WWE.COM is reporting today that Bo Dallas has suffered an injury to his left foot and will be out of action for a while.
It’s not known how Dallas suffered his injury and if it even was wrestling related but the WWE Superstar will be out of action from six to eight weeks.
WWE has announced that tickets for WrestleMania 31 will go on sale to the general public on Saturday, November 15, starting at 9AM PT / Noon EST.
The highest priced ticket will be $2,000 for the first few rows ringside. Other prices are $1,012 for ringside rows 9 to 16, $462 for center risers and rear floor, $262 for the central 100 level, 200 level club, and corner risers, $212 for the 100 level sideline and 200 level end zone, $187 for the 100 level corners, $137 for the 200 level corners, $112 for the 300 level sideline, $87 for center 400 level, $62 for 400 level sideline, and $47 for 400 level corners.
The week-long festivities that come with WrestleMania will see Axxess at the San Jose Convention Center, the Hall of Fame and Raw at the SAP Center, and WrestleMania at the Levi’s Stadium.
WrestleMania 31 tickets will be available at Ticketmaster.com or charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000. A pre-sale will kick off a few days before and we will post that information as it becomes available.
The United Kingdom will finally get the WWE Network, officially at least, starting today.
Getting the same deal as the rest of the world, minus Canada, the Network in the UK will be the over-the-top service with the month of November free for new subscribers and then $9.99 a month with no commitment starting in December.
The United Kingdom is one of the largest markets that the Network was not made available in August and originally it was set to launch on October 1 but negotiations with other partners delayed the launch.
Sign ups for the Network will start being accepted at 8PM GMT today and initially it will be playable through the browser, iOS and Android devices. In two weeks time the service expands to TV-connected devices.
Universal Pictures released the new full trailer for Furious 7, the new title for the seventh installment in the Fast & Furious franchise.
Furious 7 features Dwayne Johnson reprising his role as DS Agent Luke Hobbs and it’s the final movie that fan favorite Paul Walker shot as he was killed in a car accident while on hiatus halfway through the filming process.
Furious 7 is set to be released on April 3, 2015, after it was delayed due to script changes and additional filming due to Walker’s death.
You can see the trailer below.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/Skpu5HaVkOc&w=700]
Daniel Bryan – currently out injured with no return date set – is still fulfilling his WWE duties by appearing on behalf of the company.
The former champion presented San Francisco Giants outfielder Hunter Pence with a replica WWE World Heavyweight title at the Giants’ World Series victory parade yesterday.
“The belt!! The dream!! Thank you @WWEDanielBryan and @WWE! #Yes,” Pence wrote on his Twitter, also posting a photo of the two together which you can see at http://pic.twitter.com/u4X9fE4av8.
During the World Series, Pence always led his teammates with “Yes!” chants to celebrate big moments. SF Giants fans also chanted “Yes!” at the parade yesterday. Yahoo! Sports has more photos of videos of this at http://yhoo.it/1wnmWdb.
Tickets for the 2015 Royal Rumble will go on sale to the general public this morning starting at 10AM EST at ComcastTix.com.
Prices are $25, $35, $55, $75, $150, $200, $450 for ringside rows 2 to 5, and $500 for first row ringside. Ringside seats will also get you the collectable pay-per-view chair.
The show will take place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, January 25, 2015.
Sports Legacy Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to concussion education and research, announced that Paul Levesque, Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events & Creative at WWE, Inc. has been elected to its Board of Directors.
“We are thrilled to welcome Paul Levesque to our Board of Directors,” said Christopher Nowinski, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Sports Legacy Institute. “As an athlete himself, Paul is familiar with the risks associated with concussions. As an executive, Paul has made it a priority to protect WWE’s performers through education and awareness, as well as preventative measures and world class medical care.”
Levesque, better known to wrestling fans as Triple H, said, “It is an honor to join the Board of Directors at SLI to support the important work they do in the field of concussion management and prevention,” said Levesque. “This work benefits athletes of all ages and skill levels, from high school to collegiate to professional sports, as well as many others including members of our military.”
In 2013, WWE made a grant of $1.2 million to SLI to fund research that could lead to potential new treatments for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease.
Former WWE champion Randy Orton has been pulled from the upcoming WWE European tour which starts next week due to other commitments.
Orton will be filming The Condemned 2: Desert Prey for Lionsgate and WWE Studios in 10 days time with production set in New Mexico. Since WWE will tape Raw and Smackdown in England it’s likely that Orton will miss those tapings as well unless he’s flown across the Atlantic for television only.
The Condemned 2 is about a former bounty hunter who finds himself on the run as part of a revamped Condemned tournament, in which convicts are forced to fight each other to the death as part of a game that’s broadcast to the public.
WWE fans in the United Kingdom will finally get the WWE Network starting Monday, November.
The month of November will also be free for UK fans and signups will be accepted starting at 8PM GMT on Monday. For the first two weeks, the WWE Network in the UK will only be available on a browser, iOS, and Android devices.
Then starting on November 18, the WWE Network will be available on other TV-connected devices such as Xbox One and Xbox 360, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku streaming devices, and select Smart TVs.
Once the month of November is over, the WWE Network will be available for $9.99 per month with no commitment, which translates to around 6.30GBP.
Wall Street was not particularly happy with the WWE numbers released today although considering the big disappointment of the WWE Network subscribers count, investors also showed WWE some mercy.
On the earnings report day, WWE stocks ended the day at $12.51, a 5.73% decrease over yesterday’s closing. The day’s high was $13.17 which was right at the start of trading day but then things went down south quickly.
Out of the new additional 31,000 subscribers to the WWE Network, 3,000 of them are in the United States while the rest of the 28,000 subs are International.
In total during the quarter, WWE added 286,000 subscribers to the Network however had a massive 255,000 cancellations.
Out of the 286,000 new subscribers, 23,000 out of them decided to take the $12.99 no-commitment monthly deal, which WWE has now eliminated and is now just $9.99 with no commitment.
The November WWE Network promotion where new subscribers will receive the Network free of charge for the whole month is being promoted as #FreeFreeFree on social media networks.
There’s a new TNA champion in town and his name is Bobby Roode.
Filmed several weeks ago, the match between Lashley and Roode with Kurt Angle as the special guest referee ended when Roode countered a sunset flip attempt by Lashley and pinned the champion in the middle of the ring.
Roode, one of the longest serving Superstars at TNA, is now a two time TNA World Heavyweight champion.
You can see the ending of the match below.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/ftTEVgdsq44&w=700]
Thousands of people are still opting to purchase WWE shows via traditional pay-per-view for $54.95 each rather than paying for the WWE Network according to the latest figures released by WWE for the past three PPV events.
Money In The Bank had 99,000 buys this year whereas the Battleground last year – which aired in the same month – did 199,000.
The biggest event of the Summer, SummerSlam, drew 147,000 buys in 2014 as opposed to 296,000 buys last year.
And Night Of Champions had an additional 48,000 PPV buys in 2014 versus the 175,000 buys the show did last year before the WWE Network was available.
In total the company had 294,000 pay-per-view buys outside the WWE Network.
Most of the major WWE departments registered a loss when compared to the same prior year quarter, with only consumer products division and WWE studios – barely – registering an increase.
The following are department by department numbers on how they fared for Q3 2014.
WWE Network generated $22.4 million in subscriptions; Licensing increased to $10.0 million from $5.7 million; Venue merchandise increased 5% to $4.2 million from $4.0 million; WWEShop revenues increased 48% to $4.3 million from $2.9 million; WWE Studios increased slightly by $100,000 for $1.9 million.
Pay-per-view business declined 56% to $3.7 million; TV revenues decreased 6% to $42.2 million from $44.8 million; Home entertainment decreased to $3.6 million from $5.2 million; Digital media went down to $5.0 million from $7.2 million; Live events decreased 13% to $21.8 million from $25.1 million.
WWE today announced financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2014.
For the quarter, the Company reported a Net loss of $5.9 million, or $0.08 per share, compared to Net income of $2.4 million, or $0.03 per share, in the third quarter last year.
“During the quarter, we delivered stronger financial performance than anticipated and surpassed our guidance while making significant progress on the execution of our WWE Network strategy,” stated Vince McMahon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
The full press release of the earnings can be found here.
In a press release issued today, WWE announced some changes that will be coming to the WWE Network by the end of the year.
Limited advertising – which was announced a few weeks ago – have already started with companies such as Pepsi, Mattel, K-Mart, Take-Two Interactive, and Pure Talk USA being the first advertisers.
The advertising strategy anticipates no commercial breaks during scheduled programming, limited advertising between shows, and occasional advertising before the network’s video-on-demand content.
The company also plans to roll out a new resume play feature, a feature which has been requested since the Network launched, and a watch list feature, both of which will be available across all platforms by the end of the year.
WWE Network subscribers reached a total of 731,000, an addition of just 31,000 subscribers from the end of June. The number represents also new subs from over 170 countries which started getting the Network in August, a number which is surely not what WWE wanted.
With disappointing numbers, WWE has once again hit the reset button on their subscription model and announced that the $9.99 a month will now be without a six month commitment and you can cancel at any time just like Netflix or Hulu.
“During the quarter, we delivered stronger financial performance than anticipated and surpassed our guidance while making significant progress on the execution of our WWE Network strategy,” stated Vince McMahon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “To capitalize on the substantial opportunity created by WWE Network, it’s time to remove all the barriers to those that want WWE. We are excited to introduce a new simplified price plan at $9.99 per month, and like Netflix with no commitment/cancel anytime. This reflects our belief in the broad appeal of WWE Network content.”
In an effort to drive more numbers to the Network, all new subscribers who register for the network in November will receive the month of November for free, including the opportunity to watch Survivor Series live on Sunday, November 23rd.
In addition, WWE also announced that the WWE Network will be available in the United Kingdom on an over-the-top service in November. The OTT service is just what the rest of the world – minus Canada – gets.
McMahon remained optimistic about the long-term plan of the WWE Network and its business model.
Former WWE, WCW, and TNA Superstar Chavo Guerrero joined Jeff Jackson and Tony Mirabella yesterday live on SNS UnPlugged to promote Lucha Underground.
Guerrero pushed Lucha Underground as something that the fans have never seen before and while WWE and TNA are doing television shows to sell you a pay-per-view, Lucha Underground is only a TV show and will give the best wrestling week in and week out rather than saving the good stuff for another live event or PPV.
Chavo talks how the tapings have an “HBO feel” to them and all the episodes are filmed just like a movie with a lot of different cameras to give it a unique look. He said this is “wrestling meets good quality movies” and while wrestling had the best years during the Monday night wars, now there was no competition and no effort but with Lucha Underground in the mix, things will change.
Guerrero mentions that there was a guy backstage at the tapings who was blown away how well the wrestling was and it was a sort of a mix with X Games. He said that his guy, who he refused to name, wrestles for a different organization, has a long history with, and also carries a mask, most likely referring to Rey Mysterio.
He said that with Lucha Underground, they’re trying to recreate the first hour of Nitro wrestling-wise, where Cruiserweights and Luchadores pretty much took over the opening hour. He also added how important it was to cater to Latino fans and El Rey is doing just that.
Guerrero also touched different topics during his 45 minute interview including his plans for Halloween, the controversial firing of Alberto Del Rio, the height of wrestling during the Monday night war, how Vince McMahon is out of touch with reality, the Pepe gimmick, Eddie, and much more!
You can listen to the show here.
It will be a big day tomorrow for WWE as the company will be releasing its Q3 2014 results with all eyes on the updated WWE Network number.
In the last quarter earning results, WWE revealed that they had a total of 700,000 subscribers. In August, WWE opened up the Network to over 170 countries but left out big markets such as the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and others.
WWE stocks took a hit over the past week and today they closed at 13.27, a 3.42% decrease over the previous close.
A conference call will be held tomorrow with WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon and Chief Financial & Strategy Officer George Barrios at 11AM EST.
El Rey Network will begin airing Lucha Underground tonight starting at 8PM EST and then with a one hour show every Wednesday night at the same time slot.
Produced by United Artists Media Group with reality TV show executive producer Mark Burnett leading the charge, Lucha Underground features pro wrestlers and luchadores from AAA and several other countries.
The show is filmed at the Lucha Underground Arena in Boyle Heights, California, and will have former WWE Superstar Matt Striker and Vampire as the color commentators.
Apart from several well known luchadores, there will be other familiar faces on the show including John Hennigan, who wrestled as John Morrison in WWE, Chavo Guerrero, indy wrestler Ricochet who now goes by the name of Prince Puma, former TNA wrestler Hernandez, and others.
