WWE Japan announced that the company will be returning to the Land of the Rising Sun on July 1 and 2 for two back-to-back shows at the Ryogkoku Sumo Arena in Tokyo.
Tickets go on sale to the general public on Saturday, April 16, with more information being released in mid March.
WWE held a couple of shows in Japan over the 4th of July last year and the July 4 show was actually broadcast live on the WWE Network and billed as the Beast In The East, with Brock Lesnar making a rare appearance.
The Madison Square Garden non-televised live WWE event show just got a match that everyone would want to see as new advertising for the show reveals a Kevin Owens vs AJ Styles match.
Owens was supposed to have a match against Dean Ambrose that night, a 30 minute Iron Man match for the Intercontinental title. The show is being billed as a Daniel Bryan Night with the former WWE World Heavyweight champion appearing at MSG on March 25.
The recently returned Shane McMahon has been added to the March 7 Monday Night Raw which will take place from Chicago, Illinois, at the Allstate Arena.
The announcement was made by the Allstate Arena website which posted a note on the Raw event page reading, “JUST ANNOUNCED: For the 1st time in over a decade Shane McMahon will be live in Chicago on 3/7 for Monday Night RAW!”
Chicago is known for having some of the nosiest and rowdiest wrestling crowd in the United States so it will be interesting to see the reaction the fans in Windy City will give Shane O’Mac.
Tickets for this Raw are on sale at Ticketmaster.com with prices at $20, $30, $55, $70, $85, and $125.
PWInsider.com is reporting that TNA will resume its Impact television tapings in mid March, returning to their old stomping ground, Universal Studios.
TNA had a residency at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, with their weekly television show taped there. Eventually they branched out to other arenas to try and make money off their tapings since TNA got nothing as far as gate money goes since the studio lot was part of the Universal Studios theme park.
The dates for the tapings are from March 12 to 15 according to PWInsider and they will do Impact and One Night Only pay-per-views as well for International markets.
Daniel Bryan will be traveling to the United Kingdom for the WWE WrestleMania Revenge Tour and will be appearing on the Smackdown tapings to be held on Tuesday, April 19, in London at the O2 Arena.
“A heartfelt goodbye does not mean farewell. Now you have the opportunity to prove to the ultimate underdog that the Yes! movement is strong,” says the video promoting the event.
A tag team match with John Cena against Tyson Kidd and Cesaro in the UK ended up being Daniel Bryan’s last ever match in April of 2015. It’s not known if Bryan will be appearing only for the live audience or if his appearance will be eventually televised. You can see the video below.
A Daniel Bryan Night is set for Madison Square Garden on March 25 but that event is not televised.
https://twitter.com/WWEUK/status/702510920082149376
Impact on Pop on Tuesday night did its worst number so far since the move and one of the worst number – if not the worst – in company history.
The show did a total of 210,000 viewers for the Lockdown-themed show from the United Kingdom. That is down from last week’s 273,000 viewers. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Roman Reigns is off the non-televised live events this coming weekend as well as next week as WWE continues to sell the storyline from this past Monday’s Raw where Triple H beat him up pretty bad, an attack which was enjoyed by WWE fans in the arena judging by their approval.
WWE.COM said that Reigns underwent nasal reconstruction surgery although the photo posted by Reigns following the surgery raised some doubts about the validity of the news since he had no black eyes and other effects that result from similar nose surgery.
A photo posted today by WWE on its social media accounts shows a Reigns selfie with puffy eyes and some blackness around the eyes which might suggest that Reigns did in fact undergo nose surgery but not thanks to the attack on Monday. Fake blood was used on the show to make things look more graphic and it might be that they used the angle to have Reigns fix a previous problem. Or it could be great make up!
Dr. Chris Amann told WWE.COM, “Roman underwent nasal reconstruction surgery, which consisted of a deviated septum that was fixed and realigned. He also had a turbinate that was also fixed as well as a reduction of a nasal fracture Reigns will continue to undergo observation as he recuperates but a timetable for his return to action has not yet been discussed.”
The number one contender is advertised for Raw on Monday.
The Hall of Fame ring owned by the family of the late Paul Bearer was on History Channel’s Pawn Stars episode yesterday.
“WWE, the sort of… wrestling thing,” laughed Rick Harrison as he was presented by the ring for a potential sale. Harrison recounted how his kids used to think it’s the “greatest thing in the world” and then he would tell them that it’s fake, only to be answered with a, “Shut up, dad!”
The owner of the ring, Bryce, said that he became friends with the family of the late Paul Bearer and they gave it to him. He said he was there to get as much money as he can for him and the family it belongs to.
Bryce said he wanted $22,000 for the ring, a number which got an immediate no. “I sold Super Bowl rings for less,” Harrison said. The counter offer was $4,000 however Bryce said that he’s been offered more than that. Bryce added that when he heard the ridiculous offer he wanted to pull some WWE moves on Harrison.
Bearer was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014 after he passed away. You can see the video from Pawn Stars below.
Episode 6 of season 5 of Total Divas which was titled End of a Friendship? drew a total of 777,000 viewers, continuing its downward trend for the fifth week in a row. That is down from last week’s 808,000 number and the second lowest rated episode of the whole series. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has joined the broadcast team for CBS Sports Network’s new monthly professional boxing series titled Knockout Night at The D, which officially launches Saturday night, March 12, at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center.
JR – who will be the main play-by-play commentator – will be joined by Al Bernstein who will be handling color commentary. Former world featherweight champion Kevin “Flushing Flash” Kelley will conduct post fight and celebrity interviews.
“I am beyond excited to have this opportunity to broadcast big time, world-class boxing from the fight capital of the world, Las Vegas,” Ross remarked. “Working with Boxing Hall of Famer Al Bernstein, the best analyst in the game, and with the ’Flushing Flash’, Kevin Kelley, equates to a unique broadcasting trifecta. Ring the bell…it’s Slobber Knocker time!”
Eight Knockout Night at the D events are planned in 2016.
Jim Ross will be hosting a private sold out event for Wrestling-Online.com on Saturday, April 2, in the morning at The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas.
One of the biggest television and pay-per-view providers, DISH, has so far not made a decision if it will carry WrestleMania 32 on traditional pay-per-view.
When we reached out to the company today, their corporate communication officer told us, “DISH continues to consider the value of WWE pay-per-view on an event by event basis and has made no announcements regarding the carriage of Wrestlemania as of this date.”
Ironically, this was the same – word for word – statement which was given to us last year a few weeks before WrestleMania 31, an event that DISH opted not to carry. They did carry WrestleMania XXX after the introduction of the Network but that was the final show they aired on pay-per-view.
The WWE Network turned two years old today, currently standing at just over 1.2 million paid subscribers with data provided until December 31, 2015.
WWE officially unveiled the WWE Network to the media and fans worldwide at CES 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 9 live from the Wynn Hotel with Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Stone Cold Steve Austin present for the launch.
The launch of the Network created friction between WWE and its service providers, mainly those who carry the pay-per-views as many opted to drop their programming citing unfair competition since WWE was offering the same show for $9.99 a month.
The first WWE Network live broadcast was the NXT ArRIVAL show from Full Sail University which streamed live on February 27, just three days after the initial launch with WrestleMania being the first pay-per-view to air on the Network.
The day after WrestleMania XXX, WWE announced that it had 667,000 subscribers to the Network but that did not go down well with investors and it led to a massive sell off of the WWE stocks, sending them nearly 50% down during the trading day.
Since then, WWE has a total of over 4,300 worth of content on the Network with another 1,000 hours being added including 300 hours of original content in 2016. For the last quarter of 2015, the WWE Network generated $37.2 million in revenue, and although it’s a number that is more than what pay-per-views did in the past, the profit is much less due to the price difference.
Shane McMahon has finally joined the Twitter world using the @shanemcmahon username. His Twitter profile reads, “4th generation McMahon in the family business. Father. New Yorker. Sneakerhead.”
His first tweet was a thank you to the Detroit crowd, which provided him with a moment he said he would never forget. “What a night. Thank you Detroit for that incredible welcome. It’s great to be back,” he tweeted.
He currently has 52,600 followers, a number which will surely rise once word of mouth starts to pick up. Interesting enough, he’s only following Michael Jordan, Spike Lee, and WWE’s official Twitter account.
His father Vince also commented on Twitter about the opening segment of Raw, saying, “My son @ShaneMcMahon returns to Raw. #SurrealMoment.”
It was announced during the Smackdown tapings yesterday that the Undertaker will be returning to Raw this coming Monday at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
This will be the first time since the Survivor Series that the Undertaker will be appearing on WWE television. The show celebrated 25 years of the Undertaker and he teamed up with Kane to take on the Wyatt Family that night. In 2015, the Undertaker made more appearances than in previous years, first at WrestleMania, then at SummerSlam, Hell In A Cell, and Survivor Series.
It will be interesting to see what the return of the Deadman brings since he will be wrestling for Vince McMahon so to speak against his son Shane in a Hell In A Cell at WrestleMania.
The Payback pay-per-view at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, has been changed to an Extreme Rules pay-per-view on the same date.
Ticketmaster was selling tickets to the Payback event at the arena however now it was changed to Extreme Rules with the Prudential Center website also changing the name of the event. Last year, Extreme Rules took place in April with Payback following in May however this time it seems that Payback will be held on May 1, giving the month of May two pay-per-view events just three weeks apart.
There’s still no location or arena determined for the May 1 event with just over two months to go for the actual show.
The pre-sale for Extreme Rules is the same one that was marketed for Payback, with the code WWEPC valid to purchase tickets at Ticketmaster.com. The show takes place on May 22.
This week’s Raw, with the surprise return of Shane McMahon, drew a total of 3,884,000 viewers, up 651,000 viewers from last week’s show.
Hour one did 4,201,000 viewers, followed by 4,055,000 in the second hour, and then down to 3,396,000 in the third and final hour. From hour one to hour three Raw lost a whopping 805,000 viewers.
This was the best number since the post-Royal Rumble Raw which did nearly 4,100,000 viewers on average. Hour one and hour two also had the best number since that show. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
The pre-sale for the Payback pay-per-view kicked off this morning at 10AM EST on Ticketmaster.com with the code WWEPC unlocking tickets for the show. This pre-sale ends on Thursday at 11:59PM EST.
Ticket prices are $30, $50, $70, $85, $105, $2015, $405, and $505 with tickets then going on sale for the general public this Friday at Noon EST.
Payback will take place on May 22 live from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Extreme Rules, which usually takes place after WrestleMania in April, has not been announced yet.
Austin, TX – February 23, 2016 – El Rey Network and South By Southwest (SXSW) Conferences and Festivals announced today that the popular Lucha Libre wrestling series “Lucha Underground” will be part of this year’s SXAméricas celebration in Austin, Texas featuring both a panel and a live event on Tuesday, March 15th, 2016. The panel, titled “Importing Lucha Libre: The Creation of El Rey Network’s Lucha Underground”, will focus on how Emmy Award®-winning producer Mark Burnett and El Rey Network Chairman and Founder Robert Rodriguez have successfully imported two of Mexico’s most popular forms of entertainment, lucha libre and the telenovela and combined them to create a new sports franchise taking the world by storm. And for the first time in its history the character-driven television phenomenon will leave the temple in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles for a live event at the Austin Music Hall in Austin, Texas which will feature more than fifteen of “Lucha Underground’s” high-flying, death defying luchadores.
The creators and stars of “Lucha Underground” will discuss the formation of the gripping new wrestling franchise during the panel featuring wrestling superstar Rey Mysterio Jr., “Lucha Underground” Showrunner and Executive Producer Eric Van Wagenen, “Lucha Underground” owner Dorian Roldán and El Rey Network Co-founder and “Lucha Underground” Owner Cristina Patwa. The live event, taking place at the Austin Music Hall at 7:00pm, will bring to Austin all of the fierce lucha libre drama and excitement “Lucha Underground” is known for. Both events are part of Convergence programming and will be open to all SXSW badge types.
Vince McMahon dropped the F-bomb live on Monday Night Raw last night but thankfully those behind the censor button caught it right on cue. However with thousands of fans filming on their cameras and cell phones, the whole thing was caught on fan footage.
After the two shook hands and Shane said that they had a deal, Vince said, “I will have one last opportunity…to f**kin’ beat you.” The crowd went “oooh!” and probably it even caught the two McMahons by surprise as well considering the very PG era that the company is in right now.
The clip was edited from YouTube however you can see the whole exchange on the Hulu Plus version of Raw with the word edited out. The uncensored version, if you’re interested, can be seen below.
During the commercial break following the opening segment with Vince, Stephanie, and Shane McMahon, the returning McMahon thanked the Detroit crowd for their fantastic welcome.
Standing at the top of the ramp, Shane said, “You truly have no idea…I got goosebumps right now…my nipples are hard! I am excited!” Shane added that it’s been “way way way too long” and that he would never forget this moment for his entire life, with his voice breaking up a bit from emotion.
As the fans roared with their approval, Shane told them he’d see them all at WrestleMania. You can see the video below.
