WWE: Bad Bunny Update, New High-Level Creative Hiring, ThunderDome Status Update

Bad Bunny WWE Status Update

As noted before, musician Bad Bunny made an appearance during this past Sunday’s WWE Royal Rumble 2021 event performing his hit song “Booker T.” Bad Bunny is currently planned to make more appearances for WWE and possibly even wrestle at this year’s WrestleMania 37 event.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that Bad Bunny was seen training at WWE’s Performance Center this past Tuesday. Johnson also reported that WWE officials still have the expectation that he will wrestle for the company at some point.

Johnson reported that Bad Bunny was recently proposed a match against the Miz and/or John Morrison that would take place at a future event, which might be at WrestleMania 37.

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WWE Hires New High-Level Writer for Their Creative Team

WWE recently announced that they have hired Christine Lubrano as their new Senior Vice President of Creative Writing Operations. The company stated that Lubrano “will be responsible for overseeing all strategic operations for the company’s Creative Writing division and report to Brad Blum, WWE Executive Vice President, Operations.”

The company also announced that Lubrano will be working in collaboration with WWE Executive Director Bruce Prichard as the primary people in charge with developing and leading the company’s writing team for their weekly RAW and SmackDown television series.

Prior to her signing, Lubrano had formed her own company called Lubrano Media in 2019 and had spent an 18-year career at IFC primarily in a high-level executive creative role.

Official press release:

WWE (NYSE: WWE) today announced the appointment of Christine Lubrano as Senior Vice President, Creative Writing Operations. Lubrano will be responsible for overseeing all strategic operations for the company’s Creative Writing division and report to Brad Blum, WWE Executive Vice President, Operations.

In her new role, Lubrano will be charged with developing and leading a team of writers for WWE’s weekly flagship programs, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown. She will oversee long-term planning for the Creative Writing team and manage its operations in collaboration with Executive Director, Bruce Prichard.

Lubrano is an Emmy-nominated and accomplished programming executive with deep knowledge of the media landscape. In 2019, she launched Lubrano Media, where she developed scripted and unscripted shows while also providing executive producing and consulting services. Previously, she served as Senior Vice President, Original Programming at IFC overseeing the development and execution of all original series and co-productions. Prior to that, Lubrano served in various leadership roles at IFC including VP of Current Programming and VP of Unscripted Series, Documentaries & Live Events.

She has been integral to the success of the Emmy Award-winning Portlandia, and a lead creative force behind the acclaimed, Emmy nominated Documentary Now, created by Bill Hader, Seth Meyers and Fred Armisen. While at IFC, Lubrano also spearheaded a slate of international co-productions, including three seasons of The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margret (Merman), Year of the Rabbit (Objective Content), and four seasons of the all-female Canadian sketch comedy show, The Baroness Von Sketch Show (Frantic Films). 

Lubrano oversaw the development and production of the Emmy nominated documentary Monty Python: Almost the Truth (the Lawyer’s Cut) for which she earned an Emmy nomination in the non-fiction category.

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WWE ThunderDome at Tropicana Field Status Update

WWE has been holding their weekly television shows and events at their new ThunderDome venue in Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida since this past December. Prior to the move, WWE had held their ThunderDome shows at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that WWE’s current stay in Tropicana Field might extend beyond their original plans of late March due to recent talks within Major League Baseball of delaying the start of their upcoming new season.

ESPN reported that MLB is currently considering the idea of delaying the start of their season from the first week of April to the end of the month instead.