— A meeting was held yesterday where it was agreed that the organization would no longer be referred as World Wrestling Entertainment due to Vince McMahon’s decree to eliminate the term wrestling from the product. The company will be solely branded as WWE. Multiple sources indicate the meeting ended with this directive.
— Attempting to capitalize on American Idol contestant James Durbin’s noted wrestling fandom, World Wrestling Entertainment sent him a custom made spinner WWE “Spinner” belt. It was displayed on last night’s show with the name “Crazy James” engraved.
— Triple H attended the Georgia state legislature’s WrestleMania Proclamation yesterday with wife Stephanie McMahon.
It was revealed at today’s WrestleMania XXVII press conference in New York’s Hard Rock Café that Triple H would be inducting Shawn Michaels into the WWE Hall of Fame on Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia.
Triple H was introduced by Stephanie McMahon, the event’s presenter. He kissed her upon his entrance and announced that he would be inducting Michaels, his friend, into the WWE Hall of Fame. He then vowed to end The Undertaker’s undefeated WrestleMania streak on Sunday.
Michaels said recently in interviews that he narrowed the list down to two candidates to induct him into the WWE Hall of Fame.
The WWE Hall of Fame Induction ceremony airs this Monday prior to Raw on the USA Network.
— Triple H revealed during a recent interview with RXMuscle.com that his and Stephanie’s third daughter’s name is Vaughn Evelyn. She was born in late August.
Their other childrens’ names are Aurora Rose (born in 2006) and Murphy Claire (born in 2008).
— The advertised main event for last night’s SmackDown live event in Kalamazoo, Michigan was changed from a Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Championship between Edge, Kane and Dolph Ziggler to Edge vs. Kane. Following Edge’s victory over Kane, it was announced that Vickie Guerrero had given Ziggler a shot at Edge’s title. Edge retained the belt against Ziggler.
— The Franklin Square Library in Franklin Square, New York is holding “WWE Day” this Saturday at 2:00 p.m. Brian Shields, who wrote WWE Encyclopedia as well as other WWE books, will be on hand for the event.
Stephanie McMahon has been less involved with the creative content of WWE programming than many expected her to be at this point. She took maternity leave following the birth of her third child in August and has largely worked via telecommuting since that time. One company source said Paul Levesque (a/k/a Triple H) appears more creatively involved than he has ever been after his promotion in the fall to Vince McMahon’s Senior Advisor.
Though Levesque does not attend creative meetings, he is more involved in the creative process and has a lot of stroke in producer meetings. He also filled in as a show runner when Vince McMahon missed a few recent television tapings.
“I would say Vince McMahon is the executive show runner and Hunter is the associate show runner,” said one WWE source. “He’s the apprentice.”
— Former WWE talent Scott Hall recently caused a disturbance at a gas station near his Chuluota, Florida residence which resulted in police being summoned. However, he was not arrested.
— Rebecca Budig, who hosted Sunday Night Heat on MTV in the fall of 2000, is a finalist on ABC’s Skating with the Stars. Notably, Budig jokingly said during an October 2000 episode that Stephanie McMahon was “twice her size,” in front of the WWE heiress no less. Budig never appeared on WWE programming again.
— Diamond Dallas Page, among other wrestlers, were on hand for Rob Van Dam’s 40th birthday party last night at the Rainbow Room in West Hollywood.
— Stephanie McMahon is still out on maternity leave after giving birth to her third child in August.
WWE Champion The Miz noted in an interview last week with Bill Simmons for WWE.com that he had not seen her backstage at television tapings in a while.
— Despite reports that Juan Cena had been pulled from advertising for upcoming select shows, the Mexican cousin of John Cena worked last night’s WWE Supershow event in Jackson, Tennessee. He beat World Heavyweight Champion Kane by disqualification when The Nexus attacked the masked grappler.
— Recently released WWE star Shad Gaspard is accepting independent bookings via BKBEAST@ymail.com.
WWE star Triple H and his wife Stephanie McMahon-Leveque attended a political rally for Linda McMahon’s Senate campaign in Danbury, Connecticut over the weekend:
— Sean Morley (a/k/a Val Venis) is telling people he has re-signed with World Wrestling Entertainment.
— Triple H and Stephanie McMahon appeared at the Danbury Get Out The Vote Rally yesterday in Danbury, Connecticut to support Linda McMahon’s Senate campaign. The former WWE CEO was also on hand for the event.
— The Bella Twins hosted Nickelback’s pool party concert yesterday at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
— It was reported earlier that Chavo Guerrero is playing the role of Jack Swagger’s eagle mascot. Current creative plans call for the mascot’s identity to revealed on television. (source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
— Matches taking place on tonight’s episode of WWE Superstars are as follows: Mark Henry vs. Jey Uso, Zack Ryder vs. Tyson Kidd, MVP vs. Curt Hawkins, and the advertised main event of Tyler Reks vs. Chris Masters.
— WWE’s creative department has not been spending as much time with Vince McMahon as they have in the past. It is said that a lot of work is being done via e-mail as opposed to actual meetings.
In related news, the majority of the creative writers are said to be pleased that Stephanie McMahon is out on maternity leave.
“It’s one less hurdle,” said a company source. “Plus, Vince isn’t as tense when she’s not around.”
— The pre-sale for the Raw taping taking place December 6 at the KFC YUM! Center in Louisville, Kentucky is MONDAY. The pre-sale begins tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. via Ticketmaster.com.
— One WWE insider considers the timing of Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s promotion as Vince McMahon’s senior advisor interesting. The source questioned whether Levesque being named to a position he’s been essentially doing for the past several years minus the official title is related to World Wrestling Entertainment being investigated for misclassifying talent and other personnel as independent contractors.
The company’s Stamford, Connecicut based headquarters recently underwent a slight renovation as an office was built for Levesque as a result of his executive position.
“It was Extreme Makeover: Hunter Edition,” cracked the WWE source.
— An episode of the drama program Caprica is scheduled to air during NXT’s 10:00 p.m. Tuesday night timeslot on Syfy on October 5.
NXT is currently scheduled to air its final episode this Tuesday. No announcement has been made regarding a future channel for the show.
— Stephanie McMahon celebrates her 34th birthday today. She is out on maternity leave following the birth of her third child last month.
Stephanie McMahon gave birth to her third child Wednesday, a baby girl.
Linda McMahon confirmed earlier this year on her Twitter account that Stephanie was pregnant with her third child after she appeared visibly pregnant at a rally event for her Senate campaign.
It was speculated at the time that Stephanie would deliver the baby in August.
McMahon and husband Triple H already have two daughters; Aurora Rose Levesque (born July 24, 2006) and Murphy Claire (born July 28, 2008).
Influential Capitol Hill news operation Politico has a story on Linda McMahon entitled WWE just a ‘soap opera’. It is titled as such due to the Republican Senate candidate referring to World Wrestling Entertainment as a soap opera upon being asked on Nightline if she was “creeped out” by an instance in which her daughter Stephanie walked into the ring as the crowd chanted “slut.”
“You have to think about… the WWE as soap operas,” McMahon responded.
“It was acting and WWE is the longest-running weekly episodic program in television. Sure, there are story lines that are better than others,” she said, adding that voters in Connecticut “are not concerned about soap opera story lines.”
— It’s worth noting that Shawn Michaels is not advertised for any shows past the night after WrestleMania when Raw emanates from the US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Furthermore, Undertaker is being advertised to appear at all SmackDown television tapings announced thus far — through June.
— The Wall Street Journal Magazine published a story this past week profiling WWE’s international business and use of international stars.
Stephanie McMahon is quoted in the piece, noting WWE is searching China for new talent to add to a roster that includes The Great Khali from India, Kofi Kingston from Ghana, West Africa, and Kung Fu Naki from Tokyo, Japan.
“We are making more of an effort to recruit from other countries,” Stephanie McMahon said. The Wall Street Journal Magazine added she is looking to recruit talent from China.
To read the story, click here. Former WWE performer Paul Heyman is also quoted in the story.
— The Feb. 26 episode of Friday Night Smackdown scored a 2.0 rating with 3,443,000 viewers for MyNetworkTV. (source: PWInsider.com)
— When asked on Twitter whether rumors of her daughter Stephanie being pregnant were true, Linda McMahon confirmed the rumor as true.
“Yes it’s true and the family is very excited,” Linda wrote.
Apparently, the rumor was in light of photographs that had surfaced online of Stephanie looking visibly pregnant while attending her mother’s GOP Senate candidates debate this past week.
McMahon already has two daughters; Aurora Rose Levesque (born July 24, 2006) and Murphy Claire (born July 28, 2008).
— Tiffany, Caylen Croft, Trent Barreta and Goldust are now apart of SmackDown as their respective bios have been moved to the SmackDown Superstars section on WWE.com. Talent yet to be assigned to a new brand include Abraham Washington, Byron Saxton, Tony Atlas, Tyler Reks, Vance Archer and Vladimir Kozlov.
— Tickets for next month’s WWE pay-per-view, Extreme Rules, went on sale this morning via Ticketmaster. The event will be held Sunday, Apr. 25, 2010 at the 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, Maryland.
Connecticut’s Stanford Advocate is reporting that Vince and Linda McMahon purchased a $4.1 million penthouse duplex in Donald Trump’s Trump Parc luxury tower, located in Stamford Connecticut.
The sale was actually finalized back in October. The penthouse unit has 3,900 square feet of living space.
Political blogger Aaron Blake of TheHill.com wrote this week that Linda’s political opponents “will surely be after her for the timing” of purchasing yet another luxury piece of real estate.
Vince and Linda already own eight multi-million dollar real estate holdings and do not plan on living in their latest acquisition.
Linda’s campaign spokesman Ed Patru is defending the purchase by stating, “I’ll remind you that unlike (two of her opponents), Linda didn’t inherit her resources. She was born in a middle class family, started with bankruptcy and earned the money herself through hard work.”
— The latest issue of Continental magazine has a feature article on WWE being run by a few women, particularly Donna Goldsmith, chief operating officer; Michelle Wilson, executive vice president of marketing; and Stephanie McMahon, executive vice president of creative development and operation. According to the article, they are “the day-to-day drivers behind this $500 million-plus marketing engine” that is World Wrestling Entertainment.
It’s also worth nothing that WWE wants everyone to know that what they do is not “wrestling,” but rather, “entertainment” — according to the article. Secondly, talent are to be referred to as “Superstars” and “Divas,” not wrestlers.
— WWE announced on its Twitter account that next week, WWE.com will be releasing exclusive news concerning the release of the company’s next compilation album, WWE: The Music Vol. 10.
