How To Work Internet Wrestling Fans

Total Divas Recap 02/08/15

WWE NXT Hosting An Event In Cleveland, Ohio Next Month

NXT COMES TO CLEVELAND FOR THE FIRST TIME!

For the first time ever, WWE NXT comes to in Cleveland live at Agora Theatre on Friday, March 6. See WWE’s Superstars and Divas of tomorrow including NXT Champion Sami Zayn, NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte, Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, Hideo Itami, Tyler Breeze and many more. Tickets for this historic, live event go on-sale Friday, February 13th at 10 AM and start as low as $15.

WWE NXT is one of the most popular programs on WWE Network and it is taped at Full Sail University in Orlando, FL. For more information, please visit http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt

For tickets go to www.Ticketweb.com. Tickets are also available at the Agora Theatre Box office or by calling 216-881-2221

Rumor Mill - Chael Sonnen, Wanderlei Silva Meeting With WWE During WrestleMania Weekend

World Wrestling Entertainment has invited former Ultimate Fighting Championship competitors Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva to “talk” during its upcoming “WrestleMania” weekend.

“Wrestlemania 31” takes place March 29 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., and is the culmination of a week-long celebration of professional wrestling. Amongst other festivities, the promotion holds a WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony, where wrestlers and celebrities are acknowledged.

In a recent interview with “Off The Record,” Sonnen revealed that both he and “The Axe Murderer” have been invited to the Bay Area.

“I got a call from WWE,” said Sonnen. “They said, ‘Look, we have a Hall of Fame show in March. If you want to come out, we want to talk to you about some stuff.’ They laid out at that.”

When asked about what the talks would consist of, the ESPN analyst said that he didn’t know. But, with such an offer on the table, Sonnen would be hard pressed to decline.

“If they are buying me a plane ticket and they’re giving me a ticket to the show, I do enjoy that product,” Sonnen said. “I don’t know what we are talking about, but I’ll give you a little bit of a scoop: Wanderlei Silva was also invited. I don’t know if he’s accepted and I don’t know if the two are related, but there you go.” Silva acknowledged that he has been contacted by the WWE.

Wrestling and mixed martial arts run parallel in many ways, but the two have been mentioned in the same sentence with more frequency as of late with the UFC arrival of Phil Brooks. While a matchup between Sonnen and CM Punk may never come to fruition, it doesn’t seem too far fetched that the 37-year-old former No. 1 middleweight contender could end up in the squared circle before all is said and done.

Corey Graves Hosting Special NXT, Rival Kickoff Pre-show News

A special edition of WWE NXT will premiere this Tuesday night at 9pm on the WWE Network. Corey Graves will host the show and look at the events leading up to NXT Takeover: Rival.

The NXT Takeover: Rival Kickoff Pre-show is now confirmed for 7:30pm EST on the WWE Network on Wednesday night. It will feature Renee Young, Byron Saxton, Jason "Tensai" Albert and Graves.

Triple H to Host Conference Call

Triple H will be holding a conference call with the media on Tuesday to promote Wednesday's NXT Takeover event. We will have highlights shortly after it's over. He usually does a Twitter Q&A to promote the NXT events also.

Triple H Talks Putting Over Daniel Bryan At WrestleMania 30, Compares Bryan To Shawn Michaels

Part two of Jonathan Snowden's exclusive look at last year's WrestleMania is now up at The Bleacher Report. In the article, Triple H and Daniel Bryan discussed the lead up to, and execution of, their great match at WrestleMania 30. Triple H noted that he trained twice a day in preparation for the match because of the pressure when you haven't been wrestling regularly.

"It's full on, twice a day," Triple H noted. "I've got to get in shape because I know Daniel Bryan is one of the best guys in the world. And I've got to hang with him. I've got to be in there and do my part. We've told this massive story, and it all hinges on delivering. So I've got to go out there in that first match at WrestleMania and I've got to kill it and put him on that platform."

Triple H and Bryan also both talked about blending their styles for the match, including The Game chain wrestling and using the Tiger Suplex.

"I can chain wrestle. I can do all that other stuff. I just don't do it," Triple H said. "It's about doing them at the right moment, safely, with a guy you can do them with. And Daniel's a guy you can do just about anything with. He's a little bit like Shawn [Michaels] in that you can do anything with him. So pulling that out of the bag was something I could do."

Triple H noted that Bryan's entrance with the crowd doing the "Yes!" chant was a blowaway moment for him. He also said that he got "chillbumps" with how the storyline paid off for Bryan.

"I lean over to Steph, and I said, 'Look at that.' What a story. And even just thinking about it now, I get chillbumps," Triple H stated. "To be able to take that 10-month arc of a story and have it pay off for Daniel Bryan—who on every level is just the nicest guy and a guy you just want to help succeed—for every reason you just want him to be big, and then here it is. And man, it's huge. And you're just like, 'Yeah!'"

Much more is contained in the article, including Bryan's thoughts on the match and the event, more from Triple H, Bryan discussing the influence CM Punk had on smaller wrestlers and more. You can check out the full story by clicking here.

Update on Chyna’s Response to Triple H & Hall of Fame Comments; Dropping Tell-All Interview Next Week

Late Monday night Triple H was the guest on a live edition of The Steve Austin show, hosted on the WWE Network. During the interview, Triple H was asked about Joanie Laurer (aka Chyna) being inducted into the Hall of Fame, and had the following to say:

“From a career standpoint should she be in the Hall of Fame? Absolutely. It’s a bit difficult though. If an 8-year-old kid sees the Hall of Fame, and goes on the internet – ‘who is Chyna, I’m 8-years-old I’ve never heard of her, so I go type that in’ and what comes up? I’m not criticizing life-style choices. I don’t know what they were, and I don’t care to know. It’s not a morality thing or anything else, it’s just the fact of what it is, and that’s a difficult choice.”

The Game is obviously referencing Laurer’s pornography career, as the former Intercontinental Champion has starred in a number of adult films since 2004. In response, her official Twitter account (@ChynatheIcon) thanked wrestling fans for “keeping her name out there” and even hoped a “dialogue” could be started following the podcast.

Wrestlezone has since learned that the thoughts expressed Monday night were NOT made by Joanie Laurer, but rather by an individual who runs her account. She was not aware of the comments made by Triple H, and the Twitter response made does not accurately reflect her thoughts on the issue.

Chyna recently sat down with Vince Russo to vent her true feelings about the Hall of Fame, as well as issuing some never-before-heard statements about Triple H, WWE and her departure from the company. The must-see, controversial interview will go live on pyroandballyhoo.com next Monday.

ROH Reportedly Dealing with Financial Problems, Wrestlers Used for Pitch to Sinclair, More

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Ring of Honor is currently dealing with a lot of financial issues that basically come from Sinclair Broadcasting, which owns ROH, not getting more behind the company.

COO Joe Koff met with head officials at Sinclair back in December to try and get them to expand the budgets for 2015 and 2016, pushing the idea that ROH could become the #2 wrestling promotion in the country. Koff brought Adam Cole and The Briscoes to the meeting for them to do pro wrestling style promos on how TNA was losing steam moving to Destination America and that ROH could become #2 in the US. The pitch reportedly failed.

ROH's December pay-per-view, their second show on standard PPV, did just 8,000 buys and that didn't help things either. The 8,000 number is said to be under the company projections but not by a large number.

Sinclair officials told Koff to be more disciplined with spending this year. There's a feeling that Sinclair wants ROH for consistent programming on their network but are not interested in investing a lot or taking chances to build them.

These financial issues are the reason why talents like Roderick Strong, Maria Kanellis and Mike Bennett aren't under contract. As noted before, TNA, Lucha Underground and New Japan Pro Wrestling all have interest in signing the duo of Kanellis and Bennett.

Backstage Reaction To Triple H's Podcast Comments About CM Punk And RAW Being Three Hours

Regarding Triple H's comments on the live Steve Austin interview about having no beef or issues with CM Punk, most people within WWE that are talking do not believe he was telling the truth.

It came as a surprise that a higher-up like Triple H talked about how RAW should go back to 2 hours and most people in the company agree with that.

On a related note, Triple H mentioned during his interview with Michael Cole today that he heard his interview with Austin had 40% more viewers than Vince McMahon's interview with Austin.

Chyna Responds to WWE Hall of Fame Talk After Triple H Interview, Says She's Tried to Contact WWE

Former WWE star Chyna was trending on Twitter last night after Triple H and Steve Austin talked about her possibly going into the WWE Hall of Fame on their live WWE Network interview.

Chyna tweeted the following in response:

Wow. I just put my Twitter on and I have all of these messages. Never been a trending topic before. I understand that the question was asked why am I not in the HOF? I have my reason as to why however, let me make this clear. If the WWE was ever to say that I was going to be inducted, either as part of the groundbreaking DX or as an individual, well, my answer would be what a friend of mine us to say in the ring, O HELL YEAH! It just want to take a minute and thank all of the fans that keep my name out there. You have no idea what it means to me. I love you all. I have contacted the WWE several times over the years. They have not responded back.

Steve Austin - Triple H Interview Recap - Feelings on CM Punk, Chyna - HOF, Brock Lesnar's Future, More

We're live from backstage at the Pepsi Center in Denver with Steve Austin and Triple H. Austin talks about how hot fans were when sending feedback for the podcast. Austin brings up the controversy surrounding the Royal Rumble. Austin says it seems like kayfabe is dead and asks Triple H how hard it is to book with that. He says it's rough. Triple H brings up the different component that is the internet and how fans quickly see when the company gets behind someone. Triple H brings up how some places were booing Roman Reigns out of the building because they think that's the push he's getting but nobody booed him at this weekend's live events. Austin says some fans feel like Reigns hasn't earned the push yet. Triple H says there's one guy calling the shots - Vince McMahon. Triple H says the Rumble was talked over and debated. He says there were lots of suggestions. He says Vince takes all those ideas and puts them together. Triple H says nobody is perfect - Vince, himself and the writing team. He says Vince doesn't always make the right call but has a pretty good track record.

They give props to Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan for their match on RAW. Austin brings up the resentment for Reigns and Triple H says it's a tough environment. Triple H talks about how half of the people have booed John Cena while half have cheered him but he was selling out arenas. Triple H says it's hard to find the star that every single person likes. Triple H talks about how they knew who they were targeting in the Attitude Era but now there are so many age groups and demographics that they cover. Triple H mentions how dirt sheets were rare back in the day but even major media outlets give you the inside of the business these days. Austin says he hasn't seen Twitter feedback yet but believes that tonight's RAW may have quelled some of the resentment towards Reigns. He says Reigns shined tonight and what he did at the end of RAW helped him. Austin says he needed that and Triple H agrees. Triple H says people say all the time that Reigns isn't ready and Triple H says nobody is really ready for "that." Austin agrees. Triple H says you think you know what it means to be that guy until you get there and put a whole different world of pressure on yourself.

Triple H talks about how he wasn't ready in 1996 and if he would have won King of the Ring instead of Austin then he would have failed. Triple H says he knew he wasn't ready and doesn't think he would have succeeded. Austin is looking to forward to seeing how the main event picture unfolds going into WrestleMania. Triple H talks about how WWE is a never ending book and you can't really knock today because you don't know what's next. Austin asks what Triple H's exit strategy if he didn't marry Stephanie McMahon. Triple H believes he would be in a similar place, working behind-the-scenes. He says he fell in love with the creative and "making of" pro wrestling as much as the other side. He talks about falling in love with working with talents and other aspects of the business, and talking to Vince McMahon about it long before he got with Stephanie. He talks about what he gets out of working with the talents at NXT. He says hats off to Vince for allowing him that. Austin has our first Twitter question - does he think it's beneficial for a talent to go to a wrestling school and then the PC or work the indies. He says it depends on the guy. He talks about Kurt Angle and praises him, talking about how he picked up the business faster than anyone he's seen. He says sometimes it's hard to knock some of the bad habits of the indies out of a guy. Some indie guys come in and they're a sponge, some come in and think their way is the only way.

More?