WWE cruiserweight Drew Gulak was giving a PowerPoint presentation this past Tuesday on 205 Live when he was interrupted by Akira Tozawa before the third slide was put on the Titan Iron.
Now, Microsoft, the makers of the popular Office suite which PowerPoint is a part of, used Twitter to respond to Gulak after WWE put up a clip of Gulak giving the presentation.
“.@DrewGulak What’s slide 3, Captain?” the @Office social media account of Microsoft replied to WWE’s video. The WWE video had the title “I have prepared something concise and fun…a PowerPoint presentation!” and the clip from Tuesday’s episode of 205 Live.
But Microsoft did not stop there. Along with their message they attached an image of a ring with an X on the ropes to go along with Gulak’s “no jumping off the top and middle ropes” slide one and two and added, “We can’t cruiser-wait to see the rest!” along with the Microsoft logo at the bottom.
The hilarious reply got the two thumbs up from many Twitter fans who appreciated the pun from Microsoft.
WWE Superstar Nia Jax participated in a fashion show yesterday at theCURVYCon, held at the Metropolitan Pavillon in New York City.
The 33-year-old cousin of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson sported clothes for plus size women by Dia&Co. She walked the runway alongside curvy models Liza Golden, Precious Lee, and Marquita Pring among others.
Before the show, Jax wrote on Instagram that she was beyond pumped, stoked, excited, and honored to be part of the empowering event. “Being a proud and confident curvy woman, I cannot wait to strut my stuff in their fashion show and mingle with some incredibly influential #BodyPositivePeople,” she wrote.
Ed Nordholm, the Executive Vice President of Anthem Sports and Entertainment and the man leading Global Force Wrestling has revealed that their new over-the-top service will be launched next week.
Nordholm was speaking on the Wrestling Observer Radio yesterday when he made the announcement. The initial launch of Global Wrestling Network will start with nearly 900 hours of footage and will have a price of $7.99. There will also be a free tier but the bulk of the videos will be part of the paid subscription. Everyone who signs up will have a free month trial, similar to the WWE Network.
If you live in the United States, the free tier subscription will include episodes of Impact Wrestling which are added ten days after they air on POP TV.
Nordholm said that they will be trying to get AAA, Pro Wrestling NOAH and others to join their network and this service will not simply be branded for GFW.
When asked if he would be willing to sell the Impact tape library to WWE, Nordholm says at this point, it does not make sense money-wise.
“I know full well how the WWE Network would monetize the content and what they could pay for the library,” he said. “It makes no sense for me to sell it for that kind of price. I’d rather keep it, put it up on the app, and monetize it myself.”
During the interview, Nordholm reiterated that Anthem is fully behind this wrestling project and they invested a lot of money to grow. “We know it’s not going to turn around tomorrow,” he said, dismissing the report from Sports Illustrated which quoted sources saying Anthem is ready to offload GFW from their books.
Former WWE and TNA star Christy Hemme announced that she’s currently pregnant…with quadruplets! Yep, that tiny body of hers is holding four babies!
In a video posted by Hemme herself, she said she’s currently on bed rest as she’s pregnant. She’s been trying for a very long time and now she’s very excited that she will become a mother again.
“I’m not pregnant with one baby. No no. I’m not pregnant with two babies, or three babies! I am pregnant with quadruplets! Four…babies…in this little belly” she said.
Hemme is in her 15th week of pregnancy and since this is a very high-risk pregnancy, she will spend most of the time in bed or in hospital. Hemme described that she is excited, scared, petrified and has “every emotion in the book.”
The former WWE Diva Search winner spent two years in the WWE before moving to TNA where she had a 10-year career there as a wrestler, ring announcer, and backstage interviewer. She departed TNA in April 2016.
Impact drew the lowest number of 2017 so far this week, with only 227,000 viewers tuning in, down 41,000 viewers from last week’s show. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
WWE is going all out for the Mae Young Classic tournament finals and will be hosting a fully-loaded red carpet event on Tuesday live from Las Vegas.
The red carpet coverage will be hosted by Cathy Kelley and will stream live on WWE’s Facebook starting at 6PM ET. Former UFC Women’s Bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, former Team USA soccer star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Hope Solo, WWE COO Triple H, Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon, The Bella Twins, Charlotte Flair, Bayley as well as cast members of the hit Netflix series GLOW will also be on hand Tuesday.
Several competitors of the tournament have been invited back for the event and WWE Hall of Famers Madusa and Beth Phoenix will be in attendance as well.
The MYC tournament finals will air on the WWE Network immediately following the conclusion of Smackdown at 10PM ET. The final match will see popular Japanese sensation Kairi Sane taking on former UFC fighter Shayna Baszler.
Alberto El Patron is targeting a November return according to comments he gave to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated.
El Patron, who has been suspended since the airport incident with Paige, said that both sides are trying to find something that will please the fans and once that’s set, he’s going to put all of his passion into making it work.
“I am completely focused on where I want to take the company in November, and I promise to make the company great again, and Alberto is going to be on top again,” El Patron said.
He was stripped off the GFW World title last month when the company decided to leave him suspended following their internal investigation over the airport incident. He missed all the Impact television tapings that will take the company up to Bound For Glory.
After announcing yesterday that he is no longer being represented by Legacy Talent and Entertainment, two-time WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair today revealed his new agency representing him, Get Engaged.
“I am now being formally represented by Get Engaged. I am looking forward to the future and continuing my legacy. I am excited for new beginnings for me, my family and my new home at Get Engaged,” a statement read.
Flair also said that he’s returning “better than ever.”
Get Engaged describes itself as a company which provides solutions for individuals and brands trying to effectively communicate online. “We curate digital and social media strategy for household names from the world of music, professional sports as well as non-profit organizations. We also focus on developing strategy and tools in digital and social media spaces,” their website says.
Flair has already worked with Get Engaged when he went “shoe shopping” for Complex.com.
They’re back! That’s right, WWE fans! Wrestling’s favorite twins are on the E! network once again with season two of their popular family-filled reality series.
As always, Nikki and Brie Bella have brought their famous wrestling powerhouse significant others, Brie’s husband, Smackdown General Manager Daniel Bryan, and Nikki’s boyfriend, WWE Superstar John Cena. In addition, the twins have allowed their brother, JJ, his wife Lauren, their mom Cathy, and new stepfather John Laurinitis to accompany them for all of this season’s family fun and drama.
However, the majority of this will not be coming to us from John Cena’s Florida mansion, but rather from Daniel’s home base in Arizona. Because of the impending arrival of Brie and Daniel’s first child, Brie wanted the entire Bella family in Arizona to help prepare for and witness the birth.
Right away, there was one major problem. It is no secret to anyone that Cena couldn’t seem to find time in his busy schedule to spend months in Arizona preparing for a new addition to the family. He is after all one of the wrestling world’s most in demand personalities, hosting award shows, shooting films, and providing the voices for new cartoons, however, Brie was shocked at John’s not putting her pregnancy at the top of his priority list.
Maybe I’m wrong, but isn’t this one of the exact reasons that John and Nikki have opted not to have kids thus far, because John wanted to focus on career goals? If he won’t slow his career down to have his own kids, why does Brie think that he would slow down to help her with hers?
After Brie and Nikki had a huge fight about John’s priorities, John decided that he would make an effort to travel to Arizona every time that he had twelve hours free. However, Brie’s pregnancy related drama was far from over.
Her next hurdle came when she tried to convince Daniel to allow her to post naked photos of her pregnant belly on the Internet. Daniel didn’t have a problem with his wife doing a nude photo shoot while pregnant, but he had an issue with the photos being distributed on the Internet. Daniel revealed that he is actually a very private person.
I personally don’t understand how you can be a private person and regularly appear on multiple reality shows. But I think that everyone has a right to their own forms of privacy, and perhaps having his wife’s naked form seen by millions of Internet users was simply too much for Bryan to take. I am still slightly confused as to how having his wife’s naked body seen by millions of TV viewers is much better, but that’s just me.
True to form, Brie strongly disagreed with her husband’s ban on posting. She felt that it was her right to have her body displayed on any platform that she chose. While I agree that each woman’s body is her own, Bryan seems to give in to Brie an awful lot, and it would have been nice to see Brie let Bryan win for once. Daniel wasn’t alone in his opinion about his wife’s free photo sharing. JJ also thought that his sister didn’t keep enough of herself private. Furthermore, he seemed to think that his wife had the same problem.
JJ felt so strongly on this point that he argued with Lauren in front of Brie. He claimed that Lauren never keeps any of their photos private, and that even posted lingerie photos of herself on the Internet. However, later in the episode JJ confided to Nikki that he and his wife aren’t currently living together despite the recent birth of their own baby girl. JJ insisted that Nikki wasn’t supposed to tell any of their family members about the separation, but apparently the news was okay to share viewers, go figure.
Suffice it to say, this season of Total Bellas is sure to be as drama-packed as the last.
For the past several years, Ric Flair has been represented by Legacy Talent and Entertainment and its CEO Melinda Morris Zanoni.
However, that partnership is now over effective immediately as Flair announced that the group no longer represents him as of September 6.
“I will announce new representation tomorrow. I’m looking forward to the new beginning and the great opportunities that await me,” Flair wrote in a post on Facebook.
Zanoni has not publicly addressed the separation yet. It’s not known what caused the break up, however, when Flair was rushed to the hospital, Zanoni put up a statement which couldn’t be farther from the truth, saying Flair went in for a routine check up and there was nothing to worry about. The real story was completely different as Flair was pretty close to death, put in a medically-induced coma, and later underwent surgery to save his life.
WWE has canceled four NXT non-televised live events which were set for today in Daytona Beach, tomorrow in Crystal River, next Thursday in Lakeland, and Friday in Dade City due to Hurricane Irma.
The NXT crew does regular live event loops around Florida but with Hurricane Irma gaining strength and ready to wreck havoc in the Sunshine State as well, no one will be thinking about going to any wrestling.
So far, only the Dade City live event has been rescheduled for October 5. You can check NXTTickets.com for more information.
WWE will hold another set of NXT television tapings at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, on Wednesday, September 13.
Episode one of season two of Total Bellas did 681,000 viewers. That is up 41,000 viewers from the season one premiere and 18,000 viewers more than the season one finale. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
This week’s Smackdown drew 2,582,000 viewers, up 127,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. The show was #2 on the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Just like Global Force Wrestling, Jim Cornette’s involvement with the company is up in the air after the Bound For Glory pay-per-view.
In his recent podcast, The Jim Cornette Experience on MLW Radio, Cornette said that he will be part of the November Bound for Glory pay-per-view but after that, he’s not booked for any tapings. GFW has not released dates of any tapings past the BFG show.
Cornette returned to the company on the August 17 live Impact, firing Bruce Prichard and revealing himself as the new on-screen authority figure. He previously worked for TNA between 2006 and 2009.
David Mandell, The Chief Operating Officer of POP TV described GFW fans as some of the “most passionate fans in television” despite the low number of viewership Impact Wrestling registers every single week.
In the press release issued announcing the new television deals, Mandell said that the company is excited to extend the partnership with Anthem to remain the exclusive linear TV home of Impact in the United States, nothing that Anthem produces over 100 hours of original programming for the network.
“With our broad distribution across all major cable and satellite providers, as well as almost every new over-the-top bundle, including DirecTV Now, Sony Vue, Fubo TV, Hulu TV and YouTube TV, Impact fans have more options than ever to catch their favorite show every week.”
This will be the second year that the company will be airing on POP after being dumped by Destination America.
WWE and TVA Sports today announced a multi-year agreement to televise a weekly, one-hour edition of Raw in French beginning Wednesday, October 18 at 10PM.
“We’re delighted to meet the demand for WWE by offering in-ring programming every week on TVA Sports,” said Veronique Dubois, Director, Programming, TVA Sports. “Quebec has produced its share of great WWE Superstars over the years, and we hope that a new generation of Superstars will follow in the footsteps of Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and the Rougeau Brothers, among others.”
Michelle Wilson, WWE Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer, added, “We’re pleased to have TVA Sports join us in televising WWE programming. This partnership allows us to broaden our reach as we deliver our unique blend of action-packed, family friendly entertainment throughout the region.”
All of the action for TVA Sports’ presentation of Raw will be called by Patric Laprade, who will be joined on commentary by social media sensation Kevin Raphael.
Anthem Sports & Entertainment announced last night the plans to launch the Global Wrestling Network, a multi-platform digital service designed to give fans around the world instant 24-hour access to the extensive GFW and Impact libraries. The new network will hold over 3,000 hours of footage.
The company also announced the launch of the Impact Wrestling Channel on Pluto TV, a 24-hour live feed of content on the leading free over-the-top television service in the U.S as well as a distribution deal with 7Sports, the sport business unit of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group, to bring Impact back to screens in Germany, Austria and Switzerland via ran FIGHTING.
“These digital initiatives and broadcast agreements are a significant step forward for the Global Force Wrestling organization as we continue to expand the brand globally, making it available on more platforms and in more countries,” said Ed Nordholm, president of Global Force Wrestling. “Anthem is committed to broadening Global Force Wrestling’s footprint, as we work alongside international broadcast partners, digital platforms and professional wrestling promotions to bring our passionate fans a high-quality product that not only stands out in today’s media landscape, but continues to thrive into the future.”
Additional details about the launch of the Global Wrestling Network and Impact Wrestling Channel on Pluto TV will be revealed in the near future.
Impact will be available as part of the ran FIGHTING BLACK PASS for €3.99 per month at ranFIGHTING.de across Germany, Austria and Switzerland starting on September 8, which includes a simulcast of Impact on ran FIGHTING’s 24/7 web channel, plus VOD access to Impact episodes and One Night Only specials. The service also gives customers the opportunity to purchase GFW’s premium annual pay-per-view events, including Bound for Glory and Slammiversary.
“The deal with ProSieben marks the second major European broadcaster to license Impact, including Spike UK earlier this year,” Nordholm added. “Coupled with the Pop renewal, our digital launches and significant increase in YouTube views, this reflects the increasing excitement and demand for GFW’s content.”
After 523 days, Asuka has surrendered the NXT Women’s title in an episode that aired yesterday on the WWE Network.
The Superstar known as the Empress of Tomorrow has not wrestled since NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III and her successful defense against Ember Moon after she suffered a broken collarbone. She could be out of action for up to two months.
During the show last night, Asuka relinquished the title to NXT General Manager William Regal and he said that he is in discussion with both Raw and Smackdown General Managers to see where Asuka would land.
Asuka won the NXT Women’s title on April 1, 2016 at NXT Takeover: Dallas, defeating Bayley. She has remained undefeated in her NXT career.
The Japanese star is the 7th longest reigning champion in WWE history.
Jeff Jarrett was “blindsided” by the move to get him out of his COO position and forced to take an indefinite leave of absence. According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, the higher ups at Anthem had made the decision a week before but did not notify Jarrett until this week when the announcement was done.
Earlier in the day before the announcement, Jarrett tweeted that he was looking forward to September. “Tuesday morning…let’s go…super excited about September for @IMPACTWRESTLING @GFWWrestling …” he wrote in a tweet.
The report on the Observer states that problems with Jarrett had been building up for months, including clashes with other employees during television tapings and the drunk text messages to Reby Hardy, Matt Hardy’s wife. Meltzer adds that Jarrett’s behavior at AAA’s TripleMania also did not help his case and Ed Nordholm of Anthem – who was on the trip as well – took the executive decision to remove Jarrett.
The Labor Day edition of Monday Night Raw drew an average of 2,932,000 viewers, down 371,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast.
Hour one was the strongest with 3,069,000 viewers, followed by 2,979,000 in the second, and then down to 2,750,000 for the third and final hour.
This was the least-watched Raw since the July 3 episode and after eight weeks doing over 3 million viewers, the show went back in the high 2’s. Raw was #2, #3, and #4 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and was the second most-watched show on the night on cable behind college football. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
