WWE: TKO President Mark Shapiro on Expansion of WWE & Saudi Deal, Cody Rhodes on Interest in Having “Classic Wrestling Manager” in WWE, More News

TKO President Mark Shapiro on Expansion of WWE’s Deal with Saudi Arabia

As noted before, Saudi Arabia has been in talks with WWE to potentially host a Royal Rumble or WrestleMania event in the future as part of the terms for a new “enhancement” of their current deal with the company.

TKO Group President Mark Shapiro was among the guest speakers at Monday’s 52nd Annual J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media, & Communications Conference. One of the topics discussed included Shapiro’s thoughts about WWE’s expansion of their current deal with the Saudi Arabian government.

“You’ve seen us monetize site fees with the likes of Saudi Arabia for WWE. You can look for us to expand our current deal in the next 6-12 months. Very happy with M.B.S. (Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud) and the partnership we have there. We have two events a year but we’re already in discussions — Nick Khan is leading that for us in expanding that to more events. We also have a phenomenal deal in Abu Dhabi with the UFC where we’re getting significant site fees and incentive packages there… On top of that, we’re getting site fees for our pay-per-views in the UFC. Significant by the way and here in the U.S. and internationally but, specifically here in the U.S. and we’re going to start asking for those same incentive packages to bring Raw to town, to bring SmackDown to town, to bring our Fight Nights to town.”

Shapiro also gave his thoughts about WWE holding a test run involving airing this past April’s WrestleMania 40 event unannounced on Netflix in New Zealand.

“I’ll tell ya, we did a test in April in New Zealand for WrestleMania where we aired WrestleMania on Netflix in New Zealand but no promotion, no marketing whatsoever. No press release, nobody knew it was happening because we were all nervous it wouldn’t necessarily work so well. Kind of the guinea pig trial. Well, it went off without a hitch. That’s the good news. But secondly, the gravy on top of that is we were the highest-rated program that night on all of streaming and linear so a great story for us.

Sponsors are excited about it. I don’t think anybody saw it coming, and granted, this doesn’t mean they’re into sports yet, as you know. WWE is sports entertainment, it is scripted. Newsflash at 11 for you, it is scripted, and Netflix does a lot of scripted programming so they saw it as that, they’re fans of storytelling clearly and all its shapes and sizes so it was a way for them to dip their toe in into sports live events but, you know, not get all the way pregnant.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com

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Cody Rhodes Comments on Being Interested in Having a “Classic Wrestling Manager” in WWE

A recent episode of the Busted Open Radio podcast featured Cody Rhodes as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Rhodes thoughts about his past pairing with Arn Anderson in AEW and being interested in potentially having a “classic wrestling manager” in WWE.

“One of the reasons I liked having Arn Anderson around me was the same reason I would have loved to have my dad around me. Because I’ll tell you I’m lucky, and I’ll tell you how hard I work, and I’ll tell you how grateful I am. And that is true. But it was nice to have a guy over my shoulder say what you just said. Say, ‘We’re not apologizing for greatness. Mediocrity loves company and we’re not joining that company.’ Like — it was nice to have that voice in your ear.

It was something I actually missed when Logan and I were doing this contract signing, to see him flanked by so many people. I don’t know, maybe I’m looking for the classic wrestling manager to join me on this title reign. And I don’t know who that is or what that is, but it just felt like I wouldn’t mind someone to holler the stuff that you just did.”

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com

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WWE News & Notes

As noted before, WWE currently has plans for Bo Dallas and the Uncle Howdy character’s return to the company. Monday’s WWE RAW show in Greensboro, North Carolina featured a new video teaser for Dallas and Uncle Howdy’s upcoming return. During the match between Sami Zayn and Chad Gable, the screen briefly glitched again and a flashed a new QR code. When scanned, this leads to a quiz featuring several questions that featuring different clues and answers. The sixth question box when clicked results in a drawing featuring the coordinates of ‘39.7100 N’ and ‘75.1192 W’. These coordinates lead to Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey. The ninth question box when clicked results in an image featuring a piece of paper with the word “Whatsapp” and a date of May 22nd displayed.

As noted before, WWE is currently working on plans for a potential new heel faction consisting of Chad Gable and The Creed Brothers. Monday’s WWE RAW show in Greensboro also featured Gable being seen with the Creed Bros in a brief backstage segment involving Gable talking about a fight he had with someone and the Creeds looking on in awe over his story before being interrupted by Otis. This was the first time that Gable and the Creed Bros were seen together backstage without other members of Alpha Academy nor Ivy Niles around.

Xavier Woods has been out of action for WWE since this late April due to an injury. Monday’s WWE RAW show in Greensboro also featured Woods being officially medically cleared for an in-ring return in the near future.

Sports nutrition company Met-RX announced that they have recently signed a multi-year partnership deal with John Cena to be the star of their new high-energy MET-Rx digital marketing campaign.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that A&E’s upcoming WWE Legends Biography episode based on Extreme Championship Wrestling will premiere on the network on June 23rd. Johnson reported that the title of this upcoming episode is “Birth of Hardcore.”

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Erik Rowan was seen in attendance at WWE’s Performance Center in Orlando, Florida on Monday. Johnson reported that the reason for Rowan’s visit is due to him preparing for his upcoming official return to the company.

NXT General Manager Ava recently announced one change to the card of Tuesday’s NXT show, which was taped last Tuesday at the WWE Performance Center. This new change was announced to be Joe Coffey replacing Ivar for the #1 Contender Triple Threat match for the NXT North American Championship at the show.

Rapper Sexy Red recently announced on Twitter that she will be making an appearance for WWE at next week’s NXT show on May 28th. Sexy Red stated “I can’t wait to go to NXT next week yall I might RKO somebody 😭😭 @WWE #nxt“

In a recent episode of the RIKISHI FATU OFF THE TOP ROPE podcast, WWE Hall of Famer and co-host Rikishi gave his thoughts about his son Jey Uso’s current singles career in WWE. Rikishi stated “Jey Uso, man, what a hell of a run. Just caught a few of the King of the Ring and so forth. Man, just to see…when I watch my son out there performing or any of my boys, I’m always watching the reaction of the crowd. To see him out there just pretty much have the crowd in the palm of his hands, you got the [fireflies] coming back. Ain’t that a trip? Bray Wyatt’s one of my favorite wrestlers, and to see his spirit in there…. You know the friendship between the two. That has to feel so amazing, to know that my friend’s spirit is around, and here I am to carry it on. You’re not taking his place, but what he was remembered for, as far as, in the crowd, they would turn on their phones and lights, and now, you have a friend that was dear to you that’s able to continue that on and make it the way that the fans receive it. It’s a beautiful thing. I’m so, so proud of Jey.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)