Sports Illustrated has announced that John Cena will receive the 2018 SI Muhammad Ali Legacy Award for his leadership as a philanthropist.
Cena, who has granted more than 600 Make-A-Wish wishes, also advocates for breast cancer awareness and early detection.
“I am truly thrilled to receive Sports Illustrated’s Muhammad Ali Legacy Award,” Cena said. “Ali’s commitment to helping others, his dedication to the sport and his generous spirit are incomparable and he was a role model to us all. To be linked with him in any way is an honor that means so much to me.”
SI Executive Editor Stephen Cannella, who selected Cena for the honor along with other SI editors, praised Cena for his commitment to philanthropy.
“From his unparalleled work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to his support for a wide range of causes ranging from activism for military families to cancer research, John has made personal outreach and generosity of time and spirit his calling cards,” said Cannella. “He might just be the most charitable person in sports, and his dedication to philanthropy richly reflects the spirit of the Ali Legacy Award.”
The award was created in 2008 and renamed after Ali in 2015. Bill Russell, Colin Kaepernick, Jack Nicklaus, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jim Brown and Earvin “Magic” Johnson have received the award in the past. The presentation will take place at SI’s Sportsperson of the Year event on December 11 at the Beverly Hills Hilton in Los Angeles.
Ever since the commercial and critical success of All In, there has been rampant speculation that Cody and The Young Bucks aren’t done making history. If the trio were able to pull off a successful independent pay-per-view, what’s stopping them from creating a successful wrestling promotion?
Cody hasn’t addressed the rumors of him starting a new promotion head on, but he did tease some information regarding it during a meet and greet in Melbourne, Australia. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that when asked about a new promotion, Cody said to wait for January as an announcement would be made. Cody also said the announcement “would be bigger than anyone expects.”
Cody’s tease comes on the heels of news which may or may not be related to the planned announcement. Last week it was reported that the co-owner of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars filed trademarks for a promotion called “All Elite Wrestling.” This, obviously, could be a play off The ELITE faction in which Cody and The Bucks are a part of in New Japan and ROH.
Additionally, All Elite Wrestling, LLC also registered trademarks for “ALL OUT” and “Double or Nothing” among others. “Double or Nothing” is the rumored name for the All In 2 pay-per-view which would supposedly be held in Las Vegas.
January 2019 is turning out to be a monumental month for Cody and The Young Bucks. It’s already well-known that Cody is now a free agent and the Bucks will be come the end of the year. Cody hasn’t shied away from the fact that they could show up in WWE or somewhere else at that time. This latest news would seem to throw cold water on those plans but no one outside of Cody and The Bucks know what’s really going to happen.
Rhea Ripley was crowned the first-ever WWE NXT UK Women’s Champion on yesterday’s episode. She defeated Toni Storm in the finals of the tournament.
There was a post-match celebration with Triple H and NXT UK General Manager Johnny Saint presenting the title to Ripley as the locker room looked on.
Ripley, who has defended the title a few times since winning it at the tapings back in the summer, will defend against Storm at the NXT UK “Takeover: Blackpool” event on Saturday, January 12 from the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, England.
WrestlingINC reports that FOX wants to have Ronda Rousey on the SmackDown roster when SmackDown Live! moves to the network. FOX feels that Rousey’s MMA background, popularity and credibility as an athlete will be a major selling point to promote the show.
FOX reportedly wants SmackDown to have more of a sports direction and feature less comedy to fit in with their other sports programming. The addition of Rousey to SmackDown Live is expected to make her a main player in their efforts to do cross-promotional campaigns between WWE and FOX’s other programs.
As noted, UFC Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier was recently invited for a tryout to WWE as a commentator. According to reports, FOX likes Cormier and wants WWE to sign him as a commentator. Cormier had to postpone the tryout because of his title defense against Derrick Lewis at UFC 230 earlier this month, but recently told Busted Open Radio that he still plans to audition.
Rousey is the current RAW Women’s Champion. While WWE usually executes brand trades shortly after WrestleMania, it will be interesting to see if they hold off until SmackDown moves to FOX in October of 2019.
Former Ring of Honor wrestler Punishment Martinez made his NXT TV debut on Wednesday in a match against someone he’s got history with.
Martinez ,whose signing was confirmed last month, wrestled Matt Riddle at the TV tapings in a losing effort. According to those in attendance, he lost via submission.
In case you’re unaware, Martinez was one of Riddle’s trainers when he got into the business.
After the match was over … Kassius Ohno attempted to get some revenge for his quick loss at NXT TakeOver: War Games and attacked Riddle on the ramp.
Tuesday evening, KSDK Channel 5 reported that the XFL will bring a team to St. Louis as part of its revival in 2020. It will be one of eight cities around the nation that will receive teams. The other seven are expected to be announced sometime next week.
KSDK Channel 5 has confirmed the new St. Louis XFL team will play 10 games in its inaugural 2020 season. Five of those will be played at the Dome at America’s Center.
With the Rams arguably the best team in the NFL just two years removed from having ‘St. Louis’ in front of their name, the hurt in the hearts of football fans in eastern Missouri has presumably traveled even deeper. This may help ease some of the pain.
The Rams’ last game at the then-Edward Jones Dome was a 31-23 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Dec. 17, 2015.
The eight-team XFL league, owned by Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment, will feature a 10-game schedule. The first version on McMahon’s XFL in 2001 lasted just one season.
McMahon announced plans for the new XFL in January. The league introduced former NFL quarterback Oliver Luck as commissioner and CEO in June. The father of Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck, Oliver played for the Houston Oilers from 1982-86 and has held a variety of positions in sports, including athletics director at West Virginia University, his alma mater, an executive with the NCAA and president and general manager of Major League Soccer’s Houston Dynamo.
On Nov. 8, Doug Whaley, who worked from 2013-2017 as GM of the Buffalo Bills, was hired by the XFL to serve as senior vice president of football operations.
Puerto Rican wrestler Cuervo, who was hospitalized after a wrestler named Angel o Demonio threw a concrete block at his head during a match in Mexico, has been discharged.
As we previously reported, Cuervo — who was knocked unconscious when the concrete block hit his head from above/behind — underwent successful surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain.
Due to the incident, Angel o Demonio was suspended indefinitely by the Boxing and Wrestling Commission of Mexico.
Last week’s Impact Wrestling numbers are just now coming out due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Thursday’s Impact Wrestling episode, which aired on Thanksgiving and featured Eli Drake’s 2nd Annual Turkey Trot main event that saw the return of Disco Inferno, drew 124,000 viewers. This is up 23% from the previous week’s 101,000 viewers, which was the second-lowest viewership in the history of the show.
This is the fifth viewership for Impact in the 10pm timeslot on Pop.
Thursday’s show ranked #104 on the Cable Top 150. The show did not make the Top 150 the previous week.
A Hallmark Christmas movie topped the night on cable in viewership with 3.266 million viewers, ranking #1 on the Cable Top 150. The NFL games on Fox drew more than 70 million viewers with the pre-game, post-game and the actual game coverage.
Below is our 2018 Impact Viewership Tracker:
January 4th Episode: 309,000 viewers January 11th Episode: 276,000 viewers January 18th Episode: 309,000 viewers January 25th Episode: 310,000 viewers (Genesis episode) February 1st Episode: 319,000 viewers (Reboot) February 8th Episode: 294,000 viewers February 15th Episode: 300,000 viewers February 22nd Episode: 262,000 viewers March 1st Episode: 365,000 viewers March 8th Episode: 325,000 (Crossroads episode) March 15th Episode: 350,000 viewers March 22nd Episode: 362,000 viewers March 29th Episode: 399,000 viewers April 5th Episode: 294,000 viewers April 12th Episode: 381,000 viewers April 19th Episode: 373,000 viewers April 26th Episode: 308,000 viewers (post-Redemption episode) May 3rd Episode: 299,000 viewers May 10th Episode: 295,000 viewers May 17th Episode: 326,000 viewers May 24th Episode: 263,000 viewers May 31st Episode: 283,000 viewers (Under Pressure episode) June 7th Episode: 296,000 viewers June 14th Episode: 276,000 viewers June 21st Episode: 262,000 viewers June 28th Episode: 254,000 viewers July 5th Episode: 304,000 viewers July 12th Episode: 284,000 viewers July 19th Episode: 275,000 viewers July 26th Episode: 299,000 viewers (post-Slammiversary episode) August 2nd Episode: 248,000 viewers August 9th Episode: 168,000 viewers August 16th Episode: 210,000 viewers August 23rd Episode: 212,000 viewers August 30th Episode: 225,000 viewers (ReDefined episode) September 6th Episode: 236,000 viewers September 13th Episode: 258,000 viewers September 20th Episode: 229,000 viewers September 27th Episode: 222,000 viewers October 4th Episode: 190,000 viewers October 11th Episode: 183,000 viewers October 18th Episode: 189,000 viewers (post-Bound For Glory episode) October 25th Episode: 98,000 viewers (timeslot change to 10pm) November 1st Episode: 105,000 viewers November 8th Episode: 129,000 viewers November 15th Episode: 101,000 viewers November 22nd Episode: 124,000 viewers (Thanksgiving episode) November 29th Episode:
2017 Total: 16.147 million viewers 2017 Average: 311,000 viewers per episode
