WCW fans who subscribe to the WWE Network will be happy to hear that the addition of the WCW flagship show Monday Nitro to the Network will start rolling next week.
Nitro has been surprisingly missing from the Network since launch day and the only footage of WCW currently available on the over-the-top streaming service are the pay-per-views.
Over 100 hours of Nitro will be ready to stream from next week and considering Nitro was a one hour show for the first couple of years, 100 hours will be the first two years of the show, from 1995 to 1997.
Paul Heyman took the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge the only way Paul Heyman knows how to do it – complete with a promo…and a hot Paul Heyman Girl on his side.
The only difference was that instead of Heyman getting the shower, the Heyman chick – dressed, hm, very appropriately – dropped the bucket of ice and water on herself and then took off the shirt to reveal two huge…well, you get the point. The Heyman Girl was Luci Ford, a Hustle Temp Tats supermodel.
In an interview with Wade Keller on the PWTorch Livecast, WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin mentioned WrestleMania 32 as a possible one last go in a WWE ring when asked the question of a possibility of lacing up his wrestling boots one more time.
“I’ll reserve my right to if I want to have another match down the road – say, like, Dallas, Texas is going to be (WrestleMania) 32,” Austin said. He mentioned that while WrestleMania will be just “down the road” from him, it could be doable but he doesn’t see it happening.
He said that it would be very special going back to Texas for WrestleMania 32 and WWE would need a pretty big card to fill up the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. He said that while he’s thinking about it, he’s not trying to “sell” or “promote” it.
Austin added that it would take a 3 or 4 month training camp to get back in ring shape and getting the body back to absorb those bumps and get his timing right and shaking off his ring rust. He last wrestled for WWE at WrestleMania 19, losing to The Rock.
There was another problem as well as he reckons today’s style is a bit micro-managed and he’s used to do and say whatever he wanted.
“I don’t know that I could be micro-managed to such a large degree. I want to come, do my thing, and get out of dodge the way I want to do it with my creative freedom, liberties, and everything that goes with it.”
Bully Ray and Velvet Sky filmed a very entertaining ALS Ice Bucket Challenge video together.
Sky started the whole thing by herself before Bully Ray intervened to stop her before dumping the water. “Velvet Sky you’re like the hottest girl in pro wrestling, nobody wants to see you getting a bucket of ice dumped on you in a sweatshirt,” Ray said, while looking at the camera multiple times sort of like looking for support.
Sky did what every male wrestling fan wanted to see, took of her shirt to reveal a hot pink bikini bra. “Much better,” Ray said after he dumped all the water.
Sky then nominated Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mick Foley, and Bubba Ray himself. Ray then started complaining about it before Sky came from behind and dumped another bucket of water.
The two then drank beer together and as soon as Ray took the first sip, Sky kicked him in the gut, and did the Stunner on him as Steve Austin’s music kicked in in the background. Pretty funny!
WWE Superstar Batista has a lot of things to be happy for, one of them being that his movie Guardians of the Galaxy is now the highest-grossing movie of the Summer domestically, surpassing Transformers: Age of Extinction.
Guardians – in which Batista plays Drax the Destroyer and is billed third in the movie – did an additional estimated $17,631,000 for the weekend, regaining the number one spot from Ninja Turtles.
It has so far done $251,884,000 domestically with an additional $237,600,000 in foreign box office receipts. The movie has no way of surpassing Transformers 4 in worldwide numbers though as the Michael Bay flick did just over 1 billion dollars in total sales.
A sequel is already being planned for Guardians which should come as a no surprise.
2K today issued a press release announcing that the WWE SuperCard game for iOS and Android devices has been downloaded more than 1.5 million times during its first week of release. With an average rating of 4.5/5 stars on the App Store for iOS devices, as well as 4/5 stars on Google Play, WWE SuperCard has quickly cemented its position as the most successful WWE-branded casual game to have ever been launched by 2K or WWE for mobile devices.
“In less than one week, WWE SuperCard broke 2K’s records and became one of the Company’s most popular free-to-play games to date,” said Chris Snyder, Vice President of Marketing at 2K. “WWE SuperCard is a fun, engaging and addictive game for mobile game enthusiasts, WWE fans and card collectors alike, bringing the larger-than-life action of WWE straight to their mobile devices to engage with at home or on-the-go.”
WWE SuperCard users have also generated the following statistics across iOS and Android devices: Logged in to WWE SuperCard for more than 18 million unique sessions; Spent approximately 14 minutes in an average gameplay session; Achieved more than 82 million victories in Exhibition Mode; Commenced more than 575,000 King of the Ring season-based sessions.
The SyFy website lists Friday, September 26, as the last time Smackdown airs on a Friday night with the following week the show airing on Thursday.
SyFy has a schedule up until October 16 on their website if you search for Smackdown and the dates in October have October 2, 9, and 16, all on Thursdays.
Earlier this month we ran a story about how the WWE production trucks had updated decals for Smackdown showing “Thursdays 8/7c,” rather than Fridays but no official announcement has been made.
It was in Fall of 2005 when Smackdown moved to Friday nights with UPN putting the show in what many consider in the television industry the “death slot.”
When we reached out to SyFy’s Director of Communications three weeks ago to get a comment regarding the pending move, no reply was sent.
Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and Shawn Michaels are all being advertised for this Monday’s RAW and they will be kicking off the show with a “Hall of Fame Forum,” discussing the Lesnar vs Cena match and the upcoming rematch at Night of Champions.
The WWE champion is not going to be featured on RAW this Monday but John Cena will return to address what happened at SummerSlam.
“I’m kicking off #Raw on Monday night at 8pm! Brock is a beast, but @JohnCena is MY MAN. We’re talking REMATCH,” Flair wrote on his Twitter.
“You can’t bring legends together w/o me brother. Got some stuff to say about MY champ @JohnCena, see you Hulkamaniacs at #Raw on Monday,” added Hogan.
Shawn Michaels also promoted the show on his Twitter. “Y’all just keep pullin’ me back! ‘Ol HBShizzle will be on #Raw Monday night. We’re talking @JohnCena/@BrockLensar rematch!! Yee-Haw!!!”
Former WCW and WWE Diva Stacy Keibler announced that she has given birth to her first child, daughter Ava Grace, on August 20.
“Ava Grace Pobre was born at home on Wednesday, August 20th. We’ve never experienced a level of joy and happiness like this before! Thank you so much for all of the special wishes and positive energy,” Keibler wrote on her website.
The announcement of her pregnancy came just a few weeks after she tied the knot to her then-boyfriend Jared Pobre during a secret Mexican vacation with friends and family.
Prior to dating Pobre, Keibler was romantically involved with Hollywood A-lister George Clooney for a couple of years.
There was another promotion in the WWE broadcast team department this week as WWE has promoted Tom Phillips to the Smackdown broadcast team with John Layfield and Michael Cole.
Phillips will be taking over as the lead play-by-play commentator on the show while Michael Cole will be doing color commentary with JBL.
Michael Cole, who currently is referred to the voice of WWE, said that it’s important to promote younger guys to commentary as JBL, King, and himself won’t be there forever. Cole also praised Phillips’ great work ethic and dedication to his job and business.
“It was incredible to do that in front of the WWE Universe here in Phoenix,” Phillips told WWE.com after the tapings concluded. “They are loud, they are having a blast. Sitting out there with Michael Cole and JBL, they’re pretty intense, but it was fun, man. I was a little nervous, but it was fun.”
Phillips has been doing commentary for Main Event, Superstars, and NXT as well as serve as backstage interviewer for the WWE television shows. Michael Cole will now be doing Main Event with Byron Saxton.
The Undertaker took the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge after he was nominated by his wife and former WWE Diva Michelle McCool.
In typical Undertaker fashion, the video is shot in the dark and he introduces himself as Mark Callaway. Before he took the challenge, he nominated six people, one of which is Charles Wright, the man formerly known as the Godfather and Papa Shango. He also challenged one of his kids, Gunner, who he had with his first wife.
Taker takes the challenge with one of his young kids who screamed when the water hits the two. “Very cold!” exclaims Taker after the shower.
Michelle McCool originally did not nominate her husband in the video but he was the one who dumped the ice cold water on her and she screamed like she was getting stabbed in the neck…and then officially nominated him for the challenge as well.
The cast of the Total Divas reality show have been posting a lot of photos on their Instagram from Napa Valley as the crew is filming the lead up to Eva Marie’s wedding which will happen this weekend.
This will be the fourth wedding on Total Divas, with Natalya getting hitched first, then Trinity, then Brie Bella, and now the “All Red Everything” Diva.
Eva Marie is married already but there was no ceremony as the couple got married in secrecy because Eva’s family did not approve of her then-boyfriend. No wedding reception bands or floral arrangements and corteges.
Hyde Park Entertainment, Image Nation Abu Dhabi, and WWE Studios announced today that they are joining up again to co-produce a comedy with the temporary working title, Untitled Celebrity Death Pool.
Ken Jeong, most famously known for his role as Leslie Chow in The Hangover trilogy, has signed on to star in the satire which centers on a struggling nightclub owner who after amassing a large debt from a loan shark, sets out to win his long-running celebrity death pool by attempting to kill his chosen celebrity, David Hasselhoff.
In addition to Hasselhoff, WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan and an increasing number of other celebrities have signed on for various supporting roles and cameo appearances.
Pre-production for the film commences this September in Los Angeles, with a theatrical release anticipated for 2015. Darren Grant will direct from a script written by Peter Hoare.
The three TNA non-televised live events advertised for September 5, 6, and 7, are now television and PPV tapings, a change that was made after it was announced yesterday that Spike TV extended TNA till the end of 2014.
The September 5 event in Charlottesville, Virginia, is now listed as a One Night Only pay-per-view taping with Turning Point. This event will be held at the John Paul Jones Arena.
Another One Night Only pay-per-view will be taped the following day in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, at the Royal Palace Theatre. This PPV will be titled Rivals.
On September 7, Impact Wrestling will be taped at the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, North Carolina, before the company moves to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for a four day back-to-back Impact tapings starting on the 16th.
These Impact tapings on five separate days will take the company well into the winter season as TNA has already taped Impact shows that will air in mid to end September.
TNA today announced that it has reached an agreement with SuperSport to continue broadcasting TNA shows throughout Sub-Saharan Africa until 2019.
Impact airs on SuperSport every Monday at 6PM local time with the channel also airing the pay-per-views and One Night Only specials every month.
The television deal covers Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros Islands, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of South Africa, Reunion, Rwanda, St Helena and Ascension, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Socotra, Sudan, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zaire, Zimbabwe and adjacent islands.
Brandon Foot, Acting Chief Executive of SuperSport, said, “SuperSport is delighted with this agreement. TNA has proven to be a valuable staple on our platforms and we look forward to more good shows. The offering resonates with a large number of our viewers across the African continent, so this extension is a very encouraging development.”
TNA Knockout and former WWE Diva and Playboy cover girl Christy Hemme announced on her Twitter yesterday that she is five and a half months pregnant with her first child.
“Having a baby has been a huge dream of mine, since I met my husband. I do have a really full plate, but I like it that way. I don’t envision slowing down once the baby arrives,“ Hemme told FitPregnancy.com.
Hemme and her husband, Charley Patterson, are expecting the baby to be born on New Year’s Eve which coincidentally enough was also the due date of her husband.
TNA President Dixie Carter today issued a statement on the negotiations between the company and Spike TV regarding a renewal of their current television deal.
“IMPACT WRESTLING will remain a vital part of Spike TV’s programming on Wednesday nights, 9/8c, through the end of the year. Negotiations remain ongoing beyond this time frame,” the short statement read.
This looks to be a three month contract extension as TNA’s deal with Spike was ending in the beginning of October with the risk of TNA being left homeless assuming no deal was going to be reached.
Spike TV officials were present at the last Impact tapings in New York City to oversee the show and talk with management.
Starting tonight, TNA’s flagship television show Impact Wrestling will be airing on Wednesday nights, moving from their usual Thursday spot but retaining the same time slot of 9PM EST.
Tonight’s Impact is the Hardcore Justice-themed episode, with the 6 Sides of Steel returning featuring Bobby Roode, Gunner, Magnus, Austin Aries, James Storm, and Eric Young.
Spike and TNA have not announced any renewal for Impact yet and TMZ.COM reported earlier this month that Spike has opted to drop TNA from their schedule, which would leave TNA without a television home. Both sides have denied the story and keep saying that the negotiations are ongoing.
The much-anticipated original series on the WWE Network titled The Monday Night War will kick off its weekly run this coming Friday, August 22, at 11PM EST after Smackdown.
The first episode will be the one that WWE aired earlier last month as a preview during the free week offering of the WWE Network, with the synopsis reading, “Media mogul Ted Turner launches WCW Monday Nitro in direct competition against Vince McMahon and WWE’s Monday Night Raw.”
Each episode will run for an hour and will chronicle the long battle between RAW and Nitro for ratings supremacy.
Hulk Hogan did the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge after he got called out by two other individuals, one of them Triple H.
Since he was called out twice, the Hulkster had two buckets full of ice and water – one on each side – dumped on him by two of his assistants at Hogan’s Beach shop in Clearwater, Florida. Before getting the shower, Hogan challenged actor Sylvester Stallone, Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel, and TMZ’s Harvey Levin.
As water poured down on him, the Hulkster ripped off his t-shirt and funnily tried to say “Whatcha gonna do?” but the water was too cold!
