30 result(s) found
Few names are as synonymous with wrestling journalism as Bill Apter. Not long ago announced as the recipient of the prestigious Art Abrams Lifetime Achievement...
That does make sense. Titles are some of the most important parts of any wrestling promotion. They can drive any storyline and identify the wrestlers that the promotion wants to present. A title changing hands can make a huge difference for both a wrestler and the company as a whole, but it can mean even more when one of them goes away. One of the top WWE stars is now explaining why that is a bad thing. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: WATCH: Naomi And Mercedes Mone Appear Together In New Advertisement SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte was interviewed by the Daytona Beach News-Journal and talked about the possibility of unifying the Raw and SmackDown Women’s Titles. Charlotte said that she was not in favor of unifying the titles, as while it can be special for one woman to have both titles at once, it takes away opportunities for the women. Charlotte is currently scheduled to defend her title against Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania 39. There have been some big title unifications. Check out som..
He isn’t a fan. Over the last few years, AEW owner Tony Khan has gone from little more than a fan to one of the more important players in the wrestling world. Khan not only helped found AEW but has also purchased Ring Of Honor. That is the kind of move that almost never takes place in wrestling but Khan made it work. Khan also maintains quite the Twitter presence and it came up again this week. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: A Big One: WWE Reportedly Believes They Can Sign Kenny Omega This week on SmackDown, combat sports journalist Ariel Helwani made an appearance in the crowd, hyping up Sami Zayn’s speech later in the show. Khan mentioned the appearance on Twitter, calling Helwani “a fraud” and saying he was as legitimate of a reporter as AEW’s Tony Schiavone. Helwani responded later in the night, thanking Khan for watching and saying he “can’t wait for our next chat”. Helwani also told Schiavone not to listen to Khan. This comes after Khan appeared on Helwani’s show last year and refused ..
That’s a big one. Vince McMahon is back in charge of WWE and that has led to a string of questions about what is coming next. No one is quite sure about where things are going in the future, but there is also the question of a variety of issues from McMahon past. Now though, he has wrapped up at least one of them with the help of his rather large bank account. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: It Was A Great Ride: WWE Hall Of Famer Parts Ways With Company According to the Wall Street Journal, McMahon has agreed to a multi-million dollar settlement with former WWE referee Rita Chatterton, who has accused McMahon of raping her in a limousine in 1986. McMahon’s lawyer, Jerry McDevitt, said that still denies the charges and settled with Chatterton to avoid the cost of a trial. There is no word on the exact amount paid, but it is said to be a lump sum followed by annual payments. This is the latest in a string of such payments to women who have accused McMahon of sexual misconduct. Payoffs have a h..
He wants back in. The biggest wrestling story in a busy 2022 was the retirement of Vince McMahon from WWE. After nearly forty years in charge of the company, McMahon retired amid an internal investigation over a series of payments but still remained the company’s majority owner. However, now something else has chanced and we could be in for something very different. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Over There: WWE Taking Annual Event To London Later This Year Last month, a report stated that McMahon was planning a comeback to WWE. According to the Wall Street Journal, McMahon is attempting to have himself and former co-WWE Presidents Michelle Wilson and George Barrios elected to the WWE Board of Directors. This would require three current Board members to vacate their positions. McMahon has also said he will not support any media rights deal (with negotiations expected to begin before the current deals expire in 2024) or sale of the company. McMahon has issued a press release: Submits written..
They seem to be a no. There have been a lot of changes to the wrestling world this year and the biggest of them all seems to have been that of Vince McMahon retiring from WWE. McMahon was accused of various relationships with women and paying them off using company funds. The shakeup was felt throughout the company as well as the wrestling world. McMahon had been the force in WWE for such a long time, though a recent report suggested that might be changing again. It just seems that some people are not pleased. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: WRESTLING RUMORS: NXT Set To Change Title Belt Designs Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that McMahon was planning a comeback to WWE at some point in the future, believing that he was given bad advice when he was told to retire. According to Fightful Select, over a dozen people in WWE spoke about the situation and the “rarely unanimous” reaction was not wanting McMahon back. One wrestler said they would be worried about the recently rehi..
Even more. Earlier this year, the wrestling world was rocked by the announcement that Vince McMahon was under an official WWE investigation over allegations of inappropriate relationships with various women. McMahon was accused of using company funds to pay the women for their silence, spending millions of dollars in the process. McMahon officially retired from WWE in July, but things are not done yet. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: How Much? Sasha Banks’ New Japan Contract Reportedly Beats Chris Jericho’s According to the Wall Street Journal, two more women are seeking payment from McMahon over allegations of sexual assault. First, former WWE referee Rita Chatterton is demanding $11.75 million from McMahon. Chatterton accused McMahon of sexual assault in 1986 though no charges were ever filed. In addition, an attorney for a second, unnamed woman is demanding payment over an alleged assault by McMahon at a California spa in 2011. The woman’s husband attempted to confront McMahon at a WWE li..
He might not be done? This has been one of the busiest wrestling years in history with several game changing stories taking place. The biggest of them all has been Vince McMahon’s retirement from WWE. For the first time in nearly forty years, a new regime is in charge of WWE and that is leading to even more changes. However, we might not entirely be done with the old regime. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Double Shot: WWE Files Trademarks For Return Of Classic Show (Kind Of) According to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, McMahon is considering a comeback to WWE. McMahon reportedly felt that he was given bad advice about retiring and believes that the allegations against him will blow over. McMahon retired from WWE in July during an investigation involving various payments made to women over the years over alleged sexual encounters and relationships. There is no word on when McMahon might attempt to return to WWE. WWE has had its share of comebacks. Check out some of the better ones..
It had been previously reported that WWE had made a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, announcing that Vince McMahon had paid $14.6 million that were not recorded as company expenses. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the SEC and federal prosecutors have launched inquiries into payments made by McMahon to settle allegations of sexual misconduct. The report states that the payments were made from 2006 through 2022. WWE has said McMahon “has or will pay” all the expenses personally, and it expects to revise previous financial statements going back to 2019 to reflect the payments. WWE also said that an internal board investigation “expects to conclude that its internal control over financial reporting was not effective as a result of one or more material weaknesses.” WWE has lucrative licensing deals with entertainment giants such as Fox Corp. and NBCUniversal, which could be at risk due to these allegations. The company is also seeking new busines..
More to come on that. There have been a lot of WWE stories this year but none of them come close to the official investigation into Vince McMahon over allegations of sexual misconduct. The accusations have already caused McMahon to step back from his leadership role in WWE and caused people to look back into his history. Now things might be about to get even worse. According to PWInsider.com, mainstream news outlets are looking to introduce new stories about the McMahon allegations. Some of the possible outlets to look into the situation are HBO’s Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel and the Wall Street Journal. There is no word on when the stories could come out, though the Wall Street Journal should be in the next few weeks. Both are looking to talk to former female WWE wrestlers. Opinion: This is something that you had to know was coming and that is not a bad thing. McMahon has been accused of a lot of things and now people are starting to talk about what those things might be. I’m not ..
It had been reported that Vince McMahon paid $3 million to a WWE employee due to a sexual relationship between the two. The company’s Board of Directors was investigating it, but apparently, the scandal didn’t end there. According to a new report from the Wall Street Journal and iHeart, McMahon paid more than $12 million in hush money to four women during the past 16 years to suppress sexual misconduct and infidelity allegations. The report states that all four women were affiliated with WWE and signed agreements with McMahon prohibiting them from publicly discussing possible legal claims or their relationship with him. Sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed this to the Journal. The new reported settlements include McMahon paying $7.5 million to a former WWE wrestler who claimed McMahon coerced her into giving him oral sex and then demoted her before ultimately deciding not to renew her contract after she resisted other sexual encounters, sources familiar with the situati..
I wouldn’t call that great. There are a lot of wrestling promotions in the world, with some of them being a lot more well known than others. One thing that they all have in common though is that they all had to start somewhere, because every promotion had its first show at some point. That can be a success or a failure, and we might be seeing a case of the latter in this one. This coming Saturday, July 9, Wrestling Entertainment Series is scheduled to hold its first event at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England. According to journalist Adam Callier, the event has sold less than 350 tickets for a venue that holds 10,000 people. The event has already been postponed from June and several wrestlers have announced that they will not be at the show on the new date. One, the former Nia Jax, has complained about the show still advertising her despite her making it clear she will not be there. Just been told that this re-arranged show, which still has people advertised on the poster wh..
This could be big. There is no one in the wrestling world more powerful than Vince McMahon. The owner and Chairman of the Board of WWE, McMahon is able to change the wrestling industry in the blink of an eye. A decision made by McMahon can shake things up in a huge way, but now a decision being made about McMahon might be making quite the wave of its own. According to the Wall Street Journal, the WWE Board Of Directors is investigating an alleged $3 million payment from McMahon to a WWE employee due to a sexual relationship between the two. The investigation also includes a variety of other possible claims of misconduct against McMahon and John Laurinaitis. McMahon is said to have used his own personal money to make the payments. The woman was hired as a paralegal in WWE at a salary of $100,000 a year, which was reportedly doubled when her relationship with McMahon began. McMahon then was said to have given her to Laurinaitis “like a toy”. There is no word on what could happen to McM..
That sounds worse. Wrestlers are larger than life characters with personalities that are often over the top and meant to be as big as possible. That can often come with bodies that are literally larger than most, as you see some wrestlers who dwarf most normal people. However, those wrestlers have their own issues, and now one of the biggest wrestlers ever has revealed some previous problems. During a recent appearance on the Out Of Character podcast, Monday Night Raw star Omos revealed that he had a brain tumor removed when he was 18 years old. Omos was playing college basketball at the time when an MRI revealed the tumor. As he was getting ready to have the tumor removed, he was diagnosed with partial Cushing’s Disease. Omos said that he was the first person ever recorded with a tumor on his pituitary gland, a brain tumor and Cushing’s Disease, which resulted in a medical journal article about his case. Opinion: What matters most is that Omos seems to have these issues cleaned up a..
Location, location, location. WWE SmackDown has been on the air for well over twenty two years now and the show has built up one heck of a reputation for itself. Above all else, the show has spent the last two plus years on the FOX network, which is as big of a wrestling television deal as it gets. People in the entertainment industry are paying a bit more attention to it as of late, and that was on display last week. According to Deadline.com, several entertainment executives and stars were in attendance for last week’s SmackDown in Los Angeles, California. Here is a list of the executives and television/film personalities who were at the show last week: • Kelly Kahl (President of CBS Entertainment) • Matt Cherniss (Head of Development and Programming at Apple) • Noah Harpster (Actor and Producer) • Barry Poznick, (President of MGM Studios) • Larry Jones (Executive Vice President of Fox Sports) • Vanessa Hudgens (Actor) • Jemele Hill (Sports Journalist) • Reggie Bush (Analyst for Fox..
Smackdown Date: November 26, 2021 Location: Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina Commentators: Michael Cole, Pat McAfee We’re done with Survivor Series, where a grand total of very little took place. Raw won the Battle For Brand Supremacy but Roman Reigns beat Big E. in the show’s main event. We are now on the way to Day 1 and Reigns’ next challenger will be determined this week via a battle royal. Let’s get to it. Kayla Braxton is in the ring to talk about Brock Lesnar’s suspension but here are Paul Heyman and Roman Reigns to interrupt. Heyman says we don’t deal with rumors like this one on the Island of Relevancy. The fans aren’t pleased but Heyman tells them to stop booing Braxton. He wants Braxton to go get some sources and find some real news. Stop living through an Instagram filter because there is no real journalist filter. Braxton is allowed to leave so the fans want Brock. McAfee: “Did they say let’s go……Brandon?” Reigns says the problem with rumors is they give ..
Join the club. There is an odd level of success between wrestlers and politics. For some reason, a few wrestlers have had quite the positive introduction into the political arena, with names such as Jesse Ventura and Kane moving into a rather high office. It is something that has worked in a couple of surprise moments, and now something similar seems to have happened again. According to the Journal de Quebec, former WWE star Raymond Rougeau has been elected Mayor of Rawdon, Quebec, Canada. Rougeau was elected the Mayor of the city of just over 10,000 people, with about 61% of the vote after several years of being active in local politics. Rougeau, 66 years old, began wrestling in 1971 and retired from full time competition in 1990, with his final match taking place in 2003. Since retirement, he has served on and off as a French commentator for WWE. Rougeau was quite the hand in the ring. Check out some of his work between the ropes: [This post contains video, click to play] [This ..
NXT UK Date: June 18, 2020 Host: Andy Shepard It’s another NXT UK’s Most Brilliant show this week as we look at the instant classic between Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne from Takeover: Chicago in 2017. This was the match that made fans realize what they could have with the United Kingdom promotion and that could make for some great flashbacks. Let’s get to it. Opening sequence. Andy gives us a quick recap of Bate winning the inaugural United Kingdom Title over Dunne, sending Dunne to a different level in pursuit of the title. We get a three way chat with Shepard, Bate and Dunne, talking about what the build meant. They knew what the new title meant and how big this was, but they were calm coming in because they knew the match would be great. Wrestling journalist Ryan Satin talks about the original title match being his introduction into the United Kingdom scene and how the rematch blew away his expectations. This match set up NXT UK. From 2017, Bate talks about what winning the title..
Who else would it be? It might be a few months into the new decade, but there is still time for a few more accolades over the last ten years. There are a lot of awards to consider and a lot of organizations have a lot of things to say about wrestling. This includes arguably the most prestigious award of all over this span of time: Wrestler of the Decade. Now we know one of the biggest winners. Wrestling magazines used to be the go to source for wrestling information. There were all kinds of magazines out there and while some of them were a little more accurate than others, they were the most important form of journalism in the wrestling world. They have gone downhill since the rise of the internet, but there are a few left, with one of them having quite an important award of its own. Pro Wrestling Illustrated has named AJ Styles its Wrestler of the Decade for the 2010s. Styles wrestled around the world over the last decade, winning World Titles in Impact Wrestling, New Japan and WWE,..
There is money to be made in NXT. A few weeks ago, John Oliver’s piece on working conditions in WWE struck a few different nerves, with wrestling fans finding out a lot about what it’s like to work for the biggest wrestling company in the world. While some of the situations were more serious than others, we now know something a little more specific about a certain group of employees within the company. According to a new article in the Sports Business Journal, the average salary for a WWE developmental talent is about $80,000, with a range of between $50,000 to $150,000. Without going into specifics, the salary of a main roster wrestler is said to be able to climb into the high seven figures for top names. WWE salaries do not tend to include transportation or road expenses, or health insurance. This is where they work for the next level. Check out this look at the WWE Performance Center: [This post contains video, click to play] Opinion: That’s quite the salary for someone who is ..