Fastlane’s main event switched again to fatal 5-way match

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02/14/2018

The Fastlane pay-per-view main event has been changed once again and it’s back to the original 5-way match.

Originally, the advertised main event on the Nationwide Arena website and local advertising featured AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura vs Randy Orton vs Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn for the WWE title. The match however was never announced like that on WWE television.

Following the Royal Rumble win by Shinsuke Nakamura and the angles shot afterward, the main event was then changed to a triple threat between Styles, Owens, and Zayn.

Last week, Shane McMahon announced that the winner of Dolph Ziggler vs Baron Corbin would be added to the main event in a fatal 4-way match. Plans changed again on last night’s show when Ziggler and Corbin had to face Zayn and Owens respectively with the stipulation being that if they win, they would be added to the main event.

Both Corbin and Ziggler won their matches, changing the main event of Fastlane to a fatal 5-way match – again – with the winner going on to WrestleMania to take on Shinsuke Nakamura.

Raw rating for 02/12/2018

By

Colin Vassallo

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02/13/2018

Monday Night Raw drew an average of 3,105,000 viewers, up 50,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast.

Hour one did 3,262,000 viewers, followed by 3,216,000 in the second hour, and then down to 2,837,000 in the third and final hour.

Raw was #1, #2, and #3 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)

Backlash switched to a dual-brand pay-per-view

By

Colin Vassallo

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02/13/2018

It looks like WWE is abandoning the idea of brand-specific pay-per-views as the first PPV following WrestleMania, Backlash, will also be a combined show.

Fans who purchased a ticket for the Backlash pay-per-view which will take place at the Prudential Center in New Jersey received an e-mail with the announcement of the change. “This will now be a combined Pay Per View with RAW and SMACKDOWN Superstars,” the e-mail said.

There are rumors that WWE will go back to its regular PPVs with Superstars from both brands participating while keeping Raw and Smackdown as separate brands. Originally, there were only four combined PPVs – Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series – and then for this year it was announced that Money In The Bank would also be a dual-brand PPV.

While the brand split is somewhat working in terms of television, data from pay-per-views – including ticket sales and Network views – might be a different story. Perhaps the biggest task of going back to combined pay-per-views every month would be how many matches they can cram in a three – or sometimes four – hour show to showcase everyone.

Each brand-specific pay-per-view has around seven or eight matches on the card so that would mean cutting half of the matches from each brand to present a combined show with that total number of matches.

10 WWE executives receive big bonuses in Class A common stock for 2017 performances

By

Colin Vassallo

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02/13/2018

WWE filed 10 Form 4 statements with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday detailing the bonuses of ten of its executives which were paid in Class A common stock.

Kevin Dunn was the biggest winner with 52,062 shares, followed by Stephanie McMahon with 46,963, Triple H with 43,145, Michelle Wilson with 42,770, George Barrios with 42,349, Michael Luisi with 28,398, Casey Collins with 23,622, Basil Devito Jr with 13,002, Blake Timothy Bilstad with 10,994, and Mark Kowal with 8,358.

Dunn, Wilson, and Barrios got just a fraction of what they received as a bonus for the year 2016, with each of them receiving over 230,000 shares.

Seven WWE Superstars to be part of the men’s 2018 Elimination Chamber match

By

Colin Vassallo

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02/13/2018

The men’s Elimination Chamber will feature seven WWE Superstars instead of six as both Finn Balor and Seth Rollins were added to the mix last night. This will be the first time that the Chamber match will feature an odd number of Superstars.

The second chance fatal 4-way qualifying match between Balor, Crews, Hardy, and Wyatt was changed to a 5-way when Seth Rollins was included in the match. Confusion then arose when both Rollins and Balor pinned Bray Wyatt. The broadcast went off the air with no decision taken but WWE then went live on Facebook with platinum-blond Renee Young interviewing Raw General Manager Kurt Angle to discuss the outcome of the match.

When both Balor and Rollins pleaded their case to Angle, Angle told them they both deserve to be in the Elimination Chamber match and announced that this year’s match will be with seven Superstars.

Since the Elimination Chamber match has four pods, it’s likely that three will start the match rather than two and then the rest will join at regular intervals. The other individuals who will be part of the match this year are John Cena, The Miz, Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, and Elias.

Ronda Rousey moving to Raw, to appear at Elimination Chamber

By

Colin Vassallo

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02/13/2018

Ronda Rousey will be joining the Raw brand going forward and will make her next appearance at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view to “sign” her official deal.

The former UFC Bantamweight champion will kick off her road to WrestleMania either during the pay-per-view or the next day on Raw in Anaheim, California. While it’s still unclear what she will be doing at Mania, the rumors are that it will be a tag team match with Triple H and Stephanie taking on Rousey and her partner. WWE is chasing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to be her partner.

Ronda Rousey jetted back to Colombia right after the Royal Rumble to finish her scenes for the upcoming movie Mile 22. WWE will have first priority over her career going forward as she joined WWE full-time with a multi-year deal.

Enzo Amore’s alleged rape victim speaks after stint in mental hospital

By

Colin Vassallo

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02/12/2018

Philomena Sheahan, the individual who accused former WWE Cruiserweight champion Enzo Amore of rape last month, has been let go from a mental hospital last week and went straight on YouTube to film a 9-minute video titled ‘It’s time to get honest’ explaining her actions.

Sheahan admitted that the videos she uploaded in the past don’t look good and might discredit her rape story, but insisted that she is telling the truth and she has no reason to lie about this one.

The young woman said that she is now on continued medication after her hospital stay included an attempted suicide by taking 16 times more the amount of antidepressant medication she was originally prescribed by doctors.

Sheahan claimed the doctors diagnosed her with borderline personality disorder and and suffers from anorexia, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and PTSD, some of which as a result from that night when she was allegedly raped by Enzo Amore.

Sheahan announced at the end of January that she’s going to take a break from social media because “the hate is overwhelming.” That break lasted just over a week as she returned to tweeting on February 8.

Meanwhile, Enzo Amore has not commented publicly since he was fired and his last tweet remains a statement from his attorney posted on January 24.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq8ZAtz0Kko

Two matches announced for Raw tonight from San Jose, California

By

Colin Vassallo

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02/12/2018

Two matches have been announced for tonight’s Monday Night Raw which will take place from San Jose, California.

Hometown girl Bayley will be taking on her best friend Sasha Banks and the last individual to enter the Elimination Chamber will also be decided in a fatal 4-way match.

The match features those who lost their respective qualifying matches – Finn Balor, Apollo Crews, Matt Hardy, and Bray Wyatt. A WWE.COM slip yesterday featured Balor on the Elimination Chamber graphic with the other five before it was quickly taken down from the website.

Ivory to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2018

By

Colin Vassallo

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02/12/2018

Former WWE Women’s champion Ivory will be this year’s women inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2018. The news was revealed today by ESPN.COM.

“I liken it to almost getting married, it’s my wedding day, which I’ve never had one, so, this is probably as close to a wedding production as I’ll ever get,” Ivory told ESPN. “Hair and makeup, I will be speaking my vows – with regards to my wrestling career – to all these people I adore and love and we want it to all happen without a hitch.”

The 56-year-old Ivory, real name Lisa Moretti, made her professional wrestling debut back in 1986 and was part of the original cast of GLOW: Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling.

In 1999 she signed a WWE deal and made her television debut in February of that year and was part of the first-ever women’s hardcore match against Tori. In that year, Ivory won the WWE Women’s title twice before transitioning to a conservative gimmick and eventually joining the Right to Censor faction.

In 2002, Ivory joined the Tough Enough coaching team, coming on board for the second and third season while also doing commentary and other coaching gigs at Ohio Valley Wrestling. She left WWE in 2005 and then made her first WWE appearance in a decade at the WrestleMania Axxess convention at WrestleMania 31.

During her WWE career, she won the Women’s title a total of three times.

Jumanji becomes Dwayne Johnson’s #1 movie in domestic box office revenue

By

Colin Vassallo

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02/11/2018

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson lost his #1 spot on the box office chart this weekend as his Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle movie dropped to fourth place following three new releases according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.

Jumanji still pulled in $9,825,000 for the weekend, sending its total domestic gross to $365,656,871. It has an additional $516,100,000 in foreign box office receipts for a worldwide total of $881,756,871. The movie has one last big market release and that will be Japan in April.

Meanwhile, with this week’s receipts, Jumanji has officially become Dwayne Johnson’s biggest domestic money-making movie, surpassing Furious 7.

Tamina undergoes shoulder surgery

By

Colin Vassallo

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02/11/2018

Smackdown’s Tamina Snuka underwent surgery for a right shoulder supraspinatus (rotator cuff) tear on January 31, but the news was made public in a post on Instagram by Tamina herself yesterday.

The surgery took place at the University of Miami Sports Medicine Institute, the medicine provider for the Miami Hurricanes and Miami Marlins, and it was performed by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Lee Kaplan.

“One week post surgery and I’m feeling great. Thanks to Dr. Kaplan and his great team for fixing me up…AGAIN,” Tamina wrote. Tamina thanked WWE and thanked her fans for their support. “I’m anxious to get back!”

John Cena and Nikki Bella to team up for match at MSG show in March

By

Colin Vassallo

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02/11/2018

John Cena and Nikki Bella will be teaming up for their second mixed tag team match next month at the non-televised live event in Madison Square Garden in New York on March 16.

Apart from participating in the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble last month, Nikki Bella has not wrestled a match since her mixed tag team match with Cena at WrestleMania 33. That night, the duo took on The Miz and Maryse and following the match, John Cena proposed to Nikki in the middle of the ring.

For the March 16 MSG show, Nikki and John will be taking on Facebook’s Mixed Match Challenge tag team partners Elias and Bayley. The other two matches announced so far are Brock Lesnar vs Kane vs Braun Strowman in a triple threat for the Universal title and a six-man tag team match between Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, and Finn Balor vs The Miz, Bo Dallas, and Curtis Axel.

Tickets for this non-televised live event are available on Ticketmaster.com starting from $31.

Booker T and Corey Graves reveal that their bad blood was all…a work!

By

Colin Vassallo

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02/11/2018

There’s no bad blood between Booker T and Corey Graves. None. It was all a work and they went old school on everybody!

“A lot of people don’t know how hard I was smiling when they told me I was moving back to my old position,” Booker T explained in his latest podcast episode as he laughed.

“I’m one of those people, I saw you walking in the locker room grinning from ear to ear…what are you so happy about?!” said Corey Graves, who was invited by Booker T to join the show to “clear the air” between the two.

The original story was that Booker was mad about Corey Graves and blamed him for not being on Monday Night Raw anymore. He said that if he saw Corey outside in the street, he would hurt him, and the story made the rounds for a few weeks.

Graves said that when he found out he’s being blamed by Booker, he decided to have some extra fun with it cause he was sure that Booker was working everyone. Booker brought up the fact that USA Today, Forbes, Sports Illustrated, and many others picked up the story about Booker and Graves fighting and Graves wondered why nobody bothered to call.

“So I talked to Cole on Monday, and he said, ‘This thing with you and Book, it’s cool?’ And I said, ‘You know Book, we’re just goofing around!'” When Cole asked him what’s the end game or what they’re trying to accomplish, Graves replied, “We’re not trying to accomplish anything! We’re just having fun! We’re just messing with each other like we do everyday!”

You can see the video of the segment below.

https://twitter.com/Its0nlyRachel/status/962493687602339840

Hulk Hogan hopeful of being with his wrestling family “some day soon”

By

Colin Vassallo

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02/11/2018

Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair shared the same stage yesterday in a rare event together held at the Seminole Hard Rock Cafe in Tampa, Florida.

Prior to the event, the two Hall of Famers spoke with TMZ about what the future holds, especially for the Hulkster who is still somewhat banned from WWE ever since that video surfaced in 2015.

When asked when or if he will be coming back, Hulk was very optimistic about it. “For me, I’d love to change that last story that was told with the Hulk Hogan career. I’d love to get back in the fold, get back on the inside and correct a lot of stuff,” he said. “It has to be the perfect timing for both sides. We’re all on good terms. We’re all working towards the same goal. So hopefully, I’ll be able to be back with my wrestling family some day soon.”

He noted that he still has a lot of friends in WWE and exchanges texts on a regular basis, be it wrestlers or those in the office and they all know who the real Hulk Hogan is.

Meanwhile, Ric Flair, who was sitting next to him for the TMZ interview, said that they cannot wait till Hulk is welcomed back to the WWE family and explained the bond that the two have together. He said when he was hospitalized, Hulk hopped on a jet and was next to him in no time and the two have been friends through the good and bad days. He recounted how when his son died, he needed to borrow some money and within an hour, Hogan transferred a sum to him.

You can see the video below.

Ed Nordholm admits going to war with Reby Hardy was not a smart idea

By

Colin Vassallo

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02/10/2018

In an interview with Newsweek, Anthem Sports & Entertainment’s Executive Vice President Ed Nordholm admits that going to “war” with Matt Hardy’s wife Reby on Twitter was not the best idea at the time and quickly realized not to mess with hispanic women!

When he was asked if there’s one thing he would do differently since taking the helm of Impact Wrestling, Nordholm said he would not attack “hispanic women who are protecting their men.” Nordholm said that he was still new to the wrestling world and coming from a corporate environment, Twitter wars aren’t usually something that they excel in. “We clearly took on a shitstorm, and I got my head handed to me,” an honest Nordholm added.

In the same interview, Nordholm also discussed the change on how the company will be dealing with intellectual property in regards to names and gimmicks created for their stars. “The catalyst was finding out our talents were doing other shows under other names. It seemed to me that’s absurd in the world we’re in today,” said Nordholm.

Co-Executive Vice President of Impact Wrestling Scott D’Amore agreed with the new way of doing business when it comes to IP. “We want a collaborative environment where people can feel like they’re creating something [with us]…and if the time comes where you go separate ways, you both get to walk away knowing you have some ownership of something you created. Mike Hutter gets to go out and play the character he helped create. It’s better for him, better for wrestling, and better for us — we have a library full of amazing EC3 content.”

You can read the full interview here.

eBay wipes almost all negative feedback from WWE Shop’s account after replica title fiasco

By

Colin Vassallo

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02/10/2018

eBay has wiped the majority of the negative feedback that the WWEShop account had accumulated over the past week after the company failed to honor the prices of the discounted replica title belts.

Hundreds of orders were processed after WWE marked down all replica titles to $40. The mistake lasted well over 10 hours, with titles being added every few hours with the marked-down price.

Eventually, the price was corrected and the next day WWE started canceling all the orders and slowly giving refunds.

With nearly 200 negative feedback posted over the past week from angry customers who felt that WWE should honor the prices, eBay started removing the feedback which had dragged down the official WWE Shop eBay account to just 90% satisfaction rating. Their rating is back up to 98.6% and will increase more once eBay removes a few more negative ones.

WWE sent an e-mail to all customers to advise them that their order was canned “due to a price listing error that was made and fixed immediately after WWE was made aware of the mistake.” They also quoted eBay’s T&C which states that a seller “can cancel a transaction up to 30 days after the sale even if [the] buyer has already paid for the item.”

The company also a gave 20% discount on the next order up until May 1. “Again, we apologize for any inconvenience and sincerely hope that you will remain a loyal fan and customer of WWE,” the e-mail stated.

Tenille “Emma” Dashwood enters the Women of Honor ROH tournament

By

Colin Vassallo

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02/10/2018

Tenille Dashwood, the artist formerly known as Emma in WWE, entered the inaugural Women of Honor tournament to crown the ROH Women’s champion.

Dashwood was announced as the last entrant in the 16-woman tournament yesterday and then wrestled in a tag team match for her ROH debut. She will be wrestling Stacy Shadows in the first round of this tournament, a tournament that kicked off in January.

The 28-year-old Australian spent six years with WWE, wrestling for FCW, NXT, and the main roster before she was released in 2017 after a final match against Asuka on Raw.

Universal and Legendary win bidding war to secure Dwayne Johnson’s next movie

By

Colin Vassallo

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02/09/2018

Deadline.com is reporting that Universal Pictures and Legendary won a bidding war to land the rights for Dwayne Johnson’s next movie titled Red Notice.

This will be the second time that Universal, Legendary and Johnson will team up for a movie, with their first one being Skyscraper which will be released later this year. The movie is set to start production in 2019 with a release date in 2020.

“Nearly every studio bid on the film, along with Netflix. It culminated in a team-up of Universal and Legendary, which already have a distribution relationship on Skyscraper. The deal is rich, including a $20 million payday against breakeven gross for Johnson. The film will cost upwards of $125 million to make, and another movie star has to be secured,” the Deadline report states.

Red Notice is a globe-trotting heist thriller with two individuals in the leading roles and Deadline says that it is easily the biggest deal for a studio movie Hollywood has seen so far this year.

Impact rating for 02/08/2018

By

Colin Vassallo

-

02/09/2018

Impact Wrestling on POP this week drew 294,000 viewers, down 25,0000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)

Booker T invites Corey Graves on his podcast to “clear the air”

By

Colin Vassallo

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02/09/2018

Booker T and Corey Graves are not the best of friends and things got even worse when Booker T got ousted from his Raw duties a few weeks ago and replaced by Jonathan Coachman.

Many believe that Booker T was removed because of the problems between the two former wrestlers with WWE management opting to play it safe and get Booker T out before he does or say something to Graves on live television.

In a recent episode of his podcast, Booker T blamed Graves for not being on Raw anymore. “Lot of people in the company thought I was going to jump on him. I was gonna do something bad to him. I was gonna drag him. I was gonna take him out to the woodshed. I was gonna beat that man so bad that he was going to say ‘Please, please, just don’t beat me anymore.’ That’s how hot I was getting, that’s how close I was getting,” Booker said.

He then said that if he catches Corey on the street, he will do something to him, but he’s not stupid to do it at the office or at the airport. “But if I catch Corey Graves on the street, you see that little bouffant hairdo he got? I’m gonna rearrange it for him,” Booker said.

Graves took a shot at Booker on Raw last week when he told The Coach to watch his mouth or else he would be “doing local radio too.” He later went on Twitter and wrote a quote by Chinese general Sun Tzu which read, “Thus the expert in battle moves the enemy, and is not moved by him.” Graves even wrote that it “is what you think it is,” since many wondered if it’s about his situation with Booker.

Now, Booker T wants to clear the air and invited Graves on his podcast. “I’m going to address all of the news from this past week on my show tomorrow. There’s been a lot of things said and I’d like to publicly invite @WWEGraves to call in and clear the air,” Booker wrote on Twitter.

Graves accepted the request. “Gladly. You have my number,” he wrote.