– Camera crews from the E! reality show “Total Divas” were in attendance at the Sunscreen Film Festival on Thursday night. Many of the Divas from the show were at the festival to support The Bella Twins, who introduced “Confessions of a Womanizer,” a film they are featured in. John Cena was also in attendance. Footage of this is expected to air on a future edition of the show.
– The WWE Shop website has released new “Evolution of a Hall Of Famer” plaques for Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels today. They have also released “Evolution of a Superstar” plaques for Undertaker and John Cena. They are going for $89.99 a piece.
As previously reported, WWE announced that Hulk Hogan has been added to the company’s upcoming tour of Japan. One of the reasons that people speculated as to why Hogan was added was to help boost slow ticket sales, as WWE’s recent popularity in Japan has declined.
Apparently the move helped, as when the Hogan announcement was made and word got out about it in Japan, there was indeed a big rush on ticket sales for the events.
The shows Hogan will be a part of, which take place on July 11th and July 12th in Tokyo, Japan, will mark Hogan’s first time appearing on a Japanese wrestling show in over ten years.
According to an online report, midget wrestler Short Sleeve Sampson will be appearing at this Sunday’s WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view, likely to be involved in the “WeeLC” pre-show match between El Torito and Hornswoggle.
Sampson reportedly retired from pro wrestling last year, but has appeared in the past on WWE and TNA programming in various matches and skits, and even took part in Hulk Hogan’s “Micro Championship Wrestling” project.
– John Cena and Nikki Bella will be attending the ninth annual Sunscreen Film Festival on May 1st at the Palladium Theater in St. Petersburg, Florida. The film, “Confessions of a Womanizer,” which features The Bella Twins, will be screened. Total Divas cameras are also expected at the event to film possible footage for a future episode.
– The official WWE website recently added a feature looking at the top 50 talkers in pro wrestling history. The top ten looks like this:
10. Chris Jericho
9. Hulk Hogan
8. Bobby Heenan
7. Mick Foley
6. Paul Heyman
5. Dusty Rhodes
4. Steve Austin
3. Roddy Piper
2. The Rock
1. Ric Flair
TOKYO, Japan, April 24, 2014 – WWE® (NYSE:WWE) today announced that WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan will appear at WWE Live in Tokyo on Friday, July 11 and in Osaka on Saturday, July 12.
A larger-than-life pop-culture icon, Hogan is one of the biggest names in WWE history. Earlier this month, Hogan was the host of WrestleMania® 30 at a sold out Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. He has also appeared on WWE’s flagship television program Monday Night Raw® and on WWE Network.
“Hulkamania™” was officially born on January 23, 1984 when Hogan defeated The Iron Sheik to become WWE Champion at Madison Square Garden. He headlined WrestleMania III, where he successfully defended the WWE Championship against Andre The Giant in front of a record 93,173 fans at the Pontiac Silverdome. Hogan went on to win six WWE Championships, starred in movies, television shows and became an idol to a vast legion of fans he dubbed “Hulkamaniacs™.” Hogan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005 by Hollywood legend Sylvester Stallone.
“Words cannot express how excited I am to be back in the WWE family,” said Hulk Hogan. “I only have one question for the WWE Universe in Japan: ‘whatcha gonna do when Hulkamania runs wild in Tokyo and Osaka, brother?’”
WWE Live takes place on Thursday, July 10 and Friday, July 11 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo and on Saturday, July 12 at Maishima Arena in Osaka. Tickets go on sale to the general public this Saturday.
– John Cena is celebrating his 37th birthday today. He was born on April 23, 1977.
– According to video game site Abandonia.com, the classic 1995 ‘WWF WrestleMania – The Arcade Game’ has been classified as ‘abandonware’ and is now fair use to download for free.
– The latest “Where Are They Now?” feature at WWE.com looks at former WWE tag team champion Trevor Murdoch.
– WWE Hall of Famer appears to be joining the cast of the upcoming action movie “The Expendables 4,” according to ExpendablesPremiere.com. This would mark Hogan’s onscreen reunion with Sylvester Stallone for the first time since Rocky III back in 1982. Most of the shooting will take place in Bulgaria.
Back in October, a fan asked Hogan why he wasn’t a part of Expendables 3. He responded:
@CarlGartley expendables 4 , they have already cast 3 brother. HH
STAMFORD, Conn., April 21, 2014 – WWE Network will premiere the Best of Hall of Fame, a series of four special presentations showcasing some of the most memorable inductions in WWE Hall of Fame history. The one-hour specials begin tomorrow night at 10 pm ET and will be hosted by WWE’s Josh Mathews.
Episodes (10 pm ET, Tuesday through Friday) include:
Tuesday, April 22 – Hulk Hogan inducted by Sylvester Stallone, Trish Stratus inducted by Stephanie McMahon and Bobby Heenan inducted by Jack Lanza
Wednesday, April 23 – Pete Rose inducted by Kane and Ric Flair inducted by Triple H
Thursday, April 24 – Gene Okerlund inducted by Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels inducted by Triple H
Friday, April 25 – Jerry Lawler inducted by William Shatner and Bruno Sammartino inducted by Arnold Schwarzenegger
There will be no new episode of WWE Countdown this Tuesday night on the WWE Network. Instead, WWE will premiere the “Best Of WWE Hall Of Fame” series that we reported about this past weekend.
Episode one of “Best Of WWE Hall Of Fame” will debut on Tuesday night at 10pm EST., and will look at the past WWE Hall Of Fame inductions of Hulk Hogan, Trish Stratus and Bobby Heenan.
On Wednesday night at 10pm EST., episode two of “Best Of WWE Hall Of Fame” will air, and will look back at the WWE Hall Of Fame inductions of Ric Flair and Pete Rose.
– This week’s edition of WrestleMania Rewind, which premieres on Tuesday night on the WWE Network, will focus on the WrestleMania X8 showdown between Hulk Hogan and The Rock.
– As previously reported, the WWE Network logo is planned to be used as the regular official company logo in the near future. The company is already using the logo in NXT, as you can see in the photo of the microphone that Veronica Lane is holding below, which was taken at the NXT live event in Palatka, Florida on Saturday night.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Hulk Hogan was at WWE’s studios in Stamford earlier this week filming several hours of interviews for future WWE projects.
– The Ultimate Warrior Legends Roundtable that aired on the WWE Network this weekend, which featured Josh Mathews, Booker T, Sgt. Slaughter and Ted DiBiase, was filmed on Thursday.
– WWE Network will be debuting a new series called “Best of WWE Hall Of Fame” next week. The series will look back at some of the different WWE Hall Of Fame inductions over the years.
– Writer Desmond Devlin has a new WrestleMania feature in the current issue (#527) of Mad Magazine. In the article, Devlin pokes fun at all of the myths surrounding WrestleMania III. The following is an excerpt from the article:
“When the immortal Hulk Hogan become the first man ever to bodyslam the 7-foot-4, 520 pound Andre the Giant before 93,173 fans to hand the big man the first loss of his career, it set the all-time record for the most lies in a single sentence.”
– Inspired by his grandfather, WWE Hall Of Famer Peter Maivia, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson recently revealed that he wants to play a villain in a James Bond movie. Maivia was a villain in the Bond film “You Only Live Twice” in 1967, where he was involved in a fight scene with Sean Connery.
For more details on this story, check out ContactMusic.com.
– A WWE fan posted a photo of a WWE Championship belt he made out of legos on Reddit. You can check that out at Reddit.com or below.
– The official WWE YouTube channel recently added the following video, which features WWE Hall Of Famer Hulk Hogan hosting a screening of the new WWE Studios produced film, “Oculus.” You can check that out below.
On Tuesday, April 8, 2014, the professional wrestling world lost another one of the greats. The Ultimate Warrior, who for millions of fans who jumped on the pro wrestling bandwagon during the late 1980s boom period, was among the biggest and most recognizable Superstars in history. Today, we are going to look back at five matches that helped establish Warrior as the undeniable legend that he became.
It’s no secret that Ultimate Warrior wasn’t what one would call a “catch-as-catch-can” classic type of in-ring performer, but if you look back at his career from an unbiased point of view, there were certainly some diamonds in the rough. He had some great moments in the ring, and at times was absolutely more than just “a cool ring entrance.”
WWE SummerSlam 1988 (vs. The Honky Tonk Man)
On August 29, 1988 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, The Ultimate Warrior captured his first WWE Championship. In just 31 seconds, Warrior ended The Honky Tonk Man’s legendary 454-day reign as WWE Intercontinental Champion.
Going into the show, which was actually the inaugural edition of what became WWE’s annual summer tradition, Honky Tonk Man was originally supposed to square-off with Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake. Beefcake ended up on the sidelines, however, and it was announced, live during the show, that Honky Tonk Man would still have an opponent and would still be defending his title.
To make a long story short, the infamous guitar riff hit the big speakers, thousands of fans in MSG exploded, and 31 seconds later, Warrior’s first WWE title reign began. History was made.
WWE SummerSlam 1989 (vs. “Ravishing” Rick Rude)
Nearly a year later to the day, Ultimate Warrior found himself capturing WWE Intercontinental gold once again at WWE’s SummerSlam pay-per-view. Several months prior, Warrior suffered his first official defeat in WWE at the hands of “Ravishing” Rick Rude, who was arguably Warrior’s best in-ring opponent.
This was the rematch.
The bout took place on August 28, 1989 at The Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It was the second annual WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view event.
In what turned out to be a pretty good little contest, Warrior prevailed and in the end, managed to get his hand raised and once again become the WWE Intercontinental Champion.
Rock and roll band Rev Theory, who performed the song “Voices” live for Randy Orton’s entrance at WrestleMania XXX, posted the following photos from backstage at the show on their official Twitter account.
The TNA contracts of Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian are both due to expire within the next couple of weeks. As of early this week, neither had signed a new deal with the promotion.
In the case of Daniels, many are watching closely as to how his contract negotiation turns out. He is said to be one of the guys who has one of the better remaining contracts in the company, and following the recent deals with AJ Styles, Hulk Hogan and Sting, all of whom ended up not re-signing with the company, the feeling is that Daniels is the next major one to keep an eye on.
Additionally, there is a feeling that the reason Daniels and Kazarian have been kept off of television for the last several weeks is due to their contractual situation with the company, something that many point to as a negative sign as far as either guy re-signing.
The following are highlights of a new Chicago Now interview with WWE Hall Of Famer The Iron Sheik:
On Hulk Hogan’s return to WWE: “The Hulk know what best for the business. He know how to make the world news with greatest company in the world WWE. He know I make the Hulkamania that way he never get smart with the legend.”
“My movie show how I make the company biggest company in the world. I love how everybody know I am the real not that Hollywood blonde jabroni Hulk Hogan.”
On Ultimate Warrior’s passing: “He break my heart. He my wrestling brother. I always respect him as performer he one of the best ever. God bless him and forever I be sad.”
On CM Punk leaving WWE: “I don’t know much about it. I know he great worker he respect the business. Sometime the people get burn out but I work in my day 320 day a year.”
The deals made to bring “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Rock in for the WrestleMania XXX opening segment with Hulk Hogan were finalized before the final WrestleMania “go-home” edition of WWE RAW. For reasons that are currently unclear, WWE decided against advertising the return of either guy on television.
Austin’s appearance was promoted the day before the show on the WWE Network, but that is likely because it became a news story when Austin told TMZ that he would be participating in the show. The Rock’s appearance wasn’t mentioned until the night before, but that was only announced via social media.
Longtime enemies Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior made peace at Saturday night’s WWE Hall of Fame ceremony, ending a bitter personal feud that played out on social media over the past several years. Hogan tweeted on Wednesday:
We talked,both forgave each other,we hugged ,we shook hands as we told each other I love you,I am so sad,God bless his beautiful family HH
The following are highlights of a new WOIO-TV interview with Hulk Hogan:
On the reason he called the Superdome the “Silverdome”: “I didn’t realize it until the second time I had said it. We have a thing called the Gorilla position and I was ready to go out. They pulled me for a quick interview and we talked about the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, and I had a tough time a few days ago with that. My manager Jimmy Hart and I just stood and stared at the statue and when I looked at his face, I lost it and I was totally rattled for at least half that day. It really upset me, in a good way. So in that interview when we talked about the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal and then I went straight out there I guess my mind was still thinking Andre. But the crowd sure let me know that I was saying the wrong name of the venue. So I apologized to them and I made sure that I tagged it at the end again with the Skydome. Oh man, the Superdome.”
On being part of WrestleMania I and WrestleMania XXX: “Well it’s huge. We started this thing out in Madison Square Garden, we were just a “rasslin” company and Vince McMahon had this crazy vision that he was going to take wrestling all over the world. Little did we know that when we brought Mr. T in that the ship would kind of point towards entertainment. So here we go, fast forward thirty years later and it’s the largest entertainment company in the world.”
On if he thought Undertaker’s streak would end: “No. No I didn’t. I thought that the streak would go on forever until he decided to rest in peace.”
On if he feels Daniel Bryan’s title run will last: “It’s his time, this is a new era. And last night in the Superdome the people really let everybody know what they wanted and who they wanted to be champion so I think everybody gets it.”
On his favorite WrestleMania moment: “For me it was Andre. In the Silverdome. Not the Skydome, not the Superdome (laughs). That was a huge moment. It was the largest indoor attendance record and it still stands today and I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get him up and slam him and I wasn’t sure that he was going to pass the torch. It was a very different time in sports entertainment and we were still pretty barbaric in our thinking. That was my favorite moment because if it hadn’t have been for him, I never would have been shot of a cannon like I was.”
On what made him leave TNA to come back to WWE: “It wasn’t what made me want to come back, it was that I needed to come back. This was my home. I mean I started here in the late ’70s with Vince McMahon Sr. and I was his guy, he brought me along and he named me Hulk Hogan. He gave me this super huge push way back in the day in Shea Stadium when I wrestled Andre The Giant. It just made sense. After all of the years that I’ve been gone and I wasn’t wrestling, with all of the surgeries I’ve had and when they told me that I wasn’t going to be able to walk again after the sixth back surgery. Finally after the ninth back surgery I’m on my feet and I’m running and it just made sense to come back. And for me to come back with the Network and to be the host of Wrestlemania 30 in the Superdome, the whole thing just kind of came together perfectly and I’m here to stay.”
– WWE is auctioning off a WWE Championship belt signed by Hulk Hogan, John Cena, The Undertaker and Triple H at CharityBuzz.com. Proceeds go towards the Superstars For Kids charity. The auction ends at 12pm EST on Tuesday, with the current bid listed at $1,425.
– As you can imagine, the atmosphere was very positive backstage at WrestleMania XXX. Everybody was in great spirits and it felt like the celebratory landmark show that it was.
– One of the big wildcard issues heading into WrestleMania was how the WWE Network stream would hold up. Aside from some very minor skipping, the stream was considered a huge success.
– Billy Gunn tweeted the following after reports that he suffered from internal bleeding after his match against The Shield at WrestleMania:
Ok thanks everyone I am fine just a miner hiccup. Just busted some blood vessels in my lungs
– WWE added the following to their official YouTube channel after the conclusion of WrestleMania XXX on Sunday night.
Three icons share a moment: WrestleMania 30 Exclusive, April 6, 2014
Three of the biggest superstars in WWE history, Hulk Hogan, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and The Rock, meet backstage before their memorable interaction at Wrestlemania 30. Don’t miss the replay of WrestleMania 30 on WWE Network.
– Brie Bella noted via Twitter that she wanted to go out to celebrate Daniel Bryan’s WWE World Heavyweight Championship victory at WrestleMania XXX on Sunday night, but was told that she was not allowed to. Below is a shot of Bella’s tweet:
As many expected, WrestleMania XXX turned out to be a memorable and newsworthy event on Sunday night. A number of legendary moments took place, titles changed hands and surprises unfolded throughout the evening. Below is a quick rundown of some of the notable moments from the show.
The show opened up with a “WrestleMania Moment” type segment, as Hulk Hogan, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and The Rock shared the ring for a promo segment.
The Undertaker’s legendary undefeated streak was broken. Undertaker lost via F-5 to Brock Lesnar, making his new WrestleMania record 21-1.
Daniel Bryan finally had his “big moment,” as he defeated Triple H in the opening match on the pay-per-view and would go on to defeat Randy Orton and Batista in the main event to become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
The Real Americans broke up during the WWE Tag-Team Championship match on the WrestleMania XXX pre-show. After The Usos retained their titles, last eliminating The Real Americans, Cesaro ignored the orders of his manager Zeb Colter and attacked Jack Swagger.
Additionally, Cesaro pulled off an upset by winning the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. He last eliminated The Big Show in what will go down as his first true “WrestleMania Moment” when he body slammed the giant — with ease — over the top rope.
