Wrestling Globe Newsletter by Mike Aldren - All the latest professional wrestling news and analysis direct to your inbox. WGN is read by industry power players, many top wrestlers and thousands of fans from around the world.
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WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT
The Smackdown/NXT tapings are Tuesday at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut.
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Restrictions on flights across UK controlled airspace will remain in place until Tuesday, air traffic control company Nats has said. That means the Raw crew is not getting back for television this week and they possibly won't be able to return to the U.S. for a few more days.
Former WWE wrestler Matt Wiese, 36, better known as Luther Reigns, suffered a stroke last year, reports the Arizona Republic. Wiese has been pretty much retired from pro wrestling since 2006. He currently attends an outpatient clinic three times per week and is taking sessions with a speech therapist. He says he hopes to recover enough to eventually relocate to Los Angeles and become an actor. He cites steroid abuse and pain pill addiction as a contributing cause to his stroke saying that when he worked for WWE he abused pain meds to get through the travel schedule. "We wrestled every night, damn near every night," he said. "We were beat to hell. So we needed pain pills to do our job." The story notes that WWE now operates a Talent Wellness Program. Dr. Joseph Maroon is quoted saying that since the introduction of the program he has seen a 90 percent drop in detection of banned substances in WWE talent. Former WWE wrestler Armando Estrada is also quoted defending the company saying that it's personal choice whether guys choose to take drugs and abuse their bodies. Story is at http://tinyurl.com/y53u5wj.
Dos Caras Jr. received some good reviews by his peers on the European tour. People who have worked with him say he speaks great English which obviously is a huge plus. The plan to eventually establish him on television and promote him on WWE's Mexican tours where his father, Don Caras, was a legend in the 1970s and 80s, and was one of the greatest heavyweights ever to come out of Mexico. Caras Jr. is also the nephew of legendary Luchador Mil Mascaras. Before entering the family business he earned a degree in architecture and competed on the Mexican national team in Greco-Roman wrestling during the late 90s. He won the Central American and Caribbean Games in his weight division three times and won a medal at the Pan American Games in 1999. He was also on track to compete at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Australia, but due to lack of funding and support Mexico did not send a wrestling team that year.
There is talk of doing a King of the Ring tournament this year as a dual-brand tournament to give one of the younger guys a rub. Regal won the last KOTR in 2008 which took place during a 3-hour Raw in Greenville, SC.
The Monctun Times & Transcript in Canada has a story on Ted DiBiase Sr. at http://tinyurl.com/y5o23za. He talks about his ministry work and surviving the rock-n-roll lifestyle of an 80s wrestler. He recalled, "The divorce rate in wrestling was huge. Similar to other people in other fields of either athletics or entertainment, you get hurt out there on the road, but the show's got to go on, so you take pain pills. And (some would) get addicted to pain pills and then mix it with booze. How many stories have you heard about guys dying by mixing the two? I did my share of drinking, and I did some drugs too. But I was never addicted to any of that stuff." He also said he wrestled his last match years ago. "Hulk Hogan is a good guy. Ric Flair ... I've known these guys for a long time. I consider them friends, but I'm 56 years old... I'm the same age as Hulk Hogan. And he's still trying to (wrestle). Ric Flair is over 60. I think he's 61 or 62, and he's still trying to go out there. Both those guys had tremendous careers, and to me, what they're doing now, it just tarnishes what they had."
Dusty Rhodes talks Jim Crockett Promotions and 80s wrestling at http://www.sportstownchicago.com/insidesqcir.cfm. He said he enjoyed his famous feud with Ric Flair but his favorite feuds were the deals with Kevin Sullivan, Terry Funk and Tully Blanchard.
Maryland Championship Wrestling is doing a meet and greet with Jerry "The King" Lawler on Saturday from 1pm-3pm inside the North Point Flea Market in Dundalk, MD. For more info, call 240-832-8378.
Lawler is also advertising as signing autographs this Friday at the Reading Phillies game.
The Nasty Boys are hosting a WWE PPV party at the Mardi Gras Casino in Hallandale Beach, FL on Sunday.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING
4/18 Lockdown Pay-Per-View results from St. Charles, MO: Rob Van Dam over James Storm to gain the Lethal Lockdown advantage for the babyfaces; Homicide over Brian Kendrick, Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley in an escape the cage match to win a spot in the X title match; Eric Young over Kevin Nash; The Beautiful People over Angelina Love & Tara with Madison Rayne capturing the Knockout singles title; Kaz over Shannon Moore & Homicide in a three-way to capture the X title; The Band (Nash replacing Waltman) over Team 3D in a Falls Count Anywhere (yes really) cage match; Kurt Angle over Mr. Anderson in an escape the cage match; AJ Styles over The Pope to retain the TNA heavyweight title; and Team Hogan (Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, RVD, Jeff Hardy) over Team Flair (Sting, Desmond Wolfe, Robert Roode, James Storm) in Lethal Lockdown.
The show drew approximately 3,000 people. Not sure what the paid attendance was as they gave away many free tickets.
Impact is live tonight back in Orlando with The Beautiful People vs. Daffney & TBA for the Knockout's titles as the only announced match at press time. Eric Bischoff is also promising a big surprise. It's not that big.
There are also tapings on Tuesday for the 4/26 show.
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Doug Williams was stripped of the X Division title after he was unable to make Lockdown due to UK travel restrictions. There were people unhappy with this decision because they felt the move devalues the title belt and it wasn't like fans wouldn't understand delaying the match knowing the situation. One TNA person noted at the very least they could have done a No. 1 contenders match using Kaz, Moore and Homicide rather than hot-shot the belt around.
Sean "Syxx-Pac" Waltman missed the pay-per-view which TNA announced online as a no show. No announcement was made to the live crowd so people there didn't understand what was going on with the card changes. All we know is that Waltman worked an indy show in Minnesota on Saturday and told people that he was heading home to address a personal matter. He used a return ticket to Tampa so one would assume he's in Florida right now. Some wrestling websites are speculating that he may have taken a call from WWE as they are light on personnel for tonight's Raw. Waltman was working on a pay per appearance basis but signed something that precludes him from jumping straight to WWE if he ever decided to leave.
The Jim Cornette story was a talking point among TNA people over the weekend. One person joked that if Vince Russo is planning to move to Nashville then he would probably take out a restraining order against Cornette as a move to Music City puts him within driving distance of Kentucky.
As noted, Kurt Angle is taking some time off to rest his body. He carried Anderson to a really great match last night including the same cage bump that nearly killed him in WWE about 10 years ago. He is opening a cafe soon in Pittsburgh and recently signed deals with GNC and 7-11 to distribute his food products.
Hogan is booked on The View on NBC on 4/29.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
Ring of Honor tonight on HD Net has Kenny King vs. Davey Richards in the second semi-final of the TV title tourament; Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Josh Raymond & Christin Able; and Colt Cabana vs. Ricky Reyes. More info at www.rohwrestling.com.
Bill Goldberg last night became the seventh celebrity to leave The Celebrity Apprentice. He was fired by Donald Trump after the men's team lost a challenge to give two country music stars - Emily West and Luke Bryan - a makeover, while also creating a press kit and giving them media training. Goldberg wrote on his Twitter: "Sorry I didn't win everyone...If I would have stayed any longer they would have put me in jail for murdering someone." Wow, someone else threatening murder. Someone call NBC. The remaining celebrities still left in the competition are: Curtis Stone, Bret Michaels, Sharon Osbourne, Cyndi Lauper, Holly Robinson Peete, Summer Sanders, and former WWE Diva Maria Kanellis.
Goldberg is doing a media tour this week as part of the deal for being eliminated.
Maria is interviewed at http://tinyurl.com/y6wbq3g. She said the ugliest relationship break up of her life wasn't with WWE, but was with CM Punk. She said: "Yeah, it sucked. I had to see him every day, I had to see how our lives were changing around each other, and I was so in love with him, and still, I think there’ll always be a part of me that does love him, but I thought he was my soulmate, he thought otherwise and it’s weird because I accidentally went to the same restaurant that I went to with him, today. I went to this Greek restaurant, he took me there, but I didn’t have a clue where it was, and today when I was lost I accidentally drove there, parked, went inside, and looked up and went “wait a minute, is this the same restaurant?” And it was. I ate at the same exact Greek restaurant, and I’m lost again. I have no idea where I am. It’s weird. He’s like the background music in my life sometimes. It’s very strange how he leads me into different things." She added that her debut album was inspired by split from Punk, who is now dating the former Lita, Amy Dumas.
Christopher Daniels is heading to Mexico soon to work for AAA.
Promolast released another video of Lex Luger to promote his appearance at the Atlanta Reunion Fanfest in June. Luger says his health has improved somewhat of late and he may step back in the ring one day. In 2007, he suffered a nerve impingement in his neck that led to temporary paralysis. Video is at http://tinyurl.com/yyaxz6r.
Mike Mooneyham remembers Chris Kanyon with some quotes from Jim Mitchell at http://tinyurl.com/y67d6ak.
Phil Shatter is interviewed on The Wrestling Hotseat at www.myvirtualbc.com.
MovieWeb.com has some action stills from Steve Austin's next movie The Stranger at http://tinyurl.com/y78s5om. The film is direct-to-DVD on 6/1.
Stacy Keibler is hosing a Kentucky Derby party in Louisville at the The Sports and Social Club on 4/30. For more info, call 502-568-1400.
The Blue Meanie was spotlighted at Friday's Philadelphia Phillies doing the Meanie dance while on-screen.
Mike Lano has a story on Mr. Universe Earl Maynard at http://tinyurl.com/y2oag73 after he left the wrestling business for acting 35 years ago.
The fourth-annual Hall of Heroes Dinner Banquet and Awards Ceremony will take place on 8/6 at the NWA Legends Fanfest Weekend in Charlotte, NC. Hosted by Jim Cornette, the awards ceremony follows a dinner buffet with many of the honorees, presenters, and other featured guests from the weekend. More info at http://www.nwalegends.com/2010/vip.htm
The IWF group in New Jersey are bringing in Dr. Tom Prichard and Bushwhacker Luke for it's 13th anniversary shows next weekend. More info at www.wrestlingiwf.com.
Today's Diva of the Day is Sable at http://www.thewrestlingpress.com/DailyDiva.
