Author: John Bass

Vince McMahon Expected To Spend $500 Million On XFL Revival In First 3 Years

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Vince McMahon’s announcement that the XFL will be back in 2020 piqued the curiosity of many people. It came at a perfect time because there was fresh interest in the subject matter thanks to ESPN’s 30 For 30 documentary on the shelved football league. Although the XFL only lasted a season and drew worse ratings each week some people held a fondness for the nostalgia.

Revisiting an idea like the XFL is an expensive venture to pursue which is why Vince McMahon sold $100 million worth of WWE stock in December 2017 to fund the league. This might have been a good start but ESPN reports Vince McMahon informed insiders he actually expects to spend close to a $500 million price tag in the first three years on the revamped football league.

Oliver Luck was announced as the XFL’s CEO and he will officially move into his offices across from WWE’s Titan Towers on Monday. The league still hasn’t picked any cities to play in but they’re already selling merchandise from the XFL online store. This kind of early exposure could help immensely and determine interest, but there is a lot more work to do and money to be spent.

“People were focused on the $100 million, but the truth is that doesn’t even get us to the 20-yard line,” Oliver Luck said while making a football analogy to compare the funds required to restart the XFL.

Oliver Luck revealed player salaries would average around $75,000. Players who are in more demand stand to make more than the average, but players’ and coaches’ salaries stand to be the biggest cost for the league. The $75,000 average is well above the last incarnation of the XFL where players normally made around $45,000, but it’s still far from NFL paydays.

Another huge expense for the XFL will be the insurance needed in order to operate. They must protect the league’s assets and a proper insurance plan is vital to any plan of this scope and content especially with this kind of injury risk.

“I’ve been at all levels of football, and the importance of a broad-based insurance program cannot be understated,” Luck continued as he discussed another huge cost for the XFL. “There are very few participants who underwrite for this market anymore and it is obviously costly.”

Source: WrestlingINC

2018 ROH Best In The World Results

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ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship: (C) The Kingdom vs. EVIL. SANADA & BUSHI – Winners: The Kingdom

Flip Gordon vs. Bully Ray – Winner: Flip Gordon via DQ

Post-match, Bully grabs a trash can and a chair, brings them into the ring and swings the chair on Gordon’s leg. From the back is Eli Isom, but he instantly gets dropped and Bully focuses his attention back on Gordon. Cheeseburger gets in there and lands a bunch of forearms, Bully kicks him and lands a big powerbomb to end the fun. Bully gets a table out from under the ring. Todd Sinclair gets in there to stop Bully, but he gets shoved out. Colt Cabana finally decides to leave commentary with a chair to get Bully to stop. Bully flips the table over at Cabana and bails out of the ring. Crowd with a “Colt Cabana!” chant as Bully heads to the back. (transcript via WrestlingINC)

Sumie Sakai, Jenny Rose, Mayu Iwatani & Tenille Dashwood vs. Kelly Klein, Hazuki, Kagetsu & Hana Kimura – Winners: Sumie Sakai, Jenny Rose, Mayu Iwatani & Tenille Dashwood 

Kenny King vs. Austin Aries – Winner: Austin Aries

Jay Lethal vs. KUSHIDA – Winner: Jay Lethal

ROH World TV Championship – Baltimore Street Fight: (C) Punishment Martinez vs. Adam Page – Winner: Punishment Martinez

ROH World Tag Team Championship: (C) The Briscoes vs. The Young Bucks – Winners: The Briscoes

Post-match, The Briscoes beat up on the Bucks a bit more. SoCal Uncensored run in with with a chair in hand. Initially they look to go after the Bucks, but Daniels then smacks Jay with it and Mark gets dumped out of the ring. (transcript via WrestlingINC)

ROH World Championship: (C) Dalton Castle vs. Cody vs. Marty Scurll – Winner: Dalton Castle 

2018 ROH Best In The World Preview 6/29/18

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ROH World Championship: (C) Dalton Castle vs. Cody vs. Marty Scurll

ROH World Tag Team Championship: (C) The Briscoes vs. The Young Bucks

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship: (C) The Kingdom vs. EVIL. SANADA & BUSHI

ROH World TV Championship – Baltimore Street Fight: (C) Punishment Martinez vs. Adam Page

Flip Gordon vs. Bully Ray

Sumie Sakai, Jenny Rose, Mayu Iwatani & Tenille Dashwood vs. Kelly Klein, Hazuki, Kagetsu & Hana Kimura

Jay Lethal vs. KUSHIDA

Kenny King vs. Austin Aries

MLW: Fusion Preview 6/29/18

Kick off your weekend with Major League Wrestling: FUSION tonight on beIN SPORTS at 8pm ET / 5pm PT.  Learn more how you can watch FUSION here.

ACH VS. RICH SWANN is tonight’s main event. In a battle of 2 high flyers, climb the rankings. See these two collide on beIN SPORTS tonight!

BATTLE RIOT CONTROL CENTER WITH EXCLUSIVE!
Will your favorite wrestlers join the 40-man first-ever Battle Riot? Find out!  [Buy tickets to see it live]

SAMI CALLIHAN AND THE DEATH MACHINES
“Worldwide Desperado” Sami Callihan along with his followers known as the Death Machines continue their march of violence and mayhem.  What chaos will they cause at MVP’s expense tonight? What happened when Barrington Hughes was attacked last week by the Death Machines? You might just be shocked.

$60,000 REASONS TO DESTROY SWERVE
Low Ki has come to some sort of arrangement with Salina de la Renta to collect the now $60,000 bounty on the reigning World Heavyweight Champion Shane Strickland.  Given the shocking attack last week, what will happen next? Can “Swerve” hold up to the pressure of being the World Heavyweight Champion and fighting off these threats?

The man of 1,000 counters Fred Yehi takes on the returning Sammy Guevara (presented by Salina de la Renta). What has Guevara learned while on his Japanese and Mexican excursions?

Will it be enough to put away the grappling guru from Waterloo, Iowa? Tune in to find out!

Join Tony Schiavone and Rich Bocchini as they call the action for an action packed 60 minute shot of Major League Wrestling: FUSION!

MLW.com

Jeff Hardy Working Through Injuries

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WWE United States Champion Jeff Hardy continues to deal with minor injuries.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that WWE has been protecting Hardy with short Fatal 4 Way main events at live events, where he has been limping a lot. Hardy defended against Eric Young on this week’s SmackDown but the match ended up being a six-man with Hardy and The Usos defeating SAnitY.

Hardy injured his leg during his entrance at the May 17th SmackDown tapings but has also been battling a nerve injury that caused numbness in his fingers. No word yet on if he will be taking any time off to deal with the injuries.

Source: WrestlingINC

Robbie E And Chelsea Green Attending WWE Performance Center Tryout (Video)

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Former Impact Wrestling stars Robbie E and Chelsea Green are among the wrestlers attending a tryout this week at the WWE Performance Center.

NXT‘s Instagram account shared videos from the first day and both Chelsea — aka Laurel Van Ness — and Robbie are seen working out with other WWE hopefuls.

As you may recall, Green was on the 2015 season of Tough Enough alongside current NXT/WWE stars Velveteen Dream, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville. She made her departure from Impact earlier this year and filmed episodes for the current season of Lucha Underground.

Robbie left Impact in September of last year and has since focused on outside projects related to fitness, while still wrestling on the independent scene.

Both can be seen in the video (Chelsea is in a Disney shirt and Robbie is on the ring apron) at the link below:

Impact Wrestling Preview 6/28/18

The following is scheduled for tonight’s Impact on Pop TV:

* First ever Impact broadcast from Windsor, Ontario – St. Clair College

* Rich Swann debuts

* Desi Hit Squad debuts

* Moose talks about World Title

* Matt Sydal vs. Dezmond Xavier

* Pentagon Jr. vs. Sami Callihan at PCW Ultra in Los Angeles

* Eddie Edwards goes to House of Hardcore in Philly

Police Issue Statement On Shinsuke Nakamura Dog Bite Accident At WWE Event, Nakamura Status Update

As noted, Shinsuke Nakamura was pulled from the ring on Monday and Tuesday after being bitten by a police dog during a routine pre-show security check at Monday’s WWE live event in Bakersfield, California.

There is no timetable for Nakamura’s return and his status for the weekend shows in Japan is still up in the air, according to F4Wonline.com.

Bakersfield police issued the following statement on the incident:

“On Monday, June 25, 2018, officers of the Bakersfield Police Department Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) Team were conducting a protective sweep of the Rabobank Arena in preparation for the WWE Live Summerslam Heatwave Tour. During the sweep, the EOD Team, which consisted of an explosive detection trained canine team and bomb technicians entered an area of the arena where an employee of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) was present. The canine entered the room to sweep for the presence of any explosive material. As the sweep took place the WWE employee was accidentally bit by the canine. The employee sustained an injury to his lower left leg. Medical aid was immediately summoned to the scene and the employee was transported to a local area hospital for medical treatment.”

Source: WrestlingINC

WWE Expects Additional Programming On Fox Stations

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WWE says cross-promotional content outside of SmackDown Live is part of the new contract with Fox — but they weren’t willing to disclose additional details.

WWE’s co-presidents George Barrios and Michelle Wilson hosted a conference call to Wednesday discuss the new blockbuster TV deals with Fox and NBCU. During the 30-minute investor call, a few questions were asked about additional programming with its newest partner.

“Those absolutely have been in discussions with Fox,” answered Wilson. “There have been discussions around additional promotional programming that would highlight other activities in WWE. So those are certainly very positive discussions that are taking place — both on FS1 and Fox Broadcast.”

Wilson later added some of those opportunities were laid out in the new contract. However, she wasn’t in a position to elaborate.

Sources tell Pro Wrestling Sheet there have been discussions in regards to a weekly airing of NXT on Fox Sports 1 … however, we’ve been unable to verify if this is a plan that’s already set in stone.

In reference to the new TV deals, Barrios said the price on WWE programming is still a bargain — and added the company’s brand is stronger than it’s ever been. He pointed to an increase revenue in global sponsorships, mainstream coverage through ESPN and ecosystem’s need for live programming.

“The success we have had in social, digital and direct-to-consumer re-positions the WWE as a business brand and as a business partner. We went from being viewed as a live-event business to more of a social, digital, direct-to-consumer media business with proven expertise around it,” added Barrios.

Another focus of the call centered around TV deals outside of the U.S. — specifically the U.K. and India. Barrios said it would be ideal to split up RAW and Smackdown, as they did in the U.S., but noted those specific markets will dictate what’s possible.

They hope to have a U.K. TV deal done by the end of 2018 and contract in India signed in early 2019.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

Lucha Underground Preview 6/27/18

The Following is scheduled for tonight’s Lucha Underground on the El Rey Network:

* Johnny Mundo and the Worldwide Underground plot revenge

* Jack Evans issues a Put Up or Shut Up Challenge

* A new competitor comes for the Lucha Underground champion

* Fenix, Jeremiah Crane, and Mil Muertes battle it out in an epic 3-Way to the Grave Match