Wrestling

PARSIPPANY, N.J. and STAMFORD, Conn. – WWE Superstar John Cena can add another notch to his WWE Championship title, this time knocking Fred Flintstone® out of the ring, off of the box and out of TV commercials. Post Fruity Pebbles is expanding its existing partnership with WWE and Cena, through the launch of two new TV commercials, a photo app and an on-pack giveaway. Previously, John Cena appeared as a “Pebble-ized” character on special boxes of Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles, and now he’s back for more. “We’re thrilled to be expanding our partnership with John Cena beyond the cereal box and connecting him with fans both on TV and at play,” said Sharon Pupel, Marketing Director at Post Foods. “We hope kids enjoy virtually interacting with the ‘champ’ through the launch of the PebblesPics app and on-pack giveaway, and we want to make sure we continue to provide fans with fun and positive experiences, not only at the breakfast table, but throughout the day whenever and wherever they choose to play.” “I am excited to continue to develop WWE’s relationship with Post Fruity Pebbles,” said Cena. “The ability to reach young WWE fans through the brand’s commercials and new mobile app is a great opportunity.” The TV campaign consists of two new spots, both of which are currently on air. The first TV spot features Cena enjoying a bowl of Fruity Pebbles to amp up his morning. In the second spot, Cena drives fans to a new interactive mobile app, PebblesPics, giving them the chance to virtually get in the ring with the record-breaking WWE Champion. PebblesPics, available today through iTunes and in the Google Play store, allows users to create a photo of themselves “posing” with Cena by superimposing an image of him alongside their own image, making it appear as though the user has actually been photographed standing with the WWE Superstar. Two photos of Cena are available upon download, and additional bonus images can be unlocked when the user scans their Pebbles cereal box via a QR code. Users also have the option to share the images with their friends across multiple platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Additionally, fans can take Cena home – this time in action figure format. With the purchase of two boxes of Pebbles cereal, fans can receive two free Mattel® WWE® Rumblers® figures. For more information about Post Pebbles™ or to download the photo app, please visit Facebook.com/PebblesCereal or PebblesMania.com/app. To download the television commercial, please visit: http://youtu.be/6AB46_0JKBY. About Post Foods, LLC Post has enriched the lives of consumers, bringing quality foods to the breakfast table since the company’s founding in 1895. Post’s portfolio of brands includes diverse offerings to meet the taste and nutritional needs of all families, including such favorites as Honey Bunches of Oats®, Pebbles™, Great Grains®, Post® Shredded Wheat, Post® Raisin Bran, Grape-Nuts®, and Honeycomb®, as well as Attune Food’s Uncle Sam and Erewhon brands. Post is dedicated to health and wellness, offering consumers a variety of cereal choices to meet their nutritional needs from whole grain and fiber to lower sugar offerings. For more information about Post Cereals, visit www.PostFoods.com. About WWE WWE, a publicly traded company (NYSE: WWE), is an integrated media organization and recognized leader in global entertainment. The company consists of a portfolio of businesses that create and deliver original content 52 weeks a year to a global audience. WWE is committed to family friendly entertainment on its television programming, pay-per-view, digital media and publishing platforms. WWE programming is broadcast in more than 150 countries and 30 languages and reaches more than 650 million homes worldwide. The company is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, London, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Istanbul and Tokyo. Additional information on WWE (NYSE: WWE) can b

The 8-Time NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion and 1986 King of the Ring, “Handsome” Harley Race is now available to attend and teach at professional wrestling schools across the country. Race, now retired from active competition and running World League Wrestling, owns the Harley Race Wrestling Academy in Eldon, MO. Since it’s inception in 1999, dozens have graduated from the academy and more have tried out for the Midwest based promotion. Currently, World League Wrestling runs throughout Missouri, as well as in surrounding states. With having the experience of wrestling all across the world, and running WLW, Race has done it all. Race has limited availability for seminars. However, your academy deserves to be taught by the best and having Harley there to teach would add more credibility than ever before. For more information, please email wlwmom@earthlink.net.

There's a certain segment of the pro wrestling fanbase who couldn't care less about television ratings. And while I can understand why that might be the case, we know WWE often makes knee jerk decisions based solely on the numbers they get back from Nielson. That alone makes them important. So let's look at the numbers from this week's (June 17, 2013) episode of Monday Night Raw (estimates come by way of the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, which you should have a subscription for): Typical show open at a 3.04 for the Alberto Del Rio explanation and CM Punk challenge for a match later in the evening, leading directly to Punk splitting with Paul Heyman. The next segment featured the return of Christian and while the time slot wasn't exactly the most desirable, you would think they would have done better than losing 194,000 viewers. E Sheamus, who had been doing well of late, did the job for the Rhodes Scholars but their match still lost 164,000 viewers. That's a steady decrease from the start of the show. There wasn't a gain until a couple backstage segments with Triple H getting all over Vickie Guerrero and Brad Maddox and Team Hell No apparently breaking up for good, which gained 226,000 viewers. Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton gained 248,000 viewers at the top of the second hour, which isn't all that great considering the time slot. What was pretty great was the fact that AJ Lee's promo and Stephanie McMahon coming out to interrupt gained 168,000 viewers right after it. That's big for what was on screen and the time slot that it was on screen for. Dean Ambrose vs. Kane and Vince McMahon talking about loving The Shield lost 341,000 viewers. Ouch. Antonio Cesaro hooking up with Zeb Colter before beating William Regal managed to gain 41,000 viewers, which is pretty impressive. Mark Henry's retirement swerve and angle after John Cena's promo gained 738,000 viewers at the top of the third hour, which is a really good number for that spot in the three hour era. Henry's social media marketing in the lead up to the show had to play big part in this. That theory is supported by the fact that the very next segment, featuring Henry's challenge for a match backstage and Chris Jericho vs. Heath Slater, lost a staggering 953,000 viewers. That suggests folks tuned in for the retirement and bailed when the segment ended. Curtis Axel vs. Sin Cara and the McMahon family drama backstage gained 112,000 viewers, which obviously means Sin Cara is a star in waiting. Finally, CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio and Brock Lesnar returning to F-5 Punk gained 636,000 viewers to a 3.42 overrun, which is pretty damn good, even for the main event segment of the show. The big angle with Henry was a huge success, and really shows the power of a well laid out story with proper promotion using all the tools available in this day and age. For complete results and the live blog click here. For reactions to the show click here. And for a playlist of the entire night click here.

There’s Divas action on tonight’s WWE Main Event. Tune in at 8pm ET on ION. Discuss the show in the comments! RELATED: WWE Main Event Spoilers: June 19th, 2013

- Shawn Michaels discussed his thoughts on recent rumors that WWE may put more focus on the tag-team division once again, during a recent interview with the Ministry of Slam wrestling radio show. Shawn Michaels joined up with the Ministry Of Slam wrestling radio show for an exclusive 60-minute talk. During the interview, HBK talked abou this career and specifically focused on several notable aspects of his lengthy tenure in wrestling. He was discussed his thoughts on recent rumors that WWE may be about to put more focus on the tag-team division once again. “I really don’t know (what the future holds for tag-team wrestling)”, Michaels stated. “When we were doing it, there were a lot of talented and very different tag-teams, but I think it might be fair to say that the business is more individually-oriented now. That’s why I don’t know if things can go back to the way they were, as phenomenal as it was. I also think that when there was a number of different territories, it wasn’t a strange thing for the tag-teams to be the main draw. Obviously that’s something, perhaps from a business standpoint, people don’t think can be a reasonable expectation now, so it’s more focused on individuals.” “Regardless, I think a lot of it comes down to the guys themselves – I think they’re more individually focused, and a lot of folks look at being in tags as a stepping stone to get towards an individual career. I know that’s something I obviously did, but it was never really the intention at the time. Marty and I of course talked about it, but when he and I got together it was really our first break. That’s all we thought about, how we could be the best team possible.” “As for any resurgence of tag-team wrestling? I really can’t say, it’s impossible for me to get into the minds of individuals, but I don’t know if that’s a real focus now with the guys. Not a lot of guys seem to go into tags looking to make that team the absolute best it can be. Whether the company standpoint is that guys have to be individuals in order to be successful, or that comes from the wrestlers themselves, there does seem to be more emphasis on single success now than there was back when I started.” The full interview is available on a 3-hour edition of MOS Radio, available via Podbean, iTunes and by visiting MinistryOfSlam.com. Backstage News on Possible WWE Feuds for Rob Van Dam and More…

Total Diva stars Natalya, Eva Marie and Jo-Jo Offerman took part in a Make-a-Wish meet and greet for Circle of Champions honoree Kquatracciya. The Divas met with the young girl and took photos with her while the Total Divas cameras caught it all. It’s great to see that the reality show won’t be just a drama-fest, allowing the charity work of the Divas get some exposure as well. Check out photos from the event below and see more at the WWE’s community outreach site. RELATED: Photos: Total Divas Cast at Susan G. Komen Event

The Wyatt Family’s imminent debut is highly anticipated by many WWE fans. The group that has been seen in three promos during each of the past three Monday Night Raws, was in yet another promo this past week on Raw. Anticipation is certainly building for The Wyatt family. Most within the WWE were already high on the debut of The Wyatt family, now, most of the WWE Universe is in that group as well. There is no definitive date on when the group will return, though, the expectation is that it will be soon. Rumors suggested that the group would debut at Payback or this past edition of Raw, however they proved to be false. Nonetheless, here is the fourth promo for The Wyatt Family that aired during Monday’s edition of Raw.

Source: The Wrestling Observer According to sources, the segment on RAW where Stephanie McMahon told Kaitlyn to never interrupt her again was inspired by a real-life incident that occurred backstage recently. As you saw on RAW, Stephanie McMahon, on her way to the back, gave Kaitlyn an evil look and told her it would be in her best interest to never interrupt her again. There was an incident at a recent TV taping where Kaitlyn approached Stephanie backstage while she was talking to someone else and it caused a scene. Basically, Stephanie was upset that Kaitltyn approached her and couldn’t wait until she was done talking with the other person to say what she had to say. It’s interesting to note that following this, Kaitlyn lost the Divas title.

Source: The Wrestling Observer Brock Lesnar’s return to WWE on Monday night was kept a major secret backstage. There were only a very select few people who knew he’d be appearing on the show. We’re told Lesnar did not arrive to the arena until 9:30PM ET. The details on his return were kept quiet from most backstage, so the ending of the show (where he F5?d Punk) came off as a genuinesurprise to most of the talents backstage. John Cena, CM Punk, Vince McMahon, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon all knew about it beforehand but other than them, most everyone else was unaware of the planned angle.

- Wrestling legends Ric Flair and Roddy Piper will trade homes and lives on ABC’s Celebrity Wife Swap on Sunday, June 30th at 8pm EST. Here is the press release via Broadway World: “Ric Flair / ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper” – The girlfriend and the wife of two of the biggest former stars of the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) swap lives and homes for one week on “Celebrity Wife Swap,” Sunday, June 30 (8:00-9:00 p.m., EST) on the ABC Television Network. Ric Flair, better known to wrestling fans around the world as “The Nature Boy,” lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with his girlfriend, Wendy, and her four children, Sophia (14), Sebastian (12), Paris (10) and Summer (9). Ric and Wendy live a very lavish and fast-paced lifestyle and enjoy the finer things in life, spending most evenings out on the town where Ric revels in his celebrity and the attention of fans. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper is one of the WWE’s most notorious villains and one of “The Nature Boy’s” fiercest competitors. Retired from the ring, Roddy lives with his wife of 30 years, Kitty, daughter Fallon, son Colt and his fiancée, Sarah, on a large piece of land on a mountain in Portland, Oregon. While retired from the business, Roddy’s never too far from the sport, spending his days training Colt, who is following in his father’s footsteps as a professional wrestler. The Pipers are a close-knit family who enjoy spending time at home together. Kitty is solely responsible for the running of the home, including cooking, cleaning, and caring for the family’s animals. When Kitty, arrives at the Flair home, she’s happy to catch up with her old friend, Ric. On the first night of the swap, she gets an immediate taste of Ric’s lifestyle when he takes her to a jewelry store and buys her an expensive gift, followed by drinks and dinner out. Kitty finds it hard to keep up with Ric as she watches him mingle with fans, and feels left on the sidelines and alone. When it’s time for the rules change, Kitty sits down for a heartfelt talk with Ric that really opens his eyes and puts things into perspective. Meanwhile in Portland, Wendy finds stepping into Kitty’s shoes challenging, especially when she tries to cook dinner for the family. When it’s time for Wendy to implement her rules change, she tells the Pipers that it’s time to get off the mountain and have some fun – specifically having the thrifty Roddy spend money on a family day in town — which Roddy surprisingly enjoys. In the series, two mothers of celebrity families, each with opposing values, trade households, lifestyles and children (but not bedrooms) in a week-long challenge. In the first part of the exchange, each mom moves into the other’s home and agrees to follow a manual of “household rules” written by the departing mother, including: how to parent, manage their social life, do house work, unwind and more. Everything changes in the second half of the week, when “new” mommy” takes charge, introduces her own set of rules and runs the “nest” her way. At the end of the week the two couples meet for the first time. In a raw, honest and highly-charged exchange of views, the couples will make frank assessments of each another and discuss their experiences, having had a very real taste of what life would be like in someone else’s family. New Photos of Ric Flair’s Daughter in WWE Developmental, Busty New Kaitlyn Selfies and More….