Partial Source: PWTorch.com
— WWE will be doing away with “RAW” and “SmackDown” branded house shows this year. The news comes from a new survey from the WWE Fan Council. In the survey, WWE asked participants to vote on potential new names for the separate house show tours, which run on a typical non-PPV weekend. Stephanie McMahon noted in an interview earlier this week that the brand split had basically been ended on TV.
— WWE Studios head Michael Luis recently spoke about working with the Rock and more. Here are the highlights…
On the Rock Working With WWE Studios: “He participated in WrestleMania last year and he’s been involved with WWE events since then and I think there’s nothing that would please us or our fans more than if we could find a way to do a movie project with him,” Luisi said. “So ‘to be continued’ on that front.”
On The Move They Are Doing & Appealing to a Broader Audience: “The type of movies that we’re making now are more in the genres of action, thriller, crime dramas,” Luisi said. “Those are definitely genres that we think will appeal to, as I said, not only our audience but the broader audience as well. So what we’re really looking to do is have a portfolio of films where we use our talent in a more strategic way that’s more organic to the movie. The movie still comes first and the movie will appeal to all audiences, whether or not they’re a WWE fan and even more so if they are.”
On The Scooby-Doo Film: “Because the animation process takes about two years from script to actual presentation to the audience, so we had to come up with a storyline well in advance of whatever’s going to happen at WrestleMania in 2014,” Luisi said. “We had our story and we’re going with it, but I can promise you there will be lots of fun tie-ins to the road to WrestleMania all along the way. They (WWE Superstars) have all voiced their own characters. We had fun recording sessions with everyone from Vince McMahon to John Cena to The Miz doing that one as well. Then the Scooby voices are voiced by the voice actors from Scooby.”
