WWE will be holding a press conference on 6/24 outside of the Toyota Center in Houston, TX to promote WrestleMania XXV. Vince McMahon, John Cena, Batista, Edge, and CM Punk are all scheduled to appear. The event is open to the public.
Jim Ross has a new blog entry up. Highlights are below.
On the Hogans drama: I have great empathy for the entire and unfortunate situation especially for the young man who was so severely injured in the car crash but for the media to bring Hulk’s divorce and personal life into this tragedy seems like piling on to me. I still think Hogan got bad advice going on the “Larry King Show” last week but that’s just one man’s opinion. I certainly would suggest that Hulk lay low and let the process play out but the same can be said for the media that wants to exploit all aspects of the Hogan family.
On becoming a UFC/MMA fan: I am becoming a great fan of the UFC and MMA in general as you might have gathered if you read this blog regularly. Look for the UFC to begin to make significant inroads in marketing and international growth as time goes on and this will happen much sooner than later. Some of the monies I have heard that the Affliction folks are paying their fighters is extraordinarily high, to be kind, but I am all for fighters/wrestlers, whomever making all the money they can. However if the numbers I have read are accurate then Affliction is going to be operating at a significant deficit for the foreseeable future which might be their strategy. Nonetheless there is no organization that is even close to the UFC in public perception which reaffirms my thoughts that UFC officials would be much better off continuing to improve their product and letting the other groups mismanage their way to obscurity. It is all about building stars and building a brand identity and that, whether it be MMA or pro wrestling, isn’t going to change. Much like watching CBS’s coverage of Elite XC, the brand Elite XC got less mentions or so it seemed than CBS which isn’t in the MMA businessâ¦.yet. Elite XC missed some opportunities to build their brand on CBS which is certainly not say that I did not enjoy their presentation because I did.
On Monday’s RAW: With a three hour Raw on tap Monday in San Antonio, one of America’s great cities, I expect major movement among the top stars on the three WWE brands. I can’t see how the WWE could make the desired impact to what is hoped to be a huge TV audience and not really shake things up. Non main event stars won’t make the impact that I suspect the WWE is seeking. It would be interesting to know the draft format but perhaps that is part of the mystique. USA Network is expecting big things Monday night and that seems to mean that some of the WWE’s biggest names will get new addresses. This is purely personal speculation as I would be willing to beat a bottle, hell a case, of J.R.’s BBQ Sauce that this matter will be discussed internally all the way up to show time of 8/7central or close to it. It should be an interesting night plus there is no reason we should not see some big time wrestling bouts with every WWE wrestler required to be in attendance.
Check out the full blog entry here.
