WWE announced today that they are adding all 34 episodes of the “Mean” Gene Orkerlund hosted Confidential program. WWE Confidential took fans behind the scenes in a documentary style magazine piece on historical events in wrestling.
WWE Monday Night Raw saw a nice rise in viewers for the post Royal Rumble edition. 2,703,000 people tuned in to see the fallout of the Rumble, up from 2,462,00.
WWE has released a statement regarding Dean Ambroses’ contract status.
“Dean Ambrose (Jonathan Good) will not be renewing his contract with WWE when it expires in April. We are grateful and appreciative of all that Dean has given to WWE and our fans. We wish him well and hope that one day Dean will return to WWE.”
Big congratulations are in order for Double J, Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett, who appeared at the WWE‘s Royal Rumble event by entering the match at number 2 has a new job with WWE.
According to PWInsider, Jarrett has signed with the company as both a talent and a producer. Jarrett is in Pheonix tonight to start his new job. One has to wonder if this is WWE’s blatant attempt to sign away potential backstage personnel from All Elite Wrestling.
WWE Superstar Dolph Ziggler talked to Chris Van Vliet about his WWE contract situation. According to the interview, Ziggler says that “as of now, I am still under contract”.
As far as when his contract ends, Ziggler says he’s not sure. He did say that because he stays on good terms with the WWE, he’s able to go out and do other deals outside of WWE.
He said, “Currently, I am on hiatus from WWE…there are a ton of hand shake deals that aren’t on paper”.
Check out the full interview below:
Former WWE Heavyweight Champion and new Bellator MMA fighter, Jake Hager wants to fight under his old WWE name. According to Hager, he’s still has a good relationship with WWE and think that he can get them to let him use hid old Jack Swagger name.
“I still have a very good relationship with WWE. That’s why they are allowing R-Truth to perform my entrance on Saturday. I thought that was a very good sign from them. It’s a little bit of writing on the wall from them. As far as the Jack Swagger name, they do not have it trademarked. I’m in the process of trademarking the name. I know there’s a singer who has it trademarked for musical performances. But, this isn’t music (laughs). I think I have a good chance of owning it down the line. I won’t have the name for this fight, but hopefully, by the second fight it will be Jack Swagger.”
Would you be interested in seeing Hager fight under the Swagger name?
Dave Meltzer is reporting that Ronda Rousey is set to be done with WWE after WrestleMania 35. It is believed that she will still be under contract with WWE and no one really knows what she plans to do.
Some of the rumors going around is that Rousey would like to start a family.
WWE did comment on her contract status:
“Ronda Rousey is under contract with WWE until April 10, 2021. Whether she wants to start a family is a private matter.”
Vince McMahon is working hard on re-launching the XFL after almost 20 years of the football league not existing. According to PWInsider.com, McMahon is negotiations with two broadcast partners for the XFL.
ESPN is currently one of two possible homes for the XFL. The ESPN deal would allow the XFL to broadcast on some of ESPN’s many outlets but might also open the door for the XFL to broadcast on ABC.
FOX is also looking into signing the XFL to a broadcast deal. FOX is also the future home of McMahon’s WWE Smackdown Live so McMahon might be able to leverage his existing relationships over at FOX to help land him a great deal for the XFL.
Charlie Embersol, son of former XFL Co-Founder Dick Embersol, is starting his own football league called The Alliance of American Football, or the AAF and have a deal with CBS.
The NFL will also be on FOX Broadcasting. The XFL is scheduled to launch ion 2020.
WWE On Fox
According to the Hollywood Reporter (THR), WWE is close to closing a deal for Smackdown TV right with FOX. The deal is reportedly worth $1 Billion. Yes, Billion.
The report breaks down that FOX would be paying $205 Million a year starting in October 2019 for 5 years. Smackdown would move back to Friday Nights.
If this report is true, WWE would be seeing a significant increase in their TV earnings between both shows. RAW is staying on the NBCU owned USA Network and will be getting 3x the TV rights revenue (which will bring them around the same amount of money as Smackdown). (Read More)
The management over at WWE must be happy to see that they had a significant jump in viewership for this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw.
The 1/14 edition of Raw brought in 2,722,000 overnight viewers, way up from last week’s 2,326,000 overnight viewers. This is with no major competition going head to head with Raw.
Diamond Dallas Page, a close friend of “Mean Gene,” remembered the late WWE Hall of Famer.
A moving interview.