Hulk Hogan to do autograph signing at Orlando store later this month

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06/05/2017

Hulk Hogan is doing another autograph signing at his Hogan’s Beach Shop in Orlando. Situated on International Drive, this newest location was opened during WrestleMania week in April.

Tickets are $60, $100, and $200. Each ticket will allow you one autograph and one photo with your own camera. If you do not have an item you’d like to get signed, the store will have 8×10 photos available.

$60 tickets are for children aged 12 and under. $100 is a standard adult ticket that includes a small item to autograph such as an action figure, t-shirt, bandana, etc. The $200 ticket is for large autographed items such as replica title belts, large posters, WrestleMania chairs, etc. If you need additional items autographed, it’s $60 extra as well. Children 5 and under may enter the event for free but will not get their own photo/autograph.

The autograph signing will be on June 24 from 4PM to 8PM. The store will be closed during the event so if you need to do some shopping, go earlier. Tickets are available at hogansbeachshop.com.

NXT begins week-long tour in the United Kingdom

By

Colin Vassallo

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06/05/2017

The NXT Superstars are currently in the United Kingdom for a week-long tour that will run through June 11.

Tonight, there is a show at the GE Oil & Gas Arena in Aberdeen, Scotland. Tomorrow, the planned show in Manchester was canceled due to the terrorist attacks from two weeks ago but NXT stars will be visiting hospitals to spread some cheer to the injured. On Wednesday, it’s off to Leeds for a show at the First Direct Arena and then on Thursday an event at Brighton Centre in Brighton. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, NXT will be at the popular Download Festival at Donington Park in Derby.

Bobby Roode, Asuka, Eric Young, Drew McIntyre, Alestair Black, Kassius Ohno, Roderick Strong, Pete Dunne, and many others will be part of this tour.

Extreme Rules 2017 pay-per-view results

By

Colin Vassallo

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06/05/2017

Here are the results from last night’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view which took place from the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland.

Kalisto defeated Apollo Crews in the Kick Off match; The Mix defeated Dean Ambrose to become the new Intercontinental champion; Rich Swann and Sasha Banks defeated Noam Dar and Alicia Fox; Alexa Bliss defeated Bailey in a kendo stick on a pole match to retain the Raw Women’s title; Sheamus and Cesaro defeated The Hardy Boyz in a steel cage match to become the new Raw Tag Team champions; Neville defeated Austin Aries in a submission match to retain the Cruiserweight title; Samoa Joe defeated Bray Wyatt, Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns to become the new number one contender for the WWE Universal title.

Betting odds for Extreme Rules 2017

By

Colin Vassallo

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06/04/2017

Odds seem to have flipped in the main event of tonight’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view and Seth Rollins has taken over Samoa Joe as the favorite to win the number one contender spot for the WWE Universal title.

Samoa Joe, who was the clear favorite yesterday, is now at 11/8 to win, with Seth Rollins the favorite at 10/11. Finn Balor is at 7/1 while both Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns are at a distant 14/1.

The Intercontinental title is looking like it will change hands according to bookies, with The Miz at 1/2 to win and Ambrose 6/4 to retain. The same can be said for the Raw Tag Team titles, with Sheamus and Cesaro the favorites at 1/5 to win the steel cage match against the Hardy Boyz who are at 100/30.

One title which doesn’t look like is changing hands is the Raw Women’s title, with Alexa Bliss the favorite at 2/7 to retain and Bayley at 5/2 to win. Neville is also looking to retain the Cruiserweight title at 1/5 while Austin Aries is at 100/30 for the upset.

The other remaining match involving Sasha and Swann taking on Dar and Fox has both set of teams at 5/6.

Odds are most likely to change by the time the show starts and even beyond that so if you’re betting, be careful.

Impact to hold first house show in two years this August

By

Colin Vassallo

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06/04/2017

Impact Wrestling will hold its first non-televised live event in nearly two years this coming August in Staten Island.

The show will be held on August 5 at the Richmond County Ball Park and tickets go on pre-sale on June 7 at 10AM, followed by a general sale on June 9 at 10AM. Ticket prices are $25, $40, $50, $60, and $70. The two highest priced tickets also include a pre-show meet and greet. Tickets can be purchased at TicketReturn.com.

When Anthem Sports and Entertainment took over Impact, one of the goals was to resume touring around the country. The company gets no money from the audience at Impact television tapings since they are held inside Universal Studios.

Extreme Rules 2017 live on pay-per-view and WWE Network tonight

By

Colin Vassallo

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06/04/2017

Live from the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland, WWE presents Extreme Rules on pay-per-view and the WWE Network. The full card is as follows:

Roman Reigns vs Seth Rollins vs Finn Balor vs Bray Wyatt vs Samoa Joe in a fatal 5-way extreme rules match to determine the #1 contender for the Universal title; Dean AMbrose vs The Miz for the Intercontinental title; Alexa Bliss vs Bayley in a kendo stick on a pole match for the Raw Women’s title; The Hardy Boyz vs Cesaro and Sheamus in a steel cage match for the Raw Tag Team titles; Neville vs Austin Aries in a submission match for the Cruiserweight title; Rich Swann and Sasha Banks vs Noam Dar and Alicia Fox.

Extreme Rules is free for first-time subscribers to the WWE Network. Simply go to http://w-o.it/wwentwrk to start your free subscription.

Harley Race breaks both legs, undergoes surgery

By

Colin Vassallo

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06/03/2017

WWE.COM is reporting that Hall of Famer Harley Race fell in his home and broke both his legs, requiring emergency surgery.

Race, who is 74-years-old, sustained a fracture to his right femur and suffered breaks in his left fibula and tibia, as well as a spiral break of his left ankle. The incident happened on Tuesday night but underwent surgery yesterday. He also had to receive four blood transfusions.

Harley Race is considered to be one of the legit toughest guys in the business and had a 31-year career, wrestling in the AWA, NWA, WWE, and WCW. In 2004 he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by one of his greatest rivals, Ric Flair.

Rey Mysterio discusses potentially working for Impact Wrestling

By

Colin Vassallo

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06/03/2017

In an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Extra Mustard, former World Heavyweight champion Rey Mysterio revealed that he had discussions with Impact Wrestling about working with them, but he’s not interested in signing a full-time deal.

“To be honest with you, it’s not that I don’t want to go work for them, it’s just like I didn’t have it in my game plan. I also didn’t have Lucha Underground in my game plan before it was created,” Mysterio said.

He added that if the circumstances were right, he wouldn’t mind going but he would not be interested in signing a deal. “But I would love to do some shows. People want to see diversity in their opponents and fans want to see their dream matches. If people want to see a match-up, let’s make it happen,” Mysterio added.

Mysterio is currently under contract with Lucha Underground and cannot appear on any other television show. He called the show the “pioneer in the cruiserweight division” and wrestling has changed because of Lucha Underground.

Impact rating for 06/01/2017

By

Colin Vassallo

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06/03/2017

Impact Wrestling on POP did a total of 287,000 viewers on Thursday night, down 18,000 viewers from last week. Next week’s show will start a 4-week run from India. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)

Samoa Joe the current favorite to win Extreme Rules main event

By

Colin Vassallo

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06/03/2017

Five WWE Superstars will battle tomorrow in a fatal 5-way match to determine the number one contender to the Universal Title, currently held by Brock Lesnar.

According to the latest odds, with over 24 hours to go for the actual event, Samoa Joe is currently the clear favorite to win this match with betting odds on him set at 3/10.

Interesting enough, Roman Reigns is the least favorite to win, with the worse odds at 13/1. Finn Balor is currently at 6/1, Seth Rollins is at 7/1, and Bray Wyatt at 10/1.

Ever since making his main roster debut, Samoa Joe has not dominated the way he did in NXT and even though he showed up several weeks before WrestleMania, he was not used during the biggest event of the year.

A decisive win tomorrow and a program with Lesnar will certainly help elevate back his status as a monster heel.

NXT female referee Jessika starts at non-televised events

By

Colin Vassallo

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06/02/2017

Indie wrestler Kennadi Brink, who recently signed a developmental deal with WWE as a referee, made her start at last night’s non-televised NXT event in Orlando, Florida.

Brink was introduced by her real name of Jessika as she took charge of the first match of the night. Jessika regularly wrestled for Maryland Championship Wrestling but has also made appearances for SHIMMER, Ring of Honor, and other independent promotions. She is 25 years old and trained at the Team 3D academy, run by Bubba Ray and Devon Dudley. She made her pro wrestling debut in 2010.

She is the first female WWE referee since the 80s. Back then, Rita Chatterton worked full time as a WWE referee but then left and sued Vince McMahon for rape. McMahon later claimed that he was the victim of a scheme to extort $5 million in hush money. A good article from 1993 detailing the story can be read at http://bit.ly/2rzOdxH.

Remember the $1 million offer for CM Punk? That tournament is canceled!

By

Colin Vassallo

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06/02/2017

Remember that $1 million offer to CM Punk from British independent wrestling promotion 5 Star Wrestling? Well, the offer was not taken, and not only that, now the tournament that was supposed to happen to lure Punk back to the squared circle has been canceled as well.

The tournament, consisting of 128 wrestlers that was supposed to start in Liverpool on June 10 was abruptly canned and rescheduled for 2018.

“We have decided to completely reschedule the entire 5 Star Wrestling tournament for February. We know this will be disappointing to many fans as it means we will not be running any further shows in 2017 but we assure you, this is not a decision we have taken lightly and it is a move that will greatly improve the shows we host going forward,” a statement from the promotion read.

No reason was given as to why the tournament was canceled.

Daniel Hinkles, the owner of the promotion, made headlines last month after he told The Sun tabloid newspaper in the UK that he put an offer of $1 million for CM Punk to participate in the tournament.

Smackdown rating for 05/30/2017

By

Colin Vassallo

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06/01/2017

This week’s Smackdown did 2,350,000 viewers, up only 22,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. Despite being the best number since the April 25 episode, the number is still down from the pre-NBA Playoffs average. Smackdown was #1 on the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)

John Cena returning on July 4 Smackdown Live

By

Colin Vassallo

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06/01/2017

John Cena is currently filming a movie, titled The Pact, in Atlanta and with Smackdown being in Atlanta this week, many thought that he’d pop in for an appearance.

It wasn’t meant to be, and Cena said that Tuesday was “bittersweet” because he’s enjoying his time in Atlanta doing the movie but Smackdown was “so close.”

Cena, who has not appeared on WWE television since he proposed to Nikki at WrestleMania 33, then gave out the date of his return to WWE. “7/4 can’t get here fast enough,” Cena wrote. July 4, which is also Independence Day in the United States, will see a live Smackdown taking place at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona.

WWE.COM is already promoting Cena’s return for that show, using him, Orton, and and AJ Styles in the top graphic for the event.

Lana wants spot in the Money In The Bank all-women ladder match

By

Colin Vassallo

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06/01/2017

Despite not having debuted on Smackdown Live yet using her new dancing gimmick, Lana is now trying to get herself in the Smackdown women’s Money In The Bank ladder match.

Using Twitter, Lana wrote, “Dear @ShaneMcMahon, can I please negotiate being put in the first ever MITB women’s match? I’d like to be apart of history. Thank you.”

The women’s ladder match has five participants while the men’s ladder match has six after Kevin Owens worked his way in after originally being left out. Lana has been off television for a few months ever since Rusev got injured in February and underwent surgery. The two were traded to Smackdown Live during the Superstar Shake-up but so far both have not appeared. Lana is doing several non-televised live events with the NXT crew leading up to her Smackdown debut. She previously only wrestled once on WWE television, a debut that came at WrestleMania 32 during the Kick Off match in a 10-women tag match.

Meanwhile, WWE Superstar Nia Jax was impressed on how Smackdown is using its women, and somewhat took a dig at the folks behind Raw. “Wow! First ever Money in the Bank Women’s Ladder Match! Amazing how #SmackdownLive uses their ENTIRE women roster every Tuesday,” she wrote.

Raw rating for 05/29/2017

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/31/2017

Monday Night Raw drew only 2,612,000 viewers for the Memorial Day episode, and that is without any NBA competition. There was the NHL Stanley Cup Final which did nearly 5 million viewers head-to-head but all major television shows were on repeat. Raw did 3,000 less viewers than last week.

Hour one did 2,689,000 viewers, followed by 2,681,000 viewers in the second hour, and 2,468,000 viewers in the third and final hour. Just as a comparison, last year’s Raw on Memorial Day did 3.2 million viewers.

Raw was #2, #3, and #4 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)

The New Day returns on Smackdown Live

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/31/2017

The longest reigning WWE Tag Team champions, The New Day, returned on television last night on Smackdown Live. This was the first televised appearance by the trio since the night after WrestleMania 33 when they were attacked by The Revival on Raw.

The week after, The New Day moved to Smackdown as part of the Superstar Shake-up but they never appeared due to Kofi Kingston undergoing ankle surgery. Kingston had fragments of bone break off the ankle bone, requiring arthroscopic surgery to remove the bone chips from the damaged joint.

With their return on television also came a Smackdown Tag Team title shot against The Usos at the upcoming Money In The Bank pay-per-view. This was the fourth match on the MITB card following the announcement of the two MITB ladder matches and the WWE title match.

Smackdown women to make history with first-ever women’s MITB ladder match

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/31/2017

There have been 17 Money In The Bank ladder matches so far, or 18 if you count the upcoming MITB ladder match featuring AJ Styles, Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Shinsuke Nakamura.

Out of all these matches since its inception in 2005, there has never been a women’s Money In The Bank ladder match. Until this year.

Five of the Smackdown women will be making history in three weeks as they will compete for the briefcase, hanging high up in the air, containing a contract to cash in any time, any place. These five participants are Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Carmella, Natalya and Tamina.

Money In The Bank takes place on June 18 from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Summer Rae in Maxim Magazine’s Hot 100 issue

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/30/2017

WWE Superstar Summer Rae may have been off WWE television for several months, but the blond stunner got the nod from Maxim Magazine as she was included in the Maxim Hot 100, an issue which comes out today.

Rae, who is listed as Danielle “Summer Rae” Moinet, is photographed on the sand in a red bikini showing off her stunning body with the words, “The blonde WWE bombshell is as tough as she is sexy, which is just how she likes it. As she explains, ‘Hot as no boundaries. It no longer has to fit in a box. Hot is confidence, it’s strength, it’s athletic, it’s smart, it’s curvy or slim, and nothing is hotter than a woman loving herself!’”

She is featured in the “Good Sports” section of the list alongside the likes of X-athlete Anna Gasser, skiier Lindsey Vonn and UFC’s Paige VanZant. “I am honored to be included in it! I’m privileged to be along side some amazing, strong, powerful women,” Rae said.

You can see her photo from the magazine below.

https://twitter.com/RealSummerWWE/status/869571299944910850

WWE’s fitness brand Tapout launches body spray collection

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/30/2017

Tapout, the fitness brand now owned by WWE and Authentic Brands Group, today launched the Tapout Body Sprays Collection which are now available at Walmart stores for $7.98 each.

Tapout brand ambassador John Cena will appear in an ad campaign through exclusive digital content on WWE and Tapout channels, event sponsorships, as well as TV and in-store advertisements to promote the new body sprays. The six performance body sprays come in a diverse range of scents – including Defy, Victory, Fuel, Focus, Core, and Control. Easy-to-use and high-quality, they are suitable for any occasion for men of all ages.

“Motivation, discipline and determination are three values at the core of everything I do on both a personal and professional level,” said Cena. “Whether it’s after a workout, or before an event, Tapout Body Sprays are a great addition to my every day routine.”

Natasha Fishman, EVP of Marketing at Authentic Brands Group, added, “We are excited to launch Tapout into the personal care space. Extending the brand into body sprays is a great next step for Tapout as it directly correlates to its brand essence which is to inspire the athlete in every individual.