The WWE App and the WWE Network are both contenders in the 20th annual Webby Awards. The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet.
In the Best Streaming Video category in Mobile Sites and Apps, the WWE App – which also contains the Network – is up against Virry from Fountain Digital Labs, PBS Kids Video App from PBS Kids, CNN Go from CNN, and HBO Now from HBO.
The WWE Network is nominated in the Sports category Online Film and Video and goes against Copa90 from Bigballs Media, The Madden 16 from Heat, NFL Now from NFL Media, and VICE Sports from VICE Media.
There are 12 days left to vote for your favorite and you can do so by going to https://pv.webbyawards.com.
Thursday Night Smackdown! TV Report for April 7th, 2016 – “A ‘Phenomenal’ Week”
Introduction Segment: Video Promo and Welcoming
A montage of Wrestlemania airs, as does the regular Smackdown! video. The pyro explodes in the arena and Mauro Ranallo welcomes us to Houston, Texas!
Segment #2: Arena Promo
Lillian Garcia asks us to greet WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns; he walks out amid a mix of cheers and boos. (a lot more cheers though than ‘Mania and Raw, which is good!) Roman recaps how he “fought The Authority” and beat them. A.J. Styles joins him, telling him he had a “heck of a WrestleMania, but I had a heck of a Monday Night Raw.” They chat about their upcoming bout for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, date to be announced.
Later tonight, a Tag-Team Match pitting A.J. Styles and Cesaro meeting Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens will happen! Up next, The Vaudevillians debut!
Commercials.
Match #1: Tag-Team – The Lucha Dragons (United States Champion Kalisto and Sin Cara) VS. The Vaudevillians (Simon Gotch and
Aiden starts out with Cara in an elbow/collar tie-up. Cara backdrops English, then tags in Kalisto who 450-splashes Aiden out of a monkey-flip from Kalisto! Sin is back in and chops away at English, but Aiden switches with Gotch and kicks Cara. Simon mount-punches Sin, and the Vaudes take over! Aiden kneedrops Cara and rips on his chin; he slams him down and poses.
Cara boots out of the corner onto both Simon and Aiden, then makes the hot-tag to the U.S. Champion! Kalisto roll-ups into a kick for a near-fall, then Sin dives through the ropes onto English! Kalisto didn’t see the tag, so Gotch and Aiden capitalize with their Whirling Dervish finish – an uppercut into a running neckbreaker! Simon covers for the victory!
Winners via Pinfall: The Vaudevillians
Ads.
March #2: Single – Summer Rae VS. Natalya
(Note: Women’s Champion Charlotte and Ric Flair are on/by commentary).
A lockup begins and Natalya tires a roll-up quickly. Summer waistlocks Natalya, then reverses a whip but misses a running body-press! Natalya hits a running front-dropkick, but is slapped and thrown into the middle ropes. Rae dumps Natalya to the outside and follows with a snap-suplex on the floor! She kicks Natalya hard a couple times in the ring, then wears her down with a rear chinlock. Summer spin-kicks Natalya and almost gets this!
Natalya pushes back and catches a spin-kick, then shoves Summer into a Sharpshooter, where Summer quickly taps!
Winner via Submission: Natalya
Post-match, Charlotte and Natalya stare at each other.
Commercials.
Segment #3: Video Promo
A recalling of WrestleMania and Raw around the WWE World Heavyweight Championship plays.
Zack Ryder makes his entrance and will be challenging Intercontinental Champion The Miz next!
Ads.
Match #3: Single for the Intercontinental Championship – Zack Ryder (Challenger) VS. The Miz (Champion) (with Maryse)
Before this contest, Maryse introduces her real-life husband.
Miz side-headlocks Ryder and shoulder-blocks him, but a neckbreaker attempt is reversed into an O’Connor Roll. Zack pin-combos Miz a couple of more times with a backslide and jackknife, and springboard-splashes for another two-count! He continues the attack and is in total control!
Commercials.
Ryder is still dominating until he is yanked off the turnbuckle. Miz clamps on a rear chinlock, then drops him with a neckbreaker. Miz knees Zack hard in the gut, but Ryder flips out of a suplex into a neckbreaker! Zack builds some momentum until he is planted with a sit-down-powerbomb! Ryder tries another springboard-splashes, but eats some knees into his stomach; Miz follows with a DDT for a very close-one!
Miz signals for the Skull-Krushing Finale, but Zack blocks! He facebusts Miz and gives him a forearm in the corner. He goes for the Broski Boot, but Miz moves, and tries to split-leg Zack into the ring post. Ryder pulls back, smacking Miz’s face into the steel! He hits the Broski Boot on the outside, and elbow-drops Miz in the ring from the turnbuckle! 1 – 2 – Miz kicks out!
Maryse soon rips the turnbuckle cover off, which distracts both Ryder and referee Charles Robinson. This allows Miz to thumb Ryder in the eye and drive him to the canvas with the Skull-Krushing Finale, then get the 1 – 2 – 3!
Winner via Pinfall and STILL Intercontinental Champion: The Miz (with Maryse)
Ads.
Match #4: Single – Social Outcast member Curtis Axel (with Social Outcast members Heath Slater, Adam Rose, and Bo Dallas) VS. Apollo Crews
Crews dominates most of this bout, but Curtis gets a little control after some interference from his mates. Apollo hits a perfect dropkick and clothesline, then kips up into a moonsault for two! Despite more interference, Apollo completes this one after his spin-out sit-down-powerbomb!
Winner via Pinfall: Apollo Crews
Dean Ambrose will be present tonight!
Commercials.
Segment #4: Backstage Promo
After clips of the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania, then Corbin’s match with Dolph Ziggler on Raw, he is with Rene Young. Baron doesn’t want to stick around for long, and warns “the end of days is already here!”
Segment #5: Backstage Promo
Becky Lynch is interviewed by Rene. She talks about “the passion” of the Women’s Championship and still fighting for it. Emma walks up and reminds Lynch that she was first to WWE, but Becky got the opportunities instead. Lynch threatens to give Emma an eye like she has, which is pretty banged up, and Emma walks away.
Dean Ambrose enters, and will be wrestling next!
Ads.
Match #5: Single – Dean Ambrose VS. Tyler Breeze
“The Lunatic Fringe” takes down Breeze in a short one with his Dirty Deeds DDT!
Winner via Pinfall: Dean Ambrose
Commercials.
Match #6: Tag-Team – Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens VS. Cesaro and A.J. Styles
Jericho and Styles tie-up first, and Jericho goes into a standing headlock. They trade flips until A.J. hits a dropkick and switches with Cesaro, who leaps off the second turnbuckle with an axe-handle smash! He hits a double-stomp and Styles follows with a kneedrop. “Y2J” goes to the outside and both he and Kevin are frustrated.
Ads.
A.J. and Jericho are still going at it, with an armdrag by A.J. Cesaro is tagged in and flips Chris with another armdrag; Jericho fights back and changes with Owens. He hits a little, but Cesaro hits a few corner uppercuts on both Kevin and Chris.
Cesaro is clotheslined to the floor and chucked around. Owens and Jericho work over Cesaro for a while. Cesaro flapjacks Jericho into an uppercut, then tries the tag to Styles, but Jericho pulls Styles from the apron! Cesaro manages to move from a Cannonball by Owens, and does get the hot-tag.
“The Phenomenal One” is all over Kevin, but misses a springboard-moonsault that allows Owens to superkick him. Kevin tries a reverse-fireman’s-carry move, but A.J. reverses into a Pele Kick! Jericho pushes Styles off the top, which gives Owens the chance to Package-Powerbomb Styles for a very close own!
On the floor, Cesaro runs at Jericho with n uppercut! In the ring, Styles and Owens are left. Suddenly, Sami Zayn is walking down, but blocked by referees and agents. This commotion does distract Kevin enough for A.J. to roll up Owens for the victory!
Winners via Pinfall: Cesaro and A.J. Styles
Post-match, Owens and Zayn go at it, with Kevin throwing Sami into the steel steps. The referees and agents hold a fierce Kevin back to close the show.
End of Smackdown!
Reporter’s Rumblings
This has been quite the week! As usual after WrestleMania, there were a lot of happenings and change, both good and bad, so let me get to my analysis:
Excellence: Promos by Roman Reigns (Raw); Zack Ryder (Raw); A.J. Styles (Raw and Smackdown!); Baron Corbin (Raw and Smackdown!); and Enzo and Cass (Raw). Matches between Corbin/Ziggler (Raw); Miz/Ryder (Raw and Smackdown!); Fatal-4-Way (Raw); Luchas/Vaudevillians (Smackdown!); Natalya/Summer (Smackdown!)
Absolutely LOVED Enzo and Cass’s debut; I hope that momentum they had on Raw continues into next week and they are stars for a long time to come! Baron Corbin was a great debut too, and I love the attitude he brings, both physically and verbally. Cesaro’s return was a cool surprise and glad he is still loved by the fans. Again, I hope he continues to be a big star as well.
Emma/Becky’s spout was good and continued to add legitimacy to the Women’s Division; they are both good on the mike, especially with their new “bravados” and more serious demeanors. Of course, LOVE the WOMEN’S Championship and Division; much more meaningful and appropriate, as they are now WRESTLERS/ATHLETES/ROLE MODELS!
Glad Roman won the title; would’ve meant more if that Wrestlemania was his first time, but liking the change in his personality too. Was very happy that Steph and Triple H were not on Raw; let’s take a break from them for a while now. A.J. and Roman’s feud is looking great already! (Although, A.J. should’ve won WrestleMania too, to make him stronger and even more important to the WWE Title).
Ryder and Miz mix well together, and Maryse returning was a genuine surprise/cool. I’d like to see them go at it for a while over the I.C. Title.
Tag-Team Champions The New Day can continue doing what they’re doing; they are very entertaining and popular!
Bogus: I felt too many debuts on Raw; Crews should’ve been built more and longer; and while Cass/Enzo’s was awesome and the right Tag-Team to go against (Dudleyz), bad-timing a bit because a) the messed-up finish, and b) Dudleyz should’ve won at WrestleMania also, so they look just a little stronger. Next year, leave it to just one debut and one return.
I don’t understand the League of Nations split; they were just getting going and now seemingly over? I was expecting a lot more from Shane “running” Raw; some announcements about the next Network/Pay-Per-View show or booking next week’s Raw. After the opening segment with him, the story fell flat and was slightly forgotten by me/not necessary.
Until Monday’s Raw, Be Excellent Wrestling-Online Fans!
Shinsuke Nakamura was a big hit at NXT Takeover: Dallas from the moment his new theme song kicked in.
That theme song, titled The Rising Sun, has stormed to the top of iTunes charts, and is currently #1 in the Soundtrack category on the popular Apple store. Nakamura’s theme knocked off the song Earned It from Fifty Shades of Grey to earn the top spot.
The song was produced by the duo known as CFO$ – John Alicastro and Mike Lauri. They have been working with WWE for the past couple of years writing theme songs for Superstars and soundtracks for WWE Network shows.
Other CFO$-produced themes on the iTunes charts include the AJ Styles’ Phenomenal, Sasha Banks’ Sky’s The Limit, and SAWFT Is A Sin, the theme of Enzo Amore and Colin Cassidy.
WWE is running a Universal Orlando sweepstakes featuring none other than Titus O’Neil, whose 60 days suspension has just ended.
The contest features a 3-night trip for four including roundtrip airfare, accommodation at Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort, transportation to Orlando from the airport, admission to both Universal theme parks, tickets to see the Blue Man Group, admission to Wet ‘n Wild Orlando water park, a VIP preview of Skull Island: Reign of Kong, and a meet & greet with Titus O’Neil.
Titus O’Neil was suspended the day after Daniel Bryan retired for grabbing Vince McMahon’s arm in front of everybody. He was originally given a 90 day suspension which was then reduced to 60.
WWE’s leading attorney Jerry McDevitt told The Hollywood Reporter that the lawsuit filed by Rene Goguen – the man formerly known as Rene Dupree – over unpaid WWE Network royalties will not hold because Goguen forgot to mention something important to his lawyers.
McDevitt claims that Goguen signed a contract in 2011 that prevents him to bring these kind of claims against the company and while he did not going into specifics due to confidentiality, he said that he informed Goguen’s lawyer about this contract.
“His response back indicates he did not know about it,” McDevitt said.
Newer WWE contracts specify that wrestlers are not paid a percentage on any kind of subscriptions or royalties from television fees.
In an interview with WWE.COM, Brie Bella herself confirmed that her match at WrestleMania 32 was her last one for WWE and although she said it wouldn’t be her last match forever, it’s the last match that we’ll see for a while.
Brie said that the plan is to start a family now so she had to put her career on hold for that. “So, I hate saying retirement because after I have kids, I would love to make a comeback into the ring,” Brie added.
Brie admitted that the original plan wasn’t to leave at WrestleMania but maybe wait till SummerSlam or even the following year however Bryan’s retirement sped up the decision. Capping off her run in front of the biggest WWE audience ever was also a great way to end the story.
The former Divas champion said that she will continue to be a brand ambassador for the WWE and her involvement in the Total Divas show will continue. “I felt it’s only fair for all of the audience that has followed our craziness for so long to see us becoming parents. I really do want to see them that you can make one hell of a comeback after being a mom,” Brie said.
WWE Superstars and former champions John Cena and Nikki Bella attended the series finale of American Idol yesterday in Hollywood, California.
John Cena’s new reality TV show on FOX, American Grit, was heavily promoted during the show and it’s name and series premiere date had a permanent place during the two hour Idol broadcast.
American Idol host Ryan Seacrest also interviewed Cena during the broadcast to hype up the show which starts next Thursday. This is a competition-themed show testing 16 men and women in four-person teams in military-grade and survival-themed challenges with a prize of up to $1 million.
WWE Superstars always do their best to bring smiles on children’s faces and during WrestleMania week it was no different despite the heavy schedule everyone had. 13 year old Colby will surely remember the day that Erick Rowan showed up at his house!
The terminally ill teen had the surprise of a lifetime when Wyatt Family member Erick Rowan walked in to meet the kid. A photographer at the hospice where Colby was being treated happened to be friends with Rowan and asked for the favor, a favor which Rowan was happy to do.
“He was the nicest guy and the smile on Colby’s face was just priceless,” mom Danita Tutt told ABC News. “I held back tears because Colby doesn’t like to see anyone cry, but I thought it was awesome.”
The 13 year old suffers from multiple chronic illnesses, including a blood infection, heart condition, kidney disease, short-term memory loss, high functioning autism and osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease), among many other medical issues.
“Erick came in and he said, ‘Hey, is there a Colby Tutt here?’” the mom explained. “Colby hadn’t been feeling well for days and this perked him up. This showed me that guy has a big heart.”
Rowan chatted, played video games with her son and even gave him WWE action figures. Colby and his brother managed to attend WrestleMania 32 thanks to a GoFundMe page and also thanks to the WWE.
You can see the video of Rowan walking in and the kid’s priceless reaction below.
If you want one of those beautiful WWE replica titles, now is the time to get them as WWE Shop is running a 25% discount on the title belts with the offer ending tonight, at 11:59PM EST.
The WWE World Heavyweight title replica is discounted to $344.99, the Intercontinental title is at $319.99, the nWo spray-painted WCW Championship is at $309.99, and all the mini replica titles are at $39.99.
The only replica title not on sale is the new WWE Women’s title, which is still selling at full retail price of $429.99 or $219.99 for the cheaper replica.
Apart from breaking the attendance and gate money records, WrestleMania 32 broke a couple of more records in technology and social media worlds.
WWE announced that the event was the most social event in WWE history according to Nielsen Social with 2.5 million mentions on Twitter throughout the day and 1.3 million mentions during the broadcast alone, an increase of 50 percent and 18 percent year-over-year, respectively. Over 250 million video views were registered by the WWE.com website, WWE App and social media during WrestleMania Week, an increase of 122 percent year-over-year. In addition, the AT&T network WiFi at the AT&T Stadium got hammered with 8.6 terabytes of data, an increase of 36 percent over the data traffic during the College Football Playoff National Championship Game in 2015.
Over at the WWE Network, subscribers watched 21.7 million hours of WWE footage during WrestleMania Week or 12 hours per subscriber during the week. This compares to 15 million hours last year, a year-over-year increase of 45 percent.
Apart from the $17.3 million gate money, WWE also generated a record-breaking $4.55 million in WrestleMania merchandise revenue, an increase of 37 percent or $1.2 million, from last year’s previous record at WrestleMania 31.
WWE Hall of Famer Robert Windham – also known as Blackjack Mulligan – passed away at the age of 73 according to a report by WWE.COM.
Windham had been suffering from bad health over the past few months and in early February members of his family missed Monday Night Raw to be with him when he was hospitalized and in serious condition.
He is the father of Barry and Kendall Windham, father-in-law of Mike “IRS” Rotunda and the grandfather of WWE Superstar Bray Wyatt and Bo Dallas.
He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006 along with his tag team partner Blackjack Lanza by their former manager Bobby “The Brain” Heenan.
Rene Goguen, better known to fans as former WWE Superstar Rene Dupree of the tag team La Resistance, has filed a class action lawsuit against WWE on behalf of himself and all similarly situated individuals who have not received contractually owed royalty payments from the WWE Network.
The lawsuit was filed yesterday in the state of Connecticut by Tooher Wocl & Leydon, LLC, and Goguen is looking in excess of $5 million exclusive of interest and costs.
Goguen argues that in his WWE booking contract, section 7.5 states that WWE is obligated to pay royalties for PPV videos sold by the company including for technology not yet created at time of the signing of the contract. “Thereafter, WWE shall pro-rate payment to Plaintiff and all other talent appearing in such WWE Pay-Per-Views in the same proportion as was the compensation paid to Plaintiff for his appearances in the pay-per-views to the total amount paid to all talent for their appearances in the pay-per-view,” the contract states.
The “technology not yet created” includes streaming videos on the WWE Network and WWE has not paid a cent in royalties since the Network inception on February 24, 2014.
The lawsuit also states that Netflix, a WWE licensee, has sold WWE videos of PPVs and non-PPVs without WWE paying royalties to the plaintiff. Netflix has not sold such pay-per-views and only WWE Studios movie occasionally appear on Netflix.
Episode 12 of season 5 of Total Divas which was titled Baby Talk did 649,000 viewers, rebounding from episode 11 with an additional 86,000 viewers. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Hawaii News Now is reporting that WWE is coming back to the island for the first live event in seven years.
The non-televised live event will take place on Wednesday, June 29, at the Blaisdell Arena which is located in Honolulu. Tickets go on sale on Friday, April 22, at 9AM from Ticketmaster.com.
Those advertised to appear on the arena’s website are WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns, Chris Jericho, Bray Wyatt, The New Day, Kevin Owens, The Usos, AJ Styles, WWE Women’s champion and Charlotte.
Probably targeting the large Japanese community, NXT’s Shinsuke Nakamura and NXT Women’s champion Asuka will also be doing this show.
PodcastOne has added former WWE, WCW and TNA writer Vince Russo to its wrestling lineup with a daily show titled The Brand. It will be available every Monday through Friday on PodcastOne.com, the PodcastOne app, and iTunes.
“He has been called the most controversial man in sports-entertainment, which will be apparent in his interviews with superstars in wrestling and entertainment, along with his rants, during which no one will be spared. His episode-by-episode reviews of WWE Attitude Era Raw, written largely by Vince himself, will be a fan’s paradise,” PodcastOne said in a press release.
Russo joins the likes of Jim Ross, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Chris Jericho on PodcastOne.
This week’s Impact on POP did an average of 272,000 viewers, down from last week’s 312,000 viewers and the lowest number in a month. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Former NBA player Shaquille O’Neal is ready to step in the ring again, this time at WrestleMania 33 next year in Orlando.
During a segment on Inside the NBA on TNT, where Shaq is a co-host, he discussed participating in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania. He said that, “Jerry World was crackin!” with 100,000 people and thanked the McMahon family for calling him to be a part of it. He said he’s been a wrestling fan all his life but next time he will bodyslam the Big Show.
“It’s going down next year,” Shaq assures everyone. WrestleMania 33 will take place in Orlando, a city where he spent 4 years of his NBA career playing for the Orlando Magic.
TMZ.COM is reporting that WWE Hall of Famer Tammy “Sunny” Sytch has once again checked herself into a rehab facility with hopes of “offsetting” a possible jail sentence that might come in May stemming from her multiple pending DUI cases.
Ryan Satin from ProWrestlingSheet.com and formerly of TMZ also confirmed with Sytch’s sister that Sunny is now in a “retreat center” as her health has not been good lately.
“It’s a retreat that focuses on the body and mind while using a holistic approach offering yoga, music therapy, art and holistic supplements to help the body heal. She is hoping to feel better soon and looks forward to a healthier future,” her sister said in a statement.
Sunny hasn’t tweeted since mid March. She just recently released her first XXX video through Vivid titled Sunny Side Up: In Through The Backdoor.
The Monday Night Raw following SummerSlam 2016 is currently on pre-sale on Ticketmaster.com and fans wishing to go to the show can purchase tickets by using the code BKRAW.
The pre-sale will end on April 8 at 10AM ET and then tickets go on sale to the general public on April 9 at Noon ET. Tickets for this show are $25.50, $40.50, $65.50, $85.50, $105.50, and $130.50.
Raw after SummerSlam takes place at the Barclays Center and it will be the third WWE televise live event in a row that weekend with NXT on Saturday, SummerSlam on Sunday, and Raw on Monday.
Former WWE World Heavyweight champion Seth Rollins will be part of the upcoming WWE Studios thriller titled Temple. The movie is being produced in conjunction with Erebus Pictures, co-founded by Gene Simmons.
Rollins will be joining Wesley Snipes, Anna Heche, and Dave Annable who will be in the leading roles for this movie with John Stockwell directing and Snipes serving also as a producer along with Gene Simmons and WWE Studios President Michael Luisi. Filming starts today.
The movie Temple follows a team of trained operatives consisting of Snipes, Heche, Annable and Rollins, who find themselves trapped inside an isolated military compound after its artificial intelligence is suddenly shut down—and then begin to experience strange and horrific phenomena.
“I could not be more pleased that we are launching our first film for Erebus picturesand have John on board to direct.” said Gene Simmons. “I am really looking forward to working with this fantastic cast as well as Michael and the whole team at WWE.”
As previously announced, Gene Simmons partnered with WWE Studios to launch Erebus Pictures to produce elevated genre films. Erebus Pictures plans to use WWE’s extensive platforms from weekly TV shows, including WWE’s flagship programs, Monday Night Raw and SmackDown, digital, social media and WWE Network, to market the film.
