– As noted, this week’s “Something Else to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard” podcast on the WWE Network will feature a discussion on John Cena. Below is video of Prichard and Conrad Thompson talking about the early days of Cena’s push and the backstage reaction.
“Initially I think it was met by some people with jealousy, some people looking at it like, ‘What the hell, the guy just got here.’ He’s immediately put into a program and he’s immediately being used on television,” Prichard, a former WWE writer & producer, said. “From our vantage point, it was, ‘Yep, he sure is.’ Here this guy just came in here, busted his ass, is given an opportunity and made the best out of it. He busted his ass, he was out there, the audience was getting behind him. Whether they were getting behind him because he was new, he was a fresh face or they were getting behind him because of his work, whatever, it didn’t matter. The audience was vested and they were interested in John Cena. So it made a difference and there were a lot of rumblings of people going, ‘Why the hell is he getting this and we’re not? We’ve been here forever.’ You had the same opportunities and it hasn’t worked so we’re trying something new.”
– WWE stock was down 0.39% today, closing at $58.96 per share. Today’s high was $60.51 and the low was $58.94. The stock spiked earlier today after The Hollywood Reporter released their report on the recent WWE TV negotiations with Fox. As noted, Fox’s new five-year deal for SmackDown is worth $1.025 billion while NBCUniversal’s deal for RAW to air on the USA Network is said to be worth $265 million per year.
– EC3 tweeted the following promo as he prepares to return to the “NX3” ring for a match against Fabian Aichner on tonight’s WWE NXT episode on the WWE Network:
Tonight (tonight) @wwenxt is #NX3 pic.twitter.com/yNHys4tSVA
— ecIII (@therealec3) May 30, 2018
