----Mike Aldren with WGN.
WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT
11/25 Superstars TV results: Curt Hawkins over Trent Barreta; Santino Marella & Kozlov over Zack Ryder & Primo; and Mark Henry over The Usos.
11/26 Smackdown TV results from Orlando, FL: Kofi Kingston over Jack Swagger; Alberto Del Rio over Big Show via CO; Drew McIntyre over MVP; Kelly Kelly over Michelle McCool; and Cody Rhodes over Rey Mysterio.
Raw tonight from Philly is a live three-hour special King of the Ring tournament, formerly the company's fifth major PPV event from 1993 until 2002. Miss USA Rima Fakin is advertised as guest host--she'll be crowning the winner, who will be one of either Daniel Bryan, John Morrison, Ezekiel Jackson, Sheamus, Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston or Alberto Del Rio--who is probably the most likely winner of all those guys. There was also talk of Bryan winning as Bryan vs. William Regal (KOTR winner in 2008) is a program they want to push following their great matches in Europe.
The Smackdown/NXT taping is Tuesday in Norfolk, VA.
***
Online reports that Bobby Heenan is hospitalized in very poor health in Tampa are completely false. The rumor got started after Lanny Poffo on his audio show said that a friend told him Bobby was in a coma and "might be on his last legs". Bobby's wife Cindy said Bobby spent Thanksgiving at home with his family and is doing very well and telling jokes. He was hospitalized several week's ago after breaking his hip for a second time, but he's doing much better now.
The Raw crew ran Sunday afternoon in Salisbury, MD with the debut of "Juan Cena" (complete with Lucha mask that matches his garb) in a three-way with Miz and Wade Barrett. Cena was introduced as hailing from West Newbarina, Mexico and weighing in at 108 kilos. The finish was Riley pulling Cena from the ring, and Miz stealing the pin. Other matches: Henry over Riley, Slater & Gabriel over Santino & Kozlov, Goldust over Jackson Andrews, Natalya over Alicia Fox, Bryan over DiBiase with the LeBelle Lock, Truth over Ryder, and Sheamus over Morrison. The show drew an estimated 3,500.
We have a photo of "Juan Cena" at http://tinyurl.com/37gdqcm.
There is once again talk of doing away with the Cena spinner belt now that Miz is champion. The company has had a new belt designed and ready to go since late 2009.
Triple H, whose return is imminent, was interviewed for an upcoming documentary on Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister. A trailer is online at http://tinyurl.com/3xrdjmf.
We've been asked not to name names, but at least a dozen indy wrestler's (that we know of), including some former WWE developmental wrestlers, have applied for the upcoming season of Tough Enough.
The first estimate for Hell in a Cell on 10/3 and Bragging Rights on 10/24 was reported by WWE to investors as an average of 173,000 buys for the fourth quarter. Hell in a Cell was reported as doing more than 200,000 buys while Bragging Rights, which was competing for dollars the same weekend as UFC 121 with Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez, did fewer than 150,000 buys worldwide, and less than 100,000 domestic.
R-Truth has quietly reverted back to his old entrance music as his new deal wasn't getting over.
There is a phenomenal video of Howard Finkel emceeing a wedding party at http://tinyurl.com/2vrv7lc.
Actor Leslie Nielsen (Airplane and The Naked Gun series) passed away on Sunday at age 84 from complications of pneumonia. Nielsen appeared in several comedy segments pushing Undertaker vs. Undertaker at Summerslam 1994.
Shonie Carter, 38, is the latest MMA fighter to claim he's interested in joining WWE. He did an interview this past week noting that he's been talking with CM Punk about becoming a pro wrestler. Apparently they work out at the same gym in the Chicago area.
The UK Mirror posted a video interview with Bret Hart at http://tinyurl.com/37bbudo. He talks coming back to help the Hart Dynasty, calls Vince McMahon a genius, and says between the two of them Hogan and Bischoff, "don't have a good idea in their head about wrestling."
Randy Orton recently cracked the Top 10 of longest WWE title reigns of all time. He nudged Shawn Michaels out of the No. 10 spot with a combined 420 days as champion. No. 9 is Randy Savage with 520 days, No. 8 Steve Austin 529 days, No. 7 Triple H 539 days, No. 6 Bret Hart 654 days, No. 5 John Cena 947 days, No 4 Pedro Morales 1,027 days, No. 3 Bob Backlund 2,138 days, No. 2 Hulk Hogan 2,184 days, and No. 1 Bruno Sammartino with 4,040 days--a record that will likely never be surpassed.
Orlando, FL's FOX 35 covered WWE's possible physical Hall of Fame residing in the city with comments from Sheamus and Natalya at http://tinyurl.com/32dncew.
Sports Illustrated at http://tinyurl.com/39uspme has an article on Dr. James Andrews and his status as the preferred surgeon for many professional athletes, including WWE wrestlers such as John Cena, Triple H, Randy Orton and many more.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING
11/25 Impact TV results from Orlando, FL: Tommy Dreamer over Rhino; Sarita over Madison Rayne in a non-title match; Jeff Jarrett over Jesse Neal in an MMA match; and Matt Morgan, Pope, Samoa Joe & Douglas Williams vs Beer Money, Kazarian & AJ Styles was a no contest.
***
The TNA shows this week in Abu Dhabi are said to be nearly sold out. The foreign promoter, Al Rayan, told press in the country they expect each show will attract almost 3,000 people. "It is the first time we have had this level of wrestling in the region," said Baha Halabi, a rep from Al Rayan. Footage from Sunday's show was posted on YouTube at http://tinyurl.com/3acwllw.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
Kantaro Hoshino, a star of New Japan during the 60s, 70s and 80s, passed away last Thursday at the age of 67. He had been battling pneumonia in a Tokyo hospital, and had been in poor health since suffering a stroke a couple of years ago.
ROH tonight on HDNet has Homicide vs. Necro Butcher; Steve Corino vs. El Generico; Jon Davis vs. Rhett Titus; plus the debut of The Prodigy in a special interview with Jim Cornette. More info at www.rohwrestling.com.
Reviews of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's new film Faster are mixed but leaning negative with it currently rating 43% (4.9/10) on Rotten Tomatoes. Faster opened Wednesday in 2,454 theaters and over the 5-day Thanksgiving weekend was estimated at doing $12.2 million, ahead of industry estimates of $9.4 million. The movie, which had a production budget of $24 million opened at No 7. spot on the US box office chart, and was fourth of the major Thanksgiving releases behind Tangled ($69 million), Burlesque ($17.15 million) and Love and Other Drugs ($14 million). In terms of money, Faster is considered somewhat of a disappointment for CBS Films with insiders at the studio partially blaming Johnson''s lost credibility as an action star due to his more recent family films.
Johnson at http://tinyurl.com/2vjqp8k talks about the time his grandfather bit an opponents eye out during a hotel fight. This actually didn't happen, and is kind of an urban myth involving Peter Maivia and Billy Robinson--the famed British wrestling champion who is right up there among the greatest shooters in history. The story goes that the two traded blows decades ago while semi-drunk on tour in Japan. Robinson suplexed Maivia onto a table at the hotel bar and hooked him with ease, but then Maivia started biting Robinson's face which ended the fight. Years later in an interview, when asked about that night, Robinson said: "I guess the toughest guy really isn't the best wrestler or shooter but the guy who's willing to endure anything and do anything to kill the other guy... and that's not me."
Matt Hardy said he will be filming an episode of the Marriage Ref show for NBC today.
Scott Hall's probation violation hearing in criminal court last Monday was continued to 12/29.
District Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. ruled in Atlanta last week that Hustler magazine must pay damages to Nancy Benoit's estate for publishing nude photographs of her after her death, with the amount to be decided by a jury at a later time. The magazine, who published the photographs in 2008 had defended themselves by saying they felt the photographs were newsworthy and did not publish them for financial gain.
Alex Marvez has a story on Daizee Haze at http://tinyurl.com/37ggyl3 who is promoting ROH's Final Battle iPPV on 12/18 from New York City. She talks about women's wrestling in WWE, saying it's progressed over the last couple of years, but wishes they'd take more talent from the indy's and give them a makeover instead of taking bikini models and teaching them how to work.
Indy wrestler JT Lighting who is battling cancer is re-opening his promotion in Cleveland early next year.
Dutch Mantell is hoping to release his second book, Tales From A Dirt Road, early next month. More info at www.dutchmantell.com.
Jimmy Valiant, 68, is coming out of retirement on Christmas night for Southern States Wrestling in Kingsport, TN at the city's new armory.
Adult star turned wrestling valet Trina Michaels has been nominated for a 2011 AVN Award for Cross Over Star of the Year for transitioning from porn to wrestling. The awards ceremony takes place on 1/8 at the Palms in Las Vegas.
Bruno Sammartino, Velvet Sky and Angelina Love are among those appearing this weekend at the Steel City con this coming weekend in Pittsburgh at the Monroeville Convention Center.
VH-1 has confirmed there are no plans to shoot a third season of Brooke Knows Best with Brooke Hogan.
Today's Babe of the Day Gail Kim is at http://thewrestlingpress.com/?page_id=298
