----Mike Aldren with WGN.
WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT
11/18 Superstars results: Chavo Guerrero over JTG; Trent Barreta over Curt Hawkins; Yoshi Tatsu over Primo Colon; and Melina & Gail Kim over Alicia Fox & Maryse.
Smackdown tonight has Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio; Dolph Ziggler vs. Kaval in a non-title match; MVP vs. Drew McIntyre; Jack Swagger vs. Chris Masters; Kofi Kingston vs. Cody Rhodes; Natalya & Kelly Kelly vs. Lay-Cool; Big Show vs. Tyler Reks; plus a battle royal.
No house shows this weekend. Sunday is the Survivor Series PPV from American Airlines Arena in Miami. Raw is live Monday from The Amway Center in Orlando. The Smackdown/NXT taping follows on Tuesday at the Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville.
***
Shad Gaspard, 29, who hasn't been used on WWE TV for some time, and Luke Gallows (Drew Hankinson, 26) were both released earlier today. Writer Chris DeJoseph, who occasionally appeared on WWE TV as Big Dick Johnson, has also left the company. He predominantly worked under Michael Hayes on the Smackdown side. At press time these are the only cuts we know about but it wouldn't be a surprise if more were announced before the close of business today.
The Miami Herald interviewed MVP at http://tinyurl.com/25hvepv. He credited Undertaker, Booker T and the guy your not supposed to mention in media interviews, as helping him most when he first broke into WWE. He talked about a music project he's working on, noting that he had a studio built into his house. "The office has been real receptive to it, and it's something that will eventually get done. It's a matter of scheduling. I'd say the near future on that one. I finally got my theme song out; so that's going. I have a bunch of other stuff that I'm working on. It's just having the schedule to have the time to get into the studio.'' He also talked about writing a book and two things that he wants to accomplish before he reitres is headlining Wrestlemania and working a match with Masahiro Chrono at the Tokyo Dome.
Wade Barrett was interviewed by IGN.com at http://tinyurl.com/3xcpq3o. He claimed before wrestling he was involved in illegal bare knuckle boxing in the UK. For what it's worth, those who know him believe this to be true. He credited Colt Cabana for coming up with his finisher in FCW, which is a modified Fireman's carry slam. He says his favorite wrestler as a kid was Davey Boy Smith. When asked about the UK indy wrestling scene, he was very negative, and said: "I haven't seen too much of the independent scene in America, so I can't really compare the two. But I can talk about the English independent scene and unfortunately it's nowhere near the wrestling heyday that British wrestling had in the 70's and perhaps the early 80's when British wrestling was huge and there were some really big stars that came out of there like Big Daddy and Mick McManus and people like that who were literally household names across the UK. But nowadays it's very small time, there's not a lot of glamour. A lot of the show's you're lucky to get a hundred people in there. And the quality isn't so good over in the UK these days as well. Don't get me wrong, there some very good wrestlers out there, but there're also a lot of small time companies who just let anybody wrestle for them. Guys who have no business being in the ring. And unfortunately the public will go along and see a company like that who are putting on a really bad product for people and putting some really terrible wrestlers in there. So the UK. seems to be just covered in a lot of bad wrestling at the moment, with just a few high peaks of good wrestling thrown in."
In the UK, to help push Survivor Series on PPV, Sky Sports is airing a one hour 'Best of Raw' from 1993 and 1994. Matches include Yokozuna vs. Koko B. Ware; Shawn Michaels vs. Jim Duggan; Davey Boy Smith vs. Tatanka; and Bret Hart vs. 1-2-3 Kid--which if memory serves was an awesome match. There are multiple airings until Sunday night.
Kelly Kelly was promoting Survivor Series yesterday morning on Bubba the Love Sponge. Nothing said of any real note. Bubba basically spent the entire interview fawning over her.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Kaval for the IC title is expected to be added to Survivor Series. Ted DiBiase vs. Daniel Bryan is also advertised locally.
WWE distributed an updated listing of 2011 events to it's pay-per-view affiliates. Summerslam on 8/14, after it was initially listed at Madison Square Garden, is now listed at Staples Center in Los Angeles where the show has taken place for the past two years. The Garden will instead host Survivor Series on 11/20/11.
Jim Ross recaps his trip to Hershey for Old School Raw and talks Mae Young in his latest blog at www.jrsbarbq.com. Writes Ross: "Oklahoma native Mae Young told me that she debuted in the biz in 1939 and was pretty definitive about it. She also told me the time that as a kid growing up in in the Tulsa suburb of Sand Springs that she took on women's legend Mildred Burke, who was close with Promoter Lee Roy McGuirk, and 'woman handled' the powerful and famous Burke which got Johnny Mae noticed by wrestling promoters. I still say that 'Queen of the Ring' by Jeff Leen is one of the best books that I have ever read. It's the story of Mildred Burke and the amazing life that so many involved in the monopoly of promoting women's wrestling lead back in the day. It's like an R rated version of 'League of their Own.' BTW when Johnny Mae saw Mean Gene Monday she nailed him in the bread basket with a stiff right hand just for the helluva it and then laughed. At 89, I think, Mae's still an amazing woman. If she indeed started her career in 1939, then Mae Young has performed in NINE decades. Now that's amazing."
For those who asked, WWE is actually legally entitled to use the old WWF block logo. The lawsuit with the World Wildlife Fund several years ago only prohibited the company from using the Attitude Era scratch logo.
CM Punk and Beth Phoenix will be appearing at the FCW show tonight in Tampa at Brandon Harley Davidson. There is also a show Saturday night at the Charlotte Harbor Event and Conference Center in Punta Gorda with The Miz and Alex Riley advertised as appearing. More info at www.fcwwrestling.com.
As we're told, Riley IS making his scheduled appearance tormorrow night so it seems at this point that no immediate disciplinary has been taken against him following his arrest for DUI early Wednesday morning.
There will be a special Christmas themed Smackdown on 12/10 as part of a Syfy promotion with Kay Jewelers.
John Cena is currently ranked the No. 11 most popular athlete on Facebook with over 3 million followers. No 1. is soccer star Christiano Ronaldo with just under 15 million followers.
Shawn Michaels will be a special celebrity horse rider at the 4th annual 4R Performance Horses Celebrity Slide on 12/3 in Oklahoma City at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds. Michaels will be representing WWE for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING
11/18 Impact results from Orlando, FL: Generation Me, Robbie E & Cookie over Machine Guns, Jay Lethal & Velvet Sky; Jeff Hardy over Raven; Abyss vs. Shannon Moore was a no contest; Mickie James vs. Angelina Love to become the No. 1 contender for the Knockout's title; and Matt Morgan over Ric Flair to win a title rematch against Jeff Hardy at Final Resolution and pick the referee for that match.
***
The Fight Network's 1-on-1 interview with Mick Foley is now available online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmzGBx3LU7U.
The A&E special "Finding Hulk Hogan" did a 1.0 rating and 1.3 million viewers on Wednesday night.
The Hogan and Friends event in Green Bay, WI scheduled for this past Wednesday was in fact rescheduled for 1/21.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
Scott Hall is due back in Seminole court on Monday for a probation violation hearing. Hall, who was recently hospitalized, as he needed a pacemaker implanted into his heart, was charged with disorderly intoxication and resisting a police officer back on 5/14, following a night of drinking in Chuluota, FL. Hall was later ordered to pay $388 in costs and given 6 months probation where he would subject to court mandated alcohol and drug screening. As it goes, he violated the terms of his probation in late August, shortly before checking into a WWE sponsored rehab program. At worst, Hall faces revocation of his original sentence and the judge could impose jail time.
An armed robber got 10 years for a wrestling-related hold up in Burke County, Georgia. Stephen Jermaine Phillips, 28, was apprehended after his Stone Cold Steve Austin mask linked him back to the crime. He plead guilty Monday to charges of armed robbery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
A catch up from Slam Wrestling on former TNA Knockout Traci Brooks at http://tinyurl.com/37k39or.
American Wrestling Rampage drew 1,900 on 11/16 in Lille, France with La Résistance over Booker T & Scott Steiner in the main event.
Former WWE wrestler Chris Nowinski is one of 17 nominees for Sports Illustrated's "Sportsman of the Year" award for his research on head trauma in contact sports. Pablo Torre has a nice write up at http://tinyurl.com/384tb6x.
There is a rare interview with Carlos Colon at www.WhosSlammingWho.podomatic.com. He talks about a number of different topics, including his legendary feud with Abdullah The Butcher, winning the NWA heavyweight title from Ric Flair, why the NWA never recognized that Colon had won the title, his thoughts on Flair today, his thoughts on Hulk Hogan, his thoughts on both Vince McMahon Jr. and Sr., thoughts on John Cena, Randy Orton, and much more.
Wrestle Birmingham runs tonight in Birmingham, AL at the 5000-seat Boutwell Auditorium with Honky Tonk Man, Paul Bearer, Bushwhacker Luke, Jake Roberts, Colonel Robert Parker, Buddy Landel, Mike Jackson, Brickhouse Brown, Malia Hosaka, Pat Rose, Jerry Stubbs, Greg Valentine, Brutus Beefcake, Adrian Street, and Jimmy Golden. For more information call (205) 254-7797 or visit http://www.wrestlebirmingham.com.
Today's Babe of the Day at http://thewrestlingpress.com/?page_id=298.
