– WWE’s Chief Strategy & Financial Officer George Barrios was on CNBC earlier this week to discuss the 1-year anniversary of the WWE Network.
Although WWE’s stock got absolutely hammered last year as a result of widely perceived inflated expectations of the Network’s potential, Barrios said that WWE is still confident they can reach 3-4 million subscribers within the next 3-5 years.
– Variety has published an article looking at the 4 Key lessons WWE has learned after 1 year of the WWE Network.
– Jake “The Snake” Roberts tweeted the following about Bray Wyatt, who appears to be headed for a showdown with The Undertaker at WrestleMania 31:
As far as I'm concerned BRAY IS THE SHIT!! Believe that Roman will b the champ at mania. Can he carry the load? Got build, look and smart!!
– WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair celebrates his 66th birthday today. “The Nature Boy” was born on February 25, 1949. Also celebrating birthdays today are former WWE Superstar Steve Lewington (32) and former WWE Diva Maria Kanellis (33). Today also would have been Sean O’Haire’s 44th birthday.
– The latest edition of Bill Goldberg’s “Who’s Next?” podcast, which features an interview with NFL player A.J. Hawk, is now online. You can download the show at PodcastOne.com.
– WWE Hall Of Famers Jake “The Snake” Roberts and Scott Hall were backstage at the WWE SmackDown television taping on Tuesday night in Atlanta, Georgia. WWE Diva Natalya posted the following photo of herself with Roberts backstage at the show.
The Jake Roberts documentary, “The Resurrection of Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts” is scheduled to premiere on March 8th as part of the Slamdance Film Festival at the Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood, California at 8pm. Tickets go on sale for the screening today at Bitly.com.
Among those scheduled to attend the premiere are Steve Austin, David Arquette, Danny Trejo, Cam Moulene, Scott Hall, John Hennigan (Mundo), Rob Van Dam, Diamond Dallas Page, and of course Jake Roberts himself.
The 93-minute documentary will be followed by a live question and answer session with the filmmakers and the cast members.
WWE Hall Of Famer Jake Roberts recently spoke with the folks at Nerd Repository to promote his new documentary, “The Resurrection of Jake “The Snake” Roberts.”
Below are highlights from the interview:
On when he found out pro wrestling wasn’t “real”: “It was horrible, man. All my life, I had always been worried for my father’s health. The matches he was going through, he was a main eventer, so he was doing a lot of cutting and bleeding… he was the focus on all the cards he was on. So to be terrified, as a child, thinking your dad’s gonna get killed… it really broke my heart, man. I was very upset, because I realized my father had played all of us kids. All those years, when we were scared to death for his safety, he was playing it… You look at your dad as the guy that would never lie to you, and never do anything wrong to you, and then you find out he’s a total con artist… I really wanted to throw up, man. I was devastated.”
On the positive reaction to his new documentary: “It feels great, and it also feels great when I’m getting feedback from people who are struggling with the problem that I had, or people that have maybe washed their hands of somebody in their family. Or maybe it’s a great friend they’ve washed their hands of, because that person has a problem. These people now are rethinking, they’re going out and giving that person another chance, and trying to help them.”
On if he’ll ever return to the ring in WWE: “I hope so. I’m going to talk to Vince McMahon [about it] at WrestleMania. I would like my last match, forever, to be at WrestleMania next year in Dallas, Texas. I would love to be on that show. I want to go out and give it my best, and I would be in much better shape than I probably was at the end of my career. I still believe there’s a lot of people out there who would like to see me have one more match. I would certainly like to do it… That would certainly be the greatest way to go out. I think that would be awesome, man.”
On who he’d like to face if he ever did return to the ring: “I’d like it to be a situation where it would help him. I can think of a thousand scenarios… ideally, it would be something with Bray Wyatt… [but] he doesn’t need Jake Roberts. So it’s gotta be somebody that’s on the way up, that needs a little extra ‘oomph’ like Steve Austin did. And we’ll see if I can’t help them out. Maybe it could be a situation where the winner must use the DDT, and from that point on, they’re the master of the DDT. How about that?”
– The latest edition of Roddy Piper’s “Piper’s Pit” podcast features part two of Piper’s interview with former WWE tag-team star Bushwhacker Luke. The official description for the show reads as follows:
PP-Ep45 – Luke Williams of the Bushwhackers Part.2
“In Part. 2 of Roddy’s interview with Luke Williams of the Bushwhackers the two wrestling legends talk about how tag-team wrestlers are doomed to extinction, why the elimination of territories is killing wrestling and under what circumstances Butch and Luke would ever come out of retirement.”
– WWE legends Jim Ross, Jake Roberts and Diamond Dallas Page are featured in the new trailer for the movie, “What Now,” which you can see below. The film is set to be released in select theaters across the country on March 19th, and will be available via Video On Demand starting April 3rd.
– Below is this week’s “Top 10 WWE RAW Moments” video.
Due to his recent health issues, Diamond Dallas Page will not be appearing at the Shock Pop Comic Con in Fort Lauderdale, Florida this coming weekend. Instead, Jake “The Snake” Roberts will be appearing.
Prior to being hospitalized, DDP spoke with the folks at the Miami Herald to promote the appearance. Below are highlights.
On building the DDP Yoga Performance Center in Atlanta: “The WWE has their Performance Center in Orlando. I loved the name of that. I didn’t want to call it a studio because it’s not a studio. It’s a soundstage studio. It’s more of a corporate headquarters, but when I heard Performance Center, I said, ‘That’s the name.’ It’s not just our corporate headquarters. It’s also our production headquarters where we do all of our filming and our editing. Our first film we ever made got accepted into Slamdance. What are the odds of that?”
On traveling for 12 hours before making it to his hotel the night before the Royal Rumble and taking a limo to the arena to keep it a surprise: “We stayed on this bus. Bubba [Ray Dudley] was losing his mind. He was stuck on this bus for seven hours. He said, ‘It’s like going to jail. I can’t take this.’ It was so worth it. For me, I never had the exit from wrestling I should have. Walking away, being on top. I had such a great run. I retired and then went to TNA to show I could still go. Though TNA is not WWE, so getting to come back two months from 59 and go out there and move in that ring and hitting the Diamond Cutter out of nowhere like I was doing it every night. People were like, ‘Man, you didn’t miss a beat.’ I was more worried about going from the top rope to the floor because my knees can’t take that kind of impact anymore. The way I got thrown out I caught myself and made it to the floor. I thought, ‘Thank God! I blew the roof off, and it’s over.’”
On wanting to feud with The Rock and seeing the McMahon’s at the Royal Rumble: “At the Rumble, Philly loved me. They were awesome. Philly don’t like the good guys. They like the bad guys. There are certain good guys they love, and I was lucky I was one of them. With Florida, when I showed up in WWE in Tampa and took the stalker mask off, the place went bat s—. It was probably one of the biggest pops in Monday Night Raw history. I never wanted to do that gimmick. I wanted to do ‘People’s Champion’ vs. ‘People’s Champion’ [with The Rock]. I think if my exit from wrestling would have been where I wanted it to be, I don’t think I would be the type of businessman I am today. Everything happens for a reason. I’m really happy the way things turned out. When I showed up to the Rumble, Stephanie [McMahon] gave me a big hug. Triple H gave me a big hug. Vince [McMahon] gave me a good handshake with a, ‘Good to have you here Diamond.’ It wasn’t like when you’re coming from WCW 13 years ago as the enemy. Now it’s like I’m part of the family.”
Check out the complete interview at MiamiHerald.com.
– NXT star Kevin Owens’ merchandise is selling “extremely well” according to a report at PWInsider.com. Owens’ first WWE t-shirt first went on sale last month.
WWE officials are very happy with how the former Kevin Steen has brought a significant fan base with him to NXT, something a lot of NXT talents haven’t done.
– Episodes of Saturday Night’s Main Event are being added to the WWE Network this week.
– Triple H has surpassed 2 million Twitter followers this week.
– Diamond Dallas page posted video of himself with Scott Hall and Jake Roberts in Park City, Utah this past weekend for the premiere of Jake’s new documentary, “The Resurrection Of Jake The Snake” at the Sundance Film Festival.
– Larry King will be interviewing Diamond Dallas Page, Jake Roberts and Scott Hall in Utah this week to promote the new Roberts documentary. The interview is scheduled to air in a future episode of the Ora.tv “Larry King Now” show.
– JBL tweeted the following photo out on Tuesday, which shows Vince McMahon producing the rooftop weather segment from Monday’s RAW.
From last nights weather forecast, that's Vince McMahon to the left producing shot. He set up shot in cold with crew. pic.twitter.com/48IWMowv0m
– WWE Hall of Famer Jake “The Snake” Roberts was backstage at Sunday’s Survivor Series pay-per-view. He tweeted the following about mentoring Dolph Ziggler and Sting’s WWE debut:
– New WWE Tag Team Champion The Miz tweeted the following after Survivor Series, apparently mistaking the “This Is Awesome” chants (reacting to Sting’s debut) for “Miz Is Awesome” –
– Due to the fact that next year’s WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view event is being held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, there is said to be some talk within the company of using an ECW Original or two as a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble match itself.
– WWE Diva Paige recently quoted WWE Hall Of Fame Jake “The Snake” Roberts on Twitter with the following line:
“People like me, we just don’t play.”
Once told by a fan about this, Roberts replied by saying:
The following are highlights of a new Total Wrestling Magazine interview with Diamond Dallas Page:
On who he enjoys watching in WWE currently: “I love to watch Randy Orton. I love that we have a similar finish, he is one of the top guys in the world, if not the guy. I’m a big Bray Wyatt fan too, I love his look, his promos, his energy.”
On his thoughts on his WWE run: “I didn’t have the run I should have had in WWE, but that’s ok, I had a great run in WCW. I lived the dream, and it was great fun. In WWE, I got the European Title, Tag-Team Titles, sure, but they didn’t mean anything to me. There was too much heat on the WCW guys at that time, they were seen as the enemy, we almost put the WWE out of business.”
On how Jake Roberts is doing now: “Jake’s not quite 100 percent, he still has a bit of pneumonia in his system. He isn’t close to dying or anything, but he isn’t a kid anymore, he’s close to 60. He’s just concentrating on getting better.”
WWE Hall Of Famer Jake “The Snake” Roberts appeared at Mick Foley’s one-man show in Atlanta, Georgia this past weekend. During the Q&A session at the show, Roberts spoke about beating cancer for a second time and also revealed that if he could have one final match in WWE, he would like it to be against Bray Wyatt.
When Mick Foley was asked who he would like to work with if he could have one final match, he named former WWE Superstar CM Punk.
– Much like this week with Ric Flair and Jake Roberts backstage at RAW, but not used on television, there’s no guarantee that Hulk Hogan will appear on television next week. He is definitely going to be at the show, however whether or not he is used on television remains to be seen.
– Speaking of Flair and Roberts at RAW last night in Atlanta, Georgia, while neither man appeared on the show, Flair did record some stuff for WWE.com that will be up later this week.
WWE Hall of Famers Ric Flair and Jake “The Snake” Roberts were both backstage at Monday’s RAW from Atlanta, Georgia. Flair was telling people backstage that he feels great following his recent surgeries. He’s been pulled from WWE’s upcoming tour of Mexico while he continues his recovery.
Jake spoke to Eden backstage about his own ongoing health issues in an exclusive interview at WWE.com.
“I’ve got some issues I’m dealing with, but I’m so grateful for the prayers and for the help that I’ve gotten from WWE and the fanbase is incredible – the outpouring of good wishes that comes out when you need them. We’re still fighting the fight. You know, I’ve beaten cancer once now. I’m ready if it comes back.
“I’m dealing with a brain bleed. I’m just glad they found a brain. (laughs) No, It’s all good. I’m happy. And if you’ve got happiness growing right here (his heart), then whatcha got for me?”
As noted earlier today, WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair is scheduled to appear on tonight’s edition of WWE RAW. Another Hall Of Famer is expected as well, as Jake “The Snake” Roberts will be appearing on the show.
Next week, as we reported earlier today, Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart are scheduled for RAW.
– Apparently the role that Hulk Hogan has in the WWE Studios’ Untitled Celebrity Death Pool movie is a small one. The role that Justin Bieber filmed as the voice of KITT from Knight Rider is said to be a “quick but bizarre” post-credits scene. Other than that, Bieber has no involvement with the film. The movie is scheduled to wrap filming this week and is being shot with intentions of being an “R” rated film.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Jake “The Snake” Roberts appeared at a Max North Pro Wrestling event in Canada this weekend and seemed to be in good spirits. He gave an inspirational speech from the ring and seemed to be doing alright, according to fans in attendance.
– After going to the doctor to get biopsy results from tests he took last week, WWE Hall Of Fame Jake “The Snake” Roberts posted the following update via Twitter:
Benign great to hear that . Thanx for the prayers.. Still have brain issues that must b investigated but I still call it a win.
WWE Hall Of Famer Jake “The Snake” Roberts finally returned to Twitter after dealing with his medical issues that we have been reporting about for the past few weeks. Roberts posted a series of tweets covering his health scare and how he’s feeling now, which you can read below.
Wow, what a scary couple of weeks. So appreciative to be alive & on the mend. Thank u all for the love and support. I will keep you posted.
Joe D. of “Future Stars of Wrestling” issued the following statement, updating fans on the condition of WWE Hall Of Famer Jake “The Snake” Roberts:
“After appearing at the Future Stars of Wrestling show, Sat in Las Vegas, Jake showed up Monday at the FSW Training Facility, with his friend Sinn Bodhi. Jake, was feeling and looking much better, than Saturday. He helped with training of the students. He was friendly, ran the ropes himself, and expected the best from the students. He had no problems, letting the kids know exactly how he felt after putting them thru drills. He stayed almost 2 hours, and looks forward to heading back to Vegas.”
WWE Hall of Famer Jake “The Snake” Roberts made an in-ring appearance in Las Vegas last night at an event for Future Stars of Wrestling.
Roberts thanked fans for their support during his recent health scare. He added that WWE reached out to one of his children while he was in the hospital and flew them out to Las Vegas to be at his side.
He also revealed that he is still battling cancer, but remains optimistic and said, “if you can beat addiction, you can beat cancer.”
Jake was released from a Vegas hospital on Saturday and will be staying with Sinn Bodhi until he’s able to fly back home to Georgia.
DDP tweeted the following on Wednesday afternoon, announcing that WWE Hall of Famer Jake Roberts appears to be “out of the woods” following his recent medical emergency.
Jake was hospitalized last month with double pneumonia.
Just got off the cell with @JakeSnakeDDT & @SuperStarBillyG it appears Jake is out of the woods! if a cats got 9 Lives a SNAKE has 13 LIVES!
“UPDATE on Jake The Snake Roberts: Great news!… Docs took Jake off ventilator way earlier then expected! He is kicking ass on his spirometer breathing tests…If he keeps up this pace he will not need to go back on Ventilator so everyone please cross your fingers! Jake finally can speak for the first time since last Wed… Late last night (while still ventilated & unable to speak) one of the male nurses took a bandage off of Jake’s neck where they have tubes for his meds… It was so unpleasant to Jake he wrote on the pad they gave him three letters… DDT… Even though Jake is off of the ventilator for the time being he will be monitored for 24-48 hours before docs decide if it is safe to keep him off. Once Jake could speak he wanted steak, milkshakes, eggs & donuts… He is only allowed to get his nutrients intraveinously for the time being… Jake even joked that he would do anything for a donut if he had to… The nurses still said no donuts to which Jake replied with his favorite gesture I think he was trying to say ‘you’re #1’ but I could be wrong?!… One of Jake’s sons flew in to help out but Jake insisted I show him a good time while he rests tonight… Soooo. Zombie Burlesque, here we come! #GetBetterJake”
The following are highlights of the latest Jim Ross blog:
On the success of his Ross Report podcast: “We have had amazing success in the podcast world as of late with the Sting podcast being downloaded well over a million times which should bell any one doing market research that the wrestling public, in a large part, want to see the Stinger in a WWE ring. I’m still of the mindset that Sting only needs to do one match, a retirement match vs. The Undertaker at WM31 of which Taker wins and then faces the WWE Champion at WM32 in a title vs. retirement match in AT&T Stadium aka Jerry’s World in Arlington, Texas. Taker wins that one too and then retires the next night on RAW leaving the WWE Title vacant which would see a tournament utilized to determine the new champion.”
“This bit of fantasy booking that I first dropped on our Ross Report podcast weeks ago is obviously dependent on Taker’s health of which I do not know the status.”
“We received some of our most favorable feedback on my recent conversation with @TonySchiavone24 on our podcast which I truly appreciate but most of all I enjoyed reconnecting with Tony after all these years. We’ve bowed to stay in contact with each other as our tomorrow’s aren’t guaranteed.”
On Jake Roberts’ health: “Speaking of the DDT our best get well wishes go out to WWE HOFer Jake Roberts who’s hospitalized in Las Vegas with double pneumonia. Here’s hoping that Jake makes a full recovery. His podcast appearance on the Ross Report was one of our best down and dirty, tell it like it is shows we’ve done.”
On Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena: “Regarding Cena, I’d love to see him begin to have a mat metamorphous as he prepares to go to battle with Brock again. That could come in the form of dead serious promos, ring attire tweaks, in ring actions which could be as simple as getting himself disqualified by physically abusing a referee or even confronting his biggest ally Michael Cole. A sit down with Cole and Cena with Cena going off would get fan’s attention.”
“I do feel that a change in Cena’s persona leading into NOC is needed and to not do something would be a mistake.”
Check out the complete blog at JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.
– Former WWE Superstar Sinn Bodhi posted the following update on Jake Roberts’ health condition last night:
“UPDATE on Jake the Snake Roberts: Jake is making progress on his breathing treatments quicker then expected! Hopefully be off ventilator in a couple days… He’s resilient! Today when he was awake I joked with the doctors & asked if they could give him fake boobs or at least a face transplant… Jake smiled & gave me the finger lol Which means he’s feeling better! #?FeelBetterJake”
– Injured WWE Superstar Darren Young re-tweeted the following comments during RAW in reaction to WWE’s invitation to Michael Sam, the first openly gay NFL draftee, to appear on next week’s show.
So @WWE will allow this Michael Sam guy to have an open mic but not their own @DarrenYoungWWE?
Sinn Bodhi wrote the following update on Jake “The Snake” Roberts on his official Facebook page on Sunday night:
“UPDATE on Jake the Snake Roberts: Today Jake underwent a Bronchoscopy… An evasive surgery to remove flem etc trapped in his lungs… He is breathing better but still on ventilator. In the moments of Jake being awake from sedation today he was telling jokes & messing with nurses! That is a good sign!!! That’s Jake being Jake! Tomorrow or next day docs will give Jake oxygen tests to see how well he can breath without ventilator and proceed from there… #GetBetterJake”
