(WGN) June 25: Steve Austin talks chances of wrestling again, TNA PPV location announced, Desmond Wolfe interview, Jake Roberts update, more...

WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT

6/24 Superstars TV results: JTG over Caylen Croft (mistakenly listed here as Trent Barretta yesterday); Luke Gallows over Chris Masters; Brie Bella over Jillian Hall; and R-Truth over William Regal.

WWE has a full schedule this weekend. The Raw crew run tonight in Erie, PA; Saturday in Youngstown, OH; Sunday in Wheeling, WV; and TV is live on Monday from Philadelphia. The Smackdown crew run Saturday night in Portland; Sunday in Worcester; Monday in Syracuse: and the TV tapings are Tuesday in Wilkes-Barre. We're looking for reports from these shows to you2us@wrestlingglobe.com.

Smackdown tonight has Jack Swagger vs. Big Show;
The Gatecrashers & Dolph Ziggler vs. MVP, Christian & Kofi Kingston; Matt Hardy vs. Drew McIntyre; Kelly Kelly vs. Rosa Mendes; and CM Punk vs. Kane.

***

Steve Austin was a guest on Live Audio Wrestling to promote his latest film The Stranger. He was fairly diplomatic. He said Jim Ross was a great friend and instrumental in his career but understands why WWE chooses not to use him as an announcer. "It's just a case of the WWE wanting to go in a different direction and maybe get younger. The show has changed, it’s a PG rated show so Jim fits into that but the Stone Cold character not so much. That’s just the business and sooner or later your time is up and I guess they figured his time was up. I love Jim Ross and I think he’s the greatest announcer in the history of the business and there’s been a couple of outstanding ones and lots of good ones but I put him at the top of the list – and that’s just the wrestling business." Austin also shot down the notion of returning to the ring. He said: "I think it’s best to leave well enough alone and let people remember Steve Austin for what he was. Could I go back? I could get another couple of years out of this carcass if I wanted to or if I had to and I could have another match but what’s the point? I have my sights focused on trying to be as good an actor as I can be and go down this road. I love my wrestling fans and wrestling is what put me on the map and I still follow the business to this day but I’m going to leave well enough alone." Full interview at www.liveaudiowrestling.com.

Ted DiBiase Sr. (Million Dollar Man) is said to be recovering well following his recent neck surgery. He worked the E3 video game convention last week in Los Angeles and was part of the THQ booth with his son promoting the upcoming WWE video game. Organisers said the DiBiases had the best turn out of the entire event. They did the old gimmick of making people do things for money, such as kiss their feet or bark like a dog.

The Sun at www.the-sun.co.uk/wrestling has small blurb on Snoop Dogg talking WWE. Apparently the D-O double G emails like her verbalizes. He wrote when asked if he would ever wrestle: "Neva say neva... Vince McMahon is my play partna. Holla atcha boy Vinnie --break bread or fake dead."

The Worcester Telegram has a story on Kofi Kingston at http://tinyurl.com/32uepld. Nothing too noteworthy. When asked how hard you have to train to make it to WWE, he said: "It’s not easy. It’s very competitive, to be honest. WWE pretty much is the only place you can go. It’s not like the NFL or the NBA, where you have a bunch of different teams. WWE is the premier entertainment platform for wrestling, so it’s very competitive and we all work very hard to get to where we are. There are so many people who would love to be in our shoes, so it’s one of those things where you have to cherish every moment."

The Erie Times-News has a story on Sheamus at http://tinyurl.com/33g38cv. He says he's a go against the grain guy, and doesn't even like U2. The inside joke here is that before wrestling he was a nightclub bouncer and occasionally worked personal security for Bono and Larry Mullen, Jr.

WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt was recently profiled in the National Law Journal in its annual winning feature describing the accomplishments of ten of the top trial lawyers in the country. McDevitt is probably best known for representing Vince McMahon in a steroid trial in New York in 1993. He won an acquittal without calling any witnesses.

In Europe, Iron Will: The Anthology of WWE’s Toughest Match was the final name given to the new Elimination Chamber DVD. There was a feeling that the word "chamber" had a negative connotation in Europe, especially in Germany, for obvious reasons.

To save on costs and due to international touring, WWE is taping two episodes of Raw in the same night several times over the next few months. Double tapings include San Antonio on 7/26, TBD on 8/16 and Indianapolis on 9/20.

Lalya El celebrates a birthday today.


TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING

6/24 Impact TV results from Orlando, FL: Velvet Sky over Angelina Love via DQ; Jay Lethal over Kazarian; Kurt Angle over Desmond Wolfe; Beer Money over Ink Inc  in the tag title tournament; and Abyss over Mr. Anderson.

No house shows this weekend. The next TV tapings are this coming Monday and Tuesday which will include the go-home show for Victory Road on 7/11.

***

Bound for Glory was announced for Daytona Beach, FL on 10/10 at the Ocean Center which can hold around 8,000 people for wrestling. The location is a surprise as we had heard other cities were under consideration. A benefit of running here would mean production cost being considerably less just 50 miles up the road from Orlando. There is also a huge biker festival in town the same weekend. The Ocean Center hosted the WCW Bash at the Beach in 1996, 1997 and 2000. 1996 was the scene of Hulk Hogan's infamous heel turn when he formed the nWo faction. Other notable WCW events that have occurred here include Booker T winning his first world title, the controversial Russo-Hogan "shoot" confrontation and the notorious botched debut of the Shockmaster. Tickets go on sale via Ticketmaster on 8/7.

Today's Daily Star in the UK has a story on Desmond Wolfe at http://tinyurl.com/32zjbqt. The interview took place at the Tower of London--the famed tourist attraction and the name of Wolfe's rope hung cutter. He was promoting the revamped Xplosion show that debuts tonight over there on the Extreme Sports Channel. Wolfe says he used to be envious of young wrestlers in WWE because they got to work with Regal and Finlay, but now he's working with the likes of Flair and Angle. On transitioning from indy wrestling to national television, he said: "My style was beating the sh*t out of me as well as everyone else so I knew I’d have to change anyway...  The fans are absolutely spoiled. To some extent I felt we were the marks. We were the ones going out and killing ourselves but what choice do you have? To move on to the next level, you have to get over in the level you’re in."

They've started promoting the new video game at www.tnawrestling.com and there is a good trailer at http://tinyurl.com/32r8f8d.

All mentions of TNA Reaction were removed from the TV schedule at Spike.com. Not sure why. The show was recently announced as returning on 7/15.

Mickie James would be free to start here from August when her WWE no compete expires.


OTHER WRESTLING NEWS

The Fight Network posted a tribute video to Tent Acid with comments from Chris Daniels at http://tinyurl.com/339zrks.

Jake Roberts was interviewed at www.RingTheBellRadio.com and talked about the origin of his gimmick. "I came up with the idea on my own. I was a Ken Stabler fan, he used to play for the Oakland Raiders. He was a wild child on and off of the football field. His nickname was "The Snake". I always liked the name Jake, and during that time there was a TV show called Dallas. One of the characters on that show was JR. So I came up with Jake 'The Snake' Roberts." Roberts says he's currently writing a book and creating some of his own DVDs.

James Guttman interviewed Kevin Thorne at www.WorldWrestlingInsanity.com mostly discussing his WWE run. He was full of praise for Dusty Rhodes, who was part of creative back then. "I have a great amount of gratitude and respect for (Dusty). He was always the one, even in ECW, who stood up for me. He finally got to a point where he told me, 'I gotta quit going to bat for you with Vince (McMahon). Because I keep giving him these great ideas and I think Vince hates me so it's hurting you. (laughs) I think Vince thinks I have great ideas and he doesn't want to say I do so he's not going to use you'. And it's funny, because when Dusty stopped saying my name is when they started using me again."

There is a convention on 7/10 in Carteret, NJ at the Holiday Inn. Advertised names include Jerry Lawler, Mickie James, Matt Morgan, Ashley Massaro, Eric Embry, Jay Lethal, Don Callis, Val Venis, Savio Vega, Rocky Johnson, Ox Baker, Matt Borne, Joel Gertner and many others. For more info, call Ken at 516 473-4944 or email to wrestlefest05@hotmail.com.

Shelly Martinez is campaigning via Twitter to appear on Dancing with the Stars.

Today's Babe of the Day is Jackie Hass at http://www.thewrestlingpress.com/DailyDiva.


=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-