WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon is on the cover of the March edition of Muscle & Fitness magazine and we got to be honest, he pretty much owns that cover.
McMahon is pictured flexing with a chain around his neck showing his impressive physique. The headline reads, “Vince McMahon: The WWE Chief Is Better Than Ever At 69.”
This is the second time that McMahon has graced the cover of the fitness magazine with the first time being in April 2006. You can check out the impressive new cover below.
Monday Night Raw TV Report for February 16th, 2015 – “Anything You Can Do…”
Introduction Segment: Welcoming
The regular Raw video plays and the pyro explodes in the Amway Arena of Orlando, Florida.
Segment #2: Arena Promo
John Cena’s music kicks off Raw, and he comes out to pump up the fans. He then recaps, via video, the brawl with Rusev from last week’s Raw. Cena is out tonight to stand up to the United States Champion. He quickly gets to the point, declaring “this Sunday at Fastlane, I am going to beat Rusev!”
Cena says he loves all the reactions, good or bad, from the fans, and all the fun he has in this business. However, you can’t be “fun” around Rusev. John talks about Rusev’s perspective, how he has lost his stride over the years; but Cena retorts that is not true. He makes it known that he will be the first to beat Rusev and win the U.S. Title.
Lana and Rusev now walk out to the stage. Lana is tired of Cena’s usual speech, and it all doesn’t matter because Rusev will “crush” Cena. The U.S. Champ agrees, telling Cena he will “crush your spirit.”
Commercials.
Segment #3: Video Promo
Dean Ambrose parodies Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” sketch, with a take on Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett’s avoidance of facing him at Fastlane for the I.C. Title. Ambrose predicts that will be resolved as by the end of the night, Barrett will be defending his Title at Fastlane.
Match #1: Single – Luke Harper VS. Dean Ambrose
They grapple to begin and Harper shoves Dean down. Ambrose waistlocks Luke and clamps on a standing side headlock, Harper pushes Dean to the canvas with a shoulder-block but Dean comes back. Harper regains control until Ambrose plants him with a corner-running-bulldog. He puts Harper to the floor then follows up with a suicide dive, but Luke catches him and boots him in the face.
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Harper is still dominating, wearing Ambrose down until Dean appears to bite Harper! He battles back and spins him around with a Tornado-DDT! Dean continues to fight with fists, then soars off the top turnbuckle with an elbow-clothesline! 1 – 2 – Harper kicks out! He turns Dean around with a sideslam, but Ambrose kicks out at two! Ambrose nails a stiff clothesline, then drives him into the mat with the “Dirty Deeds” DDT for the victory!
Winner via Pinfall: Dean Ambrose
Later tonight, Dusty Rhodes will hope to get things sorted out between his sons, Stardust and Goldust. As well, Triple H will respond to Sting’s acceptance of the face-to-face at Fastlane.
Commercials.
Segment #4: Office Promo
Triple H is talking with Kane when Big Show walks in. Both giants get into an argument over last week’s Smackdown and The Royal Rumble. The C.O.O. interjects and tells them both to figure out their issues and realize the important objective is to take out Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan.
Segment #5: Video Promo
Bray Wyatt is shown in a dark, smoky room. “What happened to you was such a tragedy. What happened to you still stirs a rage deep down inside of me. It makes me want to do the most horrible thing. And now the shock and fear that I once had of you has turned into nothing more than putrid, hateful, pity. It’s coming.”
Segment #6: Locker Room Promo
Stardust/Cody Rhodes and Goldust are in their locker room when their father walks in. Dusty Rhodes declares that he wants to make things right for the Rhodes Family.
Ads.
Match #2: Tag-Team – The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) (with New Day tag-team partner Big E.) VS. Gold and Stardust
Stardust and Xavier begin, with Woods controlling. Stardust tags in Goldust out of a wristlock, who comes in and takes over Woods. Stardust is back in, but quickly switches with his brother. Woods takes over, jackknife-pinning Goldust for two, then taking him down to the canvas again. Kofi gets his time now, and flies all over Goldust. He rockets off the top turnbuckle with a crossbody but Stardust breaks up the cover. Kingston comes back in and goes for the Trouble-In-Paradise spin-kick. Stardust moves and Kofi nails Goldust. Xavier punches with Starudst on the outside as Kofi registers the 1 – 2 – 3!
Winners via Pinfall: The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) (with New Day tag-team partner Big E.)
Post-match, Stardust and Goldust embrace, then Stardust yanks him back and drives his brother down with CrossRhodes!
Segment #7: Locker Room Promo
Byron Saxton interviews Roman Reigns on his time since The Royal Rumble. Roman questions Bryan’s integrity for not just accepting the loss in the Royal Rumble and basically weaseling his way into a potential title match at WrestleMania.
Daniel Bryan makes his entrance, but not for a match, as next is Reigns taking on Kane.
Commercials.
Segment #8: Video Promo
Dusty Rhodes confronts Cody on what he did to his brother. Cody only answers in Stardust-mode, proclaiming that Cody Rhodes is dead, just like his father.
Match #3: Single – Roman Reigns VS. Kane
(Note: Daniel Bryan is on commentary.) Reigns slugs and kicks away on Kane in the corner. He seems to be in firm control until Daniel gets the crowd going in a “yes” chant, which averts Reigns’ attention. Kane capitalizes, hitting Roman for a bit then a DDT. He begins to wear Roman down with a grounding chinlock. Reigns counters with a backdrop but is given an uppercut as he dived from the turnbuckle.
Kane hits a low-running-front-dropkick, but Reigns soon fires back. He leaps off the turnbuckle with a clothesline but is booted again to the outside. Kane rips off the cover to the announce table and attempts to chokeslam Reigns through it. Roman hops out of it and spears “The Big Red Machine,” then rolls back into the ring and gets the W!
Winner via Count-Out: Roman Reigns
Post-match, Bryan continues to get the bigger crowd reaction and pull the rug from under Reigns.
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Segment #9: Backstage Promo
Rene Young interviews Daniel Bryan, who puts over Roman as an “awesome athlete.” However, Bryan says that Reigns needs to be “mentally tough,” and get over the “yes” calls.
Segment #10: Video Promo
Bray Wyatt appears on screen again. “His hands may have created this world, but mine will destroy it. (Holding a mallet.) Limbo is no place for a soul like yours. I’m waiting for you.”
Segment #11: Locker Room Promo
Byron is awaiting an interview with Paige, but The Bellas walk out instead. They have Paige’s ring attire in their hands, and insist that she will be wrestling next, naked.
Paige runs out, in only a towel, and asks Cameron for her clothes. Cameron denies, then Paige sees The Rosebuds. She grabs one of them and hurries into the locker room.
Commercials.
Match #4: Single – Summer Rae VS. Paige
Paige finally makes her entrance, in a fairy costume. She is just as furious though, all over Summer to start out. Summer reverses an Irish Whip into an almost roll-up, then nails a spin-kick. She then ties Paige’s arms up in a behind-the-back scissor lock. Summer leg-drops Paige once, but misses a round two. Paige gives her three short-arm clotheslines and a stiff kick, then lockers Rae in the Paige Tap-Out, forcing her to give-up.
Winner via Submission: Paige
Post-match, Paige informs The Bellas that she doesn’t “need an outfit to look good,” but insinuates that the Divas Championship will be the perfect thing to wear instead.
Ads.
Match #5: Single – “Mr. Money In The Bank” Seth Rollins (with J & J Security [Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury] ) VS. “The Show-Off” Dolph Ziggler
Prior to this contest, Rollins cuts a promo continuing to state that he is the future of the WWE, which is appropriate because of it being President’s Day in the United States. Seth talks about wanting to cash in the Money In The Bank contract soon, and begins to rip on Dolph Ziggler. “The Show-Off” interrupts, to a huge ovation. He takes a few shots at the entire Authority, then puts himself over as someone who does “what it means to be ‘the best,’” as well as taking out The Authority at Survivor Series. Ziggler immediately punches away at Rollins, who quickly escapes to the outside.
Commercials.
Rollins is now in control, grappling Dolph with a grounding rear chinlock. J & J try to get involved on the outside, but the referee catches them and orders them to the back. In the ring, Ziggler small-packages Seth for two. Rollins misses a run and eats the post shoulder-first. Dolph gets fired up, splashing and elbow-dropping Rollins. He hits a bunch of signature moves, but Rollins does not stay down.
“Mr. Money In The Bank” returns the favor with a Pele-Kick for a near-fall! Rollins ground-and-pounds on Dolph, then climbs the turnbuckle. Ziggler meets him up there, but is shoved off quickly. Rollins follows with a jump, but Dolph moves. He goes for the Fameasseer, but it is countered. Dolph counters another move, and hits the Zig-Zag. He covers, but J & J run in again and break up the pin.
Winner via Disqualification: “The Show-Off” Dolph Ziggler
Post-match, Ziggler is beaten down by Rollins, Mercury, and Noble until Erik Rowan and Ryback run out to make the save.
Ads.
Segment #12: Arena Promo
Video recalls everything that has happened with Sting since he has arrived, as Triple H makes his entrance. “The Game” talks about the notions that he is “afraid of Sting.” Triple H vehemently denies it, instead promoting that Sting will be going against “The Game,” “The Cerebral Assassin…” Before he goes any further, a man who knows both him and Sting extremely well walks out. “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair returns and struts down the aisle!
He is here to give HHH advice on facing Sting, which “The Game” respectfully doesn’t want any of. HHH does put Sting over as “The Franchise” and “The Icon” of WCW, and respects him for staying right until the bitter end of that company. However, if Sting had chosen to come to WWE a lot earlier, Triple H says he would’ve “run him out.” He states the reason of doing this because “Sting’s legacy was built on Ric Flair’s reputation.” Ric tells Triple H that he’s “not acting like ‘The Cerebral Assassin.’” HHH thinks that Sting is coming to take all away that Triple H has built, but Flair suggests that those are the mind-games Sting plays and they’re working. He says that HHH doesn’t have the right mindset anymore for competition because he’s not wrestling every night, and that instead, he is running the WWE. “Don’t let me see you sitting on your ass again, okay, like you were last Monday. Fair enough?” Triple H shoves his mentor to the mat, then yells at him that “if someone stands between me and this company, I am kicking their ass. At Fastlane, I promise you, whether he goes on his own, or whether I beat it out of him, Sting will never show his face here again,” Triple H concludes and storms off.
Commercials.
Match #6: Tag-Team – Darren Young and ??? VS. The Ascension (Conor and Viktor)
The Ascension just decimate Young and his partner, until Titus O’Neil runs out and makes the save. He helps out his former partner, Darren, run off Viktor and Conor.
Winner: No Contest due to No Official Start
Segment #13: Backstage Promo
The Miz is trying to convince Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett to teach Damien Mizdow a lesson. If Barrett helps out, then Miz will do something about the pending contract for Fastlane that Dean Ambrose has.
Ads.
Match #7: Single – Damien Mizdow (with The Miz) VS. Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett (Non-Title)
Every time Damien would gain an advantage, Miz would ring a bell on the outside, and order him to fix something. This led to Mizdow falling to Barrett after a Bullhammer-Elbow shot!
Winner via Pinfall: Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett
Post-match, Dean Ambrose charges in and ties up Barrett against the post. He forces Bad News to sign the contract, and they will be wrestling this Sunday at Fastlane for the Intercontinental Championship.
Segment #14: Arena Promo
For a third time, Bray Wyatt is on screen. “What shakes the heart of a man who can never truly die? I believe I found the answer. The answer lives in me. The answer is the creature that lives behind my eyes. The answer is ‘Bray Wyatt.’ there’s nowhere left to go. The angle with the burnt wings cometh. Find me, FIND ME! Or I’ll find you.” He finishes hammering a nail into an object.
Commercials.
Match #8: Six-Person Tag-Team – Cesaro, Tyson Kidd, and Natalya VS. Tag-Team Champions The Usos (Jimmy and Jey) and Naomi (Non-Title)
Naomi and Natalya reverse pin combos, until Naomi gets the better with a sunset-flip!
Winners via Pinfall: Tag-Team Champions The Usos (Jimmy and Jey) and Naomi
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Match #9: Single – The Big Show VS. Daniel Bryan
(Note: Roman is just sitting at ringside.) This match starts out evenly until Show takes dominance for a while. Bryan eventually counters and wears down Show with a sleeper. During this, Roman decides to sign autographs for the fans. This makes Bryan angry, so he starts to kick away until Big catches him.
Commercials.
Show is back in control, dominating for a bit. Bryan manages a suicide dive to the outside, but Show counters. He tries to run Bryan into the post, but Daniel slips out and shoves him into the post. Show turns a throw around and hurls Daniel into Reigns, then Spears Reigns as Bryan was getting in Roman’s face. In the ring, Bryan manages to trap show in the Yes Lock Crossface, but Show crawls to the ropes for the break. Reigns suddenly interrupts and Superman Punches Show, causing another DQ.
Winner via Disqualification: The Big Show
Post-match, Bryan and Roman face-off. This ensues into a big melee and brawl around the arena that takes numerous referees and agents to split apart. Bryan even wails Reigns with a chair! To close the show, Daniel is on top of the announce table and a bloody-lower-face Roman is by the ring.
End Of Raw.
Reporter’s Rumblings – By Moe Tapp
This was a jam-packed Raw, which was both good and bad. Onto the analysis, then my predictions for Fastlane.
Excellence: promos from Lana/Rusev/Cena, Paige, Ziggler and Rollins, Triple H/Flair, Stardust, Bray Wyatt, and Roman Reigns. Matches between Harper/Ambrose, Paige/Summer, Dolph/Seth, Six-Person Tag, and Show/Bryan.
Loved the two big brawls, especially to open and close Raw. Both made their respective matches feel big-time and display the passion that the wrestlers have.
Great surprise for Ric Flair’s appearance and awesome interaction between the two. I wonder if Flair will be involved in Fastlane too?
I’m intrigued for the possible return of the Primetime Players and think they are playing out The Miz/Damien story beautifully.
Bogus: too many promos; I think they easily could’ve cut a couple of them out/combined a few, such as Dean Ambrose’s SNL parody – have that just before his match, leaving out The Miz/Barrett’s backstage talk and Rollins/Ziggler’s interaction. (As good as they are, they didn’t say anything new, so it was a dud for me.)
I’m hoping Natalya to turn heel at Fastlane and finally be alongside her husband. This would be a much-needed fresh start for her and make her interesting again (other than her excellent wrestling skills).
I’m not thrilled for another dissention between Show and Kane, and Show probably doing the face-turn again. Both need to pick a side and stay on it for longer than 6 months. (At least Kane has done that, but Show keeps flip-flopping, which is really annoying!)
Fastlane predictions: Paige wins the Divas Championship back to setup her VS. A.J. Lee at WrestleMania; Rusev/Cena ends in no-decision, also setting up another WrestleMania match; Kidd/Cesaro win Tag-Titles after Natalya goes with Tyson; Barrett keeps his I.C. Title, somehow; Reigns to defeat Bryan (I’m really hoping this happens, as Reigns got gipped due to Philadelphia)
This was a pretty great Raw for the “go-home” show; here’s hoping next week’s will be just as great as then it is straight to ‘Mania! Until next week, as always, Be Excellent Wrestling-Online Readers and Wrestling Fans!
PWInsider.com is reporting that another WWE Hall of Famer, Ric Flair, will be on Raw tonight.
Flair, who is under contract to the company, hasn’t been used much by WWE over the last year even though he underwent medicals to resume life on the road full time.
Flair is expected to play a part in the current Triple H vs Sting storyline on the show tonight and considering the long history the Nature Boy has with Sting and Triple H, he is the perfect man to be added to the mix.
Sting will be at the Fast Lane pay-per-view this coming Sunday for a face off with Triple H which is looking like it will lead to a match between the two at WrestleMania 31.
WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes will be on Monday Night Raw tonight to take part in the Goldust and Stardust storyline that has been going on for the past few weeks.
Last week, the ‘American Dream’ wrote on Twitter that he will be attending Raw to check up on his boys. “It’s hard times for the Rhodes family. This Monday on Raw I will settle things with both my Boys,” he wrote.
It’s been a while since Rhodes appeared on WWE television, with the last time he was on pay-per-view being at the Battleground show where his two sons defeated The Shield.
TNA wraps up their five day live event set of television tapings at Universal Studios Back Lot Stage 20 tonight with six hours of wrestling.
This particular tour was to tape eight special One Night Only pay-per-views as well as Xplosion matches catered for International markets. Each day – except for the first one back on Thursday – was pretty full with approximately six hours of television.
TNA returns to Universal in March and April for Impact Wrestling tapings.
First it was Seth Rollins, now it’s Cesaro as the Swiss’ Twitter account was hacked by a disgruntled fan who’s had enough of the way WWE is treating Cesaro. But this time thankfully there were no nude photos posted.
“You know what? I’m sick of Vince McMahon and his bullshit. I don’t even get a chance to get the tag titles with Kidd now,” the first tweet said before going on an attack on Vince McMahon.
“I hope that old man gets cancer, I would of been one of the best for sure in the WWE. But that old washed-up has been has no idea,” the rant continues. He then addressed what McMahon said on Austin’s podcast about Cesaro lacking charisma.
“I lack charisma? Yeah right I’m the Swiss superman everybody cheered for me at WM. And why did they give me this gimmick and this awful theme music? They’re constantly burying me.”
The tweets were made to look like Cesaro made them when in fact the account was hacked and all messages were deleted afterwards, something that the hacker acknowledged by the end of his rant.
Several other tweets were sent saying that this was not an attack on Cesaro but purely him getting his “anger out at WWE on Cesaro’s behalf.” He urged fans to use the #PushCesaro hashtag, and it was trending worldwide just a few minutes later.
“Okay I’m gonna give this back to Cesaro now. Thanks for the fun. Cesaro, your new password is the same just with a 1 at the end,” the hacker said.
Episode 16 of season 3 of Total Divas, titled All Hail Brie Mode, airs tonight on E!
The synopsis of the show reads, “Brie and Paige take the UK by storm making Nikki worry Brie’s extreme behavior will jeopardize their performance in the ring. Meanwhile, Nattie resorts to asking TJ for help with a family disaster and Alicia falls apart when confronted with her ex-boyfriend.”
The second half of season 3 has been doing particularly well in the ratings and it’s almost a safe bet that the series will be renewed for another season by E!
Milwaukee’s NBC affiliate station TMJ4 conducted an interview with UFC’s CM Punk at the Roufusport MMA Academy which is located in Milwaukee, and 90 minutes away from CM Punk’s residence.
The interview is mainly regarding the switch from professional wrestling to mixed martial arts. His coach, Dick Roufus, said that at 36 years of age, Punk is impressing him and he can already see a couple of fights for Punk in the UFC.
When asked by the interviewer if he thinks about professional wrestling, Punk didn’t hesitate to say no, not at all. Speaking of wrestling, in the additional text interview accompanying the video, Punk said that Brock Lesnar has offered all his help already.
“I’ve talked to him and he’s offered all his help, even if it’s just bug him with a stupid question. It’s cool to know he supports me. He’s a good guy to know, I think,” Punk said.
You can see the video interview below and the rest of the interview at JRN.COM/tmj4
Earlier this week, Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that Vince Russo was in talks to join El Rey’s Lucha Underground and had meetings with executive producer Eric Van Wagenen.
On his website, Russo completely denied this, saying that Meltzer is either “an an absolute liar, just looking to stir up his readers by attempting to marry my name with Lucha, so the haters can come out and take their free cheap shots at me, or, one of Meltzer’s ‘reliable sources’ is lying to him.”
Russo claims that he never heard of Van Wagenen’s name before – a producer who worked on The Amazing Race, The Contender, WWE Tough Enough, The Apprentice, WWE Legends House, and others. Russo also wanted a retraction of the story from Meltzer.
Former NXT champion Sami Zayn will not be appearing on NXT television for the next four episodes to sell the beating he got at Takeover: Rival, at the hands of the new champion Kevin Owens.
Zayn – whose real name is Rami Sebei and parents are from Syria – however joined the WWE crew on their tour of the United Arab Emirates over the past three days in Abu Dhabi. He wrestled Tyson Kidd in the second day of the tour and spoke Arabic to the fans to a nice ovation from the crowd telling that while he’s born in Canada, his blood is from Syria.
The tour wraps up today with the final show at the Zayed Sports City Tennis Stadium.
It was a good day for WWE investors today as stocks soared 15% during trading hours, ending the day at $16.56 each, an increase of $2.20 per share.
Stocks reached a high of $16.91 during the day after starting at $14.39. In two days, stocks increased 22% following the Q4 2014 and year end results which was released yesterday.
Wall Street seems like it was encouraged by the lower overall losses than projected and the increased in Network subscriptions WWE managed to pull over the past few months.
In the latest quarter and year end financial report, WWE disclosed the exact number of buys for their three pay-per-views that the company produced in the last quarter of 2014.
Hell In A Cell in October did 83,000 buys, down from the 228,000 of the previous year. Survivor Series did 100,000 buys, down from 177,000 of 2013, while TLC did 39,000 buys, down from 181,000 of 2013. In 2013 there was no WWE Network which is why there was a big drop in buys for 2014.
The 271,000 buys of last quarter were all from those who opted to buy the show on traditional pay-per-view for the price of $54.95 instead of subscribing to the Network. WWE did $3.9 million from these 271,000 buys, a decline of 62% from 2013 thanks to the introduction of the WWE Network.
Two former WWE Superstars – Rhyno and Brian Kendrick – returned last night during the NXT television tapings at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
Rhyno participated in a quick match in the first set of tapings which will air on the Network next Wednesday. The former ECW champion hasn’t appeared on WWE television since June 2005, where he wrestled Sabu at the ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view. He then went to TNA for five years where he held the NWA World title once.
Brian Kendrick worked the second set of tapings which will air on February 25 on the WWE Network. He wrestled Finn Balor in the main event of the show. Kendrick last wrestled for the WWE in July 2009 and then also went to TNA for a couple of years before going to New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Kendrick was backstage at the NXT Takeover: R Evolution event last year and was given a tryout as a trainer at the WWE Performance Center.
Destination America issued a press release announcing its best January ever in Primetime household delivery thanks to TNA’s Impact Wrestling.
Among the records broken, the Wednesday, January 7 debut show of Impact on the network ranked as the best Wednesday evening in network history for delivery of M25-54. The show also ranked as the 6th most social television program for the evening with #DestinationIMPACT reaching a collective 73M impressions on Twitter.
For the month of January, Impact Wrestling ranked as the #9 series in ad-supported cable for delivery of M25-54 on Friday nights. Throughout the same month, Impact Wrestling posted record-breaking numbers, delivering an average of 276K viewers among P25-54.
Since premiering on the network in January 2015, 4.2 million unique viewers have watched Impact Wrestling on Destination America.
Forbes is carrying an article on their website with the title ‘WWE And Vince McMahon Are The Future Of Sports,’ mainly focusing on the WWE Network and how they are reaching their fans.
“Give McMahon credit for having the guts to go against conventional wisdom and critics who wanted WWE to stick exclusively with its pay-per-view model,” Forbes staff writer Mike Ozanian wrote. “McMahon has looked Joseph Schumpeter‘s creative destruction theory in the eye and smiled right back. It takes you know what to take a profitable business model and rip it apart, but that is exactly what McMahon has done.”
The WWE Network is still technically losing money and it won’t be profitable until around 1.4 million subscribers are reached. Is it impossible? Not at all. WWE did reach over a million subscribers last month and with WrestleMania coming, and the launch in the Middle East and North Africa coupled with the extended reach in Canada, that soon can be a reality.
Yesterday, following the encouraging Q4 2014 results, WWE stocks went up 7% and today it’s up another 11% at time of this writing.
You can read the full article at http://onforb.es/1vqVEiS
The Latino-Review.com website broke the story earlier today that former WWE champion Dave Bautista is going to play the role of The Kurgan in the Highlander movie reboot.
In the original movie, the barbarian role of The Kurgan was played by Clancy Brown while Christopher Lambert played the leading role of Connor MacLeod. No word yet on who will play the lead role.
Bautista is currently filming the role of the assassin Mr. Hinx in the latest James Bond movie titled Spectre. Ever since playing Drax The Destroyer in Guardians of the Galaxy, Bautista has been a very busy man in Hollywood.
The Stone Cold Steve Austin live Unleashed podcast on the WWE Network were a massive hit with fans and for the company as well.
George Barrios, WWE’s Chief Strategy and Financial Officer, said that the two podcasts with Vince McMahon back in December and with Triple H earlier this month were two of the most watched shows on the WWE Network since the service launched in February of last year.
Barrios added that they are working on adding more live specials and content such as talk shows which will continue to grow the Network. Having Austin host his live podcast on the Network with VIP guests is certainly an option but those VIP guests will eventually run out.
Considered one of the boldest moves in sports entertainment, the WWE launched their online streaming service the WWE Network a year ago. With much uncertainty around the service many naysayers didn’t give the channel much of a chance.
But it takes a brave person to question Vince McMahon’s business acumen. Let’s face it; he’s proved the wrestling community wrong on numerous occasions with his various innovations. When the Network launched in 2014 it originally forecasted targets of 1 million subscribers to the $9.99 monthly service but it fell woefully short in the first two quarters, which subsequently meant that the WWE’s share prices also fell dramatically. There was also talk that company had incurred huge losses because of the outlay the WWE made to put this service in place.
However, like all visions that McMahon and the major players in WWE have, things are never done with just the short-term in mind. McMahon launched this service with longevity in mind and to help the WWE keep ahead of its competitors. You only have to look at the UFC, which launched its Fight Pass service months after to see how the company keeps ahead of the veritable curve.
On live television, Vince declared on SmackDown, January 29, 2015 that the company had finally reached their forecasted target. They had successfully obtained 1 million subscribers to the WWE Network.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcfEAB6Yf7Y&w=700]
To celebrate this monumental achievement the WWE is offering free subscription for the month of February to entice further customers to this revolutionary service.
But what are the other variables that have helped the WWE Network prosper in an already competitive landscape? Aside from its myriad of content, and its large budgets, the ability to access all the video and content on smartphones and gadgets has seen the Network become the go-to resource for over 1 million wrestling fans over the last 12 months.
Of course, the addition of many of the previous pay-per-view events to the service has helped draw in many WWE fans but its flexibility is the real key to its success. Because everything can be accessed via mobile, consumers see this as an efficient way to view and consume content. With the service benefiting from the increased number of consumers using smartphones according to EMarketer. The Internet penetration has also increased to these gadgets with the makers of successful portal BubbleBonusBingo claiming that 17% of the world can now access the Internet via their smartphones.
All this points to a more digital future, where subscribers will want content readily accessible via a myriad of different platforms. And this is fundamentally why the WWE Network is seen as the trailblazer in the sports entertainment landscape.
Although the company is yet to release its forecast for the next 12 months, with the continued increase in Internet penetration, smartphone usage and improvements with the Network, experts are predicting that WWE will look to hit 1.5 million subscribers by 2016.
Former NBA MVP and All-Star Karl Malone called out WWE Heavyweight champion Brock Lensar yesterday in an interview on America’s Pregame on Fox Sports 1!
When Malone was asked about a rematch with Dennis Rodman, Malone said that he’s still waiting for that call from WWE but if he’s coming back, he wants Brock Lesnar.
“I want Brock Lesnar, I’m calling him out. I want Brock Lesnar,” Malone said while laughing.
Malone, who is a big wrestling fan, worked for WCW in 1998 and made several Nitro appearances and even wrestled in the main event of Bash at the Beach that year teaming up with Diamond Dallas Page taking on Hulk Hogan and Dennis Rodman.
DDP frequently put over Malone in interviews later throughout the years citing his enthusiasm and will to learn how the business works.
You can see the short segment on Fox Sports below.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/dfSGuAXk0_k&w=700]
Rogers Communications today announced that it has reached arrangements for the WWE Network with multiple television providers, expanding the Network’s reach in Canada.
Six new providers will carry the Network, all launching before WrestleMania 31 giving Canadian fans the ability to watch WrestleMania on the Network rather than the more expensive pay-per-view offering.
TELUS Satellite TV and Videotron will launch the Network on February 25, while Cogeco Cable Canada will launch on March 26. TELUS Optik TV, Shaw, and Shaw Direct will announce their March launch dates in the coming weeks.
Rogers has a 10 year deal with WWE for the WWE Network and now apart from the traditional television channel, subscribers can watch all the WWE Network programming online through their desktop or laptop via a browser.
