May 23, 2012
This Day in Wrestling History - Owen Hart Passes Away
Owen Hart died in a tragic fall during the WWF(E) PPV "Over the Edge"
May 22, 2012
Chinese Company Buys AMC Theaters; Possible Blow to Shane McMahon's Co.
Shane McMahon is the Chairman and CEO of YOU on Demand, which offers customers in China movies on demand. The company has been struggling financially and Shane recently loaned the company $3 million dollars after making an initial investment of $4 million dollars in 2009.
The LA Times reports that a Chinese company has purchased AMC theaters which will provide the Chinese access to potentially acquiring rights to many more US based movies. First showings in a theater may hurt McMahon's on-demand business. The article follows:
Wanda Group of China buys AMC Entertainment
The owner of China’s largest movie theater circuit took a big leap forward into the U.S. market, acquiring AMC Entertainment Inc., the nation’s second-largest theater chain, the latest in a flurry of high-profile deal-making between the countries’ entertainment industries.
Dalian Wanda Group, a Chinese conglomerate, said in a statement that it had reached an agreement to acquire AMC’s 5,034 screens in 346 theaters in the U.S. and Canada.
For Wanda, the acquisition of AMC gives the Chinese theater operator a pipeline into two of the world’s largest theater markets, giving it more clout in negotiating with major Hollywood studios that are eager to expand into the rapidly growing Chinese market. The AMC acquisition fits China’s strategy of forming alliances with American companies to expand its homegrown entertainment industry...More?
source: latimes.com
WWE Responds To Article Claiming The Company Is "Barely Above Pornography"
The following is from WWE.com's Stand Up For WWE page, which shows a response to an article posted in the Connecticut-based Darien Times by editor Joshua Fisher, who stated that WWE is a product "barely above pornography.":
Dear Mr. Fisher:
We are writing regarding your column that appeared in the Darien Times on May 17, 2012, where you state that WWE is a product “barely above pornography.”
Although this was an opinion piece, your position as editor of the Darien Times would ethically require you to report the facts accurately and not distort the truth. For future editorials and news stories that may pertain to WWE, we wanted you to be aware of the facts so you clearly understand our programming content and the type of entertainment we provide to our more than 300,000 fans in the state of Connecticut and millions around the world.
All WWE television programming features only TV-PG content as rated not by us, but by the network TV distributors and their standards and practices departments. WWE weekly programming has always appeared on basic cable or broadcast television. As any casual television viewer knows, your description of our programming, based on the Federal Communications Commission rules alone, would not be permitted on broadcast television or basic cable.
WWE is family entertainment. In fact, 40 percent of the millions of fans who attend our live events bring their children. It’s insulting to these parents to think that they would condone their children watching inappropriate content. WWE may not be your personal choice of entertainment, but that does not give you the right to damage our corporate reputation.
On behalf of WWE, its 690 employees and our fans in Connecticut, we would appreciate it if you would stick to factual statements about our organization and brand. For more information on our company, please go to corporate.wwe.com and feel free to reach out to us for the facts in advance of any articles you write relating to WWE.
Sincerely,
Brian Flinn
Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications
To read the article in question, click here.
This Day in Wrestling History
Happy Birthday to Brian Pillman
May 22, 1962
Chief Jay Strongbow & Sonny King defeated Baron Mikel Scicluna for the WWWF(WWE) Tag Team title.
May 22, 1972
Lex Luger defeated Michael Hayes for the NWA U.S. Heavyweight title.
May 22, 1989
Vince Russo strips Ric Flair of WCW World Title, awarding it to Jeff Jarrett.
May 22, 2000
May 21, 2012
Your Attention is Needed for a Revolution That is Upon Us
WWE.com has posted a video hyping that a "Revolution" is coming to the company on 5/28 (next week's Monday Night Raw in New Orleans, Louisiana).
Former WWE Diva Ivory comments On Chyna, Tough Enough, Miss Kitty, More
Lisa “Ivory” Moretti was recently interviewed by RingbellesOnline.com about Stacy “The Kat” Carter using Jerry Lawler, hating the finish to her WM 17 match with Chyna and more. Here are the highlights:
On what caused her to go to the GLOW audition, and why she stuck around: “I went there because my girlfriend Nadine – who was my tag team partner Ashley – was an actress, so she got a call for an audition. So she wanted to drag me over there because we were friends from our cheerleading days… I didn’t know anything about wrestling and didn’t want to get squashed by a bunch of big, huge musclewomen but when I met Mando [Guerrero], he was the guy that turned me on to wrestling because he was so passionate about it.”
On being a Tough Enough trainer: “I wouldn’t have picked Linda Miles [to win Tough Enough 2]. I avidly said that when we had our sit-downs to decide who would stay and who would go – I mean, it was just all up to us, of course – but Linda Miles definitely has great charisma, but I knew she had an ego problem and I outwardly said ‘I will shoot myself in my foot if Linda Miles gets picked,’ because I don’t want to share a locker room with her.”
On standing up Ricky Steamboat at the Cauliflower Alley reunion last month: “I had a date with Ricky Steamboat to go to the pool and have a vodka rocks with him, the the GLOW girls said, ‘We’re all getting together for lunch, you gotta do that,’ and I was like, ‘Ooh, Ricky Steamboat and vodka or all the girls at lunch.’ And I did the girls and lunch because there are more of them and this is the beginning and we’ve all got to stick together… I hoped he would have forgotten, but then later at the banquet he reminded me, and he couldn’t find me. I was like, ‘Oh, man! Did I just blow it!’”
Her opinion of Stacy “Miss Kitty” Carter: “She was a poison. She used her Jerry Lawler card just to get on board and Jerry Lawler was an announcer, so he’s got a lot of push on who he can say great things about and interject about during his two hours on TV and then he’s also privileged to be in on the writers’ meetings. So here you’ve got a person who comes on board that has somebody rooting for them. She snuck her way into an angle with Chyna as the Mini-Me girl; look at all the stuff she got on board with that was already existing without her help – Right To Censor… she [even] got in on the Women’s Title and what did she do with it? Nothing.”
On Chyna squashing her at WrestleMania X-Seven: “She was a taker in the ring, not a giver… The only regret I have is that I should have kicked out at WrestleMania. If Mae and Moolah taught me anything, it was, ‘It’s live, do what you want to do.’ And when she lay on me like she did at the very end, I thought, ‘That is so rank’… and then the very next day at lunch, Stone Cold said to me ‘I didn’t like the way she pinned you.’ I said, ‘Me neither!’ “He said, ‘You should have kicked out.’ And I said, ‘That’s what I was thinking!’”
Rumor Mill - Ric Flair Leaving TNA?
A number of readers have asked why Ric Flair has disappeared from television and missed several TNA house shows since appearing in a Gutcheck segment on Impact Wrestling, judging Alex Silva.
Sources close to Flair and TNA have confirmed that the two sides are at a major impasse as there is a ton of heat on Flair for conduct outside the ring. It was described to me by one TNA source as, "being at the point it's not worth keeping Flair around."
There have been a number of incidents involving Flair at local establishments and bars in Orlando since coming to the company. At one point, sources indicate Flair was banned from drinking at the Hard Rock Cafe in Citiwalk due to an incident with him "acting inappropriate", according to one source, leading to venue management banishing him.
There are also stories aplenty within the company of Flair not being able to cover bar tabs and company management getting a call from the hotel and/or bar seeking payment. Most recently something similar went down at the hotel TNA utilizes for their wrestlers and staff, which the company has had a great relationship with for years, that was the final tipping point. At that point, Flair was pulled from several Louisiana house shows and the final TV Tapings before Impact Wrestling goes live on 5/31.
A similar issue led to Flair's meltdown last year on the European tour, where TNA's Craig Jenkins, after several days of fronting Flair money to cover a bar tab, refused to do so again. This led to Flair screaming at Jenkins in front of the entire crew and refusing to get on the TNA tour bus to head to the next date. Flair was left behind, missed a show and then returned to the tour the next day, apologizing to the locker room when he arrived. Publicly, Flair blamed the matter on the company not giving him "advances" like he would get when touring for WWE, citing that he was "used" to that treatment. Those comments upset people within the company because of the perception that the company "wasn't taking care of talents."
There have been a number of forces within TNA that have been against having him as a regular since he came into the company, noting that while he carries a high price tag, he hasn't translated into drawing money or ratings for the company - and now, his work in the ring isn't "Ric Flair level" anymore, but "Ric Flair level behavior" remains.
Alex Shelley Quits TNA
The Wrestling Observer reports that Shelley has made the decision to not renew his contract, which is set to expire "imminently."
WWE News: Jericho talks purpose of "creepy" vignettes, was a woman supposed to return with him?, who suggested he return without talking?
WWE star Chris Jericho says the pre-return vignettes that aired at the end of 2011 were simply supposed to reintroduce him to the TV audience and not represent anything more.
"They (fans) were looking too deep into it - WAY too deep," Jericho told the U.K. Sun in an interview. “It was just supposed to be a creepy thing. My idea was that it was the Mayan calendar in 2012 saying it’s the end of the world and I was going back and it’s the ‘end of the world as you know it.'"
Jericho says there was no change of plans after a girl was included in the vignettes. "The girl we just put in because she was creepy looking," Jericho said. "There was never supposed to be a girl coming in with me... It was exactly what it was intended to be - a cryptic little cool thing that led to me coming back and doing what I did.”
Jericho revealed that Vince McMahon suggested Jericho return to TV without saying a word to change up his standard return delivering a promo.
“That part was Vince’s idea. He was the one that suggested that and I thought it was great," Jericho said. "I like to do something different that people don’t expect. That’s what I’ve always been about, in everything I do.”
