----Mike Aldren with WGN.
WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT
11/1 Raw TV results from Long Island, NY: Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel over The Hart Dynasty; Sheamus over Kozlov; Ezekiel Jackson over Zack Ryder; Big Show over Miz via DQ; Daniel Bryan over Ted DiBiase; and Randy Orton & R-Truth over Wade Barrett & David Otunga. Dark match was Yoshi Tatsu over Primo.
11/2 NXT TV results from Bridgeport, CT: AJ won the kissing contest; Kelly Kelly over Alicia Fox; Kaitlyn won a contest to find a hidden flag; and Maxine was eliminated.
Superstars on Thursday night has Gail Kim vs. Alicia Fox; The Usos vs. Mark Henry; Jack Swagger vs. Kaval; and Vince Archer vs. Luke Gallows.
***
A huge tour ahead for WWE with a total of 22 live events in 12 days in 11 different countries. We're looking for reader reports from the shows this coming week in Nice, Montpellier, Amneville, Belfast, Cardiff, Nottingham and Glasgow. The TV tapings are next Monday and Tuesday in Manchester, England.
Some wrestlers (won't mention any names) have already started Tweeting photos from bars in Europe. This never ends well.
As was expected, Richard Blumenthal defeated Linda McMahon last night in the Connecticut senate race by several percentage points. Linda conceded and gave a nice speech (Video at http://tinyurl.com/2uc6jrl) surrounded by family, friends and supporters. She lost the election in every demographic aside from the Senior Citizen vote, according to exit poll data. Perhaps surprisingly, she lost heaviest in the female vote with around 60% supporting Blumenthal. The main reasons given were that women didn't like wrestling, didn't like Vince McMahon, didn't believe she possessed enough qualifications to be a senator, and some felt her campaign ads were excessive and a turn-off. Linda has said she has no immediate plans to return to her former role as WWE CEO nor did she say whether she plans to run for office again in the future. She did say she wants to work towards creating more jobs in the state.
Blumenthal was quoted today by the Hartford Courant on whether he intends to persue pro wrestling over issues he raised during the election: "One issue that I clearly saw as important is the potential dangers of steroids -- the real dangers of steroids -- and the long-term health consequences of steroid use and that will be a focus of mine as a United States Senator. I won't say beyond that what I would do about any of the other issues in the campaign that related to the way my opponent ran her business or treated the people who worked for her, but I think the campaign clearly involved a contrast in our respective records."
Linda's campaign caused a disruption at a polling place yesterday morning where her crew attempted to film Stephanie McMahon and Triple H voting, however, it turned out that Stephanie wasn't registered to vote at that particular location, so she was turned away. Story at http://tinyurl.com/343dst5.
Raw on Monday night did a 3.3 rating and averaged 4.8 million viewers making it the highest rated Raw since 8/30.
The Amy "Lita" Dumas cameo on Raw is said to be just a one night deal at this point. She told people who spoke to her at the show that she was there because she's a big fan of Paul Reubens, who plays the Pee-wee Herman character. That is true, however, there has been dialogue in recent weeks. Lita, who lives in Atlanta, was within driving distance of Long Island as she was booked over the weekend at the Chiller convention in New Jersey.
Tiffany started back on the road today following her suspension after being arrested for domestic assault in August.
Jeff the Drunk from Howard Stern's radio show claimed today that he will be the guest celebrity of the 12/27 Raw in Albany, NY. He also claimed he would be doing the show with Steve Austin. When we asked WWE to confirm the story, an amused rep said, "I think this is one of the reasons why Stern calls him Jeff The Drunk".
An apparent WWE gaff today meant that a version of NXT containing the production feed was accidentally posted on YouTube. You can hear Producer Kevin Dunn coordinating the truck, occasionally cussing, and it kind of sounds like he's snacking on chips.
Miss USA Rima Fakih has been booked to appear on Raw on 11/29 in Philadelphia which is the three-hour King of the King special. She will be promoting the Pink Fund which provides financial assistance for breast cancer patients.
Dusty Rhodes, Sgt. Slaughter, Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper, Iron Sheik, and Hacksaw Jim Duggan were announced for the "Old School" edition of Raw on 11/15 from Hershey.
Edge will be shooting scenes soon for SyFy's Sanctuary. He will portray an abnormal named Thelo, an focal character in the season finale (scheduled to air in spring 2011).
Smackdown on 10/29, which I personally thought was a really good show, did a 1.7 rating and averaged 2.4 million viewers over two hours. That's the lowest rating to date since move to SyFy.
AM Raw on 10/30 did a strong 1.0 rating and 1.2 million viewers.
Michelle McCool (or Layla) vs. Natalya for the third consecutive PPV was added to Survivor Series.
Tickets for the Royal Rumble in Boston go on sale on Saturday with prices starting at $25. Speaking of which, Kevin Nash Tweeted an angle for him to return to WWE at the Rumble. He wants to go over and then work Undertaker at Wrestlemania. Should he not defeat the streak the next night on Raw he would join the Vince McMahon Kiss My Ass Club. Sounds like an interesting idea to me. Taker vs. Wade Barrett is the latest long term plan pitched as the Brock Lesnar deal is unlikely to come to fruition.
Vince McMahon is scheduled to host WWE's quarterly conference call with stockholders on Thursday. It's expected the company will announce profits slightly ahead of expectations.
THQ announced an integrated marketing deal with WWE that will including gaming kiosks at some live events. The deal will also include plugs on WWE television and cross-promotion with DVDs.
Walmart has some WWE DVDs on clearance right now for just $5 including the Four Horsemen and World Class documentaries.
Mason Ryan from developmental, who many are tipping as the next big thing, worked a dark match last night at the Smackdown tapings over Trent Baretta. Ryan is Barri Griffiths, a 28-year-old Welsh bodybuilder who appeared on the UK version of Gladiators.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING
Impact on Thursday night includes Ink Inc & Mickie James vs. Generation Me & Tara; The Pope vs. Abyss; plus news on Sunday's Turning Point pay-per-view.
***
Mr. Anderson in a new interview at www.fanhouse.com says that TNA has now banned direct chair shots to the head. He said: "TNA has absolutely thrown down the gauntlet and said no more unprotected chair shots. And every time there is a chair involved in the ring, the agents will come up and say, please make sure for me that you are not going to... that you're gong to put your hands up. Please tell me you're gong to put your hands up or it's going to be a back shot or something like that." Anderson also noted that he will be sidelined until 11/12 after suffering a legit concussion from the Jeff Hardy chairshot that busted him open last month.
Sabu was notified yesterday that he was being let go after the pay-per-view. He was told creative had nothing for him, which, as you can imagine, he's not too happy about.
Former WWE wrestler Ken Doane turned down a tryout at the television tapings next week. He said he wasn't comfortable with paying for his own flight and working for free. "I don't need a job that bad," Doane wrote on Twitter. "If WWE calls I'll go back... or if TNA offers something decent... Otherwise I'm absolutely happy where I am in life."
Eric Bischoff did his monthly segment this week on the Monday Night Mayhem radio show. He noted that Spike has purchased another ten episodes of Reaction. He also said not to take Hogan's Twitter too seriously when asked if TNA was going to start having shoot matches. Audio at www.mondaynightmayhem.com.
Hogan doing a Ric Flair in a slightly creepy commercial at http://tinyurl.com/36vh55z. However, instead of flashing his junk during happy hour at a bar, he does it while playing video games with his daughter.
A correction from Monday's newsletter. We accidentally listed the Tara-Mickie James singles match at Sunday's pay-per-view as a title match.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
The oldest surviving former NWA Heavyweight Champion Edouard Carpentier, The Flying Frenchman, died on Saturday at age 84 in Montreal, QC after suffering a heart attack. Carpentier led a fascinating life which included joining the French underground resistance during the period of German occupation in World War II; competed in both the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games in gymnastics; won a controversial NWA title over Lou Thesz in 1957--which some territories recognised while others did not; and gave a helping hand in launching the career of Andre the Giant. Greg Oliver at Slam Wrestling has a very good bio at http://tinyurl.com/2e7nbxc. Carpentier's last major role in pro wrestling was as host for WWE's French edition of Superstars, a position he held from the mid-80s until 1992.
Dwayne Johnson's next movie "Journey 2: Mysterious Island" a sequel to the 2008 version of "Journey to the Center of the Earth" commenced filming this past week in Kaneohe, Hawaii and will continue there until mid-December before moving on to North Carolina... Johnson has also signed on to star in a movie called "Protection". He will play a disgraced former American Special Forces operative who attempts to clear his name by rescuing a judge's kidnapped daughter from a Mexican cartel. Filming starts early next year in New Mexico.
Hall of famer Hillbilly Jim has launched "Hillbilly Jim’s Beef & Turkey Jerky" products. For more info you can call 877-451-4017.
Pittsburgh, PA's KDKA ran a nice feature story on Bruno Sammartino covering his recent visit to Italy where he lived as a child. Video at http://tinyurl.com/36npm33. A really good piece.
Roddy Piper, 56, will return to the ring for the WrestleReunion legends Battle Royal this January in Los Angeles. Terry Funk, 65, Bob Orton, 60, Tito Santana, 57, and Ken Patera who is still able to take a bump at 68, will also be participating.
Shane Helms will be wrestling for IGP in Tokyo, Japan on 12/3. He's been very selective where he works since his WWE release earlier this year.
www.placewithfriends.com has an interview up with April Hunter talking pro wrestling and politics.
Today's Babe of the Day is Daffney at http://thewrestlingpress.com/?page_id=298.
