Wrestling

Yesterday, former Divas Champion and the WWE’s undisputed Queen of Instagram Layla posted a photo showing her goofing around backstage, lounging casually in a tray of ice. Insert your “Layla’s been put on ice” jokes here.. While we’d love to see Layla on TV more, these goofy Instagram pics help fill the void. Keep ‘em coming, Layla! Who’s your favorite Diva on Instagram?

HOSS PRIMEPhoto Credit: WWE.comEpisode 103: The KronikShane Carnes of, uh, this site stops by to be initiated within the family. We celebrate TNA's birthday by talking about the promotion, specifically about how tired Shane is of seeing Sting as the big hero and about how AJ Styles is the oldest up-and-comer in wrestling today. After a brief interlude to discuss the unfortunate passing of Sopranos star James Gandolfini and an interlude about Blockbuster and Netflix, we get into classic wrestling. We talk about Bret Hart vs. Davey Boy Smith at SummerSlam '92, as well as Randy Savage having the first two WrestleMania classic matches and how WWE changed after Hulk Hogan left. We go right into the mechanics of alignment when it came to the main events in WWF/E and NWA/WCW/TNA, and I make a ramshackle comparison of that dynamic to the comic universe. We finish up by unpacking the Ryback/Goldberg debate, and finish by appreciating Mark Henry, because that's what we do.Direct link for your downloading pleasure.

Source: YouTube Reports have been circulating online that AJ Styles had gotten into a confrontation with a fan at a recent TNA Wrestling house show. Video of the confrontation has been posted on a YouTube account. The video comes in after things have gotten heated between AJ and the fan, so it is difficult to surmise what started the conflict. You can view the video below:

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.

- 4thandPain.com sent the following: We had an opportunity to interview Roman Reigns recently on 4th & Pain. The show is hosted by Adam Carriker (@Adam Carriker94) of the Washington Redskins and Chuck Carroll (@TheChuckCarroll), a former wrestling announcer and weight loss champion. Reigns spoke about the formation of The Shield and his relationship with Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins. He also talked about his brief NFL career before transitioning to pro wrestling and the differences between the two. The biggest takeaway from the interview was Reigns opening up about his desire to break out as a singles wrestler and win the WWE Championship. “I want to be the absolute top guy in this company,” he said. Future Plans for The Shield Revealed, New Photos of Sunny, More…

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