– Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady made their WWE in-ring debuts on this week’s SmackDown when they defeated The Ascension. WWE posted the above video following the airing of the match where Cass talks about joining the WWE main roster and going for the Tag Team Titles.
– WWE announced on Friday that the next NXT Takeover live special would take place on June 8th. They also reported that the next set of NXT TV tapings will be on May 19th and June 9th at Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL.
Triple H is interviewed in the cover story of the new Muscle & Fitness magazine. In the interview, which was conducted before WrestleMania 32, Triple H talked about his behind-the-scenes duties in WWE, saying he had to “learn how to switch hats quickly” from wrestler to executive.
“Going from the locker room and the road to coming into the office and working with the executives, it’s a totally different mindset and culture,” Triple H said. “You have to learn how to switch hats quickly. Something I always marveled at when I would first come into the office was Vince’s ability to switch hats instantaneously. One minute he was looking at logo designs, the next minute he was making a decision about an international market, then 10 seconds later he was doing something creative that had to do with the show. And that’s what it takes because there’s so much flux.
“I’m in charge of talent, live events, and a lot of the creative. I also have a lot of input with certain programming. To be honest, if I weren’t on the show every week my life would be a whole lot easier. It takes up a lot of time.”
The Game said he does think about retiring from in-ring competition. The former WWE World Heavyweight Champion indicted that he would take time after WrestleMania to contemplate his future. As of this writing, HHH has not been on WWE TV since WrestleMania.
“I think about that. I don’t want to be doing this just to do it. In the past several years there have been opportunities that have presented themselves. It all depends on the year. If you ask me right now about next year, I’m not even thinking about next year. I’m thinking about WrestleMania, and on Monday, after WrestleMania is over, I’ll think about what’s next after that.”
You can read the entire interview in the current issue of Muscle & Fitness on newsstands now.
Vince, Shane & Stephanie McMahon are all not currently advertised for Monday’s RAW. Triple H is also not scheduled for the show on Monday, which will be filmed at the O2 Arena in London, England. “The Authority” has not appeared on WWE TV since WrestleMania 32. The night after WrestleMania, Vince gave Shane “control” of RAW and he’s had it for two weeks now.
Top WWE names scheduled to appear on RAW in London include Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt, and The New Day.
WWE.com is still advertising Triple H for the RAW tapings on April 25th, May 2nd and May 9th. Triple H and Stephanie were originally scheduled to appear on the April 4th RAW from Los Angeles, but were ultimately pulled from the show.
After WrestleMania 32, Triple H lost his WWE World Heavyweight championship to Roman Reigns in the main event. Thus, depleting the Authority of their resources.
To make matters worse for HHH and Stephanie McMahon, Vince McMahon gave the power to Shane McMahon last night on WWE Raw. Could this spell trouble for the WWE’s hierarchical power? Despite being advertised for WWE Raw appearances after WrestleMania, the Authority’s time on TV is ending.
Reddit user FalconArrow indicates that the Authority’s WWE television presence will end soon.
From what I know they are going bye bye for a while very soon.
Triple H or Stephanie didn’t appear on Raw last night, as they were presumably selling the “injuries” that Reigns gave them in the WrestleMania main event.
With Shane now in charge, at least for the foreseeable future, WWE programming should change slightly. Expect a confrontation between Shane and the Authority in the coming weeks, especially if FalconArrow is correct.
WWE invades the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX for tonight’s episode of Monday Night RAW, airing live on the USA Network. Here’s what’s scheduled for tonight’s show:
– How will Triple H react to losing the WWE Title at WrestleMania 32?
– Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows could possibly make their debuts on this show. They’ve been expected to make their WWE debuts for some time.
– Brock Lesnar and Vince McMahon are both advertised to appear on the show.
– The Undertaker and Shane McMahon are not advertised to appear on the show.
– Other stars advertised to appear include Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, Kane, Big Show, Bray Wyatt and more.
We’ll have live play-by-play coverage of RAW & discussion tonight starting at 7:30 PM ET!
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.
Roman Reigns putting life and limb on the line – right before fans began chanting, “You Still Suck”
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Triple H spoke with CBSSports.com this week to promote this Sunday’s WrestleMania 32 event at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Topics discussed include his WrestleMania XII debut against The Ultimate Warrior, staying in shape with Joe DeFranco and more. Perhaps the most newsworthy quotes came when Triple H addressed his challenger this Sunday, Roman Reigns.
“He’s a great kid, and I’m really happy for his success and how well he’s done,” Triple H said. said. “But it’s a tough road and a long road. That success has come fast. Sometimes that can be a blessing and sometimes it can be a curse. So I think he’s done the best that he can with it.”
Despite the fact that Reigns has been pushed as the “new face of the company” for well over a year, fans just aren’t buying it. WWE is not blind to this reality and Triple H shared his insight about why Reigns isn’t catching on.
“You know, the hardest thing in this business to do now is, as a character, to either make everyone love you or everyone hate you,” he said with a laugh. “The world is a divided place in politics, in music and everything. Choices now, and people’s opinions, are front and center more than ever. The Internet makes that readily available to everybody. They know all of the machinations of everything and the behind-the-scenes of everything, you know.
“It used to be that the good guy was the guy that didn’t cheat, you know what I mean? It was just very simple. The world has changed. I think [Reigns has] done a phenomenal job. He’s, you know, from a behind-the-scenes standpoint, a great human being. I’m really happy for his success, as I am for all of them.”
Comment on this article and tell us if you agree with Triple H’s explanation.
ESPN will be kicking off their WrestleMania week coverage today, with several of WWE’s top performers making appearances to promote this weekend’s festivities. Here’s the schedule for WrestleMania 32 Week programming on ESPN:
Monday: Brock Lesnar on SportsCenter at 8:45am and 10:30am EST
Tuesday: Stephanie McMahon at 10:30am EST on SportsCenter
Tuesday: Triple H at 9pm on SportsCenter
Wednesday: Shane McMahon at 9pm on SportsCenter
TBA: The Undertaker on SportsCenter
We’ll post video highlights of the appearances when they become available.
WWE Intercontinental champion Kevin Owens recently spoke with IndianExpress.com to promote WrestleMania 32.
The 31-year-old superstar is a longtime student of the game and is doing everything he can to learn from the two most powerful men in the industry. “I talk to Vince as much as I can,” Owens said. “He obviously is the busiest man I know. Vince, at any time on Raw, or SmackDown or on a pay-per-view, is thinking about a million things – running the show basically. I have a good relationship with him.”
He added that he’s still getting “I’m still getting to know him. I still feel like we are building a relationship.”
While Vince McMahon is naturally somewhat of a father figure to Owens, he is closer to Triple H. During his push to get signed by WWE, it was Triple H who ultimately made the call to bring him in. “I know him more on a personal level than I do Vince,” Owens said of Triple H. “We talk about our kids and stuff like that. They both are very different in a way but they have the same goal – of making WWE as entertaining as possible.”
Owens added that his favorite thing to do at RAW (besides performing) is sitting in the gorilla position to watch how Vince, Triple H, Road Dogg, Billy Kidman and the other agents make the show work. He even flirted with the idea of being an agent himself one day after his days in the ring are over.
– WWE Divas Champion Charlotte has been battling flu symptoms over the past few days. She defeated Natalya last night on RAW.
– Former WWE Diva Eve Torres Gracie will appear on the April 11th “Supergirl” episode on CBS. She will play DC Comics character Maxima, who is affiliated with Superman and The Justice League in the comics.
– WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan will make his first post-Gawker trial appearance on ABC’s “The View” on Wednesday morning.
– Speaking of Hogan, he tweeted the following early Tuesday morning in celebration of Monday’s ruling that he’s owed another $25 million from Gawker and owner Nick Denton. The grand total owed to Hogan now stands at $140,100,000.
WWE has provided a medical update on Triple H after his brawl with Roman Reigns on RAW. Fans saw Triple H take the brunt of the attack, which resulted in The Game receiving 6 staples in his scalp. WWE reports he also had shards of glass removed from his back.
WWE referee Dan Engler was also injured in the melee, noting that he received 13 stitches and 3 sutures.
Kurt Angle and Triple H reportedly met last weekend for the first time since 2006. The two multi-time WWE World Champions were both in attendance at the Arnold Sports Festival last weekend in Columbus, Ohio. Angle was there to be inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame, and Triple H was there to film and produce some videos for WWE.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported news of their meeting on Sunday night, but said there’s no word on what they talked about. Angle has previously said that he’s confident WWE will eventually induct him into their Hall of Fame, and has even expressed interest in doing a Team Angle reboot on WWE TV.
Kurt Angle Tells Untold HHH & McMahon Stories, Says He Entered His Prime In TNA
One of the top storylines heading into WrestleMania 32 is Shane McMahon battling The Undertaker inside Hell in a Cell. If Shane McMahon is victorious, The Authority is removed from power and Shane assumes complete control of WWE.
While this is not necessarily a spoiler, it’s worth noting that Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, and Triple H are advertised for several upcoming RAW tapings after WWE’s biggest show of the year:
April 4th from Los Angeles
April 25th from Hartford, CT
May 2nd from St. Louis, MI
May 9th from Omaha, NE
May 23rd from Baltimore, MD
Additionally, Shane McMahon is not listed for any shows after Mania.
The dynamic between Vince McMahon and Triple H is reportedly something everyone is talking about internally in WWE. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Shane McMahon’s return, and recent changes to WrestleMania 32 storylines, have both lead to an increase in backstage chatter about the McMahon family drama. The Observer reports that Vince does not like being perceived as the old out-of-touch guy who needs to step aside so Triple H can take over.
The speculation within WWE right now is reportedly that if Shane does take on an executive role in the company, Vince could be playing him against Triple H and Stephanie. It gets hard to tell how much of the Vince-Triple H tension is exaggerated, but it is known that Shane did have issues with Triple H and Stephanie that lead to him leaving the company in 2009. Shane left WWE after he found out his sister and Triple H would eventually be taking over the company instead of him.
Shane’s entire promo on Monday’s RAW was re-written at the last minute to remove mentions of him wanting to fire Triple H and Stephanie from RAW should he win at WrestleMania 32. According to The Observer, the opening segment on RAW has been changing at the last minute lately at Vince’s request. Last minute script changes were blamed for Shane forgetting a line during his return promo on RAW, but it largely went unnoticed because Vince spoke up and covered for him.
Aside from any heat he may have with Vince and Shane, Triple H also reportedly drew criticism from some WWE employees for not “selling” his beating from Roman Reigns back in December. In the days after the angle with Reigns at TLC, Triple H was making appearances to promote NXT and not selling any injuries.
Dean Ambrose was Michael Cole’s guest for this week’s WWE.com sitdown interview. Here are some highlights:
– They talked about Ambrose’s WWE title match against Triple H this Saturday night at Roadblock. Ambrose said he had to get in Triple H’s face to get the opportunity and Triple H knows he can’t beat him. Ambrose says Triple H likes to rationalize and explain away things when they don’t go his way. When he defeats Triple H for the WWE Championship this Sunday, Triple H won’t be able to explain that away.
– Ambrose did a Triple H impersonation and said all his Triple H’s tough talk is to compensate for his insecurities. Ambrose doesn’t think Triple H is fooling anybody.
– Cole talks about how Ambrose will completely change the landscape of WrestleMania if he defeats Triple H at Roadblock. Ambrose says that’s not his problem. He feels like WWE is his company because he’s the guy on the road 300 days every year, taking whatever is put in front of him. The WWE Universe knows that even though it’s technically Vince McMahon’s company, WWE belongs to him now. Triple H have no choice but to respect him after Roadblock.
– Cole asks what WWE would look like with Dean as WWE World Heavyweight Champion and Ambrose says, “Best for business.”
This weekend is the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio, an annual expo featuring bodybuilding & fitness, pro wrestling, boxing and more. WWE has a presence at the festival once again this year, with NXT matches taking place on Saturday and Sunday. WWE COO Triple H is in attendance and participated in a Q&A session with the man himself, Arnold Schwarzeneggar.
Overall not a lot of wrestling talk but here’s a recap and video from the event:
– Triple H spoke about the impact bodybuilding has had on him and the positive benefits weight training can have in reaching one’s life goals. He said Arnold was a hero to him growing up and said it was an awesome experience to incorporate Arnold & The Terminator in his WrestleMania entrance last year.
– Arnold encourages everybody to be active on a regular basis. He then took a Snapchat photo with Triple H.
– Both Arnold and Triple H put each other over for having huge muscles. Arnold hyped up the festival.
– Corey Graves asked them what they eat for their cheat meals. Arnold talked about going to the gym for an hour today and eating oatmeal with strawberries for breakfast and didn’t really answer the question directly. Triple H said he’s a big breakfast guy so he would cheat on his healthy diet by eating pancakes and french toast.
– Arnold got in a plug for his new gig hosting The Apprentice on NBC this fall. Triple H joked that Donald Trump only had “You’re fired” as a catch phrase while Arnold has a many to pick from.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com.
Regarding Shane McMahon’s surprise return to WWE television, Ross called it one of the most emotional moments on RAW in years. “Being asked to cast judgment on this storyline is borderline incredible and I simply have chosen to wait and see how this matter plays out before joining the maddening throng of fans who have either already declared it a failure of the best thing ever.”
Last week, news broke that Triple H will be defending the WWE World Heavyweight championship at the “Road To WrestleMania” live special from Toronto on 3/12. He thinks it’s imperative for Triple H to get some ring time ahead of his WrestleMania main event match against Roman Reigns. “HHH is a perfectionist and being able to wrestle bouts on the road to Wrestlemania especially if he dances with Roman Reigns in some form is strategic.”
JR also addressed the news that TNA is “seeking investors” in an effort to take the company to the next level. He wished them the best of luck and said Impact Wrestling on Pop TV has been showing signs of improvement, which it really has.
UPDATE: WWE deleted the article right as I was posting this one. Beloved Twitter personality @TheFrayMovement tweeted screen grabs of the article, though:
Earlier today, WWE.com posted the official announcement (sort of, t’s on the site but I cant find where it’s supposed to be linked for) of the March 12th March to WrestleMania special that will air live on WWE Network from the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It wasn’t a secret that the show was coming, but WWE hadn’t really acknowledged it until now.
The big news coming out of the announcement is that not only is Brock Lesnar wrestling on the show as expected, but Triple H will be as well, and he’ll be defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship there for the first time since winning it at the Royal Rumble. His challenger has not been announced as of yet.
Triple H will also be wrestling 13 days later at Madison Square Garden, where, as we noted yesterday, the lineup has been changed to include he and Sheamus vs. Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose as the main even (Kevin Owens vs. A.J. Styles was also added). Since Triple H transitioned into a part time role as a wrestler several years ago, he’ll sometimes return at a major market house show to shake potential ring rust off, and it looks like he’s doing that again here.
Past house show return matches even included the blow-off to Triple H’s feud with Sheamus, as he was transitioning to feuding with The Undertaker for WrestleMania so their program was forgotten on TV.
– Charlotte noted on Twitter that she’ll be ringside for the Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch match scheduled for Monday’s RAW. The winner earns a shot at the Divas Championship,
– NXT Diva Adrienne Reese was wearing a cast on her left arm at last night’s NXT live event from Orlando, Florida. She took part in a meet and greet event before the show. No word yet on when she was injured.
– Triple H and Stephanie were in attendance for last night’s Black Sabbath concert at Madison Square Garden.
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.
WWE doing a “cruiserweight show” of some kind as a WWE Network project has been rumored for years now, going back even before the network launched. Back in 2012, when WWE was first shooting pilots at Full Sail University before the launch of the current version of NXT, one of those pilots was some kind of cruiserweight show. The rumors kept going as for a while, disappeared last year, and finally returned a few months ago when it finally got close to reality. Yesterday, WWE finally announced the Global Cruiserweight Series, which is coming in July with 32 wrestlers from around the world.
There’s always been a complicated relationship between WWE and smaller wrestlers. Historically, even long before Vincent Kennedy McMahon was in charge, the WWWF/the Capitol Wrestling Corporation was a territory built around bigger wrestlers working a slower style, with a heroic champion slaying giants in main events. That a big (pun not intended) reason why the rings are bigger and were historically harder than other promotions’ rings for many years, as well. That informed McMahon’s preferences, and so on and so forth.
Even when they eventually tried, they badly missed the mark. In 1997, after the cruiserweight division became a key ingredient in WCW’s success, the WWF light heavyweight division was launched. The problem was that it was badly mismatched mix of great junior heavyweights from around the world (TAKA Michinoku, Mr. Aguila, Pantera, and so on) with whatever shorter wrestlers they had hesitated in signing before, like Scott Putski and Brian Christopher (who was a great performer, but wrong stylistically). It never clicked, and eventually disappeared from TV for long stretches of time. Eventually, it improved, and while there were hiccups, the version that inherited the WCW Cruiserweight Championship as a WWE belt featured good action in the style fans wanted.
Until it vanished after Hornswoggle won the title.
So you can see how WWE introducing the Global Cruiserweight series is a big change, In context, though, it’s not surprising at tall that it’s happening now. PWInsider’s interview with Triple H yesterday made it very clear.that this is one of his projects, and, well, look at what’s happened with NXT. If this was ever going to happen, it was going to happen now. WWE is now actively recruiting from “workrate indies,” the same people they laughed at a decade ago, and paid good money to lure Shinsuke Nakamura from New Japan Pro Wrestling. Even if the main roster shows still have issues, this is not the WWE we used to know.
Of course, the question is if any of this can make its way to the main shows. Triple H is not in charge of the main roster shows, Vince McMahon is. Based on how Raw has looked as of late, it seems like it could be a long time before any of this is reflected on “Vince’s” shows. But it’s a start.
– WWE tapes this week’s SmackDown tonight from Tampa, FL. The show will feature Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose on the Highlight Reel. Check back later tonight for live results from the tapings.
– Chris Jericho noted on Twitter that he had a blast wrestling AJ Styles last night on RAW (Video).
– Shinsuke Nakamura begins training at the the WWE Performance Center the first week in February, days after his final appearance for NJPW on 1/30. During a press conference Monday, Nakamura officially announced his departure from NJPW and surrendered the IWGP Intercontinental championship title. Nakamura stated once again that he accomplished everything he wanted to in Japan and is looking for a new challenge.
– Triple H announced on Monday that NXT will be returning to the Arnold Classic once again this year with two live events scheduled for March 3rd and 4th from Columbus, Ohio.
– Along with NXT General Manager William Regal, Triple H was also in attendance for Saturday’s EVOLVE 54 live event from from Orlando. Here he is with Gabe Sapolsky checking out the action:
– Independent star Zack Sabre Jr. tweeted a message to Finn Balor checking in to see if he’s still recruiting members for a potential Balor Club stable:
