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Mr. T to be inducted in the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame

By
Colin Vassallo
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The latest inductee into the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame is 80s icon and star of the A-Team, Mr. T.

Mr. T was an integral part of the first ever WrestleMania, participating in the main event alongside with Hulk Hogan, Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorff, and Bob Orton. Mr. T was also part of WrestleMania II and was featured in a boxing match against Rowdy Roddy Piper.

This is the second time that WWE has tried to induct Mr. T in the Hall of Fame but a few years ago the former A-Team star turned down the invitation as he was not happy that WWE inducted Pete Rose before him as the first one in the celebrity wing.

The 61 year old made several other wrestling appearances, even refereeing a Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair match at the 1994 WCW Halloween Havoc. He later wrestled Kevin Sullivan at the Starrcade pay-per-view that year.

The story of Mr. T being inducted in the Hall of Fame was originally reported by TMZ Sports but was later taken down probably at the request of WWE.

WWE and Mattel launch Slam City animated series

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE and Mattel today announced the release of WWE Slam City, an original animated short-form series and a complete line of merchandise.

The 26-episode series launches today in the U.S., Canada, and United Kingdom and it is co-produced by WWE and Mattel’s Playground Productions.

Slam City features WWE Superstars John Cena, Randy Orton, The Miz, Sheamus, Rey Mysterio, Kane, Alberto Del Rio, and Mark Henry, as they find new day jobs after The Finisher, a character on the series, fires them all.

WWE Slam City will also be available in the U.S. on WWE Network, Hulu, PlayStation, Xbox, AOL On, Nintendo, Vudu, Google Play, Kabillion, Mattel.com and iTunes.

“Slam City is the result of a seamless collaboration with WWE where we are bringing kids a completely new and invigorating entertainment experience,” said Doug Wadleigh, Senior Vice President, Global Brands Marketing, Boys and Entertainment for Mattel. “Combining fun to watch content that features Superstar favorites, along with an engaging line of toys, enables Slam City to further expand the WWE Universe while opening new avenues of play for the franchise.”

Bloomberg looks at the WWE sale rumors

By
Colin Vassallo
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Bloomberg is the latest website which has analyzed the possibility of WWE being sold to another company after the latest rumors of AMC Networks buying WWE spiked the stock for a few minutes last week.

“WWE would be very attractive to many different types of buyers. What they’ve built can’t be recreated. But without McMahon’s blessing, it doesn’t matter how much somebody is willing to pay for the company,” said Robert Routh, an analyst at National Alliance told Bloomberg.

To persuade McMahon to sell, any deal would probably have to be structured similar to Walt Disney Co. and Pixar’s relationship, in which the computer-animation studio operates independently even though it’s owned by Disney, Routh added.

Bloomberg lists Comcast, Disney, Anschutz Entertainment Group, and Madison Square Garden as potential bidders if WWE does end up selling.

All representatives of the mentioned companies chose not to comment about the rumors.

CM Punk on AMC’s Talking Dead tonight

By
Colin Vassallo
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CM Punk will be making his first television appearance tonight on AMC’s Talking Dead at 10PM EST.

Punk, who is advertised under his real name of Phil Brooks, will join special guests Melissa McBride and Yvette Nicole Brown on tonight’s episode which will discuss episode 14 of the popular show The Walking Dead.

The former WWE champion is a huge fan of the show and this is not his first time on Talking Dead.

Punk, who quit WWE the day after the Royal Rumble, has been on radio silence ever since and doesn’t look like he’s returning to WWE by the time his contract expires in July.

Layla returns to WWE after six month absence

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE Diva Layla returned to the ring on Friday during a non-televised live event in Waco, Texas, after a six month absence.

The former one-time WWE Divas champion took a sabbatical from WWE in September of last year due to personal issues, none of which were made public.

The return on Friday saw her in a tag team match with Alicia Fox losing to Natalya and Eva Marie.

Sting says he wants the Undertaker as his final match

By
Colin Vassallo
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TNA Hall of Famer Sting held a Q&A session at the Camden Highlight Club in London, England, last night and talked about wanting to wrestle the Undertaker.

When he was asked by a fan if he would be wrestling the Undertaker at next year’s WrestleMania, Sting replied, “I don’t know. I really don’t know. I can say that I would love for that to happen.”

He mentioned that he’s been watching Undertaker matches lately and especially the WrestleMania match against Shawn Michaels.

“I can tell you that really, there’s only one more match that I’d like to have, yeah Undertaker.”

Sting has been in discussions with WWE to join the company for the past few months ever since he departed TNA. Some say he’s signed, some say not yet, but there’s talk that he would be headlining the WWE Hall of Fame next year in California.

Sting is the last remaining big name to have never worked for WWE.

WWE preparing Network to handle WrestleMania traffic

By
Colin Vassallo
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One of the big questions surrounding the brand new WWE Network is the capability of supporting a large event like WrestleMania frustration-free for its subscribers.

The first live “large scale” broadcast on the WWE Network was the NXT Arrival show, a broadcast which was filled with issues, leaving thousands of angry customers.

WWE acknowledged the problems and is now airing Main Event live on the Network as they continue to iron out issues that might pop up for the big test – WrestleMania XXX.

The Motley Fool website asked that question to WWE keeping in mind that a massive failure at WrestleMania might see a large exodus of WWE Network subscribers after the 6-month commitment is up.

“Notwithstanding the overwhelmingly positive response to WWE Network, we want to ensure subscribers have the highest-quality experience watching WrestleMania 30 and all our programming, and thus have put in place significant quality assurances,” WWE said in an e-mail.

“These steps include increased capacity to handle high volumes of transactions, logins, and concurrent live streams, daily ‘stress’ testing of all systems over an extended period, and the addition of technology experts to review our plan and procedures. We’re confident that we’ll be ready on Sunday, April 6.”

WWE has a lot riding on this show for the Network. WrestleMania is by far the most-seen WWE show on pay-per-view and if they come out of this with minor scratches or no issues at all, WWE Network subscribers might possibly increase even more however anything else might spell disaster for WWE and their future dealings with pay-per-view providers.

No merger talks between WWE and AMC Networks

By
Colin Vassallo
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TheStreet.com took a look at the rumors of AMC Networks buying WWE from the McMahon family, a rumour which spiked the WWE shares on Thursday to a new all-time record of $31.98 for a few minutes.

According to a source close to the situation, TheStreet.com reports that the two companies are not in merger talks and it is “just a rumor” according to those with knowledge of the discussions.

A potential deal and bid would value WWE at around $2.8 billion although the likelihood of such a deal happening is close to zero since Vince McMahon controls the majority of the voting rights.

AMC is however in talks with WWE for television rights of RAW, Smackdown, and all the other television shows. Other companies that WWE approached were Viacom, FOX, Discovery, and Time Warner.

WWE stocks closed the week at 30.94, a 4% increase over Thursday’s closing.

Total Divas season 2 kicks off tomorrow on E!

By
Colin Vassallo
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The cast of Total Divas will be returning on E! tomorrow with season two kicking off at at 9PM EST.

The cast lost one member from season one – JoJo – but gained another Diva, Fandango’s dance partner  Summer Rae.

Titled “New Diva On The Block,” episode one will welcome Rae to the show as well as story lines involving Nikki and John Cena as well as Eva Marie facing her family after deciding to secretly marry her boyfriend.

The cast for Total Divas include Brie and Nikki Bella, Trinity and Ariane of the Funkadactyls, Natalya, Eva Marie, and Summer Rae.

Chris Jericho reveals the artwork of his third autobiography book

By
Colin Vassallo
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Chris Jericho has revealed the cover of his upcoming book which is titled “The Best In The World – At What I Have No Idea.”

This will be the third autobiography for Jericho and continues where his last book, Undisputed, left off.

The book is co-written by Peter Thomas Fornatale and will be released on October 13, 2014.

“I guarantee you are going to LOVE it!!!” Jericho wrote.

The foreword of the book will be written by one lucky fan who will be chosen by Jericho himself from a contest he held earlier. The winner will not be announced but whoever the lucky one will be will find out when the book is published.

You can see the cover below.

WWE Network issues for Xbox and Playstation users

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE Network problems on the Xbox and Playstation continue to persist as WWE issued two advisories regarding the service on Microsoft’s and Sony’s gaming platforms.

“We would like to notify WWE Network customers using Xbox 360 of an issue accessing certain pay-per-views and classic content after launching the WWE Network app for the first time,” the advisory for Xbox reads.

“We are aggressively working on a solution. In the mean time, if you are experiencing this issue, please do the following: Go to Xbox Settings, Select Family, Set the Content Controls to allow for TV-14 content. Save the settings and restart the WWE app. This should allow visibility to the missing content.”

Meanwhile the Playstation problem seems to be due to the daylight savings time change from this past Sunday.

“Sony Playstation 3 users may be experiencing an issue with the schedule on WWE Network. Following the daylight savings time change on Sunday, March 9, the WWE Network schedule on PS3 is listing shows one hour behind the actual air time. Although the schedule is one hour off, all live programming is airing at the correct times. You will see this issue resolved within the next few days. Thank you for your patience.”

WWE wins two CableFAX 2014 awards

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE won two CableFAX Digital Awards this year, one for the best smartphone app and one for the best social good campaign for their efforts in the ‘Rise Above Cancer’ campaign.

The WWE app has so far surpassed 11 million downloads in 220 different countries since its launch and is the app that is needed to watch the WWE Network.

WWE was also awarded honorable mentions in the following categories: Best Tablet App for the WWE App, Best Social Media Campaign for WrestleMania 29 and Social Media Dream Team.

Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery movie out on iTunes

By
Colin Vassallo
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While the Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery movie will be released on March 25 in the United States on DVD and Blu-Ray, the digital version of the movie is already available on iTunes for $19.99.

The plot reads, “When Shaggy and Scooby win tickets to WrestleMania, the entire gang travels in the Mystery Machine to WWE City to attend the epic event. However, when a mysterious ghostly bear appears and threatens to ruin the show, Scooby, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne and Fred work with WWE Superstars to solve the case.”

Triple H, John Cena, Kane, The Miz, Brodus Clay, Santino Marella, Sin Cara, AJ Lee, and WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon all recorded voices for their respective roles in the movie, with all of them playing themselves.

The movie is co-produced by Warner Bros., and WWE Studios.

Angelina Love returns to TNA on Impact

By
Colin Vassallo
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Angelina Love made her surprise return to Impact during yesterday’s episode, almost two years after she was granted her release from TNA.

“It is great to be back home in TNA,” Love said, adding that since she left her life has changed and she has grown wiser.

The former 5 time Knockout champion called out Velvet Sky and tried to pitch the idea to reunite the Beautiful People however the almost seven minute segment ended with no definite answer as Sky said she needs more time to think about it before exiting the ring and cameras then cut to a different segment.

New TNA Knockout Brittany makes her debut on Impact

By
Colin Vassallo
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A new TNA Knockout made her debut on Impact last night, defeating Gail Kim in just over two minutes.

Her name is Santana Garrett, a 25 year old from Florida who will be using the name Brittany in TNA. This is not her first time in a TNA ring as she previously worked under her real name with Orlando Jordan back in 2010. She also made an appearance in March of last year during the Knockouts Knockdown One Night Only pay-per-view.

She is a second generation wrestler and her father was a wrestling promoter in Florida and in St. Louis.

You can see some photos of TNA’s newest Knockout below.

WWE switches TV provider in Germany with new deal

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE today announced a new multi-year TV deal with ProSiebenSat.1 for German and Austrian markets which will see WWE shows airing on free TV, pay TV, and SVOD.

The new deal will have all WWE pay-per-views on Germany’s largest online video store Maxdome.de, starting with WrestleMania XXX, RAW on ProSieben FUN pay TV, Smackdown on ProSieben MAXX free TV, and NXT on ProSieben FUN pay TV.

“This cooperation with WWE creates tremendous added value for our viewers and customers. WWE is well recognized in Germany and has a loyal and growing fan base,” said the COO of ProSiebenSat.1 Digital. “We will be showcasing some of the very best programming WWE has to offer across our various platforms including SmackDown on ProSieben Maxx and the huge event WrestleMania 30 which will be available live as a pay-per-view for the first time on www.maxdome.de

Rumor of AMC Networks WWE takeover spikes stocks for a few

By
Colin Vassallo
-

For a brief moment, WWE stock shot up to almost $32 a piece at around 2PM after rumors of a takeover by AMC Networks.

Fifteen minutes later stocks went back down to its current place hovering above the $29 mark but the $31.98 it reached at 2PM presented a new all-time high for the company.

The rumor of a takeover by AMC Networks came out of nowhere and the only link between the two companies is their negotiation for WWE television rights as AMC is one of the networks interested in bringing WWE television to their portfolio.

Jake “The Snake” Roberts to host show in New Orleans

By
Colin Vassallo
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Soon-to-be WWE Hall of Famer Jake “The Snake” Roberts will be doing his own talk show followed by a Q&A session during WrestleMania week.

Roberts will hold his show at the Jackson Brewery Bistro Bar in New Orleans on Thursday, April 3, from 8:30PM to 10:30PM. That is the same day that Jim Ross is doing his ‘Ringside’ show at the House of Blues also in New Orleans.

General admission tickets are $40 while VIP tickets which includes premium seating, meet and greet with Jake prior to the show, a limited edition Hall of Fame 8×10, and a photo with him will cost $100.

You can purchase tickets at http://thesnake.xorbia.com/jake-the-snake-neworleans.

Chael Sonnen gives out Stephanie McMahon’s number during interview

By
Colin Vassallo
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UFC fighter Chael Sonnen appeared on TSN’s Off The Record and talked about his friend CM Punk and his WrestleMania status.

Sonnen said that he doesn’t know what’s the status of CM Punk at WrestleMania is and cannot answer that question when host Michael Landsberg asked him about it.

However, Sonnen said that there is one person who knows the answer to that question, and that would be Stephanie McMahon.

“If you want the answer to that question, viewers, call her on her personal and private cell phone number,” Sonnen said, who then proceeded to hold up a piece of paper with Stephanie’s number written on it as host Michael Landsberg put his hand on his face.

“You can’t do that! You can’t put someone’s cell phone on,” Landsberg said.

“We the people make that decision and we the people just did it,” Sonnen replied.

The number was blurred by producers and Landsberg then said that the segment was taped the day before but he did dial the number and it was indeed Stephanie McMahon who answered!

You can see the segment at http://www.tsn.ca/VideoHub/?collection=72&show=305971

NY Post says Stacy Keibler is pregnant

By
Colin Vassallo
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The New York Post is reporting that former WWE Diva Stacy Keibler got married because she has been knocked up!

Keibler married Jared Pobre this past weekend in Mexico, a surprise to the family members who were invited to join on their holiday-turned-wedding. The two have been friends for years but have only been dating since this past Summer.

PEOPLE Magazine got the exclusive on the wedding, posting photos in the latest issue of the mag and the Post says that the photos are “carefully posed” and there’s no mention of the pregnancy.

The New York Post reached out to Keibler’s representatives but they declined to comment about the pregnancy.

This is the first marriage for the 34 year old Keibler.

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