Home Blog Page 622

NXT braces for retaliation tonight on USA Network

NXT is gearing up to be an interesting show tonight as the NXT roster has raided Smackdown and Raw and you know what they say about paybacks…

The build to Takeover: WarGames and the Survivor Series continues tonight on USA Network with two matches announced: Shayna Baszler vs Dakota Kai and Pete Dunne vs Damien Priest.

The possibilities of some WWE Superstars crashing NXT are also very high although it’s highly unlikely that any Raw Superstars will be participating since they have already left for Europe. But the Smackdown Superstars will start their tour on Friday so there might be some who were left behind to be on tonight’s NXT to continue the angle for the Survivor Series.

Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions tackling story of amateur wrestler Anthony Robles

Deadline.com is reporting that Seven Bucks Productions, the company owned by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and his business partner Dany Garcia, has partnered with 101 Studios on Unstoppable, a film that tells the inspiring story of Anthony Robles.

Robles, 31, was born with only one leg to a single-parent family and overcame every obstacle to become an undefeated collegiate wrestling star, three-time All-American, 2011 NCAA National Champion, two-time ESPY Award winner and a National Wrestling Hall of Fame inductee.

“Our entire Seven Bucks team is passionate about sharing stories that inspire and resonate on a global scale. We’ve had an eye on Anthony’s story for a long time and have been deeply moved by his perseverance that proves nothing is impossible. The powerful themes of redemption and tackling life’s obstacles are very familiar to us, we are excited to bring this triumphant underdog story to life,” Johnson said.

Robles added, “Words cannot express how honored I am to have my story made into a film. Because I was born missing my leg, my entire life I’ve had to deal with people having low expectations of me. When I got into wrestling, most people thought it was impossible for me to become even an average wrestler. I’m hopeful that people who see Unstoppable will walk away believing that you should never let your challenges define you. If you have a goal, go after it with everything you’ve got. Nothing is impossible.”

No date for start of production has been announced but Deadline said that the project is being fast tracked to start filming.

Lacey Evans back on The Military Makeover for November 8 episode

WWE Superstar Lacey Evans has filmed another episode of The Military Makeover with host Montel Williams as the show kicks off its 20th season on Friday, November 8 at 7:30AM ET.

Evans will join Williams, cast and crew to renovate the home of decorated military veteran Sgt. Steven Wojcik who had served four years of active duty with the U.S. Marines and, to date, sixteen years in the Army Reserves.

In 2004, during Sgt. Wojcik’s time of Army Reserve service, an IED exploded among vehicles in his convoy. The serious injuries he sustained in the attack led this loving husband and father to an honorable discharge and medical retirement in 2005. Like many veterans, Steven deals with chronic pain, both physical and mental, and has recently opened up about his ongoing struggles with PTSD. Steven works for the Wisconsin State Police and lives in Strum, WI, with his wife Terri and three daughters.

This is Evans’ second appearance on The Military Makeover having previously appeared on an episode which aired on August 30. You can check out a sneak peak video from her new episode below. All aired episodes can be found at militarymakeover.tv.

AEW Dynamite with final push tonight for Full Gear pay-per-view

AEW Dynamite is live from Charlotte “Wooooo!” North Carolina tonight with the show taking place at the Bojangles Coliseum. The show is close to being sold out with only around 250 tickets left on Ticketmaster.

This will be the Full Gear go-home show and as of this writing, only two matches have been announced. The matches are PAC vs Trent and Kenny Omega and Adam Page vs Sammy Guevara and Chris Jericho. Plus, Cody will be making his “big announcement” which was supposed to happen last week.

Full Gear will take place this Saturday on pay-per-view from Baltimore, Maryland.

Hulk Hogan to appear on WrestleMania-themed episode of The Goldbergs tonight

WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan will be making a special appearance on The Goldbergs television series on ABC tonight. The episode revolves around executive producer Adam F. Goldberg recalling attending WrestleMania IV with an all new-episode revolving around his passion for WWE.

“Growing up, I was the biggest wrestling fan,” recalled Goldberg. “One of the greatest moments of my life was attending WrestleMania IV in Atlantic City for my birthday when I was a kid. I went with my Dad and brother Barry and even though we had the worst seats in the house, we still had the time of our lives.”

The all-new episode of The Goldbergs, entitled WrestleMania, airs on at 8PM. In the WrestleMania episode which features a guest appearance by Hulk Hogan, Murray decides to buy WrestleMania tickets to spend time with Barry and Adam, but he buys fake tickets so they can’t get in.

“That was the day that turned my Dad into a wrestling fan, and his favorite was Hulk Hogan,” recalled Goldberg. “It was bittersweet to have Hulk guest star on the show and not have my Dad there to see it.”

Goldberg and his father bonded over that WrestleMania experience.

“Because my Dad loved The Hulk, I chose The Ultimate Warrior as my favorite,” said Goldberg. “One of the greatest moments in making The Goldbergs was to discover that The Ultimate Warrior was a huge Goldbergs fan and shared it with his daughters before he passed away. I got to meet his family and talk about my experiences growing up with my own father watching wrestling and it was an amazing healing moment for all of us.”

“WrestleMania” was written by Erik Weiner with a story by Adam F. Goldberg and Erik Weiner, and directed by Lew Schneider.

Raw rating for 11/04/2019

Monday Night Raw pulled in an average of 2,135,000 viewers, a 2,000 increase over last week’s show.

Hour one started with 2,351,000 viewers, followed by 2,207,000 viewers in the second hour, and down to 1,849,000 viewers in the third and final hour. Raw lost a whopping 502,000 viewers from the first to the third hour, leading to hour three getting the lowest number of viewers since the December 31, 2018 episode.

Raw was #4, #5, and #6 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and was #11 in the overall viewership for the night on cable. The night was dominated by NFL on ESPN which drew nearly 14 million viewers. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)

Randy Orton signs new long-term deal with WWE

Former WWE champion Randy Orton has signed a new multi-year deal with WWE. The news was announced during the WWE Backstage show on FS1 and then confirmed by Orton himself in a tweet.

Orton wrote that the three most dangerous words in sports entertainment – RKO – just re-signed with the most dominant three letters in sports entertainment – WWE. He also said he looks forward to pissing off WWE fans for at least five more years.

Orton has been signed to a WWE deal since 2001, making him one of the longest-serving Superstars on the roster.

The former 13-time champion trolled fans a few weeks ago after he posted a photo on Instagram in front of a sign reading “Elite Level” and tagging Cody and Jericho.

WWE Backstage starts weekly from tonight at 11PM ET on FOX Sports 1

The WWE Backstage studio show on FS1 makes its proper live debut tonight at 11PM ET and will be running weekly every Tuesday night from today onwards.

Hosted by Renee Young, flanked by Booker T, Christian, and Paige, WWE Backstage will be discussing everything WWE. They will also be joined by news correspondent Ryan Satin who runs the ProWrestlingSheet.com website. The previous two preview shows have been a hit with fans as FOX Sports is presenting a different kind of talk show than WWE fans are used to. The show will be filmed from the FOX Sports studios in Los Angeles, California.

16-time champ John Cena will be appearing via video while the in-studio guest this week will be none other than WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels. A special Firefly Fun House will be airing with Bray Wyatt revealing an exclusive look at the changes made to the WWE Universal title.

Total Divas episode preview for tonight: MountainMania

Total Divas is back on E! tonight with episode six of season nine titled MountainMania.

The synopsis for tonight’s show reads, “Worried she is not welcome in the locker room, Ronda Rousey invites the female Superstars to her mountain cabin for some much-needed bonding time. Sonya, unsure of Rousey’s intentions because of their feud, turns every activity into a heated competition. Carmella is caught in a web of lies when she ditches Ronda’s bonding trip to sneak away with her long-distance boyfriend, Corey Graves. With her future uncertain due to injury, Nia reaches out to Nicole and Brie for help while walking center stage with Paige in the Birdiebee fashion show. Meanwhile at the fashion show, Nicole shows off her hot new boyfriend, Artem.”

Four new recruits, including Scarlett Bordeaux, join the WWE Performance Center

The WWE Performance Center has four new recruits including a very familiar face who wrestled for Impact Wrestling this year. The new recruits are three female wrestlers and a male referee.

The three women are Elizabeth Chihaia, better known to wrestling fans as Scarlett Bordeaux. The Chicago native has wrestled for AAA, Ring of Honor, and Impact Wrestling; Ashley Urbanski, who wrestles under the name of Shotzi Blackheart. She was offered a deal by NXT General Manager William Regal last month at an EVOVLE show; Samantha De Martin, the Australian known as Indi Hartwell. The 22-year-old has wrestled for several promotions in her home country and SHIMMER; and referee Stephon Smith, a graduate of Ohio Valley Wrestling who has been a referee for EVOLVE Wrestling.

The four has reported to the WWE Performance Center already and have started training at the state-of-the-art facility.

Second WWE European tour of 2019 kicks off this week

WWE Superstars and crew are getting back on the road for another European tour this week that will see them perform in 14 different events over 10 days across 7 different countries.

The tour starts on Thursday, November 7 in Brighton, England at the Brighton Center. Raw and Smackdown will be taped on the same day on Friday, November 8 from the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.

Two shows will take place on Saturday, November 9, one at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, England and one at the Butlins Arena in Minehead, England. Dublin, Ireland gets their show on Sunday, November 10 at the 3Arena and so does Aberdeen, Scotland with a show at TECA.

There’s one show in Vienna, Austria on Monday, November 11 at the Weiner Stadthalle and another one at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland. On Tuesday, November 12, it’s Amsterdam’s turn in the Netherlands with a show at the Ziggo Dome and Lille, France gets the second show at the Zénith Arena de Lille.

On Wednesday, November 13 there’s one show in Zurich, Switzerland at the Hallenstadion. On Thursday, November 14 it’s one show at the SAP Arena in Mannheim, Germany. The last two shows will be held on Friday, November 15 at the Donau Arena in Regensburg, Germany, and on Saturday at the ISS Dome in Düsseldorf, Germany.

WWE doubles down on Saudi Arabia 10-year agreement

WWE has doubled down on their agreement with Saudi Arabia, with a guarantee of two events per year moving forward in their 10-year deal.

The first two years of the deal saw two events per year but WWE Co-President George Barrios refused to guarantee that model for the remaining years of the deal during a conference call on Thursday pending further negotiations.

In a press release issued yesterday, WWE said, “Following the historic Crown Jewel event in Riyadh, WWE and the Saudi General Entertainment Authority (GEA) have expanded their live event partnership through 2027 to include a second annual large-scale event.  WWE and GEA also continue to work towards the completion of a media agreement in the MENA region. This long-term partnership demonstrates WWE and GEA’s commitment to bring sports entertainment to the region and supports Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.”

WWE stock slid a further 2.8% yesterday due to uncertainties revolving around the long-term deal with the Kingdom and the still yet-to-be-signed new television deal in the Middle East.

Three huge matches for Survivor Series 2019 announced

Champions from all three brands will be facing each other at the Survivor Series later this month in non-title triple threat matches.

The first matches for the Survivor Series were announced on Raw last night, with Raw Women’s champion Becky Lynch taking on Smackdown Women’s champion Bayley and NXT Women’s champion Shayna Baszler. Bayley is the only one out of the three that has held all the three different titles.

Meanwhile, the Raw Tag Team champions The Viking Raiders will take on Smackdown Tag Team champions The Revival and NXT Tag Team champs The Undisputed Era in another triple threat match.

The third match announced for the show is a WWE title match featuring champion Brock Lesnar defending against Rey Mysterio. The past few years featured the WWE champion taking on the Universal champion at the Survivor Series but this time around there seems to be different plans for the main titles.

Cody says he will be forever grateful to WWE for what they did to his father Dusty

Speaking on The Cheap Heat podcast with Peter Rosenberg, AEW Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes said that he will be forever grateful to WWE for what they did to his father and if there is ever a time when he has to “repay the debt,” he would gladly go and repay it.

Cody explained that when his father needed a lift, WWE was there for him and offered financial stability for the family, remembering the time in 2005 when his dad got the first royalty check from the DVD and his mother “literally hit her knees in the kitchen” thanking God for bringing them back financial security.

Cody also said that WWE gave his dad a home with NXT and with all that in mind and what they did for him at the end, he “will never be ungrateful to them.”

His career, however, went a different way from his father’s in the WWE and he said he has his own opinions on that one and he will never be voiceless about it regardless what they did to his father.

“But…I will always say that I owe them a great debt. Maybe I paid it personally with the way things ended. Who knows. But I’ll never forget that. Both Hunter and Vince and Stephanie McMahon were very good to my father when he needed it. And as his son, that’s something that if they ever ask me to you know…to repay that debt…I’ll go repay it. Because it was important,” Cody said.

Pat McAfee goes in great detail on how he made it to Smackdown on Friday night

Pat McAfee went into deeper details during The Pat McAfee Show on how the whole Smackdown commentary gig came about last Friday.

McAfee recounted how he was at home taking a break before he had to fly to Memphis for CBS’ College GameDay when Triple H texted him to see if he’s home. HHH then called McAfee to explain what happened and if he would be up to coming to Buffalo to do commentary although he told him that he still has to run the idea by Vince McMahon and that he would call him back.

At that point, McAfee started calling several plane companies to see if they can take him to Buffalo from Indianapolis in time for Smackdown and no jets were available. No commercial flights were good either as none of them landed before the show. He then said he did something he never did before, and called the COO of the Indianapolis Colts to see if owner Jim Irsay would have a way of getting him there.

After a few minutes, the COO called back and told him that Irsay gave him the green light to use his personal Gulfstream G4 jet and asked what time does he need it. McAfee was still waiting for final confirmation from Triple H but after 15 minutes, the go-ahead from WWE came to make it to Buffalo and within 45 minutes, the jet was ready with a flight attendant, two pilots, steaks, and DirecTV readily available.

McAfee landed an hour and a half before the show started and when he got to the arena, backstage was empty since all the NXT talent were still on the way. He noted that Triple H was talking to Brock Lesnar and he interrupted them and then headed into a production meeting with Vince McMahon still in his sleeveless hoodie and shorts.

The former NFL player said that after the WrestleMania outfit saga with Michael Cole, he packed a proper shirt and trousers but got to be on Smackdown with his regular clothes.

McAfee said that this was a life-long dream of his and he had the time of his life, thanking Colts owner Jim Irsay for making it happen.

You can see McAfee explaining the story in great detail below.

“Chosen 20” decision from Saudi did not go over very well among Superstars

The Raw roster is back together again for Monday Night Raw, their first show following the fiasco from Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia.

One of the biggest talking points from the trip has been the “chosen 20” that were “privileged” to leave on a different flight and thus avoiding the extra long hours that the remainder of the 150-plus Superstars, crew, and employees had to endure.

While these unnamed 20 were stuck on the tarmac for six hours with everyone else before they had to disembark, WWE arranged to put them on a different flight in hopes that some of them make the Smackdown broadcast on Friday night.

Several WWE Superstars have posted on social media about what happened with this group of people, causing somewhat of a rift between those who were left behind, those who were placed on the flight, and those who ultimately took the decision to pick them.

One Superstar in particular, Karl Anderson, wrote on Twitter that he’s looking forward to see “who the locker room leader is on Monday” while Curtis Axel took a dig at the “top 20” and said that he’s #1 at home, posting a photo with his son saying “we don’t leave each other behind” while tagging WWE.

While those 20, which included Superstars and other employees, made it out before the rest did, they still ultimately didn’t make it to Smackdown which made matters worse and Seth Rollins flew to Dubai to be with his girlfriend Becky Lynch before flying back to the United States.

Brock Lesnar and WWE title moving permanently to Monday Night Raw

WWE champion Brock Lesnar is moving permanently to Monday Night Raw and is taking the WWE title with him. This will be the first time since the Universal title was created in 2016 that the red belt will be the main title of Smackdown.

Heyman announced last Friday on Smackdown that Lesnar is quitting Smackdown so he can hunt for Rey Mysterio on Raw. The day before, The Fiend Bray Wyatt won the Universal title from Seth Rollins and with Wyatt a member of the Smackdown roster as well, one of the champions had to move brands.

Lesnar was Smackdown’s first pick on the second night of the WWE draft just last month so they’re already switching around talent despite promises that rosters would be locked down and appearing only on the brands that they’re associated with.

Millions of dollars owed by Saudi to WWE the center of delay saga

The major issue stemming from the whole WWE/Saudi saga revolved around money and the fact that the Saudi Arabian government had not paid WWE for their Super ShowDown event from this past June in Jeddah yet.

During the conference call with reporters on Thursday morning – held just an hour before Crown Jewel – WWE Co-President George Barrios noted that they had just received a $60 million payment “for an outstanding receivable” that was supposed to have been included in the Q3 report but since it came after the quarter ended, the large sum was not included in the report and that effected the year-over-year cash flow growth and positive free cash flow.

When the WWE crew landed in Riyadh earlier this week, the payment had still not been made and that was the disagreement that the two parties had which led to Vince McMahon deciding not to air Crown Jewel live in the country on free television. Crown Jewel was set to air live on the MBC Action television station but it ended up being on around an hour tape delay.

The decision by McMahon apparently angered the powers that be who retaliated by making their life more difficult by blocking their plane’s departure. At one point, WWE Superstar Rusev noted on Twitter that they need all the prayers they could get in hopes to get out of the country.

At no point the lives of the WWE Superstars were in danger and everyone got checked back in a luxury hotel where they had a free reign of ordering anything they wanted but were told to stay in the hotel and not venture out. No one was held “hostage” as in fact others were allowed to leave the country after arranging different flights, including Seth Rollins who flew to Dubai, some who took private jets, and other Superstars who took a different flight in hopes to make it to Smackdown in time when it was obvious the Atlas Air chartered plane was not getting off the ground.

When George Barrios was asked if the two events per year will continue during the conference call, Barrios said he couldn’t talk about right now, especially for 2020. “We said for the reasons I mentioned we want to talk about 2020 once we’ve lock down several elements that are still open. So I really can’t answer the question,” he said.

WWE still has not concluded the television deal in the Middle East which also effected their quarter and the outlook for the rest of 2019.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson electrifies the MSG crowd at UFC 244!

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson spent his weekend in New York mingling with UFC stars as he was part of the UFC 244: Masvidal vs Diaz show live from Madison Square Garden.

Johnson was given the task of presenting the brand-new BMF belt to the winner of the Masvidal/Diaz fight, a fight which was won by Jorge Masvidal after the doctor stopped the fight in round three.

The Rock came out to a massive pop from the MSG crowd complete with his iconic WWE theme song and the BMF belt on his shoulder. He high-fived fans along the way and hugged UFC President Dana White before he took his cageside seat.

Johnson also announced on Friday that his Seven Bucks Productions company will produce a movie on UFC legend Mark Kerr and that he would be playing the role of Kerr. Johnson said in a press conference that Kerr is onboard for the project and gave his blessing.

You can see his MSG entrance below.

Chris Jericho to wrestle at NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 14

AEW World champion Chris Jericho is returning to New Japan Pro Wrestling for a match at Wrestle Kingdom 14 on January 5, 2020.

Jericho, in his Painmaker makeup and attire, showed up via video at the Power Struggle show after a match between Tanahashi and Ibushi vs Okada and Yoshi-Hashi and challenged Tanahashi to a match at WK 14, telling him that this would be Tanahashi’s last match. The challenge was immediately accepted by Tanahashi.

Despite being an AEW employee, Jericho has a clause in the contract where he could do dates for New Japan Pro Wrestling. He last wrestled for NJPW in June of this year at the Dominion show where he lost to Okada.

Wrestle Kingdom 14 will take place on January 4 and January 5, 2020 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan.