Rumor Mill - Meek Mill WWE Pissed Off Over Undertaker Entrance Song on Diss Track

Meek Mill can't get a break this week ... after getting trashed for his tepid Drake diss song, he's now in the crosshairs of of The Undertaker over the wrestler's famous ring entrance song.

Meek sampled The Taker's signature bells in the diss track, and the WWE is not amused. A spokesperson tells TMZ, "WWE takes its intellectual property rights very seriously, and we're looking into the matter."

'Rowdy' Roddy Piper Dies at 61 From Cardiac Arrest

Wrestling legend "Rowdy" Roddy Piper has died at the age of 61 ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Piper -- born Roderick George Toombs -- died from cardiac arrest in his sleep at his home in Hollywood on Thursday night. He was discovered on Friday.

Piper was a wrestling icon -- one of the biggest stars in the WWE back in the '80s, and even wrestled in "Wrestlemania I" back in 1985 ... squaring off against Hulk Hogan and Mr. T.

Roddy's rep tells us, "I am devastated at this news. Rod was a good friend as well as a client and one of the most generous, sincere and authentic people I have ever known. This is a true loss to us all."

Piper had been diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 2006, but last November he said he was cancer free. A family source tells us he was "cancer free" at the time of his death.

A family member tells us, "Our family is saddened by the sudden passing of our father and beloved husband, Roderick Toombs aka Rowdy Roddy Piper."

Roddy was admitted into the WWE Hall of Fame back in 2005 and was one of the top 50 villains in the history of the WWE.

Piper had a long relationship with WWE -- last wrestling back in 2008 ... but appeared on various WWE shows up until 2014.

Roddy is survived by his wife Kitty and their 4 kids -- including 3 daughters and son Colton who's pursuing a career in professional wrestling.

The death is especially shocking considering we just spoke to him on Friday and asked his opinion about the Hulk Hogan scandal.

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Offers His Thoughts On Hulk Hogan Controversy

While promoting the HBO dramedy series Ballers at the Television Critics Association's press tour in Beverly Hills, California on Thursday, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was asked about Hulk Hogan (real name Terry Bollea), whose termination from WWE last week coincided with the publication by the National Enquirer and Radar Online of racist remarks allegedly made by the wrestling legend on a leaked sex tape.

"I was pretty disappointed with what I heard, like all of us, by the way," said Johnson. "I've known Terry for a lot of years, my dad helped train him in Florida in the '70s when he was breaking into the business. My uncles helped train him too as well. I have not known the man to be racist."

Johnson adds that while there's no justification for what Hogan said, he believes everyone has "talked trash," especially in private.

"It's funny, it's one of those things where—and not justifying what he said—we've all talked trash, especially in private," said Johnson. "He said what he said, and he's paying the price."

Kevin Nash Says WWE Has Taken The Market, Gives Credit To Triple H

WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash recently spoke with Scott Fishman of The Miami Herald to promote Friday's Legends of Wrestling Night at the Miami Marlins vs. San Diego Padres game. The full interview is at this link. Below are some highlights:

Benefits of the WWE Network:

"With the network now I go to signings and there are as many eight-year-old kids, as well as 35-year-olds because the network plays all the old stuff. To them, it's basically this live stream. They meet you and you maybe don't look like you do on the network, but they understand who you are and what you do. So the network is really nice to have."

Now being a different time for WWE in the business:

"They have built a basic farm system. There isn't anybody in the realm in competing with them. They have taken the market. It now goes Raw, SmackDown and NXT. There are now three brands. There are a lot of guys I watch today. I've been a fan of [Dolph] Ziggler since day one. I saw the big 6-foot-8 kid down at NXT. [Big Cass], I think really has a chance. He is a big guy and athletic. I think he has a chance to make it."

Giving credit to Triple H:

"I think a lot of the credit has to go to Paul Levesque [Triple H]. He really understands the business. One of the most poignant things he ever said to me was, 'It's not only the fact we have to replace the guys in the ring, but we have to teach the guys with the handhelds and steady cams. I've got guys who have been carrying cameras for 30 years now. They aren't going to be doing this forever.' What they've done with NXT and Full Sail [University] is basically also focus on the production. People don't realize how important the cameras are. This is a hands-on experience and proving ground, A to Z, from people in the truck and all the way up. It's about pushing this product and having it continually grow."

WWE Releases Current WWE Network Subscriber Count

As noted, WWE released its second quarter financial earnings report today, and the report notes that current WWE Network subscriber count is at 1.156 paid subscribers as of June 30th, 2015. The current figure is down from the 1.327 million Network subscribers WWE announced the day after WrestleMania 31.

Since the WWE Network has launched, it has done over 2 million paid subscribers, with about 61% of them still active subscribers to the Network.

WWE Studios Acquires Rights To Faith-Based Movie With Shawn Michaels

WWE sent out the following:

WWE® STUDIOS TAKES WORLDWIDE RIGHTS TO THE RESURRECTION OF GAVIN STONE

Brett Dalton, Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, D.B. Sweeney, Neil Flynn and WWE Legend Shawn Michaels® Star in the Faith-Based Title

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (July 29, 2015) – WWE Studios (NYSE: WWE) announced today that it has acquired worldwide rights to The Resurrection of Gavin Stone, a faith-based title from the Harvest Bible Chapel's Vertical Church Films. The film recently wrapped production and stars Brett Dalton (Marvel's "Agents of Shield"), Anjelah Johnson-Reyes (Moms' Night Out), D.B. Sweeney ("Suits," "24"), Neil Flynn ("The Middle") and WWE Legend Shawn Michaels.

Written by Andrea Nasfell (Moms' Night Out) and directed by Dallas Jenkins (What If…), who joined the Harvest Bible Chapel and founded Vertical Church Films, The Resurrection of Gavin Stone tells the story of a former child star turned washed-up and troubled actor. After receiving a 200-hour community service sentence, Gavin Stone (Brett Dalton), pretends to be a Christian so he can play Jesus in a mega-church Easter production in order to fulfill his hours of service. Along the way, he reconnects with his past and builds upon his faith to discover that his most important role is far away from the shining lights of Hollywood.

"It is a privilege to be working with the Harvest Bible Chapel and Vertical Church Films, as they share our understanding of the importance of a strong foundation for storytelling," said Michael Luisi, President, WWE Studios. "The Resurrection of Gavin Stone is a heartwarming tale of faith and redemption that will allow us to continue growing our audience as we expand into new genres."

"We're excited to combine resources with a dynamic company like WWE on such a funny, but meaningful project," said Fred Adams, Harvest Bible Chapel Executive Business Pastor.Director Dallas Jenkins added, "Gavin's story is such an entertaining one to tell because the 'fish out of water' aspect is so relatable, no matter what the setting."

WWE Studios will leverage WWE's extensive platforms from weekly TV shows, including WWE's flagship programs, Monday Night Raw® and SmackDown®, digital, social media and WWE Network®, to market the title.

Stephanie McMahon Joins Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation Board of Trustees

WWE has issued the following press release:

WWE® Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon Joins Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation Board of Trustees

PITTSBURGH, July 30, 2015 – Stephanie McMahon, Chief Brand Officer for WWE, has been named to the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation board of trustees.

McMahon, her family, WWE, and its fans have been strong supporters of pediatric cancer care and research at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC over the past two years.

McMahon became involved with Children’s Hospital in 2014, when she and her husband, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, met WWE fan Connor Michalek. Connor, 8, was battling medulloblastoma, a rare tumor that affects the brain and spinal cord, at the time. Connor formed a special connection with McMahon, Levesque, and many of the WWE Superstars and Divas. When Connor lost his battle with medulloblastoma in April 2014, Stephanie and Paul decided to honor his spirit by creating Connor’s Cure, a fund within Children’s Foundation that supports brain tumor research. To date, Connor’s Cure has raised more than $560,000 and has been supported by WWE and fans all over the world, including 49 states and six countries.

“We are honored to have Stephanie join our Board of Trustees. She and her family formed a very special bond with Connor, and she quickly demonstrated a passion for putting her talents and resources to work in the fight against pediatric cancer,” said Greg Barrett, president of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation. “In the relatively short time she’s been involved with Children’s Hospital and our cancer program, Stephanie has already made a significant impact and I’m excited to see how her ideas and leadership will further enhance our goals and mission.”

“I’m extremely humbled and privileged to join Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation’s Board of Trustees and help play a role in their continued efforts to further pediatric cancer research,” said Stephanie McMahon, WWE Chief Brand Officer. “Connor Michalek had such a profound impact on so many people, including my husband and me. Through the tremendous work at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, I hope we can help find a cure for pediatric cancer, and ensure no other child has to endure Connor’s fate.”

Connor’s Cure supports research by Ian F. Pollack, M.D., chief, Pediatric Neurosurgery in the Brain Care Institute at the Children’s Hospital, including laboratory-based research and a vaccine-based immunotherapy research study. This study examines the efficacy of a unique immunotherapy that treats the tumor using a vaccine not entirely unlike the sort of vaccines most of us are familiar with, such as the tetanus or polio vaccines. Dr. Pollack and colleagues observed overexpression of a series of proteins on the surface of gliomas and ependymomas and determined that these proteins could be used as a component of the vaccine.

As WWE Chief Brand Officer, Stephanie is responsible for working with WWE’s business units to support key growth initiatives and represents WWE as its global brand ambassador among key constituencies including community and business partners, advertisers, media, and investors. She is the primary spokesperson for WWE’s corporate social responsibility initiatives, including Special Olympics, Susan G. Komen, and Be a STAR, WWE’s anti-bullying program. Stephanie is also a TV personality, appearing regularly on Monday Night Raw®, one of the most-watched shows on cable each week.

WWE Announces Plans for an NXT Reality Show, New Network Content, More Austin Podcasts, OnDemand Content and More

Along with today’s second quarter financial earnings report, WWE announced the company has plans to add about 180 hours of original content to the WWE Network.

Those plans include the following new shows:

-A reality show for NXT as the NXT Superstars try to make it to WWE’s main roster

-A show called Table 3, which gives viewers a seat at the table with Superstars and Divas

-A studio show highlighting current events in the world of WWE and beyond

-New episodes of WWE 24, The WWE Live and Steve Austin’s podcast

-On Demand additions include The RAW Attitude Era Part 2: Austin/McMahon, WCW Nitro: Accelerating The War and The 20th Anniversary of WCW Monday Nitro

Vince McMahon Comments on Possible Financial Ramifications of Hogan Firing; WWE Stock Soars

Vince McMahon participated in a WWE second quarter conference call today, and during the call Vince was asked several questions about WWE’s current financial state.

One of the questions specifically pertained to Hulk Hogan’s firing, and how it might impact the company due to his merchandise sales. Vince answered by saying Hogan’s firing has “no material effect on them.”

Following the release of today’s second quarter earnings report, WWE stock is currently up 18.69%, trading at $19.54 per share.

WWE Conference Call: Vince McMahon discusses the second quarter financial report

Vince McMahon and members of senior management served as the hosts of a conference call pertaining to the 2015 second quarter financial report that was released on July 30, 2015. The following are the highlights of the call. Refresh the page for the latest updates.

-The call is hosted by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, WWE Chief Strategy and Financial Officer George Barrios, and WWE Investor Relations Michael Weitz. Weitz ran through the legalities and reminded listeners that WrestleMania fell in the second quarter this year, whereas it occurred in the first quarter last year.

-Vince said listeners could see they had a strong quarter. He pointed to improved international numbers and touted the WWE Network subscriber count compared to the same quarter last year. He also hyped the new WWE Network content. Vince struggled to come up with the name of HBO's "Hard Knocks" and said WWE is trying to come up with a better name than that.

-Vince said "Camp WWE" is the WWE version of South Park. He said it's very funny, and cracked that the Mr. McMahon character is especially funny.

-Barrios took over the call and spoke about how WWE is successfully transforming their pay-per-view business into a subscription mode. Barrios ran through the presentation.

-Barrios said the network had roughly 217,000 paid international subscribers.

-Barrios said Too Hot For TV, Swerved, and the Stone Cold podcast are among the most popular programs on the network. He also boasted about the success of the Beast in the East live special.

-Barrios praised the free month campaign. He said one month is the amount of time that subscribers need to become familiar with it.

-WWE plans to release a three-month subscription card that will be sold in retail stores and can be used without offering credit card information.

-Barrios noted that they will not be including an updated subscriber count today. The next subscriber count will be released at the end of the third quarter.

-They opened things up to callers. The first caller noted that they want to produce 180 hours of new programming. He questioned whether there will be increases over their previously listed costs associated with new programming. Barrios said it's materially unchanged.

-A caller asked about new markets getting WWE Network. Barrios said he didn't want to get into specifics.

-A caller asked whether they are making more money with the subscription model than pay-per-view. Barrios said 1.3 to 1.4 million subscribers would get them there.

-The caller asked Vince about the difference between Facebook and Youtube. Barrios said he would take it. He said they have nearly 7 million subscribers on Youtube. He said they are one of the leaders of direct video, and he said they are talking to Facebook and they are in beta mode. "We know how to kill it doing videos, so we're excited about the opportunity," Barrios said. Vince added, "It's a high class problem."

-Vince said they need to develop programming for all four quadrants of their age demographics.

-A caller asked about interest in Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. Barrios said they are thrilled with SummerSlam. "It's starting to feel like WrestleMania in August," he said. Vince said it's so strong they moved it to four hours this year. "It's so much great content that we had to do that," Vince said.

-The caller also asked whether they intend to more live specials similar to Beast in the East. Barrios raved about Beast in the East and said they will "continue to more and innovate in that programming because it's just been in a home run."

-The caller asked about developing the NXT franchise. Barrios sang the praises of the brand under Triple H's direction.

-Vince said they are confident with the development of talent from NXT. He spoke about the number of talents going from developmental to the main events.

-Hulk Hogan came up in regards to merchandise. Vince noted that Hogan is "no longer with the association" and downplayed it's "material effect."

-With no additional callers, this concluded the conference call.

Hulk Hogan's Lawyer Tells Judge 'His Career Is Done,' Gawker Trial Date Set, New Claims From Linda

TampaBay.com covered today's hearing in Terry "Hulk Hogan" Bollea's lawsuit against Gawker for publishing clips of a sex tape that bad been shot by a home security system without his permission. Most of the conversation centered around Hogan's side accusing Gawker of leaked the racist and homophobic comments that Radar and The National Enquirer published this past week.

Hogan's attorneys told the judge that "We want the chance to prove they (Gawker) were directly involved in this," accusing Gawker of "ruining my client's career and potentially ruining his right to a fair trial." Their argument amounted to being that Gawker never wanted the records of the FBI investigation into Los Angeles attorney Keith Davidson allegedly trying to extort $150,000 from Hogan for the videos to help with their defense. Instead, Hogan's side argued, they were "on a path to get this stuff out to the media."

Gawker's recent outing of a publishing executive who attempted to hire a male prostitute was also brought up with the idea that they leaked the transcript to counter negative publicity against the company. That said, the post by Gawker founder Nick Denton alluding to Hogan having another secret (presumably the racist comments) he was trying to protect came a week before the outing controversy. Hogan's lawyers want a forensic investigation of Gawker's computers,

Gawker's attorneys explained that "There are, your honor, a long list of people who knew about Mr. Bollea's use of racist language long before Gawker learned about it." Apparently, a transcript was going around in Tampa at least as far back as 2012. "It cannot be seriously maintained that if this leaked to the Nat. Enquirer, that it came from us," as too many people had access to it. Hogan's lawyers didn't buy it. "His career is done. He's been fired from WWE. At this point judge, we want to find out what happened here." They don't take the Enquirer reporter's claim that it wasn't Gawker at face value, citing a post that shows Gawker knows how to leak things anonymously.

The judge didn't rule on anything today. However, she did set a new trial date: March 7, 2016. Hogan's side was not happy with the delay, but the judge's calendar is full until then due to a ton of mortgage foreclosures she has to deal with. Hogan's side brought up the idea of another judge hearing the case, but it didn't go anywhere.

Meanwhile, Radar Online spoke to Raymond Rafool, the attorney representing Hogan's ex-wife, Linda. He's alleging that Hogan's comments in the transcripts may contradict some of his sworn testimony during the divorce, specifically relating to being blindsided by Linda filing and some issues over the Las Vegas condo he said he was worried about being forced into selling. Hogan's side denied there was any potential issue.

WWE Hall of Famer Tammy Sytch Fails to Appear at DUI Hearing, Bench Warrant Likely to Be Issued, Now Facing 3 DUI’s

As noted, WWE Hall of Famer was arrested and charged with DUI back on May 30th for DUI in Lehighton, Pennsylvania. Sytch failed a field sobriety test after she hit a curb in a Walmart, and had a blood alcohol level of .253, three times the legal limit.

TN Online.com is now reporting Sytch had a hearing for the charge scheduled for yesterday, however Sytch failed to appear in court. The judge will likely issue a bench warrant for Sytch’s arrest, and her arraignment at Carbon County Court is scheduled for September 3rd.

Sytch was arrested twice back in June for DUI, one incident taking place on June 1st, the other on June 20th. Both incidents took place in Towamensing Township, and Sytch has a court hearing scheduled on August 19th for the June 20th incident.