “made man” after being champion then you can’t blame the promotion.”
The Role of Villains In Pro Wrestling:
“[Rollins is] like any of the villains on TV whether it is WWE, Ring of Honor, TNA or Lucha Underground there is not enough of guys that cheat to gain an unfair advantage. Villains must stop working for the “pop” or the “this is awesome”. If I were a villain in a true sense of the word that would piss me off to no end. My work should be menacing, dangerous and dirty. It is supposed to enhance your dance partner and make the baby-face more of a bigger, stronger and powerful ticket selling, merchandise selling entity. Too many heels would rather work for a “pop”, then work for “heat”. When you take that angst away there is a fine line between good and evil and if it disappears I say good luck to the business. When you take away the “heel”/”villain dynamic I don’t know what you have got?”
The general perception within the industry right now is that SmackDown is seen as a lame-duck show until it switches over to the USA Network in January of 2016.
WWE Hall Of Famer Jerry Lawler previously hinted that the show may move back to Friday nights and become a live show, however we have yet to hear an update on that being the case. There has been talk of debuting SmackDown on the USA Network with a live Tuesday night special.
After SmackDown is moved to the USA Network next year, the show will likely be booked as an “all hands on-deck” show, similar to RAW.
WWE United States Champion John Cena recently spoke with FOX 411 to promote his role in the new Judd Apatow film, “Trainwreck.” Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On if he is the next Dwayne Johnson: “There is only one Dwayne Johnson. What Dwayne has done is absolutely fantastic. He had a vision when he was here at WWE. He promotes like a mad man. We’ll see how I do with John Cena before I can be mentioned in the company of Dwyane Johnson.”
On if it is odd to have his personal life open for public consumption on Total Divas: “It is weird. When they came to us with the concept of “Total Divas” it wasn’t so accepted around [the WWE]. Those girls who chose to put their lives are some of the bravest. I wanted nothing but success for her.”
On why he is so loyal to WWE: “There will be a time when I won’t be able to perform in the ring. I’m 38-years-old. So, if I’m not in the ring I want to be involved in some way. I love it! I watch every single match because I enjoy it. It’s been 12 or 13 years now, the audience is so exciting and electric. It keeps me coming back.”
On if he could face off against any wrestler, who would it be: “Past: Stone Cold Steve Austin because he was truly inspiration to me. Our audience wouldn’t mind seeing that. In the same breath there are some present stars that I haven’t faced off with. Hopefully, down the line I look forward to facing those new faces.”
Daniel Bryan appeared on the Cheap Heat Podcast this week to discuss his in-ring future. Bryan said he’s been medically cleared to wrestle again by his doctor based out of Phoenix, but WWE’s doctor is still hesitant to clear him. Bryan said he understands WWE’s position, but he feels great and has no doubt he’ll wrestle again.
“I feel great. And it’s just a matter of getting cleared by doctors. Their whole clearance process is more difficult than people would think. … That’s the biggest issue. I will wrestle again. But it’ll be interesting to see when.”
When He Expects To Be Back In Action:
“I don’t know. It’s kind of in the hands of certain doctors, as far as them clearing me and what not. My goal was to be back by SummerSlam, and that’s looking less and less likely, and so then you’re hoping to be back by Royal Rumble.”
Steve Austin Reaching Out To Him Regarding The Neck Injury:
“Steve Austin is actually an amazing human being and he reached out to me. Imagine how weird that is for somebody like me who grew up in that era where it’s like he’s the biggest superstar on the planet Earth. Yeah, he reached out to me and talked to me about it. He was actually giving me some very good advice as far as like, ‘Hey, when you come back, if you come back, you need to do more of this and you need to be doing this.'”
Global Force Wrestling owner Jeff Jarrett was recently interviewed by Marc Madison of The News Hub to promote this week’s GFW television tapings in Las Vegas, Nevada. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On growing up in the wrestling industry: “I have often thought and I’ve been told this by numerous people that I respect in the business that have been around a long time. When you’re the son of a promoter and the son of a wrestler, it’s the best thing that could ever happen to them and it’s also the worst thing that could ever happen to them all at the same time. You have to take the good with the bad because being the son of a wrestler and a promoter and being the grandson of a promoter on his stepmother’s side, it’s a wrestling family.”
On the differences between the nWo in comparison to the Bullet Club: “Those guys, the Young Bucks, Doc and Karl have already been part of our Grand Slam Tour shows the first seven that we’ve had. The in ring ability of the Bullet Club versus the in ring ability of the nWo and I think those guys (nWo) would be the first to tell you is that without question would say the Bullet Club is off the charts bell to bell more talented. They organically came out from Fergal DeVitt and Karl Anderson and those guys came up through the hard way in the New Japan dojo. They worked their butts off, match after match, tour after tour. The timing was right also as it all exploded all at once. It is a completely different set of circumstances then the nWo when it was real life set of circumstances when Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, arguably two of the biggest four or five guys in the WWF at the time defected and went south and were taking over. That was as real as it gets. But when you talk about competitive and Global Force Wrestling, we are going to bring that type of competition to the forefront.”
On discussing his vision and future with GFW: “The vision is fundamentally, very different. It’s also because of the timing of things. I named the company April 7th, 2014 and went directly and worked to form alliances with major promotions in Japan, Mexico and independent promotions in South Africa, Europe and Australia and really dialed in and the NEX GEN title was about giving guys opportunity which quite frankly are too many to name. Just in Lake County (Ohio) last weekend at the Grand Slam event, the main event of that show was Showtime Eric Young, a guy who is under contract with TNA wrestling has a serious issue in his head that I, a non-contracted TNA talent left his promotion with a belt and we invited him on the tour and out of that he faced Johnny Gargano, a local guy who is a phenomenal talent just a tremendous talent wrestling in his home promotion right there in Cleveland, AIW and that was the main event. That is a part of what we are doing when we are heading to Vegas.”
2K Sports has been touting that WWE 2K16 will feature the largest roster in WWE video game history, boasting over 120 unique playable characters.
Already confirmed for the game are “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Daniel Bryan, Dean Ambrose, Finn Balor, Paige, Bad News Barrett and Eva Marie.
Gamestop Italy has leaked 5 new characters for the game that have not been previously announced:
Hulk Hogan
Andre The Giant
Triple H
The Rock
Alexa Bliss
Those legends are no surprise, but the fact that Alexa Bliss will be part of the game is a sign that NXT will be well-represented, since she’s not even one of the most prominent members of that brand.
WWE 2K16 will be released in the United States in late October.
Deadline.com reports that the crew of Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge show walked off the job on Wednesday morning. Production was underway on season 3 of the popular competition reality show on CMT.
The crew is demanding an IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) status, which would afford them health benefits, pension and other benefits of a union contract.
The Motion Picture Editor’s Guild and IATSE are representing both production and post-production workers on the show and are putting up a picket line outside the offices of show producers 51 Minds Entertainment.
No word yet on how close the matter is to being resolved, but we’ll post an update when it becomes available.
New Japan Pro Wrestling’s highlights show on AXS-TV has been renewed with a multi-year after surprisingly strong viewership.
Season 3 will run from August 4th – December 11th on Friday nights (taking a week off for Thanksgiving). AXS-TV is looking for NJPW’s show to air weekly in 2016, regularly featuring matches taped only 3-4 months prior.
New Japan’s weekly show has been a surprise hit, averaging around 200,000 viewers – making it the #4 most watched national wrestling show in the United States. The fact that many of the top cable providers in the United States don’t carry AXS-TV makes the number even more impressive. RAW, Smackdown and Impact do better numbers – but [great] NJPW matches from last year are drawing more viewers than Ring of Honor on Destination America and Lucha Underground. Throw NXT into the mix and there really is a lot of good wrestling out from a diverse group of promotions.
Mauro Ranallo and Josh Barnett will be back for Season 3. For 5 weeks starting in October, they’ll call the action on matches from Wrestle Kingdom 9 only previously broadcast with Jim Ross and Matt Stryker on commentary.
Hit up Page 2 below for the official press release from AXS-TV regarding NJPW’s new multi-year deal.
WWE announced that NXT Diva Dasha Fuentes is the newest member to join the NXT announce team. For the time being, Fuentes will be conducting backstage interviews with the NXT talent each Wednesday night.
Dasha was signed by WWE in the spring of 2014, however she was sidelined with a knee injury later that summer. Fuentes was presented with the announcing opportunity when she was finally able to return.
Dasha has also handled some NXT ring announcing at live events.
“WWE is such a large and amazing company,” said Fuentes. “I’m looking forward to the endless amount of possibilities it presents.”
– The WWE Network launch that took place in Malaysia this past week was as a regular television station, not a streaming service.
– Part-time WWE performer Chris Jericho is scheduled to work WWE live events on September 11th in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, September 12th in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, September 25th in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and September 26th in Rochester, New York.
– The movie “Trainwreck,” which features WWE United States Champion John Cena, finished at number three at the box office for its’ opening weekend, drawing $30,097,040. Industry projections had the film estimated at doing a $25 million opening weekend, so by all accounts, the project is already a success.
Larry Lawler, who is the older brother of WWE Hall Of Famer Jerry Lawler by four years, passed away on July 21st at the age of 69.
Larry had worked in management for Kimberly-Clark in Memphis, Tennessee for most of his life before opening up Lawler’s Grocery in Water Valley, Mississippi.
SEScoops.com would like to offer its’ condolences to the family and friends of the late Larry Lawler.
An interesting thing to keep an eye on over the next month is how much ESPN covers this year’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view, as well as the SummerSlam weekend festivities.
Behind-the-scenes at ESPN right now, there are two different viewpoints. Jonathan Coachman, the former WWE broadcaster turned ESPN analyst has pushed fans to contact ESPN with the idea of covering SummerSlam like it’s a major sporting event.
There are those in ESPN who have fallen for the idea that WWE is “hot” right now, despite the fact that ratings are at record low levels and live attendance is around its’ usual levels.
ESPN is said to be feeling pressure because the company’s revenues are dropping significantly. There are those who work for ESPN, however, that are dead set against the network covering pro wrestling because of the fact that it’s not a legitimate sporting event.
