We previously reported that WWE was going to hold a meeting prior to RAW a couple of weeks ago to address some changes as it relates to compensation and other issues now that the WWE Network will be changing the business model used for years in WWE. Apparently that meeting never took place and at this point still has yet to happen.
CM Punk noted in a recent interview with Ariel Helwani that he is still unsure how the WWE Network will impact his usual pay-per-view payoffs.
It appears pretty likely at this point that not only will Hulk Hogan not be competing in an actual match at WrestleMania XXX, he may not be involved physically in any form or fashion.
The latest word coming out of WWE is that Hogan was examined by their doctors and as a result, the decision was made not to use him in a physical capacity whenever he returns to the company officially.
Additionally, there is talk in WWE that the company may debut Hulk Hogan, along with several other big names, at the WWE RAW show on February 24th. The 2/22 RAW is the night after Elimination Chamber and the night that the WWE Network officially launches.
– Of the 55,000 tickets sold thus far for WrestleMania XXX, just under 10,000 were listed on the Stubhub website for the resale market. The tickets on Stubhub range from $49 to $11,000 for front row.
– WWE is reportedly planning on running a considerable amount of live feeds on the WWE Network during the week leading to WrestleMania XXX. The company is likely going to be testing the streaming ability and offering live content as a way of generation additional interest in the Network.
– As previously reported, the cast of the WWE Network original series “Legends House” were in Orlando, Florida filming additional footage for the show last week. While in the area, the “Legends House” crew also paid a visit to the WWE Performance Center.
– Speaking of “Legends House,” due to the extra filming the crew shot last week, WWE Hall Of Famer “Rowdy” Roddy Piper had to drop out of a feature film called “Baxter’s Dozen” that was set for filming at the same time. Piper reportedly suggested Tommy Dreamer to replace him.
– Speaking of “Baxter’s Dozen.” former WWE Superstars Diamond Dallas Page and Jake “The Snake” Roberts have roles in the film and have spent the last few days in Ventura, California working on the project.
The following are highlights of a recent interview with MLB Advanced Media CEO Bob Bowman:
On WWE’s decision to offer their monthly PPVs on the WWE Network: “I don’t think they’ll be giving it up; it’ll still be available. The notion of doing a monthly subscription for terrific content, others have done it before. But Vince (McMahon) is taking it to the next obvious level. He put his fans and customers first and in the long-run and maybe even the short run it will be well received.”
On WWE targeting a younger audience with the WWE Network: “The real infrastructure is customer expectations, and that’s the No. 1 thing that’s changed. They’re used to buying soft goods online. They’re doing it two to three times more than they used to three or four years ago. This next generation of fans watches long-form video on an iPhone. We never thought that would happen. But they do.”
Check out the complete interview online at Deadline.com.
The following are highlights of a recent interview with WWE Hall Of Famer “Mean” Gene Okerlund:
On WWE Network: “I think this is gonna go down, probably, when we look back at it, I may not be here, for that matter, you guys may not be here, but if you look at 30-40 years from now, it’s revolutionary. And who knows if the internet is gonna be here 30-40 years from now. Things change.”
On Legends House: “We did it in March and April of 2012. So you’re taking a look at pretty close to two years, but it’s been kept under wraps, and that’s beyond me because I’m on the inside track in the company…” The producers took away cell phones, computers, televisions and newspapers and they tried to get you pissed off at each other. And it worked for some of us, but I’m a kind of a low profile older guy, so it didn’t, but Pat Patterson and I had a wonderful time.”
On Old School RAW: “I love Old School Raw. It’s great to see the young guys… and young divas, that’s not beyond me, but I think it kind of mells the old with the new. I mean, you’ve got a Piper, you’ve got some of these new guys, The Shield, and of course some of these old time guys who are kind of the stalwarts of the company, you know, Hunter, certainly John Cena, but I think there’s something to be extracted from the past and what it delivers to a current audience. Becauase a lot of these people grew up with Piper, they grew up with Hogan, they grew up with the Macho Man, they grew up with a guy who’s going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, The Ultimate Warrior, and why the hell that’s happening is beyond me!”
On Ultimate Warrior: “Well, you know what, he was a huge draw for a limited amount of time. He was a World Heavyweight Champion, and I remember riding back in the car with Hogan when we left Toronto and went to Syracuse, New York, you know, he had some bad feelings about it.”
On if Ultimate Warrior going over Hulk Hogan was best for business: “Well, you know, I really tend to go with the feelings of the company. I was told this was gonna happen and this is the way it’s gonn be. We did interviews actually before the event, not that I’m letting the cat out of the bag, I would say that Hogan was against that move at that time… and he was probably right.”
On if he feels Hulk Hogan will be returning: “I kind of have to say that my hunch is, you might be seeing him shortly.”
Check out the complete interview online at AgainstTheMat.WordPress.com.
– With over 1,500 hours of archived WWE content being available when the WWE Network launches on 2/24, this represents only about 1.5% of the entire WWE library.
The company owns the tape libraries of over a dozen promotions (AWA, Georgia Championship Wrestling, Memphis, OVW, Deep South, World Class, Smoky Mountain, Stampede, among others) and that content will be rolled out on a weekly basis. They will also occasionally remove content, so it’s unlikely the entire catalog will be available at any one time.
– WWE will be airing a lot of footage from past events that had been previously edited out of DVD releases. Events featuring commentary by Jesse Ventura (royalty issues), ring announcing by Gary Michael Cappetta (legal reasons) and Chris Benoit (with a disclaimer) will all appear on the Network.
– Music is a more of a difficult issue. WWE executive Perkins Miller has said this will be handled on a case-by-case basis, but a lot of 80’s wrestling and ECW shows used mainstream hit songs, which could result in additional royalties being paid out to the artists.
– According to reports, the match WWE hoped to schedule between Goldberg and Ryback for WrestleMania XXX is said to be close to dead due to the fact that both WWE and Goldberg are far apart on the financial side of the potential agreement. However, one WWE source noted that the company hasn’t quite ruled out the possibility of a Goldberg vs. Ryback match just yet.
– As previously reported, WWE Superstar Titus O’Neil posted a tweet on his official Twitter account expressing some excitement over good news he received regarding the WWE Network. O’Neil’s tag-team partner, Darren Young, recently posted the following update on his official Twitter account:
– WWE Diva Natalya recently confirmed that previous episodes of the WWE Total Divas reality show will be available on the WWE Network. New episodes, however, are still currently scheduled to air on the E! cable channel.
– Former WWE Superstar Chris Jericho recently noted that his father, former NHL player Ted Irvine, will be the guest on his next “Talk Is Jericho” podcast.
– WWE Superstar Titus O’Neil recently posted the following tweet on his official Twitter account about the WWE Network:
Just received some AWESOME News about our New @WWENetwork which launches in just 40Days!! More Ways 4Me 2get into the mix..IM DOWN FOR THAT!
– The entire cast of the new WWE Network original series “Legends House” appeared in Orlando on Wednesday to film additional material for the show.
– Depending on the agreement between WWE and the USA Network, the 2014 WWE Hall Of Fame induction ceremony may air live and unedited on the new WWE Network. If USA Network plans to air the ceremony on television this year, depending on their arrangement with WWE, the Hall Of Fame ceremony may not air on the WWE Network in its’ entirety until after the USA Network airs their special edited version first.
WWE Hall Of Famer “Nature Boy” Ric Flair will serve as the Grand Marshall at the CRA Speedfest event on January 26th at Watermelon Capital Speedway in Cordele, Georgia. For more information, visit Philly.com.
Speaking of Flair, the legendary pro wrestler attended the UFC Fight Night event on Wednesday night and met up with UFC president Dana White. Below is the post-show media scrum with White where he talks about their meeting, a lot about the WWE Network and the possibility that Brock Lesnar may still return to UFC at some point in the future.
The official YouTube channel for Ringside Collectibles has added the following video interviews with John Cena and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin discussing the WWE Network:
– The Newsday website recently published a featured article with comments from the former Vice President of Sales at ESPN, Larry Mann, talking about the possibility of the WWE Network hurting the weekly television ratings of WWE’s “RAW” and “SmackDown” cable programs.
You can check that article out online at Newsday.com. (Thanks to Joshua Stewart from Newsday.com for sending along the link.)
– As previously noted, legendary pro wrestling manager Jim Cornette is starting a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a new documentary project. Below is a video of the official announcement:
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross is no longer under contract with WWE, however, he’s going to be working with the company on yet another project later this week.
After Jim Ross revealed over the weekend that he’ll be part of WWE’s upcoming Paul Heyman DVD, WrestleZone.com is reporting that JR will be at the WWE Performance Center this Friday to host a “wrap up” panel with the cast of Legends House.
The show is expected to air on the WWE Network as part of the Legends House original series.
As noted, WWE scheduled a conference call with Vince McMahon and George Barrios on Tuesday to reveal some information regarding the WWE Network. While there wasn’t a lot of significant news coming out of the call, a few things were revealed. Below are some brief highlights:
– They noted during the call that there are 88 million homes in the United States that have broadband capability.
– Sign-ups for the WWE Network will begin at 9:00am on February 24th with programming beginning approximately 14 hours later.
– WWE is predicting 2-3 million subscribers in the United States by the end of 2015 and an additional 750,000-1.5 million subscribers internationally.
– The company is in talks with USA Network and they believe the network will lead to an increase in both RAW and SmackDown television ratings.
– WWE expects a studio talk show to debut on the network in a few months.
Busted Open satellite radio show with Roman Reigns
Host: Dave Lagreca, Doug Mortman, and Mike Riker
Airs Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays on Sirius 92 and XM 92 from 2-4 ET
On being the only member of The Shield to beat CM Punk; if there are any cracks in The Shield: The match as far as me beating CM Punk that’s– that’s something everybody’s going to have to get used to. Me taking down a lot of the top superstars, on my own. As far as cracks in The Shield–you know I don’t see it as a “weak link” type thing. I think the match up, you know like; it’s a very similar match up between Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and CM Punk. They’re all very technical-sound wrestlers. I bring something a bit different to the table. I’m a heavy hitting brawler. CM Punk tried to go toe-to-toe with me in that regard and it failed for him.
On if he looks at himself as a standout member of The Shield since being voted Most Improved Wrester by the Busted Open Nation: I don’t look at it too much–read into that type of stuff too much but I do agree with it; you know what I’m saying? When you wrestle as much we do; we like to consider ourselves the backbone of the company. Without us, all these dates that we’re able to do; they’re just not going to be possible. We’re the guys that do the dirty work. We’re there every single day. We don’t miss a show. There’s no weekends off for us. So I think that’s a huge contribution to my improvement. Anytime you can work on your craft; week in and week out; and focus on it, you’re gonna get better at anything. So for me, it was just apart of the process. Traveling with Seth and Dean, wrestling everyday with those guys; your grandma could get better at wrestling if she was able to do that.
On what would be his focus if he were to find himself next to his partners in the Royal Rumble: Oh that’s simple. We’re all in there together. Nothing changes for us. It’s business as usual. We’re gonna eliminate everybody and we’re going to do it with the most efficient teamwork possible. And then once we get to where it’s us three we’re gonna have to figure that out then. The gloves may come off or maybe we’ll make a stand. Maybe we’ll do something no one’s ever done before. We walk out of that sucker; who knows? That’s gonna have to be up to everybody to tune in and pay attention. Cause we’re gonna put on a good show.
On what is his goal for 2014: I think just to stay on the track that I’m on. Continue to dominate in these singles opportunities I get. And then when the right opportunity presents itself, I’d like to capture a singles title. There’s plenty of room in The Shield for another singles title; if not two more. I know Seth is thinking the exact same thing. And that’s what makes us money is we’re all on the same page as far as where we’re trying to go. If you’re not trying to climb to the top; if you’re not on that ladder; you’re in trouble, man. You might as well just stay over there by the water cooler and watch us dominate. So if we can get a couple of singles titles along with that US title; that’ll be key for us in 2014.
His thoughts on the WWE Network: I mean just groundbreaking stuff. This is something for a damn near century we’ve been working towards. Since pro wrestling started and then evolved into Sports Entertainment. This is kind of what we’ve been pushing towards for years and years now. For the WWE, that was really the next step; to broadcast and advertise under our own name. So it’s a big, big moment for our company. And I’m sure nothing but the best is lined up in our future.
His thoughts on possibly being the “face” of the company in 2014: I don’t know about the “face” of the company. That’s kind of being used right now. I’d like to come up with something a little more fresh. You know Randy Orton is doing that whole “face” of the company thing. I think I’m better than him so if we can get a one upper situation, that’s—maybe the “backbone” of the company. Maybe the “balls” of the company. Something cool like that, you know? I don’t know about the “face” of the company. Maybe the “man” of the company. That sounds about right.
– Today marks 212 days that AJ Lee has held the WWE Divas Championship. She will pass Maryse’s reign of 216 later this week.
– Vince McMahon and George Barrios will host a conference call this morning at 11am EST to discuss the WWE Network. Check back later for our full report of the call.
-Fandango has been added to the 2014 WWE Royal Rumble match. Here’s an updated list of the confirm entrants:
– CM Punk
– Batista
– Big E Langston
– Cody Rhodes
– Goldust
– Rey Mysterio
– Alberto Del Rio
– Kofi Kingston
– The Miz
– R-Truth
– Xavier Woods
– Ryback continues to be the biggest Twitter troll in WWE. He tweeted the following today:
“New Ryback Rules. Eat Tweet Delete Repeat”
He then deleted the message. Oh Ryback, you so crazy!
– Paul Heyman’s HeymanHustle.com site has published exclusive photos of Triple H, Stephanie McMahon and Shawn Micahels from last week’s big WWE Network presentation from CES 2014 in Las Vegas.
– WWE.com has published a video playlist of Batista’s most dominating Royal Rumble eliminations.
– CNBC.com has published an article slamming the WWE Network, wrestling fans and predicting that WWE stock will take a big hit as a result.
“Good news for “professional” wrestling fans: No, it’s not actually real. However, now you can enjoy wrestling 24 hours a day, seven days a week from the comfort of your parents’ basement.”
Portfolio manager John Stephenson said:
“I think they’re already on the top rope after that 111% increase last year. There’s nowhere to go but down. The core business is just deteriorating. You don’t have enough young men looking at wrestling with its scripted program. You’re looking at a model that’s in decline and valuation is stupidly high.”
CNBC is owned by NBC Universal, the same company that owns the USA Network and is currently in negotiations over WWE’s TV rights fees.
As reported last week, WWE scheduled a talent meeting for this afternoon where Vince McMahon would address the roster about how the WWE Network will be affecting them.
One of the main items that was going to be discussed is how PPV payoffs would be handled now that those events are moving to the WWE Network.
According to a source who is backstage at the site of tonight’s RAW – the meeting never took place. There is lot of confusion about why the meeting was called off.
The following are highlights from a recent Miami Herald interview with WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross:
On the WWE Network announcement: “I was very impressed with their presentation. I watched it on my iPad. I thought it looked great. I hope that fans are as excited about it as I am. I think the value of $9.99, $10 bucks you might as well say, is fantastic. You think of what you can take out of your daily, weekly, month routine to find that extra 10 bucks.”
On the content you get for the price: “There are quite a few things you can eliminate and find an extra $10 to get all this content…I like the fact that if you are in the mood or something specific from that genre, it’s accessible when you want… It’s just an amazing positive development. I think that is really a game-changer. I think it’s a terrific way of distributing the content. It will get the WWE in the genre of pro wrestling to potentially millions and millions of people.”
This week on Because Wrestling, we talk about Kaitlyn’s WWE departure, an update on Mae Young, Ryback on Twitter, and everything you need to know about the WWE Network! (more…)
– The Mass Relevance website has a featured story up on the WWE Network announcement from Wednesday night in Las Vegas. The article claims WWE blind sided everyone with the announcement of a WWE Network. You can check out the story online at MassRelevance.com.
– Speaking of WWE Network coverage, former WWE Superstar and ECW original Lance Storm has posted a new blog about the WWE Network at his official website. You can check that out at StormWrestling.com.
– According to reports from the WWE live event in Glens Falls, New York on Saturday night, Daniel Bryan was introduced as “Daniel Wyatt” for his steel cage match against Bray Wyatt on the show.
There were conflicting reports from last weekend, some of which claimed Bryan was introduced as Daniel Wyatt, while others noted he was called Daniel Bryan.