Sean 'Puff Daddy' Combs to appear on Raw next week

From WWE.com:

A Bad Boy is coming to Raw!

As first reported by RollingStone.com, international recording star Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs will be a guest star on Raw next week! Combs is not unfamiliar to the WWE Universe, performing a memorable set at WrestleMania 29 in 2013.

What will Puff Daddy have to say when he shows up to Raw? Find out next week on the longest running episodic show in TV history!

Longtime WWE Ring Announcer Leaving Company

Lilian Garcia announced Monday afternoon via social media that she is leaving WWE in order to care for her sick father. Garcia has worked on and off for the company since 1999. She wrote:

I've been getting a lot of tweets and messages asking where I have been and if I'm coming back to WWE, so I wanted to let you know what has been going on and why I have been silent. I've been through so many emotions lately that they literally have kept me up at night. As most of you know, my father has been battling with two different types of cancer. He hasn't been doing as well as we hoped, THEREFORE, I will not be traveling weekly with WWE any longer. I will be looking to take on work closer to where I live so that I don't have to be on the road weekly away from him. He truly needs me, and I need this time with him. I ask that you please continue prayers for my father and my family.

It has been a magical 15-year career at WWE, and WWE Universe, I can't thank you enough for all your love and support! I felt you every step of the way! I also want to thank the amazing WWE Superstars, whom many of them have become my friends! You are an incredible group of people with SO much talent! It has been such an honor to introduce you to the ring and watch your superior athleticism week after week. Thank you to the crew & production staff on the road and in the offices. I've seen you work so hard! You really are the glue that keeps it all together!

Lastly, thank you WWE for this incredible ride that I never wanted to get off. I've had experiences beyond my imagination. I thank you for not only allowing me to use my voice as an announcer but also sharing it to sing around the world. What an honor! I will cherish the memories forever.

This is not goodbye as I hope you all will follow me on social media to share in my next chapter. I thank you & I love you!!

S&P Cites Increase In Sports-Related Brain Injury Insurance Claims Following WWE Lawsuit

In the wake of the concussion-related class action lawsuit filed by more than 50 former WWE performers against professional wrestling's largest promotion, S&P Global Ratings, a market intelligence company, has declared that sports-related brain injuries are among the largest new areas for insurance claims.

Last year, thousands of former professional football players settled out of court with the NFL for alleged brain injuries, paving the way for many former professional wrestlers to make similar claims against WWE.

S&P identified injured rugby players and participants of other sports where helmets are worn as potential personal injury plaintiffs. As for parties that may be named as defendants, S&P mentioned athletic groups, sports teams, schools, retailers, and helmet makers.

Interestingly, S&P compared the concussion-related lawsuits of the day to the once prevalent asbestos exposure cases. While S&P does not project the brain injury claims to rise to the level of the asbestos cases, the two types of tort lawsuits are similar insofar as the both involve large numbers of potentially affected individuals and both types of personal injuries are known to worsen over time.

S&P noted that American insurance companies have learned from the asbestos cases to include exclusions clauses in contracts for concussion-related claims and cap lawsuit payouts.

source: cnbc

Seth Rollins Writes A Passionate Statement About The Current State Of Professional Wrestling

WWE Superstar Seth Rollins wrote following passionate statement about the current state of professional wrestling in general:

"If you don't love pro wrestling across the board right now and you're not telling all your friends about it then you're just missing out... because a generation that was almost lost is now running the game in all facets. It's a beautiful thing to be at the forefront of and I....can't help but feel like the best is yet to come. "We are the authors, the finishers of our fate..”

Rollins will face Finn Balor at SummerSlam on August 21st to crown the first ever WWE Universal Champion.

Flo Rida to headline SummerSlam concert to benefit Connor's Cure

WWE, Barclays Center and iHeartMedia have announced that the first WWE SummerSlam Concert will take place Thursday, Aug. 18, at 7 p.m. ET at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, with proceeds benefiting Connor’s Cure, a fund to help further pediatric cancer research.

Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster.com!

The announcement was made by Stephanie McMahon on "Elvis Duran and the Morning Show."

The concert, headlined by hip-hop recording artist Flo Rida and international pop superstar Jason Derulo, is part of WWE’s week-long lineup of events, including interactive fan experiences and community outreach programs, culminating with SummerSlam on Sunday, Aug. 21, at 7 p.m. ET from a sold-out Barclays Center and live on WWE Network around the world.

The WWE SummerSlam Concert will also include performances by recording artist Daya and emerging hip hop recording artist Jordan Hollywood, as well as appearances by Stephanie McMahon, Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles, The New Day, Nikki & Brie Bella, Big Show, The Miz & Maryse, R-Truth, Charlotte, Dana Brooke, Jimmy & Jey Uso, and Naomi.

A portion of proceeds from the concert will benefit Connor’s Cure, and be distributed to leading research centers and hospitals nationwide. In 2014, Connor’s Cure was created by McMahon and Levesque as a fund within Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation to support pediatric brain and spinal cord cancer research. Earlier this year, WWE and The V Foundation announced a partnership to expand Connor’s Cure outside of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation and support cancer research nationally.

"I’m definitely honored to be a part of this spectacular event with my WWE family,” said Flo Rida. “They have been there from day one, and I truly appreciate the opportunity to perform for all my WWE fans."

More?

Vince McMahon credits NXT success for WWE brand split

During a conference call on Thursday, and in a move that may come as a surprise to some, he threw a lot of praise the way of NXT while he was talking about the brand split and why it came about once again.

Asked what the rationale was for going back to a brand split, McMahon replied, “We have a plethora of talent from Paul Levesque’s influence on NXT.”

McMahon said when you have too much talent, you can’t exploit it. So, the option is to take the talent and develop two distinct brands.

McMahon said they did it before with success until they “ran out of talent.” He said now WWE “won’t run out of talent with the Performance Center.”

There are people out there that don’t believe the boss even knows what NXT is or the majority of the talent that’s working there, but apparently the rousing success of the “third brand” has caught his eye. Actually, for more evidence of this, you need not look any further than the way that Finn Balor was booked during his debut on Monday night, earning himself a main event slot at SummerSlam.

NXT certainly has come a long way since Triple H started the journey of making it its own brand, but they are definitely reaping the benefits, especially if Vince McMahon is changing his whole model because of their success.

WWE Brain Injury Class Action Lawsuit Update

WWE scored a partial victory in the brain injury lawsuit brought by Evan Singleton (f.k.a. Adam Mercer), Vito LoGrasso, and others, as the United States District Court of the District of Connecticut granted, in part, the professional wrestling promotion's Motion for Reconsideration. The move enables WWE to revive its countersuit against four other professional wrestlers who threatened to bring personal injury claims against the company last year. The suit is similar to the one filed earlier this month with 53 former WWE talents claiming that the WWE was responsible for neurological injuries they suffered from their time with the company.

Earlier this year, the Court rejected all but one of Singleton and LoGrasso's claims against WWE and ruled that it would only hear arguments regarding whether WWE failed to disclose to its performers the link between head trauma and permanent degenerative neurological conditions. Arguably, fraudulently omitting such pertinent information could have influenced the decision-making of the performers as to whether to enter and re-enter the squared circle, which, in turn, could be sufficient grounds to suspend Connecticut's statute of limitations.

In its Motion for Reconsideration, WWE stated that the threatened claims should be barred by the statute of limitations in the same way that the claims of the plaintiffs in the cases, as well as any of the so-called 'John Doe' who may bring claims.

The litigating professional wrestlers responded by arguing that their threatened causes of action did not give rise to federal jurisdiction over the countersuit. The Court disagreed with this position and dismissed only the claims against the 'John Doe' litigants.

WWE Releases Popular Tough Enough Talent

According to Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet, “Tough Enough” star ZZ Loupe was released from his WWE contract earlier today.

No word at this point on what caused WWE to release Loupe, but he had recently made his live event debut in a match against Oney Lorcan, and even got the win in the match.

Loupe participated in the last season of “Tough Enough”, and although he was popular amongst fans of the show, he ended up losing the contest to Josh Bredl, who currently competes in WWE NXT under the ring name Bronson Mathews.

WWE's Second Quarter 2016 Earnings Call Recap With Vince McMahon - Brand Split, WWE Network, More

WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon, Chief Strategy and Financial Officer George Barrios and SVP Financial Planning & Investor Relations Michael Weitz are hosting a Second Quarter 2016 earnings call today from WWE headquarters in Stamford. Below are highlights:

* Weitz opens the call and welcomes everyone, then gives the introduction

* Vince says they are pleased with the execution of their strategy when it comes to optimizing the value of their content. He touts record revenues announced this morning. He brought up the brand extension and touted the high rating for the WWE Draft. Vince says the brand extension is working extremely well right now and touted the competitive nature of RAW and SmackDown. He's really proud of the 7.7 billion video views on social and digital platforms for the first half of the year. Vince says people are watching and enjoying them, whether it be on traditional TV, the WWE Network or other platforms. He also commented on the new TV deal in China, saying they are proud of that and hoping for a lot of growth there. Vince hands the call over to Barrios

* None of the growth from last year is being credited to WrestleMania 32, which fell in this quarter. Slides showing separate breakdowns with and without WrestleMania numbers were included for investors

* WWE Network launched in 6 new countries in the past year and revenue was up $7.7 million from this time in 2015

* They confirmed that they have purchased the building that houses the WWE TV studios in Stamford. The purchase will be completed next quarter

* Now it's time for questions

* Regarding why they did the brand extension, Vince said they have a plethora of talent due to Triple H's influence in WWE NXT and the Performance Center. Vince said you can't just exploit all that intellectual property when you have it, so they went with the two brands. He says this allows them to have more pay-per-views, more live events and more income. He also touted more talent personalities, which opens up the door for more licensing opportunities. He called it a really big move on revenue and the brand in general

* It's too early to tell if the brand extension is increasing Network subscription but they are excited about the split and hope it will improve business all across the company

* They have 150,000 hours of content on the WWE Network but aren't sure if all 150,000 will ever be available. They will have 6,000 hours of content on the Network before the end of this year

* Regarding a possible sale of the company, Barrios said they are always open to listening to ideas if that's what is best for fans and employees

Updated WWE Network Subscriber Count

WWE reported record revenue in their Q2 2016 financial results this morning.

WWE reported today that the WWE Network averaged 1.52 million paid subscribers during the second quarter of this year. It is a 4.5 % increase from the previously announced 1.454 million paid subscribers the day after WrestleMania 32.

WWE is projecting 1.49 million paid subscribers for Q3 2016.

Concussion lawsuit should be slammed, says former professional wrestler

When done properly, professional wrestling should look violent, but actually be safe for the performers getting punched, kicked, body slammed and suplexed in the ring.

That's why former professional wrestler Lance Storm says a lawsuit filed against World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) by more than 50 former wrestlers is "frivolous" and "unfounded."

"At the end of the day, pro wrestling is designed to be a non-contact sport in a way," he told the Calgary Eyeopener.

"It's not a true competitive sport, it's a performance art and when you do the job properly, you don't actually hit people very hard."

As well, many of those named as plaintiffs in the class-action suit — including former superstars like King Kong Bundy, Road Warrior Animal, Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff and Jimmy Superfly Snuka — only spent a portion of their careers with the WWE, said Storm.

"I've looked at the list and there's a few people that it wouldn't surprise me if they are suffering because they did a very reckless, dangerous style," he said.

"There's people on this list that are third generation, their grandfather did it, their father did it and they wrestled for upwards of a decade before they got to the WWE, I don't know how you can dump that on the company."

The NFL recently settled a similar suit for $1 billion and a group of more than 100 former NHL players are suing the league.

A pro wrestler for 25 years, Storm spent four years in the WWE and now runs Storm Wrestling Academy in Calgary, training the next generations of superstars. His latest class graduated Friday and Storm's school is fully booked until the spring of 2017.

During his career, Storm was never diagnosed with a concussion and he teaches his students to work the same way.

"I can think of one time that I banged my head really hard, that I'm like, that was probably a concussion," he said.

"I didn't suffer side effects from it, I guess I'm lucky I've got a hard head."

Even though he's never been diagnosed with one, Storm has been part of a long-term study on the effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, for the last eight years, run by the Concussion Legacy Foundation.

"I've donated my brain and my brain stem to them and I'm part of a legends study where each year I fill out an online survey then do a phone interview where they basically give me an impact test, which is what they do to determine concussion, whether you've recovered from one or not. It's an ongoing study to see if my mood changes, my memory, my cognitive function."

One reason he wanted to take part, said Storm, is because he's never abused alcohol or drugs, so will be a good baseline of sorts.

"There's a lot of drugs and alcohol involved in sport and we don't know what role that plays in addition to concussions," he said.

"They've got football players, they've got basketball players, they've got wrestlers. I was someone that never drank and never did drugs of any kind, so when they're doing this study, if my results are different than other athletes that suffered the similar physical symptoms, then perhaps the results could be compounded or due more to the drugs and alcohol and lifestyle of professional athletes."

Happy Birthday Murphy

Murphy Claire Levesque
July 28, 2008