The Rock Gets Sued for TV Show, WWE SmackDown Rating Up, New WWE Announcer Launching Podcast

– TMZ reports that The Rock, Mark Wahlberg and HBO are among those being sued for the hit show Ballers. Everette Silas and Sherri Littleton have filed a lawsuit in federal court, claiming that they had the idea for a project called “Off Season” in 2007. Their suit says they were close to a deal with Rock, Wahlberg and their manager in 2009 to develop the project but things fell through when Silas and Littleton insisted their names remain under “Created By” in the credits. Their lawsuit lists several similarities between Off Season and Ballers, and they are seeking unspecified damages. HBO told TMZ, “We are confident the case has no merit.”

– MMA legend Bas Rutten announced today that he and new WWE SmackDown lead announcer Mauro Ranallo will be launching their “Rutten and Ranallo” podcast on January 7th, which is the same day Mauro takes over on SmackDown and the show premieres on the USA Network. Rutten said they have an “inspiring first guest” and fans can follow them on Twitter at @rutten_ranallo.

– Thursday’s WWE SmackDown had the best viewership and rating since the SummerSlam go-home episode back in August. As noted, this week’s show drew 2.332 million viewers, up from last week’s 2.133 million viewers. The final rating for the show was a 1.68, up from last week’s 1.55 rating.

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