Former WWE Superstar Eva Marie will be appearing on the upcoming season of “Big Brother: Celebrity Edition” on CBS.
As seen below, videos revealed on social media show Marie being interviewed for the series at a gym in Los Angeles.
Eva has done some acting and modeling since leaving WWE on good terms in August 2017, and has also ran her NEM Fashion brand. She has stayed away from the indie scene.
This will be Eva’s return to reality TV as she previously appeared on WWE’s Total Divas.
“Big Brother: Celebrity Edition” is set to premiere on CBS on Monday, January 21. Stay tuned for updates on Eva working the show.
The talent wars are heating up now that AEW has officially launched. All the top promotions are aware of the free agents, and they are making plays to sign them. Not only are WWE and AEW getting aggressive in signing talent, but you also have New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor trying to sign talents to contracts.
Meltzer noted that there are a lot of people in WWE who are interested in exploring their options with AEW, if not go ahead and sign with them. These talents obviously have to wait until their WWE contracts expire and there is also a “wait and see” feeling to see if AEW works out, and what it becomes.
Scottish women’s wrestler Piper Niven is reportedly signing with WWE soon, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.
Niven, also known to fans as Viper, participated in the 2017 Mae Young Classic and defeated Santana Garrett in the first round. She then defeated Serena Deeb in the second round but lost to Toni Storm in the third round.
Niven is currently signed to World of Sport Wrestling but it’s believed she is headed to WWE once her deal expires. Meltzer notes that All Elite Wrestling wanted to sign Niven but she decided not to sign with them.
All Elite Wrestling President Tony Khan isn’t allowed to say much about a potential TV deal for the company, but he can confirm there’s been talks with interested parties.
Khan was a guest on the latest episode of X-Pac12360. When the topic of potential TV deals came up, Tony told host Sean Waltman he signed non-disclosure agreements and couldn’t get into specifics yet.
When pressed a little more, however, Khan said this:
There’s interested parties … a number of interested parties … it’s gonna be great for everybody. Like I said, I want it to be great for the fans. And I want every week, I want people to be excited about what this week is gonna bring in wrestling. Whether you’re a kid in school, or you’re at work and you want something to look forward to at night, I want it to be a big part of everyone’s week. I think for the talent, I just think this is a great opportunity for everybody to create something. Like I said, a golden age.
For a lot of the talent … I’ve always heard the story that in WCW, that people had said, “this is the golden age.” Specifically that Eric Bischoff said to the talent, “Hey, this is the golden age. Enjoy it while it lasts.” And, you know, it didn’t last.
I think we can create it and it can be sustainable. And we can build something that doesn’t have to ever die. It can live forever. Because I know the wrestling community will never die. As long as the planet is spinning, there’s gonna be people watching wrestling and people that are passionate about it.
Watch the full interview below to hear Khan address the Bill Goldberg rumors, possible partnerships with other companies, equal pay, challenges the company will face and more.
* Cedric Alexander faces Hideo Itami to determine who will earn the final spot in the Fatal 4-Way for Buddy Murphy’s WWE Cruiserweight Championship at the Royal Rumble event. Who will join Buddy Murphy, Akira Tozawa and Kalisto in the Fatal 4-Way Match for The Juggernaut of 205 Live’s WWE Cruiserweight Championship at Royal Rumble?
NXT UK, today at 3 ET and 4 ET on the WWE Network.
* Zack Gibson & James Drake will battle Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews today to determine Moustache Mountain’s opponents at NXT TakeOver: Blackpool.
* WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne & Moustache Mountain vs. Gallus’ Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey & Wolfgang
One of the hot topics in wrestling since, essentially, the beginning of wrestling has been health insurance for those in the ring. Promotions view their wrestlers as independent contractors rather than employees, and thus, they don’t offer health insurance for one of the most dangerous jobs in sports entertainment.
All Elite Wrestling is trying to do something different in the wrestling world in more ways than one and that includes health insurance. Some AEW employees will receive health insurance and other benefits as Matt Jackson and Cody Rhodes explained at their launch rally.
“I don’t know if it’s something that [AEW President] Tony [Khan] would want to talk about further, but the big thing for All Elite is that we want to take care of the boys,” stated Matt Jackson.
“So many times you hear stories from wrestlers past or legends where they don’t have anything left and there’s nothing to show for it. One thing that we’ve always wanted to do is, if we started a wrestling organization, we wanted to take care of the guys. So, that’s one thing we’re working on.
“The executives are gonna have benefits and stuff. They’re gonna get taken care of. We’re in the day one process of that and we’re still working on it. But that’s the plan.”
The executives include The Young Bucks and Cody Rhodes who are all EVPs as well as Brandi Rhodes who is Chief Brand Officer. Matt was asked if AEW talent might receive benefits one day.
“Maybe one day. Never say never,” said Matt. “We’re early on. We’re creeping up with that door barely open, so hopefully one day we can swing it wide open.”
Cody was also asked about talent receiving health insurance and benefits and he said that AEW will be similar to WWE in that they will take care of anyone that gets hurt in their ring.
“A lot of concerns that guys will have is what happens if I get hurt in the ring? Because that’s the one thing WWE covers and we can confirm anyone that gets hurt in an AEW ring will be 100 percent taken care of by AEW,” revealed Cody.
Cody then made a comparison between wrestling and Hollywood which insures its actors and actresses through labor unions such as SAG-AFTRA.
“I’d like to see wrestling just like the television industry,” said Cody. “I’ve done a few bit roles here and there but that treatment and that care you get for your time on-screen, you have a comparable influence as a pro wrestler. You’re just as recognizable and you should be just as taken care of.”
The new All Elite Wrestling promotion officially launched yesterday with their Double Or Nothing rally at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Florida.
The biggest news coming out of the rally was the signing of future WWE Hall of Famer Chris Jericho, who closed the rally and announced that he is all in with AEW. Jericho said he’s with AEW because he believes in doing something new and something different, not for the money because he’s already got the money.
AEW also announced that their Double Or Nothing event will take place on Saturday, May 25 in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. They announced a second AEW event for Jacksonville to be held at a later date but details were not released. There were also no details on a possible TV deal or any kind of online distribution but more announcements will be made in the future.
AEW Chief Brand Officer Brandi Rhodes spoke at the rally and confirmed the AEW women’s division, noting that they want this to be a strong division with the strongest women’s wrestlers in the world. Brandi said AEW cares about their female wrestlers and will be paying them equally with the male competitors. She said Cody agrees with her that there will be no sliding scale when it comes to pay. Regarding her role as CBO, Brandi said it will come with lots of hard work and long nights, but she is 100% committed to helping bring AEW to the level it’s supposed to be at, which she guaranteed.
Regarding the Khan family, several of the speakers gave thanks to Tony Khan and his father, Shad Khan. We noted that the Khans confirmed their roles with the company. Matt Jackson noted during the rally that the Khan family approached them after All In last year and asked them if they really wanted to change the world, then offered to really help make that happen.
It looks like AEW will be working with other promotions as well. Matt said they have come to an agreement with OWE (Oriental Wrestling Entertainment) in China, and that they will bring OWE into AEW to give them a major spotlight. Matt promised fans will love OWE if they’re not already familiar with them, praising the promotion for the “gifted” in-ring work they bring. It was also interesting that PAC (Neville) carried his Dragon Gate Open the Dream Gate Title when he came out for a confrontation with “Hangman” Page.
Cody Rhodes announced on Twitter before the really that former WWE Tag Team Champion Billy Gunn is the first agent for the promotion. He is the only producer announced as of this writing. Coming out of the rally, below is the confirmed roster for the promotion:
* Cody Rhodes (Executive Vice President)
* Matt Jackson of The Young Bucks (Executive Vice President)
* Nick Jackson of The Young Bucks (Executive Vice President)
* Brandi Rhodes (Chief Brand Officer)
* Billy Gunn (Agent)
* Chris Jericho
* PAC fka Neville
* “Hangman” Adam Page
* Britt Baker
* Joey Janela with Penelope Ford
* MJF
* Christopher Daniels of SoCal Uncensored
* Frankie Kazarian of SoCal Uncensored
* Scorpio Sky of SoCal Uncensored
The rally was trending on Twitter, before it even began. Hosts Conrad Thompson and Alex Marvez noted that more than 100,000 fans were watching the rally across the various platforms. I believe the YouTube stream peaked at around 60,000 live viewers. The rally featured pyro on the stage they used, and a larger fireworks display from inside the stadium, which is the home of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars mascot, Jaxson de Ville, and their cheerleaders were also featured.
Below is the video of Cody with Gunn, along with various shots from the press conference and the full stream video.
Anthem President Ed Nordholm led a backstage meeting and gave a speech to the wrestlers before last night’s Impact Wrestling TV tapings in Nashville, according to PWInsider. The speech was said to be very positive.
Nordholm reportedly said the company accomplished what they set out to do in 2018. He said 2017 was a “learning year” for Impact following the Anthem takeover, but 2018 was about getting them in position for the future. Nordholm added that everyone is optimistic an enthusiastic for what it coming for the company in 2019.
Nordholm also said Impact will continue to be a big part of The Fight Network, which Anthem also owns. He touted the growth of the network internationally. Regarding Impact moving to the Pursuit channel this coming Friday night, Nordholm said one of the reasons Anthem took Impact over was so that they could have it to use with their own assets. Anthem also owns a minority stake in Pursuit.
The roster was allowed to ask Nordholm questions during the meeting and one had to do with the rumors on Anthem possibly being interested in selling Impact last year. Nordholm assured everyone that this is not the case, and that they should not be worried about anything like a sale of the company.
Impact brought Scott Steiner back for last night’s tapings in Nashville as a bonus for Friday’s Pursuit debut. This was done just for these tapings and was not the beginning of a new Impact storyline for Steiner, but the door does remain open for more work down the line.
Tonight’s WWE SmackDown Live will take place from the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, FL as the road to the Royal Rumble continues.
* Triple Threat Match to decide who will square off against Asuka for the SmackDown Women’s Title at Royal Rumble
* The Usos to battle The Bar with a SmackDown Tag Team Championship opportunity on the line
* AJ Styles to confront WWE Champion Daniel Bryan
* Who will gain momentum heading into the Men’s Royal Rumble Match?
