Interview with Magnum T.A.

Former NWA star Magnum TA granted a brief rare interview with legendary wrestling journalist Bill Apter. The two spoke about his NWA career and the accident that eventually ended it. You can see the full interview above.

Brie Bella on Daniel Bryan's Recovery, Wanting to Become Parents, the WWE Divas Title, More

Brie Bella recently spoke with the UK's Mirror to promote WWE Total Divas. The full interview is at this link. Below are some highlights:

The new season:

I actually have to say this is probably one of my favourite seasons and I'm not just saying that so y'all tune in. A lot has happened, a lot happens. We start the season where the girls are in an uproar because Eva Marie doesn't want to train in NXT and it doesn't sit well with the other Divas. And it shouldn't. And you just see a lot of people start pouring their hearts out, start speaking the truth, and it turns into a lot of drama. I think everyone will be surprised and that's what you have to tune in for.

My husband and I, you know we've really just been going back on forth on becoming parents, it's something we really, really want. I'm just dying to be a mom and you're going to see that struggle this season and Daniel Bryan and myself getting our fertility checks which is just crazy, but we did that, I really wanted to know, and you'll see a lot of things that get us ready for motherhood and fatherhood.

My sister, you'll kind of just see her going back and forth whether she's going to re-sign with WWE or not and being the Divas Champion. It's crazy, we're on the road just about 350 days a year and we sacrifice everything, so you just start looking at all your family's pictures and you're like 'oh my gosh, I'm not in that, that or that, wow, I've not been in the last 10 years of your life'. We're really looking at that. I think family is everything to the Bella Twins and that's what we've been looking at and thinking about the most.

One of the main things we'll see you having to deal with is the career threatening injury Bryan has suffered. How is he doing?

You know he's doing really well, he is, but it has been very hard. This injury unlike any other has just been the hardest because in the past we at least knew 'okay it's surgery, this long to recover', he unfortunately had a relapse, but then we knew how long it would be to recover after the relapse. But with this one it's so unclear and that's the hard thing. As a wife, to put myself away from wrestling, as a wife it's so hard to see your husband go through this. I mean, you know when doctors are starting to think, and you see his dreams come crashing down, it breaks my heart. To the point where I wish I was in his position and he was in mine because I hate seeing him like that. But my husband has so much fight in him and he tells me every day 'I'm getting back in that ring, just you watch' and I'm like 'oh I bet you will'. I have his support 100% and I really think he will get back in there, I really do. He doesn't see it any other way.

You were the Divas Champion in 2011. Is it an ambition of yours to hold the title again?

Oh my gosh I would love to. It would be such an honour to hold it again. You know I'm proud of my sister right now and she couldn't be a better champion and I'll always have her back, but there are definitely times when I think, 'look at that, I think it would look better in my hands'! SummerSlam is coming up, which brings up a lot of bad memories, but I have her back, blood is thicker than water.

What was it like to feud with Stephanie and your sister and be part of such a big storyline this time last year?

Oh, it was the highlight of my career. It was amazing to work with Stephanie McMahon, you know for a Diva it was amazing to have a great story. And to have it happen organically from the Daniel Bryan situation. You know Stephanie and I main evented Raw two weeks in a row. Just as women. We had no men in our storyline, it was just two women who had beef. And then when we were going into SummerSlam to have Vince McMahon tell us that we helped sell the pay-per-view and that was the main story going in, it was incredible. Those are moments I will be telling my grandchildren, that I will remember forever. And the best part too, someone like her was bullying my husband and I got be the bitch that stepped in and put her in her place.

Interview with the Lucha Dragons

The Lucha Dragons were interviewed by CBS affiliate WDJT in Milwaukee this past Tuesday, promoting that evening's SmackDown event, which you can watch in the video above. During the interview, Sin Cara talked about returning to the city.

"Obviously it's a city where they love wrestling, they love WWE," Sin Cara said. "To be here is an honor. It's great to come back to Wisconsin. Actually my high school coach in wrestling, he's from Dodgeville Wisconsin and he lives in Milwaukee. Hopefully I get a chance to say hi to him tonight."

Kalisto also talked about how wrestling in Mexico prepared him for WWE.

"Lucha libre is an art, and right now, lucha libre is universal," said Kalisto. "It prepared me a lot. We have a lot in common, me and Sin Cara. Ever since I started in XT, there was a different atmosphere, a different style, but lucha libre did help a lot. It helped us so much because we're both athletic and we're both high flyers. And we display a different art in the ring."

WWE HQ turmoil: one executive fired by Vince McMahon, another one leaves of his own accord

In a worrying sign for WWE investors, the quick turnaround of high ranking executives within the company has continued over the past month with one being fired by Vince McMahon and another leaving of his own accord.

Outside of family members whose jobs are guaranteed for life and big hitters like WWE's Chief Marketing Officer Michelle Wilson and their Chief Strategy and Financial Officer George Barrios (whose jobs are likely secured in the short term due to being named in the WWE stockholders lawsuit along with Vince and Stephanie McMahon), the past five years has been marked by a series of corporate departures, particularly in roles related to the company's creative direction.

The first sign of increased volatility at WWE headquarters was seen by the shocking resignation of WWE's COO Donna Goldsmith in late January 2011, believed to be tied to the disappointing financial results of the preceding quarter, despite having earlier success in her role through landing the company's lucrative Mattel deal.

Michael Pavone, the Executive Vice President of the money bleeding WWE Studios division was not surprisingly the next victim, resigning from his position in August 2011. However, worse bloodletting was yet to come.

With slowly eroding television viewership and the teething pains of setting up their own online channel, the WWE Network, executive turnover has spiralled out of control since the autumn of 2012.

Brian Gewirtz, the long time head writer of Monday Night Raw was the first to be punished on the creative side of things when he was removed from the writing team and demoted to a mere consultancy role on Oct. 8th, 2012 over poor ratings. Next to fall out of favour was WWE's SVP of Creative and Development, Eric Pankowski, who was let go after just 15 months in the position in March 2013. Pankowski's replacement, Adam Rudman, lasted just six weeks in the job before Stephanie McMahon gave him his marching orders, likely due to his limited knowledge of the WWE product. The next head writer, David Kreizman, wanted out almost immediately upon being promoted, but was convinced to stay on for a few months longer.

In 2014, it was largely the people involved in the launch of the WWE Network that either got out while the going was good or were given their pink slip.

First to go was WWE's Vice President of Global Sales, Brian Maddox, in January of that year when he accepted a job as a Vice President at Silver Chalice Ventures, a next generation digital/video sports media company. You may remember Maddox as being the backtracking whistleblower known as Confidential Witness Number 1 or CW1 for short in the aforementioned WWE stockholders lawsuit.

WWE's Executive Vice President of Digital Media, Perkins Miller, was next to follow Maddox out the door, in order to take a job with the NFL as their new Chief Digital Officer in the spring of 2014.

Unlike Maddox and Miller, WWE's EVP of Programming, Matthew Singerman wasn't so lucky, getting the chop after just six months in the newly created role, a scapegoat for the WWE Network performing well below expectations in its early days of existence.

Basically, there's been so many departures of late that it's hard to keep track, so forgive me if I've forgotten anyone of importance.

Now, there's two more. The MLW twitter account broke the news yesterday that WWE had recently fired their Executive Vice President of Content, Lisa Fox Lee, after just six months in the role like Singerman.

Lee was someone who had worked for WWE since she left university over two decades ago, starting in their television and sponsorship sales division in March 1995 and gradually being promoted up the ranks to VP, SVP and EVP roles in TV and later Network programming. According to James Caldwell of PWTorch.com, the move in January to put all of the main content divisions under one umbrella quickly became viewed as a mistake internally and Lee struggled with her greater responsibility and workload:

"Regarding Lee, WWE went through a six-month trial run of having Lee oversee Creative, digital programming, and Network programming. The goal was to put all of the main content departments under one umbrella. But, it did not pan out....

The main issue is that before her promotion, Lee worked for WWE in various mid-level jobs contributing to TV & PPV content delivery, sales, and social media, but she did not have experience as a key decision-maker in WWE upper management.

Promoting Lee to a high-ranking executive position was viewed internally as a rash decision trying to put all of WWE's content arms under one person. And, WWE employees viewed Lee as the wrong person for the role if such a role was to be created.

The decision was made to fire Lee instead of demote her back to her previous position. It appears that sitting in on meetings with McMahon, who Lee was suddenly reporting to, led to her demise since she was no longer protected in a mid-management role.

After cutting Lee, WWE shifted back to individual content departments reporting to various executives, removing the "one umbrella for all content" approach just six months after the new set-up."

Caldwell also broke the news that WWE's Senior Vice President of Digital Content, Rob Bernstein, has left the company for a more senior position with IPG - Mediabrands Publishing, a global media agency. Unlike Lee, internally this is being viewed as a major loss for WWE's digital media division, as he was instrumental in monetising WWE's YouTube channel, launching their offshoot YouTube gaming channel UpUpDownDown that stars Austin "Xavier Woods" Creed, overseeing the development of the WWE App and growing the WWE.com website.

The latest episode of Titan Towers turmoil begs several important questions about WWE as a business. Why can't they retain the services of their most gifted executives like Miller and Bernstein? Why do they hire or promote people so ill-suited to key positions that they are fired in less than six months? Is Vince McMahon so difficult to work with and so whimsical in his thinking nowadays that he has become a detriment to the day-to-day running of WWE, even though his instincts as a promoter has a proven track record of being second to none?

source: cagesideseats.com

CZW Signs Live PPV Deal

According to PWInsider.com, Combat Zone Wrestling, a promotion which has been around since the late 90’s, and has featured names such as Dean Ambrose (fka Jon Moxley), has signed an official PPV deal. The deal has been in the works for quite sometime, and will see CZW produce live PPV events which will be distributed via traditional PPV outlets.

Steve Karel, who’s Stonecutter Wrestling produces a number of taped PPV entities as well as the Urban Wrestling Federation, was at tonight’s CZW event to sign the deal with CZW owner DJ Hyde. Stonecutter will be producing and distributing the CZW PPV events.

Arrow's Stephen Amell Confirms Stuff With The WWE

Ricky Steamboat Comments on the Future of WWE

Ricky Steamboat sounds like a proud father when discussing the current crop of WWE superstars. Along with his WWE Hall of Fame career, The Dragon had a hand in the early days of the company’s developmental system from Florida Championship Wresting to NXT.

“It’s very exciting for me to see the company make this very strong attempt for a third brand,” Steamboat said. “We have Raw, SmackDown and now NXT. I like it and am very excited for it because 99 percent of the staff and personnel come out of the school. We are putting our young kids on the road. I also like the fact they are sort of being initiated old school. Every night they go to the towns. They are doing a lot of driving. We were doing that back in the 1970s where it would be 2 or 300 miles a night without GPS. I always wondered how we made it with a map at night. I’m happy to see NXT grow. Everything they are doing, they are going in the right direction.”

For Steamboat, the future is bright and now.

“There is just so much new talent,” he said. “Look at the talent that has broken through. Bray Wyatt, Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn, Cesaro. There are a number of talents there. Everyone wonders if you give them the ball, are they going to score or are they going to fumble? Obviously, all the names I mentioned have scored very well. I got to help them while coaching at the school, which is great.”

Big Show: STOP BLAMING WWE FOR DEATHS Vince Takes Care Of Us

WWE superstar Big Show says Doink the Clown's family is WRONG to go after the WWE for the wrestler's death ... claiming Vince McMahon does EVERYTHING he can to protect the talent.

The 7-footer was out in L.A. when we asked about the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the mother of Doink's children -- which claims Doink's life spiraled out of control due to concussions he suffered in the ring.

"I think that everybody who steps through those ropes knows what could possibly happen," Big Show says.

"You gotta accept that responsibility as a talent if you step those ropes, whether you're a boxer, ultimate fighter or sports entertainer."

Big Show says he has nothing but good things to say about the WWE -- adding, "I've seen how much they've gone above and beyond to take care of the talent and do everything they can where no one ever did that before."

source: tmz.com

Megan Rapinoe celebrates with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship

WORLD CHAMPIONS! @USSoccer_WNT midfielder @mPinoe sports her @WWE World Heavyweight Title! @FIFAWWC #USWNTParade pic.twitter.com/tGa29HfwoL

— WWE (@WWE) July 10, 2015

Vince McMahon’s Rules For WWE Announcers Allegedly Leaked

Over on Squared Circle, the subreddit for professional wrestling, a user has posted eight pages of what purports to be instructions and rules given to WWE announcers a few years ago about everything from how they should dress to specific phrases they should avoid. You can view the notes here.

For the most part these are just suggestions, and they are pretty sensible. Announcers should prepare notes but not read from a script, they shouldn’t swear, they should describe the environment, they should vary the tone and intensity of their voice when talking about different things, etc. But there are also some funny, highly-specific rules, which are sometimes noted to have been handed down from Vince McMahon directly:

Don’t call WrestleMania “grandaddy of them all” because it “makes WrestleMania feel old”
Don’t use the words “pro wrestling” or “pro wrestler;” rather, use “superstar,” “star,” or “athlete
Don’t call the audience “fans,” speak to them directly and call them “you”

All eight pages are worth reading to understand how the WWE works to tightly control exactly how its product is presented to the fans. If you see anything notable, drop it in the comments.

WWE Network Now Available in Italy

NXT Champion Finn Bálor vs. Kevin Owens at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn

A huge main event has been confirmed for NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn, as newly crowned NXT Champion Finn Bálor will defend his title against former champion Kevin Owens at the Barclays Center on Saturday, Aug. 22 as part of a special that will be broadcast live on the award-winning WWE Network.

The rematch was announced by NXT General Manager William Regal at San Diego Comic-Con International.