In a story carried by the Financial Times it was revealed that YouTube is planning to announce a subscription model where viewers will be able to subscribe to certain channels for as little as $1.99 a month.
WWE was listed in the story however it states that it is unclear which companies have signed up to adopt the new subscription-based service.
WWE’s YouTube channel boasts almost 1.5 million subscribers and contains over 11,000 videos with a massive 528 million video views overall.
Last week WWE announced a new partnership with Yahoo! for a new digital video channel, raising doubts that the deal between WWE and YouTube is about to end.
The main event of Extreme Rules has got itself a stipulation added apart from being for the WWE title.
Current champ John Cena will defend his gold against number one contender Ryback in a last man standing match as announced yesterday on Monday Night RAW.
This is the third gimmick match for the pay-per-view with Lesnar vs Triple H in a steel cage match and Ziggler vs Del Rio vs Swagger in a triple threat ladder match for the World title.
The only other match announced with Sheamus vs Mark Henry is so far a regular match.
The big angle shot for tonight’s Monday Night RAW is Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar showing up at the WWE Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, and destroying Triple H’s office.
The angle was pushed by Paul Heyman on his Twitter account, posting several tweets and photos from the attack. Heyman promised to air footage of the destruction during tonight’s episode. Looks like someone was due for new office furniture!
The two are set to meet at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view in a steel cage match. Tonight’s RAW is taking place at the Roanoke Civic Center in Roanoke, Virginia. Lesnar is not advertised for the show.
WWE will be running public service announcements with Sean “Diddy” Combs for the anti-bullying campaign Be a STAR. The campaign will run on WWE’s weekly TV shows as well as on all its digital platforms.
“I’m thrilled to extend my partnership with WWE and align myself with their Be a STAR, anti-bullying initiative,” said Combs. “Bullying is a very serious issue and needs to stop now.”
Combs has worked with WWE on several different occasions including serving as ambassador for Be a STAR, singing during the Tribute to the Troops show and most recently performing at the past two WrestleManias among other gigs.
“WWE is proud to continue its partnership with Sean “Diddy” Combs and join together to put an end to bullying,” said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman and CEO.
WWE is once again giving a helping hand to the Susan G. Komen foundation to raise awareness against breast cancer with a new campaign titled “Make Mom Proud.”
As part of the campaign, WWE will urge fans to support moms by taking steps to educate themselves about the disease, participate in local Susan G. Komen Races in their communities, and donate to Komen, the world’s largest nonprofit funder of breast cancer research and community outreach programs. The campaign will be promoted through all of WWE’s assets, including TV broadcasts, live events, digital and social media.
“WWE fans are making a tremendous contribution to our mission to help women with breast cancer by supporting our community breast cancer programs for uninsured and underserved women, and through our global breast cancer research,” said Nancy Brinker, founder and CEO of Susan G. Komen. “We’re so grateful for the support of the WWE community in our mission to end suffering from this disease.”
Triple H and WWE Divas Alicia Fox and Layla will be featured in a series of PSAs throughout the month to encourage fans to get involved. Alicia Fox and Layla will also attend the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure and its surrounding events on Mother’s Day weekend in Washington, D.C.
“WWE is dedicated to supporting Susan G. Komen and their fight to eradicate breast cancer,” said Triple H, Executive Vice President, Talent and Live Events, WWE. “Susan G. Komen is at the forefront of breast cancer research and community outreach programs, and I’m proud that the WWE Universe is supporting such an important cause.”
In September 2012, WWE and John Cena partnered with Susan G. Komen to launch the “Rise Above Cancer” campaign. Cena wore co-branded, pink and black ring gear that fans were able to purchase throughout October, raising $1 million to support Susan G. Komen’s mission.
Dwayne Johnson managed to stay in the top 3 box office chart this week with Pain & Gain coming in second place with $7.6 million behind the massive opening of Iron Man 3 which did $175.3 million.
Johnson noted in a tweet last week that the movie will be “knocked out” by Tony Stark’s arrival before taking his fans for making his latest movie the number one movie in the box office chart.
“Aaand here comes #IronMan3 #ITakeThisKOLikeAMan ;)” Johnson tweeted.
So far Pain & Gain did $33,919,000 million nationwide off a $26 million production budget. It opens worldwide in August. His next movie will be Fast & Furious 6 and that is expected to take top spot as well, making his three films this year so far – G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Pain & Gain, and Fast 6 – all number ones on their opening weekend.
TMZ.COM is carrying a story where Chael Sonnen tells them that he wants to buy WWE when he retires from his MMA career!
A representative for Sonnen – who lost his fight against Jon Jones last week – told TMZ that Sonnen isn’t joking and that it is “100% Chael’s intent to buy WWE!”
TMZ reached out to WWE to get their thoughts about the idea and a spokesman for the company said that WWE is a publicly traded company and if Sonnen wants a piece of the company he is “more than welcome to purchase shares of WWE stock and become one of our valued shareholders.”
The new artwork for the WrestleMania 29 Blu-Ray and DVD releases feature a small tribute to the late Paul Bearer who passed away just weeks before the big pay-per-view.
The side artwork has the usual WWE Home Video logo, along with the pay-per-view logo and then a picture of an urn with ‘3 Disc Set’ written for the DVD version and ‘2 Disc Set’ written on the urn for the Blu-Ray version.
The front artwork has a big photo of The Rock and John Cena along with the WrestleMania 29 logo occupying the top half of the artwork and then on the bottom there’s Big Show, Randy Orton, Sheamus, Mark Henry, Alberto Del Rio, Triple H, The Undertaker, CM Punk, Brock Lesnar, Jack Swagger, Ryback, and The Shield all featured. It’s basically everyone who participated at WrestleMania minus Kane, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, Big E Langston, Fandango, and Chris Jericho.
WrestleMania 29 comes out on Blu-Ray and DVD on May 14. You can check out the artwork below.
In their latest 10-Q filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, WWE revealed that they will be spending $27.5 million to purchase a corporate jet and replace their current one.
The agreement was signed on April 30 for a 2006 Bombardier Global 5000 jet assuming the jet passes the necessary inspection and tests by the company’s outside aviation advisors. After improvements and applicable taxes, WWE will end up paying up to $32 million for the jet.
Currently the company has a 1998 Canadair Challenger 604 jet which has been used by WWE since 2001. The 22 seater jet, which carries registration number N247WE, will be sold after the new jet is delivered to WWE.
Triple H won an award at the Revolver Golden Gods 2013 Awards two nights ago in a ceremony hosted by fellow WWE Superstar Chris Jericho. The fifth annual awards show was held in Los Angeles at Club Nokia.
Triple H was nominated for the most metal athlete award with five other athletes – Tom Crabtree from the NFL’s Green Bay Packers, rally driver Tanner Faust, UFC fighter Clay Guida, skateboarder Geoff Rowley, and CJ Wilson from MLB’s Los Angeles Angels.
The former WWE and World Heavyweight champion was not present to collect the award however sent in a video message, jokingly saying he was in Germany substituting Chris Jericho in his band Fozzy. He thanked the fans for voting for him and said he is very proud of the award and that it means a lot to him.
If you live in Canada and you are a WWE fan, there’s some good news for you!
Monday Night RAW will be live on The Score starting with the upcoming episode on May 6 at 8PM EST instead of starting at 8:15PM. The Score was recently purchased by Rogers Communications and it was one of the decisions taken by the new owners.
The good news? You get to sleep 15 minutes earlier on Mondays!
CM Punk has been removed from the upcoming WWE tours in Japan and Australia which will take place in early and late July respectively.
Punk – who is currently on a sabbatical from his WWE duties – was initially advertised on the WWE site to be appearing in both shows however his name has now been taken off the roster.
The former WWE champion is not listed for any shows till SummerSlam.
Impact begins with Hulk Hogan coming to the ring and calling out Sting. Hogan apologizes to Sting for pushing him away when he should have been pulling his friends in closer. Sting and Hogan shake hands and make up.
Matt Morgan comes to the ring to confront Hogan and Sting. Morgan is angry because he thinks Hogan is going to make Sting the #1 contender to face Bully Ray at Slammiversary for the TNA title. Hogan announces that his plan was to have a #1 contenders match later tonight between Sting and Matt Morgan.
Thankfully he didn’t order them to sit down and talk about it until Hogan feels like he wants to pick a winner. I always hated it when they did that. The main event tonight will be Sting versus Morgan in a #1 contenders match.
Chris Sabin is shown recovering from his injuries and will be in action later tonight
Commercial
Match #1: Sonjay Dutt versus Zema Ion versus Chris Sabin to determine the #1 contender to the X division title.
Zema starts the match by pie facing Sonjay and Sabin; they respond by throwing him out of the ring. Sabin hits Sonjay with a kick, Sonjay responds with a hurricanrana. Sabin hits Sonjay with an enzuigiri. Zema flips into the ring and takes Sabin and Sonjay over at the same time with a sunset flip.
Zema hits Sabin with a kick and Sabin falls into the ropes. Zema hits Sabin in the back with a running double knee strike. Sabin hits Zema with a pair of chops and Zema takes Sabin down with a hair pull. Zema ties Sabin and Sonjay up in a weird three way roll up that nearly pins both men.
Sonjay lands a couple punches to Sabin, a tilt a whirl DDT to Zema, and a standing shooting star press to Sabin. Zema hits Sonjay with a DDT. Sabin hits Zema with a clothesline and then a powerbomb. Sabin hits both Sonjay and Zema with a death valley driver. Sabin backdrops Zema into Sonjay and then hits Zema with a version of a fishermans buster suplex for the win.
After the match, Robbie E and Jesse are talking about facing Rob Terry in a handicap match. Jesse suggests they get Joey Ryan to team up with them and make it a 3 way. Jesse thinks it would be the perfect combination of sleazy and easy. Robbie doesn’t think that rhymes.
Commercial
When we return, Bully Ray is addressing the rest of Aces and Eights. Bully thinks Sting and Hogan were mocking them earlier tonight and he’s mad. Bully is also concerned about Kurt Angle and wants to know who is going to take care of him tonight. Vice President D Lo Brown insists he can take care of Angle. I didn’t even know he could still wrestle.
Match #2: Robbie E and Jesse and Joey Ryan versus Rob Terry.
Not much of a match. Rob Terry trades some punches with the three stooges and hits them with some power moves. They tag in and out quickly and take the advantage for a short time, but eventually Terry dominates all three of them at the same time and wins the match with a Beast Bomb to Joey Ryan.
Commercial
When we return, Bobby Roode and Austin Aries enter the ring to address Bad Influences offer last week to reform Fortune. Bobby admits he was thinking about it, but he’s sticking with Austin Aries. They’re both former World Champions, something they claim Kaz and Daniels will never be, and they have a common goal: the tag titles.
Kaz and Daniels come out to confront Roode and Aries. Daniels claims they are going to beat Roode and Aries next week and become the #1 contenders for the tag titles. Daniels also claims no one is feeling any blood flow in their genital area for Roode or Aries. He’s probably wrong but I won’t get into that.
Current tag champs Chavo and Hernandez come out to talk a little trash (but not as well as the other 4 did) and announce that James Storm will be the guest referee for the tag match next week.
Sting approaches Kurt Angle in the back and wants a word with him. He tells the cameraman he wants a word with Angle and then closes the door. It’s like Sting could SEE there was a camera following him around; wrestlers never act like they notice the ever present cameras. Sting must be special.
Commercial
Match #3: D Lo versus Kurt Angle.
D Lo says he isn’t just going to beat Angle, he’s going to do something no one has ever done before; he’s going to make Angle say “I Quit.” The two men exchange strikes and Angle hits D Lo with a clothesline. Angle puts D Lo in a modified STF but Angle gets distracted by the presence of several Aces and Eights members at ringside.
D Lo hits Angle in the back and Angle responds with a suplex. D Lo goes to the floor and Angle goes after him. D Lo slams Angle into the steel post and attacks his arm with a hammer. D Lo focuses on the arm and repeatedly slams it into the post and the mat. D Lo rolls Angle in and steps on his arm.
D Lo hits Angle’s arm with a leg drop and then twists his arm. Angle fights his way out and lands several punches, but D Lo responds with a heel kick and puts Angle in a cross armbreaker. Angle works his way out of the hold and reverses it into an ankle lock. D Lo kicks Angle off and puts him in a modified cobra clutch. Angle slips out of the hold and hits D Lo with 6 straight German Suplexes.
Angle goes for the ankle lock again but D Lo kicks him off. D Lo hits Angle with a Samoan Drop and then tries a powerbomb. Angle slips out of the powerbomb attempt and gets the ankle lock on again and grapevines the leg. D Lo taps, but that’s not good enough.
Angle keeps the pressure on and D Lo says “I quit.” D Lo could be in trouble: he insisted on the match, insisted he would win, insisted that it be I quit, he refused any help, and then he said “I quit.”
After the match, Angle has something else he wants to address. Angle calls out AJ Styles.
Commercial
When we return, Angle is still waiting for AJ, and AJ finally comes out. Angle tells AJ he doesn’t like the look in AJ’s eyes. Angle says he wants the two of them to team up with Sting next week against Aces and Eights. AJ doesn’t answer, and Angle tells him he’s got to pick a side, and if he picks the wrong side, they’re going to have a problem.
Commercial
Match #4: Gail Kim and Tara versus Taryn Terrell and Mickie James.
All 4 knockouts start brawling as the match begins. Eventually Mickie and Taryn slam Gail’s and Tara’s heads together and the heels fall out to the floor. Taryn hits Tara and Gail with a double dropkick and rolls Gail into the ring.
Taryn clotheslines Gail and then takes her down with a snapmare. Taryn tags Mickie and Mickie applies an armbreaker to Gail, but Gail makes it to the ropes. Mickie and Gail exchange forearm shots and kicks. Gail clotheslines Mickie and tags in Tara. Tara and Gail double team Mickie and hit her with a lot of kicks.
Tara slams Mickie to the mat and stretches her out in a bridge until Taryn comes in and breaks it up. Tara tags in Gail and Gail lands a couple kicks. Mickie fights back with an elbow and a hurricanrana. Mickie and Gail knock each other down with stereo cross body attempts. Gail tags in Tara and Mickie tags in Taryn.
Taryn takes Tara down with a pair of clotheslines. Taryn goes to the top rope and hits Tara with a flying cross body. Gail breaks up the pin attempt and Mickie comes in after Gail. Taryn rolls up Tara for the win during the confusion.
After the match, the knockouts start to brawl again. Mickie and Tara battle outside the ring and back to the locker room. Gail hits Taryn with Eat Defeet and then pounds her head into the mat repeatedly. Gail then drags Taryn over to the ropes and applies a figure four leg lock in the steel ring post. ODB eventually breaks it up.
Commercial
Match #5: Matt Morgan versus Sting for the #1 contender spot at Slammiversary.
Morgan shoves Sting to the corner and lands several punches and headbutts. Morgan whips Sting hard into the corner and then clotheslines him. Morgan hits Sting with another headbutt and chokes him in the corner. Sting fights out and lands several punches, and Morgan choke slams Sting to the mat.
Commercial
Sting and Morgan are battling outside the ring, slamming each other into the steps and the security barriers. Sting gets the advantage and rolls Morgan back in. Morgan hits Sting with a side slam and then sits on his back. Morgan stomps on Sting and then hits him with a clothesline.
Sting lands a couple punches and Morgan responds with a bodyslam. Morgan misses an elbow drop and Sting hits Morgan with a series of punches and clotheslines. Sting hits Morgan with a Stinger Splash. Morgan turns Sting around in the corner and hits him with a headbutt and several back elbows. Sting hits Morgan with a clothesline and goes for another Stinger Splash, but Morgan hits him with the Carbon Footprint!
Morgan covers Sting but gets only 2! Morgan goes for the Carbon Footprint again, but Sting ducks it and Morgan jams his leg on the turnbuckle. Sting puts Morgan in the Scorpion death lock, but Morgan gets to the ropes.
Sting gets the Scorpion back on and has it on for a long time, sitting all the way back onto Morgan’s ass. Morgan appears to have passed out from pain. The ref checks on Morgan and confirms he is unconscious. Sting is the #1 contender.
Bully Ray and the rest of Aces and Eights come to the ring. Bully Ray angrily waves his title belt around and shouts at Sting as Impact goes off the air.
Deadline.com is reporting that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is teaming up with HBO after he received the green light for a pilot order for a thirty minute dramedy.
Johnson will reunite with his Pain & Gain co-star Mark Wahlberg and director Peter Berg for the pilot and the still untitled project is written by Boardwalk Empire producer Steve Levinson.
The show will chronicle the lives of athletes – some retired, some still active – living in Miami with the former WWE champion playing one of the leading roles. Filming will start this fall.
Johnson will be on television every week starting June 6 with his new reality competition show The Hero which will air on TNT. He hosts and executive produces the show.
TNA President Dixie Carter announced today while in Glasgow, Scotland, that TNA will be broadcasting its first ever live TV show from outside the United States in 2014.
The important date to mark down is January 30, 2014, with the live show taking place at The Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.
“It’s historical for a number of reasons. One, it’s the first time that we’ve ever broadcast live out of the United States – outside the country and it’s the first time in this big beautiful building that you see behind me that we’re really excited for,” Carter said.
Challenge TV – the broadcast partner of TNA in the United Kingdom – will also be showing the event live.
“That will be the first time they’ve not been delayed for several days. It will be the first time that everyone in the UK will get to see IMPACT Wrestling live,” Carter said.
January 30 will fall on a Monday and the show will only be live in the United Kingdom since different time zones makes it impossible to broadcast the show in the United States live as well.
Out of the 10 major WWE revenue generators departments, three of them decreased when compared to the same period of last year, five made an increase in revenue, while the other two pretty much made the same amount of money.
Those which lost money compared to Q1 2012, live event revenue dropped 5% to $21 million; Home entertainment (DVD/Blu-Ray) dropped to $7 million from $9.2 million; and WWE Studios made $1.9 million compared to $4.8 million.
The departments which saw an increase in revenue are pay-per-view which did $15.1 million, up from $13.5 million; TV revenue went up to $37.5 million from $32.5 million; Magazine sales increased 14% to $1.6 million; WWE.COM revenue shot up 41% to $5.5 million; and WWEShop.com sales registered a 9% increase to 3.5 million.
Venue merchandise and licensing remained the same as Q1 2012 with $5.1 million and $24 million respectively.
WWE today announced financial results for Q1 2013 ending March 31.
Revenues totaled $124.0 million as compared to $123.1 million in the prior year quarter. Operating income was $6.1 million as compared to $16.0 million in the prior year quarter. Net income was $3.0 million as compared to $15.3 million in the prior year quarter.
“I the first quarter, our performance reflected investments to enhance our brand strength, which we view as a critical determinant of our long-term growth,” stated Vince McMahon, Chairman and CEO.
“Operating metrics such as pay-per-view buys and live event attendance, which are key leading indicators, continued to show improvement,” he added.
RXMuscle.com has published an interview with Stephanie McMahon, talking about her diet, her day, juggling parenthood with work and training, and pretty much showing that you don’t wanna mess with Mrs HHH.
Stephanie said her day starts at 6AM, preparing breakfast for her family and take the kids to school. Once at work, she said she follows a strict diet and if necessary she eats during meetings.
Once she gets off work at around 7:30PM, she goes back home to take care of the kids again and then after everything is done, starts training. “If I have to workout at 11 or 12 at night then that’s what I have to do,” she says, adding that at 36 years of age, she’s in the best shape of her life.
You can see the five amazing photos of Stephanie McMahon looking ripped below and you can read the full interview here.
The pre-sale code for the Night of Champions pay-per-view which will take place on September 15 is CHAMPION.
The pre-sale kicked off yesterday and will run through May 3 at 10PM EST.
Ticket prices are $25, $50, $70, $90, $350, and $500 plus additional taxes and fees. The cheapest ticket will carry $13.35 in fees while the highest priced ticket will have an additional $23.35 in fees.
Night of Champions will be at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan, and you can purchase tickets now at Ticketmaster.com.
Monday Night RAW received a 3.1 rating with an average of 4,285,000 viewers this week. That is down around 115,000 viewers from last week overall.
Hour one pulled 4,287,000 viewers, with hour two getting 4,311,000, and hour three doing 4,257,000 viewers. (Ratings compiled by Nielsen Media Research and put online by PWInsider.com)
