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WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER
Sunday January 31, 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 at RRO.
WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
1/29 Smackdown TV results from Cleveland, OH: Triple H over CM Punk; R-Truth over Chris Jericho; Drew McIntyre over John Morrison to retain the IC title; Michelle MCCool over Lalya as Mickie James; and Rey Mysterio vs. Shawn Michaels was a no contest.
1/30 Supershow results from Macon, GA: Yoshi Tatsu over Zach Ryder; Drew McIntyre over John Morrison; The Bella Twins over Layla & Natalya Niedhart; Finley over Tyler Reks; The Miz over MVP; Christian over Ezekiel Jackson; Big Show over Mark Henry; DX & Kofi Kingston over Legacy & Randy Orton; and John Cena defeated Sheamus via DQ. The show drew an estimated 7,000.
Raw TV is Monday from Nashville with William Shatner as guest host, plus Bret Hart. The SD/ECW tapings are Tuesday in Memphis which usually means a Jerry Lawler appearance.
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The Atlanta Business Journal reported on Friday that "a major sporting event" has been scheduled at the Georgia Dome. The official announcement of Wrestlemania 27 at the Dome will be made tonight during the pay-per-view.
Santino Marella's name was removed from the WWE.com list of Rumble participants. R-Truth was added. 25/30 names are known at press time plus John Morrison did a radio interview yesterday saying he would be involved. That leaves four open spots including one name we know is planned as a surprise although this person is not who most people assume.
Memphis indy wrestler Dustin Starr is booked on tonight's show.
Gregory Helms was told to stay at home and isn't booked for tonight's show or the television tapings next week. He is taking all the heat from the incident that led to his and Chris Jericho's arrest this past week in Kentucky.
The pay-per-view $5 price increase goes into effect from tonight.
There are some very detailed Rumble stats at http://tinyurl.com/y9ajp5p.
Chris Jericho had some amusing tweets over the weekend including, "Just had the TMZ camera kicked out of the Fozzy Instore. Sorry No footage tonight gossip girls..." and "Bischoff's right, I can't headline in TNA...cos I'm not in my 50s."
Superstars on Thursday night did a 1.0 rating and 962,000 viewers.
Weekend airings on WWE Vintage Collection featured an edited version of the1996 Royal Rumble which was won by Shawn Michaels.
Absentee Raw guest host James Roday of Psych fame cuts a promo on Alicia Fox at http://tinyurl.com/yb6ocut.
TNA WRESTLING NEWS
1/29 house show results from Manchester, England: Amazing Red over Sabin & Suicide in a three-way; Rob Terry over Eric Young; Pope over Rhino; AJ Styles over Samoa Joe, Chris Daniels & Hernandez in a four-way; Kurt Angle over Desmond Wolfe; Taylor Wilde & Sarita over Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne with Hamada as guest referee; and Team 3D over The British Invasion & Beer Money in a three-way Tables match. The show drew an estimated 5,000.
1/30 house show results from London, England: Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne over Taylor Wilde & Sarita with Hamada as guest referee; Desmond Wolfe over The Pope; Samoa Joe & Hernandez over Eric Young & Rhino; Beer Money over Team 3D and The British Invasion; Doug Williams over Suicide, Chris Sabin, Amazing Red & Daniels in an Ultimate X match; and AJ Styles over Kurt Angle. The show drew just over 5,000 paid--down significantly from last year when they set their all-time attendance record drawing 8,100 to the same arena.
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There were a lot of unhappy fans over a bait and switch from an advertised Ladder match Friday night in Manchester, England. TNA had promoted this match for months but did a strange angle involving Styles where he refused to participate. Dixie Carter, who was sat ringside, then cut a promo and ordered him to work the match. Anyway, they didn't do one but never explained why. Presumably the deal was to put heat on Styles, but still, you don't burn your own fans like this especially at a house show where the Ladder match is the main selling point.
In Manchester, Dixie Carter told fans that she had dinner that day with Alex Ferguson, coach of the Manchester United soccer team, and several local soccer players attended the TNA show that night. She also bragged about being friends with several WWE talents and showed fans her cell phone address book which included names we probably shouldn't mention here.
Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff were guests on Bubba the Love Sponge on Friday. They spent an hour answering different questions from callers. When asked about Impact going live on March 1 they claimed it wasn't confirmed but said they had read rumors to that effect on the Internet. On going PG, they said that wouldn't happen and will continue to push the envelope each week. When asked about the creative pecking order, Hogan said Russo writes television and then Bischoff "gets an overview of the shit and then he fixes everything." Hogan also ripped into Russo over his "fake wrestling" comments. They both defended the Orlando screw job last week admitting they don't care if they produce shitty television as long as people talk about the show, even in a negative way. Hogan said he wants to bring in the Macho Man to manage Jay Lethal. That will never happen. Regarding a TNA developmental group, they both said there are no current plans but if they did have one--it would likely be Brian Knobbs' sachool in Clearwater, FL. On creating new stars, Bischoff put over Desmond Wolfe while Hogan described Abyss as "the next John Cena!" Seriously. When asked about Sting working limited dates and missing the last television taping [due to a family emergency], they both pretty much buried him saying that he hurt the company and should show more commitment. Bischoff also burried WWE's Big Show and Jericho, saying he thinks Show is lazy and Jericho wouldn't be able to headline in TNA.
Impact did it's highest ever rating [but not viewership] for a Thursday night this past week with a 1.4 rating and 1,867,000 viewers. The show opened with a 1.5 rating but they lost viewers in every single quarter hour until the final 15 minutes.
Scott Hall and Sean Waltman were removed from the opening montage of Impact. Both are still part of future plans but there is a lot of heat on them right now.
Bobby Lashley won his Strikeforce force debut over Wes Sims last night to extend his MMA record to 5-0. He won via TKO after landing multiple strikes in the first round. Sims wasn't happy afterwards. He told media he thought the referee stopped the fight too early. He said: "I warned [the referee] three times that he kept gouging me in the throat. Then I rolled over and gave my back, I took one strike and the ref stops it? I ain't no rookie. I've been in the sport for a long time. I have a helluva high pain threshhold. Bogus stoppage... [Lashley is] just a big juiced up monkey. He ain't got MMA skills... He's juiced. We did not have a drug test. And his own wrestlers threw him under the bus. I'm good friends with a lot of wrestlers."
BBC2 in Wales had a feature on Rob Terry to promote the UK tour. When asked how he got his freaky physique he said he eats a lot of bananas, drinks protein shakes, and trains hard for two hours every day. I guess that's the new magical formula. They also interviewed Brother Ray, Hernandez, and Dixie Carter after Terry won the Global Championship. Story is at the 20-minute mark at http://tinyurl.com/yhhkq4s.
Vince Russo is apparently no longer blogging on his Facebook page. His site will now be maintained "by an administrator who is in contact with Russo."
AAA in Mexico are talking to TNA about bringing in Hernadez for an extended stay.
Mick Foley talks Awesome Kong slapping around Bubba the Love Sponge at http://tinyurl.com/yemdnsc.
Tazz wrote on his Twitter page that he may need a partial knee replacement in the future. He has the option of taking some injections that would delay surgery, but surgery is inevitable at some point. He said he won't be missing any time.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
Davey Richards has re-signed with Ring of Honor in a deal that means he can no longer work for Dragon Gate USA or Evolve with former ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky. Richards told Sapolsky and Sal Hamaoui [money man behind Dragon Gate/Evolve] a few months ago that he didn't have a contract with ROH and they subsequently planned several events around his name. The belief is that he did have a contract with ROH all along. Things came to a head recently when Sapolski announced Richards for his Wrestlemania weekend cards in Pheonix. Richards committed to the Dragon Gate dates and told ROH that he wouldn't be available for their shows noting he was frustrated that he hadn't had a raise for three years, and that Dragon Gate was offering more money.
Mike Mooneyham has a nice article on Georgiann Makropoulos at http://tinyurl.com/ygvanlb.
Today's Diva of the Day is Awesome Kong at http://www.thewrestlingpress.com/DailyDiva.
