Titus O’Neil sued for $1.2 million for prank gone wrong on Swerved

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05/07/2017

TMZ.com is reporting that a cameraman who was hired to work on the WWE Network show Swerved has sued Titus O’Neil for $1.2 million after the prank went wrong.

Donald Anderson, the cameraman, said that in May 2015, he was hired to film the pranks on unsuspecting WWE Superstars. This particular prank involved stars getting shocked and Anderson alleges that when O’Neil got zapped, he “lost his mind” and kicked the camera out of his hand.

Anderson says he was seriously injured during the incident, suffering major damage to his hand, fingers and wrist. “He says he was told to leave the premises immediately in fear of the possibility of further attacks by Titus,” the TMZ report says.

The lawsuit, filed in L.A. County Superior Court, asks for $1.2 million in damages.

Gorilla Flicks, headed by Jeff Tremaine, is the production company behind Swerved.

Impact parent company Anthem files for “Broken” trademarks

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Colin Vassallo

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05/07/2017

Anthem Sports and Entertainment have filed for trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for Broken Matt, Broken Brilliance, and Brother Nero, as the legal fight with the Hardys intensifies.

Anthem, through TNA Entertainment LLC, filed for these trademarks on April 28 and they are listed as “live” on the USPTO website. Matt Hardy, on March 1, applied for the trademark Broken Matt Hardy, and that trademark is also listed as “live.”

Although anyone can file for trademarks, just because the USPTO website lists it as active it doesn’t mean that the trademark is owned by the applicant. Registering a trademark takes a long time and each application goes through an appeal process as well so anyone can appeal the application if they think they have ownership of it.

Matt replied to one individual on Twitter today saying that Ed Nordholm, “wants to keep MY creation, the #BROKEN Universe, hostage from fans who wish to see it.” His wife Reby also said on Twitter that Anthem is going after her personally although she did not specify what for.

WWE UK championship to be defended at NXT Takeover: Chicago

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/07/2017

The WWE United Kingdom championship will be defended at the upcoming NXT Takeover: Chicago which will be held on May 20.

The announcement came yesterday during the first set of the WWE UK Championship Live television tapings in Norwich, England. The contenders will be decided tonight in the second set of tapings, as current champion Tyler Bate will be defending the title against Mark Andrews while Pete Dunne and Trent Seven will face off in a number one contender’s match. The winners of both matches will then move to the Chicago show.

This is the first time that the title will be defended on a Takeover show, although WWE UK championship matches have been held on NXT television before.

Japanese female star Kairi Hojo signs WWE deal, heading to NXT

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Colin Vassallo

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05/06/2017

The Wrestling Observer is reporting that Kairi Hojo, the 28-year-old Japanese female star, has signed a three year deal with WWE and will be moving to Orlando to start her journey at the WWE Performance Center.

Hojo announced her departure from World Wonder Ring Stardom promotion today, a promotion she has worked for since her debut in 2011. She is the current Wonder of Stardom champion and has won several titles and awards during her stint there.

WWE offered Hojo a deal back in October 2016. She is considered one of the best female professional wrestlers in the world today.

40% off offer at WWE Shop on tons of merchandise

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/06/2017

WWE Shop is running a 40% off promotion on several items, including popular t-shirts of several WWE Superstars as well as WrestleMania 33 merchandise.

The majority of t-shirts range from $11.99 to $14.99 and jerseys have been marked down to $24.99 and $39.99. T-shirts featured include those from John Cena, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, The New Day, Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura, Sasha Banks, Nikki Bella, and many others.

This offer ends on May 8 at 2:59AM ET. You can also add additional promo codes to save more money, including WWESAVE5 to save $5 off orders $35 or over and WWESAVE10 to save $10 off orders $70 and over.

To start shopping go to http://w-o.it/wweshopcom.

WWE holding tapings for UK Championship Live this weekend

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/06/2017

WWE will be taping two shows of United Kingdom Championship Live this weekend, one today, and one tomorrow, for a future airing on the WWE Network.

Both shows are being held at Epic Studios in Norwich, England, and will feature the stars of 205 Live and the United Kingdom Championship tournament from this past January. Scheduled to appear are WWE UK champion Tyler Bate, The Brian Kendrick, Rich Swann, TJP, Tony Nese, Akira Tozawa, and several others from the PROGRESS and ICW promotions in the UK.

Epic Studios is a television studio with three different-sized studios inside, with the bigger one holding up to 1,500 people.

Ember Moon out of the NXT Women’s title fatal 4-way match

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/06/2017

The NXT Women’s title fatal 4-way match at NXT Takeover: Chicago has been changed to a triple threat now as Ember Moon has been taken out of the match due to an injury.

Moon, who challenged Asuka at the last Takeover in Orlando, suffered a shoulder injury when Asuka threw her out of the ring when she interfered in the number one contender’s match. Since then, Ember Moon has been sporting a sling and at the recent non-televised NXT live events, her picture was removed from the upcoming title match during advertising.

The match will now feature Asuka vs Ruby Riot vs Nikki Cross. NXT Takeover: Chicago will be headlined by Bobby Roode vs Hideo Itami for the NXT title.

Dave Bautista wanted WWE return for one last run but idea was nixed by McMahon

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/05/2017

During the latest Talk Is Jericho podcast on PodcastOne.com, former WWE champion Dave Bautista said that he has enquired about returning to WWE for one last program before he retires but the powers that be nixed the idea.

Bautista told Jericho that he pitched the idea of having one final program with Triple H, adding that it’s the only thing he’s interested in doing. “They’re just not interested in it,” Bautista said. Y2J asked him if he’d be willing to work with anyone else on the roster since McMahon dismissed his original idea and Bautista said that at the moment, no, there is nobody else. “Because it would be my retirement thing. It would be what I would go out on,” he said.

The former Evolution member was last seen on WWE television in June 2014 when he quit during an episode of Raw when Triple H denied him a shot to the WWE title. Bautista had just returned to the company just six months before, winning the Royal Rumble, and main evented WrestleMania XXX with Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan.

Bautista added that he missed wrestling although he doesn’t miss dealing with WWE and the many bullshit that comes along with it.

Dave Bautista returns to theater screens today with Guardians of the Galaxy 2, a movie which he plays the character of Drax The Destroyer.

Impact rating for 05/04/2017

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/05/2017

Impact Wrestling on POP last night drew 260,000 viewers, up 5,000 viewers from last week’s show. The NBA Playoffs once again dominated the night, taking a small chunk of the usual Impact audience. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)

AJ Brooks’ Crazy Is My Superpower book makes it on NY Times Best Sellers list

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/05/2017

AJ “Lee” Brooks is a former WWE Divas champion, but now she can also call herself a New York Times best selling author.

In the rankings reflecting sales for April 2017, her book Crazy Is My Superpower reached #7 in the Sports and Fitness category. The book is also doing very well in sales on Amazon.com, currently listed in #1 in the Wrestling and Women in Sports categories.

The book, published by Crown Archetype on April 4, contains 288 pages and features the life story of AJ Brooks, from her childhood, to dealing with mental illness, to finding glory in the WWE.

UK-only weekly WWE show still on development schedule

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/05/2017

During the conference call held yesterday to discuss the Q1 2017 financial results, WWE’s Chief Marketing and Revenue Officer Michelle Wilson said that the weekly United Kingdom-only show is “absolutely” still part of their development schedule but there’s nothing to announce yet.

WWE will be testing the waters this weekend with two live events featuring the UK Championship tournament and 205 Live stars. Both events will be taped for future airing on the WWE Network.

Wilson said that the WWE UK Championship tournament was a large success, not only locally, but around the world. She added that right now the focus is getting the 32-women tournament up and running and that is set to debut on the WWE Network sometime in the third quarter.

91 private photos of Lisa Marie Varon leaked

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/05/2017

The artist formerly known as Victoria in WWE and Tara in TNA is the latest victim when it comes to personal photos being released on the Internet, and this one is the biggest of them all.

The 46-year-old, real name Lisa Marie Varon, had 91 photos posted on different websites showing her in different states of undress, with her breasts exposed in almost all of them, and some photos even include her having sex. Some photos suggest that there’s also a sex tape.

Just like the Charlotte leaks from yesterday, it’s unclear if these were hacked from her phone or they were stolen from someone else who received them. Varon took the majority of the photos with an iPhone, which could mean that her iCloud account was tampered with.

Varon has not commented on the leaks yet.

The California-native spent 8 years working for WWE before then moving to TNA for 5 more years. She is a former two-time WWE Women’s champion and former five-time TNA Knockout champion.

Wall Street not impressed by WWE’s Q1 2017 numbers

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/04/2017

Wall Street was not impressed by WWE’s first quarter of 2017 financial results and investors drove down the stocks by 4.81%.

WWE stocks closed the trading day at $19.79 after they opened at $20.45. Stocks have not closed below $20 since February of this year.

For the quarter, the Company reported Net income of $0.9 million compared to $13.9 million in the prior year quarter.

Total Divas season 6 episode 15 rating

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/04/2017

Episode 15 of season 6 of Total Divas, titled Swimming with Pigs, drew a total of 576,000 viewers, up 10,000 from last week’s show. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)

Charlotte Flair’s private photos include 17 in total, 10 of them naked

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/04/2017

In total, 17 very private photos were leaked from Charlotte Flair’s phone and at this point it’s not clear if the photos were stolen from her phone or from someone who the photos were eventually sent to by the former Raw Women’s champion.

Out of these 17 photos, 10 of them are either fully naked or with her breasts exposed. The other remaining photos have Flair in her underwear. The naked photos look like they have all been taken from the same bathroom while the other photos are probably taken from different hotel rooms. One photo suggests that she was in a locker room when it was taken.

Charlotte admitted in a statement on Twitter that the photos were all hers and were posted online without her permission.

Asuka to defend NXT Women’s title at Takeover: Chicago in a fatal 4-way

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/04/2017

The NXT Women’s title will be defended at NXT Takeover: Chicago once again in a fatal four-way match. The announcement came yesterday by NXT General Manager William Regal at the end of the NXT television show on the WWE Network.

The reigning champion, Asuka, will be taking on Nikki Cross, Ruby Riot, and Ember Moon after the number one contender’s match ended when the champion interfered and destroyed the three other women.

This is the second time this year that the NXT Women’s title will be defended in a fatal 4-way match. At NXT Takeover: San Antonio back in January, Asuka successfully defeated Peyton Royce, Billie Kay, and Nikki Cross to retain her title and at the last Takeover show in Orlando, Asuka defeated Ember Moon to retain.

NXT Takeover: Chicago takes place from the Allstate Arena on May 20.

WWE revenues by business segment for Q1 2017

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/04/2017

Out of the nine main WWE business segments, six of them registered an increase compared to the prior year quarter while three of them registered a decrease, with Home Entertainment (DVD/Blu-Ray sales) taking the biggest hit this quarter.

Network revenues, which include revenue generated by WWE Network and pay-per-view, increased 15% to $46.5 million. WWE Network subscription revenue increased 14% to $43.7 million from $38.2 million in the prior year quarter; Television revenues increased 5% to $64.0 million from $60.7 million in the prior year quarter; Live Event revenues increased 27% to $32.1 million; Venue Merchandise revenues increased 29% to $7.1 million from $5.5 million in the prior year quarter; WWE Shop revenues increased 16% to $7.9 million; Digital Media increased to $5.7 million from $5.4 million in the prior year quarter.

Those who did not perform so well include Licensing, which went down to $20.1 million from $21 million, WWE Studios, down to $1.3 million from $2.0 million of the prior year quarter; and Home Entertainment, down $2.4 million from the $3.3 million of Q1 2016.

Of the $188.4 million in Net revenues registered, North America contributed to $146.2 million of it. Europe, Middle East, and Africa accounted for $26.6 million, Asia Pacific did $13 million, and Latin America did $2.6 million. Only EMEA registered a drop compared to the prior year quarter, going down $1 million.

Nude photos of Charlotte Flair leaked online

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/04/2017

Former Raw Women’s champion Charlotte Flair is the latest WWE Superstar who ended up victim of private nude photos being leaked on the Internet.

Charlotte confirmed that the photos were authentic in a post on Twitter. “Private photos of mine were stolen and shared publicly without my consent. These images must be removed from the Internet immediately,” she wrote.

The photos are taken from in front of a mirror with a phone featuring the WWE logo on its cover.

Flair’s nude photos follow the leaked photos of Paige, Maria Kanellis-Bennett, Celeste “Kaitlyn” Bonin, and others which were released in March. Paige ended up with the biggest nightmare, with tons of pictures and videos, including former WWE Superstar Brad Maddox and New Day member Xavier Woods in on the action.

UPDATE: Charlotte Flair’s private photos include 17 in total, 10 of them naked.

WWE ends Q1 2017 with 1.57 million paying subscribers to the Network

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/04/2017

WWE ended the first quarter of 2017 with a total of 1,697,000 subscribers to the WWE Network, a 16% increase over the same period last year. The number does not include WrestleMania, since that fell in the second quarter of 2017.

Out of the 1.69 million total subscribers, 1.57 million of them are paying subscribers. That translates to 123,000 subscribers on a free trial account by the end of the quarter.

1,165,000 paying subscribers are from the United States, while 409,000 subscribers are from the rest of the world. Compared to Q4 2016, that’s an increase of 132,000 subscribers in the United States and an increase of 39,000 subscribers internationally.

During the quarter, WWE added more than 75 hours of original content to WWE Network’s featured programming and more than 500 hours of archival content, which resulted in an on-demand library of over 7,500 hours at quarter-end.

WWE announces its Q1 2017 financial results

By

Colin Vassallo

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05/04/2017

WWE today announced financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2017. For the quarter, the Company reported Net income of $0.9 million, or $0.01 per share, as compared to $13.9 million, or $0.18 per share, in the prior year quarter. Operating income was $4.0 million as compared to $22.0 million in the prior year quarter.

“We are pleased with the continued growth of WWE Network, which is a critical building block of our content strategy,” said WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon. “The recent production of WrestleMania set records for network viewership as well as digital and social engagement. As we leverage continuing innovation to extend our reach in India, China and around the world, we are confident that the enduring and increasing global power of our brands will provide a solid foundation for long-term growth.”

George Barrios, Chief Strategy & Financial Officer, added, “During the first quarter, increases in key operating metrics, including event attendance, network subscribers and global content consumption, supported strong 10% growth in revenue. As anticipated, our earnings reflected the timing of certain expenses, a significant portion of which are expected to reverse over the coming months. As we continue to focus on producing engaging content across all platforms, we remain on track to achieve our 2017 financial objectives with record revenue, record Adjusted OIBDA results, and record subscriber levels.”

You can read the full press release at http://corporate.wwe.com/news/company-news/2017/05-04-2017.