— WWE.com is running a poll on which NXT superstar fans want to see the most on WWE NXT on the new WWE Network. Currently with over 5,000 votes cast, Alexander Rusev leads the poll at 32%. Sami Zayn comes in second at 31%. Bo Dallas is third at 22%. Adrian Neville has 10%, and Tyler Breeze is last with 5%.
— The Ultimate Wrestling Experience owner Sage Strong and Vice President Hollywood’s Finest, Kevin Murphy, recnet spoke out on WWE, TNA and indy wrestling. The indy promoters/stars talked about their influences and promoting indy wrestling. Below are some highlights:
Sage Strong on his influences: “My biggest influence as a child was Hulk Hogan, but as I’ve grown in the wrestling business it’s been more recently the men and women that haven’t seen the big paychecks. The workers in the wrestling industry that don’t see the spotlight, but put the faces over in the wrestling industry. It takes someone to lay down, in order to put someone over and make them a star. If no one laid down no one in the wrestling industry would be successful. Just like in life, in the ring, we are all in this thing together. It takes at least two people to have a match, but to have a great match, it takes two people with their egos checked at the door.”
Kevin Murphy on his: “Ric Flair, Chris Jericho, but to be honest, as I said a moment ago, I really have to say that Sage is my biggest inspiration. If you would have seen Sage, when we were kids, he was the skinny kid that got picked on. He went out and gave it 100% and did this. I actually went with him, when he was trained. He then went out on many tours, getting a ton of experience, and helped train me, to get us ready to do this wrestling thing, together.”
Strong on his advice to promote indy wrestling and those drawing 300-500 people to their shows: “Promote. A lot. Think outside of the box when and where you promote, money isn’t always going to draw big crowds. No offense meant, but take TNA for example… they have talent and money, but the draw isn’t there on a regular basis to support growth. They’re stagnant.”
Murphy’s response: Yep, if you look at our shows, you’ll see that we’ve been drawing pretty respectable crowds since day one. We really work hard to promote our shows.
