Tag: WWE

WWE And Netflix Officially Announce New Movie With Kofi Kingston And Other WWE Superstars

WWE and Netflix have officially announced their first movie together, The Main Event.

The film will star Seth Carr, Tichina Arnold, Ken Marino and Adam Pally. Several WWE Superstars will also be featured – WWE Champion Kofi Kingston, The Miz and Sheamus, among others.

Netflix noted that the logline for the movie reads, “After discovering a magical mask, an 11-year-old aspiring wrestler enters a competition to become the next WWE Superstar.”

Production on the movie begins this week in Vancouver. The movie is based on an original screenplay by Larry Postel. Jay Karas will be the director.

The Main Event is expected to premiere on Netflix in 2020 some time.

We noted before that this movie also features a reference to John Cena, who reportedly has a cameo role. WWE did not mention Cena being in the movie. It was also recently reported that Bray Wyatt is featured. There are also said to be several WWE NXT references in the script.

It was also noted that the original screenplay had the kid eating magically-powered John Cena breakfast cereal, but word now is that the most recent version of the screenplay has taken that part out, coming up with another way to give the lead character super powers. Cena was to have his cameo come late in the movie, but there’s no word yet on if that was nixed. It was speculated that Kofi may be replacing Wyatt in the updated screenplay, as Wyatt was mentioned in original reports but Kofi wasn’t. Today’s official announcement confirmed Kofi, but did not mention Wyatt.

Regarding the NXT references, PWInsider reports that the movie will feature at least one NXTevent over the course of the story. NXT Superstar Keith Lee has a role in the movie, as well as two of the NXT announcers – Mauro Ranallo and WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix. It was noted that more WWE talents may be added to the movie as they get closer to filming some of the wrestling-centric scenes.

This is the first collaboration between WWE Studios and Netflix. The two companies have been working to develop new, original feature films. The projects will be directed towards family audiences.

Netflix issued the following blurb on the movie:

“The Main Event joins a growing slate of live action movies featuring kids and teens and made for families, which includes the upcoming comedy Tall Girl, A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting, and Hello, Universe, based on Erin Entrada Kelly’s Newbery Award-winning, New York Times bestselling novel.

WWE Studios is WWE’s multi-platform content division that develops and produces scripted and non-scripted series, documentaries and feature films. Recent projects include Andre the Giant, the Emmy-nominated documentary in partnership with HBO, as well as hit shows Total Divas and Total Bellas on E! and Miz & Mrs. on USA. WWE Studios also recently produced the feature film Fighting with My Family in association with MGM and Seven Bucks Productions.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Matt Hardy Announces Latest Addition To House Hardy

Matt Hardy and Reby Hardy are expecting their third child together.

Matt took to Twitter today and made the announcement. He wrote, “Super excited to announce that a brand new Hardy debutng soon to join #HouseHardy. Will it be another Hardy Boy? Or will it be a Hardy Girl? What I do know is that it shall be absolutely WONDERFUL!”

Matt and Reby currently have two sons together – Maxel, born in June 2015, and Wolfgang Xander, born in June 2017.

Matt is currently on the WWE SmackDown roster and has been involved in some of the recent WWE 24/7 Title chase segments. His status has been up in the air after brother Jeff Hardysuffered a knee injury in April, and will be out for several more months.

You can see Matt’s full tweet below:

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE Receives Its Own Category At This Year’s ESPYS

For the first time, WWE is getting a “Best WWE Moment” under the Best Performance category at this year’s ESPYS, which will be hosted by Tracy Morgan on July 10 at 8 pm ET on ABC.

The nominees for the award are: Roman Reigns’ return after his battle with Leukemia, Becky Lynch wins the WWE RAW and SmackDown Women’s Championships at WrestleMania 35, Kofi Kingston wins his first WWE Championship at WrestleMania 35, and Ronda Rousey becomes WWE RAW Women’s Champion.

Voting is done by the fans via ESPN’s site, which you can do by clicking here.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1141319802138615808

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE SmackDown Live Preview 6/18/19

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown Live will take place from the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California with the final hype for WWE Stomping Grounds.

* Xavier Woods and Dolph Ziggler to battle it out on the blue brand

* Bayley and Alexa Bliss to come face-to-face on “A Moment of Bliss” before they collide at WWE Stomping Grounds

* What will be the fallout of Roman Reigns’ attack on McMahon & McIntyre?

* Will Daniel Bryan & Rowan finally accept Heavy Machinery’s challenge?

* Can R-Truth hang on to the 24/7 Championship?

WWE 205 Live Preview 6/18/19

Tonight’s WWE 205 Live will take place from the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California. Streaming live tonight at 10/9 C on WWE Network.

* The Singh Brothers look to prove their might

* Who is Tony Nese’s challenger?

WWE Course To Be Offered At The Harvard Business School This Fall, Triple H Comments

WWE and the Harvard Business School have announced that a new case study on WWE will be offered this fall as a part of Anita Elberse’s “Business of Entertainment, Media and Sports” course. The course will enroll 180 MBA students in their second year.

  Harvard Business School to offer course featuring WWE case study

The prestigious Harvard Business School is offering a case study on WWE as part Anita Elberse’s course “The Business of Entertainment, Media and Sports,” beginning this fall. The course will enroll 180 MBA students in their second year and will also examine other major sports and entertainment brands like The Walt Disney Studios, NBCUniversal, Nike and personalities such as former WWE Champion Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, LeBron James and more.

The course will explore factors that drive sustained success for organizations and individuals in sports and entertainment; understand how companies can diversify beyond their core business to create engagement and value for fans and other stakeholders; and how business can best pursue contracts with star talent.

The course begins in time for the fall semester.

https://twitter.com/TripleH/status/1140988699489886208

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE RAW Preview 6/17/19

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California with the final hype for WWE Stomping Grounds.

* Who will don the stripes for Rollins vs. Corbin at WWE Stomping Grounds?

* Fatal 5-Way Match to determine Samoa Joe’s U.S. Title challenger at WWE Stomping Grounds

* Daniel Bryan is a Wild Card

* Crate expectations for R-Truth

* “Top Guys” once again

* Could a Woman’s Right bring us “Becky No Belts”?

Mike And Maria Kanellis Sign New Multi-Year WWE Contracts

Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that Mike and Maria Kanellis have signed new WWE contracts. Sources say they recently inked multi-year deals and were happy with their final offers.

Maria Kanellis recently made it known that she and her husband were nearing the end of their deals with a tweet on May 27 saying: “Contracts are up in 3 weeks. Just saying…”

Mike and Maria signed with WWE in 2017. They’re currently featured on 205 Live.

Lars Sullivan Currently Dealing With An Injury

Lars Sullivan is currently out of action with an injury, according to F4Wonline.com.

Sullivan was originally scheduled to face Matt Hardy at Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown, but he was pulled due to what was believed to be a minor injury. New information reveals that Sullivan is suffering from a knee injury, and that it’s much worse than originally believed.

There is no word yet on when Lars will be back in action, but they should have a better idea once he undergoes an MRI. F4W notes that it doesn’t look like a small thing.

Lars defeated The Lucha House Party in a 3-on-1 Handicap Match at WWE Super ShowDownlast Friday. He then won the rematch on this Monday’s RAW.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Backstage Talk On WWE Talents Waiting For Contracts To Expire, Stephanie McMahon’s WWE NXT Meeting

There are said to be a lot of WWE talents who are counting the days until they can get out of their WWE contracts, according to Wrestling Observer Radio.

There have been rumors of WWE talents wanting to leave for months, but Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that AEW putting on a successful show with Double Or Nothing has really changed things.

On a related note, WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon was in Orlando this week for a business luncheon. She also visited the WWE Performance Center and Wednesday’s WWE NXT TV tapings at Full Sail University. As seen in the video below, Stephanie held a talent meeting before Wednesday’s tapings, which was described as a pep talk.

Stephanie reportedly pushed how great everything is with the company, and how talents get to be their own brands in the company. Stephanie also pushed social media in a big way. Her presentation included a big screen that showed how Forbes recently listed WWE and WrestleMania as one of the top 10 most powerful brands on social media, among other points.

It was also noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE is trying to convince talents that their careers are over if they leave. Talents have believed this in previous years, but most aren’t buying it these days and a lot of wrestlers who leave are happy that they made the decision. Meltzer noted how it appears as if WWE is trying to convince the fans that it’s WWE or nothing, and that wrestlers are jokes if they aren’t with WWE. Meltzer pointed to the enhancement talents with the YOLO County Tag Team Titles on Tuesday’s SmackDown, which were featured in the angle with Heavy Machinery and SmackDown Tag Team Champions Daniel Bryan & Rowan.

Source: Wrestling Inc.