Wrestling

As my colleague Geno Mrosko reported last week, the initial industry estimates for the WrestleMania 29 pay-per-view (PPV) buyrate were not looking good at all and it was clear that the show wouldn't come close to breaking records in terms of the total number of purchases as WWE management had once hoped for. According to f4wonline.com, WWE has now published a mildly disappointing first PPV buys figure for the show: "WWE released its updated estimate of buys for WrestleMania, the first official company number, which was 1,048,000 worldwide." As things stand, this would be a drop of 171,000 buys from last year's event and would put it fifth on the all time list of the most bought WWE PPV shows in history (behind WrestleManias 23, 28, 27 and 21, respectively). Any time WWE tops a million buys on PPV for WrestleMania, it's a respectable number, but with mainstream stars like The Rock and Brock Lesnar wrestling on the show and The Undertaker's streak being on the line again, which grows in importance every year, a better number could and should have been obtained. The build and lineup can partially be blamed, as two of the three key matches (John Cena vs. The Rock & Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H) were both rematches that had less interest than the first time they faced each other. Moreover, CM Punk was a weak opponent for The Undertaker after high profile losses to both Cena and Rock, and the WWE creative team left it to the last minute to create a grudge between the two. When Paul Bearer shockingly died on Mar. 5th, WWE took the low road and exploited the death for all it was worth, building to a go home angle where Punk dumped ashes from Bearer's symbolic urn all over The Undertaker after clocking him repeatedly with the mysterious object. It can't be ruled out that this put a bad taste in some viewers' mouths and led them to fail to order WrestleMania as they had previously planned to do. Another factor may have been the $5 price increase for WrestleMania from last year to $69.99 for HD and $59.99 for standard definition. However, the extra revenue gained from the price rise would be equivalent to just over 80,000 buys at last year's cost, so once all is said and done and late buys are accounted for, total pay-per-view revenue from this year's show should only be very slightly down from last year's event. That would be more than offset by the record live gate, so WrestleMania 29 will still go down as the most lucrative wrestling extravaganza in history, but it's a much tighter lead than originally anticipated. Nonetheless, the profits from the show may not be record breaking, due to the exorbitant price tags of both Brock Lesnar and The Rock, on top of paying the usual cast of WrestleMania stars.

Since losing the tag team titles to Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns of The Shield at Extreme Rules, something has been amiss with former champs, Team Hell No. Last night on Smackdown, Daniel Bryan earned a submission victory over Jack Swagger. But he was just getting warmed up. A second no-lock applied after the fact forced his partner Kane to have to physically separate the goatface killah from his prey. The story continued on Backstage Fallout with a strong promo from the recently deposed tag team champion: Very aggressive? What do you want me...he was fighting for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania. You want me to baby him? Is that what you want me to do? You want me to baby guys? You want me to go out there and treat 'em all light and treat 'em gentle and be real kind to 'em. Is that what you want from me? NO! Cause doing it that way gave me the reputation amongst everybody as being the weak link in Team Hell No! You think Kane...you think Kane thinks I'm the weak link after that? You know what? Now that I think about it, he still might. He still might think I'm the weak link. I gotta do more. I have to do more. That. WAS NOT ENOUGH. Okay? I AM GONNA BE MORE INTENSE THAN ANYBODY YOU'VE EVER SEEN...Because I have to prove to everybody in the WWE that I AM NOT THE WEAK LINK! For those of us clamoring for the return of Daniel Bryan, submission machine, this fire is music to our ears. No more comedic edge to it, either. This is D-Bry unleashed. Of course, it's also D-Bry unhinged, as the powers that be seem to like "crazy" Bryan as much as they like to keep the mental illness question in play for his ex-fiancé, AJ Lee. I would have preferred that they skip that part myself - can't he just want to be taken seriously because he's a professional who's damn good at his chosen career? Booking 101 would indicate that this puts him on a collision course with his tag team partner. Kane has been relegated to exasperated voice of reason so far, which also means that the basic version of this story will keep him as the babyface while Bryan goes heel. Again, I'm not 100% on board with going that route - even last night, the former independent star received some of the biggest pops of the night while acting in a non-fan favorite manner. Why WWE would want to corrupt a relatable star who is over with a wide cross-section of their fan base is beyond me. But as much as I have enjoyed laughing along with petulant goofball tag team champion Bryan, I'm excited for the return of legitimate singles threat DB. And if rudo with a persecution complex is the way that we get that right now, I'll take it. And, like every other role they've handed him, the post-show promo seems to indicate that he can knock this version of his character out of the park, too. He's channeling a lot of internet wrestling community (IWC) complaints before he snaps - that being cuddly and cute wasn't getting him anywhere and that it's time to prove to everyone that he's one of the best wrestlers in the world again. What do you think, Cagesiders? Ready for the return of D-Bry, kick-ass grappling god? How do you feel about a Kane feud? Will WWE do the right thing and put a heel Yes-man over the veteran? And where does Bryan go from there?

Source: iMPACTWrestling.com Preview Thursday’s IMPACT WRESTLING broadcast on SpikeTV from Tampa, Florida, at the NEW START TIME OF 9/8c – one hour later! Make sure to set your DVR for the new start time! - Thursday’s broadcast will feature the final countdown to Slammiversary with a huge main event match that will start the broadcast at 9/8c: “The Icon” Sting will team with Joseph Park to battle World Heavyweight Champion Bully Ray and Devon of The Aces and Eights! With just days before Slammiversary, will all hell break loose when Sting and Park battle one of the greatest tandems in wrestling history in Team 3D? Will Bully Ray try to eliminate Sting before their World Title main event? With Joseph Park in action – will “The Monster” Abyss make another unexpected appearance? Don’t miss the opening to Thursday’s broadcast! - After spoiling the patching-in ceremony by the Aces and Eights this past week, AJ Styles will be in action on Thursday against Mr. Anderson! However, plenty of questions still surround Styles – despite burning the Aces, AJ also blasted Kurt Angle! After being made a fool, will Anderson try to get revenge on Styles? Will AJ explain his actions from this past week? Just when we think we know the answers – AJ changes the question! - Also on IMPACT, it will be mixed tag team action with Chris Sabin and Taryn Terrell taking on X Division Champion Kenny King and Gail Kim -Also, a HUGE 8 man tag team match will occur this Thursday on IMPACT as Chavo Guerrero, Hernandez, James Storm, and Gunner team to take on Bobby Roode, Austin Aries, Daniels, and Kazarian. - Plus, more news and updates on Slammiversary, Thursday on SpikeTV at the NEW START TIME of 9/8c!

CHAIR SHOT REALITY— presented by JPI LAW EPISODE 178 segment 3... - "Eyes Of Isenberg" talking about stables in WWE. What counts as a stable, what doesn't and what doesn't work. Eyes of Isenberg theme music courtesy of The Delaneys Click here to see LaBar, Madden & Gulish debate Curtis Axel

Lawler Returns To The Ring WWE Hall of Famer Jerry "The King" Lawler will wrestle his first match since suffering a heart attack live on WWE Raw last year. Lawler will be in a team alongside Dory Funk Jr., Johnny Magnum and Jessica "Power-House" Hill to face Cory "Wild" Weston, Quinton "Drop-Back" Hitchcock, Romero Youngblood and Hollywood Heather. Prior to his match, Dory Funk Jr. will present Lawler the Funking Conservatory's highest honor, The "Fighting Heart" Award. The event is taking place in Ocala, Florida and Funk is the promoter of the company. Del Rio Celebrates Birthday Former World Heavyweight Champion and WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio is celebrating a birthday today. He is turning 36 years old.

In one of the latest videos released for the WWE App, Divas Champion Kaitlyn and AJ Lee open the can of worms that is their former friendship, and it’s not pretty. On top of seeing them trade hyper-personal insults, we learn that their friendship goes back even further than we thought: high school. It all started with AJ confronting Kaitlyn over being attacked by her at Extreme Rules. It quickly escalates into revelations about their friendship: AJ hated Kaitlyn’s grandmother and Kaitlyn never read AJ’s buddy cop screenplay. Needless to say, it’s pretty hilarious from an outside perspective. AJ soon dissolves into tears, and Teddy Long shows up, buying wholeheartedly AJ’s story of being bullied by Kaitlyn. After AJ leaves, Teddy tells Kaitlyn that she needs to be more professional and stop being a bully. Score one for AJ. You can watch the whole video by clicking here. After hearing the “evidence”, are you Team AJ or Team Kaitlyn?

Preview Thursday's IMPACT WRESTLING broadcast on SpikeTV from Tampa, Florida, at the NEW START TIME OF 9/8c - one hour later! Make sure to set your DVR for the new start time! - Thursday's broadcast will feature the final countdown to Slammiversary with a huge main event match that will start the broadcast at 9/8c: "The Icon" Sting will team with Joseph Park to battle World Heavyweight Champion Bully Ray and Devon of The Aces and Eights! With just days before Slammiversary, will all hell break loose when Sting and Park battle one of the greatest tandems in wrestling history in Team 3D? Will Bully Ray try to eliminate Sting before their World Title main event? With Joseph Park in action - will "The Monster" Abyss make another unexpected appearance? Don't miss the opening to Thursday's broadcast! - After spoiling the patching-in ceremony by the Aces and Eights this past week, AJ Styles will be in action on Thursday against Mr. Anderson! However, plenty of questions still surround Styles - despite burning the Aces, AJ also blasted Kurt Angle! After being made a fool, will Anderson try to get revenge on Styles? Will AJ explain his actions from this past week? Just when we think we know the answers - AJ changes the question! - Also on IMPACT, it will be mixed tag team action with Chris Sabin and Taryn Terrell taking on X Division Champion Kenny King and Gail Kim -Also, a HUGE 8 man tag team match will occur this Thursday on IMPACT as Chavo Guerrero, Hernandez, James Storm, and Gunner team to take on Bobby Roode, Austin Aries, Daniels, and Kazarian. - Plus, more news and updates on Slammiversary, Thursday on SpikeTV at the NEW START TIME of 9/8c!

WWE Heads to Texas For Raw WWE will return to Austin, Texas in July for WWE Raw. WWE Superstars will be there on July 25th for WWE Raw at the Frank Erwin Center. Tickets went on sale this morning. WWE.com Summer Sale As Memorial Day approaches, WWE.com has added many discounted items in clearance on their shop website. They are selling many DVD's, shirts, Koozies, and more items for over 60 percent off for their summer kickoff. Even some popular DVD's are on sale for as low as 4.99, including The Best of Raw and The Best of Smackdown. Check out WWEShop.com for all of the items that are on sale.

WWE released its updated estimate of buys for WrestleMania, the first official company number, which was 1,048,000 worldwide.

WWE.com posted a Top 10 Ridiculous Retro Entrances on their official website. Below is the video.