WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT
7/9 Raw house show results from Peoria, IL: Mark Henry over Zack Ryder; Great Khali over William Regal; Alicia Fox over Eve Torres with Santino as guest referee; Edge over Evan Bourne; The Hart Dynasty over The Uso's; The Miz over Ted DiBiase w/ Maryse & John Morrison in a three-way; and John Cena vs. Sheamus was a no-contest when Nexus as lumberjacks interfered. The show drew just over 4,000. They also did a Cutting Edge segment and are doing the anonymous GM gimmick on the road.
The 7/10 Raw show in Rockford was the same show as Peoria.
7/10 Smackdown house show results from Grand Rapids, MI: MVP & Christian over Curt Hawkins & Vance Archer; Cody Rhodes over Chris Masters; Alberto Del Rio over Finlay; Kofi Kingston over Dolph Ziggler, Matt Hardy & Drew McIntyre in a four-way; Layla over Kelly Kelly; Big Show over Like Gallows and the masked SES member in a handicap match; and Rey Mysterio over Jack Swagger & Kane in a three-way.
The 7/11 Smackdown show in Evansville, IN was the same show as Grand Rapids.
7/11 Raw house show results from Huntington, WV: Santino over William Regal; Great Khali over Zack Ryder; Alicia Fox over Eve Torres; Edge over Mark Henry; Evan Bourne over Chris Jericho; The Hart Dynasty over The Uso's; The Miz over Ted DiBiase w/ Maryse & John Morrison in a three-way; and John Cena vs. Sheamus was a no-contest when Nexus as lumberjacks interfered. Show drew 1,500.
***
Jerry Lawler is suing former business associate and promoter Cory Maclin over the rights to the Memphis Wrestling video tape library. The story dates back two years when Maclin licensed footage to a tape trader to produce a 20 volume DVD set titled "Corey Maclin presents Memphis Wrestling". Lawler, who found out about the DVD deal last August, says that Maclin has no rights to license any footage because he purchased them along with the USWA promotion from Jerry Jarrett in 1996. Who exactly owns the Memphis library has been a contentious issue for years. Very few broadcast-quality betacam tapes still exist, but the rights would either be owned by Lawler, Jarrett or possibly a Cleveland-based company, XL Sports, that purchased the USWA from Lawler and a guy called Larry Burton in 1997, that later went out of business, resulting in a nasty lawsuit between all three. "To have someone you actually put into the wrestling business come back and do something like Corey has done is really disappointing," said Lawler. "I'm not worried about ownership of the footage because you can't own stolen property, which in essence is what this boils down to." Maclin released a statement which said he believes the suit is politically motivated because he's currently running for office in Tennessee. He is challenging Lawler to prove ownership. He also said his personal issues with him started in 2007, when a Lawler vs. Hulk Hogan event fell apart when Lawler pulled out citing his contractual obligations to WWE. Maclin later sued WWE, claiming the company put pressure on Lawler to withdraw from the event. Lawler's suit follows a recent cease and desist letter from Maclin demanding that his image never appear on Lawler's new Memphis Wrestling television show. Maclin says he wants to distance himself from people in the wrestling business. Said Maclin: "I believe that this lawsuit is political in nature, I always knew that Jerry was a Republican but was stunned to find out that he had a sign in his yard supporting a man that as far as I know has never met my opponent in the race for Clerk of Shelby County. I can no longer promote or support Jerry Lawler personally or professionally. I am saddened by the people he has chosen to associate with and can no longer be a part of any project Mr. Lawler is involved with."
Mike Mooneyham interviewed Jim Ross
at http://tinyurl.com/2eus4mo about Danny Hodge eventually going in the WWE Hall of Fame. Ross, who grew up in Oklahoma idolising Hodge, has been pushing this issue for a long time now.
ECW original wrestler Mikey Whipreck, 37, claimed on his Facebook page that WWE offered him a job as a trainer. Whipreck trained current WWE wrestlers Curt Hawkins, Trent Barretta and Zach Ryder.
An interesting note regarding Bryan Danielson. When he originally signed with WWE last summer, he signed over the rights to his American Dragon gimmick, so he cannot promote himself as the Dragon on the independents.
International Sports Management out of the UK received a multi-million dollar investment boost from Leonard Ryan, and Mickey O'Rourke, founders of the broadcaster Setanta, their business partner Mark O'Meara and SHANE MCMAHON, formerly of WWE, according to The Manchester Evening News. ISM is an agency with several sports stars on it's books.
Playboy's Cyber Club posted previously unseen nude photos of Maryse from a shoot she did with the magazine nearly four years ago. Playboy own the copyright to the photos and photos of other past and present WWE Divas so they can publish them any time they wish.
A return to Madison Square Garden was announced for 9/25 which will be a Saturday night Smackdown show.
WWE will have big a presence at the San Diego Comic Con later this month including a panel with creative writers Brian Gewirtz and Ed Koskey.
Another new DVD project in the works is "Best of the High Flyers," slated for release in October.
Cody Rhodes’ new entrance music is called Smoking Mirror by musician Matt White.
Superstars last week did a 0.6 rating and 715,000 viewers.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING
7/11 Victory Road pay-per-view results from Orlando, FL: Douglas Williams over Brian Kendrick in an Ultimate X submission match for the X-Division title; Brother Ray over Jesse Neal & Brother Devon in a three-way; Angelina Love over Madison Rayne to capture the Knockouts title following interference from a mystery biker; AJ Styles & Kazarian over the mystery team of Samoa Joe & Rob Terry; Hernandez over Matt Morgan in a steel cage; Jay Lethal over Ric Flair; MCMG over Beer Money to capture the vacant tag titles; Kurt Angle over The Pope; and Rob Van Dam over Jeff Hardy, Mr. Anderson & Abyss in a four-way for the TNA heavyweight title. Dark match taped for the DVD was Jeff Jarrett over Desmond Wolfe.
The TV tapings are today and tomorrow in Orlando. Mick Foley was backstage this afternoon so presumably he's starting back this week.
Hogan and Bischoff were not at the pay-per-view nor are either scheduled for the television tapings. Hogan is recovering from minor back surgery according to his people although he's advertised for personal appearances this weekend in Canada.
***
Paul Heyman was the game changer the company had hoped to deliver last night. He's already said that he has no desire to appear as an on-air character, but, as noted, is open to the idea of complete creative control with points in the company. Our impression is that he's happy with the Brock Lesnar association right now because he knows where that will lead, while any dealings here involving creative are less than straight forward. Heyman is currently penning the biography of Lesnar as well as a multitude of other business projects on his plate, including his popular website at www.heymanhustle.craveonline.com.
Dixie Carter during a talent meeting this afternoon made no mention of Heyman coming in. She did say she was thrilled with Sunday's pay-per-view, talked about the success of TNA programming in Australia, and also brought up that some guys need to tighten up on their ring work, which when needs to be said never goes over too well.
Impact on 7/8 did a 1.14 rating and averaged 1.45 million viewers--it's highest mark since the first-run return to Thursday nights. The highest rated quarter hour was the TV main event of Mr. Anderson vs. Jeff Hardy.
Hardy's court hearing last week was continued to 9/9.
Matt Morgan's wife, Larissa, over the weekend placed 3rd in the NPC Women's Figure Contest in Ft. Lauderdale. Morgan posted a photo of his wife via his Twitter at http://twitter.com/Tnamattmorgan.
Tomko is said to be dealing with an ankle injury which is one reason why he's off television right now.
Jimmy Hart is reportedly working with a group in Chicago to get them on cable television in a deal that would spotlight independent wrestlers who aren't already getting national exposure from TNA or WWE.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
ROH tonight on HDNet has The Necro Butcher vs. Bobby Beverly; Eddie Edwards vs. Andy Ridge; and Tyler Black, Jerry Lynn & Delirious vs. Austin Aries, Rhett Titus & Kenny King. More info at www.rohwrestling.com.
Bobby Eaton, 51, of Midnight Express fame was hospitalized in Arkansas with fluid around his heart. He's gained a lot of weight from retaining fluid, but doctors put him on diuretics and it's coming off. Long-time friend Jim Cornette said Eaton is feeling better now and hopes to be out of the hospital soon.
Acid Fest, a tribute to Michael "Trent Acid" Verdi took place at the former ECW arena in Philly this past weekend. The show drew just over 600 people with now more than $8,000 raised to help the family with funeral expenses. Verdi's mother sat ringside and during the intermission was presented with a check for $7,500. Orgasnisers were talking about making this show an annual event. There is some video footage online at http://tinyurl.com/36ynoy8.
UFC announced that Brock Lesnar, who turns 33 today, will defend his UFC heavyweight title against Cain Velasquez on 10/23 in Anaheim, CA.
Bobby Lashley will fight on the Strikeforce show on 8/21 in Houston at Toyota Cente. His opponent is TBA on Tuesday. Lashley did interviews over the weekend saying he wants to fight Fedor. The promotion is said to be contemplating Lashley vs. Dave Batista, if you can believe that.
Austin "Consequences" Creed won the annual ECWA Super 8 Tournament over the weekend in Newark, DE.
Reports that Marcus Buff Bagwell announced his retirement from wrestling are untrue. He said he is taking the summer off to rest his body but plans to return in the fall. Bagwell, now 40, is best known for his 10-year run in WCW from 1991-2001.
Buff's old buddy, Shane 'Hurricane' Helms turns 36 today.
Hulk Hogan's nephew David Bollea, an aspiring MMA fighter who bills himself as "The Ultimate Male" (taken from Hogan's Thunderlips character in Rocky III) won his third consecutive pro fight on 7/9 in Lemore, CA with an armbar in 0.31 of round two over previously undefeated Cody Gibson.
Dave Marquez of the NWA announced a deal with KDOC in Los Angeles to produce a television show called NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood which premieres on Ch. 56 on 9/11 at 11pm. The first TV taping is 8/25 at the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana.
Lilian Garcia wrote a new blog at www.liliangarcia.com noting that she's been living out in California for the last few week's writing and recording her next music album. She also noted going on detox and becoming a vegan.
Today's Babe of the Day is Tylene Buck at http://www.thewrestlingpress.com/DailyDiva.
