Spotlight Please

This past week, the entire online community has been smacked with the thought of Batista leaving WWE. His contract is coming to an end, and neither him nor any executive has revealed any plans to continue. Batista is 42 years old, and his age has been a major influence of why he has decided to leave the company.

True enough, he was given the appropriate push. And true enough, Batista is still in the limelight. However, Batista has publicly expressed concern on how long he can continue this run without damaging his health. He is afterall not like Cena or Orton who is still young.

So Batista begun to look for an alternative – a movie career. He has partnered with many media organizations to gain foothold into this industry. Over the years, he has guest starred and made appearances in Smallville, Extreme Makeover, MTV Cribs and Relative Stranger. This year, Batista and RVD has partnered with David Deflaco in Wrong Side Of Town. And just recently, he was confirmed to be starring alongside with Manny Pacquiao and Nicole Scherzinger in Wapakman.

Sensing that Batista is leaving for the greener side of the field, WWE decided to remove Batista as the lead role in “Killing Karma” – a position which was replaced by Triple H. Duly, Batista was upset by the management’s arrangement and this has led to the speculation that Batista will be leaving the company’s door.

Tonight, Batista and John Cena will be facing off for the last time in an “I Quit” match. It seems reasonable to cut Batista from the roster in this manner. (A similar storyline where Chris Jericho left the company in 2005). After his departure, would Batista take his long hiatus and return to the company eventually? Would Batista join the ranks of Stone Cold Steve Austin, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Goldberg and tries to break into the silver screen? Or will Batista head to Dixie Carter’s TNA?

When the bell ring in the aftermath of tonight’s match. It symbolize the possible end of Batista career and it also symbolizes his pursuit of the Spotlight.

WWE RAW 17/03/10

Catch WWE RAW 17/05/10 here!

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Part Six

Part Seven

BTM Big Plans!

It’s been over a month since BTM has returned to its wrestling roots, to a place we call “home”. BTM has provided a platform for fans across the globe to read and access videos, news, fun facts and merchandise in the world of prowrestling. Today, we sat down and have a little chat with BTM founder, Scott, to find out what’s in store for our coming site.

Hi Scott, could you tell us a little about your blog?
First of all, I would like to thank all the loyal visitors who have been flocking to our site. The response has been tremendous. So on behalf of the team, I would like to extend my appreciation. Second thing, I’ve been receiving some mails of appreciation, and of course, I would like to take this time to say hi to all. And I want to take this chance to clarify something. Many have this idea that BTM is run solely by me. It’s actually not entirely true. Our site is run by a team of four – Me (Scott), T.A, Chua and J.H. I’m simply the Average Joe who came out with the idea of running this blog. T.A and Chua are both in charge of our BTM store. And J.H is the one who has been sourcing out information for the site.

Haha, cool, so what’s the upcoming big plan boss?
Well, for starters, we are going to have our own domain! It’s not going to be called beyondthemat, unfortunately. The site is still under construction and it’s set to come out in two weeks time. The site is going to have a whole new layout, new theme, new design, better graphics, and of course we gonna keep coming up with new writing materials – it’s a whole lot more original and creative than what we have now. Yeah.. so the entire site will be something to look forward to.

What’s going to happen to BTM store?
Yes, thanks for asking. Coming to that, we have recently signed up with Zazzle and Chua/T.A is both busy rolling out new designs for the new shop. I’ve received some compliments that our tees are better than the authentic shopzone, which is really heartening to hear. Right now, our store has about 4-5 items, but when the new shop rollout with our new site, it’s gonna feature more about 20+ items. So yeah, we’ve been busy.

Last words boss?
Yep, just want to thank the people once again for coming to our blog. The mails and appreciation of our tees has made me really encouraging for us to continue. Honestly, we are not doing this for commercial means but we are coming out from the fan point of view. We believe most of the shopzone tee sucks. So we decide to create ourselves. The price of our tees are reasonable and it’s just used to cover back our expenses and cost. We understand that many fans are seeking videos of RAW and Smackdown and other related PPV. Well, we don’t upload them. But we find the links and put em’ here. And of course, we understand that wrestling fans are getting more connected and active, so we’ve tons of news updated daily. With that, looking forward to the Over The Limit PPV next sunday and of course, the migration plans for BTM. Tada!

WWE RAW 10/03/10

Catch WWE RAW 10/05/10 here!

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Part Five

The Game and The Queen welcomes third child

It is reported that the 13 time heavyweight champion , Triple H and the billionaire princess, Stephanie Mcmahon will be welcoming their third child very soon. The couple was married on Valentine’s Day in 2003. Their first daughter Aurora Rose Levesque was born on July 24, 2006. Their second daughter Murphy Claire Levesqu was born on July 28, 2008.

The expectancy birth for the third child is sometime between June to July this year. You can find Stephanie’s recent appearance at the board meeting here.

We would like to extend best wishes to the couple.

Superstar Lookback: Owen Hart

Owen James Hart was born on this very day, May 7th, 45 years ago. The youngest of 12 children to WWE Hall Of Fame, Stu Hart, Owen, like many of Hart family, has been a notable figure in the wrestling showbiz. Amongst his accomplishments, Owen was crowned WWF King Of The Ring in 1994. He had also held the WWF European title once, the WWF Intercontinental title twice and the WWF Tag Team title four times.

Throughout his career, Owen has made notable feuds and partnerships. One of the most classic rivalries he had was with his brother, Bret “The Hitman” Hart which resulted in a legendary face off at Wrestlemanina X. He had also worked with Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Triple H & Shawn Michaels. In the late 90s, Owen partnered with the British Bulldog, Davey Boy Smith, in Tag Team division scene and later rebooted the Hart Foundation faction in 1997 along with Bret, Jim Neidhart and Brian Pillman. The faction was a success but ended within a year following Pillman’s death. The present Hart Dynasty comprising of DH Smith (British Bulldog’s son), Tyson Kidd (Bret Hart’s Trainee) and Natalya Hart (Jim Neidhart’s daughter) is a continuation of the Hart’s faction lineage.

On May 23, 1999, tragic struck the Hart family. During the “Over The Edge” pay-per view, Owen fell to his death during an entrance stint. Owen was in the process of being lowered via harness and grapple line into the ring for a match against The Godfather. The release mechanism was triggered by accident and Owen’s intended dramatic entrance was turned into a horrific accident. Owen fell 78 feet down into the ring. Following the accident, a dazed Owen managed to sit up in the ring, before losing consciousness and later died of massive internal bleeding. The following night on RAW, Jeff Jarrett defeated The Godfather to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship – the title Owen was booked to win at Over the Edge. Jarrett screamed Hart’s name as the belt was handed to him with fans around the ring tearing for Owen’s passing. Three weeks after the event, the Hart family sued the WWE for poor execution of Owen’s stunt and was awarded 18 million in compensation.

Owen is left by his wife, Martha Joan Patterson, his son Edward Hart (born 1992) and Christie Hart (born 1995). Many have argued that if Owen is alive today, the wrestling showbiz would have one more hall of famer, one more main eventer and one more hero to look up to.

Here at BTM, we honor Owen with this very tee – “Hart To Get Over” at our store. Thank You, Owen. We miss you.

Fantasy Rebound: Bret One More Time?

On January 4 this year, Bret “The Hitman” Hart returned to WWE and made his first appearance on Raw in over 12 years as the guest host for the night. He reconciled with Shawn Michaels and later went on to confront Vince Mcmahon regarding the Montreal Screwjob that happened in 1997.

This led to their confrontation in Wrestlemanina 26, in which Bret “The Hitman” triumphed over the chairman. Honestly in my opinion, it was one of the worst matches of Bret to date. The match has all the makings of a classic battle – 13 years in the making, the return of the Hitman, personal rivalry turned on screen feud. Yet the pull off was terrible, especially with the insertion of the entire Hart Family, turning it into a tasteless lumberjack match. While the dust has been settled, many has been asking this recurring question – Will we ever see Bret have one more run at the title?

No details of Bret’s contract with WWE has been revealed. Although he has made appearances on overseas tours as well as on Monday Night War and on Extreme Rules. Can we then consider Bret as a regular? Bret suffered a stroke in the late 90s and has left him impaired for intense physical exercise. Yet sources has indicated that Bret is still good to go for some matches. Should we see that happen, that would mean big thumbs up for any opponents that Bret would face. Think about Bret Vs Triple H. Bret Vs the Undertaker and even Bret Vs John Cena. Such matches would be nothing than classic.

As for Bret holding on to the title – I guess it ain’t going to happen. We would be lucky to see Bret going for another shot at a wrestling match. But I won’t bet my hope for seeing the hitman capturing the gold. Maybe a tag title with a big name, but that’s all.

WWE RAW 03/05/10

Catch WWE RAW 03/05/10 here!

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Part Five

Survival Of The Hitman

For those who are too used to mainstream wrestling news, don’t miss this chance to catch an exclusive documentary on Bret “The Hitman” Hart titled Survival Of The Hitman. The documentary is produced by The Fight Network, John Pollock, Jorge Barbosa and Wai Ting. It chronicles the rise of Bret “The Hitman” Hart, his split with the WWE in 1997, The Montreal Screwjob, Owen’s Hart death and his road back to the company in January 2010. The documentary features interviews with Bret, members of the family, Carl DeMarco, former sports agent Gord Kirke and more.

It is really an exclusive, off-the-mainstream documentary that is not produced by WWE, which makes it honest. Well, here are links. Enjoy!

Part One

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Part Four

WWE issues $0.36 cents dividends & more on shareholders meeting

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. has recently declared quarterly dividend of $0.36 per share on its Class A shares of common stock. As previously announced, members of the McMahon family have waived $0.12 per share of the dividends. The record date for the dividend will be June 15, 2010, and the payment date will be June 25, 2010.

Also, during the quarter shareholder meeting, the idea of having a separate roster for the European market was mentioned. Vince Mcmahon said it would be costly to come up with another roster and production crew. Vince however, added that in might be possible in 10 years as there are only so many dates the WWE Superstars can work.

Another opinion voiced out in the board was that WWE Films has been a costly experiment. Vince reassured that only one movie has failed while the others have been profitable. WWE films may not be hitting the home runs but at least they are hitting good doubles and singles.