WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT
4/13 NXT TV results from London, England: Christian over Wade Barrett; William Regal over Daniel Bryan; and Darren Young over Luke Gallows.
4/13 Raw house show results from Sheffield, England: Evan Bourne over Chavo Guerrero MVP over Dos Caras; Chris Masters vs. Hornswoggle in a Masterlock Challenge was a no contest; Eve Torres over Maryse with Kelly Kelly as referee; Ted DiBiase Jr. over Kofi Kingston; Sheamus over Mark Henry; and John Cena & Randy Orton over Batista & Big Show. Bret Hart also worked the show as guest host. Bourne-Guerrero was said to be match of the night.
The European tour continues today with Raw in Strasbourg, France and Smackdown in Oberhausen, Germany.
***
Former Diva Maria Kanellis did an interview with Diva-Dirt.com to push her new album. She was fairly critical when talking about WWE creative saying it sucked for the women who seem to be consigned to working two minute matches and used mostly in comedy segments. She also alluded to the women being reprimanded for producing good matches. As an example, she said that Melina and Michelle McMcCool were told that their ring work looked "too devastating" following their 2009 Night of Champions title match. She said, "We're supposed to be sexy, strong and powerful women but at the same time, how can we show we're sexy, strong and powerful women when you're not even allowing us to talk? You're not even letting us do anything other than go out there maybe in a Baywatch bikini and act like 'Oh this is just awesome', but no it's not, it sucks. There's nothing to it, it's not showing anything. I'd rather go out there like I used to do with Torrie (Wilson), Trish (Stratus), and Stacy (Kiebler) and put on an eight minute pillowfight than put on a two-minute Baywatch match. It doesn't make any sense." Melina Perez apparently wasn't too happy with some of Maria's comments in the interview. She responded on Twitter, "Our little Maria, I wish you can find it in your soul to be honest one day. To tell THE TRUTH. I admire your strong will and believe you will always shine in some way because you have it in you, no doubt. I just pray you see the truth about certain things in life and Speak The Truth. Treasure the fact that you did so much with the WWE and did it successfully! Now you are doing amazing things and your album is doing great! You are blessed and are young so there is more to come. If saying those things make you feel better, I hope you do. All I hope is that you are happy. I love you no matter what Maria. And I'm still proud."
The New York Times has a story on Smackdown moving to SyFy at http://tinyurl.com/y7q3k6g. WWE COO Donna Goldsmith is quoted as saying, "Cable is where it’s at right now" adding she didn't anticipate losing many viewers moving from MNTV as SyFy is almost equivalent to a broadcast network. The story noted that the deal is for two years, with an option for a third year. Goldsmith also confirmed that they are trying to find a new home for NXT.
Rey Mysterio is said to be really banged up right now. He was looking at another knee surgery earlier this year but wanted to get past Wrestlemania first before making a decision.
November dates were announced for WWE's next European tour which includes Raw and Smackdown tapings at the MEN Arena in Manchester, England on 11/8 and 11/9.
David Hasselhoff talks about his "Hoffsome night" as Raw guest host at http://ow.ly/174iUa.
The WWE website posted part one of a story on the former Warlord (Terry Szopinski) at http://ow.ly/174hjD. I believe he's now living near Fort Lauderdale, FL and running a security company, but I may be wrong.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING
TNA CFO Dean Broadhead recently made serious overtures to a major name who's WWE contract is about to expire. This person declined the offer but didn't rule out doing business in the future. Broadhead asked this person what they would do to improve the television product, and their response was to remove Vince Russo from creative. This person also laid blame on TNA's problems with Hulk Hogan saying that his days as a money or ratings draw are behind him although admitting that Hogan is valuable in terms of garnering mainstream media attention.
Cameron, Orlando Jordan's storyline companion, is gone from the company. Apparently they have already found someone to replace him if they decide to continue the gimmick. This stems partly from a bar incident following the last live Impact. We've heard differing versions but something happened on the dance floor of the Hard Rock which led to an intoxicated Ric Flair cutting a promo on the kid and making him cry. This all went down in front of a major television executive. Flair's wife was also present and was apologizing to people afterwards. Cameron showed up to the Tuesday taping the next day but was not used.
The leading contender of new names suggested for The Band, believe it or not, is "The Klique" or a slight variation of that spelling. Nobody has registered that mark, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Kevin Nash was the one who made the suggestion and joked that they could tease Shawn Michaels coming in. Michaels is still on the WWE payroll despite his retirement and will likely remain in that position for a long time to come.
There is talk again about reducing the number of PPV's to 6-8 shows per year and running three hour specials on Spike. Not sure about the later idea but reducing the number of PPV's will help the company financially as since bringing in the big names they are losing more money than ever before.
Spike sent out a press release yesterday claiming Impact averaged a 0.9 rating on Monday night. The actual rating was 0.79, according to Nelson, but a Spike rep said they rounded the number up. Not sure what they were rounding it up to. Quarter hours were 0.74, 0.84, 0.83, 0.85, 0.78, 0.65, 0.72, 0.80 and 0.97 for an overrun which ran just over 30 seconds.
The Nasty Boys and Consequences Creed were removed from the TNA website roster. Daniels is still listed.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
Sad to report the death today of Gene Kiniski at the age of 81. He had recently stopped eating after his cancer spread to his brain. Kiniski was one of the all-time great heels who's career spanned just over 40 years winning multiple championships. The pinnacle of Kiniski's career came in January, 1966, when he defeated Lou Thesz to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in front of 11,612 fans at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. Greg Oliver has a really great obit at http://tinyurl.com/y3kdco6 which I encourage everyone to check out.
British wrestler, Jetta, 22 of SHIMMER fame, has announced that she will be leaving the business. She has been wrestling around the world for seven years but succumbed to nagging injuries and has new life plans. She didn't rule out returning in the future noting nobody ever really retires. Her final show is next month in Belgium.
www.carnagecrew.net has a new audio show online with JJ Dillon as a guest.
Dave Herro presents Great Lakes Championship Wrestling this weekend in Racine, WI with Roddy Piper, Sean Waltman, Al Snow, Road Warrior Animal, Road Dogg, and Traci Brooks. For more info call (262) 636-9169 or visit www.blizzardbrawl.com.
Chris Daniels talks returning to Ring of Honor at http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/april-14th-videowire/.
Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw vs. Gran Akuma & Akira Tozawa was announced for Dragon Gate USA on 5/7 in Windsor, ONT. More info at www.dgusa.tv.
Shane Helms is doing his first post-WWE interview tomorrow at 4pm PST at Jeff Katz' website www.geekweek.com.
OVW in Louisville, KY is holding a tryout day soon where one person will be awarded one year free tuition at OVW's school under Danny Davis and Rip Rogers. More info at www.ovwrestling.com.
Wrestlicious signed a deal with The Fight Network in Canada to start airing it's shows beginning in early May.
Today's Diva of the Day at http://www.thewrestlingpress.com/DailyDiva.
