Jeff Jarrett and his wife Karen today unveiled their latest venture – Global Force Wrestling – a new company that promises to be the most fan-interactive and immersive wrestling experience in history.
“Because of new media, new technology and more ‘in-tune’ fans than we’ve ever had, wrestling is poised for another boom like it experienced in the mid-1980s and late 1990s,” Jeff Jarrett said. “What we’re going to deliver is a multi-platform, innovative brand that will engage fans in ways they’ve never experienced. It will provide a fresh perspective inside the business that fans have been clamoring for.”
Jarrett is a former WWE, WCW, and TNA Superstar and helped co-found TNA Wrestling with his father Jerry over a decade ago. He resigned from his post as TNA Vice President on December 22, 2013.
Global Force Wrestling expects to make several more key announcements in the coming weeks and the website can be reached at GlobalForceWrestling.com.
WWE today announced that they have a total of 667,287 subscribers on its WWE Network, on target to reach the 1 million subscribers by the end of 2014. The number comes in after just 42 days from launch on February 24.
It is currently only available in the United States although thousands of subscribers from all around the world subscribed anyway through different methods. It is expected to launch in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Nordics in late 2014 and early 2015.
The subscriber count does have a little asterisk attached to it as in the press release it says the number “does not account for potential failures to comply with subscription terms and six month commitment.”
Wall Street was not happy at all with the number and after WWE released the number, WWE stocks took a 20% dive.
Multiple reports have confirmed that The Undertaker went from in front of 75,000 people to backstage to a hospital in an ambulance following his match at WrestleMania XXX yesterday.
Apparently Taker suffered a concussion and some other kind of neck injury and required to be hospitalized for the night. Details are so far sketchy as to what the outcome was and if he would be appearing on Monday Night RAW tonight.
Taker’s segment is probably the most anticipated in a while after Brock Lesnar broke the streak yesterday, with the Undertaker now having a 21-1 record at WrestleMania, something that a lot of people have not expected to see.
WWE has posted a backstage video of Hulk Hogan, The Rock, and Stone Cold Steve Austin hanging out backstage just minutes before the pay-per-view was about to go on the air.
Hogan seemed really, really nervous as Austin and The Rock looked ready to go and light up the Silverdome, I mean, the Superdome. When Hogan actually said Silverdome, Rock and Austin laughed it up backstage and you could see they were discussing options to make fun of it once they’re out.
The footage also sees Austin and The Rock getting ready for their respective cues and walking out through the Gorilla position.
Social media went on fire after Brock Lesnar defeated The Undertaker to end the long-running streak. Several wrestling personalities shared their opinions on Twitter regarding what happened.
“Holy shit…Lesnar has ended the streak! Jesus Christ. 21-1,” wrote Austin, who a few hours before shared the stage with The Rock and Hulk Hogan to kick off the show.
An old nemesis of the Undertaker, Mick Foley, wrote, “I was there. The end of an era,” along with a photo showing 21-1 on the screen.
Jim Ross, who called some of the Undertaker’s best WrestleMania matches was also shocked at the ending. “I feel now like how I did when that bastard Bruce Dern killed John Wayne in ‘The Cowboys.’ The Streak is over.”
Hours after the match, the Undertaker was still one of the top trending topics on Twitter along with the hashtag #ThankYouTaker as fans flooded the website with their opinions on the outcome of the match.
Thousands of fans missed out on the pre-show as crowd control at the Superdome was pretty much non existent.
After getting checked by security and you made you way inside the stadium, chaos ruled as thousands of fans moved left and right through the hallways to find their section. However police officers inside the stadium made matters worse and prevented fans from walking towards one section, pushing everyone away and telling them to go the other way round.
Eventually sending that amount of people in the narrow hallways with concession stands along the whole way wasn’t a brilliant idea and resulted in the most unorganized and dangerous situation. Fans pushed into each other as other fans walked in the opposite way and with nobody giving way, problems started to arise.
Small kids cried as parents tried to protect them from getting squashed by other fans an security stood there doing absolutely nothing. It took well over an hour for some to walk from the main door to their section, completely missing out on the pre-show and even missing the opening of the pay-per-view.
WWE today announced that WrestleMania XXX broke the record for the Mercedes-Benz Superdome as the highest grossing entertainment event to be held at the location.
This marks the fifth consecutive year that WWE broke the host venue’s highest-grossing entertainment event record. This year’s event grossed $10.9 million from a sold-out crowd of 75,167 from all 50 states and 37 countries.
“On behalf of the city of New Orleans, I would like to thank all of the fans who came from around the world to WrestleMania 30,” said New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu. “WrestleMania has taken its rightful place amongst the most historic events ever held in New Orleans.”
WrestleMania XXX now sits as the fifth highest attended WrestleMania of all time behind WrestleMania 3, WrestleMania 29, WrestleMania 23, and WrestleMania 28.
The unthinkable has happened and New Orleans was the location for the death of the Undertaker WrestleMania streak, broken by former UFC Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar.
Standing at 21-0 up until today, The Undertaker defeated every single opponent he had at WrestleMania: Jimmy Snuka, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Giant Gonzalez, King Kong Bundy, Diesel, Sid, Kane twice, Big Boss Man, Triple H three times, Ric Flair, Big Show and A-Train, Randy Orton, Mark Henry, Batista, Edge, Shawn Michaels twice, and CM Punk.
However the streak came to a halt at WrestleMania XXX as Brock Lesnar delivered three F5’s to defeat the Undertaker, keeping his streak against the Undertaker alive. Shock and silence fell over the Mercedes-Benz Superdome with some fans so ticked off that they walked out of the building.
The Undertaker received a nice standing ovation and “Thank you Taker” chants as he headed up the ramp with now a record of 21-1.
Here are the full results from WrestleMania XXX which took place at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The Usos defeated The Real Americans, Ryback and Curtis Axel, and Los Matadores in the pre-show match to retain the WWE Tag Team titles; Daniel Bryan defeated Triple H to advance to the main event; The Shield defeated New Age Outlaws and Kane in a six man tag match; Cesaro won the Andre The Giant Memorial battle royal by body slamming the Big Show over the top rope; John Cena defeated Bray Wyatt; Brock Lesnar defeated The Undertaker; AJ Lee won the Vickie Guerrero Invitational and retained the Divas title; Daniel Bryan defeated Randy Orton and Batista to win the WWE World Heavyweight title.
To open the show, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, and The Rock did a 20 minute segment which had the crowd on their feet the entire time. Hogan said he was in the Silverdome twice instead of the Superdome before he realized the mistake and both Rock and Austin made fun of him.
Appearing at Wrestlecon today, former WCW champion and TNA Hall of Famer Sting said that he has a new favorite number – 31.
As soon as he uttered the words thirty one, the fans started clapping and chanting “Holy sh!t,” a clear hint that he will be at WrestleMania 31 next year in Santa Clara, California.
A couple of weeks ago, Sting said that he still has one more match left in him and he would like that match to be against none other than The Undertaker.
Sting came close to signing WWE a few years ago but eventually opted to remain with TNA but this year WWE moved in to lock in Sting and while it hasn’t been publicly revealed that he had signed a WWE deal, everything points out to an agreement between the two parties.
If Sting is indeed a lock, tonight or tomorrow on RAW would be the best place to kickstart the angle and introduce the man called Sting to the WWE audience for the first time ever.
You can see the video of Sting saying the 31 quote below.
It’s the biggest pay-per-view on the wrestling calendar and WrestleMania XXX will come to you live tonight from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. Here’s the full card:
Daniel Bryan vs Triple H with the winner advancing to the main event; Randy Orton vs Batista vs the winner of Bryan/HHH for the WWE World Heavyweight title; The Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar; John Cena vs Bray Wyatt; Andre The Giant memorial 30-man over the top rope battle royal; Vickie Guerrero Divas invitational for the Divas title with 14 Divas wrestling in a one fall to a finish match; The Shield vs New Age Outlaws and Kane.
In the pre show there will be a WWE tag team fatal 4-way match with The Usos defending their titles against Ryback and Curtis Axel, Los Matadores, and the Real Americans.
Vickie Guerrero will be saying goodbye to her WWE family as several reports are saying that she will be finishing up with her WWE duties this week.
The 45 year old General Manager of Smackdown will be pursuing another career outside WWE according to SEScoops. This will be the second time that Guerrero is leaving the WWE since she started in 2005. She left in early 2009 to spend more time with her family but then returned a couple of months later at the 10th anniversary of Smackdown.
It’s not yet known if tonight’s show will be her last one or if she will say her goodbyes during one of the two post-WrestleMania television tapings. One thing is for sure though, you will not hear “Excuse me!” anymore.
The million dollar question for tonight’s show is not if Daniel Bryan will win the WWE title but if CM Punk will appear at WrestleMania.
Rumors have been running rampant this weekend that CM Punk is here. Fans posting unconfirmed photos of CM Punk at the New Orleans airport and other “sightings” certainly helped fuel the speculation even more.
CM Punk is currently dating WWE Divas champion AJ Lee and any sighting of him in New Orleans doesn’t necessarily mean that he will be on the show. Every Superstar or Diva bring their significant other and family members and it would not be surprising that Punk is here to support his real-life girlfriend.
Just don’t be disappointed if he doesn’t show up, after all, WWE has never advertised him for the show ever since he walked out the day after the Royal Rumble.
It’s going to be one heck of a busy day for the WWE production team as the WrestleMania broadcast tonight will not be four hours, not even five, but a total of six long hours.
The first two hours, starting at 5PM, will be part of the live pre-show and it will air on the WWE Network. Originally the first hour was going to air on WWE.COM, WWE app, Facebook, YouTube, and all the other usual online outlets however that has changed over the last few days and the pre-show is now exclusively to the WWE Network for U.S. viewers only. The pre-show will also feature the fatal 4-way for the WWE tag team titles.
A special countdown to WrestleMania will air on YouTube at 6:30PM EST and will be accessible to all fans worldwide however will be a different program from what the WWE Network will air.
The remaining hours will be the actual WrestleMania XXX event itself, starting at 7PM and running till 11PM EST the latest. There’s no live post-show announced on the WWE Network but after six straight hours of wrestling it comes to no surprise. WWE holds their annual WrestleMania party at the hotel after the show so most involved in the production will leave as soon as the show is over.
During his long Hall of Fame speech, the Ultimate Warrior revealed that he had signed a new multi-year deal with the WWE to be an ambassador for the company.
This will put Warrior on the WWE books for the first time since 1996 when he came back for his one last run which ended being a rather short one.
Warrior thanked Triple H during his speech for making this all possible, calling him by his real name Paul and then got a check out “from 1991” asking McMahon if it’s going to bounce! Warrior was obviously referring to the money McMahon had to pay him so Warrior appears in the main event of SummerSlam 91 with Hogan, Slaughter, Sheik and Adnan after Warrior threatened not to appear if he wasn’t paid. Needless to say, when Warrior ran after Sheik and went backstage during the end of the show, he was fired.
Officially, 27 WWE Superstars threw in their name to participate in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal for tonight’s WrestleMania, leaving three empty slots most likely reserved for surprise entrants.
The Superstars who are as of this morning participating in the 30-man over-the-top rope battle royal are Dolph Ziggler; Big E; Fandango; Alberto Del Rio; Damien Sandow; Titus O’Neil; Christian; Sheamus; Big Show; Mark Henry; Heath Slater; Jinder Mahal; Drew McIntyre; Cody Rhodes; Goldust; Kofi Kingston; The Miz; Brodus Clay; Darren Young; Justin Gabriel; Rey Mysterio; R-Truth; Santino Marella; The Great Khali; Zack Ryder; Sin Cara; and Brad Maddox.
The winner of this battle royal – which looks like it will be a new tradition at WrestleMania – will receive the Andre the Giant Memorial Trophy.
In an effort to promote his new movie, “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” Hollywood Superstar Hugh Jackman will be serving as the WrestleMania XXX social media ambassador today, tweeting during the show to his 3.86 million followers.
“Looking forward to being the #WrestleMania 30 Social Media Ambassador. Does the #Wolverine get his own ring wear? #XMen #20thCenturyFox,” Jackman tweeted earlier today.
The Wolverine is a big fan of WWE and in September 2011 he guest hosted Monday Night RAW. He got a bit physical as well when he tagged along with Zack Ryder in his match against Dolph Ziggler and decked Ziggler with a right hand.
Jackman is one of the few celebrities who guest hosted RAW who is a massive WWE fan, a nice difference from those who came on the show just to promote something.
With thousands of fans over the span of four days and millions of dollars spent on merchandise, WrestleMania Axxess closes up shop today ahead of WrestleMania XXX.
WWE Superstars, Big Show, Alberto Del Rio, AJ Lee, Dean Ambrose, The Real Americans & Zeb Colter, Bad News Barrett, the NXT Superstars, and the Divas will all take part in the autograph signings today for the general public while Bruno Sammartino, Rey Mysterio, and Shawn Michaels do the VIP signings.
This year’s Axxess was held at the massive New Orleans Convention Center and it featured a lot of displays and the largest WWE Superstore ever with all kinds of merchandise available for sale.
WWE today presented a three and a half hour Hall of Fame ceremony thanks in part to overruns by both Amy “Lita” Dumas and a weird induction speech by Mr. T.
The night started with Lita being inducted by Trish Stratus. Lita – sporting a rare dress – took her time with the speech and went pretty long with WWE eventually cutting her off. She remained on stage for a bit then got the hint to exit stage left.
Diamond Dallas Page then inducted an emotional Jake “The Snake” Roberts who talked about almost dying, the help he received from DDP, the fans chipping in for his surgeries, and love for his family.
The weirdest HOF induction speech then came from the one and only Mr T. Mean Gene Okerlund and T’s son T Junior inducted the A-Team star who came out to his old show’s theme song. Mr. T went longer than anyone quoting the bible, thanking God, and dedicated the whole speech to his mother, repeatedly saying how much he loved his mom. The fans started the “What?” chant and then a “this is awesome,” sarcastically of course as it was quite a train wreck. As Mr. T kept going, Kane’s music hit, and he came out, shook T’s hand, and basically told him to get off the stage, an order which Mr. T quickly obeyed. Awkward.
Kane then inducted the late Paul Bearer, and gave a nice, touching speech about his “dad” and former manager. Bearer’s two sons came out to accept the honor on their dad’s behalf in a short speech and then the Undertaker’s theme song hit. Taker – decked in full gimmick ring gear – came out with the urn and went on his knees and saluted Bearer, making this the first time that the Undertaker ever appeared at a Hall of Fame ceremony. Nice touch.
Kevin Nash inducted Razor Ramon who gave a short speech as things were running late. Hall looked absolutely great and after he was done, Triple H, Sean Waltman, Shawn Michaels, and Nash came out to pose with the Bad Guy for a Kliq reunion that didn’t happen when HBK got inducted a few years ago.
Carlos Colon was inducted by his two sons Carlito and Eddie and nephew Orlando. Carlito cracked some jokes first but then took a back seat as Los Matadores talked about Colon. Colon spoke in Spanish during his last part of the speech and again this was cut short.
Lastly, Linda McMahon came out to talk about the Ultimate Warrior, revealing how he had asked to be his direct contact when he last returned in 1996 and how often he would call her to vent off, sometimes calling her mom. Warrior then came out with his two young daughters and had a 40 minute speech which didn’t have any surprises and he stuck to mostly words easily found in the dictionary. He did take a dig at WWE lead attorney Jerry McDevitt after he said WWF instead of WWE and said he can’t believe McDevitt got his ass kicked by the World Wildlife Fund. Ouch! Warrior acknowledged Cena’s work for Make-A-Wish and put him over big time, a remark that got a nice applause from the fans. He only mentioned Hogan once, saying he was 30 years old when he fought Hogan at WrestleMania VI and stayed away from any controversial topics.
The show ended at 11:30PM and after Warrior left the stage lights came up and that was it. None of the newly-inducted Hall of Famers were brought out on stage again as in previous years, most likely because the show ran super late thanks to Lita and Mr. T.
Finally, The Rock has come back to New Orleans! Former WWE champion Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson arrived in New Orleans today ahead of WrestleMania XXX.
“I’ve missed you New Orleans… #HomeAwayFromHome #GumboAndTequila #ElectrifyWrestleMania,” Rock wrote in a Twitter message. Later, Jim Ross tweeted a photo in between Rock and Austin at the WWE-booked hotel.
Rock’s arrival comes to somewhat of a surprise as he was not advertised or expected to be part of the show but it now seems that he will be involved since he made it all the way here.
