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April 1, 2014
March 31, 2014
Divas Championship Match Stipulation Explained
Vickie Guerrero announced on WWE Raw that the "Vickie Guerrero Invitational" at WrestleMania XXX will be a one fall match. The diva who is able to get a pinfall will become WWE Divas Champion. AJ Lee will defend the championship against 12 other Divas.
Jim Ross Comments on his Relationship with WWE
Jim Ross has updated the Q&A section on jrsbarbq.com and responded to a comment where a fan hoped that JR being invited to the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony meant his issues with the company were being resolved and that he may do some work for the WWE Network. Ross replied:
"There's nothing unresolved. My relationship with WWE is exactly what we want it to be. I'm staying very busy and doing something for WWE Network on an ongoing basis would be challenging. They've moved on and so have I with no regrets."
WWE Network Is Loud Introduction to the Video Streaming Ring
When listing the visionary media moguls of the digital age, Vince McMahon, the professional wrestling impresario, might not immediately come to mind.
Yet Mr. McMahon and his company, World Wrestling Entertainment, have positioned themselves on the cutting edge of Internet television with the WWE Network, a new subscription-only streaming video service. Introduced in February, the network broadcasts the pro wrestling extravaganzas that were once available only on cable and satellite television.
Shares of the WWE, a publicly traded company based in Stamford, Conn., have more than tripled over the last year with the introduction of the subscription network and takeover rumors. Mr. McMahon, 68, controls the company, and his ambitious WWE Network could be his final act in charge, industry watchers say.
Photo
Hulk Hogan, left, and Muhammad Ali as a guest referee in 1985. Pro wrestling’s stars have long influenced broadcasting. Credit WWE
“If he changed how pro wrestling and sports entertainment were broadcast forever, I don’t think there’s a better way to go out,” said Brandon Stroud, a wrestling commentator and editor at the sports site With Leather...More?
source: nytimes.com
Professional Bodybuilder Describes Grueling Tryouts Experience at WWE Performance Center
WWE held tryouts at the Performance Center in Orlando earlier this month. The tryouts were led by Bill DeMott, Norman Smiley, Matt "Tensai" Bloom, Billy Gunn, Dean Malenko and William Regal. Bodybuilder Matt Dawson, who measured in at 6′ 2 3/4″ and 282lbs, wrote the following on JTStrong.com about the grueling experience:
"Incredible experience, but the most difficult thing I have EVER done, as far as athletics go.
I arrived in Orlando on Wednesday evening. Met my roommate and several others who were attending the camp at the car rental place inside the airport. We got our car and headed back to the hotel to unpack. Several of us then went out to eat, and turned in pretty early, as we knew we were about to go through hell.
Hell just might be an understatement. We arrived to the WWE Performance Center at 7:30am, as we did not want to be late for the 8am start time. We checked in and immediately had full physicals to ensure we were all healthy enough for the camp. I measured in at 6′ 2 3/4″ and 282lbs. I was the second largest athlete there. There was somebody they brought in from Russia who was at least 6’4″ and 320lbs.
There was 30 of us in total. 20 of the guys were experienced “professional” style wrestlers, who have been doing this type of wrestling for years and years (some as long as 10 years). They were professional wrestlers from Japan, and various countries around Europe, as well as the US. These are the people who have worked their entire lives and are 100% dedicated for the sole purpose of making it into the WWE. Almost all of them have impressive amateur athletic backgrounds, from All State and All American amateur wrestlers, football, track and field and other athletic endeavors. Several of them even majored in theater while in college for the sole purpose of trying to make it into the WWE.
The other 10 of us were referred to as “athletes.” We have no “professional” style wrestling experience at all, but all have extremely various athletic backgrounds ranging from former NFL football players, All American amateur wrestlers, bodybuilders, powerlifters, Olympic bobsledders, All American college football players and even All American gymnasts.
I was extremely impressed with the coaches, as they knew ALL of us right when we walked in. They definitely did their homework as they knew our entire athletic backgrounds and all of our previous experiences. For all you wrestling fans, the coaches were Bill Demott, William Regal, Billy Gunn, Dean Malenko, Normal Smiley, Matt Bloom (Prince Albert) and several others.
Anyways, day 1 and 2 were broken down into two, 3 hour training sessions, with a 90 minute lunch break or so. After all the physicals were complete they immediately began our training which consisted of 3 hours of pure, 100% conditioning. This certainly isn’t my forte, as all my training for the past 15 years has been geared towards lifting maximal weights, and no conditioning work longer than 30 second bursts. There were 3 wrestling rings set up and we went nonstop from one ring to the other to the other doing various wrestling style conditioning drills. Let me emphasize that this was 3 hours of practically non stop conditioning with various rolls, jumps, flips, slams, updowns etc… I thought I was going to die at least 5 times, but I never quit or gave up. I couldn’t believe the extent that they pushed us, as this was by far the hardest thing I have ever done athletically. I would rather go through 2 months of college football 2-a-days then experience another 3 days of this. Brutal is an extreme understatement.
After each and every training session I honestly didn’t know if i was going to survive. Every single muscle, joint, tendon, and ligament was screaming.
Day 3 was a bit easier as it was the final day, and we only had one session, half of it consisting of doing our “promos” and photoshoots. I did my promo as a crazy school teacher who was fed up with children who were spoiled, parents who don’t discipline their children, and kids running the show while the parents sit back, hopeless and afraid to set rules and guidelines for their kids. Apparently it went extremely well, as everybody was super impressed with the promo I gave….little did they know it wasn’t that far off of what I truly believe anyways!
At the end of the camp, the coaches gave us a great speech. Basically they all said that this was one of the best camps they have ever had (they hold 3 camps per year). Nobody quit, and we all powered through the training. They knew all of our backgrounds and knew many of us were not designed for that crazy level of conditioning. They simply wanted to weed us out, see who was tough enough, and who wouldn’t quit. The WWE is a great company, and they took very good care of us while we were down there. I was totally impressed with the professionalism and dedication of the WWE. They said they will let us know, one way or another, if they want to offer us a contract or not within 6-8 weeks.
All in all it was an amazing experience, but an experience I never want to repeat. I have an entire new respect for all the WWE superstars, and the brutal training they put their bodies through day in and day out."
March 30, 2014
March 28, 2014
WrestleMania XXX Press Conference Set for NYC
WrestleMania Week officially kicks off with the WrestleMania 30 Press Conference, broadcast live on WWE Network this Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. ET from the Hard Rock Café in New York City. Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Triple H, Hulk Hogan, Batista, Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, John Cena, Alberto Del Rio, Mark Henry, Big Show, The Great Khali, Michael Cole and the cast of Total Divas will be appearing
March 27, 2014
WWE NXT Stars Announced for WrestleMania XXX Axxess
WWE has announced the following NXT appearances for WrestleMania XXX Axxess:
Thursday, April 3
6 p.m.–8 p.m. — Adrian Neville, Paige
8 p.m.–10 p.m. — Cesaro, Charlotte, Sami Zayn
Friday, April 4
6 p.m.–8 p.m. — Bo Dallas, Adam Rose, William Regal
8 p.m.–10 p.m. — Big E, Sasha Banks, Tyler Breeze
Saturday, April 5
8 a.m.–10 a.m. — Damien Sandow, Konnor, Viktor
10 a.m.–12 p.m. — Paige, Aiden English, Mason Ryan
Saturday, April 5
1 p.m.–3 p.m. — Mojo Rawley, Sylvester Lefort, Dusty Rhodes
3 p.m.–5 p.m. — Bo Dallas, CJ Parker, Bayley
Saturday, April 5
6 p.m.–8 p.m. — Corey Graves, Colin Cassidy, Charlotte
8 p.m–10 p.m. — Emma, Baron Corbin, Alexa Bliss, Tye Dillinger
Sunday, April 6
8 a.m.–10 a.m. — Jason Jordan, Troy McClain, William Regal
10 a.m.–12 p.m. — Adrian Neville, Sasha Banks, Alexander Rusev, Lana
12 p.m.–2 p.m. — Konnor, Viktor, Adam Rose, Sami Zayn
WWE Releases The Original Sin Cara from His Contract
From WWE.com:
WWE has come to terms on the release of Luis Ignacio Urive Alvirde effective on March 26, 2014. We wish Luis the best of luck in his future endeavors.
Hunicio has been portraying Sin Cara since December of 2013.
WWE Hiring Jonathan Coachman for a WWE Network Talk Show?
WWE looks to be either close to or has just signed a new deal with former announcer and current ESPN personality Jonathan Coachman. The two sides have been discussing a part-time gig where Coach would keep his ESPN job but would do in-studio wrap-arounds for WWE. One idea thrown out would be for him to host a WWE talk show for the WWE Network.
March 26, 2014
Ring of Honor Wrestlers Work WWE Tryout
Prowrestling.net reports that Ring of Honor stars Kevin Steen, ACH and Roderick Strong participated in a WWE tryout at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando last week. Regarding Steen, his ROH contract expires in June and he's been telling people he isn't planning on re-signing, though he is open to working for them as a free agent.
Associate Professors Conduct Study on Female Characters in WWE
According to The Wrestling Observer, University of Windsor Associate Professors Betty Barrett and Dana Levin conducted a study on how female characters are portrayed in WWE, following Linda McMahon's claims that WWE had "cleaned up" its product and made it more family friendly by making it TV PG.
The study concluded that McMahon was not telling the truth when she made the claim, as Barrett told The Windsor Star WWE continues to portray women in relationships as inferior to men, as psychos, gold diggers, cougars or vengeful scorned crazies.
Barrett admitted that she is a wrestling fan, and she also admitted that male characters in WWE aren't portrayed all that well either. But she said that even though WWE portrays females as they do, the characters work.
The difference, however, is that other TV shows which portray women similarly to WWE do not aim their product at younger kids. Adults know what's real and what is not, but with children, often times they're more unsure as to what is and is not real in the world of WWE.
Vince McMahon's Over-The-Top Move: Why The Billionaire CEO Is Betting Big On The New WWE Network
Forbes has a really good interview up with Vince McMahon. Here are some quotes:
His wealth:
“I don’t consider myself a rich person,” he says in a rare moment of modesty. “I know that I am, but it’s not like I belong to any country clubs. I have a car that goes very fast and a motorcycle that goes extraordinarily fast,” he said of his Bentley and a Boss Hoss 502. “I love speed. Beyond that, I don’t really have anything in common with anyone in Greenwich except zeros. Normally I do not like rich people.”
A McMahon running the company when he's no longer able to:
“I would like to see a degree of that. I just think as times go on, things will evaporate. Eventually Uncle Sam sees the benefit. You can’t do anything without Uncle Sam taking a huge bite of it.”
Will he ever be satisfied by his success?
“I have a voracious appetite, for life and everything in it. To a certain extent I will die a very frustrated man because I didn’t do this or accomplish that.”
From left, Chief Financial Officer George Barrios; Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer Michelle D. Wilson; Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon; Paul Levesque.
Read the full article here.
March 25, 2014
Shane McMahon Files Lawsuit Against New York City Penthouse Complex
Former WWE executive and current Chairman of YOU on Demand Shane McMahon has filed a lawsuit against New York City's Cobblestone Lofts complex, the Andrews Organization (the complex's managing agent), and "several yet-to-be-identified design firms and construction organizations," according to LLNYC.com.
The lawsuit, which McMahon filed along with his wife, film producer and former WWE employee Marissa Mazzola-McMahon, alleges that "certain toxic, airborne contaminants" were grown as a result of water leaking into the couple's penthouse. The lawsuit claims that as a result of the contaminants, Shane, Marissa, and their three children are now suffering from "severe respiratory ailments."
The lawsuit further states that the situation "caused a potential $5 million-plus loss in property value and over $130,000 in damage to furniture, clothing, artwork, and appliances." LLCNYC.com also notes that the McMahons "have some personal possessions with them in their current rental home, but the bulk of their property remains in storage facilities, where rent costs upward of $5,000 monthly."
The lawsuit further states that as a result of the situation, "the McMahons have been forced to evacuate...and incur monthly living expenses of approximately $15,000 at a rental apartment. They will not be able to return home until the deficient conditions that have caused and will continue to cause damage related to water penetration and infiltration into [the home] are remedied."
The McMahons purchased the home in 2001 for $3.9 million and began residing in the property in 2002 before vacating in May 2012.
The lawsuit filed by the McMahons is asking for "no less than $50 million plus interest."
To read the LLNYC.com article in its entirety, click here.
Hulk Hogan Says HHH Asked Him When He Was 'Coming Home' With A TNA Exec Standing Right There
Hulk Hogan appeared on Huffington Post Live. He said that the process of him to return to the company started a few years ago when he saw HHH at a Toys R Us charity event in NYC. He said HHH came up to him and asked, “When are you coming home?” Hogan said he didn’t think Vince wanted him back but HHH told him that Vince would love to see Hogan come home. Hogan said it was weird because TNA’s then-PR guy Mike Weber was right next to him.
Hogan was asked about his time with TNA. He said they were cool and stood by him during all his back surgeries. He said that his contract expired on a Monday and the next Saturday, he was in NYC signing at a Comicon and he received a text from HHH checking in. Hogan said that he told him he was officially unemployed and planning his next move and it went from there.
Hogan said that the timing for a return was great. He said Vince McMahon is great to people personally, but if you cross the line with him on a business-level, you are done. Hogan admitted that he did cross the line with Vince in the past and said, “Honestly, I didn’t know the boundaries. There’s personal and there’s business.” He said he didn’t understand how things work as well as much as he did now. He said that if anyone crossed a line in their relationship, it was him.
Hogan said that he hasn’t wrestled in two years since he wrestled Sting at Bound for Glory and “I didn’t do much” and teased that you can never say never in WWE. He said that he had a lot of fun in the ring with The Wyatt Family last week. Hogan did say we’d never see him do a legdrop again.
source: pwinsider.com
March 24, 2014
The Next Inductee into the WWE HOF Is...
Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall. The current induction plan is for members of the Kliq to do the honor for Hall.
March 23, 2014
Rumor Mill - WWE's Opinion of CM Punk Situation Reportedly Continues to Change
According to PWInsider.com, the opinion of the current CM Punk WWE situation continues to change backstage in WWE, as it has gone from "Vince is going to take care of this, everything will be fine," to a very negative tone when the subject is brought up.
The general feeling has shifted more to general resentment at this point, as many feel WWE made CM Punk a lot of money and then he just left.
This Week's WWE NXT Episode to Have a Vengeance Theme, Several Matches Announced
WWE has announced a "Vengeance" theme for this week's NXT. A promo for the show is available on WWE.com at this link. The following matches have been announced:
* Mojo Rawley vs. CJ Parker
* Tyler Breeze vs. Xavier Woods
* Natalya vs. Charlotte
* Bo Dallas vs. Adrian Neville for the NXT Title
Diamond Dallas Page Defends Triple H, Talks About His HOF Speech for Jake Roberts and More
His WWE Hall of Fame induction speech for Jake Roberts:
"Now I know it's gonna be the strongest shit I've ever said and I will have something planned that I'm gonna say. I'll know what I'm going to say before I go up there, doesn't mean I'm going to say it!"
Triple H:
"Paul Levesque aka Triple H has been one of the most solid guys I've ever met in this business so nobody can talk shit about him around me. You may have your own beef with him, whoever it is but no one who don't know ain't got nothing to say about him around me because he's always been a stand up guy to me."
Ric Flair:
"I love the guy, I don't want to have heat with him, fuck that!"
Artist Rob Schamberger Talks Working with WWE & Foley, His Work Being at Axxess, More
Acclaimed and exhibited artist, painter of the Champion Portrait series and portrait maker of your favorite wrestling stars as seen on the likes of WWEAuctions.com and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Rob Schamberger joined “Multi-time Award Winning” the Rack Thursday Night. In a nearly 25 minute interview, he discussed how he got started and how we got connected with WWE, his work being displayed at WrestleMania and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, his feelings to having work sold through WWE Auctions, who were his favorite wrestlers, what is his favorite medium to use: watercolor or acrylic, what is the biggest complement he’s gotten for his work, teaming with Mick Foley for his work with RAINN, the use of social media and how it has affected his art for the positive, his tips for other up-and-coming artists, his thoughts on the upcoming WrestleMania XXX card and so much more.
You can follow Rob through his Twitter (@robschamberger), his Tumblr (robschamberger.tumblr.com) or visit his homepage (http://robschamberger.com) for all the latest on him and projects as well as a gallery of his work; you can also see and bid on Rob’s work through wweauctions.com. You can also see Rob as part of WrestleMania with WrestleMania Axxess week; go to wwe.com or Ticketmaster.com for tickets and a list of events associated with Axxess. You can also win a chance to get a work from Rob through Mick Foley’s RAINN Charity raffle, go to www.rainn.org/raffle for a listing of prizes and for your chance to purchase raffle tickets for a great cause!
How did he come about working with the WWE: “It’s actually my first official WrestleMania with them (WWE), but I started about three years ago. I was looking at doing something different with my art; I’d been working primarily with comic books and illustration and it didn’t ever quite fully happen, you know; I’d still have a day job and everything. I just wanted to do something different and I realized that no one had ever done a serious collection of portraits of wrestlers. So then I thought, ‘Oh, it’d be cool to do every one of wrestling’s world champions going all the way back to George Hackenschmidt and that's all where it kind of started.
Then, there was Kickstarter about three years ago, where I raised $20,000 dollars in a month to pay for studio space and everything to help make that break into doing art full-time and then just built off it from there and it’s been a wild ride.”
His work being featured through the WWEAuctions.com site: “They actually came to me; Jim Ross had told them that that it would be a good fit for us to do business together, which is neat. I might actually be the last person that Jim Ross brought into the WWE; kind of a neat lineage to be part of. But we started talking about half way through last year and towards the end of the year we launched our first auctions together, right around Black Friday time and we’ve been doing it fairly consistently since then. It’s been phenomenal, I mean I have my own page on WWE.com and I don’t even have to take bumps in the ring.”
March 22, 2014
March 21, 2014
Triple H, Emma, WWE Performance Center, More
Triple H was a major contributor to the The Herald Sun feature we posted about earlier, as the journalist that wrote the piece was touring the WWE Performance Center alongside Triple H and others. In fact, the writer said he was one of the first international journalist given the opportunity to tour and cover the new 26,000 square foot training facility in Orlando.
Here are some of the Triple H highlights from the piece:
On how WWE finds talent for the Performance Center:
“Some people come to us, some send us tapes, we hold open castings and do auditions,” he says. “We make connections with Olympic athletes, rugby and football players. Some of these people are among the best athletes in the world who just missed out on performing at the highest level in their sport. For them, the WWE is an amazing chance at a new career.”
On superstars using mirrors to work on their promos:
“It’s called the mirror room because, when I learned, that’s what you did — you stood in front of a mirror and practised doing promos,” Levesque says. “The biggest part of our industry is charisma and personality, how you stand out from the crowd.
“The top star was not always the guy who was the best technician in the ring, sometimes it was the guy with the incredible personality … that’s the hard part to teach.”
On the thoughts behind creating the Performance Center:
“The design of this place comes from a thought: if I wanted to be a superstar today, what would I need to get there? This is about making the next generation of superstars bulletproof — giving them what they need to get here, the tools to make it, everything they must have in order to be as successful as they can be.”
Sean Fewster of Australia's Herald Sun did an incredible job with his detailed piece on WWE's Peformance Center. Focusing on Hunter's comments and those of WWE Diva Emma, you get a very unique view of exactly what the new training facility means on both sides of the business – management and talent.
You can check out the feature here.
March 20, 2014
Minor Change For WWE NXT
WWE has changed the way they add NXT episodes to Hulu Plus and all episodes will be available on Fridays now. They also haven't added the videos to YouTube yet so the only way to catch NXT first in the United States is on the WWE Network at 9pm on Thursdays.
Details On Eight Potential WWE Network Reality Shows Including One With Steve Blackman
WWE issued a survey earlier today to gauge interest on potential reality shows for the WWE Network. Here are details, courtesy of PWInsider:
* WWE Rescue - a reality show where WWE talents come to the homes of "super fans" to help with their personal and business problems. Described as Restaurant Impossible meets Nanny 911.
* NXT: Behind the Scenes - A reality series following the NXT talents trying to make it out of the Performance Center and to the main roster, looking at their work, their personal lives and the fraternity of the NXT brand, including the heartbreak of being cut.
* WWE Ultimate Challenge- WWE's version of CBS' Amazing Race with a 12 hour extreme scavenger hunt in different cities.
* Xtreme WWE Collector - Starring "Super fan" Michael Patterson - WWE's version of Travel Channel's Toy Hunter.
* Pros vs. Joes - Similar the old Spike TV series, pitting WWE talents against an average person in physical and non-physical challenges. The non physical challenges listed included an air guitar competition. The physical challenges were described as similar to American Gladiators.
* WWE Around the World - Following WWE stars as they take part in some of the scariest stunts and attractions around the world, such as shark diving and eating strange foods.
* WWE Dirty Jobs - Just like the Discovery Channel reality series of the same name, WWE talents have to perform unpleasant jobs, including going into Chicago sewers and picking up garbage in NYC.
* WWE Prankdown - a practical joke show that features WWE stars pulling tricks on unsuspecting "superfans." An example was John Cena and Randy Orton both wanting to buy an expensive car and getting into a fight at the dealership, only to show the damage they caused was part of the show to trick the fan.
* Blackman's Bounties - A reality series with former WWE star and bounty hunter Steve Blackman following his bounty hunting team based out of Harrisburg, PA.
