Kurt Angle will be the headline inductee for the WWE Hall of Fame’s Class of 2017, as first reported by ESPN.com.

“I was shocked. I’ve been out of WWE for a long time and out of touch with them so I didn’t really expect this,” Angle said to ESPN. “It’s a huge honor. This is the only Hall of Fame that I’m not in and probably [the one] I want to be in the most. This is the one that means the most for me. I had a lot of fun entertaining the fans for seven years with WWE, and I’m glad that my hard work paid off.”

Angle had been out of the company for over a decade, since the Summer of 2006, when he was released after a meeting where it was demanded that he enter drug rehabilitation for a painkiller addiction. The Olympic Gold medalist soon went to TNA Wrestling, working there for a decade before departing last year.  Angle eventually went to rehab while in TNA, cleaning up and being open about the root of his addiction, which likely helped open the door with WWE.

Paul “Triple H” Levesque told WWE.com that “Kurt Angle’s accomplishments both in the Olympics and WWE were extraordinary.“ He added that Angle “was one of the most gifted athletes to ever enter the ring, and we are honored to welcome him into the WWE Hall of Fame.”

In speaking with ESPN, Angle revealed that he has not spoken to WWE about working any matches.

“We have not talked about any wrestling,” he said. “Whether we do or not, that remains to be seen… There are no guarantees. I think right now the most important thing is the Hall of Fame — and I think both sides feel that way.”

With so many years having gone by since he was part of the WWE family, Angle wasn’t sure if this day would ever come.

“I figured they either decided they didn’t want to do anything with me or they forgot,” he told ESPN. “Hunter said they never forgot and he called and told me this is the first thing they want to do. And whether I wrestle or not after this — which is irrelevant right now — I’m just really proud to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. I gave a lot of energy and time to WWE those first seven years, and I’m grateful that they recognized it.”

WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle has a nice ring to it.

I'm coming home! #itsdamntrue

— Kurt Angle (@RealKurtAngle) January 16, 2017

When we last left the matter of American Express’s lawsuit against TNA a month ago, the hearing in the case to determine if the credit card company would win by default was delayed a few weeks. With TNA never having officially recognized the lawsuit in any way, it was only natural that American Express would move for a default judgment which is standard when the defendant never acknowledges the case. It turns out that the judge issued a decision on December 22nd, but it wasn’t filed with the online court system until Tuesday. As expected, TNA lost the default judgment, and is now officially on the hook for $269,049.50 through the court system.

American Express had first sued TNA back in July, but the case didn’t get any press until October, when everyone started searching public records databases for TNA-related cases. The vast majority of the unpaid bill was incurred by Shane Emerson, TNA’s Director of International Content Distribution and Live Events.  The account was closed in May, but American Express did not submit any documentation to indicate how long TNA had been delinquent up to that point. TNA travel was being charged to the personal cards of employees after the corporate accounts were cancelled.

Anthem Sports & Entertainment issued the following press release on Wednesday evening:

Anthem Sports & Entertainment Forms Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions, LLC, Acquires Control of IMPACT Wrestling

Toronto, Canada (January 4, 2017) – Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp. today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a majority interest in TNA IMPACT Wrestling, and has formed Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions, LLC. Anthem also owns Fight Network, the world’s premier 24/7 multi-platform channel dedicated to complete coverage of combat sports, which is IMPACT Wrestling’s exclusive broadcast partner in Canada and worldwide digital partner.

“We are thrilled to have acquired TNA IMPACT Wrestling,” said Ed Nordholm, Executive Vice President of Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp., the parent of Fight Network. “As we grow Anthem’s linear, digital and mobile platforms globally, top tier content with global appeal is key to that success and this acquisition is a perfect strategic addition to our portfolio. IMPACT has been a dominant wrestling brand around the world for more than a decade and we are confident that Anthem can leverage its assets and strategic partnerships to take IMPACT Wrestling to even greater heights.”

Mr. Nordholm, who has been the managing director of the IMPACT Ventures Board of Managers since October 2016, will assume the position of President of Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions, LLC. Dixie Carter will resign from her position as Chairman of Impact Ventures and join the Advisory Board of Fight Media Group, which holds all of the combat sports-related assets of Anthem, where her focus will be on the global growth of the combat sports-related brands owned by Anthem.

More on this as it develops.

Quick results for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11, the 25 anniversary of NJPW’s January 4th Tokyo Dome shows, which took place earlier today:

1. Michael Elgin won the New Japan Rumble, last eliminating Cheeseburger by pinfall with the Revolution Elgin Bomb. Also in the match were Billy Gunn, Bone Soldier, Jushin Liger, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Tiger Mask IV, Manabu Nakanishi, Ryusuke Taguchi, YOSHITATSU, Yuji Nagata, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Hiro Saito, and Scott Norton.
2. Tiger Mask W defeated Tiger the Dark by pinfall with the Golden Star Tiger Driver.
3.Roppongi Vice (Beretta & Rocky Romero) defeated The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) (c) when Romero countered More Bang For Your Buck with a crucifix pin to win IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Chmapionship.
4. Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA, EVILl, & BUSHI) defeated Satoshi Kojima, Ricochet, & David Finlay (c) to win the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship in the last leg of a gauntlet match that also included The Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi, Bad Luck Fale, & Hangman Page) and Chaos (Jado, Will Ospreay, & YOSHI-HASHI)
5. Cody the American Nightmare (Cody Rhodes) defeated Juice Robinson with the Cross Rhodes.
6. Adam Cole defeated Kyle O’Reilly (c) to win the ROH World Heavyweight Championship for a record third time.
7. Chaos (Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano) defeated Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma) and Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa) (c) to win the IWGP (Heavyweight) Tag Team Championship.
8. Hiromu Takahashi defeated KUSHIDA (c) with a spinning Emerald Frosion to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.
9. Hirooki Goto defeated Katsuyori Shibata (c) with the GTR to win the NEVER Openweight Championship.
10. Tetsuya Naito (c) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.
11. Kazuchika Okada (c) defeated Kenny Omega to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

Replays of the show with Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino on commentary are available on demand at NJPW World, while a post-produced version called by Jim Ross and Josh Barnett will begin airing on AXS TV a week from Friday (January 13th).

Hulk Hogan should be getting paid his $31 million settlement from Gawker Media any day now, but now he has another legal matter to deal with: A band of thieves of drove up to steal a package that has been delivered to his front door.  WFLA-TV posted the above video from Saturday afternoon, when a few people drove up to Hogan’s home in Clearwater Beach, Florida, ran up the stairs as the car drove away, took the package that was laying at the front doorstep, and fled on foot.

If you recognize the people in the video, it is suggested that you reach out to the Clearwater Police Department in one of the following ways:

• Call the CPD at 727-562-4242.
• Use their SMS-based “TIP411” system by sending a text message with the letters “CWPD” your your tip to 847411.
• Call Crime Stoppers of Pinellas County at 1-800-873-TIPS.

WFLA’s report did not say what was in the package or if the thieves had targeted any other homes in the area.

While luchador Tortuga Rafy had initially asked fans and colleagues to just drop the topic of his locker room brawl with Alberto El Patron during Sunday night’s IWRG card at Arena Naucalpan, it’s easy to see why he would change his tune. At that point, Alberto had not yet accused him of groping Paige, and once that happened, its no surprise that he would want to defend his name. On Wednesday, as part of the latest edition of the En+Carados podcast showLucha+TV’s YouTube channel (embedded above), Rafy gave his side of the story.

Shortly thereafter, Alfredo Esparza of LuchaWorld.com tweeted translations of the key points as he listened. To make it easier to follow, we won’t embed all of Fredo’s tweets (there were over a dozen), but make sure follow him on Twitter and check out both his site and podcast.

According to Rafy (who has also worked as Alan Xtreme,) was heading downstairs when he literally bumped into Paige and insisted she pass through first by saying “pass by, beautiful.” He conceded that he shouldn’t have worded it that way. When that got back to Alberto, he was hot at Rafy, saying it as disrespectful and asking “Who are you calling beautiful?” Rafy insisted he meant no disrespect and explained that he never touched Paige, but Alberto then yanked his mask off. Rafy tried to flee to the locker room to cover up (they was adjacent to a public hallway), and that’s when Alberto followed, throwing punches.

Tortuga Ninja Rafy wants to clear up that he did not touch Paige. Paige told Alberto that she was not touched by the turtle.

— Fredo Esparza (@therealfredo) December 14, 2016

Rafy claimed that the early reports about him being knocked out and/or his face being badly marked up were not true. As the fight was broken him, he says Alberto calmed down and started apologizing. Rafy then apologized to Paige and Alberto, essentially saying that while he thought he was being chivalrous, these days, complimenting a women’s appearance out the blue is seen differently. He’s insistent that he did not touch Paige and that she backed up his story to Alberto.

He feels that the story blew up largely because of social media and his friend, wrestler AK-47, who posted on Facebook that Alberto “nearly killed” him, probably just got bad info (they hadn’t spoken about it yet) and was overly concerned. Rafy has no problem admitting that he got hit more and that Alberto “won” the brawl. saying that sometimes you win fights, and sometimes you lose.

After finishing the translation/summary, Esparza had some advice for wrestlers who will be around Paige and Alberto:

Paige is good-looking & Alberto's got a temper, so maybe for your safety don't look/talk/open doors for Paige.

— Fredo Esparza (@therealfredo) December 14, 2016

Analysis: The biggest question mark around Rafy’s story is that he says it was settled almost immediately and Paige made it clear to Alberto that he didn’t touch her. If that’s the case, then Alberto either didn’t believe them or decided to go with that “inappropriate touching” story on Twitter to save face. Of course, there’s also the other possibilities, which are that it wasn’t settled afterwards or possibly that Rafy actually did grope Paige. Since Alberto reportedly blew up in at Robbie E. eight days earlier over what was apparently a similar non-incident with Paige at a WWC show, the gist of Rafy’s story absolutely comes off as credible, though.

Back in 2008, while in New York doing promotional work for WrestleMania 24 the following weekend in Orlando, Triple H walked into the Sirius XM studios for an appearance on the Opie and Anthony morning show. Sam Roberts, known now as a wrestling podcaster and sort of replacement for the aforementioned Opie (and that’s way too low a story to get into here), jokingly asked Triple H how worried he was when Vince McMahon was “blown up” in an angle less than a year earlier. This was Triple H’s answer, which got a lot more interesting when people rediscovered it this week:

What kills me is, so many people called – I mean the office the next day… I’m not kidding you. Like, and they’ll probably get mad a me for saying it, but like Trump called and is like, “did something happen to Vince?”

Maybe he’s joking. Even if he’s not, it’s possible that Donald Trump only heard vague word of mouth that was confusing in light of how WWE handled the angle, keeping Vince out of public view and flying the company flag at half mast on the roof of Titan Tower. But the possibility that he had seen the angle (which was very obviously an angle, even if a noticeable minority of fans didn’t get it) and thought it was real becomes tantalizing with him about to become President of the United States.

As a result, the video has posted everywhere today, characterized as the latest in unearthed Trump gems. Whether or not it really is Trump buying into it, just a misunderstood joke, or somewhere in between is up to you.

We’ve reached out to WWE to see if they would like to clarify Triple H’s statement, especially now that he’s a company executive in his secret identity of Paul Levesque

Alberto El Patron has commented on last night’s locker room brawl with Alan Xtreme/Rafy of IWRG’s Ninja Turtles in Naucalpan, D.F., Mexico  with the following tweet:

Just to clarify. If you inappropriately touch my fiancee in front of my face you have to prepare to learn a lesson. #Respect

— Alberto El Patron (@PrideOfMexico) December 12, 2016

As we noted last night, one of the stories going around was that Alberto thought Rafy had touched Paige, so it’s no surprise that this is Alberto’s official version of what happened. Late last night, he had tweeted this after the story had broken in English language wrestling media:

Good night marks pic.twitter.com/Ly93lQHr8H

— Alberto El Patron (@PrideOfMexico) December 12, 2016

As for Rafy, late last night (as in before Alberto’s comments), Lucha World’s Alfredo Esparza noted that the luchador posted on Facebook that the fight happened but everyone should move past it:

Tortuga Ninja Rafy update from his facebook page. He said Alberto & him had a fight, threw punches, he's okay. Move on. @luchablog pic.twitter.com/DVcOPobU6k

— Fredo Esparza (@therealfredo) December 12, 2016

Blew over quickly. If you've ever been in a similar situation, friends or onlookers get crazier w/ story than the two people in altercation.

— Fredo Esparza (@therealfredo) December 12, 2016

To wit, as noted last night, the loudest voice on social media was IWRG wrestler and backstage figure AK-47, who was posting on Facebook about how Alberto “nearly killed” Rafy. That said, Super Luchas reports that Alberto had another locker room incident recently, as at WWC Lockout on December 3rd, he got into a “heated argument” with Robbie E. over something having to do with Paige.

After almost three months in custody after being caught trying to bring liquid marijuana and drug paraphernalia into Japan, Matt Sydal (formerly Evan Bourne in WWE) has tweeted that he is back at home  in the United States:

Back from Japan – 'Let's meet in the USA' #freesydal pic.twitter.com/Y1LUVhpWVB

— Matt Sydal (@MattSydal) December 12, 2016

Sydal spoke to our friend Ryan Satin at Pro Wrestling Sheet, telling him that “It’s all finished. I received probation, which applies only if I’m in Japan. So no actual punishment. I was just held until they had the trial. I wasn’t ever in jail either, only police detention centers and the Osaka immigration detention center.” He added that “I’m no longer with NJPW. I still love the Japanese people, but I won’t be working there in the near future.”

Before news of what actually happened broke, someone with access to Sydal’s Twitter account tweeted that he had “passport trouble” and ended up getting stuck in Hawaii. The tweets have since been deleted. While sneaking drugs in through customs is risky anywhere, Japan is known to have an especially rough stance on marijuana.

The latest drama in the life of Alberto El Patron is some pretty serious business, in the form of a locker room fight that’s led to him being public enemy number one tonight in the lucha libre-oriented circles of social media. The Twitter account of Luchablog was the first English-speaking reporter to cover what happened in a post using the Twitlonger extended tweet service.

Alberto and Paige were at tonight’s IWRG card at Mexico’s Arena Naucalpan, where his brother was wrestling in the main event. In the locker room, Alberto encountered IWRG wrestler Rafy (as in Raphael of the Ninja Turtles, formerly Alan Xtreme). Alberto thought Rafy  either touched him or touched Paige in some form, and they immediately started exchanging punches. It got so wild that they brawled into the hallway adjacent to the fan entrance to the building, with plenty of fans witnessing the fight. It was readily apparent that the much smaller Rafy’s face was badly marked up, though whether Alberto got out unscathed is unknown at this moment.

According to Alfredo Esparza of LuchaWorld, Alan is in “bad shape, but stable condition.” LuchaBlog’s proper blog post covering the fight added the detail that Alberto and Paige were drinking during the card while watching from the owner’s box.

The fight is the talk of “Lucha Facebook” right now. Notably, one screen grab going around Twitter right now (original post here) shows the wrestler better known as AK-47 of the Los Oficiales trio, who has a behind the scenes role in IWRG, threatening legal action while blasting Alberto for “nearly killing” another wrestler:

pic.twitter.com/OC9rn3yqQY

— MICRO THE MAIN MAN ? (@MicromanFever) December 12, 2016

Update: Ninja Turtle Rafy posted an update on his Facebook page confirming that he and Alberto were involved in a fight, punches were thrown but he’s ok.

Tortuga Ninja Rafy update from his facebook page. He said Alberto & him had a fight, threw punches, he's okay. Move on. @luchablog pic.twitter.com/DVcOPobU6k

— Fredo Esparza (@therealfredo) December 12, 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dT8kbbdllA

TNA is about to be without a television home in the United Kingdom, with tonight’s show being the last regularly scheduled edition of Impact Wrestling on Challenge TV. With Total Non-Stop Deletion airing this week, that sounds like a cause for concern for U.K. fans, but it’s not quite as bad as it sounds. Total Non-Stop Deletion will be airing, but on a few week delay, according to a post on Challenge’s website. Here’s how the end of TNA on Challenge has been laid out:

• December 11th at 9:00 p.m. GMT (already in progress as of this writing) is the show that aired on December 8th in the U.S.
• December 11th at 11:00 p.m. GMT is the latest One Night Only special.
• December 18th at 9:00 p.m. GMT is TNA’s Best of 2016 special.
• December 31st at 9:00 a.m. GMT will be two episodes of Xplosion back to back.
• January 1st at 9:00 p.m. GMT will be the debut of what Challenge calls “TNA Hardy Brothers special” but is presumably the U.K. premier of Total Non-Stop Deletion, which airs this Thursday (December 15th) in the United States.

Since the announcement of Challenge cancelling TNA, there has been zero buzz about a new deal. Along with the promotion’s TV deals in Canada, India, and South Africa, Challenge was one of just a few networks paying TNA significant rights fees.

We’ve known there was a good chance of this happening for about a week, but it’s now official: WWE co-owner and former CEO Linda McMahon is being appointed the head of the Small Business Administration (SBA) under Donald Trump’s presidential administration. The news broke late Wednesday afternoon in tweets from various mainstream news organizations,with Reuters citing Trump’s transition team, McMahon also tweeted her own announcement a few minutes later:

Honored to be appointed by President-Elect @realDonaldTrump to serve as head of @SBAgov advocating for our small businesses & entrepreneurs!

— Linda McMahon (@Linda_McMahon) December 7, 2016

McMahon has no experience holding public office, and her previous political experience consists of two failed United States Senate campaigns in 2010 and 2012 that cost a combined $100 million of the McMahon family fortune. As for the SBA, it exists to provide support for, well, small businesses in the form of loans among other things, and is also the agency used to provide disaster loans to those who don’t qualify for FEMA grants after natural disasters.

Updated 4:45 p.m. ET: Here’s Trump’s official statement (h/t CNN):

Linda has a tremendous background and is widely recognized as one of the country’s top female executives advising businesses around the globe. She helped grow WWE from a modest 13-person operation to a publicly traded global enterprise with more than 800 employees in offices worldwide.

Here are some reactions from the wrestling world:

Congrats @Linda_McMahon on your nomination. I’m very proud and know you’ll do an excellent job. #SBA

— Vince McMahon (@VinceMcMahon) December 7, 2016

Congratulations Mom, I am so proud of you! President-Elect @realDonaldTrump made an excellent choice for the head of @SBAgov! https://t.co/2wUPw3ctWl

— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) December 7, 2016

So proud of my Mom @Linda_McMahon for her appointment to lead the SBA. #GoMom

— Shane McMahon (@shanemcmahon) December 7, 2016

Congrats to @Linda_McMahon on being chosen to lead the #SBA! I know she'll provide the same insight and dedication that helped build @WWE.

— Triple H (@TripleH) December 7, 2016

https://twitter.com/ebischoff/status/806615115948662784

Great choice by @realDonaldTrump by picking @Linda_McMahon to help small business. https://t.co/uqiB0Yjqso

— John Layfield (@JCLayfield) December 7, 2016

Good for Linda.

Legitimately one of the nicest people around.

— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) December 7, 2016

John Cena On Making A Joke At His Own Expense, Paige Cryptic Tweet, JBL On Linda McMahon… https://t.co/ILuJF6dDNx

— WrestlingINC.com (@WrestlingInc) December 7, 2016

This is a breaking news story. We will keep you updated as it develops.

It looks like Mickie James impressed the right people in her match with Asuka at NXT TakeOver: Toronto. Our friend Ryan Satin at Pro Wrestling Sheet is reporting that according to “multiple sources with direct knowledge,” James has been staying in touch with WWE the last couple weeks and was told that there’s a deal waiting for her to sign if she wants to return.

Probably the biggest potential hiccup would be that James has not been wrestling anything close to full time in the last few years since she gave birth to her son. With her husband, Nick “Magnus” Aldis, also being a working pro wrestler, hat would seemingly make a main roster deal less likely unless they’ve agreed to make a change if there was a prospect of WWE signing either one of them.

In light of WWE adding an unprecedented fourth man to the SmackDown announcing team in the form of Tom Phillips, it was natural that rumors would start cropping up about the significance of the change. On Monday morning, SmackDown play-by-play announcer Mauro Ranallo took to Twitter to make it clear up said rumors, which picked up steam after a since-retracted tweet from UpGruv’s Justin LaBar that his contract is about to be up.

https://twitter.com/mauroranallo/status/805767115378663424

https://twitter.com/mauroranallo/status/805776195363209216

Since Phillips was made part of the SmackDown team, his role has been tweaked a bit so as not to be redundant to Ranallo’s. As it stands right now, Phillips has been taking on more of a “host” role instead of being a second play-by-play announcer, staying quiet during matches and primarily speaking to introduce video packages, during on-cameras, and so on. John Layfield and David Otunga continue to fill out the team as heel and babyface color commentators, respectively.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnbfDRRktUg

We’ve got an update on the lawsuit filed by Audience of One Productions against TNA parent company Impact Ventures, TNA CFO Dean Broadhead, production coordinator/former wrestler Ron Harris, and Aroluxe, the production company that owns a minority stake in TNA. As you can tell from the headline, Aroluxe and Harris are moving to dismiss the case. Audience of One filed the lawsuit in late September, during the week where it appeared that TNA would be dead if nobody put in new money by the end of the week. It alleges that TNA has not only been delinquent on payments for Bound For Glory 2015 production work, but was arranging a deal with Aroluxe to replace Audience of One at the same time.

TNA had filed an answer to the complaint a few weeks back.

Aroluxe’s basic reasoning for having the case against the company as well as Harris revolves around Audience of One filing the lawsuit in Virginia, where they’re headquartered, on top of, obviously, denying the allegations against them. That’s strictly legalese that we won’t concern ourselves with today. But in terms of newsworthiness, that’s not what jumps out in what they filed with their motion to dismiss. Supporting the motion were two affidavits: One from Harris, and one from Aroluxe founder Jason Brown.

Curiously, Harris says that At all times relevant to the Complaint,I was not employed by Defendant Aroluxe” and “At all times relevant to the Complaint, I was not employed by Defendant Impact Ventures, LLC f/k/a TNA Entertainment, LLC (“TNA”). My last employment with TNA was almost ten years ago.” Brown added that “Aroluxe does not employ Defendant Ronald Dean Harris” and “Aroluxe has never authorized Defendant Ronald Dean Harris to acton its behalf.”

The affidavits don’t entirely ring true, with Harris not working for TNA for “almost ten years” being the most suspicious part. Audience of One’s complaint specifically alleged that Harris emailed them requesting an itemized invoice for Bound For Glory on December 11, 2015. In addition, the complaint states that both Harris brothers were using “@tnawrestling.com” email addresses and “generally held themselves out as employees of TNA.” It strains credulity to suggest that Audience of One would make allegations about specific emails, quoting them in the process, if they weren’t able to produce them in court.

As for Harris and Aroluxe, we need to look at older versions of the Aroluxe website on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. The “team” listing that was on the site most of 2016 with Harris as a member wasn’t there on the last copy available from before Bound For Glory 2015, but it was added by January 25,2016 at the latest. Audience of One alleges that there was a scheme that went on for months after that. In October, Aroluxe’s “team” listing changed drastically, removing not just Harris, but also his brother Don and even Jason Brown. As of this writing, the site no longer lists any members of the Aroluxe “team.” The Harrises could very well be gone from Aroluxe now, but the company’s own website said that they were still important parts of the company for much of the time that it’s alleged they interfered with Audience of One being paid.

For whatever it’s worth, Ron Harris’s LinkedIn page does not mention Aroluxe at all. However, it does not appear to have been updated in quite some time, as the profile photo is very low resolution. His job is listed as “Operations Manager” for Lime Monkey Entertainment from March 2013 to “Present.” What Lime Monkey actually is or does is unclear, as its website is literally just its name in white on a black background with no content. Googling the name finds nothing of substance other than Don Harris’s LinkedIn, which has a similar photo to his brother’s page and lists him as “Co-Owner/Manager.” Tennessee state records list the company’s status as “Inactive – Dissolved (Administrative).”

The latest development in the ongoing battle between WWE and the various wrestlers suing them came today in the form of WWE filing a motion to dismiss the action filed by Marcus “Buff” Bagwell and Scott “Raven” Levy. This is the case dealing with WWE Network royalties, and there are two prongs to it:

1. That WWE has a legal obligation to pay both wrestlers royalties for WCW footage in general.
2. Levy’s 2000 WWF contract, because it allows for royalties from videos released in formats yet to be invented and did not specifically exempt royalties from internet and video on demand subscription fees the way current WWE contracts do.

WWE’s motion to dismiss deals with each in simple yet highly detailed fashion:

1. WWE does not fall under any of the legal criteria that would make it a successor company to WCW, if just because the legal entity formerly known as WCW still exists as the Universal Wrestling Corporation. Both plaintiffs’ WCW contracts also saw them forgo video royalties in exchange for other considerations.
2. The key language in the contracts is that royalties come from a “direct sale” of WWE home video products, with the references to technology not yet invented referring to formats like Blu-Ray. It didn’t exist at the time of the contract, but, like VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD, it’s a physical product that can be sold and re-sold. There’s also a detailed argument about how there’s legal precedent saying that a “sale” refers to a physical product, not a temporary license like a WWE Network subscription is. WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt also points out that a WWE contract’s royalty structure is pretty much impossible to apply to WWE Network.

No word yet as far as when a ruling should be expected.

Jimmy Snuka’s murder charges were at issue in court again today, as it was time to revisit whether they should be dismissed in light of the judge finding him incompetent to stand trial. While Snuka was not present and Judge Kelly Banach did not rule today, the hearing was still newsworthy, as Snuka’s lawyer told Banach that the WWE Hall of Famer is in a hospice/palliative care facility with six months left to live according to the Allentown Morning Call. Banach stated that she wants to see Snuka’s latest medical records before she rules.

Snuka’s lawyer, Robert Kerwin, said his client was too sick to travel to Pennsylvania for the hearing, so he testified via a FaceTime video chat instead. It was also claimed that he’s subject to episodes where he tries to leave the facility he’s in because he thinks he’s late for a wrestling booking. The prosecution believes that Snuka is faking to duck responsibility for the charges, which allege that he killed girlfriend Nancy Argentino by shoving her in their hotel room, causing her head to strike an object (like a night stand) and not getting help afterwards.

This flew under the radar in light of the other Donald Trump news in the mainstream the last couple days, but on Thursday night, Politico reported that it looks like WWE co-owner Linda McMahon’s possible presidential appointment is running the Small Business Administration. Politico’s source was quoted as saying that “It’s very, very real,” adding that “For the last several days, it has been discussed seriously internally.” McMahon met with the President Elect at Trump Tower on Wednesday, and had previously been rumored to be up for a Secretary of Commerce appointment.

The Small Business Administration is best known for its various loan programs for, well, small businesses. It also provides “Disaster Loans,” where victims of natural disasters who aren’t eligible for FEMA assistance can get low-interest loans to help them get back on their feet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjKEl-c8tXM

TNA has gotten a reprieve in one of its lawsuits…for now.

You may recall that last week, we reported that American Express had moved for a default judgement in their non-payment lawsuit against TNA, who had never filed an answer to the complaint or otherwise acknowledged the lawsuit’s existence. A hearing was set for Wednesday (November 30th), and with TNA still not saying a word, it didn’t sound great for them. With Wednesday having come and gone, I checked the court website…and saw that on Tuesday (November 29th), American Express asked for the matter to be delayed three weeks, to December 21st.

All of our requests for comment sent to TNA last week were ignored. Similarly, TNA has still yet to file anything in the American Express lawsuit. As for whether or not it’s a coincidence that American Express asked for the delay on the same day that Billy Corgan’s lawsuit against TNA was officially dismissed as a result of their settlement, that remains to be seen.

The Authors of Pain defeated two enhancement talents by referee stoppage at Wednesday night’s NXT TV tapings from Full Sail University after a brutal powerbomb spot.

• Spoilers: Complete NXT TV Tapings Results For The Remainder Of 2016

Fans in attendance called it a scary and tense moment as the one wrestler was helped away by officials. The match was taped for the December 21st episode of NXT television, we’ll see if it airs.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNdOThQjrLT/

https://twitter.com/JJWilliamsWON/status/804136722246156288

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https://twitter.com/JJWilliamsWON/status/804137364192772102

A number of mainstream entertainment websites are reporting that the January 2017 iteration of the Sundance Film Festival will include “Nobody Speak,” a documentary about the Hulk Hogan-Gawker lawsuit and trial as a featured film. (In the interest of full disclosure, I’m interviewed in the movie.) Here’s the blurb that Sundance sent out:

NOBODY SPEAK: Hulk Hogan, Gawker and Trials of a Free Press / U.S.A. (Director: Brian Knappenberger) — The trial between Hulk Hogan and Gawker Media pitted privacy rights against freedom of the press, and raised important questions about how big money can silence media. This film is an examination of the perils and duties of the free press in an age of inequality. World Premiere

Brian Knappenberger, the director, is best known for having previously helmed “The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz” and “We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists” as well as his work on various TV docs-series. There is no word yet as to when and where the film will be available for viewing after Sundance.

Maybe we spoke too soon about WWE co-owner and former Chief Executive Office not getting an appointment from President Elect Donald Trump. On Wednesday morning, the Hartford Courant reported that McMahon was one of the four meetings that Trump had scheduled for the day. Previous reports had suggested she was in line to be the Trump administration’s Secretary of Commerce only for her to seemingly be passed over for billionaire investor Wilbur Ross.

McMahon unsuccessfully ran for both of Connecticut’s United States Senate seats in back to back elections in 2010 and 2012, spending almost $100 million in the process. While initially, she positioned herself as anti-Trump in the media, she eventually had a change of heart, donating several million dollars to a pro-Trump PAC and serving as one of his delegates at the Republican National Convention. As for whatever position she could be appointed to, she has specifically said that she is not interested in an ambassadorship.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z_vLabdBqU

On Tuesday, to celebrate WWE’s official Bella Twins YouTube channel quickly reaching the 100,000 subscriber milestone, a glowing Brie Bella (well, Brianna Danielson, since we’re talking about the real person) posted a the above new video. Wearing a kimono, she thanks her fans before stripping to a bikini and revealing her newly minted baby bump, which had “THANK YOU” written on it for good measure.

Brianna and husband Bryan “Daniel Bryan” Danielson are expecting their baby some time in the spring. They announced the pregnancy on October 6th, so if you go with the logic that they waited three months (as many couples do), the baby is likely due around WrestleMania 33.

Nielsen Media Research, the analytics company behind the TV and radio audience ratings, has updated the “Daily Top Five” page (rankings for 11/28/16 archived here) for its Social Content Ratings to reflect Monday night. As is often the case, Monday Night Raw came in first place among series and specials for the night.

Raw had 168,000 unique users commenting on the show between 145,000 on Facebook and 23,000 on Twitter, and they had a total of 345,000 interactions relating to the show. The interactions were split into approximately 223,000 on Facebook and 123,000 on Twitter.  The Voice and CMA Country Christmas, which were in second and third place, respectively, each had more uniques (172,000 and 179,000 respectively), but there were less interactions among them (231,000 and 179,000, respectively).

Technically speaking, the most social show of the night, if factoring in sports, was Monday Night Football on ESPN and ESPN Deportes. The Green Bay Packers-Philadelphia Eagles game had a whopping 1,043,000 uniques and 1,819,000 interactions.

For what it’s worth, all but one of the listed shows skewed heavily towards Facebook. The exception, which had the closest thing to an even split, was Supergirl on The CW, which came in fifth place in the series and specials category. Its 35,000 uniques were split up among 19,000 Facebook users and 16,000 Twitter users.

In last week’s weekly ratings (archived here), which cover Monday 11/21 through Sunday 11/27, Raw came in fifth place. The numbers were 167,000 uniques (144,000 Facebook and 22,000 Twitter) and 327,000 interactions (218,000 Facebook and 109,000 Twitter). The 2016 Soul Train awards won the week with 791,000 uniques and 1,879,000 interactions.

In case you didn’t know, today is “Giving Tuesday,” an event designed to counter Black Friday and Cyber Monday by using the start of the holiday gift season and a social media campaign to encourage charitable donations. WWE, with its long history of charity work and long list of current partner charities, got in on the act with a series of tweets:

Today is #GivingTuesday! Join #WWE in the global movement and help us support our partners. Learn more at https://t.co/BPQrZeOVQ8 pic.twitter.com/DJEQDlvJfi

— WWE Community (@WWECommunity) November 29, 2016

How are you giving back to your community this #GivingTuesday? Join us in supporting @MakeAWish. Learn more https://t.co/SFfb8DCdjo pic.twitter.com/O7n5I8TzRu

— WWE Community (@WWECommunity) November 29, 2016

Together, we can change lives. Today, your donation to @SpecialOlympics will be TRIPLED! Learn more https://t.co/kG9i2fpAoh #GivingTuesday pic.twitter.com/BSft85OYds

— WWE Community (@WWECommunity) November 29, 2016

No child should suffer from cancer. Join their fight to find a cure today. @ConnorsCure #GivingTuesday https://t.co/xoyrDy9jyP pic.twitter.com/DhVrjJSwP1

— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) November 29, 2016