WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT
6/25 Smackdown TV results from Manchester, MH: Big Show over Jack Swagger via DQ; Christian, MVP & Kofi Kingston over Dolph Ziggler; Vance Archer & Curt Hawkins; Matt Hardy over Drew McIntyre; Kelly Kelly over Rosa Mendes; and CM Punk vs. Kane was a no contest.
6/25 Raw house show results from Erie, PA: John Morrison over Ted DiBiase w/ Maryse; Yoshi Tatsu & Goldust over William Regal & Zach Ryder; Alicia Fox over Eve Torres w/ Santino as special referee; Evan Bourne over Chris Jericho; Mark Henry over Koslov; The Miz over R-Truth; and John Cena & Randy Orton vs. Edge & Sheamus was a no contest when the NXT guys ran in.
6/26 Raw house show results from Youngstown, OH: Evan Bourne over Zack Ryder; Goldust over William Regal; Kozlov over Yoshi Tatsu; John Morrison over Ted DiBiase w/ aryse; The Miz over Mark Henry & R-Truth in a three-way; Alicia Fox over Eve Torres w/ antino as special referee; and John Cena & Randy Orton vs. Edge & Sheamus was a no contest when the NXT guys ran in.
6/26 Smackdown house show results from Portland, ME: Christian over Dolph Ziggler; JTG over Tyler Reks; Alberto Del Rio (formerly Dos Caras) over Finlay; The Hart Dynasty over Vance Archer & Curt Hawkins; Layla over Kelly Kelly via referee stoppage; Kofi Kingston over Cody Rhodes & Matt Hardy in a three-way; and Rey Mysterio over Jack Swagger. The show drew an estimated 2,000.
6/27 Raw house show results from Wheeling, WV: Evan Bourne over Zach Ryder; Goldust over William Regal; Kozlov over Yoshi Tatsu; John Morrison over Ted DiBiase w/ Maryse; The Miz over Mark Henry; Alicia Fox over Eve Torres w/ Santino as special referee; and John Cena vs. Sheamus was a no contest when the NXT guys ran in. There was also a Cutting Edge segment with Edge and Orton having a mini brawl.
6/27 Smackdown house show results from Worcester, MA: Christian over Dolph Ziggler; Alberto Del Rio over JTG; Matt Hardy over Tyler Reks; Layla over Kelly Kelly; The Hart Dynasty over Vance Archer & Curt Hawkins; Kofi Kingston over Cody Rhodes; and Rey Mysterio over Jack Swagger & Big Show in a three-way. The show drew an estimated 4,000.
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WWE has offered a developmental deal to Joe Anoa'i from t
he famous Anoa'i wrestling family. Joe, 25, is the son of hall of famer Sika of the Wild Samoans tag team. His brother Matt is the former Rosey and among his cousins is the former Rikishi. He played college football for Georgia Tech from 2003-2006 and was named first-team All-ACC in his senior year. After going undrafted in the 2007 NFL Draft, he was signed by the Minnesota Vikings, was later released, and was last known to be playing football for the Edmonton Eskimos in the CFL.
A few injury notes from this past weekend. R-Truth suffered a groin injury in Youngstown. No update yet but he didn't work the next night in Wheeling. Cody Rhodes got his bell rung in Maine due to a mistimed suplex but is said to be okay now. Also at the same show in Maine, Kelly Kelly took a bad bump on her head/neck during a match with Lalya. The referee stopped the match and did the X spot straight away. Hornswoggle then came out to ad-lib and gave Layla a Stone Cold Stunner. Kelly was shaken up but is said to be okay too now.
We had reports that Maryse did an awesome job as valet for DiBiase on the Raw shows. The idea behind the pairing is to add more charisma to DiBiase' act as everyone views him as a future top star, but he's not quite at that level where fans accept him as a top star.
The NXT season one guys did run-ins at the Raw shows. They've all been told to stay in character when passing through airports and checking into hotels. One of our readers was apologetically turned down for a photo over the weekend because WWE management had said they weren't allowed to pose for pictures or sign autographs. They also have to wear their black armbands in public at all times.
April Jeanette from developmental worked the Raw tour doing the hostess spot where they upgrade families from the cheap seats if they answer a question correctly.
The Money in the Bank pay-per-view from Kansas City on 7/18 will include two MITB matches, one for a Raw title shot and one for a Smackdown title shot, plus John Cena vs. Sheamus in a steel cage (likely TBA tonight) for the WWE title and Rey Mysterio vs. Jack Swagger for the World title.
Bret Hart wrote a new blog on his Facebook page after news broke regarding Martha Hart's lawsuit against WWE and Vince and Linda McMahon. He wrote: "As far as the recent lawsuit filed by Martha, I’m working on a detailed response that I will post soon, but I think my fans might be a little surprised at my take on things. Aside from that, I know that the WWE Universe is more than curious to know what my status is anymore and the truth is nobody knows, including me. There are a lot rumors out there about me and all I can say is that they’re rarely true. I will have some major announcements forthcoming, but right now I’m going to keep the lid on things because I’m not looking for any distractions."
Martha Hart's publicist released a statement to the Hartford Courant today in response to a news program in Connecticut last week during which Linda McMahon expressed sympathy to Martha over the loss of her husband 11 years ago. Said Martha: "I find Linda McMahon's comments duplicitous and insulting. It is important to set the record straight: Linda McMahon was in charge for the majority of the unfair and deceptive practices that are at the heart of this lawsuit. Furthermore, Linda McMahon's expressed desire to take care of me and my family was demonstrated in a rather odd manner, because she and Vince McMahon directed the WWE to sue me because I had the nerve to pursue a wrongful death claim following Owen's death, which was the result of the reckless stunt orchestrated by the McMahons and the World Wrestling Federation. Linda McMahon aspires to be a compassionate leader. So let's see Linda demonstrate some compassionate leadership and encourage her husband and WWE to do the right thing."
CHIKARA ran in Taylor, MI over the weekend with Bryan Danielson's return to independent wrestling. Before he came out they played the NXT theme Wild & Young to loud boos, and then played Final Countdown to cheers as fans pelted the ring with neck ties. Post-match Danielson said he couldn't discuss his WWE departure but talked about wanting to bring new fans to indy wrestling. He said: "I just want you guys to know--I can't say a lot about what's going on right now--but, when I came through that curtain and all of you people cheered and all of you people cared and all of you people cared enough to bring ties, it made me feel good... Let me tell you about PG wrestling. CHIKARA does it at its very best. I kicked Eddie Kingston (his opponent) for as long as I possibly could and that was PG. People came out here and mat wrestled as hard as they could and that was PG. When guys come out here and wrestle as hard as they can, that is still PG." After the show, Danielson was taking photos with fans who wanted him to pose as if he were choking them with a tie.
Ricky Steamboat: The Life Story of the Dragon DVD goes on sale tomorrow. It's the standard biographical documentary and matches. WWE interviewed several non-employees for the film including former referee Tommy Young, JJ Dillon, Mike Graham, George Scott, and Jim Crockett Jr. Matches include Steamboat & Jay Youngblood vs. Jack & Gerry Brisco at Starrcade '83; vs. Ric Flair at Boogie Jam '84 with alternate commentary by Steamboat & Matt Striker; vs. Jake Roberts at the Boston Garden in '86; vs. Randy Savage for the IC tiotle at Wrestlemania III with alternate commentary by Steamboat & Matt Striker; vs. Flair at Clash of the Champions '89; vs. Lex Luger at The Great American Bash '89; with Dustin Rhodes vs. Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyzsko at Clash of the Champions '91 vs. Rick Rude in an Iron Man match at Beach Blast '92; vs. Steve Austin for the TV title at Clash of the Champions '92; and vs. Chris Jericho from last year at Backlash.
The Chicago Sun-Times has a good story on former announcer Mike Adamle at http://tinyurl.com/2emsq97 who discusses his battle with epilepsy.
Superstars last Thursday night did a 0.6 rating and 500,000 viewers.
WWE has just booked the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, for a house show on Halloween night.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING
The TV tapings are today and tomorrow in Orlando which will include the go-home show for Victory Road on 7/11. The Pope is scheduled to return from a shoulder injury and also scheduled for Thursday's Impact is AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe; Madison Rayne vs. Taylor Wilde in a non-title match; Desmond Wolfe vs. Bryan Kendrick; and Abyss vs. Jeff Hardy with Rob Van Dam as special referee.
***
Velvet Sky announced that she recently signed a new long term deal. She and Jay Lethal were doing radio spots this morning in New York City to promote Friday's show in Coney Island. They shot an angle with local DJ Peter Rosenberg. You can watch the footage at http://tinyurl.com/26neznm.
Impact this past Thursday night did a 1.0 rating and 1.2 million viewers.
The Miami Herald has a story on AJ Styles who puts over working with Ric Flair at http://tinyurl.com/22wdq4t.
A lot of positive press for Rob Terry in the UK this weekend while promoting the revamped Xplosion show. There is a Q&A with The Sun at www.the-sun.co.uk/wrestling where Terry talks about the changes within the company since the arrival of Hogan and Bischoff. There was a story on Terry in the Sunday newspaper of his hometown discussing his childhood and representing Wales in the ring. The story is online at http://tinyurl.com/robwales. Terry is also interviewed in the new issue of Fighting Spirit magazine.
UK fan interaction details for the tour in January will be announced on 8/16 on the TNA website.
Northeast wrestler Johnny Kashmere is apparently mad at Alex Shelley claiming that Shelley has been stealing his moves. Kashmere wrote in his blog: "(I have) officially emailed Alex Shelly and asked him to stop stealing our Dream Sequence on TV and in Japan. He's supposed to be so innovative he can think of his own poop. Enoughs enough. When Trent (Acid) and I worked him in Allentown he didn't even know how to wrestle on the fly... remember where you came from!"
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
ROH tonight on HDNet has Tyler Black vs. El Generico; Necro Butcher vs. Erick Stevens; Cheech & Cloudy vs. Josh Raymond & Christian Able; Kevin Steen vs. Bobby Shields; plus extended highlights from Death Before Dishonor VIII. More info at www.rohwrestling.com.
Rafael Nunez, who wrestled as El Scorpio, passed away on Friday at the age of 68. His wrestling career peaked in 1985 when he won the UWA title over El Canek--one of the hottest stars in Mexico at that time off the back of bodyslamming Andre the Giant. Nunez' son, Scorpio Jr., still wrestles in Mexico today.
The Great Mephisto (Frankie Cain), who wrestled as one of the masked Infernos, is recovering at home following a heart scare last month in Florida. He recently underwent emergency surgery to remove a build up of plaque which was blocking his carotid artery.
Legendary announcer Lance Russell, 84, has been experiencing some heart problems of late and could be facing quadruple bypass surgery later this year.
Paul Heyman looks ahead to Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin with quotes from Brock at http://tinyurl.com/277r5m6.
Marti Funk, wife of Dory Funk Jr., sent an audition tape for Oprah's new network at http://tinyurl.com/29nongb.
CTV in Canada will be airing back-to-back episodes of Stratusphere, starring Trish Stratus, on 7/1 (Canada Day).
Today's Babe of the Day is Angela Fong at http://www.thewrestlingpress.com/DailyDiva.
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