On this week's episode of Monday Night Raw when the Rhodes Family were in the ring with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, Dusty Rhodes was not following any kind of script and was given free reign to say what he wanted. However, when he put his hand in Stephanie McMahon's face and she did not know he was going to do this, she reportedly made it known that she did not appreciate it.
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October 3, 2013
Rumor Mill - Heat on Dusty Rhodes Backstage
October 1, 2013
Rumor Mill - Reason Stephanie McMahon Is Named "WWE Owner" On TV
You may have noticed Justin Roberts struggle to introduce Triple H & Stephanie McMahon last night.
He eventually came out with Stephanie McMahon, the "Owner of the WWE".
There is a very deliberate reason for this however. F4W Online are noting that this feud with the McMahon family is still set to be a massive part of Wrestlemania with Stephanie/HHH on one side and Vince on the other.
The outcome? A Wrestlemania XXX match with Triple H in one corner and a "choice" of wrestler by Vince McMahon in the other with the "control of the WWE" at stake.
Mil Mascaras Appearing in Sci-Fi Lucha Film
According to Indiegogo.com, WWE Hall of Famer and Uncle of Alberto Del Rio, Mil Mascaras, will be appearing in the upcoming Sci-Fi Lucha Libre film "Mission." The synopsis of the film is as follows:
"In this sci-fi adventure, "Mr. Personality" will have to go into a dangerous and remote jungle that serves as a den for mysterious aliens invading Earth in order to destroy it. "Mission" will feature werewolves, robots, spiders, jungle, missionaries, Aliens, spaceships ... And wrestling, wrestling and wrestling!"
September 30, 2013
WWE Goes Pink with Susan G. Komen
WWE and Susan G. Komen are expanding their joint “Rise Above Cancer” campaign to include all WWE Superstars and Divas wearing pink ring gear starting tonight on Monday Night Raw®. The campaign will continue throughout National Breast Cancer Awareness month with WWE Superstars and Divas wearing customized “Rise Above Cancer” t-shirts to help raise awareness and funds for Komen. WWE will donate to Komen 20 percent of the retail sales price of all specialty “Rise Above Cancer” merchandise sold today through December 31 on WWEShop.com and at WWE live events.
WWE will also offer co-branded bracelets and a “Rise Above Cancer” hat, headband and wristband set, inspired by WWE Superstar John Cena®, who conceived of the partnership last year and continues to be an avid spokesman for Komen.
To support Komen’s mission, WWE will utilize all its assets, including TV and pay-per-view broadcasts, live events, PSAs, in-arena, digital and social media to generate awareness and encourage fans to get involved. Throughout the month, the announcer table, entrance ramp and ring skirts will be co-branded and the middle ring rope turned pink to promote the fight against breast cancer.
“WWE Superstars and WWE Divas are providing an important public service by reaching millions of WWE fans – women and men – with breast cancer education and information, while raising funds that keep our work vital,” said Dorothy Jones, VP of Marketing. “We’re grateful for WWE’s commitment to this cause, and to WWE fans for their enthusiastic support of Komen’s mission to end breast cancer.”
“I am proud that WWE’s partnership with Komen has expanded to include all WWE Superstars and Divas,” said WWE Superstar John Cena. “WWE’s global platforms combined with the full force of our roster will bring critical awareness for this devastating disease.”
Susan G. Komen and WWE have a history of success in raising awareness for the fight against breast cancer. Last year, the WWE Universe raised $1 million for Komen during its month-long breast cancer awareness campaign. In addition, WWE has supported Komen through its “Make Mom Proud” campaign as well as participation in Race for the Cure® events throughout local communities.
Susan G. Komen is the world’s largest nonprofit funder of breast cancer research, and funds community outreach programs, public advocacy and global programs. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related death among women in the United States. There are 2.9 million breast cancer survivors in the United States today. For more information about Susan G. Komen, breast health or breast cancer, visit komen.org/wwe or call 1-877GOKOMEN.
September 29, 2013
What if Triple H weren't Vince McMahon's successor?
PWTorch reader Jeff from Michigan asks: If for some reason Triple H wasn't Vince's successor, would Shane or Stephanie replace him, or would he choose another wrestler such as Mick Foley, the Rock, Shawn Michaels, Booker T, JBL, or even John Cena?
PWTorch senior columnist Bruce Mitchell answers: If Triple H wasn't Vince's successor, Stephanie McMahon would be. Period. She would hire experienced management whose first job would to be to make her feel comfortable running the company. The only person on that list I can imagine working in that capacity, and he has other fish in life to fry, is JBL.
PWTorch columnist Greg Parks answers: It would've been Steph and it was going to be whether or not she married Triple H. Most of the other wrestlers listed have outside interests that would take their attention away from running WWE with a McMahon-like laser focus.
PWTorch columnist Sean Radican answers: Stephanie would replace Vince McMahon as the leader of WWE if Triple H wasn't in position to be his successor. It has been clear for a long time that Stephanie was favored over Shane for that spot for a variety of reasons and, with Shane leaving WWE several years back to pursue his own ventures, it's highly doubtful he would take over for Vince McMahon now.
source: pwtorch.com
Rumor Mill - A Look At TNA Wrestling As The Financial Pressure Mounts
An Inside Look At TNA Wrestling As The Financial Pressure Mounts, What The Atmosphere Is Like Backstage Plus More
Many continue to wonder about the state of TNA Wrestling as tough contract re-negotiations take place and more workers choose to leave the company. Here is some further prospective.
TNA is by no means “broke” or “out of money,” as they still have the complete support of Panda Energy. However, TNA is trying to show less of a hit on the bottom line because the Carter family is not happy with the amount of money the promotion is bleeding. The pressure to cut back is at an all time high with expenses skyrocketing by taping television on the road.
While TNA hasn’t made the financial mistakes that were made in the latter days of WCW, some have been just as impactful to the small company (pun intended). What put TNA on the map was they were viewed as an upscale Ring of Honor with a few familiar faces that mainstream fans would recognize. As the company grew, they almost became obsessed with former WWE talent.
One key observer points out there was a time that when any worker was released from WWE you could literally count down the days until they were on TNA television. This same observer points to guys they could have gone without overspending on such as Ken Anderson, Chavo Guerrero, Mike Knox and “many others.” TNA could have held their ratings with the people that “brought them to the dance,” such as AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels and Bobby Roode. The problem is that TNA never found a happy medium.
source: wnw premium
September 28, 2013
WWE's Kane teams up with politician Ron Paul
It's no secret that Glenn Jacobs, the man who has famously portrayed Kane in WWE for 16 years, is a Libertarian. It's also no secret that Jacobs and former Libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul are friends.
The pair are together in public once again, this time on the "Ron Paul Channel." A preview of the 16 minute interview can be seen here: http://www.ronpaulchannel.com/video/wwe-kane-joins-the-channel/ (full access to the interview requires a subscription).
Pro wrestling and politics aren't complete strangers. On top of Jacobs and former WWE superstar Sean "Val Venis" Morley being avid Libertarians, WWE CEO Linda McMahon has run for the U.S. Senate out of Connecticut twice, and former WWE superstar and commentator Jesse Ventura was Governor of Minnesota.
source: baltimoresun.com
September 27, 2013
News On Tribute To The Troops 2013 & Saturday Morning Slam
The 2013 WWE Tribute to the Troops special is scheduled to air on NBC on Saturday December 28th at 9 PM. The special will be 60 minutes, with a longer, 2-hour special airing on the USA Network at a later date.
There is still no word on a new season of WWE's "Saturday Morning Slam" TV show. Despite talk that the show would be returning for a second season, no new episodes have been taped and local TV affiliates have not been told anything about new episodes airing this fall.
September 25, 2013
Paige Tops NXT's First-Ever Power Rankings
WWE NXT revealed their first-ever Power Rankings this week:
1. Paige
2. Corey Graves & Adrian Neville
3. Bo Dallas
4. Sami Zayn
5. Scott Dawson & Alexander Rusev
Update on lawsuit involving WWE and Big Show
WWE lost a motion to move a lawsuit filed by a former producer to federal court last week. The suit, brought by former producer Andrew Green, names WWE and Big Show (a/k/a Paul Wright) as defendants. The suit claims Wright attacked Green without provocation during a backstage interview and that he suffered emotional and physical damage from the episode, which was later posted on the WWE website. The ruling by a US District Court judge means the case will be heard in an Arizona court. You can read more here.
Grand Rapids Radio Station Posts WWE NXT Feature, Covers Diva Emma and Why NXT is the Best Wrestling Show on TV
WWE NXTWGRD 97.9 out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, has published a lengthy feature on WWE NXT, and has focused the piece around WWE NXT Diva Emma and the budding Divas division in WWE's developmental system.
The feature also goes on to list the top 4 reasons why WWE NXT is the best wrestling product on TV these days, while the show is technically available on Hulu as opposed to actual "TV." The following are some article highlights, and you can check it out entirely at this link:
When you think about the most popular wrestlers in WWE, your mind probably goes to the unstoppable T-shirt marketing juggernaut that is John Cena, or maybe to Daniel Bryan, who has arenas across the country chanting “Yes! Yes! Yes!” and losing their minds when he bashes his knee right into some dude’s face.
Over the past few months, however, there’s someone else on the roster who, pound for pound, is every bit as beloved by the crowd as anyone else in the company. Her name? Emma.
I can pinpoint the exact moment when I knew that Emma was going to be amazing in the first match I watched her wrestle. She did her entrance, and ended it with attempting a skin-the-cat style backflip into the ring, and she just couldn’t get it. She flopped around, kicking her legs, and eventually pulled herself over, and the crowd… …went…nuts. There were a lot of laughs, sure, but more than that, there was applause and cheers. Instead of seeing her as the klutzy girl who didn’t realize she wasn’t a good dancer — the same kind of gimmick that made Jillian Hall an enjoyable but one-note character on ‘Raw’ and ‘Smackdown’ a few years back — they were solidly in her corner, rooting for the girl who was a little bit awkward, but was up there giving it her best shot. She was the instant underdog, and there’s nothing wrestling fans like more than cheering for an underdog.
There are a lot of popular wrestlers in WWE, but there aren’t a lot who come to the ring in T-shirts that were made for them by fans, swatting at bubbles being showered onto the entrance ramp by fans who brought their own bubble-guns to the arena. Emma is that wrestler, and she’s built that popularity piece by piece in a way that’s made her one of the most enjoyable people in the company.
September 24, 2013
Rumor Mill - Blown Spot On Raw Causes An Uproar Backstage & Two Top Stars Nearly Come To Blows
Ryback took major heat over the gorilla table bump spot with CM Punk on this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw. Ryback’s only job was to put Punk through the table. Well, as seen on Raw, not only did he not direct Punk but he turned his wrist at the last second and caused Punk to almost miss the table and barely catch any of it on the way down. The nasty bump caused Punk to be legitimately busted open and receive medical attention backstage. Rather than apologize, Ryback told a producer that Punk “should have bumped better.” Punk apparently found out because he and Ryback ended up having words over it. The entire thing nearly came to blows when Curtis Axel stepped in and tried to play the role of peace maker. Triple H ended up getting involved, pulling Ryback aside and speaking with him behind closed doors.
source: wnw premium
September 23, 2013
Rumor Mill - Triple H Calling for More Major Changes
Triple H continues to call for more changes in WWE during the transition of his eventual succession to Vince McMahon. One change that he wants to make is returning to a more traditional aspect of workers calling matches in the ring on the fly. Like many of his changes, this isn’t expected to be immediate but something slowly transitioned over the next five years. Hunter wants to usher in the new crop of talent to be trained in this style. One of the reasons for the slow transition is that Hunter understands that ordering an immediate change in philosophy would be disastrous to the current roster with a lot of guys being “totally lost.”
source: wnw premium
September 21, 2013
Can You Get Your Money Back For Not Liking WWE Pay-Per-Views? Not Quite
Pay-per-view sporting events are always a gamble because fans can never be quite sure that they will get enough bang for their buck – just ask anyone who paid to watch Saturday’s one-sided bout between Floyd Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez. The same goes for the fans of professional wrestling who pay some $45 each month for WWE’s pay-per-view events.
Yet according to one recent report, those disappointed wrestling fans can get their money back, and apparently all they have to do is ask their cable provider. Is it really that simple? Not quite.
The background: WWE’s current main storyline features Daniel Bryan, a hard-working underdog who has become a favorite among fans. That popularity helped him earn a title shot at August’s SummerSlam, one of WWE’s monthly pay-per-view events, where he took the championship belt off of John Cena to the deafening roar of a sold-out Staples Center.
But the cheers didn’t last long. Bryan was quickly knocked out by Triple H, the match’s guest referee and Bryan’s in-story boss, allowing Randy Orton to steal the title. Bryan had his shot at redemption this past Sunday at WWE’s Night of Champions, another PPV event. The night’s main event was a title match between Bryan and Orton, one that Bryan won, again to raucous cheers. This celebration also didn’t last very long, however, as Triple H stripped Bryan of the title the following night on WWE’s weekly Monday Night Raw cable telecast.
Well it turns out some fans were disappointed that Bryan’s championship win was overturned. So disappointed, in fact, that they called their cable provider to ask for a refund for Sunday night’s PPV.
Sounds absurd, right? According to one report, they got what they wanted...More?
source: forbes.com
Stars Interviewed for Triple H’s New DVD
WrestlingDVDNews.com reports that the following names were interviewed for Triple H’s new DVD that comes out next Tuesday: Triple H, Paul Levesque Sr. (Triple H’s father), Pat Levesque (Triple H’s mother), William Regal, Harley Race, Road Dogg, Diamond Dallas Page, Terry Taylor, Big Show, Vince McMahon, The Undertaker, Kevin Nash, Sean Waltman, Shawn Michaels, Jim Ross, Michael Hayes, Mick Foley, Billy Gunn, The Rock, Pat Patterson, Stephanie McMahon, Linda McMahon, Ric Flair (new and archive footage), Batista, Randy Orton, John Cena and Brock Lesnar.
No Shane?...Interesting....
WWE Hires Former Wrestler to Work as a Trainer at the New Performance Center
WWE has re-hired Nick “Eugene” Dinsmore but now he will be working as a trainer. He’s expected to report to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando soon.
Dinsmore was originally scheduled to report to work a few weeks ago but word going around this week is that he would start within the next two weeks. There’s also talk that WWE may be looking to hire additional trainers.
September 19, 2013
Rumor Mill - More Backstage News On JR's WWE Retirement, WWE Superstar To Take Over His Duties?
There were some rumors within WWE about Jim Ross being let go days before it actually happened. On September 10th, the day before Ross was let go, someone in WWE's book department called an author to tell him that WWE had chosen him to write JR's autobiography.
According to F4WOnline, one WWE source thought that it was weird for WWE to even publicize his retirement since if you are a casual viewer of the product you never see Ross anyway and would probably presume he'd already retired. It was also noted that WWE cutting JR loose would never have happened even a few years back and that it proves that Vince McMahon doesn't care about TNA at all.
Regarding JR's job working with talents in WWE NXT, there's speculation that William Regal may be the guy who takes those duties over.
September 18, 2013
Video: WWE COO Triple H sits down with Michael Cole to address the fast count at Night of Champions, Randy Orton, Dusty Rhodes and who will compete for the vacant WWE Title
Q&A with Paul “Triple H” Levesque
From his first days training in Killer Kowalski’s school in Malden, Mass., Paul Levesque — the man destined to be known worldwide as World Wrestling Entertainment megastar “Triple H” — knew that professional wrestling was for him. He’d loved the genre of sports-entertainment ever since he watched with his father as a young boy, and all of the training and weightlifting that he’d tirelessly dedicated himself to throughout his teens was in preparation for this.
Twenty years and 23 championships later, Paul — now a husband (to WWE Creative VP Stephanie McMahon) and a father — has rededicated himself to an even bigger role as the executive vice president of Talent & Live events for World Wrestling Entertainment. Still wildly popular and relevant to the WWE fan base (his new DVD/Blu-Ray, “Thy Kingdom Come,” hits stores this month), can the legend formerly known as “The Game” take sports-entertainment to new heights?
Describe your early days growing up in Nashua.
I was just a typical kid. I played baseball and basketball. Nashua is a uniquely situated city … it’s close to the beaches, close to the mountains, and 45 minutes from Boston, so it was a great place to grow up.
How did you wind up getting into pro wrestling?
I got lucky and [former pro wrestler] Ted Arcidi walked into my gym one day. He and I became friends, and I would ask him about the business all the time. Ted would discourage me from it a lot, but I was persistent and eventually he gave me the number to [former pro wrestler and trainer] Killer Kowalski’s wrestling school in Massachusetts.
Did you have any idea what the training would be like?
I had no idea how physically demanding it was, but I like training and physicality — that part of it didn’t scare me. I watched a lot of guys walk in there wanting to be wrestlers and the first time they got slammed in that ring, you could see the look in their eyes like they were done.
Once you became an established WWE superstar, what put you on the eventual path to the executive level?
I’ve enjoyed the creative process [of pro wrestling] almost as much as I enjoy going out there and doing it. Vince [McMahon, WWE head] used to joke with me and say, “When are you going to stop rolling around in the dirt and come and do some real work at the office?” and that eventually became, “I want you to be in this position when I can’t do this anymore,” which was the most flattering thing anybody could say to me because he was the guy that created all of this.
You’ve been the subject of several DVDs in the past. What makes “Thy Kingdom Come” so unique?
This one is much more of a documentary, as opposed to just a compilation of my matches. It’s about me, but my parents are in it, a lot of talent are in it. Even [longtime WWE Superstar] the Undertaker asked to be in it. Plus, they came to the offices and interviewed some people. It covers a lot of “corporate” Triple H.
Now that you are a driving force behind World Wrestling Entertainment behind the scenes, what does the future hold for this company?
We are Disney. We are entertainment … not just one-dimensional. Just think: 10 years ago, Marvel was just the comic book guys. We are, and will continue to be, a growing global content provider for entertainment of all kinds.
source: nhmagazine.com
Now we know without a doubt why Shane McMahon left the WWE.
September 17, 2013
Cody Rhodes & Goldust Comment on Raw, Goldust Promises the McMahon's Will "Fall"
In response to what happened on Raw Dusty Rhodes and Big Show, Cody Rhodes and Goldust posted the following on Twitter:
@CodyRhodesWWE
Cowards. #WatchThemAllFall
@DUSTIN_RHODES1
Talked to pop. He's gonna be ok. Sick to my stomach @wwe
Jim Ross Speaks Out on WWE Departure, Reveals Whether or Not He Was "Forced Out of the Company"
Jim Ross was interviewed on "MMA Hour" by Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com, and the two talked about a number of topics including JR's recent departure from WWE. The following are some highlight quotes from Ross:
On his WWE departure:
"I've had a very blessed 39-year run in the sports entertainment world, the world of pro wrestling, so it seemed like a time to give with some other opportunities knocking on the door to give them a shot. No regrets. It's all been great and more adventures ahead, hopefully."
On whether or not he was forced out of WWE:
"After a good discussion and expressing myself and things I'd like to do and just the timing of everything I think it was... when you say mutual it means partially to somebody that you've been forced out the door or been treated poorly or what have you, which really wasn't the case. It was something that we had talked about kind of casually and it just seemed like with the lay of the land, it was good timing.
I'm not really a negative guy. You and I have talked a few times and I'm pretty upbeat. I've always looked at the glass as half full as opposed than half empty. I had some health issues and thank God I'm over those. I'm taking good care of myself... I just think it was the right time. With everything presented as it was, it was just the very best decision to make and now we're going to move on to the next thing."
Oderint Dum Metuant: Let Them Hate As Long As They Fear
