Showing posts with label Sports Entertainment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sports Entertainment. Show all posts
BENOIT. Wrestling With The Horror That Destroyed A Family And Crippled A Sport (PDF)
The Death Of WCW Explained
And why wasn’t it making money? Well, because Vince Russo made lots and lots of bad decisions. He took a company that turned a profit of $30 million dollars, and made it one that lost over $60 million dollars.
But, Russo was only there to fix the mess that Bischoff had put the company in. Russo is an easy scapegoat, but Bischoff’s refusal to look past Hogan is a huge contributing factor to the death of WCW.
Hogan had a shelf life, and Bischoff – and Hogan – couldn’t see that. And giving Hogan creative control from the get go did lead to a lot of issues on what were supposed to be big shows.
He also spent big on contracts.
Contracts that were so big that when WWF bought WCW, they didn’t pick up a lot of the TimeWarner contracts for the likes of Hogan, Hall, Nash, Goldberg etc because it would have upset their own pay structure in the WWF.
But perhaps the person who killed WCW was the man who created it in the first place.
A lot of WCW’s problems can be traced back to Ted Turner’s decision to merge with Time Warner in 1995.
If Turner hadn’t made that merger, they wouldn’t have been involved in the AOL merger of 2000 which wouldn’t have brought in Jamie Kellner who pulled the trigger on the Death of WCW
Turner lost a lot of power after the TimeWarner merger, and even more from the AOL one.
Eric Bischoff even argues that once Turner lost his power after the TimeWarner merger, he no longer was able to have Eric’s back and sign off on his big money spending, and he had other people to answer to who didn’t like the way he spent money, like giving wrestlers big contracts.
You could make the argument for any one of these people being the ultimate reason for the downfall of WCW, but in actuality, it was all of them.
Behind The Scenes Look Into One Of WWE's Most Controversial Figures, Chris Benoit
Before those final three days, he was considered to be one of the best wrestlers who ever lived. He was a bona fide top star, a future Hall Of Famer, a well-respected veteran, and many of his peers considered him a friend. For many, the tragedy of Benoit's murder/suicide was a shocking event that came out of nowhere. However, with the benefit of hindsight, it seems like there were a lot of strange stories and bizarre occurrences which can now be looked at as warning signs for what was going to happen. Chris Benoit was leading a tragic life a long time before those final three days.
Chris Benoit would punish himself if he made a mistake in the ring
On his own podcast, "Talk Is Jericho," Chris Jericho told a bizarre story about working with Chris Benoit in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. During a tag match, Jericho slightly botched a spin kick, with Benoit selling a move that had barely touched him. The spot would have happened so fast that barely anybody would have noticed anyway, but the imperceptible mistake weighed heavily on Benoit.
Talking about finding Benoit backstage after the match, Jericho said on "Talk Is Jericho," "After the match was done I went looking for him. I couldn't find him anywhere. I found him in the boiler room doing squats. And I said, 'what are you doing?' And he said, 'you know I never should have bumped off that, that was so unprofessional of me and it was such a bad rookie mistake, I had to do squats.' He did 500 squats as like purging himself for making that mistake ... You know, when you hear things like that then you kinda equate it to the last few days. There was a lot of issues with him."
It goes without saying that this is very odd behavior, that Benoit thought he would have to put himself through physical pain because of a botched spot nobody even noticed. It shows Benoit's mindset even as a younger man.
Chris Benoit's infidelity
In 1997, Chris Benoit started dating Nancy Toffoloni, a fellow talent best known in WCW as Woman. How Chris and Nancy got together is perhaps a story that could only happen in the wrestling business. Toffoloni was married to Kevin Sullivan at the time, who was Benoit's boss as head of WCW Creative. Sullivan booked the storyline of his own wife starting an onscreen relationship with Benoit. Much to his surprise, this storyline became a reality and Toffoloni started dating Benoit in real life. It has become wrestling legend that Sullivan booked his own divorce.
That wasn't the only time infidelity would plague Benoit's life, however. In documents featured by the Fayetteville Daily News (via PWInsider), it was revealed that Nancy suspected Benoit of having a relationship with "one of the WWE Divas" months before the tragedy.
A popular fan theory at the time was that this WWE Diva was Victoria. However, Victoria categorically denied these rumors at the time on her MySpace page (via WrestleZone): "A MySpace friend emailed me yesterday to let me know that a wrestling gossip website is claiming that they have an anonymous source or sources that say I was Chris Benoit's secret mistress at the time of his murder-suicide. First let me say, this is absolutely false. I invite the 'reporter' from that website to come to my home city, and I will submit myself to a polygraph."
Benoit was in a terrible car accident with William Regal
William Regal spoke on his podcast "Gentleman Villain" of a terrible car accident he had with both Chris Benoit and Nancy Toffoloni. Regal referred to it as a near death experience for all three of them. It happened as Regal, Benoit and Toffoloni were returning to a hotel from the gym in preparation for the WCW pay per view, Spring Stampede 97.
Regal tells the story of stopping at a stop sign when he noticed a car coming towards them at speed in the rear view mirror. Unable to move, Regal could do nothing as the car slammed into them. Regal said on his podcast, "This car hit me, I have no idea what speed ... it must have hit us that hard ... it flipped onto the grass verge, it flipped my car three times." He considers himself lucky that he survived, and took note of his surroundings: "I was upside down with the roof crushed on my head ... I look across and Chris is hanging with his tongue out, and I look across at Nancy and her eyes are closed. I think they're both dead."
Regal somehow managed to kick his way out of the car and pulled both Chris and Nancy out through the window. Amazingly, both Benoit and Regal wrestled on the pay-per-view that night in spite of the near death experience.
Chris Benoit was a bully to younger WWE talent
Chris Benoit had a long career in wrestling, spanned 22 years. In that time, Benoit often exhibited toxic behavior and was accused of several counts of severe bullying. Current AEW ring announcer Justin Roberts went into detail of these in his autobiography "Best Seat In The House." According to Roberts, on one such occasion, Benoit tackled him to the ground in an airport along with Jaime Noble. Both men put him in a double crossface and refused to let go even after he tapped. The incident left Roberts unable to walk for days afterwards. Oddly, in spite of the bullying behavior to Roberts, Benoit would also treat him with kindness, and often called Roberts' father to check up on him as he was going through cancer treatment.
Another famous example of Benoit's bullying comes with The Miz. Miz said in his "WWE 24" documentary that in 2006 he was eating chicken in the locker room and accidentally got crumbs on a WWE veteran's bag. In turn, Benoit overreacted and confront him saying, "You are not allowed to dress in our locker room. I think you should just stay out of the locker room." Miz was then forced to change and shower elsewhere for seven months, all because Chris Benoit wouldn't let him back in the locker room.
Benoit was always paranoid people were following him
In the weeks and months leading up to Chris Benoit's death, many of his friends were saying that dealing with Benoit was like dealing with a completely different person. On the "Dark Side Of The Ring" episode focusing on Benoit, friends said Benoit was exhibiting extreme paranoia and was starting to obsess over child kidnappings and violent fans, which they say was very out of character for him.
According to "Dark Side Of The Ring," Benoit began to take different routes to the gym every day, as well as different routes home from the airport, fearing he was being followed. Benoit even took different cars with each journey to evade whoever he thought was following him. Speaking on "Talk Is Jericho," Nancy's sister Sandra Toffoloni would go into detail on Benoit's paranoia. "What really became noticeable was a little bit more of — like a sense of — un-safeness and paranoia for the family. He'd just would like, be constantly checking the alarm at night, constantly be checking things, and for himself. He used to be fairly laid back about stuff like that, there was never any issue like that, so when it did start happening I noticed immediately. I still kind of look back on it ... Was it a precursor to everything that happened? I don't know."
Benoit became known as The Crippler because he broke Sabu's neck
In 1994, Chris Benoit started wrestling in ECW, and it was here he would get his most famous moniker, The Crippler. This nickname was cemented when Benoit wrestled Sabu at November 2 Remember 1994. The match, the main event of the show, ended after just two minutes, when Benoit threw Sabu into a face first bump. Sabu miscalculated and tried to change direction mid-air, causing him to land directly on his neck. Sabu broke his neck, causing damage to his spinal cord and nervous system.
According to the book "Ring of Hell," Paul Heyman found Benoit hiding in a closet, rocking and weeping uncontrollably at what had happened. He was terrified that he had crippled Sabu in the ring. Paul Heyman had to physically pick Benoit up and send him to the hospital with Sabu.
The event was clearly traumatic for Benoit. However, Heyman took advantage of the accident and used the footage, which would become infamous and one of the most replayed spots in ECW history, to push Benoit even further, using it to emphasize The Crippler nickname.
Benoit suffered intense grief for Eddie Guerrero
Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero were long-time friends and considered each other to be brothers. Chris Jericho, a friend of both Benoit and Guerrero, said on "Talk Is Jericho" that Eddie's death broke Benoit. Jericho remembers comforting Benoit with a hug at Guerrero's funeral, saying it was "the most desperate, saddest 'I'm hanging on for dear life' hugs that you could ever get."
Benoit's grief for Guerrero was plain to see on the tribute show on "Monday Night Raw," Benoit was visibly crushed, openly weeping on camera. On "Dark Side Of The Ring," it was revealed that Benoit's wife Nancy had told Vickie Guerrero that Eddie's death was "really affecting him in so many ways." Benoit decided to stay out of the public eye after Eddie's death, and even started shutting himself off from his own friends and family. Sandra Toffoloni, Nancy Benoit's sister, revealed on "Dark Side Of The Ring" that Benoit would go months without talking to his own family and that he had started a journal to work through his depression at losing Eddie, but it was all too late.
Chris Benoit wanted to open a wrestling school after Eddie died
Upon the death of Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit was emotionally distraught and was even considering quitting WWE altogether. Sandra Toffoloni spoke on "Talk Is Jericho" that Chris Benoit was scared of moving on and leaving WWE, as wrestling was all he had ever known. Sandra said that Nancy was ready to move on but Chris Benoit was hesitant, "She was ready for the next move, and I don't think that he was, in his mind, physically or emotionally — he was just really scared, so a lot of that boiled over into their personal life."
Chris, led by Nancy, began to consider alternate career options outside of WWE and settled on the idea of starting a wrestling school in Atlanta. The school would have been called Benoit Academy and Chris and Nancy had begun developing business ideas for the school and even had merchandise made. After Eddie's death, Benoit was still heavily involved in WWE — he never took any time off, he was still booked in big storylines and angles, including being booked for an ECW World Championship match on the day he died. Any potential retirement seemed like a long way off.
Chris Benoit abused steroids
At the time of his death, it was revealed the Chris Benoit's body contained 10 times the normal levels of testosterone, which is incredibly high for any normal man, and it is a huge indication that Benoit was abusing steroids at the end of his life. Many wrestlers of Benoit's era have spoken about using steroids, it was just part of the game back then, and Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer (via LA Times) speculated Benoit had abused steroids for 20 years.
Nancy Benoit had a low opinion of the WWE wellness program In texts found of Benoit's phone, Nancy said, "I will not accept this steroid induced roller coaster ride of emotional abuse ... Ignoring the problem or running away isn't going to help you face it. You need professional (help) and only if you're fully honest about all of it ... Get off the stuff. I'm probably not the only one who can see and we both know the wellness program is a joke." In a criminal case against Dr. Phil Astin, Benoit's personal physician, it was revealed that Astin's prescription to Benoit far exceeded the normal amount for a testosterone disorder and was well above the normal dose. The discovery of Benoit's steroid abuse led many to believe, especially the mainstream media, that "roid rage" was the reason Benoit snapped and murdered his family. However, Benoit's father thinks it was another element of wrestling which was responsible for Benoit's downfall, namely head trauma.
Benoit suffered a lifetime of chronic concussions/CTE
Chris Benoit suffered a number of concussions during his long in-ring career. During his time in the ring, it was not uncommon for wrestlers to take unprotected chair shots to the head, concussion protocols were lax and it wasn't uncommon for wrestlers to take no time off from a concussion. ABC News reports that Benoit himself had told friends that he had suffered "more concussions than he could count." This sloppy protection from concussions is what Benoit's family believes to be the reason for him snapping.
Chris Benoit's father, Michael Benoit, turned over his son's brain to Julian Bailes of the Sports Legacy Institute. Bailes, the head of neurosurgery at West Virginia University, studied Chris Benoit's brain and found that at the time of his death, Benoit had the brain of an 80-year-old suffering from severe Alzheimer's disease. Damage was found in all four lobes of the brain and deep into the brain stem. Bailes told ABC News, "It was extensive throughout Chris' brain. This is something you should never see in a 40-year-old."
Bailes said that while he can't know for sure that this brain damage is the reason Benoit did what he did, he does believe it is the leading cause.
Benoit murdered his wife and child
Over the weekend of June 22nd 2007, Chris Benoit uncharacteristically missed a WWE event, though nobody could have ever imagined that a simple no show would become one of the darkest days in wrestling history.
Late at night on the Friday, Chris Benoit killed his wife Nancy in an upstairs bedroom in their house. Nancy's limbs were bound and her injuries showed that Benoit had pressed his knee into her back while pulling at a cord around her neck, strangling her to death.
The next morning, Benoit drugged his son 7-year-old son Daniel with Xanax, leaving him unconscious, and then Benoit brutally suffocated him.
Benoit left a copy of the bible by each body, which Sandra Toffoloni considered strange on "Talk Is Jericho," as they weren't very religious.
On that Saturday, Benoit talked on the phone to his good friend Chavo Guerrero and told him that Nancy and Daniel were suffering from food poisoning. On "Talk is Jericho," Chavo said something sounded off with Benoit, especially with the way he said goodbye, saying, "Chavo, I love you."
Nancy and Daniel would have both been dead by the time Benoit made that call.
Chris Benoit died of suicide
On June 24th 2007, Chris Benoit died by suicide, creating a noose from the end of a weight machine cord to hang himself. Benoit was found by the police hanging from the pulley cable.
On "Talk Is Jericho," Sandra Toffoloni gave further details of just what Benoit was doing over that horrible weekend. Sandra said that Benoit's computer search history shows he has researched the quickest and easiest way to break a neck. On "Dark Side Of The Ring" it was also revealed Benoit had googled a bible story about the prophet Elijah and, quite morbidly, the resurrecting of a dead boy.
When nobody from WWE had heard from Benoit in over 24 hours, Chavo Guerrero showed the messages he got from Benoit to WWE management, WWE then called the Fayetteville police who discovered the three bodies at the house.
Michael Benoit told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Cageside Seats) that Chris Benoit had left a handwritten suicide note saying, "I'm preparing to leave this Earth."
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988 or by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.
Credits: WrestlingInc.
When WWE Will Start Streaming Exclusively On Netflix And Exit SuperSport, DStv And GOtv Across Africa?
"WWE events, including RAW, Smackdown, NXT, Wrestlemania, SummerSlam and Royal Rumble will continue being available on SuperSport". "As Africa's premium sports broadcaster, we're pleased to continue entertaining our viewers with the best in international wrestling".
In November 2022, MultiChoice and the WWE announced a major broadcast partnership and said in a statement that it will see Showmax becoming the new home of WWE Network in Africa. Only the streaming portion never to pass as seen with the linear offering on DStv.
Beginning in January 2025, Netflix will be the exclusive new home of Raw in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Latin America, with more territories to be confirmed soon and others added overtime. Raw will be exiting linear television since it's inception 31 years ago.
Although Netflix won't get access to WWE's extensive line-up of shows when it streams in selected territories by 2025 due to an existing agreement with MultiChoice. They may be able to snatch the rights from the pay-tv company once it expires in 2027.
This means Netflix can only become the official home of the WWE Network in Africa two years after it launched elsewhere meaning by late 2027 or early 2028. Raw, SmackDown and various other content from WWE would have exited linear television after 26/7 years in Africa.
Noggin Will Cut The Ribbon On Its Nogginville World Next Month
Nickelodeon’s Noggin streaming app is looking to make learning more personal and help kids build real-life skills with its new game world Nogginville, which launches in early December.
In Nogginville, kids can explore different locales from the Nick universe, play mini-games and meet their favorite characters. It’s launching with 15 different learning games (shopping for groceries and doing basic math to calculate the total, for example), Nick Jr. characters and avatars, branded locations and videos (some of which will be interactive). And the plan is to eventually expand the offering with additional branded locations and characters, including more Nick IPs and also potentially third-party brands, says Noggin EVP Kristen Kane.
The key goal behind Nogginville is to provide a more personalized learning experience that kids can control themselves, says Kane. Noggin has to compete with numerous kids edutainment SVODs also in the market, plus it has to stand out from other streaming services that carry Nick and Nick Jr. content, like Paramount+ and Pluto. As the platform scales, focusing on interactive content, and offering a personalized, walled-garden experience have been identified as important differentiators.
Nogginville’s game world proposition is also similar to hot platforms like Roblox and Minecraft, where kids can explore and guide their own play. But it’s built with an audience of two- to seven-year-olds in mind, which is why it’s a single-player experience that only exists within the app.
Noggin currently has more than 1,000 educational games, videos and books in its library, and it also streams Nickelodeon series such Dora the Explorer and Blue’s Clues, Noggin originals like Noggin Knows, and third-party acquisitions including JoJo and Gran Gran (BBC Studios Kids & Family/A Productions) and Little Bear (Nelvana).
Noggin has had success in the past with “dollhouse games” in which kids roleplay real-world skills, such as Peppa Pig: Shopkeeper. But Nogginville takes this immersive practice-makes-perfect experience a significant step further. “We like to call it a little world that helps kids prepare for the big one,” says Kane.
Was Showmax PRO Successful In Africa?
Unfortunately due to the revamping of the streaming service, it was announced that Showmax PRO would cease operation by the end of November with consumers getting a reduced sports offering or being redirected to DStv Stream Compact+ bouquet at the very same price.
It was also revealed Showmax would shut down internationally as MultiChoice puts more emphasis in the African market. The newly launched streamer will be a joint venture with Comcast's NBCUniversal and Sky which will see various content and software upgrades to the platform.
As some consumers are aware, Showmax joins the number of streaming services that have occurred losses including Disney+, Paramount+ and Peacock. They've never disclosed how many consumers use their streaming service much less the PRO section of the platform.
The demise of Showmax PRO may have been a matter of sustainability for which the entire streaming service is not. Should this change, MultiChoice could prioritise sports on the revamped Showmax for now it's being dominated by English Premier League.
Foley Is Good: And the Real World Is Faker Than Wrestling (PDF)
The book covers the last years of Mick Foley's in-ring wrestling career up until the birth of his second son, Michael Francis Foley, Jr., which he mentions in the book's epilogue.
It has a more celebratory tone than his first book, as he is writing about the time of his career where he has already achieved success. The book alternated between in-ring wrestling activities and Foley's life away from the ring. In the book, he also describes his obsessions, such as theme parks and Christmas.
He also writes about his experience writing his first book without the aid of a ghostwriter. He defends himself against being misquoted by news program 20/20, and explains the events surrounding his "I Quit" match with The Rock at the Royal Rumble in January 1999, which can also be seen in the documentary Beyond the Mat.
The book also heavily defends the World Wrestling Federation against accusations of being violent. Foley made an effort to pointedly refute claims made by detractors, citing statistical data and other evidence he compiled himself. He criticizes the actions of the Parents Television Council.
The Untimely Passing Of Former Impact Wrestling And WWE Star Chris Candido
It was after he beat his addiction issues and got his life back together that things tragically ended. Candido was back on a major national wrestling stage. His marriage was back intact. He even looked like he could be a top star again. However, just like that, he died at 33 after what should have been a routine surgery.
Chris Candido's Road To WWE Began With ECW And Jim Cornette
Chris Candido got his start in wrestling as a teenager in New Jersey. In 1986, he and a friend began working in the industry by setting up rings. He went on to train at Larry Sharpe's Monster Factory and then made his debut in the ring that same year. Candido was 14 when he worked his first match. By 1993, Candido made his way to the pre-Extreme ECW, where he worked in a stable known as The Suicide Blondes. This led to Jim Cornette taking notice of the wrestler.
Candido had fallen in love with Tammy Lynn Sytch in high school and the two joined Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling together, where she worked as his manager. He won several titles while working for Cornette and then even won his only world title when he captured the NWA World Championship after Shane Douglas vacated the title when ECW broke away. He held the title for three months and then one year later, he and Tammy signed with WWE.
WWE changed his name to Skip and made Tammy into Sunny, and they took on a fitness guru tandem who often mocked other wrestlers for being out of shape. It was here that Sunny became one of the biggest stars in WWE and Candido found his biggest national success as part of the Bodydonnas with Tom Prichard (Zip). However, it was also here that his life began falling apart. Reports that Sunny cheated on him with multiple wrestlers strained their marriage. This was also when both wrestlers began experimenting more with drugs.
Chris Candido Had Stints In ECW And WCW After Leaving WWE
In an interview, Chris Candido's brother Jonny said that when they got to WWE, they started abusing drugs more. He was just in the eighth grade when this happened, but he said he remembered a lot of messed up stuff going on with his brother and Sunny. Many of his stories were horrific, and it was obvious things needed to change fast or Chris might end up dead. By 1996, Chris quit WWE and went to ECW, and eventually Sunny joined him there.
This was a fresh start for Candido. Sunny was only in ECW limited times, but Candido himself became part of Shane Douglas' Triple Threat faction with Bam Bam Bigelow. He had a long tag team title reign with Lance Storm before he finally left after three years. After this, Candido worked in WCW for a short time in 2000, but mostly disappeared from the world of professional wrestling outside of indie promotions.
The Tragic Death Of Chris Candido Came After An Injury In TNA Wrestling
According to Jonny, Chris Candido was doing more and more drugs to block out the idea that Sunny was cheating on him. "He desperately didn't want to believe it because she would come home to him every night, and he literally had this unconditional love for her," Jonny said. "He was so nice and so naïve; he would...believe anything she told him."
That isn't how his life would end though. Chris reportedly got his life back under control again. He even got another chance at wrestling on a big stage again when he signed with TNA Wrestling in 2005. He worked with some top stars, including AJ Styles, Dustin Rhodes, and Diamond Dallas Page. Candido was on his way up the ladder, but it all came crashing down when he broke his leg in a tag team match at Lockdown 2005. TNA kept him involved in storylines, even having him come out in a wheelchair to help The Naturals win the tag titles. However, that episode aired days after he died.
At 33, Chris Candido had titanium plates and screws inserted into his legs after the injury. While recovering, he ended up developing a blood clot in his leg. Though many people believe the blood clot killed him, his brother Jonny said the autopsy said that the cause of death was acute pneumonia, caused by a sleep aid he received against doctor's orders. His lungs reportedly filled with fluid, and he died while recovering from his surgery. TNA honored him with a tag team tournament in his name and in 2009, the Hardcore Hall of Fame inducted him into its membership.
Credits: The Sportster
Here Are Some Did You Know Facts About
The professional wrestling fraternity was saddened to learn about the demise of the former WWE World Champion Bray Wyatt at the age of 36. He has long been dealing with an undisclosed illness but nobody expected his condition to have deteriorated, this much.
Earlier this month, Fightful Select reported that the illness Wyatt was dealing with was indeed life-threatening. The source also noted how Wyatt contracted COVID-19 earlier this year which exacerbated heart issues for him.
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Bray Wyatt as WWE Champion in 2017 (image courtesy YouTube)
Bray Wyatt as WWE Champion in 2017 (image courtesy YouTube)
Positive progress towards his pro-wrestling return was noted in recent months but he ultimately suffered a heart attack to pass away. As we mourn the death of one of the most entertaining WWE Superstars of the modern era, here are some lesser-known facts about him:
- Real name Windham Rotunda, Bray Wyatt comes from an enriched family with a tremendous history in pro wrestling. He is the son of former WWE wrestler Mike Rotunda who oversaw the company's non-televised house shows for years until the COVID-19 pandemic.
Two of Mike's brothers, Barry Klinton Windham and Kendall Windham were also wrestlers as they followed in the footsteps of their father, Blackjack Mulligan. Even Bray's own brother, Taylor Rotunda was an ex WWE Star best known as Bo Dallas.
- Bray Wyatt returned to WWE last year at Extreme Rules 2022 with an Uncle Howdy character tagged alongside him. This persona was supposed to be played by his brother Bo but WWE never got the opportunity to reveal the identity.
- In real life, both Bray Wyatt and his brother have been attached to either active or former WWE personalities. While Bo is dating active WWE Superstar Liv Morgan, Wyatt has been married to former WWE in-ring announcer JoJo.
Morgan and Bo reportedly run a farm together and they entered a relationship for their love of farming in the first place. As for JoJo, she took a break from the WWE to focus on her personal life with Bray.
- Following his October 2022 return, Bray Wyatt only competed once on WWE TV which was at the Royal Rumble earlier this year, where he defeated LA Knight in a first-time-ever Pitch Black Match presented by Mountain Dew.
WWE arranging a sponsored match for a particular superstar is an example of how Wyatt was over with the WWE Universe. If the WWEShop.com sale is to go by then he was the second-highest merchandise mover.
Being the franchise player of the WWE, Roman Reigns usually covers the top spot while Wyatt overtook him on quite a few occasions with the invention of The Fiend and those puppets from Firefly Funhouse.
The original Wyatt Family gimmick was so popular among the fans that The White/Black Sheep mask sold like hot cake almost a decade ago. Even during his latest return, he moved tons of merch with Uncle Howdy before illness sidelined him.
- Bray Wyatt was one of those very few top WWE Superstars who never had the chance to successfully defend the WWE Championship in a singles capacity. He won the prestigious belt back at Elimination Chamber 2017 PLE.
Just when people thought that WWE was about to give Wyatt his deserved push, Wyatt lost the momentums by dropping the belt to Randy Orton at Wrestlemania 33. Things went worse for him with the follow-up House of Horrors rematch that ended up being a debacle.
Overall, Bray Wyatt is a three-time world champion in the WWE. After 2017, he won the Universal Championship in 2019 as The Fiend only to be victimized by Goldberg. Then in 2020, he regained the title for just seven days before Roman Reigns took it.
An Among Us TV Series Is In Development
An “Among Us” animated series is in the works at CBS Studios, Variety has learned exclusively.
The studio, via CBS Eye Animation Productions, has partnered with Innersloth, the independent game studio behind “Among Us,” to develop the series. Owen Dennis will serve as creator and executive producer on the project under his overall deal with CBS Studios.
Titmouse (“Big Mouth,” “Star Trek: Lower Decks”) will serve as the animation studio for the series. Along with Dennis, Forest Willard, Marcus Bromander, and Carl Neisser of Innersloth will also executive produce along with Chris Prynoski, Shannon Prynoski, Antonio Canobbio, and Ben Kalina of Titmouse. No network or streamer is currently attached, but those conversations are said to be ongoing. CBS Eye Animation Productions produces in association with Innersloth. The show is covered by The Animation Guild rather than the WGA.
“Among Us” first launched in 2018 but saw a massive spike in popularity in 2020. In October of that year, it was number one on Google Play in 66 countries and in the top 100 in every country except for two. It was also number one in iOS in 55 countries. During Q4 2020, the game had nearly 500 million monthly active users, more than 4 billion views on YouTube, and more than 1.22 billion viewing sessions on Twitch.
Dennis is best known for creating the Cartoon Network/Max series “Infinity Train.” The pilot for the show originally debuted on Cartoon Network’s YouTube channel in 2016, with the first full season airing on the network in 2019. A second season followed in 2020 before the show moved to Max (then HBO Max) for Seasons 3 and 4 in 2020 and 2021. A series of ten shorts called “The Train Documentaries” was released in 2019. Prior to “Infinity Train,” Dennis worked on the popular Cartoon Network series “Regular Show” as a writer and storyboard artist.
Dennis is repped by UTA, Industry Entertainment, and Yorn Levine Barnes. Innersloth is repped by Big Pigeon for film and TV.
AEW And Warner Bros. Discovery Announce New AEW: Figure Fighters Mobile Game
AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports announced a new mobile game, AEW: Figure Fighters, on Tuesday. The press release for the free-to-play game explains it, "will feature 3D animated versions of AEW wrestlers battling it out in the ring, allowing fans to expand their fandom and love for the show. Fans will be able to collect and level up their favorite wrestlers, play in various game modes, and complete numerous challenges." The game is set for a 2024 release. Stay tuned for further updates.
The announcement comes just nine days before the release of AEW's first console title, AEW Fight Forever. The game will be released on PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One and Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows.
"Since our initial announcement, fans worldwide have shown unbridled passion around the launch of Fight Forever, and AEW has proven through our exciting storylines and hard-hitting wrestling action that good things come to those who wait," AEW's Tony Khan said in the Fight Forever press release when the release date was finally confirmed for June 29. "With Fight Forever, Kenny and our world-class team have delivered an authentic, nostalgic feel of wrestling games past, along with the unmatched creativity that AEW brings to the table. It's going to be cool to see our fans finally getting a fresh and much-needed alternative next-gen console wrestling game on June 29. AEW has the greatest fans on the planet, and I'm excited for them to experience this new way to engage with our stars."
AEW returns to pay-per-view this Sunday with its annual crossover with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Forbidden Door. Emanating from the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, the show will be headlined by Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay for the IWGP United States Championship and a dream match between "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson and "The Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada.
AEW Dynamite Card (June 21, 2023)
Orange Cassidy & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Daniel Garcia & Zack Sabre Jr.
Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara & Minoru Suzuki vs. Action Andretti, Darius Martin & AR Fox
The Hardys vs. The Gunnts
Jeff Jarrett vs. Mark Briscoe (Concession Stand Brawl)
TBS Championship: Kris Statlander vs. Taya Valkyrie
Adam Cole Promo
AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 Card (As of Now)
IWGP United States Championship: Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay
AEW World Championship: MJF vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Sanada vs. "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry
Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada
Rovio To Launch An Educational Angry Birds
Finland’s Rovio Entertainment has partnered with Washington-based game developer Legends of Learning to launch new Angry Birds games with a focus on education.
Based on the Angry Birds characters, the games will teach STEM concepts—such as force, collisions and how to measure angles—to kids ages five to 14. The Legends of Learning online platform will release the games this fall.
Launched in 2017, Legends of Learning is a learning hub for elementary and middle school students. Game-based learning improves children’s grades, says Legends of Learning CEO and co-founder Vadim Polikov. The platform, which contains more than 2,000 educational video games, is mostly free but also offers paid options for teachers. It also allows kids to customize avatars by paying a subscription. It’s used by about 10 million teachers and students in the US, according to a release.
Rovio has long seen its Angry Birds games—which have been downloaded over five billion times—as a potential educational tool. The company previously expanded the games into education through a partnership with the University of Helsinki, which focused on creating games that blended fun with learning. And in 2014, it launched a standalone venture called Fun Academy to create educational games.
Rovio has lately been expanding beyond its core focus of making games. It’s now producing a series for Amazon Kids+ and Prime Video titled Angry Birds Mystery Island. Meanwhile, Japanese game developer SEGA is in the midst of acquiring Rovio in a US$776 million deal.
Regular Nick Shorts: Cartoon Network And Max Acquired Rights To Lana Longbeard With Tara Duncan Loading Up On Disney Channel And Gamebox To Rollout A 60 Minute Ghostbusters Game
Zephyr Animation
2D-animated comedy Lana Longbeard has landed its first presales, with Warner Bros. Discovery (EMEA), Super RTL (Germany), Gulli (France) and CBC (Canada) claiming it for their regions. Co-produced by Zephyr Animation (APC Kids’ production arm) and Canadian studio Copernicus, the 52 x 11-minute series for six to nines tells the story of a courageous teen girl who sets sail on her father’s viking ship on a quest to become a famous adventurer. APC Kids has the global distribution rights.
Superights
Animated adventure series Tara Duncan will be distributed worldwide (excluding China) by Paris-based Superights. Produced by Princess Sam Pictures and based on a 15-book series by Sophie Andouin-Mamikonian, this CG-animated show stars a girl who travels to a magical planet to learn how to control her powers and defeat evil villains. Princess Sam has already sold the first season (52 x 13 minutes) to buyers including Disney (France, Belgium, Japan, Africa and the Netherlands), Rai (Italy) and RTE (Ireland), and a second 52-ep season is currently in production.
Columbia Pictures Location Based Entertainment
Who you gonna call? A Ghostbusters VR game is in the works at Columbia Pictures Location Based Entertainment and Immersive Gamebox. Based in London, Immersive Gamebox operates experiential game rooms where content from popular entertainment brands is projected onto the walls for kids to interact with through touch-screens and motion-tracking. The techco is gearing up to launch a 60-minute Ghostbusters: The Cursed Collection game at its 20 locations in the UK, EMEA and US later this year. In the experience, kids will explore haunted streets and battle ghosts from the ’80s movie franchise.
What Happened To Trace Sport Stars?
Trace Sports Stars is a lifestyle channel that celebrated the life of sports through factual entertainment, reality shows and gossip similar to E! operated by NBCUniversal. The channel supplies various originals such as Up Close, Bad Boys In Sports and Football Stars.
The channel was added in 2011/2 on Sky UK and MultiChoice's DStv across Africa as Trace Sports. Two years later, it went dark in the UK which coincides with the rebrand to Trace Sports Stars as they didn't offer live sports and the name didn't coincide with the offering.
When looking at a brand name like Trace Sports, one would assume they'd play actual sports like English Premier League, La Liga and WWE and although the content is focused solely on that topic. It just didn't really stick with some consumers.
In general, Trace Sports Stars was a wreck not because the channel couldn't get fresh content as it did possess potential but likely due to the fact that this type of content promoted by the channel isn't watched by vast majority as seen with the actual sporting events.
That in mind is what led to it's demise on MultiChoice's DStv with Trace Africa coming in place and at that time it was made available on rivals On Digital Media and StarTimes' StarSat and eMedia Investments' Openview platform.
This was Openview's first attempt at anything sports with StarSat offering a platform to reject channels or affordable entertainment. But of course, both brands ended scrapping the channel before 2018 for similar reasons as MultiChoice - viewership.
As of 2023, Trace Sports Stars is not viewable anywhere in Africa but that doesn't mean the channel is completely lost as it can be obtained on Binge Networks (USA), Sky (Mexico), Viaccess-Orca (France) and NTV Plus (Russia).
To be frank, Trace Sports Stars remains sustainable if anything it's not performing as well as it's musical family Trace Urban, Trace Gospel, Trace Toca, Trace Mziki and Trace Naija all of which are viewable on MultiChoice's DStv in selected territories.
From Abduction To Being Idolized: We Look At The Life Of The Nature Boy, Ric Flair
Whether or not you’re a pro-wrestling superfan, you’ve most likely heard of the name Ric Flair. And that’s because he’s a legend and is always featured in lists discussing the best wrestlers of all time. Flair has been in the WWE Hall of Fame for over a decade and has had the nickname of “Nature Boy” for quite a while now.
So, what’s the deal with this guy? Rap fans have probably heard his famous line: “limousine-riding, jet-flying, kiss-stealing, wheeling, dealing,” and on it goes. But there’s so much more to learn about Ric Flair, like his 20-year boozing routine that he has somehow lived through, or his insane spending habits, or his multiple near-death experiences. Buckle up and prepare for take-off: This is the wild and crazy ride that is Ric Flair!
He Might Have Been Abducted as a Baby
It might intrigue you to know that the wrestling legend came from both humble and mysterious beginnings. While it has never been confirmed, given that his parents adopted him from the notorious Tennessee Children’s Home Society, he was likely abducted as a baby.
Why? Because after the children’s home was investigated, it was discovered that children were stolen from impoverished mothers to facilitate black market adoptions. The children’s home had a habit of destroying records, so we might never know the truth about Flair’s origins. But don’t be saying “aww” just yet – the man isn’t hellbent on finding out the truth. He doesn’t even know what his birth name was, either.
How Old Is Ric Flair?
The most anyone knows is that Ric Flair was born in Memphis in 1949. The now 72-year-old was named either Fred Phillips, Fred Stewart, or Fred Demaree. After his adoption/abduction when he was one month old, he was raised by his adoptive parents, who named him Richard Flieher. For the record, his adoptive parents were in the dark about all the shady events that took place at the orphanage.
His father, Richard Reid Fliehr, was training to become a doctor, whereas his mother worked for the biggest newspaper in Minnesota, The Star Tribune. The Fliehrs moved to Edina, Minnesota, and lived there throughout the boy’s childhood. Given his remarkable origins, his success is an inspirational “rags to riches” story.
He Got Into Wrestling by Accident
Growing up, Flair never hid his passion for wrestling. In high school, Flair was a gifted athlete in track and football and won the state championship in amateur wrestling. But his father wanted his son to get into the family business. At first, Flair humored him and studied medicine at the University of Minnesota.
Only when he happened to find a gateway into the wrestling business by accident did he drop his studies. As a student, he started working as a bouncer and met Olympic weightlifter Ken Patera. Patera saw something special in the young bouncer and introduced him to former wrestler Verne Gagne, who was also impressed by him. In 1971, Gagne invited Flair to attend his notoriously brutal wrestling camp. The rest, my friends, is history.
A Ridiculously Intense Training Camp
Flair was a natural from the get-go, but Gagne gave him no special treatment. His training camp for wrestling hopefuls was ridiculously intense. A wrestler in his heyday, Gagne had an old-school wrestling mentality. His wrestling camp wasn’t flashy like today’s performers. In fact, his methods shaped some of the best pro wrestlers to enter a ring.
Another wrestling camp trainee was Ken Patera – the first wrestler Flair met while bouncing. Patera recalls them working out in the ring, which was inside one of Gagne’s old horse barns. “It was below-zero temperatures, with one light bulb in the whole barn, just dangling on a wire. The slats on the barn were about an inch apart, so there were times when we’d show up to four-foot snowdrifts in the place. The ring was all broken down, and the ropes were f***** up.”
Flair Wanted Out After Two Days
Flair gave a first-hand account of his training on To Be the Man: “We’d start off running along this frozen creek, slipping and sliding… You’d have to wear three sweatsuits. The only way to stay warm was to keep moving and not slow down the whole day, for six or eight hours.”
They had to run around the farm on a “customized path that went about two miles.” Flair and his fellow trainees (including The Iron Sheik) were forced to do 500 squats, 200 push-ups, and 200 sit-ups. Flair wanted to quit after two days. Luckily for wrestling fans everywhere, Gagne wouldn’t let him quit so easily.
A Hippie in the Ring
Before Flair came to be known as the “The Dirtiest Player in the Game,” he adopted a pretty embarrassing gimmick for his wrestling shtick. That’s right: The celebrated Ric Flair was a hippie in the ring for a brief period during the early days of his career.
Why a hippie? Well, he was inspired to take on the persona because of Billy Graham, who was said to be representing the hippie movement, but it didn’t always seem that way. During this period in Flair’s wrestling career, he wore a headband and tie-dyed shorts – quite the opposite of the signature flashy appearance he adopted later.
His Longtime Beef With Dusty Rhodes
One of Flair’s iconic rivals was Dusty Rhodes, and their intense feud kept wrestling fans captivated for decades. The storyline was more or less: “what’s that shameful Flair going to do to our beloved Dusty Rhodes next?” Behind the scenes, however, the setup was reversed. According to Flair, Rhodes was pretty relentless in his teasing.
When Flair was still a novice during his first tour in Japan, his primary role was as the bag carrier for the wrestling veterans. It was then that he first met Dusty Rhodes and Dick Murdoch. During that tour, Flair recalled the two wrestlers breaking down his door at the hotel before they “sprayed the room with a fire extinguisher and threw my clothes out a tenth-story window.”
He Survived a Plane Crash
If you can survive Verne Gagne’s boot camp, you can beat anything. Flair is living proof. In October 1975, amateur pilot Mike Farkas offered to fly Flair and a bunch of his fellow wrestlers to their next show for a low price. Flair, Johnny Valentine, David Crockett, Bob Bruggers, and “Mr. Wrestling” Tim Woods all boarded Farkas’ Cessna 310.
This is no joke. The small plane wasn’t built to carry six people, let alone a group of husky wrestlers. So, Farkas emptied a load of fuel to reduce the weight, which meant they ran out of gas before reaching their destination.
He Recovered After Only Three Months
The plane crashed into the Wilmington airport runway. Farkas died, Valentine was paralyzed, and Flair was seriously injured. The plane crash resulted in Flair’s spine being broken in three places, with his neck broken, too. The resilient soul didn’t take long to get back on track and re-enter the wrestling game – only three months!
His speedy recovery was a true testament to his character. Furthermore, he was lucky to be alive! And he knew it. The crash taught him a harsh but important life lesson and prompted a huge change in both his look and wrestling style.
His Doctors Told Him to Quit
Before Flair ever got into the business (and before the life-altering plane crash), he had his renowned charisma, but he was a lot bigger in size. He also didn’t have bleached blond hair. After the crash, doctors advised him to find a new career. But that wasn’t in Flair’s vision.
Rather than quit, he ditched his monster strength approach because it was just too physically demanding. He lost a lot of weight on his way to recovery. He came out the other end with his new motto: “If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.” His new submission-based, cerebral style is what he became known for.
Conquering the Nature Boy Persona
Like all the wrestling greats before him, Flair borrowed from those who came before him. Although Flair was an original, he wasn’t the OG. After the plane crash, he started a process of creating a less demanding gimmick, but then someone told him he reminded them of the original Nature Boy, Buddy Rogers.
After this fateful encounter, Flair decided to become his own version of Nature Boy. He borrowed Rogers’ flamboyant character, emulating his strut, blond hair, and Figure-Four Leg Lock. In 1978, Flair and Rogers hit the ring to decide who was the definitive Nature Boy. Flair left victorious, and so veteran Rogers gave up his moniker.
He Embodied Jerry Lee Lewis in the Ring
Flair borrowed from other wrestlers besides Buddy Rogers. His infamous robes and flamboyance were also inspired by Gorgeous George, and he adapted his promo style from Superstar Billy Graham and Dusty Rhodes. Flair was also influenced by pop culture figures who had nothing to do with wrestling at all.
Rock 'N' Roll and country star Jerry Lee Lewis perform on a dark stage and flashy lights.
Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images
One major influence was rock and roll rebel Jerry Lee Lewis. Like Lewis, Flair would strut across the ring sometimes mid-match to highlight his arrogance. Aside from his general swagger, people say that Lewis inspired Flair’s signature “WOO” catchphrase.
Who Said You Can’t Be Struck by Lighting Twice?
According to the WWE, Ric Flair has been hit by lightning twice. The eternal survivor has again lived to tell his tale. Like his first near-death experience, a plane was involved. The first time he was hit, a storm delayed his flight, and the passengers on the plane were permitted to leave the aircraft with umbrellas.
Lightning hit Flair’s umbrella, but he survived. A fellow passenger wasn’t so lucky. Flair described: “My umbrella shot 50 feet in the air. I thought, ‘What the hell?’ Lightning hit the top of my umbrella, bounced off, and hit a guy in the eye five feet behind me and killed him. Right there. I just stood there looking at the guy and froze. It scared me to death.”
The second time? It was en route to a Fourth of July celebration when the plane he was on was hit by lightning.
A Quiet, Lonely Night After Getting the Belt
More backstage shenanigans with Dusty Rhodes occurred after Flair won his first NWA World Heavyweight Championship in 1981. Of course, Rhodes didn’t like losing the coveted title in a city where he already had a large following. Losing in front of a small Kansas City audience who had no feelings toward either opponent wasn’t Rhodes’ cup of tea.
You can say that Rhodes was a sore loser and resented handing the belt over to Flair, who would soon gain a bigger following. Rhodes took it a step further by barely making an effort in the match. Since Rhodes had more backstage clout, they didn’t celebrate with Flair after his victory. Instead, he returned to his hotel and had a quiet night.
Gaining a Reputation as a Party Animal
Flair’s low-key celebrations didn’t last for long as he soon developed a reputation for being a party animal. It was hard to find a wrestler who could keep up with Flair’s affinity for partying and taste for extravagance. Whenever Flair was in a new town, he checked into fancy hotels and partied all night.
On a trip to Sacramento, Lex Luger and Flair each went to their own rooms and proceeded to go wild during the night. When they finally stumbled back to the hotel, it was time for their next flight. Luger later stated that the whole wild-child persona was “part of the image enhancement.”
Every Day for 20 Years
In his 30 for 30 ESPN documentary, Flair described his daily routine at the peak of his career. He explained how he would drink 10 beers, 20 vodkas, and five cocktails every day! Without fail! For 20 years! He said he told this to his therapist, who was utterly shocked because the average human wouldn’t survive such a long-term routine.
His fast-paced life obviously caught up with him. He was later induced into a medical coma due to organ failure. He appeared on The Dan LeBatard Show in 2016 and described what it was like to ingest “Between 3,700 and 4,000 calories worth of booze… in my body every day.”
Both Heart and Flair
Bret Hart and Ric Flair had their own wrestling beef during the ‘90s. The pair of respected and talented wrestlers always put on an engaging match for the fans. In the ring, they had some disagreements, but they always shared an amicable relationship backstage. Hart had respect for Flair and what he did for the business.
But Hart couldn’t keep up with Flair’s partying. One time, Hart called it a night as the sun started to rise. When he got up just a few hours later to work out, Flair was already in the gym. He may have been a party boy, but Nature Boy was a hard worker and took his job seriously.
He Had His Routine Down to a Tee
Terry Taylor revealed a fun story to prove just how hard Flair partied and how, after a night of partying, he could still go into the ring. When Taylor first wrestled Flair, the party boy came back from another long night out. He looked a mess, stunk of alcohol, and was still very intoxicated.
Security had to help him get into the venue, which didn’t look good for the wrestlers’ upcoming match. But, after an hour-long nap, a reinvigorated Flair walked into the ring. His conditioning was so down to a tee that Taylor was begging to end the match. Meanwhile, Flair was yelling, “let’s go, let’s go!”
Nature Boy Was Bad With Money
Flair is one of the most legendary wrestlers to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. But the man is notoriously terrible with his money. Following one lawsuit, he owed $35,000 to Highspots, Inc., and he just gave them his Championship belt to clear the debt. Then, when Highspots tried to sell the belt, Combraco Inc. didn’t let them.
As it turned out, Flair had already offered Combraco his belt to square off a previous debt. As a result, he was held in contempt of court since he failed to repay his Highspots loan and had to face up to 90 days in prison. He was also required to autograph 300 pictures for the company.
Baring It All
Ric Flair was so comfortable in his skin that he wasn’t shy when it came to showing it off. For some reason, most of his incredible stories took place on planes. In one instance, the wrestler was caught flashing unsuspecting passengers and staff.
On a flight to Portland, Oregon, he allegedly went into the plane’s bathroom and came out in a pair of alligator shoes, dress socks, and his wrestling robe. During 2002’s infamous Plane Ride from Hell, Flair drank too much and exposed himself to the flight attendants.
The “Naitching” King
Flair’s flair for spending cash inspired Triple H and a few others to create a new word, the “wheelin’ and dealin’ son of a gun.” Triple H coined the term “Naitching” to describe someone who spends stupid amounts of cash for no reason.
And it wasn’t all spent on limousines, hotel rooms, and booze. Flair also fancied the finest clothes and ring attire. In 1985, during the Great American Bash tour, he was at the height of his career and living his most lavish lifestyle. He and his peers traveled in a private jet. During one stay at the Tropicana, he got so drunk that he spent $40,000 on two fur coats. He never wore either of them.
He Had Expensive Taste
Flair spent excessive amounts of money on his flashy robes. At least he wore those regularly. He tended to have a specific taste when it came to his ring attire. Many of his wrestling robes from the ’70s and ’80s were made by Olivia Walker.
Walker’s robes weren’t cheap; she charged thousands of dollars to make his wrestling robes – up to $10,000 (worth over $20,000 these days). In his book Second Nature: The Legacy of Ric Flair and the Rise of Charlotte, Flair revealed that his sequin, rhinestone, and feather robes weighed up to 50 pounds.
Vince McMahon Lent Him $800,000
Flair acknowledged that he spent money that he didn’t necessarily have. We know now that a big part of it was his need to scratch his “Naitching” itch. Most of his spending was to make him look wealthier than he actually was in order to keep up his gimmick.
But his spending caught up with him, and he had to borrow $800,000 from Vince McMahon. “I wouldn’t let my kids borrow this amount of money from me,” McMahon said. But he took the calculated risk because he was sure he would get the money back, which he did. Flair eventually paid him with one single WrestleMania check.
One of His Wives Thought He Was a Pimp
A first impression is important in relationships. In Flair’s case, he didn’t exactly give off the best impression when he met his second wife, Beth. She thought he was a pimp! And it’s hard to blame her since he was donning his signature robe by seven women.
Ric Flair on a green robe accompanied by two women dressed in short tight leather and glitter outfits.
Still, Beth realized he was just a flamboyant wrestler. The two married and have two kids. Did you know that one of Ric Flair’s nicknames is The Alimony Pony? It might have to do with the fact that he’s been married five times and divorced four.
A Serial Groom
He married his first wife, Leslie Goodman, in 1974, and the pair had two kids, Megan and David, before their 1983 divorce. He then married Elizabeth (Beth) Harrell the same year he divorced Goodman. He and Harrel had two children, one of them is Charlotte Flair.
After 23 years, he and Beth divorced in 2006. Flair remarried again, the same year as his divorce. The man just can’t be alone! Tiffany VanDemark became his third wife, and their marriage lasted a few years before their 2008 divorce. A year later, he married Jacqueline “Jackie” Beems before divorcing her in 2012. By 2018, he was married again to Wendy Barlow. So far, so good.
10,000 Women? Could It Be?
Flair didn’t just marry a lot; he dated a whole lot. In the 30 for 30 ESPN documentary, he said he thinks he’s slept with around 10,000 women over the decades. Sure, it’s very likely an over-exaggeration, but still! It’s probably in the Gene Simmons zone.
Although he was candid in the documentary, he later expressed regret about talking so openly about the matter (and his hectic love life). His family watched it, after all. “What I said was the truth, but I feel bad now that I said some of it… Ten thousand women. I wish I hadn’t said that because of my grandkids.”
Has He Been With Halle Berry?
But it was too late. He already let the cat out of the bag. Not just that – he also spilled the beans about sleeping with a certain A-list celebrity on a podcast. Yup. He said he slept with Halle Berry. During a 2016 episode of The Ric Flair Show podcast, he exposed his love life further while speaking of the celebrities he had had relations with.
Halle Berry was one of them. The story? “She was in Atlanta, and she had just gotten divorced from David Justice.” Berry, however, denied ever visiting “Space Mountain.” Her representative stated: “There is no truth to this. Halle has literally never even heard of him, let alone met him!”
16, 21, or 25 Titles?
Ric Flair has enjoyed a long and impressive career. Just consider his cross-promotion in the WWE, NWA, WCW, and WCW. John Cena, for example, won two WWE Heavyweight equivalents 16 times, tying Flair’s record.
While Flair is acknowledged for having won 16 World Titles, he has actually won a lot more. The record books haven’t managed to attribute them all. According to Flair, he’s won more like 21 in total. Meanwhile, record-enthusiasts concluded that Flair won a maximum of 25. Either way, it’s all very impressive!
Naitch Did It First
In 1975, Inside Wrestling hailed Flair as Rookie of the Year. In 2008, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame while he was still an active wrestler. WWE then inducted him as a Four Horsemen member in 2012, when he retired four years later.
At the time, Flair was the only WWE wrestler to ever be inducted into their Hall of Fame twice. Since then, Shawn Michaels, Booker T, Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Sean Waltman have been inducted twice. But our Naitch did it first.
He Was in Magic Mike XXL
While many of Flair’s wrestling brothers made it their mission to make it on TV, like Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Roddy Piper, etc., Nature Boy knew to stick to his lane. Still, he wasn’t all that against taking on a few acting gigs here or there.
He was offered a role in Magic Mike XXL and also voiced himself on an episode of Uncle Grandpa. He once took part in the popular TV game show Family Feud and obviously left as the champion. That’s right, Ric Flair won the round of Family Feud.
Trouble With the WCW
When you’ve had a long career like Ric Flair, it’s expected that you’ll have problems along the way. Flair was once the hottest thing in the WCW, but when he got a little older, the promoter asked him to step down.
Jim Herd, WCW’s Executive Vice President at the time, spoke to then 39-year-old Flair and asked him to take a step back from the main show and take on a new Roman Gladiator gimmick. Naturally, he detested the idea and, as a result, was constantly butting heads with Herd, who eventually fired him.
Then With WWE
Flair’s relationship with WWE has been mostly good-natured, but only recently has he come to taint the long-lasting amicable relationship. In 2019, he tried to trademark “The Man.” The problem was that Becky Lynch was already calling herself “The Man” as part of her gimmick.
Flair said that as long as WWE pays him for using “The Man,” he doesn’t mind letting Lynch use it. This caused some friction between him and the WWE. Last year, in May 2020, Flair gave “The Man” rights to WWE.
When Is Ric Flair Day?
Certain states have a special place in their hearts for the Nature Boy, mainly because of the old-school wrestling territory system. For example, Minneapolis, Minnesota, was the first to declare Ric Flair Day on October 19th, 1998.
10 years later, Columbia, South Carolina, announced March 24th as the day and went one step further by giving him a key to the city. Then, Norfolk, Virginia, marked November 15th as Ric Flair Day. In 2009, Charleston, West Virginia, declared April 18th to be the day of Flair, and they also gave him a key to their city.
He Faced Some Nasty Allegations
On a more negative note, Flair has faced sexual assault allegations, one about his actions on the “Plane Ride From Hell” in 2002, which ended in a 2004 lawsuit. Flair allegedly coerced flight staff into touching him inappropriately; he allegedly “forcibly detained and restrained” a flight attendant.
Flair denied the claims, and WWE ultimately settled out of court. In 2005, Flair was charged with damaging personal property as well as simple assault and battery. A police report states that Flair grabbed a driver in his late 20s by the neck and kicked the man’s SUV.
An Altercation With His Daughter’s Boyfriend
WWE made light of the incident by working it into Flair’s feud with Edge. The case was later dismissed because no witnesses showed up to court. Back in 2008, Flair was involved in an altercation with his daughter Charlotte’s boyfriend.
Charlotte Flair was the one arrested and fined and given probation for kicking a police officer. Ric Flair was visibly injured, but he refused to press charges against his daughter or her boyfriend. The intensity doesn’t stop there. He also had altercations with his fans in 2014.
Death Threats From Fans
In 2014, Flair announced that he wouldn’t be able to attend the Carolina Panthers vs. the San Francisco 49ers playoff game, thanks to all the death threats from Panthers fans. Flair, who has lived in Charlotte for years, was asked to give a motivational speech to the 49ers, and he did.
But Panthers fans didn’t take too kindly to his expression of support for his hometown team’s opponent. In 2016, Flair might have been a no show at the playoffs due to a warrant being issued for his arrest. He was allegedly detained by the police at Boston’s Logan Airport, but PWInsider reported that he actually had slipped on his luggage and hit his head, needing medical attention.
Despite all his past debt problems, he seems to be doing well for himself. His net worth is estimated at $3 million.
Showing Up in North Korea
In 1995, North Korea hosted the International Sports and Culture Festival for Peace, which opened their country to the West and its professional wrestlers. The new Japan Pro Wrestling founder and wrestling legend Antonio Inoki asked WCW if Hulk Hogan would face him in the main event.
Muhammad Ali, who faced Inoki back in the ‘70s, was also added to the list. Once all the wrestlers arrived, they were split into pairs, and their passports were removed. For the two days leading up to the show, the wrestlers made appearances for state media, honoring the late North Korean Supreme Leader, Kim Il-sung.
He Couldn’t Wait to Leave the Country
Whatever they did, it worked. On the first night, 170,000 audience members showed up, which increased to 180,000 by the second night. The event broke previous wrestling attendance records, including WrestleMania III.
According to a North Korean limo driver, “Nobody really wants to come. It’s forced attendance. If they don’t show up, they get a bullet in the head.” The spectators had no idea what professional wrestling even was and didn’t interact during the show. According to Flair, he had never been so happy to leave a place: “As soon as our plane landed in Japan, I bent down and literally kissed the ground. I was so glad to be back on friendly soil.”
SEGA To Acquire Angry Birds Company Rovio
Sega, the Japanese-headquartered video game company best known in the West for its Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, is acquiring Angry Birds developer Rovio, the companies announced today. The Finnish headquartered mobile games developer will be acquired for €706 million (around $775 million), which The Wall Street Journal notes represents a roughly a 19 percent premium over its share price at close on Friday. The deal is expected to close by the end of September.
In a press release, Sega said it hopes to use “Rovio’s distinctive know-how in live service mobile game operation, to bring Sega’s current and new titles to the global mobile gaming market.” It sounds like a similar aim to what Sega’s rival Nintendo has been doing with its franchises, with smartphone releases like Mario Kart Tour, Pokémon Go, and Super Mario Run. Sega also wants to help Rovio “expand its platform outside of mobile gaming.”
“Among the rapidly growing global gaming market, the mobile gaming market has especially high potential, and it has been Sega’s long-term goal to accelerate its expansion in this field,” said Haruki Satomi, president and group CEO of Sega parent company Sega Sammy holdings. In a statement, Rovio CEO Alexandre Pelletier-Normand specifically called out the company’s Beacon platform, which is designed to help develop games-as-a-service products.
Rovio is best known for its work on the Angry Birds franchise, which launched in 2009 and is claimed to be the first mobile game series to have reached 1 billion downloads. In total, Rovio says its games have been downloaded over 5 billion times. Angry Birds has since been adapted for the big screen twice (once in 2016 and again in 2019), but more recent entries in the franchise have struggled to make a similar impact.
Sega isn’t the first company to have expressed an interest in acquiring Rovio. The mobile game developer had previously been in discussions to be acquired by Israel-based Playtika, but talks officially came to an end in March 2022. Rovio has been a publicly traded company since 2017.
Rovio’s acquisition by Sega is the latest example of an independent mobile gaming titan being hoovered up by a more traditional games giant. Candy Crush developer King was acquired by Activision Blizzard in a $5.9 billion deal that completed in 2016 while Zynga, the company behind FarmVille, was bought by Take-Two for $12.7 billion last year.
New Channel Alert: DStv Compact Gets ESPN 2
DStv added ESPN 2 to its channel catalogue for Compact subscribers, increasing its sports offering for these customers to ten channels.
ESPN 2 is the home of basketball and American football in South Africa, with the channel airing National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Football League (NFL) content.
“This announcement is our way of rewarding our loyal customers with a wider catalogue of entertaining content to choose from,” says MultiChoice South Africa CEO Marc Jury.
Regarding content, MultiChoice said Compact customers could look forward to the NBA playoffs and NFL draft in the coming weeks.
“DStv Compact subscribers will] be able to watch, among others, the nail-biting NBA playoffs and soon, the highly-anticipated NFL draft,” the company said.
Despite the NFL’s biggest event of the year — the Super Bowl — concluding in February, NFL fans can look forward to the draft, which is scheduled to take place from 27 to 29 April 2023.
The draft is the primary player recruitment event for the tournament, and NFL said a schedule of games should follow in May.
“We are excited to be bringing ESPN’s compelling content and unique personality to new viewers across Africa,” says the Walt Disney Company Africa’s director of sports Kyle de Klerk.
“With our unparalleled portfolio of international, local and US leagues, together with live games, sports news, films and documentaries, audiences now have every opportunity to relive the greatest moments in sports history and see those moments being made.”
ESPN 2 is available to DStv Compact subscribers on channel 219 from Thursday, 6 April.
How To Share A Corrupted Or Copyrighted File On MediaFire And Likely Other Facilities Like Google Drive?
MediaFire kind of like Google Drive and Dropbox is a storage facility where you can backup your files and as seen through Insidus Games is the hub where we store most of our files as the space is very wide like 10GB of space of which less than 2GB makes Insidus Games.
For those using this app must have noticed that certain files come up with a corrupted or copyright message and I found it odd really as I sourced most of my junk from a few trusted sources but yet again you find nothing wrong in distributing something like Lolo but something as awful as Somari.
If you're reading this I'm assuming you're trying to fix the problem here and l was a victim of such consulted various sites but still no luck so here's how I manage to resolve it:
- Firstly, if you need an app that can compress or zip your files this way it can bypass Google Drive or MediaFire.
- Second select the folder and if you use ES File Explorer there's an option to compress and even comes with levels in case you want to make it high tech.
- Third take that compressed file and upload it to your storage unit and check to see if the file can be shared like some on Insidus Games.
- If a problem persists, I recommend strengthening the file as mentioned in the second option ES does come with levels for their zip folders.
From Elvis Presley To Hugh Hefner: We Look At A List Of Biopics That Never Made The Time Of Day
Movies get planned and scrapped all the time. Most just happen outside anyone's view. There are a million reasons why some fictional story starring an A-list actor never gets off the ground, and as a result, nobody pays any mind to it. But the same can't be said of biopics. When the subject matter is famous, everything about that movie becomes trade paper fodder. Every update, casting choice, or plain old rumor shows up in Deadline or The Hollywood Reporter, and it emphasizes how long even a supposedly time-sensitive project like a biopic takes to get made.
As implied, biopics also get scrapped all the time. Sometimes they're axed in loud and public ways. Other times, they manage to sneak by and quietly get canceled, and they're only revealed when talent connected to the project is asked years later. Either way, if you've ever wondered why some famous figure hasn't had their story told, here's why these biopics never made it to the screen.
An Elvis miniseries was canceled
There's been no shortage of Elvis Presley biopics, dating back to 1979's made-for-TV movie starring Kurt Russell. There was the dramatic Elvis and the Beauty Queen starring Don Johnson in 1981, the 2016 dramedy Elvis & Nixon about the famous meeting between the King and the president, and the not literally true but emotionally true 2002 horror film Bubba Ho-Tep with Bruce Campbell. There's also Baz Luhrmann's 2022 Elvis movie starring Austin Butler and featuring Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker.
Apple intended to add their own addition to the pantheon of Elvis biopics, with a miniseries streaming on Apple Music. There are few details on the project, except that Apple hoped it might become an anthology where they'd cover stars like Prince and Michael Jackson in future installments. Of course, there's a reason we're describing it in the past tense — it was canceled early in its development. Why? It was produced by the Weinstein Company. Deadline reports that the project was set up in the summer of 2017, and Apple dropped it almost immediately after The New York Times published the expose on Harvey Weinstein.
Chris Farley didn't get to make his Fatty Arbuckle biopic
Chris Farley is remembered by the public at large as a big, goofy, boisterous clown. It's an image that could hardly be further than the real him — a gentle and depressed man, ashamed of his girth and upset at being pigeon-holed. He spent his later years looking for a project that would show his dramatic talent, and he found that in the story of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.
One of the first Hollywood stars, Arbuckle was a comedic talent unlike anyone else of his era. He was a big man but strikingly athletic for his size, a skill that gained him a huge following and the respect of his peers. However, today he's best remembered for being accused of the rape and murder of silent film star Virginia Rappe. (He was exonerated after three trials but lost his career.)
Farley knew he was perfect for the role, and it would change how he was perceived. Unfortunately, his obsession with the movie overlapped with the worst of his addictions. He was never able to get the film together and died of a drug overdose in 1997 before he could see any part of it through. The project was seemingly revived in 2011, when Eric Stonestreet signed up to play Arbuckle in an HBO movie directed by Barry Levinson. There hasn't been a mite of news on the project since.
Fox dropped a movie about Patty Hearst
James Mangold became one of Hollywood's most in-demand directors after the smash success of Logan. In December 2017, Variety broke the news of his newest project – a drama about Patty Hearst's kidnapping and involvement with the Symbionese Liberation Army. It was based on Jeffrey Toobin's book American Heiress, and Elle Fanning was in negotiations to play the title role. The movie was set to be produced by 20th Century Fox, continuing their partnership with Mangold post-Logan.
Fast forward one month to the Golden Globes ceremony in 2018. Time's Up and #MeToo were central themes of the evening. Oprah Winfrey gave an impassioned speech after receiving the Cecil B. DeMille Award, decrying "a culture broken by brutally powerful men. For too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dare speak the truth to the power of those men. But their time is up." Watching at home, Patty Hearst heard Oprah's powerful speech and found the courage to speak up herself.
On January 11th, Hearst released a statement, denouncing Toobin's book, Mangold's movie, and an additional CNN miniseries about her. She spoke about how painful it was to relive her kidnapping and that she'd already written a book on her experiences, claiming that Toobin's book was written without her authorization. "I refuse to give Jeffrey Toobin ... Fox, CNN or anyone else involved in these projects about my life the power to make me a victim again, or the power to provide a platform where victim blaming is okay." Hours later, Fox axed the project.
A long-planned Richard Pryor biopic was killed by association with Weinstein
Hollywood has spent years trying to make a biopic about groundbreaking comedian Richard Pryor. Few men have been more associated with the failed attempts than Mike Epps. Before 2005, he was picked for the role by Pryor himself, but that particular project never came to fruition. Almost a decade later in 2014, Epps landed the role again, beating out Marlon Wayans and Michael B. Jordan for a new Pryor biopic by Lee Daniels.
The Daniels-led project was the closest anyone had come to making a movie about Pyror, and it had an A-list cast. Oprah Winfrey signed on as Pryor's brothel-running grandmother, Eddie Murphy as Pryor's father, and Kate Hudson as Pryor's wife. Tracy Morgan was even in talks to play Redd Foxx. But even with all this positive momentum, the project never got off the ground and quietly fizzled. During an interview with WBLS in 2018, Epps revealed why in blunt terms: "It was a Weinstein Company project so you might not see that one."
In October 2020, MGM won a bidding war for the rights to Pyror's story. Black-ish creator Kenya Barris is signed on as writer and director, and Richard's widow, Jennifer Lee, is attached as a producer. Here's hoping Hollywood finally nails this one.
A Gore Vidal biopic was axed in post-production due to Kevin Spacey's involvment
Most of the biopics on this list were shut down in pre-production or just couldn't get off the ground for one reason or another. Gore — a biopic about writer Gore Vidal — is markedly different. It was already done shooting and in post-production when it got axed, but it was a casualty of Kevin Spacey's #MeToo downfall. There was no option to copy All the Money in the World and reshoot Spacey's part in the movie with another actor, as he was playing the title role. Netflix, who was set to distribute Gore, dropped it and severed all ties not long after the accusations against Spacey started piling up.
Soon after Netflix dropped the movie, actors involved in the film began cautiously talking about it. Michael Stuhlbarg, who played Vidal's lover, Howard Austen, gave a measured response to The Daily Beast, saying, "It's heartbreaking when you put your heart into work, and it may not be seen. But it's important that there's sensitivity in the addressing of every aspect of what's going on. It's a complicated thing to talk about, and I believe we are going to be talking about it for a long time." He expressed hope that people might one day see the movie "in the light in which it was meant to be seen." A year later, BuzzFeed News acquired a copy of the shooting screenplay and — after finding multiple excerpts in which Spacey's character seduces young men and uses his power of them to get what he wants — deemed it unlikely to ever see the light of day.
Ryan Murphy's TV series killed Antonio Banderas' Versace movie
In August 2015, Antonio Banderas revealed on Instagram that he was attending a one-month intensive course at Central Saint Martins, a prestigious fashion and art college in London. The reason? He was prepping for the role of Gianni Versace. He was set to star in a movie about the murdered fashion designer by Danish director Bille August.
The movie was in pre-production when word came in 2016 that an upcoming season of American Crime Story would focus on the murder of Versace. The cast filled out through the early months of 2017, and in July of that year, Banderas revealed that his project had been canceled, in large part because of the upcoming Ryan Murphy series.
Banderas told The Hollywood Reporter that he ran into August at Cannes Film Festival, where they discussed their own project. "Because there was a TV show going on, that actually my friend Penelope [Cruz] is doing, we looked at each other and said, 'This movie doesn't make sense anymore.'" Banderas also acknowledged that with the benefit of hindsight, "I don't think I am Gianni." The two met several times, and Banderas recognized that the designer had a certain je ne se quoi he himself was lacking. There were also reports that August had a hard time getting the cooperation of the Versace house, who also had a frosty relationship with Murphy.
Taika Waititi was too busy to make a movie about Michael Jackson's chimp, Bubbles
In what's far and away the strangest entry on this list, yes, there almost was a biopic of Bubbles, Michael Jackson's pet chimpanzee. What's more, it was going to be stop-motion animation, and Taika Waititi was attached to direct.
The script topped the 2015 Black List, the annual survey of well-received yet unproduced screenplays. Taika Waititi signed onto the project in February 2017, alongside co-director Mark Gustafson, with Dan Harmon's Starburns Industries as producers. Netflix bought the package at Cannes in May 2017 for a reported $20 million. Waititi was thrilled for the movie, telling Deadline, "This film is not about Michael Jackson. ... It's about a chimpanzee's fascinating journey through the complex jungle of human life."
On May 15th, 2019, Waititi addressed the Bubbles movie during an interview with Deadline. He called it a "brilliant script" that he was hoping to develop between projects. The problem? Between finishing up Jojo Rabbit, other features, and some TV shows — likely including The Mandalorian — Waititi explained that, "I've actually had to start pulling out of other things, because I was just becoming too busy."
Just over a week later, Cartoon Brew confirmed that Waititi dropped out of the Bubbles project. His heavy schedule was given as the reason why, and Netflix — mostly interested due to Waititi's involvement — dropped the project, as well. Some, including Cartoon Brew and Deadline, also suspected the airing of HBO's Leaving Neverland made Michael Jackson a toxic asset.
Chris Benoit's family intervened to stop his biopic
The story of Chris Benoit is one of the most infamous and tragic events in wrestling history. The man was a worldwide wrestling legend, but a mere three years after winning the World Heavyweight Championship, he murdered his wife, Nancy, and seven-year-old son, Daniel, before taking his life in 2007. A combination of severe CTE, depression, grief, and a faltering marriage were all suspected as contributing factors.
Such salacious subject matter was always going to be fodder for a biopic. SRG Films announced via press release in 2011 that they would make a movie on Benoit's life titled Crossface, based on Matthew Randazzo's book Ring of Hell and written by new screenwriter Sarah Coulter. Nothing came of it, and the project went silent until September 2016, when new producers took on Coulter's script. This time they nabbed a director — Lexi Alexander, karate champion and director of cult classic Punisher: War Zone. Producer Alex Ginzburg even talked up Alexander to Wired in January 2017, saying, "She not only knows how to hit and punch but how to get punched, as well."
That Wired profile was the last anyone heard of the project for years, and we finally got an answer why in January 2020. During an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Benoit's son, David, revealed that the film was being made without the family's permission and included scenes they understandably didn't want shown. The family went so far as to hire a lawyer, and production got shut down. David Benoit expressed interest in a documentary, and three months later, the season premiere of Dark Side of the Ring covered the tragedy with family involvement.
Russ Meyer and Roger Ebert's story is a bit too uncomfortable now
Russ & Roger Go Beyond was a planned movie about the unlikely friendship between sexploitation director Russ Meyer and film critic Roger Ebert, specifically their collaboration on cult classic Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Will Ferrell was cast as Meyer and Josh Gad as Ebert. They even nabbed John Carney of Once and Sing Street fame as director. With a solid cast and creative team, this was a movie set to take Hollywood — and likely awards season — by storm. Production was slated to begin in 2018.
Then the accusations against Harvey Weistein dropped.
Producer David Permut, who'd been trying to get the movie made for a decade, told MarketWatch, "We had funding and were ready to make the movie. That green button turned into a red button literally overnight the moment the Harvey news hit the world." He noted that a meeting with the creative forces in the movie changed things. "The consensus felt by our director and Will Ferrell and Josh Gad was it wasn't the right time to tell the story about a Hollywood filmmaker who makes sexploitation movies." Permut himself didn't sound all that sold on the cancelation, believing there was a way to tell a historically accurate story, but he wasn't totally broken up. "A green-lit picture went away as a result of the changing times, but it is for the betterment of the world if we want to advocate equality for everybody."
Joni Mitchell stopped a biopic about her, Carly Simon, and Carole King
In 2012, news broke that Sony Pictures was adapting Sheila Weller's Girls Like Us, a book about the careers of Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, and Carole King. Katie Jacobs, a producer and director on House, was slated to direct. Taylor Swift, who once told Rhapsody that Blue was her favorite album of all time, was reportedly in talks to play Mitchell. Alison Pill was often mentioned in connection with the role of King.
IndieWire reported that Allison Williams, Jessica Pare, and Analeigh Tipton were the leading candidates for Simon, and that Olivia Thirlby, Ari Graynor, and Zoe Kazan were all competing with Pill for King. However, Swift was quick to say that the casting wasn't confirmed, and that was about the last anyone heard of the project for a couple years
In a 2014 interview with The Sunday Times, Mitchell took credit for stopping the project. "I squelched that! I said to the producer, 'All you've got is a girl with high cheekbones. It's just a lot of gossip, you don't have the great scenes.' There's a lot of nonsense about me in books: assumptions, assumptions, assumptions." Mitchell has always been a private person, and Weller's book was written without her input. Her statement was enough to shut down the project.
Mitchell still got asked about the movie afterwards, saying in a 2015 interview with The Cut that while she never heard Swift's music, she saw the physical resemblance and why she was sought for the role. "I don't know what her music sounds like, but I do know this — that if she's going to sing and play me, good luck." Rolling Stone later got clarification from Swift's camp, with a rep saying, "It's a shame Joni keeps being asked about a movie that Taylor was rumored to be a part of. But this rumor, like many others casting rumors, is not true."
A Hugh Hefner biopic was scrapped due to serious accusations against its director
A biopic on Playboy founder Hugh Hefner has been in the works for years. Producer Brian Grazer acquired the rights to Hef's life story sometime in the late '90s or early 2000s . Brett Ratner was attached to direct around 2007, and Playboy Enterprises and Hefner were active parts of production. Ratner and Hefner openly courted Robert Downey, Jr., right around his 2008 career resurgence to play the lead role. Nothing seems to have come of this, and the project bounced around Universal, Warner Bros, and eventually Ratner's own company, RatPac.
In October 2017, just a few weeks after Hefner died, Ratner announced in The Hollywood Reporter that Jared Leto was on board. "When he heard I got the rights to Hef's story," Ratner said of Leto, "he told me, 'I want to play him. I want to understand him.' And I really believe Jared can do it." Ratner even brought Leto to the Playboy Mansion to meet Hefner, though the man was in failing health and not seeing guests. This excitement lasted less than a month.
In November 2017, right at the start of the #MeToo movement, Ratner was accused by a half-dozen women of sexual misconduct. Ratner's career collapsed instantaneously, with Warner Bros. severing ties with him and his production company. Playboy Enterprises quickly halted development on the project, which still hasn't resumed with or without Ratner. Leto also contradicted Ratner, with his camp telling The Hollywood Reporter that he "is not and was not attached to a Brett Ratner-directed Hugh Hefner film, nor will he be working with him in the future."
Credits: David L. Lebovitz
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