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
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:
That WWE has a legal obligation to pay both wrestlers royalties for WCW footage in general.
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:
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.
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.
If you’re a fan of WWE’s curated “Collections” of themed matches and angles, then we have some good news for you. As reported on Saturday by Steve Coulson of WWE Network News, Monday (November 7th) will see the release of two new additions to the Collections bucket: Austin vs. McMahon Part II and Randy Savage: Cream of the Crop. Here are the official descriptions for each collection:
Austin vs. McMahon Part II:
One of the greatest rivalries of all time rages on as the next chapter in the saga between the tyrannical Mr. McMahon and the defiant Stone Cold Steve Austin unfolds. Beginning with WrestleMania XV, follow The Rattlesnake and The Boss throughout their journey of ups and downs, Black Weddings, Greater Powers, celebrations, farewells, and more, culminating with the stunning fallout from WrestleMania X-Seven. Relive these unforgettable matches and moments in this exclusive WWE Network Collection!
Randy Savage: Cream of the Crop:
Get ready to freak out and let the madness begin with this WWE Network Collection celebrating the storied career of Macho Man Randy Savage. From unforgettable moments and interviews, to both rare and classic battles against Macho Man”s greatest rivals, there is only one place to find these eclectic moments from the Hall of Famer”s legendary run in sports entertainment!
FloSports Announces Five-Year Agreement With WWNLive To Live Stream All Events on FloSlam.tv
Exclusive Worldwide Partnership Includes EVOLVE, SHINE, Full Impact Pro, and WWN Supershow
Austin, TX (Oct. 24, 2016) – FloSports today announced a five-year partnership with World Wrestling Network Live (WWNLive) to make FloSlam.tv the exclusive worldwide streaming partner of all WWNLive properties, including EVOLVE, SHINE, Full Impact Pro and WWN Supershow.
The agreement begins Friday, Nov. 4, with live coverage of SHINE 38 from Ybor City, Fla. There will be live coverage of approximately 60 events annually on FloSlam as part of this deal.
“We’re excited to serve die-hard pro wrestling fans with live streams of some of the best independent promotions in the world,” FloSports co-founder and CEO Martin Floreani said. “This is a groundbreaking agreement that will take WWNLive to new heights.”
In addition to live coverage and replays of all future WWNLive promotions, FloSlam will host archives from all WWNLive events dating back to 2003 and will produce a series of original documentaries focusing on the lives and stories of the athletes who compete in pro wrestling events across the world.
“Everyone at WWN is excited to be partnering with such an innovative and groundbreaking company like FloSports,” said Sal Hamaoui, President of WWN, Inc. “I recently had the opportunity to meet and speak with their senior management and take a firsthand look at their operations in Austin, Texas. To say that I was impressed with the overall knowledge of their team, the quality of their live streams and their user-friendly platforms would be an understatement. This relationship will allow us to continue to serve and expand our loyal, passionate fan base who will have access to all WWN-branded events at a very affordable monthly or annual price.”
Top independent pro wrestling stars including Timothy Thatcher, Matt Riddle, Zack Sabre Jr., Tony Nese, and Drew Gulak will be featured in upcoming events.
FloSlam users can access all live streams and premium content on the site via monthly ($20/month introductory price) or annual ($150/year) FloPRO subscription. Annual subscribers to FloSlam receive a universal pass to all premium content across the FloSports network, including FloWrestling, FloGrappling, FloCombat, FloKO and others.
In addition, FloSlam content is available on all screens now with the recent launch of the FloSports’ Roku and Apple TV apps.
Analysis: If you’re already buying two or more WWN-branded shows a month, then you’re spending what the FloSlam new service costs. And if you’re a fan of any of Flo’s other programming, then the annual subscription to FloPRO gets you those, too. As for the value proposition, it’s an improvement over WWN’s current model, especially in light of this tweet from Evolve’s Gabe Sapolsky:
Obviously, if FloSlam adds more promotions, that becomes an even better value.
As for the hype for the announcement from PWTorch’s Wade Keller on both Twitter and his website, it appears that it’s based around the type of money Flo is willing to spend on shows. If it really is substantial enough to be a game changer, then you can understand the hype, since it changes the business model for “buzz-worthy” indies.
Also, we have to keep in mind that WWE was part of the group that invested in Flo Sports recently. While it appears that they have no direct involvement with decision making (after all, this competes with the planned new WWE Network tier), it’s still interesting that Flo’s first signing is a promotion that WWE has close ties to.
Posted October 24th, 2016 in News, NXT, WWE. Tagged: RIP.
So, what makes this a violation? First, let’s reexamine the key section of what Zak wrote:
She has gone private and went to a different Dr, who is amazing I’ll add. He gave her PRESCRIPTION pain killers to ease the pain that she’s in 24/7 and I have witnessed.
They’ve not excepted [sic] this and this leads to yet another suspension.
Nobody is disputing that Paige has a legitimate neck injury to the point where she may need narcotic/opiate painkillers to be functional. It’s been reported in the past (and was alluded to by Dave Meltzer on Monday night’s Wrestling Observer Radio for F4WOnline subscribers) that WWE prefers to have talent get painkiller prescriptions from the company doctors. Presumably, this also extends to any specialists that the company sends talent to. This way, WWE avoids the perils of talent going doctor shopping, as the performers’ use of dangerous and addictive drugs is being tracks by trusted physicians
The implication of Zak Knight/Zak Bevis writing that Paige “has gone private” is that she got a second opinion from a doctor other than the one(s) that WWE sent her to. That means that they’re going to be more scrutinizing of prescriptions for banned substances. Still, the written policy has a procedure for requesting a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) to a banned drug, and there are no medications or classes of medications listed as ineligible for exemptions That said, according to the policy, it appears that the talent just needs to have the doctor provide a copy of the prescription if the drug is being taken for less than 60 days.
If “the use of such prohibited drug is required for more than sixty (60) consecutive days,” that’s when the more formal TUE process must be undertaken. According to the policy, “A WWE Talent in need of a TUE must immediately notify, or cause his/her issuing physician to notify, the Medical Director of the existence of a prescription for a prohibited drug and the medical need for the TUE.” A TUE lasts one year, and “A urine sample which is found to contain a prohibited drug will not be deemed a positive test result if such sample was provided by a WWE Talent with a valid and effective TUE for that prohibited drug.”
If a performer tests positive for a banned prescription drug and does not have a TUE, then they “may not challenge a determination that he/she violated the Policy by contending, in connection with a ‘no fault or negligence’ defense or otherwise, that he/she believed he/she would qualify or had qualified for a TUE.” In other words, don’t plead ignorance. In Paige’s case, it appears that she’s saying that whatever happened with her, which presumably involves a non-WWE doctor, was not substantively different from other cases where the talent was not deemed to be in violation.
Also, specific to painkillers, “a test that confirms the presence of drug metabolite concentrations in excess of the levels expected when a drug prohibited by this Policy is being used consistent with the therapeutic management of pain will be treated as a positive test.” There’s no specific definition, numerically speaking, given in the policy. Since continuous use of narcotic painkillers can, even if taken as directed, lead to the patient building up a tolerance and requiring higher doses to get the same effect, this isn’t inherently a sign of abuse, but for the safety of the talent, it’s definitely cause for concern.
Chris Jericho ended up in a backstage incident with Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam last night as Jericho was concerned about Randy Orton’s condition.
According to Dave Meltzer, multiple sources report that the incident began when Jericho came to the gorilla position as Lesnar vs. Orton ended, to find out what exactly happened and to see if Orton was alright. Jericho asked Michael Hayes if that was the planned finish and when Hayes wouldn’t respond, Jericho said, “That’s bullshit.”
Lesnar came through the curtain, heard the “that’s bullshit” comment and thought Jericho was talking about the match. One version has Lesnar calling Jericho a “pussy” and the other has him saying “shut up” to Jericho, then telling Jericho to mind his own business. The two came face to face and had words, leading to Lesnar reportedly pushing Jericho with his fingers. Jericho then did a forehead press while another version has him shoving Lesnar against the wall. While the two were up against the wall, Lesnar reportedly told Jericho to kiss him or punch him. Triple H then jumped in and broke things up but the two ended up going at it again until Vince McMahon finally broke it up. Vince told Jericho that everything was a work and to be professional after Jericho continued yelling about Brock.
Triple H reportedly told Vince that Lesnar was to blame, and that Jericho was just standing up for himself. That was the end of the incident between the two. Jericho then saw Orton’s condition and got mad but Orton assured him that he knew what was coming.
Yesterday, we reported on how Chris Smith at Forbes had put together a list of WWE’s highest paid wrestlers. While lists of this kind have gone around for years, they’re usually of some nebulous origin or an incredibly unreliable source like CelebrityNetWorth. This is different, however: Not only is it from Forbes, the magazine of record for finance, but it’s also an actual Forbes staff writer as opposed to their larger contributor network. Nothing against them, but they weren’t hired with the financial angle in mind. Since it’s a Forbes article from a Forbes staffer, the list is being taken a lot more seriously than these things usually are.
In his article, Smith claims that “Over the last year we’ve pored over court documents, SEC filings and WWE’s booking contracts and spent hours speaking with industry sources, allowing us to construct the first ever FORBES list of WWE’s Highest-Paid Wrestlers.” Let’s take a look at the list again:
John Cena: 9.5 million
Brock Lesnar: 6.0 million
Triple H: 2.8 million
Randy Orton: 2.7 million
Seth Rollins: 2.4 million
Roman Reigns: 2.1 million
Undertaker: 2.0 million
Big Show: 1.5 million
Kane: 1.3 million
Dean Ambrose: 1.1 million
So, what do we know about the numbers on Smith’s list for Forbes?
The only one whose pay would come up in SEC filing is Triple H, since he’s an executive officer of WWE under his real name of Paul Levesque. This does appear to be correct: If you don’t include stock awards, and Smith didn’t, he made $2,812,629 in 2015. That’s broken down as $573,269 in salary for his executive role, $526,000 in incentive plan compensation, and $1,713,360 for his pay as talent, $1 million of which is his contracted downside guarantee. There’s a note that “Mr. Levesque has out-earned this minimum guarantee in each of the past several years.”
Randy Orton and John Cena both had divorces, though only Orton’s finances went public as a result. TMZ reported that at the time of the July 2013 divorce, Orton was making $291,666 a month, or just $8 short of $3.5 million in a year. It’s not clear if that was his total 2012 pay or what, as the belief is that WWE’s downside guarantees never top $1 million. Cena did have his annual earnings pegged as about $10 million by Wrestling Observer editor Dave Meltzer in January, while Meltzer has also reported Brock Lesnar’s pay in the past because he gets a flat fee per appearance. In the past, Meltzer has said something to the effect of how these days, it’s understood that The Undertaker’s $1 million guarantee is considered his WrestleMania payoff. With additional appearances headlining SummerSlam and Hell in a Cell last year, $2 million sounds reasonable.
It gets hazier after that as you move further down the line.
In a deposition that I cited in my January article for SBNation about Big Show’s flirtation with boxing, Big Show said that when he returned to WWE in 2008, he asked for $1.25 million and a $250,000 signing bonus…but that was eight years ago and it’s not clear in the public filings if he even got what he wanted. A deposition with his wife, who apparently handles their finances, had her testifying that she didn’t think he made any bonuses on top of his base salary. That would be unusual for a full time WWE performer, but it could also have to do with confusion over the nature of WWE contracts. WWE pay works two ways: You can just take your per-event pay and royalties as they come, or you can take your downside guarantee as a salary and get a balloon payment at the end of the year for what goes over the guarantee. Since he has little merchandise, $1.5 million doesn’t sound outrageously low, though.
Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Kane, and Dean Ambrose all have little to no information out there about their pay. Kane recently put his home up on the market and it was huge, sprawling property with a house customized to his specific needs as a very tall man, but because he’s based in Knoxville, Tennessee, the price was dramatically less than you’d think, coming in under $1 million. The rest seem realistic enough.
What do you think of the list? Let us know in the comments.
Rob Naylor, who worked as Creative Assistant under Dusty Rhodes in Florida Championship Wrestling/WWE NXT from 2011 to 2013, tweeted some interesting stuff over the weekend. He kept formats, memos, and other documents from his time with WWE and decided to make some images of them public…
Format sheet for the first Full Sail University pilot taping in 2011 (note the puns):
Another gem. Before there was "NXT" – a secret pilot was taped at "Full Sail". Dream dubbed it "Project H" #1stdraftpic.twitter.com/jqJOr8nRLr
A list of indie wrestlers from 2012 that Naylor would sign if he could, which he was asked to make by Triple H’s assistant (the note about Alex Shelley being clear of a TNA contract is most likely due to TNA’s lawsuit against WWE and Brian Wittenstein being an ongoing matter at the time):
Naylor also mentioned that he found other things going through his collection of records, like performance reviews and a list of tips from Ricky Steamboat on how to work babyface, so hopefully there’s more to come.
Late last night, CMLL’s official Twitter account reported that legendary luchador Lizmark (Sr.), real name Juan Banos, passed away yesterday from a heart attack. He was 66. He was, of course, the father of WCW star Lizmark Jr.
In terms of influence, Lizmark is probably best known as the man who helped usher in a new generation of high flyers in Mexico in the late ’70s and early ’80s, While lucha libre always had more of an inherent acrobatic flair than other styles of wrestling, it really ramped up during his era. He wasn’t as flashy as the next generation was, but he was an excellent all-around worker who helped popularize the top rope plancha and flying dropkick in Mexico. He was a major influence on Satoru Sayama, the original Tiger Mask, who borrowed heavily from him while also integrating British style matwork and kickboxing moves to create the signature style that made him a legend around the world.
While titles in Mexico sometimes have the reputation of not meaning quite as much as they did elsewhere, that’s more because mask and hair matches were the biggest stakes than titles not meaning anything. Lizmark has one of the most impressive title records in the history of Mexican wrestling, being tied with Gori Guerrero as one of only two wrestlers to hold NWA World Championships (EMLL controlled everything south of junior heavyweight) in three different weight classes: Light heavyweight, middleweight, and welterweight.
In terms of major feuds, Lizmark’s biggest rival was probably El Satanico, the legendary rudo best known as the leader of the various versions of the Los Infernales trio. They feuded on and off for years over various light heavyweight titles depending on the promotion. Their 1993 AAA match (for the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Title), embedded above, was Satanico’s finest hour in AAA, as he was not the best fit for the promotion back then and returned to EMLL before long. They had brilliant chemistry, especially in title matches, and the 1993 match is one of the best examples of the “title match style” in lucha libre, where everyone, regardless of their usual style, worked technically out of deference to the championship.
Lizmark’s son, Juan Jr., broke into wrestling in 1991 as Lizmark Jr./El Hijo del Lizmark. While he was physically talented, he didn’t have his father’s charisma and overall working ability. They of course teamed together often, but Sr. eventually slowed down his scheduled when he developed heart problems in 1999.