Norman Smiley Signs With WWE, Austin Update, J.R/Adamle, More
WWE has signed former WCW wrestler Norman Smiley. However, he is not coming in as a performer, but rather a wrestling trainer. He will be working as a trainer for the WWE developmental wrestlers in Florida Championship Wrestling. Smiley is relocating from Miami to Tampa for the job.
WWE Studios' 2007 release The Condemned starring "Stone Cold" Steve Austin has a bit of a dubious distinction. It has just come out that out of all the movies to be released within the past 27 years in theaters, The Condemned had the 19th worst second-to-third week drop at the box office. Movie theaters are obligated to give major movie releases two weeks because in week three you see big drops among the movies that have flopped because theaters stop carrying them. Box office receipts for The Condemned fell 76% in weekend three last year. The Condemned was a pretty big money loser as it nearly put the WWE Studios venture in the red. Whatever profits they gained from The Marine and See No Evil were practically offset by the losses incurred by The Condemned. Based on data from back in February, between See No Evil and The Marine, WWE made $16 million in profit. However, WWE estimated losses at $15.7 million for the release of The Condemned. In January 2005, Austin signed a three picture deal with WWE Studios, which was WWE Films at the time. We haven't heard anything new on Austin doing another movie with WWE Studios, so it's going to be a long time before we see WWE release another movie starring him again, if they even do. Also, there was a newspaper article on Austin a few months ago, and he said he was evaluating movie scripts. However, we have heard nothing on him participating in another movie. When you go on his page on IMDB.com, the only items listed besides wrestling are the same three credits; his appearances on Nash Bridges, his minor role as a football player in The Longest Yard (which was filmed four years ago), and of course his role in the WWE-funded action flick The Condemned. The Condemned made a grand total of $7,371,706 domestically.
Jim Ross has posted a new blog on the WWE Fan Nation site talking about Mike Adamle as the General Manager of Raw, Todd Grisham calling ECW, tonight's edition of SmackDown, his take on a few SmackDown stars, and more.
Freddie Prinze, Jr., the newest member of WWE's creative team, also has a blog entry up on the WWE Fan Nation site talking about "hanging out with Ric Flair" and leaving Hollywood.
