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WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER
Thursday October 29, 2009
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WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
10/27 ECW TV results from Rochester, NY: Sheamus over Shelton Benjamin, and Christian over Yoshi Tatsu.
Superstars tonight on WGN has Zack Ryder vs. Tyler Reks; Cryme Time & R-Truth vs. The Hart Dynasty & Mike Knox; Jack Swagger vs. Primo; and Alicia Fox vs. Kelly Kelly.
Smackdown on Friday night has Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison; Matt Hardy vs. Eric Escobar; Finlay vs. Drew McIntyre; plus Chris Jericho, CM Punk and Beth Phoenix all in action.
No WWE house shows this weekend so a rare weekend off, if that exists, for most WWE talent. Raw TV is Monday in Worcester, MA with Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne as guest hosts. The Smackdown/ECW tapings are Tuesday in Providence. Both crews then fly over to the UK and Ireland for a huge 11-day, 14-date tour. We are looking for reader reports from all the UK shows to you2us@wrestlingglobe.com.
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Roddy Piper did an interview this week confirming he will guest host a future edition of Raw. He didn't say when this would be but did say he wants "one more match" as he wasn't happy with what went down at Wrestlemania 25.
Piper has a cameo on tonight's wrestling-themed episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on FX.
The Sun is reporting that boxer Ricky Hatton will guest host Raw in Sheffield, England on November 9. Hatton told the BBC this week that he would be open to fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. at some point next year.
Jerry Lawler is selling a limited number of "Lawler For Mayor" T-Shirts. They are all size XL or 2XL. They are $30 each with free shipping and each one is hand signed by The King. $30 cash, check or money order can be sent to: LAWLER SHIRT, 540 S. Mendenhall, Suite 209, Memphis, TN 38117. Lawler also has a new website online at www.kingjerrylawler.com.
Jim Ross got the news he wanted today when his medical results came back and he was given an all clear for having MS. He wrote at www.jrsbarbq.com: "We had been waiting on that news for over a week. We have more tests scheduled next week as the process is essentially trying to eliminate issues that I might have but likely don't. The waiting process gets a little stressful and my wife is a Saint for putting up with my orneriness as patience isn't a virtue for yours truly." He said he has been amazed by the well wishes from friends within the wrestling biz and has printed off a few emails that he may use in a future book project.
There is a technical glitch in the new Smackdown vs. Raw video game that can leave you're Diva pantsless. People have been posting videos on Youtube but game developers THQ are taking them down as soon as they go up. We're told the error occurs during the create a wrestler mode.
THQ indicated to WWE this week that they want to renew their game license but want to cut out JAKKS Pacific from the deal. The current license expires on December 31, 2009. There is ongoing litigation between WWE and JAKKS.
Courtney Taylor’s profile has been quietly removed from the WWE website. She is still with the company in developmental as best we know.
The Connecticut Journal-Inquirer ran a story today revealing that WWE is taking advantage of a digital media government program to encourage production companies to invest in the local economy. Since the program was initiated WWE has recouped $3 million in tax credits, according to the report.
Colin Delaney (remember him?) was backstage visiting at Tuesday's Smackdown taping in Rochester.
Jeff Hardy's Twitter account is back online. He has a big announcement coming soon perhaps after his next court date should that go his way.
During Raw on Monday night Josh Matthews came down to the ring during a commercial break and got the crowd scream "HEY!" several times as the word flashed on the Titantron. Apparently this was fo new opening credits that debut next week.
Chris Jericho and Kelly Kelly are hosting a WWE party next Friday in Glendale, AZ at the Westgate City Center to push Wrestlemania 26 tickets going on sale the next day. Those who attend will have the opportunity to purchase tickets before they go on sale to the general public.
Mickie James surprised promoter Bert Prentice with an appearance at last Friday's USA Wrestling event in Carthage, TN to thank him for his support in her early career. Prentice, who is reportedly battling cancer, booked Mickie in Nashville prior to her start in TNA known back then as Alexis Laree. We have an update on Mickie's wrestling career in the next newsletter, which will likely be Sunday.
The Smackdown main event at Survivor Series will actually be Undertaker vs. Big Show vs. Chris Jericho in a three-way for the World title.
Great Khali at http://tinyurl.com/yll7jyu spotted earlier this year shopping at Walmart.
The October 16 Smackdown did a 1.9 rating. ECW on Tuesday night did a 1.0 rating.
Batista's entrance music Saliva's I Walk Alone is being used by Johnny Damon at the World Series.
MVP turned 36 today. Yes, really.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING NEWS
Impact tonight on Spike has the unveiling of Hulk Hogan as the biggest signing in TNA history; plus Alissa Flash vs. Tara; Machine Guns vs. Team 3D; Eric Young vs. Bobby Lashley for the Legends title; The Beautiful People vs. ODB, Hamada & Christy Hemme; Abyss vs. Dr. Stevie in a no DQ match; Rhino vs. Matt Morgan; and Kurt Angle vs. Desmond Wolfe (Nigel McGuinness) in a street fight.
There is a house show tonight at the County Events Cente in Clovis, NM. The crew also run on Friday at the Star Center in Rio Rancho, and again on Saturday at the Events Center in Loveland, CO. We're looking for reader reports from these shows to you2us@wrestlingglobe.com.
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Hulk Hogan has been all over the place this week promoting his new book. Very few people in the company knew he was coming in although there had been rumors for months. Dixie Carter called a few guys, including Mick Foley, after the press conference on Tuesday to tell them she had signed Hogan. She also threw a party with her office staff this morning, apparently involving champagne and donuts. As far as media goes, Hogan was in rare form on Jimmy Fallon saying he was coming to TNA to show the young guys the art form of professional wrestling, that there was only one major wrestling company [WWE] and he was going to put TNA on the map. Well, he didn't exactly say that, but near enough. On Howard Stern he mostly talked about his suicide attempt and the car wreck involving his son and John Graziano. By the way, did you know that when Hulk was holding the gun in his mouth he could have accidentally pulled the trigger because his fingers still tingle from a botched tombstone from Undertaker? He also did an interview on CNN with Larry King which you can watch in it's entirety at http://tinyurl.com/yjekvmp. When asked by King if he would want to retract anything from his book, he said: "No Brother. I wrote the truth!" He then talked about being in a bad place a couple of years ago but he went back to the training, saying prayers, and eating his vitamins, Hulked Up, and now there is no more craziness in his life. Awesome stuff.
Bubba the Love Sponge said that Hogan has full creative control in his TNA contract, which probably goes without saying, because he isn't doing anything he doesn't want to do. Bubba also claimed Hogan will be taking the book from Vince Russo, which nobody believes. On a related note, Hogan recently gave Bubba's son his original WCW world title belt as a gift.
Footage from Tuesday's TNA-Hogan press conference at Madison Square Garden is online at http://tinyurl.com/yfq9593. Dixie Carter said TNA's goal is to become the No. 1 wrestling company in the world. I really hope that isn't her goal, because it really shouldn't be for a company that survives on rights fees paid to them by Spike TV. That's not a knock, but surely she can't be serious?
Reuters on Tuesday listed Hogan signing with TNA as the newswire's fourth most read article. That's pretty impressive.
Hogan is signing copies of his book tonight at Borders Books in Chicago, and also on Friday at 6pm at Barnes & Noble at Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. He has a camera crew filming him where ever he goes.
Reaction to Hogan signing across the industry has been mixed. WWE people weren't so much surprised by the news but many speculated the company may now downplay the soon-to-be-released Hogan DVD. Vickie Guerrero wrote on her Facebook, "Hulk can kiss my ass! He will use TNA as well!"
There are the conspiracy theorists that believe Vince McMahon sent Hogan and Eric Bischoff to kill the company. The Honky Tonk Man wrote in his blog: "As an outsider looking in, I see the end of TNA. Is Hogan a double agent? Dumping Jarrett a few weeks ago, Russo having heat with every heart beating person on the planet to now work beside Hogan. Don't think so... WWE kills from the inside you idiots. WCW was the master plan. XWF was the next victim. ROH will fall when Vince wants them to go away. As long as they are not a PPV or TV threat, they will live on. Not wrong, just good business. Let the other guys spend and spend and spend, then take the top guys and the promotion starts to die. Tie up the buildings where they have no place to run. Case in point, WWE will tie up any buildings around the world after they see the numbers of the Hogan Aussie Tour. Do you think for one minute WWE is going to let Hogan and Flair tour the world for TNA? Not going to happen."
Lance Storm at www.stormwrestling.com also wrote a blog on Hogan. He is sceptical that Hogan signing would lead to a shift in creative, but is hoping it might. Storm wrote: "I’ve always wanted TNA to succeed and I’ve always maintained my support of their extremely talented locker room. My complaints of TNA have always been directed towards TNA’s creative team (Primarily Vince Russo) and the fact that they (he) somehow manages to book a show so infuriating and nonsensical that I’ve had to completely quit watching despite many of my favourite performers being featured on the show. So while there are some potential down sides to the addition of Hogan and Bischoff to TNA, there are several potential up sides as well, and I’m going to keep my fingers crossed for more of the latter and less of the former. "
Tara said she got her mole biopsy results back and they were benign which is great news.
The Sun has a Q&A with Matt Morgan at http://tinyurl.com/yksukhg. He talks about Kurt Angle being the best wrestler on the planet. He said Kurt walks around like the living dead backstage but when the bell rings there is nobody who can touch him. When asked about his WWE run in 2005 he was diplomatic saying he didn't have a bad word to say about his doomed stuttering gimmick: "I believed in myself when I talked. [Vince McMahon] thought it would work with the stuttering character and at the time I agreed." He put over Vince Russo for booking him to his strengths in TNA [actually, Jim Cornette should take most of the credit here]. "What the billion dollar geniuses couldn't do, Vince Russo has," he said. Morgan also put over Kevin Nash: "He's helped me from the beginning. Moves, you name it, he's helped me. He's a smart dude. Maybe I've come across Kevin at a good time in his career, but people crap all over Kevin and say he's out for himself. If that's true, I haven't seen it."
Christy Hemme turned 29 today.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
A rare Jim Cornette interview at http://tinyurl.com/ykxuofa where he doesn't knock anyone. Well, except for Republicans.
Pro Wrestling NOAH star KENTA suffered a torn ACL while wrestling Kotaro Suzuki on Tuesday night in Japan. He is expected to be sidelined for at least 6 months, which rules him out of his upcoming ROH bookings.
Ring of Honor at www.rohwrestling.com already have tickets on sale for their annual Wrestlemania weekend shows. They secured a building [at Phoenix College] well in advance for next year amid rumblings that WWE was planning to work with the cities of Glendale and Phoenix to prevent them from running local facilities.
Dragon Gate USA are also running Mania weekend at the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix. Davey Richards and The Young Bucks have already committed to these shows. More info at www.dgusa.tv.
As noted here, ROH was recently awarded in The Village Voice's Best of NYC issue. They won Best Place to Watch Straight Men Get All Homoerotic. Apparently over on the ROH website message board any topics started regarding the award are either locked or deleted.
Graffiti magazine interviewed Terry Funk at http://tinyurl.com/ygzwn28 pushing his appearance at an upcoming IWA show in West Virginia. He said he hasn't wrestled for 18 months [hip surgery] and this would be his last ever show as a guest referee. He also noted just getting a call to be inducted into the Professional Hall of Fame at the Dan Gable Wrestling Institute & Museum in Iowa. That puts him in some seriously elite company usually reserved for wrestlers with a strong amateur background.
Jesse Ventura's new TV show premieres on December 2 at 10pm ET on TruTV.
Journal of a Journeyman, a new book by indie wrestler Dusty Wolfe, is available at a special discounted price at www.btpress.net or Amazon.com.
Fog City Wrestling with The Necro Butcher shares at the Cow Palace Friday night with some of the biggest electronic music acts in the world. 6:30 Door, 8pm Bell Time. Cow Palace 2600 Geneva Ave, Daly City, CA. More info at www.fogcitywrestling.com.
Bobby Heenan makes his first public wrestling appearance in over 12 months for Great Lakes Championship Wrestling on December 5 in Waukesha, WI. Show is headlined by Al Snow vs. BG James vs. Kip James with Mick Foley as guest referee; Mr. Ken [formerly Kennedy] Anderson vs. Armando Estrada; Demolition vs. The McCoys; NBC Sports Anchor Lance Allan vs. the man they call Gillberg; Headbanger Mosh vs. Matt Longtime; plus King Kong Bundy and much more. You can find out more info at www.BlizzardBrawl.com.
Greg Oliver has a good story on Godfather actor and former wrestler Lenny Montana at http://tinyurl.com/yjvl7vm.
Christopher Nowinski was scheduled to appear before a Congressional committee today to discuss the effects of concussions and head trauma on professional athletes.
Ted DiBiase Sr. shoots back at Superstar Graham at http://tinyurl.com/yzjfnuq.
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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.
