Vince McMahon Scripted Series in the Works From Blumhouse TV, WWE

WWE chairman Vince McMahon, who has frequently played the heel on the company’s wrestling shows, will get to be the good guy in a scripted series. 

Blumhouse Television is partnering with the WWE to develop a limited series based on McMahon’s 1990s trial for allegedly supplying steroids to members of the WWE roster. The United States of America vs. Vince McMahon will be the first scripted portrayal of a part of the company’s history and the stars of that era. 

“We have a dramatic, riveting saga — one that’s crazier than fiction — that will appeal to the cross-section of Blumhouse and WWE fans,” said Blumhouse TV president Chris McCumber. “To say I’m thrilled about collaborating again with WWE is an understatement.” The potential series, which doesn’t have a writer attached yet, will focus on the 1990s, when a series of New York Post stories alleged McMahon was supplying steroids to his wrestlers. The coverage caught the attention of the FBI and federal prosecutors in New York, who indicted McMahon on charges of possession of illegal steroids with intent to distribute and conspiracy to distribute steroids.

Per the show’s logline, “with his liberty at stake, two school-aged children at home and with WWE on the brink of bankruptcy, [McMahon] refused to take a plea deal. Ultimately, McMahon stood trial and was acquitted unanimously by a jury of his peers and went on to build a multi-billion-dollar global sports entertainment empire.” (McMahon’s son Shane was 24 and working behind the scenes for the WWE at the time of the trial; daughter Stephanie was 17.) 

 McMahon will be an executive producer of the project along with WWE’s chief of global television distribution Kevin Dunn, McCumber, Blumhouse founder Jason Blum and Jeremy Gold. “Jason, Chris and their team at Blumhouse create amazing work and we look forward to delivering an inside look into one of the most pivotal moments in our company’s history,” said Dunn. The collaboration with the WWE is the latest foray into scripted TV for Blumhouse, whose previous productions include HBO’s Sharp Objects, Showtime’s The Loudest Voice and The Good Lord Bird and NBC’s upcoming The Thing About Pam, starring Renee Zellweger. Blumhouse TV has also landed rights to Patricia Cornwell‘s Kay Scarpetta novels and is developing them for TV with Jamie Lee Curtis. 

 source: hollywood reporter.com

Cody Rhodes Comments On Triple H

“So I don’t know if I should share this, but, at some point, it’s going to come off my chest: Triple H is probably my favorite wrestler and was a role model. I only watched from a distance, but he reminded me a lot of my dad in the sense that I watched him do all the work, be this executive, and then go out there—and he was only part-time for the most part other than when I first started and had that run with him and Teddy and Shawn. He really was a model in terms of, “OK, you can do both, you can do both, but you have to be really disciplined. You have to take it really seriously.” And that doesn’t get you many friends when you’re the Hermione Granger of the company, and you just take it so seriously and are just a little bookworm.”

He also called to congratulate me on the birth of my daughter. 

The Heirs Apparent: How Triple H And Stephanie McMahon Have Taken The WWE To New Heights

When Vince McMahon dies, it's all but confirmed that Stephanie McMahon and Triple H will take over. But the two have already taken WWE to new heights...More?

source:  thesportster.com

Happy Birthday Aurora

Aurora Rose Levesque
July 24, 2006

Triple H on WWE Taking a ‘Hard Look’ on How to Attract More Fans to the Product

The North State Journal recently spoke to WWE executive Paul "Triple H" Levesque who said that WWE would “take a hard look” at how to attract more fans to the NXT product every week.

“It never is one thing. We see this as a moment in time to shift everything. I think you’ll see it in just the layout of everything, the set designs, the way it’s presented. There’s a greater emphasis on utilizing the spaces that we have and the TV aspect of it while still engaging the fans. A lot of that comes from the time we had to experiment inside the ThunderDome.”

Rumor Mill - The Rock Returning To WWE At Survivor Series

Andrew Zarian of the Man Men Pro Wrestling podcast is reporting that The Rock is scheduled for the Survivor Series pay-per-view in November which will be celebrating his 25th anniversary since his debut with WWE.

Zarian noted that the current plan is for the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY to host the big event, which is fitting as The Rock’s 1996 debut was in New York City in Madison Square Garden.

It remains unknown right now if The Rock will compete on the show, although there are rumors it will be a tag match, building toward a singles match with Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 38 in 2022.

WWE Planning To Hold Queen Of The Ring Tournament

According to Wrestling, Inc., WWE is planning to hold a Queen of the Ring tournament this year

The tentative plan is for the event to be a main roster show airing on Peacock. It’s not known when the event will take place.

WWE last held an all-women’s show with the first-ever Evolution pay-per-view in October of 2018. That event was headlined by then-RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey defeating Nikki Bella.

During a media call in June, Triple H was asked about the possibility of the company running another all-women’s event in response to NWA announcing the all-women’s EmPower show. Triple H sounded negative on the idea at the time saying that while it was a possibility, it was not “the must-have of the moment.”

“Haven’t we already done them?” Triple H asked. “It’s a funny thing to me, I just don’t… so equality is equality, equality is not, ‘I want my own show.’ Equality is not, ‘We have to have our own program.’ If I told you that I was making an all-men’s program and I didn’t want women on it, it would be criticized. And I’m not saying that’s right or wrong. I do think it’s funny when people go, ‘I want the best in the world regardless of contractual status.’ What, I’m sorry… but from a business person’s standpoint, then why do we have contractual status? Right? It doesn’t make any sense to me.

“Yeah, if you want to wrestle the best women in the world, come to the WWE. That’s where they are. If you want to go elsewhere and say that they are, that’s an opinion, and you can, but it is what it is. While I’m all for it, I was one of the biggest drivers of it [WWE Evolution], and will we do another all-women’s event down the line? Possibly. But you know, it’s not the must-have of the moment. I think we do an amazing job of displaying our female athletes and is it perfect? No. Will it always be in flux? Yes. But I think we do a pretty good job and in my opinion, again, my opinion, the best female performers in the world are in WWE, and if they’re not, they want to be.”

WWE SummerSlam To Air In Movie Theaters

The 2021 WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view will air live in select movie theaters across the country.

WWE and Iconic Events Releasing announced today that SummerSlam will air live in movie theaters nationwide for the first time ever.

Ticket prices vary based on the theater location, but select theaters in the following states will be showing the pay-per-view live: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

You can find a list of participating movie theaters at WWEliveintheaters.com.

WWE SummerSlam will take place on Saturday, August 21 from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. 

WWE NXT Scores Best Ratings In Months Despite NBA Finals Competition

Tuesday’s live edition of WWE NXT drew 709,000 viewers on the USA Network, according to Nielsen via Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics.

This is up 0.6% from last week’s show, which drew 705,000 viewers.

Tuesday’s NXT drew a 0.20 rating in the key 18-49 demographic. This is up slightly from last week’s 0.19 rating in the key demo. This 0.20 rating represents 253,000 viewers in the 18-49 demo, which is up from last week’s 245,000 18-49 viewers.

This week’s NXT drew the most viewers since the May 4 episode, despite having the second-half of the show go against the NBA Finals, which started at 9 pm ET.

Triple H Gives His Take on a Successful ‘Money in the Bank’

WWE delivered an outstanding Money in the Bank pay-per-view on Sunday, creating memorable moments and laying the foundation for the development of new stars. The card finished on the highest note possible, with the legendary John Cena emerging to interrupt Roman Reigns and send the crowd home overjoyed following his memorable return.

Max-capacity crowds over the weekend brought a must-see factor to WWE, even helping to significantly boost TV ratings for Friday’s SmackDown. Sunday’s show evoked the sort of passion and exuberance that WWE programming so sorely missed while performing without live audiences during the pandemic.

“The crowd was gone, and that’s our bloodline,” Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE’s executive vice president of global talent strategy and development, says. “It was taken away from us. Now it’s back, and there is new life in WWE.”...More?

source: si.com

WWE and TikTok Launch Ring Announcer Search

Beginning today, WWE will launch a search for its next great ring announcer on TikTok as users can upload their most entertaining videos using the hashtag #WWEAnnouncerContest. The best performers will earn a trip to SummerSlam at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Saturday, August 21, where they will serve as a ring announcer at WWE’s biggest event of 2021. The announcer search is presented by Pure Life® Purified Water.

In the weeks leading up to SummerSlam, WWE will review each video before announcing two winners from the company’s official TikTok channel on Monday, August 16.

“Our engagement on TikTok to date has been incredible and we couldn’t think of a better platform to help us find the next great ring announcer,” said Steve Braband, WWE Vice President, Digital.  

Today’s announcement follows another innovative TikTok activation, through which WWE aims to discover and recruit its next generation of Superstars via the TikTok Resumes product. The search culminates in a multi-day talent tryout in Las Vegas as part of SummerSlam.

To date, WWE has amassed one of the largest TikTok audiences in sports with more than 11 million followers and has more than one billion fans across its global social media platforms, further cementing its position as one of the most-followed brands in the world.

Matt Riddle's Accuser Drops Sexual Assault Lawsuit

The woman who accused WWE star Matt Riddle of choking her and forcing her to perform oral sex has dropped her lawsuit against the wrestler ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Court docs show Candy Cartwright -- a pro wrestler whose real name is Samantha Tavel -- filed for the dismissal on Monday.

It's unclear if the two sides reached a monetary settlement ... Cartwright's attorney, John Chwarzynski, tells us only, "The parties have put this in their past and are focused on the future." Riddle's attorney has not commented.