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WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER
Tuesday January 26, 2010
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Wrestling Globe Newsletter by Mike Aldren - All the latest professional wrestling news, gossip and occasional opinion direct to you here on RRO!!
WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
1/25 Raw TV results from Columbus, OH: DX over Legacy in a non-title match; Big Show over MVP; Maryse over Eve to qualify for the finals of the Divas title tournament; Kofi Kingston over The Miz in a non-title match; Gail Kim over Alicia Fox to qualify for the finals of the Divas title tournament, and Sheamus vs. John Cena was a no contest in another non-title match.
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James Roday didn't appear Monday night as Raw guest host as he was hospitalized on Saturday and underwent an emergency appendectomy.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was interviewed on the LAW at www.thefightnetwork.com. When asked about a potential matchup with John Cena at Wrestlemania, he said: "I've never been interested in wrestling John Cena. The guys I wrestled in the past, from Goldberg to Hogan to Austin, were guys who I've really wanted to wrestle... it's very important if I do go back that the writing [is] ripped open and really pushed. I came from a time in the Attitude era where we trail-blazed and were fearless in the things we said and did." He added: "There are a lot of restrictions now [with the change to PG] on the product, which by the way, I understand, and I enjoy some of the stuff I see and I know some of the writers and they're challenged every week, but if in fact I do go back, it would be an interesting collision of an Attitude time that I loved and the time now, but I'm sure we can always infuse things to make it work." He said he will probably guest host Raw in the summer after he completes his next movie.
Ted DiBiase Jr. was also interviewed on Live Audio Wrestling. TNA was brought up as a topic. DiBiase said he wishes "those guys" the best but felt TNA are bringing in talent that can't draw money or get it done in the ring. "God bless them, I have nothing but respect for those guys... They paved the way for us, but Hulk Hogan can't even drop a leg anymore," he said. "...You definitely get the nostalgic value, I agree, but how long can that last? How long can you get excited about seeing this old guy come out? I welcome 'Monday Night Wars' if you want to call it a war - it's not much of a fight - but competition is always exciting for us. Most all wrestlers grew up playing competitive sports, so that's in our blood, man. Bring it on." Regarding Jeff Hardy appearing on Impact on January 4, he said: "Jeff has his own demons he's battling right now, I guess, but what can you do? Maybe it's something he had to do. I wish him the best because he was a great performer, but it was a little disappointing, I guess."
Jeff Hardy's girlfriend Beth must have been listening. She wrote on her Twitter last night: "I think it's silly that people use the generalized term "demons" when talking about Jeff, especially when they have had their own share. Just sayin'... Oh, and BTW... Jeff appearing on TNA was anything but a disappointment."
Elliot Harris of the Chicago Sun-Times filed a report on the Rey Mysterio signing at KMart. He told us he left before all the chaos ensued. Mysterio noted his 12 year old son is already taller than him with an interest in wrestling but his daughter is showing the most passion for it: "[My son is] very passionate about football. He loves football. I don't know. What scares me is my daughter might like it even more. She's only 8 years old. She's taking acting lessons right now, so hopefully we'll have some sort of connection between wrestling and acting/movies/soap opera." Mysterio also said he would love to do a movie with WWE Studios. "That's one of my goals in life and in my career that I might get an opportunity to do some cinematography now that WWE has their own film industry. So that's something that I would really love to push forward." Story is at http://tinyurl.com/y8ehls8.
The location of Wrestlemania 27 has reportedly come down to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta and the Sun Life Stadium in Miami, according to Gary Stokan, President of the Atlanta Sports Council, in an interview with www.georgiawrestlinghistory.com. Stoken said the announcement would be made on February 1, coincidentally the day after Royal Rumble at Philips Arena in Atlanta. [Thanks to Larry Goodman]
Country Weekly magazine has a blurb on Mickie James and her musical aspirations. She said she grew up in Virginia listening to Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and her favorite Willie Nelson: "I've always written stuff, whether its short stories or poetry. I started writing songs, and I was working with some artists in Virginia. I feel like God always puts these signs in your way, like paths you should be on. I've always wanted to sing, and I kept getting this weird feeling that I should just try it. I will record an album and see what happens. If nothing happens, at least I did it." [Thanks to reader Mike Thompson]
Kelly Kelly answers some pointless questions at http://tinyurl.com/y8qalla. If her house was on fire the first thing she would save would be her teddy bear... She bites her nails... And she wouldn't like to be stuck in a lift with Paris Hilton. "I really don't care for her," Kelly said.
MTV at http://tinyurl.com/yjmb3jm talked to Chris Jericho about his new album with Fozzy which goes on sale today.
Jericho was at Raw last night and cut a promo for the Royal Rumble that will air on Superstars.
I was glad to see they didn't do one of those lame Battle Royals to hype the Rumble PPV this year. Lazy booking in my view. The video package with all the stats was tremendous and far more effective in selling the show. I also enjoyed the confrontation between John Cena and Vince McMahon which leads to Bret Hart returning next Monday in Nashville.
The NFC Championship game on Sunday between the New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings drew a monster 57.9 million viewers, making it the second most watched NFC Championship game in history. The Royal Rumble was originally scheduled for January 24 as late as September until somebody in Stamford noticed the clash with football.
Shawne Merriman, outside linebacker for the San Diego Chargers, has been posting bizarre WWE-related messages on his Twitter teasing an appeance at Wrestlemania. He wrote: "Is the WWE still doing good right now? ... I'm tired of all the no name wrestlers that look like they came off the street and had a tryout... I couldn't wrestle because I wouldn't fake it... Don't be surprised to see me in the Royal Rumble in March... I meant Wrestlemania in March, that too." Merriman hit headlines for the wrong reasons last year when he was arrested and charged with battery and false imprisonment of reality TV star Tila Tequila, who claimed in an arrest complaint that he choked and restrained her when she tried to leave his home. The charges were later dismissed.
Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland is claiming the Sunday afternoon Smackdown show drew 10,000 people although most people in attendance say it was closer to 5,000.
Santino Marella has some fun with the media at http://tinyurl.com/ybw7f3s. They did recently shoot something but its unlikely to lead to anything other than WWE.com, let alone a sitcom on national television. Several wrestling websites appear to be sold on the story.
TNA WRESTLING NEWS
1/25 house show results from Paris, France: Suicide over Amazing Red & Chris Sabin in a three-way; Beer Money over Eric Young & Rob Terry; Taylor Wilde over Hamada; Kurt Angle over Desmond Wolfe; Hernandez over Rhino; Team 3D over The British Invasion in a Tables match; and AJ Styles over Samoa Joe & Daniels in a three-way. The show drew around 2,500 paid. Dixie Carter gave a speech to the crowd during intermission thanking them for their support. We had several reports that the fans loved the show.
The TNA crew run tonight in Bournemouth, England, with AJ Styles vs. Desmond Wolfe and Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe in an I Quit match as the top advertised matches. The remaining tour dates this week are Cardiff, Coventry, Manchester, and London. We're looking for readers reports from all these shows to you2us@wrestlingglobe.com.
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Samoa Joe dislocated a rib last night in Paris but said he won't be missing any time.
The Pope is battling a gastric infection, according to TNA people, which is why he's missed the first leg of the European tour as the doctor wouldn't clear him to wrestle.
Ken Anderson was interviewed last night on ESPN Milwaukee. Regarding going to TNA, he said: "I had wanted to hopefully sign with TNA immediately after my WWE career ended, but I had to make sure that I wasn't stepping into the wrong situation... I just got out of a relationship [with WWE] that wasn't necessarily good for probably both sides for quite some time and I wanted to make sure I didn't make the same mistakes again and setting myself up for failure." He has signed a contract with them but it's a per night deal. He said Hogan and Bischoff approached him to come on board during the Hulkamania tour of Australia. "We went back and forth for a while and it was kind of a fun negotiation process. It was actually kind of nice," he said. "When I first started with WWE, there was no negotiating at all. It was, 'Take it or leave it, pal.' It was kind of nice to be able to say, 'This is stuff I'm willing to negotiate on.' They came through and I couldn't have been happier with the debut and I was happy to work with Abyss." He added: "I like the fact that I was able to go in and tape a whole month's worth of TV in four days. I'm not kidding you. Then you have the rest of the month to rest your body. That's one thing about being on the road 52 weeks per year, and maybe one of the reasons I was injury-prone because I was working five days per week."
Anderson makes his live event debut the weekend of February 4 in Kansas and Missouri.
New live event dates for March were added in Pensacola, Erie, Wheeling, and aPittsburgh at the Rostraver Ice Arena; a 5,000-seat arena they are hoping to sell out with Kurt Angle as the main draw, plus AJ Styles, Jeff Jarrett, Beer Money, The Pope, The Beautiful People and many more. They have a deal where if you purchase a ticket for $35 then you get a free DVD on the night of the show. More info at www.tnawrestling.com.
Mick Foley has a stand up gig on February 6 in Las Vegas at the Vegas Hilton and Casino. Its the night before the Super Bowl. More info at www.TotalExtremeComedy.com.
Taylor Wilde turns 24 today.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
We've received a ton of email on Wrestling Chatterbox editor Georgiann Makropoulos who passed away yesterday at the age of 67. Messages of condolence for her husband George can be left with Bob Mulerin at bobmul345@aol.com. Funeral arrangements via Thomas Quinn & Sons Funeral Home, 35-20 Broadway, Long Island City, NY, phone 718-721-9200. There is a wake tonight from 7-9 pm and Wednesday 2-5 pm and 7-9 pm. Funeral Mass is Thursday at Most Precious Blood, 32-33 37th Street, Long Island City, NY.
Paul Heyman wrote about Georgie on his website at http://tinyurl.com/yenkn5b. He described her at "wrestling's best friend" and said she was, "a truly genuine individual without a malicious bone in her body."
Steve Johnson at the Slam Wrestling website has an obit up at http://tinyurl.com/y9yhprh. His article noted that Georgie ran the fan clubs of Buddy Rogers and Bruno Sammartino in the 1960s, and had successfully battled cancer in 2004.
A new book on Minnesota wrestling titled, Minnesota's Golden Age of Wrestling - from Verne Gagne to the Road Warriors, will be released on May 1. The book is written by George Schire through Minnesota Historical Society Press. Schire is an avid wrestling historian dating back to the 1950s and has one of the most extensive collection of wrestling programs, clippings, photos and memorabilia in existence. A blurb on the book reads: Why was Minnesota, a land known for its stoic farmers, reasonable politics, and comfortable casseroles, a hotbed of the wacky and wild world of professional wrestling? And how did that old-school wrestling become the Saturday night program of choice for thousands of Midwestern families in the last half of the twentieth century? Professional wrestling historian and insider George Schire is here not only to set the record straight but to entice you into a world gone by, a world that comes alive through his colorful and perceptive reporting.
Wrestlicious announced that its new all-women wrestling show TakeDown will be syndicated nationally on America One. The show will air Saturday evenings at 11:30pm ET on affiliates beginning Saturday, March 6. In a separate syndication deal announced last week, TakeDown has cleared 15 U.S. markets including Little Rock and Memphis and top 10 DMA’s Atlanta and Dallas. More clearances, including at least two more top 10 DMAs, are expected this week. TakeDown is currently being marketed at the 2010 NAPTE (National Association Of Television Program Executives) convention in Las Vegas.
Wrestlicious is also teasing the signings of recently released TNA Knockouts.
Melissa Anderson aka Alissa Flash in TNA out of San Francisco is now available for wrestling bookings, personal appearances and autograph sessions by contacting Bill Behrens at showbis@aol.com or www.sbibookings.com.
RVD radio airs on Wednesday night 9-11pm ET with Rob Van Dam, Booker T, Sabu, Fonzie and more putting Tiger Woods and David Letterman under the stoplight. Go to www.robvandam.com for more info.
The latest promo for Celebrity Apprentice at http://tinyurl.com/yhtrbyb has a brief clip of Bill Goldberg, but no mention of Maria Kanellis.
Jim Rome burned Brock Lesnar yesterday on his show for Brock's comments on Canadian health care. He basically said that Brock was unfair in his assessment because he based his opinion on a one day stay in hospital in the middle of no where. ESPN's Jake Rossen has a story on this at http://tinyurl.com/ybjrabz.
The Honkytonk Man has a new podcast at www.honkytonkman.net. He talks a number of subjects including Hogan in TNA, Randy Savage, crossing Vince McMahon, and more.
An upcoming A&E series with Bob Saget will feature a segment on backyard wrestlers in California.
Today's Diva of the Day is Kelly Kelly at http://www.thewrestlingpress.com/DailyDiva.
