Florida Georgia Line, Train, Flo Rida, Sharon Osbourne, Omar Epps and Chelsea Hightower join WWE® and the Creative Coalition to stop bullying

Seth Rollins Comments on Learning from The Authority

Seth Rollins recently spoke with Comcast's Xfinity to promote WWE SummerSlam:

Onda: As a member of The Authority, you are in a position that puts you in the company of WWE’s greatest minds and veterans. What do you learn from them on a weekly basis?

Rollins: You learn how to be successful and how to stay successful. Stephanie is a McMahon. She knows all of the ruthless and cunning things that must be done to stay at the very top. And she’s a woman. And to be a woman at the top is not always the easiest thing, and some may say it’s more difficult than to be a man on top. She’s been able to excel in that role. Triple H – “The Game,” the “Cerebral Assassin” – that’s a nickname Jim Ross gave to him based on the way he operates in the ring, but I think it has as much to do with the way he operates outside of the ring and how he conducts himself. Learning those things – how to carry yourself, how to be the top guy, the man in our industry – those are the things I’ve picked up from Triple H and Randy Orton. Those are the guys who have been to the mountain top and know what it’s like to hold that spot. That’s where I wanna be, and there’s no better person or people to learn from.

Rumor Mill - Del Rio Reportedly Told by WWE He Was Being Suspended, More on Backstage Incident

As noted, WWE released Alberto Del Rio after he slapped WWE's Manager of Social Media Live Events Cody Barbierri at last week's TV tapings. Del Rio confronted Barbierri in catering for a remark that Barbierri made earlier. The story is that someone made a remark to Barbierri about not cleaning off his plate and as a joke, he said that was Del Rio's job. Del Rio was not there at the time but was told about it. When he confronted Barbierri, he told him he did not appreciate the racist remark and wanted an apology.

It was going around backstage that Del Rio "slapped the shit" out of Barbierri, knocking him to the floor, and Del Rio's release wasn't so much that he assaulted Barbierri but based more on how hard he hit him.

Del Rio was reportedly told after the incident that he was being suspended for a short time, until just past SummerSlam. There's a belief that Barbierri threatened to sue WWE and at that point, WWE felt they had no choice but to let Del Rio go due to legal reasons. Triple H called Del Rio on August 7th, letting him go and he was reportedly furious.

Shawn Michaels discusses D-Generation X and SummerSlam

WWE Announces Change in Price Point of the WWE Network and More Availability

The WWE unveiled another change to its pricing format for the network. The network is still available for $9.99 with a six-month commitment, but for those who wish to pay on a month-by-month basis, the network is now available for $12.99, down from $19.99, which was what the company announced during its quarterly conference call July 31. According to the WWE, the change in price “better reflects the variety of economics that exist internationally.”

Beginning Wednesday, the network will be available on Sony Internet connected televisions, Blu-ray Disc players and Blu-ray Home Theater systems. By Friday, it will be available on Samsung Smart TV devices, Blu-ray Players and Home Theater systems.

WWE Signs Kevin Steen to NXT

WWE has signed Canadian Superstar Kevin Steen to its NXT division. The burly, outspoken, Package Piledriving Quebec native, who bolts around the ring with equal parts grace and bad intentions, thrives on throwing fists and talking trash.

A 14-year veteran, Steen began training, with his parents’ approval, when he was a teenager. Possessing what no less than “Stone Cold” Steve Austin has described as a “hell of an arsenal,” Steen has earned many accolades in North America and abroad, including the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and Ring of Honor heavyweight championships. In 2013, the magazine Pro Wrestling Illustrated ranked him 10th on its annual list of the world’s top 500 wrestlers.

Along the way to becoming a world-class competitor, he also amassed one of the largest followings of any wrestler outside WWE, a fanbase that belts out their “Fight, Steen, fight!” mantra with pride.

End Of An Era For The Scratch Logo On Tonight's WWE Raw

Tonight will be the final edition of Monday Night Raw to feature the WWE "Scratch" logo which has been in use since 1997.

WWE altered the logo in 2002, removing the "F" and re-branding to WWE.

The company officially switches over to the new logo next week.

Rumor Mill - Tension Between Vince McMahon and Triple H

Things between Vince McMahon and Triple H had begun to get noticeably more contentious and seem to have reached their boiling point at WWE’s live event in New York City on July 12, 2014. It was there that Vince and Hunter got into an argument loud enough for others to hear, including producers that were working the show. One issue they had going into that show was Triple H and Stephanie were legitimately on vacation but Vince put his foot down that Triple H had to be in attendance, causing them to end their vacation early. Now, the accusations are that Vince has deliberately made cuts to WWE NXT — considered to be Triple H’s baby — just in spite of him. Hunter has been vehemently opposed to budget cuts in regards to NXT but the budget has been cut to the point where there isn’t much left to cut.

Rumor Mill - More on Alberto Del Rio’s Incident That Caused His Release From WWE, Identity of Employee Revealed

Rumors have been circulating ever since the news came out of Alberto Del Rio being released due to “Unprofessional Conduct.” It was revealed that Del Rio slapped a WWE employee and now it seems like the name of that employee has been leaked.

Ring of Honor founder and RF video own Rob Feinstein claimed that Alberto Del Rio slapped a member of WWE’s social media team this past week at WWE Smackdown television tapings. The claim was backed up by PWInsider.com and F4WOnline.com as well.

Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer noted that the name of the social media member that received the slap was Cody Barbierri. If you dig deeper into LinkedIn and Twitter, Barbierri is noted as WWE’s manager of social media live events.

A new report is surfacing that WWE’s social media manager was supposedly asked to wipe his plate clean following a meal in catering. He joked, saying that it was Del Rio’s job to clean the plate. This was perceived as a racist joke about Hispanics. Del Rio was told about the incident and confronted him. The individual, which appears to be Barbierri, did not apologize and smiled at him. This caused Alberto Del Rio to slap him in anger.

WWE's Twitter Puts Full Blame On Alberto Del Rio For His Release

The the official WWE Twitter account posted the following tweets this afternoon, which were retweeted by Triple H.

The first tweet notes that recently released Superstar Alberto Del Rio is "responsible for his actions" after it was announced he was let go by the company for unprofessional conduct.

According to a source, at the WWE SmackDown tapings on Tuesday in the catering area, somebody asked another person to clean off his plate. The person was said to be a WWE social media manager who joked something along the lines of how "That's Del Rio's job." Del Rio unhappy with this remarked confronted the person and allegedly slapped him across the face.

Strange...

Rumor Mill - More on the Alberto Del Rio Release

While details are still coming in from various sources and wrestlers, the story going around this morning is that Del Rio slapped a Social Media Manager at this weeks television (Likely Raw, since he wasn't on Smackdown).

The lead up to the confrontation started in catering, when sombody (assuming a catering staff member) asked the person (the Social Media Manager) to clean off his plate. The social media manager then joked about how that's "Del Rios Job".

Alberto found out and confronted him. The Social Media Manager didn't apologize and then smiled at him, so Del Rio slapped him.

Rumor Mill - Reason for Alberto Del Rio's Release

Rob Feinstein of RF Video wrote on his Facebook that Del Rio was involved in a backstage incident at the recent WWE TV tapings. RF claimed that Del Rio had words with an employee who works for WWE's social media department and allegedly slapped him. This should be taken as strictly rumor for now.

Alberto Del Rio Released

From WWE.com:

WWE announced the release of Alberto Del Rio due to unprofessional conduct and an altercation with an employee.

It would be remiss of us if we didn’t mention that Del Rio’s release doesn’t follow normal WWE protocol. First, the company is featuring it as a top story on their official website. Usually, they downplay releases and bury them in their “News” section. Second, they do not list his real name (Alberto Rodríguez) nor do they wish him the best in his future endeavors - an ongoing rib.

If Del Rio is really gone or if it’s part of some type of elaborate angle, he has not Tweeted about it. If it’s the former, his final bout with WWE was Tuesday night against Jack Swagger in Laredo, TX, in which he went under on this week’s episode of WWE Main Event. He was not used at this week’s Smackdown taping.

Photo: Triple H with the New WWE World Title Belt

We noted before that WWE was planning on slightly altering all championship belts to go along with the official launch of the new company logo, which happens on the RAW the night after SummerSlam.

Below is a photo of Triple H at this week's TV tapings, holding a new WWE Title belt at what looks like a photoshoot to show off the new strap.

Mick Foley Reveals He's A 'Stephanie McMahon Guy'

The following blog entry is from the Facebook of WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley:

I’M A STEPHANIE McMAHON GUY

"Let me get the little negatives out of the way first – so I don’t contradict statements I’ve made in the past. Yes, I do think the casual or investor can get confused when real-life authority figures play abusive authority figures on air. I do wish there was an authority figure, a new GM or Commisioner (no, not me, but I’ll have a few suggestions for candidates in a later post) to check and balance The Authority.

But with that being said, I’m proud to say that I’m a Stepanie McMahon guy. Seriously. I am. Stephanie can be such a mesmerizing presense on WWE Monday Night Raw and #Smackdown . Her recent interactions with Brie Bella – WWE Universe have been intense and exciting – and as a long time #DivaBeliever, I love the idea of ending #RAW with the ladies.

I met Stephanie 16 years ago – only minutes after the infamous Cell match, in Pittsburgh, in June, 1998, when I’d been told that a WWE employee and good friend had just learned of the loss of a loved one. I gave my friend a hug, and out of the corner of my eye, saw Stephanie McMahon – WWE for the first time. I gave the young McMahon a smile and then departed to participate in the most awkward run-in/limp-in/stumble in sports entertainment history.

It was 14 years ago that I was the first recipient of a Stephanie on-air slap. I still remember her soaking up everything around her like a sponge; looking at me as I said, “you can slap me as hard as you can – just not on the jaw” as if they were the wisest words in the world. Ms McMahon would go on to slap dozens…and dozens more over the next 14 years – as hard as she could, but hopefully never on the jaw. But hopefully, she has a special memory of the guy she smacked first."

Triple H and Stephanie McMahon Discuss Creative at Needham Fireside Chat

Yesterday, Entertainment and Media Analyst Laura Martin (Needham & Company) sat down with three WWE executives—Paul "Triple H" Levesque (Executive Vice President of Talent and Live Events), Stephanie McMahon (Chief Brand Officer) and George Barrios (Chief Strategy and Financial Officer)—for a "fireside chat" about the WWE during the Needham Interconnect Conference in New York City.

Laura Martin, who has been quite optimistic about the potential for the WWE Network, facilitated the free-wheeling lunchtime conversation. They discussed the WWE's unique business model, the creative process for developing superstars, global expansion of the WWE Network, longevity in wrestling, social media interaction and the difference between scripted sports entertainment and unscripted sporting events.


THE MCMAHON FAMILY

The first question was directed at Stephanie McMahon. Martin noted that she's "been covering the stock since your mom was running it" and wanted to know what life was like at the nightly dinner table.

Stephanie confirmed that there was "never a dull moment" and often "increasing arguments between my dad and my brother." Stephanie also related a story about going to a live event as a very young girl (three or four years old) and running into George "the Animal" Steele, who completely terrified her. When she ran to her daddy (Vince McMahon) for solace, he just laughed and laughed.

She said she learned a lot very quickly from those sorts of experiences. And, as has been alluded to in storyline, Stephanie made sure to again note that Andre the Giant was one of her best friends.

Later in the conversation, a guest wanted to know whether Vince McMahon was still "active and engaged"? Both his daughter and son-in-law had to giggle at this query. Triple H responded, "He's the most active person I know. He works at two in the morning because he's absolutely dedicated to driving himself and the executive team as hard as possible to create the best product as possible."

BECOMING A SUPERSTAR

Laura Martin asked Triple H to quantify how difficult it was for a performer to become a superstar. In particular she asked, "What differentiates superstars versus 'good enough to be on television' versus 'the vast majority who didn't make it'?".

Triple H called it "charisma, the 'it factor.'" When you're training someone the more pieces of "the puzzle" that they get, the better they will do. If they're a good communicator, they'll do well in front of a large audience. However, while all of those pieces are important, a lot of them can be taught. He emphasized, "The one thing you can't teach is charisma."

Triple H talked about WWE as a global company. Some people they recruited wrestled on the independent scene or the "periphery of the industry" for years. On the other hand, others had never stepped in a ring before. At any given time they have about "60 to 80 performers" down at the performance center in Orlando (NXT) who are "learning this craft." And people will always be coming and going. As the EVP of Talent explained, "Some will go up (to television) and some will go away."

Barrios commented on how costs, such as the Talent Development Process, which includes NXT, are part of the "Corporate & Other" financials and it's been growing larger each year.

When Martin asked how long it takes for a performer to make it on to television, Triple H said: "Some guys pick it up like that (snaps his fingers). Some guys it's a longer process. Do they have something? If it takes longer to develop one part of the puzzle, we'll keep at it. In our process, we have people at all different levels."

Husky Harris was brought up as an example. Triple H explained:

"He wasn't quite connecting with the crowd. Decent hand. Talented kid. Right person. They were going to let him go and I said, 'Let me take him and do something with him.' We moved that character to NXT. We put some other people around him that fit the package. Moved him back onto Raw and Smackdown, and he's one of our most popular superstars Bray Wyatt. I'll go out on a limb and say in 10 years Bray Wyatt will be one of the most memorable characters in WWE."

Also, Stephanie McMahon talked about how the "over 320 live events every year" give them a chance to test how audiences are going to react to talent. Triple H added that NXT gives them a chance to figure out which sorts of storylines work best for certain talent. Steph also noted that the agents are part of the process of identifying who has "that ability" to make angles work.

TALENT RELATIONS

Martin asked an interesting question of the panel, "How do you prevent being 'held up' by talent?"

CFO Barrios took this one explaining that WWE viewed the "economic model with our talent, the independent contractors, as a win-win. They are paid a percentage of our revenue streams."

Triple H also chimed in that, "There is no one performer who is bigger than the WWE. There are superstar performers and megastar performers like John Cena. But he's still not bigger than the WWE. Why doesn't anyone 'hold us up'? Because it would only be a short-term gain. There's no upside for them behind it."

And it's all about the long-term investment. Hulk Hogan was brought as someone who was synonymous with the WWE and while he's not able to get in the ring anymore, he still has value. He can still do promotions, and that's the benefit that talent receives when they form a long-term partnership.

When Martin asked whether The Rock was the only successful guy to leave and create his own career, both Stephanie McMahon and Triple H were quick to offer counter-examples including, "Dave Bautista was just in the No. 1 movie this weekend, Jesse Ventura was the governor of Minnesota, Chris Jericho has a successful rock band and podcast and Stone Cold Steve Austin still does movies, has a very successful podcast and his own show Redneck Island."

They also cited Edge as an actor on SyFy's Haven. They noted he was smart, saved his money and just had a baby. So when he wasn't acting, he was happy to just "live in his house on the side of a mountain and sit next to a fire."

However, both Stephanie and Triple H were quick to kowtow Duane "the Rock" Johnson. While not willing to go into the details of the arrangement about using the nickname "The Rock," they both insisted that "there's a healthy respect between Rock and WWE... It's a mutually respectful collaboration between Rock, Vince, Steph and myself (HHH). He doesn't need to come back. But we see ourselves as part of his success."

When Laura Martin asked if they "ex-communicate" many guys, Triple H went back to his television catchphrase: "We do what's 'best for business.' It's all about our fanbase."

Stephanie also carefully noted that the WWE retains all of its own intellectual property. It's able to capitalize on it from the beginning. It's very clear that WWE wants to reinforce that it controls the "brand perception" of each of its television characters and without it, those superstars are worth a lot less.

Regarding their stable of stars, Barrios did note that they are currently seeing the "broadest distribution of merchandise across the largest group of talent." It was unclear whether that's an indication that we're just lacking the mega-draws of previous eras, or it's a positive sign that more talent is getting a piece of the pie.

WWE NETWORK

When asked about the "huge influx of new data" that was available with the network, Triple H talked in the abstract about the importance of using information to learn new things. He mentioned that they have focus groups, social media and ratings that all drive the decision-making process. They did mention that they're going to carefully track which countries are watching the most WWE Network content to help them with the prioritization for which regions get "localization" first (namely, where we'd see emphasis on foreign language commentary).

Barrios mentioned that they had a 150,000-hour library of which they've digitized about 40,000 hours. He insisted that they "own 100 percent of the rights," which sidestepped the minor points about whether that includes all aspects including music. While they have "licensed them (the rights) from time-to-time around the world, we still own them."

The CFO defended the "slow roll-out" that WWE has adopted with adding video-on-demand content to the WWE Network. He insisted that they need to "promote it as it comes alive." One interesting revelation was that as the "Monday Night War" series finally comes online, WWE is planning on rolling out corresponding WCW Nitro episodes.

Stephanie McMahon also noted that during the week of WrestleMania they had "over seven million hours of content consumed on the network." She also insisted that, "We have more families watching WWE than any major sports franchise with the exception of the NFL."

Triple H tried to expand on that point by giving the analogy of a family watching the WWE Network and the father telling his son, "You like this John Cena guy? You should take a look at Bruno Sammartino or Chief Jay Strongbow." (While his scenario is interesting, it should be pointed at that unfortunately at this time, there isn't much Sammartino or Strongbow footage available on the network.)

One questioner pointed out that WWE's deal with NBC Universal (which the Wall Street Journal characterized as "generous but well short of what Wall Street had come to expect.”) appeared to have been damaged by launching the WWE Network ahead of time. Even Vince McMahon admitted that he was disappointed and that the WWE Network probably did hurt the deal. Therefore, the questioner continued, "How do you measure success of the network?"

Barrios supplied the same stock answers that WWE has used before. They believe that "two to four million subscribers over time is achievable," and that's what they're focused on. The "measure of success is acquiring subscribers every single day and making sure we have content that engages them." He went on to tout the 90 percent satisfaction rate for the WWE Network.

When the recent mid-cycle departure of more than 128,000 subscribers was brought up, Barrios was nonplussed. He said that they knew there would be two elements to churn-renewal and billing, and he wouldn't confirm whether these numbers were higher than internal expectations.

Regarding the international roll-out of the WWE Network, several points were discussed. It's going to be the "U.S. product" available in each country. In other words, don't expect to see different versions of the WWE Network in each country. Instead, they hope that by putting the same product out around most of the world, it would be easier to execute a global marketing campaign. In particular, WWE will be using a lot of SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) with Google to create "global awareness."

Martin noted that Netflix's strategy is same number; different currency. For instance, a plan in the United States would be eight dollars and a plan in Europe would be eight Euros. Barrios instead said they were going to be using $9.99 everywhere. They weren't planning on charging more in other countries.

The plan was to launch the WWE Network globally in over 170 countries on August 12 followed by UK launch in October. That would only leave eight markets without the WWE Network: Italy, UAE, Germany, Japan, India, China, Malaysia and Thailand.

This brought up an interesting ongoing debate between analyst Martin and WWE executives. Laura Martin has long held that global demand for the WWE Network would be larger portion of the aggregate subscriptions. Conversely, WWE original domestic projections were for one to three million subscribers and original international projections only had 250,000 to 1,500,000 subscribers. WWE still believes the lion's share of subscribers will be on the domestic service while Martin disagrees. Considering the larger-than-expected WWE Network Global roll-out, both sides have a chance of winning this argument.

CREATIVE PROCESS

Discussing the creative team, Triple H noted that:

"We have a whole creative writing team that fluxes over time. We produce eight hours of in-ring content each week. It's a ton of content. There can be anywhere from 20 to 35 writers on with us. There's a churn rate on that as well. At the end of the day, it's all about churning out as many storylines as possible and looking at the business as a whole. You can write the greatest story in the world and have an actor with no charisma. The story will tank. They're interdependent on each other."

A question about how the emergence of UFC has impacted the WWE led Triple H on a long analogy about what was the difference in his mind. He said:

"UFC is not really a competitor to us. I explain it to our talent. They are like boxing. It's completely different from what we are. We're like the movie Rocky. We're a story. We're a great story that just happens to take place in the wrestling ring. In a boxing match, you'll watch one time. You're not going to go back and watch it a bunch of times unless you're a connoisseur of boxing science. Rocky the movie? You'll watch over and over again. It's a triumph story. It's a love story. We create characters you gravitate to. That you connect with. Whether you hate them or love them. We put them in unique storylines with creative passions. We have good guys and bad guys. That's what makes the network successful. Who is going to go back and watch the Super Bowl from 1984? Who is going to go back and watch boxing from five years ago? Our product is evergreen."

Triple H was very passionate about this point, and clearly this is the speech that he's given many times.

SOCIAL MEDIA

WWE also trumpeted some Cena social media statistics including the claim that he's the "#1 most-followed active American athlete on Facebook. (non-retired)."

Stephanie noted that during the first NXT live event, just four days into the WWE Network existence, the company saw it had "21 worldwide trends" and it was the "No. 4 most social program across all of broadcast and cable that night." Either that says something about how little "trending" really means, or it suggests that despite WWE's attempts to ignore it, a large portion of its audience accessing the U.S. version of the WWE Network is coming from overseas.

To end the conversation, the panelists tied social media activity to the Daniel Bryan "Hijack Raw" angle from March. In their mind this was an example of how they melded social media activity with exciting storylines. And in the end, like in the movie Rocky, they were able to create a cathartic outcome. To emphasize the point, they played video from that the episode and ended the panel.

WHAT WE LEARNED

In the end, there were a few revelations:

We can expect to see WCW Nitro episodes on the WWE Network in the next 45 days (alongside the new Monday Night War program).
The WWE Network that is being rolled out globally should be the same as the U.S. version. This included pricing—$9.99/month with a six-month commitment or just $19.99 for just a single month. Expect to see a lot of Internet advertising.
WWE adamantly believes that Charisma is the X-factor that separates superstars and megastars.

The event was webcast live and a replay is available. Quotes in this piece were transcribed from listening to the webcast.

Video: Brie Bella vs. Stephanie McMahon SummerSlam Contract Signing

Triple H, Stephanie McMahon and George Barrios will participate in the Needham Investor Conference

WWE announced that its Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon, Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events & Creative Paul “Triple H” Levesque and Chief Strategy & Financial Officer, George A. Barrios, will participate in a “fireside chat” with Laura Martin, Entertainment and Media Analyst, at the Needham Interconnect Conference for investors in New York City on Tuesday, August 5, 2014. A live audio webcast of the event will be webcast and will be available online at ir.corporate.wwe.com under Events & Presentations. Ms. McMahon’s, Mr. Levesque’s and Mr. Barrios’ remarks are expected to begin at approximately at 12:15 p.m. ET. A replay of the presentation will be available after the actual event time and will be available for 90 days following the conference.

Hulk Hogan Blames Stephanie McMahon For “Silverdome” Mistake

Let me blame Stephanie McMahon one more time because I keep putting this on her. Y’know, there’s a go position when you go out… right before you go out of the curtain you go out, there’s Vince McMahon, all the executives, all the TV monitors and the headsets… running all the technical stuff. Well, they made me come 20 minutes early, usually you go out there and find early which is when you walk out, and when I was there, I was a little nervous…

There was a press conference and all the media, “What’s Andre like? Was he a nice guy? How hard was it to slam him? Andre this, Andre that… Go back to the go position! Go out to the ring!” All I had on my mind was the Silverdome and Andre The Giant and I’m going to blame Stephanie McMahon for that because she should have been doing the press conference but she didn’t have her makeup all the way on so I had to do it.

Latest Backstage Details Regarding Yesterday’s WWE Layoffs, Which Departments Were Downsized?, WWE Magazine Finished, More

CNN Money reported earlier today a WWE spokesperson cited 60 people in WWE were released during yesterday’s employee layoffs. Prior to that, F4Wonline.com was reporting 55 people.

WZ sources inside WWE are telling us the approximate number is around 82 people total. This equals about 8% of the staff. The releases range from employees who just got hired this year to someone who has been with the company for 20 years.

Cuts were made in various departments including production assistants, accounting, WWE.com staff and HR.

We’re also told the WWE Magazine staff which is 14 people will all be cut. It’s been reported this week the October edition will be the last of the magazine and the contents for that are complete enough the company was able to release the staff.

It’s said WWE will be paying over $4.5 million in severance courtesy of these releases.

WWE Releases Several Wrestlers From NXT Today

WWE has released five wrestlers from their contracts today. The NXT stars that were let go are:

Garrett Dylan
Travis Tyler
Slate Randall
Mac Miles
Dani Jackson

WWE to End Production of their Official Magazine

The final issue of the WWE Magazine which has been in print since 1984 will be published in October. WWE has reportedly decided to close down their magazine department as part of their ongoing budget cuts.

The Wrestling Observer reports that the magazine could possibly continue using an outside publisher where the company would lease out its name, but WWE itself will no longer be producing it.

WWE Network now available outside of the U.S.

WWE announced today its plans to launch the U.S. version of WWE Network as an over-the-top service in more than 170 countries and territories, starting on August 12. The network is expected to go live in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mexico, Spain and the Nordics, among others countries. WWE Network is also expected to arrive in the United Kingdom by October 2014, with expansion to Italy, UAE, Germany, Japan, India, China, Thailand and Malaysia following at a future date.

WWE Layoffs Update

F4WOnline.com is reporting that an estimate of 55 people were let go from WWE today, or about 7% of their overall workforce. It’s not exactly “good news”, but that is down slightly from the 10% estimate we were hearing earlier this week.

WWE Reports 2014 Second Quarter Results and Improved 2015 Business Outlook

Triple H Announces Date and More for Next Live WWE NXT Special on the WWE Network

It was announced by Triple H at tonight's WWE NXT TV tapings that the next live NXT special on the WWE Network will take place on Thursday, September 11th. Like Arrival and Takeover, it will be two hours. WWE will likely hold another set of tapings that next night.

All titles will be on the line that night and the new NXT General Manager will be revealed. No word yet on the name but we will have more details soon.

Paul Heyman Talks WWE Fans Having a Hard Time Letting CM Punk Go

“It’s a very difficult break-up when an audience loses its ability to thrust its adulation upon their hero. CM Punk clearly established during his time as a Paul Heyman Guy that he was, as the billing suggested, The Best In The World.

“So when he abruptly disappears and the audience doesn’t have the ability to say goodbye or shower him with their affection, then it causes a situation. It causes the audience to miss him even more vociferously, because they never had the closure of letting him know how much they appreciate his hard work.”

Batista On WWE Retirement Plans, Acting Career, More

WWE Superstar Dave Batista recently spoke to The Mirror.

On his future retirement: “I kind of have my wish list of guys that I would like to work with, because I realize my career is not going to be that long if I do go back just because physically… realistically, I’m 45 years old now, how much longer can I continue…? You do take a beating in professional wrestling. But I love it. It’s not ‘will I go back?’, it’s ‘when will I go back?’. Hopefully it won’t be far too long. Triple H right now is the guy I really want to work with. I want to go back and that’s hopefully that’ll be my retirement program. Yeah, I’ll have my WrestleMania retirement match with Triple H.”

On wanting more diverse roles in acting: “That’s the thing, when I left WWE to pursue acting, that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to pursue acting, which has not been easy to do because I think people automatically want to slap this label on me, which is very frustrating. It is what it is, and I get it… [But] that’s what I’ve been in the pursuit of. More dialogue-driven roles, more character-driven [and] storyline-driven roles, the stuff that I’m a fan of. I definitely hope that Drax will open some doors for me.”

On taking on Shakespeare: “I know it sounds strange and I think unless you knew me very well, you wouldn’t get this… But I would love to do Shakespeare. My first acting lessons were Shakespeare. The first time I ever started working with a coach was doing scenes from Measure for Measure which were tough dramatic scenes. And then Taming of the Shrew, which required comedic timing. And that’s the kind of stuff I love. The thing I would struggle with Shakespeare is actually remembering all the dialogue because you have to be so precise. [But] that’s not out of my imagination at all. I can very easily see myself in pursuit of Shakespeare.”

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Dean Ambrose Comments on Working with Triple H

"[We ended up being able to] work with Triple H, and [I would] go up to him with what [I thought] was a brilliant idea, because I tend to think I’m pretty smart. I’ll go up and say I have a brilliant idea, and he’ll shoot 10,000 logic holes in it, and I’ll go, ‘Oh yeah I am stupid, that’s way smarter the way he put it.’ Seeing how Triple H thinks is very educational. Kind of the same thing with Piper, seeing those guys go through their process and think about things, and bring logic to what is often an illogical form of entertainment, is pretty cool."

WWE Confirms Prince Devitt Has Signed, Devitt Comments and Reveals His Main Roster Goal

WWE has confirmed on their website that they have signed Prince Devitt. Devitt commented to WWE.com last week:

“This is something I’ve been looking forward to since I was maybe four or five years old. I grew up watching wrestling my whole life, so to get the chance to step in the ring that I’ve watched on TV so many times is a dream come true.”

Devitt said he's looking forward to learning a new style at the WWE Performance Center:

"I don’t consider myself anywhere close to the finished product, so I’m looking forward to this challenge and learning a new style. I’ve seen a lot of different training schools and dojos, and the sheer level of professionalism at the Performance Center and the state-of-the-art facility just knocked me for a six. It really blew me away."

He also commented on his main roster goal:

"The target would be John Cena, because if you’re wrestling John Cena, you’re in the main event."

TNA Still Negotiationing With Spike TV?, Comments From Viacom And TNA Executive

Spike TV parent company Viacom issued the following in response to a request from PWInsider for comment on Spike and TNA:

"Per Viacom company policy - we don't comment on ongoing negotiations."

This seems to confirm that they are still in talks, as Dixie Carter noted on her Twitter earlier.

TNA executive Bob Ryder also tweeted:

"Reports are not true. Negotiations with @SpikeTV are ongoing."