WWE: Randy Orton on Crowd Signing His Entrance Theme at Backlash 2024 in France, WWE’s Original Host Location Plans for Future WrestleMania Events, More News

May 10, 2024

Randy Orton Comments on Crowd Signing His Entrance Theme at WWE Backlash 2024 Event In France

A recent episode of the Adam’s Apple podcast featured Randy Orton as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Orton’s thoughts about the live crowd signing his entrance theme at this past Saturday’s Backlash 2024 event in Lyon, France.

“Do you want me to be honest (about the differences between international & American crowds)? Night and day… Well let’s just put it this way: Since 2009, I’ve had the same entrance song. No American crowd has ever sang along to my song and they did it in France, three nights in a row. Sh*t, we were in Bologna, Italy and Vienna, Austria the first two shows of the tour and I could hear them singing there too. France, it was mind-blowing. But just as an example. But yeah, they were very happy to be there, they were on their feet the whole time. They knew all of us, all of our characters well enough to — they knew what they wanted to expect. We gave it to ‘em. It just made it for an amazing environment. I hope we do more PLE’s over there.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com

Update on WWE’s Host City Plans for WrestleMania Events Prior to Endeavor Purchase & Current Plans for Future WrestleMania Host Locations

As noted before, WWE recently announced that next year’s WrestleMania 41 event will be taking place on April 19-20, 2025 at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that prior to WWE’s purchase to Endeavor, WWE officials had been considering New Orleans, Las Vegas and Orlando, Florida as the front-runners for future WrestleMania events over the next several years.

Johnson reported that while Minnesota had stepped in and made a major bid for WrestleMania 41, WWE’s new owner Endeavor wanted Las Vegas to be the host city instead due to them feeling it was a more prestigious market and their very strong relationship to the city with UFC over the years.

Johnson reported that those spoken to stated that New Orleans and Orlando are no longer guaranteed locks for future WrestleMania events going forward.

WWE officials current plans reportedly are for future consideration for WrestleMania sites to now be primary based on how much money the company can get from rights fees from the markets and governments bidding on the event.

WWE News & Notes

As noted before, WWE recently announced that they will be holding a King of the Ring 2024 Tournament First Round match of Kofi Kingston vs. Rey Mysterio and a Queen of the Ring 2024 Tournament First Round match of Shayna Baszler vs. Zelina Vega at a house show event this weekend. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that WWE officials current plans are for highlights of these two upcoming tournaments matches to air on the May 13th WWE RAW show and across social media. It was reported that those spoken to stated that WWE’s current plans for these matches are subject to change depending on circumstances.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that WWE recently filed a motion to have a civil lawsuit against the company be moved from the Superior Court of Connecticut, Judicial District of Stamford, to the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut based on recent court records. Johnson reported that this lawsuit was filed by a person named Richard Bryant this past March who claimed that he suffered hearing injuries over “negligence and carelessness” caused by WWE’s handling of pyrotechnics following him attending a SmackDown show in Orlando, Florida in July of 2022. Johnson reported that the reason for WWE’s motion for the case to he held before a federal court jurisdiction was due to them and Bryant are currently located in different states.

As noted before, WWE Chief Operating Office Brad Blum tendered his resignation from the company earlier this month. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that May 3rd was Blum’s official final date with the company.

Fightful Select’s Corey Brennan reported that his sources stated that the reason why Dijak and Kiana James were absent from this past Monday’s WWE RAW show was due to WWE officials currently not having any creative plans in place for them following their call-ups from NXT after this past April’s 2024 WWE Draft.

This past Wednesday’s WWE Speed show on Twitter featured Ivar defeating Apollo Crews to advance to the next round of the #1 Contender’s tournament for the WWE Speed Championship. Ivar will be facing off against the winner of Tyler Bate vs. Berto for the Semifinal Round.

As noted before, NXT ring announcer Alicia Taylor is currently expected to be moving to WWE’s SmackDown brand as part of a recent ring announcer shakeup that will involve SmackDown ring announcer Mike Rome moving to NXT. Following this past Tuesday’s NXT show, NXT head official and booker Shawn Michaels confirmed on Twitter that Taylor will be getting called up to WWE’s SmackDown brand and praised the work she did during her time in NXT. Michaels stated “An irreplaceable part of the soundtrack for countless unforgettable #WWENXT moments, and now she’s bringing her unending passion to #SmackDown. @AliciaTaylorNXT , thank you for everything you’ve brought to the #NXTUniverse… and congratulations on your next step! #WeAreNXT“

During a recent UFC press conference event, UFC fighter Derrick Lewis stated that he has been in talks with WWE for a potential future professional wrestling career with the company. Lewis stated “What’s the TKO? (Lewis responded when asked if there could be a crossover to WWE via TKO merger)… Oh, yeah, yeah. We’re actually in talks right now. We’ve been talking for a few months now. I was supposed to go down there in February to check everything out.” Lewis also stated that his potential finisher as a wrestler would be something similar to WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi’s Stinkface move. Lewis stated “Um, it’d (my finisher in wrestling) would have to be something like Rikishi, you know?… You might see it. Somehow, I like taking off my shorts. So, we might see something like that. Yeah.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)

A recent LiveSigning virtual fan signing event for TalkShopLive featured former WWE talent Ronda Rousey stating that one dream match she wanted to have during her time in WWE was a singles match against Becky Lynch. Rousey stated “Well, I really wanted to have that singles with Becky (Lynch) that constantly got dangled in front of me — I never got to have — which you can read about in our book at OurFightBook.com you can get it at and hear me b*tch about that for a couple hundred pages.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)

In a recent interview with the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, Adam Copeland stated that he had pushed for Gangrel to make an appearance for his Brood-like entrance for his Hell in a Cell match against Finn Balor at WrestleMania 39 only to be told by WWE officials that no one in the crowd would remeber who Gangrel was. Copeland stated “Yes (I knew everyone was expecting Gangrel when I did ‘Brood Edge’). Man, I tried, I tried and I just got shut down. Every person shut it down… So, and this isn’t a knock on WWE but, I’d always get the, ‘Well, nobody remembers.’ I’m like, ‘People remember, wrestling fans remember’ and I think wrestling fans want to be rewarded for remembering and that’s a way to reward them. That’s what I’ve always felt. You fast forward to me and Matt Cardona doing a Cope Open and his music hits and he comes out. I mean, they remembered, and so, I’ve always been a fan of pulling in things from the past and kind of integrating them into current things. But yeah, that was one, I kept getting shut down. I realized, okay, that’s not a hill to die on because it ain’t gonna happen… I agree, I agree (it would’ve been a cool moment). But again, it’s not my sandbox. So I just gotta do what I can with what I’m given.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)