Hulk Hogan Officially Booked to Return to WWE RAW This Month with Another Hall of Famer

PWInsider reports that Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart are both now officially booked for the February 24th WWE RAW from Green Bay, Wisconsin. This is the same night the WWE Network launches.

Hogan has had an agreement to return to WWE for some time following his TNA departure. Hogan was originally slated to return during the WWE Network announcement in Las Vegas but the company changed those plans the night before.

As noted, The Undertaker will also be on that RAW. Other top stars are expected to appear.

New WWE Logo Update

PWInsider reports that WWE will begin using a new company logo once the Network launches later this month. It is the same logo we've seen on Network material and the new WWE jet that Stephanie McMahon posted a photo of last week, which you can check out below:

This Day In Wrestling History - Curt "Mr. Perfect" Henning Passes Away

Curtis Michael "Curt" Hennig
March 28, 1958 – February 10, 2003

WWE Hall of Fame Profile

Men's Health Magazine Looks at Tough Women's Wrestlers

Men's Health has an article up on women's wrestlers who can kick ass. They list Aksana, Cheerleader Melissa, The Bella Twins, Gail Kim, AJ Lee, Taryn Terrell, Thea Trinidad (Rosita) and Rosa Mendes. Click here.

Valentine’s breakup: NBCUniversal and WWE may split up

This Valentine’s Day NBCUniversal will either be giving WWE a big kiss or they’ll be breaking up.

The two parties are grappling over continuation of the sport-meets-reality TV programming on NBCUniversal’s USA Network and SyFy Channel.

An exclusive negotiating period ended last week with no deal in sight. We hear the pressure is on for a deal to get done in the next few days.

An industry source told On the Money, “NBCU has until Friday, Feb. 14, to respond to WWE’s final offer.”

It’s not clear where the price tag stands, but reports have suggested the last deal was priced at $140 million, and the WWE had been looking for a leap up that gives it a similar premium accorded to sports rights.

WWE — which announced the launch of its own over-the-top network for wrestling fans at CES — is one of the few things on TV ( besides sports) that fans want to watch live.

source: nypost.com

Rumor Mill - What Caused Negotiations Between TNA Wrestling & Toby Keith to Fall Apart; Dixie Carter Responsible?

According to the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the Carter family came very close to selling TNA Wrestling to company co-founder Jeff Jarrett and country music legend Toby Keith. Jarrett reportedly put the deal together, and the two parties – Keith and Carter – even met to finalize plans.

Apparently, the deal breaker was that Bob Carter wanted to sell the company, but had one stipulation prior to making the deal: that Dixie Carter remain as on-screen TNA President, and retain some power within the company. Keith refused to make the deal with any "creative limitations" on the line, and negotiations fell apart from there.

It was at this point that both Jeff Jarrett and Toby Keith took a step back, realizing that they could build their own promotion from the ground-up. Jarrett left TNA in December.

Rumor Mill - New Name Being Discussed For a Match Against Triple H At WrestleMania 30

There are a lot of current possibilities with the WrestleMania 30 card, as we have been reporting, and the final decision has yet to be made on some of the top matches.

Inserting Daniel Bryan into the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match with Randy Orton and Batista is being discussed as we previously reported.

WrestleZone is reporting that if Bryan is put in the WWE title match, which would make a Shield triple threat match unlikely, then Triple H versus Roman Reigns is a strong possibility for the big event.

WWE is currently very high on Reigns, and the company would use the storyline of The Shield having been the henchmen for The Authority in the past year as the launching point of a singles match between Reigns and HHH.

Rumor Mill - Major name set to return to WWE during the 2/24 RAW

The Undertaker is scheduled to return to WWE during the 2/24 RAW taping in Green Bay, Wisconsin according to a report by Mike Johnson. This will be his first appearance on WWE television since the 4/26 Smackdown taping where he was put through the announce table by The Shield. Undertaker's return was described as being "locked in" within the last 48 hours and will take place on a huge night for the company coming off the Elimination Chamber PPV and the launch of the WWE Network later that night. His appearance is expected to kick off his build for another match at Wrestlemania 30 this year in New Orleans.

source: pwinsider.com

WWE Superstar John Cena Becomes Most-Liked U.S. Athlete on Facebook

WWE Superstar John Cena passed Kobe Bryant to become the most-liked active U.S. athlete on Facebook with more than 18.6 million followers.

Cena is the No. 7 most-followed athlete in the world on Facebook and has more followers than Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Roger Federer. Cena also has more Facebook followers than Kevin Durant, Michael Phelps and Tony Hawk COMBINED.

WWE has eclipsed 260 million fans through its global social media networks, further cementing its position as one of the most followed brands in the world. Currently, WWE has more than 172 million Facebook fans and 82 million Twitter followers across all of its networks. WWE’s network of Facebook pages has more followers than the NFL and its 32 teams’ pages combined.

Q&A with Mickie James

WWE Network to Edit Over The Edge 1999, Stephanie McMahon Comments on Benoit & Owen Decision

CBS Pittsburgh has published an article on WWE deciding to air the controversial Over The Edge 1999 pay-per-view on the WWE Network.

WWE issued the following statement on Friday:

“WWE Network will be airing the 1999 Over The Edge pay-per-view. However, portions of the event will be edited out of respect for Owen Hart.”

Before the Royal Rumble last month, CBS spoke with Stephanie McMahon about Over The Edge 1999 and she said they had not made a decision at that time. Stephanie did confirm that Chris Benoit matches will be on the Network.

In the video above, Stephanie said:

“They are incredible challenging decisions to make. At the end of the day, we try to do what’s right for our fans and we try to give them exactly what they want to see.”

Jim Ross Opens Up About WWE Departure

Josh Stewart of Newsday has a new piece featuring quotes from Jim Ross to promote his upcoming spoken-word tour that begins with two shows at the Gramercy Theatre in New York City on March 1, 2014. In it, JR sheds more light on the event that resulted in his departure from WWE.

The event was a “30 Years of WrestleMania” symposium by 2KSports to promote the new WWE 2K14 video game the night before SummerSlam on August 17, 2013. JR clarified it was 2KSports that hired him to moderate the Legend’s panel, not WWE. Below is an excerpt from the Newsday piece:

“I knew that when it was over, a lot of the top WWE officials were very anxious to get Ric Flair out of the facility,” Ross recalls. “So I knew there was some concern there, but I didn’t know that the concern involved me. A story started out of misinformation that I had been drinking with Flair all day. And the issue was that if they [WWE officials] had checked their schedule, I had been booked all day with WWE activities and SummerSlam that had nothing to do with Ric Flair.”

JR explained there was no script, no teleprompter and no producer. Making matters worse, Ric Flair, who was on the panel, was clearly inebriated.

“My job was to keep the rudder in the water,” Ross said. “I didn’t do that. And so, the decision was made that we part ways. And to be honest with you, and this is not looking back, or trying to cover somebody’s tracks, or cover my own [behind], I was really looking for an opportunity to move on. I wanted to get into the podcast business, I wanted to get into one-man show stuff . . . I wanted to look at other opportunities, like this Fox Sports thing that I’m doing now. And I knew I couldn’t do those things while I was under contract to the WWE. But to be honest, to be totally frank with you, I had such a loyalty to that company, and I still do, that after 20 years I didn’t know how I was going to say goodbye.”