Mayweather wrestles for $21m - HeraldSun.com.au - 27th February 2008
MANAGER Leonard Ellerbe has defended a decision to have his unbeaten boxer, Floyd Mayweather, take part in a professional wrestling program in Florida next month.
Mayweather, considered by some to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, claims to have been offered $US20 million ($21.45 million) to take part in Wrestlemania XXIV on March 30 in Orlando, Florida.
The unbeaten World Boxing Council welterweight champ will battle 2.1 metre World Wrestling Entertainment star "Big Show".
Mayweather will be conceding around 113kg to the wrestling giant but Ellerbe says the move is all about underlining Mayweather's credentials as an entertainer rather than just a boxer, just as he did when the champion appeared on "Dancing With The Stars" in November.
"This is a tremendous, tremendous event, it's entertainment," said Ellerbe.
"Like anything, it's also a business and it's my responsibility to continue to expand his fanbase and take the Mayweather brand to another level."
Mayweather's manager insisted the diversion to the scripted-WWE event had nothing to do with helping to promote the boxer's proposed rematch with Oscar De La Hoya this September.
Ellerbe dismissed the suggestion that Mayweather was risking an injury that could derail his plans for an even bigger payday.
Media Man Australia Profiles
WrestleMania
WWE
Boxing
Thursday, February 28, 2008
MyNetworkTV Wins Cage Match for WWE SmackDown
World Wrestling Entertainment Ratings Monster Has New Broadcast Home, By Alex Weprin - Broadcasting & Cable - 26th Feb 2008
World Wrestling Entertainment announced that MyNetworkTV will become the broadcast home of WWE SmackDown beginning this fall.
As a result of the agreement, SmackDown will return to many of its former UPN affiliates, which make up an important portion of MNT. Those former UPN affiliates are where the show's ratings and popularity grew.
“The momentum at MyNetworkTV continues with this major acquisition. We have demonstrated tremendous growth, and this partnership with WWE, the premier sports-entertainment franchise in the world, is a perfect fit for our viewers, advertisers and affiliates,” MyNetworkTV president Greg Meidel said in a statement.
SmackDown had been a staple on The CW and, previously, UPN, since 1999. The negotiating window between The CW and WWE expired Jan. 31, leading to WWE shopping SmackDown to other networks.
WWE programming is a consistent ratings-getter, with its flagship cable show, WWE Monday Night Raw, at the top of the cable ratings charts nearly every week for USA Network.
MyNetworkTV has grown in the ratings as it has debuted more original programming, such as John Langley's Jail and Celebrity Expose. Despite the growth, the network has lagged behind its competitors during primetime.
By acquiring Smackdown, which is a ratings juggernaut in the 18-49 demo that MyNetworkTV is trying to reach, and launching more original programming, such as the upcoming Flavor Flav comedy Under One Roof, the network could become a serious challenger to the CW.
WWE chairman Vince McMahon alluded to the ratings his programs bring when making the announcement. “We have an unmatched record of delivering ratings success to each and every network partner we’ve worked with in our long and storied history,” McMahon said. “We fully intend to bring that same level of success to MyNetworkTV.”
Media Man Australia Profiles
WWE
News Corp
World Wrestling Entertainment Ratings Monster Has New Broadcast Home, By Alex Weprin - Broadcasting & Cable - 26th Feb 2008
World Wrestling Entertainment announced that MyNetworkTV will become the broadcast home of WWE SmackDown beginning this fall.
As a result of the agreement, SmackDown will return to many of its former UPN affiliates, which make up an important portion of MNT. Those former UPN affiliates are where the show's ratings and popularity grew.
“The momentum at MyNetworkTV continues with this major acquisition. We have demonstrated tremendous growth, and this partnership with WWE, the premier sports-entertainment franchise in the world, is a perfect fit for our viewers, advertisers and affiliates,” MyNetworkTV president Greg Meidel said in a statement.
SmackDown had been a staple on The CW and, previously, UPN, since 1999. The negotiating window between The CW and WWE expired Jan. 31, leading to WWE shopping SmackDown to other networks.
WWE programming is a consistent ratings-getter, with its flagship cable show, WWE Monday Night Raw, at the top of the cable ratings charts nearly every week for USA Network.
MyNetworkTV has grown in the ratings as it has debuted more original programming, such as John Langley's Jail and Celebrity Expose. Despite the growth, the network has lagged behind its competitors during primetime.
By acquiring Smackdown, which is a ratings juggernaut in the 18-49 demo that MyNetworkTV is trying to reach, and launching more original programming, such as the upcoming Flavor Flav comedy Under One Roof, the network could become a serious challenger to the CW.
WWE chairman Vince McMahon alluded to the ratings his programs bring when making the announcement. “We have an unmatched record of delivering ratings success to each and every network partner we’ve worked with in our long and storied history,” McMahon said. “We fully intend to bring that same level of success to MyNetworkTV.”
Media Man Australia Profiles
WWE
News Corp
MyNetworkTV to air 'WWE SmackDown', By Georg Szalai - The Hollywood Reporter - 27th Feb 2008
News Corp.'s MyNetworkTV will be the new home of World Wrestling Entertainment's "WWE SmackDown" starting in the fall after the sports entertainment powerhouse's show ends its run on the CW Network.
Industry observers have in recent weeks increasingly expected a deal with MyNet, but WWE management had said as recently as two weeks ago that various networks were in the running. The two parties made things official Tuesday morning.
"This is a big, bold franchise with huge awareness in the marketplace," MyNet president Greg Meidel said, noting that the deal came together quickly. "The brand is recognized by both men and women (in the key demos of) 18-34 and 18-49, so it will give us a huge locomotive to drive our schedule and build it out at a much faster rate."
Meidel said "SmackDown" will remain a two-hour program, airing on Thursday or Friday night. That means the series will displace one of the network's two movie nights, which could move to Saturday.
"SmackDown" has for nine years been one of the most popular programs among males on broadcast TV and one of the top 10 English-language primetime programs among Latino households.
Said WWE chairman Vince McMahon, "We have an unmatched record of delivering ratings success to each and every network partner we've worked with in our long and storied history."
Meidel noted that the series previously aired on several News Corp.-owned stations when they were UPN affiliates, before that network merged with WB Network to form the CW.
"We have a real history of selling and monetizing 'SmackDown,' " he said. "This was driven by our interest not only as a network but also as a stations owner."
MyNet also is no stranger to fight-themed programming. It had a relationship with the International Fight League for a two-hour block featuring mixed martial arts programming, which debuted in March but disappeared from the schedule several weeks ago. Meidel said the IFL programming had a more narrow audience appeal than "SmackDown."
The "SmackDown" news follows on the heels of MyNet's 13-episode order for its first sitcom, the Flavor Flav starrer "Under One Roof." Meidel said he is looking at a "very aggressive development slate for fall" that could include more scripted projects.
Kimberly Nordyke reported from Los Angeles; Georg Szalai reported from New York.
Media Man Australia Profiles
WWE
News Corp
News Corp.'s MyNetworkTV will be the new home of World Wrestling Entertainment's "WWE SmackDown" starting in the fall after the sports entertainment powerhouse's show ends its run on the CW Network.
Industry observers have in recent weeks increasingly expected a deal with MyNet, but WWE management had said as recently as two weeks ago that various networks were in the running. The two parties made things official Tuesday morning.
"This is a big, bold franchise with huge awareness in the marketplace," MyNet president Greg Meidel said, noting that the deal came together quickly. "The brand is recognized by both men and women (in the key demos of) 18-34 and 18-49, so it will give us a huge locomotive to drive our schedule and build it out at a much faster rate."
Meidel said "SmackDown" will remain a two-hour program, airing on Thursday or Friday night. That means the series will displace one of the network's two movie nights, which could move to Saturday.
"SmackDown" has for nine years been one of the most popular programs among males on broadcast TV and one of the top 10 English-language primetime programs among Latino households.
Said WWE chairman Vince McMahon, "We have an unmatched record of delivering ratings success to each and every network partner we've worked with in our long and storied history."
Meidel noted that the series previously aired on several News Corp.-owned stations when they were UPN affiliates, before that network merged with WB Network to form the CW.
"We have a real history of selling and monetizing 'SmackDown,' " he said. "This was driven by our interest not only as a network but also as a stations owner."
MyNet also is no stranger to fight-themed programming. It had a relationship with the International Fight League for a two-hour block featuring mixed martial arts programming, which debuted in March but disappeared from the schedule several weeks ago. Meidel said the IFL programming had a more narrow audience appeal than "SmackDown."
The "SmackDown" news follows on the heels of MyNet's 13-episode order for its first sitcom, the Flavor Flav starrer "Under One Roof." Meidel said he is looking at a "very aggressive development slate for fall" that could include more scripted projects.
Kimberly Nordyke reported from Los Angeles; Georg Szalai reported from New York.
Media Man Australia Profiles
WWE
News Corp
Friday, February 01, 2008
Ric Flair's Opponent for WWE WrestleMania Determined, by Elizabeth Anderson - National Ledger - 31st January 2008
According to a report on leading pro wrestling news site Wrestling News Desk WWE has made an unusual decision regarding Ric Flair's opponent for Wrestlemania XXIV, which is scheduled to be the final match for the aging Nature Boy. World Wrestling Entertainment Chairman Vince McMahon has approved a pitch from The Heart Break Kid Shawn Michaels to wrestle Flair on March 30th as part of WWE's biggest annual event.
"This is a rather risky move," stated Wrestling News Desk.com editor Matthew Cooper, "the talk among the creative team was for Mr. Kennedy to be Flair's last opponent and get the huge boost by retiring Flair."
***
But with Michaels looking at a Wrestlemania without a high profile match for himself, the D/X founder figured the Flair match would have huge emotion. Under the condition of anonymity, a high ranking WWE official told Wrestling News Desk, "Shawn retiring Flair is something that could get Shawn booed, but Vince figures the crowd will give Flair this huge emotional standing ovation, and it doesn't matter if they're WHOOOING or crotch chopping during the match. All the focus will be on Flair after it's over."
The plan seems to be Edge defending the World Title against Undertaker, with the legendary 'Taker's Wrestlemania undefeated streak on the line, and either John Cena vs HHH; or Cena vs HHH vs Orton in a three way for the WWE Title. No word yet on whether Hulk Hogan will be participating in this year's Mania, but in an interesting indication of Hogan's longevity, more people have been asking about Hogan than about Stone Cold Steve Austin.
***
"Cena's return has put Wrestlemania into everyone's consciousness," stated Cooper, "and the Flair match promises to be the most emotional one of the evening. Shawn Michaels is smart for wanting to be Flair's opponent. HBK has placed himself right in the spotlight again."
Media Man Australia Profiles
WWE
WrestleMania
Ric Flair
Shawn Michaels
Local pro wrestler's toughest foe may be fellow Tar Heel Vince McMahon
American flags and two-by-fours, by Megan Stein - The Indy Weekly - 30th January 2008
On the rainy Sunday evening before New Year's Eve, tucked away in Raleigh's RBC Center arena, an estimated 5,000 rollicking, patriotic, oft-conservative lovers of professional wrestling sit with their cameras accessible and overpriced beer cups steady. Holding signs that read "FU," "You Suck," "Woooooo" and "Hooooooo," the fans quiet as the lights dim, eager to see which WWE "Raw Live" Superstar will appear first.
World Wrestling Entertainment is the leading purveyor of the strange combination of buffoonery, kitsch and muscle-bound athleticism known as professional wrestling. Billionaire chairman and N.C. native Vince McMahon—240 pounds of muscle, wrestling experience and business savvy—commands it with an iron fist. Poised to decipher sports entertainment for me is wrestling expert and Chapel Hill resident Ted Hobgood, a friend and former co-conspirator of tonight's World Championship challenger, WWE superstar Jeff Hardy.
WWE
American flags and two-by-fours, by Megan Stein - The Indy Weekly - 30th January 2008
On the rainy Sunday evening before New Year's Eve, tucked away in Raleigh's RBC Center arena, an estimated 5,000 rollicking, patriotic, oft-conservative lovers of professional wrestling sit with their cameras accessible and overpriced beer cups steady. Holding signs that read "FU," "You Suck," "Woooooo" and "Hooooooo," the fans quiet as the lights dim, eager to see which WWE "Raw Live" Superstar will appear first.
World Wrestling Entertainment is the leading purveyor of the strange combination of buffoonery, kitsch and muscle-bound athleticism known as professional wrestling. Billionaire chairman and N.C. native Vince McMahon—240 pounds of muscle, wrestling experience and business savvy—commands it with an iron fist. Poised to decipher sports entertainment for me is wrestling expert and Chapel Hill resident Ted Hobgood, a friend and former co-conspirator of tonight's World Championship challenger, WWE superstar Jeff Hardy.
Hardy, born and raised in Cameron, 50 miles southwest of Raleigh, is the local favorite. In 1992 Hobgood—armed with a master's degree in popular culture and a thesis on wrestling (entitled "I'm Gonna Kick Yer Butt: Competitive Dramatics and the Professional Wrestling Interview Segment")—first encountered Jeff and his brother Matt in Southern Pines at their independent wrestling match. With $5 tickets and backyard announcers, Jeff and Matt wrestled on a ring built by laying wood over a trampoline and covering it with a blue tarp. "The ring bowed in the middle and looked like a swimming pool," Ted remembers.
Despite the brothers' clumsy concoction of painted tattoos, ski masks, sweat pants and tennis shoes, Ted was amazed by what he saw. "Matt had a move called the '450' or the 'Phoenix Splash' where ... you climb up on the rope and jump off and do a somersault in mid-air and then another half somersault and you lay out and splash on top of [your opponent]. At that point there were only two people in the world doing that move, and here's this 17-, 18-year-old kid doing this from bum-fuck N.C."
Hobgood began working with them—designing their costumes, logos and posters and announcing their shows. In line to become tobacco farmers, the brothers instead formed their own wrestling group—called OMEGA (Organization for Modern Extreme Grappling Arts)—before taking off with WWE careers, first as the "Hardy Boyz" tag team and then as solo wrestlers.
Finally, the speakers blare Jeff Hardy's name and the crowd erupts. Jeff enters and takes the mic. Dressed in loose-fitting jeans and a black tank top, he has two layers of sliced pantyhose on his arms, black fingernails, a beard with lightning bolts carved out of it, purple streaks in his medium-length black hair, and tattoos (real) covering his arms and neck. "Greetings, home!" he bellows.
Jeff announces that he won't wait until the scheduled time for his match and challenges his opponent, second-generation WWE Superstar Randy Orton, to fight now. "Randy, get your arrogant ass out here," Jeff yells. Six-foot four, 245 pounds, Orton stalks into the arena, sporting AC/DC trunks (the manlier word for "panties"). People on the floor lean against red-shirted security guards to get a better look. The crowd boos—though one woman and her daughter, seated in the $60 floor seats, sport a "We *Heart* You Orton" sign. As the match warms up, Hardy slings his tank top into the crowd.
A surprisingly short time later—after a rapid sequence of lead reversals—Orton ends the match with his signature "RKO" move, a backward jump at the opponent's neck that ends in a face slam. The crowd audibly deflates.
Despite—or, according to Hobgood, due to—Jeff's local tie, the big man upstairs (McMahon, that is) made the call that Orton would be the night's WWE World Champion. The smaller matches are determined by road agents backstage (themselves former wrestlers), but McMahon decides the big matches. "Vince McMahon's idea is that if the hometown person loses then the crowd will want to come back later," explains Hobgood, adding that the tactic usually just disappoints. Later, we texted Matt Hardy, who was backstage, and discovered that the match was cut short because Orton had been injured in a recent match.
He insists that professional wrestling isn't fake, stating that the wrestlers (for the most part) are skilled athletes. "[They] are always hurting. The level of pain they're in on any given day is more than you and I as normal human beings could take. You and I would be at home screaming for orange juice and pain killers." Even the ring's springboard ropes—made with steel cables—can injure the untrained.
This is the world that Jeff Hardy has dedicated his life to. Behind us, fanatics yell in Southern drawls at the "bad guys" of the match—inevitably the foreign wrestlers, who exaggerate their foreignness. "Speaka English, spaghetti eater," they yell to Italian wrestler Santino Marella. "No Commies in America" to the Russian Vladimir Kozlov. When a wrestler with an accent takes the mic, the crowd relentlessly taunts "What!?! What?!?" at every pause—referencing the annoying tactic originally used by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. When the Diva Tag Team comes out, the yelling turns to misogynistic mocking—"What's the screaming for? You ain't having sex with nobody." Throughout the night the crowd chants "USA! USA!"—a mantra that culminates with the entrance of "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan in the fourth match when he runs out waving an American flag and his trademark two-by-four (symbolizing American hard work).
It is a world, though, that Hobgood maintains holds a unique appeal. At one point, when wrestler Hardcore Holly is histrionically breaking free of an opponent's hold, arms shaking for added effect, the quick-to-insult fans behind us murmur in all seriousness, "Look at that strength."
"You lose yourself in it," Hobgood explains, adding that to see their wrestling heroes from pay-per-view in real life is "magical" for kids.
Other fans take a less storybook approach. During the third match, between the rigid wrestlers Snitsky and Drew McEntyre, I hear a man taunt, "You hit like a girl!" "Durn right," says his friend.
On Sunday, Jan. 27, Hardy and Orton had a rematch in New York's Madison Square Garden. Orton won the bout and retained the WWE Championship.
WWE
WWE SmackDown anchor's next stop? (Credit: New York Daily News) - 31st January 2008
Media Man Australia Profiles
WWE
PHILADELPHIA - The TV news anchor fired after her skirmish with New York City cops has been offered a job with World Wrestling Entertainment, a Web site reported Wednesday.
Stunning brunette Alycia Lane, 35, has been offered an on-camera job for WWE, her disk jockey boyfriend, Chris Booker, said on his radio show, according to Philly.com.
But WWE did not confirm that, the Web site noted.
In another development, the anchor's lawyer said in court papers that Lane would sue Philadelphia's KYW-TV over her Jan. 7 dismissal.
The job reportedly paid $700,000 a year.
Lane's arrest last month capped a string of public embarrassments for the newswoman, who shed tears on-air with "Dr. Phil" McGraw over her divorce and sent photos of herself in a bikini to NFL Network anchor Rich Eisen.
Eisen's wife intercepted the pictures and reported Lane to gossip columnists.
Lane faces an April 3 hearing in the assault on a female police officer in Manhattan, a charge she denies.
Cops said she yelled, "I am a reporter, you ... dyke."
Lane's lawyer Paul Rosen did not immediately return a phone message yesterday.Media Man Australia Profiles
WWE
WWE — the sweatiest ticket in town, by Richard Smart - The Japan Times - 1st February 2008
The hard-punching, head-crunching stars of World Wrestling Entertainment are in Tokyo mid-February for the WWE Royal Rumble tour. OK, so this spectacle — currently known as "sports entertainment" and televised to millions worldwide — has its naysayers. After all, when midgets get the living daylights kicked out of them by 2-meter-tall blokes who make Arnold Schwarzenegger in his heyday look like chubby Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymor Hoffman, it's safe to say that what you are watching is not 100 percent for real.
The hard-punching, head-crunching stars of World Wrestling Entertainment are in Tokyo mid-February for the WWE Royal Rumble tour. OK, so this spectacle — currently known as "sports entertainment" and televised to millions worldwide — has its naysayers. After all, when midgets get the living daylights kicked out of them by 2-meter-tall blokes who make Arnold Schwarzenegger in his heyday look like chubby Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymor Hoffman, it's safe to say that what you are watching is not 100 percent for real.
But that is just the point. Around 15 years ago Vince McMahon — the owner of WWE and, at least in character, the organization's version of J.R. Ewing from the TV series "Dallas" — announced that the WWF (as it was then called) was fixed. And so, on with the show.
Since then, American wrestling has gone from absurdity to absurdity. Of the current roster of "Superstars" (wrestlers to those not caught up in the WWE hype), two stand out as particularly strange.
The Great Khali is a 217-cm, 190-kg giant who perhaps more than any other wrestler personifies the freakish standards of the WWE. The catch? He has a growth hormone disorder that is causing his head and hands to expand while eating away at his legs. Now at age 35, he is not likely to see his 50th birthday.
Then there's Hornswoggle, otherwise known as "Little Bastard." At 128 cm and 54 kg, his main story line revealed that he is Vince McMahon's bastard child. A few months ago, in one of the most surreal matches of all time, Hornswoggle fought the Great Khali.
Add to these wrestlers the diva Candice Michelle, veterans such as Triple H and Shawn Michaels — fresh from the "Royal Rumble" pay-per-view event, and undoubtedly carrying fresh grudges and new story lines — and a crowd whose pack mentality and eccentric behavior is any sociologist's wet dream, and you have an event so surreal that it just might be worth going to see.
WWE Royal Rumble Tour arrives at Ariake Coliseum on Feb. 11 and Nippon Budokan on Feb. 12. Tickets cost ¥3,000-¥20,000 and are available from all regular ticket outlets.
Media Man Australia Profiles
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