WWE Working on 50th Anniversary Project

According to pwinsider.com, WWE is working on a book to chronicle the 50th anniversary of the company. There is no word on when the book will be released at this time.

Linda McMahon's New Positions

Linda McMahon announced on her Facebook account the she will now be the chair of the board's Student Affairs/Athletics Committee at Sacred Heart University. In addtion, the following press release was issued today:

FORMER WWE CEO LINDA MCMAHON JOINS APCO’S INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL

Washington, D.C. (June 27, 2013) - Linda McMahon, former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), joins APCO Worldwide as a member of the firm's International Advisory Council (IAC), founder and CEO Margery Kraus announced today.

"Linda is a savvy business leader who grew a small, regional company into a global brand that is a leader in the entertainment sector," said Kraus. "Her firsthand experience in branding, rapid growth, market entry and transformation will allow our clients to have access to even greater insights as they deal with these issues that confront all successful business leaders. We are truly excited to have Linda join our team."

McMahon brings a strong background in executive leadership within the entertainment industry to APCO, having grown WWE from a 13-person operation to a publicly traded company with global operations delivering its entertainment to 650 million homes worldwide. In 2007, she was named one of Multichannel News' "Wonder Women," which recognized her accomplishments as a leader in the U.S. cable industry.

"I'm excited to work with the strong group of IAC members and contribute to APCO’s industry-leading thinking on corporate positioning, branding and market entry," said McMahon. "Having successfully grown WWE into a global brand, I know firsthand how critical such advice can be when your goal is a true transformation."

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TNA Hires Recently Released, Long Time WWE Executive

TNA has issued a press release noting that the company has hired John "Big" Gaburick, who was recently released from his long time executive position in WWE. Gaburick was hired as TNA's Executive Vice President of Television Production, and the following is an excerpt from the press release:

"I’ve always admired Dixie Carter and TNA as a uniquely dynamic and growing organization,” aaid Gaburick. "This opportunity marks an exciting new challenge for me, and I am honored to join the team."

Dixie Carter also commented on the hiring by saying, "As TNA evolves, John’s award-winning creative vision and production expertise coupled with his sports and entertainment industry business savvy make him the perfect person to push us in new directions," Carter said. "He is a gifted and innovative storyteller, and we are thrilled to have him on board."

Good News for Triple H

One of Paul Levesque's business units is up almost 10%:

Here are some WWE business notes for May 2013:

* The average live event attendance was 4,438 paid per show, up 9.9% from May 2012

* WWE shipped 305,000 DVD units in May, up from 301,000 in 2012

* WWE.com did 13.5 million unique visitors last month, the same as May 2012

* WWE’s shop website took 613 orders per day last month, the same as May 2012

Rumor Mill - Physical WWE HOF Update

It looks like the physical WWE Hall of Fame will be heading to TNA's old home after all, the Universal theme park in Orlando, Florida. Word from the park is that the NBA City table-service location is shutting down and there's talk it will be remodeled as the WWE Hall of Fame.

Rumor Mill - Details on Recent WWE Creative Changes, Why WWE Asked David Kreizman to Stay, More

WWE head writer David Kreizman was talked into staying until mid-August because his original direction of things were building to SummerSlam and they wanted him to stay until the completion of his direction. Plus, WWE wants him to help train whoever they hire as his replacement. There was a feeling that the new writer would have problems with the pressure building to SummerSlam, whereas now he can ease into the role, get comfortable from September through December before the WrestleMania season pressure starts.

Regarding the creative situation, Stephanie McMahon's role has been minimized as she's only involved when needed. Brian James has been put into creative because they want someone who has a pro wrestling perspective to be in with the soap opera and TV writers because Michael Hayes isn't in the office regularly anymore. Hayes is on conference via phone at major meetings but they want a wrestling person at the meetings as well.

When it comes to the re-writes on Mondays and Tuesdays, David Kapoor (Ranjin Singh) has been in charge of those but his position has changed. Kapoor delegates the workload to the writers after Vince McMahon makes all the changes. He also interacts with TV people, the App people and the WWE.com people to make sure they all know of the changes.

Ed Koskey is now the lead writer for RAW while Ryan Ward, who got rave reviews for his work as NXT's writer, has been promoted to the lead writer of SmackDown.

source: wrestling observer

WWE Main Event Results 6/26/13

How Ring Of Honor Is Handling The Departure Of The Briscoe Brothers

Following up on Jay and Mark Briscoe, here is how Ring of Honor is handling their departures in storyline:

Last weekend in Baltimore was a physically brutal one for both World Champion Jay Briscoe and his “Best in the World 2013” challenger Mark Briscoe. The brothers tore into one another in one of the more physical championship battles and it ultimately required Jay to utilize multiple Jay Drillers in order to put his brother down for the three count. Unfortunately, as a result of those maneuvers and the general punishment suffered in the bout, Mark Briscoe was forced out of his spot in the Steel Cage Warfare bout that went down during the following day’s “Ring of Honor Wrestling” TV Tapings.

As for Jay, the day of those tapings he defended his title once again, this time against S.C.U.M’s Matt Hardy and although he was victorious in the bout, following the match the champion was viciously assaulted with a steel chair by S.C.U.M and left laying.

Unfortunately, ROHWrestling.com has since learned that, as a result of the injuries sustained during “Best in the World” weekend, both Jay and Mark will be out of action indefinitely. Mark suffered severe head trauma as a result of the bout with his brother while Jay apparently has a fractured shoulder and torn rotator cuff coming from the assault at the hands of S.C.U.M. At this point it is unknown how long Jay and Mark will be out of action but we will stay on top of the story to provide you with details, as they are made available to us.

ROHWrestling.com also contacted Match Maker Nigel McGuinness for an update on how this would affect the championship held by Jay Briscoe and he informed us that there will be an announcement made soon regarding the status of the ROH World Title. Nigel did inform us that he intended to announce this week that Michael Elgin would receive his championship opportunity on August 3rd in Toronto but now that is in question. ROHWrestling.com has heard rumors that with Elgin scheduled to be the next man in line for a shot, he may be awarded the World Title due to forfeit.

All of the events that led to this will be seen on “Ring of Honor Wrestling” TV broadcasts over the course of the next several weeks or you will be able to see it all unfold very shortly courtesy of the Early Bird TV options here on ROHWrestling.com.

Stay tuned for more details on the status of the World Title as they are made available…

Video: Triple H encourages Vickie Guerrero to give Daniel Bryan his rematch with Randy Orton: Raw, June 24,

Briscoes Gone From Ring of Honor

PWTorch has learned that ROH World champion Jay Briscoe and his brother, Mark Briscoe, are gone from Ring of Honor for the foreseeable future. (The status of the ROH Title is unknown at this time.)

The Briscoes's contracts expired and will not be renewed at this time. The decision was made in response to Jay's tweets in early May vowing to shoot anyone who teaches his children about marriage between same-sex couples.

PWTorch has learned that Sinclair Broadcasting, the publicly-traded company that owns ROH, recently became aware of the tweets. ROH had previously tried to handle the issue in-house by having Briscoe issue a public apology and donate his pay from two shows.

Both Briscoes were written off television at Sunday's TV taping in Baltimore, Md. Jay's storyline injury is that he re-injured his shoulder and Mark's injury is that he suffered a "severe concussion." Despite Jay being written off TV, ROH kept the ROH Title on Jay, who defeated Matt Hardy with a small package in their title match taped for television this summer. After the match, S.C.U.M. delivered a vicious-looking beat down on both Briscoes to write them off television.

There is currently talk within the organization that he and Mark are "headed for greener pastures," which could mean a potential WWE developmental deal. However, there is also talk that the duo may just be on hiatus.

Raw Results 6/24/13

The Newest Member of the WWE Announcing Team Is...

Alex Riley has replaced the departed Matt Striker on WWE Superstars. For those who missed it, WWE opted not to renew Striker's contract last week. He is done with the company.