ROSA MENDES

Rosa Mendes is living proof that, in WWE, dreams come true all the time. For weeks, Mendes was seen at ringside, wildly waving signs that proclaimed her devotion to Beth Phoenix and vehemently cheering on the dominant Glamazon. Mendes' support eventually turned problematic for WWE security personnel. Leaping barricades, the future Diva found herself physically involved in Beth Phoenix's bouts, as a way to sustain her idol's supremacy.

Amazingly, her tenacity was rewarded, and Mendes was offered an internship position with “Glamarella.” While most interns spend their days slogging through a host of increasingly menial tasks, Rosa's gig led her directly to the ring. After learning at the knee of The Glamazon (and to a lesser extent, Beth Phoenix's former beau, Santino Marella), Rosa Mendes was ready to fly on her own.

Mixing it up with Alicia Fox, Eve and others, the stunning Latina made good use of the on-the-job training from Beth, a former Women’s and Divas Champion. She also led the team of Primo & Epico to a long reign with the WWE Tag Team Championship.

Mendes appeared by the side of a seductive new-look Fandango at Survivor Series 2014 Kickoff. Together, the pair hopes to salsa dance their way to success.







While netting the butterfly-emblazoned Divas Title is at the top of her priorities, the Slammy Award winning femme fatale’s latest goal is to keep her eye on WWE's "Total Divas." Once an intern and manager, Rosa is now a full-fledged competitor and reality television star. How about that for upward mobility?

From : www.wwe.com

Star Wars 7 Passes $1.5 Billion Worldwide; Breaks More Records

From its first day of release, Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens has been breaking records at the box office. Taking advantage of both the fervent fan anticipation for the first Star Wars film in 10 years and the lack of blockbuster competition during the holiday season, The Force Awakens is selling tickets at an unprecedented rate and has quickly worked its way up the all-time charts. It’s only a matter of time before it breaks the domestic record currently held by James Cameron’s Avatar.

The remarkable thing about Star Wars 7‘s run is that it’s amassed so much money in a little amount of time. It’s become the fastest movie to all kinds of financial milestones, including $1 billion worldwide. Now as it crosses $1.5 billion globally, Star Wars 7 continues its incredible rewriting of the record books, staking its claim to more box office marks.

THR is reporting that The Force Awakens earned $88.3 million domestically this weekend, setting a new record for highest-grossing third weekend. That’s nearly $20 million more than the previous record holder, Avatar at $68.4 million. Star Wars 7 has now made a whopping $740.3 million in the States, reaching that total in just 16 days. As some might guess, that is also a new record (fastest to $700 million), shattering the 72 days it took Avatar to accomplish that feat.

The film is also doing terrific business overseas, bringing in $96.3 million internationally and is now up to $1.51 billion. On Saturday, January 2, The Force Awakens passed fellow Mouse House blockbuster Avengers: Age of Ultron as the sixth highest-grossing film worldwide. Star Wars 7 should have no troubles passing a handful of the movies ahead of it, such as Furious 7 ($1.515 billion), The Avengers ($1.519 billion), and Jurassic World ($1.6 billion). Episode VII has been in theaters for under three weeks and still has a long way to go before its box office run is over.

A more interesting discussion to have is whether or not the new Star Wars can supplant the dynamic James Cameron duo of Titanic ($2.1 billion) and Avatar ($2.7 billion) on the worldwide charts. The Force Awakens still has to make around $600 million more to pass the former and over another $1 billion to top the latter. Obviously, there’s a long way to go but it’s certainly within the realm of possibility, considering Star Wars has yet to open in all markets. The film will debut in China on January 9, 2016, and analysts expect it to play very well there. That’ll be a nice boost for the Force Awakens global totals.

Another benefactor for Star Wars‘ chances is the fact that it’ll be facing minimum competition throughout the month of January, which will help it maintain strong legs. Domestically, the movie saw only a 40.8 percent decrease from its record-setting second weekend, a soft drop for a major tentpole picture like this. It’ll be a while before anything can realistically challenge The Force Awakens for the top spot for a weekend, so it could be number one for a long time. Regardless of where it finishes, Disney has to be thrilled with their investment and the profits they’ve been able to generate.








From : screenrant.com

Mike Tyson And Bruce Lee Are Joining Forces For Ip Man 3

Hong Kong’s quasi-historical/biographical action film series Ip Man is about to get what would have to be considered the most unlikely of supporting stars. That’s because it’s being reported that notorious boxing legend, Mike Tyson will join the cast of the upcoming third film in the series alongside star Donnie Yen. Yet, as peculiar as that sounds, the casting only gets even odder. Apparently, Tyson and Yen will be joined by a third wheel who has transcended this mortal coil in Bruce Lee. Yes, that Bruce Lee. But at the same time… not.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ip Man series producer Raymond Wong confirms that former boxing champ Mike Tyson will jump on board the upcoming Ip Man 3 for a "significant role" that could likely lead to an "explosive" fight between Tyson and Donnie Yen that will pit the discipline of boxing against kung-fu. However, the film will also be graced by one of the real life Ip Man’s former students in the late, great Bruce Lee… by way of onscreen digital magic that will reproduce the iconic martial artist’s image, allowing him to return in a way never before conceived.

Mike Tyson’s involvement with the project began in an oddly fortuitous way when the boxing great opened an account on a Chinese blog site called Weibo, and posted messages asking about the best fighters in China. The name Donnie Yen would come up and soon enough, and those threads would grab the attention of Raymond Wong - who got in touch with Tyson and pitched the idea for Ip Man 3 pitting him in an epic onscreen battle of styles with Donnie Yen. The idea seemed to gel with the face tattoo-brandishing bruiser, and he has taken the role. In fact, Tyson has expressed his enthusiasm in a statement saying, "Wait for me, I am coming. Thank you for introducing me to Chinese kung fu."

The clash of styles is actually not something new to the film franchise. In fact, 2010’s Ip Man 2 had its own proverbial "Apollo Creed/Ivan Drago" moment when Ip Man’s former rival, Hung Chun-nam (former star of TV’s Martial Law, Sammo Hung), steps into the ring with a British boxer (Darren Shahlavi) who dishonored Chinese and kung-fu culture. Sadly, he is killed in the ring by the pugilist. Ip Man challenges him to a similar in-ring, cross-discipline fight that becomes an intense, mind-blowing devastating donnybrook. Now, imagine this fight with Mike Tyson instead of old-timey, Marquess of Queensberry McGee, and you can see how the possibilities are more than intriguing.

As far as the threequel’s other notable new addition, it is unknown just how much of a role the digitally-resurrected Bruce Lee will have in the film. In the end of Ip Man 2, whose storyline takes place in the early 1950’s, a kid who we learn is a young Bruce Lee, inspired by Ip Man’s Wing Chun style, seeks him out, asking to be taught how to deal with people he doesn’t like. He is told to come back when he is older, clearly teasing the third film. Yet, quick cameos are one thing, but it’s hard to imagine a digital fabrication (even if it’s Bruce Lee) having a central role in the film. It might be a bit sacrilegious to take the role too far.

Regardless, Ip Man 3 with Mike Tyson and digital Bruce Lee is set to release in 3D sometime in the first quarter of 2016. In the very least, it will be one Tyson fight from which Don King won’t get a piece.

10 Best Movie Performances Of 2016

It might be a given that 2015 hasn’t been the vintage year that, say, 2007 or 2014 was, but it remains that there have been some damn fine films released this calendar year. And within those fine films have been some extraordinary performances, 2016 having been an especially standout year for female characters at the cinema.

Again, 2015 hasn’t quite matched some preceding years in terms of great performances across the board, but there have nevertheless been some phenomenal turns this year, a couple of which can be realistically seen as some of the finest of the decade.

A few notes before starting. Firstly, though in other 2016 retrospectives I’ve included the likes of Birdman, Inherent Vice and Whiplash, all of which were technically released in early 2016 in the UK but are really 2014 films, I’ve eschewed them here in order to focus on a set of truly 2016 pictures.






Secondly, every single performance here has another co-performance which is vital to its brilliance. I could’ve included all of the following in each separate entry, but in order to keep the list a bona fide top ten, I’ll instead list them as honourable mentions: Domnhall Gleeson, Juliette Binoche, Idris Elba, Paul Dano, Elizabeth Banks, Jesse Eisenberg, Cate Blanchett and Ryan Reynolds.

From : Lionsgate/Mongrel Media/Fox Searchlight Pictures

ARETHA FRANKLIN SANG, PLAYED PIANO TO HONOR ‘SOPHISTICATED LADY’ NATALIE COLE AT SOLD OUT CONCERT

Natalie Cole, a nine-time Grammy award winner, passed away on New Year’s eve at the age of 65. On New Year’s day, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin paid tribute to Cole by singing and playing “Inseparable,” one of the late singer’s hits from the 1970s.

Franklin appeared in front of a sold out crowd of 7,000 at Mohegan Sun’s Arena, in Uncasville, Connecticut. Three hundred seats had to be added to accommodate the audience.

Aretha is well-known for many hits, including “Respect” and “Chain of Fools,” and audiences love to hear her belt out those tunes. Since she appeared at the Kennedy Center singing songwriter Carole King’s “Natural Woman,” the classic song has experienced a revival, although it is now over 50 years old.

Many know Aretha as a singer, but she is also a songwriter and a versatile pianist. She does not always play the piano when she sings, but she did in the tribute to Natalie Cole per Showbiz 411. She asked the audience for a moment of silence before relaying that Cole had passed away.







And I, God knows, I hate to be the bearer of this news, but to those of you who don’t know, Ms. Natalie Cole passed yesterday. And we will always remember this very classy and sophisticated lady. I just wanted to play a few bars of one of her million-selling records, and let us have a moment in silence in remembrance for the very lovely and gifted, Ms. Natalie Cole.

The term “Sophisticated Lady” was a reference to Cole’s 1977 Grammy award winning hit. Other adjectives used to describe Natalie Cole are sweet and classy.

from : www.inquisitr.com