The Fighting With My Family movie which takes a look at the story of WWE Superstar Paige and her family, will make its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Monday, January 28.
The news was broken by Deadline.com and later confirmed by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson himself with a social media post. The movie opens on February 14 nationwide.
It’s a special movie for Johnson and his Seven Bucks Production company as this is their first movie selected to be screened at Sundance. MGM, which picked up the global rights for the movie, paid $17.5 for the project. WWE, through WWE Studios, were also involved in the production.
Fighting With My Family features Florence Pugh, Jack Lowden, Lena Headey, Nick Frost, Vince Vaughn, and Dwayne Johnson in the leading roles.
WWE today officially opened the UK Performance Center, the first international WWE training facility where 30 under-contract NXT UK talent will be training everyday.
The WWE UK Performance Center consists of a 17,000 square foot space with two wrestling rings, strength and conditioning equipment, and versatile content creation infrastructure that will help in training the next wave of WWE Superstars.
“This is the latest milestone in our global localization strategy and the next step in establishing local NXT brands around the world,” said Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events & Creative. “We are incredibly proud to open the UK Performance Center and provide our NXT UK Superstars the same world-class coaching and development programs that we deliver at WWE’s Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.”
WWE’s aim is to open several Performance Centers around the world. The UK is the first country to receive its own NXT brand and Performance Center so far.
WWE has announced the Worlds Collide Tournament, a battle between NXT, NXT UK, and 205 Live set for the Royal Rumble Axxess event.
15 Superstars – five from each brand – will be competing over the course of two days, with the tournament winner receiving a future NXT, NXT UK or 205 Live championship match of their choosing.
This will be a taped WWE Network special and will start with a 15-Superstar Battle Royal on Saturday, January 26, at the 8AM session of Axxess. The order of elimination in the Battle Royal will then determine the first-round matches for a 15-Superstar, single-elimination tournament beginning later that session. The Battle Royal winner will receive a first-round bye.
The tournament will continue at Saturday’s second session of Axxess, taking place from 1PM to 5PM, before concluding at the final Axxess session on Sunday, January 27, from 8AM to Noon.
The 15 Superstars who will be part of this tournament are as follows. Representing NXT: Adam Cole, Velveteen Dream, Dominik Dijakovic, Keith Lee, and Otis Dozovic. Representing NXT UK: Mark Andrews, Tyler Bate, Travis Banks, Jordan Devlin, and Zack Gibson. Representing 205 Live: Cedric Alexander, Humberto Carrillo, Tony Nese, Drew Gulak, and TJP.
All Elite Wrestling President Tony Khan appeared on X-Pac’s 12360 show to discuss his new venture and the challenges that lie ahead.
Khan, a huge wrestling fan himself, said that the promotion will not present something that fans are not going to enjoy and thinks that there’s enough talent and people who know what fans want and have the ability to create a wrestling show that everyone will enjoy.
The 36-year-old also said that it’s up to them and the people behind the scenes to deliver a product that is watchable every week. “We have the brainpower within the organization to deliver that,” Khan said, adding that the challenge will not easy but if everyone works hard, it’s something that every single person working for AEW will be up to.
Tony touched on the fact that a lot of talent will be available this year – mainly due to contracts running out – and he’s looking forward to building a top-to-bottom roster with some of the best workers in the world. He had high praise for Hangman Page who he thinks will be a major star in this industry.
When asked about the rumors of Bill Goldberg joining AEW, Khan said that he and Goldberg have bonded because they both love football and described him as one of the greatest drawing stars in the history of the business. “I really like Bill a lot,” Tony said. “If the situation was right…” he continued, although he made it a point to say that he has not agreed anything with the former WCW and Universal champion yet.
It has not been many years since bookmakers started inviting gamblers on wrestling shows and this involvement of the bettors on professional wrestling has become the talk of the town lately. Gambling on the live matches created a huge fuss and especially when the opponents question the authenticity of staking on the games which have predetermined results. The detractors even said that there wasn’t any point on betting something which has nothing to do with the real talent of the participants and believed that all this is simply a maneuver of bookmakers to fetch significant money from wrestling enthusiasts. So is pro wrestling an untapped betting market for all the fans out there? Let’s find out.
3 Reasons Why Professional Wrestling is an Untapped Market for Show makers
Recently, most of the sportsbook is allowing bets only on the WWE matches. World Wrestling Entertainment is undoubtedly known as the biggest professional wrestling platforms across the globe, with the show being aired in more than 150 countries and gaining huge popularity with 36 million viewers. Now that bettors are allowed to place their bets on their favorite wrestler, there still are some ways which can let the show makers tap into the wrestling market realm. Let’s have a look:
Remove the limitations: If you’re already a WWE bettor, you would not be surprised to know that though the company enables wrestling fans to place their bets through New no deposit casino UKand other sportsbooks, there still comes certain limitations implemented on bet amount and some events. Yes, that’s true! In fact, a majority of the sportsbook allow bettors to place a bet up to $50. What’s more? Gamblers can bet only on a selected number of events such as Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, WrestleMania, and Survivor Series.
Indeed, the company could earn a maximum profit by revoking such limitations and expanding the event options to bet upon.
Offer Live betting option: Usually, most of the sportsbook announce the WWE betting lines just a week or some days before the PPV event goes live. Though it might not be an issue for the gamblers who have been betting on the wrestlers for a long time, imagine how much excitement it could be if the betting goes live. In fact, this trick can turn out to be more profitable for the show makers than the gamblers. Wondering how? As users would get less time to go through the live ‘dirt sheets’, the company can get the maximum benefit from it.
Allow future bets: Currently, show makers don’t allow professional wrestling future bets. Perhaps, the WWE is an industry where decisions change at the drop of a hat. Whilst only a few selective people are aware of the final outcome, the chances of results getting leaked to the public are quite high. This what makes the company alter their plans frequently. However, if bookmakers consistently allow future bets, it could benefit them the most. After all, who would not want to stake upon which NFL team Kirik Cousins are going to sign this time?
Smackdown did not make it three weeks in a row beating Raw in viewership this week as Tuesday’s show pulled in 2,032,000 viewers, down 59,000 viewers from the New Year’s Day episode.
Smackdown was #4 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and #16 in overall viewership for the night. President Trump’s televised address ran head-to-head with Smackdown’s second hour and left a dent in the numbers as special news coverage of the address across different networks had bigger-than-usual viewership. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Figure Four is reporting that Chris Jericho’s contract with All Elite Wrestling is non-exclusive. This means he is allowed to make appearances for New Japan, who have been very interested to have him back.
Chris Jericho was also negotiating a return to WWE prior to his signing. However, the news of him signing with AEW was immediately followed by WWE cutting him out of their Smackdown intro and relegating him to the Alumni section, which means a return to that promotion does not seem to be happening in the near future.
Now, getting Kenny Omega to sign at least a similar type of deal is at the top of New Japan’s wishlist. Omega announced that he will be departing NJPW at the end of this month when his one-year contract expires.
During the All Elite Wrestling rally yesterday in Jacksonville, the promotion’s Chief Brand Officer Brandi Rhodes said that there will be equal pay among men and women who will be wrestling for AEW.
Equal pay is a hot topic lately as equality has taken more of a bigger role in today’s society. It’s well documented that female wrestlers are paid less than male wrestlers and prior to the WWE women’s revolution, it was former Divas champion AJ Lee who called out Stephanie McMahon on Twitter for equal pay among the Superstars. When you have hormone imbalance in the body, adrenal fatigue occurs as it tries to keep up with the demands of the body. This causes bodily fatigue as it continues to work to maintain without all of the proper tools. This can cause insomnia or sleeplessness as well as: Chronic Stress, Night Sweats, Adrenal Fatigue, Anxiety, Dietary habits.
As your hormone levels become off balance, mood swings and irritability often occur. This is a common symptom of low estrogen levels or hormone imbalance in general. If you have a different response than normal to an occurrence or event, you may want to check your hormone levels at ReVital. Let ReVital help you get your hormone levels back to normal by identifying the causes of hormone imbalance symptoms, administering a bioidentical hormone test, optimizing your hormones, and performing bioidentical, You can look for these symptoms here.
Yoga is suitable for everyone, and there are no restrictions on either gender, or age, or the level of initial fitness. It is considered not just as a sport or exercise, as well as the psychological practice of healing and a course on the recovery of the body. Meanwhile, considering yoga should not be a complete treatment, it is a great addition to the capabilities of traditional medicine. Thus, Yoga is a holistic system of exercises that will help to make your body and mind in order.
Regardless of where you do yoga, at home, outdoors or in the studio, you need a responsible approach to the selection of clothing for yoga. Choosing the right yoga sets will help to achieve the harmony and a sense of satisfaction during the practice. However, the choice of clothing to practice Yoga is a difficult question. Today, let’s talk about how to choose the correct yoga sets for women.
Material
Yoga clothing should be breathable, hygroscopic and easy. Some practitioners believe that the perfect material is organic cotton because it is grown without the use of chemicals and synthetic fertilizers. However, such material is not without drawbacks. Clothes made of 100% cotton would not hug the body, so you have to engage in large style. Such clothing would be less durable and quickly lose a good appearance. Synthetic fabrics also have their fans. Manufacturability wicking material feels comfortable when doing difficult asanas. However, preference should be given to the mixed fabrics, which makes clothes better fitting and easier to reach where it is needed.
How pay will be calculated is another different story, but probably those considered in the main event tier will be paid the same, and a different pay tier for mid-carders, etc.
Another interesting topic is health care. Since wrestlers are classified as independent contractors, WWE and other companies do not provide health care for their Superstars, although injuries on the job are covered. It’s not know yet how All Elite Wrestling will be classifying their talent or if they will be providing health care for them.
Monday Night Raw started the year on a downer in terms of ratings as football crushed all the competition on television. The first Raw of 2019 pulled in 2,324,000 viewers, and while up from the taped shows on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, it was down 223,000 viewers from the December 17 show.
Hour one started the strongest with 2,609,000 viewers, followed by 2,294,000 viewers in the second hour, before crashing to 2,070,000 viewers in the third and final hour. Raw lost over half a million viewers from hour one to hour three.
Football on ESPN drew 24 million viewers and pretty much occupied most of the top spots on the charts. Raw was #7, #8, and #10 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and was #10 in overall viewership for the night on cable. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
WWE announced yesterday the appointment of Sarah Cummins as Senior Vice President, Consumer Products. Cummins will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of WWE’s global consumer products business, including licensing, e-commerce, venue sales, home entertainment and publishing. She will report directly to WWE Chief Marketing & Communications Officer Brian Flinn.
Cummins brings more than 25 years of marketing, licensing, media and business development experience to WWE. Prior to joining WWE, Cummins was Head of Business Development & Strategic Partnerships at New York Road Runners, Inc., where she led the organization’s sponsorship, media distribution and licensing efforts. She also spent more than 15 years at the United States Tennis Association (USTA), most recently as Managing Director, where she oversaw retail development and operations for the US Open Tennis Championships.
Additionally, Cummins was Vice President, Licensing & Custom Sales at Vineyard Vines where she managed more than 250 collegiate, NFL, MLB and NHL licenses, and delivered the company’s first worldwide sponsorship, licensing and retail rights with the Kentucky Derby. She also has experience working with luxury brands as founder of Cashmere Ventures, a boutique agency.
Cummins was named a 2017 “Game Changer” by SportsBusiness Journal. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Boston College.
Two new title matches were announced for the Royal Rumble last night, with now a total of eight matches on the card including the two Rumble matches.
The Smackdown Women’s title will be on the line with Asuka defending against number one contender Becky Lynch. This match was announced a few weeks ago on Main Event and then canceled. Lynch won a triple threat match against Carmella and Charlotte Flair last night on Smackdown to finally make the match official.
Meanwhile, the Smackdown Tag Team titles will be up for grabs as well with The Bar taking on The Miz and Shane McMahon. The two have been working together for the past several weeks with The Miz convincing McMahon to be his partner.
The Usos had a shot of becoming number one contenders for the titles last night but lost a non-title match against The Bar after Mandy Rose distracted Jimmy Uso. Miz then issued a challenge and was accepted…only after Sheamus laid out The Miz with his Brogue Kick.
Former WWE Tag Team champion Billy Gunn has signed with All Elite Wrestling as a producer.
Gunn was part of the All In Over The Budget battle royal this past September but will now be taking a backstage role with the company.
Gunn worked for WWE for several years and his last role was a trainer at the WWE Performance Center while also heping out with NXT shows. However, he lost his job in November 2015 after he tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone after he participated in a powerlifting competition a few months earlier.
Gunn’s former tag team partner Road Dogg has a similar role within WWE.
Dave Meltzer Of the Wrestling Observer has now reported that Kenny Omega is all but certain to go to All Elite Wrestling, joining his Elite faction friends in the new promotion. Something major would have to happen for him to end up in WWE, which sets up an interesting situation.
New Japan has had a long-standing relationship with Ring of Honor. Their intent is to keep this relationship, and maintain a cordial relationship with AEW, without doing business with the latter.
However, Omega going to AEW changes that because New Japan would really like to keep both Omega and Jericho.
This is causing the feeling behind the scenes between AEW and NJPW to shift to much more positive, with a very good chance of Omega coming back for New Japan appearances in some format in the future.
68-year-old Pakistani-American billionaire businessman Shahid Khan yesterday revealed officially that he is the lead investor of All Elite Wrestling, the newly-created promotion featuring the members of The Elite faction. Apart from AEW, Khan owns the NFL team Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham F.C. of the English Premier League.
Khan’s net worth is around $6.4 billion and is ranked 65th in the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans, and is overall the 217th wealthiest person in the world.
Born in 1950, Khan moved to the United States in 1967 at the age of 16 and studied at the University of Illinois and later graduated from the UIUC College of Engineering with a BSc in Industrial Engineering in 1971. He became a U.S. citizen in 1991.
After a failed bid to purchase the St. Louis Rams in 2010, Khan set his sights on the Jaguars and successfully finalized the sale in January 2012 for around $760 million. A year later, Khan purchased the Fulham football club of London and while a final price was never revealed, rumors are that the price tag was around $200 million.
His son Tony, who is 36-years-old, will be handling the day-to-day operations of All Elite Wrestling and will occupy the role of president of the promotion.
Apart from his AEW duties, Tony serves as the Senior Vice President, Football Technology & Analytics for the Jaguars and Vice Chairman and Director of Football Operations for Fulham F.C. He’s been in those positions since 2012 and 2017 respectively.
Tony has been a huge wrestling fan for a very long time and his involvement in All Elite Wrestling is not simply about making a profit but also working on something that he loves.
One of the biggest Superstars in the world of professional wrestling, Chris Jericho, signed a new contract with All Elite Wrestling, becoming the first high-profile signing for the newly-created promotion.
Jericho signed the deal yesterday in the presence of Tony Khan, the President of All Elite Wrestling, at the rally held in Jacksonville, Florida. He made an appearance at the rally towards the end and confirmed he would be at Double or Nothing.
The former WWE champion lost the IWGP Intercontinental title last week at Wrestle Kingdom 13 and while his relationship with NJPW might continue in the future, Jericho is now “all in” with AEW.
After signing the contract, Jericho said All Elite Wrestling is going to “change the universe.”
Always a WWE-guy, Jericho said last year that he would now be taking bookings in the United States as well after first promising he wouldn’t out of respect for Vince McMahon. Jericho made a cameo appearance at All In last year, attacking Kenny Omega.
The sequel to All In was announced yesterday during the AEW rally in Jacksonville, with The Double or Nothing event taking place in Las Vegas.
Double or Nothing will fall on Memorial Day weekend, happening on Saturday, May 25 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The arena was the home of several WCW shows in the past and several high-profile UFC events as well.
The 17,000-seater arena is larger than the Sears Center where All In took place last year and it is in a much more convenient location than Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
The Starrcast II convention will also be taking place that weekend leading up to the event.
WWE paid tribute to Hall of Famer Mean Gene Okerlund last night on Monday Night Raw, days after the 76-year-old passed away in a hospital in Sarasota, Florida.
Raw opened with an in memoriam graphic and after the opening match, Hulk Hogan was shown walking backstage with a Mean Gene O Mania t-shirt. After commercials, a 10-bell salute took place as fans stood up paying their respects. Then, the Hulkster came out in his iconic Real American theme song with Orlando welcoming back Hogan on Raw for the first time in three-and-a-half years.
Hogan said he came out wide-open in character because that’s exactly what Mean Gene would have wanted. He said Mean Gene loved entertaining, especially the WWE Universe. A video then played of some of his greatest moments in his career with the song Forever On Your Side by Needtobreathe playing in the background.
“I love you Mean Gene…I miss you,” an emotional Hogan continued after the video. He then put on his sunglasses and cut a promo one more time looking at the in memoriam graphic on the screen.
“Well let me tell you something, Mean Gene. I know exactly what you’re doing brother. You’re up there and all the angels are singing Tutti Fruity on top of those big white clouds. I know that you’re putting the greatest tag match there together brother, a tag match between the Macho Man Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior versus Rowdy Roddy Piper and Mr Perfect. And I also know that Andre The Giant is the special referee brother,” Hogan said.
He then continued, “And I also know you’re probably breaking up a fight between your close personal friends, Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. And you know something Mean Gene? I heard those whites pearly gates clanging and banging up there and brother you don’t have to get all swole up, you only got a choice between Moolah and Mae Young, brother. So Mean Gene, I guess there’s just one question left to ask, all the maniacs up there brother…watcha gonna do when Mean Gene O Mania runs wild on you brother?”
The Khan family, who owns the NFL team Jacksonville Jaguars and the English Premier League Fulham F.C. today issued a statement to the media confirming their investment in All Elite Wrestling.
The 68-year-old Shahid Khan, a Pakistani-American businessman who is worth $6.3 billion, said that he is the lead investor, supporter, and backer of All Elite Wrestling and he anticipates great things today and in the future.
The elder Khan also confirmed that his son Tony will be heading up the promotion during its launch and “in the years ahead.” Khan said that his son will assemble a great team to take AEW “over the top, for the benefit of everyone who loves the wrestling industry, while continuing to serve in his current capacities with the Jaguars and Fulham.”
All Elite Wrestling will be operating completely independently from any of other Khan interests.
The full statement from Shahid and Tony Khan reads as follows:
SHAHID KHAN:
I am the lead investor, a supporter and a backer of All Elite Wrestling, and I anticipate great things today and into the future for AEW and everyone who has worked passionately on this week’s launch. I know AEW will be welcomed by wrestling fans here in the U.S. and throughout the world who are ready for something new and authentic. AEW will work hard to deliver on that promise.
As important, I am the father – the proud father – of Tony Khan, who will serve in a leadership role at AEW during the 2019 launch and in the years ahead. Tony will assemble a great team to take AEW over the top, for the benefit of everyone who loves the wrestling industry, while continuing to serve in his current capacities with the Jaguars and Fulham.
AEW will operate as an organization completely independently from my other interests. It will not deter attention or divert resources from any of my businesses, teams, projects or investments. At the same time, AEW will enjoy the same full commitment I’ve given to everything and everyone in my life – my family and friends, my business and, in recent years, to sports, hospitality and now entertainment.
TONY KHAN:
Wrestling fans are a community unlike most others. I’ve been a part of this community since I was 7 years old, and I can tell you that wresting fans see the world every day through a special lens. We see wrestling in Hollywood films and tv shows, we see elements of wrestling in the presentation of sports and in the marketing of grandiose star athletes, and we certainly see wrestling in politics.
The wrestling community is a constant; its members are diverse, we are physically located on all corners of the planet, yet we are constantly connected. Recently, a new family has formed, bonded by love and respect for wresting but armed with a vision and resources that have never before been available to the wrestling community. Our objective is to connect our community closer than ever before through All Elite Wrestling, or AEW.
AEW does not mean any less of a continued commitment to existing obligations and duties that I have, or my family has, to our business and sports interests. That will never be the case. What’s important is that every individual decision we make as family, whether it’s ownership or investment in a team or property, is 100 percent beneficial to those specific interests. I will always welcome that accountability and responsibility, as nothing is more important than serving our supporters and friends.
AEW will launch with a roster of the top wrestlers in the world. While they’ll clash in what will be some of the most intense and fast-paced contests ever sanctioned in the squared circle, they’ll also share a common goal: to make this the true golden age, to make this the greatest time ever to be a wrestling fan. Likewise, as a business, by treating our wrestlers with respect and warmth, we also seek to make this the golden age for the performers themselves.
I urge everyone who believes in what we’re doing, or wants to believe in dreams coming true, to support AEW by spreading the word and passing the wrestling bug onto someone else. My message: Get in on the ground floor with AEW today and help lead our movement to grow the wrestling community and ensure that the voices of the wrestling fans, their creative minds and their remarkable ideas, will always be heard.
An All Elite Wrestling rally is being held today at 5PM EST which will include further announcements about the newly-created wrestling promotion and more news about the Double or Nothing event, the sequel to All In.
The rally will take place at parking lot J near gate 1 on the grounds of the TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. This is the home of the Jacksonville Jaguars, which the Khan family owns. The TIAA Bank Field is just half a mile away from the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena where Smackdown Live is taking place a few hours later.
Cody, The Young Bucks, Hangman Page, Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, Scorpio Sky, and Britt Baker will all be appearing and the promotion’s new Chief Brand Officer, Brandi Rhodes, will also be present.
Kushida, one of New Japan’s top junior heavyweights, will have his last match with the promotion at the end of this month and it will be a title shot against Hiroshi Tanahashi.
It is unclear what lies in Kushida’s future with Dave Meltzer reporting that WWE are interested. Kushida also mentioned in his farewell press-conference that his body is tired from all the traveling between NJPW and ROH, so staying with just Ring of Honor is an option.
Another one is becoming a Japanese journeyman, able to occasionally wrestle in all the promotions he wants, without being exclusive to any.
Kushida mentioned that he has little time left in wrestling, being 36, and wants to complete all his dream matches before he retires.
