https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9v6ea9FL6M

– John Cena did a pretty great Hulk Hogan impression on the new NBC primetime variety show Maya & Marty. In this segment, John Cena and David Schwimmer (Martin Short) audition for FX’s new show Hulk Hogan v. Gawker.

– The dark segment after last night’s WWE SmackDown tapings saw The Club attack Dean Ambrose until Roman Reigns made the save. This brought out Seth Rollins, who attacked Reigns but Reigns sent him retreating.

– Triple H noted on Twitter that this year’s NXT Takeover: Brooklyn show has officially sold out. The show will once again take place from the Barclays Center during SummerSlam weekend.

Last year's event was historic, a stamp in time..and when #NXTTakeOver comes Back to Brooklyn..it is
S O L D O U T! pic.twitter.com/eAqFmj9zKy

— Triple H (@TripleH) June 15, 2016

– Below is video of Triple H accepting the Spirit of Lemmy Award at the Download festival this past weekend in the UK:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHfdn6iIdW0

Drew Galloway predicts that Roman Reigns will be one of the biggest stars ever in wrestling, but he’ll need some time. In an interview with Sports Illustrated to promote tonight’s Slammiversary pay-per-view, the TNA World Heavyweight Champion praised WWE’s World Heavyweight Champ, saying that Roman is “such a talented guy.”

“People can see that he’s been protected a lot, which is understandable. If I was in a position of power, I’d put him in the exact same spot,” Galloway said of how Reigns is being written on WWE TV. “But it takes years to truly get over and get the fans fully behind you.”

Galloway says the fans have to go on a journey with a wrestler’s character of time in order for the character to truly “get over.”

“I won the [WWE] IC title, they saw 3MB, and it really does take a long time for people to get to know you. Truly getting over is a lot different than just getting a reaction, and time is what it takes,” Galloway said. “I understand that now. A couple years from now, or after he comes back from an injury, Reigns is going to be one of the biggest stars ever.”

Galloway also talked about another big star in wrestling, one who he calls his “hero,” Bret Hart. Galloway says Hulk Hogan may have been the “larger than life character,” but Bret was his favorite because he “wasn’t phony.” Galloway says Hart told compelling stories inside of the ring, and that’s “the most genuine thing in this business.” He also listed William Regal and Fit Finlay as other talent he really respects.

It looks like Gawker publisher Nick Denton is down for the count in his legal battle against Hulk Hogan. Today a Florida judge issued a $140 million final judgement in favor of Hogan, and Gawker Media has officially filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. There’s a 4.77% interest rate per year on the $140 million that Gawker now owes Hogan.

Gawker was trying to get a judge to postpone the $140 million awarded to Hogan but had no luck. Hogan began his lawsuit against the company in 2012 after they published portions of a sex tape that was recorded without his knowledge. Gawker argued that they were protected under the 1st Ammendment because they felt the video was newsworthy.

According to a report by Recode.net, Gawker is trying to sell the company to publishing company Ziff Davis. Ziff Davis owns IGN, AskMen, PC Mag and others.

Hogan has indicated that he’s trying to get his WWE job back after the lawsuit cleared his name of filming and distributing the tape.

What a beautiful day,and the good doesn't prevent the better! In the present I AM always grateful,only good happens to me. HH

— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) June 10, 2016

It’s been a good week for Hulk Hogan in court. As previously noted, Judge Pamela Campbell in Florida denied Gawker’s motion for a retrial and to have the verdict reduced this week. According to the New York Times, Gawker argued that Hulk Hogan’s sealed racist comments should have been made available to the jury, and that the jurors had been tainted.

Hulk Hogan’s secret financial backer was revealed this week to be Peter Thiel, the billionaire co-founder of PayPal who was outed as homosexual by Gawker. The Times reports that Gawker argued that Thiel was new discovery material, but the judge refused to look at articles involving his involvement. Thiel reportedly put up $10 million for Hogan’s legal team to work on the case, and has held a grudge against Gawker for outing him in a 2007 article titled “Peter Thiel is totally gay, people”

Thiel told the Times this isn’t about revenge, but a way to stop Gawker from “bullying” people.

“It’s less about revenge and more about specific deterrence,” Thiel told the New York Times this week, after it was revealed that he was funding Hogan’s case. “I saw Gawker pioneer a unique and incredibly damaging way of getting attention by bullying people even when there was no connection with the public interest. Even someone like Terry Bollea who is a millionaire and famous and a successful person didn’t quite have the resources to do this alone.”

After the news broke, Gawker CEO Nick Denton penned an open letter to Thiel on his website, saying that Thiel’s “revenge has been served well, cold and (until now) anonymously.”

“You [Thiel] admit you have been planning the punishment of Gawker and its writers for years, and that you have so far spent $10 million to fund litigation against the company,” Denton wrote. “Charles Harder, the Hollywood plaintiff’s lawyer who has marshaled your legal campaign, is representing not just the wrestler Hulk Hogan on your behalf, but two other subjects of stories in suits against Gawker and its editorial staff.”

The New York Times reports that Hulk Hogan had a secret financial backer with some deep pockets for his lawsuits against Gawker. Hogan successfully sued Gawker for $140 million in an invasion of privacy case this year, and today Judge Pamela Campbell denied motions by Gawker for a retrial and for reducing the penalties awarded to Hogan.

According to the Times, Peter Theil, the billionaire co-founder of PayPal, secretly bankrolled Hogan’s legal cases against Gawker. As of press time, Hogan has filed a total of three lawsuits against the New York-based publisher. Theil was outed as gay by Gawker in 2007.

The news of Theil’s funding comes just days after Gawker founder Nick Denton indicated that he believes Hogan’s attorneys were being paid for by someone in Silicon Valley.

– WWE stock closed at $17.43 per share today, up 2.17% after the First Quarter financial results.

– Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, Mark Henry, Kane and Big Show were reportedly not brought to WWE TV tapings this week but they did work weekend live events, according to PWInsider. Sheamus mentioned on Twitter yesterday that he was given the day off.

– Rosa Mendes has penned a blog about being a new mother for WWE.com.

– John Cena co-hosted NBC’s Today show again this morning. He’ll be back on Friday.

Thanks @TODAYshow ! Headed now to #InvictusGames but will be back Friday. Any requests for suit color choice? (Unleash interweb humor here)

— John Cena (@JohnCena) May 10, 2016

– The Third-Edition of the WWE Encyclopedia will be released on 10/24, with several of the biggest Superstars in history are featured on the cover. Noticeable omissions include Hulk Hogan and Triple H.

https://twitter.com/SullivanBooks/status/729839846064328704

Hulk Hogan has launched another lawsuit against Gawker, who he successfully sued for $140 million earlier this year for releasing his sex tape. The New York Post says Hogan, real name Terry Bollea, is suing the website again, this time for leaking the transcripts of his racially-motivated rant that got him fired by WWE. The suit says that his “income was cut off, his legacy in entertainment was severely damaged (if not completely destroyed), and his global brand was forever tarnished.” Gawker founder Nick Denton allegedly taunted Hogan before the transcripts leaked, saying Hogan’s “real secrets” would come out.

The lawsuit alleges that Gawker and radio host Mike “Cowhead” Calta were behind leaking the transcripts, and that Gawker had threatened to release them months before they leaked. Calta is a rival of Bubba the Love Sponge, who filmed the sex tape between his ex-wife and Hogan.

Gawker’s stance on the new lawsuit is that Hogan is “abusing the court system” for PR purposes, and that he needs to blame himself for WWE firing him. Below is a statement from Gawker about the case:

https://twitter.com/davidbix/status/727206955429842950

Hogan’s lawsuit is for unspecified damages, and there’s no word on how much he expects to get. His lawyer could bring up lost earnings from WWE merchandise and WrestleMania 32. Gawker is working on appealing the original $140 million verdict from March.

An audio clip from one of Hulk Hogan’s racist tirades has leaked online, courtesy of Death and Taxes and our own David Bixenspan.

The conversation below is from 9 years ago and features Hulk Hogan talking to Heather Clem about which African American guys he deems fit to date his daughter. To quote the Hulkster:

“If we’re gonna f*ck with n*ggers, let’s get a rich one!”

The rant is from one of the sex tapes that was at the center of Hogan’s civil trial against Gawker Media. A Florida jury ultimately ruled in Hogan’s favor to the tune of over $140 million — but his flagrant use of the N-Word cost Hogan his job with WWE and [rightfully] haunt him to this day.

– The topic of Hulk Hogan’s $140 million verdict against Gawker came up at Sunday’s night’s MTV Movie Awards, co-hosted by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Kevin Hart. Johnson poked fun at Hogan’s sex tape lawsuit earning more than Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice did at the box office.

“The only movie to take more money than that in one day was Hulk Hogan’s sex tape,” Hart said. “He hit her with the Hulkamania from the back!”

“He put that 24-inch python to work,” Johnson added.

As noted earlier, there were several wrestling mentions on the award show when Chris Pratt won ‘Best Action Performance’ and thanked Jesse Ventura and Roddy Piper among others.

– Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows are now reportedly booked for every WWE TV taping going forward. They’ve been backstage at the last few tapings, and PWInsider.com reported on Monday that the Bullet Club are expected to be on WWE TV very soon. As noted on Sunday, Gallows and Anderson are in Los Angeles for this week’s RAW and SmackDown.

Hulk Hogan says WrestleMania 32 was the biggest one since WrestleMania 3. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Hogan was asked about if he’ll appear at WrestleMania 33 in Orlando, which he answered: “Never say never.” Hogan also put over how big WWE has become as a company.

“These big shows come off once in a while,” said Hogan. “The last one like this was WrestleMania III, and that was thirty years ago. It was amazing to see how strong the WWE is, and see the following. It is mind boggling to see a monster crowd that big. It was just a huge success, and shows you how strong and powerful the brand is when you see that building full with all that energy.”

Hogan says he reached out to Sting, who was inducted to into the WWE Hall of Fame over WrestleMania weekend. Hogan talked about how easy he found it to work with Sting.

“I’ve already sent him my thoughts, and I’m excited to see him in the Hall of Fame,” said Hogan. “When we wrestled, every time I would see him, I’d always tell him, ‘You don’t know how good you really are.’ When he was on top of the world, he was still so humble but still so great. Every time I would get in the ring with him, it was so easy it was just ridiculous. I can’t even explain how easy he was to work with, and it was so much fun working him.”

You can read Hulk’s full interview here.

• Steve Austin Comments On Hulk Hogan’s Future With WWE & His Racist Rant

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin called into TMZ Live this week and said commented on Hulk Hogan’s potential future with WWE.  Austin feels that Hogan may come return one day once his ongoing “issues” pass, but it’s entirely up to the boss – Vince McMahon.

When asked about the racist comments Hogan made on his sex tape, Austin says what Hogan did will never be forgotten – but it might be forgiven. He’s known Hogan for a lot of years and thinks Hogan was simply ‘having a bad day’ and doesn’t believe the hateful things he said.

• Video: Steve Austin’s Surprise Appearance At WrestleMania 32

With WrestleMania 32 coming up on Sunday and lots of legends getting involved, Hulk Hogan is feeling left out. The Hulkster Tweeted on Friday that it “seems weird” not being at WWE’s biggest event of the year.

“Thinking about it, it really seems weird not being at @WWE Wrestlemania,” Hogan wrote, “really weird, but I will be there in spirit, go Shane!!!!! only love HH.”

WWE released Hogan in July of 2015 after racist comments were released from one of his sex tapes. All mentions of Hogan were removed from WWE.com and the WWE Network after his release, including the Hall of Fame. In March it was reported that Hogan was making a push to get his job back with WWE after winning his lawsuit against Gawker.

Thinking about it,it really seems weird not being at @WWE Wrestlemania,really weird,but I will be there in … https://t.co/Krtu4r3vzo

— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) April 1, 2016

Linda McMahon, who worked in high-ranking positions in WWE from 1980 to 2009, says she could “never say never” regarding Hulk Hogan returning to the company. In an interview with Katie Couric for Yahoo News, McMahon also revealed that she did follow the Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker trial and was on Hogan’s side.

“I followed it some because he’s been a part of WWE for quite some time. I don’t think anyone had the right to take that private tape and put it out. I thought Gawker was wrong in doing that. He said some deplorable things, and it cost him his job in WWE,” said McMahon.

McMahon, who left WWE in 2009 to pursue a career in politics, was also asked about Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Donald Trump has made several appearances for WWE over the years and is in their Hall of Fame. She stopped short of endorsing Trump, but spoke highly of him and claimed that his persona resonates with WWE fans.

“The persona of Donald Trump has resonated with [WWE fans.] Maybe their business isn’t growing, maybe they have kids who are graduating who can’t get jobs. All of those things that you hear I think resonate not only with some WWE fans, but across really the specter,” Linda said.

“He was a great partner, a wonderful promoter,” she said of her time working with Trump in WWE. “He really greased the wheels. We got to know him personally. He’s very loyal, he’s a patriot, he hires smart people around him. He did exactly what he said he would do.”

You can watch Linda’s entire interview on Yahoo.com.

• Hulk Hogan On The View: Sex Tape Trial, Racial Slurs & His Family’s Reaction (Video)

https://youtu.be/xSFsssJKdfM

Hulk Hogan appeared on The View on Wednesday morning, his first television interview since being awarded more than $140 million in his sex tape lawsuit against Gawker Media. Hogan explained that he was overcome with emotion when he heard how the Florida jury ruled in his favor so decisively.

Hogan’s racism scandal came up, with the hosts asking him about his liberal use of the N-word. “It’s probably the stupidest thing I ever said,” Hogan said. “The people who know me know I’m not a racist.” Hogan said he was married by an “Afro-American” minister and attends a predominantly “Afro-American” church.”

“Even the WWE knows I’m not a racist,” he continued. “They had to do what was best for business, for their company.”

Regarding the sex tape, Hogan said sleeping with his former best friend’s wife was the “worst decision I ever made in my life.” Hogan and his attorney David Houston vehemently denied speculation that Hogan conspired with Bubba The Lovesponge to get rich off the sex tape.

Hogan added that his children and his wife Jennifer have been very supportive throughout the entire ordeal and they know the type of person he really is, which is what matters most.

Gawker Media plans to appeal the $140 million ruling.

Hulk Hogan was on Wednesday’s episode of Good Morning America to discuss his civil trial victory over Gawker. Hogan says the trial was never about the money, but rather to expose Gawker, and talks about his fantasy of getting Gawker publisher Nick Denton alone in a ring with him.

“At about the middle of the trial I walk in the men’s room, and it’s me and Nick Denton [Gawker publisher] by ourselves in the restroom, with nobody,” Hogan revealed. “My first thought was: What if he just falls down and holds his neck or something, who are they going to believe? My second thought was: If this was WrestleMania and he was in the ring with me, and it was just me and him, wouldn’t it be fun?”

When asked if he feels that he was set up by his friends, like Bubba The Love Sponge, he kept his answer short: “Yes, yes I do.” You can watch his interview here:

WATCH: "Well they picked the wrong guy this time." –@HulkHogan one-on-one with @LinzieJanis after winning lawsuit. https://t.co/NR4DUBCK2R

— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 23, 2016

• Hulk Hogan Hoping To Return To WWE After Gawker Lawsuit Victory

Former WWE Superstar Yoshitatsu will be making his return to the ring at New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Invasion Attack show on April 10th. Tatsu broke his neck back in December 2014 during a match against AJ Styles after a botched Styles Clash.

Yoshitatsu, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin will challenge NEVER Openweight Champions The Elite. Matt Jackson of the Young Bucks tweeted:

https://twitter.com/MattJackson13/status/712126005419200513

Here’s the full card for NJPW Invasion Attack (4/10):

• Ryusuke Taguchi & Juice Robinson vs. Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi
• Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Toru Yano, Kazushi Sakuraba & YOSHI-HASHI
• Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto vs. EVIL & BUSHI
• IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Ricochet & Matt Sydal vs. Rocky Romero & Barreta
• IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: KUSHIDA vs. Will Ospreay
• NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag Team Championship: Kenny Omega, Matt & Nick Jackson vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin & Yoshitatsu
• NEVER Openweight: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
• IWGP Tag Team Championship: Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. GUERRILLAS OF DESTINY (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa)
• IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito

Today, the civil trial of Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker Media, founder/publisher Nick Denton, and former editor A.J. Daulerio. continued…but not for long. T0day was all about punitive damages, which are exactly what it says on the tin: They’re designed to punish the defendant on top of compensatory damages, which were awarded to Hogan on Friday for emotional damages ($60 million) as well as lost wages $55 million). After fairly brief (by this trial’s standards) arguments by both sides, the Pinellas Country, Florida jury of four women and six men awarded Hogan punitive damages of $15 million from Gawker Media, $10 million from Denton and $100,000 from Daulerio.

Daulerio, in particular, will be hit hard here. He was considered to have negative $27,000 in assets because of outstanding student loans. and even Hogan’s lawyers told the jury that they weren’t seeking punitive damages from him.  One juror even asked if they can punish Daulerio with community service instead of financial damages, but that wasn’t a possibility, and clearly most of the jurors weren’t as (relatively) sympathetic as that one.  It’s not yet clear how the compensatory damages are broken up, or if Gawker Media is liable for all of that.

One juror, Salina Stevens, did comment to the press, as recounted by Katie Mettler of the Tampa Bay Times (all others refused to speak to media):

https://twitter.com/kemettler/status/712035914579623936

https://twitter.com/kemettler/status/712036147854188545

https://twitter.com/kemettler/status/712036408358256640

https://twitter.com/kemettler/status/712036635630813184

After being awarded $115 million in damages on Friday from a lawsuit against Gawker, Hulk Hogan wants to get the rest of his life back together. Hollywood Life reported on Monday that Hogan is looking to return to his previous position in WWE. Hogan was released by the company on July 24, 2015 when it was revealed one of his sex tapes contained a racist rant.

“Hulk Hogan is beyond pleased with the results and is looking to get his life back in order,” a source told Hollywood Life. “And he would love his job back with the WWE.”

All mentions of Hulk Hogan were removed from WWE’s websites after the racist comments were made public. In January, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that there was speculation within WWE that the company would be open to using Hogan again. Meltzer reported that if any of WWE’s big sponsors had an issue with bringing The Hulkster back, it would likely put an end to the idea right away.

• Hogan On WWE Status: It’s So Sad That I’ve Been Taken Out of the Hall of Fame

Dixie Carter, Eric Bischoff and Taz are among members of the wrestling world who’ve written congratulatory messages to Hulk Hogan after his lawsuit victory over Gawker. As David reported earlier, the jury found for Hogan on all counts and awarded a total of $115 million in compensatory damages. Below are some reactions to Hogan’s win, including from the Hulkster himself.

Thank you God for justice,only love 4Life. HH

— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) March 19, 2016

So happy for @HulkHogan & his family…. So very proud of the faith you have had through this ordeal from day one.

— Dixie Carter (@TNADixie) March 19, 2016

https://twitter.com/EBischoff/status/710967035132387330
https://twitter.com/EBischoff/status/710967572082991104
https://twitter.com/OfficialTAZ/status/710969108364402688

Congrats @HulkHogan!! You deserve every penny! #hulkvgawk

— Abyss (@TherealAbyss) March 19, 2016

While most seemed happy for Hogan, two of his former colleagues were more interested in getting a piece of his winnings for themselves.

HULK HOGAN YOU SAY YOU OWE ME ONE. NOW YOUR CHANCE NOT TO BE THE JABRONI OF THE EARTH

— The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) March 19, 2016

WHAT HAPPEN IF I BROKE THE HULK HOGAN LEG?

— The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) March 19, 2016

Hulk Hogan need to share some of that fuck money with his black homeboy

— Virgil (@TheRealVirgil) March 19, 2016

• Hulk Hogan Awarded Over $115 Million By Jury In Gawker Lawsuit

After deliberating for about five hours or so following this morning’s closing arguments, a Pinellas County, Florida jury has ruled for Hulk Hogan (real name Terry Bollea) on all counts in his lawsuit against Gawker Media, founder/publisher Nick Denton, and former editor Albert James “A.J.” Daulerio. Hogan had sued them for posting excerpts of a sex tape of him and Heather Cole, then-wife of his then-best friend/radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge Clem (Clem shot the video surreptitiously). Hogan had always insisted the video, which was leaked to Gawker by an anonymous source, was shot without his knowledge and consent.

The jury of four women and two men found for Hogan on all counts and awarded a total of $115 million two phases of compensatory damages:

• $60 million for emotional damages.
• $55 million for economic loss (A number his lawyers came up with based on multiplying how many people they say watched it by the $4.95 bottom end price to access the Vivid Celebs sex tape site).

This puts Gawker in danger, as while they’d likely win on appeal, they may need to post a $50 million bond to appeal the award per Florida law, and there are questions if they can. On Monday, the jury will return to determine what they feel Gawker owes for punitive damages.

UPDATE 7:31 p.m. ET: Gawker sent out this statement from founder Nick Denton, who’s optimistic about an appeal:

Given key evidence and the most important witness were both improperly withheld from this jury, we all knew the appeals court will need to resolve the case. I want to thank our lawyers for their outstanding work and am confident that we would have prevailed at trial if we had been allowed to present the full case to the jury. That’s why we feel very positive about the appeal that we have already begun preparing, as we expect to win this case ultimately.

We’ll have more on the topic later, so watch this post as well as the front page.

I’m waiting for the night to fall
I know that it will save us all
When everything’s dark
Keeps us from the stark reality

-Depeche Mode, “Waiting For the Night”

Waiting was the theme in the Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker trial today.

It took about two hours after the normal 9:00 a.m. start time before jurors were let in due to arguments between the lawyers on both sides. Even the media and other observers had to wait, as while the cameras were on, the arguments were all conducted at Judge Pamela Campbell’s bench, which is off-mic (and the live stream is muted for good measure). After that, Gawker presented portions of Hogan’s various depositions in the case, mostly to establish the idea of him being publicity-hungry and fueled the fire about the tape more than just posting the clips and article did.

The jury was then let out to wait again, this time until tomorrow morning, when they’ll hear closing arguments. For the rest of the afternoon, there were some arguments between both sides. Gawker tried and failed to get the full length video admitted into evidence and it’s not clear why they tried now. The edited version they put online will be available to the jury but not presented in open court. Hogan attorney Kenneth Turkel also demanded that Gawker somehow keep track of if anything had been done with regards to “Gawker’s stream” of the trial during Gawker head of sales Mia Libby’s testimony on Tuesday. Libby, when asked if Gawker ran ads on the pages with the streams, wasn’t sure but said she didn’t think so.

It turned out there were, and Turkel went off about Gawker pulling the ads and/or the stream during her testimony. There’s no proof they did either, though LiveStream, the host of the stream they embedded (which was provided by third party website Wild About Trial anyway), was down for an extended period that day. Gawker attorney Michael Berry had no clue what he was talking about, and seemingly, neither did Judge Pamela Campbell, but she still granted the motion to preserve whatever is relevant pending a written technological explanation. It was bizarre to watch.

Reporters also waited all day for a ruling from the appellate court with authority over the case to release a new decision on the case’s sealed records, which came late in the afternoon. They’re gonna wait another day for more, as tomorrow, at 4:00 p.m. ET, the Florida 2nd District Court of Appeals will release the previously sealed filings in the case. Hogan’s emergency motion for clarification was granted…sort of. From today’s new DCA order:

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.

According to the Tampa Bay Times’ own story on the matter:

• 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.

On Monday morning, Pinellas County, Florida, Judge Pamela Campbell will address two motions from third parties in the civil trial of Terry Bollea (Hulk Hogan) v. Gawker Media, founder Nick Denton, and former Gawker writer/editor A.J. Daulerio. The matters are Bubba the Love Sponge Clem’s motion to quash his subpoena to testify on Gawker’s behalf and various media companies trying to overturn a previous ruling refusing to release the jurors’ names. As for the jurors, that motion was filed by Times Publishing Company, First Look Media, Inc., WFTS-TV, WPTV- TV, Scripps Media, Inc., and WFTX-TV as intervenors.  The situation with them is pretty simple: The news organizations are arguing that the judge’s previous ruling with regards to not releasing the jurors’ names is unconstitutional and overly broad without basis in Florida law.

With regards to Bubba, it’s much more complicated, a topic we first addressed this topic when the story broke last week when it was revealed he intended to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and refuse to answer questions. Yesterday, in the motion filed by his attorney, Gawker’s theory that it had to do with past lies  was…well, not quite confirmed, but here’s what it says:

It may be argued by a party in this cause that Mr. Clem has given multiple statements on whether the plaintiff knew he was being taped while engaging in sexual conduct with Mr. Clem’s then wife, now ex-wife, Heather Clem. Should these statements prove to be differing, and we do not concede that they are, Mr. Clem could be subject to a state prosecution for perjury or a federal false statement prosecution. Further testimony under oath on this issue could subject Mr. Clem to additional harm. Mr. Clem could also be subject to prosecution for the act of making the taped recording of the plaintiff and Ms. Clem. Mr. Clem lawfully may invoke his right against self-incrimination on these issues.

With regards to the next to last sentence, that scenario seems incredibly unlikely. From the police report regarding the theft of the DVDs of Hogan/Bollea having sex with Heath Cole (emphasis mine):

I reviewed the case reports and noted that on 10/16/2012 Atty David Houston and his client, Terry Bollea, meet with the FBI at the Pinellas Office. Houston informed them that he had contacted Clearwater PD and the St Petersburg PD reference the filming of his client. He was told that the filming was “out of statute” and was encouraged to contact the FBI.

One would think that at least with regards to that half of the argument, Gawker’s attorneys will point that discrepancy out on Monday morning. As for perjury charges, what Bubba Clem said under oath during his deposition was the version that support’s Bollea/Hogan’s case: That Bollea had no idea he was being filmed. Bubba did say otherwise on his radio show right after Gawker posted the video clips, but he explained during the deposition that he was doing damage control and lying to cover himself. So if that’s the truth, he’d be fine when it comes to perjury on that matter.

As for federal charges of making false statements, that’s probably why Bubba Clem is “pleading the fifth.” Cornell’s Legal Information Institute classifies “making false statements” as being when someone, “in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly and willfully” lies in various forms or fashions (see the link for more details.

As noted above, Bollea/Hogan first met with the FBI on October 16, 2012, the day after he filed the lawsuit that’s now at trial. Bubba Clem didn’t settle with him until on or around October 29th, when the settlement was announced. Presumably in the interim, the FBI spoke to Bubba. Most of the contents of the FBI file and motions referring to them are sealed, but in January, the trial judge unsealed (albeit in partially redacted form) two of Gawker’s sealed motions, one of which included the following (again, emphasis mine):

Bubba Clem testified at his deposition that Bollea did not know about the cameras in his house and that Bollea did not know he was being filmed with Heather Clem. But, Mr. Clem told the FBI the opposite, stating to FBI agents that Bollea knew about his cameras and knew he was being filmed during his sexual encounter with Ms. Clem.

In the context of what’s going on now, it sure looks like that was a false statement, both in the literal and possibly legal senses. That said, testifying under oath for the second time that the opposite of what he told the FBI is true for the second time (the first being the deposition) is not a crime in and of itself. But, while yes, it’s not as if he’s not already at risk for federal charges of making false statements if he’s able to get out of testifying here, that may not necessarily matter. Why? If Bubba Clem did lie to the FBI, he would, technically, be incriminating himself by testifying under oath again to the opposite scenario during the Bollea v. Gawker trial.

It certainly makes you wonder if he didn’t know about this when he was deposed, and if that’s the case, why he didn’t know, doesn’t it? This should be a very interesting hearing, and it will start on Monday (March 14th) at 8:30 a.m. local time.

Yesterday (Friday, March 11th) was probably the most mundane day for testimony so far in the trial of Terry Gene Bollea, professionally known as Hulk Hogan, v. Gawker Media, Nick Denton, and A.J. Daulerio.  As the final witnesses of Bollea/Hogan’s case, “digital marketing expert” Shanti Shunn and “intellectual property valuation expert” Jeff Anderson weren’t especially compelling, both in terms of capturing your attention and strengthening the plaintiff’s case. Both were badly picked apart by Gawker attorney Michael Berry, who got Shunn to acknowledge that he wasn’t sure about what some of Gawker’s traffic statistics represented and Berry to agree that his methods for determining how the “Hulk Hogan sex tape” post increase the value of the Gawker.com website. It felt like there could have been much better ways to prove the same point, with Anderson’s methodology coming off especially nebulous.

That said there was some probable damage to Gawker and Daulerio, as Hogan’s lawyers read a 2010 email exchange between Daulerio and a young woman who was in a video Gawker had posted showing her having sex in a public restroom stall. She begged them to take it down for obvious reasons, but Daulerio replied that “It’s not getting taken down. I’ve said that. And it’s not a very serious matter. It is a dumb mistake you (or whomever) made while drunk in college. Happens to the best of us.” He also claimed it was impossible to identify the people in the video, but the woman countered that anyone who knew them could easily tell. In January 2011, Daulerio told GQ that he regretted his actions. “It wasn’t funny. It was possibly rape. […] I didn’t really look at the thing close enough to realize there’s maybe something a little more sinister going on here and a little more disturbing.”

After the Terry Bollea/Hulk Hogan side rested their case and the jury was excused for the weekend, Gawker moved for a directed verdict in their favor on most of the counts in the case, which the judge quickly denied. As a layman, it did sound like they had some compelling arguments, but a directed verdict is rare. They have to try, though. At one point, when the various issues of “public concern” were brought up, Bollea attorney Kenneth Turkel cited Toffoloni v. LFP Publishing Group, which happens to have its own pro wrestling connections, as precedent. That’s the case where Paul and Maureen Toffoloni, Nancy Benoit’s parents, sued the parent company of Hustler over nude images of her that were published after she was murdered by her husband, Chris Benoit. Contrary to popular belief, Nancy never asked the man who shot the video to destroy it (it’s MUCH more complicated than that), so the case centered around the issue of “right of publicity.” Eventually, the precedent was set that, in layman’s terms, an article about the person’s life is not a blanket justification for nude images to be reprinted without permission.

Gawker starts presenting their case Monday morning after a hearing dealing with outside motions from:

• Bubba Clem attempting to get out of testifying.
• News organizations regarding the identities of the jurors deciding this case.

The hearing starts at 8:30 a.m. ET, with Gawker beginning to present their case afterwards.