Wrestling

Source: pwinsider.com WWE released the number of preliminary PPV buys for WrestleMania 29. The preliminary number is 1,048,000 million buys according to WWE’s latest monthly business figures released this week. The final PPV buy total is said to be released in the Second Quarter 2013 earnings around August. Once all buys are accounted for, the final number will likely be rounded out to about 1.1 million buys.

Source: Pwinsider Ring of Honor has reportedly told Mike Mondo, who worked in WWE as part of the Spirit Squad, that he is “no longer being booked” for the promotion. Ring of Honor made the decision after Mondo was considered to be in no condition to participate in a recent ROH clinic. Mondo returned to the promotion in March after suffering a broken leg last year; it is believed by some that he rushed things, which may have contributed to his problem at the clinic.

5/30 iMPACT! Wrestling: * Gunner & James Storm & TNA Tag Team champions Chavo Guerrero & Hernandez defeated Bobby Roode & Austin Aries & Bad Influence when Gunner forces Aries to submit to a backbreaker. * Sting & Joseph Park defeated TNA champion Bully Ray & Devon after Abyss’ music played, allowing Devon to be distracted, setting up Sting getting the pin. * Chris Sabin & Taryn Terrell defeated X-Division champ Kenny King & Gail Kim. King attacked Sabin after the bout but Suicide made the save. * AJ Styles vs. Mr. Anderson ends in a no contest when Kurt Angle attacked Styles. Aces & Eights hit the ring. Samoa Joe, Sting and Magnus hit the ring. Huge brawl to go off the air as Sting and Bully Ray battle.

Figure Four Daily with Bryan Alvarez and Todd Martin returns today to talk a ton of different topics including tonight's UFC, the odds better game, Raw this week, the WrestleMania buyrate, CURT AXEL, Impact thoughts, Todd's odds on whether Sting wins the title and Hogan ever wrestles again, plus a review of the new Bruce Buffer book. I won't spoil what tier it's in, but it's the best book that Todd has ever put in the tier. A fun show as always with Capital T so check it out~! {radioShow dmdocuments/052513todd.mp3}

The Undercard The Miz defeated Wade Barrett via disqualification. The Miz starts off the show with MizTV. All of these happenings are due to what happened on Raw. Fandango is on the outside watching the match, as Miz and Barrett really put on a solid bout to kick off the night. Barrett looks more aggressive and more willing to take chances lately. I love his offense, very Dominating and rugged. The Miz gets his moves in, but Fandango gets in the ring and attacks Miz. Wade would get Disqualified and hit Fandango with the Bullhammer. What needs to happen here is Wade Barrett and The Miz need to either move on from their feud or have Fandango get involved and be the middle man. I would not be surprised if Fandango gets thrown in a Triple Threat Match and steals the WWE Intercontinental Championship. Grade: B- Daniel Bryan defeated Jack Swagger in an excellent match. Bryan and Swagger have a very similar type of offensive attacks. Bryan relies on submission to transition into kicks and quick strikes. Swagger uses submission moves and then uses his brute strength. Both guys are excellent in technical matches. This was no different. Daniel Bryan kept reversing out of moves and was always one step ahead of Swagger. That is smart, but the smartest part was Bryan kicking Swagger in the head and making him tap out. I loved seeing a really legit win for Bryan. At a point where Bryan has suffered multiple losses, this is the right time to build him back up in single's action. He needs to be utilized to his fullest potential. Bryan vs. Ziggler could be a very good match and a very exciting feud, if they give them enough time. As soon as Bryan wraps up his beef with Shield, I expect this to happen. Grade: B+ Chris Jericho defeated The Big Show. This was your typical match with The Big Show. He dominates most of the match until Jericho outsmarts him. Jericho remains quick and efficient in the ring, using every which way to get Show to fall down. Jericho hits a Codebreaker onto Big Show. This gets him counted out. After the match, Show tries to attack Jericho with a chair. This backfires, as Jericho forces Big Show to retreat. I really enjoyed this match for many reasons, but am not sure what direction they want to go in. Do we really want to see Jericho vs. Big Show in a feud? I do not. In fact, I would love to see Show work with a younger guy, let Jericho chase a championship, and have both men as far away from one another. There is no great benefit for either guy. I would be scared to see Big Show go over in a big match, thus leaving Jericho back down from where he really should be. Grade: B The Storylines Curtis Axel defeated Sin Cara in his Smackdown debut match. Paul Heyman and Axel start the second hour of the show talking about what happened on WWE Raw with Triple H. Axel gets on the microphone and says that was just day one. He wins in pretty quick fashion against Cara, a guy who is absolutely useless in the WWE right now. Axel was grounded by the fast offense for a brief minute, but took control. I have to see his finisher again, as it seemed quick and really interesting. Axel continues to get a push, but I want to see him in matches against higher profile guys. I said this on Chair Shot Reality this weekend, that Curtis Axel cannot go from Triple H to Sin Cara/Zack Ryder. He needs PPV matches against legit names. He does not benefit from beating these jobbers. That is used for monsters like Ryback. We have seen where Ryback has gone with that type of build, haven't we? Grade: C+ -Damien Sandow comes out to talk about the Georgian Knot. He asks Matt Striker to try and untie it, but he fails. This prompts Sheamus out, who makes fun of Sandow. Sandow then cuts the knot, outsmarting Sheamus. Sheamus goes for a Brogue Kick, but Sandow gets out of the way. Sign me up for a Sandow/Sheamus feud. Even if it lasts brief, this is the perfect way for a young guy to get over with a popular f

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) invades the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, TONIGHT (Sat., May 25, 2013) with its latest pay-per-view (PPV) offering, UFC 160: "Velasquez vs. Bigfoot 2," featuring a heavyweight championship showdown pitting reigning titleholder Cain Velasquez against Brazilian big man, Antonio Silva. I know, I know, we're a pro wrestling site who usually sticks to covering that subject, but when there's a heavyweight title on the line and the folks at MMA Fighting are producing such good videos previewing as much, we felt compelled to share. Preview: Main event weigh-ins: Dana White scrum: Dana White interview: Cain Velasquez: Antonio Silva: Junior dos Santos: Mark Hunt: Be sure to hit up MMAmania.com, MMAFighting.com, and BloodyElbow.com for all the coverage you need on UFC 160 tonight.

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?

Evan Ginzburg’s Legends TV Starts Saturday May 25th 11AM on www.madhousetv.com- CLICK ON RENDEZVOUS WITH ALYSIA link to view live (archived right after completion as well) co-hosted by author/educator Steve Ludwig featuring the greatest house band in all the land- Edwin Vazquez Musica. Edwin has performed with Paul Simon and Marc Anthony on The Capeman. GUESTS ON OUR MAY 25, 2013 SHOW: MELISSA COATES (Female bodybuilder/Pro Wrestler/Actress) – Melissa Coates was a top 10 Female Bodybuilder, appearing on many of the major bodybuilding magazine covers, and currently is a professional wrestler and fitness model. She’s been wrestling around the world, and was on the WWE pay per view “BACKLASH” 2005. She was trained primarily at the former WWE developmental OVW. She has acted in such films as Pray Another Day, Ultimate Death Match and A Story About Ian and was a regular on The Game Show Network’s Extreme Dodgeball. NEKO WHITE (Standup Comedian/Actor/Writer) – Neko has been actively working the comedy club circuit since he began his career in 2007. Since that time he has written and started in Off Broadway plays with the Epic Theater Ensemble (Shakespeare Remix: Macbeth and Shakespeare Remix: Othello. He’s been the warm up comedian and guest writer for MTV2′s Hip Hop Hollywood Squares and performs his brand of stand up in comedy clubs and colleges all over the East Coast. At the tender age of 20, Neko White has already drawn comparisons to Chris Rock and Eddie Murphy. Filmmaker David Van Keuren made the documentary short on this up and coming comedy star called “One Mic.” His hilarious take on life promises to make this appearance on Evan Ginzburg’s LEGENDS TV a memorable one. ARLENE NG (Singer/Dancer) – Arlene NG is an accomplished Singer/Dancer/Musical Performer. She has trained at the School of American ballet, the Broadway Dance Center, the Professional Performing Arts School Theatre, as well as the Grand Piano Studios (Arlene is also a first-class pianist). Ms. NG has appeared on Univision TV on numerous occasions, including as a featured singer on Objectivo Fama. Arlene will dance for us, as well as talk about her latest CD of songs, Canciones Intensias. JON WINELL (Poet) – Jon Winell was part of the Centerfold Reading Series on NYC’s Upper West Side in the 1990s, has been featured at the famed Cornelia Street Café, St. Marks Poetry Project and other downtown staples such as the 5C Cultural Center, the Saturn Series and Nomad’s Choir. He has read on Lower East Side Radio, was published in Vol. 8 of HART Magazine, “a tome of the arts”, read at various New Year’s Day Readings including the legendary CBGB’s. In January 2013 he put together a chap book entitled Poems for Everyday People including about 70 poems. He tries to infuse language from various sources to create imagistic poetry, writing about people, places, and internal and external experiences. Although the world is a dark place he tries to find beauty and gentleness even in the most hardened places. He reads for us on this edition of Evan Ginzburg’s LEGENDS TV. Jon will be backed by Edwin Vazquez and the band. The post Evan Ginzburg’s Net TV show starts TODAY appeared first on Online World of Wrestling.

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!