WWE News (Page 12)

As if The Undertaker injury were not enough.

Mr. Kennedy suffered a serious tricep tear over the weekend during a WWE House Show event in Poughkeepsie, New York, reportedly tearing it right off the bone. This is why WWE shot the angle on Monday Night Raw with Kennedy putting up his "Money in the Bank" briefcase and losing it against Edge.

According to PWInsider, Kennedy is expected to undergo surgery shortly and is expected to be out of the ring around five to seven months. We will continue to follow this story as it develops.

• Due to all of the mainstream attention they have been gettin, there is a lot more of a conservative mindset within WWE when it comes to their product right now. Their goal is make the needed changes to upgrade their image in hopes to attract more upscale advertising.

They are also planning to do more of a basic wrestling product, which came into effect with the full hour John Cena/Shawn Michaels match on Raw.

• Vince McMahon has recently been very vocal about his opinion that his TV shows should be 90 minutes long. He feels that two hours is too long, but one hour is too short. USA and CW Network have no intentions on changing WWE’s timeslots.

• Speaking of Vince, he is also planning to keep The Undertaker’s future promos short in order to make him seem more mysterious. Don’t expect him to be doing more than one or two lines in the future when on WWE TV.

Shawn Michaels began coming out to his old music because they were planning to move him away from the straight babyface DX character and more toward an edgier tweener. They also didn't want fans anticipating Triple H every week coming to help Michaels, especially because they're not sure at this point what Hunter will be programmed to do when he returns.

Being linked to Michaels is far from a lock.

Stephanie McMahon's job title was upgraded to Executive Vice President of Creative, and now John Laurenaitis reports directly to her rather than Vince McMahon. He always worked under Steph, but now she's officially his boss. Michael Hayes and Brian Gewirtz have been given V.P. titles as head writers of Smackdown and Raw, respectively.

Below are highlights from the WWE investor conference call to discuss the First Quarter 2007.

- Linda McMahon confirmed in a prepared statement at the beginning of the call that WreslteMania 23 did an impressive 1.2 million buys, according to preliminary reports. If that is indeed true, it will make it the most purchased WWE PPV event ever, surpassing WrestleMania 21, which did 1.1 million buys.

- Linda announced that The Condemned starring Stone Cold Steve Austin has grossed only $4.4 million to date and that it was performing “below expectations.” She went as far as saying that the returns were “disappointing.”

- Also, Linda confirmed that WWE will continue to look for more High Definition television development in early 2008.

- In case you're wondering: there was no mention of the Randy Orton incident in Europe, Undertaker’s injury, or the WWE Wellness Policy.

• WWE was once again the most searched term on Yahoo.com for the period ending today. WWE usually always stays within the top ten most searched items.

• Former WWE Champion Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson celebrates his 35th birthday today.

• Simon & Shuster is scheduled to be releasing a Batista autobiography titled "Batista Unleashed." The book will be released this October, with Jeremy Roberts being billed as co-author (who also worked on Eric Bischoff's recent book).

• There were people spotted on behalf of TNA Wrestling handing out flyers promoting the company's Slammiversary PPV this June in Nashville at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium.

• The poster for WWE's Vengeance PPV on June 24 in Huston features The Undertaker with the World Title, John Cena with the WWE Title and Bobby Lashley with the ECW Title. It is interesting to see if this poster will be changed due to Lashley recently losing the title to Vince McMahon, although it could be in the plans to put the belt back on him before the PPV next month.

The following statement was issued on WWE.com:

"Matt Cappotelli, former Tough Enough winner and Ohio Valley Wrestling Champion, underwent brain surgery today to remove a growing brain tumor. Doctors called the surgery a success."

We wish him continued good health throughout his recovery.

Vince McMahon made the decision last week to give WWE RAW Superstar Chris Masters a renewed push. Masters was in the midst of a push last summer, before being suspended for violating the WWE Wellness Policy.

Speaking of Vince, he is now taking more interest in SmackDown than ever before. Even with most viewership going to RAW, Vince is said to now give SmackDown equal attention.

Michael Hayes is credited for Vince’s interest, as many backstage say their relationship is a lot like McMahon’s and Pat Patterson’s. Hayes is said to be very influential and is credited for building a power base.

Boxofficemojo.com is reporting that the weekend estimates for WWE Films' The Condemned is that it will end its first weekend at an estimated $4,000,000. This will end up being the worst opening for any of the three WWE Films productions to date.

Here are the figures comparing all three WWE Films releases in regards to opening week box office numbers:

See No Evil (with Kane)
Theatre Count for Opening Weekend: 1,257
Opening Weekend Box Office: $4,581,233

The Marine (with John Cena)
Theatre Count for Opening Weekend: 2,545
Opening Weekend Box Office: $7,138,744

The Condemned
Theatre Count for Opening Weekend: 2,310
Opening Weekend Box Office: $4,000,000 (estimated)

• Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s next film, The Gameplan, is currently scheduled for a release this coming October. The film is being presented by Disney. Johnson will also be hosting the Taurus World Stunt Awards on May 20th, which will air on The A&E Network on May 25th.

• Hulk Hogan will be using his voice for a special episode of “Robot Chicken” this June. The special is a Star Wars parody for The Cartoon network. The show has received a lot of media attention lately since it was announced that Star Wars creator George Lucas and Mark "Luke Skywalker" Hamill will be involved in the project.

• The Condemned, starred Stone Cold Steve Austin, comes out tomorrow.