This Day In Wrestling History

Hulk Hogan becomes the first ever 2 time winner of the WWF(E) Royal Rumble.
January 19, 1991

Ric Flair wins the Royal Rumble and the WWF(E) Heavyweight title
January 19, 1992

Shawn Michaels defeated Psycho Sid for the WWF(E) Heavyweight title
January 19, 1997

WWF(E) New York Restaurant opened in Times Square
January 19, 2000

Total Divas Recap 01/18/15

There is some silliness, some seriousness and some sultriness on this week’s episode of E!’s “Total Divas.” We’ll begin, as ever, with the fun stuff: Nikki Bella and John Cena’s competitive genes come to the forefront when a playful argument leads to a truly absurd competition between the two consisting of go-kart racing, mini golf and the like. Not only does Cena wipe the floor with his overwhelmed S.O., but the fratty finale that completes his clean sweep frustrates Nikki so much that she straight-up douses him with a beverage, and then has to be sweet-talked down to earth.

The seriousness next, and it is, in fact, very serious for Eva Marie when she discovers one of her silicone implants is leaking into her bloodstream. With her career picking up steam, Eva decides to ignore doctor’s orders and tough it out in the ring to keep her momentum running. As a result, Jonathan takes matters into his hands and alerts WWE officials to her condition. It’s only a heart-to-heart from The Bellas that convinces Eva to bite the proverbial bullet and have the procedure that will shelve her for months but ensure her continued health and eventual return to form.

As for the last bit? Natalya and Paige are in the midst of a series of matches and Paige, in an effort to rile up both the crowd and her opponent, has been resorting to an unusually sultry form of mind games. Natalya isn’t exactly comfortable with the tactic, which borders on pure PDA, but Paige defies her request to dial back and instead takes it one step further in their rematch by licking the entire side of Nattie’s face. All of this seems destined for a backstage brawl between the two Divas until Paige explains that the match — and Natalya herself — are that much more interesting to watch when The Queen of Harts is really riled up. Nattie, moved to compromise, agrees to a happy medium of harassment in all future contests. Everybody wins.

Two Former WWE Wrestlers File Class-Action 'Concussion Lawsuit' Against WWE

Former WWE stars Vito Lograsso (Big Vito) and Evan Singleton (Adam Mercer in developmental) have filed a class-action "concussion lawsuit" against WWE in the state of Pennsylvania. They are being represented by the same lawyer as former WWE star Billy Jack Haynes, who also has a lawsuit out against WWE.

The complaints from Haynes and Lograsso/Singleton appear to be virtually identical except for short paragraphs about the complainants.

Singleton's complaint mentions wrestling WWE Superstar Erick Rowan in developmental as Singleton claims, "After approximately 15 matches, during which he sustained multiple traumas, he suffered a serious head injury during a match with Eric Rowen [sic]. The WWE cleared him to continue wrestling after inadequate rest time and downplayed his injury."

Singleton was apparently out of action for five months after a match against Rowan. He then worked one more match and was released from his developmental deal. Singleton has suffered from a number of severe neurological symptoms and later found out that he had bleeding in the left hemisphere of his brain.

Lograsso noted that he "suffers from serious neurological damage, including severe headaches, memory loss, depression and anxiety, as well as deafness."

Chris Jericho Comments On Randy Savage Going Into The WWE HOF

It is much deserved and now, finally, I feel the WWE Hall of Fame is legit. Everybody that needs to be in there — and wasn’t because of politics or petty bullshit — is now in there, including [Bruno] Sammartino, Bret Hart, the Ultimate Warrior and now Randy Savage being the last on that list."

WWE NXT Tournament Announced

A #1 contenders tournament has been confirmed to kick off on next week's WWE NXT. The winner will receive a title shot at NXT Champion Sami Zayn.

Seth Rollins Talks Curb Stomping Lesnar & Cena, Triple H Following His Progress, NXT, Taker, Savage

Seth Rollins joined The Rack this past Thursday Night. During the interview, Rollins discussed what it was like to be in the ring and curb stomping both Brock Lesnar and John Cena on RAW, his thoughts on Smackdown moving to Thursdays, who is he looking forward to working with from NXT in the future, what it was like working with The Undertaker, Randy Savage being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015 and more. They sent us the highlights below, you can listen to the full interview by clicking here.

What it's like working with both Triple H and Stephanie McMahon on TV weekly:

"Oh, they're phenomenal; two of the greatest mind in the history of our industry. You've got one, born and bred a McMahon so she knows all there is to know about what we do and she knows all the little tricks of the trade. She sees things from a completely different perspective, so you have that. On the other hand, you have 'The Cerebral Assassin', a man who's been WWE Champion multiple times, who is clearly the heir-apparent to the company itself and already running the ship for the most part. There are really no better mentors; if you're not learning something every single day, every single time you go out there, then you're really just making a mistake trying to progress yourself. If people have kept track over the past 6-8 months, they'll have noticed a lot of improvements in my game, at least I have, and a lot of that is due to having Triple H and Stephanie on my side, nurturing me all the way through."

Triple H following his progress through NXT, The Shield and now:

"Yeah, clearly, the man has an eye for talent, you know? It's been good; NXT was a good experience for me. We were really the first group of guys who were involved in that project and if you look at what it's become now, it's pretty impressive to think about where it started and how it began, very humbly, in a warehouse in Tampa and now, basically, it's its own brand. To have Triple H's support, through and through the entire way, has meant more to me than people will ever understand. It's really helped position me to where I want to be and helped me grow as a person and as a performer."

Is there anyone in the new crop of NXT talent that he's looking forward to facing in the future:

"I have a lot of friends down there; a lot of people who I traveled the road with in my previous life and I think those guys, the Adrian Nevilles and Sami Zayns, Finn Balor, Hideo Itami, Kevin Overs; these are the guys obviously making a name for themselves now in NXT. There's also a lot of young guys too, who are pushing the envelope as well, really trying to make a name for themselves in the shadow, a little bit, of some of those bigger names.

"You've got someone like CJ Parker, who's been down in NXT for a while making waves. You've got Tyler Breeze, who is on the cusp of something big and stuff like that. So, there's a lot of talent down there; I'm looking forward to seeing how the landscape up here in the WWE looks like in 2-5 years, with all of those names I mentioned, up here working with us. It's going to be a very interesting period for the future of WWE."

How Did WWE SmackDown Fare In Its New Timeslot?

Last night's episode of WWE SmackDown on its new night averaged 2.675 million viewers. Viewership was up 10% from last week's episode on Friday night, which averaged 2.432 million viewers. SmackDown was also the number one show on cable last night.

Stephanie Talks Missing Shane In WWE, Why No More Elimination Chamber, More

Stephanie McMahon was a guest on The Wrestling Compadres Slamcast on Nerdist.com to promote the new WWE fitness DVDs. She also talked about Total Divas and other elements. Below are some highlights:

Stephanie talked about Total Divas connecting with their large female audience (she said 1/3 of the audience of WWE’s core programming is female) as well as attract new viewers. She also put over the series being the second most popular on E (behind the Kardashians).

When asked whose idea was Total Divas, Stephanie said it was “hard to say” but it was created with E.

Stephanie talked about her return to the ring at SummerSlam, saying she knew that with her return to TV that she eventually had to get her comeuppance. She called it a pleasure working with Brie Bella. Stephanie said it was fun but challenging.

When asked about the company eliminating the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, Stephanie said from a reality standpoint, the elimination chamber was 10 tons and was becoming increasingly hard to hang in arenas that had scoreboards. She explained that more and more arenas were getting these big beautiful displays and they were unable to hang the structure.

As for what to expect from WWE Fast Lane, Stephanie said they will deliver with the pay-per-view before Wrestlemania.

She said that she missed having Shane McMahon in WWE. Stephanie said she was “stretched quite often” by wrestling with her brother growing up. She said the only way she could win was by not giving up. Stephanie fully supports Shane and put over him being Chairman at You On Demand. He’s also a co-owner of a motorcycle shop.

Click here to listen to the podcast in its entirety.

Assault charges against WWE star Heath Slater dropped

MyFoxAtlanta.com is reporting that the simple assault charges brought against current WWE star Heath Slater have now been dropped. A security guard claimed that Slater had assaulted her back in 2011 during a post-WrestleMania part. The charges were dropped because the statue of limitation expired according to the report.

Kevin Nash reinstated by WWE

WWE has officially reinstated Kevin Nash after he was cleared of all charges in his recent domestic assault case where authorities ruled he was not the instigator of the incident on Christmas Eve involvnig his son Tristen.

WWE issued the following statement tonight:

"Now that Kevin Nash’s legal matter has been resolved with all charges being dropped, his “legends” contract has been immediately reinstated."

Nash had been scheduled for Monday's Raw until his suspension.

Next Live WWE NXT Takeover Special Revealed

The next live WWE NXT Takeover special will take place on Wednesday, February 11th at Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL.

It will air live on the WWE Network.

WWE Tough Enough Returning To USA Network

The official WWE website has released a statement from USA Network President Chris McCumber in which he reveals that WWE reality series "Tough Enough" will be returning to television on USA Network in 2015.

"I am pleased to announce that USA is bringing back 'Tough Enough,' the action-packed competition reality show from the ratings juggernaut, WWE," McCumber said in a speech today during the Television Critics Association winter press tour. "The show will have a completely new format, with live elements that will truly make this event television."

McCumber continued, "After signing another multi-year deal for Raw and SmackDown, this is the perfect time to bring back the series and capitalize on the enormous audience appeal of sports-entertainment."

Triple H on wrestler deaths, Randy Savage entering the WWE Hall of Fame, what he looks for in a wrestler, WWE Network

WWE executive Paul "Triple H" Levesque appeared on the "Permission Granted" podcast hosted by Damon Amendolara of CBS Sports Radio. The following are the highlights of the interview. Listen to the full show at Soundcloud.com.

-Triple H on the various hats he wears and the title at the top of his list: "Dad," he said. He eventually tied it into the fitness DVD and said all the hats that he and his wife wear made them realize how difficult it is to find workout time. He said he and Stephanie rush home to see the kids before they go to bed, and it's ten at night before the head downstairs to their home gym.

-On what he looks for in a wrestler: Triple H said charisma because it's the one X Factor that you can't teach. "All the other things can be brought out of somebody," he said. "That's a tough one." He mentioned Mick Foley as being a guy who didn't fit the typical WWE wrestler mold, but "he is charismatic, when you watch him you can't help but be drawn into him. He's intelligent, he speaks well, he's humorous."

-Triple H on WWE Network: "We took the gamble and we're ahead of the curve on a lot of this," he said. He noted that others are following in their footsteps. He said Netflix has their model, but they don't have the live stream like WWE Network does. He said it takes a while to condition fans to break from their patterns. "We're thrilled with the progress, we're thrilled with where it's at, and we're just starting to scratch the surface of where it can go."

-Triple H on wrestlers who have died young: "To me, everybody makes personal choices in their life," he said. "Even some of my closest friends, my best friends, made personal choices of how they wanted to live their life that I never chose, that I never went down those roads. And I will put the physicality of my career up against anybody. The majority of those guys made personal choices to live a certain way and you can't live that way forever. It's a short run, it's fast and furious, and it's a short run. Did it affect me? Absolutely. I've watched a lot of guys that I was close to and that I was friends with... There's a certain point and time when even as your friends, you try to stop them, you try to talk them into it, and there's no... And that's not just in our business, that's in any business. People are responsible for their own lives, their own personal decisions, how they live their life outside of a sport or a job or anything else. We try to protect our talent now in a way like never before with our wellness programs and our ability to try to stay ahead of them to see if there are problems or they are headed down a path or anything, but the reality of it is people have to be responsible for their own lives. I've seen this company tell guys listen, we can't work together unless you get some help or whatever and they say, okay, great, I'm just going to leave then and I'm just going to go because this is more important to me. You can't live somebody's life for them and it's tragic, and I've had to come to terms in my with that with some guys that were close friends of mine, but that's just the way it is, unfortunately."

-Triple H on Randy Savage entering the WWE Hall of Fame: "One of the biggest stars ever in the industry," he said. "It's so well deserved and a long time coming. I think for a lot of fans it feels like a long time coming and they are just so overwhelmed that it's happening and I know we are and his family is. It's just a great thing to celebrate a career like that."

Big WWE Experience Event Announced For Arnold Sports Festival With NXT, WWE Legends, More

As noted, WWE will host a NXT live event during the Arnold Sports Festival weekend in Columbus, Ohio in early March. There will be a strong WWE presence at this year's Arnold Festival as WWE Experience has been announced. Below are the details:

WWE Experience at the Arnold Sports Festival

WWE Universe, don't miss your chance to take part in the WWE Experience at the Arnold Sports Festival March 5-8, 2015, in Columbus, Ohio!

NXT Live Event
For the first time in WWE history, NXT comes to Columbus, Ohio, as part of the Arnold Sports Festival! See WWE's Superstars of tomorrow, as WWE presents NXT Live at the LC Pavilion on Thursday, March 5! See NXT Champion Sami Zayn, NXT Women's Champion Charlotte, WWE Superstars Ryback and Big Show, WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair, Adrian Neville, Kevin Owens, Finn Bálor, Hideo Itami, Sasha Banks and many more!

Tickets will be available on Friday, Jan. 23, at 10 a.m. ET at the LC Pavilion Box Office and Ticketmaster.com.

Don't miss your chance to attend VIP Experiences, including ringside seats and exclusive meet-and-greets with Ric Flair, Ryback and Big Show!

WWE Experience Event
For a jam-packed weekend of action and entertainment, there's no better spot at this year's Arnold Sports Festival than the WWE Experience on Saturday, March 7, and Sunday, March 8.

Enjoy live matches, featuring some of the best up-and-coming talent from WWE and NXT. Meet the Superstars and Divas of WWE's next generation during autograph signings with Finn Bálor, Hideo Itami, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Tyler Breeze, Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Alexa Bliss and more, plus don't miss your chance to get up close and personal with WWE Legends during Q&A Sessions.

See what it takes to become a WWE Superstar and watch a live tryout. Will any of these recruits become the next breakout Superstar? Better yet, will you? If you're serious about a future in sports entertainment, stop by the WWE recruiting booth and tell us.

More?

First WWE NXT Event Outside of FL in Conjunction with Triple H's International Sports Hall of Fame Induction

The first-ever WWE NXT live event outside of Florida takes place on March 5th in Columbus, Ohio at the LC Pavilion. This is a 2,200 seat arena and it's part of the Arnold Classic expo weekend, where Triple H will be inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame. Stars advertised include Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Finn Balor, Hideo Itami, Kevin Owens, Adrian Neville and NXT Champion Sami Zayn.

WWE Still Hoping To Reach 3-4 Million Network Subscriptions?, News On WWE TV Contracts, More

Stephanie McMahon and WWE Chief Financial Officer George A. Barrios participated in a presentation at the 17th Annual Needham Growth Conference for investors in New York City earlier today. You can check out the presentation here, and you can listen to the webcast at this link. Here are a few notes from the presentation:

* Television rights fees have grown from $78 million in 2004 to $171 million as of September 2014.

* Live event revenue has risen from $62 million in 2004 to $114 million as of September 2014.

* Television agreements were renegotiated in the U.S., U.K., India, Canada, Mexico, Thailand and UAE. It was noted that all of their television agreements run through at least 2018. Annual revenue from WWE's seven key TV deals is expected to increase by more than $100 million from 2014 by 2018.

* Their social media success was heavily pushed.

* It was noted that RAW averages 4.6 million viewers a week, while SmackDown averages 3.0 million. The USA Network average is 2.4 million.

* They once again noted that of their top 16 global markets, 51% of the homes in those markets have "affinity for WWE." That is 23 million passionate fans, 75 million casual fans and 61 million lapsed fans. On a side note, a similar poll for the U.S. market caused the company to grossly overestimate how many domestic network subscriptions they would get.

* In addition to launching the Network in the U.K. and Ireland, they are looking to launch the Network in Italy, UAE, Germany, Japan, India, China, Thailand and Malaysia in the next couple of years.

* They stated that there are 98 million WWE broadband homes in the world. With a potential network adoption rate of 3% - 4%, the number of potential network subscribers is 3 - 4 million.

Daniel Bryan Talks James Hetfield, Vince McMahon, Triple H & Brock Lesnar

AlternativeNation.net's Sports section recently conducted an interview with Daniel Bryan. In the interview, Bryan discusses how long he will continue to wrestle, CM Punk recently saying he'd make a good MMA fighter, if he will alter his wrestling style after his injury, a potential match with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 31, Sting's WWE debut, Randy Savage's WWE Hall of Fame induction and the original plans for him at WrestleMania 30. You can read the full interview by clicking here, below are some highlights:

Vince McMahon encouraging talent to reach for the 'brass ring' on the WWE Network:

"(Laughs)You know it's funny, because one of the things that he had mentioned was, he said something about the Millennials not having any ambition, right. It's funny, because the WWE does this personality test with some of their more successful superstars, where they rank you on all of these scores, like your desire for power, and your personality, and all that kind of stuff. One of the things they ranked was ambition, and it's funny, because in this personality assessment, I got the lowest score for ambition that the lady had ever seen. So they do it on a percentile basis, so from 0 to 100, I was in the bottom 1 percentile of ambition.

"(Laughs) It's funny because the lady was like, 'How on earth are you so successful given that you seem to have no ambition?' I said, 'Well, that's where there's a flaw on the test. I have no ambition for what society says is important as far as things like money, and all that kind of stuff.' What I am ambitious about is I want to be the best wrestler that I can possibly be, and I think there's some sort of mistake in generations, as far as what he thinks as far as our generation lacking ambition. Our generation just wants different things than what his generation wants, and I think that's a societal thing as well. There's an older generation of people who say, 'No, you guys should want this, you guys should want this, you guys should want this.' Whereas our generation, a lot of us say, 'No, we don't want that, we want something different, and a lot of the things that you guys wanted, are the reason that the world is messed up. We need to change our value system.' So that's it, that's a very different take on what's going on."

WWE's lack of competition:

"But people do need to stand up and say, 'No, this isn't what I want, I want to do this. This is me, this is how I want to present myself on television. This is how I want to be within WWE, this is how I view professional wrestling, this is what I would like it to be.' People have to have the courage to come up and say that. But the hard thing is, he was talking about the Attitude Era and how things were different, well things wouldn't have been that much different if there wasn't a WCW. Like guys could say, 'hey, I don't want to do this. If you want to fire me fine, because I'm going to go to WCW and make just as much money.' That doesn't exist right now. It's people who are okay with like, 'hey, my life without WWE, is as good as my life with the WWE.' They have to be able to say, 'okay, if I'm going to say this is what I want to do, or else I'm taking my ball and going home.' They have to have some sort of plan for when they take their ball and go home, they have something else to do, which is hard, especially when you have a family, and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, I have very interesting thoughts on that whole podcast. It's a very interesting look into the mind of Vince McMahon, so it was fascinating."

Triple H's leadership in WWE and NXT:

"I have never actually talked to him about his vision for the future of wrestling, and that is actually something I should talk to him about, because we think a lot alike in a lot of ways. I like what he’s done with NXT, I think NXT is an awesome show. That last special that they did was an awesome product. I think Hunter is very intelligent wrestling wise, like he knows wrestling, he knows what works wrestling wise. I’m not exactly sure what are his ideas, and what aren’t his ideas within the WWE, but I want to say two of the most successful current acts that happened in the last year, like The Shield and the Wyatts, I think those are Triple H ideas, but I’m not exactly sure, as far as their execution and that sort of thing. The only way I can really gauge him is by what happens on NXT, and NXT is a wonderful product, it might be the best wrestling product out there. I love watching that show, and I think they’ve chosen some pretty awesome guys to be the stars of that show: Sami Zayn is incredible, Adrian Neville is incredible, Finn Balor is incredible, Hideo Itami, who used to be KENTA, and I wrestled on the independents and Japan, he’s incredible. So they’ve got some incredible talent down there, and they’re doing some really good stories."

Click here to read the full interview.

WWE Pulls Main Event From the WWE Network; Royal Rumble Show Announced for Next Tuesday Night

WWE Main Event will not be airing live on the WWE Network next week. The announcement was made tonight that the January 20th episode will be replaced by something called “Santino Marella’s Royal Rumble Lottery Special”, just five days prior to the annual pay-per-view.

According to PWInsider.com, the reason WWE has pulled its Tuesday night show has to do with its current deal with Sky Sports. With the WWE Network rolling out in the UK and Ireland this week – several days ahead of its announced start date – the company currently has no way to block content from showing up in certain countries, and the live airing of Main Event would violate the contract they have in place with Sky.

It’s expected that Main Event will return to the WWE Network, but there is no estimate on exactly when that will happen.

New on WWE Network video-on-demand: Tough Enough Season 1

Now available on WWE Network on-demand, relive the first season of WWE’s groundbreaking reality series Tough Enough! Under the guidance of experienced WWE trainers, watch as ordinary men and women endure intense physical training while gaining a firsthand education in wrestling on an unforgettable road to the WWE roster.

Finn Balor on Going to NXT: “It Was the Greatest Decision of My Life”, Talks People Telling Him Not to Sign, His Future & More

WWE NXT star Finn Balor recently spoke with The UK’s Sun, and the following are some highlight quotes:

On his time in WWE so far:

“Every day I come into work and I’m continuously blown away by the size of the company and how helpful they are and how willing they are to meet me about any ideas I have.

“Everything that I’ve done before here was literally on my own back and they were all my own ideas with no help from anyone.

“I’ve come to WWE and a lot of people — I’ll be honest — said: ‘You know, you shouldn’t maybe go there.’

“I can honestly say it was the greatest decision of my life coming to WWE.

“It is an incredible company — incredible staff work behind the scenes helping everyone here, not only myself.”

“A lot of people said: ‘They might curb your creativity.’ But with hindsight it has been the complete opposite.

“They’ve gathered it and pushed it forward and lifted it up and put their little shine on it.”

On His future in NXT:

“It has taken me fourteen years to get here so I’m not in any rush to move anywhere!

“I’m happy here, to be part of NXT. As the saying goes: ‘The future is now.’

“Hopefully we — myself and the lads — can help NXT reach a new level.”

WWE expected to announce “Macho Man” Randy Savage as first inductee into 2015 WWE Hall of Fame tonight on Raw

It’s not official yet, but it is expected that “Macho Man” Randy Savage will be announced tonight on Raw as the first inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame’s Class of 2015, WWE.com has learned.

A live report on WWE Network by Scott Stanford confirmed that inducting the "Macho Man" into the Hall will be none other than the other half of The Mega Powers, Hulk Hogan.

One of the most colorful characters and most popular Superstars in WWE history, fans worldwide have been clamoring for Savage’s induction since the hallowed Hall opened its doors. Even WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin broached the topic in his must-see live podcast on WWE Network with Mr. McMahon just weeks ago. The WWE Chairman said that Savage would “definitely” take his place in the Hall of Fame, though he did not indicate when.

A former two-time WWE Champion, Intercontinental Champion and WCW Champion, the late “Macho Man” also took part in what is considered one of the greatest matches in sports-entertainment history when he battled Ricky “The Dragon" Steamboat at WrestleMania III.

The 2015 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony takes place on Saturday March 28, the night before WrestleMania 31, at San Jose's SAP Center. Tickets for the event go on sale this Saturday at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT.

Total Divas Recap 01/11/15

Viewership and Rating for TNA's Impact Wrestling Debut on Destination America

Wednesday's TNA Impact Wrestling premiere on Destination America drew 263,000 viewers for a 0.46 cable rating. This was the most watched show on Destination America for the week, beating Killing Bigfoot, which drew 250,000 viewers.

The last first-run episode of Impact on Spike TV in November drew 980,000 viewers. Spike is available in more than 80% of US homes while Destination America is available in around 50%.

The Impact replay that aired at 11pm on Destination America drew 105,000 viewers.

WWE NXT Champ Charlotte Talks Reid Flair Being Her Inspiration, Triple H’s Support, Wanting to Be Respected in the Business & More

Speaking to The UK Sun in an exclusive video chat, NXT’s Charlotte emotionally hailed her late brother Reid as her ‘inspiration in everything she does’.

Charlotte also insisted she and her NXT colleagues go all out every time they hit the ring to prove they deserve to be regarded as the best at what they do, and she singled out HHH for helping build her confidence.

“We want it so bad.

We want to be considered just as good as the boys.

Every time I walk to that ring — I don’t want to say I have a chip on my shoulder — but I feel as if I want to prove that I belong, whether I’m a Flair or not.

I just want to be respected in this business, I feel I have to bring so much more to the table and I want to and I plan on doing that every single time.

You can’t help but say that Triple H one hundred per cent backs us up, believes in us and gives us those opportunities because he believes in us, so yeah — I would say he’s our biggest advocate, absolutely.

Just being in NXT has given me so much confidence as a person and a performer.”

And on WM appearance:

“It was me, Alexa Bliss and Sasha Banks and it was surreal.

Actually, Triple H sent the three of us framed and signed pictures of the entrance, with all the smoke.

Hearing that entrance music — please excuse my language — we felt like badasses!”

Backstage News on TNA's Future with Live Events

TNA will reportedly not be running any non-televised live events any time soon, despite the new TV deal with Destination America.

TNA will still be doing a few live pay-per-view events this year but will mostly be focusing on their TV product. It doesn't make much sense for TNA to run live events that aren't tapings because they lose money.

WWE Announces Commentary Changes, Jerry Lawler Moved to SmackDown

WWE issued the following:

WWE® ANNOUNCES NEW BROADCAST TEAMS AS A PART OF SMACKDOWN®'S MOVE TO THURSDAY NIGHTS

As SmackDown prepares to move to Thursday nights next week on Syfy, WWE Universe members will be seeing some new faces behind both the Raw and SmackDown announce desks.

On Raw, Michael Cole and JBL will be joined each week by WWE Hall of Famer Booker T, while the new SmackDown announce team will consist of Cole, newcomer Byron Saxton and incomparable WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler. Cole, JBL and Lawler will continue to call the action during WWE pay-per-view events.

WWE Currently Testing Virtual Reality Content

VRFocus.com reports that WWE is currently testing out virtual reality content. The news was revealed at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Shows (CES) in Las Vegas this week.

WWE’s Chief Strategy & Financial Officer George A. Barrios said the company is currently testing virtual reality content at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando. He said:

"It’s very, very early days… it’s very expensive; the amount of cameras and post-production needed. We’re early days on what the content might be. We saw the live content – Cirque du Soleil - and we were blown away."

Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque to be inducted into 2015 International Sports Hall of Fame

Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events & Creative and 13-time World Champion in WWE, will be inducted into the 2015 International Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday, March 7, 2015, at the Arnold Schwarzenegger Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio.

Levesque will join the class of 2015, which includes five-time world boxing champion Evander Holyfield, eight-time Ms. Olympia bodybuilding champion Lenda Murray, martial artist and world-renowned movie star Michael Jai White, 11-time world kickboxing champion Don Wilson and world powerlifting champion Ed Coan.

“We are excited for Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque to headline the International Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2015 for his accomplishments both in and out of the WWE ring,” said Dr. Bob Goldman, Founder, ISHOF. “In addition to being inducted as one of the greatest WWE Superstars of all time, Paul will be recognized for the work he has done as a WWE executive, becoming the first executive inducted into the Hall of Fame.”

“It is an honor to join some of the world’s greatest athletes and to be inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame,” Levesque said. “These men and women have reached the pinnacle of their sport or athletic endeavor, and I am humbled to join them on stage at the Arnold Schwarzenegger Sports Festival.”

The International Sports Hall of Fame is a non-profit foundation established to honor world-class athletes and is part of the Arnold Schwarzenegger Sports Festival, the world’s largest annual sports weekend, hosting 150,000 attendees and more than 18,000 competing athletes.

Members of the International Sports Hall of Fame include Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, WWE Legend and Hall of Famer Bruno Sammartino, two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin and NBA Hall of Famer Earl Monroe.

Production issues at first Impact Wrestling taping in NYC

Last night's 1/7 TNA Impact Wrestling tapings at the Manhattan Center in New York City, a live-to-tape episode for the debut on Destination America, was described as having a myriad of production issues according to multiple wrestling media reports.

It ended up taking TNA nearly three hours to film the two hour episode of Impact Wrestling on Wednesday night. While they did use previous production staff, they ended up using the Manhattan Center's production equipment. A variety of technical issues ended up taking place leaving the live audience waiting for nearly 15 to 20 minutes at a time.

David Sahadi was not directing the show last night and it was described as being very clear that the production on Wednesday night wasn't nearly as smooth as it has been in years past with Spike TV. TNA was forced to cut back on production costs as part of the new deal with Destination America. Going forward, TNA will handle all post-production out of the company headquarters in Nashville with tapings tonight and Friday night.

The company plans to film four episodes of Impact Wrestling including the Lockdown special over the next two nights at the Manhattan Center in New York City. TNA will be filming new episodes during the upcoming UK tour starting in late January. Dixie Carter revealed in interviews this week that TNA is also looking at a possible return to Universal Studios in Orlando at a new sound stage for additional TV tapings in 2015.

This Day in Wrestling History - "Just In Case You Forgot Who The Hell I Am..."

After a grueling eight-month rehab from a torn quadrciceps muscle, Triple H made a triumphant return at Madison Square Garden.
January 7, 2002

Five years later he would tear the right quad muscle during the New Year's Revolution pay per view.
January 7, 2007

Former WWE Writer Talks About Working With Company, Stephanie McMahon As Lead Writer, Storylines With Vince Mcmahon

WrestlingINC.com recently spoke with Lucha Underground Co-Executive Producer Chris DeJoseph to discuss many topics, including his time as a creative writer for WWE. Below are some of the highlights:

On how a typical work day at WWE was like:

“It depends on the day. Wednesdays were usually the day back at the office where our week would start. We would pitch segments. At the time Raw had 11 segments, and you would pitch your 11 like a mini-version of the show. Somebody like Brian Gewirtz would take all those ideas and take the best ideas out of it and put a show together. Thursday or Friday we would meet with Vince [McMahon] and begin working on the shows, go back to the drawing board and start writing the show. You’d write the show over the weekend, sometimes get feedback over the weekend. Usually Sunday you’d get on an airplane. Then you’d work the entire time on Vince’s plane, which was horrible. You go to a meeting, you go through the show, there’s changes, there’s re-writes and you produce the show. Then you get in a car and go to the next town, get on an airplane and start all over again.”

Working under Stephanie McMahon:

“I wonder who you talked to. Working for Stephanie wasn’t horrible. She was always good to us, as good as she could be. She was in a management position and handling a bunch of things creatively. But she had so many other things she didn’t have much input on what went on the show. I can rarely ever remember her pitching an idea that got on the show or pitching anything at all. Usually just listening and saying no. She was a good boss, a nice lady.”

Vince McMahon faking his death angle:

The plan was that we would see who would rise to power in his absence, but Vince McMahon had faked his own death to see where everyone’s hand was. That was kind of it. I don’t think we ever found a solution for ending that, which happens a lot with Vince. That’s how some stories get lost there.

Vince McMahon’s “son” angle:

Yeah I was there. The original idea was for Mr. Kennedy to be his son. I think Vince hated Kennedy. The crowd loved him, and everyone there loved him, but he didn’t wanna go there. The ending of the story was taken away and before you know it, it was Hornswoggle.

Rumor Mill - Vince McMahon Said To Be Jealous Of WWE NXT’s Success, Already Downing NXT Stars

In what can already be considered a horrific problem on WWE’s end, it seems that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon is not a happy camper these days. Interestingly enough, he is not happy with his own property. As everyone knows by now, WWE gave us a great show in WWE NXT Takeover: R Evolution back in November. This was after Vince McMahon himself said that the talent of today lacked pride and drive as compared to the Attitude Era.

So the NXT stars rose to the challenge, showed Vince how wrong he was and put on a show that was considered by most as the best WWE PPV in quite some time. Vince certainly appreciated the good reviews, but knowing his controlling personality and huge ego, he probably wasn’t thrilled that the outstanding wrestling show of 2014 came from NXT.

Knowledgeable wrestling fans may not be surprised to hear that Vince, in his infinite wisdom, is not happy with his NXT product. In fact, Daily Wrestling News is reporting that Vince is ticked that the main roster isn’t favored over the developmental system. In the long run, this may be another example of Vince’s baffling tendency to hold back the growth of the company he took to the pinnacle of success.

Sources are saying that Vince is “very grumpy” lately due to all of this. Vince, in his jealousy of how well the Triple H run NXT is doing in comparison to the main roster shows, is already souring on NXT talent. He has called many overrated. He has dismissed NXT’s successes and feels that it is not as good as fans are making it out to be.

The whole concept behind NXT is to get young talent ready to be part of WWE’s main roster. However, the people on NXT are trained performers that WWE can make money off of immediately. NXT is one of the biggest reasons to get the WWE Network in fact.

WWE decided to bring NXT to the Network as a weekly show with live specials that would give fans a product worthy of subscribing for. It was a good concept, but something that Triple H was set to run. In fact, all things related to talent are run through Triple H. From Performance Center material to what we see on NXT, the hard work and success starts with The Game, who motivates his future superstars to go for the gold.

There is jealousy from Vince, but there is also discontent from the main roster. Many of them don’t understand why they can’t do similar things on the main roster that we see on NXT programming. We have seen similar stories, it’s just that the NXT guys did them better. Match wise, the NXT guys and girls are doing well. The reason is obvious. WWE is not putting restrictions on them when it comes to taped or live shows. Only on live events would it make sense to put a hold on high risk maneuvers and edgy content.

The opposite happens on the main roster in that many work their best on live events and not on TV. The reason is simply because live events are more wrestling focused, so they are given more time to shine. This also allows talent who we do not see on TV the time to show why they should be there. Sadly, they are the same people squashed on TV, so no one cares for them.

WWE NXT allows for the best possible material on all taped or live specials, which makes everyone look good. The main roster wants to have something similar happen for them, but aren’t getting it due to what Vince McMahon wants. Triple H runs NXT, so there is some resentment toward him in some eyes backstage. Vince does not hate or despise Triple H, but he is not above talking down about the NXT product to boost the image of his main roster.