After beginning his professional wrestling career in the late ’80s, working for promotions in Mexico as well as companies like New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), Eddie Guerrero made quite the name for himself in WCW. As one of the Cruiserweight division’s biggest stars, Guerrero put on some amazing matches inside WCW’s ring.

He’d eventually sign with WWE in 2000, joining the company before they bought out his former employer. However, he was released from his WWE deal after a drunk driving arrest in November of 2001. Guerrero returned to WWE in 2002 when he attacked Rob Van Dam on an episode of Monday Night RAW. During his time with WWE, Guerrero established himself as one of the WWE Universe’s most beloved stars. He won a WWE Championship, two European Titles, a United States Championship, and two Intercontinental Titles.

Guerrero also captured four Tag Team Championships with partners such as Chavo Guerrero, Tajiri, and Rey Mysterio. Unfortunately, Guerrero’s career was cut short when he passed away in November of 2005 due to an underlying heart condition. It was a tremendous loss for the professional wrestling world. He was inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2006, several months after his passing.

Recently, Chris Jericho released a podcast that was taped on his Jericho Cruise. The show included himself, Rey Mysterio, Konnan, and Diamond Dallas Page. The four men honored Guerrero with an episode of the “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, reminiscing on his life and career. During the show, Jericho revealed how WWE CEO Vince McMahon felt about Guerrero upon his arrival to the company:

“He came in with Chris [Benoit], Perry Saturn, and Dean [Malenko]. They were called The Radicalz, imagine combination. Now, if you look at those guys, Chris Benoit, Perry Saturn, Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko. It’s the WWE system. Who’s gonna make it?

“Right from the start – I vividly remember this two weeks after they got there – I heard from a very high source, ‘Vince says, ‘Eddie’s the guy.’’ I was like, ‘Really?’ ‘Eddie’s the guy. He’s the one?’ ‘Out of all these other guys?’ Perry’s all big and Benoit was Benoit and Dean was Dean.

“Vince said, ‘Eddie’s the guy.’ Because he checked off all the boxes. He didn’t have the size, but he worked like he was a giant. He thought like he was a giant, he could do anything, as all of us know, and he had the character and charisma.

“Lo and behold – Vince is a genius and Vince knew what he wanted and Vince made him one of the biggest stars in the company, but that was right off the bat. He saw that, which I always though, ‘Wow, right away, you could see Eddie’s character and charisma coming through.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta5uCNIqC1s

H/T WrestleZone for the transcriptions

The beginning of AJ Styles’ career in the WWE had some unknowns about how WWE Chairman Vince McMahon would use him considering that he didn’t work in WWE NXT before making his main roster debut.

Former WWE creative writer Jimmy Jacobs talked about this topic while doing a recent interview with Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com.

Jacobs started out by stating that McMahon was skeptical of him for every reason that most people could think as he made his debut at the Royal Rumble in 2016 and got a great reaction from the fans. Despite this, McMahon “was still skeptical and said ‘well that’s just one audience.’ Can he talk? What’s his character? Does anybody know who he is? All the reasons you would think.”

However, McMahon was the one who made the decision to have AJ work with Roman Reigns a few months later as they had pitched ideas and figured you’d want to give him a strong heel. He recalled Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens being strong heels at the time. Instead, McMahon stated that Styles would be the guy.

“You have to give the devil his due in those moments.” said Jacobs.

Former WWE writer Jimmy Jacobs was recently a guest on the Art Of Wrestling podcast. This is where he talked about a wide range of topics including the fact that over the years, there has been one interesting rumor making the rounds. It involves WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and his hatred for people sneezing. In fact, he doesn’t even like to sneeze.

This is a story that has been told by many people who have worked with the boss of the company while in creative meetings. This is just one of many quirks that Vince is rumored to have.

During this interview, Jacobs shed some light on this rumor when he was quoted by stating that this is just a rumor as to when you’re on the WWE creative team, you hear things about McMahon but not sure if they are true or not.

He recalled being with the company for a few months and nobody had sneezed in front of him until one day, Triple H sneezes in front of him. This is when McMahon stated, ‘Oh God’ and then he, like puts up his invisible shield.”

Jacobs continued by stating that there would be times where he was in a small room with McMahon and he would stuff a sneeze. He recalled being in a production meeting a year and a half later where he’s sitting next to Adam Pearce and Vince is up at the front table. This is when he sneezed and McMahon reacted by stating, ‘Oh God, Adam, you should put up your shield’.”

Just when everybody thought AJ Styles might be moving down the card for a while after losing the WWE Championship, he might have become part of the biggest storyline heading into the WrestleMania season.

We noted before how the main event of this week’s episode of SmackDown Live saw Rusev defeating Shinsuke Nakamura to become the new United States Champion.

However, this wasn’t the end of the show. The closing moments of the Christmas special episode of SmackDown Live saw AJ Styles meeting with Vince McMahon backstage.

Mr. McMahon asked Styles who he is and the former TNA Star explained that he is a 2 Time WWE Champion and SmackDown Live is the ‘House that AJ Styles built’.

The Boss then questioned Styles’ position asking if The Blue Branded Show is his house then why is Daniel Bryan holding the WWE Championship and competing at the show and not him.

McMahon then encouraged AJ to channel his inner animal and the final moments of the segment saw Vince McMahon slapping the former Champion. Styles replied to this with a punch of his own.

You can check out the full segment that took place on the pre-taped special of SmackDown Live in the video below:

Vince McMahon Thinks Steve Austin Still Got It

Tuesday marked the 54th birthday of WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin and the official Twitter account of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon wished him to have a great day. McMahon and Austin had one of the biggest rivalries in the history of pro wrestling.

McMahon’s account wrote, “Still got it. Happy Birthday to longtime pain in my neck, @steveaustinBSR!”

https://twitter.com/VinceMcMahon/status/1075043108574896130

WWE 2K19 DLC Announced

New DLC has been released for the latest installment of WWE’s yearly video game, WWE 2K19. 2K Games announced the details that will bring the New Moves Pack DLC to fans who have the game on Xbox One and PS4. This pack will feature more than 50 new in-game moves from top WWE, NXT and 205 Live Superstars to use with all WWE Superstars and MyPLAYER creations. The WWE 2K19 New Moves Pack is available now for $3.99. Here are the details:

• Atomic Drop into Double Leg Combo (made popular by WWE Superstar Jeff Hardy)
• Exploder vs. Opponent on the Apron (made popular by NXT Superstar Tyler Bate)
• Slingshot X-Factor (made popular by 205 Live Superstar Mustafa Ali)
• Assisted Twist of Fate, Avalanche Splash & Side Effect Combo and the Senton & Leg Drop Combo (made popular by WWE Superstars Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt).

WWE’s final pay-per-view event of the year, TLC, is in the books and has been received well from their fans. However, there has been one match that has been a talking point among their fanbase which was the Intercontinental Title match between then-champion Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, which served as the co-headliner of this show San Jose, CA.

It was positioned as a buffer between the WWE Title match that saw Daniel Bryan successfully retain his title over AJ Styles and the main event that saw Asuka win the SmackDown Women’s Title over Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch in the first-ever Women’s Triple Threat TLC Match.

Longtime pro wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter stated on Sunday’s Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon “was furious” with it. Thus, fans weren’t the only ones who were upset with this contest that went 24 minutes.

This was a bit of a surprise as the poor reaction to this contest wasn’t expected as it served as the top program of Monday Night RAW over the last few weeks. To the point where during the match, fans chanted “this is boring” and “Becky.”

It appears that WWE will keep this feud going for at least another month as Rollins is expected to get a rematch against Ambrose for the title. With the current plan reportedly being Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar for the Universal Title at WrestleMania 35, it would make sense to wrap up this feud at the Royal Rumble. Also at this show, Lesnar will defend the WWE Universal Championship against Braun Strowman.

Acting Monday Night RAW General Manager Baron Corbin has reacted to the news that Vince McMahon will be returning to RAW on Monday. It was recently announced that McMahon would be returning to shake things up for the red brand. It will the first episode after this weekend’s Tables Ladders and Chairs (TLC) pay-per-view (PPV) in California.

Monday’s RAW will take place from the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California. Corbin took to Twitter and speculated that McMahon is going to be giving him a raise:

“I’m probably going to get a raise!”

I’m probably going to get a raise! https://t.co/TRl3WpHSQe

— Tom (@TomPestock) December 15, 2018

However, Corbin might not even be General Manager come Monday. He’s scheduled to face Braun Strowman in a TLC match on Sunday.

Should he win, his role as General Manager will become permanent. If he loses, he’ll lose his position and Strowman will get the next shot at Brock Lesnar’s Universal Championship. Based on the announcement of McMahon’s appearance, and early reports suggesting Kurt Angle will return to WWE TV on Monday as well, it’s likely Vince announces Angle as RAW’s General Manager once again.

However, that’s purely speculation and nothing has been confirmed as of this writing. We’ll keep you updated as we learn more.

What do you think will happen when Vince McMahon returns to RAW on Monday?

Vince McMahon will return to Raw on Monday, the night after Sunday’s TLC PPV. According to a company press release, Vince plans on “shaking things” up on the show.

“One week after Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins placed the blame for Monday Night Raw’s recent decline squarely on the shoulders of ‘General Manager-Elect’ Baron Corbin, WWE Chairman, and CEO Mr. McMahon will return to the red brand to shake things up,” WWE’s press release reads.

Vince McMahon To Appear On Monday Night Raw

Depending on the result of Sunday’s match between Braun Strowman and Baron Corbin, McMahon could make Corbin the full-time GM of Raw or remove him from the position entirely.

Monday Night Raw will emanate from the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, CA this week.

Vince McMahon’s XFL Plans

McMahon may have more than just Raw’s low ratings on his mind as we approach 2019, however. His XFL league is scheduled to begin play in just over 15 months. McMahon had the following to say regarding his XFL venture to ESPN earlier this year.

“I wanted to do this since the day we stopped the other one,” McMahon said. “A chance to do it with no partners, strictly funded by me, which would allow me to look in the mirror and say, ‘You were the one who screwed this up,’ or ‘You made this thing a success.'”

The XFL is set to relaunch in February of 2020 just after the conclusion of that year’s NFL season. Vince McMahon is relaunching the league that failed to see a second season back in 2001. This time, however, McMahon is doing things very differently. He has hired former NFL quarterback Oliver Luck to serve as the league’s commissioner.

McMahon wants to “reimagine” football and provide fans with a game that’s shorter, and a lot more hard-hitting. Recently, the eight teams to receive an XFL team in the inaugural 2020 season were announced. Those eight being Houston, Dallas, Seattle, Washington D.C., New York, Tampa Bay, Los Angeles, and St. Louis.

Broadcast deals and information on how fans can view the XFL should be announced sometime in 2019 as kickoff approaches. In that regard, the XFL will also have to hire broadcasters to do play-by-play for their games. It was noted early on in the relaunch process by Vince McMahon that there would be no WWE and XFL crossovers.

With that being said, one fan took to Twitter to ask WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross if he’d be calling any XFL games. Ross called a few XFL games back in 2001 for the initial launch. However, based on his answer, it doesn’t seem like “Good Ole’ JR” plans on calling any games for the inaugural 2020 season:

“@JRsBBQ will you be doing the commentary for the xfl ?”

@JRsBBQ will you be doing the commentary for the xfl ?

— Berner (@berner85) December 10, 2018

What do you think about Ross saying it’s “highly unlikely” he calls XFL games in 2020?

Vince McMahon has sold off more stock in WWE recently. According to a recent SEC filing, he sold 300,000 shares recently at a value of $74 a share, totaling over $22 million. McMahon still has over 30 million shares left, however, good for $2.3 billion.

Last year, McMahon sold 3.34 million shares in December. At the time the value of those shares totaled just over $100 million. The move then was reportedly to fund his new venture, Alpha Entertainment. McMahon’s new company will be behind the return of the XFL in 2020.

Vince McMahon Bringing Back The XFL In 2020

The XFL recently announced the following cities will have teams in the re-booted league:

• Dallas
• Houston
• Los Angeles
• New York
• St. Louis
• Seattle
• Tampa Bay
• Washington, DC

McMahon made the following comments regarding the XFL back in January:

“Let me say as far as our league is concerned it will have nothing to do with politics, and nothing to do with social issues either. We’re there to play football. We want really good football, and that’s what the fans want too.

“When they tune in I don’t know if they want to be dealing with social issues and things of that nature. And that’s what we’re going to deliver.”

“You want someone that has does not have any criminality whatsoever associated with them. In the XFL, If you have a DUI (driving under the influence) you will not play in the XFL.”

Two more potential cities have emerged for the XFL relaunch in 2020. Earlier this week, a report from KSDK surfaced suggesting that St. Louis has been the first team confirmed to receive an XFL team for the 2020 league. Now, Brad Shepard reports that Seattle is the second city that will receive an XFL team when the league makes the official announcement on December 5th:

https://twitter.com/TheBradShepard/status/1068307097023119360

Also, Pablo Maurer from The Athletic has reported that a third city, Washington D.C., will also have an XFL team. The Washington team will reportedly play their games at Audi Field, which fits about 20,000 fans:

BREAKING: The XFL is set to announce – likely next week – that it's going to put a franchise in DC and that they'll play at @AudiField. Details are still unclear, but they've been in talks w/#DCU for several months on it. More to come.

— Pablo Iglesias Maurer (@MLSist) November 30, 2018

To recap, the three cities reported thus far are St. Louis, Seattle, and Washington D.C.

The initial report from KSDK announcing St. Louis as the first XFL team provided some insight into the league’s planned schedule. The report states that there will be 10 regular season games, with half of those being played at the respective home team’s stadium. As for rule changes and things that will differ from the NFL, those have yet to be confirmed. However, it will likely be addressed in the XFL live stream scheduled for December 5th.

What do you think about the named XFL cities thus far?

The XFL is set to kick off in 2020, and the league is finally beginning to take shape. McMahon made the announcement of the league’s revival earlier this year. McMahon said he and the XFL wanted to ‘reimagine’ football. Exactly what that means is unclear, however, talk of rule changes and shortening the game were mentioned.

With that being said, after the initial announcement of the league, and hiring former NFL star Oliver Luck as the league’s commissioner, not much news about the XFL has come out. Now, however, it appears the first city to receive a team for the 2020 league has been announced. Per a report from KSDK, St. Louis is the first city to be receiving an XFL team.

The remaining seven cities are expected to be announced next week. Up until 2015 St. Louis was the host city to the NFL’s Rams. However, they soon departed and opted to move to Los Angles instead. The report states St. Louis’ XFL team will play 10 regular season games, with five being played at the Dome at America’s Center.

McMahon has put quite a financial interest into the new venture and is expected to have paid half a billion dollars after the first three years of operations. “The Chairman of The Board” sold $100 million to fund the XFL’s parent company, Alpha Entertainment. Per an SEC filing, WWE is listed as a minority owner of the XFL.

What other cities do you think will be receiving XFL teams?

It looks like the famed sneaker and clothing brand, Adidas, has taken issue with Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment logo. McMahon created Alpha Entertainment to front his XFL relaunch project. The XFL will officially kickoff in 2020. McMahon’s first attempt at the XFL failed in the early 2000s. Now, it appears that he wants to give it a second go.

As the XFL prepares for kickoff, it looks like McMahon is facing issues regarding Alpha Entertainment’s logo. Adidas has reached out to the United States Patent & Trademark Office and asked for more time to oppose the logo McMahon registered for the company.

Adidas feels as though the logo infringes upon their brand. The company has been given a March 6, 2019 deadline to file an opposition or another extension before doing so.

Earlier this year McMahon held a press conference on Alpha Entertainment’s YouTube channel, announcing the XFL relaunch. McMahon’s goal is to make the XFL “football reimagined” from the NFL’s product. This could mean anything from shortening the game, changing of the rules to make it more physical, or anything else. No news has surfaced in regards to team names and where they might be located, but expect more on that in the coming months.

Do you think McMahon will be forced to make changes to his Alpha Entertainment logo?

Vince McMahon Absent From SmackDown

This week’s episode of SmackDown was full of impactful events from Becky Lynch announcing her replacement for Survivor Series to Daniel Bryan winning the WWE Championship from AJ Styles.

However, despite the big angles and the show being the go home episode for Survivor Series, Vince McMahon was not backstage for SmackDown Live this week, according to Pwinsider.

Though as we noted before, he was still involved in the decision to turn Bryan heel and put the WWE Championship on him. You can check out some more backstage details on the title change here.

NXT UK Women’s Championship Tournament Announced

During the eighth episode of NXT UK, we saw the debut of the WWE UK Women’s Championship and a tournament to crown the inaugural champion was then announced as well.

The tournament began later in the show and after a couple of matches which saw Dakota Kai and Jinny advancing to the semi-finals, below are the updated standings of the tournament:

The semifinals of the @NXTUK #WomensChampionship tournament are taking shape…#NXTUK @JinnyCouture @DakotaKai_WWE pic.twitter.com/54v1SIZJhP

— WWE (@WWE) November 14, 2018

As we noted before, the whole tournament has already been taped and you can check out the full results and know who has been crowned the first NXT UK Women’s Champion by clicking here.

WWE has received high praise from fans about their latest pay-per-view event, Evolution, that went down on Sunday night (October 28, 2018) in Long Island, New York at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on the WWE Network.

The positive reaction to the show is due to the in-ring action, finishes and production values. It felt like a different show that some could say that hasn’t been done since ECW One Night Stand in 2005.

There are even some fans who thought it had an NXT TakeOver-like vibe. However, it doesn’t mean that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon wasn’t in charge. In fact, Pro Wrestling Sheet is reporting that McMahon was still in charge from the gorilla position despite people thinking that Triple H was running the show.

According to the report, McMahon was backstage in order to give notes and make changes with Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, Michael Hayes, Road Dogg, and other producers. It was also noted that Stephanie was said to be beaming with pride backstage throughout the show.

Earlier in the day, it was reported by PWinsider that Vickie Guerrero, Eve Torres, Christian, and Finn Balor were backstage on the show. With WWE officials being high on the idea of making historic moments with women’s wrestling, it will be interesting to see when the next all-women’s show will be held.

After a long wait, WWE finally released a decisive statement on their upcoming Crown Jewel PPV yesterday morning announcing that they are moving forward with the Saudi Arabian event as planned.

Though as you can expect this statement has only fuelled the discussion about the show with people now debating whether or not WWE made the right call.

Since this topic was expected to be brought up in the 2019 third quarter earnings conference call that took place yesterday, Vince McMahon made it clear at the beginning that they are not going to talk about it:

“We’re not going to talk a lot about that it’s a very sensitive subject. I think our statement says all we’re going to say about that today.”

When brought back up later in the call, the topic was again dodged and this time it was CFO George Barrios who repeated the same words saying that all their thoughts are included in the statement:

Jason @ Citi #wweq3
Q: "Respecting you don't want to talk about Saudi Arbia, Can you frame what risks that relate to Saudi Arabia outside your control? Economic Sanctions risk?"

Barrios: "The complexity of the situation as Vince said. All our thoughts are in our statement."

— Chris Harrington (@mookieghana) October 25, 2018

With this call, it’s pretty clear that WWE won’t be talking much about the event in near future and it wouldn’t be a surprise if they don’t even mention it after November 2.

Though the upcoming go home episode of Raw and SmackDown are still expected to build the event and it’d be interesting to see how they reference the show on WWE programming in the upcoming week.

Vince McMahon Absent From WWE TV Events

WWE Chairman Vince McMahon was not at the Monday Night RAW TV event in Providence, RI at the Dunkin Donuts Center or SmackDown Live TV event in Newark, NJ at the Prudential Center this week, according to PWinsider.com.

It’s been recently reported that McMahon is backstage for most weeks at RAW TV events but not at SmackDown shows. It should be noted that he’s still in charge of creative of the blue brand but delegates his vision for the show to other people at the events.

He was last seen on WWE television at SmackDown 1000 last week where he appeared in a segment with Stephanie and Shane McMahon as well as Carmella and R-Truth.

Interesting Alundra Blayze Stat

WWE Hall of Famer Alundra Blayze is slated to make her return to in-ring action at the Evolution pay-per-view event that takes place on Sunday, October 28, 2018 in Long Island, New York at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on the WWE Network where she’ll compete in a battle royal with the winner getting a championship opportunity.

An interesting stat has surfaced online regarding the WWE Hall of Famer as this match will mark her first contest since wrestling at WCW Fall Brawl ’00 where she teamed with Billie Kidman to lose to Shane Douglas and Torrie Wilson.

Vince McMahon recently appeared as part of the Smackdown Live 1000 episode celebrations. The CEO of WWE appearing at Smackdown appears to be a fairly rare event these days according to recent reports.

The Wrestling Observer noted that McMahon is usually at home or in the WWE offices on a Tuesday, Vince is still heavily involved in the Monday Night RAW show. McMahon apparently still participates in Smackdown conference calls and oversees the show’s script. The Chairman also adds changes to the script but is not backstage with the blue brand each and every week. Even with this in mind Smackdown is still very much “Vince’s show.” His directions are still followed and the buck still stops with him.

It will be interesting to see if this changes in late 2019. As we now know FOX will be taking the Smackdown Live brand to their own channel on Friday nights. The deal in place for Smackdown is reportedly huge and McMahon may well want to oversee the transition personally. We reported recently how FOX are looking to present Smackdown as more ‘Sports’ than the current presentation style. It is also worth noting that the XFL brand will be returning in 2020. McMahon has previously stated that the XFL returning will not affect his WWE responsibilities…but this could play a factor.

Drew McIntyre is likely being groomed for big things. “The Scottish Psychopath” has been protected pretty well on WWE TV as of late. In his matches, McIntyre doesn’t get pinned when he or his team are defeated. In his WWE World Cup qualifier match loss to Seth Rollins, McIntyre lost via count out. He then ended the show by taking out Braun Strowman with a Claymore Kick.

During a recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer offered some insight into McIntyre’s current push on the main roster. Meltzer noted that McIntyre and Ziggler’s partnership was supposed to be similar to that of the storyline between Shawn Michaels and Diesel. When WWE paired Michaels and Diesel together, they wanted Diesel to be the Superstar because he fit the company’s look.

Meltzer said, hopefully, this plan works better, and it already should since McIntyre is a better wrestler than Diesel. As for whether or not he can carry a company, you won’t know until he’s in the position. If all goes according to plan, McIntyre could be in the World Title picture very soon.

What do you think about McIntyre’s push on Monday Night RAW?

Since the innovation of WWE NXT, the professional wrestling juggernaut’s developmental system has really thrived. The program has produced several top stars on WWE’s main roster such as Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt, and so many more. Not to mention that WWE continuously scoops up the best talent available from around the world.

WWE COO Triple H is largely credited with the brand’s success, as he calls the shots when it comes to NXT and its programming. His success with the brand has really made professional wrestling fans feel optimistic about the inevitable day when “The Game” will take the creative reigns of WWE. It’s hard not to think that WWE CEO Vince McMahon is just as impressed as anyone else.

During a recent media call in London, however, “The Game” shared a rather interesting bit of information. He said he’s not sure McMahon has ever seen a full episode of NXT from start to finish. “The Chairman Of The Board” may simply be too busy:

“I don’t know that he’s ever even watched a full episode of NXT start to finish. He’s busy.”

After catching wind of this, former WWE writer Tom Casiello took to Twitter to clear things up a bit:

“I know I shouldn’t even respond to this kind of garbage, but I’ve literally been in gorilla with Vince during an NXT show. This is completely false.”

I know I shouldn't even respond to this kind of garbage, but I've literally been in gorilla with Vince during an NXT show. This is completely false. https://t.co/rRjvm8RS0E

— Tom Casiello (@tommiecas) October 12, 2018

Do you think Vince McMahon has ever seen a full episode of NXT?

WWE has had a banner year financially. With the added revenue from the Saudi deal and pending new television contracts, WWE has money to invest.

It has previously been reported that WWE wants to invest in international Performance Centers and territories. According to a recent report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Saudi Arabia is a country WWE is hoping to open a Performance Center in.

“While nothing is imminent, there is talk of opening up different Performance Centers in different parts of the world,” wrote Dave Meltzer. “U.K. and Saudi Arabia are high on the list and there are other places considered as well, including Japan.”

WWE International Expansion

Triple H is seen as a driving force behind WWE’s global expansion. Earlier this year, HHH used the term “Global Localization” to describe their plans.

“With ‘RAW’ and ‘Smackdown Live’ calling up all of my NXT superstars, I quickly realized NXT needed a feeder system of its own,” Triple H said at the WWE 2018 Business Partner Summit. “We had to re-imagine once again how and where we were recruiting. Not only in the United States but outside as well.”

Triple H continued to describe what this will mean.

“Organizing tryouts, recruiting talent, establishing performance centers and building on the ground NXT style brands.”

WWE will hold two nights of tapings for the new NXT UK brand later this week.

Steve Borden, better known to wrestling fans as Sting, wrestled for TNA between 2003 and 2014 after his legendary tenure in WCW. WCW would be bought by their main competitors the WWE, then-WWF, in 2001.

During a conversation with Bill Apter, Sting reminisced on his negotiations with the WWE prior to signing with TNA, as well as Vince McMahon’s reaction when told he would be heading to Total Nonstop Action.

“I had probably had three… on three separate occasions, I had a conversation with Vince [McMahon] and I was close on a couple of those occasions to leaving [WCW],” Sting remembered.

He explained that a primary reason he would never leave the WWE’s primary rival was that “WCW always ended up giving me what I asked for as far as…it wasn’t just financial – it was how much I work. I wanted to have it be in black and white, contractually. ‘I want to work X number of days and blah, blah, blah, only a certain number of house shows that I want to do throughout the year,’ so they gave me what I wanted.”

“That’s Exactly What He Said…”

When Sting confessed to Vince that he was bound for TNA, he can still remember Vince McMahon’s reaction.

“I’ll never forget having that conversation with Vince,” Sting recalled. “He’s on the phone with me and he says, ‘you know, Sting,’ he said, ‘I find this hard to believe. The legacy that you leave behind and the thought of you going to TNA is just, blah.’”

“That’s exactly what he said, ‘blah!’ And so then you fast forward to me coming back to do WrestleMania [31], I sent out a text to Vince and Triple H, and I simply said, ‘have you guys turned the page on Sting yet?’ because I honestly didn’t know. Did they turn the page? Are they done or would they consider a run up there?”

Sting would finally wrestle for the WWE at Wrestlemania 31. He would face off against Triple H in an eventual loss to the King Of Kings.

H/T to WrestlingINC for the transcribed quotes

We have been hearing about WWE possibly implementing a tiered system to WWE Network and adding footage from Independent promotions for a while now, but it appears that the company is finally working towards these changes seriously.

Per PWinsider, with the new TV deals in place, Officials are now focusing on further developing the Network, with Vince McMahon, alongside Kevin Dunn and company’s Chief of Staff Brad Blum overseeing the whole process.

According to reports, the officials including McMahon are working to tweak the company’s strategies for original programming, in order to implement their long-planned tiered system to the streaming service and bring other interactive aspects to it.

They have plans to develop the Network in a similar way to how Hulu’s streaming service operates currently, where you can pay extra for commercial-free programming and exclusive shows.

Could WWE Offer Multiple Plans For Network?

The details of what plans they may offer are not available right now. However, in 2016 the company had discussed the idea of a 4-plan system ranging from free to $14.99 per month.

The free plan would have offered 24/7 live stream that would feature WWE content without PPVs, NXT and the Cruiserweight Classic, plus five hours of archive footage.

The progressive plans would have then added more exclusive shows with the $14.99 version providing a commercial-free experience and access to all the programming available on the Network, including footage from Indie Promotions like EVOLVE and Progress Wrestling.

In the past year, WWE has sent out some surveys, scouting possibility for more original programming like Southpaw Regional Wrestling and the upcoming Hardy Compound special and it’s believed that they will continue this effort.

While there is no solid word on when these changes may take effect, Officials are apparently hoping to lock their strategies within the next month and implement them at the start of next year, possibly around the time of WWE Network’s 5th anniversary in February.

Vince McMahon picked the perfect time for the relaunch of the XFL. There’s currently a ton of controversy within the NFL over the National Anthem. Several years ago, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began to kneel during the playing of the National Anthem.

Kaepernick began the silent protest to shed light on what he believes to be an epidemic of injustice against people of color at the hands of police within the United States. The topic has attracted mainstream attention and has divided the United States even further. While some sympathize with the protest, others believe the playing of the Anthem is nor the place or time.

Vince McMahon is part of the latter. During the announcement of the XFL’s relaunch, McMahon called the playing of the anthem before sporting events, “a time-honored tradition.” He made it very clear that players in the XFL would be required to stand during the anthem being played.

XFL And The Anthem

XFL CEO and commissioner Oliver Luck dove further into the topic. He appeared on former Green Bay Packers linebacker AJ Hawk’s podcast, The HawkCast. Here’s what he had to say on the matter:

“Vince feels strongly about that, so that will be one of those things that will differentiate us from the NFL. Remember, unlike the NFL we will not have a union when we start. There won’t be collective bargaining….we could say to a player, ‘Hey there is a clause in the contract that says I hereby agree to stand for the National Anthem.’

“Period. End of story. That won’t have to be collectively bargained. My position would be as long as a player knows beforehand that that’s part of the contract then that’s a workplace rule and we can enforce that workplace rule.

“If you go into a contractual situation, knowing what the workplace rules are, you’re obligated to follow those rules, otherwise there will be consequences.”

H/T WrestleZone for the transcriptions

There’s no doubt Sting is one of the greatest professional wrestlers to ever step in between the ropes. The WWE Hall Of Famer began his WCW tenure back in 1987 with Jim Crockett Promotions. He was a staple in the company’s history, winning several World Titles under their banner.

Sting is a former NWA World Champion, a six-time WCW World Champion, and a two-time WCW United States Champion – to name only a few. Of course, WWE eventually bought out WCW and signed a few of their stars in the process. Sting, however, was not one of those stars.

He’d instead briefly work with World Wrestling All-Stars before signing with Jeff Jarrett’s new promotion, TNA in 2003. Speaking on the Apter Chat podcast recently, Sting revealed Vince McMahon’s reaction to him deciding to sign with TNA:

“I’ll never forget that conversation I had with Vince. He’s on the phone with me and he says: ‘You know Sting, I find this hard to believe. The legacy that you leave behind and the thought of you going to TNA… it just bleh!”

“So you fast forward to you know coming back to do WrestleMania I had set out a text to Vince and Triple H that just said, ‘have you guys turned the page on Sting yet?’ And I honestly did know? Did they turn the page? Are they done? Or would they consider a run up there?”

Sting would leave TNA in 2014 after over a decade with the company. That same year he’d make his WWE TV debut and begin the build to his WrestleMania match with Triple H. He was inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2016.

Do you think Sting should’ve gone straight to WWE?

H/T Wrestling News Source for the transcriptions