– According to backstage reports from the recent TNA U.K. tour, changes were being made during the Impact Wrestling television tapings as they were being filmed.
– As of this past weekend, MVP had yet to sign an official contract with TNA. He did, however, reportedly reach a verbal agreement with the company and has a deal in place. According to some, MVP actually debuted for TNA on television without ever signing a contract.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
Regarding the rumors of Kurt Angle having a “blow up” backstage with TNA executive “Big” John Gaburick, one person noted that it wasn’t even an argument, and was more along the lines of Angle expressing his confusion over what he felt was senseless booking.
Speaking of Angle, despite his claims that he is not in “bad shape” recently, it was said that he was looking to be in rough physical shape during the recent U.K. tour and could barely move, however when he got in front of the fans, he ignored it and managed to put on consistently good performances.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
The recent TNA U.K. tour is considered to be the most grueling tour in the history of the company, but reportedly the best in terms of locker room morale. The general consensus was that everyone seemed to be happy working in front of larger and more receptive crowds.
TNA veteran Samoa Joe reportedly gave an emotional speech during one of the bus rides back to the hotel about how this was the company’s toughest touring schedule, but turned out to be a great tour because they had no prima donnas, no complainers and no whiners. Joe spoke about being proud of everyone who was a part of the tour. The wrestlers themselves were apparently chanting Joe’s name by the time the speech was over.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
– Powerlifter Brian Reid, who has worked on some independent pro wrestling shows, is set to begin training with WWE developmental on February 7th. Reid has worked on the indy scene in California under the name “Brian Tannen.”
– The WWE Studios film project “Oculus” will be shown at the film festival during the South by Southwest (SXSW) event in Austin, Texas later this month.
– Tommy Dreamer is another former WWE Superstar who has been interviewed recently for the new Paul Heyman DVD project that WWE is working on. As previously reported, the Heyman DVD is set to be released later this year.
(Partial Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
– ECW original Rhino recently spoke to veteran pro wrestling journalist Bill Apter about a number of topics, including Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania XXX. You can watch their discussion below:
– WWE referee Justin King is reportedly no longer with the company.
– The following are some recent WWE attendance figures:
January 31st live event in Miami, Florida drew approximately 6,000 fans
February 1st live event in Orlando, Florida drew approximately 6,500 fans
February 2nd live event in Kansas City, Missouri drew approximately 4,000 fans
February 2nd live event in Lakeland, Florida drew approximately 3,000 fans
February 4th WWE SmackDown show in Des Moines, Iowa drew approximately 4,500 fans
(Partial Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
– During an interview with New Orleans’ NOLA.com, Kofi Kingston spoke about his crazy spots at the Royal Rumble:
“The funny thing about it is that a lot of people think that I think about them year-round, and the past three years now, the idea hasn’t come to me until like 12 hours before the event. I don’t put any pressure on myself to come up with anything cool. I approach it like any other match. I don’t know if I’d put one (escape) above another. Like I always say, the greatest trick of all would be to actually win.”
– Rob Van Dam was asked by a fan on Twitter if he’ll be back in WWE before WrestleMania XXX. He responded:
“@Rick268: @TherealRVD Are you returning before Mania?” I hope so.
— Rob Van Dam (@TherealRVD) February 6, 2014
– The official WWE website has a new article up featuring several NXT stars talking about Black History Month. As seen on RAW this past Monday night, WWE is celebrating Black History Month by honoring an individual talent each week, which started with WWE Hall Of Famer “The Big Cat” Ernie Ladd on Monday.
You can check out the new article at WWE.com.
– Chavo Guerrero recently noted on his official Twitter account that he has been in Los Angeles recently taking part in some “big meetings.” Chavo tweeted the following:
Great meetings tonight! Big things Coming! #vivalaraza #LA http://t.co/3t0mdHWH2z
— Chavo Guerrero jr. (@mexwarrior) February 6, 2014
Congrats to @EdgeRatedR on becoming the greatest Dad a kid could ever ask for <3
— THE GLAMAZON (@TheBethPhoenix) February 6, 2014
Congratulations are in order for WWE Hall of Famer Edge and his girlfriend, former WWE Divas champion Beth Phoenix, who welcomed the birth of their first child a few weeks ago.
During an appearance on CBC in Canada, Edge made the announcement and said the birth of his child was the most romantic thing he’s ever experienced.
You can see video of Edge’s announcement at CBC.ca.
The following press release was issued today:
Feb. 5, 2014 – PITTSBURGH – Author L. Anne Carrington dared to be different when she burst on the literary scene in 2010 with The Cruiserweight, her first wrestling-based novel in a four-part series. The Cruiserweight Series’ third book, Klass Act, was named 2013 Sport Book of the Year by Turning the Pages Books.
Ms. Carrington takes her interest in sports entertainment further with Billy Kidman: The Shooting Star,an unauthorized nonfiction account of the former cruiserweight star soon to be released by Florida-based independent publisher Palm Tree Books.
“Palm Tree Books is proud to be part of this upcoming project,” said founding publisher Donovan Rutherford. “We aim to publish books that suit a variety of readers’ interests. The market for sports entertainment topics still remains virtually untapped, and L. Anne Carrington’s new book could be a key factor in filling that void.”
Ms. Carrington elaborated on what inspired her to write Billy Kidman: The Shooting Star. “I’ve read several sites and message boards geared toward past wrestling stars basically asking the same question: ‘Whatever happened to that guy [Kidman]?’ I found an earlier book about him online last summer, but its contents only covered his career up to 2000 or 2001. I did additional research between finishing other projects and uncovered lesser-known information alongside what is already common knowledge.”
Billy Kidman: The Shooting Star covers Kidman’s early days in his native Allentown, PA, respective stints as a cruiserweight wrestler with East Coast independent wrestling federations, the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling (WCW), World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), American and overseas promotions following his WWE career, working as a wrestler and trainer for the former Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), and his status as of early 2014. The book also features bonus pages of titles held, additional reading, and links to related web sites.
Billy Kidman: The Shooting Star will be available for sale March/April 2014 in both paperback and ebook formats.
Earlier this week, Take-Two interactive officially announced that WWE 2K15 is in development. While the initial announcement made no mention of the game being available on next generation consoles, the company has now confirmed WWE 2K15 will in fact be released on Playstation 4 and Xbox One.
During a Wednesday night earnings call with investors, Take-Two president Karl Slatoff said:
“In addition, during fiscal 2015, consumers can look forward to exciting next generation releases from our NBA 2K and WWE franchises as well as other unannounced titles that promise to raise the bar for excellence. We will have more to share about our titles throughout the next several months as we head into E3.”
Take-Two Chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick touted the strong sales performance of WWE 2K14, which exceeded their sales projections:
“Our WWE franchise has quickly proven to be a successful addition to our portfolio Sales of WWE 2K14 have exceeded our expectations and the title is being supported with add-on content including a Season Pass featuring many of fan-favourite WWE superstars and legends. We believe there is a meaningful opportunity to grow this series by further leveraging 2K’s marketing power and development expertise.”
As for whether WWE 2K15 will be available on PS3 and Xbox 360, Zelnick explained:
“We have haven’t said anything about our NBA titles – but for next gen platforms – our sports titles but for next gen platforms. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that we are not going on current gen, rather we are going on current gen, it’s not related at this point. It just means we haven’t had anything to share”
There’s no word yet on when WWE 2K15 will be on sale, but an October/November release date seems likely.
– WWEShop.com has released new CM Punk and AJ Lee 9-inch zombie statues.
– As of this writing, preliminary artwork for the WrestleMania XXX t-shirts still include CM Punk.
– Paul Heyman is featured on the latest WWE Inbox video:
The WWE Universe had some great questions, unfortunately, Paul Heyman didn’t like any of them. See for yourself a very angry edition of WWE Inbox.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QzWjZGeCnr8
(Partial Source: PWInsider.com)
– The latest episode of the Steve Austin Show: Unleashed is now online, with Steve Austin taking calls from WWE fans about the Royal Rumble, Daniel Bryan’s booking and the departure of CM Punk. Listen now at PodcastOne.com.
– WWE has added “The History of WWE” & “Triple H: Thy Kingdom Come” DVDs to Netflix for streaming.
– Radio host Sam Roberts has published the following video talking about CM Punk leaving WWE:
The following is a preview for tonight’s TNA Impact Wrestling On Spike TV, taped last week from Glasgow, Scottland. Hit up Page 2 below for *Spoiler* results.
The latest Triple H and Michael Cole sit-down interview, which we posted notes from earlier today, has been added to the official WWE YouTube channel.
The interview, which can be seen above, is accompanied by the following description: “The WWE COO addresses Kane’s actions toward Daniel Bryan and reveals Randy Orton will face Christian on SmackDown and John Cena on Raw.”
– The WWE Battleground 2014 pay-per-view event was recently confirmed to take place on July 20th at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa, Florida.
– As previously reported, WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley is scheduled to host the Gotham Comedy Live special on AXS TV on Thursday night. The show begins at 10pm E.T. You can check out a preview for the show below:
http://youtu.be/xPOlDJtZj3c
– The latest edition of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s “Steve Austin Show” podcast, which features Austin taking calls on current controversial WWE subjects, such as the CM Punk situation, as well as Daniel Bryan, is now online. The show is available at PodcastOne.com/Steve-Austin-Show.
– WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan was reportedly part of the Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl victory parade on Wednesday, which took place in downtown Seattle and featured approximately 500,000-750,000 fans.
– Former WWE Superstar Romeo Roselli is currently being featured in five new television commercials. Roselli appears in clown makeup in bed with Jenny McCarthy for her new EPIX television special, “Dirty Sexy Funny,” which airs on Valentine’s Day.
– WWE Superstar Evan Bourne has been working out at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida lately. Bourne, who was as the Performance Center as recent as Tuesday, is currently training for his official WWE in-ring return.
The following are highlights of a new Gerweck.net interview with former TNA Knockout Mickie James:
On her future in wrestling: “I just love wrestling too much to just let it go .. I don’t feel I am done with wrestling.”
On the Piggy James angle in WWE: “It was difficult, it was difficult for all three of us sometimes. I tried to allow, in some of the those incidents, to create real emotion.”
On Jeff Jarrett’s rumored new pro wrestling promotion: “Jeff is so smart, and innovative, and has drive. Toby is a massive wrestling fan. It could be something potentially that’s pretty awesome.”
Check out the complete Mickie James interview at Gerweck.net.
It appears as though CM Punk’s scheduled appearance on the Comedy Central show “@Midnight” has been cancelled.
A fan named John Carr tweeted Chris Hardwick and asked, “The question everyone wants answered: Is CM Punk still going to appear on @midnight next week?” Hardwick simply replied:
@UtleyYATM it may not happen at this point…
— ??iwb??H ?i??? (@hardwick) February 6, 2014
The “@Midnight” appearance was to be Punk’s first time appearing on television since his WWE departure, and would have likely been the first time Punk would be asked to address the situation publicly. As of right now, Punk’s only comments of any kind since leaving WWE came in the form of the tweet he posted the day the news broke. That tweet read, “Thanks for all the support. Keep being you guys, it’s pretty cool.”
As of right now, Punk’s appearance on the show has not officially been cancelled, and if it has, there is no word yet on if it will be rescheduled for a later date.
The following are highlights of a recent SLAM! Wrestling interview with AJ Styles:
On his dream opponent: “Seriously, some (dream matches) for me are with guys that I may never get the opportunity to wrestle. I’d like to wrestle Rey Mysterio, I think he and I could really tear things up. There are definitely some guys in the Fed (WWE) that I think I could have good matches with, that would also be dream matches for the fans as well. But who knows if that ever comes or not.”
On Sting to WWE: “I hope to see Sting wrestle The Undertaker at WrestleMania. I don’t know if that’s going to happen, that may just be wishful thinking. But I can appreciate the (thinking).”
On TNA going out of business: “I’m not saying that they’re going under, but it sure does seem that way. They’re really saving a lot of money in places. If they’re so desperate to save money that they cut loose one of their top guys, the one guy that was known as the TNA guy, they must be hurting pretty bad. Either that or they think that loyalty means absolutely nothing to them, or they think I suck. I don’t know which one of those it is.”
Check out the complete interview online at Slam.Canoe.ca.
As previously reported, Stephanie McMahon recently met with former WWE Diva Stacy Keibler in New York to discuss the possibility of signing her to a deal to return to the company. Apparently a possible Hall Of Fame induction is rumored as part of the deal as well.
According to PWInsider.com, WWE wants Keibler to have a big role at WrestleMania XXX, possibly as a “backstage correspondent” throughout the show.
It should be noted that nothing is official yet as far as whether or not she will actually return to the company, but as noted, the offer was lucrative enough this time around that Keibler is reportedly giving it strong consideration.
WWE has posted the latest sit-down interview between Triple H and Michael Cole on their official company website. As usual, “The Game” talks about a number of topics.
HHH spoke about the upcoming main event on next Monday’s RAW between Randy Orton and John Cena, referring to the match as an “epic main event.” He also noted that big things are expected for the match.
Regarding Kane’s attack on Daniel Bryan at this past Monday’s RAW, Hunter claimed Kane was just defending himself. He claimed that there will be an internal investigation to determine whether or not Kane made a mistake on the job.
Triple H also praised Bryan’s effort on Monday’s RAW and noted that he expected Orton to have a better performance.
You can check out the new HHH and Cole interview right now at WWE.com.
The following are highlights from a new Newsday.com interview with WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross:
On the current WWE locker room compared to the Attitude Era: “This whole locker room has a different feel to it, and a different — they’re not as edgy as the Attitude Era locker room. They’re not as competitive. I don’t know that they’re as hungry. But now, CM Punk is different. [Compared with] today’s corporate wrestler, CM Punk is a little bit of a rogue. And I don’t mean that in a negative way.”
On CM Punk: “Over the last two of three years, he’s been my favorite WWE performer to watch in the ring, without question. He would’ve been a huge star in the Attitude Era, without question. Here’s the deal: He’s a very cerebral guy, who has an old-school spirit, that really cares about every aspect of the business. I think that he needed time off, ample time off, to recharge his batteries. I think he has, for lack of a better term, a major case of burnout. And I think the problem should have been recognized and addressed much earlier than letting it get to a head and him being so frustrated and such a sense of hopelessness that he decided to go home. Walking away from a problem is never a solution. Never. Solve the problem.”
Check out the complete interview online at Newsday.com.
There was talk backstage at Monday’s WWE RAW that Alberto Del Rio has been making noise about potentially leaving the company when his current WWE contract expires, according to a report at PWInsider.com.
Apparently Del Rio has been frustrated after going from being a top guy on the SmackDown brand to what he considers to be someone simply being fed to Batista. A lot of the talk in the company is that due to Del Rio’s age, him talking about retirement in the past and the fact that he has had a considerable amount of success and notiriety in Mexico, that maybe it’s getting close to the time that he eventually walks away.
There is no definitive word at this point as to whether or not Del Rio has started working on a new contract, but there is at least a certain amount of concern over his future after the talk at RAW this past Monday night.
– The dark match main event at the WWE SmackDown television taping on Tuesday night in Des Moines, Iowa featured Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt in one-on-one action. Bryan would go on to win the match via disqualification when Erick Rowan and Luke Harper interfered. The Usos would then come out to make the save for Bryan and “send the fans home happy.”
– The latest edition of Chris Jericho’s new “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, which as reported recently will be expanding to two shows per week, is now online. As noted, Jericho’s guest this week is Chavo Guerrero. Part one of their two-part interview is available right now at PodcastOne.com.
TNA star Kurt Angle recently commented on the reports that claim he is in bad shape. Angle mentioned the following in a new tweet posted on his official Twitter account:
For the Rumors going around, I'm Having Simple Orthoscopic Surgery for Cartilage tear in my knee. I'm not in "bad shape"
— Kurt Angle (@RealKurtAngle) February 4, 2014
As noted, Angle has been working through injuries during the recent TNA U.K. tour, and according to some reports, has even been working despite doctors orders not to.