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WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER
Monday October 19, 2009
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WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
10/18 Raw house show results from Dothan, AL: Evan Bourne over Chavo Guerrero; Primo over Heath Slater; Chris Masters over Santino Marella; Melina over Jillian Hall; Jack Swagger over MVP; The Miz over Kofi Kingston; John Cena over Randy Orton; and Triple H & John Cena over Randy Orton & Legacy in a handicap match.
Raw TV is live tonight from Jacksonville, FL with Snoop Dogg as the guest host and Triple H vs. John Cena.
The Smackdown/ECW tapings are Tuesday in Columbia, SC which likely means a Mae Young cameo.
***
WWE has invited former WCW champ David Arquette (I had to mention it) to host a future edition of Raw. The story published else where about Arquette hosting Raw next week is untrue. His publicist told us this afternoon: "We are trying to work out his schedule, but nothing is planned for him at this time." He would be promoting Feeding America, the hunger relief charity, and Arquette's wife Courtney Cox may also go on pushing her new sitcom, Cougar Town.
Maria Kanellis, Sharon Osbourne and Cyndi Lauper were flipping burgers earlier today in NYC at Burger Heaven on Lexington shooting for the next Celebrity Apprentice.
Kelly Kelly is all over Jacksonville today pushing Raw in her home town. The Miz was reading books to kids this morning at Highlands Middle School.
WWE Chief Operating Officer Donna Goldsmith will take on Shane McMahon's responsibilities in January until a decision is made on whether or not to appoint a successor in his role of VP of Global Media. Goldsmith is already picking up some of Linda McMahon's workload while she plays politics.
The Connecticut Law Tribune at http://tinyurl.com/ykw5xwu has a story on WWE's legal threats to the Wine School of Philadelphia over the term "Smackdown" in promotional material for their upcoming contest called, "Sommelier Smackdown." The story includes quotes from infamous WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt claiming trademark infringement for using the term. Stamford IP attorney Eric C. Osterberg was quoted saying he doubted that WWE had a case for trademark infringement. "I don’t fault the WWE for trying to protect something that is closely associated with them," Osterberg said. "The WWE is likely thinking that as absurd as this looks, we have to protect our trademarks." The owner of the wine school, Keith Wallace, said he would fight WWE if he had a few million dollars. He told us: "[WWE] don't have any evidence. The term was first used by Dr. Dre and then by The Rock. WWE borrowed it from The Rock, and admit to doing so. They also have to prove that they have protected the term from being used by anyone but them, which they have not done: the term is used pretty much everywhere. They also don't have the right to bar any use in parody, which the Sommelier Smackdown clearly is."
The Mayhem radio show at www.mondaynightmayhem.com has an interview with Jim Ross previewing Bragging Rights.
Superstars last Thursday did a 0.9 rating.
Tyler Reks has a new webshow on WWE Mobile called Reks in Effect.
FCW run on Halloween night at the Charlotte Harbor Event and Conference Center in Punta Gorda, FL with Evan Bourne and Hornswoggle doing a meet and great. Intermission will feature a costume contest emceed by Abraham Washington and judged by Hornswoggle. More info at www.fcwwrestling.com or by calling (941) 639-5833.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING NEWS
10/18 Bound For Glory PPV results from Irvine, CA: AJ Styles over Sting to retain the TNA title; Kurt Angle over Matt Morgan; Bobby Lashley over Samoa Joe in a submission match; Abyss over Mick Foley in a Monster's Ball match with Dr. Stevie as special referee; Amazing Red over Suicide, Daniels, Homicide, Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley in a six-way to retain the X-Division title in an Ultimate X match; ODB over Awesome Kong & Tara in a three-way to retain the Knockouts title; Team 3D won the IWGP tag titles and The British Invasion won the TNA tag titles over Booker T & Scott Steiner & Beer Money in Full Metal Mayhem; Eric Young over Kevin Nash & Hernandez to capture the Legends title; Taylor Wilde & Sarita over The Beautiful People to retain the Knockouts tag titles; and Motor City Machine Guns over Lethal Consequences on the pre-show.
We have two live reports from readers in today's mailbag.
The TV tapings are Tuesday and Wednesday at Universal Studios in Orlando. Already announced for the tapings: AJ Styles & Daniels vs. Samoa Joe & Kevin Nash; The British Invasion vs. Beer Money in a cage match for TNA tag titles; Lethal Consequences vs. Machine Guns in an Ultimate X match; Amazing Red vs. Homicide for the X-Division title; and Awesome Kong vs. Raisha Saeed.
***
Rob Van Dam was backstage at the PPV as a guest of Booker T. One would assume informal talks took place. Van Dam had a sit down with WWE officials at SummerSlam in August but nothing came of that. He is scheduled to tour Europe next month for five weeks so in terms of putting together a deal with either company my impression is that nothing would get done until early next year.
Other former WWE talent backstage included Brian Kendrick, Chuck Palumbo and Lena Yada. Kristal Marshall, Bobby Lashley's wife, was sitting in the crowd. The announcers acknowledged her and she was referred to as Kristal Lashley. Dixie Carter and her family were also sitting in the crowd.
The show drew around 2,500. Don't know much of that was paid. They didn't attempt to move any fans from the hard camera side to make the building look full. Crowd was mostly a late 90s wrestling crowd of teenage males.
Towards the end of the show one person described the backstage area as an emergency room. Daniels suffered a separated shoulder as a result of the bump off the Ultimate X wires. Suicide, Robert Roode, Matt Morgan and Homicide were all banged up too but nothing thought to be too serious. Samoa Joe was battling flu over the weekend.
TNA agent Scott D'Amore reportedly missed the show due to a personal matter.
As announced on the pre-show D'Angelo Dinero had a family emergency and had to leave California. That led to the winners of Machine Guns-Lethal Consequences getting a spot in Ultimate X.
Vince Russo was spotted on the entrance ramp before the show as the crowd was filing into into the arena. It took about 30 seconds for a small "Fire Vince Russo" chant to get going. One former TNA staffer remarked to me recently that when people chant that or people mention his name he either thinks he is over or that the fans are jealous that he's writing wrestling for people who aren't stupid enough to like the wrestling like they do.
The women who had the altercation with Tara before the Knockouts title match was Kim Couture. Not sure what the situation is here with TNA and Strikeforce. Couture wrote on her Twitter page late last night: "Just attacked Tara Live on TNA Wresting, she needs to stick to the fake stuff! ... finally going to bed after a crazy night, that TNA chic is crazy! She needs to sign with Strikeforce if she wants to fight me so bad!"
Sting described himself as the Brett Favre of pro wrestling last night during the post-PPV press conference. He talked about watching Ric Flair 20 years ago and wondered how much longer Flair could go back then, and now he understands why Flair doesn't want to retire or step out of the spotlight. He didn't clarify whether last night was his last match with the company or not.
Impact last Thursday, the go-home show for Bound for Glory, did a 0.9 rating.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
Today is the six-year anniversary of the passing of Michael Hegstrand aka Road Warrior Hawk at 46.
Ring of Honor tonight on HDNet has Jerry Lynn vs. Kenny King; Nigel McGuinness vs.. Sal Rinauro; Claudio Castagnoli vs. Colt Cabana; and Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson.
Austin Idol will b appearing in New Jersey this weekend at the Legends of the Ring convention pushing his new Highspots.com shoot interview. More info at www.austinidollive.com or www.legendsofthering.com.
Paul Heyman on his website at http://tinyurl.com/yg66p8q posted some photos of Ric Flair embracing Pete Rose this past weekend at the Big Apple Comic Con.
www.Diva-Dirt.com has an interview with former WWE Diva Jackie Haas. Here she discusses her run in the WWE, TNA (including where the blackmail angle was going), winning Tough Enough 2, her husband Charlie, impressions of the McMahons and more.
The Edinburugh Evening News at http://tinyurl.com/yfc7ju4 has a fun story on Kevin Thorn coming to Scotland. The writer lists him as a WWE Superstars who "wrestles his foes in front of weekly crowds of 80,000 and millions of TV viewers globally in the WWE."
Paris Hilton has a role in The Other Guys, the upcoming movie starring Mark Wahlberg, Samuel L Jackson, Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton, Steve Coogn, and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.
WRESTLING GLOBE MAILBAG
TNA PPV recap
Preshow had Lethal Consequences vs Motor City Machine Guns. MMG over Lethal via pinfall. Show started with Zach Wylde doing National Anthem. X division match very good match with many exciting moves by all the wrestlers. Amazing Red wins X Division belt. Next up was Knockouts tag title match with Taylor Wilde pinning Velvet Sky for the win. Triple threat match for Legends title started as a 2 on 1 handicap match as Eric Young and Kevin Nash double teamed on Hernandez most of the match. Turning point was Nash going for power bomb on Hernandez and Eric shoved Hernandez into Nash so hard he fell over and Eric Young pinned Nash to capture the Legends title.
Metal Mayhem started off as a hardcore style match as 3D and Beer Money took care of British Invasion and Booker T/Steiner. Several tables and chairs were used during the match. At one point of the match, Booker was hit by a chair and fell out of the ring. After several tense moments Sharmell came out to check on Booker and started screaming at the ref for assistance. Booker was taken out on a stretcher during the melee in the ring. Devon was able to capture one of the belts (TNA tag titles) while brother Ray was getting beat down by the British Invasion. Beer Money made a run at trying to capture the IWPG tag belts but fell short with interference by Rob Terry. British Invasion won the IWPG tag belts.
Knockout title bout with Tara vs ODB vs Awesome Kong started out as a beatdown from Kong on the other two. During the match a fan gets too close to Tara casing her to briefly leave the arena. Tara comes back into the ring and starts fighting Kong then gets tossed out. Raisha Saeed comes out to help Kong by tossing chair into the ring but kong wanted nothing to do with it. finally she pushes it into the ring as ODB going for a DDP on Kong and Kong gets knocked out. ODB rolls her up to retain the Knockout title.
Lashley vs Samoa Joe started off as a wrestling match then both competitors tried to use submission holds on the other. In the end, Bobby Lashley forces Samoa Joe to submit to win the match.
Hardcore match with Mick Foley vs Abyss started as a 2 on 1 handicap as Dr Stevie as special referee was helping Mick at every turn. This was a brutal match as everything possible was used in the match; barbed wire, tacks, trash cans were all used. Daffney came out to assist Foley but Abyss picked her up and slammed her into barbed wire then slammed Dr Stevie thru the tacks and then pinned Foley on a bed of barbed wire. Very bloody match.
Kurt Angle vs Matt Morgan was a good match as both tried several pinning moves but the other kicked out. Angle tried on several occasions to use the Angle lock on Matts ankle but each time Matt was able to kick out. Angle pinned Morgan when Matt going for a suplex off top rope and Angle reversed into small cradle for the win. After the match Kurt extended his hand to Matt and they shook hands.
AJ Styles vs Sting was a cat and mouse match. Every move AJ did, Sting countered and vice versa. in the end AJ pinned the Icon to retain the TNA World Heavyweight belt. After the match as Sting was walking up the ramp, AJ called him back to address the crowd. Sting came back and the crowd had a standing ovation of about 5 minutes to show respect the Icon. Sting said he wasn't sure if this was his last match or not because the fans were chanting "One More Year". He said the fans were great at fan interaction and at the PPV and stated he will end his career at home in California in the near future. Looks like an encore retirement tour in the works.
William B.Gamble
***
Tonight was my first TNA event ever at UC Irvine, and being 39, and having been a wrestling fan since 1980 and being at 100-plus WWF/WWE/WCW shows, this was by far the most intense show I've ever been at because of the intimacy and the quality of wrestling.
Thoughts from the show:
1) The opening X-division match stole the show. It was amazing.
2) Lashley-Samoa Joe was the only disappointing match. We all expected more out of that match,
3) The Bren Center was about 2/3rd's full, and they made no effort to move people from the blind side of the camera to the other side to make it look more full.
4) Major mistake came in the Mick Foley-Abyss match....second referee came in and actually hit the mat three times with his hand, realized he'd messed up and put it back up....the entire crowd chanted "you f---ed up."
5) Sting gave a cool speech after his match saying: "I am not pulling a Brett Favre on you, I honestly don't know what I'm going to do, but the way you've treated me tonight makes me want to stay here forever."
6) Samoa Joe got a huge hometown pop throughout the match.
My only negative thoughts were: they took way too long in between matches when they had to clear the ring of stuff, and the ref's were so transparent in their third count that you really couldn't believe he was about to hit the mat for the three count.... they come down at a weird angle where you know its as fake as it really is... other than that, great card, great show, great athleticism, and unbelievable electricity among their TNA fans, which I think I'm becoming.
Thanks so much for your daily updates. I have gotten a lot of friends to sign up for your newsletter.
Brian Baiotto
Long Beach Press-Telegram
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----Wrestling Globe Newsletter by Mike Aldren - All the latest professional wrestling news, gossip and occasional opinion. WGN is read by industry power players, many top wrestlers and thousands of fans from all around the world.
