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WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER
Saturday October 17, 2009
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WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
10/15 Superstars TV results: Mark Henry over Chris Masters; Zovlov over Tommy Dreamer; and CM Punk over John Morrison via DQ.
10/15 Smackdown/ECW house show results from Monterrey, Mexico: Ezekiel Jackson over The Hurricane; Cryme Tyme over The Hart Dynasty; Michelle McCool over Mickie James; Finlay over Drew McIntyre; Christian over William Regal; John Morrison over Matt Hardy & Dolph Ziggler in a three-way; Rey Mysterio & Batista over Chris Jericho & Kane; and Undertaker over CM Punk.
10/16 Smackdown TV results from Louisville, KY: Dolph Ziggler over Mike Knox & Finlay in a three-way; Cryme Tyme over The Hart Dynasty; Eric Escobar over Matt Hardy; Drew McIntyre over R-Truth; and Rey Mysterio over Batista.
10/16 Raw house show results from Huntsville, AL: Santino Marella over Chris Masters; Evan Bourne over Heath Slater; Jack Swagger over Primo; Melina over Jillian Hall; Hornswoggle over Chavo Guerrero; The Miz over Kofi Kingston & Jack Swagger in a three-way; and Triple H & John Cena over Randy Orton & Legacy in a handicap match.
10/16 Smackdown/ECW house show results from Puebla, Mexico: Cryme Tyme over The Hart Dynasty; Michelle McCool over Mickie James; Christian over William Regal; Ezekiel Jackson over The Hurricane; John Morrison over Matt Hardy & Dolph Ziggler in a three-way; Drew McIntyre over Finlay; Rey Mysterio over Chris Jericho; and Undertaker & Batista over CM Punk & Kane.
The Raw crew run tonight in Columbus, GA and then Dothan on Sunday. The Smackdown/ECW crew run tonight and Sunday at the Palacio De Los Deportes in Mexico City.
Raw TV is Monday from Jacksonville, FL with Snoop Dogg as the guest host and Triple H vs. John Cena; and the Smackdown/ECW tapings are Tuesday in Columbia, SC.
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The wake for Captain Lou Albano on Friday evening in Carmel, NY was a sell out. It's estimated 1,000 family, friends and fans lined up for three blocks to pay their respects. One person noted: "Even thought the funeral arrangements were supposed to be private, over 1000 people came out this afternoon and tonight to pay their respects to Captain Lou. He really did have one hell of a run and made one hell of an impact." There was also a lot of media interest including the Channel 12 news station doing a live broadcast and several newspaper reporters.
No real update on the resignation of Shane McMahon as WWE's Executive Vice President of Global Media. He isn't talking, not even to some of his closest friends, but as we noted yesterday the speculation is that his next venture will involve MMA. His resignation takes effect on January 1, 2010 and he will remain in his position until that date.
Rene Dupree at http://www.renedupree.net/index3.html wants Shane to join him in Japan and become his tag team partner. He wrote: "With my looks and his ring and mike skills we could easily be the greatest tag team in Japanese history. I’m not sure who’s booking Shane but if anyone knows his agent please ask them to give me a call."
Maria Kanellis doing the next Celebrity Apprentice is one of those WWE-NBC synergy deals. The production company didn't specifically request her but WWE came up with a shortlist of available Divas, and she was picked out and interviewed for the role. The show starts shooting Sunday in New York City and premieres on March 1, 2010. They did some photography and promo work around the city on Friday which is how news
broke revealing the names of the contestants.
Before the opening match at the Raw show Friday night in Huntsville, Santino cut this promo: "When I was a little boy in Italy, I used to do magic. The only problem was, I couldn't say Abracadabra so I used to say Alabama instead. True story. Now, as for you, Chris Masterson, you big Gorilla, I must warn you, I am a black belt in my own form of Mixed Martial Arts. I call them Marella Martial Arts. So I, the only MMA fighter in WWE, will now beat up this Gorilla!" Tremendous. If you ask
anyone in WWE who the legit toughest guy in the locker room is most people will say Santino or Big Show, well, maybe not Big Show after Puerto Rico, but anyway, before wrestling, Santino competed in Judo at national level. He also shared the same wrestling coach as UFC star George St. Pierre. I think Jim Cornette is the only guy who ever got the better of him in a slapping contest although Santino did get a WWE
contract out of that deal.
The Syracuse Post-Standard ran a story about WWE fans lining up outside the Carrier Dome this morning to purchase tickets for the house show in December. Apparently some fans had been camping out since the early hours (are these people insane?) and when Dome staff announced tickets would be available a full FIVE MINUTES before they went on Internet sale they cheered loudly. I would happily bet my house that they don't sell out the 49,250-seat Dome in December the week after Christmas. In fact,
there is probably more chance of Shane McMahon showing up at Bound For Glory. The announced line up so far is John Cena vs. Randy Orton; DX vs. Chris Jericho & Big Show; Batista vs. Kane; and Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz vs. MVP in a three-way.
The Honky Tonk Man was a guest on The Mayhem radio show this past week at www.mindaynightmayhem.com. On being inducted in the Hall of Fame, he said: "I'm not sitting here like a dog waiting on a bone. If it happens, it happens, and if it doesn't, it doesn't. If for some reason I'm booked that weekend somewhere, I'm not going cancel my booking for the Hall of Fame. I will continue on doing what I do, because this independent thing I've been doing for so long has fed my family, kept me alive, and kept me in the spotlight, and I will not give that up for one payday from the WWE." He added: "This is a company, the WWE, that office is extremely
unpredictable. Just when you think you have the answer to the question, they change the question."
An episode of South Park this coming Wednesday will show the kids going to a WWE show and then wanting to become pro wrestlers. You can watch a preview clip at http://tinyurl.com/ygxxp5p.
ABC cameras showed Jim Ross on the sidelines of the Texas-OU college football game today.
The Connecticut Democratic Party sent out a mass email to it's members and local reporters Friday containing clips of old WWE storylines. You know, the ones depicting rape, miscarriages and necrophilia. A spokesperson for the CDP said, "Linda McMahon presided over programming that showed simulated rape, public sex and necrophilia, and now she wants to be our U.S. Senator? People across this state, not to mention the millions of women who are the victims of sexual violence every year,
would be horrified and embarrassed to know that the person who seeks to represent them condones this kind of behavior. That kind of programming has no place in our society, and Linda McMahon has no place in the U.S. Senate." Well, everyone knew this was coming.
It took about three hours for WWE to have those videos shut down for copyright infringement. Linda McMahon's spokesman, Ed Patru, told the Hartford Courant that Democratic leaders should be more interested in improving the economy than worrying about WWE storylines: "Every American understands the difference between scripted television entertainment and real life betrayal of trust by Washington politicians... It's stunning that Chris Dodd's apologists are more concerned with television programming that isn't real than the senator's record of taking every bit of special interest cash he can find, providing taxpayer-funded bonuses to executives he was supposed to regulate, and falling asleep at the switch while the entire country's banking system crashed."
Linda has just hired former Senator and state legislature David Cappiello to spearhead her campaign. "David brings to this campaign an unmatched level of policy and political experience," Linda said in a press release. "He knows the state, he understands the issues that are of paramount importance to Connecticut’s families and small businesses, and he has a network of relationships that runs deep and broad in the state. We’re thrilled to have him as a part of our campaign."
The WWE stock closed Friday up $0.28 to $13.77 on the NYSE - so no adverse market reaction to Shane's resignation.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING NEWS
The biggest TNA show of the year, Bound For Glory, is Sunday in Irvine, CA. Line up is AJ Styles vs. Sting for the TNA title; Kurt Angle vs. Matt Morgan; Samoa Joe vs. Bobby Lashley in a submission match; Mick Foley vs. Abyss in a Monster's Ball match with Dr. Stevie as the referee; Amazing Red vs. Suicide vs. D'Angelo Dinero vs. Daniels vs. Homicide in Ultimate X; ODB vs. Awesome Kong vs. Tara for the Knockouts
title; Booker T & Scott Steiner vs. Team 3D vs. Beer Money vs. The British Invasion in Full Metal Mayhem; Kevin Nash vs. Hernandez vs. Eric Young for the Legends title; Taylor Wilde & Sarita vs. The Beautiful People for the Knockouts tag titles; and The Motor City Machineguns vs. Lethal Consequences will air free on the pre-show.
TV tapings are next Tuesday and Wednesday at Universal Studios in Orlando. The taping originally scheduled for Thursday was canceled due to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal.
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Samoa Joe and Matt Morgan revealed on their Twitter pages that they are in bad shape heading into Bound For Glory. Morgan noted he is suffered from back spasm in three different areas, while Joe wrote: "I don't think I have been this sick in a long time. Hoping I can get well by Sunday."
The Los Angeles Times has a Q&A with Sting at http://tinyurl.com/yl9nhju. He teased Sunday may be his last match in TNA.
The Baltimore Sun has a Q&A with AJ Styles at http://tinyurl.com/ylo4jsn. He said holding the TNA title feels more prestigious to him now than holding the NWA-TNA title a few years ago: "I’ve been with TNA for seven years and I take a little bit more pride in our product than someone who may have been from somewhere else. So,
yeah, it’s kind of a big deal for me to be the world champion." He put over Sting for giving him a rub and buried Booker T in the process: "[Sting's] not like a Booker T, who will let everybody know that he has arrived. Sting’s the total opposite. He just walks in just as casual as he can be – just a really nice guy. It’s just one of those things where we kind of hit it off. I remember walking into a Christian bookstore and seeing his face on a magazine and thinking, 'That’s so cool. Sting’s a Christian.' So to be his friend and to be his peer, it’s really neat to
be able to sit and have a conversation about what we both believe in and just enjoy each other’s company." When asked about his faith conflicting with the product he said it used to bother him but now he understands he can't control it and focuses on his own spots: "Maybe once or twice they had a word in there that I wouldn’t really use. I don’t even ask [the writing team], I just change it. They don’t really care; it’s not that big of a deal. The only frustrating thing about being a good guy is that it’s changed and evolved over the years to where it’s almost like you have to say, 'I kick some a-double-s' to sound cool. So I have to find ways of avoiding that."
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
The Iron Sheik called into Howard Stern's radio show on Thursday. They played the same clip with Brian Blair ripping on him as they did on Opie & Anthony. Sheik said Blair was a liar and challenged him to a fight. When Howard asked Sheik if he was going to sue, Sheik said Blair wasn't worth it. A subdued call with no trademark Sheik rants.
Men's Fitness magazine posted an excerpt from Hulk Hogan's new autobiography at http://tinyurl.com/yjmg8h5. Here he talks about going bald at 18 and how he became a ladies man after joining a local gym and working out.
They also have excerpts in the magazine with Hogan claiming he won theWWF title in 1984 with a blown out knee that he suffered in the first few minutes of the match, and also how he hooked Sylvester Stallone and took him down in Rocky III to let him know he was the real deal and not some jabroni.
Hogan was also on the Bubba radio show Friday morning pushing his book. He claimed when ex-wife Linda filed for divorce he put a gun in his mouth and nearly pulled the trigger.
Bill Goldberg was ambushed by TMZ cameras at http://tinyurl.com/ykj859a and discusses what he eats for breakfast. When the camera guy asked him how much he benches he said that benching is for pretty boys and he trains for functional strength.
Torrie Wilson has recovered from heart failure and is appearing this weekend at the Long Island Auto Show in New York.
Author Irv Muchnick was on KRON TV in San Francisco on Wednesday pushing his book on the Chris Benoit murders. You can watch the segment at http://tinyurl.com/yllwrjv.
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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.
