WWE Diva AJ Lee is currently backstage at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
The former Divas champion has been off television since December’s TLC pay-per-view and has been recovering from various injuries. AJ Lee made headlines last week when she called out Stephanie McMahon for the way Divas are paid and portrayed on television.
There are rumors that AJ Lee is returning to be paired with Paige in a tag team match against the Bella Twins at WrestleMania, but that remains to be seen.
What will happen tonight when AJ Lee returns to WWE TV in front of her hometown crowd? We’ll find out in just a matter of hours.
– Even more details are coming in regarding the major argument between Brock Lesnar and Vince McMahon that saw Lesnar storm out of last week’s WWE RAW without appearing on television, as scheduled.
While it was known that the issue was related to business matters (not creative plans), former WWE writer ‘MetsFan4Ever’ revealed that Lesnar told McMahon he wanted to attend Saturday night’s UFC 184 pay-per-view to discuss a potential deal with UFC President Dana White. McMahon was strongly against Lesnar attending the show, which caused him to storm out, leaving his WWE future in question.
As we saw over the weekend, Lesnar did in fact attend the UFC show and was seen cageside talking with Dana White. After talking with a few people in the know over the weekend, it looks like the chances of Lesnar returning to UFC are over 50% at this point.
– Bryan Alvarez of f4wonline.com has provided some new information regarding AJ Lee calling out Stephanie McMahon on Twitter last week regarding the way WWE Divas are paid and portrayed on television. While Lesnar’s walkout was a huge story last week, it’s said that there’s even more heat on AJ Lee.
– WWE.com has published a gallery of rare Vince McMahon photos from throughout the years.
– Triple H was interviewed by USA Today this week about his induction into the International Sports Hall of Fame.
– Hulk Hogan, John Cena and Stephanie McMahon were at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California earlier today as part of the #31to31 Wrestlemania campaign. They each held a Q&A session on Twitter, with #AskCena and #AskSteph still trending. They will also tour the campuses of Twitter and Facebook as part of the tour. Here are some photos from today:
Stephanie McMahon, Paul Levesque (Triple H) and Robyn Peterson have been elected to WWE’s Board of Directors, according to a filing at the company’s corporate website.
WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon commented, “The appointments of Stephanie, Paul and Robyn to WWE’s Board of Directors will be invaluable to the company as we continue to transform our business and look toward a new era of unprecedented growth. I am confident that our Board of Directors and senior management team is stronger than ever and well-positioned for future success.”
Stephanie McMahon currently serves as WWE’s Chief Brand Officer, while Triple H serves as Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events & Creative.
Robyn Peterson is the Chief Technology Officer and Head of Product for Mashable and is “a seasoned technology executive with more than 15 years of experience in web, mobile and video product development.” Peterson is a member of Mashable’s Operating Committee, where he directs product strategy and development and manages the product, design and engineering teams.
For more on the story, you can read the official press release at Corporate.WWE.com.
We’ve got an update on the pipebomb dropped by AJ Lee on Tuesday night regarding the way WWE Divas are paid and portrayed on television. To recap, AJ tweeted the following to Stephanie McMahon:
“Your female wrestlers have record selling merchandise & have starred in the highest rated segment of the show several times, And yet they receive a fraction of the wages & screen time of the majority of the male roster. #UseYourVoice”
Regarding Lee’s merchandise claims, while she was a strong merchandise mover when she was being pushed, the formula WWE uses for merchandise sales with a majority of the roster is the same, outside of a few top WWE Superstars who get higher percentages. None of the Divas in the company sell at the level of the top several Superstars.
As for Divas being involved in the highest-rated segments of WWE shows, their segments were rarely above average when weekly segment breakdowns were available. Despite that fact, AJ was fortunate enough to work various main event segments with stars like CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, segments that usually did pretty strong numbers.
Regarding pay, it’s true that Divas on the main roster are paid considerably less than the men. It’s interesting to note that this is not the case in NXT. Most of the men at NXT came from the indy scene and are willing to accept lower pay just to get a foot in the door with WWE. Most of the NXT women, however, came from modeling agencies or had athletic backgrounds. Additionally, there’s said to be an idea that the women need to earn at a certain level to maintain the type of “look” that WWE desires.
According to a source close to this story, AJ Lee caught the company completely off-guard with her comments. Stephanie McMahon in particular was said to be furious at being made to look bad on a public forum by one of their employees. Vince McMahon, in looking at the big picture, reportedly told Stephanie to reply with the tweet that she sent, which simply thanked AJ for her opinion.
WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon has responded to the #GiveDivasAChance movement, assuring fans that WWE is well aware of the latest viral backlash campaign.
The trend is the product of widespread frustration surrounding the way women’s wrestlers are used on WWE television. It’s not a new situation, but it’s finally gaining some mainstream exposure due to fans being fed up and WWE’s top Divas speaking out publicly about it.
Earlier this month at a Wizard World Comic Con event, the Bella Twins spoke about the Women in NXT getting much more time int he ring than the Divas in WWE.
On Tuesday night, after #GiveDivasAChance had been trending for nearly 24 hours, AJ Lee sent Stephanie McMahon a series of tweets pointing out that Divas do not get equal TV time or compensation compared to the Superstars. (Read Her Tweets Here). Stephanie has since responded:
WWE Diva AJ Lee is getting in on the #GiveDivasAChance movement with a series of tweets to Stephanie McMahon. McMahon first tweeted actress Patricia Arquette about her speech at the Oscars about women’s rights and wage equality for women:
– As noted, Jerry Lawler worked a match at the “Pro Wrestling Night” themed NBA game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Oklahoma City Thunder on January 31st. Reuniting for the announcing of the match were Memphis Wrestling legends Lance Russell and Dave Brown, who are considered one of the best pro wrestling announcing teams in history.
Lawler, Ric Flair and Maverick, a local wrestler, did backstage promos and vignettes throughout the game and Lawler eventually worked a match.
There were 18,000 fans in attendance at the FedEx Forum in Memphis that night, and despite Lawler’s lengthy history in the city, it was said to be the largest crowd Lawler has ever worked a match in front of in that city.
As part of Memphis Wrestling night, the first 3,000 fans that showed up received replica championship belts. They also promoted the WWE Fast Lane pay-per-view, which will be held in the same arena on February 22nd.
You can check out photos of Lawler and Flair at the event by clicking here.
– Speaking of replica belts, as noted, Triple H sent the NFL’s New England Patriots some replica titles for the team to use during their Super Bowl victory parade. Stephanie McMahon recently tweeted the following photo of the team holding the belts in the air during the parade.
This week’s edition of WWE RAW opened with The Authority — Triple H and Stephanie McMahon — making their way down to the ring to make their “major announcement” that will “shake WWE to its’ very core.”
After making a bunch of jokes and bad puns about Sunday’s NFL Super Bowl game, the two showed footage of the Royal Rumble match. Triple H talks about The Rock interfering in the match. He also spoke about his face-to-face confrontation with “The Vigilante” Sting at the upcoming WWE Fast Lane pay-per-view later this month.
Finally, they get to the “major announcement.” On RAW, Daniel Bryan and Seth Rollins will go one-on-one in a singles match where the winner will go on to face Roman Reigns at the WWE Fast Lane pay-per-view. Whoever wins the match at Fast Lane will go on to face Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 31.
We will update you here on the website later tonight when the winner of the Bryan-Rollins match emerges.
– The NXT Divas released a “#LikeAGirl” video to go with the “Always #LikeAGirl” ad that aired during the NFL Super Bowl on Sunday evening. NXT General Manager William Regal tweeted that he was proud to present the video, which you can check out below.
– As noted earlier today, Stephanie McMahon and Triple H were in attendance at the NFL Super Bowl on Sunday night in Arizona cheering on the New England Patriots. During the game, Stephanie and television host Joel McHale of “The Soup” fame on E! went back-and-forth in a playful manner on social media. Below are some of the comments the two made to each other.
.@stephmcmahon is for the Pats & is wearing leather pants. Typical New England fan.
– When Paul Heyman got a big pop from the fans in Philadelphia during his backstage segment with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon at the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view this past Sunday night, the decision was made to not introduce him in the arena before the WWE World Heavyweight Championship triple-threat match.
– The Bunny from Adam Rose’s “Rosebuds” group may be gone from WWE. There were plans at one point for a Bunny vs. Adam Rose exchange during the Rumble match, but as seen last Sunday night, that never happened. Additionally, The Bunny hasn’t appeared on WWE television in quite a while.
– The 2015 WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view drew an advanced sellout of just under 14,000 fans at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. WWE announced during the show that 17,164 fans were in attendance.
WWE is wishing a happy 74th birthday to WWE Hall Of Famer and the creator of the Royal Rumble match concept, Pat Patterson, at tonight’s WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. WWE will air a graphic on the big screen to honor the longtime legendary WWE executive.
Below is a photo, courtesy of Stephanie McMahon’s official Twitter account, of Patterson talking with Vince McMahon, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in the arena prior to tonight’s show.
Stephanie McMahon recently spoke with Talk Sport’s new “Gorilla Position” podcast and teased that the WWE Network in the U.K. may have some U.K.-specific original programming in the near future.
Below is an excerpt from the interview.
“Right now our focus is really to continue on the launch and rollout of the Network – but ultimately localisation of the content on the WWE Network where it makes sense to do so.
[We also want] to increase the engagement with our fans – we listen to our audience and that is key to our success, really. We have 320 live events a year all over the world and they act as focus groups every single night – they tell us what they love, what they don’t like and worse, what they don’t care about.
Just staying on top of and staying ahead of the curve in terms of innovation and delivery of that content [is key] because our ultimate goal is always to give our fans what they want, when they want it and where they want it, on any available platform.”
– Triple H will be voicing The Incredible Hulk in the new Marvel Experience tour. He and Stephanie McMahon visited the Marvel Experience in Dallas, Texas prior to Monday’s RAW Reunion show. For more information on the Marvel Experience traveling attraction, visit TheMarvelExperience.com.
– Speaking of Triple H, below is a cool photo from prior to Monday’s RAW Reunion show that features all five members of the infamous “Kliq” hanging out in the ring. Pictured in the ring are the original nWo Wolfpac members — Sean Waltman, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, while the original D-X members — Shawn Michaels and Triple H, are pictured standing outside the ring.
Below are this week’s “RAW Fallout” videos. The first video shows The Authority, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, storming out of the arena after Sting showed up and helped John Cena win the main event, which allowed Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan to get their jobs back.
In the second video, the New Age Outlaws talk about The Ascension, who they will meet in the ring at this Sunday’s WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
And finally, here’s the third RAW Fallout video, which features Cena gloating about his friends getting their jobs back.
WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon and WWE Hall of Famer Booker T appeared on the the Wrestling Compadres Slamcast podcast at Nerdist.com.
One of the most interesting topics discussed was WWE’s decision to discontinue the annual Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, which is being replaced by a new event this year, Fast Lane.
Stephanie said that it was mostly related to the logistics hanging the chamber structure, which weighs 10 tons. Many arenas across the United States have been adding elaborate high-tech scoreboards above where the ring is set up. It’s become increasingly hard to hang the chamber in those arenas.
She assured the hosts that Fast Lane will still be an exciting event as the last stop on the road to WrestleMania. “Don’t worry,” she said. “We will deliver.”
WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon and WWE Chief Financial Officer George A. Barrios did in a presentation at the 17th Annual Needham Growth Conference for investors in New York City on Tuesday. A .PDF of WWE’s presentation can be found at Corporate.WWE.com. Here are some highlights:
– WWE is looking to launch the WWE Network in several new markets over the next few years, including Italy, Germany, India, Japan, China, Thailand, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. There are 98 million ‘WWE broadband homes’ in the world. If they can get 3-4% of those homes to subscribe, the WWE Network could potentially have 3-4 million active subscribers.
– Monday Night RAW has been averaging 4.6 million viewers a week, with SmackDown doing 3.0 million.
– WWE TV rights fees have increased from $78 million in 2004 to $171 million as of September 2014. With WWE’s TV deals locked in through 2018, WWE’s annual revenue is expected to increase by $100 million by 2018.
– In addition to television production, social media and live event successes were both touted, including a live event revenue rising from $62 million to $114 million.
– After an angle on Monday’s edition of WWE RAW, which saw Stephanie McMahon force Dean Ambrose to get papers signed by a doctor after a mental health evaluation, Ambrose is now officially confirmed as an entrant into the 2015 WWE Royal Rumble match.
– Below is a video promo for this week’s edition of NXT on the WWE Network, which airs on Wednesday, January 13th at 8pm EST.
Triple H posted the following photo of himself and Stephanie McMahon presenting Dana Warrior and The Ultimate Warrior’s children with the Slammy Award for “The Surprise Return of the Year” prior to Monday’s edition of WWE RAW in New Orleans, Louisiana.
As noted, Daniel Bryan’s first match back since making his WWE return will take place on this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown, the first episode of the show to air in its’ new Thursday time slot.
The match was made official on Monday’s RAW, where during an in-ring segment, Stephanie McMahon revealed that Bryan’s opponent on this Thursday’s SmackDown will be the man who “put Bryan on the shelf,” Kane.
WWE SmackDown will be taped on Tuesday night, January 13th in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and will air this Thursday night on the SyFy Network. Make sure to visit us here on the website on Tuesday night for live spoiler results coverage of the WWE SmackDown television taping.
Stamford, Conn., January 12, 2015 – WWE® and First Book today announced the launch of the 2015 WrestleMania Reading Challenge, giving students ages 4-18 the chance to win a trip to WrestleMania® 31 on Sunday, March 29, 2015 at the new Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
Beginning today through Sunday, February 22, students can register for the WrestleMania Reading Challenge at WWEReadingSuperstar.com. Through WWE’s partnership with First Book’s digital reading initiative, We Give Books, children between the ages of 4-12 can select a WWE Superstar Reading Buddy and read digital books to participate, while teens ages 13-18 can select a WWE Superstar Pen Pal, read a book and write an essay.
WWE will make a financial contribution to First Book in order to support literacy initiatives and provide access to books for children across the United States. WWE and its Superstars and Divas will also continue to host reading celebrations, visiting kids at local schools and libraries to stress the importance of reading. Additionally, WWE will utilize all of its platforms, including WWE Network, TV broadcasts, live events, digital and social media to promote literacy.
“The WrestleMania Reading Challenge celebrates the power and strength of being a reader,” said Kyle Zimmer, First Book president and CEO. “First Book is thrilled to partner with WWE and bring more books to children in need across the country.”
“WWE is proud to partner with First Book and continue our long-standing commitment to education and literacy initiatives through the WrestleMania Reading Challenge,” said Stephanie McMahon, Chief Brand Officer, WWE. “Together, we are providing a fun and engaging experience to encourage children of all ages to read.”
For more information or to participate in the WrestleMania Reading Challenge, visit WWEReadingSuperstar.com.
– With SmackDown moving to Thursday nights on Syfy, WWE announced changes to the announce teams for both SmackDown and Raw yesterday. Beginning this Monday, Michael Cole, Booker T and John “Bradshaw” Layfield will handle play-by-play and color commentary on Raw. Then, when SmackDown debuts next Thursday on Syfy, Cole, Jerry “The King” Lawler and Byron Saxton will call the action—Tom Phillips is off the announce team. The broadcast team for WWE pay-per-view events will continue to feature Cole, Lawler and Layfield.
While this change appears sudden, in the case of Lawler, WWE officials have wanted to remove him from the broadcast booth at Raw “for a long time.”
“They wanted to get rid of Lawler on Raw for a long time, but after the heart attack, they figured they couldn’t,” stated Wrestling Observer editor Dave Meltzer on the F4WOnline.com message board Thursday night in a thread about the announce team changes. “This relaunch of Smackdown gave them the chance.”
– The official WWE website has issued a poll asking fans which fired WWE Superstar they would bring back if allowed. With over 15,000 votes cast, Dolph Ziggler is leading the poll at 68%. Ryback follows at 26% with Erick Rowan following him at 7%.
– Stephanie McMahon and WWE Chief Financial Officer George A. Barrios will participate in a presentation at the 17th Annual Needham Growth Conference for investors in New York City on Tuesday. Their remarks are expected to being around 5:30 pm ET. You can listen to a live audio webcast on the presentation online at ir.corporate.wwe.com under Events & Presentations.
– Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury, who have been appearing as henchman for The Authority in recent weeks, have been officially added to the current WWE roster page on WWE.com. Both are listed as members of Raw.
– On Twitter, fans can join Stephanie McMahon and @WWEmoms at 7 pm ET (4 pm PT) on Thursday as they promote the WWE Fit Series: Stephanie McMahon DVD. Click here for additional details.
– The latest updates to the WWE Network vault are as follows: Prime Time Wrestling (May 19, 1986), Raw (April 1, 1996), Raw (November 24, 2014), Raw (December 1, 2014). The April 1, 1996 episode of Raw took place the night after WrestleMania XXII, and included the in-ring debuts of Mankind and Marc Mero, as well as Vince McMahon conducting an in-ring interview with new WWF Champion Shawn Michaels.
