NEWS

It’s a unique idea. There are a lot of things going on in WWE at the moment and some of the stories are more popular than others. With so many things going on at once, it can be hard to see something that stands out. When it really stands out though, it stands out in a big way and one of the bigger stories over the last few weeks is now getting a boost from a cameo.
Earlier this month at WrestleMania 36, Otis defeated Dolph Ziggler for a major turning point in one of the more detailed SmackDown storylines in a good while. The story centers around Ziggler trying to steal Mandy Rose from Otis, with Sonya Deville helping Ziggler in his efforts. It has made for some interesting moments, and we might have seen the most interesting of all.
On Thursday, Ziggler released a Cameo video he purchased featuring former WWE star Hornswoggle saying that Rose should take Ziggler back. In the video, Hornswoggle talks about how the two of them belonged together and begged Rose to get back together wit..

Some people might be happy. WWE can do a lot of things that rub fans the wrong way and that is something that they have done for years. However, one of the least popular things that they do today are their shows in Saudi Arabia. It makes sense for fans to not be pleased with them as they are rarely of the highest quality on top of all of the political aspects to them. Fans who aren’t happy with them might be in for some good news though.
It’s pretty easy to understand why WWE keeps running these events. There is no secret to the fact that WWE makes a fortune from each show they run in Saudi Arabia and they would be crazy to turn down that kind of money. Saudi Arabia can certainly afford to run the shows and for all intent and purpose, WWE can’t afford to not agree to them. This time around though, they might be able to have a better deal.
According to Wrestlinginc.com, Vince McMahon spoke about the Saudi Arabian shows during Thursday’s quarter one conference call. WWE does have plans..

The numbers game. WWE has a lot of resources available to it and one of their most important is their video library. WWE has the largest collection of wrestling footage ever assembled and the stockpile continues to grow. Couple that with their regular pay per views and television and it is no wonder that fans are interested in access to the WWE Network. But how many are that interested?
The WWE Network launched back in 2014 and changed the way wrestling fans were able to view the product. The days of regular pay per view were mostly abandoned in a hurry with the option of streaming shows for a much cheaper price being a much more appealing choice. Throw in the video library and how could fans not want in? Well now we have a better idea of just how many people fit that description.
WWE released its first quarter financial report on Thursday, including their number of WWE Network subscribers. According to 411mania, the current count is 1.46 million, which is down 8% from the previous q..

It’s the biggest of the year. If you are any kind of a wrestling fan, or even if you are not, you have probably heard of WrestleMania. It is the biggest night of the wrestling year, though this year’s event was spread over two nights instead of one. That offered another chance for eyes to be on the show, and it turns out that there were quite a few of them this time around.
If there is one thing that WWE knows how to do, it is promote the heck out of their product. You cannot watch their shows for five minutes without hearing about what they have coming up next. There are some shows that are presented as bigger deals than others but nothing comes close to WrestleMania. WWE promotes it like no other and this year, it seems to have paid off.
WWE released their first quarter 2020 financial report on Thursday. According to 411mania.com, WWE set a record with 967 million video views over social and digital platforms during the week of WrestleMania 36. This number represents a 20% increase..

That’s a negative side of things. We are still in the middle of the Coronavirus and the situation does not seem to be changing anytime in the near future. The situation has changed all kinds of things around the world, including in the wrestling industry. That isn’t the only form of entertainment that has taken a hit and in this case, a specific area of entertainment and wrestling have been hit at the same time.
Wrestling and video games go hand in hand in a lot of obvious ways. As simple as it sounds, wrestling fans are going to enjoy being able to set up a match where they can control their favorite wrestlers against one another. It has worked for decades now and that will be the case for a long time to come. However, that long time might not be starting for a long time.
During Thursday’s first quarter 2020 financial call, WWE confirmed that there would be no WWE2K21 video game, according to Wrestlinginc.com. This comes after rumors began circulating earlier this month that another..

They may have started a tradition. Earlier this month, WWE presented WrestleMania 36, which is pretty easily the most unique version of the show that the company has ever offered. In addition to the complete lack of fans at the WWE Performance Center, the show took place over the course of two nights. That was a weird situation, but it might not be weird for too much longer.
One of the more common complaints with recent WrestleManias has been the length. The last two editions have featured sixteen matches each and counting the Kickoff Show, a few recent shows have broken seven hours. That is a very long time to watch wrestling, so some sort of change could probably be a good idea. A pretty high up name in WWE might have a solution.
Triple H was a guest on this week’s WWE After The Bell podcast where he spoke about wanting WrestleMania to be a two day event going forward. The idea of WrestleMania is that of a week long festival with events taking place every day, though WrestleMania a..

It would be better than nothing. There are a lot of problems going on in WWE at the moment and a lot of them have to do with the lack of fans allowed in the arenas. That is something that is probably going to be a major issue for a long time to come as the Coronavirus continues to wreck havoc on the world. That has never stopped WWE before though and now they might have an idea of how to fix things.
At the end of the day, wrestling shows just aren’t the same without fans in attendance. You can feel the energy go down and it hurts things every single week. At some point there needs to be something in there to make it a little bit better but that doesn’t seem to be the case at the moment. It’s going to take some different thinking and WWE has been known to do that before. Maybe they are doing it again.
Vince McMahon commented on the potential of having fans at future television events during Thursday’s first quarter financial call. According to 411mania.com, McMahon said that the compa..

It’s what they do. Wrestling is like every other sport in a lot of ways. No matter what a promotion does, the fans will always think that they know how to do it better. That may or may not be the case, but it is always something that you see and hear. In wrestling it might be saying who should or shouldn’t be pushed, and that has been the case for years with a certain popular wrestler.
Over the years, Cesaro has always seemed to be one step away from becoming the biggest star in the company. He has the look, the charisma, the raw strength and the popularity to break through but it has never happened. It has not been clear why that has been the case after so many years, but someone with some behind the scenes insight seems to have a theory.
During a recent episode of his Arn podcast, Arn Anderson said that WWE’s front office is not high on Cesaro, though Anderson is not sure why. Anderson says that the higher ups are the only ones who feel that way as almost everyone else sees Cesaro ..

NXT UK
Date: April 23, 2020
Host: Andy Shepard
It’s another special show this week and that is going to likely be the case for a long time. As usual, there is a theme to this one and this time around it’s all about Walter vs. Tyler Bate. They had my Match of the Year in 2019 so watching the whole thing again sounds like quite a good idea. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Shepard welcomes us to the show and hypes up the match a bit.
We get a long video on Tyler Bate. His mom talks about how he grew up as a huge fan and they had to go to every wrestling show. Trent Seven met him at a training seminar when Bate was very young but he knew what he had. Bate signed with WWE when he was 19 and he shocked the world by winning the United Kingdom Title. Bate has been here for three years and is still trying to figure out who he is as a wrestler and as a person. Bate and Seven don’t think much of Imperium and are ready for a fight.
We see Walter training in Germany where he talks about how..

Ring of Honor
Date: April 22, 2020
It’s Matt Taven’s week and that could mean a few things. Taven is someone who has done some good things in his time, but as long as we don’t hear him talk, everything should be fine. He has some solid matches on his resume and we might be seeing some of those here. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Taven talks about rehabbing from a knee injury in 2016 and knowing he had some goals. He knew he would have to beat Adam Cole because they started at the same time but Cole was already the World Champion. Then he beat Dalton Castle, allowing him to bring in the REAL World Title. The match that gives him the most pride is going an hour with Jay Lethal, even though he didn’t win the World Title. Then he won the World Title in Madison Square Garden, which was all he ever wanted.
From War of the Worlds 2019: Grand Rapids.
Ring of Honor World Title: Matt Taven vs. Mark Haskins Taven is defending and tries to hit him with the belt before the bell. That earn..

Impact Wrestling
Date: April 21, 2020
Location: Skyway Studios, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Madison Rayne, Josh Matthews
It’s the first night of Rebellion and it’s taking place in an empty arena, just like all of the other big shows at this point. I’m not sure what we’re going to see due to how many people might not be available for the show and that could make for an interesting show. The company has done well in recent weeks so hopefully they can keep it up. Let’s get to it.
The opening video talks about how everyone wants to be here and make their mark.
OVE vs. Tommy Dreamer/Rhino/??? It’s mystery partner time and it’s….Crazzy Steve? Dreamer and Jake Crist trade standing switches to start before the former rolls out of a wristlock. Jake takes him down and does a nipup before challenging Dreamer to do the same. It doesn’t work so Rhino and Steve come in to help him with oneSteve and Madman Fulton come in but Steve isn’t THAT crazzy, meaning it’s off to Rhino instead. Some f..

Last week was one of the busiest times that WWE has seen in a good while and a lot of what went down wasn’t the best news. The big story (of many) was centered around nearly fifty names being released/furloughed from the company. That is a CRAZY amount of names to be gone in about three days, even if some of them were only taken away for a short amount of time. Some of the names are bigger than others, but there are a few that baffled me in one way or another, which is what we’re looking at today.
Now first of all, a lot of these releases were probably overdue. Completely ignoring the timing, the Coronavirus aspect, WWE bragging about how much money they had to get through this situation, being named an essential business, the stock dividend being announced the next day, plus Vince McMahon being able to finance a football league, it was time to let some people go as WWE’s roster was out of control. Now if you ignore EVERYTHING about this that made WWE look like a bunch of cheap villai..