Ricky Steamboat Confirms the WWE Status of His Son Richie Steamboat

In the video above, WWE Hall of Famer Ricky Steamboat confirms the status of his son Richie Steamboat. There has been a lot of speculation on Richie's status after he was taken out of action following a back surgery a few years ago. Ricky confirms that Richie will not be able to wrestle anymore.

Ricky noted that Richie, a former FCW Champion, injured 4 discs in his back and has had surgery but won't be able to follow in his footsteps. Ricky added that his son "gets it" and has the look for the business.

Ricky also discusses the WWE World Heavyweight Title picture coming out of WrestleMania 31 and breakout talents that have came from NXT.

Taz Currently At Odds With TNA Wrestling

TNA Wrestling announcer Taz appears to be at odds with the company, according to a report from PWInsider.com.

According to the report, Taz was supposed to attend a voice-over session this past Thursday in Nashville, Tennessee in order to record commentary for several weeks of Impact Wrestling tapings. However, Taz reportedly refused to fly to Nashville from New York, and the main factor is said to be the ongoing pay issues that have been plaguing TNA Wrestling as of late.

Taz has since removed any and all references to TNA Wrestling from his official Twitter page, and PWInsider.com further states that one of their sources declined to comment when they were asked about Taz's current relationship with the company.

In regards to the recording of commentary, it's being reported that Josh Mathews handled the duties himself in regards to the episode of Impact Wrestling that will air this coming Friday on Destination America; however, it was also noted that this could end up changing due to TNA Wrestling having until Thursday to hand the show over to the network.

Rumor Mill - TNA Stars Finally Receiving Paychecks, Backstage News On Low Morale In TNA

There were reports of TNA being behind on talent pay. PWInsider reports that talents have started to receive their checks and F4Wonline.com backs this report up, saying checks started arriving this past Friday and continued arriving Saturday and Monday. One source stated to PWInsider that talents would be receiving their March checks earlier than scheduled to try and make up for the previous delays.

Dave Meltzer described things in TNA as a lot worse than they were at the end of the Spike TV run. While talents have started receiving checks, there's still a lot of unhappiness across the company with the feeling that there is no momentum and they're not going anywhere.

Another significant problem within TNA right now is Destination America. The network is reportedly calling a lot of the shots in TNA these days with the idea that they are paying TNA and running so many hours of their programming.

Destination America officials reportedly do not like TNA Impact Wrestling being taped from the UK. They do not know the pro wrestling business at all but they didn't like the idea of TV taped outside of America airing on their Destination America channel. Destination America may not have a problem with TNA running a yearly tour overseas but they have made it clear they want Impact taped in the US most of the time.

Destination America officials wanted Kurt Angle to be the World Heavyweight Champion as they liked the idea of the champion on their network being an American gold medalist. They also are high on Taryn Terrell as Knockouts Champion because of her look.

The WWE Network just added a year's worth of 'Raw' episodes from the Attitude Era

The WWE Network allows subscribers to watch every single WWE pay-per-view that’s ever happened along with a number of original shows and classic episodes of Monday Night Raw, but there are still countless hours of weekly programming that still haven’t been released on the network. The WWE patched a big hole Monday, releasing every episode of Monday Night Raw from the first year of the Attitude Era — the period of time dominated by the likes of Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock...More?

source: usatoday.com

Linda McMahon still looms large over GOP politics

Linda McMahon had about 97 million reasons to be done with politics.

The financial hit of back-to-back defeats for the U.S. Senate hasn't suppressed the professional wrestling matriarch's appetite for the Republican brand, however.

In fact, it appears to have strengthened it, with McMahon commanding VIP invites to GOP conclaves from Wyoming to New Hampshire with other rainmakers to be wooed by the party's crop of presidential hopefuls.

Federal filings show McMahon has given more than $3 million to Republican candidates and organizations since her last run in 2012, including $700,000 to Karl Rove's American Crossroads super PAC and $100,000 to an Iowa political fund that helped combat veteran and proud pig castrater Joni Ernst get elected to the Senate.

McMahon, 66, is still behaving in many ways like a candidate, Tweeting photos from her regular speaking engagements at women's entrepreneurial events and charity appearances.

All of this begs the question: What's in it for McMahon?

"Some of the rest of these activities hint at someone who might not be ready to give up on the idea of electoral politics," said Vincent Moscardelli, an assistant political science professor at the University of Connecticut.

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Ronda Rousey Talks Wanting To Return To WWE, Things At WrestleMania No Going As Planned

UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey appeared on Piper's Pit With Roddy Piper this week and talked about her experience at this year's WrestleMania. Rousey also said that if it's up to her, she'll be back in the WWE ring.

"There's no way I'm not going back in there, though," said Rousey. "There's nothing like it. The second left, I was thinking how I could possibly go back. I hadn't even got out of my outfit yet."

Rousey said that she was nervous , but was trying to play it cool. She noted that being in a pro wrestling ring is much different than MMA, especially when it comes to nerves. She also said that working alongside the Rock and Triple H was a tall task.

"It's a tricky thing having (The Rock). He's so good at putting people over, he holds the room so intensely it's hard to not be outshone by him. Triple H and the Rock could be one of the biggest rivalries of all-time, how can we make a situation where we ignore them? That's a lot of pressure, to be captivating enough to ignore them," Rousey said.

She also said the throw she used on Triple H wasn't the one she'd planned.

"That wasn't even a throw I was planning. I made it up on the spot. I pulled it out of my ass, I don't even know what that is. It was kind of awesome to see everything planned, and everything that doesn't go according to plan. Everything that didn't go the way we wanted to go was we better than we even could have thought of," said Rousey.

Rousey and her training partners and fellow fighters Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir are huge pro wrestling fans and are collectively known as the "Four Horsewomen." Baszler also appeared for Ring of Honor, coming to the aid of former tag team champions ReDRagon.

Rousey goes on to talk about the bad blood between her and upcoming opponent Bethe Correia, what the UFC wouldn't let her do in movies, and several other topics. You can listen to the full interview over at Podcast One.

Rumor Mill - TNA Wrestlers Once Again Dealing with Pay Issues?

According to a new report from PWInsider, TNA Impact Wrestling talents are once again dealing with pay issues. One source is claiming that most of the wrestlers are now behind on two payments from the company, while a few others are saying that they are owed money from the month of February.

This is not the first time that such reports have come out over the past year or so but it's apparently become a growing problem once again over the past few weeks.

A company source has denied that TNA is behind on two payments to the wrestlers, but reportedly did admit that the company is behind on cutting checks to the wrestlers because they no longer cut the checks in Nashville. The checks are now being outsourced to a company in Dallas, Texas, near TNA's parent company Panda Energy. The department that was handling TNA's checks completely shut down recently due to Panda Energy moving their offices.

WWE Now Giving Letter Grades To Each City They Run In - A, B+, B And C Cities Revealed

Information in a lawsuit filed by WWE in California last month to stop unlicensed merchandise being sold by outside vendors during WrestleMania 31 week included the full WWE schedule through March 28th, 2016, including the future pay-per-view locations and dates for NXT specials that we posted. Chris "Mookie" Harrington has recapped some more of the information and it was revealed WWE will be assigning letter codes to each city they visit - A, B+, B and C. It appears the grades are for the overall drawing power of the city based on WWE's previous visit. Some cities appear in more than one category because different letter grades are assigned on different trips, sometimes because one visit is a TV taping and another visit is for a live event.

Harrington gave this breakdown:

A: 70 examples (minimum: 3,500; maximum 15,913) - average: 9,235
B+: 32 examples (minimum: 3,122; maximum 14,481) - average: 7,608
B: 48 examples (minimum: 2,626; maximum 12,717) - average: 6,496
C: 61 examples (minimum: 2,230; maximum 6,996) - average 4,546
Overall Average: 7,002

"A" Cities: Anaheim, CA, Atlanta, GA, Baltimore, MD, Boston, MA, Bridgeport, CT, Brooklyn, NY, Buffalo, NY, Chicago, IL, Cincinnati, OH, Columbus, OH - Schottenstein Center, Dallas, TX, Denver, CO, Detroit, MI, Hartford, CT, Hildalgo, TX, Houston, TX, Jackson, MS, Kansas City, MO, Los Angeles, CA, Miami, FL, Minneapolis, MN, Nashville, TN, New York, NY, Newark, NJ, Philadelphia, PA, Phoenix, AZ, Pittsburgh, PA, Portland, OR, Providence, RI, San Antonio, TX, San Jose, CA - SAP Center, St. Louis, MO, Tampa, FL, Toronto, ON - Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON - Ricoh Coliseum, Washington, DC, White Plains, NY, Wildwood, NJ

"B+" Cities: Albany, NY, Anaheim, CA, Anchorage, AK, Bangor, ME, Birmingham, AL, Bridgeport, CT, Calgary, AB, Cincinnati, OH, Corpus Christi, TX, Daytona Beach, FL - Ocean Center, Des Moines, IA, East Lansing, MI, Edmonton, AB, Fairbanks, AK, Fort Myers, FL, Fresno, CA, Greenville, SC, Hampton, VA, Hershey, PA, Jonesboro, AR, Lafayette, LA, Laredo, TX, Lincoln, NE, Little Rock, AR, Loveland, CO, Memphis, TN, Milwaukee, WI, Montreal, QC, Nashville, TN, Ontario, CA, Orlando, FL - Amway Center, Roanoke, VA, Rochester, NY, Sacramento, CA, Salt Lake City, UT - Maverik Center, San Juan, PR, Stockton, CA, Syracuse, NY, Tampa, FL, Tulsa, OK, Uncasville, CT, Wilkes Barre, PA, Winnipeg, MB

"B" Cities: Austin, TX, Bakersfield, CA, Calgary, AB, Cleveland, OH, Dayton, OH, Edmonton, AB, Everett, WA, Fresno, CA, Hartford, CT, Indianapolis, IN, Knoxville, TN, Louisville, KY - YUM Center, Milwaukee, WI, Montreal, QC, New Orleans, LA, Oklahoma City, OK, Omaha, NE, Phoenix, AZ, Portland, OR, Rochester, NY, Sacramento, CA, San Diego, CA, San Jose, CA - SAP Center, Seattle, WA, St. Louis, MO, Trenton, NJ, Tulsa, OK, Winnipeg, MB

"C" Cities: Amarillo, TX, Augusta, GA, Bakersfield, CA, Baton Rouge, LA, Beaumont, TX, Binghamton, NY, Bloomington, IL, Bossier City, LA, Bowling Green, KY, Canton, OH, Casper, WY, Cedar Rapids, IA, Charlotte, NC, Charlottesville, VA, Chattanooga, TN, Colorado Springs, CO, Columbia, SC, Columbus, GA, Daytona Beach, FL - Ocean Center, Erie, PA, Evansville, IN, Fairfax, VA, Fargo, ND, Fayetteville, NC, Fort Myers, FL, Green Bay, WI, Huntsville, AL, Jackson ,TN, Jacksonville, FL, Johnson City, TN, Jonesboro, AR, Kalamazoo, MI, Laredo, TX, Macon, GA, Mobile, AL, Montreal, QC, North Charleston, SC, Odessa, TX, Peoria, IL, Rockford, IL, Salisbury, MD, Savannah, GA, Sioux City, IA, Sioux Falls, SD, Springfield, IL, Syracuse, NY, Tallahassee, FL, Toledo, OH, Tupelo, MS, Vancouver, BC, Victoria, BC, Waco,TX, Wilkes Barre, PA, Worcester, MA

Guest Trainers At The WWE Performance Center This Week

Former TNA Knockout Sarita, who still works for CMLL as Sarah Stock, is working as a guest trainer at the WWE Performance Center this week, according to PWInsider. Former WWE and WCW star Dave Taylor is also working as a guest trainer with the NXT talents this week.

WWE and Susan G. Komen Team Up Once Again to Raise Funds for Breast Health and Research in Washington, D.C.

WWE Performance Center welcomes new class of recruits

WWE today announced that a new, international class of 11 recruits, including former collegiate athletes, bodybuilders and talent from the independent wrestling circuit, from seven countries have begun training at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Fla. The WWE Performance Center is the home of NXT, the developmental division for WWE. With seven training rings, a world-class strength and conditioning program and cutting-edge edit and production facilities, the Performance Center will allow the new class to hone their skills through a comprehensive program that includes in-ring training, physical preparedness and character development.

“The global reach of WWE is reflected in the diversity of this class of NXT recruits,” said Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events and Creative. “Talent is the most important natural resource we have, and these individuals will have every opportunity to hone their skills and fulfill their dream of becoming a WWE Superstar or Diva at the WWE Performance Center.”

The new NXT class includes:

Australia:

Cassie McIntosh (Born in Sydney, resides in Melbourne, Australia) — Trained with Pro Wrestling Alliance in Sydney since 2011. In 2012, was trained by former WWE Superstar Lance Storm, who now runs the Storm Wrestling Academy. Proficient in dance and acrobatics.

Jessica McKay (Sydney, Australia) — Since 2008, has trained with the Pro Wrestling Alliance in Sydney, as well as Ring of Honor.

Canada:

Nhooph Al-Areebi (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) — Trained with Squared Circle since 2011 and was a member of the Toronto Circus School from 2008-2012. Also trained in rhythmic gymnastics. Speaks English and Arabic.

Germany:

Axel Tischer (Dresden, Germany) — Trained with GWF Wrestling in Berlin, Germany, since 2006. Served in the German Army from 2005-2007, achieving the rank of Private First Class.

Mexico:

Oscar Vasquez (Cuidad Juarez, Mexico) — Trained in Juarez in the lucha libre style of wrestling. Worked with CWF Mid-Atlantic. Dual citizen of Mexico and the U.S.

Serbia:

Radomir Petkovic (Belgrade, Serbia) — European Vice Champion at the 2010 European Wrestling Championships and was a two-time bronze medalist at 2009 Mediterranean Games in Greco-Roman and Freestyle. Speaks Russian and English.

United Kingdom:

Peter Howard (Exeter, England) — Played collegiate Rugby in the U.K. and was a regional discus champion.

United States:

Kenneth Crawford (Chicago, Illinois/Anson County, North Carolina) — Served in the U.S. Marine Corps for four years and accumulated a perfect 300 score in the United States Marine Corps Physical Fitness Test. Holds the North Carolina South Piedmont and Anson High School records in the 200-meter, 400-meter and 4x4 relay. Anson High School Athlete of the Year in 2007.

Thomas Kingdon (Traverse City, Michigan) — Competed in amateur bodybuilding and won the super-heavyweight class at the 2013 NPC Central States Competition.

Sesugh Uhaa (Atlanta, Georgia) — High school soccer, football and track-and-field star. Began training in 2009 and competed for Dragon Gate USA. Nigerian descent.

Levis Valenzuela Jr. (Durham, North Carolina) — Trained with CWF Mid-Atlantic in 2013. Proficient in dance and won various awards for collegiate ballroom dancing. Holds a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from UNC Charlotte. Grew up in the United States, lived in South Korea from 2011-2013, and speaks Spanish.

The new class will join a group of 55 men and women training out of the state-of-the-art, 26,000 square-foot WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. The venue offers a full training experience with real-time feedback from WWE coaches, trainers and doctors, giving performers the resources they need to develop their talent both athletically and creatively. Additionally, recruits will be immersed in WWE’s Professional Development program that focuses on four key pillars of development: life skills, education, wellness and career success.

Chris Jericho's WWE Network Success

Chris Jericho revealed last week that his live WWE Network podcast with John Cena was the third most-watched special in WWE Network history besides live pay-pr-view events. The first two most-watched special were Steve Austin's interviews with Vince McMahon and Triple H, so Jericho's interview didn't beat those but did beat the WWE Hall of Fame ceremonies, all Takeover specials and last year's Ultimate Warrior specials.