PWInsider.com is reporting that Mauro Ranallo has signed a new deal with WWE that will see him remain the lead NXT commentator.
Ranallo joined WWE in December 2015 as the lead Smackdown commentator but only lasted just over a year, quitting in March 2017. It was revealed that depression led to his departure but rumors started popping online that he was also being bullied by fellow Smackdown commentator JBL.
In June of the same year, two months before his WWE deal was coming to a close, Ranallo made a surprise return as the lead commentator for NXT. His work since then has been exclusively to WWE’s third brand and Ranallo has called some of the greatest moments in NXT history.
His new deal will still allow him to do commentary for MMA and boxing on other networks such as Showtime.
Tons of old posts from the Bodybuilding.com forum might come back to haunt Lars Sullivan after a Reddit user exposed several racist and homophobic posts by Sullivan dating back to 2012.
The posts, all of which are still available, cover a lot of controversial topics and talk against African Americans, people from Middle East, Israel, WWE’s work with the Susan G. Komen foundation, people with mental disabilities and anxiety, gay, and the “gray area of rape.”
The posts have been confirmed to be from Sullivan using the username of “disenfranchised” and Sullivan even posts his own photos in some of the comments.
These are damning posts that could ultimately lead to the dismissal of Lars from WWE. A user on Twitter asked Big E if he read the posts and Big E, who is currently injured, replied, “Many are aware. If true, he has to bear the albatross of being a bigot & working in a company that is now filled with minorities.”
You can read the extensive post which has all the links to all the comments below.
Deadline.com is reporting that Jonathan Good, the man formerly known as Dean Ambrose in WWE, has joined the cast of the action movie Cagefighter.
Currently in pre-production, the film tells the story of a lauded MMA champion who unexpectedly loses a heavily promoted match to a professional wrestling star making his crossover debut in the MMA fighting world. Humiliated by the defeat, he must fight his way back to the top and earn his place for a rematch.
The movie features Josh Herdman, Michael Jai White, Gina Gershon, Michelle Ryan, and Jason Maza with appearances from Anderson Silva, Georges St Pierre and Alexander Gustafsson.
The movie is directed by Jesse Quinones and produced by Lorianne Hall, Shayne Putzlocher, and Sara Shaak. Former World Heavyweight champion and WWE Superstar Jay “Christian” Reso serves as executive producer.
Good left WWE at the end of last month and five minutes after his contract expired, he changed his name to his old wrestling name of Jon Moxley.
For the second week in a row, Smackdown failed to crack the two million viewer mark, getting 1,931,000 viewers, an increase of 98,000 viewers from last week.
The show was #4 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and #11 in overall viewership for the night on cable. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
DK Publishing announced today the release of the book WWE Smackdown: 20 Years and Counting.
This action-packed anniversary edition features the inaugural episode of SmackDown where The Rock battled Triple H for the WWE Championship as well as Stone Cold Steve Austin brawling with Booker T in a supermarket, and much more. Key moments like these are explored in depth, alongside the famous debuts of John Cena and Rey Mysterio in 2002 and rivalries such as Undertaker vs Kane.
The hardcover book has 200 pages and its foreword is written by none other than The Undertaker.
Featured on the artwork of the book are AJ Styles, Booker T, Charlotte, The Undertaker, The Rock, Batista, Becky Lynch, John Cena, Eddie Guerrero, and Rey Mysterio.
It carries a retail regular price of $24.99 but it’s cheaper from stores such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It’s also available as an eBook.
All Elite Wrestling announced today that their Double or Nothing event will air in the United Kingdom on ITV Box Office for a price of 14.95 GBP.
A one-hour pre-show, titled Buy-In, will air for free on ITV4 and will feature the 21-person Casino Battle Royale. The winner of that match will earn a future title shot at the AEW title. Another show called Before the Bell will serve as the build up for Double or Nothing and will also air on ITV4.
“We’re delighted to announce this partnership with AEW, whose entry into professional wrestling is already making a massive impact on the industry and promises to deliver an electrifying event later this month, and a fantastic experience for our viewers and wrestling fans in the UK,” Niall Sloane, ITV’s Director of Sport, said. “Joining forces with AEW for this event is faithful to ITV’s More Than TV strategy to develop direct relationships with viewers through big events available on its platforms.”
AEW President and CEO Tony Khan added, “We’ve stated since our launch that we want to make this the greatest time ever to be a professional wrestling fan, and part of this plan is to make our product as accessible as possible to a global audience. Since our launch in January, we’ve signed the best talent, sold out our debut show in record time, and we’ve built relationships and formed bonds with the best media partners like ITV. This collaboration with ITV is so important to AEW, ITV is the best in the UK, they were always my first choice to be our international PPV partner for DOUBLE OR NOTHING, and we’re looking forward to a great show.”
This announcement might also give a hint as to where AEW television will land in the UK once the company starts its weekly TV shows later this year.
No broadcast details have been announced for the United States or any other country for now although the show will be carried by traditional pay-per-view providers.
WWE today starts a 10-day, 19-event European post-WrestleMania tour across 10 different countries that will take them up to Money In The Bank.
The first show is at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland tonight. Tomorrow, there is a show in Brussels, Belgium at the Forest National and at the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland. On May 10 it’s off to Helsinki, Finland at the Helsinki Ice Hall and Arena du Pays d’Aix in Marseille, France. Stockholm in Sweden gets a show on May 11 at the Hovet and the Utilita Arena in Newcastle, England gets another one. The week ends with a show on May 12 at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England, and one in Oslo, Norway at the Oslo Spektrum.
Monday Night Raw will be taped from The 02 Arena in London, England on May 13 while the blue brand heads to the Bournemouth International Centre in Bournemouth, England. On May 14, Smackdown tapings are also at The O2 Arena in London, and the Raw brand hits the AccorHotels Arena in Paris, France.
On May 15, there’s one show at the GETEC Arena in Magdeburg, Germany, and one at the Resorts World Arena Birmingham in Birmingham, England. The Barclaycard Arena Hamburg in Hamburg, Germany hosts WWE on May 16 while the FlyDSA Arena in Sheffield, England, will host the other show. The tour wraps up on May 17 with two shows, one at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin, Germany, and one at the Cardiff Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales.
The crew will take a one-day break to travel back to the United States before Money In The Bank on May 19 from Hartford, Connecticut.
New Smackdown Tag Team champions were crowned today just a week after The Hardy boyz vacated the titles due to Jeff’s injury.
Shane McMahon was ready to hand over the belts to his hand-picked team of Daniel Bryan and Rowan but former multi-time Smackdown Tag Team champions The Usos interrupted the coronation.
The Usos, who are now part of Raw and appeared thanks to the new Wild Card rule introduced yesterday on Raw by Vince McMahon, demanded a title match and did not like that the titles were just going to be handed over easily like that.
Shane McMahon eventually agreed to their request but it was Bryan and Rowan who had the last laugh after Rowan hit the Iron Claw Slam finishing move on Jey Uso for the pin.
Monday Night Raw, helped by appearances from Smackdown stars, pulled in an average of 2,244,000 viewers, up 86,000 viewers from last week’s record low. This was the second least-watched non-holiday Raw in history.
Hour one started with 2,468,000 viewers, and then went down to 2,240,000 viewers, before settling for 2,024,000 in the third and final hour. The show lost 440,000 viewers from hour one to three. The two NBA games head-to-head with Raw did 3.7 and 6.8 million viewers respectively.
The show was #4, #6, and #7 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and #9 in overall viewership for the night on cable. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
VICELAND today announced that they will release a special Extended Cuts feature of the series Dark Side of the Ring beginning May 22 and 9PM ET with never-seen-before footage from the popular six-part series.
Dark Side of the Ring has posted some of the network’s biggest ratings to date and a season two is most likely going to be green-lit. Two more episodes remain to air from season one, including topics of the mysterious death of Gino Hernandez and The Fabulous Moolah.
Meanwhile, VICELAND also announced that it will premiere a new series called The Wrestlers on May 22 at 10PM ET. Hosted by hardcore musician and life-long wrestling fan Damian Abraham, the series goes beyond the world of mainstream professional wrestling to dive into the vibrant, fascinating and bizarre subcultures in the wrestling universe around the world – from Lucha Libre in Mexico to the women’s wrestling scene in Japan to “voodoo wrestling” in Congo and countless points between.
Ticketmaster.com will be running a 12-hour pre-sale for NXT Takeover: XXV on Thursday, starting at 10AM ET and running until 10PM ET. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, May 10 at 10AM ET.
The pre-sale code required to unlock the early tickets is WWEBPT. Tickets start at $20 but no other prices have been given.
The show will be headlined by Gargano vs Cole for the NXT title in a rematch from NXT Takeover: New York.
Former tag team title holder Rhyno revealed in an interview with Chris Van Vliet that he is departing WWE once his deal expires in mid-July.
In the 38-minute interview, the former ECW champion said that he was given a lot of money to just stay put but he refused the new contract. “They actually offered me more than twice my downside, but it wasn’t where they would have to use me because the downside is so large,” Rhyno explained. “And it wasn’t about money, it was about me going on the road working.”
The 43-year-old has been part of the company since 2015 but apart from a program where he teamed with Heath Slater to win the Tag Team titles, he hasn’t been used much in any meaningful storylines. His profile is already part of the Alumni section on WWE.COM. He was last seen on television at WrestleMania 35 for the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
Sean Sapp of Fightful.com is reporting that Ryan Callihan, whose duties involved heading up the Raw creative team back in Stamford, Connecticut, has been fired from his position.
His removal from the team had nothing to do with the recent slump that the show has been experiencing but it looks like Callihan picked up clashes with the wrong person.
According to Sapp, Callihan often clashed with Dave Kapoor, another Raw writer who is part of the team that travels every week to shows. Kapoor has been a long-time creative writer and he is best known on-screen for his portrayal of The Great Khali’s manager Ranjin Singh.
Prior to joining WWE, Callihan was a story producer on The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, The A List, and other reality TV shows.
The WWE backstage area has been like a revolving door over the past month with several creative writers and producers leaving and getting fired.
After being out for a month, former WWE champion Daniel Bryan returned on WWE television on Monday Night Raw and received a rematch for the WWE title against Kofi Kingston.
Bryan has not been seen since his WrestleMania match against Kofi and was rumored to be injured. While usually injuries are addressed, WWE kept Bryan’s injury under wraps and only a handful of individuals knew what was wrong with him.
But fears of having another concussion where somewhat erased yesterday as Bryan came back during the first segment of the show. He then had a 17-minute match as two Smackdown stars main evented Raw. Unfortunately for Bryan, his quest to regain the WWE title came up short as Kofi Kingston managed to retain.
Bryan is also scheduled for the European tour which kicks off tomorrow so he’s back on the road full time.
WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon introduced the “wild card rule” on Monday Night Raw, a rule that is the complete opposite of the idea of the brand split.
McMahon said that he will be allowing three Superstars from Smackdown Live to appear on Monday Night Raw and three Superstars from Raw to appear on Smackdown on a regular basis.
Roman Reigns, Kofi Kingston, and Daniel Bryan – all from the Smackdown roster – appeared on the show already. It’s highly unlikely that any Raw stars will be appearing on Smackdown tomorrow as the Raw crew heads to Europe tonight immediately following the conclusion of Raw.
The idea of the Superstar Shake-up and brand split was done to create some sort of separation between the two rosters and while sometimes Superstars appear on different brands to promote a match or a show, the idea was not to have them done regularly. But with viewers tuning away, WWE is resorting to have its biggest stars show on up on both shows.
WWE will hold NXT Takeover: XXV live on Saturday, June 1 from the Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The announcement was made by Triple H on his social media accounts today.
The original show was supposed to take place a week later in San Diego, California, but the event was nixed because WWE will be in Saudi Arabia that weekend for their third mega show in the country.
Tickets for Takeover: XXV will go on sale this coming Friday at 10AM at NXTTickets.com. The Webster Bank Arena holds around 10,000 fans so filling it up for a milestone show should not be an issue.
The first Takeover took place on May 29, 2014 and was headlined by Neville vs Tyson Kidd for the NXT title. Since then, Takeover shows had names such as Fatal 4-Way, Evolution, Rival, etc but that has mainly been replaced with the name of the city that hosts Takeover apart from the occasional special name such as WarGames.
The logo for the show has also been revealed which you can see above.
The upcoming Money in the Bank pay per view is one of the most hotly anticipated events of the year. With the two ladder matches producing some of the most memorable moment since their introduction into WWE. While many winners in the past have succeeded with their cash in and the success has taken them to a new level; there have also been a few disappointments.
Much like online casinos – where you can learn more about at gamblegenie.com – the WWE needs to evaluate who they put their backing behind carefully. Some of the superstars involved this year need the win to take their careers to the next level, while some could potentially benefit in the long run without winning the prestigious briefcase. But, who are the standout candidates to take home the contract which ensures a championship opportunity?
Drew McIntyre
The Scottish psychopath has endured a difficult time of late, and despite being one of the star men before WrestleMania, it seems that his defeat against Roman Reigns at the showpiece event has been more damaging than first thought. He was hot property when he first arrived back on the WWE main roster as part of the Superstar Shakeup in 2018. However, despite promising performances at Survivor Series and continuously being in the main event scene against The Shield; he has become stale.
The allegiance between McIntyre, Bobby Lashley and Baron Corbin was a car crash and put a stop to his momentum. He would benefit from having the contract and would be able to play to all the strengths that a heel has when holding the briefcase. It would also present an excellent opportunity to resume storylines between McIntyre and Seth Rollins later down the line with the title on the line.
Andrade
Andrade came onto the main roster with a host of support; both within the WWE Universe and the higher brass. He has always had good outings without winning in big matches. He was one of the final four in the 2018 Royal Rumble and followed this up with another excellent display in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. The main concept of the Money in the Bank ladder match is to help bring through fresh talent, and that could be utilised to the maximum with Andrade.
He was initially drafted to Raw as part of the Shakeup; however, his profile was later moved back to Smackdown due to Charlotte Flair’s rumoured request. There isn’t another superstar in this match that could benefit more than Andrade, and the WWE Universe would love the 29-year-old to climb the ladder and retrieve the briefcase.
Bayley
There has never been a question about the talent and popularity of the Hugger, but her character has become stale, and fans are quickly losing interest in Bayley. The development of her rivalry with Sasha Bank, which eventually ended when they become the first winners of the women’s tag team championships, was a disappointing ending to that storyline. WWE teased for months that the duo was going to go at it in a big matchup; only to drop the ball.
Her move to Smackdown following WrestleMania has started promisingly, and a win in the Money in the Bank match would be an ideal chance to develop her character into a heel. Should this happen then the WWE Universe will quickly become reinvested in her while a potential storyline between herself and Becky Lynch would be capable of headlining any of the WWE PPV’s.
WWE won five awards during the 11th annual Shorty Awards, awards which honor the best of social media.
WWE has one of the largest social media presence as far as brands go, boasting some impressive numbers, surpassing one billion followers this past March across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat, Qzone, Toutiao, WeChat, V+, Weibo, YouKu, Periscope, Pinterest, Foursquare, and Tumblr.
During this year’s awards, WWE was the winner for Facebook presence, got Gold for their Snapchat and YouTube accounts, winner in the GIFs category, as well as a winner in the Snapchat Story category for the Rousey training for four hours straight at the Performance Center.
All Elite Wrestling’s Over The Budget Battle Royal got a new name that perfectly ties with the theme of the show: The Casino Battle Royale with the appropriate 21 number of participants.
The rules for this match will be different than the one we know for battle royals. In this week’s Being The Elite YouTube series, the rules of the match were announced.
The match will start with five individuals in the ring and every three minutes, another batch of five will come out and so forth. The last person, whoever draws lucky #21, will be entering the ring on their own.
Elimination follows the usual path – over the top rope and both feet touching the floor. And the prize for the winner? Well, that has not been announced yet but there are still 19 days to go to figure that one out.
If last week’s Raw and Smackdown viewership numbers were bad, well, WWE is in for an even bigger night of competition probably both today and tomorrow.
Monday Night Raw will be facing two head-to-head NBA games tonight, including Boston Celtics vs Milwaukee Bucks and then Golden State Warriors vs Houston Rockets. To make matters worse, there are also two NHL playoffs including the Bruins vs Blue Jackets and Sharks vs Avalanche.
Last week’s record-low viewership hit the alarm bells at Titan Towers and with the NBA Playoffs continuing for the next month, it’s going to be a few weeks of sweating for WWE.
To “counter” this sports programming, at least for tonight, Smackdown’s Roman Reigns will be kicking off Raw to take care of “unfinished business” and other Smackdown stars will be there to continue the build for Money In The Bank.
Unfortunately for Smackdown, the move will not be reciprocated tomorrow as the Raw crew heads out for the European tour following tonight’s broadcast.
