– Apparently there is talk in WWE right now of having a multiple-Divas match for the WWE Divas Championship at WrestleMania XXX. There is also said to be discussion about something similar for the tag-team division, as they are planning on a possible multi-team match for the WWE Tag-Team Championships.
– Regarding the WWE Network, there is discussion of releasing the entire collection of Madison Square Garden events on the Network over the next several months. As far as new content being added to the WWE Network, there is said to be a time consuming process in getting footage available to be added.
Apparently WWE kicked two fans out of Monday’s RAW in Green Bay, Wisconsin for holding up what were deemed inappropriate signs. One fan noted that he gave his “Randy Savage for WWE Hall Of Fame” sign to the person sitting next to him and felt bad when that person was kicked out with him.
Other signs that were reportedly deemed a problem by security were ones that read, “Ronda Rousey can armbar John Cena and make him tap” and “Less Talk, More Wrestling.” One of the fans also had a sign that said CM Punk was right when he said the UFC is better than WWE.
The following is the official schedule for the WWE Network for Thursday, February 27, 2014:
12am EST – Royal Rumble 2013
3am EST – Legends of Wrestling – Renegades
4:30am EST – WrestleMania Rewind – WrestleMania I
5:30am EST – RAW Backstage Pass – 2/23/2014
6am EST – Old School – 10/21/1984 MSG event
8:30am EST – RAW Flashback – 2/21/1993
9:30am EST – RAW Flashback – 2/28/1993
10:30am EST – WWE Countdown – Catchphrases
11:30am EST – Beyond The Ring – Shawn Michaels & Bret Hart
1:30pm EST – Royal Rumble 2013
4:30pm EST – Best of RAW – 9/27/1998
6:30pm EST – WWE Main Event Replay – 2/25/2014
7:30pm EST – WWE NXT Arrival Pre-show
8pm EST – WWE NXT Arrival Live
10pm EST – WWE Superstars – 2/26/2014
11pm EST – WWE NXT Arrival replay
The latest regarding Jeff Jarrett’s new pro wrestling promotion is that it will be financed by a group of partners, and not just country music star Toby Keith. It should be noted that Keith is worth $500 million himself, which is a considerable amount more than what Vince McMahon was worth before the WWE stock went through the roof.
Also, regarding the promotion’s financial backing, when the group was looking at possibly buying TNA, they were always described as “Nashville music investors.”
Speaking of Jarrett, he appeared at a sports convention in Nashville on February 22nd. While he didn’t say much about the new promotion, he did confirm that it was “a go,” and also spoke about the idea of doing a weekly Tuesday night television show.
As previously reported, Ring Of Honor stars Roderick Strong and Kevin Steen were considered pretty likely candidates for the next WWE NXT tryout camp at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando. Apparently Strong and Steen are confirmed to take part in the next WWE tryout, which takes place from March 24th through March 26th.
Independent wrestling star Michael Elgin was also reportedly trying to get into the next tryout camp, but there is no definitive word yet as to whether or not he will be a part of it.
– WWE has been editing out old footage of chair shots to the head on their YouTube channel since late last year. They’ve recently been taking down a lot of content on YouTube in general, something that was expected upon the launch of the WWE Network, as that content is now planned on only being available on the Network.
– There’s a possible legal issue looming between WWE and MMA legend Frank Shamrock. Apparently Shamrock trademarked an insignia that WWE is using for Sheamus t-shirts and merchandise.
– TNA president Dixie Carter will be the special guest for TNA’s “InterActive” second-screen experience for this Thursday’s edition of Impact Wrestling.
– TNA stars Samoa Joe and Rob Terry are expected to be added to the TNA “One Night Only: Outbreak” show in Japan, which is a co-promoted pay-per-view with Wrestle-1.
– The following is the latest edition of the IMPACT podcast, which features MVP:
– Stephanie McMahon met with executives at the General Mills headquarters on Tuesday. Stephanie was talking with officials from General Mills’ “Totino’s” brand, as WWE and Totino’s announced their first-ever partnership in 2013.
– The following is a new preview video for season two of WWE’s “Total Divas” reality show:
– A bunch of new PodcastOne.com podcasts are now available. Part two of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin on the new Jim Ross “Ross Report” podcast is available.
A new “Talk Is Jericho” podcast with Chris Jericho interviewing Ghosthunter star Jeff Belanger is up on his page.
Finally, the latest “30 Years Of WrestleMania” podcast featuring Renee Young interviewing Goldust and Cody Rhodes has been added.
You can check all of these shows out right now at PodcastOne.com.
– NBA star LeBron James recently bought his whole team WWE World Heavyweight Championship replica belts. He tweeted the following photo of his team with the belts on his Instagram account.
Always wanted to be the WWE Heavyweight World Champion so today I surprised my teammates with their… http://t.co/NmT44sSlVG
WWE Hall Of Famer “Rowdy” Roddy Piper has switched from campaigning for a match at WrestleMania XXX to now pitching ideas for a “Piper’s Pit” segment on the show. He tweeted the following recently, including an update on his podcast.
Just saw Hulks Interview on Raw last night! Hogan can host WMXXX, I'll just host the Piper's Pit with Hogan at WMXXX
– Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been nominated in the “Favorite Male Buttkicker” category in Nickelodeon’s “Kid’s Choice Awards.” This is the same award that The Rock won in 2013. This year, The Rock is up against Hugh Jackman, Johnny Depp and Robert Downey Jr.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross recently appeared on FOX Sports’ “The Buzz” radio show with Jimmy Traina. Ross talks about his desire to call one more match, his new Ross Report podcast and more. You can check out the interview at FOXSports.com.
TNA has officially announced a steel cage match between Gunner and James Storm for their upcoming “Lockdown” pay-per-view on March 9th in Miami, Florida. With that now known, here’s a look at the latest official lineup for TNA Lockdown:
TNA World Heavyweight Title
– Magnus (c) vs. Samoa Joe
Lethal Lockdown
– Team MVP vs. Team Dixie
TNA Knockouts Title
– Madison Rayne (c) vs. Gail Kim
– WWE Divas The Bella Twins filmed a spot for the official music video to Trey Songz’ “NaNa” single. The following is a photo of Nikki Bella on the set of the music video shoot:
– WWE has added some extras from the “WWE Countdown” and “WrestleMania Rewind” WWE Network shows to their official YouTube channel. You can check those out below:
The Monday, February 24th post-Elimination Chamber edition of WWE RAW, which featured the return of Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker, drew a final cable rating of 3.31, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The 3.31 marks an increase from the 3.08 cable rating that RAW drew last week.
RAW averaged 4.66 million viewers, which was up from the previous week’s average of 4.36 million viewers. The hourly breakdown is as follows:
– John Cena is still being advertised for this weekend’s WWE live events, despite the knee injury angle that took place on RAW. Cena will face Randy Orton at live events in North Charleston, SC, Jacksonville, FL and Moline, IL.
– The following matches will take place on tonight’s episode of WWE Main Event:
Cody Rhodes, Goldust, Los Matadores, and El Torito vs. Curtis Axel, Ryback, Drew McIntyre, Heath Slater, and Jinder Mahal
Daniel Bryan held an impromptu autograph signing following Tuesday’s WWE Smackdown taping in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
After being spotted by fans at the hotel after the tapings, Bryan had them all line up for autographs. Twitter user @ImAMelFo tweeted this photo of the fans lined up:
Daniel Bryan formed a line in the hotel for every fan who wants an auto/pic. Insane pic.twitter.com/sT7INOpe5c
– Variety reports that the Muppets are expected host WWE RAW next month to promote their new Muppets Most Wanted movie (opening March 21st).
– Hulk Hogan appeared on NBC’s Today Show this morning to promote the WWE Network and WrestleMania XXX. Hogan presented co-host Willie Giest with a replica WWE Championship belt and invited all of the Today hosts to WrestleMania XXX.
– Jake Roberts underwent surgery on Tuesday to remove a cancerous tumor behind his left knee. Jake tweeted the following on Tuesday about the procedure:
Surgery went well & feeling good. Won’t know if the growth is all removed or spread until tests come back. Doc optimistic and so am I.
On Monday’s RAW, Batista cut a promo finally acknowledging that fans are completely rejecting him. At Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings, Batista cut a heel promo and then went on to squash one of WWE’s beloved underutilized talents.
Batista cut a promo at the beginning of the SmackDown tapings, voting to “Destroy each of our heroes” on his way to WrestleMania. This led to Dolph Ziggler coming out, who called Batista a dinosaur and gave him a dropkick, setting up a match between the two later in the night.
During their match, Ziggler got a loud babyface reaction during their match and got a lout “Let’s Go Ziggler chant” against the Royal Rumble winner. Batista taunted the crowd during the match and eventually won by giving Ziggler the Batista Bomb.
With Batista turning heel, it remains to be seen how WWE is going to handle the heel vs. heel WrestleMania main event. One theory is that WWE will turn Randy Orton babyface by having the Authority disregard Orton in favor of Batista, turning Orton babyface. However this pans it, WWE appears to be firmly behind Batista as the new “Face of WWE” – whether the fans like it or not.
The following is a non-spoiler match listing for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown. Click ahead to page two for a full spoiler report for this Friday’s show.
– The Real Americans vs. Mark Henry & Big E.
– Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio
– Batista vs. Dolph Ziggler
– AJ Lee vs. Cameron
– Daniel Bryan & The Usos vs. Kane & The New Age Outlaws
Click ahead to page two for complete spoiler results of this week’s WWE SmackDown …
The following are results from the WWE Main Event television taping, which took place on Tuesday night in Milwaukee, Wisconsin:
– Goldust, Cody Rhodes, Los Matadores & El Torito def. Ryback, Curtis Axel & 3MB in a ten-man tag-team match. The finish saw El Torito pinning Heath Slater.
– Aksana & Alicia Fox def. Eva Marie & Natalya in Divas tag-team action. The finish saw Aksana escaping from Natalya’s Sharpshooter and pinning her to get the win.
– Bad News Barrett came out for one of his usual segments. His bad news this time was about Spring Break and how people in the U.S. are headed down the wrong path.
– Darren Young def. Titus O’Neil in a rematch from the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view this past Sunday night.
– Sin Cara def. Damien Sandow in a singles match, which served as the main event of the evening. After this match, the ring setup was switched over for SmackDown.
The following are highlights from another new Diamond Dallas Page interview:
On DDP Yoga: “There are 30 current WWE wrestlers doing DDP Yoga. Every single wrestler at the Performance Center does it, that’s 19 women and 61 guys doing DDP Yoga.”
On Jake Roberts’ cancer surgery: “He’s got to get the skin cancer removed from his leg. I asked how he could let it spread like this, it’ll be interesting to see what happens tomorrow because they said the surgery could be 2 hours, or it could be 8 hours.”
On a DDP Yoga App: “It’ll be like the Netflix of fitness. We will have our own programming and only through the APP will you be able to get live workouts. We’ll also do cooking and you might see me cooking with Jake or Scott in the accountability crib.”
On having one last match: “I have no intention to do it anywhere other than WWE. The only person I would consider wrestling would be Randy Orton and only because our storyline is built in. We could have a hell of a run but it would break my body up so bad. There is no reason for them to put him in an angle with me because he is too far up the ladder and I’m grateful for that because I’d take it if they offered it.”
On if he will induct Jake Roberts into the WWE Hall Of Fame: “It’s been talked about but everything runs through the WWE so I don’t know what decision they will make. I would be honoured to do it but it won’t hurt my feelings if they pick someone else because it’s Jake’s night.”
