Wrestling

4/17/2024 |  Vince McMahon is taking vacations and in touch with Trump as WWE tries to move on from scandal-plagued ex-CEO (CNBC Sports)

• Ex-WWE CEO Vince McMahon is taking lavish vacations and staying in touch with former President Donald Trump since he left the organization that he turned into a global phenomenon.
• McMahon resigned as executive chairman of the WWE earlier this year after a former employee, Janel Grant, accused him of sexual abuse and trafficking, allegations he has denied.
• McMahon has not stayed in contact with WWE leaders, but has been in touch with John Cena and Dwayne Johnson, two of the wrestling outfit’s biggest success stories.

4/16/2024 |  USA Wrestling Heads to State College Spotlight (SportsTravel) There are wrestling hotbeds throughout the United States and while most know of the tradition of Iowa and Oklahoma State collegiately, there’s always been one place where the sport’s heartbeat pumps faster and louder than others – Pennsylvania.
It’s the region that develops as many elite wrestlers as there are trees throughout the commonwealth. Perhaps no more is the sport more a part of life than in Central Pennsylvania, where towns with only a few stoplights – and some with none – don’t wait for football to start each school year but for wrestling season.

4/3/2024 |  Ronda Rousey Accuses Top WWE Trainer of Inappropriate Behavior (Front Office Sports)

Former UFC and WWE star Ronda Rousey told NewsNation on Tuesday that Drew Gulak, a wrestler and top trainer for WWE, once reached down and grabbed the string of her sweatpants with other people around. 

She described the incident as illustrative of what she called a “sexist, patriarchal culture within the WWE” in her recently published autobiography. The company culture has been coming under increasing scrutiny since a former employee named Janel Grant filed a lawsuit accusing WWE founder Vince McMahon, who has since left the company, of trafficking and abusing her.  

“It just put a really sour taste in my mouth about the culture there and what’s considered acceptable and how to touch and treat the women,” Rousey said of the incident with Gulak.

Rousey said she was in a hallway outside the writer’s room with two writers and waiting to meet with top executive Paul “Triple H” Levesque when Gulak, whom she described as “barely an acquaintance,” grabbed the string of her sweatpants. 

“What the f*** was that?” she recalled saying. (In a post Wednesday morning, Gulak said he “accidentally touched her drawstring” in 2022 and that he apologized at the time.)

“Nobody around me acted as if it was abnormal,” she said. “I’m like, if this guy is coming up to me and doing this kind of stuff to me when there’s other people around, like what’s happening to these other girls when it’s not in the hallway or something like that? So that really, really put me on edge, too. Like, not only is this behavior prevalent, but it’s so prevalent that people don’t even realize it’s a problem.” 

Gulak has been with WWE since 2016. McMahon reportedly entrusted him with training “Stone Cold” Steve Austin ahead of the latter’s comeback at WrestleMania 38, and he also trained celebrities like Bad Bunny and Logan Paul for their wrestling appearances.

Rousey, a former Olympic medalist in judo, recalled telling Gulak, “‘If I ever hear about you putting like your hands on any other woman like this or doing anything like this to me ever again, we’re gonna have a’—you know, I’m editing myself, all the swear words out—but ‘we’re gonna have a problem.’ And he was like, ‘No, no, no, you know. I’m glad that you said something to me.’”

Rousey has been harshly critical of McMahon and the company in media appearances to promote her book. In one recent interview, she said she left WWE last year because “I just didn’t wanna be Vince’s action f***ing figure anymore.” 

Spokespeople for WWE and TKO, its parent company, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

3/24/2024 |  2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships Capped Off A Special Era For Black Wrestlers (First and Pen)

Wrestling fans have been treated to a special era of Black wrestling success over the last four years at the NCAA Wrestling Championships, a sport with deep roots in Black history. 

2021

In 2021, wrestling returned after the 2020 Pandemic, and 10 NCAA champions were crowned in St. Louis- 5 of them were Black.

Roman Bravo-Young of Penn State (133 lbs.), David Carr of Iowa St. (157 lbs.), Carter Starocci of Penn State (174 lbs.), Aaron Brooks of Penn State (184 lbs.) and Gable Steveson of Minnesota (285 lbs.) all won titles and jump started this historic era in Black wrestling history.

Less than three months later at the Pandemic-delayed Summer Games in Tokyo, Tamyra Mensah-Stock made history by becoming the first African-American woman, and second American woman overall (Helen Maroulis, 2016 Rio Games) to win Olympic gold when she defeated Nigeria’s Blessing Oborududu in Women’s Freestyle 68kg.

A few days later, Steveson etched his name in the record books by becoming the fourth African-American wrestler to win Olympic gold after rallying from a 5-8 deficit with 20 seconds remaining to defeat Georgia’s Geno Petriashvili 9-8.

That fall, Steveson returned to the campus at the University of Minnesota and prepared to defend his NCAA title while Bravo-Young, Carr, Starocci and Brooks did the same.

In October 2021, Morgan State announced it was reviving its once dominant wrestling program after a 24-year hiatus and was hiring Kenny Monday, the first African American wrestler to win Olympic gold (1988), as the team’s head coach. This year, the Bears became the sole DI HBCU wrestling program in the country.

2022

Five months later at the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Detroit, four Black champions defended their titles.

The Nittany Lions’ Bravo-Young was a back-to-back champion at 133 lbs. His teammates, Carter Starocci (174 lbs) and Aaron Brooks (184 lbs) also defended their 2021 titles. 

Joining them was Steveson, who not only defended his title but also closed out one of the most impressive and dominant careers in NCAA history, which included a 52-match win streak.

Iowa State’s David Carr took third.

Overall, there were 7 Black finalists. This included the four champions, Kizhan Clarke of North Carolina (2nd at 141 lb), Quincy Monday of Princeton (2nd at 157 lb) and Mekhi Lewis of Virginia Tech, who finished second to Penn State’s Carter Starocci at 174 lbs.

2023

Tulsa hosted the 2023 Championships, which was fitting as the home of Black Wall Street produced Black wrestling success.

For Penn State, wrestlers Starocci and Brooks defended their titles once again, Bravo-Young took second at 133 lbs and heavyweight and 2x All-American Greg Kerkvliet took second at 285 lbs, helping the Nittany Lions win the national title.

But Tulsa gave fans much more Black history to celebrate.

David Carr moved up to 165 lbs and took second place.

Quincy Monday, who was born in Tulsa, finished behind him in third. He also made history by becoming Princeton’s first Black All-American wrestler and one of only four Tigers with two top-three NCAA finishes.

New Jersey native, 3x All-American and the 2019 NCAA Championships Most Outstanding Wrestler Mekhi Lewis of Virginia Tech, who made history in 2019 by winning the NCAA 165 lbs. title and becoming Virginia Tech wrestling’s first individual national champion, took fourth. 

3x All-American Michael McGee from Arizona St. took third at 133 lbs behind Bravo-Young.

That brings us to Saturday night’s 2024 NCAA wrestling championships.

2024

First, 285 lbs Greg Kerkvliet won his first NCAA title and became a 4x All-American.

Then David Carr won his first 165 lbs title, making him a 2x NCAA Champion (157 lbs in 2021 and 165 lbs in 2024), a 4x Big 12 Champion and a 4x All-American.

Following him was Carter Starocci, who not only defended his 174 lbs title, but also became a 4x All-American and the sixth wrestler in NCAA history, and first in Penn St. history, to win four titles.

Closing out the night was Aaron Brooks, who won his fourth NCAA title, this time at 197 lbs. (his previous three were at 184 lbs.). The now 5x All-American became the seventh wrestler to win four titles and the second from Penn State to do so. He also won the NCAA DI award for most dominant wrestler.

The title defenses by Starocci and Brooks, according to USA Wrestling, marked the first time that two wrestlers won their fourth NCAA title at the same tournament.

Arizona State’s Jacori Teemer placed second at 157 lbs.

The victories by Brooks, Starocci and Kerkvliet also helped Penn State win its third straight NCAA title, its 11th in 13 years. The Nittany Lions also set a new tournament record with 172.5 points, 100 points more than runner-up Cornell. 

Carr will join Brooks, Starocci and Kerkvliet at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, April 19-20 at Penn State for the chance to head to Paris this summer. Joining them will be Quincy Monday.

In a sport where, according to the NCAA Demographics Database, only 6% of men’s DI wrestlers in 2022 identified as Black, it would only be fitting to see more Black wrestling success at the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Philadelphia, which of course is the City of Brotherly Love.

3/14/2024 |  Vince McMahon Lawsuit Questions Still Not Affecting WWE for Now (Front Office Sports)

With its television programs drawing strong ratings behind the return of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to the ring and a new deal with Logan Paul’s Prime Hydration, WWE has been on a business roll ahead of next month’s WrestleMania. The question lingering in the background during that time has been about the potential effect of a sex-trafficking lawsuit filed against former chair Vince McMahon in January. The fallout was hard to gauge in part because so much remained unknown about the suit, including the names of figures that it identified only as corporate officers.

The revelation this week that key WWE executives Nick Khan and Brad Blum were among those names—though neither is alleged to have participated in or known about abuse of any kind—has brought back to prominence questions about whether the lawsuit will affect the company’s dominant position in sports media and sponsorship. 

So far the answer appears to be “no.”  

Even before the latest disclosures, there were rising calls among some fans to boycott WWE. But with McMahon gone from the company, none of WWE’s current media and corporate partners have signaled any intent to exit or break their contracts. WWE’s meteoric growth in recent years has since January intersected with a series of allegations that a former WWE employee was retained as a “sexual slave” of McMahon, and a set of rights-holders who are primarily made up of generally risk-averse, publicly traded companies.

Among WWE’s major media and sponsorship deals: 

• A newly signed 10-year deal with Netflix for flagship weekly show Raw, worth more than $5 billion and beginning next year 
• A five-year, $1 billion deal signed with Comcast-owned NBCUniversal in 2021 in which the former WWE Network was folded into Peacock, including the WrestleMania franchise (that agreement expires in two years) 
• A further involvement with NBCUniversal through a five-year, $1.4 billion agreement for the U.S. rights to SmackDown
• A five-year pact, worth more than $100 million, with The CW Network for rights to WWE NXT, the pro wrestling company’s developmental circuit
• A major new move into mat advertising through an eight-figure agreement with Prime Hydration, representing the largest sponsorship in WWE history 

Will the Tide Turn?

 

While many athlete sponsorship agreements have morality clauses that allow brands to exit upon the emergence of damaging information—such as what happened to Tiger Woods with his personal scandals—most sports rights deals are not structured the same way. WWE has consistently denied any wrongdoing, and by clearing up a mystery about which executives were named in the suit, the latest developments may offer reassurance to WWE’s partners—and potential future ones. 

Investors do not appear particularly moved by the latest news. Stock in WWE parent company TKO Group Holdings has shifted less than 1% this week, though shares are down more than 22% since hittingthe market in September, with a marked fall later that first month on the heels of the SmackDown deal responsible for much of the overall decline.