0Posted by Brett Clendaniel on March 20, 2013 at 11:36 am
Credit – PWInsider
At one point, there was a 10-Divas tag match with 5 current Divas going against 5 former Divas planned for WrestleMania 29. The idea would have been for Kelly Kelly, The Bella Twins, Maryse and Maria Kanellis to take on current Divas like Kaitlyn, Layla and three others.
The story is that a few of the former Divas went back to WWE and wanted certain things like access to their names once they left the company and WWE wasn’t having it. WWE nixed the idea and so far the only Divas to return are The Bella Twins but word is their deals were in place for a few months now.
This idea would have seen Trish Stratus manage one of the teams.
0Posted by Brett Clendaniel on March 13, 2013 at 7:41 pm
We noted before that WWE was negotiating with other former Divas to return after bringing back The Bella Twins. Apparently they made offers to Maryse and Kelly Kelly also.
Kelly Kelly and Maryse reportedly denied their first offers but are still in talks.
It’s being said that WWE has been extremely aggressive in negotiating with past Divas who the fans could connect with. The WWE doesn’t feel as if a true face of the Divas division currently exists on the current roster.
0Posted by Brett Clendaniel on February 2, 2013 at 4:42 pm
Arda Ocal recently spoke with former WWE Diva Beth Phoenix. Here are some highlights.
Has she had the itch to return to professional wrestling yet?“I never wanted to be that person who said, I’ll never come back, I’m retired, I’m done and then in a couple of years get the itch. I haven’t said I’ll never ever be back because I don’t know what opportunity will come up that I’ll find to be really awesome.”
If the number of divas that have left the WWE in the past year is a coincidence: “I think it just timed out that way because lots of times with the girls there is a window of opportunity and a lot of the girls that left kind of came in at the same time. The women’s division there are so few of us, you can only see me wrestle Kelly so many times.”
What made Trish Stratus an icon: “Sometimes people like to remember the controversy, that’s what stands out, but I think I would rather look at the content of someone’s career. She always welcomed whatever kind of physicality that needed to take place in the ring. She was tough as nails, she never complained and worked for what she had and you have to respect that.”
0Posted by Brett Clendaniel on January 30, 2013 at 2:09 pm
Former WWE Diva Maxine (Karlee Leilani) has been working on her acting career and will be attending the Grammys next month. She reportedly has several TV and film roles coming out soon. Maxine is also the new spokesperson for the Women’s Indoor Football League, which will launch in 2014. She said in a press release:
“I’m very excited about working with the WIFL and supporting female athletes. I’m looking forward to being a part of the growth of the WIFL.”
0Posted by Brett Clendaniel on December 4, 2012 at 1:17 pm
Former WWE Diva Kelly Kelly also spoke with Phil Strum ofThe Poughkeepsie Journal. Here are a few highlights:
Phil Strum: Life after WWE, how’s it going for you so far?
Barbie Blank: It’s going good. I’m just relaxing at home. It’s nice to take a break and just be able to live a normal life and being able to do whatever I want to do.
PS: Any desire to get back in the ring now?
BB: You never know. Right now, I’m kind of healing my neck that was kind of a problem for a while. Just resting up and you never know.
0Posted by Brett Clendaniel on November 30, 2012 at 11:44 am
The official WWE website has published an articleexamining the state of the Divas division following multiple talent departures over the past year.
“Some of the WWE Universe might say the Divas division has been diminished, having lost a whole half-dozen of its best and brightest over the past twelve months. And it’s true: at least in terms of depth, fate carved quite the swath through WWE’s women’s division in 2012, but the depletion has also initiated a new era of opportunity for the remaining Divas. In one turn around the sun, Kelly Kelly, Beth Phoenix, Maxine, Kharma and The Bella Twins have all left WWE, with no small amount of shock,” author Anthony Benigno writes.
“At first glance, that’s a sudden, dark cloud hanging over one of WWE’s most time-honored divisions. But the whole process has turned out to be something along the lines of an evolution for the Divas. True, the abrupt change in the Divas’ landscape has been jarring for the WWE Universe. But the transformation seems to us a breath of fresh air, a chance at a fresh start, and an opportunity to redefine the very definition of a WWE Diva.”
0Posted by Brett Clendaniel on November 12, 2012 at 10:23 am
It’s believed WWE is getting at least $100,000 per week for the new Main Event TV show on the Ion Network. This figure is believed because they were getting that much for Superstars before it left regular TV.
They are also getting paid between $60,000 and $75,000 per week for Saturday Morning Slam and around $175,000 for the new third hour of RAW each week.
0Posted by Brett Clendaniel on October 12, 2012 at 9:05 pm
We noted before that WWE Diva Beth Phoenix was attending this weekend’s New York City Comic-Con but is not advertised. She’s attending as a fan with her boyfriend Edge, who will apparently be appearing but is not on the NYCCC website. Here’s the wrestler line-up for this weekend:
* Dolph Ziggler on Saturday
* Booker T on Saturday
* Vader on Thursday and Saturday
* Angelina Love on Friday, Saturday and Sunday
* Velvet Sky on Friday, Saturday and Sunday
* The Bella Twins on Friday, Saturday and Sunday
* Brutus Beefcake on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday
* Greg “The Hammer” Valentine on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday
* Tito Santana on Friday, Saturday and Sunday
* Robbie E on Friday
* Kevin Nash and Kelly Kelly will also be appearing
0Posted by Brett Clendaniel on October 4, 2012 at 7:32 am
On this episode of The Still Real to Us Show: Jeff Peck & Trey “Captain Obvious” Dent discuss what it’s like to watch IMPACT WRESTLING live from “THE IMPACT ZONE,” who’s to blame for WWE’s recent RAW RATING, if JOHN CENA should take time off after HELL IN A CELL 2012, KELLY KELLY’s release from the WWE and more!
0Posted by Brett Clendaniel on October 3, 2012 at 10:07 pm
Credit – Wrestling Observer
As announced last Friday by WWE, the sports-entertainment organization came to terms on the release of Kelly Kelly, ending her six-year run with the company. Her departure had been expected since she decided to take a hiatus in late May.
Those close to the situation thought it was likely her tenure was coming to an end after she was cold on signing a long-term contract extension and had requested time off from the road. Company officials granted her time off under the belief that she would return full-time. However, those close to her say she wasn’t sure about resuming a full-time schedule and was looking to pursue non-wrestling endeavors.
Her situation is similar to many other talents who have left the company, particularly women, in the past two years. She was forced to reject numerous media offers, either because WWE didn’t want her involved or because WWE has made its product too kid-friendly that companies don’t want to associate with them. The matter is tied to women, because of those limitations.
Since Kelly had already earned her downside guarantee for the year and had no intention on returning full-time, there was no money left for her to earn by not asking for her release. Plus, she wanted to pursue outside opportunities sooner rather than later.
During a advertisement campaign shoot last Thursday for Let if Fly Energy, an energy drink line, she received a text message from Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE Executive Vice President, Talent and Live Events. He informed her that by the terms of her contract, she needed to have a calendar that she planned to sell on her official website approved by the company. She had tweeted previews of some risqué lingerie pictures and the company demanded she take them down. She had no intention on calling off the project, which resulted in the company cutting ties with her the next day.
Another factor in Kelly’s resistance to remaining in WWE for several more years can be tied to her health since she had been dealing with neck issues from wrestling. WWE officials requested that she see Dr. Joseph Maroon, head of medical. She preferred to be examined by her own doctor. With the accumulated injuries, she wanted to stop wrestling full-time at the age of 25 rather than be physically broken down and too old to pursue entertainment opportunities. It is believed that she would have stayed with WWE had they let her make occasional appearances.
WWE did not perceive Kelly as reaching a level known as the “Mick Foley deal,” where a talent is under contract, works occasionally, and is free to pursue outside endeavors. WWE does not want create a precedent where talent have control over what they do, which is an issue currently affecting their relationship with Chris Jericho.
0Posted by Brett Clendaniel on October 1, 2012 at 6:26 pm
Former WWE writer Court Bauer spoke out about current TNA writer Dave Lagana on his MLW wrestling podcast. Bauer goes into some pretty scathing allegations including Lagana having contact with WWE officials while working for TNA and the rumor that Lagana had once propositioned former WWE Star Kevin Thorne.
On Lagana supposed sexual harassment of wrestlers in the WWE:
“well, I think the guy. I never saw the guy proposition a dude. never saw him attracted to dudes. He sat next to me on the meetings on smackdown.”
“he at least fronted that he was very much into women. When the rumors came out the sheets asked me because they knew i worked with him. I told them there’s no way, no how i don’t believe that story one second. In wrestling its nearly impossible to not have enemies, even in politics you are the cleanest guy you are going to get accused of the craziest shit. Those kinds of allegations are really fucked up because they can ruin someones life. If someone is really going that out there. i can only go on what i saw. with Lagana i never saw any of that stuff. “ On Lagana attempting to bury Bauer to the WWE while working for TNA:
“Personally i thought he was pretty creepy. I also thought he was a guy that bullied alot of others in creative. i saw him abuse alot of assistants. He is a pretty insecure guy. He is a guy that even recently tried burying me to the wwe; To someone in their offices. he is not a stand up guy. I know I’m saying this publicly and so it kinda doesn’t make me a standup guy but I’m telling the truth.”
1Posted by Brett Clendaniel on October 1, 2012 at 5:40 pm
This is the fourth, and final, column for Terri Bey on WrestleChat.net. She has done a few guest columns over the last month and may do more in the future. Feel free to follow Terri (the biggest Edge fan in the world) on Twitter, @GioPontiFan.
Where Have All the WWE Divas Gone?
I would like to make a formal apology to the WrestleChat.net staff and to you readers for the long wait for my final guest blog. I had to take care of some health and other personal issues, so I ask for forgiveness. It was a situation that could not have been helped.
That being said, I would like to thank Brett Clendaniel, Jr. for allowing me to write these four guest blogs. He is not only a great reporter and webmaster, he is a great friend of mine. It’s an honor to write for him.
Now that I got that out of the way, I will start my final guest blog.
The majority of people have heard the classic song, “Where Have All The Flowers Gone,” by Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Pete Seeger. The song is a very famous anti-war song talking about how war eliminates the flowers, and eventually the soldiers (a generation) from the earth. There is the famous line, “When will they ever learn?” “When will they ever learn.”
Well with the news of now former WWE Diva Kelly Kelly’s departure from WWE, and former Diva’s and Women’s Champion Beth Phoenix on the way out, it looks to me that the Divas division is going to be full of just models trying to wrestle. Let’s face it, after Phoenix leaves at the end of October, the only diva left that can work a match is going to be Natalya.
Where HAVE all the Divas gone anyway?
I have watched professional wrestling closely for 14 years. Of course, I am learning more about the “old” days, and I still have a lot to learn, and I realize that. However, WWE has had great women wrestling stars like Wendi Richter, the Fabulous Moolah, and Mae Young as wrestlers in its company.
Since I started watching, I saw the rise of two great women wrestlers. One is Lita, and the other is Trish Stratus. I remember when Trish Stratus started out as a valet as part of “T & A.” I am obviously talking about Test (RIP) and Albert (now Tensai). Stratus was not great when she started, but she worked hard and became a top wrestler, and won the Women’s belt 7 times.
Lita was with the Hardy Boyz as Team Extreme. What Lita (4 Time Women’s Champ)brought to the table was her high flying moves. I always found Lita to be a very excited wrestler in the ring. She also after the “Love Triangle” incident became a valet for eventual WWE Hall of Famer Edge later in her career.
Through the last 14 years that I have watched, I have seen WWE hit and miss on WWE Divas. They had the good such as Mickie James, Victoria, and Ivory. They also had the bad such as Ashley Massaro, Candice Michelle, Amy Weber, and Christy Hemme. I am not going to comment on Chyna. Let’s say she fell off the deep end.
With that being said, this bunch of Divas would be better than what is passing for a “Diva Division” right now in the WWE. As the song says, “When will they ever learn?”
According to rumor, Triple H wants less emphasis on the Diva division. I’d like to know why he’d want to do that, if true. I don’t know if Hunter who was not a big fan of John Laurinaitis, is mad because Laurinaitis hired a bunch of models for WWE, including Kelly Kelly. I think WWE could have benefited from having the two women that could work a match, Beth and Natalya actually feud.
While Beth was in the midst of her Diva Title reign, WWE did nothing with her. They didn’t even have her feud with Natalya. Now that Beth is on the way out, they FINALLY gave her a match with Natalya, and let Beth win in her own hometown of Buffalo. It did not make sense.
One other thing that didn’t make sense was when Michelle McCool was in WWE, Vince/Creative let McCool dominate. I mean, I liked McCool, but at times I wished that her partner Layla got a chance to show what she could do. After all, they were LayCool. I also thought that McCool was too protected, and she/Creative could have let whichever babyface she was working with get one over on her. When do they ever learn?
I think WWE can have a Diva division if they get women who can work. Fans like ACTUAL WRESTLING. Speaking for myself, I like GOOD WRESTLING and I don’t care about the gender of the wrestler. There is no excuse for WWE not to have wrestlers doing one minute matches because they know the wrestlers (male or female) can’t wrestle out of a paper bag.
I have heard about Sara Del Rey’s signing and Edge’s protege Leah Von Dutch’s tryout with WWE. This does give me some hope.
It also appears that with the departure of the Bella Twins, Kharma, Kelly Kelly, and soon, Beth Phoenix, WWE may not be the ultimate career. The Bellas evidently want to do stuff outside of WWE. Kelly Kelly evidently wanted to do stuff outside of WWE. I don’t know Beth’s plans. I know her boyfriend Edge is going to have neck surgery in November as he said in recent interviews, so I am sure she is going to be tending to him for 3 or 4 months.
We are left with, and I am not including the women wrestlers in FCW, Eve, Layla, Alicia Fox, Natalya, Beth Phoenix (til the end of October), Aksana, A.J., and a couple of others. Some division.
Perhaps the Division should disappear for a time and the remaining divas should be valets until some fresh blood comes in. That is what I would do instead of letting the division rot on the vine.
When will WWE ever learn? When will they ever learn?
0Posted by Brett Clendaniel on October 1, 2012 at 10:30 am
NIKKI HEYMAN and crew discuss why the Divas division is starting to crumble a bit with the release of KELLY KELLY and the soon to be gone BETH PHOENIX, why the heck RAW got a 2.7 rating, JOHN CENA‘s elbow injury, and why she thinks a new version of the DANGEROUS ALLIANCE would work with UNCLE PAUL, CM PUNK, and BROCK LESNAR.
0Posted by Brett Clendaniel on September 30, 2012 at 2:38 pm
Credit – Wrestling Observer
- Regarding Raquel Diaz (Shaul Marie Guerrero), most people within WWE expect her back in action but that’s not confirmed. It’s believed she is taking time away to rest up and possibly go back to school. The feeling from developmental was that Guerrero is not a very good wrestler but is a great talker with lots of charisma.
- Regarding Kelly Kelly and Beth Phoenix leaving WWE, most in the company are under the impression that Kelly won’t be back anytime soon. Beth is scheduled to finish up in October and she is expected back in the future. A source describes Beth’s departure as it just being time for to leave. There’s also speculation that Beth is leaving in part to help take care of her boyfriend Edge after he has neck surgery in early November.
- We’ve noted that a source close to the WWE Divas division expects other Divas to be leaving soon. There has been no talk of WWE Divas Champion Eve Torres leaving but officials are aware of her recent change in life. Eve was just engaged to Rener Gracie and the feeling is that she may want some time off once they are married.
0Posted by Brett Clendaniel on September 29, 2012 at 10:33 pm
Rob Feinstein of RF Video has posted a scathing blog on his Facebook account where he details the negotiations that were supposed to bring Kelly Kelly to the “Legends of the Ring” Convention. He notes that he had an agreement in principal and also that Kelly Kelly is currently demanding $10,000 for an appearance. Here is the post in full:
I make it a rule to NEVER bury anyone in the wrestling business publicly if a deal goes wrong. Well in this case I want to inform anybody who might be a fan of Barbie Banks (FKA Kelly Kelly) on how her manager conducts business. To say I am pissed is a understatement. This is no way reflect Barbie Banks FKA Kelly Kelly.
About 6 weeks ago we struck a verbal deal to bring her into Legends of the Ring. We were told by her manger that she was going to be able to do outside projects while she was still under WWE contract. It really made no sense but she told me that she was in the progress of getting her a new deal that would allow this.
She told me that we had a done deal and we agreed on terms. We just never signed a deal because she wanted to wait until she got a new contract which I was told would be a week.
A week went by and than I was told that because of the holiday labor day I would have to wait another week. When that week passed I was told that Barbie had to do something personal and we would have to wait another week to see if she was medically cleared to make it to our show. To me that is when things got fishy.
I informed her manager that two weeks ago you told me we had a deal and we were just waiting for the paper work to go thru. Now things seemed fishy. Well later that week I was informed that she was not going to be able to make it because WWE at the time was not giving her another contract. Honestly none of this made sense to me but I thought that maybe it was true because I have heard she was trying to get a new deal to do outside projects.
So after 3 weeks or so of being put on hold finally her agent told me the deal was dead and we would have to wait until March to book her. We left everything on great terms even though I was pissed for being put thru the windmill for 3 weeks.
I went out and booked Shane Helms instead which is great.
On Friday I get a call from her agent again out of the blue asking me if its to late to book Kelly for Legends of the Ring and now she was able to do it. I told her I only had two weeks now to promote this and I wanted a better rate.
I also had to talk to the promoter of Legends of the Ring and get his approval since I once already told him I had her and than had to tell him I lost her. I called up James who is always professional and told him that I could get her again and that I would feel more comfortable if he talked to her agent with me to confirm everything.
We had a three way call and we came to terms on money, the times and everything. All we needed to do was sign off on the deal. She than asked me for the address of the venue and the times and everything you would put into a contract. I told her I would sign it as soon as I looked it over and we agreed on the phone I would be able to announce this today.
A hour after we talked I was informed by the agent that someone called with in the hour that we struck our deal and offered Kelly more money that weekend for another event. She than basically tried to hold me up for more money asking well cant I match the deal and I told her no way we already verbally comitted to a deal.
The professional thing to do here was to tell the other party you already stuck a deal for that date and you would work with them in the future. That is how you conduct proper business in wrestling. A deal is a deal and especially in this business you stick to your word.
She than told me she had to talk to Barbie and she would call me back. Well with in 4 minutes I got a text no call…..just a text saying that she talked to Barbie and that Barbie decided to go with the other guy. It was obvious she never talked to her as many people in that circle told me that it was so wrong to do.
I also want to point out that I had given her at least 10 other dates at the time. For the record her asking price is 10k a shot…you do the match….We had alot of money on the table over the next 7 months with her.
I informed James of the situation and to say he was not happy was a understatement. James texted her and tried to get her to call him but she refused saying that we never had a deal which was a total lie.
We had a deal, we agreed and everything was set. Like I said in wrestling when you verbally committ and tell someone your drawing up a contract its a deal.
I told her agent that I have worked with everyone from the Rock which I had at my store before, to every big name in the business and that this was a first.
Of course she did not reply and I just wanted to let everyone know that because of this the fans of her will not be getting to meet her at the upcoming legends convention.
I will never work with her agent again unless she gives us the proper apology and does business the right way.
I never like to work with agents in wrestling for this reason. They do not understand the wrestling business and usually end up costing their clients money, in this case ALOT of money.
I was not going to pay her full price because we had a deal set because of all the dates but now that is all off the table. So if you book her beware of what your getting yourself into.
Again this does not reflect on Barbie just the person taking her bookings.
