In the latest 8-K filing with the Security and Exchange Commission yesterday, it was revealed that Vince McMahon entered into a variable prepaid forward contract with an unaffiliated bank covering approximately 3.5 million shares of the Company’s Class B common stock.
Variable prepaid forward contracts are investment strategies that allow a shareholder, in this case McMahon, to generate liquidity for a number of issues, including risk management purposes. The move was done to make sure WWE has enough liquidity to go through this whole coronavirus pandemic.
The variable prepaid forward contract is scheduled to settle on specified dates in March 2024, at which time the actual number of shares of the Company’s Class A common stock to be delivered by Mr. McMahon will be determined based on the price of the Company’s Class A common stock. Subject to certain conditions, Mr. McMahon can also elect to settle the variable prepaid forward contract in cash and thereby retain full ownership of the pledged shares.
Mr. McMahon entered into the variable prepaid forward contract to provide current liquidity while allowing him to maintain voting and ordinary dividend rights in the stock, as well as the ability to participate in future stock price appreciation, during the term of the contract and thereafter if Mr. McMahon settles the variable prepaid forward contract in cash.
The shares covered by the variable prepaid forward contract represent approximately 4.5% of the Company’s total outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock. The variable prepaid forward contract contains a 60-day lock-up restricting Mr. McMahon’s ability to sell or transfer additional shares of the Company’s common stock during such period without the Bank’s prior approval.
Chris Jericho has announced that his Fozzy tour which was set to start in a few days has been fully rescheduled for the Summer, except for one date which will take place on May 8.
The Fozzy band will now tour the United States between July and September and all tickets purchased for the original scheduled shows will be honored on the new dates. If anyone cannot make it to the new dates, they can apply for a refund at the point of purchase.
“In light of the pandemic that’s gripping the world’s attention, it’s time to make the right move and postpone the April/May leg of ‘Save the World’ Tour for everyone’s safety and well being,” Jericho said in a statement. “However, we promise you, once the World is back on its axis and TRULY saved, Fozzy will be back to hold you in our loving arms and literally ROCK all your troubles away!! See everybody soon and in the meantime and between time, please stay healthy and safe. We will get through this together.”
All the dates announced do not include Tuesdays or Wednesdays so he will still be appearing regularly on AEW Dynamite.
Monday Night Raw suffered one the worst non-holiday rating in over two decades, getting only 2,006,000 viewers for the three-hour broadcast from the WWE Performance Center.
Hour one started with 2,289,000 viewers, then dropped to 2,004,000 viewers in the second hour, before dropping off to just 1,726,000 viewers in the third and final hour. Raw lost over half a million viewers from the first to the third hour.
Raw was #3, #8, and #10 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and was way down at the bottom of the list as far as total viewership for the night goes with news broadcasts dominating the night. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Dark Side Of The Ring, the critically-acclaimed wrestling docu-series that revisits the most shocking events in the business will start season two tonight on Vice at 9PM ET.
The two-hour season premiere will tackle the story of the Chris Benoit double-murder suicide which rocked the world of professional wrestling in 2007. Several of Benoit’s former friends including Chris Jericho, Vickie Guerrero, Jim Ross, and many others along with Nancy Benoit’s sister and Chris’ oldest son David will be part of the documentary.
The first hour was released on YouTube late last week and left viewers shocked with the details given as close friends opened up for the first time on what happened during that horrible weekend.
Upcoming episodes include Owen Hart, New Jack, David Schultz, Jimmy Snuka, The Road Warriors, Dino Bravo, Herb Abrams, and The Brawl For All. Season two is narrated by Chris Jericho.
WWE Superstar Rusev has pledged to donate $20,000 to his extended WWE family who he says are “sitting at home without an income.”
The tweet suggests that WWE has furloughed some employees due to the coronavirus outbreak. Those most likely affected include the individuals who are typically on the road and in charge of setting up and tearing down arenas since there’s no live events taking place. “WE can’t do it without y’all. Production, security, etc. LOVE YALL,” Rusev wrote.
WWE has been running TV from the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, as all non-televised live events for the next month or so have been cancelled.
The planned matches for NXT Takeover: Tampa Bay will be airing in the month of April during the regular NXT on USA Network broadcasts according to a story published today by Sports Illustrated.
The Takeover for WrestleMania weekend has been cancelled and will not air as a standalone show with WWE opting to spread the matches that were scheduled over the course of the next month. Triple H will be appearing on NXT tomorrow to make the official announcement.
Up until plans went sideways, only one match was officially announced for the show and that was the women’s ladder match to determine the number one contender for the NXT Women’s title. Three have already qualified to be part of this match – Chelsea Green, Mia Yim, and Tegan Nox – while the rest are still to be determined.
The WrestleMania XXX encore presentation on ESPN on Sunday night pulled in 839,000 viewers and a 0.31 rating in the 18-49 demographic, placing the show #30 in the top 50 cable chart. ESPN will air WrestleMania 32 from Dallas, Texas this coming Sunday. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is reporting that both Rey Mysterio and Dana Brooke will not be part of WrestleMania as they are both under quarantine.
Under quarantine does not mean that any of them has been diagnosed with the coronavirus but even being in contact with someone who has been diagnosed with the virus can land you in quarantine. Meltzer did not specify if Rey or Dana are sick.
Dana Brooke was supposed to be part of the six pack challenge for the Smackdown Women’s title along with Naomi, Tamina, Lacey Evans, Sasha Banks, and Bayley. Rey, on the other hand, was not yet advertised for any match on the show although chances are that he would have been involved somehow.
Neither Superstar has so far publicly addressed the news.
Cody announced on Twitter that tomorrow night, he will be joining Tony Schiavone on commentary for Dynamite.
From the looks of it, Jim Ross and Excalibur will not be in attendance as Cody only mentioned Schiavone although that is not 100% confirmed. “I have a bad habit on commentary that I’ll be totally leaning into, and hopefully it turns into something fun for the fans watching at home,” he added. Cody also has a match scheduled tomorrow against Jimmy Havoc.
Dynamite will be coming to you live from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida without a crowd for the second week in a row. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, AEW will be filming at that location behind a closed set for as long as they’re allowed.
The Blood & Guts match originally scheduled for tomorrow is not happening due to the strict rules of how many people you can have close together in a small space.
A few more matches were added to the WrestleMania card and one big match got a new stipulation added to it.
The Undertaker vs AJ Styles match will now be a boneyard match, suggesting that this will not be part of the Performance Center tapings but will take place somewhere else. Styles referenced that he would be burying the Undertaker in the same plot that Michelle McCool picked to bury her husband’s career.
The Raw Tag Team titles will also be on the line as The Street Profits get their first WrestleMania match against the team of United States champion Andrade and Angel Garza, with their business manager Zelina Vega in their corner.
Another match added is Aleister Black taking on Bobby Lashley while Randy Orton accepted Edge’s challenge for a WrestleMania one-on-one encounter.
WWE today announced that it is offering thousands of hours from the WWE Network for free for a limited time.
Every WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, NXT TakeOver, NXT UK TakeOver, WWE 24, Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions, Ruthless Aggression, The Monday Night War series and tons of other episodes and shows are included in the free viewing offer.
Recent episodes of Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown are available to watch as well.
WrestleMania 36 is not included in the free offer and it will be available only to subscribers.
WWE did not note how long this free offer will last but many streaming services are unlocking many content as the world copes with the coronavirus outbreak resulting in millions of people being locked inside their homes.
You can head over to WWENetwork.com to get your free account now.
In an interview published today by UK-based TalkSport, Drew McIntyre put over Brock Lesnar for making him look as good as he possibly can in the buildup to their WrestleMania 36 match.
Drew said that a few weeks ago, they ran him down as a number one contender because he required Ricochet’s assist at the Rumble to eliminate Brock Lesnar. “Generally, Paul Heyman builds them up to sell the opponent for Brock’s match, but it was the opposite this time. Paul ran me down, almost like ‘wait a minute, are we worried about this guy?’” Drew said.
But then everything changed once he came out and dropped Lesnar three times with his Claymore Kick. “I’m sure you probably noticed, one of those kicks wasn’t necessarily planned,” McIntyre said, referring to the final kick which fans kept chanting “one more time.” Drew said that Lesnar “went out of his way” and felt the crowd because that’s how good he is.
“There were no physical cues so we just kept going. And I was like, ‘Wow, this guy is unbelievable’ and I’m glad I’m at a level where I can read him at the same time. We’re working together here and he’s more than willing to go overboard to make me look as good as possible and make me,” the number one contender added.
Drew also noted that it was Lesnar who told him to pick up the belt after the third Claymore Kick and to hold it up. In fact, the camera was so close that the microphone picked up Lesnar saying “pick up the belt” from the floor and McIntyre quickly obeyed.
“He [Brock] felt that in the moment and said ‘do it!’ The camera just picked it up, but that’s how much he’s invested in this. He made that call because he felt the crowd. Nobody one, sells like Brock Lesnar and two, feels a crowd like Brock Lesnar,” he said.
All Elite Wrestling has postponed their upcoming live events from Philadelphia, Houston, New Orleans, and Albuquerque to later in the year as precautionary measures against the coronavirus.
The April 22 show from Philly is now set to take place on July 29 from the Liacouras Center. The Houston show which was set for April 29 will now be held on November 4 at the Fertitta Center. The May 6 New Orleans show is now set to December 2 from the University of New Orleans Lakefront Arena and the May 13 show from Albuquerque is now scheduled for December 30 at the Santa Ana Star Center.
Fans who have already purchased tickets to all the above-mentioned shows will be offered a refund via the point of purchase, or have their original ticket valid for admission to the rescheduled event.
Until further notice, live episodes of Dynamite will be produced at closed set locations with essential personnel only.
WWE Hall of Famer and multi-time NWA Tag Team champion Ricky Morton of The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express revealed that he has been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy.
On his latest podcast, Morton recounted how last week he noticed that after he went to grab a cup of coffee, he had coffee dripping on the side of his face and when he went to check in the mirror, his face looked disfigured.
“I thought that I might be having a stroke, but I went to the hospital and they told me it was brought on by stress and everything…but I have a touch of Bell’s palsy,” Morton said.
The good news is that it’s starting to clear up and he can shut his eyes and talk. “I just wanted to tell the wrestling world out there…if you see me…don’t run off. I’m doing good. Physically wise…I’m great.”
Bell’s palsy is the same condition that fellow Hall of Famer and AEW commentator Jim Ross has. NXT UK star Piper Niven also suffers from Bell’s palsy.
The 24/7 title shenanigans resumed yesterday with Riddick Moss losing the title to the greatest 24/7 champion ever, R-Truth.
Moss was jogging around in his neighborhood when a car pulled up being driven by WWE referee Darrick Moore. Moss realized what was happening and asked Moore who is he with. At that point, Truth came out from the trunk of the car and rolled up Moss from behind for the three count.
“You need to go back to football, Mr Randy Moss,” Truth said as he got back in the driving seat of the car and sped away with the 24/7 title.
Moss has been the longest-reigning 24/7 champion so far, holding on to the title for over a month.
ESPN will air WrestleMania XXX tonight starting at 7PM ET, the first of three WrestleManias that the sports network will air over the next couple of weeks.
The deal was announced this week and enables ESPN to fill up some of their television time by airing WrestleMania XXX, WrestleMania 32, and WrestleMania over the course of the next three weeks.
This is the first time that a WrestleMania will air on free television and ESPN has it running for four hours, which indicates the show will run in full.
WrestleMania XXX had the iconic opening with Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and The Rock, the end of The Undertaker’s streak, and Daniel Bryan reigning supreme among many other moments.
All three WrestleMania encore telecasts will air on ESPN and stream via the ESPN App.
Despite WrestleMania 36 not taking place in Tampa Bay anymore, WWE is still selling WrestleMania merchandise sporting Tampa Bay as the host city and actually did some clever marketing with at least one particular t-shirt.
Usually, WWE sells these “I was there” merchandise for special occasions such as WrestleMania. Well, this year, there will be nobody in the stands but that didn’t stop WWE from selling a similar shirt, only this time it says “I wasn’t there.” There are two variants of the this shirt, one which has the WrestleMania logo on the front and that text above and below and one which has the Superstars participating in WrestleMania in the front along with the logo and the text “I wasn’t there” on the back.
“WrestleMania 36 will be historic event in #WWE history, and you won’t be there! Declare to the world that you did your part and stayed home with a new ‘I Wasn’t There’ tee at #WWEShop,” a tweet from WWE said promoting the shirt.
Rob Gronkowski merchandise is already up for sale including the GronkMania t-shirt that he sported on Friday Night Smackdown.
WWE Shop currently has an offer of up to 50% off from select tees and select replica titles as well. No codes are necessary to take advantage of these offers. To start shopping go to http://w-o.it/wweshopcom.
Wrestling can be a sport filled with brutality, aggression, superior strength, and numerous other characteristics that are typically associated with males. All of this was held true before 16-year old Heaven Fitch came onto the scene, and changed the stereotypical wrestler forever.
She is a young lady who is fearless, and she has proven time and time again that she isn’t afraid to hang with the stronger males. She may only be a high school student, but she is looking like she could revolutionize the sport of wrestling. She’s made international headlines since she became the first girl to win the North Carolina High School Wrestling State Championship on February 22 of this year, putting focus on the neglected sport of women’s wrestling.
We have certainly been impressed with what Heaven Fitch has demonstrated so far in her young career, and we’re sure that you will be too after reading through this article.
Who is Heaven Fitch?
Heaven Fitch is a young high-school student from North Carolina, and she is a girl with big dreams for both herself and her career. Recently Heaven made history by destroying a field of boys on her way to winning the North Carolina State Championships for wrestling, something that has never before been achieved by a female wrestler.
Fitch currently wrestles in the 106-pound division, but when she’s constantly going up against supposedly stronger opposition, the challenge is twice as hard. As the story goes, Fitch told her parents when she was just 6 years old that she wanted to be a wrestler. She was inspired by her older brothers, and this inspiration has led her to become one of the most exciting prospects in wrestling for many years.
She may still be in high-school, but the future certainly looks bright for this young lady and her quest for great wrestling achievements.
Female wrestlers still lack opportunities
To understand the media attention around Heaven Fitch we need to understand Women’s wrestling. To many people, women’s wrestling equals the entertainment that we see on tv with shows like Professional Wrestling but the truth is far from it. Women’s wrestling has been growing at a 10% rate the last years and is considered one of the fastest growing sports. Still, less than 17,000 girls and women participate in the sport. Despite the low numbers, one can find odds on women’s wrestling events together with the men’s competitions, on all major sports betting sites like Unibet, bet365 and others found on platforms like the Gamblersbet.com. Since 2004, women’s wrestling is also part of the Olympic Games with competitors from more than 100 countries. Japan, where female wrestling is well developed, has won 11 gold medals since 2004.
Back to the US, many high schools have girl wrestling but with a 85% drop off between high school and college level, the sport has struggled with survival. As more high schools and colleges have started to allow men and women to compete against each other, the number of female high school wrestlers has increased each year. Today, about 21,000 students participate in girls wrestling across 18 states and there are better opportunities for women to continue with professional training but the sport is far from gender equality. The hashtag #WrestleTheGap on Twitter is one of the most recent initiatives to raise awareness to women’s wrestling and the success by Heaven Fitch is exactly what the sports need. Making it easier for women to pursue a career as a professional wrestler will ultimately lead to more professional wrestlers.
Men against female wrestlers
Both in the US and internationally, wrestling is one of the few sports where men and women can compete against each other and intergender wrestling is growing in popularity. Wrestling is a sport where competitors battle each other one on one, and they use various martial art methods when they are competing. Wrestling is much less violent than other combat sports however such as boxing or UFC, for this sport is much more focused on precision and technique rather than power or violence. Some fighters may prefer to go for ground grapples, and others may go for submission moves such as those that you may see in MMA. As technique is more important than body size, wrestling has become increasingly popular as an intergender sport.
Why is Heaven Fitch changing the face of wrestling?
We’ve already established that Heaven Fitch has begun removing the stereotypes that males are stronger than females, or that females shouldn’t take part in combat sports. She’s quite literally obliterating many pre-determined attitudes surrounding wrestling, and after her success at the State Championships, the waves continue to power through the wrestling world.
But how exactly is this young lady changing the way that the sport is seen, and how it operates in general?
1. Displaying women and men as equals
It’s been a long-standing debate in sport that women shouldn’t get paid the same as men, that they don’t bring in the same crowds, that they aren’t as capable, etc. Clearly, Heaven is showing to the world that this is an attitude that is not only offensive, but it is an attitude that is being proven to be wrong time and time again.
2. Proving that unisex tournaments are a feasible inclusion going forward
Usually, the idea of women competing against men in sport has been laughed at, and just simply an idea that is refused to be entertained by the bodies that be. However, Heaven Fitch has just shown that there is a place for unisex sport to take place. Although she may have achieved this incredible feat at the junior level, it will be interesting to see whether this sparks debate for the seniors too.
3. Motivating other female wrestlers to come forward
Let’s not dance around the fact that wrestling is still seen as a male sport, as are many combat sporting events. Fitch has now shown that if you have a passion for wrestling or any other contact sport for that matter, you should just go ahead and strive for your dreams.
What does this mean for the sport of wrestling?
We have a feeling that the governing bodies from all over the globe will have taken note of Fitch’s achievements. More importantly, it attracts attention to the sport which can lead to more opportunities for female wrestlers that want to become full time professional athletes. This could mean major shakeups at both the junior and senior levels, and it could have even lit the match for many more professional women’s events to be held.
Whether this actually happens or not, we will all have to wait and see.
For the first time in its 36-year history, WrestleMania will be recorded and not airing live on April 4 and April 5 as WWE took the decision to tape the Performance Center matches next week according to PWInsider.com.
WWE recorded the March 27 and April 3 episodes of Smackdown last night and today they are taping content for NXT. Tomorrow there’s Raw tapings and then on Tuesday another set of Raw tapings for March 30.
On Wednesday and Thursday, all the content for the two-night WrestleMania will be pre-recorded and additional tapings will be done at the multiple locations that WWE has alluded to. Those locations have not been revealed yet.
With the U.S. government likely to make stricter rules in the days and weeks to come, WWE is not risking anything as they could be caught off guard and not allowed to do any sort of tapings if this coronavirus spread gets even worse. The decision was taken in the best interest of everyone involved, to get it over with as quickly as possible and since there will be no fans in the stands, it made no sense to go live anyway. Recording WrestleMania will also give WWE the chance to make even more finishing touches on the show in post-production, presenting the best possible product to fans.
WrestleMania tapings will be held in closed sets so that should help with the prevention of any leaks.
Come Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5, those players involved in making the show will, for the first time ever in their career, be able to sit and enjoy watching the show from the comfort of their own home.
Wrestling-Online.com will not be publishing anything from the tapings whatsoever and there will be zero spoilers heading into the show.
The Impact Wrestling Rebellion pay-per-view set for April 19 has been officially cancelled as well due to the coronavirus.
The show was going to take place from Terminal 5 in New York City and with New York pretty much on lockdown, the situation will clearly not be normalized in a month, leaving no other option but to cancel the show completely.
AXS has already marked the event as cancelled on their ticket page and those who purchased a ticket through the official outlet will be getting a refund within 30 business days. If you bought your ticket somewhere else, you will need to contact that location to get your money reimbursed.
Impact already cancelled Lockdown (March 28), March Breakdown (March 29) and There’s No Place Like Home (April 3).
