Tag: Vince McMahon

Vince McMahon Was Reportedly Furious Over Seth Rollins’ CM Punk Callout On RAW

Last night on Raw, Seth Rollins took some shots at CM Punk in the opening segment of the show. When the crowd chanted Punk’s name during Seth’s opening address to the roster, he stated Punk just wants to sit behind a desk in Los Angeles and talk about change.

“I tried to get [Punk] here, I’m sorry,” Rollins said, while the crowd chanted for Punk. “He didn’t wanna show up. He wants to sit behind a desk in Los Angeles and talk about a change that he’s too afraid to make himself.”

There is no deal in place for a Punk vs. Rollins match as of now. According to Dave Meltzer on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Vince McMahon was reportedly furious that Rollins mentioned Punk.

Meltzer pointed out it is a rule that you shouldn’t push an idea of match if you can’t deliver on it. In 2015, McMahon was upset at the ending of a Steve Austin Podcast episode with Paul Heyman, because they teased an Austin vs. Brock Lesnar match that was not in the works.

Rollins has called Punk out multiple times recently on social media. Punk responded to Rollins on last week’s episode of WWE Backstage, stating, “Seth needs to stop tweeting and realize sometimes it’s better to be viewed at as the fool and shut your mouth, or open your mouth and remove all doubt.”

Later on the show while cutting a promo on Tom Arnold, Punk insinuated that Rollins was using him to stay relevant. During an interview with 101 WKQX in Chicago last week, Rollins responded to Punk and once again invited him to face him.

“The funny thing is, for me, from a guy telling me I need to look for relevancy, here’s someone who has been in the doldrums for the past few years because he got his butt kicked in the Octagon, so bad that he didn’t want to show his face anywhere,” Rollins said. “Now he shows back up on a WWE TV show, called WWE Backstage. You can say it’s a FS1 show all you want, which it is, and you might be paid by FOX, but that show doesn’t exist without our company. The company you left 5 years ago. So, say whatever you want, play it however you want. That’s what Punk always does.

“But at the end of the day, if he wants to come on our show and run his mouth about me and a company he’s had no part of for the last 5 years, then of course I’m going to stand up for us. This is a place that has given me everything that I’ve ever wanted in my life. Not only me, but it’s provided a living for my family, for people that I love, that I care about. Of course I’m going to have its back. I’m not going to let you push it around, and push me around, and act like you’re so cool. You couldn’t bust a cherry in a fruit fight, dude. I want to make some money – so, if CM Punk wants to talk all the smack in the world, I’ve invited him a million times now to come to my ring, to my domain, on live television. Where you can’t hide behind anything, no desk in LA. Come, let’s do this thing, man. Let’s fight, let’s fight it out like men.”

While speaking to Wrestling Inc. at the NXT Takeover post-event press conference on Saturday night, Triple H admitted that despite Punk appearing on WWE Backstage, a Punk return to WWE is a “long, long way.”

“I have not spoken to him,” Triple H admitted. “To be honest, we have not had that conversation. I know he’s working for FOX and it’s a bit of an arm’s length from us. All of this stuff is baby steps, when people want something so bad, it’s like they’re saying, ‘So you’re saying there’s a chance.’ That’s the moment of time that we’re in.

“Be happy that he’s on WWE Backstage and doing something with the business again. The rest of it, I’ve said it a million times, never say never. But that’s a long, long way. I know when you say that, people say, ‘they’re working us!’ Because there’s nothing that you can say that will make people think otherwise, it is what it is.”

Punk is an occasional analyst on WWE Backstage on FS1 on Tuesday nights. Punk will not be on tonight’s episode, which features Triple H.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Cody Rhodes Responds To Vince McMahon’s ‘Blood And Guts’ Comment

During a recent conference call with WWE investors, Vince McMahon made reference to AEW featuring “blood and guts” … and now Cody Rhodes has responded to his former boss.

In case you missed it, McMahon talked about plans to loosen up the family friendly nature of WWE programming during the call and made a few subtle digs at AEW in the process.

“There will be something we do in terms of a direction of content — more controversy, better storylines, etcetera,” Vince explained. “But at the same time, we’re not gonna go back to the quote ‘Attitude Era,’ and we’re not gonna do blood and guts and things of that nature, such as being done on perhaps a new potential competitor.”

He also said WWE has graduated from “gory crap.”

In a new video for AEW promoting tickets to their October 2 debut television show taping on TNT, Cody didn’t shy away from responding and stated:

“Recently there were some very public comments made about us where we were referred to as ‘blood and guts.’ Blood and guts. And it was said with such a braggart candor that you would think the person saying it felt that they were bullet proof. But I wonder, before they said it, if they tasted their own words before they spit them out. Because the entirety of our business is built on blood and guts. Every man or woman who ever stepped foot in the ring — regardless of race, color, creed, political affiliation, sexual identity — has felt blood and guts and PASSION! Because if we don’t care, they don’t care. So if you say we’re blood and guts, I say you bet your ass we are blood and guts.”

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

Vince McMahon Talks AEW, Says He Can’t See TNT Tolerating “Blood And Guts” Content For Too Long

WWE Chairman Vince McMahon made several references to All Elite Wrestling during today’s Second Quarter 2019 Earnings call from WWE HQ in Stamford, CT.

When discussing the WWE creative content getting a bit more edgier, Vince said they will remain in the PG environment” and they will not go back to the Attitude Era, but they will do some more controversy with better storylines. He then said WWE will not “do blood and guts and things of that nature, such as what is being done on our new potential competitor” – a reference to AEW and what they have been doing on their sows.

Vince later talked more about competition during the Q&A with investors, and said he generally believes that competition is good for everyone. Vince said they are hoping to the extent that they, presumably AEW, remains competition, but that AEW doesn’t continue “the blood and guts and gory things that they have been doing,” which he says are bad things.

Vince added that he can’t speak for TNT, but he can’t imagine that the network “would put up with that” kind of content continuing from AEW.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Vince McMahon Reportedly Furious Over AEW Name-Drop During WWE RAW Segment, More Backstage Talk

There have been conflicting reports over whether or not Sami Zayn’s AEW name-drop on last night’s WWE RAW was scripted. Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that the line was scripted, but co-host Bryan Alvarez said he heard otherwise. PWInsider then reported that several sources said Zayn’s AEW line was not scripted, and was likely something that Zayn improvised as he is known to pitch his own verbiage for promos. PWInsider also pointed to how WWE could have used their 15-second delay to bleep the plug out, if they had a real issue with it.

In an update, Alvarez noted on Wrestling Observer Live yesterday that Vince McMahon was furious when AEW was mentioned live on RAW. Alvarez fueled the speculation with stories from multiple sources.

“These are two facts about the situation, alright? There are absolutely people who insist that Sami was given the OK to mention AEW, alright?,” Alvarez said. “I’ve even heard from one person who said that in the script that went around in the morning yesterday, it was in the script that he was going to mention AEW. One person said that. I had another person say, and Dave had people tell him that it was a scripted line. Now, with that said, I heard from multiple people, far more people in fact, and people that heard from other people, that all said, the line was not scripted, the line was not supposed to be said.

“I was also told from multiple people that when it happened, Vince flipped his lid. He was furious that this happened, OK? So, that’s literally… those are the two things that I can tell you. So, however you want to figure out what the hell is going on here, there’s various ways that you could explain this. The one that people seem to think is the most likely, is that a small number of people were told that he was given the OK, and that they’re working the boys and flipping out about it. I don’t know what the answer is, all I know is that some people were told that he was given the OK, but most people said that he wasn’t, and that Vince flipped out. I wasn’t there, I don’t know how the flip out occurred, I wasn’t there to witness it, but I do know that the people there who absolutely 100% believed that he was very angry, that this was not him putting on a show for people, that this was not him trying to work the boys, that he was angry when this got on the air. I don’t know how to explain everything, I just know that’s what happened last night.”

If the line was not scripted, it’s believed that Zayn could face some sort of consequences. Meltzer speculated that he could be suspended. Stay tuned for updates on the situation and check out the name-drop in the clip below. As we’ve noted, WWE did edit the AEW mention out of the segment that was posted to YouTube, seen below.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Backstage News On Vince McMahon – Luke Harper, Braun Strowman Gets Heat At WrestleMania 35?, EC3

Vince McMahon has reportedly informed Luke Harper in writing that the company will not be releasing him from his WWE contract, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

As we’ve noted, Harper announced back on April 16 that he had requested his release over unhappiness with how he’s been used. It was reported last week that WWE has added another 6 months to Harper’s contract for the time he spent on the shelf after wrist surgery. His contract was to expire in November of this year, but now he won’t be able to leave until around WrestleMania 36 time in 2020. WWE had plans for Harper to return and feud with Sami Zayn.

Vince reportedly saw Harper’s return match earlier this year and then made the decision not to use him. Vince reportedly said he didn’t “get him” and complained that Harper couldn’t even do a Southern accent, which stems from WWE wanting Harper to do a Southern accent four years ago.

Harper had been regularly pitching ideas to WWE officials while he was out with the injury, but they turned every pitch down. Harper was cleared to return to the ring back on February 6, but WWE wasn’t using him beyond the WrestleMania 35 Axxess tapings. Vince randomly wanted to know why Harper wasn’t in the 6th Annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania, which is why he was added to the match. Apparently the end of the battle royal was a mess as winner Braun Strowman forgot his spots, which is one of the reasons why Strowman hasn’t had much of a push since winning the match.

Harper was to begin the feud with Zayn the day after WrestleMania 35, but he was then told that he wasn’t needed for the post-WrestleMania TV tapings in Brooklyn. Harper then went home, but was called to come back on Tuesday for a match with EC3. Harper was basically used as the dark match opponent to test out the wrestler/manager pairing of EC3 and Drake Maverick. The agents in charge of that match had set up several manager-related spots in the match. Vince watched the match and said he hated the spots with Drake. WWE creative then held a meeting on the first day of the 2019 Superstar Shakeup and when it was asked about which brand Harper would be going to, Vince commented on how he can’t even do the Southern accent and how the match with EC3 was bad. Harper ended up going nowhere in the Shakeup and that’s when he asked for his release.

There’s no word yet on if WWE will bring Harper back to TV, or if he will sit at home while they wait for his contract to expire next year.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Vince McMahon Says They Have A New Team To Fix WWE Live Event Business, A Look At The Decline

As we previously reported, WWE announced today that revenue for the first quarter of 2019 was $182.4 million, down from $187.7 million in the prior year quarter. WWE reported a net loss of $8.4 million, as compared to a profit of $14.8 million in the same quarter last year.

Live event revenues declined 15% in Q1 from the same period in 2015 to $26.2 million. It was noted that the decline was due to the company staging nine fewer events, as well as a drop in average attendance for events in North America. The average attendance for the live events for Q1 2019 was 4,800, an 11% drop from 5,400 in the prior year quarter. The average ticket price was $52.38, which was essentially unchanged from the same period last year. There were no live main roster events held outside of North America in the first quarter, nor were there during the same period last year.

Merchandise was also down 11% in Q1 2019. The revenue from merchandise sold at live events dropped 17% from $23.5 million to $20.8 million. Merchandise sales online saw an even bigger decline, as WWEShop.com revenue was down 21.4% from $8.4 million in the first quarter last year to $6.6 million this past quarter.

Vince McMahon first addressed WWE’s live event woes last October, saying that the company was aware of the issue and were planning on fixing it.

“Live events always has been a barometer as to how well we’re doing,” McMahon said, “Notwithstanding that, we throw around this word ‘re-imagine’ a lot. But we know what’s wrong with our live events, and it’s somewhat of a– I don’t necessarily want to call it [an] antiquated presentation but we know to fix things. If something’s wrong and you don’t know how to fix things, you’re in trouble. We know how to fix that, and we’ll be re-imagining those live events very, very shortly. We’ll see a pretty good turnaround I think in short order.”

McMahon stated on today’s earnings call that the company has a new team working on live events that will turn things around.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Backstage News On Changing War Raiders’ Names

The decision to change the name of the WWE NXT Tag Team Champions from The War Raiders to The Viking Experience was a Vince McMahon call, according to Meltzer on Observer Radio. Now that they have joined the RAW roster in the Superstar Shakeup, Hanson is known as Erik while Rowe is now known as Ivar.

There was speculation on the “War” being dropped from the name due to obvious reasons, but Meltzer said that was not the case. It came down to Vince just not liking the name and him calling for a new name before the debut on RAW. As noted, one point the team was scheduled to be called The Berzerkers, but the name was changed to The Viking Experience as they got closer to the debut.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Roman Reigns Takes Out Vince McMahon & Elias on SmackDown Live

Last night on SmackDown Live Vince McMahon announced that Elias as the biggest acquisition in SmackDown history. Roman Reigns came out and interrupted Elias. Reigns his Elias with a Superman Punch then laid out Vince with a SuperMan Punch then laid out Elias with a spear. Reigns claimed SmackDown as his yard.

Vince McMahon To Announce “Biggest Acquisition In SmackDown History” Tonight

WWE has announced that Vince McMahon will appear on tonight’s Superstar Shake-Up edition of WWE SmackDown Live to announce the biggest acquisition in blue brand history.

On last night’s episode of RAW, AJ Styles, The Usos, The Miz, Rey Mysterio and Naomi were moved from SmackDown to RAW.

Below is the official announcement on Vince’s appearance:

Mr. McMahon to reveal the biggest acquisition in SmackDown LIVE historyThe first night of the Superstar Shake-up was thrilling, to say the least. Although SmackDown LIVE is saying goodbye to Superstars like AJ Styles, The Miz, Rey Mysterio and Naomi, there is still plenty of intrigue as to who will be joining Team Blue.

The mystery has been heightened by Mr. McMahon, who will be revealing the biggest acquisition in SmackDown LIVE history tonight. Who has the WWE Chairman secured for the blue brand?

Vince McMahon Sells Millions Of Dollars Worth Of WWE Stock To Help Fund The XFL

A new SEC filing made by WWE today revealed that Vince McMahon sold 3,204,427 shares of company stock, worth around $270 million.

The filing noted that the sale was primarily to fund Vince’s Alpha Entertainment LLC, which oversees the XFL football league that will re-launch in 2020. Vince informed the company that he has no current plan to sell additional shares, and that he intends to continue his role as WWE Chairman and CEO for the foreseeable future.

The shares sold today represent 4.1% of the total outstanding shares of stock. Vince still owns 28,682,948 shares of WWE stock, which represents approximately 36.8% of the company’s total shares of stock and 80.1% of the total voting power.

Source: Wrestling Inc.