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MMA, Wrestling

News Media, Streaming, Pop Culture and Combat Sports. End Of Year Feature

FOX News Digital continues to lead multiplatform views and minutes - December 18, 2023

FOX News Digital finished November continuing its streak as the top news brand with both multiplatform views and minutes, according to Comscore. Notably, this marks 33 consecutive months that FOX News Digital has led news brands with multiplatform minutes and 14 consecutive months that it has been the leader in multiplatform views.

FOX News Digital closed out the month reaching 2.9 billion total multiplatform minutes, 1.7 billion total multiplatform views, and 89 million multiplatform unique visitors. Additionally, FOX News Digital was also the top news brand with 2.7 average views per visit (up 11% year-over-year) and the FOX News Mobile App reached 5.8 million unique visitors in November.

FOX News was once again the most engaged brand on social media in the competitive set in November, with 18.4 million total social interactions, marking the 111th consecutive month FOX News has placed on top, according to Emplifi. FOX News drove 4.5 million interactions on Facebook, 11.9 million Instagram interactions and 1.9 million X interactions, seeing month-over-month gains across all platforms. On YouTube, FOX News secured 183 million video views, according to Shareablee.

FOXBusiness.com drove 187 million multiplatform views in November, surpassing CNN Business, Bloomberg.com and Forbes.com once again. Additionally, the business site delivered 264 million multiplatform minutes (+4% vs. October) and 26.3 million multiplatform unique visitors (up 15% vs. October). FOX Business’ videos on YouTube remained the most viewed among the business news competitive set for the 24th straight month, achieving 56.7 million views in November, according to Shareablee.

NOVEMBER 2023 FOX NEWS DIGITAL VS. CNN.COM AND NYTIMES.COM

Multi-Platform Total Views

FOX News Digital – 1,660,000,000

CNN.com – 1,305,000,000

NYTimes.com – 1,424,000,000

Multi-Platform Total Minutes

FOX News Digital – 2,872,000,000

CNN.com – 1,937,000,000

NYTimes.com – 1,545,000,000

Multi-Platform Unique Visitors

FOX News Digital – 88,618,000

CNN.com – 116,307,000

NYTimes.com – 70,509,000

Combat Sports

Rogan gives non-UFC fighters some advice

“No disrespect to the other organizations, there’s very good fighters in the other organizations, but I often feel like they’re wasting their career,” Rogan told Nickal. “Because I see these elite fighters that are fighting in Bellator or PFL, and I’m like, ‘Hey guys, no one’s watching.’

“I mean, some people are watching. You’re getting a little bit of a fanbase. I don’t want to disrespect. But, there’s a reality. There’s the XFL and there’s the CFL, then there’s the f*cking NFL. And if you’re not in the f*cking NFL, are you really playing football?”

“If you’re the UFC champ, you’re the f*cking man.” Rogan said. “If you’re the Bellator champ, I respect the sh*t out of those guys. I love them. Guys like Johnny Eblen. I really wish that guy would come to the UFC.”

“There’s this feeling of being in the UFC that everyone dreams of,” Rogan said. “You want Bruce Buffer right in front of you going, ‘It’s time!’ And you’re like, ‘Holy sh*t.’”

Pro Wrestling

AEW Worlds End. Broadcast globally via TrillerTV

DECEMBER 30, 2023

Long Island, NY

Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum

AEW World Championship: MJF defends against Samoa Joe

AEW Women's Championship: Toni Storm defends against Riho

AEW Continental Classic finals

TNA Wrestling

El Hijo del Vikingo Soars Into TNA Wrestling at Hard To Kill & Snake Eyes

As revealed on the Hidden Gems edition of IMPACT!, El Hijo del Vikingo will return to TNA Wrestling at Hard To Kill on January 13th and Snake Eyes on January 14th, marking his first appearances in a TNA ring since 2020. The Luchador sensation is known around the world for his breathtaking offense and jaw-dropping athleticism. Buckle up for the return of El Hijo del Vikingo when the new era begins in Las Vegas.

On January 13th and 14th, TNA Wrestling is back as Hard To Kill and Snake Eyes emanate from the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Tickets are on-sale now at Ticketmaster.com.

Donald Trump given ‘rockstar entrance’ at UFC 296 - December 21, 2023

Donald Trump was given a “rockstar entrance” at the Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena for UFC 296 as the former president walked out to thunderous applause, Sky News host Rita Panahi says.

With Kid Rock and Dana White by his side, Donald Trump electrified the scene, engaging fans before the welterweight showdown between Leon Edwards and Colby Covington.

The former president received a similar reaction at Madison Square Garden for UFC 295 in November.

Mr Trump was similarly accompanied by Mr White last month, along with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and rockstar Kid Rock.

“The crowd reaction is the same whether it's New York for UFC 295 last month or Nevada for UFC 296 a couple of days ago,” Ms Panahi said.

Logan Paul responds to being parodied on South Park: 'The accomplishment of my life!'

Logan Paul has spoken out on being parodied by iconic cartoon series South Park.

The YouTuber and wrestler, 28, appeared on Today on Friday and said he's "honoured" to be featured on the series.

"Literally, that is the life goal... [the] accomplishment of my life," he said with a laugh.

"Like, that is so cool that South Park, we somehow crack culture enough to infiltrate like one of the greatest cartoons of all time."

Paul added that he had no idea he and his sports drink would be parodied, adding, "I'm honoured."

The long-running cartoon series, which often parodies some of the biggest stars in pop culture, mocked Paul and his energy drink brand PRIME.

In the episode, character Clyde Donovan watches Logan LeDouche promote his energy drink online - clearly a nod to Paul.

"Drink Cred or you're a piece of s--t," LeDouche says as he jumps out of an airplane.

Paul also responded on Instagram, sharing a video copying the South Park episode. 

Paul has consistently been one of the highest-earning YouTubers over the last four years.

In 2018, he made the major decision to begin amateur boxing, like his brother Jake Paul.

In 2021, Paul fought the famous professional boxer Floyd Money Mayweather, reportedly making $US250,000 (approx. $361,000) by just showing up to the highly anticipated fight. His net worth is reportedly $75 million.

While Paul, who is engaged to Nina Adgal, has plenty of success, he also has a controversial past.

One example some might remember is the video he shared back in 2017 when he visited a Japanese forest known as a suicide destination.

In the video, Paul shared footage of a dead body he had seen in the Aokigahara forest, sparking major outrage and upset with viewers.

Australian Media News

James Packer returns to the media sector with investment in Paramount

The Australian has reported James Packer has returned to the media sector with a $122 million investment in the US entertainment giant Paramount.

Paramount is the owner of Australian free-to-air broadcaster Network Ten.

The Australian’s Margin Call column gained access to a list of Mr Packer’s holdings from fillings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The list includes investments in Crown Resorts owner Blackstone, Hilton Worldwide, Netflix, Expedia and Microsoft.

Mr Packer walked away from his investment in Crown with around $3.3 billion when Blackstone took it over for $8.9 billion in June.

Elon Musk’s X in political advertising push to offset revenue falls - December 20, 2023

Plans for new political ads team to hit $US100 million in sales ahead of US presidential election are met with industry scepticism.

London | A push by Elon Musk’s X to bring in $US100 million ($148 million) from political advertising in 2024 is being met by scepticism from industry insiders, hitting its hopes of offsetting revenue losses caused by big brands leaving the platform.

Earlier this year, X’s billionaire owner reversed a ban on political advertising instituted by former chief executive Jack Dorsey, a move designed to align with Musk’s stance as a “free speech absolutist”.

It has since increased its investment in the space, including hosting a recent event with about 100 existing and prospective political clients in Washington to promote its advertising services.

The company subsequently sent a message to some attendees saying it is “building the modern global town square – a place for causes & candidates to meet their constituents – and we are doing this with brand safety and election integrity at the forefront”.

The email, seen by the Financial Times, added that X had 92.4 million users in the US, 98 per cent of whom were of voting age.

Chief executive Linda Yaccarino has told industry figures she was aiming for the platform to bring in $US100 million annually in political ad revenues in a big election year, according to two people familiar with the projections.

X has set up a team of about 10 people that has held around 400 meetings and calls with digital marketers, strategists, campaigns and political action groups, according to those familiar with the operation.

X’s new political advertising sales team is headed by New York-based Sten McGuire, who has previously worked in political sales for Hulu and Walt Disney. X has hired Ms Yaccarino’s son Matthew Madrazo to manage Republican relationships.

Media advertising veteran Jonathan Phelps has been tasked with soliciting business from Democratic groups. Semafor first reported the sales target and some of X’s recent hires.

The company is also advertising more positions for its “growing” political ads sales team ahead of the “upcoming 2024 election cycle”, according to online job postings.

While X did not confirm the financial targets, it did confirm the communication related to the event and said it had been working on improving its targeting.

“On X, people can actively participate in vital discussions with elected officials, community leaders and fellow citizens,” said Joe Benarroch, X’s head of business operations. “That’s exactly why we’re constantly refining our policies and our products to ensure all communities have an open and secure platform for safe political discourse on X.”

The push has been met with scepticism by leading players in the US political advertising scene, particularly left-leaning groups.

During the 2018 midterm elections, X, then known as Twitter, brought in only about $US3 million in political advertising. As of December 11, the company had made about $US4.7 million from the start of 2023 from political ads, according to disclosure data that can be requested from the company.

One industry figure in US political marketing said that many in the sector believed X’s targets were too high, as the team lacked experience in Washington and the ads offering was not effective enough.

The company had previously touted a political advertising revenue target of $US200 million when pitching its plans but has since revised the figure, the person said. “Even $US100 million is unattainable,” the person said. “The numbers are misinformed and off.”

Mike Nellis, chief executive of Democratic ad group Authentic, which has run more than a dozen campaigns on the platform, said some of his clients were pulling back or refusing to spend on X.

“Our results on the site are weaker than they were in the first half of the year,” Mr Nellis said. “We believe this is because Elon is driving moderates and progressives off the site. If our target audience isn’t reachable on X, there’s no reason to spend any more.”

According to X’s data from earlier this month, US Republican presidential nominees testing the platform have ranged from spending a few cents on an individual ad campaign to tens of thousands of dollars.

The biggest spenders include Donald Trump’s campaign team, which has spent nearly $US36,000 in total, and Ron DeSantis, who has spent more than $US355,000.

Prominent Democratic politicians including Adam Schiff and Gavin Newsom have each spent close to $US100,000 on X. However, President Joe Biden does not appear to have run any ads on the platform.

Last month, Mr Musk told companies including Disney, IBM and Apple to “go f---” themselves, after the companies pulled their ad spending following his endorsement of an antisemitic post and the publication of research claiming to find some ads on X next to pro-Nazi content.

In 2021, the year before Musk’s takeover, X booked about $US5 billion in revenues mainly from advertising. In July, Mr Musk said ad revenues had dropped by 50 per cent, without giving precise details.

X has also outlined plans, first reported by the Financial Times, to focus on wooing small and medium-sized businesses to prop up its flailing ads business, alongside the political ads push.

Mr Dorsey banned political advertising in 2019 over fears that misinformation was rife in the space. Mr Musk’s decision to overturn the ban in August comes as he has worked with right-wing political figures, for example giving a platform to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson to host his show, and helping Mr DeSantis launch his presidential bid via its Spaces audio feature.

Political marketers say X lends itself more to soliciting donations, collecting email addresses and efforts to boost voter turnout, rather than shifting opinions, as users of the platform tend to be entrenched in their political beliefs.

“Political campaigns will leverage it, particularly for fundraising and ‘get out the votes’,” said Grace Briscoe, senior vice-president of client development for Basis Technologies, but added that levels of interest from her clients were low.

Several political advertisers observed that the reach and performance of the services offered by Meta and Google-owned YouTube were superior to that of X.

Between October 12 and November 5, 79 per cent and 72 per cent of voters used YouTube and Facebook, respectively, while only 29 per cent used X, according to findings by Priorities USA, a progressive political action committee.

However, the head of one right-leaning outfit said the platform was becoming a more attractive place for Republicans, as the user base shifts towards their side of the political spectrum.

Courtney Weaver, executive vice-president at Washington digital marketer IMGE, said her company was pitching X to all clients looking to fundraise, adding that the platform had advantages such as the ability for brands to target “lookalike audiences”, which are similar to voters they may already have data for.

Democrats, however, are pulling away. “Many of the Democratic agencies are sensitive to the comments that [Mr Musk has] made that have degraded their candidates,” another industry insider said. “I think there is a genuine hesitation to jump back in again because many of them don’t trust the leadership.”

(FT)

Box Office Recovery and Streaming’s Next Pivot: A Hollywood Consultant’s 2024 Forecast - December 22, 2023

John Harrison, media-entertainment chief at accounting firm EY, also shares his outlook on cord-cutting and his expectations for studios' next moves as they target streaming profitability.

From strikes and streaming losses to prominent box office disappointments, 2023 was another challenging year for many in Hollywood. But there was also the success of “Barbenheimer,” Taylor Swift’s blockbuster concert movie and signs that the streaming tide was starting to turn.

John Harrison, America’s media and entertainment leader at accounting and consulting firm EY, has followed the ups and downs of the industry, disruptions in the sector, as well as the challenges and opportunities for key players. “Feature films are tracking to a healthy 20 percent-plus year-over-year growth at the box office,” Harrison and his team wrote in a 2024 forecast. “Yet, despite decent performance in 2023, results remain 19 percent below the comparable period in the pre-COVID 2019.” 

The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Harrison about what is next for the box office in 2024 and beyond, where cord-cutting is going and his expectations for media giants’ next moves as they target reaching streaming profitability.

Hollywood companies really started putting profitability at the center of their streaming strategies over the past year. Where do you see things standing at the end of 2023 and what do you expect going into 2024?

This was really the year where the path to streaming profitability came truly under the spotlight. Prior to 2023, it was how do we launch our platforms, how do we grow our subscriber base, how do we push content onto the streaming services and just drive activity, awareness and subscriber sign-ups.

In 2023, really driven by investors, candidly, there was just sort of a screeching halt on growth and a much greater focus on when are we going to get these services to break even and what’s the long-term profit potential here? And then how does that compare to the business that we’re leaving behind that we’re transitioning away from — linear, because there is a long-running transition that’s taking place from linear to streaming.

In 2024, I think, the focus will continue to be on profitability. And I think the investor base in media is forcing the issue and saying, “you know, you can’t keep burning billions of dollars a year in unprofitable streaming, especially when your profit engine of linear is in structural decline.” And so I think that’s driving some of the actions that we’re seeing right now. Obviously, with the launch of the ad tiers, there’s a view that the average revenue per user of a streaming subscriber that’s on an ad tier at a lower subscription rate, but also getting monetized through advertising, is a more profitable customer than just a pure SVOD customer. So everyone has launched ad tiers.

And then we’re getting early signs of a rebundling, of a new type of bundle or next-generation bundle, at least in the U.S. through some of the agreements between the media companies and the distributors, where the distributors are saying, “why should our consumers pay for pay TV and then also pay again, for the same content that’s a direct-to-consumer service? We want to rebundle those and offer the same on both platforms to our subscribers.” That’s going to be the template for 2024 as [carriage] renewals come up, and that has the benefit of extending the life of the cash flows generated by linear businesses longer than they probably would otherwise go. For media companies, it has the benefit of getting access to more streaming subscribers, especially for the ad tiers where you need reach.

Am I right that you were referring to the big Disney-Charter carriage deal as the blueprint for future deals? I know you usually can’t mention specific companies…

I think we can just mention it, because it has been so well covered. We believe the deal between Charter and Disney will serve as a template because it does protect the linear cash flow and the linear ecosystem.

I don’t believe that the pay TV universe will return to growth. But I think a transaction where you bundle linear with streaming at a single price point for consumers to really highlight the value you’re delivering, could very well slow the rate of cord-cutting. And that has very long-term benefits for media companies in terms of cash flow generation, and that lets them extend the runway as they bring their streaming services to break even. Assuming this thesis holds out, it takes some of the financial pressure off and allows them more time to drive profitability in their streaming service, and then ultimately figure out how the industry organizes itself.

What’s EY’s expectation for very small cable networks that distributors have grown less enthusiastic about carrying?

There are longtail networks, which are poorly viewed with low ratings. There’s not a lot of fresh content being invested into those networks by the media companies, because their best content is getting put in other places. So I do think in 2024, similar to what we saw at the end of 2023, we will see a rationalization of some of these very large network portfolios, where the distributors are saying, “we’re not driving value for this in the market with our pay TV customers,” the advertisers are saying “we aren’t really getting much value, because there’s no viewership here,” and the media companies aren’t investing much.

There just needs to be a shrinkage of that portfolio. I don’t think those networks today drive any strategic value for the media companies in an asset sale scenario or in a merger scenario. So the likelihood is, as distribution deals come up for renewal, companies will have a package of networks that is smaller than what they have today. And those longtail networks will get shut down.

You could reallocate the content to one of the networks that is a primary network, you could reallocate the content onto a streaming service or onto a FAST service.

What’s your forecast for the box office and if and when it can get back to pre-COVID levels?

Long-term, we’re bullish on the box office. The levels are still below pre-COVID, but we also need to understand that the shock to the system that COVID was, with the shutdown in production, and the strikes added another layer of disruption, is going to kick the recovery down the road a little bit.

But one of the things that I view as a positive is that there’s a lot of commentary coming out of the major studios right now about their understanding that we need to focus on quality over quantity. We’ve had some tremendous success in 2023 with original films and fresh storytelling, maybe some lackluster performance out of some of the bigger franchises that many viewed as surprising. But there is a willingness by consumers to get back into the movie theater when there is exciting, fresh content. And the studio leaders are fully aware of this and are investing in a future slate that hopefully will take advantage of consumers’ willingness to be in the theater to be entertained. And so I think it’s going to take some time, but I think the box office recovery is trending in a decent way.

It will be difficult to get to that pre-COVID level in 2024, just because of the strike and the disruption that will flow through the slate. But if you look at performance in the back half of 2024 and into 2025, I think that will be a pretty good indicator of long-term health.

Do you expect concert films to become a big lasting engine for the box office?

The concert films that we saw this year were truly unique events, but I think it’s hard to call that a trend.

Taylor Swift is an economic engine in and of herself. But I don’t think she is indicative of a normal path forward.

(THR)

UFC CEO Dana White Reveals 3 Blockbuster Fights for 2024 Schedule

UFC's 2024 schedule is looking stacked.

UFC CEO Dana White has revealed three big name bouts for the UFC 's 2024 schedule. White made the announcement in a post on social media, also including three bouts from UFC 300.

Paulo Costa vs. Robert Whittaker at UFC 298

First of all, Paulo Costa will face Robert Whittaker in a middleweight bout at UFC 298 on February 17. It should be a three-round bout and should feature on the main card.

"Borrachinha" had to pull out of his scheduled fight against Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 295 due to an infection in his elbow. Now, he'll be looking to rebuild his stock against former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. 

"The Reaper" is coming off of a loss to current title challenger Dricus Du Plessis, and will be looking to prove that he can still hang with the best against Costa.

Yair Rodriguez vs. Brian Ortega 2 at UFC Mexico

Yair Rodriguez and Brian Ortega will have their rematch in Mexico City on February 24. Their first fight was extremely anticlimactic, with Ortega suffering a shoulder injury in the first round.

The fight is a five-round co-main event, beneath Brandon Moreno vs. Amir Albazi.

Both fighters are former featherweight title contenders, and depending on the outcome of Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria at UFC 298, the winner could secure another shot at the belt.

Erin Blanchfield vs. Manon Fiorot at UFC Atlantic City

Flyweight contenders Manon Fiorot and Erin Blanchfield battle it out for title contention in Atlantic City on March 30.

These two fighters are on a combined 20-fight win streak, and the winner should be fighting for the flyweight title very soon, if not directly after this fight.

Both Blanchfield and Fiorot are coming from precarious decision victories. "Cold Blooded" Blanchfield edged out a unanimous decision against former title challenger Taila Santos, and Fiorot against former champion Rose Namajunas.

It all comes to a head in Atlantic City as both women look to make a statement.

WWE Announces New Year’s Week Schedule - December 22nd, 2023

For five straight days, WWE will air New Year’s-themed shows

WWE is starting off the new year in style.

An eventful first week is in store for the first week of 2024. For five straight days, WWE will air New Year’s-themed shows and extra programming.

Here is the schedule for WWE New Year’s Knockout Week:

Monday, January 1 - RAW: DAY ONE on USA

Tuesday, January 2 - NXT: NEW YEAR’S EVIL on USA

Wednesday, January 3 - Best of THE BUMP on YouTube

Thursday, January 4 - Best of WWE 2023 (4pm ET) and a live WWE 2024 Preview Special (8pm ET) on Peacock

Friday, January 5 – SMACKDOWN: NEW YEAR’S REVOLUTION on FOX

Dana White: ‘I’m For Common Sense’

“Common sense is lacking in the world. That’s not just a United States thing, it’s everywhere.”

The MMA Notebook runs every Friday.

The history of United States presidents and sports is a detailed intersection with multiple stops.

Major League Baseball had a powerful advocate in Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In more recent years, George W. Bush was frequently spotted on a baseball diamond during his two terms in the White House, while the National Basketball Association received incredible support from Barack Obama.

During the Revolutionary War at Valley Forge, George Washington played an English game (rich with irony, isn’t it?) using a bat and ball, and a Sports Illustrated article from 1955 detailed Thomas Jefferson’s affinity for swimming.

For fight fans, there is no president more connected with the sport than Donald Trump.

Trump was present this past Saturday at UFC 296 in Las Vegas. It shouldn’t be too big a surprise; he was connected throughout the 1980s and 90s with boxing and pro boxing. That has led him to MMA, where he is especially close with UFC CEO Dana White.

White even spoke on behalf of Trump seven years ago at the Republican National Convention. While many of their political views align, the relationship between the two men extends beyond politics.

For White, it is a friendship steeped in loyalty.

Back in 2001, only a month after the Fertitta brothers purchased the UFC and installed White as president, the company was in dire need of prominent venues to host fight cards. Trump was one of the few high-profile contacts to return White’s call. More than that, he took a chance on the UFC when it was needed most.

The Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey hosted UFC 30 in February of 2001 and then UFC 31 a month later. It was a small-but-significant moment for the UFC, providing stability to a company that was laying its foundation.

So when White walks beside Trump at UFC events, while Kid Rock’s “American Bad Ass” blasts, it means more than a photo op. White is committed to a business relationship–and friendship–that formed more than two decades ago.

As far as politics, White revealed that his views might not always be what people expect.

“I think pretty much everybody on the planet knows where I stand politically,” said White. “I don’t shy away from that stuff at all. But a lot of people think I’m this hardcore republican. I’m not. I’m more down the middle. A lot of things about me are conservative, yet there are a lot of things about me that are more liberal, too.”

As a global entity, the UFC is in a unique spot with fighters whose homelands are involved in war. Unlike other fight promotions–a year ago, GLORY released all its Russian fighters based on complications stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine–White has ensured that what is happening back home does not affect what takes place in the cage.

“I don’t turn my back on anybody,” said White. “My fighters should never have to be hurt by what’s going on in the world. They don’t make the decisions to go to war.”

Many already assume to know White’s opinion, primarily because he is so boldly outspoken. Yet White puts a lot of thoughts into his comments, basing his business actions around the fundamental concept of common sense.

“Common sense is lacking in the world,” said White. “That’s not just a United States thing, it’s everywhere.

“But that’s how I operate. And that’s what it comes down to. I’m for common sense.”

Pro Wrestling

Ric Flair on daughter Charlotte Flair

 “She’s the best worker in the business. Man or woman. She can do stuff Rey Mysterio does. She is the best worker in the business, male or female. She never politics. In this horrible world of politics in the business, she doesn’t kiss anybody’s ass. She just gets better every day. She’ll come back from this injury, it’s stressing her out because she hasn’t been hurt in a long time, but she’s so muscled up. She’ll come through the surgery, they’ll put some stem cells in her, she’ll come back, and it’ll be the greatest storyline of all time. She and Bayley, IYO, Asuka. There are more people for her to wrestle. She has so much going on. I’m not knocking any of the other girls. Someone has to be the best, that’s just the way it is.“

Ric Flair Leaping Into Cryptocurrency With 'WoooooCoin' Endorsement - December 22, 2023

Web3 isn't ready for The Nature Boy

The information superhighway took a sharp detour into Web3 for many people. Web3 investments made millionaires out of some, but broke degens out of others. Now, Ric Flair is throwing his hat into the game with a new altcoin.

Ric Flair's New Cryptocurrency

Ric Flair is now plugging a new altcoin called WoooooCoin. He made sure to specify that there are 5 Os in the Wooooo. 

The Nature Boy did so while dropping a highly energetic video to plug this coin's drop.

hile rocking a sun tan and a bandage on his nose for some reason, Ric Flair cut a promo about his new altcoin. He made is clear that the whitelist is now open for what he is calling "the hottest" cryptocurrency of 2023.

Wooooo! Coin... There Is Only One True Wooooo! Get In On The Hottest Crypto Project Of The Year! Whitelist Is Now Open!

It's important to remember which altcoin this is, if you decide to throw any money at this coin, because there is already a WoooooCoin on the market with Ric Flair's likeness. This new coin is apparently a different coin, as altcoins are known to rip off popular memes without any endorsement or affiliation.

What Are Web3 Altcoins?

Web3 altcoins, sometimes called "sh*tcoins," are digital assets built on a decentralized blockchain technology. In the realm of Web3, altcoins serve as a tradable commodity outside traditional cryptocurrencies like BitCoin and Ethereum.

Unlike traditional cryptocurrencies, altcoins are specifically designed to align with the principles of a decentralized web, removing intermediaries, and creating transparency within communities. As the Web3 space evolves, these altcoins have obviously attracted a plethora of celebrity and influencer endorsements along the way, all with varying degrees of failure attached.

Some altcoins go beyond the initial pump and dump, because they are backed by strong communities, like $Doge, $Pepe, $Dork, and others, but the jury is still out regarding how much of a liquidity pool WoooooCoin will be able to pull in.

Ric Flair is also plugging his Wooooo Energy drink, which is a big part of his AEW contract. He will also likely continue appearing for Tony Khan, when ever they can find a way to use him. 

'Aquaman 2' earns $4.5 million in box office previews - December 22, 2023

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom earned $4.5 million in Thursday previews at the domestic box office.

The Aquaman sequel had a slow start compared to the first movie, which earned $9 million in previews.

Migration, a new animated feature from Illumination and Universal, followed Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom with $1.5 million in previews.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is a DC superhero film directed by James Wan. Jason Momoa reprises his role as Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman, while Yahya Abdul-Mateen II returns as villain David Kane, aka Black Manta.

The film is expected to earn between $35 and $40 million at the domestic box office over the four-day holiday weekend, compared to the original film's $67 million.

This year's DC films also included The Flash, which earned $9.7 million in previews, Blue Beetle, which made $3.3 million, and Shazam: Fury of the Gods, which drew $3.4 million.

Recent Marvel superhero film The Marvels earned $6.6 million in previews and had a 3-day of $46.1 million, the lowest start ever for a Marvel feature.

Wrestling Media News

It has also been reported in numerous media reports and pro wrestling news sites (for what that's worth) that WWE’s Chief Content Officer, Triple H, and WWE’s President, Nick Khan, had a lengthy meeting with WBD’s (Warner Bros. Discovery) Chief Revenue and Strategy Officer, Bruce Campbell, on December 11, 2023.

Pro wrestling news sites have a patchy record, as does mainstream media for that matter, so unless you were actually in the said meeting... Salt N Pepper!

Axios has officially confirmed that there has been at least one high level meeting with Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global recently, however the press leak/release/tip off did not mention the pro wrestling genre. Paramount has been distributing the WOW (Women Of Wrestling) broadcast globally for approx 12 months and that footage even made its way to the 10 Play streaming service app in Australia.

Aussie born and bred billionaire James Packer has recently invested 80m USD ($122m AUD) into Paramount Global mid month.  This marks the splash return of Packer to mainstream media, having previously invested strongly in the gaming, casino and hotel sector, with mixed results - as did many, in the turbulant decade that was.

It is well established that the pro wrestling industry has much "rumor and an innuendo" as per fav saying of long time WWE producer Bruce Pritchard who used to play the "Brother Love" characture in the "then" WWE circa '88 to '91.

In other wrestling and combat sports media news, FITE has rebranded to TrillerTV and will continue to carry pro wrestling, MMA and martial arts from dozens of promotions into the new year and has also added a number of other popular sports to its portfolio.

Facebook and Google to face ACCC oversight under tougher rules for using news - December 17, 2023

Google and Facebook will come under stricter oversight from the nation’s competition watchdog under federal plans to ensure the global giants compensate Australian news businesses to use their content.

The federal government will draft new laws to toughen the regime and encourage the digital media companies to negotiate in good faith with news providers, clearing the way for commercial deals next year.

The decision is a strong sign from Communications Minister Michelle Rowland and Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones that they expect the digital companies to reach new deals under the mandatory bargaining code set up by federal law in early 2021.

The move comes as Facebook shuts down news services in Canada because of a dispute over a similar regime in that country, while Google is working with the Canadian rules after dropping threats to block news links.

Jones said the government could force digital platforms like Google and Facebook to make deals with the media by “designating” them under federal law, making it clear they were expected to reach agreements.

“We already have the power to designate digital platforms and we are prepared to use it,” he said in a statement.

“We want to see news outlets and digital platforms come together and negotiate in good faith.”

At stake is a revenue stream worth about $200 million a year for Australian news providers at a time when they say they need fair compensation in new deals with Google and Facebook next year to compensate them for news content that appears on their platforms.

Nine Entertainment, the publisher of this masthead, is seeking to negotiate new deals alongside media companies such as Seven West Media, NewsCorp Australia, Guardian Australia and others.

The government will issue a formal response on Monday to a Treasury inquiry into the news bargaining code that recommended changes to the law to help the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) monitor the market.

Jones and Rowland said the government had agreed to the proposal to give the ACCC the power to demand information from the industry as part of regular reports that will help examine the outcomes from the code.

While the government has not released the detail of the compulsory information-gathering powers, it said it expected the new measures to help ensure fair negotiations with news providers.

“Many commercial agreements between Australian news businesses and digital platforms will expire over the next year,” the government said.

“The government expects that digital platforms with significant bargaining power will negotiate in good faith towards the renewal of existing agreements, and potentially new agreements, with Australian news businesses.”

Former ACCC chair Rod Sims concluded, in a report for the Judith Nielsen Institute, that the last round of deals were worth about $200 million a year to the news providers.

The federal move comes at a sensitive time because the Australian regime was seen as a global precedent in 2021 and led to similar measures overseas including the Online News Act in Canada, which is now the subject of a fierce dispute.

Facebook’s owner, Meta, has pulled out of news in Canada since August, in an echo of its news ban in Australia in February 2021.

Meta reversed the news ban at Facebook in Australia when then treasurer Josh Frydenberg reached a compromise on the bargaining code to give the digital giants the ability to negotiate commercial deals with each media company to avoid being “designated” in the federal law and subject to more onerous regulation.

The Canadian approach forces the digital media companies to submit to a single national system with a fixed payment.

“While the Australian government engaged with Google and Meta to develop provisions for platforms and traditional media to make deals outside the code, the Canadian government provides no option for designated entities to separately negotiate with traditional media,” wrote Australian National University research fellow Tanvi Nair in an analysis in October.

“Under the Canadian law, platforms will be required to pay per link to a news article without room for negotiation.”

Report: Top 5 GenAI trends for 2024

Generative AI (GenAI) made significant progress in 2023, showcasing its prowess in crafting remarkably authentic content spanning text, imagery, and music. The evolution of this technology transcended traditional boundaries, infiltrating realms such as creative arts, automation, and tailored experiences.

An analysis of influencer discussions on social media platform X has unveiled a curated selection of focal themes within Generative AI. These insights pave the way for an insightful exploration of the anticipated trends poised to shape the narrative in 2024, reveals the Social Media Analytics Platform of GlobalData, the data and analytics company.

Smitarani Tripathy, Social Media Analyst at GlobalData, commented: “Influencers on X were enthusiastic about the progress of GenAI, especially about its capacity to create authentic and relevant content. The key areas for the coming year include innovation in open-source AI models, acknowledged for their transformative potential across sectors. Additionally, influencers emphasise the need for AI regulation and security measures, underscoring the significance of ethical AI application amid the dynamic AI landscape.”

1. Open-source models and LLM operating systems

Influencers expect 2024 as a revolutionary year for AI, marked by the ascent of open-source AI models and LLM operating systems, challenging the established models like GPT-4. They opine that these advancements will democratise access and spur innovation across various sectors, encouraging companies to embrace these technologies for enhanced productivity. However, influencers also highlight the challenges this shift brings, emphasising the need to address ethical concerns and strengthen security measures.

2. Stringent AI regulations

Influencers emphasise the need for ethical regulations in 2024. The rise of open-source AI models and applications in various sectors bring challenges, including data privacy and cybersecurity risks. Therefore, they advocate for responsible AI utilisation through stringent regulations and guidelines by organisations and governments to mitigate potential risks.

3. Entertainment and education with AI-generated videos

Influencers opine that 2024 marks a significant milestone in AI-generated videos, as they overcome the challenge of temporal consistency. This advancement leads to a longer, more coherent video content, a critical evolution in the field. Influencers see this as a revolutionary change, particularly for the entertainment and education industries, offering novel methods for creating and experiencing video content. This development is not just a step forward; itis a complete transformation of how we approach video production and engagement.

4. Expanding role of GenAI in cloud technology

Influencers expect 2024 to be a transformative year for the integration of AI and cloud technology, primarily driven by advancements in generative AI. They observe key shifts in the tech landscape as businesses, like Adobe, navigate the integration of new AI tools amid fluctuating sales. The emergence of open-source AI and LLM operating systems, challenging dominant models like GPT-4, indicates a move towards more accessible and varied AI applications in numerous sectors. This trend signifies a major evolution in technology, opening new paths for innovation and industry growth.

5, AI-driven security and threats

Influencers suggest that Generative AI will play a critical role in both enhancing cybersecurity and posing new threats in 2024. They see this technology as a double-edged sword, capable of fortifying defences against cyber threats while simultaneously enabling more sophisticated attacks. Influencers opine that organisations must prioritise advanced AI tools for robust security, while also preparing for the complex challenges brought by AI-enhanced cyber threats.

Starlink: Over 2.3m active customers - December 22, 2023

SpaceX’s Starlink broadband by satellite service says it has more than 2.3 million active customers – up 300,000 from three months ago.

However, Starlink declines to call these users “subscribers” which would – at least – confirm there was a commercial relationship in place. Starlink says that it is available on all seven continents and in more than 70 countries. The operator added Paraguay most recently.

The complaint over numbers focuses mainly on summer-time mobility users which can use month-to-month contracts and not have an annual contract.

But Starlink’s progress seems quite certain. In Q4 2022 the numbers were at just 1 million, and if the 300,000 per quarter can be maintained, then by year-end 2004 the total will likely be topping 3.5 million.

WBD and Paramount in merger talks - December 21, 2023

Studio giants Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) and Paramount Global are in early merger talks according to reports. A resultant deal would create a company with a market value of some $38bn (€34.7bn).

It is understood that WBD President & CEO David Zaslav and Paramount CEO Bob Bakish discussed a possible deal over lunch in New York earlier this week.

According to Axios, which first broke the news, the pair discussed how each company’s main SVoD service, Paramount+ and Max (formerly HBO Max), could merge better to compete with streaming services such as  Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and Apple TV+.

Netflix’s total number of subscribers is 247.2 million globally. In comparison, Paramount+ total subscribers stand at 63.4 million and WBD at 95 million as of November 2023.

Paramount is under pressure to find a buyer or strategic partner due to its high levels of debt as it pivots to streaming. Warner Bros, behind this year’s movie blockbuster Barbie  has slighty better financial grounding, partly due to its merger with Discovery.

How to steal 25,000 secrets from Facebook

The inside story of how a Wall Street Journal reporter secured one of the biggest leaks of corporate documents in history.

On a mid-December afternoon in 2020, I drove to a trailhead at Redwood Regional Park in the Oakland Hills. It was a temperate day, but Frances Haugen emerged from her car wearing a heavy parka, fleece, gloves, leggings, and ankle warmers. As joggers passed by in shorts, Haugen told me the story of her nerve damage. Even a slight chill still meant hours of excruciating pain.

She had spent the last several months taking notes about her misgivings, as she grew more certain that Facebook wasn’t committed to integrity work. Whenever something bothered her or felt significant, she wrote it down. She didn’t know what she was going to do with this material. She had reached out to a tech advocacy non-profit organisation, but her contact there told her it wasn’t in the business of whistleblowing. That Saturday afternoon, we walked for a few minutes, the trail a little too heavily tracked by joggers and mountain bikers, before pulling into a clearing to have a real chat.

As she ran through her work at the company, she frequently stopped to quiz me on what I knew of various Facebook systems and processes. There was no doubt she was auditioning me: talking to a reporter would be a breach of her nondisclosure agreement with Facebook and potentially the end of her tech career.

Haugen began building a stable of internal documents, though she had sound security reasons not to explore too widely within Facebook’s systems. She was part of an investigations and intelligence team, which gave her ready access to some extremely sensitive stu­ff. If someone asked why she was snooping around the “information corridor” work, she would have a readier answer than an employee in, say, Instagram’s ad sales department. Still, she knew that Facebook logged what people viewed and did on Workplace.

Although COVID-era remote work made exfiltrating information much easier – Haugen couldn’t have gotten away with snapping phone pics of sensitive documents at the office – she was still under a lot of stress. How could her team, which included intelligence analysts drawn from the US government, not see through her?

We still talked over her plans to do something really big, but her information gathering seemed to be slowing down. By March, I was routinely failing to pin Haugen down for meetings. Given that she had already spent dozens of hours walking me through Facebook’s internal recommendation and enforcement systems, I was hardly in a position to whine, but the lengthening silences stung nonetheless.

“I’m sorry I’ve been a flake this week,” she texted on March 22. “I’m flying out to Puerto Rico tomorrow evening.”

Several of her friends who shared an interest in tech start-ups, cryptocurrency and investing were moving to Puerto Rico. She was also tired of the Bay Area’s chilly summer evenings, and had noticed a strained relationship with one of her housemates.

(Haugen later learnt that the woman had picked up on her Facebook information collection and had begun telling mutual acquaintances that she believed Haugen was an undercover federal agent.)

Since Facebook was allowing its employees to work from anywhere during the pandemic, giving Puerto Rico a try seemed relatively low stakes. She could always change her mind and come back to California. So, with the encouragement of my editor, Brad Reagan, I floated the idea of joining her in San Juan, just for a few days. She accepted.

“So are you here for crypto, too?” asked the guy with whom I was splitting a cab from Luis Muñoz Marín Airport into the city.

Haugen and I had long ago discussed that, if she actually pulled as much material as she was contemplating, she would almost certainly get caught by Facebook. Even assuming she didn’t hit any internal tripwires set up to catch leakers, the eventual publication of stories about the material would end up outing her. Each time Facebook learnt that a specific document had been leaked, it could look and see who had accessed that information and when, slowly whittling down a list of possible suspects.

She was, at least in principle, OK with that eventuality. But her goal was to survive as long as she could, ideally leaving the company before anyone wised up. After leaking had spiked following employee discontent over the company’s response to Donald Trump’s “looting and shooting” post, Facebook had begun locking down its systems. Forums that were once viewable by anybody with an employee ID were becoming invitation-only, and newly hired internal moderators would sometimes make controversial posts from Workplace disappear.

Workplace was a tough [computer] system to navigate, shockingly resistant to keyword searches. Results would turn up a few things, but finding a specific item usually required either an encyclopedic memory or 15 minutes of puttering around adjacent discussion forums.

A particular item of research might be accessible via unlabelled hyperlinks in a half-dozen di­fferent posts and documents, with the sheer volume of unstructured, cross-posted material making a clean inventory impossible. Much of this could be attributed to vestiges of Facebook’s historic culture of openness, but some of it was pure f---up.

Documents subject to supposed attorney-client privilege and draft presentations to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, complete with the full history of senior executive edits, were occasionally posted in places where north of 60,000 employees, not to mention an unknown number of contractors, could view them.

Facebook’s internal communications platform functioned remarkably like its outward-facing product, with a similar layout and features. Groups like “Wrong Answers Only” and “Shitposting@” contained tens of thousands of members, displaying a culture of self-mockery. When the company’s chief engineer denounced employees who were “coasting” during remote work, employees proudly shared pictures of company-branded drink coasters. Like its public-facing sibling, the internal platform sometimes got spicy. People were almost always polite – they were interacting with colleagues, after all – but frustrations were often aired in comments sections rather than diplomatically worded emails.

Employees on the way out the door could be especially scathing. The company had a tradition of “badge posting,” in which departing sta­ffers would combine a picture of the employee ID they were about to turn in with their parting thoughts to colleagues. Amid expressions of gratitude and invitations to keep in touch, employees sometimes explained why they had chosen to quit.

The reasons could be revelatory. In 2016, The New York Times reported that Facebook was quietly working on a censorship tool to gain entry to the Chinese market. While the story was a monster, it didn’t come as a surprise to many people inside the company. Four months earlier, an engineer had discovered that another team had modified a spam-fighting tool in a way that would give an outside party control over content moderation in specific geographic regions. In response, he had resigned, leaving behind a badge post correctly surmising that the code was meant to loop in Chinese censors.

Garnering 1100 reactions, 132 comments, and 57 shares, the post took the program from top secret to open secret. Its author had just pioneered a new template: the hard-hitting Facebook farewell.

Some badge posts began to take on a more mutinous tone. Sta­ffers who had done groundbreaking work on radicalisation, human trafficking, and misinformation would summarise both their accomplishments and where they believed the company had come up short on technical and moral grounds.

Truly incredible posts

Some broadsides against the company ended on a hopeful note, including detailed, jargon-light instructions for how, in the future, their successors could resurrect the work. These posts were gold mines for Haugen, connecting product proposals, experimental results, and ideas in ways that would have been impossible for an outsider to re-create.

She photographed not just the posts themselves but the material they linked to, following the threads to other topics and documents. A half dozen were truly incredible, unauthorised chronicles of Facebook’s dawning understanding of the way its design determined what its users consumed and shared.

Haugen spent most mornings gathering documents and the rest of the workday finishing up her actual tasks at Facebook, though she was beginning to sneak research sessions in during Zoom calls.

I spent most days trying to understand what she had gathered, and most evenings we would meet for dinner and drinks and talk over what it all added up to. Haugen was averaging a few hundred screenshots a day. From what I could tell, they were a blurry mess, but almost always legible.

Working with a source siphoning documents is a tricky business, with ethical and legal considerations intertwined. I could not ask her to gather specific documents, nor could I even lay a finger on her keyboard, a move that The Wall Street Journal’s lawyers made clear could potentially open me up to charges under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the federal law under which most hacking crimes get prosecuted.

After four or five days in San Juan, I had learnt enough to compellingly argue to my editor that my trip wasn’t just deep cover for a beach vacation. I went to Marshalls to buy clean clothes and rented a vacation condo a short walk from Haugen’s apartment. We would use the apartment as our joint office, eager to avoid exposing her roommates to a one-woman espionage operation. I would stay until Haugen quit, got fired, or wanted to stop.

Haugen’s actual work at Facebook focused on networked misinformation. But we had talked over questions about Instagram’s e­ffects on teenage mental health. Could there be anything there? Haugen spent a half hour searching and didn’t find much. That evening, she tried again and turned up a few documents. Among them was a 2019 presentation by user experience researchers finding that, while causality was hard to establish, Instagram’s aesthetic of casual perfection could trigger negative thinking among some users. The researchers’ best understanding was summarised this way: “We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls.”

Holy shit. I was astonished not just by the finding but by the fact that we’d found it at all. Facebook had been tightening up controls for access to sensitive material for more than a year – yet stu­ff like this was still sitting there, viewable by anyone who poked around. Somehow, before Haugen, no one had.

Splitting a bottle of wine on the balcony of my condo one evening, we asked each other how it was possible that she hadn’t been stopped. At a minimum, this was a monumental failure on the part of Facebook’s Security team. A core tenet of cybersecurity is to be on alert for abnormal usage, and what Haugen was doing was far from ordinary.

Caution to the wind

On my second weekend in Puerto Rico, she had thrown caution to the wind and collected documents on both Saturday and Sunday. Anyone monitoring the volume of this soon-to-resign employee’s activity might have raised an eyebrow at how much information she was consuming. If they had noticed that an employee assigned to hunting state-sponsored manipulation had begun ferreting out documents on teen mental health, they would have hit the panic button.

Compared with the dangers she believed Facebook posed to users overseas in particular, the risk of screwing up a cushy career didn’t rank. Still, every morning Haugen woke up scared that she would find that a meeting with Facebook’s Security team had been booked on her calendar.

She asked whether I thought Facebook would sue her. I could truthfully say that there was no record of Facebook going to court over whistleblower violations. I had to include a caveat: no Facebook employee had previously undertaken a six-month espionage campaign while working on a team devoted to counterespionage.

Haugen was due to lose access to Facebook’s network at 7pm on May 17 and I had made a reservation for that time at an upscale restaurant to celebrate. I called a cab for 6:30pm to take us there, but Haugen was still busy downloading the company’s entire organisational chart, an especially delicate task that she had chosen for last. I went downstairs, paid the driver $US20 to not leave, and then went back up to my apartment to hurry her out the door.

Before she closed her laptop, she entered one final search query into Workplace, assuming it would be the final thing that Facebook’s Security team would see in the inevitable forensic review. “I don’t hate Facebook,” it began. “I love Facebook. I want to save it.” She finished typing, pressed enter, and closed her laptop. A day later, I flew back to the West Coast and got to work.

Extracted from Broken Code: Inside Facebook and the fight to expose its toxic secrets by Jeff Horwitz published by Torva. Copyright © Jeff Horwitz 2023.

Articles based on the 25,000 pages of Facebook documents taken by Frances Haugen and others won numerous US journalism awards. Haugen is now a professional advocate for transparency in the social media industry.

Rivals predict Wild Oats XI will be back - December 23, 2023

Wild Oats XI’s would-be rivals for Sydney to Hobart line honours have backed the champion yacht to return to the fleet in 2024.

The most successful yacht in Sydney to Hobart history will be absent from the starting line on Boxing Day for only the second time since she was launched in 2005.

Owned by the wealthy Oatley family, Wild Oats missed the 2021 race out of respect to employees suffering amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but this year’s absence has been less clear-cut.

Alive navigator Adrienne Cahalan, who sailed with Wild Oats in five of the supermaxi’s nine line-honours wins, suggested the Oatleys were entitled to a break after years of dominance.

“They’ve campaigned for a long time,” she told AAP.

“I don’t know what their decisions are, but they won’t be competing this year.

“I’m sure they’ll be back again, just regrouping after a long, intense program.”

Four 100ft supermaxi yachts will jostle for line honours in Wild Oats’ absence: reigning line-honours champion Andoo Comanche, 2016 winner LawConnect, Hong Kong-based SHK Scallywag, and Wild Thing 100, upsized from 80-footer Stefan Racing this year.

Wild Oats’ would-be rivals for line honours echoed Cahalan’s prediction that the champion boat would be back in 2024.

“Every boat has their on years and off years. We’ll very likely see them back next year,” SHK Scallywag navigator Chris Wild said.

LawConnect’s crew boss Mitchell White, a veteran of 21 Sydney-Hobarts, admitted it was disappointing not to have the chance to face the legendary boat again.

“It’s pretty sad, we’ve been at each other for over 10 years,” he said.

“But I hear they’re coming back next year. They’re just having a little break.”

Runner-up in each of the past three Sydney-Hobarts, LawConnect is a chance for her first line-honours win since Christian Beck bought the boat in 2017.

“We can’t wait to get our bridesmaid’s dress off this year,” White said.

“It’s been on for a while.

“At the end of the day you persevere and you push, and if you have a good team around you, it will come.

“Hopefully this year’s our year. We’ll see what happens.”

Scallywag, meanwhile, looms as something of an unknown quantity, having been out of the water for 18 months before returning in October.

The boat underwent significant work during the hiatus, most notably shedding 500kg of weight in her mast.

“The boat overall weighs about 28 tonnes,″⁣ Wild said.

“To take that amount (500kg) out in 28 tonnes might not sound like a lot, but when it’s in the mast as the boat leans over, the mast will start to pull the boat over with it.

“Taking 500kg out improves that stability and that balance.”

News subscriptions worldwide - statistics & facts

News subscriptions are becoming more common as companies attempt to monetize via their readers. In fact, whilst advertising is still a vital source of revenue, many news publishers are now also considering moving to a subscription model to boost their business. Subscriptions are considered the most important revenue stream for news publishers worldwide, according to industry leaders. Moving to a subscription model has been lucrative for those who started early on. The New York Times’ digital-only news subscribers soared from just under two million in early 2017 to more than three times that amount five years later. Gannett’s number of digital subscribers grew more than fourfold between 2017 and 2021, reaching 1.6 million paid subscriptions. Others are also seeking to monetize via subscriptions, though making the move in a climate saturated with free news outlets is not always an easy task.

Gambling industry almost back to pre-pandemic levels

The market size of the casino and online gambling industry has remained stable over the past years. The largest drop in market size was seen during the coronavirus pandemic which caused global disruption to the gambling market and to casinos in particular. While casinos struggled, the online gambling market fared much better during the crisis. The growth of online gambling was already on the horizon but, given its resilience during the pandemic, is predicted to grow even further in the future.

Land-based vs. online gambling

When it comes to brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, casinos are likely the most well-known type. However, gaming machine outlets, which can include bookmakers or even drinking establishments, are known to be the brick-and-mortar type with the most units worldwide. That being said, these days, many gamblers have taken their activities online. With segments like sports betting, poker, and even bingo being available to consumers from the comfort of their homes.

Casino companies are still on top, but for how long?

While the online market is growing at a speedy pace, the more traditional casino companies remain the leaders of the gambling industry. When it comes to brand value, casino and hotel company Wynn Resorts came first on the list, but digital-only companies like Bet365 also made the ranking. With the increasing digitalization of all industries, it would come as no surprise to see more of these digital companies dominating the industry in years to come.

Crown launches internal investigation into CEO - December 12, 2023

Crown Resorts, the gaming giant owned by New York-headquartered private equity firm Blackstone, is investigating its chief executive, Ciaran Carruthers, over allegations he intervened to allow patrons back into its casinos even after security had removed them.

The investigation is expected to run for at least another week, and is also considering whether the power of management should be restricted in some circumstances relating to customer safety.

The Australian Financial Review is not suggesting the allegations against Mr Carruthers are true, only that they are being investigated.

Among the allegations being investigated is an incident at Crown’s Melbourne casino – which occurred within the last month – where Mr Carruthers allegedly intervened to reinstate a patron who was removed and given a one-year ban after bringing a minor into the gaming area. In another, Mr Carruthers allegedly allowed a drunk patron to remain in the casino after they were instructed to leave.

A Crown spokesman said: “In accordance with Crown’s governance protocols, we have engaged external counsel to conduct an independent review of these matters. Until such time the review is complete, we are unable to comment further.”

The investigation was instigated by the Crown board. The allegations do not include money-laundering, an issue which has previously led to several regulatory inquiries into the casino company, and ultimately led to the exit of previous executives and directors.

Mr Carruthers was hired by Blackstone after the heavyweight investor acquired Crown, which had been controlled by the Packer family, last year. Mr Carruthers spent two decades in Macau, running operations at two of its most famous casinos, Venetian Macau and Wynn Macau, where he was chief operating officer.

He was one of several casino veterans installed by Blackstone. Bill McBeath, Crown’s chairman, previously ran The Cosmopolitan resort in Las Vegas, Michael Volkert, chief executive of Crown Melbourne, was a senior executive at The Venetian in Las Vegas, and Mark McWhinnie, who runs Crown Sydney, oversaw several resorts in Macau.

Sources at Crown with knowledge of the matter, who were not permitted to comment publicly, said regulators and state-appointed special managers were aware of the investigation into management, which is being conducted by a law firm.

It comes after several years of regulatory scrutiny at Crown – and the company’s smaller, ASX-listed rival Star Entertainment – including a royal commission in Victoria. That inquiry, led by former Federal Court judge Raymond Finkelstein, QC, led to the installation of a special manager who has the power to direct the casino’s management and make recommendations on whether it can keep its gaming license.

The Finkelstein inquiry also forced James Packer, the company’s billionaire backer, to sell his 37 per cent stake, after concluding that Crown was aware that money was likely being laundered through its bank accounts as far back as 2014. It also found there was a lax approach to vetting high rollers and a number of other governance issues.

Those issues were well before Mr Carruthers took over running the company. The publication of Mr Finkelstein’s findings, and separate inquiries in NSW and Western Australia, led to the departure of the company’s board and management.

The additional oversight and a lack of appetite for the overseas high-rollers that underpinned much of Crown’s business before those inquiries, however, has impacted the financial performance of the company.

In October, Crown reported a loss of $199 million as costs related to improved compliance measures and pecuniary penalties outweighed profit. It lost $954.4 million the previous year, although the financial performance across both periods was also impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“What we have gone through as an organisation is unprecedented in terms of the scope and scale needed for remediation and transformation on the road to suitability,” Mr McBeath told The Australian Financial Review in September.

“Did we underestimate it? Yes. Is the body of work larger than we thought it was going to be? Absolutely.”

(AFR)

Musk moves in on Murdoch - May 24, 2023

Elon Musk has displaced Rupert Murdoch and Fox News as the king of conservative media in recent weeks.

Why it matters: Fox News used to be the place where conservatives went to break news. But the right-wing ecosystem has turned on the network, leaving Twitter as the center of media gravity for the Republican Party just as the 2024 election heats up.

Consider that it's been exactly one month since Fox fired Tucker Carlson and in that short period of time:

Fox's ratings have sunk in the 8 p.m. hour as viewers flock to rival Newsmax.

Tucker Carlson announced plans to bring a "new version" of his old Fox News show to Twitter, while arguing, " the news you consume is a lie."

Ben Shapiro's conservative media company The Daily Wire told Axios it plans to put its entire slate of podcasts, which are almost all recorded as videos, on Twitter beginning May 30.

The biggest blow to Fox is coming Wednesday night, when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is expected to announce his 2024 presidential campaign during a Twitter Spaces event with Elon Musk.

Yes, but: What Fox will conduct what it says will be DeSantis' "first national TV interview following the announcement" with Trey Gowdy (the former Republican congressman from South Carolina, who's now a Fox host) in Carlson's old slot of 8 p.m. ET, now branded "Fox News Tonight."

Be smart: In choosing to bypass Fox News for Twitter, DeSantis is sending a signal to conservatives that Fox News is just as much a part of the mainstream media as CNN or any other news network.

Between the lines: Conservatives aren't just defecting to Twitter — they are throwing grenades at Fox News along the way.

On Monday, The Daily Signal — a conservative publication owned by the Heritage Foundation — published a report based on a leak from a 2021 Fox News employee handbook that said employees are allowed to use bathrooms aligned with the gender they associate with.

That leak sparked outrage from right-wing voices, including one of The Daily Wire's most popular podcasters, Matt Walsh, who said on Twitter, "Fox News is fully woke on trans ideology." Now that Tucker Carlson's gone, "there’s no stopping Fox’s march leftward," he added.

A FOX News spokesperson said, “FOX News Media is compliant with all Human Rights laws mandated by the cities and states in which we operate, including New York and California.”

Carlson is preparing to unleash allies to attack Fox News in an effort to bully the network into letting him out of his contract, Axios' Mike Allen reported. Already, some allies, such as Megyn Kelly and Brett Favre, have been publicly railing against Fox News in its legal battle with Carlson.

“The old system is collapsing,” Carlson told Axios. “You can’t claim you’ve got a democracy if all the information voters receive before a presidential election has been curated by the people already in charge."

Zoom out: While Elon Musk has said that he plans to vote Republican, it's unclear which candidate, if any, he would support.

Musk said last year that he would back for DeSantis if he runs for president, but then praised Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) for his latest campaign ad last week.

Fox News had been trying to move away from Donald Trump, but it did grant him a primetime interview with Carlson. That was shortly before it fired Carlson in the wake of its $757 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems.

By the numbers: Fox News is still by far the highest-rated cable news network in America, averaging at least 1.5 million viewers per night in prime time. But cable news is rapidly declining. Today, only 66 million U.S. households pay for a cable subscription.

Because Twitter is a private company, public data is no longer available about its operations, but third-party estimates suggest its monthly active user base in the U.S. will be roughly 55 million this year.

While it's impossible to compare audience figures from television to social media, research suggests more Americans are leaning into personalities over institutional media brands to get their news.

The most popular public individual that Americans follow for news is Tucker Carlson, according to a new Gallup survey out Tuesday.

The big picture: DeSantis isn't the only presidential contender to use social media as a part of his official campaign kickoff, but will likely be the first candidate to announce his campaign for presidency alongside a tech mogul in a social media interview.

Nearly every candidate in the past decade has launched a social media campaign in conjunction with their official announcement. Some, like Barack Obama in 2012, have launched their campaigns online online.

What to watch: Former president Trump has not engaged with the current conservative frenzy on Twitter — he has cited his loyalty to Truth Social, the fledgling Twitter rival he set up after Twitter shut down his account.

While Musk has revived Trump's account, the former president has yet to tweet any content, despite posting on YouTube and Facebook.

Editor's note: This article has been updated with additional comment from Fox and to note Fox's interview with DeSantis.

(Asios)

News (Media Man Int)

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Crypto needs a new king. These are the contenders - December 15, 2023

The price of bitcoin is surging again. Major financial firms are showing renewed interest in digital currencies. And crypto fanatics are celebrating the end of a long period of depressed prices and business collapses.

But the sudden explosion of optimism has come at a turbulent moment for the cryptocurrency industry.

The last time crypto prices were skyrocketing, the industry’s most influential executives were Sam Bankman-Fried and Changpeng Zhao, rival billionaires whose online sparring could move markets. Now Bankman-Fried, founder of the FTX crypto exchange, and Zhao, who ran the world’s largest crypto firm, Binance, both face prison time after parallel falls from power.

A federal jury convicted Bankman-Fried last month on fraud and conspiracy charges stemming from FTX’s collapse. Three weeks later, Zhao pleaded guilty to a money laundering charge and agreed to relinquish control of Binance.

With the two men out of the picture, a crowded field of crypto entrepreneurs, Wall Street executives and government regulators are vying to control the industry’s next chapter. Their scramble for influence could determine whether crypto survives in the United States, where a regulatory crackdown has made it increasingly difficult for the industry to operate.

Some executives have argued that the crypto world needed to purge figures like Zhao and Bankman-Fried — aggressive entrepreneurs who gave priority to growth over compliance — to win over regulators and the public.

After Zhao’s guilty plea, Brian Armstrong, CEO of the US-based crypto exchange Coinbase, hailed the case as a turning point for the industry.

“We now have an opportunity to start a new chapter,” Armstrong posted on social media last month. “This industry should be built right here in America, in a compliant way, under US law.”

But the crypto world remains filled with companies that engage in risky business practices and don’t offer much transparency about their experimental products.

“There is no intrinsic value to any of this,” said Hilary Allen, an expert on financial regulation at American University. “The only hope is to have more money sloshing around, and more people willing to buy into it to create demand.”

Crypto has always had its share of influential leaders. The vision behind bitcoin, the original and most valuable digital currency, was first laid out by someone using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, whose mysterious identity became its own brand.

As the crypto world expanded, new centres of power and influence emerged. Zhao founded Binance in 2017 and built it into the world’s largest marketplace for buying and selling experimental coins. The exchange’s size and reach turned Zhao into a star on Twitter, now known as X, where he accumulated more than 8 million followers, dismissing government lawsuits and allegations of illegal conduct as disinformation spread by crypto’s enemies.

Zhao’s chief rival was Bankman-Fried, who appeared on billboards and magazine covers, cultivating a persona as the responsible adult who would help the fledgling industry work with regulators.

In the end, both Zhao and Bankman-Fried fell from grace. Bankman-Fried is set to be sentenced in March and faces the prospect of decades behind bars. Zhao is likely to receive a lighter sentence, with prosecutors expected to request about 18 months.

“Having those characters not in the plot any more is a really good thing,” said Jeremy Allaire, CEO of the crypto company Circle. “I’m focused and have been focused on: How do we make this useful for the world?”

A new generation of executives is already emerging as the industry’s top cheerleaders. Paolo Ardoino, an outspoken crypto enthusiast with a vast online following, recently took over as CEO of Tether, the company that oversees one of the most popular digital currencies. At Binance, Zhao was replaced by Richard Teng, a key executive at the exchange who had been groomed to step into Zhao’s shoes.

On paper, Teng is Zhao’s opposite. The Binance founder was antagonistic toward regulators, while Teng is a veteran of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the country’s central bank.

Binance’s future is uncertain. As part of a settlement last month, the company agreed to pay a $US4.5 billion ($6.7 billion) fine to several government agencies and have a US monitor embedded in the business for the next three years.

“My general sense is there’s a real ‘wait and see,’” Allaire said. “I don’t think anyone knows the details of what that monitorship means.”

A Binance spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Arguably the biggest beneficiary of crypto’s current reshuffle is Coinbase’s Armstrong, who declared this month that bitcoin “may be the key to extending western civilisation”. Coinbase’s share price has nearly tripled over the past six months, even after the Securities and Exchange Commission sued the firm as part of the agency’s broad crackdown on the industry.

“Coinbase is now the last man standing,” said John Todaro, an analyst at Needham who tracks the crypto industry. “There’s less competition out there.”

Coinbase has also positioned itself to profit from a potentially seismic development in the crypto world — the possible approval of an exchange-traded fund, or ETF, that tracks the price of bitcoin.

“Having those characters not in the plot any more is a really good thing.”

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire

In recent days, bitcoin’s price has surged to over $US43,000 ($65,600), its highest level since a wave of bankruptcies sent the industry into crisis last year. Much of the enthusiasm is fuelled by growing confidence that the SEC is poised to approve a bitcoin ETF that would trade on traditional stock exchanges, potentially bringing new money into the industry.

Coinbase has agreed to store the bitcoin that would underlie an ETF offered by BlackRock, one of the world’s largest asset managers. BlackRock is the biggest of several major financial firms, including Fidelity, that have applied to offer the investment product.

Wall Street was once the enemy of the insurgent crypto industry, but after a bruising 18 months of bankruptcies and arrests, crypto proponents have greeted the collaboration between Coinbase and BlackRock as a potential salvation.

“Crypto isn’t disrupting Wall Street; it’s merging with it,” Allen said. “It’s fairly obvious — they think they can make some money here.”

The Streaming Wars

The rise of FAST services

As streaming services continue to raise subscription prices, customers have attempted to find ways to cut costs—including free. According to a Hub Entertainment Research study, more than half (55%) of consumers said they use at least one free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) service, such as Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Tubi, Amazon’s Freevee, or the free version of Peacock. Perhaps there’s no greater example of the service’s success this year than Freevee’s Jury Duty, which quickly became a word-of-month hit, catapulting it to the top of U.S. streaming charts. Earlier this year, Tubi announced it was beefing up original programming in its catalog to lure new subscribers.  

The great rebundling 

In the spring, Warner Bros. Discovery unveiled Max, the result of HBO Max merging with Discovery+, to broaden the appeal of the new flagship streaming platform, while Paramount debuted Paramount+ with Showtime to domestic audiences shortly after. Meanwhile, more streaming bundles began rolling out this year: Disney—which already offered a bundle with Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+—launched a one-app experience, offering Hulu and Disney+ programming in the same space. Recently, Apple and Paramount were reportedly in talks to bundle their streaming services at a discount, while Verizon announced it would offer a $10 bundle for the ad-supported subscription plans of Netflix and Max streaming services. An AlixPartners study found that about 70% of new streaming subscribers will get their subscriptions from streaming bundles, or with plans that combine a streaming subscription with cable TV, broadband, or wireless plans, as opposed to stand-alone streaming services.

A big bet on sports

According to one study, 29% of viewers are watching sports on streaming services like Prime Video. At the end of last year, YouTube TV acquired the NFL’s Sunday Ticket for reportedly $2 billion, beating out Disney, Amazon, and Apple for the package. The deal allows subscribers to watch the Sunday Ticket as an add-on for YouTubeTV, or as a stand-alone purchase on YouTube Primetime Channels. Last year, Prime Video began live streaming Thursday Night Football games, which saw viewership go up 25% this season. Netflix announced last week it will livestream a tennis match between Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz in the spring, while Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed last month that the company will launch a stand-alone streaming app of ESPN in 2025.

Studios uploading entire TV shows and films on social media

Pirating content online isn’t anything new, but Gen Z has been turning to social media to watch full episodes and movies for free. On TikTok, a quick search shows that the platform is overrun with episodes and parts of full movies uploaded by users, while an uploaded version of The Super Mario Bros. Movie was viewed by 9 million people on Twitter before it was taken down. To meet users where they are, Peacock experimented with releasing programming on social media and uploaded the pilot episode of its comedy series Killing It on TikTok in five parts, which according to a Peacock spokesperson, garnered 7 million views. A month later, on October 3 (aka Mean Girls Day), Paramount uploaded the entirety of Mean Girls on TikTok. A study found that nearly a quarter (23%) of TikTok users are more likely to discover entertainment content on social and video platforms versus other platforms.

Reruns are back in (again)

This isn’t exactly a new trend, but it’s one that’s been building as more consumers become cord-cutters. Unsurprisingly, popular classic shows with massive fan bases like The Office, Friends, Seinfeld, and Breaking Bad continue to find success on streaming services. Some other recent examples include Nickelodeon’s 2005 animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender debuting on Netflix, making it one of the most-watched children’s shows during the pandemic, while the CW’s Riverdale and All-American have trended on Netflix when it was made available on the platform. This year’s biggest example was USA Network’s Suits, which gained newfound popularity after being licensed on Netflix, pushing it to the No. 1 spot on U.S. streaming charts. If the success of Suits proves anything, it’s that licensing might be the way to go if networks want to generate interest in (and get paid for) some of their older programming.

That movie you didn’t watch might grab your attention as a 3-part limited series instead

When BlackBerry came out in theaters this spring, it was met with much critical acclaim for its acting and storytelling, and earned $2.9 million at the global box office. In October, IFC Films released the 121-minute-long film as a three-part limited series with 16 minutes of unseen footage. “I look at this as a way for a smaller, independent piece of work to double-dip and find its audience,” director Matt Johnson told Variety when asked about the decision to recut the film. Last month, Hulu premiered Faraway Downs, a six-episode series, which is an reedited version of Baz Luhrmann’s 2008 film, Australia, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. While the original film has a running time of nearly three hours, the series adds an extra hour of new footage, with some plot changes. While Australia received mixed reviews when it premiered, Luhrmann told the Daily Beast that he wanted to revisit the film, and leaned on episodic storytelling to present the story in a different way, in hopes of giving it a second chance with some viewers. 

(FastCompany)

Cafe News Media

Chobani acquires La Colombe for $1.34 billion - December 18, 2023

Chobani – a US-based food and beverage company known for its Greek yogurt – has acquired coffee company La Colombe for US$900 million ($1.34 billion), marking its expansion into the ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee market.

The acquisition was financed by a newly issued US$550 million ($820 million) term loan, cash on hand, and the exchange of Keurig Dr Pepper’s (KDP) minority equity stake in La Colombe into Chobani equity.

La Colombe is the only RTD coffee company that owns its supply chain from bean sourcing to product creation and has a significant presence across multiple channels, including retail, cafes, food service, and direct-to-consumer. 

The company’s RTD offering will complement Chobani’s core yogurt portfolio and modern food innovations, including oat milk and creamer.

At the same time, under Chobani’s ownership, La Colombe will benefit from its extensive retail execution, marketing, and cold chain capabilities to grow its multi-serve offering.

In addition, through its recently announced sales and distribution agreement with KDP, La Colombe will meaningfully expand the reach of its single-serve product line and have access to grow underdeveloped channels like convenience retail.

“We have never been stronger or better positioned to chart our next chapter of growth,” said Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and CEO, Chobani. 

“We’ve already invested in the coffee category with our creamers and are excited about bringing La Colombe into the Chobani family and offering the delicious, high-quality cold brew and ready-to-drink craftsmanship of La Colombe to the next generation of consumers, powered by the strong distribution partner in KDP.”

As part of the acquisition, La Colombe will continue to operate as an independent brand, allowing for collaboration and knowledge sharing between the two companies while preserving La Colombe’s unique identity and innovation. 

“La Colombe is a unique brand and well positioned to continue its strong growth trajectory, including upside as its ready-to-drink line expands availability through our company-owned DSD network and with premium K-Cup pods now in the market,” added Bob Gamgort, chairman and CEO, KDP.  

“Both as a strategic partner and a minority shareholder, we are excited by the path ahead.”

Campos Coffee launches limited-edition Christmas Blend - December 2023

Campos Coffee has launched limited-edition Christmas Blend made from beans from Kenya, Brazil, and Colombia.

The Christmas Blend features a combination of Anaerobic Lactic Natural from Indonesia and washed Kenyan beans delivering a fruity flavour and a hint of booziness.

It also has cinnamon-infused Colombian coffee and natural beans from Brazil with a note of roasted chestnuts.

The Christmas Blend is available at Campos Coffee’s flagship stores and selected cafe partners, and on the company’s website www.camposcoffee.com, in 250g for $25, 500g for $50, and 1kg for $95.

Wrestling News

Wrestling Executive Living Legend Eric Bischoff on CM Punk - December 2023

Via the Strictly Business podcast, Eric Bischoff talked about CM Punk increasing WWE popularity following his return to the company at Survivor Series. Punk is under a multi-year deal with WWE after being released by AEW following his backstage altercation with Jack Perry at All In.

“[The CM Punk brand has] drawn hot in WWE. It did not draw hot in AEW. Big difference. Two different business models, two different companies, and two different approaches to the industry. The Punk that we saw in AEW was a no-win, ain’t going to happen, not going to move the needle — certainly not to the extent that everybody thought it would. And the ratings prove that. I know he sold a lot of t-shirts. That’s because there are a lot of WWE fans out there. Did not move the needle in AEW, actually did the damage in AEW because of the situation there. Because of the way the company is run and now you’re seeing an entirely different outcome, almost like two different products.”

AEW Top Brass Tony Khan On Pro Wrestling - December 2023

On AEW being attacked online: 

“To be AEW is to be under constant attack. You do a great show and the next day somebody’s saying something negative. You do five great shows in a row, somebody says something negative. You break the ticket record for the most tickets ever sold for a wrestling show in the history of the world and somebody has something bad to say about it. At this point, I don’t worry about it. We just need to go out and do great shows week after week like we did. We were the number one show on cable this week on Wednesday. We beat every single show on TV on Wednesday out of hundreds and hundreds of shows across hundreds of networks. And if we continue doing it, everybody here’s going to be in a good position.”

On those who downplay AEW’s success: 

“You can have a great day in the business, like, do the number one show, and people try and tell you you didn’t do something great. Or you can break the world record for the most tickets ever sold to any wrestling show ever and have this massive, huge success on pay-per-view and just hit a home run in. The wrestling’s great and everything’s great, and still people are trying to tell you there’s some problem with it or some detrimental. I have news for you. When people the drop count of the show, when people posted, the number of people that go through the turnstiles, I’ve never heard of somebody posting a turnstile count, which is like, there’s so many ways to get into a show and there’s so many people I talked to that bought tickets that did not have to go through the turnstiles. But take that aside for a second. The turnstile count that is so normal for North American pro sports, even if it was 73 out of 81, that would be over the average of a show rate for North American pro sports. So if you take the average like the big four pro sports game in America versus like the tickets purchased, and then the people who actually go through the gate, if people talk like that was abnormal.”

On the pressure of his position as head of a wrestling company: 

“To be AEW, no matter how good you do, there will be people coming for you, gunning for you. Because that’s what this is. There’s a reason that every single person who stepped into my position until now has gone out of business. I’m the only one left. Everybody who stepped up and put millions of dollars into this and done it week after week, and there’s no offseason, you do it 52 weeks a year, it’s a fight. And that’s a credit to the fans. I know what it is to be a wrestling fan 52 weeks a year. It’s hard. But it’s also the most rewarding thing. That’s why you can’t get away from it for too long. That’s why we always come back to it. We’re addicted and it’s worth fighting.”

UFC - MMA News

Colby Covington addresses his UFC 296 loss to Leon Edwards

Covington fell short in another bid for undisputed UFC gold. He challenged Edwards for the UFC Welterweight Championship in the main event of UFC 296, which emanated from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada this past Saturday night (December 16).

“I did,” Covington said. “I thought the third, fourth, and fifth round were mine. The fifth was mine easily, fourth I thought was mine as well, too, and I thought I did enough in the third. He didn’t put any damage on me, he got a couple low kicks but then I started checking them at the end. So, I thought I had the win, I thought I did enough, but the judges have never favored me. They hate me because I support Trump, and everybody hates Trump in this building. So, it is what it is.”

Covington made things personal with Edwards before their title fight, mentioning “Rocky’s” late father in a negative light. Many have debated what Covington told Edwards during their staredown at the ceremonial weigh-ins, but there’s no doubt he mentioned something about a character. Covington claimed he is not a gimmick.

“No, not at all,” Covington said. “There is no character. I’m a guy that just turns it up to 11. I don’t care what people think of me.”

“There’s a guy that’s been talking a lot of sh*t to me in the media, Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson,” Covington said. “Everybody thinks he’s a nice guy. He’s had a lot to say about me, so I’d love to see him say that to me in the Octagon.”

Property News

‘Views from every level’: Architect-designed Coogee home fetches $10.5 million - September 2023

A four-bedroom cliffside family home in Coogee with views from every level sold at auction for $10.5 million on Saturday.

The architecturally designed home metres from Coogee Beach at 15A Cairo Street featured horse racing memorabilia and artistic supplies, and attracted three bidders at auction, all owner-occupiers.

Bidding opened at $9.7 million in front of a crowd of 100. After three $100,000 bids, $50,000 bids were placed until $10.3 million was reached. Further $25,000 bids were placed until the fast-moving auction stopped when the gavel fell at $10.5 million.

This was one of 778 homes scheduled to go under the hammer in Sydney on the weekend. By evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 74 per cent from 475 reported results, while 84 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

Selling agent Sam Capra from Ray White Park Coast East sold the property in collaboration with Bethwyn Richards from The Agency Eastern Suburbs.

Capra declined to share the reserve but said the buyers are a local family from Randwick. The vendors will be looking to downsize to a luxury apartment now that their children are grown. The architect was MKD Architects.

“Views from every level, even from the garage level. You can see out the coastline to Bondi, Wedding Cake Island. Beautiful views with a north-facing front,” he said.

“[The] market is very strong at the moment where there is not a lot of stock … there are quite a few buyers out there. Interest rates don’t seem to affect the market very much in our area at this stage.”

UFC ANNOUNCES 2024 EVENT SCHEDULE

See Who, When, And Where Some Of The Biggest Fights Of 2024 Are Taking Place.

At the UFC 2024 seasonal press conference the world leader in mixed martial arts released information on upcoming fights, dates, and locations for 2024.

UFC Fight Night

Main Event: Magomedov Ankalaev vs Johnny Walker 2

When: January 13, 2024

Location: UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada

UFC 297

Main Event: Sean Strickland vs Dricus du Plessis

Co-Main Event: Raquel Pennington vs Mayra Bueno Silva

When: January 20, 2024

Where: Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

UFC Fight Night

Main Event: Roman Dolidze vs Nassourdine Imavov

When: February 3, 2024

Location: UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada

UFC Fight Night

Main Event: Jack Hermansson vs Joe Pyfer

When: February 10, 2024

Location: UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada

UFC 298

Main Event: Alexander Volkanovski vs Ilia Topuria

When: February 17, 2024

Where: Honda Center in Anaheim, California

UFC Fight Night

Fights On The Card: Brandon Moreno vs Amir Albazi

When: February 24, 2024

Location: Arena CDMX, Ciudad de México, Mexico

UFC Fight Night

Main Event: TBD vs TBD

When: March 2, 2024

Location: Kingdom Arena, Riyadh Province, Saudi Arabia

UFC 299

Main Event: Sean O’Malley vs Marlon Vera 2

When: March 9, 2024

Where: Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida

UFC Fight Night

Main Event: TBD vs TBD

When: March 30, 2024

Location: Boardwalk Hall, New Jersey, USA

UFC 300

Main Event: TBD vs TBD

When: April 13, 2024

Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada

UFC also announced that in 2024 there will be UFC events in Brazil, the United Kingdom, Abu Dhabi, France, Australia, and at the Sphere in Las Vegas.

Combat Sports/Pop Culture

UFC - MMA, Social Media Troll meets Politics and Event Security

UFC @UFC 296 Security Details Hauts Trump Troll

Ultra Trolls May Be Banned For Life

YouTuber and Kick streamer N3ON aka Rangesh Mutama, may be thrown off all social media platforms and his fame goes worldwide.

Infamous Troll N3ON revealled his plans online led to someone sharing them with T-Mobile Arena security.

“Donald Trump and the secret service are going to be there, so here’s my plan, chat,” N3ON said during a pre-event stream. 

“You can clip this and foreshadow it in the future. What’s gonna happen is I’m gonna walk up, I’m gonna talk my *hit to Trump, and then it’s going to be a very good experience. I’m gonna talk my *hit, Idon’t care if the secret service is there, I don’t give a *uck, I’mma talk *hit, So it’s all good, it’s going to be a very good time. Very interesting.”

“Neon’s not allowed in,” someone in his entourage said in a follow up stream as he was headed to the show. “They dropped your name, specifically. They said Neon is not allowed in. You specifically, so now I gotta talk to them about refunding my damn money.”

N3ON’s shenanigans were brought up at the UFC 296 post-fight press conference, where Dana White savaged him.

“He said he was banned from the arena? No,” White said. “What happened is he said some stupid s— on Instagram and, he bought tickets so he wasn’t anywhere close. When you start saying stupid *hit - like that, yeah, you’re probably going to get busted up and thrown out of here. Making threats and talking dumb *hit..lookin’ for clout.”

More Dana White Top Brass News...

Comments on Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis fight near (not in The Octagon) at 296; Match on for 297 in SS's least fav region of Canada?!

“What kind of an asshole sits Strickland next to Du Plessis? This asshole [Dana pointed at himself], that’s who,” White said. “I do every seating assignments every week. How *ucking stupid is that? I mean, seriously. Well, I don’t know what humans you can sit Strickland next to, but definitely not Du Plessis. I don’t even know how I missed that.”

“Listen, this is the business we’re in, I say it all the time,” White said. “Jumped in there, told Strickland to relax, go in the back. He decided to leave, so he left the arena, and Du Plessis is good. We were just literally talking to him right outside the door there. Gentlemen, we are in the fight business.”

MMA Fighter Dricus Du Plessis elaborates on Strickland post fight..

MMA - Pro Wrestling Fanbase See Shades of Real Stone Cold Steve Austin persona; Not quite vs Booker T supermarket fight or Conon McGregor with foreign objects at bus; Bruiser Brody or Terry Funk in Japan influence?

"I mean, I'm 5-0 in the T Mobile Arena, and tonight it officially became 6-0, so haha, I'm happy with that,” Du Plessis said. “You know, getting my money's worth. But, it's probably not a good example. But, you know, here we are, things happen. And yeah, nobody got hurt, all is good.”

"I don't really care how he feels,” Du Plessis said. “I don't care about him being triggered. He says whatever he wants, and I can say wherever I want. And now there's one thing that that's a soft spot, a trigger for him. And now we're not allowed to say anything? Man, if you want to dish it out, you have to be able to take it, but yeah, the fact that he's triggered, I don't give a damn about that."

"Yeah, no, not to me [there's no emotion heading into the fight],” Du Plessis said. “Not at all. You know, right now, he needs to get calm, and he needs to gain his composure. I know I'm not the champ yet, so I shouldn't be really giving the champ advice, but that would be my advice.

“Gather your composure, be calm,” he concluded. “You make mistakes when you're not calm. And I'm calm as a cucumber — the coolest cucumber. I'm feeling absolutely great. And then the fact that he's triggered only plays to my advantage. I can't believe how easy it was to mentally trigger him. I thought, yes, Sean Strickland, you know, he's just bashing everybody, ranting about everything on everybody. And I mean, one little sentence and the man loses his mind. It shows how easily mentally he will be broken."

Media Man: Kick the worse sort of trolls to the curb. MMA fighters, try to keep the fighting in the Octagon. Smack talk is fine within reason and try to keep wives and deceased people out of the fight promos, staged or not. Mental health matters as do PPV buy rates and repeat business. It's the fight game as well as a balancing act of sorts. But.. "this is the fight business we're in" - Dana White, UFC top dog.

Videos

UFC Official YouTube

www.youtube.com/UFC

UFC 296: Post-Fight Press Conference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehW_A_g9Sj4&ab_channel=UFC

TNT Sports YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/@TNTSports

Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis FIGHT at UFC 296!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAfkBADQzAg&ab_channel=TNTSports

Chael Sonnen Official YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/@ChaelSonnenOfficial

Sean Strickland and Du Plessi Brawl...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3iHGN8gtKg&ab_channel=ChaelSonnen

Media Man Int YouTube

UFC 296. Sean Strickland clip

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IrSt9NB5t9g

#UFC296 #UFC297 #UFC300 #UFC5 #UFC #ufcnews #ufcmedia #DanaWhite #quotes #mmanews  #SeanStrickland #DuPlessie #DonaldTrump #Trump #trolls #troll #socialmedia #kick #video #videos #wrestling #prowrestling #storyline #storytelling #letsgo #PPV #PayPerView #popculture #LiveSports #LiveEntertainment #trends #trending #buzz #Vegas #VegasNews #VegasMedia #media 

Image credit: UFC

Pro Wrestling

AEW and ROH Top Brass Shares His Thoughts On Being A Wrestling Promoter

"To be AEW, no matter how good you do, there will be people coming for you, gunning for you. Because that's what this is. There's a reason that every single person who stepped into my position until now has gone out of business. I'm the only one left. Everybody who stepped up and put millions of dollars into this and done it week after week, and there's no offseason, you do it 52 weeks a year, it's a fight. And that's a credit to the fans. I know what it is to be a wrestling fan 52 weeks a year. It's hard. But it's also the most rewarding thing. That's why you can't get away from it for too long. That's why we always come back to it. We're addicted." - Tony Khan

Jacksonville Jaguars Exec Allegedly Embezzled $22 Million for Gambling, Crypto - December 12, 2023

A former Jacksonville Jaguars executive is accused of embezzling $22 million on gambling and other items.

Amit Patel was fired by the Jaguars last February.  He was also accused of siphoning team funds for personal travel and a condo purchase.  

The Athletic first broke the story on Tuesday.   Contributors Katie Strang and Kalyn Kahler refer to Patel as "a guy in the right place at the right time," who took advantage of turnover in the financial department and a unique position with a new system to steal millions.

From the Athletic:

Patel was a mid-level employee who worked for the Jaguars from 2018-23. He allegedly created fraudulent charges on the club’s virtual credit card and then covered his tracks by sending falsified files to the team’s accounting department. According to a charging document, he used that money to buy vehicles, a condominium and a designer watch worth over $95,000. He also purchased cryptocurrency, splurged on luxury travel for himself and others and used the funds to keep a criminal defense lawyer on retainer. Patel’s attorney said that the vast majority of the $22 million he stole were gambling losses; Patel allegedly placed bets on football and daily fantasy sports with online gambling sites.

Patel is charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of illegal monetary transaction in documents filed in U.S. District Court in Jacksonville.

Other items Patel is alleged to have used the ill-gotten fees on included a Tesla Model 3 sedan, a Nissan pickup truck, a Patek Philippe Nautilus watch for $95,000, and an unknown amount of cryptocurrency.

The Jaguars are named as "Business A" in the court documents as confirmed by the NFL franchise.

"We can confirm that in February 2023, the team terminated the employment of the individual named in the filing," the team said in a statement. "Over the past several months, we have cooperated fully with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida during their investigation and thank them for their efforts in this case.

"As was made clear in the charges, this individual was a former manager of financial planning and analysis who took advantage of his trusted position to covertly and intentionally commit significant fraudulent financial activity at the team's expense for personal benefit.

"This individual had no access to confidential football strategy, personnel or other football information. The team engaged experienced law and accounting firms to conduct a comprehensive independent review, which concluded that no other team employees were involved in or aware of his criminal activity."

The Von Erichs Thank AEW For Showcase In Texas - December 17, 2023

Marshall Von Erich took to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday to share a video of himself, his brother and tag team partner Ross, and their father, pro wrestling legend Kevin Von Erich, thanking All Elite Wrestling. In the video below, they also spoke about how they "couldn't have asked for a better reception" from the crowds. Kevin said that he was proud of them, while Ross and Marshall said their dad was one of the best and taught them everything.

This past Wednesday on "AEW Dynamite" the three were backstage with Renee Paquette and then on Friday, they tagged alongside AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy to defeat "Daddy Magic" Matt Menard, "Cool Hand" Angelo Parker, and Jake Hager on "AEW Rampage." During that match, Kevin put the Iron Claw on Hager, which was a moment fans are unlikely to forget. Also this past Friday, Marshall and Ross were part of the "Zero Hour" portion of Ring of Honor's Final Battle pay-per-view, where they defeated The Outrunners (Truth Magnum and Turbo Floyd).

All of this happened a week before the upcoming release of the A24 film, "The Iron Claw," due out this Friday, December 22. The film is about the Von Erich family's past tragedies, in which Kevin, who is the only surviving member of the brothers, is played by popular Hollywood star Zac Efron. AEW Champion MJF has a small role in the film too, starring as Lance Von Erich. The film had its red carpet premiere on December 11 in Los Angeles, California, and its world premiere was back on November 8 in Dallas, Texas.

Pro Wrestling

Chris Jericho On AEW Backstage Reaction To CM Punk in WWE

Pro wrestling living legend Chris Jericho (currently signed to AEW), spoke about the backstage reaction in AEW to CM Punk returning to WWE at Survivor Series. Punk was terminated aka Don't Come Monday earlier this year. It's understood that Punk had been considerating leaving AEW for quite some time, but accounts vary and there is an NDA in place so details will be quite for the longest time and the real truth and guts of the matter may never come out!

“It’s business as usual. It happens. It’s the same reason why I’m sure there wasn’t a big reaction when Adam Copeland came to AEW or when Will Ospreay signed with AEW or when Danielson, Moxley, and Adam Cole came to AEW. It’s good for the business that guys have the ability to go between companies. It’s great for the fans and it’s great for the talent overall. It just makes the business stronger and that’s the most important thing.” (Credit: Fightful)

Breaking News - December 2023

Netflix  has recommenced advertising on X; Media agency and pay TV vet says may have to resubscribe to Netflix again soon as a show of support.

Positive buzz in the air for freedom of expression lovers across the Internet connected globe. 

"Was missing Sly @TheSlyStallone quite a bit" tweeted and overheard from Media Man water-cooler! Another staffer; "Still wish Netflix would get more WWE, pro wrestling and mixed martial arts content". Ed; "Just be happy and count your blessings crew. Cheers to freedom and the win-win-win".

Congratulations in order for Elon Musk, Linda Yaccario and the Netflix powers that be.

(Sources: X and Doge Designer)

Bitter rivals come to blows in wild crowd brawl at UFC 296 as kids flee - December 17, 2023

Tensions boiled over in the crowd at UFC 296 as two star fighters came to blows in a shock fist fight that overshadowed the main event.

Things got heated inside the octagon on Sunday (AEDT) in Las Vegas, and apparently outside of it as well.

The NY Post reports At UFC 296 at T-Mobile Arena, there was a fracas at UFC 296 at the T-Mobile Arena between fighters Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis, who were not even competing for real, as the two came to blows.

In videos from inside the venue, Strickland, 32, is seen standing up and sharing words with du Plessis, 29, from their respective seats before Strickland appears to ask people behind him to move out of the way.

After they seemed to oblige, Strickland leapt over at least one row of chairs before he started hammering with his right hand to du Plessis’ head, getting in a number of shots before the fight was eventually broken up, with UFC CEO Dana White in the middle of stopping things, per MMA Mania.

The TV broadcast cut away just as they exchanged blows and Strickland jumped back.

A child caught up in the incident is the son of welterweight veteran Gilbert Burns.

Strickland was seen calmly asking Burns’ wife and son to move aside before using their seats to leap over and attack du Plessis.

Security rushed in to stop the pair and Strickland was ushered out of the arena.

Stickland’s front row seats were right next to jiu-jitsu legend Craig Jones and Australia’s Alex Volkanovski.

Volkanovski confirmed on Twitter: “They came to blows.”

According to ESPN broadcaster Jon Anik, Strickland was removed from the arena following the brawl.

After the altercation, Strickland took to X.

“I go hard on everyone I know this, izzy mouth feeding his dog, Dricus kissing his coach and grabbing his cup,” he wrote on social media, seemingly also calling out fighter Israel Adesanya.

“(Sean O’Malley) talking about sharing his wife in a podcast. You’re a man, on a world stage doing this in public.”

The fiery incident came on the heels of a contentious press conference on Friday that was promoting UFC 297 in Toronto, which will pit Strickland (28-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC) and du Plessis (20-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC).

More Coverage

UFC champ ‘crying from rage’ amid cringe act

During the heated event, the two had to be separated by White.

During the presser, Strickland also took some shots at Colby Covington, lost to Leon Edwards in Vegas as part of UFC 296’s main event.

UFC 296: Leon Edwards blasts Colby Covington’s cruel act, ‘odd’ tactic backfires on US villain - December 17, 2023

Leon Edwards has taken aim at Colby Covington after dominating the American, who disappointed with an odd and lacklustre display.

Leon Edwards has defended his welterweight title in a dominant performance against Colby Covington in the main event at UFC 296.

After twice beating Kamaru Usman, Edwards showed why he’s the new middleweight king in his second title defence.

Covington is known for coming out firing but looked out of sorts in his first bout since March 2022.

The American was extremely tentative in the opening rounds, immediately giving Edwards the upper hand on the scorecards as the champion peppered the challenger with precise blows and leg kicks.

Covington finished the fight strong, securing a takedown and unleashing some ground and pound while on top of Edwards — but it was too late.

Edwards was awarded the victory via unanimous decision (49-46 x 3), while it is back to the drawing board for Covington after an uncharacteriscally tame display.

Speaking after the win, Edwards said he was determined to prove a point against the noted grappler and revealed his fury at Covington for speaking about his father’s death in the pre-fight press conference.

“He used my dad’s murder as entertainment ... it took a lot for me to calm down,” Edwards revealed.

“I went backstage (at the press conference) and I was crying because of the rage. To this day it still breaks my heart.”

Covington appeared to celebrate as if he had won before delivering a bizarre Donald Trump campaign speech while the former US president sat ringside.

Covington vs Edwards round updates

Round 1: A slow and cautious start by both fighters, and Covington will need to do much more to take the belt from Edwards.

Joe Rogan said in commentary: “This is not a typical start to a Colby Covington fight at all.”

Rogan and Daniel Cormer said if Covington continues to fight like this, he won’t have a chance of winning.

Round 2: Another uneventful round and Edwards is doing enough to stay ahead on the scorecards with precise shots.

A puzzled Joe Rogan said: “I’ve never seen Colby fight like this. It’s odd.”

Round 3: Finally some action. Covington attempted a clumsy takedown, turning Edwards upside down against the fence.

But the champion wriggled free and immediately executed a takedown of his own and landing a heavy leg kick.

It’s Covington’s first fight since March 2022 and he looks rusty.

Jon Anik noted in commentary: “It could well be Covington’s last shot at undisputed glory.”

Daniel Cormier said: “Colby’s legs are just destroyed.”

Round 4: A better round by Covington but Edwards has an answer for everything, escaping another takedown.

Round 5: Covington ends the fight with his best round, grappling Edwards on the ground and hammering away with punches but it was too little too late.

Edwards dominated the fight but the final moments saw Covington on top with some old fashioned ground and pound.

Joe Rogan said: “He’s going to win the fight but that’s not a good look for Leon.”

Emmett’s KO of the year

The undercard has produced some absolutely brutal knockouts, with American Josh Emmett sleeping Bryce Mitchell with a right hand that might just be the knockout of the year.

Emmett was supposed to fight Giga Chikadze, but when he pulled out with injury Mitchell stepped in to take the fight.

He might be having second thoughts about that decision after Emmett connected with a sickening right hand, ending the fight in the first round with a one-punch knockout.

Mitchell lay convulsing on the canvas in frightening scenes but thankfully got back to his feet and regained consciousness.

“That sounded like a baseball bat hitting a coconut,” Joe Rogan said in commentary.

Rogan said is was as if Emmett “dropped a nuclear warhead on his head”.

MMA pundit Ariel Helwani tweeted: “Holy smokes. That’s one of the most vicious KOs we’ve seen some times. Josh Emmett just unloaded on Bryce Mitchell.

“What a picture perfect right. And Mitchell was convulsing afterwards. Damn.”

Emmett said afterwards: “I am the most powerful featherweight in the world.”

‘Paddy the Baddy’ beats UFC legend

Paddy Pimblett, aka Paddy the Baddy, has claimed the biggest win of his career against UFC legend Tony Ferguson.

The Englishman came out firing and dropped Ferguson in the first round. Ferguson somehow survived the fight but Pimblett was awarded the victory 30-27 on all three scorecards.

UFC stars come to blows in crowd

Sean Strickland and his UFC middleweight challenger Dricus du Plessis exchanged punches in wild scenes in the crowd at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Strickland famously beat Israel Adesanya in Sydney in a huge upset to take the middleweight crown and will defend his title against du Plessis at UFC 297 in Toronto in January.

After being introduced on the big screen, Strickland pretend to shoot an imaginary gun at du Plessis, who dodged the fake bullet.

The cameras cut away just as they exchanged blows and Strickland jumped back.

A child caught up in the incident is the son of welterweight veteran Gilbert Burns.

Strickland was seen calmly asking Burns’ wife and son to move aside before using their seats to leap over and attack du Plessis.

Security rushed in to stop the pair and Strickland was ushered out of the arena.

Stickland’s front row seats were right next to jiu-jitsu legend Craig Jones and Australia’s Alex Volkanovski.

Volkanovski confirmed on Twitter: “They came to blows.”

UFC 296 FIGHT CARD

Leon Edwards (c) def Colby Covington via UD (49-46 x 3)

Alexandre Pantoja (c) def Brandon Royval via UD (50-45 x 2, 49-46)

Shavkat Rakhmonov def Stephen Thompson via submission in Round Two

Paddy Pimblett def Tony Ferguson via UD (30-27 x 3)

Bryce Mitchell def by Josh Emmett via KO in Round One

Preliminary card

Dustin Jacoby def by Alonzo Menifield via UD (29-28 x 3)

Irene Aldana def Karol Rosa via UD (29-28 x 3)

Cody Garbrandt def Brian Kelleher via KO in Round One

Casey O’Neill def by Ariane Lipski via submission in Round Two

Tagir Ulanbekov def Cody Durden via submission in Round Two

Andre Fili def Luca Almeida via TKO in Round One

Martin Buday def by Shamil Gaziev via TKO in Round Two

Pop Culture/World Themes

"It Is 90 Seconds To Midnight" and Doomsday/End Times/World Control scenario themes have been promoted and pushed over the years by a number of entities. Some for more political type purposes such as by the World Economic Forum and some more for showbiz and entertainment purposes by entities such as the Mad Max movie franchise and even in professional wrestling, be it the nWo (New World Order) faction, as conceptualized and brought into WCW via executive Eric Bischoff, or in more recent times, Karrion Kross 

@realKILLERkross

 of WWE 

@WWE

 fame.

Kross is a favourite of the Media Man crew as the character is compelling plus he has the combat sports background, as well as excellent in-ring skills as the "IT Factor" that pro wrestling promoters look for. The most recent Kross promos feature what looks to be a more dark and mysterious character, as well as maintaining some post apocalyptic themes. That is our interpretation which of course is open to interpretation, such is the nature of the artform.

Other movie franchises such as 'The Matrix' by Warner Brothers and the "Wal" Bros/sis connection who have also depicted the man/human vs machine dynamic and the who or what is really in control!

Enter The Matrix or Escape The Matrix? Or, 'Watchmen' - Nothing Ever Ends!

Pro wrestling fans will know more Kross "soon", in his own words and be looking out for "recycling" elements, be it the WWE creative, eco activists, and you get the idea.

Big tech entities such as X (formally Twitter), YouTube, Instagram and MSM are quite likely to cover these types of scenarios and events with their own spin on things based on historical data! 

"Hang on Dorothy". 2024 is going to be a wild ride.

James Packer broadens media portfolio with $123.4 million stake in Paramount Global - December 2023

Australian billionaire James Packer has significantly expanded his media interests by acquiring a stake worth around A$123.4 million in Paramount Global, the prominent American media and entertainment conglomerate.

This investment marks a notable shift in Packer's media strategy, particularly as Paramount Global owns Network Ten.

Packer, who had previously distanced himself from media ventures, made a notable comeback earlier this year.

He emerged as a major investor in Australian Digital Holdings, a company linked with Alan Jones, a prominent broadcaster.

This move signalled Packer's renewed interest in the media sector.

Not first investment in Network Ten

This investment is not Packer's first engagement with Network Ten. In 2010 he purchased an 18% stake in the network for A$244 million.

However, he later sold half of this stake to Lachlan Murdoch.

Network Ten experienced significant changes in the following years, including a period of administration in 2017 and a subsequent acquisition by US studio CBS, which later evolved into Paramount following a merger.

Portfolio valued at $US363.7 million

Packer's latest media investment was disclosed through filings to US regulators by Consolidated Press International Holdings (CPH), his company.

These filings revealed a portfolio valued at $US363.7 million, heavily focused on technology stocks.

Apart from Paramount, Packer's second-largest holding is a $US34.6 million stake in Blackstone, the new owner of Crown casino, a property Packer sold his share in last year for more than $3 billion amidst controversies.

Investment strategy

CPH's investment strategy has seen adjustments, as indicated by the filings.

Packer has reduced his stakes in various companies, including a notable decrease in his investment in semiconductor company ASML and a complete divestment from Nvidia.

Australian Digital Holdings, mirroring the US's right-wing Newsmax TV network, features shows hosted by Jones and broadcasts five hours of content daily.

Paramount, under the leadership of media executive Shari Redstone, faces challenges from a declining advertising market and shifting audience preferences away from traditional broadcast TV. 

Facebook and Google to face ACCC oversight under tougher rules for using news - December 17, 2023

Google and Facebook will come under stricter oversight from the nation’s competition watchdog under federal plans to ensure the global giants compensate Australian news businesses to use their content.

The federal government will draft new laws to toughen the regime and encourage the digital media companies to negotiate in good faith with news providers, clearing the way for commercial deals next year.

The decision is a strong sign from Communications Minister Michelle Rowland and Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones that they expect the digital companies to reach new deals under the mandatory bargaining code set up by federal law in early 2021.

The move comes as Facebook shuts down news services in Canada because of a dispute over a similar regime in that country, while Google is working with the Canadian rules after dropping threats to block news links.

Jones said the government could force digital platforms like Google and Facebook to make deals with the media by “designating” them under federal law, making it clear they were expected to reach agreements.

“We already have the power to designate digital platforms and we are prepared to use it,” he said in a statement.

“We want to see news outlets and digital platforms come together and negotiate in good faith.”

At stake is a revenue stream worth about $200 million a year for Australian news providers at a time when they say they need fair compensation in new deals with Google and Facebook next year to compensate them for news content that appears on their platforms.

Nine Entertainment, the publisher of this masthead, is seeking to negotiate new deals alongside media companies such as Seven West Media, NewsCorp Australia, Guardian Australia and others.

The government will issue a formal response on Monday to a Treasury inquiry into the news bargaining code that recommended changes to the law to help the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) monitor the market.

Jones and Rowland said the government had agreed to the proposal to give the ACCC the power to demand information from the industry as part of regular reports that will help examine the outcomes from the code.

While the government has not released the detail of the compulsory information-gathering powers, it said it expected the new measures to help ensure fair negotiations with news providers.

“Many commercial agreements between Australian news businesses and digital platforms will expire over the next year,” the government said.

“The government expects that digital platforms with significant bargaining power will negotiate in good faith towards the renewal of existing agreements, and potentially new agreements, with Australian news businesses.”

Former ACCC chair Rod Sims concluded, in a report for the Judith Nielsen Institute, that the last round of deals were worth about $200 million a year to the news providers.

The federal move comes at a sensitive time because the Australian regime was seen as a global precedent in 2021 and led to similar measures overseas including the Online News Act in Canada, which is now the subject of a fierce dispute.

Facebook’s owner, Meta, has pulled out of news in Canada since August, in an echo of its news ban in Australia in February 2021.

Meta reversed the news ban at Facebook in Australia when then treasurer Josh Frydenberg reached a compromise on the bargaining code to give the digital giants the ability to negotiate commercial deals with each media company to avoid being “designated” in the federal law and subject to more onerous regulation.

The Canadian approach forces the digital media companies to submit to a single national system with a fixed payment.

“While the Australian government engaged with Google and Meta to develop provisions for platforms and traditional media to make deals outside the code, the Canadian government provides no option for designated entities to separately negotiate with traditional media,” wrote Australian National University research fellow Tanvi Nair in an analysis in October.

“Under the Canadian law, platforms will be required to pay per link to a news article without room for negotiation.”

Australian Tourism News

Bluey to star in tourist attraction in Brisbane - December 2023

International television phenomenon Bluey will star in her own tourist attraction in Brisbane.

Bluey’s World will span a 4,000-square-meter immersive experience at the Northshore Pavilion in Hamilton.

The attraction will pay homage to the cartoon blue heeler who has exposed an entire generation of kids and parents around the globe to the beauty of Brisbane.

Construction is now underway to create the life-sized Bluey’s home with interactive play and soundscape.

It is expected to open its doors in August next year.

Property News and Social Media News

Norris Nuts: Famous Youtube family turns 12m following into $40m Bondi property portfolio - November 26, 2023

Turns out being an influencer might be a little more lucrative than first thought. Take the Norris Nuts, a family internet sensation from Newcastle who were already clearly monetising their social media accounts when they purchased a house in North Bondi last year for $15.2 million.

But former Olympic swimmer and bronze medallist Justin Norris, his wife Brooke and their brood of six kids Sabre, Sockie, Biggy, Naz, Disco and Charm haven’t stopped there, parlaying their almost 12 million followers and subscribers on YouTube, Tiktok and Instagram into what now totals more than $40 million worth of real estate on the one street.

Records show in July the couple’s corporate interests purchased a block of six apartments up the road from their North Bondi home for $10.5 million amid talk they were planning to convert the lot into one large house for their kids.

Then, as their almost 7 million YouTube subscribers found out a week ago, the family were again on the house hunting trail, going to Mosman to look at a $14 million house before they returned to Bondi to look at the house next door being sold by Raine & Horne’s Ric Serrao and Mark Yeats for $14.2 million.

Clearly the kids’ preference to remain living near their beloved Bondi Beach won out judging by the sold sticker that went up on next door for which a well-placed source said the Norrises paid above the guide.

The newly purchased house is expected to be a home to the eldest of the six Norris kids, Sabre, now 18, with the potential to one day knock down both houses to create a single residence across the $30 million site.

All of which is a good step up the property ladder from their former home in Newcastle’s up-market suburb The Junction, purchased in 2015 for $1.05 million.

The family’s latest buy comes less than a year after they sold a block of land in Queensland’s Broadbeach Waters for $6.42 million, a loss on their $6.5 million purchase price of 18 months earlier.

Pro Wrestling News

AEW Signed Wrestling Legend Kenny Omega Serious Health Issues - December 2023

“I’ll Leave It to Him”: AEW President Tony Khan Responds After Losing Another Top Star

‘Kenny Omega’s medical situation is a hard pill to swallow’: Tony Khan

Khan recently addressed Omega’s medical situation during an interview on ROH Final Battle Media Scrum. He said, “I’ll leave it to him to get updates because he’s already been communicating and it’s his health and I don’t want to speak for him, but we’re all praying for Kenny Omega and thankfully there is good reason to be optimistic.”

 “But we were all worried about him, but it was honestly really hard the last 24 hours focusing on wrestling when somebody who is part of our wrestling family who has something happening that’s not wrestling like that. Whenever there is a real-life situation, it always takes the most precedence.”

Charlotte Flair Reacts After WWE Announces ‘Heartbreaking’ News About Her Knee Injury - December 17, 2023

Charlotte Flair to undergo surgery for torn ACL, MCL, meniscus

Flair was injured on the December 8 SmackDown.

Flair landed on her feet to the floor on a moonsault attempt in a portion of the match that aired on television, but it is believed that the knee and neck injuries happened during a spot that occurred during a commercial break in the match where Flair fell off the top rope. 

The news broke that Flair would be out for almost nine months after her knee injury during last week’s SmackDown match.

For fans of the Queen, this episode of SmackDown came with bad news. During her match against the Empress of Tomorrow, Asuka, on the Tribute to the Troops show, Flair was injured after landing badly on her knee. While no one knew the extent of the injury, WWE made it clear on tonight’s episode.

Midway through the show, it was announced that Flair would be out for at least nine months. Flair would take to social media to react to this update. With no words and just the broken heart emoji, Flair made it clear how devastated she was.

Combat Sports

Andrew Tate claims he and Tristan would beat Jake & Logan Paul in a cage fight

During a new interview with Geroge Janko, Andrew Tate claimed he “backs himself” and brother Tristan if they were to face off against Jake and Logan Paul in a cage match.

Influencer George Janko recently sat down with Andrew Tate, interviewing him on his YouTube channel. The two discussed many different topics, one of which was in regard to how he believes he and his brother Tristan would match up against Logan and Jake Paul in a fight.

When it comes to famous brothers, the Tate’s and the Paul’s are arguably two of the most well-known pairings on the internet today.

While Jake and Logan have been in the influencer space for longer, the Tate’s have found themselves catapulted to the center of major fame after their candid takes on relationships, masculinity, and more.

Andrew was quick to respond, claiming that he believes the Paul brothers would not be able to take down the Tate brothers.

“You know what, I’m trying so hard not to start internet beef, I’m really trying not to. I’m trying to live peacefully but of course, I have absolute faith in myself and my brother. I know we’ve been through it and I know the kind of men we are.”

Mike Tyson Boxing and CBD Connection - December 2023

Mike Tyson Offers Fan a Partnership Deal in His $160 Million Empire on the Spot but Has One Condition

Not so long ago, ‘Iron’ Mike partnered with Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, and Evander Holyfield, forming highly lucrative partnerships. So, the same for a budding entrepreneur attending the VAULT Conference Interview with Patrick Bet-David, featuring Mike Tyson, the offer was life-changing. However, as luck had it, the offer came with a condition. 

Mike Tyson asked the audience member to give him a call

While discussing the importance of a mentor, the audience was given the opportunity to ask Mike whatever they wanted. So, one guy made the most out of the opportunity to ask Mike, “What’s the mindset you have when you’re looking to team up with somebody in the Cannabis industry?” Unexpectedly, Mike had an offer ready for the guy.

Mike immediately interrupted him and asked, “Well, what do you have to offer?” The guy responded by suggesting he had a few cannabis retail stores and a lot of knowledge about the domain. So, ‘Kid Dynamite’ asked how many stores he had. The guy claimed, “One, working on three.” That’s when Mike introduced the dreaded condition for the partnership. “When you get a 100, give me a call,” said Mike. With Mike’s offer out of the way, his parent company recently achieved a new milestone.

‘Iron’ Mike’s $160 million partnership proves to be a boon

The parent company behind Mike’s ‘Tyson 2.0’ is a company called Carma HoldCo and the CEO of Carma HoldCo, Adam Wilks, turned to Instagram, sharing the good news with their followers online. Wilks wrote in the caption, “Proud of the team — Big things coming in 2024!”

Tourism News and Social Media News

Drunken nights, nauseous seaplane ride: Influencers given $90,000 visit to Australia - December 17, 2023

A drunken night out with Danish backpackers, a meme about the southern hemisphere Christmas being sad, nausea after a seaplane ride: this is how the national tourism agency is trying to sell Australia as a holiday destination to Generation Z.

Tourism Australia has spent a total of about $90,000 hosting three social media influencers this month: United States-based performer Chris Olsen (who has 13.9 million followers across his TikTok and Instagram accounts), UK-based performer Maddie Grace Jepson (1.7 million followers), and UK-based trainspotter Francis Bourgeois (5.3 million followers).

The trio landed in Sydney for the TikTok Australia Awards, which Tourism Australia had no financial relationship with, on December 6, before holidaying in the city.

Jepson also travelled to the Gold Coast and northern NSW, posting a picture of herself on the beach in Byron Bay and a TikTok hanging out with drunk Danish tourists in a pub, before posting a meme to her Instagram story which likened a sparsely decorated, small fake Christmas tree to spending the festive season in Australia.

Tourism Australia spent about $30,000 on flights, accommodation and experiences for each influencer, who have posted varying levels of content during their stay.

Information provided by Tourism Australia said content from the creators’ visit to Australia was still rolling out on their channels, describing the initial results as “encouraging”.

Olsen, whose social media posts suggest he left Sydney for Singapore after a few days, has already posted eight times, reaching an audience of 26.2 million, according to the agency.

Videos posted by Olsen included a vlog-style account of a “spontaneous” seaplane journey, where the influencer found himself grateful for dry land after a dizzying flight over Sydney Harbour, and another of his long-haul trip from Los Angeles.

Bourgeois has posted the least of the group. The 23-year-old trainspotter, who went viral for his GoPro videos highlighting British rail stock in 2021, posted one video at Sydney’s Central Station, taking a tour of the state’s XPT regional trains, before travelling to Mount Victoria to watch the service on the tracks.

Transport for NSW also posted pictures of Bourgeois on the Sydney Metro.

According to Tourism Australia’s annual report, 15,846 pieces of content were produced through its PR, media and influencer hosting activities in 2022-23, resulting in an equivalent advertising value of $689.3 million.

Dr Vicki Andonopoulos, an associate lecturer in marketing at the University of Sydney, said it was difficult to know if the influencer campaign had been a success without knowing what Tourism Australia had set out to achieve.

“The number of times people are mentioning tourism in Sydney, for example, that’s gone up as a result for sure,” she said, noting social media influencer campaigns like this helped to cut through “generic” influencer content to reach larger audiences.

“Aesthetic content has been done,” she said. However, Andonopoulos said that while giving an agency – like Tourism Australia – complete control over what was posted by influencers could lead to inauthentic and less appealing content, the reins here might have been too loose.

“It’s all pretty left of field,” she said.

Dr Kaye Chan, director of UTS’s digital marketing program, said the content was different to what someone typically thought of when imagining a Tourism Australia campaign, noting social media influencers were often an economical way to reach Generation Z.

“The biggest challenge we face is getting our brands to some of those younger audiences,” she said.

“TikTok videos and content that’s synonymous with the brand of that person on TikTok has good reach, but often ‘branded’ content does not. With that age group, they don’t want to see heavily branded, perfect content.”

What’s driving former lefties to the right?

In a new essay in the progressive magazine In These Times, writers Kathryn Joyce and Jeff Sharlet grapple with the contemporary version of an old phenomenon: erstwhile leftists decamping to the right. There have been plenty of high-profile defectors from the left in recent years, among them comedian [and accused rapist] Russell Brand; environmentalist-turned-conspiracy-theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr; and journalist Matt Taibbi, a onetime scourge of Wall Street, who was recently one of the winners of a $US100,000 prize from the ultraconservative Young America’s Foundation.

What gives this migration political significance, however, are the ordinary people following them, casting off what they view as a censorious liberalism for a movement that doesn’t ask anyone to “do the work” or “check your privilege.” Joyce and Sharlet write, “We, the authors of this article, each count such losses in our own lives, and maybe you do, too: friends you struggle to hold onto despite their growing allegiance to terrifying ideas, and friends you give up on, and friends who have given up on you and the hope you shared together.”

Naomi Klein described similar losses in her great book Doppelgänger, which follows the exploits of one of the most infamous of recent progressive apostates, Naomi Wolf, a former liberal feminist who became an anti-vax influencer and a regular on Steve Bannon’s podcast. “Almost everyone I talk to tells me about people they have lost ‘down the rabbit hole’ — parents, siblings, best friends, as well as formerly trusted intellectuals and commentators,” wrote Klein. “People, once familiar, who have become unrecognisable.”

A key question for the left is why this is happening. For some celebrity defectors, the impetus seems clear enough: They lurched right after a cancellation or public humiliation. Klein writes that a turning point for Wolf was widespread mockery after she was confronted, live on the radio, with evidence that the thesis of the book she was promoting was based on her misreading of archival documents. Brand’s right-wing turn, as Matt Flegenheimer wrote in The New York Times Magazine, coincided with the start of investigations into sexual assault accusations against him. [In September, the 48-year-old was accused of rape, assault and emotional abuse between 2006 and 2013, following claims made against him in a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary.] But that doesn’t explain why there’s such an eager audience for born-again reactionaries and why, in much of the Western world, the right has been so much better than the left at harnessing hatred of the status quo.

Part of the answer is probably that the culture of the left is simply less welcoming, especially to the politically unsure, than the right. The conservative movement may revel in cruelty toward out-groups -- see, for example, the ravening digital mobs that descended on podcaster Julia Mazur for a TikTok she made about the pleasures of life without children – but the movement is often good at love-bombing potential recruits. “People go where people accept them, or are nice to them, and away from people who are mean to them,” the Marxist Edwin Aponte, one of the founders of the heterodox but socially conservative magazine Compact, told Joyce and Sharlet.

But I think there’s a deeper problem, which stems from a crisis of faith in the possibility of progress. Liberals and leftists have lots of excellent policy ideas but rarely articulate a plausible vision of the future. I sometimes hear leftists talk about “our collective liberation”, but outside a few specific contexts – the ongoing subjugation of the Palestinians comes to mind – I mostly have no idea what they’re talking about.

It’s easy to see what various parts of the left want to dismantle – capitalism, the carceral state, heteropatriarchy, the nuclear family – and much harder to find a realistic conception of what comes next. Some leftists who lose hope in the possibility of thoroughgoing transformation become liberals like me, mostly resigned to working toward incremental improvements to a dysfunctional society. Others, looking beyond the politics of amelioration, seek new ways to shake up the system.

The right has an advantage in appealing to dislocated and atomised people: It doesn’t have to provide a compelling view of the future. All it needs is a romantic conception of the past, to which it can offer the false promise of return. When people are scared and full of despair, “let’s go back to the way things were” is a potent message, especially for those with memories of happier times.

One common interpretation of the sort of ideological journeys Joyce and Sharlet wrote about for In These Times is “horseshoe theory,” the idea that at the extremes, left and right bend toward each other. But plenty of the people who’ve followed a rightward trajectory were never particularly radical; Wolf was a fairly standard Democrat, as was Elon Musk, now king of the edgelords.

As Klein argues, a better framework is “diagonalism”, coined by scholars William Callison and Quinn Slobodian. Diagonalists, they write, tend to “contest conventional monikers of left and right (while generally arcing toward far-right beliefs),” be ambivalent or cynical about electoral politics, and “blend convictions about holism and even spirituality with a dogged discourse of individual liberties”. At the extreme, they write, “diagonal movements share a conviction that all power is conspiracy. Public power cannot be legitimate, many believe, because the process of choosing governments is itself controlled by the powerful and is de facto illegitimate”.

Such conspiratorial politics have rarely, if ever, led to anything but catastrophe, but that doesn’t lessen their emotional pull. Both Sharlet and Joyce are longtime chroniclers of the right – its ambitions but also its divisions and contradictions. “But in this age of Trump, his presence and his shadow, we’ve witnessed more right-wing factions converging than splitting, putting aside differences and adopting new and ugly dreams,” they write. “They, of course, do not see the dreams as ugly, but beautiful.”

To compete with them, the left needs beautiful dreams of its own.

Content News

Content Shock. The premise was simple: As the supply of content increases exponentially, the cost of competing through content will increase. In fact, it will become so expensive to compete with content that the strategy may be inaccessible for some businesses eventually.

Many people characterized this post as “controversial” … which always confused me because it’s just common sense. When there’s too much of something (or too little of something) in any human, natural, or economic system there has to be an adjustment. Content included. Simple economics.

In fact, we can observe signs of this assessment all around us. One dramatic example is Facebook.

Organic reach on Facebook for most businesses has plummeted over the last five years. Why? Too much content. An average Facebook user now may see 2,000 stories a day on their feed — far too much, so Facebook has tuned its algorithm to block out the increasing wall of noise, which usually means our business content.

As organic reach has declined, companies either had to spend more to improve their content or spend more promoting it — but either way the cost of content marketing goes up. We now learn that Facebook is running out of ad space and ad costs will be going up again. As the cost of content marketing increases, some will eventually have to find another alternative.

Simply put, that is the economics of Content Shock in the real world.

Putting Content Shock to work for you

The most important foundation of a content marketing strategy is influencing the long-term health of your site’s domain authority.

Domain authority is the secret rating scale that Google uses to determine whether search traffic should go to you, or to your competitor. Domain authority is a critical indicator of the credibility, reliability, and usefulness of a website. The higher the score, the more search traffic that will be directed to a website.

We cannot know precisely what goes into Google’s calculation, but we know it is a combination of factors such as:

The age of the site

Size of site (number of pages)

Quality of sites linking back to you

Quality of sites you link to in your own content

Relevance of the content

Keyword matches and density

Consistency of published content

Timeliness of information (is it constantly updated?)

Increasing a company’s domain authority (and search appeal) would mean consistent concentration on improving these areas.

Google doesn’t share the precise domain authority rating for any website, but companies who specialize in search marketing analysis have developed standardized tools to provide an accurate estimate.

Content Marketing

A strategy in context

A content marketing strategy doesn’t begin with an employee, a blog, or a content plan. It starts with an assessment of the content density in your marketplace. You need to figure out how you can maneuver to out-wit the competition.

The Content Code: Six essential strategies to ignite your content, your marketing, and your business Paperback – March 5, 2015

by Mark W. Schaefer (Author)

Named world's best SEO book by Book Authority and one of the top five business books of the year by INC magazine!Mark W. Schaefer has delivered a path-finding book exploring the six factors that will help you break through the overwhelming wall of information density to win at marketing now … beyond content, beyond social media, beyond web traffic and Search Engine Optimization. The Content Code starts where your current marketing plan ends, and provides the launch code for next-level success. The book dives deeply into the true value of social media marketing and the steps companies need to enable to achieve measurable results. A pioneering book that explores the psychology of sharing, it is also highly practical, offering hundreds of ideas that can be used by organizations of any size and any budget.Book highlights include in-depth explorations on the connection between brand and content transmission, a focus on audiences that will move content, practical steps to build "shareability" into all your content, and the new role of promotion, distribution and SEO in a very competitive, digital world.Unlock your business value, unleash your audience, and uncover the six digital secrets of The Content Code.

Google local search ranking algorithm strengthens “openness” signal

However, Google does not recommend you change your business listing to be open 24 hours per day.

Google’s local search ranking algorithm has recently been updated to strengthen its “openness” signal for non-navigational queries. Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison, said, “we’ve long used “openness” as part of our local ranking systems, and it recently became a stronger signal for non-navigational queries.”

What changed. Earlier this month a report showed Google ranked open businesses more often in its local search rankings higher than businesses that are closed. “As of November 2023, Google appears to be looking at whether a business is currently open as a ranking factor for local pack rankings,” Joy Hawkins wrote in her report.

Google confirmed. A couple weeks later, Danny Sullivan from Google confirmed this saying, “we’ve long used “openness” as part of our local ranking systems, and it recently became a stronger signal for non-navigational queries.”

Navigational queries. Non-navigational queries are queries where you search for types of services versus specific brands. So a non-navigational query would be to search for a pharmacy, whereas a navigational query would be to search for CVS.

Don’t change your business hours. The report said, “If you are a business that’s open 24-hours a day, this would benefit you in the evenings when your competitors disappear but you still rank.”

But Sullivan said, “This might change in various ways, as we continue to evaluate the usefulness of it, however.” He added, “I wouldn’t recommend businesses do this, given the ranking signal may continue to be adjusted.”

If you notice changes to your Google Business Profile listings, this may be why. It is also important to ensure your business hours reflect your true open hours because if you make up your business hours, you never know if you can be hit by some sort of penalty in the future.

In short, Google is now showing more businesses that are open at the current time of the search. Is that a good thing for searchers or bad is up to debate and probably very query dependent.

Marketing giant ‘admits it listens to your conversations to sell targeted ads’

Leading U.S. marketing company Cox Media Group has reportedly been pitching the "futuristic" service to brands on platforms like LinkedIn.

Leading U.S. marketing company Cox Media Group (CMG) has reportedly admitted to monitoring conversations for the purpose of targeted advertising.

Working with renowned brands like CBS, Fox News and ESPN, CMG has allegedly been promoting its ability to eavesdrop on consumers through microphones in smartphones, TVs, and smart speakers.

The agency has coined this capability “Active Listening” and has been actively pitching this service it to advertisers, showcasing the feature on its website, reports 404.

Why we care. Amid the worldwide push for enhanced privacy, including measures like the phasing out of third-party cookies, these statements have caught the PPC community off guard. Many are now speculating about potential repercussions, signaling a warning to the broader industry.

SEO consultant Gelnn Gabe responded to the report on X, writing: “This will not end well.”

Google: “For years, Android has prevented apps from collecting audio when they’re not being actively used, and whenever an app activates a device’s microphone, there is a prominent icon displayed in the status bar.”

People of earth...

A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the

Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to

share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct

result, markets are getting smarter— and getting smarter

faster than most companies.

“Give the people what they want and they will come.” 

As far as your website goes:

Look beyond being just brochureware. Start moving to give your visitors a better experience overall.

Get rid of things that offer no real substance. Your site can be aesthetically pleasing without being slow to download and cumbersome to use. Balance beauty with practicality for maximum effect. 

Stop trying to make your website pages be everything to everybody. We often “ask” our pages to do way too much. Don’t be afraid to keep one topic per page and one page per topic.

Remember that every page on your website is a potential landing page from search. It’s rare that the majority of a website’s visitors will go to the homepage and browse through the site. 

Learn what information your customers need to know. Take a data-driven and human-centered approach to content creation and give them what they want! Data will tell you what your customers need and how they search for it. As Robert Guay of GTB/WPP once said, “Data is people in disguise.”

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't Hardcover – October 16, 2001

by Jim Collins (Author)

The Challenge:

Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the verybeginning.

But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness?

The Study:

For years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great?

The Standards:

Using tough benchmarks, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. How great? After the leap, the good-to-great companies generated cumulative stock returns that beat the general stock market by an average of seven times in fifteen years, better than twice the results delivered by a composite index of the world's greatest companies, including Coca-Cola, Intel, General Electric, and Merck.

The Comparisons:

The research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to make the leap from good to great. What was different? Why did one set of companies become truly great performers while the other set remained only good?

Over five years, the team analyzed the histories of all twenty-eight companies in the study. After sifting through mountains of data and thousands of pages of interviews, Collins and his crew discovered the key determinants of greatness -- why some companies make the leap and others don't.

The Findings:

The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice. The findings include:

Level 5 Leaders: The research team was shocked to discover the type of leadership required to achieve greatness.

The Hedgehog Concept: (Simplicity within the Three Circles): To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence.

A Culture of Discipline: When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results. Technology Accelerators: Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology.

The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Those who launch radical change programs and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap.

“Some of the key concepts discerned in the study,” comments Jim Collins, "fly in the face of our modern business culture and will, quite frankly, upset some people.”

Perhaps, but who can afford to ignore these findings?

Zero Limits: The Secret Hawaiian System for Wealth, Health, Peace, and More 

Zero Limits reveals the breakthrough self-improvement approach that is proven to help people who are overworked, overstressed, and just plain overwhelmed deal effectively with removing self-imposed limitations in their lives that are often manifest as chaos, disease, and poverty

Joe Vitale was once homeless. Now, he's the millionaire author of numerous bestselling books, an Internet celebrity, and an in-demand online marketing guru. What did he do to create all of that success? Was it hard work, divine providence, or both? The answer is surprising. It wasn't until he discovered the ancient Hawaiian Ho'oponopono system that he finally found truly unlimited success.

Updated for modern times, Ho'oponopono is a self-help methodology that removes the mental obstacles that block a listener's path, freeing his mind to find new and unexpected ways to get what he wants out of life. It works wonders both professionally and personally. It works so well in fact, that Vitale had to share it with the world, so that others could experience the fulfillment and happiness he feels every day.

Teaming up with Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len, master teacher of modern Ho'oponopono, Vitale tells the listener how to attain wealth, health, peace, and happiness. They walk him through the system, helping him clear his mind of subconscious blocks so that destiny and desire can take over and help him get what he truly wants from life. It clears out unconsciously accepted beliefs, thoughts, and memories that he doesn't even know are holding him back.

Napoleon Hill's Guide to Achieving Your Goals: The Four Proven Principles of Success (An Official Publication of the Napoleon Hill Foundation) Paperback – December 5, 2023

by Napoleon Hill (Author)

Unlock the path to personal achievement and extraordinary success!

From the author of the timeless classic Think and Grow Rich comes this transformative guide that unveils four key principles of success, with practical steps on how to achieve your dreams.

Benefit from the enduring insights of one of the most influential self-help authors, Napoleon Hill. His philosophies have empowered countless individuals to take control of their lives and turn dreams into reality.

In Napoleon Hill's Guide to Achieving Your Goals discover the four cornerstone principles for success that Hill has identified through decades of research. Learn how to incorporate these principles into your own life to unlock your full potential.

Featuring an introduction from the CEO of the Napoleon Hill Foundation, Don Green, this never-before-published book offers tangible, easy-to-implement strategies for setting goals and overcoming obstacles. It's not just about theory; it's a practical guide that translates Hill's philosophies into actionable steps. The book includes beautifully designed quotes to remember and discussion questions for personal use or group study.

Even decades after its conception, Hill's wisdom stands true and continues to offer value in our contemporary world. It's a testament to the timeless relevance of Hill's work. Reading this book will not only provide guidance and strategies for success but also ignite the motivation you need to get started and keep going. The inspiring words of Hill can push you to never give up on your dreams, regardless of the challenges you face.

The Power of Outrageous Marketing: Use the Time-Tested Secrets of Tycoons, Titans, and Billionaires to Get Rich in Your Own Business!

Dr. Joe Vitale (Author, Narrator), Nightingale-Conant (Publisher)

The only difference between you and the titans, tycoons, and billionaires is that they've already used "outrageous" marketing methods to grab public attention - and vast incomes - for themselves. Now it's your turn! In this amazing new program, Joe Vitale reveals the extraordinary, unusual methods of people who attracted the most attention to themselves and their businesses with the least amount of effort and time. He reveals the ten secrets used by outrageous marketers such as P. T. Barnum, Richard Branson, Madonna, Donald Trump, Houdini, J. Paul Getty, Mark Twain, the Swedish Bikini Team, and Martha Stewart, among others. You'll learn:

The secret to reaching more customers without spending more money.

Ten ways to use cross-promotions to explode your profits.

Ten easy ways to grab attention for you or your business.

The story of one man who became a millionaire with a single news release.

A proven, famous seven-point checklist for improving your ads.

Four tested ways to meet anyone you want.

Ten powerful secrets for negotiating any deal you want.

And much more!

You can implement these proven, time-tested, straight-forward marketing secrets right now to dramatically improve your bottom line. Vitale's fun, practical, invigorating, paint-by-numbers style makes it easy for you to walk through the ten secrets step by step. Whether your business is large or a one-stop shop in your basement, here are the ideas you need to hit the big time. If you faithfully follow Vitale's methods, you cannot fail - 100% guaranteed!

Elon Musk Audible Logo Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Walter Isaacson

#1 New York Times bestseller

From the author of Steve Jobs and other bestselling biographies, this is the astonishingly intimate story of the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era—a rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence. Oh, and took over Twitter.

When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.

His father’s impact on his psyche would linger. He developed into a tough yet vulnerable man-child, prone to abrupt Jekyll-and-Hyde mood swings, with an exceedingly high tolerance for risk, a craving for drama, an epic sense of mission, and a maniacal intensity that was callous and at times destructive.

At the beginning of 2022—after a year marked by SpaceX launching thirty-one rockets into orbit, Tesla selling a million cars, and him becoming the richest man on earth—Musk spoke ruefully about his compulsion to stir up dramas. “I need to shift my mindset away from being in crisis mode, which it has been for about fourteen years now, or arguably most of my life,” he said.

It was a wistful comment, not a New Year’s resolution. Even as he said it, he was secretly buying up shares of Twitter, the world’s ultimate playground. Over the years, whenever he was in a dark place, his mind went back to being bullied on the playground. Now he had the chance to own the playground.

For two years, Isaacson shadowed Musk, attended his meetings, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries. The result is the revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of triumphs and turmoil, that addresses the question: are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?

Be a Work in Progress: And Other Things I'd Like to Tell My Younger Self

by John Cena (Author)

A beautifully illustrated book of encouragement from the beloved entertainer and #1 New York Times bestselling author John Cena

“Each day, try to become a little less perfect and a little more brave.”

For years, John Cena has been using his popular Twitter feed to uplift his followers with his unique brand of positivity. Now, he collects his favorite words of wisdom on the benefits of being bold and open-minded, embracing discomfort, and making the most of every opportunity.

Heartfelt and hopeful, Be a Work in Progress is the pick-me-up readers will turn to again and again.

Eric Bischoff: Controversy Creates Cash

The exciting no-holds-barred autobiography of former WCW president and current WWE Raw General Manager, Eric Bishoff—the only person who was able to beat Vince McMahon and the WWE at their own game.

Eric Bischoff has been called pro wrestling's most hated man. Booed, reviled, and burned in effigy, he's been struck by everything from beer bottles to fists. Though industry critics have scorned his spectacular rise and fall at World Championship Wrestling, Bischoff's influence still resonates. For years, Bischoff kept quiet while industry "pundits" distorted the truth about the infamous Monday Night Wars, basing their accounts on rumors and innuendo. Finally, Bischoff tells what really happened.

Beginning with his days as a salesman for the American Wrestling Association, Bischoff exposes the industry's inner workings, from the real numbers behind WCW's red ink to the devastating impact of the corporate mergers. Among his revelations: How WCW became a national brand and revolutionized the industry. How Hulk Hogan, Jesse Ventura, and Steve Austin shaped WCW, and how corporate politics killed it. And how he found his inner heel and learned to love being the guy everyone loves to despise.

Reflecting on his childhood, his family, and the pressures of notoriety, Bischoff tells how he found contentment after being unceremoniously "sent home." Love him or hate him, readers will never look at pro wrestling the same way again after reading Eric Bischoff's story in Controversy Creates Cash.

Eric Bischoff’s TEDx Talk on News Media Felt Like He Was Back in WCW Cutting a Promo - 2018

“It reminded me so much of the way we used to do some of the best promos we ever did,” Bischoff explained. 

Former WCW president Eric Bischoff spoke last month at a TEDx conference and examined how the news media is stealing from the pro wrestling playbook. Bischoff’s talk, which was posted online last week, detailed how pro wrestling is designed to make fans feel, rather than think, and he offered a persuasive argument that the news media of 2018 operates in a similar fashion.

“I was a little concerned that the talk was going to be so obvious that no one would feel like they learned anything,” said Bischoff. “It’s become more and more obvious over the past two years, especially going into the last election. It’s just a slugfest.

“The launch of CNN was designed to report news from all over the world. Then the networks realized it is far less expensive when have you three or four people sitting around arguing or discussing the news as opposed to having people going out and reporting it. That was a dollar-driven economic evolution, and now everybody has gotten used to people who aren’t journalists giving their opinions of the news. They’re giving you information, so they have to create emotion or no one will watch, and that’s what they’re doing.”

The beginning of the talk felt as though it was opening a Nitro from 1998, as Bischoff cut a promo on the live audience in Naperville, Illinois.

“That brought back the butterflies and the fear,” said Bischoff. “But I like living in that space, so it felt really good.

“I had an entirely different talk laid out until the night before, and I woke up early in the morning and decided on the spot that I was going to completely change it up. Since I had so little time to prepare for it, I improv’d a lot of that, and it reminded me so much of the way we used to do some of the best promos we ever did.”

Bischoff is well versed in politics, yet his TEDx talk remained bipartisan, highlighting how both parties are guilty of ripping away integral parts of pro wrestling and embedding them into news coverage.

“When I watch the news now, I bounce around quite a bit and I’m not anchored to one network, and they’re all guilty of the same thing,” said Bischoff. “They just approach it differently.”

Bischoff embraced the opportunity for the TEDx speaking engagement, relishing the challenge of capturing an audience.

“This was something I’d never done before, and I felt like I needed to get out in front of a live audience,” said Bischoff. “It was a unique challenge and I have no plans to do it again, but never say never.”

My Life Outside the Ring Hardcover – October 27, 2009

by Hulk Hogan (Author), Mark Dagostino (Author)

Hulk Hogan, born Terry Bollea, burst onto the professional wrestling scene in the late seventies and went on to become a world wrestling champion many times over. From humble beginnings, this giant of a man escaped a pre-ordained life of dock and construction work in Port Tampa, Florida, to become one of the most recognizable celebrities on the planet. He did it through sheer will, grit, determination, and a drive to always go over the top and do more than what others thought possible. From the outside, his story was one of a charmed life—he was at the top of his career, had a wonderful and loving family, and a lifelong fan base who worshipped him. Of course he had his up and downs—including hints of steroid abuse and his falling out with WWE and Vince McMahon—but it’s been the last two years that have tested Hogan more than any other in his lifetime. In 2007, while riding the massive success of his VH1 reality show, Hogan Knows Best, his son Nick was involved in a tragic car accident that left his best friend in critical condition. Then Linda, his wife, left him after 23 years of marriage, his beloved daughter Brooke blamed him for the breakup and his son went to jail. The tabloid media had a field day. When unflattering jailhouse conversations between him and his son were released to the press the tabloids were in a frenzy. The sudden turmoil and tragedy surrounding Hogan took its toll. He fell into a deep depression, seeing no way out, until one fate ful phone call. In My Life Outside the Ring, Hogan will unabash edly recount these events, revealing how his new found clarity steadied him during the most difficult match of his life—and how he emerged from the battle feeling stronger than ever before.

I was right there leaning on the side of the car with my hands when I finally saw Nick—my only son—folded up like an accordion with his head down by the gas pedal. “Nick!” I yelled. I could see he was alive. He turned his head, he stuck his hand out, and gave me a thumbs-up. For a second I was relieved. Then the chaos set in. The noise of engines. Sirens. A saw. Para - medics pulling John from the passenger seat. So much blood. I can’t even describe to you how panicked I was. The police and firefighters surrounding us seemed panicked, too. The firefighters started cutting the side of the car open to try to get Nick out, and I’m still standing right there when I hear my boy screaming, “No, no, no, stop! Stop! You’re gonna cut my legs off. Dad! Just unbuckle the seatbelt. I can get out!” So I reach in and I push the button on his seat belt, and Nick just crawls right out. His wrist was broken. His ribs were cracked. None of that mattered. He was gonna be okay. But not John. John wasn’t moving. —from MY LIFE OUTSIDE THE RING

Craig Newmark: The Man Behind the Digital Classifieds Revolution Kindle Edition

by Kalyani Mookherji 

Explore the Digital Classifieds Revolution with Craig Newmark

Prepare to embark on a captivating journey through the world of online classifieds and discover the visionary leader who transformed the way we connect and trade. In "Craig Newmark: The Man Behind the Digital Classifieds Revolution" by Kalyani Mookherji, you'll uncover the remarkable story of Craig Newmark, the man who reshaped the digital landscape with his innovative ideas and unyielding commitment.

The Birth of a Revolution

Step into the life of Craig Newmark and follow his journey from humble beginnings to becoming a driving force in the digital world. Kalyani Mookherji's engaging narrative brings to light the pivotal moments and decisions that led to the birth of Craigslist, the platform that revolutionized the way people buy, sell, and connect online.

Gain insights into Newmark's unique approach to business and technology, his commitment to trust and authenticity, and his dedication to creating a platform that puts people and their communities first. Explore the challenges and successes that shaped his path, and learn from the wisdom of an entrepreneur who dared to challenge the status quo.

Why "Craig Newmark: The Man Behind the Digital Classifieds Revolution" Is a Must-Read:

A Digital Pioneer: Discover the untold story of Craig Newmark and his extraordinary impact on the digital age.

Revolutionizing Connections: Explore how Newmark's innovative ideas reshaped the way we connect, trade, and build communities online.

Lessons for Entrepreneurs: Uncover the invaluable insights and principles that guided Newmark's journey to success, offering inspiration for budding entrepreneurs.

A Testament to Change: Whether you're passionate about technology, entrepreneurship, or the power of community, this biography offers a compelling testament to the possibilities of positive change.

Don't miss your opportunity to delve into the life and legacy of Craig Newmark, a digital pioneer who redefined online interactions and business. "Craig Newmark: The Man Behind the Digital Classifieds Revolution" by Kalyani Mookherji is your portal to the world of innovation, entrepreneurship, and community-building. Secure your copy now and be inspired to be a part of the digital revolution.

This book description engages readers, builds awareness, and provides a valuable hook-point by highlighting the transformative journey of Craig Newmark and his impact on the digital world. It aims to attract and retain a clearly defined audience while offering unique knowledge and insights that will inspire readers to explore the life and accomplishments of this digital visionary.

How Google Works

Eric Schmidt (Author)

Both Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg came to Google as seasoned Silicon Valley business executives, but over the course of a decade they came to see the wisdom in Coach John Wooden's observation that 'it's what you learn after you know it all that counts'.

As they helped grow Google from a young start-up to a global icon, they relearned everything they knew about management. How Google Works is the sum of those experiences distilled into a fun, easy-to-read primer on corporate culture, strategy, talent, decision-making, communication, innovation, and dealing with disruption.

The authors explain how the confluence of three seismic changes - the internet, mobile, and cloud computing - has shifted the balance of power from companies to consumers. The companies that will thrive in this ever-changing landscape will be the ones that create superior products and attract a new breed of multifaceted employees whom the authors dub 'smart creatives'. The management maxims ('Consensus requires dissension', 'Exile knaves but fight for divas', 'Think 10X, not 10%') are illustrated with previously unreported anecdotes from Google's corporate history.

'Back in 2010, Eric and I created an internal class for Google managers,' says Rosenberg. 'The class slides all read 'Google confidential' until an employee suggested we uphold the spirit of openness and share them with the world. This book codifies the recipe for our secret sauce: how Google innovates and how it empowers employees to succeed.'

Read by award-winning narrator Holter Graham, with the foreword and introduction read by Jonathan Rosenberg.

Show Me the Money!: a Guide to Fame, Fortune and Business Success, by Australia's Agent to the Stars - 2003

Max Markson's, 'Show Me The Money!", is the life story of arguably Australia's top PR man.

The book is a must read for entrepreneurs, promotional types, and anyone else in need of some inspiration or motivation. It's a business story, but it's also about life.

Like the man himself, 'Show Me The Money' is a colourful, straight up, humorous and easily understood. Mostly.

Max starts out at 7 years of age, performing as a fish for his father's aqua performance business. Boy, have things changed since then. Max documents rock concert promoting, pie eating, belly flop and worm eating contests, dial-a-fruit-basket, part-time "Superman" gigs, all the way up to selling big stories to Australia's "current affairs" programs and promoting business functions with guest speakers including former Presidents and Prime Ministers.

Markson is the manager of stars. Some of his clients have included Bob Hawke, Ita Butrose, Linda Evangelista, Greg Matthews, Belinda Green, Jack Brabham, Kamahl, Pro Hart, Jane Flemming, "Aussie" Joe Bugner, Dawn Fraser and so many more. Granted, some were stars of sorts before making contact with Markson, but "Maxy baby" has more than helped keep them there. Max proudly proclaims, "I can make anyone a star", and who's to argue! What's the name of the fellow who wrote this very piece? "Maxy" has also worked for the corporates in various capacities. Some of these include 2WS, 2UE, Reebok, Sargents Pies, Norgen-Vaaz, "The Mean Machine", Women's Day, Channel 9, The Avillion Hotel and The Variety Club.

At first, the reader may get the opinion that Max is preoccupied with money - not so. This could merely be the work of vicious media "hounds" placing misinformation into the living rooms around Australia. Max explains that relationships are worth more to him than any amount of money. Having had the pleasure of Max's company, he does possess the personal touch. This guy is even known to break into song during interviews!

A little spoken about fact about Markson is that he is a generous giver to charities. The media have largely ignored this. Many millions have been raised by Team Markson over the years, and he has helped keep many charities and businesses afloat.

Like many of us, Max has suffered some loss and misfortune in his life. For example, he lost $10,000 on a deal gone bad, and was left with a T-shirt for his money. Additionally, wharfs collapsed, there's been lack of water to dive into, and so the list of past woes continues. Like the true champion he is, Max keeps paddling feverishly and clinching the big deals that other promoters can only dream of; with huge tidal waves of success following.

Marvel at the $500,000 Bob Hawke deal. That one broke Australia's chequebook journalism records. It's enough to force a journalist to be committed. And you thought Natasha Ryan was big!

Part of the books' appeal is that Max has turned the tables on the media. They now pay him, rather than the media charging "punters" and others, ridiculous amounts of money, just to get a guernsey.

Whilst reading the book, or even just a few chapters in; you will likely be inspired, entertained and mesmerized, even if its plausible to interpret the man as having delusions of grandeur. Obviously, all promoters and PR types need to have lashings of ego just to survive, let alone gain the confidence of clients, and the soon to be. There is no dispute that Max's enthusiasm is contagious.

In Max's own words, successful business is based on Persistence, Enthusiasm and Focus.

Read this book today, and you will be on your way to possessing everything you'll ever need to be wealthy in all ways imaginable.

Harry M Miller: Confessions of a non-so-secret agent 

by Harry Miller (Author), Peter Holder (Author)

As a young man, Harry M Miller set out to become one of the world’s youngest showbiz impresarios. He left NZ for Australia in the late sixties and set about making his mark. He went on to become one of the Australian media and entertainment industry's most influential men and over forty years later the people he has worked with makes a very impressive roll call...Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Sammy Davis Junior, Chubby Checker, Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, the Rolling Stones, John Farnham, Marcia Hines, Graham Kennedy, Barry Humphries, Alan Jones, Lindy Chamberlain, Stuart Diver and Maggie Tabberer among them.

Harry M Miller has plenty of stories to tell about high-profile people and the A, B and C lists in-between. His memoir, CONFESSIONS OF A NOT-SO-SECRET AGENT, is full of witty and entertaining anecdotes from Harry's extraordinary life.

No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention

Reed Hastings (Author), Erin Meyer (Author),

Brought to you by Penguin.

Hard work is irrelevant. Be radically honest. Adequate performance gets a generous severance. And never, ever try to please your boss.

These are some of the ground rules if you work at Netflix. They are part of a unique cultural experiment that explains how the company has transformed itself at lightning speed from a DVD mail order service into a streaming superpower - with 125 million fervent subscribers and a market capitalisation bigger than Disney.

Finally Reed Hastings, Netflix Chairman and CEO, is sharing the secrets that have revolutionised the entertainment and tech industries. With INSEAD business school professor Erin Meyer, he will explore his leadership philosophy - which begins by rejecting the accepted beliefs under which most companies operate - and how it plays out in practice at Netflix.

From unlimited holidays to abolishing financial approvals, Netflix offers a fundamentally different way to run any organisation, one far more in tune with a fast-paced world. For anyone interested in creativity, productivity and innovation, the Netflix culture is something close to a holy grail. This book will make it, and its creator, fully accessible for the first time.

NRL announces critical world-first partnership with UFC - December 13, 2023

Las Vegas: The NRL’s bold foray into the US market has taken a gigantic step forward with the announcement of a critical partnership with the UFC – the biggest sport in Las Vegas and among the biggest in the world.

Months of delicate negotiations between the pair came to a head on Tuesday morning at the official launch of next season’s double-header at Allegiant Stadium on March 2.

While the first year of the deal will see the UFC share content and publicity opportunities with the NRL, it is envisaged a fight night will be held on the same weekend as rugby league in 2025.

It is a significant win for the NRL because the UFC has never partnered with another sport. Negotiations started midway through last year.

The UFC has a global fan base of more than 700 million with about 4 million living in Australia, thanks largely to the success of homegrown fighters Alexander Volkanovski, Tai Tuivasa and Robert Whittaker.

UFC chief operating officer Lawrence Epstein – who is considered one of Las Vegas’ most influential figures – said the UFC wanted to grow its audience in the Asia-Pacific region.

“We know we have a tremendous crossover for the two fan bases,” he said. “The sports have the same ethos: hard work, dedication, sportsmanship and unexpected things happen all the time. We couldn’t be more excited welcoming rugby league to Las Vegas.”

Epstein is also the vice-chairman of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority, which includes Allegiant Stadium.

“When the State of Nevada invested $750 million into this facility of course it was for the Las Vegas Raiders but also to attract events from the US and around the world,” he said. “For Las Vegas to bring tourists to this community to energise our resorts and casinos. This is just another example of that vision.”

The NRL is in Vegas this week to promote the opening the 2024 season with matches between the Roosters and Broncos and South Sydney and Manly.

Tuesday’s launch was held in the shadows of the iconic Al Davis Memorial Torch at one end of the stadium – the same venue as the launch of Super Bowl LVIII, which will be held here on February 14.

A mixture of curious local media, showgirls, an Elvis impersonator and Fijian warriors representing sponsor Fiji Airways were also in attendance.

But the person who stole the show was retired UFC legend Forrest Griffin, whose gruesome fight in 2005 with Stephan Bonnar is considered “the most important fight in UFC history”, according to founder Dana White.

“It’s an easy game to understand – and this is a beautiful place to do it,” Griffin, 44, said. “I love the pace of the game. You think about it: they get 80 minutes done faster than you can in 60 minutes of American football. I was also interested to learn there are only four replacements? For the whole game? That’s crazy.”

Later in the day, Griffin held a wrestling session with some of the players here in Vegas to promote the double-header. It was conducted at the UFC’s state-of-the-art performance institute.

“I’m excited to work with these athletes,” Griffin said. “In a different life, they all could have been fighters. I’ve convinced myself that I could have gone pro. I was a mediocre American footballer but hopefully better rugby player.”

Griffin then threw out a challenge to the players: “They’ve already brought four really good teams – you just need two really good games. No pressure, guys. We really need to make them exciting.”

Earlier, NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo made several key announcements about the event, which has attracted 20,000 ticket sales.

A partnership with NASCAR, which is being held in Vegas on the same weekend, has been struck.

A talent combine will be held at the Ed W. Clark High School earlier that day involving 15 male and 15 female college athletes. The top two will then trial with NRL clubs later in the year.

Abdo also revealed the Vegas Nines, a grassroots tournament being run in conjunction with USA Rugby League, will be held on the Thursday and Friday.

The author travelled to Las Vegas courtesy of the NRL.

UFC Gym Australia collapses into liquidation owing $15.6m after drawn out legal battle - December 2023

An embattled gym chain with businesses all across Australia has gone into liquidation and one of its directors has been bankrupted over the debacle.

An embattled gym chain with businesses all across Australia has collapsed six months after external administrators first took over the business amid a protracted legal fight, with one of the directors going bankrupt.

Mixed martial arts gym franchise UFC Gym Australia and New Zealand, which at its peak had more than 10 fitness centres in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and the Gold Coast, was court-ordered to go into liquidation late last week.

On Thursday afternoon, the NSW Supreme Court appointed Desmond Teng and John Refalo of insolvency firm Byrons as liquidators of the chain’s parent companies, Ultimate Franchising Group Pty Ltd, Ultimate Franchising Group Properties Pty Ltd and UFC Gym Prospect Pty Ltd.

These companies held the master franchise agreement for operations in Australia and New Zealand.

According to reports lodged with the corporate regulator, there is a total of 62 creditors cumulatively owed $15.6 million from the company’s demise.

A spokesperson for UFC Gym insisted this would not impact the gym’s franchises and was only a blow to their main headquarters.

“It was a difficult decision which only impacts head office,” they told news.com.au. “It has no implications for operations.”

News.com.au previously revealed in June that UFC Gym Australia had gone into administration after a court ordered the business to pay $5.2 million to three franchisees when a court found the company and its directors had “engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct” during the process of selling said franchises to them.

One of Ultimate Franchising Group’s directors, Sam Husseini, is in the process of trying to appeal this.

A related entity called Train Different Pty Ltd proposed a deed of company arrangement (DOCA) which would see creditors receive one cent for every dollar they were owed.

Control of the business then reverted back to the directors.

Gym franchisees owed money were left fuming from the arrangement.

Karim Girgis, the owner of UFC Balcatta in Perth, told news.com.au at the time the small 1.06c return was “pathetic”.

Mr Girgis’ company is owed $1.236 million, according to proof of debt documents accepted by the administrator, which means he would have only recovered roughly $13,000.

As a result, he and two other gym owners spent around $60,000 challenging the DOCA and the NSW Supreme Court

“We forced their hand,” Mr Girgis said, adding that he was glad to have forced the company into liquidation due to the “principle”.

The trio of litigating franchisees – Balcatta in Perth, and Castle Hill and Blacktown in Sydney – have also caused one of the directors Maz Hagemrad to declare bankruptcy.

They have also issued a notice to the other director, Mr Husseini, with intentions to bankrupt him.

Both were contacted for comment via the UFC Gym spokesperson.

Mr Teng, one of UFC Gym’s liquidators, told news.com.au on Monday morning that the DOCA’s return was “very uncommercial”, resulting in the Supreme Court ruling in favour of creditors.

“The DOCA is now terminated by a court order,” he added.

He said that his investigations are in their infancy and he has not yet made a decision about whether to shut down operations.

We’re “trying to work out the best way going forward, working with all the stakeholders, including the franchise stores,” he said.

In early May, Justice Tom Thawley from the Federal Court of Australia ruled in favour of the three disgruntled franchises after a four-year legal battle against the master franchise holder of UFC Gym Australia and New Zealand.

During the six-day civil trial, the judge found that the co-directors of UFC Gym Australia, Mazen Hagemrad and Samer Husseini, had misrepresented the gym’s financial position in order to sell franchises.

The directors claimed two of the franchises were profitable when they were actually losing money, told prospective buyers an estimated cost of starting up various franchises which was much lower than it turned out to be, that there would 1200 members in the space of 10 months and that gyms would break even straight away, according to the court’s findings.

Mr Hagemrad, one of the co-directors, also claimed to prospective buyers that he had “preferential payments” in place that would make “fitting out” their venue into a UFC style gym considerably cheaper, according to court documents, when in reality he marked up these prices and took a cut of the profit.

Some of the companies he referred franchises to in order to obtain branded equipment were run by his family members, but he denied during the trial that he received any “kick-backs’.

The Balcatta gym was awarded total damages of $1.7 million while the Blacktown one’s total payout came to $1.9 million. The Castle Hill gym was granted $2 million in damages.

Clubs donate generously … to themselves - November  13, 2023

Registered clubs are legally directing poker machine revenue as donations to their own coffers or their subsidiaries under a community grants program that allows them to claim a tax benefit.

The Herald can reveal that only three charities are among the top 40 recipients of the controversial community grants program. The Bulldogs rugby league club is the single biggest beneficiary.

The next biggest beneficiaries of the $105 million ClubGRANTS program in 2023 were South Sydney Juniors and the Eastern Suburbs leagues club, new data published by ClubsNSW for the first time reveals. The program allows clubs to reduce their gambling taxes if a proportion of their donations go to worthy causes.

Other big winners from the controversial scheme include former professional NRL player Anthony Minichiello, whose company MiniFit received a combined $204,000 from 14 clubs, and the biggest “charity housie” supplier in NSW, Learning Links, which received $1,851,189 from 58 clubs. The charity raises money for children’s learning support by supplying cash bingo sessions at more than 45 clubs. Donations to Learning Links can be claimed as a gambling tax deduction.

Minichiello said thousands of children benefit each year from his clinics, which teach children to grow up healthy, strong and resilient.

ClubGRANTS began in 1998 to ensure that registered clubs making multimillion-dollar gambling profits contributed to local services, programs or projects.

However, the scheme has drawn criticism over its lack of transparency and accountability. A NSW government review is examining whether it provides “cost-effective benefits” to communities, and is leaving open the options of reforming, amending or abolishing it.

The NSW Council of Social Service ended its 25-year partnership with the scheme last year after an internal review found it was “seriously flawed, rife with opportunities for conflicts of interest, and had no real enforcement of the rules”.

NCOSS acting chief executive Ben McAlpine said the scheme did not reflect modern-day expectations for a taxpayer-funded grants program.

“The fact that clubs are feathering their own nests by funnelling vast sums of money into their own operations, like football clubs – and that the scheme rules allow this – shows how fundamentally flawed the whole scheme is,” McAlpine said.

“NSW is in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis that is unrelenting on all fronts. Instead of funding well-heeled football clubs, this scheme should be doing more to support those who can’t put food on the table or a roof over their head.”

Clubs are entitled to a tax rebate of up to 1.85 per cent on every dollar of poker machine profit over $1 million, provided that a proportion of those profits is spent on community development and support.

At least 0.75 per cent of their profits over $1 million must be spent on welfare and social services. The remainder, up to 1.1 per cent, can be spent on community development, including the club’s core activities such as sport, golf and bowling green maintenance or staff wages to carry out that maintenance.

Rugby league clubs used the scheme to return a combined $19 million to their own operations, of which $6.8 million was eligible for a rebate. Canterbury League Club gave a $4,894,610 grant to its subsidiary, the Bulldogs Rugby League Club, of which $892,841 was eligible for a rebate, and South Sydney Junior Rugby League Club granted $2.2 million to itself, of which $383,274 was eligible for the rebate.

The second-ranked charity recipient, behind Learning Links, was counselling service Oakdene House, which received $553,554 in cash and kind from Fairfield RSL Memorial Club.

Liberal and Labor Party branches as well as a retired Catholic bishop were among the recipients.

ClubsNSW said in a statement that of the $121 million donated by clubs under the scheme, only $71 million was claimable as a tax rebate. Clubs were permitted to use funding for their core purposes, and it was entirely appropriate that leagues clubs allocated funding to rugby league and that bowling and golf clubs used funds for maintaining their greens.

“ClubsNSW welcomes the review of the ClubGRANTS scheme that has been announced by the NSW government, and we look forward to working with stakeholders to make a good scheme even better,” the statement said.

Some clubs have privately raised concerns that the scheme is not meeting community needs. Campbelltown Catholic Club chief executive Michael Lavorato said he hoped the government review would provide some clearer guidelines.

“ClubGRANTS is a great program which benefits numerous charities, community organisations and sporting clubs,” Lavorato said. “It’s probably fair to say that the program has a few anomalies and requires some improvements to ensure its purpose is being respected and understood.”

A spokeswoman for Liquor and Gaming NSW said ClubsNSW now lists the grant recipients on its website to improve transparency. The NSW government’s decision to review the scheme demonstrated a commitment to “robust and transparent grants”, she said.

“Importantly, the review will include a period of public consultation where industry and the community can have their say on the effectiveness of the scheme,” the spokeswoman said.

Property News

Social media tips from Million Dollar Listing Sydney creator - 9 July 2018

As real estate agents, we rely heavily on advertising platforms and marketing tools to assist in the sale of property. 

More recently, the advancement of social media technology has seen these channels become increasingly important to our industry. 

Leading luxury and celebrity auctioneer James Pratt from James Pratt Auctions Group sat down with Ari Kaklamanis, the creator of Million Dollar Listing Sydney (MDLS) to chat about the role social media plays in the success of his business and the industry. 

James Pratt: When did you first start using social media as a form of business advertising and marketing? 

Ari Kaklamaris: I started the milliondollarlistingsydney Instagram page in 2014, when I was 17. 

JP: What platforms do you use and what do you do on them?  

AK: The social media platform I prioritise is Instagram. It has such a simple user interface, and I think it is the best platform to communicate to an audience through images. I have a milliondollarlistingsydney Facebook account which I created to complement the Instagram page, but I definitely focus my attention on Instagram. 

Each post requires significant preparation and thought. I receive hundreds of emails per day, but I’m always very selective about the properties and the content I post.  

JP: Who is your targeted audience for the MDLS social posts? 

AK: My target audience is very broad, as real estate is something that interests everyone. More specifically, milliondollarlistingsydney gives the general public and purchasers in the market a guide of real-time property prices. It’s also a useful platform for mortgage brokers and lenders to showcase their product and increase brand awareness. Furthermore, it allows agents to share their sales success and advertise current listings.

JP: Can you describe the benefits you've seen as a direct result of using social media compared to more traditional forms of advertising? 

AK: I believe there are two main benefits of social media: reach and cost. 

Social media enables content to transcend geographic boundaries in an instant. Its capacity to distribute information on a national and global scale with ease is unparalleled. In this sense, it enables marketers to reach wide social and geographical audiences – something that is difficult to achieve through traditional marketing mediums. For example, my page receives engagement from individuals and celebrities from all over the world, namely those on the Million Dollar Listing TV show in LA and New York. This is something that could not be realised through traditional platforms.  

Another benefit is the cost-efficiency of social media advertising, especially compared to traditional marketing mediums. Paying for an influencer to post content or for sponsored Instagram advertisement[s] is typically cheaper, and even more effective in terms of reach, compared to TV or radio advertising.  

JP: Why do you believe the pages have gained such a successful following? 

AK: The success of the page is attributed to what I call the “Two C’s”: Controversial and Cool content. 

It is important that these elements are included in my posts, because they often elicit a reaction from followers and also prompt people to engage more with my page. 

I like to create controversy by posting a house in Bondi with one car space on 398sqm of land that sells for $7.5 million and following it up by posting a ‘Hollywood’ style mansion in Lilli Pilli with a five-car garage on 1486sqm of land that sells for $3.5 million. This contrast in posts really sparks a reaction, which I love. It gets people interacting with the page.

  

The cool aspect is very simple – posting a beautiful house with an amazing view. A place where people dream of living. This sort of content also elicits an emotional response, which further attracts people to the page. 

 

To achieve the above two elements, I must be very selective about what I post. 

JP: What advice would you give agents utilising social media for their businesses?

AK: Agents using social media must have a profile that is personal as well as professional. There must be a blend of these two elements. Followers want to see you as a person, your lifestyle and social activity. At the same time, they want an insight into your professional life. This content builds their personal brand, which is crucial in order to stay relevant and competitive in today’s market. 

JP: What do you think is next in social media? 

AK: With ever-increasing workloads and social commitments, buyers are finding it difficult to physically inspect properties. So I think the opportunity for real-rime real estate will rise. By this I mean the process of buying and selling will become live streamed on social media. For example, live-streamed inspections or open homes. 

In terms of the evolution of social media in general, I believe it will develop into a more interactive experience, especially with the advent of virtual reality and AI technology. Additionally, social media advertising will continue to grow and eventually become a primary means of advertising for all individuals and enterprises.   

About Ari Kaklamaris

Kaklamanis's online brand is leading the pack in online real estate marketing. His MDLS Instagram account has over 23k followers, including top ranked Australian real estate professionals, sporting stars such as Tim Cahill, and TV personalities including Karl Stefanovic, Sonia Kruger and USA’s Million Dollar Listing star, Tracy Tutor Maltas. 

Motorsport

Red Bull Racing - F! merch and collectables rocking the grid and beyond. Motorsports for social good. Win-Win-Win! 

UFC Quotes

"I'm here with the winner Paddy Pimblett".. Joe Rogan.. "Everyone give a round of applause for Tony Ferguson. Absolute legend"... 

Search Engine Journal

Google Clarifies How Helpful Content System Works

SEJ's Roger makes many valid points on Google, as do Google powers that be that often go on record including John Mueller and Gary Illyes. Love their 'On The Record' podcast by the way - a Media Man award winner. Google will likely decide what works and why will fly in the digital landscape, while Joe and Jane Smith will likely decide what is true and correct in the offline/traditional world. Campaign clients, customers et al will likely balance off both element and the brands and advertisers, sponsors et al will vote with their wallets. Brands such as the UFC, WWE, Disney, Budlight, Netflix and we could go on - are experiencing the power of content discovery and algorithms on the web and behind, and it all makes a difference to the bottom line.  Trust this somewhat colourful, pop culture and gonzo journalism element peg-on was at least somewhat helpful. All content for SEJ and the web.

Wrestling, MMA, Sports Entertainment and Pop Culture

Pro Wrestling Promotions

Media Man Top Promotions and Brands ranked from the top

*subjective in nature

*no financial inducements or favors involved in the ranking. Based on merit alone and decades of being a fan, keen observer (and sometimes campaign assistant), as well as independent (for the most part) sports writer.

WWE @WWE WrestleMania @WrestleMania 

WWE SmackDown

WWE RAW

NXT TV @WWENXT 

NXT PPVs

AEW (All Elite Wrestling) and NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) - tied 

GCW (Game Changer Wrestling)

Impact Wrestling (currently reverting back to TNA Wrestling)

Stardom 

Shimmer

AAA

AAA TripleMania

CMLL

MLW

ROH (Ring Of Honor)

PWG

IWA and AWF (tied)

Progress Wrestling 

NJPW (New Japan Pro-Wrestling)

*WWE, NXT (and UFC - MMA) are all part of TKO Group 

#WrestleMania #SmackDown #WWERaw #WWENXT

#prowrestling #wrestling #wrestlingpromotions #wrestlingpromoters #popculture #combatsports #livesports #liveentertainment #PPV #PLE #production #storytelling #entertainmentindustry #rankings #media #mediaman #mediamanint

MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) Promotion Rankings by Media Man

*no financial inducements or favors involved

*based on merit alone

*subjective in nature

*based on decades of observation, being a fan, amateur fight club participant and independent (for the most part) sports writer.

*we have included Bare Knuckle rather than having to list yet another category at present.

These are our 2023 rankings keeping in mind there's still a few weeks to go to conclude the year of 2023.

UFC @UFC 

ONE Championship and PFL (tied). *PLF has absorbed Bellator MMA

Combate Global

CFFC

Valor Bare Knuckle 

BRAVE

Urban Fight Night (Australia specific region)

Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships

RIZIN

Cage Warriors

Pancrase (much debate has endured for over a decade as to if/when shoot and "worked" - a cousin to professional wrestling!

*we are still researching Gracie Challenge type scenarios out of Brazil. The Gracie name and techniques are legendary in the industry. 

#mma #mixedmartialarts #mmarankings #mmapromotions #cagefighting #mmapromoters #rankings #sportspromotions #sportspromoters #promotions #sportsnews #sportsbusiness #sportsmarketing #ppv #premiumliveevents #sportsbroadcasting #sportsmedia #newsmedia #media #mediaman #mediamanaustralia #mediamanint

Pro Wrestling

SmackDown preview, Dec. 15, 2023: Roman Reigns returns to handle Tribal Business!

The Tribal Chief returns to handle some Tribal Business. 

With the Royal Rumble just around the corner, The Head of the Table will need to lock down his tribe and figure out how to navigate his Road to WrestleMania. 

Don’t miss SmackDown next week when Reigns returns at 8/7 C on FOX! 

Kevin Owens takes on Austin Theory with a broken hand

KO has been in the habit of punching Theory and his teammate Grayson Waller but he broke his hand during a battle with Waller two weeks ago. 

Despite the injury, Owens has continued to punch his enemies in the face.  

Can KO defeat Theory, progress in the U.S. Title Tournament and gain some payback for his broken hand? Find out next week at 8/7 C on FOX! 

U.S. Title Tournament continues with Carmelo Hayes taking on Grayson Waller

The first round of the United States Title Tournament wraps up next week when Carmelo Hayes faces Grayson Waller. 

Hayes was handpicked by Shawn Michaels to battle Waller, making this Hayes' SmackDown debut?

Can Waller get to the promised land, or will this Hayes score a monumental victory? 

Find out who prevails this Friday at 8/7 C on FOX! 

Combat Sports Deal Of The Year: Flashback

WWE @WWE - UFC @UFC - Endeavor @Endeavor news quote: 

“All the WrestleManias combined … doesn’t really equal to the magnitude of what we will do together.” - Vince McMahon #VinceMcMahon #quote #WWE #UFC #Endeavor #EndeavorGroup #TKO #TKOGroup  #combatsports #sportsbusiness #popculture #entertainmentnews #media #mediaman

News Flashback

Powerhouse': WWE, UFC merge to create $21b sporting giant - April 4, 2023 (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/powerhouse_wwe.html

WWE News (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/wwe_news.html

Combat Sports (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/combat_sports.htm

PPV News (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/ppv_news.html

Best Quotes Of The Day (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/best_quotes.html

Sports Streaming Leader FITE Renamed TrillerTV

The best value in live streaming and the most reliable PPV and subscription platform, FITE is growing beyond its combat sports roots to offer fans even more action

New York, NY (December 11, 2023)--FITE is proud to announce its rebranding as TrillerTV, signaling the continuing addition of new sports categories and closer alignment with parent company Triller. The PPV platform, subscription channel, and FAST channel will all continue to deliver the same incredible action, with the same reputation for quality, reliability, and innovation. Now, the massive reach and resources of Triller will power FITE's continued growth through acquisitions and major sports rights licensing deals.

New York, NY (December 11, 2023)--FITE is proud to announce its rebranding as TrillerTV, signaling the continuing addition of new sports categories and closer alignment with parent company Triller. The PPV platform, subscription channel, and FAST channel will all continue to deliver the same incredible action, with the same reputation for quality, reliability, and innovation. Now, the massive reach and resources of Triller will power FITE's continued growth through acquisitions and major sports rights licensing deals.

Quote

"TrillerTV is everything you know and trust from FITE, but with doors open for even moresports," said Michael Weber, Co-Founder and COO of TrillerTV. "Our original name served us well, as have our loyal customers, promoters, and athletes to whom we are super grateful. The time has come to give even more to expand the experience we've built from the ground up to celebrate the passion and precision that makes us all love sports."

FITE was founded in 2015 using pioneering and proprietary AI tools to enhance the viewer experience. The platform has since grown, thanks to its hard-driving, sports-fanatic team, to serve 8 million registered users around the world, and to present blockbuster events with the biggest names in their fields.

Subscription services AEW Plus, FITE+, and the FAST channel, FITE 24/7 have all grown at an astounding rate, and now FITE+ becomes TrillerTV+, FITE 24/7 becomes TrillerTV 24/7, and AEW Plus keeps its name. Both TrillerTV+ and AEW Plus have newly enabled geo-tagged pricing, increasing their value proposition for international audiences.

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"Now that we've proven FITE in 10s of thousands of live events from all over the world, it's time to expand to more content verticals under our new brand TrillerTV," Kosta Jordanov, Co-Founder and CEO of TrillerTV, said, "We will be adding new sports categories, more premium brand promotions, and continuing to improve our technology to give the best user experience in streaming sports and entertainment."

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"We are thrilled to realize one of the core objectives of the acquisition of FITE," added Mahi de Silva, CEO of Triller. "The launch of TrillerTV is the culmination of the strategy of expansion from their combat sports roots to broader sports content and even broader entertainment verticals across the globe. TrillerTV is a great example of Triller's open-garden approach of delivering high quality entertainment on every platform; mobile phones, PCs, streaming devices, set-top-boxes and gaming consoles."

For more information contact: owen.phillips@fite.tv

About TrillerTV:

TrillerTV is the premium global platform for live sports and entertainment offering many of the industry's marquee PPV events to 8M registered users. Additionally, TrillerTV offers exclusive subscription packages such as AEW Plus in select regions, and TrillerTV+, the best value in sports, worldwide. Consumers can stream TrillerTV globally through its iOS and Android mobile apps, Apple TV, Android TV, ROKU and Amazon Fire TV apps. In addition, TrillerTV supports Samsung, LG, Cox Contour, Vizio SmartCast™, Virgin Media, Shaw Communications, Blue Curve IPTV, Foxxum, Chromecast, XBOX, ZEASN, Netrange, Vidaa/Hisense, VEWD/ TiVO, Netgem TV, Comcast's Xfinity 1 and Xfinity Flex, as well as more than 7,000 models of Smart TVs. TrillerTV also offers a free ad-supported FAST channel called TrillerTV 24/7, both on and off platform. Visit TrillerTV online at www.TrillerTV.com. Follow us as TrillerTV powered by FITE on Twitter/X, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIN, Facebook, and Threads.

TrillerTV is owned by Triller Hold Co LLC.

UFC ANNOUNCES STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH NRL AS THE AUSSIE FOOTBALL CODE LAUNCHES VEGAS MISSION  

Ultimate Fighting Championship Joins Forces With World's Premier Rugby League Competition

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has today joined forces with the world’s premier rugby league competition, National Rugby League (NRL) to launch the sporting organization’s first Las Vegas venture.

Four of the Australian competition’s flagship clubs - South Sydney Rabbitohs, Brisbane Broncos, Manly Sea Eagles and Sydney Roosters - will play in the Vegas showpiece to kick-off the 2024 NRL Premiership season at Allegiant Stadium on March 2.

The historic NRL double-header fixture will be the first played on U.S. soil and today, UFC Senior Executive Vice President Lawrence Epstein, Executive Vice President Dave Shaw and Hall of Fame athlete Forrest Griffin welcomed NRL officials and star players from the four clubs to the fight capital of the world.

The new partnership will see UFC build upon its already strong links with NRL to reach thousands of potential new fans in the Asia Pacific region, where the sport of MMA continues to experience exponential growth. The NRL is hoping to tap into UFC’s pulling power in the U.S. market to expand its own global footprint.

UFC announces strategic partnership with NRL as the Aussie football code launches Vegas mission

“Las Vegas is on the fast track to becoming the sports capital of the world. All the major U.S. sports leagues will have a presence here soon, and of course, Las Vegas will host its first Super Bowl here at Allegiant Stadium in February,” said UFC Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Lawrence Epstein.

“International sports leagues are also recognizing the value Las Vegas can bring to their brand.  Just a few weeks ago we had the inaugural Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, which was a great success and set the stage for additional F1 events in the years to come.

“NRL fans are going to love coming to Vegas to watch these matches. We've been to all the great cities, and there's nothing like the infrastructure we have here in Las Vegas - from hotel rooms to restaurants and night clubs, and all of the other entertainment and sports we have here. Fans are the most important component of the sports ecosystem, and when the fans have a great time, they talk about your brand more, they talk about the experience more, and that positivity just builds up,” said Epstein.

UFC announces strategic partnership with NRL as the Aussie football code launches Vegas mission

UFC Vice President, Head of International & Content Dave Shaw said the two organizations have enjoyed close ties over many years.

“There is a great link between our two sports, and I am excited about this partnership and the opportunities we have to grow together,” said Shaw.

“We know the NRL is one of the biggest sporting competitions Down Under and they have aspirations to grow their sport here in the U.S. We also know Australians are some of the biggest MMA fans on the planet - it is home to over 4 million of our 700 million global fanbase - and we are always looking at ways to continue to grow that fanbase in the APAC region.

“Since 2010, UFC has accomplished major milestones across Australia and New Zealand, delivering 20 events across most major cities, many of them record-breaking.

“We have seen UFC athletes like Alex Volkanovski and Tai ‘Bam Bam’ Tuivasa start their careers in rugby league before transitioning to MMA... and we’ve also seen plenty of NRL stars enjoying the action at our UFC events across the globe. There is a connection between the sports that transcends beyond the Octagon and that is what excites us about this partnership.”

(Sources: NRL, UFC, FOX Sports, Wires and X)

ESPN MMA. DJ has been looking for the right moves in his embattled career for a while. This may be it. A24 enjoyed a successful launch of 'The Iron Claw' in LA a few days ago. DJ wasn't there, at least not captured on film, but MJF, John Cena and CJ Perry aka "Lana" were.. Looking for a peg-on? A24 to collab with 7 Bucks? You sure?! Kerr is a legend and has been looking to have his story on the.big screen for the longest time.. Patience and timing.. Here's to the combat sports legends

FOX Sports

The Brain Can Only Take So Much

FOX and The Hound..USA vs Australia. Verbal fight game ala Ali (I am the greatest),.Sean Strickland (Dog.day afternoon), and you get the idea. Verbal warfare to help sell fights.If there's a genuine dislike in UFC/MMA, even better. High OH&S risks in combat sports. Mind over matter, and Colv don't mind!

Wrestling News

WWE @WWE SmackDown. December 15, 2023

"The Tribal Chief" Roman Reigns @WWERomanReigns to finally return. Family business and WWE business to attend to. Is Paul Heyman @HeymanHustle on high alter yet?

US title contender's tournament: Kevin Owens vs Austin Theory

US title contender's tournament: Grayson Waller vs mystery man from NXT @WWENXT 

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#Smackdown #RomanReigns #TribalChief #TheBloodline #Bloodline #PaulHeyman #JimmyUso #JeyUso #SoloSikoa #NickAldis #RandyOrton #LWO #LoganPaul #USTitle #LAKnight #RoyalRumble #WrestleMania #WrestleMania40 #WWE #WWENXT #CMPunk #CodyRhodes #DragonLee #LoganPaul #LexisKing #King #prowrestling #wrestling #entertainment #entertainmentnews #popculture #broadcast #FOX #legends #Goat #Goats #YouTube #TY #trends #trending #buzz #TV #media 

Image credit: WWE

Mixed Martial Arts

UFC 1: The Beginning: Playboy, Mortal Kombat and the hunt for an ultimate fighter

Twenty-five years ago, one man set out to answer the eternal question: "Who is the ultimate fighter?"

Little did Art Davie know a concept forged via Playboy Magazine, a handful of Hollywood hard men and a popular arcade game would turn into a multi-billion dollar industry.

On 12 November 1993, Davie and associates hosted "the street fight to end all street fights", as eight fearless competitors from across the world gathered in a Colorado octagon to see who was the toughest.

This is the story of UFC 1: The Beginning.

Bringing back ancient history

Art Davie was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame earlier this year, and said: "Watching UFC become mainstream and break all these records over the years has been like watching my child go out and conquer the world."

An article in Playboy Magazine in September 1989 proclaimed its subject to be the "toughest man in the United States", a man who had offered to fight anyone in the country for a winner-takes-it all $100,000 prize.

Just the kind of guy Davie, a former car dealer who used to star in his own commercials by jumping off buildings and getting set on fire, was looking for.

Since he was a kid interested in boxing, Davie had been obsessed with wanting to find out who the best fighter in the world was and which style was most effective.

He set about immersing himself in the history of fighting and discovered the Ancient Greek sport of Pankration, which used a mix of boxing and wrestling techniques.

"I had history behind me, for 1,041 years it had been in the Olympics. I was simply bringing back the glory of the ancient world," Davie told the 30 for 30 Podcast.

During his research Davie, a former high school roommate of US President Donald Trump, was made aware of the Playboy article and sought out the man in question - Rorion Gracie.

A real life 'Mortal Kombat'

Born in Rio de Janiero, Gracie had moved to California in the late 1970s to demonstrate the Brazilian jiu-jitsu taught by his father, and inspired by a travelling Japanese master, was superior to all others, labelling his fight offer the "Gracie Challenge".

Davie made his pitch, and Gracie was sold.

Gracie had already enjoyed a taste of on-screen fighting after preparing Mel Gibson for 1987 film Lethal Weapon, but for he and Davie to make the tournament a success they needed to attract a pay-per-view provider.

Despite HBO and Showtime turning down their pitch for a 'War of the Worlds', the concept hooked Semaphore Entertainment Group (SEG) executive producer Campbell McLaren, who likened it to a real-life version of popular video game Mortal Kombat.

"There's a story in this event, there's a hook, there's a drama, there's a danger," said McLaren, in the documentary Fighting for a Generation.

It was game on.

Sharks? Alligators? Schwarzenegger?

While the organisers set about creating the tournament - deciding to call it Ultimate Fighting Championship, because War of the Worlds was "too science-fictiony" - Davie stumbled across a loophole in Colorado law that meant bare-knuckle fighting was permitted in the state.

Venue sorted, the eight-man roster also began to take shape - martial artists in savate, kickboxing, taekwondo, shootfighting, boxing, sumo, American Kenpo and, of course, Brazilian jiu-jitsu were booked in.

But as promotion for UFC 1 gathered pace with the marketing slogan "there are no rules", so did the opposition to it. Senator John McCain wanted it banned and branded the concept a "human cockfight".

Davie, Royce and McLaren knew they needed a "shock" factor to generate interest, and were busy throwing ideas around for how the stage would be set for the fighters - an arena with sharks? A moat with alligators? An electrical fence?

They opted for an octagon-shaped cage, suggested by Conan the Barbarian director John Milius - because Conan, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, battles in a stone octagon. Schwarzenegger liked the idea, as did fellow Hollywood tough-guy Jean-Claude Van Damme.

"Van Damme was very cool," McLaren told Maxim, admitting martial artist-turned-actor-turned-producer Chuck Norris was "not so cool", questioning whether it was even legal.

"He was badmouthing it. He didn't want to be involved, he thought it was bad for the martial arts."

The rules

This won't take long. There were no rules.

Well, actually, there were a couple - albeit the tournament was sold on the idea there were none - no biting and no eye-gouging. Oh, and no fish-hooking, as the only response to this was biting, and fighters had to be bare-fist, and they couldn't wear shoes if they planned to kick people.

This didn't sit well with the assembled mix of fighters. No rules meant no rules, right? It almost sparked a brawl in the pre-tournament meeting, until Teila Tuli smoothed things over.

Tuli, a Hawaiian sumo wrestler who had been banned from competing in Japan for pushing a journalist, told the others: "I came here to party. If any of you came here to party, I'll see you in the arena tomorrow."

Tuli leaves teeth in Gordeau's foot

Dutch savate Gerard Gordeau beat sumo Teila Tuli in 26 seconds in the opening bout

About 7,000 spectators turned up at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver to witness the action live, with a further 86,000 tuning in on pay-per-view - three times what the promoters anticipated - and many more heading to their local video store to rent the tournament on VHS in the aftermath.

Twenty-six seconds into their viewing experience, they saw a tooth whistle past the judges after being knocked from the mouth of Tuli.

The sumo actually lost three teeth during a kick to the face from Gerard Gordeau, but two of them remained lodged in the Dutchman's foot.

Gordeau also left the octagon with a broken hand after following up his roundhouse kick with an uppercut to head of Tuli, whose optimistic early charge across the canvas towards the savate world champion ended with him being dragged to the ground.

The suddenness and violence of that opening bout left even the organisers stunned, and thirsty for more.

All bar McLaren and CEG, that is, who had three hours of live pay-per-view television to fill and feared if the fights carried on at that rate the tournament would be over in little more than 10 minutes.

McLaren needn't have worried. It might have been less clinical, but the second bout was as gruelling as the first had been explosive as kickboxer Kevin Rosier and American Kenpo Zane Frazier fought it out for four minutes and 20 seconds.

It was violent and chaotic, with knees and elbow strikes complemented by hair pulling and groin attacks, before Frazier's wife threw in the towel after he was knocked down with blows to the back of the head and stamped on.

Frazier, a former bodyguard for Stevie Wonder, had asthma and was rushed to hospital following the bout after suffering respiratory failure.

"The paramedics saved my life," said Frazier in 2011, adding that he was diagnosed with asthma after the bout and told he would never compete again - he eventually retired 15 years later.

Enter Royce Gracie

Rorion's younger brother Royce was put forward to compete.

Now, remember there was a Brazilian jiu-jitsu among the competitors? And that Rorion Gracie introduced the sport to the United States and challenged anyone to a winner-takes-it all $100,000 fight? Well, he put forward his brother, Royce.

Rorion said entering Royce would "prove a point jiu-jitsu was for anyone... that it can do wonders for the little guy", while Royce was keen to establish himself in the fighting arena.

Royce was drawn against boxer Art Jimmerson in the quarter-finals and swiftly floored the cruiserweight, who wore one glove for the fight, with a double-leg takedown. Royce mounted Jimmerson, headbutted him and forced him to tap out.

"I'd never heard of Royce, I'd never even heard of jiu-jitsu. I never imagined I would be wrestling a guy on the floor," said Jimmerson.

McLaren added: "I was sure Royce was going to get his head knocked off his body by that boxer - and I thought Teila was going to slam everybody into the chain link fence and smoosh them - so that's how much I knew!"

Royce said the bout was "almost unfair", adding: "The stand-up fighters had almost no idea what to do on the ground."

The other fight of the round took place between the Captain America-esque Ken Shamrock, listed as a shootfighter, and taekwondo representative Patrick Smith.

"This thing, the UFC, it was almost like who could beat me?" quipped Shamrock, who quickly submitted Smith with a heel hook.

An Ultimate Fighting Champion is crowned

Royce Gracie said he would spend his winnings on going to Disneyland

Shamrock's armoury was made up of a mix of disciplines, but in the semi-final he came up against Royce and the Gracie family who claimed to have "the" best fighting style.

The fight lasted less than two minutes, Gracie managing to engineer a choke using his uniform and Shamrock bemoaning his lack of grip having been banned from wearing shoes.

"I'm sorry I didn't give him a good enough fight," said Shamrock after the fight, later admitting he would never head into a contest with such arrogance again.

He may have lost the bout, but Shamrock would go on to become a UFC champion, be labelled "The World's Most Dangerous Man" by ABC News and feature in the WWE.

Royce, meanwhile, headed into the final unscathed having yet to be really tested. Gordeau, with a broken bone in his hand and pieces of tooth still in his foot, awaited him.

The final lasted one minute and 40 seconds, with Gordeau at first managing to stand firm before being grounded by Royce. There was an alleged bite from the Dutchman, but Royce was able to land strikes and headbutts before submitting Gordeau with a rear naked choke hold.

Royce, and the Gracies, were victorious. "I had to prove to my family I was a fighter," said the champion, who declared after the bout he would use the $50,000 prize to go to Disneyland.

As for Rorion, he was delighted. And satisfied Brazilian jiu-jitsu produced "the ultimate fighters".

"It was like a Cinderella story, it was beautiful," he said. "I proved my point, that's for sure.

UFC News

‘The brain can only take so much’: UFC bad boy’s huge warning for Aussie stars amid $16m Sydney pitch

UFC superstar Colby Covington has taken a huge swipe at Australia’s two greatest fighters – branding Alexander Volkanovski a “midget” who will do anything for money and Robert Whittaker a fighter who has taken too much damage to own gold again.

Elsewhere, Covington also revealed his willingness to be part of the NSW Government’s $16 million UFC splurge, revealing he agreed to have this Sunday’s title fight against champ Leon Edwards take place in Sydney.

Speaking with Fox Sports Australia this week, the fighter dubbed Chaos added that while he was no fan of Australia’s government – “they take a lot of freedoms from people” – he would still happily headline a title fight here in 2024.

However he no longer expects to have a showdown against Whittaker – despite no less than UFC president Dana White once supporting the idea – suggesting the nation’s first champion had now taken too much damage to be a middleweight force again.

Among the most polarising characters in the sport, Covington has a longstanding rivalry with all three of Australia’s biggest UFC names – Volkanovski, Whittaker and Tai Tuivasa.

The American first took aim at Volkanovski back in 2021, when the UFC featherweight champ had been selected to host the latest instalment of The Ultimate Fighter.

Covington suggested UFC executives would be “smacking themselves in the head” after signing a champ who “doesn’t sell” and would “make a complete mockery of the show”.

Then in March last year, Whittaker said he would gladly take a fight with ‘Chaos’ should he want to move up to middleweight – an idea that also received the support of UFC boss White.

However, Covington now says ‘Bobby Knuckles’ time as a UFC superstar is over following his most recent performance, an upset loss to South Africa’s Dricus du Plessis at UFC 290 in July.

The American told Fox Sports Australia that should he earn the UFC welterweight title this Sunday, he would definitely consider a move up to chase ‘champ champ’ status.

So what chance that could eventually be against Australia’s first UFC champion, who is readying for another run at his old crown?

“A fight with Rob and I will never happen now,” Covington said.

“The guy has lost all his hype.

“First, he lost to the champion (Israel Adesanya), then lost to another guy in a contender fight.

“And I’m not trying to disrespect Robert Whittaker.

“He’s a great fighter. Had a terrific career.

“So I’m definitely not putting him down, Rob’s going to be a Hall of Famer.

“I just think Father Time has passed him by.

“I remember Rob twice fighting Yoel Romero – a guy who I was helping train at the time – and he took a lot of punishment, a lot of damage in those fights.

“And the chin and brain can only take so much.”

Covington also continued his ongoing verbal with Volkanovski, the Aussie who despite fighting two weight classes lower has never taken a backward step from the American.

When Covington first took aim at ‘The Great’ two years ago without provocation, Volkanovski responded by saying the fighter was simply “sour” after missing out on the TUF gig himself.

“The guy needs to stop crying and get himself into a title fight,” Volkanovski told us at the time. “Don’t cry like a baby because you didn’t get this opportunity.

“Suck it up and get into training.

“Get yourself a fight and keep my name out of your mouth.”

The champ later continued: “He can say what he wants about me (not being entertaining).

“At least I’m real.

“Colby Covington literally plays a character to stay relevant.

“But nobody cares about him. Right now, he’s sitting on the sidelines, waiting for a title shot to be given to him.

“Nobody is talking about him and he’s got the s***s about that.”

Yet on the eve of his latest title fight, Covington has again taken aim at Australia’s No.1 fighter, who most recently lost a brave attempt to chase ‘champ champ’ status against lightweight king against Islam Makhachev.

After taking the fight on 11 days notice, Volk was stopped by a Makhachev head kick in the first round.

“So how can I put the guy down more than he already has been?” Covington cackled.

“He just got knocked unconscious.

“It’s why I’ve got no idea why that little midget is trying to talk to the biggest and baddest dude in this division.

“The guy that just knocked him out, he’s scared to fight me.

“Islam Makhachev is scared to fight me.

“So what does that say about Volk?

“OK, maybe he will show up on short notice to take an ass whoopin’ because he likes to get paid.

“Likes the money.

“But there are levels to this game.

“He’s fighting at featherweight with midgets.

“So don’t talk about fighting someone like Colby ‘Chaos’ Covington.”

Elsewhere, Covington insisted he would be happy to be part of the NSW Government’s hyped $16 million deal to bring three UFC events to Sydney over four years.

The American even revealed he had verbally agreed to headline what was the first of those three fights, UFC 293 back in September.

Instead, top billing eventually went to another contentious American, Sean Strickland, who upset Israel Adesanya to become new UFC middleweight champ.

Quizzed on whispers he had been approached to headline, Covington told Fox Sports Australia: “It was discussed many times.

“Initially, we were supposed to fight in a (Edwards) homecoming fight for his UK fans.

“That was supposed to be July.

“But he robbed his fans in the UK of an undisputed title.

“He said ‘UK, f… you’.

“Told them they don’t deserve a Pay Per View event, that they only deserved a Fight Night.

“That’s a big ‘f… you’.

“And then he turned down multiple other locations … and the UFC was discussing Sydney as well.

“I said ‘yes, yes, yes’ to every location’.

“I just want to get my hands on this guy because I know he’s a tin man, a quitter.

“And I know the dog in me is going to bring out the quitter in him.”

Told our tax rate for fighters is unusually high, Covington continued: “I would’ve come down.

“I would still defend me title there.

“I think Australia is a great place except for your government.

“I’m all for people’s constitutional rights and freedoms but your government takes a lot of freedoms from people.”

(FOX Sports)

AFL - December 15, 2023

Hollywood actress Sydney Sweeney reveals Sydney Swans squad 'slid into her DMs' after watching her first AFL game

Actress Sydney Sweeney attended her first AFL game earlier this year and revealed the Sydney Swans welcomed her to Australia in a "very big way".

Hollywood star Sydney Sweeney has revealed the Sydney Swans were very excited about her arrival in the Harbour City.

The American actress travelled Down Under for the filming of her new romcom Anyone But You with actor Glen Powell.

During her travels Sweeney was invited alongside co-stars Dermot Mulroney and Rachel Griffiths to the Swans match against Hawthorn earlier this year.

After the match, Sweeney went into the changerooms to meet the players and in a recent interview it was revealed several of the Swans’ stars slid into her DMs.

“I had a blast, I loved it. I got to meet everybody. I want to go back,” Sweeney told The Project on Thursday night.

Powell was also in the interview and chimed in to make sure all the details were laid out.

“They had a good time meeting Sydney as well, the whole team slid into her DMs afterwards it was,” he said.

“Australia wanted to welcome her to town, fast.”

Sweeney giggled in reply adding: “Yeah … in a very big way.”

The Swans game was Sweeney’s first experience of Aussie Rules and she said she was left confused but there was one main query.

“I had a lot of questions,” she said.

“First of all, why are the shorts so short?”

Again Powell jumped in: “That was for you they honestly usually have pretty long shorts.”

Powell and Sweeney were also asked about their least favourite thing about filming in Australia and they both agreed the water was too cold.

The pair said during the filming of the swimming scenes they wish they had done it when “the water was warm”.

“Actually, all of the scenes. They were freezing,” Sweeney said.

“We shot all the water scenes to begin the movie, when it was freezing,” Powell said, even though filming took place in the months of February and March.

“And then we shot all the sand scenes when it was the hottest.”

Anyone But You arrives in Australian cinemas on Boxing Day.

(Sky News Australia)

Movie News

North American Box Office

1. The Boy and His Heron - $10.4 million 

2. The Hunger Games: The Ballads of Songbirds & Snakes - $9.4 million

3. Godzilla Minus One - $8.3 million

4. Trolls Band Together - $6.2 million

5. Wish - $5.3 million

6. Renaissance: A Film By Beyonce - $5 million

7. Napolean - $4.2 million

8. Waitress: The Musical - $2.6 million

9. Animal - $2.3 million

10. The Shift - $2.2 million

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Streaming News

Tubi Makes Late Play To Be 'Streamer Of The Year'

Fox’s advertising supported streamer Tubi @tubi strikes deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to stream DC movies including “The Batman,” “Suicide Squad,” “Black Adam,” “Wonder Woman” and “Aquaman,” in addition to as superhero themed series “Batwoman,” “Gotham” and “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.”

The news comes at a not so great time for other streaming firms such as Netflix and don't even start us on embattled Disney, who parents and their offspring have been tuning out of in droves.

“Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn),” “Green Lantern” and “Wonder Woman 1984,” will also hit Tubi’s on-demand lineup in 2024.

Available as of Tuesday are “Batman,” “Batman Returns” and “Batman Forever,” as well as “Superman: The Movie” and “Superman II,” and TV series “Batwoman,” “Gotham” and “Krypton.”

Pro wrestling living legend John Cena of WWE and 'Peacemaker' fame is keen to do some more work and collaborations with DC into the new year now that that apparent communications "ban" between him and DC powers that be is no longer. What a business hey, hence showbiz! Hollywood er Hollyweird, never mind.

More Streaming News

FITE (soon to be Triller) is our 'Sports Streamer Of The Year', and BINGE wins 'Streaming Service Of The Year' (Australian region)

Sources: Variety, Wires, New Corp, Advanced Television, Digital TV Europe, Wikipedia and last but not least, X.

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Pro Wrestling

WWE 

@WWE

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 Fantasy Booking

Speculation Only

Dream Matches 

Roman Reigns vs Cody Rhodes

Seth Rollins vs CM Punk

Brock Lesnar vs Gunther vs Randy Orton

Logan Paul vs Dragon Lee 

Grayson Waller & Austin Theory vs Dominik Mysterio and Santos Escobar 

Rhea Ripley vs Charlotte Flair vs Tiffany Stratton

Lexis King vs Trick Williams 

Nia Jax vs Becky Lynch 

and much more! 

Dream Matches compilation by Media Man 

(Image credit: WWE)

Bitcoin (₿) BTC or XBT is the first decentralized cryptocurrency. Nodes in the peer-to-peer bitcoin network verify transactions through cryptography and record them in a public distributed ledger, called a blockchain, without central oversight. Consensus between nodes is achieved using a computationally intensive system based on proof-of-work called mining. Bitcoin mining requires increasing quantities of electricity[ and was responsible for 0.2% of world greenhouse gas emissions as of 2022.

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Wrestling News

WWE @WWE US Champion Logan Paul is substance and style, and gets the Jazz Treatment; Maverick trends Jazzy socials with extra Prime Buzz!

Our topic pick for WWE's 'MVP' and 'Break Out Star', 'Standout Out Of Year Year' et al Logan Paul @LoganPaul appears on Jazzy's YouTube!

"Just like Jazzy, Be yourself, do what you love, take the leap" LP

WWE is the perfect thing for everything that I love in life. The showmanship, the combat, the physical nature of it, the storytelling, the media. It’s everything that I love. You know, we’re doing part of it right now but in a second I get to go out there and I get to go beat some people up. I think it’s fun for me people seem to enjoy it and truthfully Jazzy I think at age 27 I found my calling. I gotta say I’m good at it. Jazzy you’re looking at the US champ, the best WWE has seen in a while so I’m gonna be at it for a minute.” - Logan Paul

"People your beefing with. Maybe you have more in common than you think". - LP. 

Media Man Ed: Agree. We discovered this in the school yard and growing up in The School Of Hard Knocks, as well as in a few early entreprenial ventures such as washing cars, trucks and competing for TV spot in our formative years.

More LP golden nuggets...

"It's all challanging Jazzy, It's the hardest thing I've ever done, and I've done a lot of stuff".

"The comparison I like to use is in boxing right, I fought Floyd Mayweather, he's very good. But I was worried about one guy.  One guy across from me - I was worried about Floyd Mayweather. In WWE, I'm worried about 18,000, 50,000, 70,000 people watching. It's my job, the company is paying me, to make sure that they're entertained. Right, these people are spending their money, and it's my job to make sure their having a good time, and its money well spent".. LP

Media Man: Absolutely loved this interview. Talk about a massive Win-Win-Win!

Jazzys World TV YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/@JazzysWorldTV

Logan Paul talks about becoming a WWE Superstar, his brother Jake Paul, & his success as a Youtuber

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z778rA8Og4A&ab_channel=JazzysWorldTV

#LoganPaul #Jazzy #JazzysWorld #quotes #interview #TheMaverick #prime #drinkprime #WWEUSTitle #USChampion #prowrestling #wrestling #wrestlingnews #popculture #boxing #combatsports #Entrepreneurship #disrupt #disruptor #trend #trends #socialmedia #socialmediasuperstar #buzz #media 

Image credit: WWE

Pro Wrestling

WWE @WWE RAW

CM Punk makes his brand decision tonight on Raw: WWE Now, Dec. 11, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvFTvgPYjp4&ab_channel=WWE

Will CM Punk sign with Raw?

Cody Rhodes vs Shinsuke Nakamura

Jey Uso vs Drew McIntyre

Maxxine Dupri vs Women's Champion Rhea Ripley

Confrontation: Becky Lynch and Nia Jax

Keep up to date on the live broadcast and via the WWE Official YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/@WWE

Media Man: WWE remains on fire. Wouldn't mind seeing Punk stay a free agent ala that late Randy "Macho Man" Savage. Just keep that WWE contract watertight! Royal Rumble Season is here! Bring on some dream matches!

#WWERaw #CMPunk #CodyRhodes #ShinsukeNakamura #RoyalRumble #WrestleMania #JeyUso #DrewMcIntyre #BeckyLynch #NiaJax #RheaRipley #JudgementDay #prowrestling #wrestling #entertainment #showbiz #USANetwork #broadcast #broadcasting #trends #trending #buzz #media 

Image credit: WWE

Pro Wrestling

WWE @WWE RAW

WWE Official YouTube highlights so far...

CM Punk’s whirlwind weekend: Raw highlights, Dec. 11, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfUMakdk_DA&ab_channel=WWE

CM Punk makes his brand decision tonight on Raw: WWE Now, Dec. 11, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvFTvgPYjp4&ab_channel=WWE

Drew McIntyre takes advantage of Jey Uso’s hesitation: Raw highlights, Dec. 11, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAhFo62hSc0&t=2s&ab_channel=WWE

Shinsuke Nakamura has been reborn: Raw highlights, Dec. 11, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuYXLvxH7d8&t=2s&ab_channel=WWE

Rhea Ripley dismantles Maxxine Dupri: Raw highlights, Dec. 11, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH9TypUC_A0&ab_channel=WWE

“Big” Bronson Reed and Ivar collide in a beefy battle: Raw highlights, Dec. 11, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8Edna8QdYc&ab_channel=WWE

The Creed Brothers and R-Truth brawl with The Judgment Day: Raw highlights, Dec. 11, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UNbsw4zXHc&ab_channel=WWE

Keep up to date on the live broadcast and via the WWE Official YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/@WWE

Media Man: The CM Punk vs Seth Rollins feud has set the wrestling world on fire. Ripley vs Maxxine has a real edge to it, as did Lynch vs Jax. "Heat" in pro wrestling often leads to great matches and great payoffs for fans and promoters. The  Creed Brothers are off the hook and a brilliant addition to Raw. Reed vs Ivar over-delivered again. The backstage footage is hitting the sweet spot. World class action, drama and production values. This is pro wrestling and sports entertainment at the highest level. Royal Rumble season has arrived. Michael Cole and Wade Barrett did a tremendous call of the action through the entire broadcast.

#WWERaw #CMPunk #CodyRhodes #ShinsukeNakamura #RoyalRumble #WrestleMania #JeyUso #DrewMcIntyre #BeckyLynch #NiaJax #RheaRipley #JudgementDay #CreedBros #BronsonReed #Ivar #prowrestling #wrestling #entertainment #showbiz #USANetwork #broadcast #broadcasting #trends #trending #buzz #media

Image credit: WWE

Wrestling. WWE @WWE 

WWE YouTube highlights

CM Punk’s whirlwind weekend: Raw highlights, Dec. 11, 2023 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=GfUMakdk_DA&ab_channel=WWE

CM Punk makes his brand decision tonight on Raw

WWE Now, Dec. 11, 2023 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=AvFTvgPYjp4&ab_channel=WWW

#WWERaw #CMPunk #Trending #media

Image credit: WWE

'The Iron Claw'. Cena's got an iron grip on MJF. Different promoters this time around. Art may reflect life. Pumped to see this movie. Two Goats!

#TheIronClaw #IronClaw #MJF 

"Can you do The Iron Claw"?

"Not as effective as The Von Erichs" John Cena @JohnCena 

"Kevin did it on me. I asked him to do it. And I said No, I want pressure, and now I have an headache"

"Well, I mean. Ask for trouble, and trouble will find you right"! John Cena 

#TheIronClaw #JohnCena #IronClaw #IronClawMovie 

"Would you show me how to do The Iron Claw? I dunno if I'm strong enough, but. How do you do it? 

"Well, it's a simple hold".. Kevin Von Erich

And you just squeze. Comon, you can squeze. Oh, not that much".

"Eww"!

#IronClaw #TheIronClaw 

"How is this film unlike any role you've ever taken before"? Media

"Oh man Ah, jeeze, this movie's insane. I never dreamed I'd play a character like Kevin Von Erich. It feels really special man. I really don't know how to put it into words. I'm kind of emotion. I've got Kevin Von Erich here. John Cena's here"... Zac Efron

#IronClaw #TheIronClaw #TheIronClawmovie #IronClawMovie 

Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something somehow new and somehow valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition, or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a printed literary work, or a painting).

Creative Content via Media Man (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/creative_content.html

Creative Arts Marketing (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/creative_arts.html

Creative Advertising Directory (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/creative_advertising.html

Art & Copy (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/art_and.html

#creativity #creative #ContentCreator #contentcreators #ContentThatCreatesBuzz #imagination #agency #creativeagency #popculture #trends #buzz #media #mediaman

LinkedIn hits 1 billion users, eyes AI-driven future

Global networking platform LinkedIn has reached a major milestone, and recently hit one billion members. From the one billion professionals and 67 million companies on the platform, LinkedIn has distilled various labour market insights.

People skills remain paramount, while A.I continues to further infiltrate the internet including and a wide array of business sectors.

CoinDesk. NFT collectables. Collect them all! An instant classic. Could it be possible in a year or two there may be a Biden Jr or Se NFL collectable of the days theme? It's free to ask! Fair and balanced coverage. 

#coindesk #NFT #NFTart #nftnews #blockchain #crypto #cryptonews #collectables #popculture #newsmedia #media 

Sports News

UFC @UFC ANNOUNCES STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH NRL @NRL AS THE AUSSIE FOOTBALL CODE LAUNCHES VEGAS MISSION  

December 14, 2023

Ultimate Fighting Championship Joins Forces With World's Premier Rugby League Competition

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has today joined forces with the world’s premier rugby league competition, National Rugby League (NRL) to launch the sporting organization’s first Las Vegas venture.

Four of the Australian competition’s flagship clubs - South Sydney Rabbitohs, Brisbane Broncos, Manly Sea Eagles and Sydney Roosters - will play in the Vegas showpiece to kick-off the 2024 NRL Premiership season at Allegiant Stadium on March 2.

The historic NRL double-header fixture will be the first played on U.S. soil and today, UFC Senior Executive Vice President Lawrence Epstein, Executive Vice President Dave Shaw and Hall of Fame athlete Forrest Griffin welcomed NRL officials and star players from the four clubs to the fight capital of the world.

The new partnership will see UFC build upon its already strong links with NRL to reach thousands of potential new fans in the Asia Pacific region, where the sport of MMA continues to experience exponential growth. The NRL is hoping to tap into UFC’s pulling power in the U.S. market to expand its own global footprint.

UFC announces strategic partnership with NRL as the Aussie football code launches Vegas mission

“Las Vegas is on the fast track to becoming the sports capital of the world. All the major U.S. sports leagues will have a presence here soon, and of course, Las Vegas will host its first Super Bowl here at Allegiant Stadium in February,” said UFC Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Lawrence Epstein.

“International sports leagues are also recognizing the value Las Vegas can bring to their brand.  Just a few weeks ago we had the inaugural Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, which was a great success and set the stage for additional F1 events in the years to come.

“NRL fans are going to love coming to Vegas to watch these matches. We've been to all the great cities, and there's nothing like the infrastructure we have here in Las Vegas - from hotel rooms to restaurants and night clubs, and all of the other entertainment and sports we have here. Fans are the most important component of the sports ecosystem, and when the fans have a great time, they talk about your brand more, they talk about the experience more, and that positivity just builds up,” said Epstein.

UFC Vice President, Head of International & Content Dave Shaw said the two organizations have enjoyed close ties over many years.

“There is a great link between our two sports, and I am excited about this partnership and the opportunities we have to grow together,” said Shaw.

“We know the NRL is one of the biggest sporting competitions Down Under and they have aspirations to grow their sport here in the U.S. We also know Australians are some of the biggest MMA fans on the planet - it is home to over 4 million of our 700 million global fanbase - and we are always looking at ways to continue to grow that fanbase in the APAC region.

“Since 2010, UFC has accomplished major milestones across Australia and New Zealand, delivering 20 events across most major cities, many of them record-breaking.

“We have seen UFC athletes like Alex Volkanovski and Tai ‘Bam Bam’ Tuivasa start their careers in rugby league before transitioning to MMA... and we’ve also seen plenty of NRL stars enjoying the action at our UFC events across the globe. There is a connection between the sports that transcends beyond the Octagon and that is what excites us about this partnership.”

(Sources: NRL, UFC, FOX Sports, Wires and X)

Media Man says: Love it. A massive Win-Win-Win!

#NRL #NRLVegas #NRLLasVegas #UFC #UFCNRL #Rabbitohs #Broncos #SeaEagles #SydneyRoosters  

#LawrenceEpstein #DaveShaw #ForrestGriffin #Volk #BamBam #RugbyLeague #sportsbusiness #sportspartnership #sportsmarketing #sportsmedia #sportsnews #win #winwinwin #LasVegas #Aussie #media #mediaman 

Image credit: UFC and NRL

Quotes

"I can not respond to real-time events in the way Grok can."  - ChatGPT

#Grok #quote #ChatGPT #AI #AInews #ArtificialInteligence #AIsearch #searchengine #XCorp #X #realtime #media 

“Is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?” - Marcus Aurelius #MarcusAurelius #quote #creation #philosophy #life #mindset #world #media #mediaman #mediaman

And remember that philosophy requires only the things which thy nature requires; but thou wouldst have something else which is not according to nature. - It may be objected, Why what is more agreeable than this which I am doing?- But is not this the very reason why pleasure deceives us? - Marcus Aurelius #MarcusAurelius #Aurelius #quote #philosophy #nature #life #mindset #world #mbs #mindbodyspirit #media #mediaman #mediamanint

LinkedIn hits 1 billion users, eyes AI-driven future

Global networking platform LinkedIn has reached a major milestone, and recently hit one billion members. From the one billion professionals and 67 million companies on the platform, LinkedIn has distilled various labour market insights.

People skills remain paramount, while A.I continues to further infiltrate the internet including and a wide array of business sectors.

#LinkedIn #linkedinnews #li #socialmedia #socialmedianews #socialmediaplatform #socialmediaplatforms #networking #businessnetworking #ai #artificialintelligence #onlinenews #onlinepublishing #onlinepublisher #news #newsmedia #people #peopleskills #comms #communication #communications #seo #serps #algorithm #algorithms #onlinebiz #onlinemarketing #onlinepr #pr #press #mediarelease #ads #onlineads #agency #agent #media #mediaman #mediamanint #gregtingle 

Media Man Contender For 'Quote Of The Year'

“I hope they stop. Don’t advertise,” Elon Musk told interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin. 

“If somebody is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself. Go fuck yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is.” Directed at Disney CEO Bob Iger, who discussed not wanting Disney to be affiliated with Musk while onstage earlier in the day. “Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience.”

Best Quotes Of The Day (Media Man Int)

www.mediamanint.com/articles/best_quotes.html

#quoteoftheyear #ElonMusk #quote #quotes #Dealbook #X #XCorp #interview #disruptor #disruptors #ads #onlineadvertising #socialmedia #socialmedianews #socialmediaplatforms #platforms #biz #media #mediaman 

Quotes

A great saying in sports: "Father Time is undefeated". It refers to the fact that no athlete, in any sport, has ever overcome what aging does to the body and their ability to perform at a high level. This is also true in life and in business. #time #fathertime #quote #quotes #sports #sportsbiz #body #performance #combatsports #prossports #life #world #media #mediaman 

Quotes

"Great things should be done without hesitation so that the feeling of danger would not weaken courage and speed" - Julius Caesar #JuliusCaesar #Caesar #quote #great #courage #speed #battle #war #world #media #mediaman 

"It's easy to blindly subscribe to something that works, but you've got to remember it only works at that particular point in time. Like Kodak or horse-drawn carriages, or even Facebook, you can never assume the continued success of anything" - Mark Bouris #MarkBouris #quote #biz #subscribe #business #businessmodel #businessmodels #time #kodak #Facebook #success #model #world #trend #trends #media 

Wrestling News

"I have no idea what my future is at AEW. I have no clue. To be very frank about it, I’m not worried about it, yay or nay. I mean, my work should stand on its own after 50 years, for God’s sake, I mean, seriously. So sometimes I worry too much. I think it’s just a matter of being an alpha male and wanting to do whatever it is on my terms. I understand that’s not always possible, but I do appreciate all the feedback is is very meaningful to me" Jim Ross, Wresting and sports broadcasting legend 

#JimRoss #quote #wrestlingnews #AEW #wrestling #prowrestling #broadcaster #broadcasting #sportsnews #entertainmentnews #media #mediaman 

Wrestling News

WWE's Grayson Waller on Wrestling, the return of CM Punk and more

"I didn’t realize how wrong the internet was about everything until I came to WWE @WWE and I was actually backstage and saw some things. I don’t think there is anything but positive energy about CM Punk coming back. The entire roster right now is great, from top to bottom. Everyone is challenging each other, everyone wants to be the top guy, but no one is stepping on anyone to get there. Maybe me, I don’t mind doing that, but everyone is working together. We want this product to succeed and I think that’s what’s happening. Everyone is buzzing to have him back. Why would you not want to have this guy who can cut incredible promos, he can have great matches, who the crowd wants to see, who is super controversial? If you don’t want him back here, you’re stupid. For me, personally, I said some things online about Punk when I heard the rumors. I like to play with the rumors and have some fun, that type of thing. I got to meet him recently, and that’s all I’ll say about that".

"I was trained in NXT originally by Ace Steel, who is obviously Punk’s coach as well. I know the type of training he went through. Ace Steel is a great trainer. He’s hard-nosed, very to the point. He got me a lot of my first matches in NXT. I have nothing but positive things to say about Ace and nothing but positive things to say currently about Punk. I’m sure that’ll change in the future".

#GraysonWaller #quote #quotes #WWE #WWENXT #wrestlingnews #CMPunk #GWEffect #AceSteel #entertainmentnews #popculture #sportsnews #Mediafire 

Credit: Adrian Hernandez Podcast

Image credit: WWE

Australian Media News

James Packer buys up $US80m stake in Ten owner, Paramount Global

James Packer has built a $US80 million ($123.4 million) stake in Paramount Global, the American media and entertainment conglomerate that owns Network Ten, signalling a broadening of the billionaire’s media interests.

(Sources: Wires, AFR, X, Paramount)

#JamesPacker #Paramount #ParamountGlobal #Ten #NetworkTen #australianmedia #australiannews #medianews #newsmedia #broadcasting #Aussie #media 

Wrestling/Pop Culture News

KSI @KSI does the John Cena Attitude Adjustment Move to Logan Paul @LoganPaul (through a table)

The WWE @WWE U.S champion got his latest taste of a table, thanks to his long time rival KSI.

Something tell us to expect more stunts from these two amazing performers sooner rather than later, as they share numerous business interests together, with Prime being the one most in the public eye.

Cheers with Prime, as we head towards the road to the Royal Rumble.

Video via KSI YouTube Clips Channel

KSI threw logan Paul on the table

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDQNAJFO-cg&ab_channel=KSIClips

Image credit: WWE

#LoganPaul #TheMaverick #Prime #KSI #Table #wrestling #wrestliingnews #entertainmentnews #popculture #publicity #video #Prime #DrinkPrime #PrimeEnergy #trends #trending #buzz #media 

"We're all fighting for a reason. We're not fighting to just fight. There's got to be some type of reward at the end of the rainbow and that reward is a big, shiny, UFC gold belt. That changes every fighter's life dramatically for the better" -Aljamain Sterling #AlijamainSterling #quote #fighting #UFC #reward #sports #life #MBS #media 

"Jiu jitsu is a great art for self-defense. But jiu jitsu alone won't get you to a world championship in the UFC or even a winning record sometimes" - B. J. Penn @BJPenn #BJPenn #quote #JiuJitsu #selfdefense #UFC #MMA #sports #combatsports #media 

Combat Sports and MMA Legend Speaks On UFC Fighter Pull Out

UFC @UFC has elements of fighter image, public perception, box office and well-being - Media

Ian Garry situation divides commentators, media, fans

"We got a good one this weekend guys" goes the intro to one of Sonnel's renown podcast broadcasts...later comes the not so good news and some of CS's bold quotes that keep insiders, fans, media et al coming back for more...

“I thought that Garry had a lot of pressure on him, and how is he going to deal? He’s always had the crowd eating out of his hand. I was in Boston for example, that crowd went crazy for him and O’Malley – but they went crazy.”

“He was going to have the opposite experience. How is he going to do? Can he handle the boos? Not many people want to be heels because they can’t handle the boos, and I was just curious. It was going to be a very rare test. He was put in an interesting position. I’m disappointed we’re not going to see the fight.”

“I just think there was a few ways to handle that. I think Ian Garry’s got very good advice. He’s clearly had great coaches. Just by example: He’s a handsome guy, he’s well-spoken, he gets the game, his skills are top-shelf. His PR sucks. Not that it’s bad – it sucks. It’s terrible. I only share that because there’s only one thing you can’t do, which is nothing – which is what he did do.”

Concluding Chael Sonnel @ChaelSonnen

“He could have showed up to the press conference, sit with a book. He could have set it up and walked out and the book just sits in his spot. He could have gone to the press conference, put a cigar in, put his feet up and read the book at the press conference and ignored the questions completely. He could have done anything but nothing.”

Videos

Chael Sonnel Official YouTube Channel

www.youtube.com/@ChaelSonnenOfficial

Ian Garry OUT of UFC 296...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOUrbWHbIP0&ab_channel=ChaelSonnen

Garry vs Luque Cancelled, But Here's My Fight Prediction Anyway...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzLr7RTMr2E&ab_channel=ChaelSonnen

Colby Covington vs Leon Edwards, Who's the Favorite?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWaapPEPDx4&ab_channel=ChaelSonnen

UFC Official YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/ufc

UFC 296: Pre-Fight Press Conference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdOQKkjoBDM&t=655s&ab_channel=UFC

The MAC Life Official YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/@TheMacLife/videos

UFC 296: Official Weigh-Ins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7ecetMD6v8&t=4s&ab_channel=TheMacLife

MMA News (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/mma_news.html

#UFC296 #ChaelSonnel #IanGarry #quotes #UFC #MMA #PR #wags #ufcnews #mmanews #mixedmartialarts #sportsbusiness #sportsbiz #PPV #payperview #YouTube #YouTuber #video #videos #legend #opinion #broadcast #sportsnews #popculture #hype #trends #trending #buzz #media 

“There’s people that focus on the game and forget about the art. There’s that specific special individual that can do both.” - Conor McGregor @TheNotoriousMMA #ConorMcGregor #quote #UFC #MMA #focus #art #mixedmartialarts #game #fightgame #popculture #newsmedia #media #mediaman 

"I made promises to myself and my family that I'd be in the UFC before my first daughter was born, that didn't happen. I was almost at breaking point a week before I got that contract, I was going to go back to concreting - that weekend I get my major sponsor, which was huge, and I end up getting my UFC contract the weekend after that" - Alexander Volkanovski #Volk #quote #UFC #MMA #sponsor #sportsbusiness #mindset #mbs #media 

"Whatever it is that you're passionate about, whatever it is that you absolutely love, and whatever it is that you would get up out of bed every day and do for free, you should try to figure out a way to make money at it and give it a shot" - Dana White, UFC @UFC top brass #DanaWhite #quote #UFC #passion #passionate #love #work #money #life #mindset #motivation #world #media #mediaman 

Pro Wrestling

WWE @WWE SmackDown. December 15, 2023

Roman Reigns @WWERomanReigns , the head of the table to return to television and there's some family business to discuss and work out!

Randy Orton vs Jimmy Uso

Kevin Owens vs Austin Theory

Grayson Waller vs Carmelo Hayes (up from WWE NXT @WWENXT ) - U.S. Title Tournament

Zelina Vega & Michin take vs Asuka & Kairi Sane

Videos

WWE Official YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/wwe

Debuts and returns of 2023: WWE Playlist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzulHOqqS54&t=5s&ab_channel=WWE

Image credit: WWE

#SmackDown #RomanReigns #TribalChief #PaulHeyman #JimmyUso #JeyUso #SoloSikoa #RandyOrton #KevinOwens #KO #AustinTheory #LoganPaul #GraysonWaller #GWEffect #USTitle #WWEUSTitle #Asuka #KairiSane #ZelinaVega #Michin #CarmeloHayes #entertainment #popculture #FOX #broadcast #broadcasting #trends #trending #buzz #media 

Pro Wrestling 

WWE @WWE SmackDown. December 15, 2023

Roman Reigns anoints Solo Sikoa as The Tribal Prince: SmackDown highlights, Dec. 15, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0qlFyoTV9Y&t=19s&ab_channel=WWE

Randy Orton says The Legend Killer is back: SmackDown highlights, Dec. 15, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzAQh3XXomo&ab_channel=WWE

Randy Orton vs. Jimmy Uso: SmackDown highlights, Dec. 15, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJqIvP_-QyE&t=3s&ab_channel=WWE

Roman Reigns wants Randy Orton dealt with: SmackDown highlights, Dec. 15, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRxW1sW4N2E&ab_channel=WWE

AJ Styles returns to SmackDown to battle The Bloodline: SmackDown highlights, Dec. 15, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AREhymBGBhU&ab_channel=WWE

Kevin Owens vs. Austin Theory: SmackDown highlights, Dec. 15, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMH7O4vDGAQ&t=6s&ab_channel=WWE

Hayes vs. Waller – United States Championship Tournament: SmackDown highlights, Dec. 15, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C-4eu_mFOY&t=7s&ab_channel=WWE

Zelina Vega and Michin vs. The Kabuki Warriors: SmackDown highlights, Dec. 15, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj6VnWcet30&ab_channel=WWE

Damage CTRL wants all the gold: SmackDown highlights, Dec. 15, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czVxHRStBEE&t=5s&ab_channel=WWE

Green Bay Packers star Aaron Jones is having a blast: SmackDown exclusive, Dec. 15, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGFztzbg3jw&ab_channel=WWE

and more via the official WWE YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/@WWE

#SmackDown #RomanReigns #TribalChief #PaulHeyman #JimmyUso #JeyUso #SoloSikoa #RandyOrton #RKO #KevinOwens #KO #TKO #AustinTheory #LoganPaul #TheMaverick #GraysonWaller #GWEffect #USTitle #WWEUSTitle #KarrionKross #Asuka #KairiSane #ZelinaVega #Michin #CarmeloHayes #prowrestling #wrestling #YouTube #highlights #moments #entertainment #popculture #FOX #broadcast #broadcasting #trends #trending #buzz #media

Image credit: WWE

Boxing News

Jake Paul knocks out Andre August in Round 1

The boxer/promoter and former YouTuber made an impressive in-ring statement, backed up by a strong promos.

“I said first round knockout all week,” Paul said after the knockout win.

“I manifested this. I said I need to bring the old Problem Child back. I’ve been too nice to these people letting them go into the later rounds. I set up my shot and he went night night”.

“Everyone who has something to say about me. ‘Oh he can’t do this. He can’t sell. He’s not big. What is he doing fighting this guy, fighting that guy’. Shut the f*** up.”

“I don’t know what I proved tonight. I’m just going to do me. This is all part of the process, the next step to world champion.

“Clearly these guys can’t hang with me. He didn’t even last two minutes and he’s been doing this his entire life. What’s next? It’s going to be even bigger.”

Videos

DAZN Official YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/DAZNBoxing

#JakePaul #ProblemChild #AndreAugust #quotes #boxing #boxingnews #KO #DAZN #MostValuablePromotions #combatsports #sportsnews #sportsmedia #YouTube #YouTuber #media 

Pro Wrestling

Chris Jericho On AEW Backstage Reaction To CM Punk in WWE

Pro wrestling living legend Chris Jericho (currently signed to AEW), spoke about the backstage reaction in AEW to CM Punk returning to WWE at Survivor Series. Punk was terminated aka Don't Come Monday earlier this year. It's understood that Punk had been considerating leaving AEW for quite some time, but accounts vary and there is an NDA in place so details will be quite for the longest time and the real truth and guts of the matter may never come out!

“It’s business as usual. It happens. It’s the same reason why I’m sure there wasn’t a big reaction when Adam Copeland came to AEW or when Will Ospreay signed with AEW or when Danielson, Moxley, and Adam Cole came to AEW. It’s good for the business that guys have the ability to go between companies. It’s great for the fans and it’s great for the talent overall. It just makes the business stronger and that’s the most important thing.” (Credit: Fightful)

#ChrisJericho #quote #quotes #CMPunk #prowrestling #wrestling #wrestlingnews #sportsentertainment #combatsports #legend #legends #Goat #Goats #popculture #entertainment #entertainmentnews #trends #buzz #Medialogica 

Media Man Int

Wrestling News (Media Man Int)

www.mediamanint.com/articles/wrestling_news.html

(Image credit: WWE)

Pro Wrestling

WWE @WWE signed Superstar, Logan Paul, Maverick + on his Top Pro Wrestlers

via Jazzy's World

“Oh, always a tough question. I’d have to go with John Cena, John Cena for me is the Goat for sure. The Rock …actually nah, nevermind. Stone Cold Steve Austin. Hulk Hogan. real legend, started all of it.”

Videos

Jazzy's World

https://www.youtube.com/@JazzysWorldTV

Logan Paul talks about becoming a WWE Superstar, his brother Jake Paul, & his success as a Youtuber

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z778rA8Og4A&ab_channel=JazzysWorldTV

WWE YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/wwe

Logan Paul announces an Eight-Man No. 1 Contender Tournament: SmackDown highlights, Dec. 1, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyM4FqODni8&t=3s&ab_channel=WWE

Media Man Int

Logan Paul: News (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/logan_paul.html

#LoganPaul #quotes #TheMaverick #JazzysWorld #interview #SmackDown #prowrestling #wrestling #entertainmentnews #popculture #YouTube #YouTuber #YouTubers #Influencer #socialmedia #socialmediasuperstar #Prime #showbiz #trends #buzz #media 

Image credit: WWE

Pro Wrestling

AEW @AEW and ROH @ringofhonor Top Brass Shares His Thoughts On Being A Wrestling Promoter

"To be AEW, no matter how good you do, there will be people coming for you, gunning for you. Because that's what this is. There's a reason that every single person who stepped into my position until now has gone out of business. I'm the only one left. Everybody who stepped up and put millions of dollars into this and done it week after week, and there's no offseason, you do it 52 weeks a year, it's a fight. And that's a credit to the fans. I know what it is to be a wrestling fan 52 weeks a year. It's hard. But it's also the most rewarding thing. That's why you can't get away from it for too long. That's why we always come back to it. We're addicted." - Tony Khan

Videos

AEW Official YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/@AEW

ROH Official YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/@ringofhonor

#TonyKhan #quote #AEW #AEWDynamite #AEWRampage #WorldsEnd #TNT #TBS #promoter #wrestlingpromoter #wrestlingpromoters #promoter #combatsports #wrestlingbusiness #entertainment #showbiz #popculture #livesports #liveentertainment #sportsmedia #sportsnews #broadcasting #trends #buzz #PPV #TV #media 

MMA

UFC @UFC 296: Lead Up Videos and Fight Card

UFC Official YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/@ufc 

UFC 296: EDWARDS vs COVINGTON | COLD OPEN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiNQ8arEvG8&ab_channel=UFC

Jon Anik & Kamaru Usman Preview UFC 296 | UFC Live

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtUmZLzNImQ&t=222s&ab_channel=UFC

UFC 296 Embedded: Vlog Series - Episode 6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuA7eMjc1QA&t=16s&ab_channel=UFC

UFC 296 Watch Along w/ Jens Pulver and Viss

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4tF7zsw9Ww&ab_channel=UFC

ESPN MMA Official YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/@ESPNMMA 

Colby Covington says he wants to make Leon Edwards quit at UFC 296 | ESPN MMA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTsPmWb_2Ak&t=5s&ab_channel=ESPNMMA

Did Colby Covington cross the line with Leon Edwards? | UFC 296 Pre-Show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qbNR4knpog&ab_channel=ESPNMMA

Chael Sonnen Official YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/@ChaelSonnenOfficial

Colby Covington vs Leon Edwards, Who's the Favorite?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWaapPEPDx4&t=3s&ab_channel=ChaelSonnen

Daniel Cormier Official YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/@DC_MMA

Daniel Cormier and Chris Weidman REACT to INSANE Leon Edwards and Colby Covington press conference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXZYgyCvEjE&ab_channel=DanielCormier

The MAC Life Official YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/@TheMacLife

Paddy Pimblett and Tony Ferguson argue: “You look like an 8 year old"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTsCeI5ayvc&ab_channel=TheMacLife

Michael Bisping Official YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/@bisping

BISPING reacts: Did Colby Covington make a BIG MISTAKE? | UFC 296 Press Conference Reaction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm50B2-N8Zc&ab_channel=MichaelBisping

ESPN BET YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/@ESPNBet

Best Bets for UFC 296: Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington | ESPN MMA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFGLjCYZVcs&t=3s&ab_channel=ESPNBET

UFC 296 FIGHT CARD

Leon Edwards (c) vs. Colby Covington — welterweight title

Alexandre Pantoja (c) vs. Brandon Royval — flyweight title

Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Stephen Thompson — welterweights

Paddy Pimblett vs. Tony Ferguson — lightweights

Bryce Mitchell vs Josh Emmett — featherweights

Dustin Jacoby vs. Alonzo Menifield — light heavyweights

Irene Aldana vs. Karol Rosa — women’s bantamweights

Cody Garbrandt vs. Brian Kelleher — bantamweights

Casey O’Neill vs. Ariane Lipski — women’s flyweights

Tagir Ulanbekov def Cody Durden via submission in Round Two

Andre Fili def Luca Almeida via TKO in Round One

Martin Buday def by Shamil Gaziev via TKO in Round Two

Media Man Int

MMA News (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/mma_news.html

#UFC296 #UFC #LeonEdwards #ColbyCovington #DonaldTrump #ufcnews #MMA #mmanews #UFCbetting #mmabetting #YouTube #video #videos #sportsnews #sportsmedia #PPV #PayPerView #livesports #liveentertainment #popculture #trends #trending #buzz #hype #media 

Image credit: UFC

Quotes

"Wisdom does not consist of trying to wrest the good from the evil but in learning to “ride” them as a cork adapts itself to the crests and troughs of the waves" - Bruce Lee #BruceLee #quotes #wisdom #adapt #adapts #waves #philosophy #life #world #mindbodyspirit #mbs #media #mediaman 

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” - William Arthur Ward #WilliamArthurWard #quote #gratitude #mindset #life #world #mbs #mindbodyspirit #media #mediaman 

Best Quotes Of The Day (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/best_quotes.html

Pop Culture/World Themes

"It Is 90 Seconds To Midnight" and Doomsday/End Times/World Control scenario themes have been promoted and pushed over the years by a number of entities. Some for more political type purposes such as by the World Economic Forum and some more for showbiz and entertainment purposes by entities such as the Mad Max movie franchise and even in professional wrestling, be it the nWo (New World Order) faction, as conceptualized and brought into WCW via executive Eric Bischoff, or in more recent times, Karrion Kross 

@realKILLERkross

 of WWE 

@WWE

 fame.

Kross is a favourite of the Media Man crew as the character is compelling plus he has the combat sports background, as well as excellent in-ring skills as the "IT Factor" that pro wrestling promoters look for. The most recent Kross promos feature what looks to be a more dark and mysterious character, as well as maintaining some post apocalyptic themes. That is our interpretation which of course is open to interpretation, such is the nature of the artform.

Other movie franchises such as 'The Matrix' by Warner Brothers and the "Wal" Bros/sis connection who have also depicted the man/human vs machine dynamic and the who or what is really in control!

Enter The Matrix or Escape The Matrix? Or, 'Watchmen' - Nothing Ever Ends!

Pro wrestling fans will know more Kross "soon", in his own words and be looking out for "recycling" elements, be it the WWE creative, eco activists, and you get the idea.

Big tech entities such as X (formally Twitter), YouTube, Instagram and MSM are quite likely to cover these types of scenarios and events with their own spin on things based on historical data! 

"Hang on Dorothy". 2024 is going to be a wild ride.

Quotes

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” - John F. Kennedy #JohnFKennedy #JFK #quote #gratitude #appreciation #live #life #world #mbs #media 

"No free energy device will ever be allowed to reach the market" - Nikola Tesla #NikolaTesla #quote #energy #inventor #invention #disrupter #disruptor #innovation #sun #solar #world #business #media #mediaman 

Coffee and Cleavage

Beyond the Lens: A Candid Look at Sex, Influence, and Modern Love

Coffee and Cleavage is a podcast that dives into the complex world of sex and dating. Here, we bring you juicy discussions, insider knowledge, and our own spicy experiences to both entertain you and light up your love life. Get ready to laugh, learn, and maybe even blush a little with us. It's all about keeping it real and raw here!

Welcome to Coffee and Cleavage, hosted by two glamour models Lynnie Marie and Shantal Monique. From magazine covers to international music videos, Lynnie and Shantal's creative passions fuel their provocative discussions on sex and desire. 

Ladies, just about everyone likes their coffee hot. Not luke warm, extra hot. No trick question there. Paul E from Heyman Hustle and WWE @wwe fame put you both on our radar. You have also earned a plug on our coffee culture channel, Cafe News Media @cafenewsmedia In the running for 'Cafe Model Of The Month' x 2. Cheers from Sydney. PS: Yes, been in the friend zone. Can happen to nice guys. Too respectful? Ha.

Eastern Suburbs Media Blog

South Coogee Barber Shop review

South Coogee new traditional Barber Shop a cut ahead; Old school vibe and service with new school conveniences

Barber Shop True Tales from the Eastern Beaches of Sydney, Australia.

There are barbers, and then there are barbers. Traditionalists will get my old school point.

Meet your new local barber, Josh from South Coogee Barbers.

Josh has been in the hair game for well over a decade. It's a big part of his life and he's incorporated much of his lifestyle around it. He loves being his own boss - don't we all!

Being a pop culture and retro enthusiast myself, I was right onto the retro 50s to 70's posters and assorted collectibles that adorn the walls and shelves and you can start joining the dots. You've got posters from Johnny Cash, Bryle Creem, Chevy, Harley-Davidson, Colgate's, Coca-Cola, Slash, Frankenstein, Betty Page, showgirls/burlesque, old school legendary boxing greats, and there's even a vintage photo from Josh's grandfather on his motorcycle from circa 1940.

The Discovery

I was walking past having enjoying a morning swim and workout down the road and I noticed a few different visuals on the beach side of the road, not far from the local service station. So I stuck my head into a shop where something had changed - behold, a barber shop.

Truth be told, I'd being thinking of getting a haircut for a few months but didn't get around it, with work and the home office being so busy. As John Lennon famously said, "Life happens when your making plans".

Josh and I got talking and I told him I was pleasantly surprised to discover his barber shop and that I loved the old school and retro décor. It reminded me of my late grandfather's Newport Beach Barber Shop at Newport Beach in the Northern Beaches of Sydney. Lucky for me it was a quite-ish morning so I could enjoy a good conversation with Josh before we both decided it was a great morning for a haircut, even though it wasn't on my mind leading up to the discovery of the day!

Apart from being a stand out barber of the highest calibre, Josh is an excellent communicator and conversationalist. When your are frequently dealing with the general public, let alone the media entrepreneurs of Australia, it's a handy tool of the trade you might say. He listened well and followed through to a T to my request to have more layered on top, a bit shorter on the sides, and side-burns to go up a few inches, as well as the blade around the back of the neckline, and last but not least, a photo of the completed product. See below.

I'm going to give Josh as close to a perfect score as possible. You have to be careful and mindful on reviews for all sorts of things so one doesn't get accused of being bias or whatever, but as you can read and see, I am one very happy customer. South Coogee Barbers - a cut above and a bonus for retro and pop culture appreciators. Highly recommended.

Address: 175 Malabar Rd, South Coogee

Price: $50

Payment Types: Cash and Card

Open: Monday to Sunday

Blogs

A blog (a truncation of "weblog")[ is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order so that the most recent post appears first, at the top of the web page. Until 2009, blogs were often the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often covered a single subject or topic. In the 2010s, "multi-author blogs" (MABs) emerged, featuring the writing of multiple authors and sometimes professionally edited. MABs from newspapers, other media outlets, universities, think tanks, advocacy groups, and similar institutions account for an increasing quantity of blog traffic. The rise of Twitter and other "microblogging" systems helps integrate MABs and single-author blogs into the news media. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

The emergence and growth of blogs in the late 1990s coincided with the advent of web publishing tools that facilitated the posting of content by non-technical users who did not have much experience with HTML or computer programming. Previously, knowledge of such technologies as HTML and File Transfer Protocol had been required to publish content on the Web, and early Web users therefore tended to be hackers and computer enthusiasts. As of the 2010s, the majority are interactive Web 2.0 websites, allowing visitors to leave online comments, and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites. In that sense, blogging can be seen as a form of social networking service. Indeed, bloggers not only produce content to post on their blogs but also often build social relations with their readers and other bloggers.Blog owners or authors often moderate and filter online comments to remove hate speech or other offensive content. There are also high-readership blogs which do not allow comments.

Many blogs provide commentary on a particular subject or topic, ranging from philosophy, religion, and arts to science, politics, and sports. Others function as more personal online diaries or online brand advertising of a particular individual or company. A typical blog combines text, digital images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (art blogs), photographs (photoblogs), videos (video blogs or "vlogs"), music (MP3 blogs), and audio (podcasts). In education, blogs can be used as instructional resources; these are referred to as edublogs. Microblogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts.

'Blog' and 'blogging' are now loosely used for content creation and sharing on social media, especially when the content is long-form and one creates and shares content on regular basis. So, one could be maintaining a blog on Facebook or blogging on Instagram. Blogging is writing about what you like. In other words, writing about what you know and providing valuable information to people searching for it.

A 2022 estimate suggested that there were over 600 million public blogs out of more than 1.9 billion websites.

Pro Wrestling

AEW @AEW  and ROH @ringofhonor Top Brass Tony Khan talks media at scrum

”Ring of Honor, we haven’t had recently as many, but we’ve had really good conversations about AEW, even in recent days, I’ve had really good talks with Warner Brothers Discovery. We’ve been with them for several years, it’s a really exciting time for AEW.

We’re performing incredibly well for Warners Brothers Discovery and we’re a very strong relationship. With media rights and all the things coming up, everyone has to do their due diligence. It’s just part of the TV business. Where we stand, we stand in a position for AEW to have a huge growth year in 2024. There are a lot of really exciting things happening that I know Warner Brothers is excited about, that we’ve talked about.

It’s a great relationship and it’s going very very well for us and part of the TV business, for both sides, is doing their due diligence and that’s just a part of sports and television, really. Being part of the NFL and Premier League, I’ve seen that process play out with certainly different TV networks looking at different sports and the sports looking at different TV networks. I’ve been part of this multiple times in the NFL.”

Video

ROH Final Battle Media Scrum | 12/15/23, Garland, Texas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuFL0TsWarM&ab_channel=AllEliteWrestling

AEW Official YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/@AEW

ROH Official YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/@ringofhonor

ZERO HOUR: Ring of Honor Final Battle Pre Show | 12/15/23, Garland, Texas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2taI_GjqrIc&ab_channel=RingofHonorWrestling

#TonyKhan #quotes #AEW #AllEliteWrestling #ROH #RingofHonor #mediascrum #prowrestling #wrestling #wrestlingnews #WBD #WarnerBros #WarnerBrosDiscovery #NFL #PremierLeague #broadcasts #broadcasting #television #network #sportsnews #popculture #trends #buzz #media 

Mixed Martial Arts

UFC @UFC 296 PPV buys “shot up” after “nasty” press conference

Pay-Per-View buys up 25 percent

Colby Covington vs Leon Edwards (trash talk); Fans and media divided as to if Covington crossed the line to help further sell the fight.

“After that press conference, or during, in the middle or whatever, pay-per-view shot up 25 percent,” Dana White told the captivated media and insiders audience.

“Our analytical team was basing it off YouTube views, they were basing it off actual pre-buys while the press conference was going on and ended. 25 percent — globally, too, not just on ESPN, which is fascinating. Absolutely fascinating.” - Dana White

Video via UFC Official YouTube

www.youtube.com/@ufc

UFC 296: Pre-Fight Press Conference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdOQKkjoBDM&t=656s&ab_channel=UFC

Colby Covington Post-Fight Press Conference | UFC 296

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9zd4tPiJWY&t=101s&ab_channel=UFC

Leon Edwards Post-Fight Press Conference | UFC 296

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfeMaY6P1WQ&t=10s&ab_channel=UFC

Leon Edwards: "He Fights the Same Way Every Fight" | UFC 296

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXQt2yEzC4w&t=7s&ab_channel=UFC

UFC 2024 Season Press Conference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVtJoje20vM&t=14s&ab_channel=UFC

#DanaWhite #quote #quotes #UFC296 #UFC297 #ufcmedia #ESPN #YouTube #MMA #ColbyCovington #LeonEdwards #mmanews #ufcmedia #mmamedia #ufcnews #ufcpress #mediascrum #pressconference #hype #promo #PPV #PayPerView #broadcasts #broadcasting #mediabiz #mediabusiness #sportsnews #sportsmedia #sportsbusiness #sportsmarketing #video #YouTubeNews #socialmedia #platforms #trends #buzz #media 

Pro Wrestling

WWE @WWE Raw

Judgement Day vs Creed Brothers - Undisputed WWE Tag Team Title Match: Raw highlights, Dec. 18, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luSz2yxRG6Y&ab_channel=WWE

"Brutus ball time, and Priest incecepts" - Michael Cole

"Yeah, that's a move you have to have scouted. It's put everyone away" Wade Barrett

WWE Official YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/@WWE

Media Man: One of the greatest tag-team matches we've ever seen and that from watching the WWE and other pro wrestling promotions for over four decades. Absolutely off the charts. Well done to all. An early Christmas present for wrestling fans across the globe

#WWERaw #JudgementDay #CreedBros #prowrestling #wrestling #tagteam #wwetagteam #highlights #YouTube #video #entertainment #popculture #USANetwork #legends #broadcast #broadcasting #trends #trending #buzz #media #mediaman 

Image credit: WWE

Flat fee for guaranteed placement and duration takes speculation out of online advertising placement says Media Man; Website network established over two decade. Manage the risk and cast the net far and wide.

#flatfee #placement #ads #advertising #onlineadvertising #campaigns #creative #seo #sem #links #textlinks #content #contentplacement #eat #eeat #Algorithm #Algorithms #ads #authority #expert #agency #PR #buzz #media #mediaman

Quotes

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” - Wayne Dyer #WayneDyer #quote #change #mindset #motivation #life #success #biz #world #mbs #mindbodyspirit #media #mediaman 

Wrestling News

WWE @WWE RAW

Raw results, December 8, 2023

The Judgment Day defeat The Creed Brothers to retain the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles ​​​​​​​

In an incredible Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship Match, Finn Bálor and Damian Priest reigned supreme against Julius and Brutus Creed. Plus, Katana Chance and Kayden Carter captured the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles from Piper Niven and Chelsea Green, and Gunther retained the Intercontinental Title against The Miz.

Videos

WWE Official YouTube

www.youtube.com/@WWE

Top 10 Monday Night Raw moments: WWE Top 10, Dec. 18, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO330Vo3Hdw&ab_channel=WWE

Raw’s most explosive moments: Raw highlights, Dec. 18, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NBYuPBQ_9s&ab_channel=WWE

Judgment Day vs. Creed Brothers — Undisputed WWE Tag Team Title Match: Raw highlights, Dec. 18, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luSz2yxRG6Y&t=4s&ab_channel=WWE

Katana Chance & Kayden Carter capture the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles: Raw highlights, Dec. 18, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLxc-nEDYoA&ab_channel=WWE

Media Man: An excellent episode of RAW. Both tag-team matches were excellent, with the surprise win in the women's. Chance and Carter have the IT factor in spades.  Judgement Day vs Creed Bros was one of the greatest tag-team matches we've seen in watching pro wrestling for over four decades. Off the hook. Great mix of in-ring action, drama, storytelling, world class production - the works. Massive thumbs up to the WWE team. Seasons Beatings to all!

#WWERaw #prowrestling #wrestling #CreedBros #JudgementDay #wwewomen #wwetag #wwetagteams #KatanaChance #KaydenCartner #Gunther #Miz #AndNew #AndStill #entertainment #broadcast #broadcasting #highlights #moments #video #YouTub3 #YT #trends #trending #buzz #TV #media 

(Credit: WWE; Image credit: WWE)

North American Box Office

1. Wonka  - $39 million

2.  The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes - $5.8 million

3. The Boy and His Heron - $5.2 million

4. Godzilla Minus One - $4.9 million

5. Trolls Band Together - $4 million

6. Wish - $3.2 million

7. Napolean - $2.2 million

8. Renaissance: A Film By Beyonce - $2 million

9. Poor Things - $1.3 million

10. The Shift - $1 million

Media Man Int

Box Office (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/box_office.html

Movie News (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/movie_news.html

Entertainment (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/news4.html

Pop Culture (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/pop_culture.html

Sports movies and documentaries; Wrestling, Lucha Libre, NFL, Baseball, Surfing and more (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/sports_movies.html

Sports Streaming (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/sports_streaming.html

#movienews #boxoffice #entertainmentnews #entertainment #showbiz #Wonka #WonkaMovie #TheHungerGames #TheBoyAndTheHeron  #GodzillaMinusOne #Trolls #WISH #napoleonmovie #Renaissance #PoorThings #PoorThingsFilm #TheShift #popculture #news #biz #themovies #cinena #trends #trending #buzz #media #mediaman 

Embrace the journey. Work hard to be present. Try not to ignore red flags. Allow yourself to enjoy the good. Prepare as much as you possibly can. Never give up. - John Cena, WWE @WWE wrestling legend and actor #JohnCena #quote #quotes #journey #work #hardwork #present #good #prepare #preperation #attitude #notivation #nevergiveup #life #world #legend #wrestlinglegend #mbs #mindbodyspirit #media 

Image credit: John Cena

SEJ's Roger with an interesting feature of Google content removal guidelines regarding non consenting images and the link. A long while ago we were heavily involved in the corporate art business sector niche specialising in human statues, bodypainting and bodyart. Yes, I'm also an artist/artist assistant as well as media entrepreneur. The likes of Facebook would often get confused as to what was bodypainting of beautiful models and sports models and as what was actually nude. It's almost like Facebook getting confused over what is a man and what is a woman. FB asked our agency to remove a number of beautiful images of bodypainted models (male and female) and they classified them as "nude". All parties in the campaign were consenting - model, agency and brand, be it Coke, Smooth FM, Adult Swim, WS FM Gold and dozens more. Big tech often likes to think they are a law onto themselves - until they get the next million dollar fire re EU, ACMA etc. Self publishing remains king to help avoid potential issues of the FAANGS. Art is interpretation and big tech is often politics! Gonzo journalism contribution for the day.

Media Man websites and blogs updated again

Media Man Int

https://www.mediamanint.com

Media Man

https://www.mediaman.com.au

#newswebsite #newswebsites #newsblog #blog #blogs #blogging #blogs #popculture #newsmedia #onlinenews #network #algorithms #seo #authority #expert #niche #nichemedia #media #mediaman #mediamanaustralia #mediamangroup #mediamanint #gregtingle 

Pro Wrestling

Ladies stealing the show at WWE @WWENXT In The Festive Season says Media Man...

Pro Wrestling with Gonzo Journalism Edition via Media 

But who might spoil the party, or is it the enemy within?!  Chook in the hen house or Fox amoungst the pigeons? One day a rooster, next day a feather duster! Where's Mike Tyson when you need to keep those pigeons under control?! Birds of Paradise and much more with a good dose of Season's Beatings in the NXT squared circle!

Is Stratton ready for a WWE @WWE main roster invasion? We think so. Cross the I and Book the T for early 2023.

Has Ms Hail graduated, or been dragged into the Chase U scandal. What's next semesters curriculum entail? Spare the rod, spoil the child? 'To Sir With Love', or have the prize students rebelled? Does Chase Us still use the school rule for student punishment? Who made class and who is wagging lessons?

Should Andre Chase quit while's he's ahead, or is he in too deep to get out? Someone's gunna have to pay to Piper, right 'Hot Rod', channelling the original "legend killer", right Hogan.

What lucky lady or ladies may have a change to bag Mr Lexis King? King's stock is up and has his eyes on the prize, but a lady may add the R&R for work/life balance.

Class, did you take notes? Don't forget the homework. 1000 word essay due upon campus return!

Videos

Fallon Henley vs. Tiffany Stratton: NXT highlights, Dec. 19, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_dsQzamuZ8&ab_channel=WWE

Tiffany Stratton dumps trash on Fallon Henley: NXT highlights, Dec. 19, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVNtJgg8MaY&ab_channel=WWE

Thea Hail & Jacy Jayne vs. Kiana James & Izzi Dame: NXT highlights, Dec. 19, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uD0ZaYpxRY&ab_channel=WWE

Andre Chase finds a solution for Chase U’s money problems: NXT highlights, Dec. 19, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2BJXuRRkcY&ab_channel=WWE

Dion Lennox vs. Lexis King – Men’s Breakout Tournament: NXT highlights, Dec. 19, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcpUapmHEX0&ab_channel=WWE

"Is King worse, or Tiffany Stratton..what we saw earlier tonight"! Vic Joseph @VicJosephWWE

"Lexis King advances. King to the next round" - Vic Joseph

"Man" Booker T

#WWENXT #NXTNewYearsEvil #NewYearsEvil #prowrestling #wrestling #nxtwomen #womenswrestling #TiffanyStratton #FallonHenley #TheaHail #LexisKing #King #KingCult #NXTKing #ChaseU #AndreChase #hens #foxes  #entertainment #popculture #showbiz #gonzo #script #creative #creativewriting #storyline #storylines #storytelling #trends #trending #buzz #TV #media #mediaman 

Image credit: WWE NXT

Cat amoungst the pigeons or Fox in the hen house? Media Man says NXT ladies stole the show. Birds of a Feather. More commentary on the X (formally Twitter) feed! Stratton el a natural for 'New Years Evil'?! Tootles!

#WWENXT #NewYearsEvil 

"This is the hurt game. This is the hurt business" - Booker T @BookerT5x 

#WWENXT 

"If I... if I competed in Bruno Sammartino's era, I'd have been champion for 20 years, too. No, I'd have been champion for 30 years. Because wrestling one night a month at Madison Square Garden is easy. You never see a Hulk Hogan wrestle TLC matches against a superstar like Ryback. Because he had it easy. I wrestle physically demanding matches on free television, week in and week out. So much that my one year equals 30 of theirs. And I have attained this success, not... not because of you. I am successful not because of you. I am successful in spite of you" CM Punk, WWE @WWE pro wrestler #CMPunk #quote #prowrestling #wrestling #wrestler #MSG #MadisonSquareGarden #combatsports #popculture #legend #Goat #media 

Lexis King @LexisKingWWE for all the men's votes.

Tiffany Stratton @tiffstrattonwwe for all the ladies..

#WWENXT 

Lucky a few wrestling legends from yesteryear are not in the region... Perfect Dynamite Taker Moolah. Wrestlers Court?! Too inside. Hardcore and longtime fans will get it.

There's gunna be big trouble at New Year's Evil!

#NewYearsEvil #WWENXT 

Search Engine Journal X (formerly Twitter)

It's Neo vs Agent Smith again. Joe Citizen vs The Corporation. Sorry, couldn't help some news media with a dash of gonzo journalism commentary on X since the information flow is more free flowing here. The X system differs a little to the Google and Alphabet system, and Meta, but all part of The Matrix none the less? I still say spread the risk management with numerous platforms. Loving the fair and balanced journalism from Search Engine Journal all year round. The web education that never ends! Thanks legends #seonews #GoogleSEO 

Pro Wrestling

"Did I really say to him, ‘We can do this the easy way or the hard way’? - Bruno Sammartino

Just about. (Laughs) Yeah, that’s how it happened…" - Bruno Sammartino

"I'm very violent in the ring. I don't know if it's the Italian temper, I can get very nasty in there. But outside, I'm the easiest-going guy in the world" - Bruno Sammartino

"True strength comes from staying true to yourself, regardless of the opinions of others" - Bruno Sammartino , WWE @WWE (then WWWF wrestling legend)

#BrunoSammartino #Sammartino #Bruno #quote #quotes #prowrestling #wrestling #combatsports #entertainment #showbiz #popculture #lgend #legends #Goat #Goats #media #mediaman 

Pro Wrestling/Pop Culture

'The Iron Claw' @ironclawmovie director Sean Durkin names his pro wrestling Mount Rushmore...

Bret Hart, The Rock, Undertaker, and Kevin Von Erich, who Zac Efron portrayed in The Iron Claw. 

Video (A24 Official YouTube)

The Iron Claw | Official Trailer HD | A24

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KVsaoveTbw&t=2s&ab_channel=A24

#IronClaw #SeanDurkin #wrestlingnews #prowrestling #MountRushmore #Goats #legends #BretHart #TheRock #Undertaker #KevinVonErich #VonErich #entertainmentnews #movienews #popculture #showbiz #boxoffice #trends #buzz #media 

Pro Wrestling

NWA @nwa 

NWA Powerrr | Ep 138 | Return To Robarts: Part II

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zcrHXzdb84&t=1058s&ab_channel=NWA

NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion EC3 has been challenged to a deathmatch by former champion Matt Cardona! Will EC3 accept this most chaotic stipulation?  The Southern 6 face off against the Miserably Faithful in one of our most colorful bouts in recent memory! Will the Southern 6 continue on their hot streak? Or will the Sinister Minister bring them to the dark side?  The NWA’s Powerrr Couple, Kamille and Thom Latimer, face The Looks That Kill, Bryan Idol and Natalia Markova! Will their bad blood boil over?  NWA World Television Champion Mims defends his title against his partner in Magnum Muscle, Dak Draper! How will this match effect their team?

NWA Official YouTube

www.youtube.com/@nwa

#NWAPowerrr #ReturnToRobarts #NWA #NationalWrestlingAlliance #prowrestling #wrestling #EC3 #NWAChampion #MattCardona #Southern6 #MiserablyFaithful #SinisterMinister #Kamille #ThomLatimer #BryanIdol #NataliaMarkova #Mims #DakDraper #TheCW #video #YouTube #entertainment #popculture #trend #trends #buzz #TV #app #media 

(Credit: NWA)

Combat Sports/MMA

UFC @UFC Video Highlights

2023 UFC Year in Review Debuts on ESPN Dec 24 at 6pm ET

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAKB-os7IB4&ab_channel=UFC

Recapping UFC 296 With Guest Co-Host Belal Muhammad | UFC Unfiltered

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekClK89btcw&t=4s&ab_channel=UFC

#UFC #UFC296 #UFC293 #UFC297 #UFC300 #MMA #MixedMartialArts #video #highlights #yearinreview #ESPN #UFCUnfiltered #popculture #sportsnews #sportsmedia #sportsbiz #sportsbusiness #trends #buzz #media 

Image credit: UFC

Pro Wrestling

MJF on meeting and speaking with John Cena at 'The Iron Claw' premiere

“We’re two guys that are both massive fans of each other’s work. He loves what I’m doing in AEW, I obviously love everything that he’s done in professional wrestling as a whole. He’s easily a first-ballot Hall of Famer and I literally am a Hall of Famer, but I believe that I am also soon to be a first-ballot professional wrestling hall of famer as well. We exchanged pleasantries and we talked and discussed about how we’re fans of each other’s work. I told him straight-up, I find him to be an absolute inspiration, what he’s been able to do with Make-A-Wish, with all these kids, and also what he’s been able to do completely transcend outside of the professional wrestling sport and landscape is something that I’ve begun to do as well. I’m really proud of that, and I don’t think I’d be able to do that without following the footsteps of these major giants of professional wrestling history, like him, like Batista, like The Rock. If not for these guys, they wouldn’t take me seriously as an actor.” - MJF

*quote from Sports Illustrated

Videos

Sports Illustrated Official YouTube

MJF Talks His AEW Contract Status, WWE Rumors And All Things Long Island | SI Media | Episode 474

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojs7PTogZac&ab_channel=SportsIllustrated

The Iron Claw | Official Trailer HD | A24

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KVsaoveTbw&t=6s&ab_channel=A24

The Iron Claw. Presentation in cinema. (Media Man Int)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZkdClmlmVk&ab_channel=mediamanint

The Iron Claw. MJF.amd John Cena (Media Man Int)

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/k7x6Zp5WbV4

#MJF #quote #quotes #IronClaw #JohnCena #movienews #popculture #wrestlingnews #entertainmentnews #showbiz #acting #legend #legends #sportsillustrated #SI #prowrestling #professionalwrestling #HallOfFame #video #videos #movietrailer #podcast #trend #trends #buzz #media 

Australian Media News

Australia’s crackdown on Google, Meta continues...

“Let us be very clear: we already have the power to designate digital platforms, and we are prepared to use it,” Mr Jones said. “We want to see news outlets and digital platforms come together and negotiate in good faith.” - Stephen Jones, Assistant Treasurer

Australian Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said in a statement the Albanese government wanted to “ensure Australian news media businesses are properly remunerated for their journalistic content”.

#platforms #platformnews #socialmedia #socialmedianews #BigTech #content #contentnews #creative #creativity #journalism #australianmedia #Meta #FB #politics #digitalnews #technews #adnews #mediabiz #mediabusiness #onlinenews #newsmedia #politicsnews #Aussie #AI #ArtificialInteligence #X #media #mediaman 

Image: AI

Quotes

“Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try.” - Yoda #Yoda #quote #try #do #donot #mindset #attitude #focus #mbs #mindbodyspirit #popculture #universe #world #media #mediaman 

Motorsport News In Video

Oracle Red Bull Racing @redbullracing 

Red Bull Racing Official YouTube 

https://www.youtube.com/redbullracing

Max Verstappen's Journey To Becoming a Three-Time F1 Champion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBto2iPKc_A&t=3s&ab_channel=OracleRedBullRacing

Max and Checo Reflect On The 2023 F1 Season | Talking Bull

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj55KGOZcvM&t=5s&ab_channel=OracleRedBullRacing

The First EVER Pit Stop In Complete Darkness!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCabQ_ivUyU&ab_channel=OracleRedBullRacing

Record Breakers | 2023 F1 Recap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXerV-dMycg&ab_channel=OracleRedBullRacing

News

Red Bull: News (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/red_bull.html

Videos

Red Bull Racing Car. Las Vegas casino (Media Man Int)

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HJ884uY_agE

Red Bull F1 Car. Las Vegas casino (Media Man Int)

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FvS6gXAmmBM

Image credit: Red Bull Racing

#RedBullRacing #RedBull #F1 #Formula1 #Oracle #MaxVerstappen #Checo #video #videos #YouTube #motorsports #sportsbusiness #sportsnews #sportsmarketing #popculture #trends #buzz #media 

Pro Wrestling

Ladies stealing the show at WWE 

@WWENXT

 In The Festive Season says Media Man...

Pro Wrestling with Gonzo Journalism Edition via Media 

But who might spoil the party, or is it the enemy within?!  Chook in the hen house or Fox amoungst the pigeons? One day a rooster, next day a feather duster! Where's Mike Tyson when you need to keep those pigeons under control?! Birds of Paradise and much more with a good dose of Season's Beatings in the NXT squared circle!

Is Stratton ready for a WWE 

@WWE

 main roster invasion? We think so. Cross the I and Book the T for early 2023.

Has Ms Hail graduated, or been dragged into the Chase U scandal. What's next semesters curriculum entail? Spare the rod, spoil the child? 'To Sir With Love', or have the prize students rebelled? Does Chase Us still use the school rule for student punishment? Who made class and who is wagging lessons?

Should Andre Chase quit while's he's ahead, or is he in too deep to get out? Someone's gunna have to pay to Piper, right 'Hot Rod', channelling the original "legend killer", right Hogan.

What lucky lady or ladies may have a change to bag Mr Lexis King? King's stock is up and has his eyes on the prize, but a lady may add the R&R for work/life balance.

Class, did you take notes? Don't forget the homework. 1000 word essay due upon campus return!

Videos

Fallon Henley vs. Tiffany Stratton: NXT highlights, Dec. 19, 2023

https://youtube.com/watch?v=J_dsQzamuZ8&ab_channel=WWE

Tiffany Stratton dumps trash on Fallon Henley: NXT highlights, Dec. 19, 2023

https://youtube.com/watch?v=xVNtJgg8MaY&ab_channel=WWE

Thea Hail & Jacy Jayne vs. Kiana James & Izzi Dame: NXT highlights, Dec. 19, 2023

https://youtube.com/watch?v=6uD0ZaYpxRY&ab_channel=WWE

Andre Chase finds a solution for Chase U’s money problems: NXT highlights, Dec. 19, 2023

https://youtube.com/watch?v=G2BJXuRRkcY&ab_channel=WWE

Dion Lennox vs. Lexis King – Men’s Breakout Tournament: NXT highlights, Dec. 19, 2023

https://youtube.com/watch?v=fcpUapmHEX0&ab_channel=WWE

"Is King worse, or Tiffany Stratton..what we saw earlier tonight"! Vic Joseph 

@VicJosephWWE

"Lexis King advances. King to the next round" - Vic Joseph

"Man" Booker T

Media Man Blog

Niche media, marketing and media campaigns the way to go, says Media Man agency

Find your niche business sector For The Internet Matrix and beyond

Evergreen Content

Streaming Business News

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav met with Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish on Tuesday in New York City to discuss a possible merger.

The meeting between Zaslav and Bakish, which sources say lasted several hours, took place at Paramount's headquarters in Times Square.

The duo discussed ways their companies could complement one another. For example, each company's main streaming service — Paramount+ and Max — could merge to better rival Netflix and Disney+.

It's unclear whether WBD would buy Paramount Global or its parent company, National Amusements Inc. (NAI), but a source familiar with the situation says that both options are on the table.

WBD could use its international distribution footprint to boost Paramount's franchises, while Paramount's children's programing assets could be essential to WBD's long-term streaming ambitions.

CBS News could be combined with CNN to create a global news powerhouse. CBS' crime dramas, such as "NCIS" and "Criminal Minds," could be combined with Investigation Discovery and TruTV.

CBS Sports' footprint could be combined with WBD's. For example, CBS and WBD's Turner Sports currently share TV rights for March Madness.

WBD is said to have hired bankers to explore the deal.

Consumer "cord cutting" is a major driver of the talks and Paramount is looking to clear debt.

(Sources/Intel: Axios, Variety and X)

#StreamingIndustry #StreamingNews #streamingindustry #biznews #businessnews #StreamingBusiness #streamingservices #WarnerBrosDiscovery #WBD #WarnerBros #Parmount #ParamountGlobal #ParamountPlus #Max #NAI #movienews #TimesSquare #MarchMadness #streamingbiz #showbiz #biz #broadcast #broadcasting #production #disrupt #disruptions #disruptor #trend #trends #buzz #media 

Wrestling With The Web and Wrestling With X!

X down; X up!

Everyone on X is back on the air we trust.

Here's a few updates that you may have been waiting for...

Media Man Int

X Wrestling

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/x_wrestling.html

Social Media News

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/social_media.html

Bitcoin Cafe

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/bitcoin_cafe.html

UFC: 2024 News

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/ufc_2024.html

Wrestling Promotion Rankings

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/wrestling_promotion2.html

Paramount - WBD News

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/paramount_wbd.html

Paramount Global: News

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/paramount_global.html

Sports Streaming: News

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/sports_streaming.html

Coffee News

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/coffee_news.html

Gonzo Journalism

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/gonzo_journalism.html

#X #XDown #Xoutage #socialmedia #platform #platformnews #popculture #combatsports #sportsnews #sportsmedia #streamingnews #streaming #streamingindustry #streamingbiz #coffeenews #cafenews #bitcoinnews #cryptonews #MMA #mixedmartialarts #prowrestling #professionalwrestling #sportsentertainment #showbiz #promotions #rankings #ratings #blog #blogs #BTC #XRP #blockchain #cryptocafe #cryptoculture #trends #trending #buzz #newsbiz #newsmedia #media #mediaman #mediamanint 

SEL's Julia with a helpful and easy to grasp article on various social media platforms. Largely agree on the assessment. Here's some of our findings, tips, uses etc that the readership may find helpful.

LinkedIn (and X) tie for our 'Social Media Platform Of The Year' award

LinkedIn: the king of business related networking. Great interface and contacts. Established over a decade. For business or jobs.

X: Instant news and updates. Huge in the combat sports, sports and entertainment news sector. Less censorship than many platforms.

Instagram: Owned by Meta. Reels, images and videos. Can configure with Facebook. Useful editing suite with images and sounds, songs...

Facebook: established about two decades. Mixed reputation for trust (as does all big tech). Great for photos and can now upload videos and configure with Instagram. Community guidelines moderaters are known to get things wrong. Still want to see FB's Zuck vs X's Musk go at it in the UFC Octagon. Showcased our Zuck vs Musk mock-up match in the Octagon.

TikTok - pass. Keep reading more government interference and even "spying" more than most and too many "bad actors".

YouTube: Champion of streaming content. YT Shorts is a dream for business and social/fun. Spread risk. Win!

Death Drum, Death Match, or ushering a new era of being balanced? So many good folks have left over the past few months. Freedom of interpretation and tbought. Drumming out the thought police. Great art and Season's Beatings of The Drum) to all. Drumming in the message to the ABC Board! 

John Shakespeare Illustations. Cross training Some skills are transferable. Hop, skip and a jump to new waters and oceans. The world is your oyster. Watch the way. The ripple effect. Kanga getting dumped back to shore. Be like water my friend. Water can splash or water can crash! Great art.

David Rowe Illustrations

Fighting the good fight? In his own mind. Not many fans. Can't give away tickets. The art of way. Great sporting art old sport. See you at the matches.  

Quotes

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”

- Dr. Seuss #DrSeuss #quote #read #things #know #leaern #places #go #reading #mbs #mindbodyspirit #life #world #media 

Statista

They say "Google it", but perhaps a trend is begining to say "Wikipedia It"! We've made a number of donations to them over the years as we find the intel excellent for the the most part, (even though we also know there's some big tech, government and corporate interference). They get countless requests to edit info, as we have over the years. News is something some one doesn't want anyone else to know - everything else is PR! says Aussie agent and media entrepreneur ex journo! 

Pro Wrestling Ed

Creative Ideas From Media Man; New Faction In WWE for consideration and constructive critism or thumbs up and Let's F'n Go!

Factions, another word for "group" or even "gang", or if you prefer, "club" or perhaps "cult" are all the rage in the WWE @WWE (and numerous other pro wrestling promotions around the world).

Strength in numbers ala building an army can be a key element of success in wrestling, business and life in general. Look at the success of say Judgement Day, the NWO, Bullet Club or how about the global footprint of "Swifty's" - the Taylor Swift fanbase. There's also clubs for Tesla, Porsche and Merc owners. We were once members of the Australian Brahman Breeders Association when we had the family farm at Kurrajong in North, West, New South Wales (Australia). We've also had a pro active membership in a couple of Aussie based surf gangs er tribes/clubs.

Here's our creative input for the week for what could be a new "killer" faction in the world's leading pro wrestling company:

Here Are Your Names!

'Nature Born Heels' or 'The People's Army'

Mr Kross (Karrion to a select few) @realKILLERkross 

Mrs Kross/Bordeaux. Sometimes known as "Bonnie"?

Mr Styles (Alan to a few friends and assocaites) 

@AJStylesOrg 

Mr Nakamura @ShinsukeN . Study of legendary Bruce Lee, Ip Man

Mr Shamrock. Formally known as "Ken" and "The World's Most Dangerous Man'. Legit MMA/UFC living legend. Knows what it takes to win at all cost. Grew up in the Schook Of Hard Knocks. Willing to share knowlege to the elite few he deams worthy. Only non- conformists need apply!

Mr X (big fan of cult movies by Quentin Tarantino and Blumhouse Productions, including their founder Jason Blum).

Mr Smith. For some reason identifies with Hollywood's/Hollyweirds Wachowskis. Collects vintage cars and pop culture collectables. Fav wrestling figures: Legion Of Doom and Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Fav animal: Exotics snakes and tigers.

JD McDonagh. "The Irish Ace". Feeling banished from his prior roots in NXT @WWENXT and 'Judgement Day', he understands strenth in numbers are gets the "Devil May Care" mantra of 'Nature Born Heels'. Sick of "The Luck Of The Irish". He shall rise by force.

Mr Gacy. Joe Gacy. Another NXT mainstay. Former members of his clan lost their way in society. Gacy may have lost some, but gained additional wisdom and learning under the wisdom tree in the proccess. In the spirit of the late, great, Bray Wyatt, not exactly a conformist or office worker type. Operates on the fringe. Unique and dark is his strength and superpower, not to mention exceptional in-ring skills. You better know him well before calling out "Hi Joe".

Mr White. Little is known about this man. Does he even know himself - we mean, really know his inner self?! He's not part of typical society - he knows that much.

Iron sharpens iron. Unique is often what it takes to win in the ultra competive world of professional wrestling.

This cult er group answers to but one - but who is he? KK or Mr Sullivan?

Elements: Freqency. Power. Pain. Skills. Vision. Hunger.

Penchant for Gold and keen interest in cryptocurrency and "The Book". Will not be denied any longer.

Changes are coming soon in the WWE. Red light to green light. Ain't that so Mister.

Another story and script from the Media Man Factory.

Quotes For The Day:

"Controversy Creates Ca$h" - Eric Bischoff

"I have hung from the Tree of Woe" - Kevin Sullivan

"He's the baddess apple in the wrestling business" - Kevin Sullivan

"Potential is just potential until you can pull it off, and you need to show up ready to exercise the plan in mind. I've always come from that place in everything I've ever done" - Karrion Kross

"We're outta there in two minutes and not one second longer" - Mr Orange

"When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, 'no, I went to films" - Quentin Tarantino

#KarrionKross #ScarlettBordeaux #SmackDown #WWE #NaturalBornHeels #KillerHeels #TheBloodBrothers #wrestlingnews #MrKross #MrJones #MrStyles #Nakamura #KevinSullivan #MJF #QuentinTarantino #Gacy #Shamrock #JDMcDonagh #VonErichs #faction #cult #kult #club #clubhouse #PulpFiction #ReservoirDogs #Blumhouse #FearandLoathing #TerryGilliam #JamesBlum #StanleyKubrick #AlfredHitchcock #ClockworkOrange 

#NineteenEightyFour #Fahrenheit451 #Doom #EndOfDays #TimeLord #timeline #script #offscript #storytelling #storytellers #creative #performanceart #writer #gonzo #gonzojournalism #kayfabe #entertainment #showbiz #ratings #greenlight #redlight #reddragon #trend #trends #buzz #TV #media #mediaman 

Media Man Sports Biz and Pop Culture News

Sports Streaming Operators, News and Promotions: Brands, Breaking News (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/sports_streaming.html

Parmount - WBD News (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/paramount_wbd.html

UFC: 2024 (Media Man Int

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/ufc_2024.html

#sportstreaming #streaming #streamingentertainment #streamingindustry #ppv #payperview #ott #overthetop #fast #homeentertainment #sportsbusiness #sportsbiz #homeentertainment #popculture #showbiz #disrupt #disruptor #disruptors #seo #sem #authority #trends #buzz #sportsnews #news #newsmedia #media #mediaman #mediamanint #gregtingle 

Wrestling Media News

It has also been reported in numerous media reports and pro wrestling news sites (for what that's worth) that WWE’s Chief Content Officer, Triple H, and WWE’s President, Nick Khan, had a lengthy meeting with WBD’s (Warner Bros. Discovery) Chief Revenue and Strategy Officer, Bruce Campbell, on December 11, 2023.

Pro wrestling news sites have a patchy record, as does mainstream media for that matter, so unless you were actually in the said meeting... Salt N Pepper!

Axios @axios has officially confirmed that there has been at least one high level meeting with Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global recently, however the press leak/release/tip off did not mention the pro wrestling genre. Paramount has been distributing the WOW (Women Of Wrestling) broadcast globally for approx 12 months and that footage even made its way to the 10 Play streaming service app in Australia.

Aussie born and bred billionaire James Packer has recently invested 80m USD ($122m AUD) into Paramount Global mid month.  This marks the splash return of Packer to mainstream media, having previously invested strongly in the gaming, casino and hotel sector, with mixed results - as did many, in the turbulant decade that was.

It is well established that the pro wrestling industry has much "rumor and an innuendo" as per fav saying of long time WWE producer Bruce Pritchard who used to play the "Brother Love" characture in the "then" WWE circa '88 to '91.

In other wrestling and combat sports media news, FITE has rebranded to TrillerTV and will continue to carry pro wrestling, MMA and martial arts from dozens of promotions into the new year and has also added a number of other popular sports to its portfolio.

Media Man Int

Paramount News (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/paramount_news.html

Paramount - WBD News

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/paramount_wbd.html

Paramount Global: News (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/paramount_global.html

TKO: News (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediamanint.com/articles/tko_news.html

Streaming Wars (Media Man Int)

https://www.mediaman.com.au/articles/streaming_wars.html

#WBD #WarnerBrosDiscovery #Paramount #ParamountPlus #10Play #BruceCampbell #JamesPacker #Axios #wrestling #prowrestling #broadcast #broadcasting #OTT #OverTheTop #network #networktv #combatsports #entertainmentnews #TVNews #showbiz #popculture #sportsentertainment #businesstobusiness #sharedcontent #contentsharing #contentnews #contentbusiness #biznews #disrupt #disruptors #content #distribution #businessnews #businessmedia #newsmedia #mediabiz #mediabusiness #media #mediaman 

Pictured: Nick Khan

Pro Wrestling Dream Match

Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa vs CM Punk & Cody Rhodes

Special Enforcer: Nick Aldis. Fantasy Booking.

in a WWE @WWE ring

#dreammatch #dreammatches #SmackDown #WrestleMania #RomanReigns #SoloSikoa #TheBloodline #CMPunk #CodyRhodes #NickAldis #prowrestling #wrestling #trend #trends #buzz #media

Image credit: WWE 

Search Engine Journal

2 New SERP Features

SEL's Alli on the changes at Google that may adversely effect non Google aligned websites. As we've been saying for years, it's best to be Google friendly if at all possible. Google is searching, indexing approximately 95 percent of the web right. So the other 5 percent or so of search is with the likes of Being, Duck Duck Go, Safari and AI experiments? Interested to get a totally accurate breakdown of the web search numbers and percentages. Mixed results from the Google toolbox but the search engine, Gmail, blogs, cloud and Chromecast sure works a charm.

Search Engine Land

Top 5 Search Engine Platforms

Social Media

Greg Tingle

Search Engine Land's Julia with a helpful and easy to grasp article on various social media platforms. Largely agree on the assessment. Here's some of our findings, tips, uses etc that the readership may find helpful and useful. By Greg Tingle 

LinkedIn (and X) tie for our 'Social Media Platform Of The Year' award

LinkedIn: the king of business related networking. Great interface and contacts. Established over a decade. For business or jobs.

X: Instant news and updates. Huge in the combat sports, sports and entertainment news sector. Less censorship than many platforms.

Instagram: Owned by Meta. Reels, images and videos. Can configure with Facebook. Useful editing suite with images and sounds, songs...

Facebook: established about two decades. Mixed reputation for trust (as does all big tech). Great for photos and can now upload videos and configure with Instagram. Community guidelines moderaters are known to get things wrong. Still want to see FB's Zuck vs X's Musk go at it in the UFC Octagon. Showcased our Zuck vs Musk mock-up match in the Octagon.

TikTok - pass. Keep reading more government interference and even "spying" more than most and too many "bad actors".

YouTube: Champion of streaming content. YT Shorts is a dream for business and social/fun. Spread risk. Win!

Statista

The Most Popular Wikipedia Articles For 2023

They say "Google it", but perhaps a trend is begining to say "Wikipedia It"! We've made a number of donations to them over the years as we find the intel excellent for the the most part, (even though we also know there's some big tech, government and corporate interference). They get countless requests to edit info, as we have over the years. News is something some one doesn't want anyone else to know - everything else is PR! says Aussie agent and media entrepreneur ex journo! 

Pro Wrestling

WWE @WWE SmackDown

WWE YouTube Channel

AJ Styles makes a beeline for The Bloodline: WWE Now, December 22, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9gaVLPQ-js&ab_channel=WWE

AJ Styles vs Solo Sikoa. What other members of The Bloodline will be present? Does Styles have any backup?

Bobby Lashley vs Santos Escobar - U.S. Title Tournament. "Your just standing  in my way" BL

Kevin Owens vs Carmelo Hayes. U.S. Title Tournament Final. 

Dragon Lee vs Butch - NXT @WWENXT North American Championship

Holiday Havoc 8-Woman Tag Team Match

Bianca Belair, Shotzi, Michin & Zelina Vega battle Damage CTRL

Is Santa stopping by? Seasons Beatings to all!

#SmackDown #TheBloodline #SoloSikoa #AJStyles #BobbyLashley #SantosEscobar #LWO #KevinOwens #KO #TKO #CarmeloHayes #DragonLee #Butch #USTitle #NXTTitle #prowrestling #wrestling #holidayhavoc #entertainment #popculture #broadcast #broadcasting #trends #trending #buzz #TV #media 

Image credit: WWE

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