WWE Hall of Famer and former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura was awarded $1.8 million in damages by a jury in his lawsuit against the state of Chris Kyle, the U.S. Navy SEAL who passed away last year and author of best-selling book “American Sniper.”
Ventura sued Kyle for defamation after the author recounted a bar fight in his book that allegedly took place in 2006 where he decked out a man who was later identified to be Jesse Ventura.
The former WWE Superstar claimed that since he was named as the individual who got decked by Kyle, he lost a lot of business and money and the jury was tasked to award damages for any harm to his reputation, embarrassment, and economic loss.
The judge presiding over the case told the jury that their job was not to figure out if Ventura was punched or not but rather if Kyle’s version of events defamed Ventura. The defense presented 11 witnesses that collaborated Kyle’s version but the jury didn’t buy it and had to prove with clear and convincing evidence that Kyle lied about the series of events.
Ventura’s legal team claimed that according to Kyle, Ventura – a former Navy SEAL himself – hated America and that SEALs deserved “to lose a few.” The book went on to sell over 1.5 million copies and Kyle’s estate received more than $6 million in book sales.
Kyle is regarded as U.S. military’s deadliest sniper with 255 confirmed kills from his several tours around the world. He was shot dead at a Texas gun range in 2013.
TNA Executive Bob Ryder is joining company President Dixie Carter in denying the TMZ rumors that Spike TV has opted not to renew their contract with TNA.
“Reports are not true. Negotiations with @SpikeTV are ongoing,” wrote Ryder in a post on Twitter yesterday. That is basically the same thing that Carter said while Spike’s official position was that they don’t comment on ongoing negotiations.
While both parties are saying that negotiations are ongoing, TMZ looks like it’s standing by its story that Spike already has made the decision to dump TNA.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross suggested that Viacom – owners of Spike – might be playing hardball to pay lower fees to keep TNA knowing that the company will not survive without a television deal and no other deal is in place with another network.
Former WCW champion Goldberg, who never worked for TNA, said he was “surprised it took this long,” then clarifying the comment saying that he’s not bashing the wrestlers who work for TNA.
“I feel for them, just not surprised the ship sank considering who was driving it,” Goldberg wrote, adding that when a promotion closes its doors, jobs are lost and it’s not good for business.
WWE made a gutsy move yesterday and decided to end RAW with an angle featuring two women, something that hasn’t been done in a decade.
The angle involved Stephanie McMahon and Brie Bella, who managed to get her job back and get a match against Stephanie at SummerSlam in return of dropping the charges from the angle that ran last week when McMahon got arrested.
The finale drew a great crowd response especially after Stephanie McMahon went from crying to slapping Brie and telling her that at SummerSlam she was going to make her her bitch. A brawl then took place with WWE officials separating the two.
It was the first time since the August 21, 2000, episode of Monday Night RAW that Stephanie McMahon was involved in the most important segment of the show – the final one – with another woman. On that night in Lafayette, Louisiana, at the CajunDome, McMahon lost the WWE Women’s title to Lita with The Rock as the special guest referee in the main event.
Since then, RAW has been headlined by females only once more with Trish Stratus vs Lita for the Women’s title on December 6, 2004.
WWE has hired Barry McMullin as Senior Vice President of Sales & Partnership Marketing and will be responsible for providing strategic vision for WWE’s global sales operation and WWE Network sales strategies, as well as ensuring revenue growth is aligned with company objectives.
McMullin, who previously held senior level sales positions at the Professional Bull Riders, Inc., Wasserman Media Group, the National Basketball Association and the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, will report directly to WWE Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer, Michelle D. Wilson.
Both TNA and Spike have refused to comment on the rumors that Impact Wrestling will soon be without a home after Spike decided to cancel it from their schedule, not renewing the deal that the two sides had.
When we reached out to David Schwarz, the Senior Vice President of Communications for Spike TV, he said, “Per Viacom company policy – we don’t comment on ongoing negotiations.” TNA has also refused to comment about the situation.
The company will tape more Impact episodes next week as they return to the Manhattan Center in New York for three days of back-to-back tapings. There are no more TV tapings scheduled on the ImpactWrestling.com website past August 7. These episodes will get them through the end of September.
After it was initially reported in May, WWE today officially announced that they have signed 32 year old Fergal Devitt who wrestles under the name of Prince Devitt.
With his working visa sorted, Devitt has moved to Orlando, Florida, where he will be assigned to the Performance Center and NXT for the time being before moving up to the main roster.
“This is something I’ve been looking forward to since I was maybe four or five years old,” Devitt told WWE.com. “I grew up watching wrestling my whole life, so to get the chance to step in the ring that I’ve watched on TV so many times is a dream come true.”
The Irish-born wrestler is best known for working at New Japan Pro Wrestling, starting with the company back in 2006. He held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title three times and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Tam titles six times.
WWE.COM has a full interview with the new arrival which can be read here.
TMZ.COM is reporting that Spike TV has canceled Impact Wrestling, leaving TNA without a home come October of this year and putting the company in serious jeopardy.
The popular website said that multiple sources with direct knowledge of the deal informed them that Spike TV executives made the call to TNA President Dixie Carter last week to tell her the news and Carter told some members of her staff about it on Friday, although Wrestling Observer says that Carter told them that it was they who are quitting Spike and not the other way round.
Spike pays for a big bulk of the production for Impact tapings and without that money the company simply cannot afford to hold the events. USA Network has a similar deal with WWE where the company bites the production budget in return of getting advertising money during RAW.
TNA jumped to Spike TV in late 2005 after WWE quit Spike to return to USA Network and Impact Wrestling has been drawing around 1 to 1.2 million viewers every week. A few years ago they tried an experiment hosting Impact live head to head against RAW however common sense prevailed after a few weeks and the decision to put Impact back on Thursdays was taken to avoid further embarrassment.
There is still no official word from both Spike or TNA regarding the cancellation of Impact.
WWE has signed a new television deal with OSN which has broadcast rights in the Middle East and North Africa.
The new deal, that goes through 2019, will see Monday Night RAW airing live as well as SmackDown, NXT and Main Event. WWE pay-per-views will have a new home on OSN Sports 2 HD.
In addition, all OSN subscribers can also watch all the WWE shows anytime, anywhere on their smartphone, tablet or laptop with OSN Play, live and via OSN on Demand.
“OSN and WWE have a long standing relationship and we are very excited to be taking that to the next level,” said Andy Warkman, OSN’s VP of Sport & Production. “For the first time in the region, all core WWE programming will be available in one place, making OSN the home of WWE, reaching an audience across more than 20 countries. This deal furthers our commitment to bringing our customers the best content.”
Scarlett Johannson just whooped Dwayne Johnson’s ass in the box office, as her movie Lucy took the number one spot on the box office chart this weekend with Johnson’s Hercules in second place.
Hercules, armed with a massive marketing machine, played in 3,595 theaters this weekend but only got $29 million in box office revenue, versus the $44 million that the Luc Besson-directed Lucy received. Lucy also played in 420 less theaters.
Hercules had a production budget of just over $100 million while Lucy had only $40 million.
Johnson has once again failed to secure a number one spot in the box office chart with a movie where he is in the leading role.
During the press conference that Daniel Bryan gave following the robbery attempt, he gave a sort of an update on his health and how far is he from returning to the ring.
Bryan said that after the last surgery he had in May it has now been determined that a nerve in his right elbow is compressed and also needs surgery to fix that.
He said that he doesn’t have much strength in his right arm and for comparisons he said he has maybe half the strength that he has in his left arm.
Another surgery means that Bryan will be out of action for a few more months and it will be a while till we see the former champ back at his best in the ring.
Shareholder rights law firm Robbins Arroyo LLP announced yesterday that it has filed a federal securities class action lawsuit on July 25, 2014, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut on behalf of all persons who purchased or otherwise acquired WWE stocks between October 31, 2013 and May 16, 2014.
The lawsuit is against the Company and certain of its officers and directors for, among other things, violations of section 10(b) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 10b-5.
The complaint arises out of false and misleading statements regarding the ability of the Company to transform its earning profile through, among other things, the negotiation of a lucrative long-term television deal.
The suit alleges that certain WWE officers issued materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s ability to command a premium fee in negotiations to renew its television license agreement.
This all started when WWE stocks took a 43% dive in just one day after WWE announced it extended its television partnership with NBC Universal for far less money than they originally thought.
TNA has announced that former WWE and ECW Superstar Tajiri will be appearing at its Impact television tapings from New York between August 5 and 7.
This will be Tajiri’s first time appearing for TNA and it’s part of the agreement the company has with Wrestle-1 in Japan. The Japanese Buzzsaw already faced EC3 and Rockstar Spud at a Wrestle-1 event earlier this month in Japan.
Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella had a scary night on Thursday after they spotted two men coming out of their house with their stuff as they were coming back home.
The former WWE World Heavyweight champion ran after them and managed to apprehend one of them, putting him in a rear naked choke for 5 minutes until cops arrived according to TMZ.COM.
All their belongings were retrieved by the couple after the burglars dropped them when they noticed Bryan and Brie.
In a press conference, Bryan said that one of the robbers wasn’t in great shape so it was easy to take him down as he was gassed out when Bryan ran after him. Now that he faced this issue, it’s time to find out more about Kwikey Locksmith services, all the hardware for systems tracking what happens at your place. You can also visit the website for more information.
The couple’s dog, Josie, was alone at the house when the robbery attempt was made however the dog was unharmed. Brie left her at the house to pick Bryan up from the airport after returning from the San Diego Comic Con.
The former champ got emotional at one point when he talked about something that his late dad gave him at the wedding which was stolen but ultimately recovered.
You can see the press conference below.
In his first interview with WWE.COM, Sting said that his relationship with WWE and Vince McMahon is good and it has always been good and doesn’t know where all the rumors of him not seeing eye to eye with WWE came from.
The former WCW champ said that it’s now or never with his age and it’s about time that something happens. He has a new shirt, new action figure, he’s part of the WWE 2K15 video game, and they all sport the WWE logo, which is a first for him.
Sting added that he’s thought about jumping to WWE over the years and came close a couple of times. He said he regrets that the Undertaker’s streak is over as he would have loved to take a shot at it.
Explaining his conversations with Vince McMahon, Sting said that Vince always closed by saying that someday they’ll do business together. “He was right. We’re doing something here,” he said.
“It feels good to get my foot in the door,” Sting said regarding his WWE future. “I’m more than willing to just see what happens, see how it plays out.”
In his closing comments, he added, “To the WWE Universe I would say, I’m the Stinger an it feels good to finally be here with WWE. And I promise you it will be showtime if I ever get to step foot into the ring, in a WWE ring that is, and I look forward to seeing each and every one of you.”
You can see the interview below.
Sting just showed up at the San Diego Comic Con as a surprise with trench coat and make up to promote the new line of WWE action figures.
The former WCW champion joined Daniel Bryan, Hulk Hogan and Paul Heyman at the WWE panel with Mattel and received a standing ovation from everyone.
Mattel and WWE unveiled their latest toys which include new action figures of Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Daniel Bryan, Triple H, Roman Reigns, John Cena, several WWE Legends, and of course Sting.
“You want a major surprise? @Sting has descended upon #SDCC!” said the WWE Twitter account. The Instagram WWE account also posted a video of Sting backstage with his back turned at first, then he turns around and says “It’s showtime!”
WWE has uploaded the video of Sting’s entrance at the Comic Con panel which you can see below.
The stars of the Hercules movie, including former WWE champ Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, attended the Los Angeles movie premiere yesterday along with other several celebrities including Kylie Minogue, Mariah Carey, Eddie Murphy, and others.
Johnson walked down the red carpet with his girlfriend Lauren Hashian.
The $110 million movie is directed by Brett Ratner and is currently getting mostly positive reviews. It runs for 98 minutes and Johnson has said that this was the most demanding movie he’s ever made.
It will open in the United States tomorrow, July 25. You can see several photos from the red carpet below.
Apart from currently filming scenes for the Judd Apatow movie Trainwreck, WWE World Heavyweight champion John Cena is also filming the movie The Nest from Universal Pictures.
The Nest is a Tina Fey-Amy Poehler comedy about two sisters who throw one last party in their parents’ soon-to-be-sold house. Cena is apparently playing a villain in this movie and a photo of him with tattoos on his arm and neck surfaced yesterday on Twitter as Cena posed with a young fan while he was still in his movie clothes and full make up.
This movie is set to be released in December 2015. Cena is expected to miss a couple of more RAWs and live events as he continues to shoot this and the other movie.
WWE is positing cryptic images on Twitter hyping up the hash tag #WWETransformed.
“Something is coming… Can you guess what?” the first tweet read, followed by another tweet today that read, “He walks in darkness…”
Both images posted, located at pic.twitter.com/wuBTEO6ocp and pic.twitter.com/U1ciXxJeu6 are comic-like drawings and even the hash tag is similar to a comic font.
At this point there’s no clue to what this might be.
The Hollywood Reporter is carrying a story about WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus joining the cast of the Canadian action-thriller movie Gridlocked, playing the role of Gina, a lead member of a SWAT team.
The movie’s cast includes Dominic Purcell, Richard Gunn, Stephen Lang, Vinnie Jones, Cody Hackman and Danny Glover.
Gridlocked follows a former SWAT leader, played by Purcell, who is being shadowed by an arrogant movie star, played by Hackman.
