WWE: Booker T on ROW’s Partnership Status with WWE, Another Potential Lawsuit, More News

WWE

Feb 8, 2023

Booker T Comments on NXT’s Ivy Nile Appearance for ROW & ROW’s Partnership with WWE

As noted before, NXT talent Ivy Nile is currently scheduled to make an appearance for Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling promotion this Saturday in Texas City, Texas. While ROW announced that Nile’s appearance is part of a new partnership with WWE, Shawn Michaels stated during this past Saturday’s NXT Vengeance Day 2023 post-show media scrum that Nile’s appearance is only a one-off type deal for NXT and not the start of an actual partnership.

A recent episode of the Hall of Fame with Booker T and Brad Gilmore podcast featured co-host Booker T giving his thoughts on Nile’s upcoming appearance for his ROW promotion.

“This is gonna be like a double main event show (for Reality of Wrestling) because everybody know, it’s all over the internet, Ivy Nile will be making her way inside the Reality of Wrestling World Gym Arena and she’ll be taking on truly, truly the next — and I’m talking about the next Roxanne Perez and we talking about Promise Braxton. Stone cold killer, you know what I mean? That’s gonna put that scope on you, right on your chest and ba, ba, ba, ba-bing! Like Patterson used to say. That match is gonna be something special and for me to be able to give this opportunity to a young Promise Braxton who has worked so hard at Reality of Wrestling over these last what? Two or three years?… Three years and know she’s gonna be on her A-game. I know she’s gonna go out there and she’s gonna bring the noise but for me to work with the next generation, the future talent at WWE as well, you know what I mean? In an Ivy Nile. That’s my passion. That’s where I do my best work I think, working with young people and trying to guide them along this journey that I love so much and I’m still living my best life right now. I’m totally content where I am right now and so for me to see something like this come together is so awesome and I appreciate Shawn Michaels and the WWE for giving me this opportunity to let one of my young talent in Reality of Wrestling shine because I hope to see her in the WWE one day.”

Booker T also clarified the current status of ROW’s partnership with WWE.

“The thing is, there again, like I said, you try to do something good and immediately, we posted that Ivy Nile was gonna be coming to Reality of Wrestling and we were gonna be giving the wrestling world, the independent wrestling world a match that they can’t see anywhere else between Ivy and Promise Braxton, that’s what we’re talking about, and then immediately after we post that, stories start just popping up on the internet pretty much saying that Reality of Wrestling, in quotations, ‘Reality of Wrestling is partnering with the WWE’ and that right there, for me, if you get that as a journalist from someone in the WWE, okay, fine. But if you see a print, an advertisement of someone being at a show and then you formulate your own thought and create your own story, that’s when the embellishment becomes something totally different. That’s when the embellishment becomes blatant, outright lying, okay? And I’m just being frank here.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com

Another Potential Lawsuit Against WWE

As noted before, WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon is currently facing four lawsuits regarding issues from WWE shareholders over McMahon’s return to WWE’s Board of Directors this past January. Besides McMahon, WWE is also currently facing a potential lawsuit over their involvement with McMahon’s return.

Law firm Pomerantz LLP recently announced that they have launched an investigation and are currently seeking WWE shareholders to join a potential new class action against WWE. It was stated that this investigation “concerns whether WWE and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.”

Official press release:

Pomerantz Law Firm Investigates Claims On Behalf of Investors of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. – WWE
NEW YORK, Feb. 6, 2023 — Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (“WWE” or the “Company”) (NYSE: WWE). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980.
The investigation concerns whether WWE and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.
[Click here for information about joining the class action]
On June 15, 2022, The Wall Street Journal published an article entitled “WWE Board Probes Secret $3 Million Hush Pact by CEO Vince McMahon, Sources Say” which revealed that “[t]he board of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. [] is investigating a secret $3 million settlement that longtime chief executive Vince McMahon agreed to pay to a departing employee with whom he allegedly had an affair, according to documents and people familiar with the board inquiry.” The article further revealed, among other things, that “[t]he board’s investigation, which began in April, has unearthed other, older nondisclosure agreements involving claims by former female WWE employees of misconduct by Mr. McMahon and one of his top executives, John Laurinaitis, the head of talent relations at WWE, the people said.”
On this news, WWE’s stock price fell $2.31 per share, or 3.4%, to close at $64.87 per share on June 16, 2022.
On July 22, 2022, Vince McMahon announced his retirement from WWE. Then, on July 25, 2022, WWE filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission a current report on Form 8-K which announced, among other things, that “[t]he Company has made a preliminary determination that certain payments that Vince McMahon agreed to make during the period from 2006 through 2022 (including amounts paid and payable in the future), and that were not recorded in the WWE consolidated financial statements, should have been recorded as expenses in the quarters in which those agreements were made (the ‘Unrecorded Expenses’)[,]” which “[a]s of the date hereof, the Company has identified Unrecorded Expenses totaling approximately $14.6 million.” The report further announced that “the Company currently anticipates that it will revise its previously issued financial statements to record the Unrecorded Expenses in the applicable periods for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2020 and 2021, as well as the first quarter of 2022[.]” Finally the report also announced that “[t]he Company has also received, and may receive in the future, regulatory, investigative and enforcement inquiries, subpoenas or demands arising from, related to, or in connection with these matters.”
The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com.

WWE News & Notes

Tuesday’s NXT show featured the main event of the Bayley’s Ding Dong Hello talk show segment with Toxic Attraction. This segment ended with Jayce Jayne pretending to remain friends with Gigi Dolin and ambush attacking her, sending Dolin crashing into a door. Jayne then followed with a kick to Dolin’s head that failed to send her through the door. Dolin posted a photo on Twitter earlier today showing off the bruise on her head caused by Jayne’s stiff kick.

NXT talents Indi Hartwell and The Creed Brothers (Julius & Brutus Creed) reportedly were invited by WWE for main roster tryout matches prior to the start of this past Monday’s RAW show in Orlando, Florida, according to the Wrestling Observer. Dave Meltzer reported that these matches were taped for this Thursday’s episode of Main Event.

As noted before, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s mother was involved in a serious car accident this past Wednesday in Los Angeles, California. In a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, Johnson stated that his mother has been doing “pretty good” since her accident.

2K Games recently announced that The Bella Twins, Kurt Angle, Queen Zelina, Cody Rhodes, and Molly Holly will be among the playable characters for the roster of this year’s WWE 2K23 video game.