Shawn Michaels has been added to the upcoming Monday Night RAW which will be airing from Dallas, Texas, to continue his angle for his SummerSlam appearance.
During the past RAW, which was billed as the Shawn Michaels Appreciation Night, HBK announced that he would be at SummerSlam in Triple H’s corner. When Lesnar hit the ring, he said he would see Triple H at SummerSlam, but would see Shawn Michaels before, hinting at some confrontation between the two.
HBK was not originally listed for RAW and was just added as appearing. Brock Lesnar is also scheduled on this RAW, which is the last one before SummerSlam.
NBC issued a press release yesterday announcing that for the fourth consecutive year, a WrestleMania special will be coming network television.
The one hour WrestleMania 28: Rock vs Cena show will be airing on Saturday, August 25 at 9PM ET on NBC. Rock vs Cena will chronicle the yearlong journey to this epic match including exclusive, never-before-seen footage and will showcase the entire Rock vs Cena match for the first time ever on broadcast television.
WWE has released Brian Jossie, who wrestling fans know better as Abraham Washington, effective immediately, most likely thanks to his comment on RAW a few weeks ago which WWE had to apologize for on the air following the first commercial break.
A few weeks ago on RAW, as Titus O’Neil was beating on Kingston, A.W., claimed on his microphone that O’Neil “is like Kobe Bryant in a hotel in Colorado, he’s unstoppable!” The remark was obviously regarding the story from 2003 where NBA Superstar Bryant was accused of sexual assault after having sex with a hotel employee in Colorado. The case was dropped after his accuser refused to testify and a civil suit was later filed and settled out of court.
“AWPromotions is no more ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for your support and hate, it’s been a great run. Now I get to do me which isn’t PG,” Washington wrote on his Twitter account.
His thank you tweet was then followed by some harsh comments towards WWE, claiming that the company turned its back on him. He said he offended the wrong people who taught him how to have attitude and how WWE is not the same anymore.
“Don’t try and be great like the Rock or Stone Cold. Just be normal shut up and be a yes man so you can collect your check and feel like your special. #SELLOUTS,” he added in another tweet.
He apologized for offending anyone with his Kobe remark, reminding everyone that this is entertainment.
“I really do hope Linda wins that election because If not then all of this BS has been for nothing. #GoLinda!! Thank you WWE for creating me and then killing me because I only portrayed what I grew up watching… The #WWE!!”
The 35 year old Jossie has been with the company since 2009, first signing a developmental contract and then moving to ECW later that year before jumping to RAW and Smackdown this year.
After unveiling her 2010 tax returns to the Associated Press a few weeks ago, Linda McMahon released the 2011 tax returns for her family after continued pressure from her opponents.
In 2011, Vince and Linda McMahon earned a total of $24.1 million, and while that’s quite a lot, it’s a $6 million drop from their 2010 earnings. There will be an amendment to the report as the couple are still waiting for two missing documents regarding investment income. McMahon didn’t want to file her return before everything was in order but was advised to file and amend later.
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“In the interest of just moving forward, Linda acted on that advice,” McMahon campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said.
The couple paid a total $3.6 million in federal taxes and an additional $1.72 million in state taxes. They also made nearly $2.3 million in charitable contributions, with $2 million of them going to the Vince and Linda McMahon Family Foundation.
The Foundation spent them all, and a bit more, totaling $2.4 million in donations to various groups including Connecticut Basketball Club Inc, East Carolina University, Sacred Heart University, Archdiocese of Hartford for a youth center and other organizations.
WWE announced the hiring of Perkins Miller as the new Executive Vice President, Digital Media, who will be in charge of overseeing the development of strategic plans and initiatives across all of WWE’s digital and social channels on a global basis. He will report directly to WWE Executive Vice President of Creative, Stephanie McMahon.
Prior to joining WWE, Miller was Chief Operating Officer and Founding Member of Vocativ, a global digital media start-up. Previously, Miller was Chief Operating Officer for Universal Sports Network, a venture between NBC Sports and InterMedia. Miller also spent time as Head of Digital Media for NBC Olympics where he led the division’s largest digital events, including the 2010 and 2008 Olympic Games, which spanned online, mobile, VOD and gaming. While Senior Vice President at NBC Sports, Miller oversaw the first-ever Internet stream of a network NFL game and launched NBCSports.com.
In 2008, Miller was named among Sports Business Journal’s Top 20 “Most Influential in Digital Sports.” He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Middlebury College in Vermont.
The first commercial for the Wedding: Impossible special show on The Food Network featuring TNA Knockout Gail Kim has made it online.
Kim married Food Network’s chef Robert Irvine this past May and the whole ceremony and party were filmed for this special. The show airs on August 18 at 10PM ET.
Strikeforce champ Ronda Rousey was on Conan yesterday to promote her upcoming fight against Sarah Kaufman on August 18 on Showtime and her All Access episode.
During her appearance, Rousey talked about her ESPN Body Issue cover and pictorial, where she appears naked in the magazine, the arm bar which has so far won her eight fights including the title, as well as a rather unusual question from Conan: sex before fighting.
Conan said that men are superstitious about having sex before they fight so he asked if it’s the same for women.
“No it’s actually the opposite for women, if you have sex it raises your testosterone. So, it kinda sucks I don’t have a boyfriend right now but I’m sure my Twitter is blowing up with offers at the moment,” Rousey said while laughing.
Conan also showed a clip of Rousey winning the title by making former Strikeforce champ Meisha Tate submit to the armbar as the crowd went “Oooooh” and Conan covered his eyes.
“It’s okay I didn’t like her that much,” Rousey said.
After a long trip, the Smackdown brand has landed in the far east for a four day tour that will take them to Japan and China.
The first two shows will be held in Japan, both at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, tonight and tomorrow and then it’s off to Shanghai, China, on August 11 for a show at the Oriental Sports Center, before going to Taipei, Taiwan, for the last show at the Linco Stadium on August 12.
The crew will be back in time for the three hour RAW in Dallas, Texas, on Monday night which will be held at the American Airlines Center.
The Los Angeles Times has revealed in an article today that the CW Network is launching a five hour block of original children’s programming called Vortexx which which will be headlined by a thirty minute WWE show titled WWE Saturday Morning Slam.
The new show makes its debut on August 25 and it will be the first time that WWE returns on the CW Network ever since Smackdown left in 2008. This will also mark WWE’s first jump back to the kids block after an 11-year absence.
“We said, why isn’t there a show for kids that features WWE wrestlers?” said Joel Andryc, co-president of Vortexx. The show will feature an original match every week as well as wrestler profiles and behind the scenes footage.
The five hour block will be produced by Saban Brands, best known for the company behind Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Saban approached WWE about joining their lineup after the Times says executives figured that WWE toys are super popular with kids and it would make a great addition.
The Food Network will feature the wedding of their resident chef Robert Irvine to TNA Knockout Gail Kim on an episode of Wedding Impossible on August 18 at 10PM ET. The show is a special from his current shows Restaurant: Impossible and Dinner: Impossible.
“When he’s not rescuing a restaurant, Restaurant: Impossible’s host Robert Irvine is busy planning the wedding of a lifetime: his own. And you’re invited,” the preview for the show reads. “This first-time departure for Food Network gives viewers an intimate look into the personal life of their star chef Robert Irvine as he gets ready to marry wrestling star and entertainer Gail Kim. Featuring some of the biggest names in food and set against one of the most magnificent backdrops in the country, Napa Valley, Robert will introduce us to his family, his friends and allow us to be a part of one of the most important moments of his life.”
The duo were married in May of this year and they are also featured in the September issue of Food Network Magazine.
TNA has relaunched their video-on-demand website at TNAOnDemand.com, keeping the price of $3.95 per month.
The subscription entitles fans to watch the complete archive of TNA pay-per-views and DVD releases as well as shows dating back to the start of the company from 2002. Live pay-per-views are not part of the package and require an additional $34.95 a month to watch live. Pay-per-views are then archived 60 days after the PPV ends. Apart from the website, fans can also access the on-demand videos through the TNA channel on Roku as well as the iPhone app.
Ronda Rousey is the face right now of women’s MMA as the current Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Champion. The World and Olympic judo medalist has gone from fighting on Strikeforce’s Challenger series to winning the belt and is now on the cover of ESPN’s Body Issue and making numerous television appearances. You can tune in to Conan tonight on TBS to see her.
Tonight is also the first of two “All Access: Ronda Rousey” episodes on Showtime. Don’t think that all this time in front of the cameras has taken away from her focus on fighting. As she said during the conference call held earlier today, “I don’t go after my goals casually. I sprint after them with an axe.”
Rousey is currently 5-0 as a professional MMA fighter. All of her fights both professional and amateur have ended in the first round by arm bar with only the last fight versus Miesha Tate taking her longer than a minute to finish.
The last fight with Miesha Tate was built on much trash talking between the two fighters. This time though there has been none and Rousey said it was because she has no problem with Sarah Kaufman and likes her as a person.
While people wonder about Rousey and her striking skills since they have not had a chance to be put on display when in 5 fights she has only been in the cage for less than 7 minutes, she feels it is to her advantage to keep her opponents guessing about her skill sets.
Sarah clearly feels that she has the edge in striking since she has been a striker for much longer, just like Rousey has the edge in judo since she has been working that aspect since she was 11.
Kaufman is 15-1 in her pro career and is a former Strikeforce champion herself. She won the Bantamweight champion in 2010 and defended it once before she dropped the belt to Marloes Connen by submitting to an arm bar.
Kaufman has since then won her last three fights, two by decision and one by TKO to get the chance to get her championship back.
While she knows about Rousey and her arm bar streak, she is working on being comfortable defending it but it is not her only focus for this fight. Kaufman said on being the underdog by 6-1 odds, “Hopefully my friends can win a lot of money when I win the title.”
Tune in August 18th on Showtime at 10pm Et/Pt for Strikeforce: Rousey vs Kaufman, or if you happen to be in the San Diego, California, area, tickets are still available for this event that is taking place at Valley View Casino Center.
The Rosa Mendes domestic violence story is turning out to be a soap opera as TMZ.COM is now reporting that her boyfriend – former WWE Superstar Jackson Andrews – has another fiancee living in Texas.
Amber Stovall came forward and admitted that she’s been dating Andrews – real name Andy Slocum – for the past four and a half years, telling TMZ that she was not aware that he led a double life. “I’m incredibly angry and I feel betrayed,” Stovall said. She has since dumped him following the publication of the original story on TMZ.
Stovall added that the two shared a home in Houston, Texas, and had two bulldogs. “I was blindsided by the TMZ story. He had just flown me out to Vegas the weekend after July 4th and we made plans for him to return home to Houston at the end of August,” she added. His other girlfriend, Rosa Mendes, was in Texas after the July 4 holiday, so he successfully managed to pull “a fiancee switcheroo” as TMZ nicely put it.
One thing that the Houston girlfriend denied was that the seven foot wrestler was never violent with her and not even raised his voice. While she broke off the engagement, she tried to reach out to him but with no success.
“He has not reached out to me despite my efforts to contact him since I found out about Rosa. So as of today, I have cut off all joint accounts which includes his cell phone.”
Monday Night RAW pulled in a 3.1 composite rating with an average of 4,367,000 viewers for this week’s show off hours 2.8, 3.3, and 3.2. Hour one did 4,007,000 viewers, hour two did 4,648,000 and hour three did 4,446,000 viewers.
The number is slightly up from last week’s 3.08 rating however total viewership was down by around 130,000. (Ratings compiled by Nielsen Media Research and put online by PWInsider.com)
Former WWE champion Chris Jericho defended his two friends – Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit – yesterday on Twitter after Kevin Nash had a long and very interesting interview on Grantland.com.
In the interview, Nash said he still thinks that neither Benoit nor Guerrero belonged in the main event.
“When Benoit and Guerrero hugged [at the end of WrestleMania XX], that was the end of the business,” Nash said, before making yet another harsh remark towards the two who are no longer alive.
“You put two fu**ing guys that were great workers that were the same height as the fu**ing referees, and I’m sorry, man. Are you going to watch a porno movie with a guy with a three-inch dick? Even if you’re not gay, you will not watch a porno movie with a guy with a three-inch dick. That’s not the standard in porno films. So you put a 5-foot-7 guy as your world champion,” Nash complained.
The comments did not go down well with Chris Jericho, who was a big friend of both Guerrero and Benoit.
“Funny how @realkevinnash says wrestling ‘died’ when Benoit and Guerrero were champs-Yet the worst year for WWE biz was 95 when he was on top,” Jericho wrote, noting WWE’s financial trouble in 1995 when Nash was the champion. “Hope @realkevinnash doesn’t tear his quad tweeting! #typicalbigman #nwothirdwheel,” Jericho added, obviously making fun of Nash’s frequent injuries.
Kevin Nash called Jericho a “puppet master” and said that he always knew that Y2J was “a closet mark.”
Just when you thought he was going to stay away for a little while, WWE pulls him right back in. And being the team player that he is, Shawn Michaels rarely says no.
The WWE Hall of Famer and Mr WrestleMania will be appearing at this year’s SummerSlam to be involved in the Triple H vs Brock Lesnar match. This is the second time that HBK will be involved in an HHH match after being the special guest referee for the epic Undertaker/HHH Hell In A Cell match at WrestleMania.
Michaels revealed yesterday on RAW that he will be in Triple H’s corner when he fights the former UFC and WWE Heavyweight champion at the biggest event of the Summer. During RAW yesterday, Brock Lesnar told Triple H that he would see him at SummerSlam, but then when he addressed Michaels, he told him he’d see him sooner, implying that the two will have some sort of a confrontation in between now and the pay-per-view.
It looks like one Jersey Shore star association with WWE wasn’t enough as the company has announced a second cast member to be involved with RAW next week and SummerSlam.
DJ Pauly D has been announced as RAW’s Social Media Ambassador for next week’s three hour broadcast with his role being tweeting live to his almost 4 million followers throughout the show.
This new gig for celebrities seems to have replaced the guest host concept. Charlie Sheen was supposed to have the same role for the RAW 1000 episode but the actor decided he had enough of Twitter two weeks before the show and just quit.
DJ Pauly D is also going to be spinning at the SummerSlam VIP party which will be held at the Beverly Hills Hotel on August 16.
Las Vegas, Nevada – A five-round heavyweight showdown between contenders Travis “Hapa” Browne and Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva will headline an exciting UFC card scheduled for Friday, Oct. 5 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. The event will mark UFC’s first in Minneapolis since 2008, when UFC 87 broke the Target Center live gate record with a $2.25 million mark.
Additional fights include: The Ultimate Fighter season 14 winner John Dodson vs. highly touted flyweight Jussier Formiga; Matt Mitrione vs. Rob Broughton in heavyweight action; Josh Neer vs. Justin Edwards in a welterweight contest.
Tickets for UFC on FX: BROWNE vs. BIGFOOT go on sale to the public on Friday, Aug. 10. Doors open on fight night at 3 p.m. CT with the first bout slated for 4 p.m. CT.
The main card will also air live on FX at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.
Unbeaten at 4-0-1 in his UFC career, the 30-year-old Browne has made an immediate impact in the heavyweight division thanks to his versatile and dangerous attack. Training alongside UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and under the guidance of renowned coach Greg Jackson in Albuquerque, N.M., the Hawaii native will face the sternest test of his career in Silva.
Owner of wins over the likes of former UFC champions Andrei Arlovski and Ricco Rodriguez, as well as former PRIDE star Fedor Emelianenko, the 32-year-old “Bigfoot” has 11 wins by knockout and three by submission. He’ll look to place himself in the title picture on Oct. 5 when he meets the hard-hitting Hawaiian.
“Travis Browne is undefeated in his career and wants to prove that he’s ready for a shot at the title,” UFC President Dana White said. “He’s got a tough test in front of him in ‘Bigfoot’ Silva, who’s beaten two former UFC champions and also finished Fedor. I’m excited to finally get back to Minneapolis and I’m confident this card is going to deliver for the fans at the Target Center!”
Tickets for UFC on FX: BROWNE vs. BIGFOOT go on sale Friday, Aug. 10 at 10 a.m. CT and are priced at $175, $125, $75 and $50. Tickets are available at Target Center’s box office, all ticketmaster outlets, online at ticketmaster.com or charge by phone 800.745.3000. Ticket prices do not include applicable service charges.
UFC Fight Club members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets to this event Wednesday, Aug. 8 at 10 a.m. CT via the website www.ufcfightclub.com. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to UFC newsletter subscribers Thursday, Aug. 9, starting at 10 a.m. CT. To access this presale, users must register for the UFC newsletter through UFC.com.
For more information or current fight news, visit www.ufc.com. All bouts live and subject to change.
Kia Stevens, the artist formerly known Kharma in WWE and Awesome Kong in TNA, told TMZ that the reason she was let go from WWE was because she got out of shape after putting so much weight following her miscarriage. She also fell into a depression that didn’t help her physically.
Stevens said that during her pregnancy she put on a lot of weight which ultimately might have contributed to the miscarriage. Now she’s on a mission to get rid of the fat and get back in shape so she can return to wrestling.
TMZ reports that in the past few weeks, Stevens has recruited a team of fitness professionals and therapists and plans to document the transformation in hopes of getting a reality show out of it.
Dana White and the fighters from the UFC on FOX 4: Shogun vs Vera card appeared at the post-fight press conference following the show to take questions from the media.
Dana White said that there was nothing that Shogun showed him that he wanted to fight Jon Jones again whereas Machida was totally different and that’s why he’s getting the next Light Heavyweight title shot.
The full 30 minute post-fight press conference is available below. Please note that if you’re streaming from your mobile device, the size of the video is 128mb.
