The 5 News Week: Bret Hart. The Next Guest On Stone Cold's Broken Skull Sessions?, WWE Made How Much From YouTube!?
Now, there were a lot of news that I've missed in 3 weeks including a story of a WWE shareholder suing WWE and Vince McMahon (how the hell didn't I report about this?).
I'm rambling on so without further useless explanations, here are the 5 News Week.
Bret Hart. The Next Guest On Stone Cold's Broken Skull Sessions?
Steve Austin has interviewed some of the wrestlers he has faced over the years on his Broken Skull Sessions show with the exception of Goldberg other than a few stare downs in a feud that everyone wishes to forget.Another person that is no stranger to the rattlesnake is the hitman himself Bret Hart and he's reportedly the next guest. From PWInsider and Mike Johnson, Bret was in the City Of Angels aka Los Angeles for you slow mofos over the weekend shooting an episode of Broken Skull Sessions.
Don't be surprised if that special airs immediately after the 2020 edition of the Royal Rumble is over. I would like for them to talk about their first encounter at the 1996 Survivor Series which is an underrated match so fingers crossed.
An Update On The Chris Benoit Biopic "Crossface".
While the name Chris Benoit will definitely have the fans divided on whether WWE should honour the man or not, it ain't stopping the filmmakers from going that movie in pre-production but we haven't heard any updates from the project until this past week.The always talented Chris Van Vliet interviewed Chris' older son David Benoit and David gave an update on the biopic "Crossface" that is not shocking given they didn't even cast the main actor to portray Benoit (from Movieweb):
"There was a director, everything bro. We had to step in because they wanted to do the tragedy about how it all went down. So we said no," David explains, adding that the Benoit family even hired a lawyer to assist in getting the project shut down. He added: "They needed our permission. She sent us the script and then the end was the whole murder/suicide was gonna be all in it. We said no."
The film was made official back in 2016 with Lexi Alexander, an academy award-nominated filmmaker known for directing "Punisher: Warzone" and episodes of CW's Arrow was set to direct the biopic with a screenplay written by Sarah Coulter and Jake Goldberger.
The movie will be based on the book called "Ring of Hell: The Story of Chris Benoit & the Fall of the Pro Wrestling Industry.” Here's what she said about her role behind the cameras from Variety:
“I was pretty certain I’d stay in TV rather than returning to the feature world, because the material just seems so much better in TV, especially in drama, but then ‘Crossface’ came my way,” Alexander said. “A heartbreaking, true story about the dark side of wrestling. … I couldn’t say no to that.”
I don't know how that tragedy will be executed to where the audience doesn't mind it but the family's lawyer shut that project down to where we're not seeing that movie ever again.
WWE Made How Much From YouTube!?
Let's talk about something less divisive. So, WWE's co-president George Barrios was at the 22nd Needham Growth Conference which is a conference described according to their site...
The 22nd Annual Needham Growth Conference (NGC) provides institutional, private equity and venture capital investors with access to approximately 340 growth companies from a broad range of industries including communications & enterprise infrastructure; healthcare; industrial technology; Internet, entertainment & consumer; semiconductors & semiconductor equipment; and software & services.
One of Needham's analyst Laura Martin mentioned that the firm estimates that World Wrestling Entertainment made $20 million last year from YouTube alone. That. Is. Mad. Ness.
Shout out to Wrestlenomics Radio for bringing this news to my attention. If you're interested in the business side of the pro wrestling industry especially WWE then I highly recommend to check out their podcast and follow their Twitter @wrestlenomics.
The Bella Twins To Star In A Nickelodeon Prank Show.
The Bella Twins are keeping themselves busy outside of the squared circle so seeing this news is not surprising. From an exclusive article by TheWrap, both Nikki and Brie Bella are guest starring on a prank show called "The Substitute" on Nickelodeon. Here's what they're role would be in case you're interested:
"Using costumes and prosthetics to hide her identity, Nikki Bella transforms into three unrecognizable characters to prank the children at Las Palmas Middle School in Covina, California. First up, she’s an eccentric gym teacher who brings her dog-training techniques to the field. Next, Nikki plays an awkward speech teacher preoccupied by her upcoming maid of honor duties. Finally, the woman who used to put away her opponents with the Rack Attack embodies a career counselor obsessed with clowns.
And for the first time in the prank show’s history, the Substitute brings a tag-team partner: Brie Bella will help her twin sister navigate the nonsense from the control room."
To all the members of The Bella Army, that should keep you excited.
WWE Files The Trademark For “Harlem Heat”.
WWE filed a trademark "Harlem Heat" on January 13th according to the US Patents and Trademark Office. This came out after both The Revival and WCW's most decorated tag team teased a possible match against each other which I'll believe it when I see it (this article was surprisingly short probably because I'm not a fan of the idea of that tag match but my mind could change once it happens).
Not a bad way to kick-off this week's edition of The 5 News Week. I appreciate everybody checking it out. What do you think about the news I just reported and follow me on the tweets @omartheplayaguy. Anyways, stay safe smarks.
Additional sources: https://www.sescoops.com/wwe-files-to-trademark-harlem-heat/