----WGN with Mike Aldren.
WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT
11/19 Smackdown TV results from Richmond, VA: MVP over Drew McIntyre; Jack Swagger over Chris Masters; Kaval over Dolph Ziggler; Cody Rhodes over Kofi Kingston; Lay-Cool over Kelly Kelly & Natalya; Big Show over Tyler Reks; Rey Mysterio over Alberto Del Rio via DQ; and Mysterio's team over Del Rio's team in the battle royal.
11/21 Survivor Series PPV results from Miami, FL: Randy Orton over Wade Barrett to retain the WWE title with John Cena as special referee; Justin Gabriel & Heath Slater over Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov to retain the tag titles; Kane vs. Edge was ruled a no contest for the World title; Natalya over Michelle McCool & Layla to capture the Divas title; Team Mysterio (Rey Mysterio, Big Show, Kofi Kingston, Chris Masters & MVP) over Team Del Rio (Alberto Del Rio, Drew McIntyre, Jack Swagger, Tyler Reks & Cody Rhodes); Kaval over Dolph Ziggler to retain the IC title; John Morrison over Sheamus; Daniel Bryan over Ted DiBiase to retain the US title; and R-Truth over Zack Ryder was the dark match.
Raw is live tonight from Amway Center in Orlando. Some mainstream news outlets in India are actually reporting that Cena has been fired from WWE. Well, I guess he may be tonight if Barrett makes that decision.
The Smackdown/NXT taping is Tuesday at the Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville.
***
First today, I just wanted to thank all those who have sent me birthday messages. Very much appreciated.
The confirmed list of those WWE released before the weekend was Shad Gaspard, 29, Luke Gallows (Drew Hankinson, 26), Caylen Croft (Kris Pavone, 30), Vance Archer (Lance Hoyt, 33), Divas Jillian Hall (Jillian Farole, 30) and Tiffany (Taryn Terrell, 25), creative team member Chris "Big Dick Johnson" DeJoseph, and referee Aaron Mahoney. Almost everyone was told they were victims of budget cuts across the company. Tiffany in a way was perhaps the most surprising cut as we had been told she was due to start back on the road. She hadn't been seen on WWE television since August when a domestic dispute involving her husband (Smackdown wrestler Drew McIntyre) led to her arrest in Hollywood. All charges against her were later dropped but the damage had already been done. Over the weekend she wrote a nice blog to thank people in WWE and noted that she has a new photo shoot out in a special edition of Playboy magazine called "Big Boobs, Hot Buns"... Jillian Hall on Twitter regarding her release wrote, "I am doing very well and I'm in a great place in life! I have a lot to say, but there's no room here, Thank you so much for your support." Hall of late had been working as a trainer in FCW after she was told creative had nothing for her. She had worked for the company for seven years and was the most tenured of those released along with Croft who is probably better known as Chris Cage, at one-time a hot prospect that came through OVW. Most recently he was paired with Trent Barreta in the Dude Busters tag team... Archer and Gallows have already started accepting independent bookings. Gallows has talked about reprising the Jesse and Festus gimmick with former tag partner Ray Gordy Jr., who currently works as a sheriff's deputy in Cobb County, GA... Gaspard posted an action/stunt highlight reel on YouTube at http://tinyurl.com/34qutan as he seems to be looking for work in Hollywood. He's also working on a comic book among some other non-wrestling related projects.
CM Punk wrote on Twitter that he was "bummed out" by Gallows' release, and said that he was often times "given s---" and turned it into gold.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will be all over the place this week promoting his new movie Faster which opens in theaters on Wednesday. WWE was working on getting Johnson to record a video promo for Raw, and as noted, there have been discussions lately about him at least making a one-off appearance when his filming schedule allows. Amongst a ton of PR he's doing Jay Leno on Tuesday, Craig Ferguson and Ellen DeGeneres on Wednesday, and George Lopez on Thursday. There is also a special Faster premiere party tonight in Hollywood.
Hall of famer Gerald Brisco told Slam Wrestling Producer Greg Oliver that his son Wes, who wrestles in developmental under his real name, was requested to be at the TV tapings this week because WWE officials want to evaluate him. Wes, 26, a former pro wakeboarder, is currently FCW tag champion with Xavier Woods, the former Austin Creed in TNA. Many of the developmental guys will be at TV.
FCW ran on Saturday night in Punta Gorda, FL with a surprise appearance from Jerry Lawler. He plugged coming in on 12/17 for an inter-gender tag match. Main event was Johnny Curtis, Derrick Bateman, Hunico & Epico over Ryan O Reilly, The Miz, Alex Riley & Trent Barreta. Other results: Percy Watson over Brad Maddox; Damian Sandow over Donny Marlow; AJ Lee, Naomi Night & Kaitlyn over Rosa Mendes, Aksana & Caylee Turner; Richie Steamboat over Seth Rollins; Bo Rotundo over Alex Sherman; Wes Brisco & Xavier Woods over Jinder Mahal & Jacob Novak; and Mason Ryan over Lucky Cannon.
Rollins and Sherman are the former ROH regulars Tyler Black and Alex Koslov... Dennis Knight, the former Mideon, also attended the show. His son Shane wrestles in FCW as Buck Dixon.
Before the pay-per-view last night in Miami, David Arquette was introduced to the live crowd as a former WCW heavyweight champion. They did a comedy spot where security ejected him after he hopped on to the announcer's table. American Airlines Arena wasn't sold out. The building holds roughly 20,000 people. The lower bowl and floor seats were full but the suites (mid level) were only about 80 percent full and they closed off part of the upperdeck. The Bryan-DiBiase match was well received by the crowd. There was a small Low-Ki chant during Kaval's match with Ziggrer. MVP also got a good response from his hometown crowd.
The company was working hard to shut down illegal PPV streams last night. In the days leading up to the show they sent out dozens of cease and desist letters citing the "Digital Millennium Copyright Act" to numerous company's hosting streams on their servers.
The word on Sean "Val Venis" Morley returning to the company is that he's on a month long tryout as an agent/producer.
Linda McMahon is planning to run a one-day ad campaign this week to thank her supporters for their votes, and perhaps reminding Connecticut that she is not out of politics just yet.
There are several new WWE DVDs in the works for 2011. This includes a Bill Goldberg 3-disc set with documentary and matches; a 'Best Of Nitro Seasons 1 & 2' set; a 'Best Of Cage Matches' set; The History of Wrestlemania with documentary and matches; plus 3-disc sets on Triple H, DX and Big Show which is tentatively titled 'A Giant's World'.
Brian Fritz interviewed Sheamus at http://tinyurl.com/39cyz8a where he says "fella" about 372 times. He talked about Old School Raw last week saying he loved the set up and hopes WWE would do those types of shows more often. He also calls out Undertaker and says the streak would be over if they stepped in the ring together.
The Baltimore Sun has a Q&A with Wade Barrett at http://tinyurl.com/2f43vnf where he puts over Chris Jericho for helping to smarten him up to life as a WWE wrestler. Said Barrett:"... Jericho has definitely given me a good piece of advice in that when I started in NXT he told me that I couldn’t just be strong in one area of what I do. I couldn’t just be good on the mic. I needed to be good on the mic; I needed to be good in the ring; I need to be good in my presentation; my ring attire need to look good, my appearance. Everything about me needed to be the best. I couldn’t be weak in any area because you’re only as good as your weakest aspect. So that’s something that I’ve been very conscious of and I know where my weak points are and what I’ve got to work on – and I also know what my strengths are. So that’s probably the best piece of advice that I’ve been given."
Jim Neidhart did an interview on 1360AM in Philadelphia. He said he's in a good place and his recent legal issues are behind him. "Everything is good, and I'm in really good shape right now," he said. "I'm always looking to get back to the ring, and Philly has a lot of great independent promotions." When asked whether he thought Vince McMahon takes care of talent, he said: "It's not his job... It's not his job to tell us how to save our money or monitor what we did after leaving the company. Sure, he ran us into the ground, but no employer is responsible for that."
UFC fighter Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at http://tinyurl.com/3a44x62 says he'd be interested in working for WWE in the future. He said he would never go on the road as a regular, but may be interested in special appearances when his fight career is over.
Shawn Michaels and his family were involved in a minor auto accident over the weekend. Michaels said they were hit by a drunk driver at 50mph. Nobody was hurt but he noted that his kids were fired up and cut promos on the guy who hit them.
The story on WWE moving Summerslam next year from New York City to Los Angeles is due to renovation work at MSG which may not be completed before the pay-per-view.
Vickie Guerrero on eBay is auctioning off a custom designed 2007 Chevrolet Avalanche she created to pay tribute to Eddy Guerrero following his death. The asking price is $55,000. She said she was selling the truck as she is working on another new car project.
Superstars on 11/18 did a 0.5 rating and 600,000 viewers.
Hall of Famer Afa The Wild Samoan celebrated his 68th birthday on Sunday. He noted going deep sea fishing with some of his family and students from his WXW training facility.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING
The Sun's Rob McNichol has a huge interview with Mick Foley at www.the-sun.co.uk/wrestling. Many topics are covered including the concussion issue and critiques of the TNA product. He says that the company recently asked him to turn heel. "This is breaking news, and maybe I'll get in trouble for this, but TNA had discussed me doing a big heel turn," said Foley. "But with this anti-bullying campaign we're doing and coming off an award for reasonableness I was given by Jon Stewart, it just didn't seem right. To be hitting people with my reasonableness award on TV would be funny, I could have done a couple of weeks of good television. But in the bigger picture — and I think TNA has got to start looking at the bigger picture more often — I could be a lot more effective as somebody who goes out there and talks about serious issues." Foley also says that anyone who throws a chair shot at house shows should be fired. "Knowing what we do know about concussions, the less times people are hit on the head with hard objects the better. I'm not saying we have to eliminate them totally, but I think anyone who throws a chair shot on a house show should be fired."
Foley was in Washington, DC a few days ago campaigning for the Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Registry (SAFER) Act.
Kurt Angle and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his partner Jim Lorimer recently approved for the first-ever “GNC presents the Kurt Angle World Teen Championships" at the Arnold Sports Festival to be held on March 4-6 in Columbus OH, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. The three day teen program will feature strongman and strong-woman’s competitions, to be followed by the first Angle Ultimate Teen High School Football Combine hosted by hall-of-fame running back Franco Harris. $5,000 in prize money and scholarships will be awarded to winners across various categories. More info at www.KurtAngleTeenChallenge.com.
Hulk Hogan, 57, apparently got married to Jennifer McDaniel, 34, on Saturday. He posted on Twitter that he was sitting by the ocean with the new Mrs. Hogan.
Ric Flair will make a motivational speaking appearance at Winnipeg's Pantages Playhouse next month as part of an Icons Uncensored series.
Little Rock, AR's The Buzz interviewed Mickie James at http://tinyurl.com/3ah4tuw. She talks about joining TNA, the Knockouts, country music and more.
Impact on 11/18 did a 1.1 rating and 1.3 million viewers, while Reaction did a 0.6 rating and 700,000 viewers. The Impact rating was the lowest since September, and was the lowest rated of the entire year in the males 18-34 demographic.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
Very sad to report the death of Chris Long, a Georgia-area independent wrestler who worked regularly as "Solid", a comedic sidekick to Marco Corleone (Mark Jindrak) in the MTV2 Lucha Libre USA series. Long was just 33 years old. He was working door security over the weekend at a strip club in Doraville, GA when a group of men who had earlier been ejected returned to the club and shot him several times. Long, who just recently got married, is survived by his wife Lisa and two children.
Semi-retired Japanese wrestler Gran Naniwa passed away back on 10/6 at the age of 33. His family had requested his death not be announced until now. Naniwa reportedly suffered a heart attack stemming from a myocardial blockage, however, there is some speculation that he took his own life. He was best known for his comedy gimmick, in which he performed mannerisms of crabs in Michinoku Pro Wrestling. There will be a 10-bell salute at the 12/16 Michinoku Pro show at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
ROH tonight on HDNet includes Davey Richards vs. Shawn Daivari for a TV title shot; Colt Cabana vs. Erick Stevens; Daizee Haze vs. Sara Del Rey; plus Jim Cornette brings the Kings of Wrestling & Shane Hagadorn face to face with their Final Battle 2010 opponents.
Teddy Hart missed a booking with Jersey All Pro Wrestling over the weekend. The promotion claimed a "legal situation" prevented him from coming in. The last we had heard, Hart was in rehab.
Matt "Spike Dudley" Hyson, 40, quietly walked away from pro wrestling earlier this month. Providence, RI's Ch. 12 news covered his final match and decision to leave the business. Hyson had been wrestling for Top Rope Promotions, a local group for the last few years.
InfoWars at http://tinyurl.com/3898nax spoke to Jesse Ventura about new TSA regulations and his decision to no longer fly commercial airlines. Ventura said he underwent hip surgery so every time he goes through an airport the metal detector goes off, and he's sick and tired of being frisked all the time. "If you touch people that way on the street it would be a sexual assault," says Ventura. "I feel that as a former Governor, a former Mayor, an honorably discharged United States Navy veteran, a Vietnam veteran, that I can't live with myself that every time I go to an airport I have to prove that I'm not a murderer, that I'm not guilty of anything, that I have to prove I won't hijack a plane... I find it ridiculous and so for my own personal choice i won't fly a commercial airline or subject myself to that again." Ventura, who currently resides in Mexico, said this could spell the end of his television career unless he finds another mode of transport or uses a private aircraft.
Paul London and his brother Jon, who is a video producer in Hollywood, made a shortlist of those under consideration to be cast in the next season of Amazing Race on CBS.
Scotty "2 Hotty" Taylor noted over the weekend that he autographed an old wrestling outfit of his that was actually stolen years ago by a fan in the lobby of a hotel in Tokyo.
www.owwradio.com has an interview Tuesday night with the former Vance Archer, Lance Hoyt.
Ken Spence is promoting a Thanksgiving show Thursday in Thomasville, NC at the Armory. Former WWF star The Barbarian headlines. For more info email kspenceshoot@aol.com or call 336-778-2616.
The final shows of the American Wrestling Rampage tour in France drew solid crowds. Lille on 11/16 did 1,900 people, 11/20 in Cournon D'Auvergnes did 1,500 and the final show last night in Rouen did 2,400 with Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin over Booker T & Scott Steiner in the main event.
Today's Babe of the Day at http://thewrestlingpress.com/?page_id=298.
11/19 Smackdown TV results from Richmond, VA: MVP over Drew McIntyre; Jack Swagger over Chris Masters; Kaval over Dolph Ziggler; Cody Rhodes over Kofi Kingston; Lay-Cool over Kelly Kelly & Natalya; Big Show over Tyler Reks; Rey Mysterio over Alberto Del Rio via DQ; and Mysterio's team over Del Rio's team in the battle royal.
11/21 Survivor Series PPV results from Miami, FL: Randy Orton over Wade Barrett to retain the WWE title with John Cena as special referee; Justin Gabriel & Heath Slater over Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov to retain the tag titles; Kane vs. Edge was ruled a no contest for the World title; Natalya over Michelle McCool & Layla to capture the Divas title; Team Mysterio (Rey Mysterio, Big Show, Kofi Kingston, Chris Masters & MVP) over Team Del Rio (Alberto Del Rio, Drew McIntyre, Jack Swagger, Tyler Reks & Cody Rhodes); Kaval over Dolph Ziggler to retain the IC title; John Morrison over Sheamus; Daniel Bryan over Ted DiBiase to retain the US title; and R-Truth over Zack Ryder was the dark match.
Raw is live tonight from Amway Center in Orlando. Some mainstream news outlets in India are actually reporting that Cena has been fired from WWE. Well, I guess he may be tonight if Barrett makes that decision.
The Smackdown/NXT taping is Tuesday at the Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville.
***
First today, I just wanted to thank all those who have sent me birthday messages. Very much appreciated.
The confirmed list of those WWE released before the weekend was Shad Gaspard, 29, Luke Gallows (Drew Hankinson, 26), Caylen Croft (Kris Pavone, 30), Vance Archer (Lance Hoyt, 33), Divas Jillian Hall (Jillian Farole, 30) and Tiffany (Taryn Terrell, 25), creative team member Chris "Big Dick Johnson" DeJoseph, and referee Aaron Mahoney. Almost everyone was told they were victims of budget cuts across the company. Tiffany in a way was perhaps the most surprising cut as we had been told she was due to start back on the road. She hadn't been seen on WWE television since August when a domestic dispute involving her husband (Smackdown wrestler Drew McIntyre) led to her arrest in Hollywood. All charges against her were later dropped but the damage had already been done. Over the weekend she wrote a nice blog to thank people in WWE and noted that she has a new photo shoot out in a special edition of Playboy magazine called "Big Boobs, Hot Buns"... Jillian Hall on Twitter regarding her release wrote, "I am doing very well and I'm in a great place in life! I have a lot to say, but there's no room here, Thank you so much for your support." Hall of late had been working as a trainer in FCW after she was told creative had nothing for her. She had worked for the company for seven years and was the most tenured of those released along with Croft who is probably better known as Chris Cage, at one-time a hot prospect that came through OVW. Most recently he was paired with Trent Barreta in the Dude Busters tag team... Archer and Gallows have already started accepting independent bookings. Gallows has talked about reprising the Jesse and Festus gimmick with former tag partner Ray Gordy Jr., who currently works as a sheriff's deputy in Cobb County, GA... Gaspard posted an action/stunt highlight reel on YouTube at http://tinyurl.com/34qutan as he seems to be looking for work in Hollywood. He's also working on a comic book among some other non-wrestling related projects.
CM Punk wrote on Twitter that he was "bummed out" by Gallows' release, and said that he was often times "given s---" and turned it into gold.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will be all over the place this week promoting his new movie Faster which opens in theaters on Wednesday. WWE was working on getting Johnson to record a video promo for Raw, and as noted, there have been discussions lately about him at least making a one-off appearance when his filming schedule allows. Amongst a ton of PR he's doing Jay Leno on Tuesday, Craig Ferguson and Ellen DeGeneres on Wednesday, and George Lopez on Thursday. There is also a special Faster premiere party tonight in Hollywood.
Hall of famer Gerald Brisco told Slam Wrestling Producer Greg Oliver that his son Wes, who wrestles in developmental under his real name, was requested to be at the TV tapings this week because WWE officials want to evaluate him. Wes, 26, a former pro wakeboarder, is currently FCW tag champion with Xavier Woods, the former Austin Creed in TNA. Many of the developmental guys will be at TV.
FCW ran on Saturday night in Punta Gorda, FL with a surprise appearance from Jerry Lawler. He plugged coming in on 12/17 for an inter-gender tag match. Main event was Johnny Curtis, Derrick Bateman, Hunico & Epico over Ryan O Reilly, The Miz, Alex Riley & Trent Barreta. Other results: Percy Watson over Brad Maddox; Damian Sandow over Donny Marlow; AJ Lee, Naomi Night & Kaitlyn over Rosa Mendes, Aksana & Caylee Turner; Richie Steamboat over Seth Rollins; Bo Rotundo over Alex Sherman; Wes Brisco & Xavier Woods over Jinder Mahal & Jacob Novak; and Mason Ryan over Lucky Cannon.
Rollins and Sherman are the former ROH regulars Tyler Black and Alex Koslov... Dennis Knight, the former Mideon, also attended the show. His son Shane wrestles in FCW as Buck Dixon.
Before the pay-per-view last night in Miami, David Arquette was introduced to the live crowd as a former WCW heavyweight champion. They did a comedy spot where security ejected him after he hopped on to the announcer's table. American Airlines Arena wasn't sold out. The building holds roughly 20,000 people. The lower bowl and floor seats were full but the suites (mid level) were only about 80 percent full and they closed off part of the upperdeck. The Bryan-DiBiase match was well received by the crowd. There was a small Low-Ki chant during Kaval's match with Ziggrer. MVP also got a good response from his hometown crowd.
The company was working hard to shut down illegal PPV streams last night. In the days leading up to the show they sent out dozens of cease and desist letters citing the "Digital Millennium Copyright Act" to numerous company's hosting streams on their servers.
The word on Sean "Val Venis" Morley returning to the company is that he's on a month long tryout as an agent/producer.
Linda McMahon is planning to run a one-day ad campaign this week to thank her supporters for their votes, and perhaps reminding Connecticut that she is not out of politics just yet.
There are several new WWE DVDs in the works for 2011. This includes a Bill Goldberg 3-disc set with documentary and matches; a 'Best Of Nitro Seasons 1 & 2' set; a 'Best Of Cage Matches' set; The History of Wrestlemania with documentary and matches; plus 3-disc sets on Triple H, DX and Big Show which is tentatively titled 'A Giant's World'.
Brian Fritz interviewed Sheamus at http://tinyurl.com/39cyz8a where he says "fella" about 372 times. He talked about Old School Raw last week saying he loved the set up and hopes WWE would do those types of shows more often. He also calls out Undertaker and says the streak would be over if they stepped in the ring together.
The Baltimore Sun has a Q&A with Wade Barrett at http://tinyurl.com/2f43vnf where he puts over Chris Jericho for helping to smarten him up to life as a WWE wrestler. Said Barrett:"... Jericho has definitely given me a good piece of advice in that when I started in NXT he told me that I couldn’t just be strong in one area of what I do. I couldn’t just be good on the mic. I needed to be good on the mic; I needed to be good in the ring; I need to be good in my presentation; my ring attire need to look good, my appearance. Everything about me needed to be the best. I couldn’t be weak in any area because you’re only as good as your weakest aspect. So that’s something that I’ve been very conscious of and I know where my weak points are and what I’ve got to work on – and I also know what my strengths are. So that’s probably the best piece of advice that I’ve been given."
Jim Neidhart did an interview on 1360AM in Philadelphia. He said he's in a good place and his recent legal issues are behind him. "Everything is good, and I'm in really good shape right now," he said. "I'm always looking to get back to the ring, and Philly has a lot of great independent promotions." When asked whether he thought Vince McMahon takes care of talent, he said: "It's not his job... It's not his job to tell us how to save our money or monitor what we did after leaving the company. Sure, he ran us into the ground, but no employer is responsible for that."
UFC fighter Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at http://tinyurl.com/3a44x62 says he'd be interested in working for WWE in the future. He said he would never go on the road as a regular, but may be interested in special appearances when his fight career is over.
Shawn Michaels and his family were involved in a minor auto accident over the weekend. Michaels said they were hit by a drunk driver at 50mph. Nobody was hurt but he noted that his kids were fired up and cut promos on the guy who hit them.
The story on WWE moving Summerslam next year from New York City to Los Angeles is due to renovation work at MSG which may not be completed before the pay-per-view.
Vickie Guerrero on eBay is auctioning off a custom designed 2007 Chevrolet Avalanche she created to pay tribute to Eddy Guerrero following his death. The asking price is $55,000. She said she was selling the truck as she is working on another new car project.
Superstars on 11/18 did a 0.5 rating and 600,000 viewers.
Hall of Famer Afa The Wild Samoan celebrated his 68th birthday on Sunday. He noted going deep sea fishing with some of his family and students from his WXW training facility.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING
The Sun's Rob McNichol has a huge interview with Mick Foley at www.the-sun.co.uk/wrestling. Many topics are covered including the concussion issue and critiques of the TNA product. He says that the company recently asked him to turn heel. "This is breaking news, and maybe I'll get in trouble for this, but TNA had discussed me doing a big heel turn," said Foley. "But with this anti-bullying campaign we're doing and coming off an award for reasonableness I was given by Jon Stewart, it just didn't seem right. To be hitting people with my reasonableness award on TV would be funny, I could have done a couple of weeks of good television. But in the bigger picture — and I think TNA has got to start looking at the bigger picture more often — I could be a lot more effective as somebody who goes out there and talks about serious issues." Foley also says that anyone who throws a chair shot at house shows should be fired. "Knowing what we do know about concussions, the less times people are hit on the head with hard objects the better. I'm not saying we have to eliminate them totally, but I think anyone who throws a chair shot on a house show should be fired."
Foley was in Washington, DC a few days ago campaigning for the Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Registry (SAFER) Act.
Kurt Angle and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his partner Jim Lorimer recently approved for the first-ever “GNC presents the Kurt Angle World Teen Championships" at the Arnold Sports Festival to be held on March 4-6 in Columbus OH, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. The three day teen program will feature strongman and strong-woman’s competitions, to be followed by the first Angle Ultimate Teen High School Football Combine hosted by hall-of-fame running back Franco Harris. $5,000 in prize money and scholarships will be awarded to winners across various categories. More info at www.KurtAngleTeenChallenge.com.
Hulk Hogan, 57, apparently got married to Jennifer McDaniel, 34, on Saturday. He posted on Twitter that he was sitting by the ocean with the new Mrs. Hogan.
Ric Flair will make a motivational speaking appearance at Winnipeg's Pantages Playhouse next month as part of an Icons Uncensored series.
Little Rock, AR's The Buzz interviewed Mickie James at http://tinyurl.com/3ah4tuw. She talks about joining TNA, the Knockouts, country music and more.
Impact on 11/18 did a 1.1 rating and 1.3 million viewers, while Reaction did a 0.6 rating and 700,000 viewers. The Impact rating was the lowest since September, and was the lowest rated of the entire year in the males 18-34 demographic.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
Very sad to report the death of Chris Long, a Georgia-area independent wrestler who worked regularly as "Solid", a comedic sidekick to Marco Corleone (Mark Jindrak) in the MTV2 Lucha Libre USA series. Long was just 33 years old. He was working door security over the weekend at a strip club in Doraville, GA when a group of men who had earlier been ejected returned to the club and shot him several times. Long, who just recently got married, is survived by his wife Lisa and two children.
Semi-retired Japanese wrestler Gran Naniwa passed away back on 10/6 at the age of 33. His family had requested his death not be announced until now. Naniwa reportedly suffered a heart attack stemming from a myocardial blockage, however, there is some speculation that he took his own life. He was best known for his comedy gimmick, in which he performed mannerisms of crabs in Michinoku Pro Wrestling. There will be a 10-bell salute at the 12/16 Michinoku Pro show at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
ROH tonight on HDNet includes Davey Richards vs. Shawn Daivari for a TV title shot; Colt Cabana vs. Erick Stevens; Daizee Haze vs. Sara Del Rey; plus Jim Cornette brings the Kings of Wrestling & Shane Hagadorn face to face with their Final Battle 2010 opponents.
Teddy Hart missed a booking with Jersey All Pro Wrestling over the weekend. The promotion claimed a "legal situation" prevented him from coming in. The last we had heard, Hart was in rehab.
Matt "Spike Dudley" Hyson, 40, quietly walked away from pro wrestling earlier this month. Providence, RI's Ch. 12 news covered his final match and decision to leave the business. Hyson had been wrestling for Top Rope Promotions, a local group for the last few years.
InfoWars at http://tinyurl.com/3898nax spoke to Jesse Ventura about new TSA regulations and his decision to no longer fly commercial airlines. Ventura said he underwent hip surgery so every time he goes through an airport the metal detector goes off, and he's sick and tired of being frisked all the time. "If you touch people that way on the street it would be a sexual assault," says Ventura. "I feel that as a former Governor, a former Mayor, an honorably discharged United States Navy veteran, a Vietnam veteran, that I can't live with myself that every time I go to an airport I have to prove that I'm not a murderer, that I'm not guilty of anything, that I have to prove I won't hijack a plane... I find it ridiculous and so for my own personal choice i won't fly a commercial airline or subject myself to that again." Ventura, who currently resides in Mexico, said this could spell the end of his television career unless he finds another mode of transport or uses a private aircraft.
Paul London and his brother Jon, who is a video producer in Hollywood, made a shortlist of those under consideration to be cast in the next season of Amazing Race on CBS.
Scotty "2 Hotty" Taylor noted over the weekend that he autographed an old wrestling outfit of his that was actually stolen years ago by a fan in the lobby of a hotel in Tokyo.
www.owwradio.com has an interview Tuesday night with the former Vance Archer, Lance Hoyt.
Ken Spence is promoting a Thanksgiving show Thursday in Thomasville, NC at the Armory. Former WWF star The Barbarian headlines. For more info email kspenceshoot@aol.com or call 336-778-2616.
The final shows of the American Wrestling Rampage tour in France drew solid crowds. Lille on 11/16 did 1,900 people, 11/20 in Cournon D'Auvergnes did 1,500 and the final show last night in Rouen did 2,400 with Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin over Booker T & Scott Steiner in the main event.
Today's Babe of the Day at http://thewrestlingpress.com/?page_id=298.
