The announcement of Macho Man Randy Savage as the first inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2015 was done to promote tickets to the show which go on sale this Saturday.
Tickets will officially go on sale to the general public at 10AM PST (1PM EST) on January 17 at Ticketmaster.com as well as at the SAP Center box office. Tickets can also be purchased over the phone by calling 1-800-745-3000.
The 2015 Hall of Fame ceremony will take place at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, and is expected to air live on the WWE Network.
There’s a new addition to the WWE Network: WWE’s reality series Tough Enough.
As of this writing only the first season has made its way online, with all the 13 episodes from the 2001 season ready to stream under the Originals section of the Network. The first season saw Maven, Chris Nowinski, and Josh Mathews in the final.
Tough Enough ended up airing for five seasons, three of them on MTV, one of them during Smackdown, and the recent one on USA Network from 2010.
A new season was supposed to be filmed last year for the WWE Network but it was scrapped due to budget cuts.
During a live breaking news segment on the WWE Network, Scott Stanford announced that Hulk Hogan is expected to induct Macho Man Randy Savage into the 2015 WWE Hall of Fame come March 28.
The two share a long history together – very good friends and very bad rivals – with just like the relationship with Vince McMahon, a lot of rumors surrounding it. Hogan came to Savage’s “rescue” at WrestleMania IV when he won the WWE title and the two then formed the Mega Powers until they broke up over Miss Elizabeth. Hogan and Savage headlined WrestleMania V with Hogan taking the title away from Savage after spending the whole year as the champion.
In 1993 it was rumored that Savage punched Hogan out during the WrestleMania IX weekend in Las Vegas which is why Hogan sported a nice shiner during the show. The two eventually moved to WCW and continued their history there.
Hogan and Savage made up while the two ended up in the same doctor’s office in Tampa, Florida, a few months before Savage died. Savage walked in while Hogan was there and Hogan said he was “freaked out” and “scared to death” when Savage asked him “what’s up?” The two talked and hung out together until three days before Savage passed away.
With the Manhattan Center Impact tapings done, the next time TNA will have another set of tapings it will be across the Atlantic, with three nights of shows from Glasgow, Scotland, and Manchester and London, England.
The shows are part of the Maximum Impact 2015 Tour and they were originally non-televised live events but after TNA signed a deal with Destination Impact, the company switched the shows to television tapings. TNA will do these tapings starting January 29.
One person who will not be on the tour will be Jeff Hardy who due to legal issues cannot make the trip. Usually Hardy is written out of storylines every January and spends a month off television due to TNA taping several episodes during the tour.
WWE and First Book today announced the launch of the 2015 WrestleMania Reading Challenge, giving students ages 4-18 the chance to win a trip to WrestleMania 31.
Beginning today through Sunday, February 22, students can register for the WrestleMania Reading Challenge at WWEReadingSuperstar.com. Through WWE’s partnership with First Book’s digital reading initiative, We Give Books, children between the ages of 4-12 can select a WWE Superstar Reading Buddy and read digital books to participate, while teens ages 13-18 can select a WWE Superstar Pen Pal, read a book and write an essay.
WWE will make a financial contribution to First Book in order to support literacy initiatives and provide access to books for children across the United States. WWE and its Superstars and Divas will also continue to host reading celebrations, visiting kids at local schools and libraries to stress the importance of reading. Additionally, WWE will utilize all of its platforms, including WWE Network, TV broadcasts, live events, digital and social media to promote literacy.
For more information or to participate in the WrestleMania Reading Challenge, visit WWEReadingSuperstar.com.
WWE.COM has revealed that the company is expected to announce the legendary Macho Man Randy Savage as its first inductee into the 2015 WWE Hall of Fame tonight on Monday Night Raw.
The long-awaited nod into the Hall of Fame comes to no surprise as Vince McMahon recently revealed on the Steve Austin podcast that they’re working on getting Savage inducted after Austin questioned why Savage isn’t in yet.
WWE and Savage were not on best of terms ever since Savage left for WCW back in the mid 90s. After Savage passed away, his brother Lanny Poffo said that the only way Savage would go into the Hall of Fame is if the whole Poffo family gets inducted with him. Poffo said that it was the Macho Man’s wish to be inducted with his whole family while WWE was only interested in putting Savage alone.
Chris Jericho posted a video on TweetSecret signing a new WWE deal which will see him participate in 16 non-televised live events.
All the events listed on the paper in the preview do not include any Raw, Smackdown, and pay-per-views and the events run through March 1.
Jericho made his first appearance yesterday in Montgomery, Alabama, which was the first date on his new short deal. Y2J will be on shows on January 11, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, and 31, February 1, 7, 8, 14, 15, 27, 28, and March 1.
Jericho might be showing up for television dates however those might be kept as a surprise which is why he didn’t show them. The former champion was last seen on Raw on December 15 where he was the guest host and got attacked by Brock Lesnar.
Episode 12 of season 3 of Total Divas returns tonight on E! at 9PM EST with an episode titled Baby Not On Board.
The synopsis for the episode reads, “Eva blindsides Jonathan with news she should have given him pre-marriage. Nikki cuts off the Bella family in retaliation and Rosa’s job is threatened when a Diva’s salacious plan is leaked to the WWE.”
Last week’s return of the show on E! got 1.4 million viewers, the highest of season 3 so far.
Former WWE Divas champion AJ Lee addressed the rumors of being pregnant on Twitter yesterday, saying that there’s no baby Punk on the way.
“Finally nursing a neck injury from the week before SummerSlam,” she wrote. “Not preggers, guys. Way too attached to my abs.”
AJ last wrestled at the TLC: Tables, Ladders, Chairs, and Stairs pay-per-view, where she was unsuccessful in regaining the Divas title from Nikki Bella. She has not been seen on television since then which led to the pregnancy rumors online.
The sports blog TerezOwens.com, the self proclaimed world’s most popular sports gossip blog, announced yesterday that TapouT is about to announce a deal with WWE.
The MMA clothing company is rumored to have signed an exclusive deal with WWE to sponsor its wrestlers, similar to what Reebok has done with the UFC.
No other information was released and at this point it is simply a rumor. The TapouT Co-Founder and Vice President addressed the rumors on Twitter.
“I’ve had lots of messages regarding a WWE deal. We are exploring several partnership opportunities, but there’s nothing to announce rite now,” he said.
If you are training to be a professional wrestler, learning to take bumps is essential. Former TNA champion Jeff Hardy learned the hard way that taking a bad bump will hurt. A lot.
Hardy is not new to taking awful bumps. There are countless ones in TLC matches, going through tables or ladders. Either way you slice it, falling from a high place will hurt.
During the TNA Lockdown tapings at the Manhattan Center in New York, Hardy took one ugly bump from the cage and was hurting after the match.
As Hardy was balancing on the cage door, Abyss pushed the door resulting in Hardy taking the “nut shot” which alone should have hurt like hell. He was then pushed off the door and crash landed hard on the steel steps.
“I’ve seen @JEFFHARDYBRAND take some ridiculous bumps. 1st time ever I’m concerned for his health & this is coming from me,” wrote Tommy Dreamer on Twitter after the match.
While Jeff Hardy continued the match there are unconfirmed reports that he was actually knocked out after the fall. You can see the crazy bump below.
Former WWE champion Phil “CM Punk” Brooks appeared on AXS TV’s Inside MMA television show along with his new MMA coach, Duke Roufus of Roufusport.
During the interview, series hosts Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten asked Brooks about his prospective weight class, potential UFC matchups, and his training progress so far.
When asked if there’s a guy who he wants to fight first, Punk said, “I’m not calling anybody out. I tell people I’m calling myself out. I’m putting this all on me. I have a great trainer, there’s other great coaches here and the track record at Roufusport speaks for itself: Anthony Pettis, Ben Askren, Chico Camus, it goes on and on.”
Right after the Punk interview, WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross joined the show to give his opinion on Brooks’ transition from professional wrestling to the UFC, and what he expects from the former champ in the Octagon.
TNA officials must have gotten the shock of a lifetime today as the audience for Impact’s debut episode on Destination America was released by Nielsen.
Impact on Wednesday night drew just 263,000 viewers, down 717,000 viewers from the last first run episode on Spike on November 19.
Destination America is in around half the homes across the United States that Spike TV is. It’s obviously the lowest rated Impact episode in the history of the show. (Ratings credit: PWinsider.com)
Tonight is the last time Smackdown will air on Fridays as the show will be moving to its original time slot of Thursday nights from next week on SyFy.
There are six matches taped for Smackdown tonight with the main event being Seth Rollins and Big Show taking on Roman Reigns and a partner of his choosing.
To promote the move to Thursdays, WWE prepared a hilarious commercial featuring WWE Superstars and Divas visiting a psychiatrist as he asks them what they see when he holds up place cards.
Everyone starts responding “Thursday” no matter what the psychiatrist shows, well except for Adam Rose who said he saw a bunny…until the place card was turned around and he also saw “Thursday.”
The commercial features Big Show, Bella Twins, The Miz, Mizdow, Rusev, Lana, The New Day, Ryback, Seth Rollins, Paige, Bray Wyatt, Adam Rose, and Goldust. Fandango, Rosa Mendes, Los Matadores, El Torito, Alicia Fox, Sin Cara, and Erick Rowan are in a separate scene waiting outside the office and the commercial ends with Dean Ambrose, perhaps the most fitting character in this commercial.
TNA President Dixie Carter along with Ken Anderson and Chris Melendez were at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, California, representing Destination America.
Deadline.com, which is covering everything that is happening at the press tour reported that one of the questions asked during the TNA panel was if wrestling was, well, fake. Ken Anderson took that question with some added help from Dixie Carter at the end.
Carter also had to jump in to prevent further damage – and stupidity – when someone asked “how much medication is involved” and later if all the storyline villains “are Muslims.”
All three missed the first Impact taping in New York on Wednesday due to their appearance in California.
There will be no more Jerry “The King” Lawler on Monday Night Raw from next week as WWE has announced a change in their broadcast teams for Raw and Smackdown.
Starting on Monday, January 12, the trio of Michael Cole, John “Bradshaw” Layfield,” and WWE Hall of Famer Booker T will be handling the commentary for Raw. Smackdown on Thursdays will feature Michael Cole, Byron Saxton, and WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler at the broadcast table. Cole, Lawler, and JBL will continue to call the action for all the upcoming pay-per-views.
The change leaves no space for Tom Phillips, who was handling the main play-by-play for Smackdown. He was promoted to the show in August of last year after doing work for NXT and Main Event.
To boost interest and viewership for Smackdown’s return to Thursday nights next week, WWE announced on its official website that former WWE World Heavyweight champion Daniel Bryan will be returning to action on the broadcast.
The original idea was that Bryan would only see action for the first time since his injury at the Royal Rumble but that idea was nixed and he was even added to non-televised live events leading up to the Rumble.
Bryan last wrestled at the Extreme Rules 2014 pay-per-view, defending the title against Kane in an an extreme rules match. That would be the only time Bryan defended the WWE World Heavyweight title as he then had to surrender the gold in June.
One year ago today, on January 8, 2014, at the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, Vince McMahon stood on stage and announced the creation and launch of the WWE Network.
The much hyped announcement was attended by WWE executives along with Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Stone Cold Steve Austin, all on board to promote wrestling’s next big thing: the over-the-top service for just $9.99 a month.
The Network launched in the United States just a month later, on February 24, with the servers of MLB Advanced Media body slammed by WWE fans as they tried to sign up on that morning. Investors were looking forward to the number of subscribers and how WWE was about to change the game again going from pay-per-view to online streaming.
But a year later, a lot of question marks remain over the Network. The project is still in the red and while the number of subscribers by the end of 2014 was not released it’s almost safe to say that WWE did not reach their target of 1 million subscribers. The last count was just over 731,000 worldwide on October 30, with countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, India, Thailand, and other important WWE countries still not able to receive the service.
Over the course of the year, WWE added another one thousand plus hours of footage and removed the six month commitment, and gave the whole month of November – and the Survivor Series – free of charge to new subscribers worldwide.
Despite all the changes however, the service has not really took off the way the company expected and investors showed their lack of trust by driving WWE stocks down to over 50% during the year.
As the saying goes, Rome was not built in a day. But a year on, despite offering everything WWE fans can possibly want, the WWE Network is still considered a failed project to those outside WWE.
With no NFL competition running against it, Raw drew 3,763,000 viewers on average for the first Raw of 2015, up 304,000 viewers from last week’s worst number since 1997 of 3,459,000 viewers.
Hour one drew 3,801,000 viewers, followed by 3,888,000 in the second hour, and then down to 3,599,000 in the third and final hour. (Ratings credit: PWInsider.com)
After many people took offense at The Ascension’s promo on Monday Night Raw where they knocked on the Legion of Doom, particularly the late Hawk, the other half of the Road Warriors, Joe Laurinaitis, seemed to be okay with it and explained his reasoning on his Facebook page.
“When we started we tore up the Funks and Briscoes. It has to be done, they need to get on Hawk and I or it means nothing,” the man known as Animal wrote. He admitted that he didn’t hear the promo nor does he want to hear it however.
“They will have a hard time getting over they way it is, if slamming the Road Warriors helps them then great,” he added. He said that the only thing missing is common respect.
“Nothing else needs to be said. No biggie. Oh What a Rush!”
