Former WWE manager Ricardo Rodriguez continues to post tweet updates on his training at the WWE Performance Center. Rodriguez tweeted these two on Thursday:
Did Soooooo many arm drags today! Taking that next step to becoming a #WWESuperstar
— Ricardo Rodriguez (@RRWWE) December 12, 2013
Attempted a standing hurricanrana…. Powerbombed myself…. Lesson learned
— Ricardo Rodriguez (@RRWWE) December 12, 2013
– Hulk Hogan will be doing a meet-and-greet with fans at the Tristar Sports Memorabilia in the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday, December 20th and Saturday, December 21st. For more information, visit Facebook.com/tristarvegas.
– WWE trainer Bill DeMott recently posted the following tweet on his official Twitter account regarding a three-day tryout at the WWE Performance Center beginning on Thursday:
Coffe-check, morning work out- beginning, 3 day camp @WWEPerformCtr starts today
#ToughEnough
— Bill DeMott (@BillDeMott) December 12, 2013
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
The #1 Thing Wrong With WWE Commentary: ” My ‘issue’ with today’s wrestling commentary, in general, is the lack of documenting what one’s seeing in the ring to the degree that as a viewer that I can ‘feel’ it therefore better emotionally invest in it. That’s ultimate in story telling in my humble opinion. Nonetheless, talented talkers like Cole and Layfield do as they are instructed to do, which is actually a great philosophy for one to follow if they care about job security, and who doesn’t? If one cashes their companies checks, then do what the company wants.
The game has changed, by and large, at the announce tables of pro wrestling which adds another log to the fire as to why I feel that I’ve called my last match. My style and today’s trend of broadcasting likely isn’t a compatible fit….and that’s not a bad thing.”
Dolph Ziggler’s Position In WWE: “Is WWE “punishing” Dolph Ziggler? No. If WWE wanted to ‘punish’ Ziggler they would simply not use him on TV and allow him to fade into obscurity. More fans should use their common sense on this one. Dolph is hugely talented and, generally, athletes who are on Ziggler’s level overcome any perceived obstacles. The key is to not check out and to keep turning heads.
If WWE Will Sign AJ Styles “Will WWE sign AJ Styles? I’d have zero clue on that one but I would say it’s a long shot at best. Not because AJ isn’t an outstanding talent, because he is, but I get the feeling WWE wants to create new stars and those new stars are going to come from the WWE Performance Center exclusively.”
WWE recently issued a statement to ABC 6 in Philadelphia about the city failing to get the bid for WrestleMania 31 and WrestleMania 32.
“While Philadelphia expressed a great interest in hosting WrestleMania in 2015 and 2016, the fact is the city did not submit a formal proposal because the facilities necessary to host ancillary events weren’t available. Philadelphia remains a strong market for WWE in all aspects of our business.”
As noted, WrestleMania 31 will be held at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston was recently interviewed by The Telegraph in Australia to promote WWE’s return to the country in August of 2014.
Kingston spoke about becoming a dad eight months ago when his son was born, as well as how physical WWE is. “It is very, very physical and you do get beat up,” said Kingston.
“I’ve had torn cartilage in my rib, seven staples in my head, I’ve had surgery on both my elbows and I have to ice my knee all the time or it just swells up. There is a lot of intense training that goes into it – in and out of the ring. You have to maintain a physique make sure you do cardio.”
Check out the complete interview online at DailyTelegraph.com.au
Former WWE Diva Jillian Hall recently tweeted the following photos of her face after falling down stairs in her boyfriend’s home. She wrote:
“My head is throbbing but did at least avoid getting stitched.. Darn those stairs!!”
– WWE Superstars Sheamus, Darren Young and Titus O’Neil, along with WWE Diva Alicia Fox, hosted an anti-bullying rally on Wednesday afternoon at the Hillside Youth Center in Fort Lewis, Washington. The company is in the area for the annual “Tribute To The Troops” special, which takes place on Thursday evening.
– The following is another Diva-Dirt clip from this Sunday’s season one finale episode of Total Divas. The clip features Nikki Bella telling John Cena her plans on having a family together.
A little background information on PJ Braun, the pro bodybuilder and supplement entrepreneur who recently got engaged to WWE Diva Kaitlyn, he was arrested on March 28, 2011 in a big steroid and drug bust in Danbury, Connecticut.
Officers found Percoset, Testosterone, Decadurabolin, Halotestin and Proviron, four of which are anabolic steroids, one of which is a widely circulated pain killer, and Braun was nailed with a variety of possession charges as a result.
For the offense, Braun received probation and community service following a stint in a drug rehab program.
[Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter]
– Apparently WWE’s recent Vintage Collection show featuring Bill Goldberg was done because the company still has interest in bringing him back for a match at WrestleMania XXX, and promoting his name through the show was a way to keep him fresh in the minds of the WWE viewing audience.
– WWE announcer Michael Cole recently posted the following tweet, which contains an Instagram link to a photo from inside the hangar where they are filming the WWE Tribute To The Troops special on Thursday evening. Make sure to check back here at the website on Thursday evening for full spoilers of the Tribute To The Troops show.
Welcome to Tribute to the #Troops, #WWE Universe! http://t.co/Jga0RT5c20
— Michael Cole (@MichaelCole) December 12, 2013
Latest On Goldberg vs. Ryback At WMXXX & Other WrestleMania 30 Surprises
[Partial Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter]
– There continues to be a legitimate battle over the trademark for Fandango. WWE tried to trademark the name for use for a pro wrestler (Johnny Curtis), but Comcast trademarked it for their movie ticketing website, Fandango.com.
– The following are some recent WWE attendance figures:
December 6th in Stockton, California drew approximately 4,500 fans
December 7th in Sacramento, California drew approximately 7,500 fans
December 7th in Vancouver, British Columbia drew approximately 7,000 fans
December 8th in Spokane, Washington drew approximately 3,500 fans
[Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter]
WWE has again changed their advertising for the December 30th RAW television taping in Richmond, Virginia and the live event in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that same night.
For the non-televised event in Toronto, WWE is now advertising John Cena, Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio, Big Show and Dolph Ziggler. In fact, Christian has been added as a special referee for the scheduled Cena vs. Orton match that night.
For the RAW television taping the same night in Richmond, WWE is now advertising The Wyatt Family, The Shield, Mark Henry and Daniel Bryan.
If these advertisements are accurate, then some of the biggest WWE Superstars mentioned above will not be appearing on the final RAW television show of 2013.
[Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter]
As noted, WrestleMania 31 will be in Santa Clara in 2014. As a result, the annual WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view, which is generally hosted in Los Angeles at the Staples Center, could see a venue and location change to the east coast.
With WrestleMania 31 on the west coast, SummerSlam, which is viewed within WWE as the second largest annual event, is now rumored for Madison Square Garden in New York City in 2014.
Additionally, the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view in 2015 is rumored to be held in either the Staples Center in Los Angeles or the Honda Center in Anaheim.
[Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter]
According to online betting odds, which recently have been a pretty decent indication as to who is going to win pay-per-view matches, the following are the favorites for Sunday’s WWE Tables, Ladders & Chairs show:
– John Cena favored to defeat Randy Orton
– The Shield favored to defeat CM Punk
– The Wyatt Family favored to defeat Daniel Bryan
– Big E. Langston heavily favored to defeat Damien Sandow
– Natalya favored to defeat AJ Lee
Make sure to check back here at the website this Sunday for the absolute best live results coverage of the WWE TLC pay-per-view.
[Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter]
– WWE Superstar Mark Henry is apparently telling friends that he is going to wrestle for two more years, when his current contract is set to expire, and then he wants to retire from in-ring competition and work with children in urban communities in some form or fashion.
– WWE has added the following video footage of WWE Diva and Total Divas star Naomi’s JET Magazine photo shoot:
[Partial Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter]
John Cena’s recent comments in the TMZ interview where he implied that Hulk Hogan was too old to be wrestling actual matches anymore is said to be a statement of significance and not an off-the-cuff remark.
The feeling is Cena wouldn’t publicly insult Hogan with comments like that unless it’s to tease something for business.
According to those close to Hogan, the feeling is that due to his current physical condition, he absolutely should not try to wrestle a match.
The following are highlights from a recent interview with TNA Wrestling tag-team Bad Influence:
On their favorite TNA theme songs of all-time …
Kazarian: “Currently, our song is my favorite because Chris Daniels and I had a lot of input on that. We knew exactly the feel of the song, we knew exactly the rhythm. We knew exactly, exactly what we wanted and Dale OIiver was gracious enough to really hear us out. He’d give us something and we wanted a couple things changed and he changed them for us and the finished product really, really suits our characters. Over the years, there’s been many, many songs that have been either mocked or sung in the locker room or just the rhythm of it, sung along. There’s been some pretty memorable ones like Abyss’s famous one. There’s been so many ones that have stuck with us over the years.”
Daniels: “Yeah, I’m definitely a big fan of our stuff. I’ve been fortunate enough, not just with the current one that I have, but the last two themes that I had with Dale, I talked it out with him and sort of figured out what I wanted to do. The one I had before the one Frankie and I use now, I actually hummed the bars. It was a song that I had sort of come up with myself. I had sort of a theme that I wanted, so I basically called Dale up and hummed the bars over the phone and he played it on his guitar and that ended up being my theme song for a very long time. As far as other people’s stuff, AJ Style’s music has been pretty good as far as sticking with his character. And I was a big fan of D’Angelo Dinero’s music when he had it. I thought it fit his character and it certainly fit his entrance. Also, another one that sticks out, it’s one of those songs that gets an immediate reaction is the former Beautiful Peoples’s/ Velvet Sky’s music. When that hits, people know who’s coming. I think that’s a big factor when it comes to wrestling entrance music, knowing exactly what’s coming. I think that can be said for our music as well.”
On where Kazarian was the first time he did an impression of AJ Styles …
Kazarian: “Probably in the locker room or in a car or in a hotel room. And it was probably years ago. When you spend so much time with someone, you start emulating them, good, bad, or indifferent. We always just kind of crack on each other and AJ’s got that Southern accent, it was easy fodder for Chris and myself. So probably sometime in the early 2000?s in a locker room or a hotel or a car, I couldn’t tell you, man. But I guess just spending so much time with the guy over the years, I just kind of picked it up as a second language, really.”
On Billy Corgan …
Kazarian: “He was at a live event in Chicago this past March. I know Chris and I had a chance to sit down and chat with him and again, such a fan of our business that he actually started up his own promotion, which is doing very well. Billy, like me, his first passion is music and obviously, his second is wrestling. Both worlds are very and he’s done a great job with his promotion and he’s very knowledgeable, very respectful of us, and he’s a huge, huge musician. So that’s really cool for those worlds to mesh again.”
Daniels: “Yeah, he’s definitely somebody that you can talk the history of wrestling with and the stuff that got him involved as a kid. It still effects what he likes to do, what he watches today, and how he runs his promotion. So he’s definitely very knowledgeable about wrestling and you can tell when he’s sitting backstage at our show in Chicago this year, he was watching the show just very interested to see what everybody was doing, how the promos went and how the matches went. He’s definitely someone that has a real appreciation for wrestling.”
On the rumors that Hulk Hogan originally auditioned to be a bass player for Metallica …
Kazarian: “That’s as silly today as it is the first time I heard it. I think he had said something to the effect of Lars wanted him to replace Cliff on bass or to join the band. I can’t take that out of context. (laughs) I read an interview that Lars responded and laughed it off like, “No, that didn’t happen!” I don’t know why Hulk would say that. I mean I know Hulk did play bass, I’ve actually talked to him about that. But that’s about as ludicrous of a rumor as can be, but if it gets people talking about you, whatever. I’m all for it.”
Check out the complete interview online at JourneyOfAFrontman.com.
Triple H sat down with Michael Cole yesterday for his weekly interview series at WWE.com. This week, Triple H spoke about the closing segment of Monday’s RAW, Sunday’s WWE title unification and Daniel Bryan’s popularity. Here are some highlights:
– Triple H once again guaranteed that “one man” will walk out of TLC as the Unified Champion and dubbed the match as the “biggest match in WWE history.” He said:
“I know what the future is. The future is that I guarantee one man will win this match at TLC. That man will become immortal. That man will become the Face of the WWE. And that man – that winner – will be the Champion of Champions.”
It’s really worth noting that after all these guarantees about “one man” being the new WWE Unified Champion – Triple H has yet to explicitly say that it will be either John Cena or Randy Orton. Wade Keller of PWTorch.com was the first wrestling journalist to publicly theorize that it will be Triple H who will somehow walk out of TLC as the Unified Champion. After watching the past several weeks of WWE television and these Triple H – Michael Cole interviews on WWE.com, it seems more than coincidental that they have not once said that it will be John Cena or Randy Orton who will be Unified champion .
– Triple H acknowledged Daniel Bryan’s tremendous popularity – but said Bryan is only a “good asset” – not “what’s best for business.”
– He did not respond to Michael Cole’s question about whether there there will be consequences after CM Punk struck him on RAW.
– He downplayed the final shot at the end of RAW, where John Cena stood tall with the Authority over Randy Orton.
– Triple H will appear on Friday’s SmackDown to hear Randy Orton’s apology for knocking down Stephanie McMahon on RAW.
– He said the brawl at the end of RAW was the result of a lot of people doing really stupid things in the heat of the moment.
The following is a spoiler-free preview for tonight’s episode of TNA Impact Wrestling:
– Feast or Fired featuring Samoa Joe, James Storm, Austin Aries, Chris Sabin, Curry Man, Chavo Guerrero, Ethan Carter, Gunner, Hernandez, Zema Ion, Dewey Barnes and Norv Fernum.
– TNA X-Division champion Chris Sabin vs. Austin Aries.
– Gail Kim Open Challenge.
– Joseph Park and Eric Young vs. Bad Influence.
– EC3 in action.
Here check out these Tout videos of John Cena speaking to the 7th Infantry Division of Joint Base Lewis-McChord today and shooting an M4:
TV Guide has released the first look at the animated “Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery”, which will be released on DVD and digital download on March 25th.
“When Shaggy and Scooby win tickets to WrestleMania, the entire gang travels in the Mystery Machine to WWE City to attend the epic event. However, when a mysterious ghostly bear appears and threatens to ruin the show, Scooby, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne and Fred work with WWE Superstars to solve the case.”
WWE talents featured in the trailer include Vince McMahon, John Cena, Triple H, AJ Lee, Kane, Brodus Clay and Sin Cara .
Here’s the DVD cover art (hey, look – Triple H with the WWE title…)
– In a battle of former TNA World Tag Team Champions, Bad Influence square off against Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez on this week’s edition of TNA Xplosion.
– TNA Wrestling is throwing a Christmas party for fans in the United Kingdom, the company announced on Facebook.
The event will take place in London, England on Sunday, December 22 from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. with Magnus and Rockstar Spud in attendance. The party is being hosted by Jeremy Borash and will be filmed for broadcast on Challenge TV.
Admission is free but solely limited to those who have purchased tickets for next month’s TNA Maximum Impact VI Tour. Additional details are available here.
Stephanie McMahon revealed that on Twitter that set of last night’s Tribute to the Troops even was made out of a Boeing C-17 aircraft.
Here’s a photo of Vince McMahon and Triple H in their makeshift gorilla position:
Here are Vince and Triple H with special performing guest Daughtry:
WWE’s Chief Strategy and Financial Officer George Barrios spoke at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference this week and gave some new insight on WWE’s plans for the upcoming WWE Network.
Despite the talk that the WWE Network will be an Internet-exclusive “over-the-top” service (similar to Netflix), Barrios said WWE is still considering going the traditional cable television route. Barrios said that when he spoke at the conference last year, the landscape for online streaming services was very different.
“I was here 12 months ago and people were asking me then and I said we just don’t see the data to say that it’s there yet, now we see the data there. It doesn’t mean we are going that way, but it is now a viable option.”
Barrios talked about the pros and cons of the over-the-top model, specifically noting that WWE would have to incur all of the associated costs, as opposed to sharing some of the costs with cable and satellite providers.
“If you go over-the-top you have significantly more costs, you have to do things like CDN costs, credit card fees, customer service. If you go traditional that essentially is covered up in the split that you are paying the MVPDs.”
“We continue to work with the MVPDs, see if we can knockout a deal in traditional distribution. If not, we have that option,” Barrios said. “We could do it at our own discretion. In either case the economics are differen… If you went down each line item they differ between traditional and over-the-top distribution. Pricing is different, splits are different, costs are different.”
He also credited Netflix with paving the way for a possible over-the-top WWE Network:
“One of the things that happened over the last 12 months has been happening for quite a while and we have been monitoring it for quite a while, is the consumption of long form video over-the-top and we all have Netflix to thank for this,” Barrios said.
“They have done the spade work of creating the environment and the consumption habit of consumers to watch long form video over-the-top. So this, earlier this year we said where two years ago we didn’t think there was enough of that happening to make a network viable over-the-top, we now believe it is viable over-the-top.”
As for how many subscribers WWE would need in order to break even (when charging subscribers a fee between $10-15 per month), Barrios said 1 million is the magic number.
One proposed feature for the WWE Network that we’ve covered here on the site is that WWE’s monthly pay-per-views would be included as part of the package. While this would obviously cannibalize one of WWE’s top revenue streams, he said that the revenue generated by the Network would more than exceed what they’re currently making from pay-per-views.
“Obviously a really successful network means the pay-per-view business slowly goes away and that number I gave you on the network, the incremental includes that cannibalization.
WWE pay-per-view prices have been steadily increasing over the years, and he acknowledged that they are “pretty expensive in today’s world where this is so much content out there.
The main reason that WWE is considering the over-the-top business model is that they’ve had a hard time selling cable & satellite providers on carrying the Network.
“We’ve been working at this for a while. We’ve been working with the MVPDs, the same pitch I just gave you here, let’s transform the pay-per-view business together, grow the business for both of us. Quite frankly it’s been a bit of a slog, having those discussions but we continue to have them.
For more on Barrios’ presentation, visit SeekingAlpha.com.
– Former WWE Women’s Champion Candice Michelle will be undergoing surgery Thursday on an injury that has lingered since her time in WWE.
“Finally getting my broken nose fixed tom!” she wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. “From @TheBethPhoenix 7yrs ago took a head butt to the nose. I should send her the bill!”
Michelle considers herself retired after being unceremoniously released from her contract with WWE in June 2009. She did, however, return to the ring in September for a one-off appearance as a referee at an independent wrestling event featuring numerous former WWE Divas and TNA Knockouts.
– The official Instagram of WWE published this photo of Mark Henry attempting to bench press 765-pounds—with help from Sheamus.
In a 2009 interview, Henry revealed that he can bench press “close to 600 pounds.” However, he added, “the bench press is the most limited, and the least functional of all the lifts. I’ve squatted 1006 pounds, and I’ve deadlifted 900 pounds consistently, which is my forte. There have been very few 900 pound deadlifters, ever.”
The “Diva Dirt” website recently added video footage of Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella’s engagement party, which will air as part of the season one finale episode of WWE Total Divas on E! this Sunday night at 10:00pm E.T.
The video, which you can see below, is accompanied by the following description: “Brie Bella and Daniel Bryan host an engagement party. Total Divas airs Sundays at 10pm ET on E!”