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WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER
Monday January 11, 2010
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Wrestling Globe Newsletter by Mike Aldren - All the latest professional wrestling news, gossip and occasional opinion direct to you. WGN is read by industry power players, many top wrestlers and thousands of fans from all around the world.
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Please send all news tips to: you2us@wrestlingglobe.com
WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
1/10 Raw house show results from Rochester, MN: MVP over Jack Swagger; Evan Bourne over Johnny Curtis; Cody Rhodes over Primo; Gail Kim & The Bella Twins over Maryse, Alicia Fox & Jillian Hall with Santino as special referee; Chris Masters over Carlito; The Miz over Kofi Kingston; Sheamus over Mark Henry; and DX over Big Show & Randy Orton. Show drew an estimated 3,000. Reader Rick Ward writes: Over all it was a pretty good show. A lot better than the Smackdown crew that came through last year. The family had a great time.
1/10 SD/ECW house show results from Duluth, MN: R-Truth over Dolph Ziggler; Vladimir Kozlov, Goldust & Yoshi Tatsu over William Regal, Tyler Reks & Zack Ryder; Mickie James over Beth Phoenix; Eric Escobar over Mike Knox; The Hart Dynasty over Jimmy Wang Yang & Slam Master J; Chris Jericho over Matt Hardy; Christian over Ezekiel Jackson; Drew McIntyre over John Morrison; and Rey Mysterio over Batista. Show drew around 2,500.
There is a Smackdown show tonight in La Crosse ahead of Tuesday's TV taping in Green Bay. ECW will feature a battle royal for a shot at Christian's ECW title at the Royal Rumble. We're looking for reports from both shows to you2us@wrestlingglobe.com.
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In a follow up to yesterday's report on the death of Tony Halme, who once worked for WWE as Ludwig Borga, Ilta-Sanomat of Finland, a tabloid, has published unconfirmed reports that Halme took his own life. The paper claims that a pistol, for which Halme didn't have a firearms permit, was found next to his body. Finnish police previously stated there were no suspicious circumstances but declined to release further details. Halme had just turned 47, was destitute, and was suffering from various health issues including short-term memory loss reportedly due to years of substance abuse.
The 2010 WWE Hall Of Fame induction ceremony will air on USA Network on Saturday, March 27, from 11pm to midnight. They have slightly extra editing time this year so hopefully induction speeches won't be butchered too much. There is such a good case to move the ceremony to Friday night. Aside from talent getting an early night, fans win because they get a better production, and inductees win because they get to say what they want to say without being limited to summing up their careers in three or four minutes.
Jim Ross blogged about the funeral of Steve Williams at www.jrsbarbq.com. Ross gave a eulogy before 1,000 family, friends, and fans praising Williams saying he was an only child but considered Williams a brother. Among those in attendance were John Laurinaitis from WWE, Terry Taylor from TNA, Leon "Vader" White, Stan Hansen, Ted DiBiase Sr., and Barry Switzer, Williams' old football coach at the University of Oklahoma.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune has a story on Mike Tyson at http://tinyurl.com/ybgtme9. He is promoting his foundation and the release of his documentary. "I'm not interested in fighting anymore, but the sky's the limit on everything else," Tyson said during a telephone interview. "We got international tour dates, we got movies, autograph sessions that's going to help our foundation. It's just awesome man. ... I'm not taking this for granted this time [referring his lifestyle of the past]. I took it for granted, I took all my hard work for granted last time."
The Chicago Tribune has a story on Ted DiBiase Jr. who is promoting The Marine 2 on DVD. He talks about acting classes supposedly led by Vince McMahon at television tapings. "For the CEO of a company to take an hour of his day and spend it with up-and-coming guys is really cool," he said. "You get to know him on a more personal level." He also noted his dad cried after watching his movie because he was so proud of him. Well, that's one way to explain it. Story is at http://tinyurl.com/yccl5jw.
The Heyman Hustle has photos of Maria Kanellis at http://heymanhustle.craveonline.com.
Kelly Kelly noted on her Twitter she was having a bad day because the airline she traveled on lost her bags and had no idea where they were.
WWE.com posted an update on Lisa "Ivory" Moretti at http://tinyurl.com/yas782e. During recent years she ran a business called Downtown Dog, a do-it-yourself bathing facility for animals, out of her hometown of Friday Harbor, WA. She also talked about a GLOW [Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling] reunion at the end of January. "There’s a documentary coming out around the GLOW girls and they’re organizing a big reunion in Los Angeles January 30," she said. "I recently spoke with the guys who did the documentary and it turns out a lot of girls are showing up so it’s going to be a big deal."
Linda McMahon talks politics with ABC News at http://tinyurl.com/yca2hza. When asked why she was running for U.S. Senate, she said: "Well, I've had a really good career. And, it's been an exciting career. But, I am very concerned of where our government is taking our country at this particular point. A mounting debt, free-wheeling spending that we have in Washington, and I've just been watching it, and looking at it, and understanding that there's potential that the American dream that I was able to live will not be there for other generations, if we continue down the paths where we are. So, I'm running, just because I felt, well, I think I'd like to make a difference. I have business experience. None of the other candidates that are running bring the same kind of experience to the table. I've gone from bankruptcy at the beginning of my career, of losing my home, losing cars, not be able to get any credit, to rebuilding, and now having a company that grew from a small family business, you know, to a global brand, traded now on the New York Stock Exchange, under the symbol WWE."
MVP noted in a recent interview that he is planning to perform his next entrance music to debut this summer.
There is a meet and greet with Ted DiBiase Sr. and Mike Rotundo before the FCW show in Crystal Rivers, FL, on January 16. More info at www.fcwwrestling.com.
TNA WRESTLING NEWS
1/10 TNA house show results from Danbury, CT: Amazing Red over Homicide; Taylor Wilde & Sarita over The Beautiful People; Rhino over D'Angelo Dinero; Beer Money over Eric Young & Kevin Nash; Kurt Angle over Desmond Wolfe; and AJ Styles over Daniels with Jeff Jarrett as the special referee. Reader Brian McDonald writes: The show had a good turn out drawing around 1,500. Match of the night was definitely Daniels vs. Styles which was close to 20 minutes with lots of spots. Good show!
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Mick Foley wrote in his latest blog that he called Ric Flair on December 27 to talk him into signing with TNA. Flair didn't sign until January 4 although he had been in negotiations with them for a while. He was telling people at the tapings last week that he has a new book in the works.
Actor Eric Roberts (brother of Julia) was hanging out backstage at the TNA show in Westbury this past weekend. Apparently a huge fan who was hoping Hulk Hogan would be there.
Vince Russo answered more reader questions on his Facebook page. Regarding Jim Cornette, he said: "Throughout my entire career I have never said one negative word about Jim Cornette, not one. If he wants to be a Vince Russo and TNA hater, let him knock his socks off, but I'm not really interested in listening to that." Russo also commentated on Internet critics: "It's because they hate me and hate Hogan, and it's also because they want TNA to be a 2 hour wrestling show, with TWO HOURS of wrestling, that ain't gonna happen, so the haters will continue to hate." Russo recently set up the Facebook page to promote his upcoming book, How WCW Killed Vince Russo.
DirecTV Ch. 101 premieres a 30-minute Genesis countdown show today airing in various timeslots. The only matches announced for Sunday's PPV are AJ Styles vs. Angle for the TNA title, and The British Invasion vs. Matt Morgan & Hernandez for the tag titles. Genesis will also be Hogan's TNA PPV debut.
TNA Epics premieres on Spike this Thursday after Impact and will be a special on Kurt Angle.
Shark Boy returns this coming weekend at the house show loop in Pennsylvania.
Reader Rob Curran noted that Scott Hall's old WWF entrance music [as Razor Ramon] was played after Steve Breaston caught a TD pass from Kurt Warner during the 4th quarter of Sunday's Packers-Cardinals game.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
Sorry to report that Gene Kiniski, 81, one of the all-time greats in wrestling history, is said to be in rough shape after battling cancer that spread to his lymphatic system.
Ring of Honor tonight on HDNet has Kenny Omega vs. Chris Hero in a Pick Six series match; Necro Butcher vs. Joey Ryan in a no-DQ match; plus Colt Cabana and Kevin Steen in action.
Wrestling's newest promotion from Gabe Sapolsky, EVOLVE headlined by Davey Richards vs. Kota Ibushi, debuts this coming Saturday in Rahway, NJ at the Rahway Rec Center. Sapolsky is also promising an "extreme surprise" which likely means an ECW original that has just left WWE. Complete line up is Richards vs. Ibushi; Mike Quackenbush, Hallowicked & Frightmare vs. Gran Akuma, Icarus & Brodie Lee; TJP vs. Munenori Sawa; Arik Cannon vs. Ricochet; Chuck Taylor vs. Cheech; plus Bobby Fish, Jimmy Jacobs, Silas Young, Ken Doane, Brad Allen, and The Dark City Fight Club. The Rahway Rec Center is located from the NJ Turnpike and Garden State Expressway. There is also 24 hour public transportation from New York City three blocks away. Go to www.EVOLVEwrestling.com for tickets and more information.
World Series Wrestling announced Tommy Dreamer will be touring Australia as part of their upcoming International Assault Tour. Other names on the tour include Balls Mahoney, Tajiri, Paul London, Petey Williams, Sonjay Dutt, Heidenreich, Jesus Aguilera, El Generico, and Shawn Daivari. More info at www.internationalassault.com.au.
Northeast Wrestling is also advertising Tommy Dreamer for their March 20 show in Poughkeepsie, NY.
The MWF group out of Boston are claiming the Iron Sheik's retirement match on April 24 in Melrose, MA, at the Memorial Hall. Sheik teams with Jay Lethal against Dylan Kage in a handicap match. Dan Mirade is the promoter. More info at www.bostonwrestling.com.
The Iron Sheik takes on comedian Maz Jobrani at http://tinyurl.com/yfr3fav. A note on Sheik from a few weeks ago at the Raw taping at Madison Square Garden. The pre tape he did with the Hulk Hogan action figure took several takes because he found it difficult to rip on Hogan without dropping an F-Bomb. Stephanie McMahon [who was producing the segment] thought that Sheik was hilarious but had to cut several lines including one where he said, "Hulk Hogan, you are nothing but a gay bleach-blonde Jabroni!"
Tommy Fierro is putting together a big show on March 27 in Freehold, NJ, the day before WrestleMania 26 called ISPWMANIA. The show will features former WWE/WCW wrestler Bill DeMott returning to the ring against Rick Fuller. Dutch Mantell will also be making a rare appearance wrestling in New Jersey that evening. Nunzio and Tony Mamaluke will be reuniting as The Full Blooded Italians against The Logan Brothers. Judas Young defends the ISPW title in a three-way against Danny Inferno [managed by Tammy "Sunny" Sytch] and Crowbar. Also appearing: Danny Doring, Big Vito, former WWE announcer Kevin Kelly, and many more. There will also be a fan fest before the show and a fantasy training camp on the morning on the show with DeMott, Mantell, and Vito. For further information visit www.ISPWLive.com or email to ISPWWrestling@yahoo.com.
2010 Nearly Naked Girls Of Wrestling, a calendar to benefit the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, is available at http://tinyurl.com/y95ye9v. The calendar features April Hunter, Melissa Coates, Kelly Couture, Miss Danyah, Cherry Bomb, Lanna Titus, Rinnie Sinn, and Amy Victory.
Lizzy Valentine, real name Elizabeth Miklos, wrote on her Twitter that wrestling websites recently confused her with former adult film star and XPW wrestler Janet Romano, who is currently in prison, who once used the name Lizzie Borden. She wanted to clarify that she has never had any legal issues nor has ever done porn. Miklos had a recent shot with TNA in a dark match against Amber O' Neil.
Stacey Carter, the former Miss Kitty in WWE, is working on a potential reality show for CMT.
The Wrestlicious group are about to make a major announcement later this month.
Rene Dupree has a new look. He dyed his hair black with a red streak down one side. He has also dropped a lot of weight since his WWE days.
Dwayne Johnson talks weight training and his upcoming movie Tooth Fairy at http://tinyurl.com/yg8xtuz.
Southern indy wrestler The Nighthawk [Dr. Ron Thomas] underwent back and neck surgery, two procedures four days apart on either side of Christmas. The surgeries were done at Tampa's Laser Spine Institute, which had previously performed similar work on Hulk Hogan. Thomas had been forced to give up wrestling after injuries sustained in a highway incident matching a FedEx tandem-trailer rig against his black Camaro in 2007. He is now back home in Daytona Beach and his recovery is coming along well. He noted he should be cleared to return to the gym in February with hopes of being ring-ready this summer.
Jerry Lawler, Tracy Smothers and Chase Stevens will be appearing at the Main Event Championship Wrestling event in Evansville, IN, on March 20. More info at www.mecwpro.com.
Nick "Eugene" Dinsmore and Jonny Fairplay have been added to the WFX event in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on March 5. Also appearing are Tajiri, Kip James and Sheik Abdul Bashir. More info at http://wfxwrestling.com.
WFX Chapter One runs on March 5 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with Tajiri, Kip James, Shawn Daivari, Kushida, Jon Cutler, Mentallo, Arik Cannon, and many more.
Today's Diva of the Day is Maryse at http://www.thewrestlingpress.com/DailyDiva.
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