With “Superstar” Billy Graham unable to attend WrestleMania 32 Axxess in Dallas due to a medial emergency, his replacement has been announced. Fellow WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley will be replacing Graham at Axxess, which is an event for WWE fans to get autographs and take pictures with wrestlers.
Lucha Underground on the El Ray Network averaged 100,000 viewers for the first run of this week’s show on Wednesday night. This is up from last week’s 95,000 viewer average.
The replay of the show did 57,000 viewers, giving the show a total of 157,000 for the week. This is up from last week’s replay, which drew 41,000 viewers for a total of 136,000 for the week.
Roman Reigns might be WWE’s golden boy heading into WrestleMania 32 – but don’t expect him to remain silent if you talk trash to him on social media.
Reigns has been dealing with tepid crowd reactions for over a year now, with WWE going to great lengths to drown out boos and pipe in cheers whenever possible. On Thursday, WWE fan @Chief_Bigcat tweeted to Reigns:
WWE has their work cut out for them over the next several weeks if they want to avoid a crowd-reaction disaster at WrestleMania. Unless there’s a big swerve planned that involves Reigns turning heel, there’s a very real possibility that he’ll get booed mercilessly by the record-setting crowd.
TNA is back in Orlando today with another round of tapings from Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. In addition to taping for matches for future episodes of Impact Wrestling, TNA is also filming a “One Night Only” pay-per-view titled, ‘Knockouts Knockdown.’
TNA President Dixie Carter tweeted a photo of the Knockouts involved, including several familiar faces from the indy scene and NXT. The competitors involved in the Knockouts Knockdown taping include former NXT regular Leva Bates (Blue Pants), ROH star Veda Scott, Former WWE Diva Shelly Martinez, Former NWA Women’s champion Barbie Hayden, Cherry Bomb, Deonna Purazzo, Jayme Jameson, llysin Kay, Maria Kanellis and more.
Superstar Billy Graham was scheduled to appear during the WrestleMania 32 weekend festivities in Arlington, TX, but has been forced to pull out of his commitments. In a post on his official Facebook page, the WWE Hall of Famer revealed he’s been forced to cancel due to a medical issue he described as being a “life or death” matter.
Graham published the email he sent to Triple H informing him the news, and said he received an open invitation to next year’s WrestleMania 33 in Orlando. Here’s his email to HHH in it’s entirety:
Triple H, I will keep this email as brief and direct as I can. I have a potential life and death problem. One week ago I was in the gym training. I was doing some simple free squats on a bench and I broke in half a bone graft that is some 10 years old. The bone started migrating upward and is trying to exit my thigh next to my left hip joint, extremely painful as you can imagine. I immediately drove myself to the wold famous Mayo Clinic Hospital here in Phoenix where I had my liver transplant on October 18th, 2002.
I saw the top Orthopedic surgeon at the Mayo, Dr. Mark Spangehl who is a hip replacement specialist. He x-rayed my left hip and saw that the broken bone had moved upward about 4 inches from its original placement. He also saw on the x-ray that the cup that holds the head of the femur has begun to rotate and I am at risk of a dislocation. I have attached a photo of an x-ray of a total left hip replacement similar to mine for your reference, only my hip replacement is much more complicated than the one attached. This is the hip replacement surgery that Vince had video taped back in 1986 and put it on the WWF programing.
The reason this is a potential life or death surgery that I must have is because I am a diabetic. I have high blood sugar and am taking medication to control it but my numbers are still way to high . Dr. Spangehl told me with the high numbers of my diabetes I am at risk of infection. He said if I get an infection after this upcoming surgery he will have to go in and cut the infection out. If I am still infected he will have to go back in and cut more infected muscle out. The 3rd time he said to save my life he would have to amputate my left leg at the hip.
I am on crutches and the doctor will not let me travel. So I am obviously going to miss this years Wrestlemania. I am very sorry about this of course, especially because of the fan axxess event and all of my fans who will not get the chance to meet me now. If there is anything I can do like sign autographs here and then send them back to the WWE office for the axxess fans who have bought tickets I would be more than happy to do that. I just feel horrible about this but there is nothing I can do. With great respect, Superstar.
WrestleMania 32 takes place on April 3, 2016, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
TNA star Jeff Hardy has pledged to donate his brain to the CTE Center at Boston University and the Concussion Legacy Foundation after he passes away. He joins a list of wrestlers who’ve made the pledge to the CTE Center including Rob Van Dam, Kevin Nash and Mick Foley.
“My wife read where Kevin Nash announced that and I said, “Oh my God I have to do that.” I for sure will do whatever it takes and I would love to be a part of that. It’s a huge serious issue in wrestling,” Hardy said. “I’ve rung my bells so many times especially back in the day when chair shots to the head were legal. My goodness, I took so many of those. Luckily, I’m only aware of about two or three concussions that I have had but there’s really no way of telling how many overall. When Nash announced he was doing that I was on board and I didn’t know that RVD did as well. That really inspired me to do the same thing.”
– WWE has already locked in the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida for an NXT Takeover show on March 31, 2017 during WrestleMania 33 weekend.
– Last week it was reported that WWE has already sold over 84,000 tickets for WrestleMania 32, shattering the company’s (legitimate) all-time attendance record. That number includes standing-room-only tickets, so the final attendance number will not be significantly higher than that. Of course the company will announce attendance above 93,000 – we’ll see how far they push the envelope regarding the elusive 100,000 figure.
WrestleMania ticket sales have grossed approximately $13 million, another record for the company. The previous record was set at last year’s WrestleMania ($12.6 million). Despite the fact that WWE sold far more tickets for this year’s WrestleMania, ticket prices were lower were this year.
The $13 million gate is larger gate than UFC’s biggest show in history. UFC 129 back in April 2011 featuring GSP vs. Jake Shields grossed over $11 million at the Rogers Centre in Toronto (the former SkyDome, which hosted 2 WrestleManias).
None of these figures some even close to boxing’s top shows. According to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, there have been 10 events that have grossed over $13 million. The record is held by the Mayweather vs. Pacquaiao fight from last May at MGM in Vegas which drew a staggering $72 million.
– Bray Wyatt is dealing with a significant back injury, which is why Brock Lesnar ended up working against Luke Harper at WWE Roadblock. Wyatt can remain on WWE television in a non-wrestling capacity while he recovers, but another injury is the last thing WWE needs right now.
Wyatt was originally scheduled to face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, but it’s unknown if the injury was the reason for WWE pairing Lesnar with Ambrose instead. When he’s cleared to return, Wyatt is still scheduled to feud with Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar in the coming months.
– The recipient of this year’s Warrior Award is rumored to be Joan Lunden. The longtime host of Good Morning America has battled breast cancer publicly and has appeared on WWE TV during Breast Cancer Awareness month.
– Last week it was reported that Triple H and Kurt Angle had a meeting at the Arnold Sports Festival. While both were in attendance and both were spotted with Arnold Schwarzenegger, there was no meeting between Triple H and Angle.
Jim Ross recently took part in an Ask Me Anything Q&A on Reddit. The WWE Hall of Famer tackled several fan questions and declared “I’m never going to retire.” Here are some highlights from his answers:
On Roman Reigns being booed by the fans:
“IMO Reigns is being booed because he’s been shoved down fan’s throats and they have spit him back. He’s a natural heel at this point in time. Bottom line is that Reigns is miscast.”
On WWE not bringing him back & his relationship with Vince McMahon:
“WWE has spoken and they do not want me on their broadcasts. End of story. No worries here. I’m on PPV Sunday in Phoenix for URshow.tv and I hope that you will give us a shot. It will be a helluva, unpredictable show. […] My relationship with Vince is positive and healthy. We communicate somewhat regularly. I had 21 great years with VKM and am grateful for my run.”
His reaction to seeing Mick Foley fall off the Hell In A Cell up close:
“I thought that he had broken his back or worse including being maimed”
On his heel turn during the WWF Attitude era:
“Creative thought it was the right move to make turning me heel, but they were wrong. fans did not buy it, and I did not execute it well.”
You can read all of J.R.’s answers to fan questions here.
Alicia Fox recently recently spoke with Scott Fishman of Channel Guide Magazine about Total Divas, her friendship with the Bella Twins, WrestleMania 32 and much more. Here are some highlights:
– She’s been friends with the Bella Twins for about 10 years and feels like they’ve grown up together. With Nikki’s injury and Brie considering retirement so she can start a family with Daniel Bryan, she’s grown even closer to them and has tried to be supportive. “It feels good to go through that with them, because I constantly put myself in their shoes and figure how I would deal with everything. It can be giving advice or just listening to them, I want to be there.”
– Having been with WWE for nearly a decade, Alicia has learned to be versatile and flexible with her character. “You see it in my bookings. I’m a bad guy. I’m a good guy. I’m throwing French fries. Then I’m not. Sometimes I get dizzy, too, but I think being able to help in any fashion is what adds value to the superstars and Divas of WWE. Not having an ego is important.”
– In her time with WWE, she’s seen the Divas Division undergo several incarnations. Not only has she wrestled WWE’s current Divas roster, but she’s also gained experience wrestling with past performers like Beth Phoenix, Gail Kim and Melina.
At this stage in her career, she sees herself as somewhat of a mentor for the younger talent. “That’s what has kind of fueled the fact that I’m so willing to help these new girls get to where they want to go. It’s not so much as me wanting to put myself on the back-burner, but I think it’s important to share my guidance and experience with these girls.”
– This week’s “live” episode TNA Impact Wrestling episode featuring Drew Galloway winning the TNA World Heavyweight Title drew 307,000 viewers.
This is way up from last week’s show, which did 222,000 viewers for Kurt Angle’s farewell match.
– TNA held another round of Impact Wrestling tapings on Tuesday night from Universal Orlando. These matches will air next Tuesday, March 22nd on Pop TV. The rest of the matches for that episode will be taped tonight.
Eddie Edwards defeated Crazzy Steve in a Street Fight
TNA Tag Team Champions James Storm and Bobby Roode defeated Robbie E and Jessie Godderz
Maria Kanellis vs. TNA Knockouts Champion Gail Kim didn’t happen as advertised. Maria brought out The Dollhouse out and said she’s awarding her title shot to the winner of a triple threat match.
Jade defeated Marti Bell and Rebel in a Triple Threat to become #1 contender to the TNA Knockouts title.
– WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley announced on Twitter that he’ll be donating his brain to Chris Nowinski’s Concussion Legacy Foundation after he passes away. Kevin Nash recently made the same pledge.
Sting’s days as an in-ring competitor are over, according to TMZ Sports.
The 56-year-old wrestling icon was badly injured during his match against Seth Rollins back in September at Night of Champions. After meeting with several doctors regarding his condition, he was formally diagnosed with cervical spinal stenosis. It’s the same condition that forced Edge into retirement back in 2011.
Sting is expected to make the announcement at the 2016 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony. He’ll be inducted by his longtime rival, “Nature Boy” Ric Flair.
Posted March 17th, 2016 in News, WWE. Tagged: Sting.
On Monday and Tuesday, Gawker’s prospects in the jury trial of Terry “Hulk Hogan” Bollea’s civil suit against them did not look great. Co-defendant A.J. Daulerio was the first witness to clarify the controversy about his deposition. When he first testified years ago, likely thinking the video would never see the light of day and the case would go away, he was flippant and sarcastic. When asked under what circumstances a celebrity sex tape would not be newsworthy, he said if the subject was a child. When asked for an age range, angry having felt he already answered the question, he sarcastically replied “Four.” That blew up last week, with Fox News analysts and HLN’s Dr. Drew Pinsky saving some choice words for him. He did his best to undo the damage, but on cross examination, Hogan’s attorneys drew the attitude back out of him, and he didn’t come off well.
Gawker founder/publisher Nick Denton, who’s also named as a co-defendant of his company and Daulerio, came off much better than his former employee for the most part. Still, Hogan’s lawyer getting him to read the most graphic sections of Daulerio’s article out loud seemingly did additional damage, especially after Denton had talked about the whole thing humanizing Hogan. Other Gawker employees, like Mia Libby (head of ad sales) and Emma Carmichael (former Gawker.com managing editor turned editor in chief of Jezebel, their women’s issues blog) and acquitted themselves well and held up under cross examination. To be fair, so did Denton; Hogan’s lawyers just knew how to make him come off badly if he kept his cool.
But if one moment signified how little it seemed as if the jury (and to an extent, the judge) was thinking of Gawker, it was a juror question that Carmichael got. In Florida, as well as two other states, jurors can submit questions for witnesses in civil trials, which are then read by the judge. Judge Pamela Campbell had no problem allowing and reading out a juror question asking Carmichael if she’d ever had an intimate relationship with Daulerio or Denton. Not only was the answer no, but Denton is openly gay and his husband accompanied him in the courtroom that day. The question, which was roundly criticized online, seemingly came about because of the Hogan team characterizing Carmichael as young and inexperienced. So the juror drew the inference that she slept her way to the top, because in his or her eyes, Gawker was that kind of company.
But today? Things are looking up for Gawker.
Their expert and in-house witnesses both gave more compelling arguments about the actual financial gain of Gawker from the Hulk Hogan sex tape article than Hogan’s experts did. Depositions from both Hogan’s public relations representative and one who worked for TNA showed he went against their advice when he commented extensively about the sex tape during an already planned media tour that coincided with Gawker’s post. Then, today, instead of her testifying, we got to hear, if not all, then an extended portion of the 2015 deposition of Heather Cole (the woman on the video with Hogan), which ran about an hour and a half. It was, to put it lightly, incredibly uncomfortable to watch/listen to. She framed both Hogan and her ex-husband, Bubba the Love Sponge Clem (formerly Todd Clem) as publicity-hungry to an extreme degree. Perhaps more telling was that she referred to Bubba as “intimidating” and came off as if it was incredibly traumatizing for her to have to talk about what happened.
That said…it looks like she lied under oath, though it doesn’t look like Gawker will be able to bring that up in front of the jury. In her deposition, Cole testified that she had no idea that she was being filmed, and that there were three or four encounters with Terry Bollea/Hulk Hogan, all in separate locations. There are three videos (the one Gawker, was sent, the one with the racist comments, and one more), all shot in the Clem bedroom, but yes, it’s possible her memory was off there for whatever reason and there were more encounters than she remembered. That said, when questioned by Tampa police a few months later, she said she knew she was on camera and even guided Hogan towards the camera upon Bubba’s request because he could be “controlling.” One of those statements about her knowledge of the camera is definitely not true, the question is just which.
It should be noted, though, that with regards to Hogan’s knowledge of the camera, her statement that he didn’t know about it was consistent with what he told police. So while this was compelling and felt like an overall win for Gawker, there it wasn’t all great for them.
In the grand scheme of things, the biggest news of the day might actually be what came right before the Cole deposition was played. Hogan, his lawyers, and Judge Pamela Campbell all returned from lunch looking downtrodden. It turned out that minutes earlier, Florida’s Second District Court of Appeals reversed some of Campbell’s earlier rulings. The end result is that the appellate judge has authorized the release of a large swath (believed to be in the 2,000 page rang) of motions, exhibits, and so on that Hogan wanted sealed. Thanks to intervention from the Tampa Bay Times and others, as soon as Thursday (3/17) morning, we may get a huge document dump that likely includes a large portion of the FBI file relating to the case that Hogan wants kept under wraps. His legal team filed an emergency motion to bar the release late today, but one would think that will be resolved in the morning anyway. It’s not clear if Hogan is fighting this on general principle, there’s something new and damning in there, or he’s worried about the audio of his racist comments getting out, since that would be worse than just the transcript.
Their motion made it clear that “None of the sealed records contains DVDs depicting Bollea having sex.”
What’s at issue consists of “approximately two dozen judicial records, including hearing transcripts, motions, and materials […] related to both procedural and substantive issues.“
Tomorrow may be the last day of the trial proper, with journalists being told that we may hear closing arguments. The Gawker edit of one of the sex tapes has not yet been screened in court, though they had gotten permission to do so. If Gawker plays it, it will not be visible to anyone other than the two sides, their lawyers, and the jury.
Former NJPW star Shinsuke Nakamura will make his NXT debut at Takeover: Dallas against Sami Zayn. On this week’s episode of NXT, Zayn was talking about losing to Samoa Joe the previous week and failing to become #1 contender to Finn Balor’s NXT Championship. General Manager William Regal interrupted Zayn and announced that Zayn’s Takeover opponent has been determined.
A pre-taped video played showing Shinsuke Nakamura, who issued the challenge. The crowd knew exactly who Nakamura was and his arrival in WWE has been anticipated since the first week of 2016.
It was also announced that Bayley will put the NXT Women’s championship on the line against Asuka.
With those matches set, here’s the updated card for NXT Takeover Dallas, which takes place on Friday night, April 1st from Dallas, Texas at Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. The show airs live on the WWE Network.
NXT Champion Finn Bálor vs. Samoa Joe
Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
NXT Women’s Champion Bayley vs. Asuka
NXT Tag Team Champions The Revival vs. American Alpha
Lionsgate Unlocked has released the new trailer for Countdown, the WWE Studios film featuring Dolph Ziggler and Kane in prominent roles. The movie will be released on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital HD on April 5th.
“This electrifying thriller is directed by John Stockwell (Into the Blue) and written by Richard Wenk (The Equalizer). When a madman kidnaps a young boy and rigs him with explosives, Ray (Ziggler), haunted by the loss of his young son, defies his captain (Kane) and takes matters into his own hands. Now he must beat the clock to stop a psychopath and save an innocent child.”
– Former NXT performers Sylvester LeFort and Marquis Louis are backstage at today’s TNA Impact Wrestling taping from Orlando, according to PWInsider. They were released from NXT last month after being under contract with WWE for several years.
– Tickets for the WWE Live In London special for Wednesday, September 7th at The O2 Arena went on sale today. Superstars advertised for the show include Roman Reigns, AJ Styles, The New Day, Charlotte and Sasha Banks.
– There’s still no word on who will be receiving this year’s “Warrior Award” at the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony, but we’ve heard WWE is planning on presenting it again this year. There is also expected to be a celebrity induction, Regis Philbin.
– WWE’s latest “5 Things” video spotlights Superstars and Divas who are undefeated at WrestleMania, including Shane McMahon, AJ Lee, The Road Warriors and Rob Van Dam.
Neville will not need surgery to repair a fractured ankle, according WWE’s Dr. Chris Amann.
Amann spoke with WWE.com on Tuesday and revealed that x-rays and a CAT scan showed that Neville will be able rehabilitate the injury with a cast and crutches. Dr. Amman explained,
“Neville had some repeat testing done in Orlando today which included X-Rays and a cat scan of his ankle. Upon further review, it has been determined that surgical repair of the ankle would not be necessary. Instead, he will be treated non-operatively with a cast and crutches. The estimated return for this type of fracture is usually 2 to 3 months.”
That means he’ll be back before SummerSlam, around the time of John Cena, Randy Orton, Seth Rollins and Cesaro.
Shane McMahon isn’t the only one busting his ass in the gym in preparation for Hell in a Cell less than 3 weeks away. Joe DeFranco’s gym posted a video of The Undertaker showing off his incredible strength and agility while training for WrestleMania. The Dead Man does a 500 pound barbell rack pull and shows off a 40-inch vertical jump – impressive feats by the 25-year WWE veteran.
WWE Hall of Famer “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan was Jim Ross’ guest on this week’s installment of The Ross Report podcast.
During the show, they discussed Roman Reigns’ big push and Duggan said Reigns is being pushed too hard and too fast.
“They’re pushing him down the folks’ throat. I mean, they’re pushing him too hard. It’s a different business nowadays.” Dugan added, “they just seem to be pushing him too hard. Take your time.”
Despite the bad booking, Duggan sees potential in Reigns and believes he is worth investing in as a top star.
“To be that marquee guy for WWE, you’ve got to have a certain kind of look and he’s a handsome guy, good body, a lot of teeth. He’s got that marquee type [of] appeal if the people accept him. How do you do that? I can’t tell you. You can’t coach that. It’s something that some people have.”
Other topics discussed include The Iron Sheik and WWE’s Legends’ House. Head over to PodcastOne.com to listen to the show.
“Legends of WrestleMania Month” on ESPN SportsCenter continued on Tuesday night with WWE Hall of Famer Edge. For the “Off The Top Rope” segment, Jonathan Coachman looked back at Edge’s top WrestleMania moments – Top Main Event was against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 24, Top Spot was spearing Mick Foley through the flaming table at WrestleMania 22, Top Match was the TLC Match from WrestleMania 16 with The Dudley Boyz and The Hardy Boyz.
Edge then joined the show and spoke about being in the crowd for Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania 6 and knowing he wanted to be in that ring one day.
Regarding the infamous TLC match at WrestleMania 2000, Edge says they all knew they had to do something different to get noticed in WWE at that time because there were so many other top stars.
Regarding the flaming table spot with Foley, Edge says he was in the mind-frame where he wanted to be in the main event and if he wasn’t, he was going to make sure everyone came out of the event thinking he should have been in the main event.
Coach brought up The Undertaker vs. Shane McMahon at WrestleMania 32 and asks about Edge vs. Taker in 2009. Edge says when he got the call to do the match he thought “finally” because that’s where he had been trying to get to, especially against an icon like The Undertaker. Edge says he knew he had done something right. Edge says he made his entrance and had never been that amped before.
They spoke about Edge’s tag team with Christian and Edge said there is no Edge without Christian. It was a tough transition for them establishing themselves as singles stars. They’ve having fun with their new Edge & Christian show and are not afraid to embarass themselves.
Coach also asked about the final weeks leading up to his final WrestleMania and retirement. Edge called the last week a “whirlwind” but knew that his career was winding down. He was at the point where he just wanted to work with younger talents.
Edge spoke more about his favorite WrestleMania moments to end the segment.
– It looks like WWE has finally put an end to Roman Reigns’ crowd entrance. After entering from the stage (like the rest of the roster) on Monday’s RAW, Reigns came out the same way at Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings from Cincinnati.
– At Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings, The Social Outcasts announced themselves as the first participants in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 32.
– Neville is thanking fans for their support after he was injured during his match against Chris Jericho on Monday’s RAW. WWE released footage of Neville being checked out by medical personnel backstage after the match and it was confirmed that his ankle is fractured. He tweeted on Tuesday night:
Overwhelmed by the love and support. Thank you all.
TNA returned to Orlando, Florida on Tuesday night for a “live” edition of Impact Wrestling on Pop TV. Drew Galloway cashed in his Feast or Fired briefcase during the main event to capture the TNA World Heavyweight championship from Matt Hardy. Here are the quick results from the show:
– Jeff Hardy def. Eric Young
– Mike and Maria Bennett def. Drew Galloway and Gail Kim
– The Decay def. Beer Money and Eddie Edwards
– Grado def. Eli Drake
– Jeff Hardy vs. Ethan Carter III vs. Matt Hardy ended in a no contest after Drew Galloway cashed in his briefcase to become the new TNA World Champion.
Former TNA champion Matt Hardy tweeted the following about what transpired:
.@TNADixie did it. She committed felony robbery to steal my title.
After defeating EC3 & Jeff, I was robbed. Drew is a spineless coward.
At Tuesday night’s SmackDown tapings, United States Champion Kalisto accept Ryback’s challenge for a match at WrestleMania 32. Additionally, it has been confirmed that the League of Nations vs. New Day tag team title match will be a 4-on-3 handicap match.
With those matches set, here’s the updated card for WWE WrestleMania 32:
WWE World Heavyweight Title Match Triple H (c) vs. Roman Reigns
Hell In a Cell for Control of WWE
Shane McMahon vs. The Undertaker
No Holds Barred Street Fight
Dean Ambrose vs. Brock Lesnar
Triple Threat for the Divsa Championship
Charlotte (c) vs. Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch
Handicap Match for the WWE Tag Team Titles
The New Day vs. The League of Nations
WWE United States Title Match
Kalisto (c) vs. Ryback
Third Annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
– Participants TBA
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