Tag: WWE

WWE RAW Preview 8/28/2023

WWE Raw will air live tonight on the USA Network from the FedExForum in Memphis, TN.

  • Falls Count Anywhere Match: Becky Lynch vs. Zoey Stark
  • Chad Gable vs Ludwig Kaiser
  • Tommaso Ciampa vs Bronson Reed
  • The New Day vs. Viking Raiders

John Cena To Regularly Appear On SmackDown In September & October

WWE announced today that John Cena, who will return to Friday Night SmackDown this Friday, September 1 at The Giant Center in Hershey, Pa., will also appear on SmackDown for seven consecutive weeks starting Friday, September 15 at Ball Arena in Denver through the end of October.

Cena will appear on the following dates:

  • Friday, September 1 – Hershey, Pa. – The Giant Center
  • Friday, September 15 – Denver – Ball Arena
  • Friday, September 22 – Glendale, Ariz. – Desert Diamond Arena
  • Friday, September 29 – Sacramento, Calif. – Golden 1 Center
  • Friday, October 6 – St. Louis – Enterprise Center
  • Friday, October 13 – Tulsa, Okla. – BOK Center
  • Friday, October 20 – San Antonio – AT&T Center
  • Friday, October 27 – Milwaukee – Fiserv Forum

Each night, Cena, in partnership with Make-A-Wish, will host children and their families in each city to experience a WWE event in-person.

As previously announced, Cena will appear at the WWE Superstar Spectacle at GMC Balayogi Indoor Stadium in India on Friday, September 8.

Source: eWn

WWW Pays Tribute To Bray Wyatt And Terry Funk On SmackDown

WWE honored both Terry Funk and Bray Wyatt on Friday, opening  “WWE SmackDown” with a ten-bell salute after the passing of both stars this week. WWE Hall of Famer and hardcore wrestling legend Funk died on Wednesday, and Paul “Triple H” Levesque announced Thursday that Windham Rotunda, better known to fans as Bray Wyatt, had died as well. As previously reported, plans for “SmackDown” were scrapped after Rotunda’s death to add a “significant tribute element” to the show.

Michael Cole opened up the show as “SmackDown” went on the air. Members of the WWE locker room, as well as Levesque and even Impact star Erick Redbeard, formerly known as Erick Rowan during his time in WWE as a member of the Wyatt Family, stood on the stage, emotional. Cole said the broadcast would honor both stars’ legacies, a process that began with the ten-bell salute. A spotlight then showcased the rocking chair Rotunda used as the Wyatt character, empty on stage, before a video package honoring the star aired. The video showed highlights of Wyatt’s career, from his time leading the Wyatt Family to his time with various championships. Photos of Rotunda with his wife, JoJo Offerman, and their children were also shown.

Later in the broadcast, WWE aired a video package about Funk’s passing, as well, which was introduced to the live audience by Cody Rhodes. Both Funk and Wyatt also received packages showing the outpouring of grief for their passing on social media, alongside footage of their most iconic moments. Moreover, a series of QR codes — a reference to the White Rabbit storyline that heralded Wyatt’s return to WWE last year, led to various YouTube videos highlighting his career.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE SmackDown Preview 8/25/2023

WWE SmackDown will air live tonight on FOX and emanate from the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky.

  • WWE Women’s Championship: IYO SKY (c) vs. Zelina Vega
  • Rey Mysterio vs. Grayson Waller in a US Non-Title Match
  • Jimmy Uso returns

Windham Rotunda (Bray Wyatt) Dies at Age 36

Windham Rotunda, known to WWE fans as Bray Wyatt since 2012, has died. The news was broken on Twitter by Rotunda’s employer, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, who says he received the news from Rotunda’s father. Rotunda was 36 years old.

According to a report from Fightful, Windham Rotunda battled a case of COVID-19 earlier this year that exacerbated a previous heart issue he’s been dealing with for awhile now.

While there had been a lot of “positive progress” in recent months, Wyatt suffered a massive heart attack on Thursday and passed away.

WWE issued the following statement on their website:

Windham Rotunda, also known as Bray Wyatt, passes away
WWE is saddened to learn that Windham Rotunda, also known as Bray Wyatt, passed away on Thursday, Aug. 24, at age 36.

Known for his captivating performances and incredible in-ring presence, Wyatt was a defining Superstar of his generation and accomplished many feats in WWE, including becoming WWE Champion in 2017.

From his leadership of The Wyatt Family alongside Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, and Braun Strowman to his enthralling time as “The Fiend,” Wyatt embarked on an incredible career and saw several iconic rivalries with Superstars such as John Cena, Randy Orton and The Undertaker.

WWE extends its condolences to Rotunda’s family, friends and fans.

All Elite Wrestling has issued a statement on the tragic death of Bray Wyatt, who passed away at the age of 36 on Thursday after suffering a massive heart attack.

You can check out the official statement from AEW below:

“AEW joins the entire wrestling world in mourning the loss of Windham Rotunda, aka Bray Wyatt. A third-generation wrestler, Windham proudly carried on his family’s legacy by forging his own incredible path to superstardom. Windham’s unique style and persona showcased his passion for the industry and desire for innovation.

AEW sends its deepest condolences to Windham’s family, friends and fans. We are forever grateful for all his incredible contributions to the industry.”

Rotunda worked in WWE from 2009 to 2021, when he was released. He returned to the company a year later, to much fanfare, at the Extreme Rules premium live event, where he began performing an intricate storyline involving a character called Uncle Howdy (portrayed by his brother, former WWE star Bo Dallas) and Alexa Bliss. The story was apparently tabled, however, following Rotunda’s match with LA Knight at the 2023 Royal Rumble. Afterward, Rotunda began a feud with Bobby Lashley prior to WrestleMania 39, but was removed from television due to an undisclosed illness, which was later said to have threatened both his career and his life. Until this news, the worst seemed to have passed; as recently as August 10, wrestling media outlets were reporting that Wyatt was recovering and moving in the direction of being medically cleared to return.

Rotunda’s televised WWE career began in 2010, when he joined the cast of the original “NXT” as Husky Harris, competing in the second season of the original “reality show” format of the program. As Husky Harris, he joined the “NXT”-centric heel stable The Nexus on the main roster, but was written off television and sent back to WWE’s developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling, in 2011. He was repackaged as the sinister cult figure Bray Wyatt in 2012 and was a major part of the re-branded “WWE NXT” when it functionally replaced FCW, becoming one of the show’s most popular acts alongside his cohorts, Erick Rowan and the late Luke Harper, aka The Wyatt Family. This incarnation would take him back to the main roster, where his career had numerous ups and downs; Rotunda seemed almost constantly in the act of re-inventing himself, a process that culminated in 2019, when he debuted both his Firefly Funhouse segments and his alter ego The Fiend, who notoriously wrestled under a terrifying mask and obtrusive red lights. Over the course of his career, he won the WWE Championship, the WWE Universal Championship, and two tag team championships.

Sources: Wrestling Inc. and Fightful

Edge Addresses Rumors Of Troubled Contract Negotiations With WWE

WWE Hall of Famer Edge has shared a video on his X account in which he addresses some of the rumors pertaining to his current WWE contract situation. It was recently reported that both parties had reached a stalemate in regard to an extension, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. According to the veteran, there are no hard feelings between him and WWE, and he still loves the promotion, describing it as the “dream cake.”

“I didn’t come at them with some crazy contract or anything. They didn’t deny me. I have a contract extension sitting in my inbox. I just don’t know what to do. The first time I had to retire, it was forced. This time, the choice is in my lap and it’s a lot harder.

Edge went on to say that his match against Sheamus on last week’s episode of “WWE SmackDown” is the highlight of his career. He described it as a special night and he doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to top it, so he needs time to process the experience and think about his next move.

There have also been rumors of Edge joining AEW after his current WWE contract expires. He didn’t mention Tony Khan’s promotion in the video, but he did share some news about his future plans.

“Just know that whatever it is that I do, whether it’s Percy Jackson — which is coming up soon — or it’s wrestling or it’s sitting in my rocking chair, it’s because I’m having fun. And having fun at this stage of my life and raising my kids are the two most important things. So I hope that clears stuff up.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE NXT ‘Heatwave’ Preview 8/22/2023

Here is the lineup for tonight’s WWE NXT ‘Heatwave’ in Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center on the USA Network: 

  • NXT Championship: Carmelo Hayes (c) vs. Wes Lee
  • Ilja Dragunov vs. Trick Williams
  • NXT Heritage Cup Championship: Nathan Frazer (c) vs. Noam Dar
  • Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley vs. Dragon Lee and Lyra Valkyria
  • Baron Corbin vs. Von Wagner
  • Ava vs. Ivy Nile
  • Tiffany Stratton appearance

WWE RAW Preview 8/21/2023

WWE Raw will air live tonight on the USA Network from the Centre Videotron in Quebec City, Quebec Canada.

  • WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: Gunther (c) vs. Chad Gable
  • Drew McIntyre and Matt Riddle vs. The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods)
  • Shinsuke Nakamura will reveal what he whispered in the ear of Seth Rollins
  • WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus is scheduled to appear

John Cena’s WWE TV Return Revealed

John Cena is slated to make his return to WWE television next month. 

The last time the former WWE Champion competed, he went up against Austin Theory for the United States Championship but fell short in April at WrestleMania 39 on the opening night of the event.

The last time Cena appeared in front of fans was at the Money in the Bank PLE in London last month. During his promo segment, he encouraged WWE to bring WrestleMania to Europe. When Grayson Waller interrupted him, Cena laid him out. 

Cena sent in a pre-recorded video to talk about his feud with Edge, who celebrated his career with the company last week on SmackDown. 

Ryan Satin of FOX Sports reports Cena is set to appear on the September 1st episode of SmackDown from The Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. He’s also set to travel to India with the company for the upcoming WWE Superstar Spectacle show at the GMC Balayogi Indoor Stadium on Friday, September 8th.

Source: eWn

WWE Breaks Gate Record With WrestleMania 40

WWE touted WrestleMania 40, breaking its all-time gate record in just one day of selling tickets. WWE issued the following:

WrestleMania 40 Breaks WWE® All-Time Gate Record in One Day

WrestleMania 40 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia Sells More than 90,000 Tickets and Surpasses the WrestleMania 39 Total Gross of $21.6 Million

STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– WWE® (NYSE: WWE) today announced that WrestleMania 40 broke the company’s all-time gate record in one day. The previous total gross record – $21.6 million – was set earlier this year at WrestleMania 39 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

WrestleMania 40, which takes place at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Saturday, April 6 and Sunday, April 7, sold more than 90,000 tickets when it went on sale last Friday.

The record gate comes on the heels of unprecedented ticket sales demand for WWE in 2023, which to date has produced the highest-grossing gates of all-time for premium live events such as SummerSlam, Royal Rumble and Money In The Bank. SummerSlam, which emanated from Ford Field in Detroit earlier this month, generated a record gate of $8.5 million, the largest gate for any non-WrestleMania event ever.

Additionally, On Location has sold more fan experience packages for WrestleMania 40 than all of WrestleMania 39 and broke the all-time revenue record for a single WWE event in this area.

Limited tickets for WrestleMania 40 are still available via https://www.ticketmaster.com/. In addition, limited exclusive ticket packages are available for WrestleMania 40 via On Location. WrestleMania 40 Priority Passes offer the WWE Universe the chance to be ringside for every exhilarating moment, including premium seating, pre-show hospitality with WWE Superstar appearances, ringside photo opportunities, exclusive merchandise and more.

About WWE

WWE, a publicly traded company (NYSE: WWE), is an integrated media organization and recognized leader in global entertainment. The Company consists of a portfolio of businesses that create and deliver original content 52 weeks a year to a global audience. WWE is committed to family-friendly entertainment on its television programming, premium live events, digital media and publishing platforms. WWE’s TV-PG programming can be seen in more than 1 billion homes worldwide in 25 languages through world-class distribution partners including NBCUniversal, FOX, BT Sport, Sony India and Rogers. The award-winning WWE Network includes all premium live events, scheduled programming and a massive video-on-demand library and is currently available in more than 180 countries. In the United States, NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock, is the exclusive home to WWE Network.

Additional information on WWE can be found at wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com.

Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward looking statements include statements regarding our outlook regarding future financial results, the impact of recent changes to management and our board of directors (the “Board”): the timing and outcome of the Company’s media and other rights negotiations including major domestic programming licenses before their expirations through 2024: the Company’s pending business combination with UFC, our plans to remediate identified material weaknesses in our disclosure control and procedures and our internal control over financial reporting, and regulatory, investigative or enforcement inquiries, subpoenas or demands arising from, related to, or in connection with these matters. The words “may,” “will,” ·could,” ·anticipate,” “plan,” “continue,” “project,” “intend,” ·”estimate,” “believe,” ·expect,” ·outlook,” “target.” “goal,” ·”guidance” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such words. These statements relate to future possible events, as well as our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions and are not historical facts and accordingly involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results or the performance by us to be materially different from expected future results or performance expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements.

These forward-looking statements are subject to uncertainties relating to, without limitation, the consummation of the pending business combination with UFC in the expected timeline or at all; diversion of management’s time and attention due to the pending business combination with UFC: the availability of sufficient cash at the close of our transaction with UFC to distribute to shareholders of the new public company in line with current expectations; possible disruptions in our content delivery and online operations and our those of our business partners; privacy norms and regulations; our need to continue to develop creative and entertaining programs and events; our need to retain and continue to recruit key performers; the possibility of a decline in the popularity of our brand of sports entertainment: possible adverse changes in the regulatory atmosphere and related private sector initiatives: the highly competitive. rapidly changing and increasingly fragmented nature of the markets in which we operate and/or our inability to compete effectively, especially against competitors with greater financial resources or marketplace presence; uncertainties associated with international markets including possible disruptions and reputational risks; our difficulty or inability to promote and conduct our live events and/or other businesses if we do not comply with applicable regulations; our dependence on our intellectual property rights, our need to protect those rights, and the risks of our infringement of others’ intellectual property rights; potential substantial liability in the event of accidents or injuries occurring during our physically demanding events; large public events as well as travel to and from such events; our expansion into new or complementary businesses, strategic investments and/or acquisitions; our accounts receivable; the construction and move to our new leased corporate and media production headquarters; litigation and other actions, investigations or proceedings; a change in the tax laws of key jurisdictions; inflationary pressures and interest rate changes; our indebtedness including our convertible notes; our potential failure to meet market expectations for our financial performance; our share repurchase program; the impact of actions by Mr. McMahon (our controlling shareholder, whose interests could conflict with those of our Class A common stockholders); the substantial number of shares are eligible for sale by the McMahons and the sale, or the perception of possible sales, of those shares could cause our stock price to decline; and the volatility in trading prices of our Class A common stock. In addition. our dividend and share repurchases are dependent on a number of factors, including. among other things, our liquidity and historical and projected cash flow, strategic plan (including alternative uses of capital, our financial results and condition. contractual and legal restrictions, general economic and competitive conditions and such other factors as our Board may consider relevant.

Forward-looking statements made by the Company speak only as of the date made and are subject to change without any obligation on the part of the Company to update or revise them. Undue reliance should not be placed on these statements. For more information about risks and uncertainties associated with the Company’s business. please refer to any documents filed, or to be filed, by the Company with the SEC, including, but not limited to, the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Risk Factors” sections of our annual reports on Form 10‑K and 10‑K/A and quarterly reports on Form 10‑Q/A and Form 10‑Q.