Gronk back in NFL but still WWE champ
When it was announced Tuesday that Rob Gronkowski was returning to the NFL, several wrestling fans reached out asking if he has to forfeit the 24/7 title that he won at WrestleMania.
WWE quickly announced that 鈥淕ronk鈥� is still the reigning champion and that he will have to continue defend the title.
If he holds onto the title long enough for the NFL season to start, if it starts, tell me how funny it would be if he was to be tackled and a player lays on him for three seconds and pins Gronk!
WWE could counter by saying a WWE referee did not make the count, but it would be funny none the less as another player would get publicity out of it.
Updated WWE tapings
Recently we looked at how WWE was deemed 鈥渆ssential鈥� in Florida and would continue to record live episodes of Raw, Smackdown and NXT each week.
Well, as of yesterday, WWE will not be doing live shows after all.
On Saturday, WWE taped Smackdown for May 1 and 8.
Raw will be taped early this coming Monday and the May 4 edition will be taped as well while NXT will tape on Tuesday for April 29 and May 6.
WWE will also do tapings moving forward following the same Monday through Wednesday format so that all shows through the July 10 episode of NXT are recorded.
WWE reports strong first quarter
Thursday, WWE released its 2020 first quarter numbers and they were up across the board compared to 2019.
Granted, this is because of the new TV deals that WWE signed, but numbers are way up.
Revenues increased 60% to $291 million, operating income was $53.3 million compared to a loss of $6.8 million a year ago and digital views increased 25% to 9.6 billion while hours consumed increased 15% to 344 million across digital and social platforms.
WWE Network up, down
WWE also announced that it had 2.1 million subscribers for the WWE Network on Sunday, April 6 for the second day of WrestleMania, which is up from last year.
However, not all of those are paid as paid subscribers decreased 8% to 1.46 million.
This translates to roughly 640,000 free subscribers that are, or were, using a free month trial.
No WWE 2K21
It was announced that 2K will not release the WWE 2K21 video game this year, but it also shared that it will be making an announcement in the coming weeks about its partnership with WWE.
Legendary movie debuting Friday on Disney+
The Princess Bride, a 1987 movie featuring Andre the Giant, debuts Friday on Disney+.
After debuting in theaters, the movie became a cult-like phenomenon and is still popular today.
A movie that can be described with a theme as part-comedy and part-heroic, it showed Andre away from the ring in a role that was literally suited for him.
Best of WrestleMania this week
FS1 is continuing its WWE focus on Tuesday nights this Tuesday with a look at several stars and their respective WrestleMania careers.
The quartet of hour-long shows begins at 7 p.m. and features John Cena with Triple H airing at 8, The Undertaker follows at 9 and Shawn Michaels closes things out at 10.
On This Day鈥�
In 1995, Triple H made his WWE debut under the name Hunter Hearst Helmsley.
More on Triple H鈥檚 run next week.
This week鈥檚 question: There has been recent talk that Vince McMahon has told people to not mention Roman Reigns on TV. Is there a reason why? Mark, online reader from Mascotte, Fla.
I think this can be looked at from a few different angles.
First, I am guessing that while McMahon understands that Reigns pulled out of WrestleMania due to his past health issues, he still isn鈥檛 happy about it. Just a hunch.
Secondly, if Reigns is off of TV moving forward until the social distancing rules are removed, when he shows back up, it could be a huge surprise for fans.
Lastly, my guess is that Vince only wants talent who are appearing on Raw, Smackdown or NXT to be mentioned so that fans think about the wrestlers they see and not the ones who are not around right now.
Email questions/comments to powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to @BillHughes_III.