WWE's Kane teams up with politician Ron Paul

It's no secret that Glenn Jacobs, the man who has famously portrayed Kane in WWE for 16 years, is a Libertarian. It's also no secret that Jacobs and former Libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul are friends.

The pair are together in public once again, this time on the "Ron Paul Channel." A preview of the 16 minute interview can be seen here: http://www.ronpaulchannel.com/video/wwe-kane-joins-the-channel/ (full access to the interview requires a subscription).

Pro wrestling and politics aren't complete strangers. On top of Jacobs and former WWE superstar Sean "Val Venis" Morley being avid Libertarians, WWE CEO Linda McMahon has run for the U.S. Senate out of Connecticut twice, and former WWE superstar and commentator Jesse Ventura was Governor of Minnesota.

source: baltimoresun.com

Details on WWE SummerSlam Axxess Sessions

WWE released the following schedule information for next week's AXXESS sessions in Los Angeles as part of Summerslam 2013 weekend:

General Admission Tickets - $25*

General Admission sessions
Saturday, August 17 — 11 a.m.
The Miz, Jack Swagger, Zeb Colter, Antonio Cesaro, Curtis Axel, Paul Heyman, The Wyatt Family, Mick Foley, Damien Sandow, Jerry “the King” Lawler, and more!

Saturday, August 17 — 4 p.m.
Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, Fandango, Summer Rae, Booker T, The Bellas, AJ, Big E, Zack Ryder, R-Truth, The Funkadactyls and more!

Sunday, August 18 — 11 a.m.
Rob Van Dam, Christian, The Usos, Kaitlyn, “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, Brodus Clay, Zack Ryder, Justin Gabriel, Tensai, Rosa, Tamina, and more!

Limited VIP Tickets - $95*
VIP Tickets include:
- (1) 8x10 glossy photo of the appearing Superstar
- (1) Autograph and professional photo with the appearing VIP Superstar
- Exclusive VIP line at the event entrance

VIP sessions
Saturday, August 17
Session 1
Meet WWE Superstars The Shield 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Meet WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Meet WWE Superstar Alberto Del Rio 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Meet WWE Superstar Sheamus 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.

Session 2
Meet WWE Superstar Ryback 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Meet WWE Superstar Big Show 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Meet WWE Superstar Randy Orton 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Meet WWE Superstar Kane 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Sunday, August 18
Meet WWE Superstar Mark Henry 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Meet WWE Superstar Rey Mysterio 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Meet WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.

Limited Premium VIP Tickets - $150*
Premium VIP Tickets include:
- (1) SummerSlam Axxess Premium VIP commemorative ticket
- (1) Special matted Premium VIP Superstar photo
- (1) Autograph and professional photo with the appearing Premium VIP Superstar
- Exclusive VIP line at the event entrance

Premium VIP sessions
Saturday, August 17
Session 1
Meet WWE Superstar John Cena 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Session 2
Meet WWE Superstar Triple H 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Meet WWE Superstar CM Punk 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.

WWE Studios, Lionsgate Scare Up ‘See No Evil’ Sequel

WWE Studios is bringing “See No Evil” back to life, producing a sequel with Lionsgate to the horror film that will again star wrestler Kane as a psychopath that goes on a killing spree.

“See No Evil” was the first film that WWE produced through its film division, and went on to earn $19 million worldwide when it was released in 2006 — its biggest hit until this year’s Halle Berry thriller “The Call,” which generated $52 million to date.

Production on “See No Evil 2″ will start in the fall, with identical twin helmers the Soska Sisters Jen and Sylvia (“American Mary”) set to direct. They are also among the directors that will contribute to the anthology series “ABCs of Death 2.”

Kane will return as the reclusive madman Jacob Goodnight, who rises from the dead in the city morgue after his killing spree at the Blackwell hotel and goes after a group of medical students who fight to survive. Nathan Brookes and Bobby Lee Darby are co-writing the script...More?

source: variety.com

Video: The Wyatt Family attacks Kane

Kane Challenges State Official To A Debate Over Internet Sales Tax

TimesFreePress.com reports that WWE Tag Team Champion Kane has challenged Tennessee Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey to a debate on the proposed internet sales tax. Ramsey supports the tax, which if implemented, would require Internet companies to charge taxes on goods sold when they are shipped to those states.

Video: The Shield and 3MB barge in on Triple H's return to SmackDown

Interview with Kane

On the possibility of snow at WrestleMania this year: "Who knows what's going to happen, right?This may be the first Wrestlemania that they bring the snowplows out. This is going to be really interesting."

If he was surprised the Undertaker came back this year: "Not really. He's still got some gas left in the tank. If you're going to be on the show, this is the show to be on, right? And of course, he's a guy who really loves the business and loves to be out there. So, that didn't surprise me at all, no."

If the locker room is jealous of the "part time" wrestlers like the Rock and Lesnar: "I don't think so, because what we try to do is parlay that into better business all around. When the Rock comes back, that takes to a completely different level. The interest he generates is mainstream. It's beneficial, more so than anyone else can do, frankly. Any petty jealousies that there might be need to be set aside, because we all benefit. It's like when people say I don't like so and so because they're in the top spot, and I'm like well I do like them because I get to work with them and make more money. That's how I look at it, and I think everybody does. We all benefit from those guys, and the excitement and tension they generate."

If he was surprised how much Team Hell No caught on: "Yeah, I was, and also the fact that it was such a departure from what I normally do. For me anyway, maybe that's why it worked so well, because it was such a contrast from what Kane has done in the past. Despite the fact that I'm dealing with Daniel Bryanall the time, which is an enormous pain, I've actually had a really good time and a lot of fun doing that angle because it has been something different. It gives me some versatility and being able to show a side of Kane that people haven't seen before makes the character a lot more well rounded. You're not just a monster, you're a monster who can crack jokes."

List of Superstar Names, Dates & Times Scheduled For VIP Sessions at WrestleMania Axxess Events

The following is a list of superstar names, dates & times scheduled for VIP sessions during this year's WrestleMania Axxess events. You can purchase tickets beginning next week via Ticketmaster.com:

Thursday, April 4 - Session 6:00pm-10:00pm

CM PUNK
RIC FLAIR

Friday, April 5 - Session 6:00pm-10:00pm

UNDERTAKER
JOHN CENA

Saturday, April 6 - Session 8:00am-12:00pm

KANE

Saturday, April 6 - Session 1:00pm-5:00pm

TRIPLE H
RANDY ORTON

Saturday, April 6 - Session 6:00pm-10:00pm

SHEAMUS

Sunday, April 7 - Session 8:00am-12:00pm

BIG SHOW
REY MYSTERIO

Sunday, April 7 – Session 12:30pm-4:30pm

SHAWN MICHAELS
BRET HART

Debuting Playbook's WWE Power Rankings

Oh, you didn’t know?! ESPN’s power rankings are expanding to capture the madmen of the mat, ranking the best in the business in terms of match strength, promo skills, showmanship, and suplexes. Every week, we’re reacting to "Raw" and "Smackdown" to give you our thoughts about some of the best athletes in the world.

And before you head to the comments with the whole “it’s fake!” talk, we realize the outcomes are predetermined in the same way you should realize there’s no way to fake getting press-slammed on top of a ladder. The ribs hurt whether or not the outcome is legit, and we’re showing respect to the athletes/performers who put their bodies on the line every week to entertain millions of “yes!” screaming fans.

This week’s episode of "Raw" saw some brutal bumps in the hard-hitting Tables, Ladders and Chairs match between CM Punk and Ryback, an awesome show of strength and athleticism by Antonio Cesaro, and an introduction to the term “cookie puss” to the wrestling vernacular.

More?

This Day In Wrestling History

Shawn Michaels defeats Triple H, Kane, Chris Jericho, Booker T & Rob Van Dam in an Elimination Chamber to capture the World Heavyweight Title.
November 17, 2002

This was the first Elimination Chamber match and was Triple H's idea. An except from wwe.com:

There are many stipulation matches in WWE designed to intimidate, threaten and menace the Superstars chosen to compete in them — but there's only one that inspires actual terror.

Sitting in his stately office inside Titan Tower, Triple H cuts the same imposing figure now as the man who won a record four Chamber bouts in the past. "What people don't understand is the metal grating outside the ring is the same grating they make the stage with," he explains. "It's designed to support thousands of pounds, so there's no give at all. Then there are the walls themselves, which are made of thick metal chain. And at first, you think, 'Oh well, the chain moves a little bit.' But it's actually worse, because the chain shifts about an inch and a half, even though it's all connected, so it's like you're hitting a steel wall. And it's a bumpy steel wall that digs into you everywhere."

Interestingly, WWE's most hated and feared stipulation match was spawned from the mind of The Cerebral Assassin himself a decade ago. The company was looking for concepts for matches that might spin off into yearly events similar to the Royal Rumble, and The Game was ready with a winning idea.

The ambitious concept was well received, and the creative team set about turning Triple H's vision into reality. Of course, when he saw it, Triple H realized that he'd gotten far more than he had bargained for. "In typical WWE form, it was twice as big as I envisioned it and twice as elaborate," he remembers. "We don't do anything small, so I should have known better. When I stood in it for the first time, I thought, 'Jeez. Please don't tell anybody this was my idea!' "

Survivor Series Teams Shake-Up

Oh, how quickly things change. Just last week it looked like WWE Champion CM Punk would be captaining a squad of Superstars against Mick Foley’s hand-selected team in a Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team Match, and now The Second City Saint is gearing up for a title defense at WWE’s fall classic against both John Cena and former Team Foley member Ryback.

Thanks to the head-spinning turn of events facilitated by Raw Managing Supervisor Vickie Guerrero (with a gentle nudge from WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon) on the Nov. 5 edition of Raw, both teams have undergone radical transformations. Team Punk has replaced two members, starting at the top, and is now known as Team Ziggler, while Team Foley finds itself in need of a fifth member.

The alterations for the former Team Punk began when original team member The Miz criticized The Second City Saint’s leadership, or lack thereof, and informed Paul Heyman that he wanted no part of the WWE Champion’s unit.

Still thinking Punk would be a team captain come Nov. 18, Heyman aggressively sought out the services of Wade Barrett, who agreed to join in exchange for a yet-to-be-named favor from Heyman.

With his team seemingly at full capacity once more, Punk then had the ultimate rug pulled out from beneath him when Vickie announced that the WWE Championship will be defended at Survivor Series against both Ryback and Cena in a Triple Threat Match.

Sensing an urgent need to rebuild the Survivor Series teams, The Queen Diva subsequently moved Dolph Ziggler into position as the team’s new captain — a development that delighted The Showoff. Meanwhile, the rest of the former Team Punk — Alberto Del Rio and The Rhodes Scholars — remains intact, for now.

source: wwe.com

WWE Studios Updates On The Scooby Doo Movie With Several Superstars And No One Lives

Variety reports that the working title for WWE's Scooby Doo movie that comes out in 2014 is "Scooby Doo: The Curse of the Ghost Bear." As we have noted, the movie will feature voice roles by Triple H, John Cena, Kane, The Miz, Brodus Clay, Santino Marella, Sin Cara, AJ Lee and Vince McMahon.

Variety also reports that Anchor Bay Films has acquired the theatrical distribution rights for WWE Studios' No One Lives, which features Brodus Clay. The movie will be released in theaters throughout North America, Europe and Australia. No word yet on the date...More?

Team Punk and Team Foley Set For Survivor Series

Team Punk consists of the WWE Champion himself, Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow, the Miz and Alberto del Rio.

Team Foley will consist of Randy Orton, Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston, Team Hell No, and Ryback.

While Mick Foley will not be wrestling with Team Foley in the Survivor Series main event, Foley will be at ringside cheering his team on. Team Punk will have Paul Heyman and Ricardo Rodriguez at ringside.

This Day In Wrestling History

Mayor Bosse and the Sheriff of Evansville, IN confiscate the $2,756 in ticket sales from the previous night's match on the basis that they believe the Stecher-Lewis match was "not on the square" and was in fact "rigged." Mayor Bosse then proclaims that there would be no more wrestling in Evansville. Show promoter W. F. Barton is left with just $13 after the incident and claimed to owe $400 to the wrestlers.
October 21, 1915

All Japan Pro Wrestling holds it's first ever show at Machida City Gym in Tokyo, Japan. The show is headlined by a two out of three fall tag team match, with Bruno Sammartino & Terry Funk defeating Giant Baba & Thunder Sugiyama. Funk pinned Sugiyama to win the first fall, Sugiyama pinned Funk to win the second, and Baba & Sugiyama were counted out in the final fall.
October 21, 1972

Ernie Ladd defeats Carlos Colon in San Juan, Puerto Rico for the WWC North American Heavyweight Title.
October 21, 1974

Ken Patera defeats Tony Atlas to win his second NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title in Greensboro, North Carolina.
October 21, 1978

Bret Hart, ending months of rumors and speculation, signs a 20-year contract with the World Wrestling Federation, turning down a lucrative offer from WCW. As part of the agreement, which will see Hart become a part of the WWF office following his in-ring career, Bret is allowed to go into the ring during a live edition of Raw and discuss his decision. Hart does not blast WCW (as some within WWF were hoping), but does reveal that he is staying with the WWF. One year later, Vince McMahon would be asking Bret to drop the WWF Title to Shawn Michaels at the Survivor Series and releasing him from the contract, beginning the most famous story in wrestling history, the Montreal Screwjob.
October 21, 1996

Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeats Marc Mero the WWF Intercontinental Title, his first title in WWF/E.
October 21, 1996

Chris Jericho defeated The Rock for the WCW Heavyweight title.
October 21, 2001

Triple H simulated sex with a mannequin while dressed as Kane, in the infamous Katie Vick necrophilia skit.
October 21, 2002

Interview with Kane

This Day InWrestling History

Razor Ramon won a 20 man Battle Royal for the WWF(E) Intercontinental title.
September 27, 1993

The WWF(E) Heavyweight title declared vacent when Kane and the Undertaker both pin Steve Austin in a three-way match.
September 27, 1998

WWE's 15 Best World Heavyweight Champs

#1 Triple H
#2 Batista
#3 Edge
#4 The Undertaker
#5 King Booker
#6 Sheamus
#7 Rey Mysterio
#8 Mark Henry
#9 John Cena
#10 Chris Jericho
#11 CM Punk
#12 Kane
#13 Randy Orton
#14 Daniel Bryan
#15 Goldberg

WWE Studios to Co-Produce Scooby Doo Film & Superstars Provide Voice Work

According to Deadline.com, WWE Studios and Warner Brothers are co-producing an animated Scooby-Doo film.

The project is expected to go straight to DVD. The plot will be centered around a mystery at WrestleMania.

Triple H, John Cena, Kane, The Miz, Brodus Clay, Santino Marella, Sin Cara, AJ, and Vince McMahon, are all expected to appear as animated characters and voices used in the story.

Press Release

WWE's 'Monday Night Raw' Packs 1,000 Episodes Under Its Belt

It sounds like an episode of Glee: An on-again, off-again couple finally decide to get engaged, and two separate dance numbers — one involving a disco ball — break out amid a heap of betrayal, wars of words and a few sneak attacks.

But the only thing this program's stars do with glee is hit each other with flying elbow drops off the top rope.

This is Monday Night Raw, World Wrestling Entertainment's wild and woolly live weekly show on the USA Network. Tonight in St. Louis (8 ET/PT), it celebrates its 1,000th episode, a major milestone in the streak of the longest-running weekly episodic program in TV history with no reruns.

In addition to Raw, the WWE has its Friday night Smackdown show on Syfy, and WWE Main Event will air on Ion on Wednesdays starting Oct. 3. That's in addition to 12 pay-per-view events a year and a huge presence on social media.

"It's like an athletic soap opera in some respects, and that's what grabs people," says Glenn Jacobs, a 6-foot-7 mountain of a man who plays the masked monster Kane.

The program has been a cable ratings giant itself over the years, pulling in a consistent and fanatical 5 million people each Monday. "They get acclaim for their original series, but Raw is one of the core reasons USA has been the most-watched cable network for the last six years," says Brad Adgate, senior vice president for research at Horizon Media.

Part of the show's success has been that its target viewers — teens and young men — tend to be hard for shows and advertisers to reach, Adgate says. "These are the ones who are playing video games or going online to watch YouTube."

Raw is more than just a TV show, though. Since its first airing on Jan. 11, 1993, it has been a traveling circus of good-guy/bad-guy drama (or, in wrestling parlance, babyfaces vs. heels), airborne physicality, standup comedy, Broadway showmanship, vaudevillian shenanigans and colorful characters, in a new arena and city every week.

The show moves to three hours starting tonight when it originates from the Scottrade Center and popular stars of WWE past, including Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Bret Hart and Mick Foley, share the wrestling ring with today's talent. The tattooed WWE champion CM Punk will defend his title against John Cena, the square-jawed face of the organization, in a battle of fan favorites, and there will be a "wedding" of that engaged couple, Daniel Bryan and his eccentric tomboy girlfriend AJ Lee.

Historically, wrestling weddings don't go all that smoothly, and Raw production designer Jason Robinson would know. His team will do everything from picking out the rings to designing the setup for the vows, and he has done several weddings in his nearly 17 years with WWE.

He has also blown up a limo and a bus on live TV, driven everything from a Zamboni to a milk truck to the ring, and split the stage so someone could drive a tank through it.

"I guess whatever happens next Monday will be the next craziest thing," Robinson says backstage at last week's broadcast from Mandalay Bay Resort and Hotel.

No ceilings

Wrestling has been a fixture on television since its earliest days in the 1950s. But its popularity really soared into pop culture in the 1980s with outsized personalities (and physical specimens) such as Hulk Hogan and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.

Vince McMahon, the WWE CEO who has run the company since 1980, never dreamed of having 1,000 episodes as a goal, "but I have some pretty wild dreams, and have all my life," he says. "I don't know limitations until they really slap me in the face."

His business philosophy is to never have a ceiling, which is why he has expanded his media empire to include a WWE Films brand and an upcoming WWE Network.

"Many years ago, I had a chief financial officer say, 'Vince, you make your money on pay-per-view, so why do all this other crap?' Without all the other stuff we do, pay-per-view doesn't work," says the CEO, whose PPV revenues are up 30% after setting a record with 1.3 million buys for Wrestlemania 28 in April.

McMahon has involved himself in the on-screen action as well, playing an evil version of himself. When Raw debuted in 1993, though, he was just an announcer.

That first episode kept the old-school style of fans' favorite heroes and villains squashing hapless weaker opponents (known in the parlance as "jobbers"). But when rival World Championship Wrestling, owned at the time by media mogul Ted Turner, began airing its Nitro program opposite Raw, "having value in the matches became the most important thing," says David Shoemaker, who writes about wrestling for the websites Grantland and Deadspin.

"We had to build a better mousetrap," says McMahon, whose current competition "across the board is all forms of entertainment."

Back in the day, a Cena/Punk contest would have been held for a WrestleMania or other pay-per-view event. Now, headliner matches are a staple of every Raw.

Fans watching the show at the arena or on their couches see only the spectacle of such a match. But the actual live broadcast is the end to a long and hectic day for wrestlers as well as crew members.

On the morning of the 999th Raw at Mandalay Bay, 14 semis of equipment roll in to put up the ring, a huge HD panel, assorted lights and pyrotechnics in around four hours. Then the creative types show up, including McMahon, for the daily production meeting to go over what will happen on Raw, from wrestlers' story-building "promos" to what tweaks are needed for the script.

Sans mask and in athletic wear, Jacobs is the first in-ring talent in the building and attends the meeting. He's a 17-year mainstay on Raw, but he has been toying with the idea of moving to that less-bruising side of the industry when he hangs up his size-15 boots. "Now that I have seen a little more about the production side of it," he says, "you realize how impressive doing a live television show every week is, and everything that goes into it and the changes that have to be made as you're going along."

Many of those alterations are made in rehearsals before the arena is open for the live audience. Producers go over matches and segments with the wrestlers in a TV writers' room of sorts, and clad in a headset, Paul Levesque, the WWE's executive vice president of talent and live events — he performs under the moniker "Triple H" — makes sure the smallest details will run smoothly. (He also happens to be McMahon's son-in-law.)

At the "Gorilla position" just behind the staging (named for the late wrestling and announcing great Gorilla Monsoon), wrestlers get last-minute instructions on matches, and referees also have in-ear monitors for audibles during the action.

"Raw is live, and it's live right up until we're done, which means we're changing stuff," says Levesque, who will flip the script on the fly depending on crowd reaction. "The reality of our business is fans control the content. They control who's the most popular, who's the most hated, because we really go where they're going."

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Detailed Raw Stats From First 999 Episodes

Arda Ocal of theScore Television Network has conceived an info-graphic with stats from the first 999 episodes of RAW, including which WWE superstars have had the most matches on RAW, how many times cities / states have hosted RAW, how many title matches and certain specialty matches have occurred on RAW.

...More?