Vince McMahon is already hinting that the WrestleMania III record of 93,173 fans will be shattered this coming Sunday at WrestleMania 32.
The boss put up a tweet with a shot of the Pontiac Silverdome and a shot of the AT&T Stadium next to it. “New Record: This Sunday at @ATTStadium?” questioned McMahon. The news that WWE will announce a new record is not exactly new news and it was a given that WWE either way would break the record.
The 93,173 is not a real number in the sense that WWE sold around 78,000 tickets for WrestleMania III and then inflated the number. SummerSlam 92 at Wembley Stadium actually holds the record with around 84,000 tickets sold but for obvious reasons it was never inflated to a point where the attendance for that show passed that of WrestleMania III.
WWE has sold well in excess of 85,000 tickets for WrestleMania this Sunday, making it the biggest – legit – record in company history and grossing more than last year’s WrestleMania in terms of gate money. This year, more tickets carried a cheaper price so the gate money might not be much more than last year compared to the number of people at the show.
The question now is how far WWE will take this new record. Will it be just enough to break the 93,173 number or will they go over the 100,000 elusive figure?
WrestleMania weekend kicks off for WWE on Friday night, with a NXT Takeover event that many feel will overshadow the big show itself. During last year’s WrestleMania festivities, NXT held a (non-televised) show that many felt should have received some coverage outside of Stephanie McMahon’s Periscope account. This time around it’s live on the Network, as the developmental brand prepares to welcome new faces and say goodbye to some others.
BackBodyDrop.com and Wrestling-Online.com will have live updates throughout NXT Takeover: Dallas and WrestleMania, and out of the two WWE-branded events this weekend, NXT is coming across as the best show of the weekend going in. On paper, anyway. Across the course of the two-hour special, there’ll be six matches, with all three NXT titles on the line, and a couple of Takeover debuts to boot:
Austin Aries vs. Baron Corbin
Having made his debut during the clutch of tapings before the Royal Rumble, Austin Aries will be making his Takeover debut against Baron Corbin – a match that has been curiously built up, given that Aries has made a sum total of two appearances on NXT; one his debut (where he was attacked by Corbin), and a squash win over Riddick Moss days before Takeover itself. Corbin, on the other hand, is continuing something of an unwritten storyline where he’s facing (and beating) some of the WWE’s signings from the independent scene. Apollo Crews took the fall last time at Takeover, and on recent NXT shows, Corbin has beaten Johnny Gargano and Rich Swann… will Corbin complete the hattrick? I don’t think it depends on whether he’s being moved up after WrestleMania – I don’t see Austin Aries being brought in to lose on his big show debut, but it’ll be a close fought thing.
Prediction: Austin Aries
NXT Tag Team Titles: The Revival (c) vs. American Alpha
It’s the battle of the two teams with hideous brand names, as The Team Formerly Called Just Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder take on the Team Formerly Called Chad Gable & Jason Jordan. Seriously, who the hell came up with “The Revival” and “American Alpha”… and who was that name originally meant for?
At December’s Takeover show in London (and the rest of the UK tour), Gable and Jordan were the hottest act, and some believed that they should have been in the tag title match on the main Takeover show instead. Well, they weren’t, and since then, the newly-christened American Alpha have been on an undefeated streak, whilst the renamed Revival have chalked up a pair of title defences against Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady (who have seemingly escaped the curse of the Branded Tag Team Names).
Given how hot Gable and Jordan are, I can only see one result, and it involves new champions…
Prediction: American Alpha (new tag team champions)
Apollo Crews vs. Elias Samson
This is a bit of a weird one, with virtually no build. Samson received a lengthy run of vignettes to tease his debut, but since his London debut, he’s become the heel that gets trashed by the heel commentator in NXT. The lack of credibility that Samson therefore has should mean that it’ll be a squash win for Apollo Crews – but the length of time this one gets will indicate just where both men go. Crews badly needs to be rebuilt after losing to Corbin at the last Takeover event.
Prediction: Apollo Crews
Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
This is going to be most people’s sleeper for the weekend – and I’ll be no exception. Nakamura’s high-profile arrival from New Japan grabbed a lot of attention, and there’ll be a lot of eyeballs on the “King of Strong Style” to see how well he’s settled in. The Dallas crowd will undoubtedly give Nakamura a monstrous reaction, and given that Sami Zayn’s gotten a promotion to the main roster (and a ladder match 48 hours later at WrestleMania) you’d be forgiven for thinking that they’ll have a safe match, and Zayn will win on his way out (since he’s now considered a superstar). I don’t think either of those will be true – this’ll be the best match of the weekend not involving a ladder or foreign apparatus, and Nakamura will take the win in his American debut.
Prediction: Shinsuke Nakamura
NXT Women’s Title: Bayley (c) vs. Asuka
Almost four months ago, Bayley literally dragged a half-decent match out of Nia Jax at the Takeover show in London. This time around, she’ll have to go some to not have a good match. Since Asuka’s in-ring debut last October, it’s seemed like she’s been on a collision course for the NXT women’s title – even if she’s not been face-to-face with the de-facto top heels in the women’s division (I’m talking about Nia Jax and Eva Marie here).
There’s been question marks over whether Bayley is getting called-up to the main roster after WrestleMania, but given the state of the current Diva’s division, I wouldn’t bet on that. Right now, it’d just be calling up Bayley for the sake of it, and given that Asuka has quietly remained undefeated in NXT (and that that fact hasn’t been brought up much) would make me suggest that Bayley is retaining her title.
Prediction: Bayley
NXT Title: Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe
The main event of the evening is actually a rematch from the last Takeover event, as Samoa Joe finally won a three-way fight to get another title match. Following the no-contest against Sami Zayn and Baron Corbin, the double-pin with Sami Zayn, and the eventual win over Zayn in the best-of-three-falls match, Joe’s rightly earned his shot, but is he going to get the title?
Whomever loses this one, I feel will get called-up to the main roster after WrestleMania. With the imminent arrival of Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows to the main roster, it’s easy to suggest that Samoa Joe’s going to take the title, and Finn Balor’s going up to the main roster to reform the Bullet Club. Although I don’t think it’ll immediately lead to the Bullet/Balor Club, I can see Samoa Joe taking the title here, thus freeing up Finn for a call-up, perhaps on the Raw after WrestleMania. Hopefully he’ll be a lot more than this year’s Neville…
Prediction: Samoa Joe (new NXT champion)
NXT Takeover: Dallas airs live on the WWE Network on Friday April 1st, 9pm Central Time (10pm ET/3am BST/4am CET). Live updates throughout NXT Takeover: Dallas will be made on BackBodyDrop.com and Wrestling-Online.com
WWE Shop is running an extra 40% off from the already discounted clearance items, an offer which ends on April 1 at 11:59PM EST. You have to use the code SALE40 at checkout to get the additional discount.
Items on super sale are on shirts, beanie hats, and other apparel which sport the logos and markings of NXT, Ultimate Warrior, Steve Austin, Rise Above Cancer, Brock Lesnar, Dolph Ziggler and others.
The offer is only valid online and is not available at the many WrestleMania stores locations throughout downtown Dallas which opened today.
Around 100,000 fans will descend upon Dallas over the next couple of days to attend WrestleMania and all the related events. Weather plays up a major part in having successful – and less messy – shows.
The good news is that no rain is forecast until WWE packs its bags and leaves town and great weather is scheduled over the weekend.
Today there will be a high of 78°F and a low of 54°F with partly cloudy skies. For Friday it’s going to be around 59°F and a low of 44°F in the evening with some cloudy skies. Saturday it’s 72°F and sunny with a low of 48°F, while on WrestleMania Sunday it’s 77°F and a low of 51°F with sunny skies. Monday for Raw is going to be hot with 84°F sunny skies and a low of 54°F.
If you want to buy any WWE merchandise this week there will be quite a bit of places to choose from including a superstore which WWE opened today at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center.
The store is located in Hall B and no ticket is required but your credit card will most likely hate you if you are brave enough to go inside. Opening hours are Thursday from Noon to 11PM, Friday from 10AM to 10PM, Saturday from 8AM to 11PM, and Sunday from 8AM to 1PM.
A couple of WWE Superstars will be on hand meeting fans and posing for photos starting with The Usos today at 1PM, Paige at 4PM, Sheamus tomorrow at 11AM and Kane at 2PM.
In addition to the superstore, WWE merchandise will also be sold at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel lobby, located directly across from the registration desk. Opening hours are Friday from Noon to 8PM, Saturday from 8AM to 8PM, Sunday from 8AM to 4PM, and Monday from 7AM to 11AM.
A merchandise trailer will be parked outside of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center on the corner of S. Griffin St. & Ceremonial Dr. Hours of operation are today from Noon to 11PM, Friday from 10AM to 10PM, Saturday from 8AM to 11PM, and Sunday from 8AM to 1PM.
And if that is not enough, you can buy your merchandise from the AT&T Stadium Main Pro Shop. Opening hours are today from 9AM to 6PM, Friday from 9AM to 6Pm, Saturday from 9AM to 6PM, and Sunday from 8:30AM till the gates close.
WrestleMania Axxess, the multi-day fan interactive event, kicks off today and will run through WrestleMania Sunday. It will be held at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
There will be a total of seven Axxess sessions starting with tonight from 6PM to 10PM. One session will be held tomorrow from 5PM to 9PM. Three sessions are on Saturday with the first one from 8AM to Noon, the second from 1PM to 5PM, and the third from 6PM to 10PM. The third session clashes with the Hall of Fame ceremony. On Sunday there will be one session from 8AM to Noon.
Those attending the Premium VIP signings, Sting will be at 7PM on Friday, Roman Reigns will be on Saturday at 10AM, The Undertaker will be at 3PM on Saturday, Seth Rollins will be at 8AM on Sunday and Shawn Michaels will be at 10AM on Sunday as well.
The VIP signings schedule sees Dean Ambrose at 6PM tonight along with Charlotte and Ric Flair at 8PM. Chris Jericho will do one tomorrow at 5PM. Then on Saturday it’s Mick Foley at 8AM, Alberto Del Rio at 1PM, The Dudley Boyz at 1PM, Kevin Owens at 6PM, and Bray Wyatt at 8PM. On Sunday there’s one signing at 10AM with Randy Orton.
General tickets for Axxess are $55 through Ticketmaster.com while most – if not all – of the VIP signings are gone by this time.
Episode 11 of season 5 of Total Divas titled Clothes Quarters drew only 563,000 viewers, down 100,000 viewers from last week’s episode. This episode is officially the lowest rated one of the whole series among 69 episodes. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
The newest WWE reporter Cathy Kelley has officially started doing on-camera appearances, more than a month after she was hired by WWE. Kelley was a host for AfterBuzz TV.
“So excited to be finally able to announce that it’s my first day on the job and we’re here at AT&T Stadium, the home of WrestleMania 32,” the 27 year old Kelley said in a video on Twitter. In a different post, she wrote, “You have NO IDEA how hard it was to not tell you guys!! Cannot begin to describe how thankful I am for all of the support! We did it.”
Kelley’s first task was host the #HideAndTweet giveaways earlier today and she will be working closely with the social media team during this week.
The pre-sale for the Battleground pay-per-view has started on Ticketmaster.com and will run through April 2 at 10AM EST.
Fans who wish to purchase tickets before they go on sale to the general public can use the code VERIZONCENTER when selecting the tickets. Ticket prices are $25, $45, $75, $95, $200, $400, and $500. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Saturday, April 9, at 10AM EST.
Battleground will take place on July 24 at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC.
The final Raw before WrestleMania drew 3,764,000 viewers, up 365,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast.
Hour one did 3,818,000 viewers, followed by an increase to 3,845,000 in the second hour, before going down to 3,629,000 in the third and final hour. A total of 216,000 viewers did not care to stick around to see the second Triple H and Roman Reigns confrontation, missing the Brooklyn crowd chanting “You still suck” at Reigns. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
In a post on Instagram, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson said that it will be truly his honor to perform this Sunday at WrestleMania for WWE fans and recounted a story of what happened after he made his debut at WrestleMania 13 back in 1997.
“They boo’d me because I wasn’t being real. I was told by the company how to act, how to respond to fans and the worst part of all.. I was told what to say and what not to say,” Johnson said.
He added that after his WrestleMania 13 match, he lost the Intercontinental title and was sent home to recover from an injury, something that didn’t matter because he wasn’t drawing any money and the fans didn’t care that he was gone.
Johnson said that a week before he was supposed to come back to WWE television, Vince McMahon personally called him and asked him if he wants to be a heel. “I said ‘Great, but I have one request… give me 2 minutes on the microphone on live TV and let me be myself. Be real and authentic. I gotta be me,’” he recounted. McMahon agreed and when he got back he cut a promo that, “was from the heart, real and authentic.”
Because of this, Johnson said that he will be…just himself this coming Sunday at WrestleMania and promised to “rock” the place.
Unless you’ve been under a rock, you’ll be aware that it’s WrestleMania weekend – but despite WWE’s best efforts to ensure that they are the only game in town, there are plenty of other shows ongoing that you’ll be able to watch in person and online.
WWE has planned several community events during this WrestleMania week to give back to the local community.
Today, AJ Styles, Sin Cara, Sami Zayn, Paige, Naomi, and Tamina will visit the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children and Children’s Medical Center Dallas. Mark Henry, Darren Young, Goldust, Jack Swagger, and Eva Marie will visit Ronald McDonald House of Dallas and North Texas Youth Education Town. While at the hospitals, the WWE Superstars and Divas will spend time with children and families, take pictures, sign autographs and donate action figures, WWE 2K16 video games and WWE Network subscriptions for the facilities’ play rooms.
Tomorrow a Be a STAR Anti-Bullying Rally will be held at the East Dallas Boys & Girls Club. WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon, The Miz, R-Truth, Sin Cara, Natalya, and Corey Graves will be joined by representatives from the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to speak about the importance of bullying prevention.
On Friday, April 1, the Hope Medrano Elementary School will host the WrestleMania Reading Challenge. More than 150 students at the school will participate in a Reading Celebration featuring Sin Cara, Paige, Lana, Naomi, and Lillian Garcia. In an effort to promote literacy, WWE and partner First Book granted local “book wishes” to 59 schools and programs in Dallas, Arlington and Fort Worth. In total, nearly 50,000 brand-new books will be provided to the Dallas area as part of the WrestleMania Reading Challenge.
Also on Friday WWE will be teaming up with the Dallas Sports Commission and AT&T Stadium to host the Veteran Employment Panel & Networking Event in support of Hire Heroes USA, giving more than 100 veterans an opportunity to receive one-on-one career coaching and network with key employers from the Dallas area including AT&T Stadium, Dell, Hilton Worldwide, Verizon and many more. Damien Sandow, former Marine and current NXT Superstar Kenneth Crawford, and WWE Divas Eva Marie and Cameron will be on-site to meet the veterans.
The yearly Make-A-Wish Pizza Party will be held on Saturday, April 2, at the Dallas World Aquarium with John Cena hosting again. WWE has invited 31 wish kids and their families to attend WrestleMania for their one true wish and induct them into WWE’s Circle of Champions. With more than 500 wishes and counting, Cena has granted more wishes than any celebrity or athlete in Make-A-Wish history. Mark Henry, Natalya, and JoJo will also be onsite to meet and take photos with the children.
On Saturday, April 2, WWE teams up with Susan G. Komen for a mobile mammography event at the Collin Creek Mall in Plano where free mammograms will be given to 37 uninsured and underinsured women over the age of 40 through Susan G. Komen’s grantee Moncrief Cancer Institute. Darren Young, Alicia Fox, Lillian Garcia, and Eden will host the event.
The last community event will be the Special Olympics Unified Flag football game that will take place at Cravens Field on Saturday. Athletes from Special Olympics Texas will participate in a unified flag football game where Big Show, Santino, Howard Finkel, and Corey Graves will serve as honorary coaches.
It’s all hands on deck in Dallas as the WWE crew has landed and will be calling the city their home over the next six days as WrestleMania activities start today.
From senior management to ring crew, to the social media team, event planners, seamstresses, production and everything in between will be going through their toughest and most demanding week of the WWE calendar.
The stage crew landed in Dallas last week and already started the construction of the set inside the AT&T Stadium. WWE outsources hundreds of workers along with their experienced crew to build the WrestleMania set and stage.
For those lucky – or unlucky – enough to experience WrestleMania week, a lot of sleepless nights are ahead of them as well as working hours that will rack up some nice overtime if they are entitled to it.
WWE announced the hiring of Pamela Murrin as the new Senior Vice President of Data Strategy. Murrin, a senior executive with deep corporate analytics experience at leading consumer and media organizations, joins WWE from Time Warner Cable, where she was Group Vice President of Marketing Analytics and Insights.
For the newly created role, Murrin will be a key member of the WWE senior management team, responsible for leading an adaptive and innovative data analytics practice focused on actionable insights and strategies to drive revenue growth across all of WWE’s lines of business. Murrin will also oversee WWE’s enterprise metadata management initiatives.
Prior to joining WWE, Murrin spent nearly 15 years at Time Warner Cable and previously held senior level positions at HBO and American Express.
She will report directly to Tandy O’ Donoghue, WWE Executive Vice President, Strategy and Analytics.
Luke Harper has undergone knee surgery and is expected to be out of action for several months. Harper suffered the injury last week during the Raw dark match when his leg buckled underneath him while throwing punches in the corner.
WWE has yet to acknowledge Harper’s injury and according to several rumors he has a torn ACL which puts him on a five to six month recovery time.
Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman, and Erick Rowan were at the New York Stock Exchange yesterday and rang the bell to open trading however Harper was missing in action.
The Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal is back on the WrestleMania pay-per-view according to both the Wrestling Observer and PWInsider.com.
The 20-man battle royal was first announced to be part of the Kickoff show last week and was supposed to take place in the second hour which is being broadcast on the USA Network. Things however changed and now the Kickoff show will have 3 matches instead.
Ryback vs Kalisto for the United States title is expected to go on in the first hour, the hour which is only airing on the WWE Network, YouTube, and WWE’s social media outlets. The 10-Diva tag match and The Usos vs Dudley Boyz match are now set for the second hour of the Kickoff show and airing on USA Network as well.
This is probably why Mauro Ranallo yesterday said that he won’t be calling the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal when announcing that he will be doing play-by-play for the WrestleMania Kickoff.
WWE is once again taking a page out of the UFC and playing a game of hide and seek with WrestleMania tickets.
Starting today and continuing tomorrow, the WWE social media team will be hiding tickets to NXT Takeover: Dallas, the Hall of Fame, Axxess, WrestleMania, and Raw all around downtown Dallas and giving out hints and locations on the WWE social media accounts.
The contest kicks off at Noon CT today, then there will be another one at 2PM CT and one more tomorrow, March 31, at Noon CT as well. Clues will be given out on WWE’s Twitter and Snapchat channel.
Smackdown play-by-play commentator Mauro Ranallo will be calling the WrestleMania Kickoff show on the WWE Network and USA Network this coming Sunday.
However he will only be calling three of the four matches on the Kickoff show, including Kalisto vs Ryback, 10-Diva tag team match, and The Usos vs Dudley Boyz. He will not be calling the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
Ranallo announced this on Twitter today although he did not say who his broadcast partners will be. Michael Cole and John “Bradshaw” Layfield are a lock to announce the WrestleMania pay-per-view however it’s still not known if Byron Saxton or Jerry “The King” Lawler will be the third person on the announce table.
Lawler has been kicked off from pay-per-views lately and Saxton has took his place with WWE favoring the Raw broadcast team to handle their big shows. However Lawler has been calling WrestleManias for a very long time and it will be interesting if this will change.
Ranallo will be on the NXT Takeover: Dallas panel as well joining Renee Young and Lita.
Fight Network, the Toronto-based 24/7 channel dedicated to combat sports, and TNA announced today they have entered into a comprehensive content partnership to seize a global digital audience for fight-based content.
Fight Network’s over-the-top app will become the global home for TNA Wrestling content starting in the second quarter of this year. Fight Network and TNA Wrestling will collaborate to produce digital content and will also partner on cross-promotion and joint sales efforts in global markets, as well as in the U.S. and Canada.
Fight Network’s OTT app is available on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Verizon Go90, Layer 3 and KlowdTV.
“As a TNA Wrestling broadcast partner, we see the quality of the content, the viewer reaction and the potential to bring great programming to the world,” said Leonard Asper, CEO of Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp. “Our global OTT service now available on several platforms will be immeasurably strengthened by this partnership and we see this as just the first step in building global fight themed destination channel together.”
