WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
2/13 Smackdown house show results from San Jose, Costa Rica: Christian & Goldust over Ezekiel Jackson & Zack Ryder; Matt Hardy & John Morrison over The Hart Dynasty; Beth Phoenix over Michelle McCool; Drew McIntyre vs. Kane was a double count out; CM Punk over R-Truth; Rey Mysterio over Chris Jericho; and The Undertaker over Batista. The show drew around 17,000 people.
2/14 Smackdown house show results from Guadalajara, Mexico: Matt Hardy & R-Truth over The Hart Dynasty; Goldust over Zack Ryder; Michelle McCool over Beth Phoenix; Christian over Ezekiel Jackson; Drew McIntyre over John Morrison; The Undertaker & Kane over CM Punk & Chris Jericho; and Rey Mysterio over Batista. The show drew around 17,000 people.
2/14 Raw house show results from Philadelphia, PA: DX over Legacy; Chris Masters over Carlito; Yoshi Tatsu over William Regal; The Miz over MVP; The Bella Twins & Gail Kim over Maryse, Alicia Fox & Jillian Hall with Santino as the referee; Randy Orton over Kofi Kingston; and John Cena over WWE Sheamus via DQ. The show drew just over 12,000 people.
Raw is live tonight from Des Moines with Jerry Springer as guest host, plus John Cena vs. Triple H, Ted DiBiase vs. Kofi Kingston and Randy Orton vs. Sheamus in a non-title match. The Smackdown tapings are Tuesday in Kansas City with the death of ECW including Christian vs. Ezekiel Jackson in a hardcore match for the ECW title, and MizShow vs. Goldust & Yoshi Tatsu for the tag titles. Edge vs. Batista is the advertised main event for Smackdown.
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Jim Ross at www.jrsbarbq.com/blog wrote that he is bored with asking questions about his future: "Without question, pro wrestling has been such a vital part of my life for over 35 years and no matter what else I may or may not do for a living going forward I will always be a huge fan of the genre. Being in the wrestling biz and functioning at such a high level not only as an on air talent but in corporate administration, as well, has helped prepare me for many possible endeavors." He is still contracted to WWE and doubts that will change in the near future. Ross also wrote that it was travel issues that prevented Ric Flair from making Jack Brisco's funeral services, adding, "I wonder why other wrestlers who live in the Tampa area did not attend the funeral and show their respect to a great man who was so instrumental in helping many stars get their start?"
The Extreme Rules pay-per-view on May 23 has apparently been moved to Detroit. The originally announced location was Oakland, California.
Money in the Bank returns again this year at Wrestlemania. The creative team has just started putting together qualifying matches for WWE TV over the next few week's.
The current plan is for Wrestlemania to be open air at Phoenix Stadium. The stadium features a retractable roof which takes just 15 minutes to open or close as the case may be.
No update on the official cause of death of Eddie "Umaga" Fatu. The Medical Examiner handling the case said today that results are still pending.
Taryn Terrell [ECW GM Tiffany] is pictured the March issue of Playboy's Book of Lingerie. The caption under her photo reads: "Since you last saw me: I competed for a spot as a WWE Diva and ended up signing a developmental contract with them. I am now with Extreme Championship Wrestling, a division of the WWE, where I'm the general manager. I'm passionate about: Raising money for abused and abandoned children. Fun fact: I'm a vegan and choose not to eat anything with a face."
Cryme Tyme, who love porn [more on that later this week] were hanging out at the XBIZ Awards last week in Hollywood. They were pictured with Ron Jeremy and a number of adult actresses.
The student paper for Drake University in Des Moines has a story on Eve Torres at http://tinyurl.com/yzapo6h.
The Daily Record in the UK has a story on Maria Kanellis at http://tinyurl.com/yze6l63. She talks about how she stays in shape on the road and puts over Trish Stratus as the greatest Diva of all-time.
Inside Costa Rica has a story on Rosa Mendes at http://tinyurl.com/yfy2ppx which is actually copied verbatim from her Wikipedia page.
Triple H was interviewed about the new Mattel action figure line at the New York City Toy Fair at http://tinyurl.com/ykpfaak.
One of our readers went to a test screening of Sylvester Stallone’s new action movie The Expendables which premieres in August. Steve Austin plays a henchman of an evil dictator who is targeted by a group of merceneraries hired to overthrow him. Austin has a couple of scenes and a major fight scene at the end of the film. He did a great job, according to our reader. The film also stars Mickey Rourke, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Eric Roberts, and UFC fighters Randy Couture and Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira.
TNA WRESTLING NEWS
2/14 Against All Odds PPV results from Orlando, FL: AJ Styles over Samoa Joe to retain TNA heavyweight title with Eric Bischoff as special referee; The Nasty Boys over Team 3D for the tag titles; and The Pope won the 8-man tournament to become No 1 contender for the heavyweight title at April’s Lockdown PPV.
The television tapings are today and Tuesday in Orlando.
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TNA announced this afternoon during a press conference with Dixie Carter and Hulk Hogan that Impact moves to Monday nights head-to-head against WWE Raw from Monday, March 8, 2010. The plan is to tape television every two week's with Impact airing live alternate Monday's much like the Raw formula of the mid-late 90s. During the Q&A portion of the press conference Hogan said that all the WWE talent are cheering them on as it's another place for them to work, and claimed, "everyone in the WWE offices are running around like the building is on fire," panicking over the new competition. Dixie talked about wanting to give TNA fans a product which would make them proud. Hogan gave the analogy that he wants TNA workers to feel like they are going to church when they come to work--That they want to be here. "They are a bunch of young guys with young attitudes and the whole company's fresh," he said. "Things are happening fast and I am really happy to be here." You can watch the entire press conference at http://tinyurl.com/yha5rnz.
Variety and The Hollywood Reporter both ran a stories today quoting Dixie Carter and Eric Bischoff about the move to Monday nights. Robert Zimmerman of WWE is also quoted saying they aren't concerned because TNA is a somewhat different audience to WWE.
Former WWE wrestlers Dave Taylor and 2 Cold Scorpio were backstage last night at the pay-per-view. Taylor was trying out as an agent which would be his dream job. His last run in WWE a couple of years ago came to an end because he ruffled the wrong feathers. He is best known for his 1990s WCW run as Squire David Taylor, in a stable with Steven Regal and Bobby Eaton as The Blue Bloods. He also had a cameo in TNA as the coach of Team Britain during the 2004 America's X-Cup Tournament.
Ken Anderson made the pay-per-view with plenty of time to spare following travel issues catching a flight out of the Minneapolis airport. Bob Ryder, who handles travel for TNA talent, described Saturday as the "worst travel day" he could ever remember.
Jeremy Borash was back on camera last night. Bubba the Love Sponge tweeted that he took his wife to Wing House for Valentine's Day. I guess that means he's gone and they've dropped the planned angle with the announcers.
Jimmy Hart returned last night to manage The Nasty Boys.
The house show in Belle Vernon, PA on March 13 is canceled. The roof of the Rostraver Ice Gardens caved in yesterday reportedly due to the weather during a kids hockey tournament. Luckily nobody was hurt as the kids were in locker rooms at the time of the collapse.
The house show in Norfolk on Friday night with Ric Flair drew 2,100 people.
So Cal Val will apparently be writing a fashion advice column soon for the TNA website.
Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley [who is trying to rehab herniated and bulging discs in his back] were given permission to take a booking with Ring of Honor in May.
The Destination X theme song is Torn Apart by Atlanta-based rock band Death On Two Wheels.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
Tyler Black won the ROH heavyweight title over Austin Aries on Saturday night at the anniversary show in New York City.
Rhett Titus and Rasche Brown have both just signed new deals with ROH.
A SAW show in Nashville on Saturday night drew 1,000 people to the Nashville Sports Arena with Kid Kash, Chase Stevens, Andy Douglas, PG13, Brian Christopher, Flash Flanigan, Rick Santel, Vordell Walker., and Dutch Mantell doing color commentary for television. A documentary crew was on hand taping interviews and auditions for a possible reality based TV show that will feature independent wrestlers who want to succeed in the wrestling profession.
Greg Price's NWA New Beginnings drew almost 400 on Valentine's Day for it's debut event up against the Daytona 500. Tully Blanchard booked the show. The double main event saw Blue Demon Jr. over Zack Salvation to retain the NWA heavyweight title, and Phil Shatter won a No. 1 contenders match over Adam Pearce. The next show is March 14.
Scott Steiner is now taking wrestling and personal appearance bookings through Bill Behrens at showbis@aol.com.
Bill Apter interviews Austin Idol at http://tinyurl.com/yzanccp.
www.clubwwi.com has new audio interviews with Greg Gagne, son of Verne Gagne, and Robert Gibson of Rock-n-Roll Express fame. This site has bar none the most extensive wrestler interview archive of any where on the web.
www.carnagecrew.net has a new audio show online with Tommy Rich and Jerry Lynn as the call in guests.
New York's WPIX 11 TV on Tuesday will be broadcasting from the IWF Pro Wrestling School in West Paterson, NJ. The report airs at 4:55am and again at 7:25am with trainers Kevin Knight and Jim Powers.
A wrestling convention is scheduled for May 8 in White Plains, NY with some of proceeds being donated to the Capt. Lou Albano's former high school that's hosting it. Sabu, Vampiro, AJ Styles, and The Pope, are among those scheduled. More info at www.prowrestlingfanfest.com.
There is a legends convention in Atlanta on March 12-13 at Sheraton Atlanta Gateway Hotel near the Atlanta Airport. The line up includes mostly tag teams: The Midnight Express with Jim Cornette, The Rock-n-Roll Express, Demolition, The Koloff's, Ivan Putski & Tito Santana, as well as Mr. Hughes, Tommy Rich, and Johnny Valiant. More info at www.legendsmania.com.
Fighting Females, an online magazine dedicated to women's wrestling has just posted its latest edition online. It's a news special looking back at more than seven months of what's been happening in the world of women's wrestling around the world and includes interviews with LuFisto and Mercedes Martinez. The mag is free at www.fightingfemales.co.uk.
Former WWE Diva Ashley Massaro announced yesterday that she just got engaged to the love of her life. It wasn't Matt Hardy or Paul London.
Today's Diva of the Day is Missy Hyatt at http://www.thewrestlingpress.com/DailyDiva.
