WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
2/21 Elimination Chamber PPV results from St. Louis, MO: John Cena captured the WWE title over Sheamus, Triple H, Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase & Kofi Kingston in the Raw Chamber; but then Batista won the title over Cena after Vince made a title match straight away; The Miz over MVP for the U.S. title in a match added to fill time; Maryse vs. Gail Kim for the vacant Divas title never happened but instead we got Michelle McCool & Lalya over Maryse & Gail Kim; Drew McIntyre over Kane to retain the IC title; and Chris Jericho captured the World heavyweight title over The Undertaker; John Morrison, R-Truth, CM Punk, & Rey Mysterio in the Smackdown Chamber. Final two were Jericho and Taker but Shawn Michaels was hidden beneath the ring and screwed Taker likely to set up their match at Wrestlemania. Dark match was Christian over Ezekiel Jackson.
Raw is live tonight from Indianapolis with Ty Murray and Jewel as the guest hosts; plus Edge announcing who he will face for the ttile at Wrestlemania. Nothing else announced for the show at press time. The Smackdown tapings are Tuesday in Milwaukee with Michelle McCool vs. Mickie James for the Women's title with Vickie Guerrero as referee. We're looking for reader reports from both shows to you2us@wrestlingglobe.com.
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The Undertaker got the shock of his life last night when he was engulfed in a fireball due to a pyro malfunction during his ring entrance. The TV cameras didn't show entirely what happened but he ran down the aisle while frantically trying to remove his black leather robe. He suffered first and second degree burns on his chest and neck, and off camera as the match progressed referee's handed him bottles of water to douse his burns. You can watch fan cell phone footage of the incident on YouTube although WWE has been working hard all day to remove them claiming copyright infringement. Backstage after the PPV, according to sources, Taker cut a promo on production crew, as he was understandably upset over the incident. He isn't expected to miss any time.
The Connecticut Post has an article on the competition between Rob Simmons and Linda McMahon for press coverage in the Connecticut Republican primary campaigns. No real new ground is broken and the article contains a couple of inaccuracies, depending on context, especially where Linda discuses the use of steroids. The Post quotes George Steele, Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy Hart, Brutus Beefcake, and Bret Hart. Everyone was complimentary to Linda except Beefcake who is still upset that WWE owns the copyright to Brutus the Barber. The story at http://tinyurl.com/y9qjbd6 noted that, "Vince McMahon has been kept away from the media, and the WWE declined a request to interview him." Most interesting is the story also notes that WWE is now providing mainstream press with primers which answers the most commonly asked questions like, 'How many wrestlers have died while under contract with the WWE?' The WWE answer is "only five" which I assume means under their watch. Presumably they are including -- Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Brian Pillman and Rick McGraw [1980s prelim wrestler who died of a heart attack]. McGraw was well-known in the wrestling business as having a severe drug problem. In Bret Hart's autobiography, Bret wrote: "Every night he'd swallow a handful of Placidyls and wind up passed out face down in his dinner...The cause of his death was labelled a heart attack, but we all knew his heart had given out under deadly dosages of downers." McGraw died just days after wrestling Roddy Piper in a nationally televised match. Some less savvy fans at the time felt the match led to McGraw's death.
Chavo Guerrero Jr. badly sprained his ankle over the weekend.
A couple of interesting Tweets last night from Jim Ross and Chris Jericho. Ross tweeted regarding announcing on the PPV, "Wish King would backhand Striker. Cole directing traffic. Chamber hard 2 follow. Striker's on an adjective rush. Intervention pls." Jericho wrote, "Wow, World Champion for the sixth time. This could never happen in TNA!" This was in reponse to Eric Bischoff saying during a recent radio interview that he feels Jericho could never be a world champion in TNA.
The new backstage nickname given to Drew McIntyre is Avatar. You know, like the tribal creatures from the movie and apparently because his girlfriend controls him.
The Fox news affiliate in St. Louis has a nice piece on John Cena granting a wish to a 10-year-old girl who suffers from a rare form of Epilesy at http://tinyurl.com/y9yo89y.
World-class talker Jim Cornette recalls Dave Batista when he first started in WWE developmental in Louisville a few years ago at http://tinyurl.com/yj4h39w
Cliff Compton [the former Domino] is back working in developmental.
British wrestler Jemma Palmer got her Visa application stamped and starts in FCW next month. She is best known in the UK for playing the character "Inferno" on the Gladiators television series.
Slim Jim sent out a press release today announcing themselves as official sponsors of Wrestlemania 26 and SummerSlam later this year. A new "Spicy Side" commercial featuring Edge, who now follows in the footsteps of Randy Savage, will debut on USA Network and MyNetworkTV during upcoming episodes of Raw and Smackdown.
Bret Hart posted a message on his website playing up to last week's storyline twist. He wrote: "It was really great seeing so many of the WWE wrestlers backstage in the last couple of months. I would've loved to have spent more time with many of them. I won't be at Raw in Indianapolis but it would've been great to have gone back there another great city where I've had many great matches. One of the greatest matches of my career was against Roddy Piper at WrestleMania VIII. I can think of a lot of guys that loved wrestling there. It was a good wrestling town and it would've been nice to say ''Hi' to them after all these years. It's been hard getting around with my leg but, all things considered, the weather's been really nice and, with the Olympics on, it's worth propping your leg up and getting lost in the excitement of it all. I simply don't have anything to say about Canada's loss in Olympic hockey against the feisty Americans. Canadians fight best when their backs are pressed against the wall. I still believe! Go Canada Go!"
TNA WRESTLING NEWS
Ric Flair's wife, Jacqueline Beems, was arrested late last night following a domestic dispute. She was charged with simple assault for using aggressive physical force. Cops responded to a disturbance call from the couple's Charlotte apartment in which Flair suffered minor injuries, but refused hospital treatment, according to the arrest report. Beems has since been released from jail. Flair told the cops that they had just returned home from dinner when Beems assaulted him. The story has already made the Charlotte Observer newspaper as well as local news and radio affiliates. Flair and Beems were married on November 11. This is not the first time that Flair and his family have had violent run-ins. He was left bloody after an alleged street fight with his daughter Ashley's boyfriend in 2008.
Mick Foley has just completed his fourth memoir, Countdown to Lockdown, which will be published later this year. Foley will be donating half the proceeds from his book to RAINN, the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network.
One of our readers writes: 'I ordered Against All Odds last Sunday on TNA Video Vault since they stopped showing the PPV's in the UK. The stream was OK but it cut out a few times causing me to miss the first six or seven minutes of the AJ vs Joe match. I was a bit annoyed since I'd had to pay for the show and didn't get to see it all so I sent TNA an email explaining what happened and asking them if they'd be improving the service in the future. I didn't really expect a reply so I was surprised when I saw an email in my inbox this morning. More than that I was really surprised and impressed when it said that since I had problems with the PPV I would be able to watch Destination X for free. Just thought I'd pass on since it's good to see any company offering such good customer service and it's always nice to hear something positive about TNA.'
Rent-A-Center announced that Hulk Hogan is their latest "power personality" to join them as a spokesperson along with former Dallas Cowboys QB Troy Aikman. Hogan is scheduled to pitch the laurels of renting when you can't afford to buy later this month.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
ROH tonight on HDNet had Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. The Young Bucks in their last televised match as the Bucks; Rhett Titus vs. El Generico; Colt Cabana vs. Bobby Shields; and footage of Tyler Black's ROH title win in New York City.
Mexican wrestler Hijo del Tirantes was robbed last weekend at knife point following a flight from Apizaco back to his home in Mexico City. He was reportedly setup by a taxi driver that was taking him to his hotel. The driver stopped at a street blocks away and told him that he was being robbed as two more men entered the cab with a knife and took all of his possessions. They struck him in the face and jabbed him in the neck with the blade although he wasn’t actually stabbed. He was eventually dropped him off on a street where the police found him but he couldn’t give them any details as it was so dark he couldn’t see his attackers clearly. He eventually made it to his hotel where he was cleaned up. He said that he is very thankful to God for keeping him alive and that material things can come and go but his life is invaluable. [Thanks to Kris Zellner]
Box y Lucha in Mexico is reporting that Juventud Guerrera won his court case against AAA and Konnan. He was reportedly awarded cash compensation. Shortly after his return to AAA last year, Guerrera suffered a broken nose in a backstage fight with Konnan and Jack Evans. The fight started after Guerrera accused Konnan of defecating in his bag, which Konnan denied, and then Evans, with whom Guerrera had had a match that night, grabbed Guerrera from behind, provoking the fight. Guerrera has not wrestled for AAA since the incident.
Leon "Vader" White is planning to form a tag team with his son Jesse in Japan this summer. Vader has dropped a lot of weight during the past several months having made some lifestyles changes and becoming a born-again Christian. Jesse played football with Oklahoma University and was touted for the NFL, but was taken out last year with a back injury. He graduates in May and spent last summer training with Harley Race at his school in Eldon, MO.
Former ECW wrestler New Jack announced in a video message that he was donating his brain after death to medical research. He said Dawn Marie contacted him recently and talked him into calling The Sports Legacy Institute who do great work examining the long-term effects of head trauma among athletes. The video is at http://tinyurl.com/ycwgf72.
Paul London and Brian Kendrick will be hosting a training seminar in Burlington, NC, on Friday. For more infomation you can email to pwsprowrestling@gmail.com.
Candice Michelle is making a GoDaddy.com appearance today at UCLA.
Today's Diva of the Day is Kelly Kelly at http://www.thewrestlingpress.com/DailyDiva.
