[spacer height=”20px”]The Rock’s new movie, San Andreas, grossed $18.2 million on Friday.
Variety notes that the weekend cume for the film is estimated to be $47 million, which would be the biggest opening for The Rock not including the Fast & Furious franchise. It also easily beats early estimates of a $40 million opening.[spacer height=”20px”]
We reported last night that Kevin Owens has been moved to the main roster and is now advertised for every RAW through SummerSlam except for the August 3rd RAW in San Jose and the August 10th taping in Everett, WA. He is also advertised for the WWE Battleground pay-per-view, and will be working live events starting next weekend.
F4WOnline.com added that Owens has signed a main roster contract, however will continue to appear on NXT television for the next couple of months until he is phased out.
Source: Royal Ramblings
Royal Ramblings recently posted the second part of the interview with TNA World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle. During the interview, Angle was asked if he thinks that he’ll be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
“I don’t know,” Angle admitted. “You never know what they’re thinking. It would be nice. Would it kill me if I wasn’t? No. I know who I am and I know what I was and I know the impact I made on wrestling. I don’t need a WWE Hall of Fame to tell me what that is. It’s not that important to me. What’s important to me is I’m in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame for Olympic wrestling and that’s my legacy. But it’s always nice to be recognised as a Hall of Famer. TNA Hall of Fame was great. WWE Hall of Fame would be great but if they decide not to, its not going to kill me. That’s their option.
“I did leave them in 2006 and went to TNA and I don’t know if that has any bearing but I’ve been happy with my career. I can tell you nobody made as much noise as I did, the six years I spent in WWE. Nobody did that in that short a period of time like I did. That legacy will be set in stone forever. I will tell you I had a better career in TNA than in WWE and that’s scary. Im very grateful for that and at the same time it kind of sucks because the hardcore WWE fans that only watch that, won’t see my best matches. They think they saw my best matches in WWE but they haven’t seen TNA. I’m hoping more of them will turn on to it.”
The official Twitter account of the Bankers Life Fieldhouse announced Thursday morning that Brock Lesnar will appear at the venue when Raw takes place in Indianapolis on June 22, 2015.
JUST ANNOUNCED! @BrockLesnar has been added to the card for #WWEIndy here on Mon., June 22
On the venue’s official website, Lesnar is advertised to appear “live.”
Lesnar has not appeared on WWE programming since the night after WrestleMania, where he attacked commentators Booker T, JBL, Michael Cole, and a cameraman when WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins turned down an immediate title rematch. This led Stephanie McMahon to suspend Lesnar indefinitely in storyline.
WWE confirmed on their website tonight that Rusev suffered an injury at Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings. They noted that he’s currently being evaluated for a lower leg injury.
WWE is promising an update on Rusev’s status as we go into Sunday’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. Bray Wyatt is expected to replace Rusev in the Elimination Chamber for the vacant Intercontinental Title if Rusev is unable to go.
WrestleMerica, an indie pro wrestling promotion based out of Georgia, has signed a local TV deal with Charter Cable to air their programming in that state. The promotion is owned and operated by former WWE & TNA and current New Japan Pro Wrestling star Doc Gallows.
The first WrestleMerica TV tapings will take place on June 5th in Barnesville, Georgia at the Old Academy Gym. Matches confirmed so far include MVP vs. Micah Taylor, Monster Pain vs. Doc Gallows and Amber O’Neal vs. Tracy Taylor in a Falls Count Anywhere Match. Other stars appearing include Jimmy Rave, Sal Rinauro and others. They will also film material on May 30th at an event in Gastonia, North Carolina. Tickets are available at WrestleMerica.com or by calling 678-588-0508.
The idea is to produce a studio-style wrestling series like old school Memphis Wrestling, according to PWInsider.
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
– There’s been talk that the first episode of WWE Tough Enough next month will be built around talents trying to make it into the house. This would be filmed at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando.
– Some on the WWE creative team like having two weeks between pay-per-view events because it forces a week-to-week focus. They are able to set up angles, then write a go-home show and move on, instead of trying to get four weeks worth of TV out of pushing the same matches.
– WWE officials have reportedly changed their thoughts on signing former TNA World Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles. AJ is the current IWGP Heavyweight Champion and considers New Japan Pro Wrestling to be home, and is under contract, but WWE is interested in signing him. WWE is looking to have three touring brands in 2016 and want to load up on as much quality talent as they can.
Source: PWInsider
We noted earlier that Dixie Carter told the TNA staff and talents on a conference call today that the company had been given no word of any issues from Destination America and they were in good standing with the network. Beyond that, it was noted by PWInsider that there were no real explanations given regarding the current situation with Destination America. The feeling among most in TNA is that officials didn’t even know about Ring of Honor coming to Destination America until it was announced this morning.
It was questioned why TNA couldn’t get Destination America to issue a tweet or something about their status. It was intimated that due to the nature of TNA and Destination America’s contract, neither side can publicly comment on their relationship. This is the same reason given as to why TNA won’t comment on reports that Destination America has an “out clause” for this September.
Regarding Ring of Honor coming to Destination America, the impression was given that TNA couldn’t speak on the show until it was announced due to their relationship with Destination America but some people didn’t buy that explanation for obvious reasons.
We noted that there were some angry wrestlers on the call and things did get very heated once the talents were allowed to speak. At one point, Dixie reportedly told the talents that it was up to them to show the world why they were the best and why TNA is the best company in the world. She also said they “controlled their own destiny.” This led to pay issues and the Spike TV departure being brought up and Dixie reportedly spoke of the pay issues as if they were in the past.
