SmackDown Moving To Thursdays Beginning Oct. 2 On SyFy

WWE SmackDown is moving to Thursday nights. SyFy has updated their schedule to reveal the move will take place on Thursday, October 2, 2014. You can view the full schedule at this link.

RGIII’s Teammate Likens Him to John Cena, Talks Playing with Big E in College

Stephanie McMahon on sexism, sacrifices and keeping romance alive

Not familiar with Stephanie McMahon? You could be forgiven.

The pro-wrestler and Chief Brand Officer at WWE doesn’t have much time to play the fame game.

She’s busy representing World Wrestling Entertainment Inc – of which she is CBO - in the 150 countries in which they operate, defeating fellow wrestlers in front of millions and raising her three daughters at the home she shares with fellow wrestler Paul Levesque.

Unlikely as it might seem, I am an unapologetic WWE fan despite my 30 years. And for many young fans like me (I started watching at 12), Stephanie was an idol.

She was strong, she was fierce, she was unapologetic and she held her own in the male dominated world of pro wrestling.

Where every other woman I was being encouraged to idolise was stripping off in music videos or falling drunkenly out of a nightclub, here was a woman whose body was strong, whose strength was palpable, whose ambition was worn like a badge of honour.

Stephanie McMahon made her WWE debut at the tender age of 22. She is the daughter of Vince McMahon, who is Chairman of the company to this day.

She became Women’s Champion a year after her debut and, alongside stars like The Rock, Chyna and Stone Cold Steve Austin, hers was one of the golden ages for the WWE.

She worked for the company, on reception, design and TV production during her performing career and was made executive vice president of Creative in 2007.

In 2003 she married fellow wrestler Paul Levesque, Triple H, and in 2006 the couple welcomed their first daughter.

She continues to perform to this day and, she tells me, took her first two girls on tour with her for three years of their lives.

In person Stephanie, 37, is warm, engaging and forthcoming – quite the opposite of the villainous character she plays on WWE. Yet there’s no denying a steel that lies beneath and as the face of the business it’s little surprise that she answers questions in perfect sound bites.

I meet her in London’s Zetter Townhouse - she jetted in from Rome that morning and is off to Berlin first thing tomorrow.

She’s fiercely proud to be a working mum and grateful for the recent trend – galvanised in the USA by Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In – for a more open discussion about a woman’s right to have a family and a successful career...More?

source: stylist.co.uk

TNA Impact Wrestling Viewership Drops On New Night

The first Wednesday edition of Impact Wrestling on Spike TV drew 852,000 viewers which is down on the 1,126,000 viewers it did for the Thursday edition in the week previous.

TNA and Spike would have expected the drop but will hope to make up the loss in the weeks to come.

Rumor Mill - Daniel Bryan May Need Tommy John Surgery

David Shoemaker, author of The Squared Circle: Life, Death and Professional Wrestling, posted on Twitter that he heard that Daniel Bryan needs “Tommy John” surgery which could keep him out for another three months.

What is Tommy John?

WebMD: "Tommy John surgery repairs an injured elbow ligament. It's most commonly done on college and pro athletes, especially baseball pitchers. But it's sometimes done on younger people as well."

This surgery usually requires more than three months recovery time.

Update on Shane McMahon's Company - YOU On Demand

China's VOD movie market remains a question mark after high-profile service generates just $183,000 in quarterly revenue

China’s digital movie service You On Demand Aug. 18 posted a second-quarter (ended June 30) net loss of $793,000 — a marked improvement from a net loss of $3.3 million during the prior-year period, according to a regulatory filing.

The subscription streaming and transactional VOD service, with headquarters in New York and Beijing, has over the years secured high-profile content license agreements with Disney Media Distribution, Paramount Pictures, NBC Universal, Warner Bros., Miramax, Lionsgate and Magnolia, as well as a broad selection of content from Chinese filmmakers.

Yet the service generated just $183,000 in revenue in the second quarter, which was up from $51,000 in revenue during the prior-year period. These are hardly impressive numbers in a Chinese market where more than 700 million people are projected to watch online video content this year.

To help secure better connections in China, You On Demand recently appointed Weicheng Liu as CEO, replacing Shane McMahon, who remains chairman of the board. Marc Urbach is president and CFO of the company.

China remains a burgeoning movie-watching market, with theatrical sales expected to become the largest in the world in a couple of years. Social media sites such as Youku and Tudou have hundreds of millions of unique monthly users, but online digital distribution remains a challenge.

Lionsgate is launching a SVOD service in China this month. The service is a partnership with Alibaba, one of the country’s largest e-commerce sites, and includes the latter’s set-top boxes and connected TVs.

Dubbed “Lionsgate Entertainment World,” the service would also include transactional video-on-demand and electronic sellthrough, featuring the Santa Monica, Calif.-based studio’s catalog of movies and TV shows, including The Hunger Games, Divergent, “Nashville,” Rosemary’s Baby and “Mad Men,” among others.

“It’s another way for us to get content into the Chinese market with a great partner,” Jim Packer, president of worldwide television and digital distribution at Lionsgate, told Bloomberg last month. “We’re always exploring opportunities in China, it’s a growing content market, it’s a content market you have to be in.”

Meanwhile, a 2011 McKinsey & Co. report found that successful online video sites would need to expand their bandwidth; hire experienced online advertising salespeople, and license content that will would generate the largest audiences and advertising.

“The best-funded sites are therefore likely to pull steadily ahead, in what could be a winner-takes-all phase of the market,” analyst Alan Lau wrote.

You On Demand’s fiscal results suggest it will take more than content to lure users.

source: homemediamagazine.com

Hyde Park-Image Nation and WWE Studios Team Up For Celebrity Death Pool Comedy

Top WWE Stars Reportedly Side with Alberto Del Rio, Will He Speak Out In the US Soon?, More

Alberto Del Rio will reportedly be doing media appearances in the United States soon to go into more details about what happened with his WWE departure. Del Rio's representatives have contacted indie wrestling promoters in the US and said that Del Rio will be taking bookings for autograph signings and matches in the US very soon because he doesn't feel that WWE's one-year non-compete that keeps him from doing MMA and pro wrestling, while not paying him, will hold up in court. Del Rio's asking price for indie bookings is said to be extremely high.

Del Rio has been upset about WWE's social media worker Cody Barbierri not being fired for the incident they were involved in but for legal reasons, hasn't been saying anything like that publicly. At first Del Rio was going to speak out in the US media but decided against it. Now, his lawyers have reportedly given him the green light to speak out in the US.

It was also reported by those close to the situation that when Triple H called Del Rio about the departure, he told Del Rio to keep his nose clean and when the heat died down, they would re-hire him in 6 months. Del Rio said he wasn't interested in coming back. Top stars including Big Show, Randy Orton and John Cena all told Del Rio that they would push for him to be re-hired because most of the locker room was sympathetic to what had happened. Again, Del Rio made it clear he didn't want to come back.

Rumor Mill - What Happened with Triple H & Mysterio When His WWE Deal Expired, More on Rey's Status

Rey Mysterio was essentially forced to stay under contract with WWE for one more year due to a clause in WWE contracts that allows the company to extend a contract if their performers miss a certain amount of time due to injuries.

When Rey's WWE contract expired this year, he reportedly told Triple H that he was not interested in renewing the deal. The two reportedly had a handshake agreement that WWE and Rey would go their separate ways.

Vince McMahon then had Mark Carrano from Talent Relations call Rey to inform him that they were renewing his deal for one more year based on that clause.

Rey is still out of action with a hand injury and has not appeared for them since January. With him living in California, there was some talk last week of bringing him to SummerSlam for media appearances but that obviously did not happen, possibly because WWE didn't want the questions about his status coming up.

WWE Network Exceeds Companies Expectations In Canada

The launch of WWE Network in Canada has been huge success and exceeded the companies expectations according to Dave Meltzer on the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Radio.

WWE has struggled to gain subscribers in the U.S. since the online-only version launched in February. For the Canadian market they adopted a different approach. Instead of offering an online channel, WWE teamed up Rogers Communications and launched the Network as a premium cable television station.

There was concern that offering the Network in this manner might not appeal as it has a higher price point at launch of $11.99 per month, opposed to $9.99 (U.S) and limited video library, in fact there are only several archived PPV's to watch but it does include 13 of the companies monthly PPV's which works out a better deal.

WWE will be watching this success closely and know there is still a much larger audience to gain in Canada considering Rogers Communications makes up only 25% of the market share.

Stephanie McMahon Presents Award to Komen Founder

Stephanie McMahon presented Nancy Brinker, founder of Susan G. Komen, with the Cynopsis Media Impact Award at tonight's Women of Action event at the New York Athletic Club in New York City.

Photo: Triple H Reveals the New WWE World Heavyweight Championship