WWE will be having its first non-WrestleMania stadium show in 20 years this January as the 2017 Royal Rumble will be held at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
The Alamodome hosted the Rumble in 1997 so this will be the 20th anniversary. That particular pay-per-view was headlined by hometown boy Shawn Michaels taking on Sycho Sid for the WWE title. 10 years later, the company also returned to San Antonio for the 2007 Royal Rumble but that show was held at the AT&T Center.
The 2017 Rumble will take place on January 29 and tickets will go on sale on October 14. WWE will have around three months to sell over 50,000 tickets.
The winner of the Royal Rumble match will be fighting the champion at that time of the particular brand he is part of at WrestleMania.
TNA Impact did 365,000 viewers last night on POP TV for the Bound For Glory go-home show, down from the 377,000 it did the previous week. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Jamie Noble was stabbed twice in a trailer park a couple of days ago and is currently in hospital according to ProWrestlingSheet.com.
Noble, a producer for WWE and one half of the J&J Security, got in an argument with a man after he was followed to his mobile home by a guy who accused him of cutting him off earlier. After Noble allegedly apologized, things escalated and he took the other man down, only to be outnumbered after two other men got out of the suspect’s car. One of them stabbed him in the upper back and spine area before taking off according to the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office. The incident occurred at the Shadowood mobile home park in Acworth, Georgia.
The former WWE Cruiserweight champion was taken to a hospital by the responding Emergency Medical Services. He is no longer in the ER but still in hospital with no update on his condition available reports Pro Wrestling Sheet.
Brazzers, the Canadian-based pornographic production company, took a funny swipe at TNA today when a WWE parody account by the name of @WWECreativeTeam asked them to help out TNA.
“TNA have less than 24 hours to pull of some sort of miracle funding for #BoundForGlory. @Brazzers, Here’s your chance,” the tweet read. The social media team of the popular porn website was quick to reply within minutes.
“@WWECreativeTeam no thanks. Even our storylines are more interesting,” they said. Then they added that “…Broken Matt excluded,” referring to Matt Hardy’s latest gimmick which they obviously like.
The team behind the Twitter account seem to be wrestling fans as during their #AskBrazzers tweets, they did a few wrestling references. When someone asked them “Romi Rain or Roman Reigns,” they sided with their pornstar. “Romi because she isn’t afraid to take her top off when she wrestles #believethat,” the reply said. They also replied to one comment with a gif of the late Rick Rude doing his ravishing pose.
Nearly 40 athletes, evenly split between men and women, are attending the latest WWE tryout camp inside the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida this week.
There are 19 men, 19 women, and one female referee in this group, the largest number of female prospects to ever attend a WWE tryout.
“The fact that this is the most women ever at a single tryout reflects the rise of the Women’s divisions in NXT and WWE,” said Canyon Ceman, WWE’s Vice President of Talent Development. “This tryout includes women from all over North America, and more female athletes have been invited to a European tryout in November and an Australian tryout in December.”
Among the notable names participating in this tryout are Shayna Baszler, Heidi Lovelace, Kimber Lee, Nicole Savoy Su Yung, “War King” Kingston, Cedric Rougeau, “Samoan Werewolf” Jacob Fatu, Jeff Parker & Matt Lee, and many others.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is reporting that the 2017 WWE Royal Rumble will be held in San Antonio, Texas and an announcement will be made next week.
20 years ago WWE held the Royal Rumble in San Antonio as well inside the Alamodome, an event headlined by Shawn Michaels vs Sycho Sid in front of 60,477 fans. The Rumble match was won by Stone Cold Steve Austin.
10 years ago the company also returned to San Antonio for the 2007 Royal Rumble, with the Undertaker winning the Rumble match and John Cena and Umaga sharing the co-main event spot for the WWE title.
No venue has been announced yet for the Rumble although it’s more likely that it will be held inside the AT&T Center rather than the Alamodome.
There were rumors that the Rumble will be held in Los Angeles next year after someone who attended a non-televised live event in the area said there was an announcement about it but that turned out to be false information.
Former WWE Divas champion Paige wrote on Twitter that she will be undergoing surgery to repair her neck. Paige will be under the care of Dr. Juan Uribe, the same doctor who operated on Nikki Bella at the beginning of this year.
“One of the best doctors I’ve seen,” Paige wrote about Dr. Uribe. “Gave me two great surgery options. Makes you think about risks you have to take when it comes to this business, the things you put your body through to entertain the masses.”
Paige said that despite all this, she wouldn’t change it for anything in the world and thanked everyone for their support. “Time to get the neck fixed so I can come back and kick some ass,” she added.
The Brit has been off WWE television for quite a while now and although she’s been backstage at the past two Raws, she was not used or shown on television. Last month she was suspended for 30 days for a Wellness Program violation.
The first six teams which will be taking part in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament were revealed on WWE.COM. In total 16 teams will be participating in the second annual of this tournament and matches will take place during NXT television and non-televised live events.
The six tag teams announced so far are Hideo Itami and Kota Ibushi, Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss, Bobby Roode and Tye Dillinger, Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, Andrade “Cien” Almas and Cedric Alexander, and the NXT tag team champions The Revival.
The winners of this year’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic will be crowned at the next NXT Takeover in Toronto, on November 19. Samoa Joe and Finn Balor won the first tournament last year.
TNA President Billy Corgan was on ESPN Radio today to discuss the current situation that TNA is in and the rumors that Vince McMahon wants to buy the company.
When asked how he can compete with Vince McMahon if he wants to buy TNA, Corgan was honest and said, “We don’t and I think that’s the simplest part of the equation! If Vince McMahon wants to buy the company, there’s nothing you or God can do to stop him.”
He did however deny the rumors that WWE has put a bid to buy TNA. “As of this moment that does not appear to be happening because I have a piece of the company and I would have to be informed about that,” Corgan said. He then added that at least he hoped he would be informed about it but what he knows now it’s Vince didn’t put a bid, yet.
Asked if Bound For Glory is going to happen for sure, Corgan was noncommittal but was positive. “We’ve been in the same situation three times before so I’m counting on a fourth time,” Corgan said. “I don’t expect anyone to do anything to not make it happen, it would put a lot of people out of work.”
He said the wrestlers and everyone in the back wants the situation to be resolved and not be in the same situation in two months time.
Corgan described WWE and Vince McMahon as the titanic superpower who have so far found the only winning philosophy in professional wrestling, “so respect to them.” While Vince has the winning formula, Corgan thinks that he can present a different kind of product with a different game plan as long as there’s consistent capital, as you can’t make consistent decisions without a consistent money flow.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is reporting that WWE offered “very little” to purchase TNA’s video library and is believed that the company wants no-compete clauses for a period with the owners if a sale is to go through.
A no-compete clause would not allow any of the owners to re-enter the wrestling business with the money they received from the sale for a specified amount of time.
WWE – on average – pays around $500 for an hour of footage when purchasing other tape libraries. It’s not known how much money WWE offered for the TNA library which dates back to 2002.
Meltzer also adds that John Gaburick, the Executive Vice President of Television Production for TNA was the one who got WWE into play. Gaburick worked for WWE for several years before departing in 2013.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, TNA’s hottest properties, Matt and Jeff Hardy, have said that the two will be free agents come February. What happens then remains yet to be seen.
“All the WWE stuff really depends on what happens between now and February with TNA,” Jeff said. He added that he sees nothing wrong staying with TNA as agreeing to return to the WWE is committing “to some serious time away from home.”
Despite this, Jeff said that if it were under his terms, there is a chance of him returning but what he and his brother are doing now is fun.
“I don’t want to go back to WWE and burn out within four or five months, and having another run as TNA world champion would feel just as good,” Jeff said.
During an appearance on the Busted Open radio show today on SiriusXM, TNA President Billy Corgan said that while he has the money to make sure Bound For Glory takes place, he doesn’t want to do it if in a few months down the line they will be in the same situation.
From the way he was speaking, while not outright saying it, he was suggesting that he would not be fronting any money unless he takes over TNA completely. This is certainly not good news for the company as it gives Dixie Carter a few days only to try and find a source of cash to go on with Bound For Glory. Corgan said that he was the one who funded the last three rounds of television tapings and it all went down to the wire.
Corgan said that he spoke with most of the TNA talent as well as with POP TV President Bradley Schwartz to outline his vision of what he wants for TNA. His plan all boils down to Dixie Carter selling and buying out Aeroluxe’s share. Aeroluxe does all the production for TNA and since they didn’t get paid, they got a minority stake in the company.
The Smashing Pumpkins frontman also said that he will be in Orlando this Sunday, probably trying to save TNA till the very last second possible.
Smackdown did 2,340,000 viewers this week, up 48,000 viewers from last week’s show. Despite Raw getting an all-time record low, Smackdown still was not able to beat Raw’s 2,478,000 number. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Dolph Ziggler will get one last chance at the Intercontinental title at No Mercy and if he is unsuccessful, he will be gone from the WWE.
Ziggler laid down the challenge last night on Smackdown during a passionate segment which involved a Miz homecoming crashed by the former World champion. Ziggler came out after Miz insulted Ziggler’s parents who were sitting at ringside and then pleaded with the champion to give him one more shot at the title while he puts his career on the line.
Ziggler lost the WWE Heavyweight title match against Dean Ambrose at SummerSlam and then lost against The Miz at Backlash and once again last week, although the two losses against The Miz came under dubious circumstances after he got sprayed with perfume in the eyes twice.
The Smackdown-only PPV No Mercy takes place on October 9 from the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California.
JR will be hosting his usual RINGSIDE with Jim Ross show on Sunday, November 20 during the Survivor Series weekend in Toronto, Canada.
The show will start at 2:30PM and will finish before the start time of the Survivor Series, giving fans who will be doing both shows enough time to move from one place to another. JR’s show will be at The Second City Theatre, just one mile away and a 20-minute walk to the Air Canada Centre, the site of the Survivor Series.
Tickets are priced CA $29.50 and CA $89.50 for the VIP ticket which includes a meet and greet with the Hall of Famer and a photo op. You can purchase tickets at Ticketmaster.ca.
WWE Hall of Famer Tammy “Sunny” Sytch will be appearing in front of a judge on Monday, October 3 and will remain incarcerated until then. Her appearance will be done via a video link and she will not be present in court.
Sunny was arrested this past Friday for violating her 5-year parole although it’s not known what she did to land herself back behind bars.
Her future will probably be decided on Monday and the probation officer can push to get her probation revoked. As long as Sytch does not contest the reason why she was put back in jail, the judge will be free to either release her or keep her in jail.
The Squared Circle Sirens website is reporting that Shayna Baszler, the former MMA fighter and big friend of Ronda Rousey, is getting a WWE tryout at the WWE Performance Center.
Baszler is a huge wrestling fan and is often seen ringside when WWE is in the Los Angeles area along with fellow 4 Horsewomen members. Baszler, who goes by the nickname The Queen of Spades, is also friends with Nattie Neidhart and many women on the roster.
Baszler has fought for Elite XC, Strikeforce, Invicta and also the UFC. She holds a record of 15-10, losing her last three matches, two of them in the UFC against Amanda Nunes and Bethe Correia.
She has been wrestling on the indie circuit for the past year and earlier this month she defeated Heidi Lovelace to win Absolute Intense Wrestling’s Women’s Championship. After her win, she was joined by Ronda Rousey celebrating her win.
Facing the first Presidential debate between WWE Hall of Famer Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, Raw drew a total of 2,478,000 viewers, an all-time record low for the show.
Hour one, which did not face the debate, drew 2,850,000 viewers, followed by a drop to 2,381,000 in the second hour, and then even lower to 2,203,000 in the third hour. Raw lost 647,000 viewers from hour one to hour three in total.
Monday Night Football on ESPN did just over 8 million viewers but the rest of the networks and cable outlets did double digits when it came to the debate and an average of 80 million viewers overall. Raw hours were #11, #14, and #15 in the chart overall last night. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
TNA has seven days booked for television tapings at Universal Studios in Orlando next week as the company will be occupying their usual studio lot from October 2 to October 8.
Whether that happens or not remains to be seen though as even Bound For Glory, set for this Sunday, is in limbo following massive financial difficulties the company is encountering at the moment. Failure to present Bound For Glory will provide additional problems for TNA as this is a pay-per-view and is bound by contract with International providers as well.
After Bound For Glory on October 2, TNA has set tapings from Monday to Saturday, with some tapings for Impact as well as One Night Only and other shows that are distributed around the globe. All shows are expected to start at 6PM EST.
TNA came close to shutting down in June of this year after they had no money to pay for the June tapings. TNA Chief Financial Officer Dean Broadhead wrote on his Facebook page at the time that in a 12-hour window he had to make over 80 phone calls to lawyers, bankers, employees, and everyone in between to try and secure some money to go ahead with the shows.
It was current TNA President Billy Corgan who came up with the cash, enabling TNA to continue its run of tapings and averting disaster.
The Raw guest star gimmick is back next Monday as the show takes place from Los Angeles, California with Ashton Kutcher and Danny Masterson appearing.
The two have been running an angle with Jericho and Owens after Jericho said that him and the WWE Universal champion are more friends than Kutcher and Masterson.
In a video which also aired on Raw, Kutcher, accompanied by Masterson, said, “So Raw is going to be in Los Angeles next Monday. So maybe we need show Jericho what real friends are about. We could stop by, I mean it is LA, it’s our backyard!” Kutcher then tweeted to his 17.5 million followers that “this conspiracy victim [Jericho] is on my list!”
The two will be on the show to promote their Netflix series The Ranch.
