Latest in WWE

A year after Fox set a deal to take over broadcasts of its longtime pro wrestling staple, SmackDown, USA Network has gotten back in the ring with the WWE and will air its NXT show on Wednesday nights. On its new network, starting September 18, NXT will air opposite TNT’s All Elite Wrestling showcase, setting up an…

Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman’s shortform video platform Quibi is entering the world of women’s wrestling with Fight Like a Girl, an unscripted series toplined by WWE Superstars, from WWE Studios and Critical Content. In each episode, WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon pairs a WWE star with a young woman…

WWE star Ashley Massaro, who won the league’s “Raw Diva Search” TV show in 2005 and later appeared on “Survivor: China,” died Thursday in Suffolk County, New York. She was 39 and the cause of death has not been determined, although police have said it appears not to be criminally related. Responders were called to her…

WarnerMedia, which already airs a healthy amount of sports, with rights to the NBA, NCAA basketball and golf, is adding wrestling to the mix through a new partnership with All Elite Wrestling. The two companies said they are forming the first new wrestling circuit to launch in the past 20 years, with primetime…

During Fox’s upfronts press call, Fox Sports chief Eric Shanks affirmed that the forthcoming gambling service Fox Bet will not put an immediate, casino-style slant on the network’s sports programming. “We’re taking baby steps,” he said. Canada’s The Stars Group and Fox Sports announced a partnership last week, with…

The WWE Network’s live feed went dark after Bret “The Hitman” Hart was attacked by a member of the crowd during his WWE Hall of Fame acceptance speech Saturday night, but footage is emerging showing the aftermath of the wild incident at the Barclays Center in New York. The event was part of the weekend surrounding…

Wrestling legends “Macho Man” Randy Savage, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Booker T, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels will be profiled in five two-hour documentaries under A&E Network’s Biography banner as part of a deal with WWE Studios. The iconic WWE superstars will be profiled with new and archival interviews and…

On Sunday night, John Oliver did not hold back with his takedown of WWE boss Vince McMahon and the working conditions and treatment of the wrestlers in the organization on HBO’s Last Week Tonight. True to professional wrestling form, the WWE wasn’t about to take the hits without retaliating. Deadline received a…

King Kong Bundy, who joined the original World Wrestling Federation in the early 1980s and participated in the first two WrestleMania events that helped launch the sport of pro wrestling into the pop culture mainstream, died Monday at age 61. The WWE confirmed the news Tuesday; the cause of death was not…

Gene Okerlund, the WWE interviewer dubbed “Mean Gene” by wrestler Jesse “The Body” Ventura, has died, according to the WWE. He was 76. A cause of death was not immediately available. “Mean Gene I love you my brother,” tweeted Hulk Hogan today. (See that tweet, and others, below). A WWE Hall of Famer, Okerlund began…

John Cena, one of the WWE’s household names and a crossover star in Hollywood films like Trainwreck, will not take part in Friday’s Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia. The company last week confirmed that it will move ahead with the event despite other media and entertainment companies and individuals pulling back or…

In a statement released along with its quarterly earnings, the WWE said its “Crown Jewel” event on November 2 will go on as scheduled in Saudi Arabia. The wrestling circuit had been under pressure to either move, postpone or cancel the event given the broader pullback of financial and media interests in Saudi Arabia…