It’s going to be a special day in Greensboro, North Carolina today as WWE returns for Starrcade, the first event bearing that name since the year 2000 and the first Starrcade in Greensboro since 1986.
The event will not be shown on the WWE Network and it’s not clear if WWE cameras will be on hand to record the show for a future airing.
There are six matches so far announced for the show. The card is as follows: AJ Styles vs Jinder Mahal for the WWE title in a steel cage match; Charlotte vs Natalya for the Smackdown Women’s title in a steel cage match; Baron Corbin vs Shinsuke Nakamura for the United States title; The Usos vs Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin vs Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn vs The New Day in a fatal 4-way for the Smackdown Tag Team titles; Bobby Roode vs Dolph Ziggler; and Dash Wilder vs Dustin Rhodes.
At one point there was also a rumored match between The Rock ‘N’ Roll Express and Gallows/Anderson although officially, that match is not on the card. The Hall of Fame tag team will be making an appearance and so will the Nature Boy Ric Flair.
Thousands of fans will be in attendance as tickets sold surprisingly good for a Thanksgiving weekend.
On his latest podcast Dinner With The King, WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler explained how good The Undertaker looked while backstage at the Survivor Series.
Lawler recounted how Taker “might have looked too good” and said that when someone shows up wanting to hang around looking that good, it means one thing, they’re ready to come back.
“You know, closer to the time after WrestleMania and I think I said that I believe we’ve seen the last of Undertaker in the ring. Now, I’m going to I’m going to go back on my word. Just looking at him the other night, I think there are some more matches left in the Undertaker,” Lawler said.
The Hall of Famer added that he watched the show sitting next to The Undertaker and Kane backstage on a monitor.
The Undertaker last wrestled at WrestleMania, losing to Roman Reigns in the main event. It was his second loss at a WrestleMania and then he left his gear in the middle of the ring as a symbol of retirement. No one officially said that The Undertaker has actually retired although that is what was implied the way it was played out on television.
The next time we’ll see The Undertaker is on the 25th anniversary of Monday Night Raw where he will be part of the broadcast from the Manhattan Center in New York.
In a story discussing the UFC television rights fees, The Business Journals revealed that WWE executives have already met with different networks and most recently with Fox in Los Angeles to show them the power of their programming as the deal with NBCUniversal comes to a close in late 2019.
NBCUniversal paid much less than WWE had hoped for several years ago, with WWE stocks taking a big, big tumble when the deal was announced and the company is trying to avoid making the same mistake. Chief Financial and Strategy officer George Barrios and EVP of Talent, Live Events, and Creative Paul “Triple H” Levesque were present for the meeting with Fox executives.
The Business Journals also reported that WWE met with CBS and Disney, along with digital-only Amazon and YouTube to present them with a review of their programming.
WWE’s team was unable to negotiate any money or future deals though during these meetings as NBCUniversal has the exclusivity until the spring of 2018 when it comes to negotiations.
The broadcast contract with NBCUniversal for WWE shows in the United States on USA Network expires on September 30, 2019. WWE is expected to announce the U.S. distribution plan for Raw and Smackdown sometime between May 2018 and September 2018.
CBS and Dish Network have reached an agreement for the carriage of CBS-owned stations – including POP TV – after yesterday Dish said that the two parties are “far apart” from a deal.
CBS stations were blacked out on Dish in 17 major markets across the United States, with POP TV – which broadcasts Impact Wrestling – one of the stations affected. The blackout lasted three days, including Thanksgiving.
Impact Wrestling fans who live in areas such as New York, LA, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Atlanta, Boston, Seattle, Tampa, Detroit, Minneapolis, Miami, Denver, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore now have access again to POP TV.
If you are a Dish Network customer in major markets such as New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, and fifteen other locations, you will not be able to watch Impact Wrestling on POP tonight as the channel was yanked along with other CBS-owned networks due to an ongoing dispute between the two parties.
Dish said that they remain “far apart on terms” according to a statement issued to Deadline.com which means the situation will probably not get resolved anytime soon and could drag on for weeks.
If you are one of those customers, you can watch Impact Wrestling for free on the Global Wrestling Network website or any TV-connected device a few days, or in some countries immediately, after it airs in the United States. The GWN is currently available in USA, Canada, Mexico, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cypress, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and Japan. For more information go to globalwrestlingnetwork.com.
Black Friday starts tomorrow but WWE Shop is kicking off the discounts today with hundreds of items on sale with up to 75% off plus an additional 25% off your entire order by using the code FRIDAY.
Merchandise of Superstars such as John Cena, The Shield, Kevin Owens, Steve Austin, Daniel Bryan, DX, Seth Rollins, Gallows and Anderson, Dean Ambrose, Sasha Banks, Randy Orton and many many more are heavily discounted, and merchandise includes t-shirts, sweatshirts, beanie hats, caps, footwear, commemorative plates, title belts, side plates, rings, lunch boxes and other items.
With more tickets being sold over the past week for Starrcade, WWE opened six more rows in the 200 Level around the arena, putting just over 1,000 more tickets available.
Most of the 200 Level was going to be blacked out with only three rows in each section for sale. Last week, sections 106 and 128 just to the side of the stage were put on sale with only 14 seats remaining in those two sections.
The company turned this non-televised live event into a Starrcade show in hopes of filling up the arena on Thanksgiving weekend. There will be two cage matches and appearances from Ric Flair and the Rock ‘N’ Roll Express to pay tribute to the original Starrcade, which took place in the same building in 1983.
So far, WWE has not indicated if it will tape this show for future airing on the WWE Network. The last Starrcade pay-per-view was held in December 2000 in Washington, DC with Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious for the WCW title in the main event. The last Starrcade at the Greensboro Coliseum was in 1986.
WWE’s David Otunga scored a big victory in court against his ex Jennifer Hudson as the court ruled that their son should be with his father for Thanksgiving.
The two spent a part of the day in court on Tuesday according to TMZ.COM as both wanted to keep their son during Thanksgiving. A judge ruled that their son, 8-year-old David Jr., should be with his father for Thanksgiving from 3PM today to 7PM on Friday.
Otunga and Hudson will go to court again on Monday where he will be asking the judge to vacate the order protection issued against him by Hudson. He will also be asking for temporary custody of their son as the primary caregiver.
Otunga, who lives in Hudson’s Chicago home, will additionally request possession of the residence during the next two weeks – between November 26 and December 8 – as Hudson will be traveling for work. Otunga paid rent to live in the house before he was escorted out by police.
There are 14 WWE pay-per-views on the calendar next year, down two from this year according to a calendar published by PWInsider.com. These 14 pay-per-views are split: 5 combined Raw/Smackdown shows, 5 Raw shows, and 4 Smackdown shows.
The Royal Rumble kicks things off on January 28 in Philadelphia. This will be a joint pay-per-view. Raw gets the Elimination Chamber on February 25 from Las Vegas. Smackdown gets Fastlane on March 11 from Columbus. WrestleMania 34 is on April 8 from New Orleans, the second combined show. Raw gets Backlash on May 6 in Newark and Smackdown will have Payback on May 27 in Baltimore.
Money In The Bank from Chicago on June 17 will be a combined PPV. Raw goes to Battleground on July 15 from Pittsburgh and SummerSlam on August 19 from Brooklyn will be another joint pay-per-view. Extreme Rules is on September 16 from San Antonio with the Raw brand and the Hell In A Cell goes to Smackdown on September 30 from Nashville. TLC is a Raw show from Boston on October 21. Survivor Series on November 18 from Los Angeles is the last combined show of the year and Clash Of Champions is on December 17 from San Jose, a Smackdown-brand show.
Great Balls of Fire and No Mercy, which were Raw pay-per-views in 2017, were yanked from the schedule.
Smackdown with the fallout from the Survivor Series drew 2,662,000 viewers, up 55,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. This is the third week in a row that the show registered an increase in viewership. Smackdown was #1 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
The WWE Studios franchise The Marine will live to see its sixth movie, starring The Miz, Becky Lynch, and Shawn Michaels.
The announcement of the sixth movie, titled The Marine 6: Close Quarters, was done today by WWE Studios and Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions, It will be directed by James Nunn and by Craig Walendziak.
The synopsis for the next installment reads, “When Jake Carter (The Miz) and fellow Marine Luke Trapper (Shawn Michaels) stumble upon a kidnapped girl being held prisoner by a dangerous gang of international criminals, they find themselves in the crosshairs as they try to save the girl and bring her kidnappers to justice.”
Production will start on Monday, November 27, in London, England which might explain why The Miz dropped the Intercontinental title this week to Roman Reigns. Becky Lynch was also viciously attacked on Smackdown.
This is the fourth Marine movie which The Miz will be starring in. The first one was headlined by John Cena while Ted DiBiase Jr starred in the second one. All three played different characters, with The Miz reprising his role of Sgt. Jake Carter.
“The Marine series continues to deliver action-packed entertainment to our fans, and we are excited to partner again with Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions and director James Nunn to bring ‘The Marine 6: Close Quarters’ to a global audience,” said Michael Luisi, President of WWE Studios. “The motion picture debut of the talented Becky Lynch and the addition of Shawn Michaels to the series, alongside The Miz, is sure to bring the excitement and action to the next level.”
The main event for the last pay-per-view of 2017, Clash of Champions, will be WWE champion AJ Styles defending the title against Jinder Mahal.
Appearing on the Titan Tron, Mahal said the only reason he lost to AJ Styles in Manchester is because he was busy getting ready for Brock Lesnar and if it was him who took on Lesnar at the Survivor Series, he would have won unlike AJ Styles. Styles told Mahal to come down to the ring and wrestle him since he looked rather fresh considering he did not do anything at the Survivor Series. Mahal refused and said he will be invoking his rematch clause at Clash of Champions.
The Singh brothers then attacked Styles from behind as Mahal looked on from backstage. Their attack did not last long though as Styles quickly turned it around, even delivering the Styles Clash.
205 Live will get another addition in the next few weeks as it was announced that Hideo Itami will be joining the roster.
The man formerly known as Kenta in Pro Wrestling Noah, has been wrestling in NXT since 2014 and his career has not really lived up to the hype he came with, mainly due to several long-term injuries he suffered over the past three years. In 2015, he was sidelined for a whopping 13 months and needed to undergo shoulder surgery. Just four months after he returned, he suffered a neck injury that once again put him out of action for a further six months.
He will be the 17th member of the 205 Live roster as the cruiserweight division continues to expand.
Three more NXT women were called up to the main roster, giving a much-needed boost to the Smackdown women’s division as Liv Morgan, Ruby Riot, and Sarah Logan all made their debut last night.
The trio attacked Naomi and Becky Lynch in a backstage segment and then attacked Charlotte and Natalya during their match.
The 23-year-old Liv Morgan has been signed to a WWE deal since 2014 and made her first televised appearance at NXT Takeover: Rival a year later. She is a New Jersey native and is a former cheerleader and a Hooters model.
Ruby Riot is a 26-year-old from Michigan who has been signed to a WWE deal since the beginning of this year. She made her NXT debut in January and her first televised appearance two months later. She is a very experienced indie wrestler who wrestled under the name of Heidi Lovelace and worked for OVW, Shine Wrestling, Chikara, and World Wonder Ring Stardom.
Sarah Logan is 24 years old and is from Indiana. She has worked with WWE since 2014 making several appearances throughout the next two years both on Raw and Smackdown in backstage vignettes and was also a Rosebud for Adam Rose. Her first NXT appearance came in April 2015 under the name of Sarah Dobson. She then signed a deal in October 2016 and was renamed to Sarah Logan. She was part of the Mae Young Classic and was eliminated in the first round.
The post-survivor Series Raw drew an average of 3,074,000, a small bump of 44,000 viewers over last week’s show.
Hour one started with 3,244,000 viewers, followed by 3,194,000 in the second hour, before dropping to 2,785,000 in the third and final hour. The show lost 459,000 viewers from hour one and hour three.
The show was #3, #4, and #5 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic. NFL’s Monday Night Football did 10.7 million viewers. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Former WWE and WCW star Kamala is on life support after undergoing emergency surgery in Oxford, Mississippi on Sunday.
His stepdaughter wrote on Facebook that he underwent surgery at 3AM and was told that he would probably not survive the procedure. However, the 67-year-old managed to outlast the surgery and is showing small signs of improvement. It’s not known why he had to undergo emergency surgery.
Things have not been great for Kamala over the past few decades. In 1993, his sister and stepdaughter were shot to death and then in 2011, had his left leg amputated due to high blood pressure and diabetes. A year later, his right leg was amputated as well, confining him to a wheel chair.
Kamala is one of the many former stars who are part of the brain damage class action lawsuit against WWE.
The Miz’ long Intercontinental title reign came to a halt last night on Raw after he lost the belt to The Shield member Roman Reigns.
This is Roman Reigns’ first run as an Intercontinental champion and with this win he joins the elite list of WWE Grand Slam champions. The current format of a Grand Slam champion requires a World title, either WWE or Universal, a Tag Team title, either Raw or Smackdown, the Intercontinental title, as well as the United States title.
Reigns is the ninth individual since 2000 to be a Grand Slam champ, joining Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, Edge, Big Show, The Miz, Daniel Bryan, Chris Jericho, and Dean Ambrose.
There are 12 Grand Slam champions in the old, or original, format which required winning the WWE title or World Heavyweight title, WWE Tag Team or World Tag Team, Intercontinental, European, and Hardcore titles. Those individuals in this category are Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Kane, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, Rob Van Dam, Booker T, Jeff Hardy, JBL, Christian, and Big Show.
WWE Superstars Harnessing the Power of Social Media
Celebrities have always had to manage their public image, and this may actually be truer for WWE wrestlers than other famous personalities. Whether they are on a heel turn or a face turn, WWE has always been about the hype, and putting on a good show for the fans.
When WWE first joined social media platforms, the messages that were posted were the same generic advertising hype that we’ve grown accustomed to seeing. As social media has developed, however, a lot of stars have really come into their own and are using the available platforms in much savvier ways than ever before.
Whether purely to generate kayfabe that can direct or misdirect you as to which wrestler to bet on, taking advantage of a heel turn to say whatever offensive or politically savage thought pops into their head, to increase their own overall fanbase or to raise awareness about the causes they support, WWE fighters are taking what they’ve learnt about social media and running with it.
Making the Move to Media
With huge numbers of followers across Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms, accompanied by a simultaneous drop in the amount of people actually watching the matches on television, upping their social media game is a savvy business move for professional wrestlers.
From public feuds with other fighters to replying to or even trolling their fans, interactive media is essential to staying connected to the public eye and comes with added perks and benefits too.
We’ve rounded up a few of the savviest social media users among the WWE wrestlers for you here. This should give you an idea of the magnitude of what is going on if, for some reason, you haven’t seen them on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms yourself.
Randy Orton
More than 13 million Facebook users and 4.5 Twitter followers can’t be wrong, right? If you’re talking about third-generation wrestling royalty like Randy Orton, they probably can’t. While Orton is not the most active wrestler on social media, his legions of fans lap up everything he posts, from responding to fans to promoting his shows and even expressing his opinions on war veterans.
The Young Bucks
If anyone out there has mastered the art of the heel game more than this tag team has, we haven’t found them yet. Matt and Nick Jackson do their own thing, whatever WWE conventions on a subject happen to be, and are proud to answer back to anyone who calls them out. They’ve even been known to tell people that they peed in WWE’s talent pool, built their own and then filled it with money! They have just over 60,000 Facebook followers, but their brand of acid humour is growing the numbers exponentially.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
A multimedia superstar according to whatever definition you want to use, The Rock offers a huge amount of very diverse content and it’s all infused with his unique charisma. His 56 million followers are kept up to date on his television show The Ballers, his YouTube challenge series, movies, talk shows and even an app that can help get you in shape.
John Cena
One thing any successful social media personality knows is that you have to be consistent, and post on a daily basis. Cena communicates with his 42 million followers on a daily basis. His interactive posts keep people informed about his latest events, invite them to participate in polls and give him a way to share his world views via video. It works perfectly, and Cena is as iconic today as he was in the days before social media.
With social media growing in popularity all the time we are sure to see even more wrestlers join in the fun, and in the future, the war of words may become as intense as the battle in the ring.
Tough Enough competitors Amanda Saccomano and Daria Berenato, better known to NXT fans as Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, made their Raw debut last night, teaming up with Paige.
Rose and Deville signed WWE deals as soon as the Tough Enough competition was over in mid-2015. Mandy Rose was a finalist but eventually lost to Sara Lee. Deville was eliminated as the third competitor from the show.
The 26-year-old Mandy Rose is also a former fitness competitor and in 2014 was crowned the World Beauty Fitness & Fashion Bikini Champion. The New York native made her NXT live event debut in January 2016 and first appeared on NXT television in August of last year as well. She was also part of the main cast of Total Divas season five.
Sonya Deville, the 24-year-old from New Jersey, signed her WWE deal in October 2015 and made her live event debut for NXT in December. She also made her first NXT TV appearance in August. Deville is a former mixed martial artist and has a record of 2-1. She is the first openly lesbian WWE performer.
Paige is back in “her house” as the former NXT and Divas champion made her return on WWE television last night on Raw after an absence of 15 months.
She did not come alone though and with her came along Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, the two Tough Enough participants who were part of the show when Paige was a judge.
All three attacked Mickie James, Bayley, and Sasha Banks who were in the ring and they each hit their finishing move. They later attacked Raw Women’s champion Alexa Bliss in a backstage segment.
The British star has not been seen on WWE television since August of 2016 due to two Wellness Program violations and then neck surgery. Her status with the company was up in the air mainly due to her relationship with Alberto El Patron and the videos they used to put together, where El Patron kept bashing WWE and its top officials with Paige silent, but still by his side.
In late March, disaster struck as several of her private photos and videos which contained full nudity were leaked on the Internet. Then in July, El Patron and Paige were involved in a fight at Orlando International Airport and if it wasn’t for her boyfriend who dropped the investigation, she would have been charged with domestic violence assault, effectively ending her WWE career for a third strike under the WWE Wellness Program.
Something that also kept Paige employed was the fact that WWE Studios and Seven Bucks Productions, the company owned by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, have a movie about her and her family which already completed filming and is now in post-production.
