Pedro Morales Passes Away

From WWE.com:

A native of Culebra Island, Puerto Rico, Morales moved to New York in his youth and debuted in the ring in 1959 at age 17. After establishing his reputation as a fiery competitor in WWE on the east coast, Morales traveled west to territories in Texas and California, where he competed for much of the 1960s. In California, he battled The Destroyer in a famous rivalry, and formed a popular tag team with Pepper Gomez.

Morales returned to WWE in 1970, and in less than a year, he captured the WWE Championship from Ivan Koloff inside Madison Square Garden. During his nearly three years on top, Morales developed a passionate following in the northeast, particularly among New York City’s growing Hispanic population.

More than 22,000 fans turned out to Shea Stadium in 1972 to watch him battle close friend and former champion Bruno Sammartino in the main event of the inaugural Showdown at Shea supercard. After 75 minutes of action, the bout was ruled a draw in accordance with the state athletic commission’s strict 11 p.m. curfew.

He held the WWE Title for a staggering 1027 days before losing it to Stan Stasiak in December 1973. Morales puts his name in the record books again in 1980 when he won the World Tag Team Titles with Bob Backlund and then the Intercontinental Title to become the first Triple Crown Champion in WWE history.

Morales hung up his boots in 1987 but continued on as an ambassador for sports-entertainment. He later became a commentator for both WCW and WWE’s Spanish announce teams, and in 1995, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Stephanie Mcmahon Talks Joining The Family Business And More

Stephanie Mcmahon recently appeared on 3.5 Degrees: The Power of Connection and spoke on how important it was to her to work for WWE from an early age. Check out her comments below.

First WWE Event:

“I remember once when I was probably around five years old, my first live event. And I was backstage and there were all of these superstars standing in the hallway and all of a sudden a group of kids came screaming and running past me. So, I looked to see what on earth they were running from and around the corner comes George “The Animal Steele.” For any of those who are not familiar with who he is, who was a wrestler that had so much hair on his back and chest it looked like fur. His head was very, very wrinkled and bald. He would dye his tongue green with like Clorets or something. And he was almost walking like an animal and here he comes towards me…I subsequently screamed at the top of my lungs, ran up my father’s leg, buried my head in his shoulder and hung on for dear life. And what surprised me was that my dad actually started to laugh.”

Desire To Join WWE:

“I always wanted to be a part of our family’s business, I always watched, ever since I was a little kid. And my parents were on the road a lot building our company from the ground up. So, from my perspective, it was my way of being a part of my family, it was my way of giving back to my family…I remember I was about 16 when my father asked me officially what is it I wanted to study in school, what did I want to do with my life. And I looked at him like he was crazy and he said, “Why are you looking at me like that?” And I said, “Because, dad, I wanna be in the business. How could you think anything different?”

First Job In The Company:

“When I first graduated college my roles were in our sales office. Again, learning from the ground up, going on sales calls, what it took to really build our business. I’ve pretty much interned in our digital media space, almost everywhere really, and then ultimately came to be a part of our creative writing team which is where I really found my niche at that time and simultaneously also became a character on our television show…And then within two weeks the head writer quit and I was told, “Congratulations, trial by fire. Here in WWE, it’s sink or swim. You are now running the creative writing team.”

Struggling Early On:

“I was in charge of our creative writing and live event booking and marketing and talent relations departments at that time. I guess I really wasn’t doing a very good job because my boss, who’s also my father, called me into his office and told me that I wasn’t meeting expectations and that something needed to change. And I think that it’s one thing when your boss sits you down and tells you that you’re not meeting expectations and that you are performing subpar in some capacity, it’s another thing when that boss is your father and you have disappointed him…I questioned my value, I really did, and I questioned my value to our company, you know, where would I fit in? How did I fit in? And was I going to be able to overcome this massive setback to me personally and professionally? And was I ever going to be able to earn not only my colleagues’ respect but was I ever going to be able to earn or regain my dad’s respect? I beat myself up for a really long time and the main thing that I was doing wrong is that I was micromanaging. But then there was this huge self-doubt and insecurity that I was left with because, again, I took it so hard.”

Overcoming Those Challenges:

“I’ve always been a strong performer and it just rattled my cage so much. And I started working with a coach. She taught me to focus on my strengths, and it’s one of the most valuable lessons that I’ve learned along the way. We all have weaknesses, every single one of us, but if you spend the majority of your time trying to hone your weaknesses you’re never really gonna get to that next level. But if you focus on your strengths, if you focus on what you do better than anybody else, it creates a greater value for your business, it creates a better value for your personally because then you start delivering. Then you start bringing things to the table that people may not have even thought were possible.”

Storytelling In WWE:

“Storytelling is the number one most basic form of communication because it makes people feel. You know Maya Angelou has that great quote. I butcher it a little bit but “People will never remember what you said or what you did but they’ll always remember how you made them feel.” If you can make people feel something, they can relate to it, they’ll remember it. Just like you’re relating to and remembering that all of those storylines and all of those characters, right? It’s something you felt as a kid, it’s nostalgia for you. You said it brings you back to that moment in time. It’s ingrained in who you are.”

Relationship With Triple H: 

“My husband and I don’t really fight much. The only time we ever really disagree is about business. It gets really heated really fast. You’re right. Suddenly you go to this place that’s like, that doesn’t happen with people who aren’t in such close relationships. You have to really guard against that. You have to be careful. I agree, take a step back and be the bigger person as much as you possibly can. It’s great advice.”

Triple H on Getting Bruno Sammartino and Ultimate Warrior in the WWE Hall of Fame

Triple H recently spoke to Stone Cold Steve Austin about the difficulties of getting two legendary stars into the WWE Hall of Fame. Those stars are Bruno Sammartino and The Ultimate Warrior, two men that many pro wrestling insiders believed would never be inducted.

Much of the reason for that was due to perceived bad blood that supposedly existed on both sides. The Game spoke about Sammartino specifically and what he had to do to make the move happen.

“When you’re his age, it’s a trust issue. He didn’t know me and had to learn to trust me in a business that long ago, didn’t have a whole lot of guys you could trust. He had to learn to trust me and he said it at the end, you know, he (Triple H) never once lied to me about any of this.'”

But getting the Warrior onboard with the Hall of Fame was a much different issue that presented a different set of problems.

“Warrior was different because we didn’t have a trust. He and I both said as we went though the process, you live and you learn and you grow. The day you stop learning and growing, you’re done. I was a different person when I was in WrestleMaia with him which people bring up a lot to me as if it’s a sore spot in my career. I had a bad personal experience with a guy at the moment but it was one of the coolest moments of my life.

My first WrestleMania was with The Ultimate Warrior. It was a mind bogglingly awesome opportunity for me.

We had to get past a whole lot of whole lot of stuff with him and Vince. He was a unique cat. As I stayed open to that process, I realized it was a lot of misunderstood–a lot of his anger and passion and aggression, he didn’t know how to communicate.”

Triple H has received the credit for making both inductions possible and rightfully so. Vince McMahon had all but given up on the idea of mending fences with either man, but gave Hunter the chance to reach out anyway. Sammartino joined the Hall of Fame in 2013 and The Ultimate Warrior was inducted a year later in 2014.

WWE Studios To Partner Up With Netflix

WWE Studios will be producing feature films with Netflix, with plans to release them via the streaming service, according to PWInsider. The upcoming projects will be geared towards family audiences and the first movie, The Main Event, will begin production in the summer.

The Main Event is about a ten year old boy who gets bullied, but dreams of one day becoming a WWE Superstar. The report also says John Cena could possibly make a cameo and both The Miz and Bray Wyatt are expected to have small roles in the film.

WWE Studios first formed in 2002 and had three releases in 2018: Mohawk (featuring Luke Harper), The Marine 6: Close Quarters (with The Miz, Becky Lynch, and WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels), and Blood Brother (featuring R-Truth).

Fighting with My Family is next up for WWE Studios, which hits theaters on February 22.

WWE Confirms Dean Ambrose Will Not Be Renewing His Contract

WWE has confirmed that Dean Ambrose will not be renewing his contract when it expires in April. WWE sent Wrestling Inc. this statement:

"Dean Ambrose (Jonathan Good) will not be renewing his contract with WWE when it expires in April. We are grateful and appreciative of all that Dean has given to WWE and our fans. We wish him well and hope that one day Dean will return to WWE."

As reported, via PWTorch, Ambrose gave his notice to WWE as he's unhappy with his position and has been for some time. While Ambrose's contract expires after WrestleMania 35 in early April, it was noted that he could leave sooner if there are no plans for him. WWE offered Ambrose a new contract a few weeks ago, one that would include a significant pay increase, but he chose not to re-negotiate and instead gave notice that he would not re-sign.

ESPN Reveals The Concussion Tests Daniel Bryan Has To Undergo After Each Match

ESPN Reveals The Concussion Tests Daniel Bryan Has To Undergo After Each Match
WWE Champion Daniel Bryan recently spoke with ESPN to promote Sunday's WWE Royal Rumble match with AJ Styles. The piece reveals the concussion tests that Bryan undergoes after each match.

Bryan returns to the backstage area after each match and has to go through a series of tests, ending with a math problem. According to ESPN, Bryan must multiply 8 by 3, then multiply that number by 3, and dive it all by 4. If Bryan can't come up with the correct answer, he's not cleared to continue wrestling.

WWE doctors perform these tests on Bryan following any physical activity in the ring. The tests begin with Bryan getting his eyes checked. He then goes through several balance tests, then ends with the math equation. Doctors use the simple tests to make sure Bryan's brain is functioning properly. These show how WWE is not taking any chances with Bryan, who has suffered 10 documented concussions.

"The big concern with concussions is that, this has happened to me in the past, you don't know you had a concussion and your instinct as an athlete is to say, 'Hey, I'm fine, What we do now ensures that doesn't happen."

ESPN notes that WWE put this very specific concussion protocol in place after Bryan was cleared to return to the ring by an independent group of concussion experts, neurologists and neurosurgeons, and WWE medical director Joseph Maroon.

WWE Announces Project With Reality TV Producers To Find The Next Top Female Superstar

WWE is partnering with reality TV veterans Bunim-Murray Productions to find the next female Superstar. Casting is underway now at Bunim-Murray.com.

It's been reported for more than a year that WWE was interested in bringing back a variation of the Divas Search, and this could be that project finally launching.

Stay tuned for more updates on the project. Below is WWE's announcement:

WWE is teaming up with Bunim-Murray Productions – the company behind Total Bellas, Total Divas and "Keeping up With The Kardashians" – to find the next female Superstar who has what it takes to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Ronda Rousey, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch.

Casting is underway for a forthcoming reality show that will document the search for the next great female competitor.

Triple H Gives His Thoughts On All Elite Wrestling

During a conference call earlier today, Triple H addressed the formation of All Elite Wrestling. He dealt with the question pretty well, stating that it’s something WWE are going to “keep an eye on”. He said that they’re doing their business and WWE will conduct their own, in a manner that will cater to the WWE audience.

Rumor Mill - XFL In Talks With Both ESPN And FOX For TV Deal

XFL could have an official television deal as early as next week, and they’re talking to some big names according to John Ourand and Terry Lefton of the Sports Business Journal (subscription required). The report states that the company is in talks with both ESPN and FOX at the moment. Both deals would have the games airing on two stations as the ESPN deal would have matches on ABC and ESPN, while the FOX deal would be on FS1 and the titular network. While a deal hasn’t been made, both talks are described as being ongoing and interest is strong for both.

Interestingly, the XFL’s main competitor, the Alliance of American Football, will start its debut season on Feb. 9 of this year. The XFL won’t launch until next year. Debut teams will be featured in Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, New York, St. Louis, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Tampa Bay. The 10-game season will be capped off with two weeks of playoffs.

Robby Brookside And Matt Bloom On The Evolution Of Wrestling

WWE trainers Robby Brookside and Matt Bloom sat with Vulture Hound‘s Lee Hazell & talked about WWE’s new NXT UK Performance Center. The two also talked about how their own training differed from that of today’s WWE Superstars.

Brookside reminisced about what he learned from legendary UK star Johnny Saint, “‘I remember when I was 16/17, a great thing for me is doing a TV match with Johnny Saint and to travel around with him, and he was one of the many that used to go, ‘Slow down!’ Because when you’re young you’re like, ‘Oh I’ve learnt this new move, I want to try and do it.’ Once you get older and you figure it out, you realize it’s just like pouring another pint of water into a pint of beer. You just don’t need it.” Brookside also stressed the importance of being trained the correct way, “It’s hard sometimes when you get someone from the indies who have been trained the wrong way. Their footwork and their balance and their facial expressions aren’t up to it and to try and get them to change that, at times it’s harder to teach them. We got eight Chinese Nationals who couldn’t speak any English, and it was easier in some ways to train them from scratch than getting someone from the indies who’s been working for 12 years. Well, obviously they’ve been going to the wrong places because that’s not how we do things here.”

Matt Bloom didn’t even train in a wrestling ring, “I trained in a boxing ring with one air conditioner in the wall, up four flights of stairs to get there. It was tough, man. It was a lot different than it is now. Actually, Triple H and I trained in the same facility with Killer Kowalski. The training game has evolved a lot.”

Robby Brookside opened up about an early experience has had after he was accused of labeling wrestling as ‘fixed.’  The incident led to a successful career for Brookside, “I got invited, in inverted commas, to a wrestling club on the outskirts of Liverpool – a big factory called English Electric. My mother and father hated wrestling, everyone thought I was a weirdo because I packed in football to watch wrestling. So anyway, my mate went to this amateur wrestler and said ‘That kid down there thinks it’s all fixed.’ He was only a little fella. Then my mate comes back, says we’re invited to a show on Sunday.” Brookside continued, “So, I go up and its strange because people are still working in the factory. So I get to the utility room and there’s a big, old sugar matt with all these old fellas all around. The little fella sees me and gets all excited. I’m 14, he’s 32/33. He says, ‘Right lads, this kid thinks it’s all fixed.’ He tells me to get on the matt. I get on the matt and to this day I have never felt pain like it. I remember I hit the matt as he took me down and I didn’t know where I was. I remember all the dust going in my face. That could probably get a factory closed down now. I could probably get them all charged with abusing a 14-year-old. He ripped my head off my shoulders. My ear was bleeding and it wasn’t very nice. There was just a sink to smother your face and that was it.”

Brookside remained undeterred, “I went, ‘I’m not having it. I’ll go back the next week.’ And they did it again. I went back the third time they decided I had a bit of bottle. But that’s what it was. The facilities were disgraceful. They’d be condemned now. Just being at the Performance Center now and seeing that evolve and the way it grows and grows and grows. Just the facilities that the talent have. The way WWE treats their talent is light years ahead of what we’ve gone through. "

WWE Women's Tag Team Title Belts Revealed, Champions To Be Crowned At Elimination Chamber

Alexa Bliss revealed on tonight's WWE RAW that the first WWE Women's Tag Team Champions will be decided at the upcoming WWE Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.

There will be a Chamber match with 3 teams from RAW and 3 teams from SmackDown. The winning team will be crowned the champions, indicating the titles will be defended on both brands.

There's no word yet on the 6 teams.

Triple H Says Some Talent Might Stay In NXT Without Going To WWE Main Roster

As reported here earlier today, Triple H was in London celebrating the grand opening of the new WWE Performance Center UK. As seen above, Inside The Ropes attended the event and caught an in-depth interview with Triple H where they asked him about his future aspirations concerning the NXT and NXT UK talent. Triple H confirmed that certain NXT UK stars will indeed make the eventual transition to RAW or SmackDown, but along with that, certain stars will begin to rotate back through the various developmental territories they continue to establish.

"There are some talent here, that you might see come from the UK, that might move straight to RAW or SmackDown," Triple H explained. "I think right now there's sort of this perceived system of where it's kinda - 1. RAW, 2. SmackDown, 3. NXT, 4. NXT UK. I don't believe that, I believe that talent are talent and I believe they will sit where they sit, and I believe you'll see talent over the next few years start coming up to Raw and SmackDown. And I think you'll see them move back over in to NXT, or come back in to the NXT UK system. I think talent will begin to evolve and rotate through territories, so to speak."

Triple H believes that some performers have reached their plateau of success rotating through the NXT developmental territories, and hopes to give those individuals successful, meaningful careers without them ever having to transition to the cable network programs.

"I think there will be some talent that will be incredibly successful, will be global names, will be global, household names," Triple H said, "that will probably never leave that NXT system because that's their home base and that's where they fit, and they'll have incredibly successful, meaningful careers. And probably over those careers they'll gravitate through different locations within the globe, maybe without never being on RAW or SmackDown, but that not being any lesser to their careers."

Triple H also discussed the importance of reinventing a character when the performer feels it's the necessary action to take, saying that it's no different than decades ago, when wrestlers would travel to a new territory and present their revamped character to an audience.

"I think it depends on the talent and the moment and I think it's no different than it was if you go back, 30 - 40 years, into the territory system in the US. No different," Triple H said. "You left one place, you went someplace else, sometimes you reinvented because you thought, 'What I'm doing is good, but here, I want to do something different, I want to make it something more.' And you reinvent, and you become something different."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Inside The Ropes with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.