The latest movie which WWE Studios is involved with, titled Oculus, landed in the third spot in the box office charts this weekend and has already more than doubled its production budget.
The movie did $12,000,000 over the weekend, behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Rio 2, which both did $41,398,000 and $39,000,000 respectively.
Oculus was screened to wrestling fans during the WrestleMania XXX weekend in an event hosted by Hulk Hogan at The Ritz-Cartlon, New Orleans.
WWE has announced the dates of the remaining pay-per-views for the full calendar year. All the following shows will be airing on the WWE Network as well on pay-per-view on select PPV providers.
The schedule has Extreme Rules on May 4 in East Rutherford; Payback on June 1 in Chicago; Money In The Bank on June 29 in Boston; Battleground on July 20 in Tampa; SummerSlam on August 17 in Los Angeles; Night of Champions on September 21 in Nashville; Hell In A Cell on October 26 in Dallas; Survivor Series on November 23 in St. Louis; and TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 14 in Cleveland.
Total Divas returns on the air tonight with a brand new episode after last week it was preempted because of WrestleMania.
Episode four of season two tonight is titled ‘Inhale, Exhale’ and will mainly tackle Natalya undergoing surgery, Nikki’s problems with John Cena after she feels he’s lying to her and Trinity shooting a music video for her song.
Episode three two weeks ago did very well in the ratings, getting 1.55 million viewers, the second highest rated show of the whole series.
Former TNA champion James Storm has signed a new multi-year deal with TNA Wrestling.
“He has been in TNA since day one. Proud to announce the signing of @Cowboy_J_Storm to a multi-year deal,” wrote John Gaburick on Twitter, TNA’s Executive Vice President of Television Production.
Storm made his TNA debut in 2002, appearing on the inaugural TNA pay-per-view and was originally part of America’s Most Wanted tag team before moving to singles competition.
Since his TNA arrival he has held the TNA World title once, the TBA Tag Team titles 5 times and the NWA Tag Team titles seven times.
Get ready United Kingdom, as Hulkamania will be making a comeback next month as part of the annual WrestleMania Revenge Tour!
Hogan will be appearing at the Smackdown tapings at the London O2 Arena which will be tape on May 20. As of this writing he is not advertised for the RAW broadcast.
The WrestleMania Revenge Tour starts on May 14 and will go through May 24 visiting several countries in Europe with two television tapings in London.
Usually the annual tour kicks off in April after WrestleMania but this year it was pushed forward a month. It’s one of the most tiring WWE tours on the yearly calendar.
WWE is doing everything in their power to help the wife of the late Warrior Dana and their two daughters.
TMZ is reporting that WWE sent two of its senior officials to Arizona to help her with everything she needs with their main task being handle everyday chores so Dana can spend time with her two young daughters.
WWE treated Warrior and his family like royals during the WrestleMania XXX weekend in what was hoped to be a new beginning of their relationship. Warrior signed a multi-year deal with WWE to be a company’s ambassador so he was pretty much in their future plans, plans which unfortunately are now never going to take place.
The company will be dedicating Monday’s RAW to Warrior with a special tribute show.
The storyline that started on Twitter earlier this week where Fandango dumped his dancing partner Summer Rae played out on Smackdown this week.
Fandango introduced Layla as his new dance partner and on Twitter wrote, “Fresher than a Summer breeze,” as Summer Rae continued to play her role as “shocked” on the social network website.
She eventually recovered and posted a photo of her compared to Layla and wrote, “It always feels good when the ‘new girl’ is well…unfortunate.”
Layla is a real dancer and was part of the Miami Heat cheerleaders team and danced for Kanye West at one of the MTV Video Music Awards.
There’s a new couple in the WWE as Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella got married yesterday in Sedona, Arizona, in front of several friends, family members, and WWE Superstars and Divas.
The wedding was held at the L’Auberge de Sedona Resort and Spa, and WWE Superstars on hand included John Cena, Cesaro, Tyson Kidd, and Jimmy Uso along with Divas Cameron, Naomi, Natalya and Eva Marie.
Brie’s twin sister Nikki was the maid of honor.
The whole wedding was captured by WWE and E! cameras and it will serve as the season two finale of Total Divas later this Spring.
WWE.COM has photos of the wedding.
WWE stocks took a major smackdown this week, losing $10 per share over a period of five days, starting on Monday with an ugly 15% drop after WWE released their initial WWE Network subscribers count.
Stocks closed the week today at 20.29 a piece, another 3.93% drop from yesterday’s closing as Wall Street continues to lose faith in the company.
At the start of the week WWE had a market cap of over $2 billion and now stands at $1.6 billion.
It is being reported that former NFL Pro Browl and All-Pro player Shawne Merriman is on his way to the WWE.
Merriman worked the WrestleMania pre-show last Sunday and also the RAW pre-show on Monday which aired on the WWE Network as one of the members on the panel.
The former San Diego Chargers linebacker is a huge WWE fan and once caned Chavo Guerrero at the One Night Stand 2008 pay-per-view.
While he’s certainly being trained for a TV role, Merriman will also be reporting to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, to start training.
Several websites such as NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Washington Post, Yahoo! Sports, and many others are all carrying the story on Merriman joining WWE.
Newly crowned WWE World Heavyweight champion Daniel Bryan will have another special day today as he is getting married to his fiance Brie Bella.
The two are getting married in Sedona, Arizona, with E! and WWE cameras following them for an upcoming show of Total Divas.
Many WWE Superstars and Divas are expected to attend the wedding since there are no live events today.
Congratulations to the two, who have been dating for over three years!
WWE will be doing a special tribute to the Ultimate Warrior this coming Monday on RAW and according to TMZ.COM and it won’t be just a RIP graphic at the top of the show.
WWE producers and editors are working hard to have everything done by Monday and while the format of the show has not been fully worked out yet, RAW will showcase Warrior’s most memorable moments including last week’s return to RAW.
WWE produced three tributes on RAW – for Brian Pillman, Eddie Guerrero, and Chris Benoit – where several wrestlers were interviewed and their comments were included during the broadcast. In the case of Chris Benoit, the whole show was postponed and it was just a tribute.
WWE is also working on a special for Warrior that will air on the WWE Network next Wednesday, currently titled Warrior: The Ultimate Legend.
There’s a new TNA World Heavyweight champion in town after yesterday Eric Young defeated Magnus on Impact Wrestling to win his first ever World title.
Young won a battle royal earlier in the show to become the new number one contender and in the main event pinned the champ after delivering a piledriver.
The 34 year old has been employed by TNA since 2004 and has won a fair share of titles during his 10 year career including the X Division title, the Legends/Global/TV title twice, the NWA Tag Team titles twice, the TNA Tag Team titles twice, and the Knockouts Tag Team title once with ODB!
The Wrestling Observer is reporting that the referee of the Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar match, Chad Patton, was not given the real finish of the match and before the show he was told that Undertaker would win to keep the secrecy of the actual finish.
Referees have a certain rule in the ring that if someone fails to kick out at two even though he or she is supposed to, the referee has to make the three count as if it was the proper finish so it doesn’t look bad to people watching on TV and those in the arena.
There have been occasions way in the past where a referee stops at almost three count and the wrestler being pinned kicks out way late, which obviously looks very unprofessional.
Only a handful of people knew about the actual finish of the match and the result was not written on the script says The Observer to prevent the outcome being leaked.
One way or another it did leak at least to betting companies as while Lesnar was a long shot to win originally, a lot of bets and money came in late on him which pushed betting companies to adjust the odds to prevent heavy losses.
Both Bret “Hit Man” Hart and Warrior’s former tag team partner Sting wrote a piece on the Warrior’s passing on their respective Facebook pages.
“I’m deeply saddened at the sudden passing of Jim Helwig, The Ultimate Warrior. I wish I’d been kinder to him in the last moments that we had this past weekend at WrestleMania 30,” wrote Hart, who admitted that even though the two crossed paths once or twice, he never went out of his way to see him.
Hart said that the two never really worked together and he never harmed him or anything, it’s just things didn’t fall into place during the weekend because everyone was so busy.
“His final ring promo breaks my heart. I’ve many fond memories of times we shared, only now do they pile up in my head. I’d also tell him that he was right, he never was such a bad guy. My thoughts are with his wife and children. I never thought his time would be so short. I know one thing, I will never forget him,” Hart concluded.
Meanwhile, Sting posted a previously unseen photo of the two together from Thanksgiving 1985 just before they went to start a wrestling career.
“Jim always challenged me to strive at being the best, and I’ll forever be grateful for the encouragement and motivation he provided,” Sting wrote.
“I was looking forward to catching up with him, and I’m saddened we didn’t have that opportunity before he passed. My heart goes out to his wife Dana and their two daughters, and they will remain in my prayers.”
Going forward, WWE Main Event will now exclusively air on the WWE Network as the company’s contract with iON Television has expired.
Main Event started airing on the Network a few weeks ago with the encore being on iON rather than the other way round. While this adds another show exclusively to the Network, WWE will be getting less for their television rights within the United States with another program off regular television.
Main Event, which is taped just prior to Smackdown tapings every Tuesday night, will continue to air at 8PM EST on the WWE Network.
Steve Wilton who managed Warrior Entertainment along with the Ultimate Warrior himself issued a statement yesterday regarding the passing of Warrior.
Wilton wrote that Warrior was the happiest he’s ever seen him since bringing the Ultimate Warrior character back to the WWE and was honored to have spent the weekend in New Orleans with Warrior, his wife Dana, and their two daughters Mattigan and Indiana.
The full statement reads as follows:
I am shocked and profoundly saddened by the death of my friend Warrior. He was a great man and leaves behind a legacy that will forever live in the hearts and minds of those who knew him personally, and his legions of Ultimate Warrior fans.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Warrior’s beautiful family, his wife Dana and their daughters Mattigan and Indiana. No words are strong enough to express my feeling for them at this time.
I was honored to be able to spend the weekend with Warrior and his family at WrestleMania 30 and have never seen a prouder father or more loving family.
Warrior was the happiest I had ever seen him to bring Ultimate Warrior back home to WWE and share that unmistakeable passion and excitement with each and every Ultimate Warrior fan around the world.
I have lost my best friend and my hero but take comfort in knowing his legacy will live forever. I will Always Believe.
Nancy Grace of Headline News pissed off the worst fan base she could have possibly pissed off by airing a disrespectful piece on the Warrior’s and other wrestlers’ death yesterday on her show.
Grace put a list of wrestlers who died early in their careers blaming drugs and steroids, including none other than Owen Hart, who absolutely had nothing to do with the subject, and others who passed from different conditions.
A doctor who joined via Skype talked about steroids and the effect they had on the bodies and Grace kept insinuating that Warrior passed from his long term use of steroids even though police have not released any information yet.
Diamond Dallas Page, who joined Grace on set, tried to defend the business but had zero chance of doing it as Grace kept her usual idiotic journalist view on professional wrestling.
Vince McMahon, who rarely uses Twitter unless it’s something big, tweeted, “If anything the wrestling world trolled @NancyGraceHLN because she had to put the words “BIG DICK DUDLEY” on the screen. #RIPUltimateWarrior”
“We all make mistakes @NancyGraceHLN. Please admit you made one regarding the death of #OwenHart. You have caused his family great pain,” said Mick Foley.
A lot of others in the wrestling business reacted negatively to the piece on there Twitter, and it’s being urged to use “#boycottnancy” in posts to get it trending. Her name was and is trending worldwide following the segment which you can see below.
The passing of the Ultimate Warrior was picked up by mainstream media which usually would not cover professional wrestling.
Websites such as CNN, Yahoo!, ABC News, FOX News, Associated Press, ESPN, and a bunch of International newspapers from the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia also published stories about the WWE Hall of Famer.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque also appeared on ESPN to talk about the passing of Warrior. He said that for him it was an 18-month healing process, spearheading the project of getting Warrior reunited with the WWE family.
“We’re devastated, it was such a wonderful homecoming so to speak, such a great celebration of an iconic career with Hall of Fame, WrestleMania, and the moment of the return of the Ultimate Warrior in ring on RAW. The talent were so happy. Warrior was just beside himself excited,” Triple H said.
Watching Warrior smile all weekend he said it was shocking and devastating to have it all come to an end just a day later.
Triple H said that the it was a wonderful opportunity for the company to have Warrior back and they’re grateful for the chance. He said both parties grew since they last did business together and it was time to move on and let the past be the past. He said Warrior was deserving to being immortalised and have his moment in front of the WWE Universe.
“I can tell you that meant the world to us and I know personally it meant the world to him,” HHH said when recapping the whole weekend.
WWE won three 2014 Shorty Awards last night in an event held at the New York Times building in New York City.
The awards that WWE won are Best Brand Mobile App, Best Use of Social Media for Sports and Best Brand on YouTube.
The WWE App, which has more than 11 million downloads in 220 countries since it launched in August 2012, was named Best Brand Mobile App, topping MTV, E!, Bravo Now, Nike SB, VH1 and Bleacher Report’s Team Stream app.
WWE received two additional awards, including Best Use of Social Media for Sports, by providing unprecedented social and digital coverage of last year’s WrestleMania 29, beating HBO Boxing, NCAA March Madness Live and Turner Sports.
WWE also won an award for the Best Brand on YouTube. With more than 3.1 million subscribers, WWE on YouTube is one of the most-followed entertainment and sports brands on YouTube, with more than 2 billion total video views in 2013.
The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media, recognizing the people and organizations producing real-time short form content across Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, Instagram, Vine, and the rest of the social web.
