PWInsider.com is reporting that Impact Wrestling is looking to move away from Universal Studios as its base for television tapings.
Hold tapings inside Universal Studios means that the company cannot charge for tickets as the studio they film in is part of the theme park, so anyone who is in the park for the day can attend the tapings for free.
PWInsider adds that New York, Chicago, and Toronto are all in contention for future Impact tapings. The company films around two to three months worth of tapings every time to cut on production costs.
Moving away from Universal in Orlando does not mean that Impact won’t return there for future shows. Several years ago, they did an experiment where tapings were held on the road before eventually they went back to Universal.
In an interview with Fox Sports Australia, Raw General Manager Kurt Angle has once again discussed about his wish to step back in the WWE ring and wrestle rather than just be an on-screen GM.
Angle said that he feels great but he needs to be patient and see how this whole thing is going to work out. The Olympic gold medalist has not underwent any physicals to determine if WWE docs could medically clear him, however, he told Fox Sports that he is indeed getting drug tested.
“I haven’t taken the physical to wrestle but the drug testing…I’m part of that. I’m a talent on TV. Although they don’t treat me as a wrestler, if you’re a talent, you’re involved in everything,” Angle said.
Kurt also said that the decision of him wrestling or not basically is up to Vince McMahon. “I would say I will most likely wrestle. It’s up to Vince McMahon. I would imagine I will,” Angle concluded.
Corey Graves usually likes to bust Enzo Amore’s chops on television. If that is because of something more deep that runs backstage between the two is unknown, but the two had a hilarious exchange on Twitter which was started by Graves.
Yesterday, Graves wrote that he saw his son running to second base and danced like Enzo Amore to celebrate. “I have failed as a father,” Graves wrote.
Not one to stand down from any digs, the current WWE Cruiserweight champion had the perfect response to his former NXT competitor.
“Nah u didn’t fail as a father,” Enzo wrote. “U failed as a wrestler, thats why they dressed ya up in a suite N tie & told ya 2 sit down.”
You don’t often see MMA fighters pull off a wrestling move in a mixed martial arts cage for obvious reasons.
But MMA fighter Jonno Mears decided to give that a try at the Full Contact Contender 19 event held in Bolton, England last night…and was actually successful!
While his opponent was face down on the mat, Mears thought it would be the perfect opportunity to lock the Walls of Jericho on him. Surprisingly, after applying enough pressure, his opponent tapped out.
The Walls of Jericho is essentially a Boston Crab, but Jericho made it his own. “Hahah see the #WallsOfJericho really works,” Jericho tweeted.
The video posted on FCC’s official Facebook page has already racked up nearly half a million views. That is pretty good when compared to the other videos in the library which get around 2,000 to 3,000 views! You can see it below.
It’s every Superstar’s goal to one day headline WrestleMania. It’s an opportunity that not many get, especially women where the chances of headlining WWE’s biggest pay-per-view of the year is slim.
But that is not discouraging Charlotte Flair from aiming high. In an interview with ESPN, the former champion is hoping to get that opportunity and wants former UFC Bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey to be her opponent.
“I hope that’s the main event of WrestleMania,” she told ESPN. “That’s my dream. I hope we can make it happen. She really opened the doors for a lot of women. Having that opportunity would be huge. I don’t know what her goals are, but it’s just cool that she wants to be a part of our world.”
Flair is one of the only two women – along with Sasha Banks – who has so far main evented a WWE pay-per-view. That opportunity came last year at Hell In A Cell, a match inside the steel structure, which was also a first. The women delivered, and they often do when they are put in this situation.
“I thank Ronda for opening the door for us,” Flair said. “If Ronda had never been given that main event spot as a female and doing what she did with it, I don’t know if we would have ever been given that chance.”
Rousey recently attended the Mae Young Classic tournament tapings in Winter Park, Florida and then attended the MYC finale in Las Vegas, where she was sitting in front row with her friends.
Ronda last fought in the UFC in December 2016 in a decisive loss to champion Amanda Nunes at UFC 207.
Tickets for the Starrcade event in Greensboro, North Carolina went on sale this weekend at Ticketmaster.com.
Judging from the arena map on Ticketmaster, the whole upper ring bowl is blocked off and chances are they won’t be opened as WWE is already assuming a low advance considering it will be Thanksgiving weekend. The floor area is pretty much sold while tickets remain in the first riser.
Ticket prices range from $15 to $295 for regular tickets and then up to $599 for a VIP package.
The Greensboro Coliseum, the site of the first-ever NWA Starrcade, holds nearly 24,000 people.
A fan took a go at storming the ring at an NXT non-televised live event in Tampa, Florida last night but was met by Kyle O’Reilly’s boot.
The incident occurred during the six-man tag match between Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O’Reilly vs Heavy Machinery and Kassius Ohno. The fan was a bit quick for the security but O’Reilly kicked him to keep him out before security eventually handled him.
The fan was then escorted to the backstage area where presumably he wasn’t met with handshakes! Twitter user Vaughn Heberlee caught some parts of this on video which you can see below.
I have been writing reviews and commentary for Wrestling-Online for a little while now, and have seen one entire season of Total Divas and Total Bellas while providing you, the readers, with my summary and color commentary. Also, prior to writing for the website, I had become quite a bit of a reality television junkie.
So, I thought that I had pretty much seen it all when it came to wacky reality show storylines. However, this week on Total Bellas I think that Brie, Nikki, and their fellows as well as the rest of the Bella family won the award for what is quite possibly the strangest topic ever discussed on a reality television show.
The major topic I was up for discussion this week was end-of-life decisions. First of all, I would just like to point out that the whole reason that the family has decided to all live in Phoenix for this season of Total Bellas is that entire family wants to be around to witness the birth of Brie and Bryan’s new baby. Does anyone else find it ironic that at a time when this family is gathered together to celebrate a new life, they end up talking about death…or the time just before it?
To make this conversation even odder, it initially began over brunch. I personally don’t think that discussion of death and life support would help me digest my eggs and bacon very well, maybe that’s just me. Further, I think that Brie put her brother on the spot just a little when she asked if he had to make a split-second decision regarding who would become his daughter Vivian’s legal guardian in the event of he and his wife’s untimely demise who he would choose. Those types of decisions are not meant to made second, and it almost seemed as though Brie was fishing to have herself and Daniel chosen.
Of course, they were which isn’t surprising given that JJ and Lauren’s only other option would have been to leave the care of Vivian up to Nikki and her boyfriend, John Cena, which would not be prudent considering that John has expressed multiple times that he doesn’t want his kids, therefore why would he want to take responsibility for anyone else’s?
Astonishingly, however, when Brie and Bryan decided after much discussion that it would be better to make JJ and Lauren the legal guardians of their daughter, Birdie if anything should happen to them; Nikki was crushed. Brie rightly stated that while Nicole would be her first choice for being Birdie’s legal guardian, she was concerned that John wouldn’t want to take on a paternal role. Nicole continued to insist that if confronted with the actual deaths of Brie and Bryan he would willingly jump into the role of substitute parent. I am not so sure, while I certainly don’t think he would encourage Nikki to abandon Birdie, I do think that he might decide to end his relationship with Nicole rather than take on the role of father to her orphaned niece. Hopefully though, Brie and Bryan live to be 100 and the decision never has to be made.
However, the end-of-life discussions didn’t end with the discussion of legal guardians, but went even further.
On the way home from brunch, Nikki asked John if he would be her medical power of attorney if she found herself incapacitated. Once again, I would just like to point out that this isn’t exactly cheery Sunday drive conversation, especially when like Nikki you’re asking someone to have the strength to take you off life support if you become brain-dead.
Surprisingly, John said that he didn’t want to be involved in any of Nikki’s end-of-life decisions. He reasoned, that it would be too much of an emotional burden for him to bear to be a part of the decision of whether or not to end Nikki’s life. Further, he said that he didn’t want Nikki to be part of his end-of-life decisions either.
Nikki was extremely hurt, and while I understand that John was trying to shield Nikki from the pain that will come from making such an important decision, it also seemed to be another way in which John was excluding Nikki from plans for his future and avoiding making a commitment to her.
Adding insult to injury, John even refused to tell Nikki who has power of attorney was. So it appears that when John Cena joins the ranks of the wrestlers in the heavenly wrestling federation, he could do so without his life partner ever knowing if the person who took him off life support was even authorized to do so.
This doesn’t seem like good planning on his part, but it makes great television.
Linda McMahon is back in the news as one of the Cabinet members who made use of private jet while in public office, following the resignation of Health Secretary Tom Price.
McMahon, who was appointed as the Administrator for the Small Business Administration after Donald Trump assumed the presidency, has admitted that she flew on private jets sometimes but the costs were covered personally. An e-mail from an SBA spokesperson said, “On the rare occasion that the Administrator has utilized private air services, she had covered the difference in cost between private and commercial air services out of her own pocket.”
Government officials are able to cost-construct and pay the difference themselves if they want. It’s not know what jet she used for these trips although Forbes.com said in a report that it might actually be the WWE jet.
Robbie E announced on his Twitter that he is no longer part of Impact Wrestling, parting ways with the company after seven long years.
“Thank you @impactwrestling for the last 7 plus years that have changed my life forever and I’ll always appreciate… on to the next…”
The New Jersey native started working for TNA in 2010 using a gimmick inspired by the television show Jersey Shore. He was also accompanied by the show’s most popular figure, Cookie. In 2013, he aligned himself with Jessie Godderz and created the BroMans tag team, a partnership that lasted around two years. The duo reunited in 2016 for a bit but they both went their separate ways.
During his time with Impact, Robbie E won the Television and X-Division title once.
Glenn Jacobs, the man better known as Kane, will be welcoming fellow WWE Superstar and former tag team partner Daniel Bryan to one of his events next month, titled The Yes, Yes, Yes-Fest, to raise money for his mayoral run in Knoxville.
The two will be at the Pavilion at Hunter Valley Farm for food, games, and fun for the entire family on October 5 between 6PM and 8PM. Kids 12 and under get in free while it’s $25 per person for adults.
Two weeks ago, Arn Anderson, Ricky Morton, and Dr. Tom Prichard also showed up for a meet and greet with Jacobs.
Jacobs will be vying for the Mayor of Knoxville in next year’s election. For more information go to jacobsformayor.com.
Fightful.com is reporting that WWE is playing hardball with Samantha Rotunda, the estranged wife of WWE Superstar Bray Wyatt and her attempt to extract as many information as possible in their divorce court proceedings.
Rotunda is requesting WWE to turn over all documents from February 2011 to present related to her husband which cover tax returns, financial statements, banking information, loan applications, credit cards, pension plans, real estate, mortgages, partnership and joint-venture agreements, fictitious names, employment records, contracts, fringe benefits, trusts, disability pension, and safe deposit boxes. UK pension transfer to USA rules have changed in recent years. Many US citizens receiving a UK pension and living in the USA aren’t sure if they should be declaring their UK pensions and annual gains to the IRS, or if they’ll have to pay both UK and US tax on their income. Similarly, many of us are unaware of Inheritance Tax implications if we live overseas and have a UK pension.
This information will help Rotunda seek the appropriate amount of money for alimony and child support from Wyatt’s intellectual property, merchandising, licensing, payments, and other revenue streams stemming from his WWE employment.
WWE attorneys however objected to the subpoena, and while they did release some information, they are saying that the estimated cots of compliance with the subpoena would be “somewhere between $247,500 to $483,000” since “specially-trained review attorneys” would need to “collect, process and review the WWE’s electronically-stored e-mail information.”
Samantha Rotunda’s attorneys filed a memo in the Superior Court of Stamford, Connecticut saying that WWE is acting in bad faith by intimidating her from conducting discovery.
Bray Wyatt is in this nasty legal mess after he was discovered that he was cheating on his wife with Raw ring announcer JoJo.
Episode four of season two of Total Bellas, titled Power Struggle, did a total of 560,000 viewers, down 15,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
WWE has issued a cease and desist letter to The Young Bucks for using the “Too Sweet” hand sign on their merchandise according to ProWrestlingSheet.com.
The gesture is apparently a WWE intellectual property and WWE has warned the duo that failure to comply with the demands will result in $150,000 or more in damages. WWE is also demanding an agreement in writing saying that the popular tag team will not use any WWE intellectual property again in the future.
The “Too Sweet” sign was made famous by the nWo, which WWE owns now, and was later used by stars such as Finn Balor, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, and many others.
The Young Bucks, along with fellow Bullet Club members Cody, Marty Scurll, and Hangman, “invaded” Raw on Monday night in Ontario, California.
On Twitter, Matt Jackson wrote, “We’re gonna be fine. Love y’all!
The pre-sale code for the upcoming Bound For Glory pay-per-view in Ottawa, Canada is IMPACTCANADA.
The same code can be used to book your tickets for any day of the television tapings that will follow the pay-per-view. The pre-sale ends tonight.
Tickets for the Bound For Glory pay-per-view are $40 for ringside and $20 for general admission. Television tapings from Monday to Friday will be $30 ringside and $15 general admission. Prices are in Canadian dollars.
There are also two VIP packages for sale – a Backstage pass and a VIP pass. The Backstage one is selling for $499 and features one ticket within the first three rows for the BFG pay-per-view, two tickets within the first three rows for all the five days worth of tapings, nightly meet and greets, dinner with Impact stars on November 4 which includes a Q&A, commemorative autographed photo with you and the Knockouts, and face paint with Rosemary. You will also get the commemorative all-access credential, a swag bag, an in-ring photo with an Impact star on November 9, and a 20% off certificate at the merchandise stand.
The VIP package costs $200 and includes one ticket within the first three rows for the BFG pay-per-view and the other five television tapings, nightly meet and greets, a BFG poster, commemorative credential pass, and a 20% off certificate at the merchandise stand.
The Rock ’N’ Roll Express will be lacing up their boots one more time in the WWE as the duo will be facing Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson at the upcoming Starrcade show on November 25.
The match came after the former Bullet Club members called out the WWE Hall of Famers on Twitter and while it was not officially announced by WWE yet, PWInsider.com reports that the match is a lock for the show.
Both Gibson and Morton were scheduled to appear at the Greensboro Coliseum anyway, a place where they defeated Ivan and Nikita Koloff to win the NWA World Tag Team titles in 1985 and then a year later defeated Ole and Arn Anderson to retain the titles. Both matches took place inside a steel cage.
Starrcade so far is a non-televised event although it’s rumored that it might be transformed into a WWE Network special.
Smackdown this week drew 2,542,000 viewers, up 32,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. The show was #2 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and #4 overall in viewership. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Season three of Ballers, the drama/comedy show on HBO featuring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the leading role as Spencer Strasmore wrapped up this past Sunday, with 1 million viewers tuning in to see the season finale.
Season three started huge in the ratings but the show lost over half its audience in its last four episodes. In fact, the season three finale was the least viewed finale of the series so far. Season three averaged 1.88 million viewers over 10 episodes, up from the 1.17 million average of season two.
The series, which relocated to California for filming this year, is most likely getting another season pickup from HBO.
Episode four of season two of Total Bellas airs tonight on E! with an episode titled Power Struggle.
The synopsis for tonight’s show reads, “Nikki finally gets the storyline she’s been dreaming of – a tag team match with John Cena leading to WrestleMania! A major legal discussion throws the family through a loop, forcing Brie to make a tough decision and Nikki to question where her relationship with John is going. Meanwhile, Kathy’s surprisingly active sex life leaves her kids scratching their heads.”
With the 30 for 30 ESPN special looming around, “Nature Boy” Ric Flair is doing some promotional work as best as he can considering the situation he is in.
During one of these interviews, Flair has admitted that throughout the years in the business, he slept with around 10,000 women, which may shed some light on why he went through so many divorces in his life. Flair will talk about it in the documentary but in the latest People Magazine, Flair said that he wishes he could take that back.
“What I said was the truth, but I feel bad now that I said some of it. Ten thousand women,” Flair told People. “I wish I hadn’t said that because of my grandkids!”
The two-time WWE Hall of Famer is now off the market as he “loves one” now, his current fiancee` Wendy. “I have never done anything since I met Wendy,” Flair said.
The 30 for 30 documentary will air on Tuesday, November 7 at 10PM EST. It is produced by ESPN and directed by Rory Karpf. You can see the trailer at http://w-o.it/2tH3Xxm.
