Paige officially announced her retirement from in-ring WWE competition on tonight's post-WrestleMania 34 edition of RAW in New Orleans.
Paige has been out of action neck and back issues since suffering an injury at a December WWE live event while taking a kick from Sasha Banks. She had recently returned from neck surgery when the injury happened.
Paige made her WWE developmental debut in early 2012 and held two titles. She is a one-time NXT Women's Champion and a two-time WWE Divas Champion.
WWE issued the following today, announcing a record 2.1 million subscribers for the WWE Network. You can read the full release with chart at the WWE Corporate website by clicking here.
WWE® Network Hits Record 2.1 Million Subscribers
04/09/2018
WWE® Raises Q1 and Full Year 2018 Guidance
STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- WWE® (NYSE:WWE) today announced that its digital streaming service, WWE Network, reached a record 2.12 million total subscribers following last night's WrestleMania®.1 This is a 9% increase from April 3, 2017, the day after WrestleMania last year.
"We expect to deliver record subscriber levels, revenue and Adjusted OIBDA in 2018," said George Barrios, WWE Co-President. "WWE Network's continued growth along with our massive reach across traditional television as well as digital and social platforms, reaffirms the effectiveness of our global, multi-platform content strategy."
WWE Network Subscriber Highlights
WWE Network achieved record levels of total and total paid subscribers as of April 9, 2018. Total paid subscribers reached 1.81 million, representing a 9% increase from April 3, 2017 – the day after WrestleMania last year.
During the 2018 WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony, a promo aired that revealed that WWE will be reviving the King of the Ring tournament, this time with the stars from WWE's United Kingdom Division. They will also be holding another Mae Young Classic tournament with various female talents from around the world.
A few years ago WWE introduced the Legacy Wing as a way to highlight professional wrestlers who helped pave the way for the business during the earlier years of the business, and this year more names will be inducted.
PWinsider has confirmed the following names for the 2018 WWE Hall of Fame Legacy wing:
– Former WWWF champion Stan Stasiak
– Lord Alfred Hayes
– Dara Singh
– Cora Combs
– El Santo
– Jim Londos
– Rufus J. Jones
– Sputnik Monroe
– Boris “The Great” Malenko
A federal judge has cleared WWE from a concussion lawsuit filed by two former wrestlers in the company, Vito LoGrasso and Evan Singleton. While Singleton did not compete on the main program, LoGrasso popularized himself as "Big Vito," and competed in both ECW and WCW before his WWE run.
The wrestlers alleged that WWE committed fraud by failing to disclose the link between concussions and permanent damage. However, Judge Vanessa Bryan dismissed these claims based on a number of factors.
"The evidence does not support a finding that WWE knew of a risk that repeated head injuries incurred while performing as a professional wrestler could cause permanent degenerative neurological conditions," Judge Bryant wrote in a 21-page filing.
The wrestlers also claimed that the head-trauma work of Joseph Maroon (who was responsible for making the final decision of clearing Daniel Bryan to return to in-ring action) and Mark Lovell dates back to the 1980s, but Judge Bryant refuted this claim stating that they did not work for WWE at the time. According to Bryant, 2008 was the earliest that their knowledge can be imputed to WWE. LoGrasso competed in WWE from 2005-2007.
Judge Bryant also rejected the argument of WWE learning of the dangers of concussions by former WWE competitor Chris Nowinski, who started his own concussion research company after having to retire from wrestling in 2003 due to continuous post-concussion symptoms.
"Plaintiffs have not offered any new evidence showing that WWE was aware of Nowinski's research, that anyone at WWE read Nowinski's book, or that anything in Nowinski's book would suggest a link between professional wrestling and permanent degenerative neurological conditions," Bryant concluded. In addition, she also refuted claims of WWE concealing their awareness of Chris Benoit's CTE diagnosis to LoGrasso.
"Although WWE attempted to discredit the finding that Benoit had CTE, and tried to distance WWE from Benoit's behavior, no reasonable jury could find that WWE concealed the fact of Benoit's diagnosis from LoGrasso," Bryant stated.
For Singleton, his career ended in 2012 when he did not take a chokeslam properly. He claimed that he did not attend a presentation by Maroon a month earlier, which provided insight on the topics of drug abuse and concussion risks. As a result, Bryan deemed Singleton's claim inconsistent with WWE withholding information for the purpose of inducing him to continue wrestling.
LoGrasso claimed that he suffered head trauma in five matches during his two-year stint in the WWE. During the May 2016 video deposition, LoGrasso recalled a six-man tag match, multiple matches against William (Steven) Regal, and one with Mr. Kennedy. In one of those matches against Regal, he hit his head, but "didn't know if [he] had a concussion." He also admitted that he did not review his medical records, and went back and forth on his testimony of whether he watched the matches where he claims that head trauma was suffered.
Also in the deposition, LoGrasso affirmed that he was a part of violent matches in ECW voluntarily, and although he had the ability to say that he was not going to take part of any of these matches, he did not. He also affirmed that he had a personal doctor during the time he was in WWE, and admitted that he never went to anyone to tell them that he may have suffered a head injury during the times he claimed that he did.
Source: Courthouse News Service
If he and Stephanie will be in the business for as long as Vince McMahon has:
"I think for Vince McMahon, it's his passion and his life. It's just who he is as a human being and as a person. For Stephanie, this has been her family business and her life, and a passion as well. Same thing for me. I've had a long career and deeply into this. Vince McMahon will do this until he can no longer do it. I think we feel the same way. We have a strong passion for this, and for us to take his vision is very important for us. Take that vision, which he has done really well, to take that vision from where it is and beyond where it will be to bring the brand, the company, the business and all of it, like he did. To have a vision beyond what it is today and where it can go. I think that the WWE, in the form of entertainment, as a media juggernaut, and a content creator, and all of that, I think is just scratching the surface of where we can be in the future, and I look forward to that future. When Vince McMahon will no longer be around, I hope Stephanie and I can do it justice and in the future of where it needs to be and hopefully futures beyond that will take it beyond anywhere we can imagine it to be."
As noted, Hulk Hogan has reportedly been in talks with WWE about returning to the company to "help others learn from his mistakes." Hogan is also appearing at today's HBO Sports' Andre the Giant documentary premiere, which WWE is a part of.
Hogan told TMZ earlier today that he might "maybe someday" return to WWE, but will not be at WrestleMania next week. WWE issued this statement, via PWInsider, saying that Hogan is not scheduled to be a part of any upcoming events.
"Hulk Hogan is an important part of Andre the Giant's history, however his appearance at tonight's HBO premiere of the documentary and his plans to help others learn from his mistakes does not mean WWE is rehiring him. Hogan is not scheduled to be at any upcoming WWE events."
Hogan hasn't appeared for WWE since being fired by the company in 2015 shortly before a tape containing him making racist remarks was made public. Hogan, who was upset with his daughter Brooke dating a black man, used the n-word several times in the tape and said, "I guess we're all a little racist."
Triple H recently spoke with USA Today's "For The Win" blog at this link to promote WrestleMania 34 and the match with Stephanie McMahon against Ronda Rousey and WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle, plus the WWE NXT "Takeover: New Orleans" event. Below are highlights:
Are you serving as Stephanie's coach or trainer as she's preparing for this match?
I mean, honestly, as a husband, do you really coach your wife on a whole lot? We're training a lot. We train together, whether that be in the gym or in the ring. We're trying to make sure she's as ready as possible.
I worked with her – it's an interesting thing that I've been there for so much of the evolution of her as a character, even prior to us having a relationship together. I've been there all along the way and I've put her matches together for a lot of them, almost all of them, with her. It's exciting to see this one come to fruition, but you know, she's also a little bit older, has a little bit more responsibility. She's got a lot going on, as we both do, but she wants to make sure her girls see her proud. So there's a lot of pressure on her right now.
The biggest story of the week in WWE was Daniel Bryan's return after being medically cleared. What has it been like watching him work behind the scenes to get back to where he is?
It's been an amazing process. One of the hardest things I've ever had to do is tell talent that they can't do this anymore. That you can't live your dream. And for somebody like Daniel, man, it was soul-crushing.
He went through *a lot* to try to get back to where he was, without any guarantee that it would ever work. But you take the advice of the doctors, the same doctors that told you he couldn't, tell you he can… man, it's like a second lease on life for him. Really excited, really happy for him. Watching him on TV the other night, just sitting at the monitor watching was unbelievable.
TakeOver: New Orleans will feature a six-man ladder match for the inaugural North American Championship. What do you hope this new title will represent for NXT?
I think it's part of a long-term strategic plan for the brand. You see with the UK title, the North American Championship, I think as we branch out and become bigger, [with more] opportunities in different places.
It allows for multiple events to take place with championships represented where I feel like, in locations across North America, Mexico, Canada, the North American Championship can be defended and be a main event-style match with the right players. The NXT Championship could be going internationally at that same period of time. It really depends, but it's part of a long-term strategic plan.
Source: USA Today
In listing those who attended Wednesday’s Pro Day, the Penn State football program revealed some unusual information: A scout from World Wrestling Entertainment was in attendance.
That came as a surprise and raised immediate questions about which player or players the WWE scout was looking at. There’s been some speculation that the WWE scout could have been looking for XFL players, but that seems unlikely: The XFL isn’t launching for two more years, and Vince McMahon has made clear that the XFL is his own separate venture, not an arm of the WWE.
More likely, the WWE just wants to get a better handle on the kinds of big, strong, athletic men who are going to be looking for work in the months ahead. It’s highly unlikely that a player who’s good enough to get drafted could be lured away by the WWE, but there are plenty of players at Pro Day workouts who aren’t going to make it to the NFL. It makes sense for the WWE to look at those players.
