Zilla Fatu is no longer with Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling.
Booker cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason why the son of Umaga is gone from his promotion. He addressed Fatu’s departure on an episode of his Hall of Fame podcast recently.
“I can’t tell you when you’re going to see Zilla again because he is now no longer a part of Reality of Wrestling due to irreconcilable differences, let’s just put it that way,” Booker said.
“I’m sure he’s taking bookings out there on the internet and we wish Zilla well in his future,” Booker continued.
Fatu began training with ROW in December. He had his first match in front of a live crowd for the promotion on July 15. Shortly after his ROW debut, Booker praised Fatu’s performance, saying he could feel Umaga’s spirit in the arena that night.
In June, Fatu was asked to pick sides in WWE’s Bloodline angle. He declared that he was with “Team Jey.”
With injuries and burnout affecting much of the roster, fights breaking out, Smackdown ratings plunging badly, yet house show business seemingly strong and ECW about to be launched with almost nothing finalized in plans, it can only be described as nobody knows what is going to happen next. Major booking plans change by the minute, and nobody knows what is going to happen in two PPV events that are just a few weeks away.
It was expected all week that an announcement would be made on 5/23 that the new ECW show would be signed for the Sci-Fi channel and debut on 6/13. With so much going on, things got crazy on the deal. As best we can tell, the announcement will likely be made before any of you read this. Some of the terms were not yet finalized.
The show will air on Tuesday night, either at 9 p.m. or 10 p.m., for one hour. Sci-Fi, after first agreeing to a 52 week commitment, started getting some cold feet on the project, and at last word had only committed to 12 episodes. Because of the WWE’s exclusive TV deal with NBC Universal, and USA Network not interested in giving the show a good time slot, and Bravo expressing only mild interest, WWE has very little leverage in this deal.
This year’s men’s Royal Rumble may have been the final match of Booker T’s in-ring career.
During the latest episode of his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T said he doesn’t think he’s going to compete in the ring again following his appearance in this year’s men’s Royal Rumble match. Booker T was a surprise participant in the Rumble, entering at number 21 before being eliminated by Gunther.
“I’m gonna tell you right now, I think that’s the last time people are going to see me in the ring altogether,” Booker T said. “In Reality of Wrestling, I’m going to work with my students, but as far as putting my boots on again, that was the last time.”
“It’s kind of sad too. I’m kind of choked up about it a little bit,” Booker T said.
“It was a great exit for me. I don’t think it could have been better than that, but putting the old boots up, it’s kind of hard. I think that’s it, I really do. I think that was the last time putting on the boots and getting back in the ring from that level. I think that’s the last time I really want to do it too at that level. I don’t think it can get better than that, seriously. But I want to thank all the fans for that moment.”
The Royal Rumble was Booker T’s first time wrestling for WWE since 2012. He’s competed sporadically in recent years for his Reality of Wrestling training school/promotion.
Booker T is a two-time WWE Hall of Famer. He was inducted individually in 2013 and inducted as a member of Harlem Heat alongside his brother Stevie Ray in 2019.
Booker T is currently a color commentator for NXT and appears as a panelist on WWE pay-per-view preshows. Reality of Wrestling has announced that NXT wrestler Ivy Nile will be in action at their show in Texas City, Texas this Saturday.
Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling announced today that they will begin working with WWE NXT with their new partnership kicking off next Saturday.
That is when current NXT roster member Ivy Nile will make both her ROW and indie debut at their Saturday, February 11th show in Texas City, Texas,
From the promotion:
Reality of Wrestling is taking the roster to the NEXT Level! We are proud to announce that Reality of Wrestling will be working with WWE/NXT to bring our fans incredible matchups they can’t see anywhere else.
Don’t miss the chance to see NXT Superstar and NBC’s Titans Games first female champion, Ivy Nile in action on Saturday, February 11th in Texas City at the World Gym Arena.
Booker T is a color commentator for the NXT brand and one of his students, Roxanne Perez, is the current NXT Women’s Champion. He posted on social media that he is “excited to merge my WWE NXT favorites with the roster of my students at (Reality of Wrestling).”
Booker T is remaining part of the WWE NXT commentary team on a full-time basis.
On the latest episode of his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T confirmed that he’s staying in his role as color commentator for NXT. Booker T said the job was originally supposed to only be until the end of December, but he’s remaining in NXT full-time.
Booker T calls NXT alongside Vic Joseph every Tuesday night.
Booker T joked on the Hall of Fame podcast that he stole Wade Barrett’s job in NXT:
I gotta get back to work. NXT duties start tomorrow. My thing is, that job was only supposed to be until the end of December. But like I say, what’s that kid’s name that used to work there? Yeah, yeah, Wade Barrett. He’s gone and forgotten as you can see (laughs).
That’s my job now. That’s my job, full-time. I’m full-time now. I’m full-time on NXT. All right? I’m gonna be up in your ear, all up in your ear, every Tuesday (laughs)… Wade Barrett, I don’t know if they’re gonna keep him on, find a spot for him over on Raw or SmackDown or something, but his ass ain’t coming back to NXT. He’s finished, he’s wrapped. Bad news for you, Booker T has stole that spot and I told you guys I was gonna steal it. I told you guys I was gonna steal it. You don’t give me a job and expect for somebody to come — I’m like Tom Brady. Once I get in the game, I ain’t coming out. And the thing is, it wasn’t something that I was expecting or anything like that, but I’m excited about it, I’m excited about this new venture.
Last October, Booker T replaced Barrett in NXT as part of a WWE commentary team shakeup. Barrett moved to SmackDown, stepping in for Pat McAfee after McAfee joined ESPN’s College GameDay. WWE noted at the time of the commentary shakeup that McAfee would return to the WWE announce booth following his GameDay commitments.
Booker T is a two-time WWE Hall of Famer. He was inducted individually in 2013 and with his brother Stevie Ray as Harlem Heat in 2019.
Another member of the Fatu family is beginning his pro wrestling career.
Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling announced on Wednesday that Zilla Fatu, son of Umaga (Edward Fatu) has joined the school. Zilla is cousins with Jimmy & Jey Uso, Solo Sikoa, and Ava Raine.
“Welcome the newest member of Reality Of Wrestling training school Zilla Fatu. His father Umaga was a part of Reality Of Wrestling and now he begins his own journey,” ROW wrote on Twitter.
Welcome the newest member of Reality Of Wrestling training school Zilla Fatu.
His father Umaga was a part of Reality Of Wrestling and now he begins his own journey. pic.twitter.com/uBmPqpznqF
Umaga passed away at the age of 36 due to a heart attack on December 4, 2009. With the 13-year anniversary of his passing having been the day before, Umaga’s nephew Solo Sikoa paid tribute to his uncle on Raw by using the Samoan Spike and running hip attack.
During his time in WWE, Umaga was a two-time Intercontinental Champion. He also represented Vince McMahon in the “Battle of the Billionaires” at WrestleMania 23. After Umaga was defeated by Bobby Lashley, McMahon was forced to shave his head.
Booker T has been added to a segment on this week’s NXT.
The WWE Hall of Famer will host a contract signing between Wes Lee & Carmelo Hayes on the show. Lee will put the NXT North American Championship on the line against Hayes on the November 22 episode.
Lee won the title in a five-way ladder match at Halloween Havoc last month. Hayes is a former two-time North American Champion who lost the belt to Solo Sikoa on the September 13 episode.
NXT on Tuesday, March 15 will take place from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. The advertised lineup for the show is as follows:
NXT Championship: Bron Breakker defends against Von Wagner
NXT Women’s Championship: Mandy Rose defends against Alba Fyre in a Last Woman Standing match
Apollo Crews vs. JD McDonagh
Indi Hartwell vs. Tatum Paxley
Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen vs. The Dyad (Jagger Reid & Rip Fowler)
Shawn Michaels to issue statement on NXT Deadline event
Booker T hosts contract signing between Carmelo Hayes & Wes Lee
Booker T has opened up about his new role on the NXT commentary team.
The WWE Hall-of-Famer debuted on Tuesday’s show after WWE announced a shakeup to its broadcast teams earlier this month. Booker mentioned on his Hall of Fame podcast that the role is something he’s been “wanting for a long time.”
“I’m excited about being a part of NXT. I didn’t know how excited I was going to be about this honestly because you know it’s a lot of students, a lot of young guys coming up but I feel like I’m in my coaching mode, I feel like I’m in my teaching mode and there’s so many young guys, so many young girls, it’s just like clay just needing to be mold,” Booker said.
“This is going to be something really, really cool for me and something I’ve been wanting for a long time,” he continued.
Booker would continue to talk about the differences between working commentary for the main roster and NXT.
“Everything’s different in NXT than it is on the main roster, which is a good thing for me. I found myself in the beginning probably the first 45 minutes perhaps waiting on someone to give me a little bit of direction. Then when that didn’t happen, I started feeling a little bit more comfortable, I started feeling a little bit more at ease and then the Booker T started coming out.”
“For me, I think that’s when I’m in my comfort zone more so,” he continued.
“I was like so in awe sitting at that seat watching the young talent of tomorrow go out there and just totally show up and show out and that’s why I’m having the time of my life.”
Job Listing: Onlamp php/mysql developer. Experience with vbulletin and drupal/WordPress a plus. Email [email protected] with subject PHP DEVELOPER with resume.
The life and career of Vince McMahon. His rise, his fall, both sides of the coin, how things could have been different. The fall of the territories, the WCW feud, buying the company from his father, his pre-WWF promotions, announcing, getting on the USA Network, the expansion, Hulk Hogan, Saturday Night’s Main Event, the first WrestleMania, the death of Crockett Promotions, the McMahon family as TV characters, angles with the family he suggested that never happened, a potential sale, Paul Levesque, what brought Vince down, Brock Lesnar, Tony Khan and much more.
WrestleMania 2024
Full coverage of ROH Death Before Dishonor with business notes
SummerSlam and Clash at the Castle notes
Full coverage of the G1 tournament, with business, standings, star ratings and all that good stuff
Full coverage of Saturday’s UFC show
Television ratings for every national wrestling show
Details behind the IWGP Women’s Championship and why
Stardom PPV coverage from last week and the upcoming shows this week
Dragon Gate’s biggest shows of the year this week
Why a top Dragon Gate star left the promotion
Lots of injury updates
New Japan Strong tapings
Tragos/Thesz Hall of Fame induction ceremony notes
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Wednesday News Update
WWE
AJ Ferrari, who was one of the recruits in WWE’s first NIL class, has been charged with sexual battery following a July incident where he was accused of sexual assault. Ferrari was a wrestler for Oklahoma State University until the sexual assault accusation.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Gunther discussed his weight loss: “I was a big fan of the look I had. I loved the foreign heavyweights that would go to Japan and beat up the babyfaces. And I had success. But if I stay stagnant, I’ll fall behind. I always want to be one step ahead. No one ever told me to lose weight. I knew the transition to the main roster was happening, so I wanted to transform into something new. When we moved to Orlando, Marcel [Ludwig Kaiser] and Fabian [Aichner] were a great support. They’re both in tremendous shape, and we created a motivating and productive environment.”
Gunther said that, while the before and after pictures may be drastic, he doesn’t feel that different in the ring: “I see the pictures of the comparisons, and I’m proud of it, but I’m still me. I never had cardio issues before. I always felt very comfortable, so it doesn’t feel that drastic to me. Maybe it does when you look at pictures.”
The Rock tweeted about his feud with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin from the Attitude Era: “There’ll never be another time like this in pro wrestling. Wrestling industry was on FIRE + with a PPV biz model – @steveaustinBSR and I approached every main event with a ‘if we don’t draw PPV’s, then we don’t f*ckin’ eat’ attitude. Fans felt that hunger and passion. SCSA = [The GOAT]”
Mick Foley pleaded with Gmail for help getting his email account back after it was hacked: “Dear @gmail. This is really me – and I really need to get my account back. Please DM me, so we can actually talk on the phone. Having your identity stolen sucks. Please don’t make it any more difficult than it needs to be to get it back. Sincerely, Mick Foley”
On his Hall of Fame radio show, Booker T said he declined an offer for Harlem Heat to have their last match at Starrcast next year:
I was approached actually to have a final match next year at Starrcast. Harlem Heat’s final match, here in Texas. I said, ‘Hell no. We ain’t doing none of that.’ I just had a match a couple of weeks ago, my knee was killing me. I can only imagine what it’s going to feel like next year. Y’all can forget about seeing me do one last match.
The thing is, I’m still working, I’m still having matches. You’re just never going to see me have a ‘last match.’ You’re never going to see me do much in the ring. I’m never going to build up a match like I’m doing a whole lot. ‘One tag in, one tag out. That’s it, I’m done, where’s my check?’ I learned from one of my teachers back in the day, ‘Hacksaw’ Butch Reed. I got to tag with him down in the Global Wrestling Federation, and he said ‘Man, I’m coming in one time. I’m coming out and asking for my check.’ That’s the way you do it.
During an appearance on Busted Open Radio this morning, Tony Khan said he’s open to Madison Rayne (who has joined AEW as a coach) wrestling for AEW: “I’m really excited. She’s going to be great for the team. She’s excited. Everyone is excited to have Madison Rayne as part of AEW. I’m not saying she wouldn’t wrestle anymore, we’re open to it. We have other people in the office who do wrestle as part of their schedule, so I’m open to it. I haven’t talked a lot about it because right now, I’m primarily focused on the whole company, but it’s definitely something I’m open to and would like.”
My time in NXT was maybe a day. Triple H, I’m a huge fan of. I think he’s one of the greatest ever. He was one of my favorites when I was a kid. He’s offered us so many great memories that are kind of like my first memories in wrestling. Like the thumbs up, thumbs down, that kind of stuff is the first stuff that I remember watching when I was a kid. That really made me and my family really strong wrestling fans in that area. I mean, it was hard not to watch Triple H during that time. He was plastered all over the WWE product. He was the franchise player.
I think it’s great that he’s taken over. I mean, I don’t know what their plans are over there, but I think it’s great. I think it’s going to give a lot of independent wrestlers great opportunities in professional wrestling at a very high level, and I think that’s good for everybody. More valid places for wrestlers to work is going to create a lot more opportunities for everybody around, and it’s going to create a lot more competition. I think healthy competition, maybe even some unhealthy competition, is good for everybody.
Booker T will induct his wife Sharmell into this year’s WWE Hall of Fame.
It was announced during Raw that two-time WWE Hall of Famer Booker T will be inducting his wife. It was announced this morning via Complex that Sharmell, best known for managing Booker T during his King Booker run as Queen Sharmell, would be entering the Hall of Fame.
Entering pro wrestling as a member of the Nitro Girls in the late 1990s, Sharmell first joined WWE in 2001 as an interviewer. In 2005, she started to manage Booker T, which led to their run as King and Queen. Sharmell also appeared in TNA along with Booker T when he left the WWE in 2007.
This year’s WWE Hall of Fame ceremony will take place at the American Airlines Center on Friday, April 1 in Dallas, Texas following that night’s SmackDown, airing on Peacock. Already joining the 2022 Class of the Hall of Fame are The Undertaker (to be inducted by Vince McMahon) and Vader.
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TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
NXT has announced that new North American Champion Carmelo Hayes will kick off tonight’s show. Cora Jade vs. Elektra Lopez and Imperium vs. The Creed Brothers has also been added. Additionally, Duke Hudson will make an appearance.
Matches for this week’s Main Event include Drew Gulak vs. Akira Tozawa and Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo vs. Ricochet and John Morrison.
Sasha Banks, Finn Balor, and Doudrop have been announced for the Crown Jewel preview edition of The Bump for Wednesday.
Tickets for the upcoming return to Madison Square Garden on 12/26 will go on sale this Friday, with an online presale taking place thursday. Big E vs. Bobby Lashley and Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair has been announced for the show.
Bianca Belair spoke to The National News about wrestling in Saudi Arabia, mentioning she would have to make alterations to her ring gear. “I already wear long pants as it is, though we’ll definitely be having long sleeves and just making sure that we’re within the bounds of everything, but I’m definitely going to still show up and look like the EST that I am,” she says. “We’ll definitely customise our gear, but I’m excited for it. It’s not something that’s an inconvenience, plus I get a new look.”
Sports Illustrated has an interview with Carmelo Hayes, who talks about his current run in NXT and winning the North American Championship as well as his relationship with Shawn Michaels. “We have PC Live matches, which are live events in front of the coaches,” he said. “I performed in front of Shawn once or twice, and then he saw me wrestle Kushida on TV,” Hayes says. “I’d never been signed before I came here and I had no television experience until I got here. This is my first contract, and that match against Kushida was my first-ever TV match. After the match, we spoke. I told him I didn’t want to be on 205 Live—I wanted to be a top guy. So I shot my shot and asked him to help me. And then I put the pressure on myself to be that top guy.”
Mustafa Ali on Twitter: “Earnings from the 10/21 event will be donated to charity.”
Rhodes to the Top on Saturday drew 340,000 viewers, with a 0.14 in the 18-49 demographic, placing 18th for the night. It was down from last Wednesday’s 443,000 viewers.
On his The Hall of Fame with Booker T & Brad Gilmore podcast, Booker T was critical of Tony Khan taking shots at WWE. “I’m of the sentiment that Tony Khan is doing a lot of talking about nothing,” he said (h/t WrestlingNews.co). “Go out and produce a good show. At the end of the day, we’ll know who won if that’s what we’re looking for, if that’s your goal post, if that’s where you’re trying to score in. But all of this talk about what you’re doing, this and that, back and forth, I swear man, it sounds like a little school girl saying how pretty she is over the other girls on the schoolyard. I could be wrong, but to me, that’s what it sounds like. It doesn’t sound like a boss. It doesn’t sound like a real boss move to be talking about something as small as that. I remember back in the day when WCW and WWE, it was head to head going down, that right there was a real war fighting for numbers. At one point, WCW took that rating war and ran with it for 83 weeks. That’s a long, damn time to say, ‘We’re winning.’ But what happened after 83 weeks? The ball shifted and we never got the momentum back. You know why? Because there was a lot of talking going on, and a lot of guys not working keeping their eyes on the prize. My thing is, if Tony Khan is smart, and I really think the guy really is smart, he would definitely stop thinking about the fans on social media as opposed to how long can we run this thing? How big can we make this?”
The IInspiration (Jessica McKay and Cassie Lee, formerly the IIconics) were on Busted Open Radio ahead of their upcoming Impact debut at Bound for Glory this weekend. “Cass and I, we spoke on this a lot,” said McKay. “It really came down to Impact having such an amazing tag team division. That’s where we feel like we fit the best. When we made the decision to join Impact, it just felt right. Having that feeling of “okay, this feels really good”, was so important for us. We’ve heard nothing but incredible things about Impact so we’re super excited to join the locker room and just be a part of it.”
“Headstrong”, a documentary starring Rob Van Dam talking about his concussion issues, will debut on Reelz next month on November 13.
The presale code for AEW’s Dynamite event in Duluth, Georgia is AEW770. Tickets go on sale Thursday at 10 pm EST.
David Bixenspan has an article on the United States’ former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) attempting to deport Pat Patterson in the 1960s due to him being gay.
TripleMania coverage including the story behind the AAA title finish
Update on one of the biggest weekends in years, updated ticket sales, secondary market tickets, lineups, Punk teases, updates on All Out, WWE in MSG, Extreme Rules, Ashe Stadium
Wrestler and Match of the week and major show polls for the week
WWE settles nine lawsuits out of court
Coverage of New Japan Resurgence, story behind stars not being in G1 this year
CMLL Anniversary and the ridiculous machinations over the National heavyweight title
New Japan business updates
Numerous stories regarding COVID and pro wrestlers infected, and major Japanese figure from the past battling for his life
UFC business updates, lots of fighters talk pay
Nick Khan talks the TV sports business going forward
Detailed look at ratings for the past two weeks, quarterly breakdowns, demo numbers and the why behind the numbers
How WWE & AEW are doing internationally in ratings
Results of the major pro wrestling events of the past week
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TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
Vince McMahon turns 76 today.
Keith Lee worked another dark match prior to last night’s Raw. Jeff Hardy vs. Shelton Benjamin and The Viking Raiders vs. Lucha House Party were taped for this week’s Main Event.
Footage from SummerSlam that had Brock Lesnar attacking John Cena after the show went off the air was added to WWE’s YouTube page.
Baron Corbin has been documenting his stay in Las Vegas on Twitter, eventually winning money and staying in a presidential suite, only to lose most of it and wind up back at a motel.
Charlotte Flair was the guest on this week’s Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette. In the interview [h/t Post Wrestling], she discussed the criticism she got for missing a date in Charlotte, North Carolina that WWE continued to advertise her on despite requesting the day off two months prior. “I actually thought people would be more like, ‘Wow, that’s how much her relationship means to her.’,” she said. “I was actually like, people are thinking that I’m ruining my career? Part of my career is who I am in my real life. Part of my career is Manny [Andrade El Idolo] helping me and pushing me and supporting me and all these different experiences in my life. That makes me grow as a performer. I don’t know if you guys have seen but I’ve grown in front of y’all over the years. So I just — I was really surprised and like, people aren’t surprised at all [about] my dad. He’s gonna be chopping and Figure-Four’ing anywhere but, just to see — my dad genuinely was like, you can see how proud he was to be out there with Manny. That’s how much Manny means to him and I think my dad also knows Manny’s gonna be the man who takes care of me when he’s gone and it’s like a passing of a torch.”
In an interview with WrestlingInc, Alex Zayne dismissed the idea of Karrion Kross losing on his first night on Raw as being a signal to the NXT roster. “If Vince wants to send a signal, he’s just going to come out and say it,” he said. “I think speculation like that can be a little silly sometimes, because they’re not writing riddles on the back of napkins, and asking fans to figure it out. Conspiracy theories are fun but the world is actually less interesting than what you’ve put together in the mind. The wrestling world is probably even less interesting.”
John Cena talked to news.com.au about his upcoming comedy Vacation Friends, The Suicide Squad, and his latest WWE run.
This week’s Road to AEW Dynamite, which has a special look at CM Punk’s Rampage appearance.
Booker T talked about Punk’s debut on his Hall of Fame Podcast [h/t Cultaholic]. He said that he was not a fan of the promo because he shouldn’t have mentioned WWE. “CM Punk came back and he had 10 full television minutes to go out there and make his point as far as CM Punk being back. He had the perfect crowd to be able to go out there and really, I’m talking about have a party up in that United Center. But CM Punk came back and took his moment and chose to talk about WWE,” he said. “That right there was just a total miss as far as I’m concerned [he] struck out. I can only imagine if The Rock had that same 21,000 in Miami, Florida. The Rock would have talked about every landmark in Miami and that everybody in Miami frequented… he would have had those fans going crazy with excitement but CM Punk chose to talk about the WWE and that 9 minutes went back so slow when it could have been a party going on in the United Center. I’m saying from a perspective to where I’m making my comeback and I’m thinking about the other side, that’s totally a place that I wouldn’t even be going. As well as you talk about how the moment started out on a rise and after the music stopped playing, the rise just started going down. It never came back up. That’s a moment for you? I get it, I understand that but my point is the moment, once the bell rings and the bell rings after the music stops as far as I’m concerned and I just don’t think CM Punk delivered the way he could have as far as a promo goes because I didn’t feel the promo. I felt like a guy talking about WWE and when you’re talking about the other side, only thing you’re doing is giving those guys airtime. Of course, I know the AEW crowd will eat that up but for me as a professional, that’s the last thing that I’m gonna be thinking about is the other side. I’m gonna be thinking about the here and the now. Like I said, I could be wrong but I just think he missed a moment there in front of his hometown [with] over 20,000 people.”
In an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Paul Wight spoke about how he had to reject a part in the film Gladiator after Vince McMahon nixed the idea. “There were so many projects I had to turn down. Years ago when I first signed with the WWE, Nick Cage had reached out to me because he was a big fan of me as a giant, and he was trying to hook me up with this Russell Crowe movie that was being shot in Spain, but I had to be in Spain for six weeks for it. You knew this guy [Crowe] was going to be a star. All I gotta do is permission to go, to show up, I’ve got the part. I go to Vince, and Vince is like ‘I paid you to be a wrestler, not an actor’, so that was the end of that.”
Heels on Sunday averaged 103,000 viewers on Starz, down from 128,000 last week for the show’s premiere.
Jason Momoa told James Corden that he and Batista are working on a buddy cop film together.
PWG has sold out all tickets for Threemendous VI, which will be held on September 26.
Kylie Rae and Nick Gage will team up to face Robert Anthony and Frank the Clown on September 3 for Freelance Wrestling.
Booker Huffman (Booker T) has lost his lawsuit against video game publisher Activision Blizzard over his likeness being used in a Call of Duty video game.
Sportico reported this morning that a jury determined that the character Prophet in the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 did not bear any likeness to Huffman’s pro wrestling character G.I. Bro, which Booker T used early in his career and later in WCW.
“We are pleased with the outcome,” E. Leon Carter of Carter Arnett, trial counsel for Activision Blizzard, said in a statement. “Bottom line, to call this a frivolous case would be a massive understatement. Activision creates games with the utmost integrity and is extremely proud of everyone involved with the development and creative process for all of our games including Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, including the incredible talent like William Romeo who helped bring our vision to life. Today, the jury validated that process.”
Activision Blizzard argued in court that Huffman had contracted away all rights to the character to WWE and that he had exaggerated similarities between the G.I. Bro character and Prophet. Huffman argued that he only contracted the rights to the G.I. Bro character to WWE when it is used in the context of pro wrestling and that the similarities between G.I. Bro and Prophet were closer than Activision had suggested.
Sunday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view will include a special pro wrestling-inspired musical performance.
WWE has announced that Bad Bunny “will perform his hit single ‘Booker T’ off his new album ‘El Último Tour Del Mundo’ live for the first time” at the Royal Rumble this coming Sunday. The song is named after WWE Hall of Famer Booker T, who appears in its music video. After being released at the beginning of this month, the video currently has more than 39 million views on YouTube.
“Bad Bunny’s most recent and third album of 2020, ‘El Último Tour Del Mundo’ debuted at #1 on the ‘Billboard 200’ chart, the first all-Spanish-language album to reach #1 in the 64-year history of the all-genre chart, as well as #1 on Apple Music’s global ‘Top Albums’ chart for all genres,” WWE.com wrote.
“Performing at the Royal Rumble is a childhood dream come true,” said Bad Bunny. “I have been a lifelong fan of WWE and I am excited to take the stage and entertain fans around the world.”
“Bad Bunny is at the top of the music industry, and a pop culture icon with strong ties to WWE and our fans around the world,” said Neil Lawi, Senior Vice President and General Manager, WWE Music Group. “We are thrilled to provide a global platform for his first-ever live performance of ‘Booker T’ as we kick off the road to WrestleMania.”
The Royal Rumble main card will begin at 7 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday. The PPV features the men’s and women’s Royal Rumble matches, Drew McIntyre vs. Goldberg for the WWE Championship, Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens in a Last Man Standing match for the Universal Championship, and Sasha Banks vs. Carmella for the SmackDown Women’s Championship.
Though she departed the company in August, Renee Paquette (formerly known as Renee Young in WWE) will be making an appearance on WWE-related programming this month.
Fox Sports announced today that Paquette and Booker T will host a pre-show for the Friday, October 16 episode of SmackDown. The special pre-show will be 30 minutes long and will air on Fox starting at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time.
The pre-show ties in with the October 16 episode of SmackDown being called the start of the second season of SmackDown on Fox. It will also be the first episode of SmackDown following this year’s WWE Draft.
“In celebration of the second season of FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN on FOX, FOX Sports’ WWE personalities come together for a special FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN KICKOFF SHOW on Friday, Oct. 16,” Fox Sports announced. “Longtime broadcaster Renee Paquette and WWE Hall of Famer Booker T host a bevy of WWE Superstars and special guests live from the brand new ‘WWE ThunderDome’ in Orlando.
“The FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN KICKOFF SHOW begins at 7:30 PM ET/PT and 6:30 PM CT/MT, leading into the season premiere of FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN on FOX at 8:00 PM ET/PT and 7:00 PM CT/MT.”
This year’s WWE Draft will begin on SmackDown this Friday and conclude on Monday’s episode of Raw.
Fox Sports has also announced that a WWE’s Best Moments of 2020 special will air on Fox this Sunday (October 11). The special “airs adjacent to Sunday’s regional NFL broadcasts airing in-market at 1:00 PM ET and 4:05 PM ET. Viewers with an NFL matchup airing at 1:00 PM ET can watch WWE: THE BEST MOMENTS OF 2020 at 4:30 PM ET; viewers with an NFL matchup airing at 4:05 PM ET can watch the special at 3:00 PM ET.”
