WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
WWE today announced more pay-per-view names changes for later in the year. Out goes: Backlash, Judgment Day, The Bash, and Breaking Point. In comes: Wild Card on May 23 from Oakland; Fatal Four Way on June 20 TBA; and Money in the Bank on July 18 from Kansas City. The new name for Survivor Series on November 21 from Miami is still TBA. Extreme Rules moves to April 25 from Baltimore, and Night of Champions moves to September 19 from Rosemont.
The final episode of ECW on Tuesday night did a 1.14 rating and 1.4 million viewers. It's highest mark of 2010.
Layla El was interviewed at http://tinyurl.com/yzyumaj. She says she wants an Elimination Chamber match for the Divas. "Women can do the same things as men can do, I believe in that a hundred percent. I know society has changed where, you know, equal rights and stuff like that but sometimes I feel like it’s not right there. We do live sometimes in more of a dominated male world but I think eventually women are going to get better and better and I think women’s wrestling as well. We’re hoping to be taken a lot more seriously in the future." She claims she suffers from "sleep-eating" what ever that is. "My metabolism is crazy, and I will wake up in the middle of the night, always hungry, and I eat. Whether I’m in a hotel room, stuff like that, and I can’t help myself. I’ll wake up the next morning and not realise that I’ve actually eaten unless I find the packets or stuff like that, or friends will tell me that I ate in my sleep or something. So it’s a bad quality. Only when I’m dieting I try to lock everything away. Just put water and a protein shake beside me so that I won’t eat anything bad." She also says she can't get a boyfriend and in ten years time she wants to own a dance studio. "I see myself married. And hopefully have a few kids or two, [because] I am getting older, and women, our time-clocks start ticking. And, I just… hopefully married with kids… by then I hope that I would have attained the [WWE Women's] title. That’s my goal. I want to be the first British girl, and the first Diva Search winner, to attain the title... It hasn’t been done yet, so I can break two records with that."
Chris Jericho was announced as a co-host for the second annual Golden Gods awards show on April 8 in Los Angeles. The show airs May 22 on VH-1 Classic. There appears to be a schedule conflict as Jericho is advertised for a house show the same night in Berlin, Germany.
The Alton, IL Telegraph has a story on Evan Bourne at http://tinyurl.com/ya4g37s. This is a strange one. The story originally listed him as a participant in the Raw Elimination Chamber match at Sunday's pay-per-view, and even included quotes where he talks the match. All those references have now been removed or tweaked to fit the narrative. Bourne isn't booked on the PPV card, but he may be working a dark match as he says his parents will be sat ringside cheering him on.
Channel 4 in St. Louis interviewed Rey Mysterio. He talks about the history of Lucha Libre, his father who's really his uncle, his faith, pushing his kids to do well in school, and more at http://tinyurl.com/ykfzmru.
Jerry Lawler at http://tinyurl.com/ykltcb7 talks about his love for Idol [not Austin]. He says he's a big Alexis Grace fan and this season he's favoring Crystal Bowersox, Lacey Brown, Katie Stevens and Tyler Grady.
Steve Austin will serve as Honorary Starter for the Auto Club 500 on Sunday in San Bernnardino County. He's promoting the DVD release of Damage on March 23.
The Miz fired the first NXT shot via his Twitter page last night. He wrote: "How long has Daniel Bryanson been in the business again? How many titles do I have?" Miz also blogs in character at http://tinyurl.com/yk75baf ripping on the fans and questioning whether Daniel Bryan has any charisma. "It's come to my knowledge that some members of the WWE Universe think they know everything about WWE and what it takes to be a WWE Superstar. They think that if a guy does well in the independent minor leagues, then all of a sudden he should be in the WWE. They think that if a guy can main event in front of a hundred people at a bingo hall, then he's ready to main event at WrestleMania. Just because fans on the Internet say you’re ready doesn't mean you really are. Just because a fat guy with no teeth who sits in the front row, buys your T-shirt and says you're the king of wrestling, doesn't mean you really are." He adds that Daniel will have a nightmare on NXT if he believes his hype. "Don't get me wrong, Daniel Bryan has all the talent in the world, but every wrestler has weaknesses. And that's what my job is, to find his weakness and make him the biggest star possible."
IGN.com interviewed John Morrison at http://tinyurl.com/yfwq4da. He says nobody knew who they were mentoring on NXT before it was announced on the final ECW [some did] and says people are ribbing Miz for mentoring Daniel Bryan. "I walked by and said [to Miz], 'Pssh, he knows more that you do.' And that's pretty much what everyone thinks. It's going to be interesting and I think that's the point of it."
Matt Hardy adds his two cents on NXT at http://tinyurl.com/ycl5tlc. He says he looks forward to watching Miz mentoring Daniel Bryan. Jeff Hardy also makes a cameo saying nobody knows where he and Shannon Moore might show up next: TNA or WWE.
Rosa Mendes, Tiffany and Savannah are back training in developmental.
Today's Gainesville, FL, Sun ran a blurb on Thaddeus Bullard, a former Florida Gator defensive end, who is now wrestling as Titus O'Neill in FCW.
Six Flags Kentucky in Louisville abruptly announced the park would be permanently closed due to a lease dispute with the Kentucky State Fair Board. The park was home to OVW shows that featured WWE headliners in the summer months dating back years. The shows would help fund Danny Davis' group while they were affiliated with WWE as a developmental camp from 2000 to 2008. The lease payment had been a significant hurdle for the park in recent years. There was also a major lawsuit in 2007 when a 13-year-old girl had both feet severed above the ankle by a snapped cable, caused by an unidentified ride malfunction. She successfully had her right foot reattached but the family of the girl filed a suit for unspecified damages claiming that the park did not properly maintain the ride. A State report later concluded that the accident was due to a faulty cable, as well as poor operator training. A substantial out of court settlement was finalized last year to provide lifetime care for the girl. And the park was pretty much history.
TNA WRESTLING NEWS
Impact tonight on Spike has Tara vs. Daffney in a non-title match; Samoa Joe vs. Orlando Jordan; Kaz, Amazing Red, and Generation Me vs. Doug Williams, The Machine Guns & Brian Kendrick; Abyss vs. Jeff Jarrett; and Kurt Angle vs. Daniels.
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Booboo Stewart from the upcoming Twilight movie interviews Madison Rayne at http://tinyurl.com/yhty3d5. She says her favorite wrestlers are Shawn Michaels and Trish Stratus.
The Pope cuts a money promo on the TNA today webshow at http://tinyurl.com/yegp625.
For the week ending February 7 in the UK, Impact drew 153,000 viewers for two airings on Bravo. WWE Raw did 166,000 viewers for two airings, and Smackdown drew 228,000 viewers for three airings, respectively on Sky Sports. [Thanks to Ian Hamilton]
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
Today marks the 15th anniversary of the death of Eddie Gilbert and the 17th anniversary of the death of Kerry Von Erich.
Frank Martinez, a journeymen wrestler in 1960s and 1970s, passed away on Sunday in Tampa, FL. He was 81. Martinez wrestled all over the world and held the NWA Southern tag titles on three separate occasions with Al Greene. His funeral takes place Friday morning at the Adams and Jennings Funeral Home in Tampa.
There is a Louis Spicolli Memorial show Friday night in San Bernardino, CA. Rob Van Dam is making a special appearance. More info at www.empirewrestlingfederation.com.
Former pro wrestler Ken Shamrock has lost his legal battle with the UFC over a long standing contract dispute. In a suit filed in April 2008, Shamrock claimed that the UFC violated his contract after they cut him in June 2007 with one fight remaining on his deal. He last fight in the UFC was an October 2006 loss to Tito Ortiz which was broadcast on Spike and drew the highest rating in U.S. MMA history at the time. Shamrock demanded hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation for being cut. Judge Susan H. Johnson ruled that Shamrock should be awarded no damages saying that the UFC had the legal right to void fighter contracts if the fighter lost his most recent fight. The UFC sent out a press release stating that they now want Shamrock to pay it's legal expenses: "The UFC has a clear and unambiguous attorney fee clause in all of its contracts with fighters to the effect, that in the event a fighter loses any contractual challenge in court, that fighter will be responsible for paying our fees. Accordingly, we will be filing a motion to seek recovery of all of our expenses and fees which were occasioned by this lawsuit." Shamrock, 45, hasn't fought since February 2009. He is expected to face Seth Petruzelli later this year. He was originally scheduled to face Bobby Lashley last March but tested positive for steroids in California and received a one year suspension.
Alex Marvez has a story on Colt Cabana at http://tinyurl.com/y9zn9zn. He talks about his weekly improv skits at ComedySportz in Chicago. Regarding his WWE release, he puts over Steve Keirn, Tom Prichard and Dusty Rhodes who run developmental. "I look at it from both a positive and negative standpoint. The positives are that I got to work for the biggest wrestling company in the world and earn a weekly paycheck for almost two years... On the negative side, I never did one singles match competitively. I never did dark matches or was put on the road. In my debut match, I lost to Brian Kendrick. The next time, I was squashed by Vladimir Kozlov in a handicap match. Obviously, Vince McMahon is not going to see that and say, 'This guy is so talented. Let's take a long look at him.'"
Greg Oliver has a story on the son of Canadian legend Whipper Billy Watson at http://tinyurl.com/yc2zrer. Waston talks about traveling the world and learning grappling with shooters at the infamous Wigan Gym in England.
Jim Cornette will be a special guest at NWA: New Beginnings in Charlotte on March 14. Main event is Blue Demon Jr. vs. Phil Shatter for the NWA title. More info at www.nwalegends.com/nb.htm.
Cornette has a new Podcast at http://whosslammingwho.podomatic.com/ where he rips on TNA [mostly Russo] for giving away the in-ring returns of Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair for free. He also guarantees where you can watch the best wrestling show of 2010.
Florida indie wrestler Chasyn Rance walked off the first episode of the VH-1 reality series Tool Academy. Apparently to prevent himself from killing one of the other contestants.
Bobbi Billard, a former WWE developmental Diva, plays the role of Anna Nicole Smith on VH1's new show Famous Crime Scene which airs Friday at 9 pm ET.
Today's Diva of the Day is Sherri Martel at http://www.thewrestlingpress.com/DailyDiva.
