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WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER
Tuesday October 20, 2009
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WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
10/18 Smackdown/ECW house show results from Mexico City, Mexico: Cryme Tyme over The Hart Dynasty; Michelle McCool over Mickie James & Natalya in a three-way; Drew McIntyre over Finlay; William Regal over The Hurricane; John Morrison over Matt Hardy; Christian over Ezekiel Jackson; Batista & Rey Mysterio over Dolph Ziggler & Kane; and The Undertaker over CM Punk.
10/19 Raw TV results from Jacksonville, FL: Big Show, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston, Mark Henry & Cody Rhodes over Chris Masters, Evan Bourne, MVP, Primo Colon & Chavo Guerrero Jr.; Randy Orton over Ted DiBiase Jr.; Triple H over John Cena; The Miz over Marty Jannetty; Melina over Jillian Hall to retain the Divas title; and Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho never happened. Pre show dark match was Jamie Noble over Heath Slater, and Kelly Kelly vs. Gail Kim was taped for Superstars.
The Smackdown/ECW tapings are tonight in Columbia, SC. ECW main event tonight on SyFy is William Regal vs. Zack Ryder.
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Jim Ross suffered a Bells Palsy attack last night on a flight from Oklahoma to South Carolina for the Smackdown TV tapings. He said he called the WWE doctors in Jacksonville and they arranged for special medication to be couriered to him which will help slow down the paralysis. He was planning to work tonight's show but WWE said no way and are arranging a flight to send him home so he can see a neurologist
on Wednesday.
Ross wrote on his blog this afternoon: "Life is about facing the challenges we encounter so I am going to do all I can to get better and back at the announce desk asap. I wish I had more answers but I simply don't at this time. I want to be a part of Bragging Rights but only time will tell if that will be physically possible. My passion and love for the game is in tact but I have to do what's best for my long term health. WWE has been tremendously supportive of my situation of which I
am very grateful. Never count me out of the game as this isn't the first mountain that I have had to climb. Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole will handle SD from Columbia. My thanks to every one for understanding this matter. Better days are on the horizon." Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler are expected to announce Smackdown this week in place of Ross and Todd Grisham, who is on his honeymoon.
The updated line up for Sunday's Bragging Rights PPV: Randy Orton vs. John Cena for the WWE title in a 60-minute no DQ Iron Man match, if Cena loses he leave Raw forever; The Undertaker vs. CM Punk vs. Batista vs. Rey Mysterio in a fatal four-way for the World title; Chris Jericho, Kane, Dolph Ziggler, Eric Escobar, Drew McIntyre & Cryme Tyme vs. Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Big Show, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston & Mark Henry; John Morrison vs. The Miz in a non title match; and Melina,
Kelly Kelly & Gail Kim vs. Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix & Natalya.
Marty Jannetty on Raw last night was a one shot deal. He looked good in the ring but running down the ramp you could tell that ship sailed a couple of years ago. The really skinny guy who Miz was originally going to face was Puma (TJ Perkins) who had a tryout recently with TNA. He also trains at the FCW school in Tampa but isn't under WWE contract.
Kofi Kingston is now billed from Ghana, West Africa (he was legit born there) so he isn't Jamaican any more. Vince wants to use him in more speaking roles and his Jamaican accent wasn't very convincing. Kingston's parents moved to the U.S. in 1981 when he was an infant but he grew up in Cambridge, MA.
NASCAR drivers Kyle Busch and Joey Logano will host Raw next week in Buffalo, NY. Both are driving WWE-themed cars at the Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday.
Jacksonville.com has a story on WWE coming to town for Raw with comments from Kelly Kelly at http://tinyurl.com/yz3ll3l.
WWE did tremendous business in Mexico this past weekend. Four shows drew over 60,000 fans and grossed more than $2 million.
Former WWE wrestler Manu (Afa Jr.) did an interview with Tommy Fierro at http://whosslammingwho.podomatic.com. Responding to an interview Randy Orton gave soon after his release, where Orton buried him, Manu said: "The guy [Randy] made me look like, I am just not that guy." He said he was shocked by Orton comments and couldn't believe that he buried him in the way he did. He was very complimentary when asked about Ted DiBiase Jr. but it was a no comment regarding Cody Rhodes.
The new Smackdown vs. Raw video game went on sale today in the United States. I haven't played any games for years but I got the chance to try out this game at SummerSlam. It's pretty addictive. The main feature in this version is customization and enhanced storyline modes. We made a pink Undertaker at the unveil after party which didn't go down too well with the WWE PR reps. Trish Stratus is included as a bonus character this year along with The Rock, Steve Austin, Bob Orton Jr., Dusty
Rhodes, and Ted DiBiase.
The Batista DVD, I Walk Alone, also went on sale today. It's a 3-disc set with a documentary and matches.
The Jeff Hardy DVD, My Life My Rules, is in the can, meaning it's complete and ready to ship, and will be released as originally planned on December 15. Silvervision released some notes today. The documentary will focus on his return to WWE in 2008 right up to his match against Matt at Wrestlemania 25. There are 27 matches including; vs. Sean Waltman as the 1-2-3 Kid in 1994, the Triangle Ladder match vs. The Dudley Boyz and Edge & Christian at Wrestlemania 2000, and vs. RVD in their Ladder match at SummerSlam 2001. They also have some bonus footage shot at Jeff's home and Shannon Moore's tattoo parlour.
The Heyman Hustle at http://tinyurl.com/yzxbjhm has behind the scenes photos from the next Celebrity Apprentice with Maria Kanellis.
MTV sent out a release hyping the WWE themed episode of South Park on Comedy Central on Wednesday. The description of the episode is the kids signing up for wrestling class after going to a WWE show. However, they soon find out the kind of wrestling they teach at school is not the same thing they saw at the matches.
Cyndi Lauper and Sharon Osbourne were on the Howard Stern radio show on Monday. Lauper talked about Lou Albano passing away and said he was a father figure to her. She said she last spoke to him after he suffered a stroke but didn't say when that was.
The next 3-hour Raw will be at Giant Center in Hershey, PA on November 23, the night after Survivor Series. All three brands are listed for the show.
CM Punk did a web chat at TheState.com this morning to push tonight's TV taping in Columbia. Nothing very noteworthy. He said he would love to work a Wrestlemania program with Rey Mysterio, and if he could wrestle anyone from the past it would be Harley Race.
Chavo Guerrero turns 39 today. He noted on his Twittter he partied with Snoop Dogg last night because they share the same birthday.
The Hattiesburg American at http://tinyurl.com/yz72jgp has a story on Big Show's upcoming movie, Knucklehead.
Story on WWE's efforts to fight social networking fraud at http://tinyurl.com/yhc2ubf.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING NEWS
Nigel McGuinness is currently backstage at today's TV taping in Orlando and is expected to debut. We will have much more on this situation tomorrow. It's also believed that TNA has reached out to Bryan Danielson. Both were WWE-bound a few week's ago but didn't sign anything.
Daffney fractured her arm at the PPV going through the barbed wire board. We should have an update in a couple of days.
TNA signed a new TV deal with W9 in France to broadcast Impact weekly on Saturday nights at 11pm.
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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.
