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Saturday, September 16, 2023
Friday, September 15, 2023
Media Man News Blog: Cypto
Media Man News Blog
Nigerian Influencers Join the Crypto Experience with Sportsbet.io
Press Release: Three Nigerian influencers have Joined the Sportsbet.io team as the company continues to expand its team of ambassadors.
September 14, 2023, London, UK — Sportsbet.io has announced the signing of three high-profile Nigerian personalities as part of the ongoing campaign. TV and radio star Dadaboy, cryptocurrency coach Tola Joseph Fadugbagbe and betting guru Winnerbet are the latest players to ‘Join the Crypto Experience’
Who are the Ambassadors?
Ehizojie, known as Dadaboy, is a Nigerian TV and radio personality who has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers and fans online. He is host of Africa Now Radio on Apple Music and has his own podcast, The Dadaboy Show.
Dadaboy, Brand Ambassador for Sportsbet.io, stated:
“Like Sportsbet.io, I’m all about providing fun, fast and fair entertainment to my audience, whether it's on TV, radio or my podcast. Sportsbet.io is the best place to play, and I look forward to sharing some exclusive promotions over the coming months.”
Meanwhile, Lagos-based Tola Joseph Fadugbagbe is cryptocurrency coach and mentor who has built a strong following via his insight and analysis, including as founder of educational platform Crypto Masterclass.
Tola Joseph Fadugbagbe, Brand Ambassador at Sportsbet.io, stated:
“When it comes to crypto, knowledge is power, and that’s why my partnership with Sportsbet.io is such a great match. We both understand that education around this technology is vital, and I’ll be working hard to show my community the advantages they can enjoy when they choose to bet with cryptocurrency.”
Finally, betting influencer, crypto enthusiast and digital market Ewoma Chris Ejegreh, known as Winnerbet, also joins the team. Winnerbet has established a strong following online for his betting tips.
Ewoma Chris Ejegreh, Brand Ambassador at Sportsbet.io, stated:
“My followers are always on the lookout for the best odds and promotions, and by teaming up with Sportsbet.io, I’ll be able to share these with them going forward. Sportsbet.io is my favorite place to play, and it is a real honor to work closely with them as an ambassador.”
300 Influencer Spots Available
Dadaboy, Fadugbagbe and Ejegreh are the latest additions to the Sportsbet.io ambassadorial program, ‘Join the Crypto Experience’, which is open to applications. Those selected introduce Sportsbet.io’s VIP ecosystem to their networks.
There are only 300 spots available in the exclusive scheme. Last month, crypto trader Grey Jabesi and lifestyle influencer Amara Kanu became the latest entrants, joining the likes of Aussie cricket legend Brett Lee and Brazilian World Cup winner Denilson.
Anyone who believes that they would make a great Sportsbet.io ambassador can learn more about the program, and apply at: https://jointhecryptoexperience.io/
About Sportsbet.io
Founded in 2016 as part of Yolo Group, Sportsbet.io is the leading crypto sportsbook. Sportsbet.io has redefined the online betting space by combining cutting-edge technology, with cryptocurrency expertise and a passion for offering its players with the ultimate fun, fast and fair gaming experience.
Principal sponsors of English football team, Southampton FC, Sportsbet.io provides an expansive range of betting action across all major sports and eSports, offering players more than 350,000 pre-match events per year and comprehensive in-play content.
As the first crypto sportsbook to introduce streaming across all major sports, as well as a cash out function, Sportsbet.io is recognized as a leader in both online sports betting and within the crypto community.
Sportsbet.io prides itself on its secure and trustworthy betting service, with withdrawal times of around 1.5 minutes among the fastest in the industry.
For more information about Sportsbet.io, please visit https://sportsbet.io.
Wednesday, September 13, 2023
Media Man News Blog: ENDEAVOR ANNOUNCES CLOSE OF UFC® AND WWE® TRANSACTION TO CREATE TKO GROUP HOLDINGS, A PREMIUM SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY
Media Man News Blog
ENDEAVOR ANNOUNCES CLOSE OF UFC® AND WWE® TRANSACTION TO CREATE TKO GROUP HOLDINGS, A PREMIUM SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY
September 12, 2023
New Company to Begin Trading Today, September 12, on the New York Stock Exchange Under “TKO” Ticker Symbol
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. & STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EDR) (“Endeavor”) and World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (previously NYSE: WWE) (“WWE”) today announced the close of their previously announced agreement and the launch of TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TKO) (“TKO”).
TKO brings together UFC, the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization, and WWE, an integrated media organization and the recognized global leader in sports entertainment, to create a new premium sports and entertainment company serving more than one billion young and diverse fans1, reaching viewers in 180 countries, and producing more than 350 annual live events. Through this combination, TKO will leverage Endeavor’s expertise in areas including domestic and international media rights, ticket sales and yield optimization, event operations, global partnerships, licensing, and premium hospitality to drive revenue growth.
“The creation of TKO marks an exciting new chapter for UFC and WWE as leaders in global sports and entertainment,” said Ariel Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor and TKO. “Given their continued connectivity to the Endeavor network, we are confident in our ability to accelerate their respective growth and unlock long-term sustainable value for shareholders. With UFC and WWE under one roof, we will provide unrivaled experiences for more than a billion passionate fans worldwide.”
“This is the culmination of a decades-long partnership between Endeavor and WWE across strategic initiatives including talent representation and media rights. Given our collaborative, trusted relationship and Endeavor’s incredible track record of success growing UFC, we believe WWE is optimally positioned for future growth and success as part of TKO,” said Vince McMahon, Executive Chairman of TKO. “Our focus remains on delivering for our fans across the globe as we take the business to the next level alongside UFC and Endeavor.”
TKO will begin trading today on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “TKO,” with Endeavor holding a 51% controlling interest in the new company and existing WWE shareholders holding a 49% interest in the new company, on a fully diluted basis.
Leadership Team
As previously announced, TKO is led by:
Ariel Emanuel, Chief Executive Officer, who continues as Chief Executive Officer of Endeavor;
Mark Shapiro, President and Chief Operating Officer, who continues as President and Chief Operating Officer of Endeavor;
Andrew Schleimer, Chief Financial Officer; and
Seth Krauss, Chief Legal Officer, who continues as Chief Legal Officer of Endeavor.
Dana White is now Chief Executive Officer of UFC and Lawrence Epstein remains Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of UFC. Nick Khan continues at WWE in the role of President.
The Board of Directors of TKO is led by Vince McMahon as Executive Chairman of the Board and consists of 11 members, including Mr. Emanuel, Mr. Shapiro, and Mr. Khan, in addition to the following directors:
Peter C.B. Bynoe, Senior Advisor at DLA Piper LLP;
Egon P. Durban, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Silver Lake;
Steven R. Koonin, Chief Executive Officer of the Atlanta Hawks, LLC;
Jonathan A. Kraft, President of the Kraft Group LLC;
Sonya E. Medina, President and Chief Executive Officer of Reach Resilience;
Nancy R. Tellem, Executive Chairperson and Chief Media Officer of Eko; and
Carrie Wheeler, Chief Executive Officer and a board member of Opendoor Technologies Inc.
Advisors
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC served as financial advisors to Endeavor, Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal advisor to Endeavor, and Alvarez & Marsal served as integration advisor to Endeavor. The Raine Group served as lead financial advisor to WWE. J.P. Morgan and Moelis & Company LLC served as financial advisors to WWE. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP served as legal advisor to WWE, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisor to WWE’s controlling stockholder, McMahon.
About Endeavor
Endeavor (NYSE: EDR) is a global sports and entertainment company, home to many of the world’s most dynamic and engaging storytellers, brands, live events and experiences. The company is comprised of industry leaders including entertainment agency WME; and sports, fashion, events and media company IMG. Endeavor is also the majority owner of TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO), a premium sports and entertainment company comprising UFC and WWE. The Endeavor network specializes in talent representation, sports operations & advisory, event & experiences management, media production & distribution, experiential marketing and brand licensing.
About TKO
TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TKO) is a premium sports and entertainment company that comprises UFC, the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization, and WWE, an integrated media organization and the recognized global leader in sports entertainment. Together, our organizations reach more than 1 billion TV households in approximately 180 countries, and we organize more than 350 live events year-round, attracting over one million fans. TKO is majority owned by Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EDR), a global sports and entertainment company.
About UFC®
UFC® is the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization (MMA), with more than 700 million fans and 228 million social media followers. The organization produces more than 40 live events annually in some of the most prestigious arenas around the world, while broadcasting to over 900 million TV households across more than 170 countries. UFC’s athlete roster features the world’s best MMA athletes representing more than 80 countries. The organization’s digital offerings include UFC FIGHT PASS®, one of the world’s leading streaming services for combat sports. UFC is part of TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO), and is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. For more information, visit UFC.com and follow UFC at Facebook.com/UFC, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok: @UFC.
About WWE®
WWE, part of TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO), is an integrated media organization and the recognized global leader in sports entertainment. The company consists of a portfolio of businesses that create and deliver original content 52 weeks a year to a global audience. WWE is committed to family-friendly entertainment on its television programming, premium live events, digital media, and publishing platforms. WWE’s TV-PG programming can be seen in more than 1 billion homes worldwide in 25 languages through world-class distribution partners including NBCUniversal, FOX Sports, TNT Sport, Sony India and Rogers. The award-winning WWE Network includes all premium live events, scheduled programming and a massive video-on-demand library and is currently available in more than 180 countries. In the United States, NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock, is the exclusive home to WWE Network. Additional information on WWE can be found at wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com.
Website Disclosure
Investors and others should note that TKO announces material financial and operational information to its investors using press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts, as well as its Investor Relations site at investor.tkogrp.com. TKO may also use its website as a distribution channel of material information about the Company. In addition, you may automatically receive email alerts and other information about TKO, UFC and WWE when you enroll your email address by visiting the “Investor Email Alerts” option under the Resources tab on investor.tkogrp.com.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements generally include statements regarding transaction between Endeavor and WWE resulting in the formation and launch of TKO, including statements regarding expected synergies, impacts and benefits of the transaction, future opportunities, and other statements regarding TKO’s future expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows, or future events or performance. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this communication may be forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “will,” “outlook,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “could,” “intends,” “targets,” “projects,” “contemplates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this communication are only predictions. Endeavor and TKO management have based these forward-looking statements largely on their current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that management believes may affect its business, financial condition and results of operations. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from what is expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to: there may be difficulties with the integration and in realizing the expected benefits of the transaction; Endeavor and TKO may need to use resources that are needed in other parts of its business to do so; there may be liabilities that are not known, probable or estimable at this time; integration of the UFC and WWE businesses may result in the diversion of management’s time and attention; expected synergies and operating efficiencies attributable to the transaction may not be achieved within its expected time-frames or at all; there may be significant integration costs in connection with the transaction; and risks inherent to the business may result in additional strategic and operational risks, which may impact Endeavor’s and TKO’s risk profiles, which each company may not be able to mitigate effectively. In addition, a number of important factors could cause Endeavor’s or TKO’s actual future results and other future circumstances to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements, including but not limited to those important factors discussed in Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” in Endeavor’s or WWE’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, as any such factors may be updated from time to time in other filings with the SEC, including without limitation, Endeavor’s and WWE’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2023, WWE’s final prospectus on Form 424(b)(3) filed with the SEC on August 22, 2023 as any such factors may be further updated from time to time in TKO’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and TKOs investor relations site at investor.tkogrp.com. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and, except as may be required under applicable law, neither Endeavor nor TKO undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
1 Derived from third-party survey data and are based on (i) adults age 18 or older who indicated a Top 2 Box score (i.e., chose one of the two most favorable response options) when surveyed regarding UFC and WWE, respectively, and (ii) internet users age 16-64 who indicated they “regularly follow” or “regularly watch” when surveyed regarding UFC and WWE, respectively.
Investor Contacts:
For Endeavor
James Marsh
investor@endeavorco.com
For WWE
Seth Zaslow
seth.zaslow@wwecorp.com
For TKO
Seth Zaslow
investor@tkogrp.com
Media Contacts:
For Endeavor
Brunswick Group
Endeavor@brunswickgroup.com
For WWE
Chris Legentil
chris.legentil@wwecorp.com
For TKO
press@tkogrp.com
Source: Endeavor Group Holdings
Tuesday, September 12, 2023
Sunday, September 10, 2023
Blog: Pro Wrestling and USA Wrestling news
Blog
Pro Wrestling and USA Wrestling News Update
Gable Steveson @GableSteveson Steps Back from 2023 World Championships
USA Wrestling has revealed that 2020 Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson will not be participating in the upcoming 2023 Senior World Championships set for September 16-24 in Belgrade, Serbia. Steveson, a Minneapolis native, had previously signaled his return to freestyle wrestling with a victory at the 2023 U.S. Open in Las Vegas and a subsequent win at Final X in Newark, N.J.
Steveson has appeared on the NXT @WWENXT pro wrestling broadcast a handful of time over the past year. He's done some promos, one or two match interference and had officially one match. The sports legend has a love and passion for pro wrestling and the NXT contract has enabled more financial stability.
Steveson's absence from the tournament clears the way for Mason Parris to step in as his replacement in the 125 kg men's freestyle category. Based in Ann Arbor, Mich., Parris holds number 2 position on the 2023-24 U.S. Senior Men’s Freestyle National Team. This event marks his inaugural appearance at a Senior World Championships representing Team USA.
2020 Olympic champion Gable Steveson (Minneapolis, Minn./Gopher WC RTC) has notified USA Wrestling that he will not be competing in the 2023 Senior World Championships at 125 kg in Belgrade, Serbia in September.
Replacing Steveson in the 125 kg position in men’s freestyle at the World Championships is Final X runner-up Mason Parris (Ann Arbor, Mich./Titan Mercury WC/Cliff Keen WC). Parris, who is No. 2 on the 2023-24 U.S. Senior Men’s Freestyle National Team, will be competing in his first Senior World Championships for Team USA.
Steveson returned to freestyle wrestling for the first time since the Olympic Games in Tokyo when he won the 2023 U.S. Open in Las Vegas in April, then secured his position on the 2023 U.S. Senior World Team with his victory at Final X in Newark, N.J. in June.
Parris will compete at the Senior World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, September 16 and 17.
Parris was a 2019 Junior World champion in men’s freestyle at 125 kg, competing in Tallin, Estonia. Other freestyle achievements include a 2022 U.S. Senior Open title, runner-up in 2023 Final X, second place at the 2023 U.S. Open, runner-up at the 2021 World Team Trials and a third-place finish at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Parris most recently won a gold medal at the United World Wrestling Ranking Tournament in Hungary.
He has a 2023 NCAA champion for Michigan at 285 pounds. Parris won the 2023 Dan Hodge Trophy as the nation’s top college wrestler, going undefeated for the Wolverines with a 33-0 record, with 21 bonus point wins.
Parris was a 2021 NCAA runner-up. He was also fifth in the 2022 NCAA Championships. In 2020, when the NCAA Championships were cancelled, Parris was named NWCA First-Team All-American.
A native of Lawrenceburg, Ind., Parris won three Indiana state high school titles for Lawrenceburg High School.
News
Streaming vs Cable Channel news; Writers Strike shines more light; Streaming entertainment disruption to business models afoot
Most U.S and global streaming services continue to be unprofitable, with Neflix being the exception, with most studios still shooting for 2025 to break even. The subscriber televison business continues to decline in quality most people believe, but not all will admit. Sports and news media channels continue to seek out other options and business models.
On Friday morning, Charter Communications held a conference call with Wall Street analysts where it said it was prepared to abandon its video business if it couldn’t come to a “transformative” deal with The Walt Disney Co. to try and salvage the pay TV bundle. The company is one of the top pay TV providers domestically, with 14.7 million subscribers — just short of leader Comcast’s 14.9 million but above satellite rivals DirecTV (12.3 million) and Dish (6.9 million). Charter, like those other pay TV firms, has also lost video subs, about 200,000, in its latest quarter, per a Leichtman Research tally.
“We’re on the edge of a precipice. We’re either moving forward with a new collaborative video model, or we’re moving on,” Charter CEO Chris Winfrey said on the call. “This is not a typical carriage dispute. It’s significant for Charter, and we think it’s even more significant for programmers and the broader video ecosystem.”
Charter, in a Powerpoint presentation that accompanied the call, wrote that “programmers are caught in a self-imposed dilemma as they have moved content to their DTC products for short-term profit maximization and their management teams are not incentivized to drive business for the long-term,” arguing that studios like Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery chose to wreck their pay TV business (by moving most original shows to subscription video on-demand services, and pushing for higher and higher fees for sports channels) to pursue the streaming riches that Netflix promised.
“As an industry we failed to come together quickly to create that consumer friendly product,” Winfrey said. “Programmers then made high value content available for anyone to access on websites, and soon thereafter through emerging streaming applications such as Hulu, which was initially free. At the same time programmers believed that their content libraries could create so called incremental streaming service revenues by selling this content to Netflix.”
Media Man Wrap-Up
Something is going to give. It's a perfect storm approaching. This comes are most streaming TV viewers globally are turning off the paid services in favor of other freed channels such as Tubi @Tubi , YouTube @YouTube /YouTube Movies, and seeking out other TV streaming channels with more legacy content such as Australia's SBS On Demand @SBSOnDemand Some people are even focussing more on making more of their own content, or just spending more time in nature, at the beach and in non- tech endeavors.
(Sources: Wires, AP, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Charter Communications, The Wall Street Journal and X @X (formally Twitter buzz)
Bitcoin/Cryptocurrent News
Elon Musk Revealed To Be ‘Quietly’ Funding Crypto Rival To Bitcoin Amid Price Crash
Elon Musk, the TeslaTSLA @Tesla billionaire who embarked on a mission to transform Twitter into the X "everything app" last year, has been eyeing a major "PayPal update" that could cause bitcoin and crypto price chaos.
The bitcoin price rally this year has stalled in recent weeks—though crypto traders are braced for a "crazy" September—dragging down crypto prices and Elon Musk's "fav" bitcoin rival dogecoin, a meme-based fork of bitcoin created as a "joke."
Now, Musk has been revealed to have been "quietly" funding dogecoin development—even as the dogecoin price has collapsed 90% from its all-time high, crashing along with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Before snatching Twitter (now X @X ) last year for a staggering $44 billion, Musk considered creating "a new social-media platform based on the blockchain" that "could have a payment system using dogecoin, the semi-serious cryptocurrency whose development he had been quietly funding," Musk biographer Walter Isaacson wrote in an excerpt of his new book, titled simply Elon Musk, published in the Wall Street Journal.
The level of Musk's funding or investment in dogecoin isn't clear but he has previously said he wants to "upgrade" dogecoin to "beat bitcoin hands down" and "become the currency of Earth."
In July, Musk, who has said he personally owns the cryptocurrencies bitcoin, ethereum and dogecoin, quietly added the dogecoin Ð symbol to his X account amid a flurry of interactions with dogecoin fan accounts—with bitcoin and crypto market watchers predicting Musk's plans for X could be an "absolute game-changer."
Dogecoin which blasted into the crypto top ten in 2021 alongside a meme and influencer-fueled rally, crashed back along with the bitcoin price and other major cryptocurrencies through 2022 but has held onto some of its gains, making the combined dogecoin network worth around $9 billion.
In recent months, Musk has reportedly been plotting with Wall Street executives to turn X (Twitter) into an "updated version of PayPal" and has recently been on a state money transmitting license acquiring spree.
So customers, are you ready for "The Everything App" with crypto plus on the side and much more from X Corp!
Quotes in the spirit of UFC Fight Week down under in Sydney, Australia
The Art Of War, by Sun Tzu
“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win”
“If you know the enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles"
"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter" - George Washington
"War - An act of violence whose object is to constrain the enemy, to accomplish our will" - George Washington
Combat Sports News:
UFC @UFC 293. Sunday, 10th September, 2023 Sydney, Australia
Israel Adesanya aka "The Cringe Lord" per SS quote, or aka "The Stylebender" vs Sean Strickland @SStricklandMMA aka "Tarzan" for The Middleweight Title
The vast majority of Aussie fight fans have really taken a liking to Tarzan er Strickland, whose verbal punches sting almost as hard as his hits in the Octagon (or on the street or anywhere else).
USA/Australian Alliance vs China for the main event says some segments of fans and news media; Not much mention of New Zealand. Monster vs Nails and 'The Puppy King'. Cheers to a hell of a tough fight for the (current) champ and challenger.
Tai "Bam Bam" Tuivasa @bambamtuivasa vs Alexander Volkov @AlexDragoVolkov
Combat Sports News
UFC 293. Sunday, 10th September, 2023
Sydney, Australia
Israel Adesanya @stylebender vs Sean Strickland @SStricklandMMA for The Middleweight Title
Tai Tuivasa @bambamtuivasa vs Alexander Volkov @AlexDragoVolkov
Manel Kape vs Felipe dos Santos
Justin Tafa vs Austen Lane
Tyson Pedro sv Anton Turkalj
Undercard:
Carlos Ulberg vs Jung Da-Un
Jack Jenkins vs Chepe Mariscal
Jamie Mullarkey vs John Makdessi
Nasrat Haqparast vs Landon Quinones
Mike Mathetha vs Charlie Radtke
Shane Young vs Gabriel Miranda
Kevin Jousset vs Kiefer Crosbie
Wrestling and Surfing Connection!
Hulk Hogan tells Joe Rogan
"Wishes He Was Laird Hamilton". "I wanted to be him."
"That's the surfer guy right?" Hogan asks.
"Yeah, he's a freak, like a real physical freak. The guy's a maniac about training and recovery and nutrition," Rogan answers.
"This is really gonna sound weird to say because I've never admitted this in front of anybody, but I wanted to be him."
Rogan : "You wanted to be Laird Hamilton?"
"When I saw him ride those big waves bro. That big, tall, blond guy that was built like crazy. I said, man, I could have been him instead of me". Hogan.
"That's crazy, 'cause you're Hulk Hogan," Rogan says.
"Could you imagine riding one of those waves, bro? The rush?"
"I have several friends who are big wave surfers and I am in awe" Rogan.
"On a short board. I mean that's insane. Bro, you fall off, you might not come out of that thing". Hogan.
"Do you surf?" Rogan's co-host.
Hogan says his former lawyer, who was president of the Malibu Surf Club, taught him to surf on "little baby two to three-foot breakers."
He'd also rent boards and surf Diamond Head when he'd visit Hawaii.
Video/Audio via Spotify
Media Man News Blog: UFC, WWE and Pop Culture
Media Man News Blog
MMA/Pro Wrestling News
UFC And WWE To Close Merger Next Week, Make New York Stock Exchange Debut As TKO Group
UFC And WWE To Close Merger Next Week, Make New York Stock Exchange Debut As TKO Group
UFC remains world's number one combat sports promotion in almost all metrics
WWE remains world's number one pro wrestling promotion in all metrics
Endeavor Group management enjoyed strong relationship and mutual respect for WWE's Vince McMahon many years ago; Led to official talks...
UFC parent Endeavor Group and WWE advised they expect to close the planned merger of UFC and WWE on September 12th. That’s ahead of schedule as Endeavor stated in August it expected the deal to close in mid-to-late September. This can be viewed as a positive sign.
Endeavor and WWE announced a deal last spring for the Ari Emanuel-led firm to take control of WWE and merge it into a new, stand-alone entity with UFC. The pro wrestling and mixed martial arts powerhouse will be called TKO Group Holdings and trade on the New York Stock Exchange. Valued at $21 billion, TKO will be a subsidiary of Endeavor, with 51% control. WWE (Raw, SmackDown) will control 49%.
Emanuel will be CEO. Dana White will continue as president of UFC.
Vince McMahon, WWE’s longtime leader, executive chairman and major shareholder, who masterminded the deal with Endeavor, was set as executive chair of the new company’s board. In early August, WWE announced federal law enforcement agents had executed a search warrant and served a federal grand jury subpoena on McMahon although no charges had been brought. WWE CEO Nick Khan also advised then that McMahon was on a medical leave of absence until further notice following spinal surgery.
WWE launched an internal probe of McMahon in 2022 to investigate allegations of payments to women, which it found had totaled close to $20 million and that caused it to revise several quarterly financial statements. The probe concluded last November and McMahon paid the company $17.4 million for costs incurred.
“As previously disclosed on June 17, 2022, a Special Committee of the Board of Directors was formed on June 15, 2022 to investigate allegations of misconduct by Vince McMahon. As previously disclosed, the Special Committee investigation was completed during the fourth quarter of 2022. However, related government investigations remain ongoing,” the company said in SEC filing August 2.
The vast majority of pro wrestling fans and media are excited about the merger. Some staff in the WWE are understood to have some mixed feelings with the deal as in the history of company mergers it's not uncommon for some jobs to be lost for cost efficiencies. The higher one performers, in the ring, and/or in the office and corporate environment, the safer their job would likely be.
Staff, management and wrestlers continue to step up to impress the powers that be. At this stage nobody wants to hear the famous words heard from time to time, "We wish you well with your future endeavours".
Buzz remains strong for the WWE coming off record breaking numbers for a string of its recent premium live events (formally known as Pay-Per-Views), and the UFC is currently presenting a very solid card in Australia - UFC 293, coming off Fight Week down under. UFC media and media related events have been packed and have achieved worldwide and strong industry news coverage. You can bet the UFC (and WWE) powers that be are watching closely - we already know they follow the news, online news and social media buzz.
Little wonder wrestlers and legends to be such as John Cena, Grayson Waller and Logan Paul fit so well into the WWE marketing and media machine. Pub, sports bar, watercooler and cafe talk includes potential dream matches with the UFC's 'Bam Bam' (into The Bloodline), Volk vs Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Sean Strickland has the "killer heel or mega babyface" persona, just as long as WWE PR can control the beast. Everything is a risk, especially in the world of MMA meets UFC, but TKO and the brains trust has managed things beautifully over the course of this history making deal says Media Man.
Pro Wrestling and USA Wrestling News Update
Gable Steveson GableSteveson Steps Back from 2023 World Championships
USA Wrestling has revealed that 2020 Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson will not be participating in the upcoming 2023 Senior World Championships set for September 16-24 in Belgrade, Serbia. Steveson, a Minneapolis native, had previously signaled his return to freestyle wrestling with a victory at the 2023 U.S. Open in Las Vegas and a subsequent win at Final X in Newark, N.J.
Steveson has appeared on the NXT @WWENXT pro wrestling broadcast a handful of time over the past year. He's done some promos, one or two match interference and had officially one match. The sports legend has a love and passion for pro wrestling and the NXT contract has enabled more financial stability.
Steveson's absence from the tournament clears the way for Mason Parris to step in as his replacement in the 125 kg men's freestyle category. Based in Ann Arbor, Mich., Parris holds number 2 position on the 2023-24 U.S. Senior Men’s Freestyle National Team. This event marks his inaugural appearance at a Senior World Championships representing Team USA.
2020 Olympic champion Gable Steveson (Minneapolis, Minn./Gopher WC RTC) has notified USA Wrestling that he will not be competing in the 2023 Senior World Championships at 125 kg in Belgrade, Serbia in September.
Replacing Steveson in the 125 kg position in men’s freestyle at the World Championships is Final X runner-up Mason Parris (Ann Arbor, Mich./Titan Mercury WC/Cliff Keen WC). Parris, who is No. 2 on the 2023-24 U.S. Senior Men’s Freestyle National Team, will be competing in his first Senior World Championships for Team USA.
Steveson returned to freestyle wrestling for the first time since the Olympic Games in Tokyo when he won the 2023 U.S. Open in Las Vegas in April, then secured his position on the 2023 U.S. Senior World Team with his victory at Final X in Newark, N.J. in June.
Parris will compete at the Senior World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, September 16 and 17.
Parris was a 2019 Junior World champion in men’s freestyle at 125 kg, competing in Tallin, Estonia. Other freestyle achievements include a 2022 U.S. Senior Open title, runner-up in 2023 Final X, second place at the 2023 U.S. Open, runner-up at the 2021 World Team Trials and a third-place finish at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Parris most recently won a gold medal at the United World Wrestling Ranking Tournament in Hungary.
He has a 2023 NCAA champion for Michigan at 285 pounds. Parris won the 2023 Dan Hodge Trophy as the nation’s top college wrestler, going undefeated for the Wolverines with a 33-0 record, with 21 bonus point wins.
Parris was a 2021 NCAA runner-up. He was also fifth in the 2022 NCAA Championships. In 2020, when the NCAA Championships were cancelled, Parris was named NWCA First-Team All-American.
A native of Lawrenceburg, Ind., Parris won three Indiana state high school titles for Lawrenceburg High School.
News
Streaming vs Cable Channel news; Writers Strike shines more light; Streaming entertainment disruption to business models afoot
Most U.S and global streaming services continue to be unprofitable, with Neflix being the exception, with most studios still shooting for 2025 to break even. The subscriber televison business continues to decline in quality most people believe, but not all will admit. Sports and news media channels continue to seek out other options and business models.
On Friday morning, Charter Communications held a conference call with Wall Street analysts where it said it was prepared to abandon its video business if it couldn’t come to a “transformative” deal with The Walt Disney Co. to try and salvage the pay TV bundle. The company is one of the top pay TV providers domestically, with 14.7 million subscribers — just short of leader Comcast’s 14.9 million but above satellite rivals DirecTV (12.3 million) and Dish (6.9 million). Charter, like those other pay TV firms, has also lost video subs, about 200,000, in its latest quarter, per a Leichtman Research tally.
“We’re on the edge of a precipice. We’re either moving forward with a new collaborative video model, or we’re moving on,” Charter CEO Chris Winfrey said on the call. “This is not a typical carriage dispute. It’s significant for Charter, and we think it’s even more significant for programmers and the broader video ecosystem.”
Charter, in a Powerpoint presentation that accompanied the call, wrote that “programmers are caught in a self-imposed dilemma as they have moved content to their DTC products for short-term profit maximization and their management teams are not incentivized to drive business for the long-term,” arguing that studios like Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery chose to wreck their pay TV business (by moving most original shows to subscription video on-demand services, and pushing for higher and higher fees for sports channels) to pursue the streaming riches that Netflix promised.
“As an industry we failed to come together quickly to create that consumer friendly product,” Winfrey said. “Programmers then made high value content available for anyone to access on websites, and soon thereafter through emerging streaming applications such as Hulu, which was initially free. At the same time programmers believed that their content libraries could create so called incremental streaming service revenues by selling this content to Netflix.”
Media Man Wrap-Up
Something is going to give. It's a perfect storm approaching. This comes are most streaming TV viewers globally are turning off the paid services in favor of other freed channels such as Tubi @Tubi , YouTube @YouTube /YouTube Movies, and seeking out other TV streaming channels with more legacy content such as Australia's SBS On Demand @SBSOnDemand Some people are even focussing more on making more of their own content, or just spending more time in nature, at the beach and in non- tech endeavors.
(Sources: Wires, AP, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Charter Communications, The Wall Street Journal and X @X (formally Twitter buzz)
Bitcoin/Cryptocurrent News
Elon Musk Revealed To Be ‘Quietly’ Funding Crypto Rival To Bitcoin Amid Price Crash
Elon Musk, the TeslaTSLA @Tesla billionaire who embarked on a mission to transform Twitter into the X "everything app" last year, has been eyeing a major "PayPal update" that could cause bitcoin and crypto price chaos.
The bitcoin price rally this year has stalled in recent weeks—though crypto traders are braced for a "crazy" September—dragging down crypto prices and Elon Musk's "fav" bitcoin rival dogecoin, a meme-based fork of bitcoin created as a "joke."
Now, Musk has been revealed to have been "quietly" funding dogecoin development—even as the dogecoin price has collapsed 90% from its all-time high, crashing along with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Before snatching Twitter (now X @X ) last year for a staggering $44 billion, Musk considered creating "a new social-media platform based on the blockchain" that "could have a payment system using dogecoin, the semi-serious cryptocurrency whose development he had been quietly funding," Musk biographer Walter Isaacson wrote in an excerpt of his new book, titled simply Elon Musk, published in the Wall Street Journal.
The level of Musk's funding or investment in dogecoin isn't clear but he has previously said he wants to "upgrade" dogecoin to "beat bitcoin hands down" and "become the currency of Earth."
In July, Musk, who has said he personally owns the cryptocurrencies bitcoin, ethereum and dogecoin, quietly added the dogecoin Ð symbol to his X account amid a flurry of interactions with dogecoin fan accounts—with bitcoin and crypto market watchers predicting Musk's plans for X could be an "absolute game-changer."
Dogecoin which blasted into the crypto top ten in 2021 alongside a meme and influencer-fueled rally, crashed back along with the bitcoin price and other major cryptocurrencies through 2022 but has held onto some of its gains, making the combined dogecoin network worth around $9 billion.
In recent months, Musk has reportedly been plotting with Wall Street executives to turn X (Twitter) into an "updated version of PayPal" and has recently been on a state money transmitting license acquiring spree.
So customers, are you ready for "The Everything App" with crypto plus on the side and much more from X Corp!
Quotes in the spirit of UFC Fight Week down under in Sydney, Australia
The Art Of War, by Sun Tzu
“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win”
“If you know the enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles"
"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter" - George Washington
"War - An act of violence whose object is to constrain the enemy, to accomplish our will" - George Washington
Combat Sports News
UFC @UFC 293. Sunday, 10th September, 2023 Sydney, Australia
Israel Adesanya aka "The Cringe Lord" per SS quote, or aka "The Stylebender" vs Sean Strickland @SStricklandMMA aka "Tarzan" for The Middleweight Title
The vast majority of Aussie fight fans have really taken a liking to Tarzan er Strickland, whose verbal punches sting almost as hard as his hits in the Octagon (or on the street or anywhere else).
USA/Australian Alliance vs China for the main event says some segments of fans and news media; Not much mention of New Zealand. Monster vs Nails and 'The Puppy King'. Cheers to a hell of a tough fight for the (current) champ and challenger.
Tai "Bam Bam" Tuivasa @bambamtuivasa vs Alexander Volkov @AlexDragoVolkov
Combat Sports News
UFC 293. Sunday, 10th September, 2023
Sydney, Australia
Israel Adesanya @stylebender vs Sean Strickland @SStricklandMMA for The Middleweight Title
Tai Tuivasa @bambamtuivasa vs Alexander Volkov @AlexDragoVolkov
Manel Kape vs Felipe dos Santos
Justin Tafa vs Austen Lane
Tyson Pedro sv Anton Turkalj
Undercard:
Carlos Ulberg vs Jung Da-Un
Jack Jenkins vs Chepe Mariscal
Jamie Mullarkey vs John Makdessi
Nasrat Haqparast vs Landon Quinones
Mike Mathetha vs Charlie Radtke
Shane Young vs Gabriel Miranda
Kevin Jousset vs Kiefer Crosbie
Wrestling and Surfing Connection!
Hulk Hogan on Joe Rogan
Hogan: Wanted to be Laird Hamilton
"Wishes He Was Laird Hamilton". "I wanted to be him."
"That's the surfer guy right?" Hogan asks.
"Yeah, he's a freak, like a real physical freak. The guy's a maniac about training and recovery and nutrition," Rogan answers.
"This is really gonna sound weird to say because I've never admitted this in front of anybody, but I wanted to be him."
Rogan : "You wanted to be Laird Hamilton?"
"When I saw him ride those big waves bro. That big, tall, blond guy that was built like crazy. I said, man, I could have been him instead of me". Hogan.
"That's crazy, 'cause you're Hulk Hogan," Rogan says.
"Could you imagine riding one of those waves, bro? The rush?"
"I have several friends who are big wave surfers and I am in awe" Rogan.
"On a short board. I mean that's insane. Bro, you fall off, you might not come out of that thing". Hogan.
"Do you surf?" Rogan's co-host.
Hogan says his former lawyer, who was president of the Malibu Surf Club, taught him to surf on "little baby two to three-foot breakers."
He'd also rent boards and surf Diamond Head when he'd visit Hawaii.
Video/Audio via Spotify
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