-Mike Aldren with WGN.
WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT
11/5 Smackdown TV results from Bridgeport, CT: Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio was a no contest; Dolph Ziggler over JTG; MVP over Cody Rhodes & Drew McIntyre; Vickie Guerrero over Kaitlyn; Tyler Reks over Chris Masters; and Kane, Edge, Big Show, Kofi Kingston & Alberto Del Rio over Nexus.
Raw is taped Monday in the UK at the MEN Arena in Manchester following by a house show Tuesday at the O2 Arena in London. The Smackdown crew runs Monday night in Newcastle followed by the TV tapings on Tuesday in Manchester.
***
Linda McMahon sent out a thank you letter to her supporters following her failed Senate campaign. She noted her campaign volunteers knocked on 100,000 doors, made 400,000 telephone calls and racked up 52,000 miles on the road. "My campaign's focus was on economic recovery and job creation, and today, that same focus must remain the top priority of our newly elected officials," she wrote in an email to supporters. "Let us all make sure they have our support for the good of our state and our country." She added: "The United States is the best place to live in and I truly believe we as American's have a strength and resolve that will pull us through these next few unpredictable years. We must look ahead and bring ourselves to remember as President Ronald Reagan once said, 'If you're afraid of the future, then get out of the way, stand aside. The people of this country are ready to move again.' Thank you all for your heartfelt support and encouragement".
Undertaker is scheduled for surgery this coming week to repair a torn rotator cuff. He's expected to be sidelined for some time.
Goldust had a scare over the weekend at the Raw show in Cardiff, Wales. He suffered an eye injury during his match with Ted DiBiase which required some stitching. He was sent to the local hospital and at one point doctors were debating whether or not to perform minor surgery. Despite the injury he worked the next night with DiBiase in Birmingham.
Rey Mysterio came to Europe for the tour despite not being cleared to wrestle. They are doing an injury spot following his entrance, so he's not technically wrestling but is appearing before the live crowd to make people happy.
Regal is working most shows on the Raw tour putting over Daniel Bryan--these matches are said to be the best on the card in most cases.
Due to the lack of depth on the Smackdown side, Fit Finlay has been recalled to house show duty once again.
Dave Finlay Sr. and Mad Monk Rasputin will be guests on Northern Ireland's Radio Ulster at 4pm on Monday. They are on to discuss their involvement in the upcoming documentary about the Finlay family, The Fit Finlays. There is a preview on Youtube at http://tinyurl.com/3888yxp. The film was shot with the cooperation of WWE and includes WWE and WCW library footage.
Hornswoggle has reportedly dyed his hair darker.
Newcomer Mason Ryan from Wales, who we talked about in the last newsletter, is working the Smacksdown tour, billed as the hometown hero in every city.
Steve Austin at http://tinyurl.com/2esakbx says he will probably never wrestle again, says his character would not fit into PG WWE, says he's happy just being an actor, and mentions that he would like to do a romantic comedy one day.
The idea for the upcoming "Old School" Raw TV came about to help push a new line of merchandise the company has been working on. Some of the new garb includes the WWF block logo and initials which they were actually banned from marketing back in 2002 due to the lawsuit with the Panda.
Superstars on Thursday night did a 0.6 rating and 639,000 viewers.
Regarding Phoenix discussing the Wellness Program on her Twitter a few days ago. Reader Chris Moomaw writes: "You weren’t sure where the idea for the Beth Phoenix quote came from. It could be that she watched ESPN’s 30 for 30 on Tuesday night which was a documentary on track and basketball star Marion Jones, who had to forfeit her Olympic medals for using performance enhancing drugs. She was a big role model for young girls before the scandal and is trying to rebuild that now. Anyway that’s where the quote idea probably came from."
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING
11/5 Impact TV results from Orlando, FL: Sarita over Velvet Sky; Ink Inc. & Mickie James over Generation Me & Tara; AJ Styles over RVD & Rhino in a three-way to retain the TV title; Kazarian over Douglas Williams; and Pope over Abyss by DQ.
The TV tapings are Monday and Tuesday. Expect a familiar face or two to resurface this week.
***
Impact on Thursday night did a 1.15 rating and 1.4 million viewers, while ReAction did a 0.8 rating and 754,000 viewers. Total viewership for Impact was down for the third consecutive week, which is not a good sign at all. You can almost pinpoint the decline to where they turned Jeff Hardy--the company's biggest draw and merchandise seller. The highest rated quarter hour of the night featured the Styles-RVD-Rhino three-way and subsequent EV2 infighting which did a 1.25 in Q5.
Hulk Hogan on Bubba the Love Sponge Friday morning denied that he showed his genitals in the promotional video for Def Jam Rockstar and released what appeared to be uncensored footage of him only showing his underwear. Hogan also claimed that his attorney was finalizing his pre-nup agreement in readiness for his marriage to fiancé Jennifer McDaniel. He said there is a very good reason why they are moving things along so fast, and no... it's not because she's pregnant.
There were technical issues for some people attempting to order the pay-per-view via DirecTV. At last word those issues were due to be resolved before the show goes live.
Alex Marvez interviewed Robbie E at http://tinyurl.com/2aza9kg who notes (like a few others on the roster) that he's working a second job around his wrestling bookings to pay the bills. Well, he didn't actually say that, but that's the bottom line. He works as a high-school physical-education teacher in Woodbridge, NJ. "In the near future, I'm going to have to give my 60-day notice... It's pretty cool, though, because all the kids are seeing me on TV."
The house shows in Evansville, IN on 11/19 and Indianapolis on 11/20 have been canceled with both buildings pointing to poor ticket sales. Those dates were the company's final non-televised events this year.
The latest SpinCycle webshow features Mickie James, Brian Kendrick, RVD and Douglas Williams at http://tinyurl.com/3374b9g. When asked about hidden secrets, Kendrick noted that he sometimes hates wrestling. "My hidden secret is sometimes I hate wrestling so much," he revealed. "I was lying in bed last night and I couldn't move my knee. I just started crying. I had to wrestle a dark match because of all the stupid politics. And I just hate being a wrestler so much sometimes that I just want to slap myself in the face for being so stupid."
Jeff Hardy is due back in court again on 12/8 regarding his ongoing criminal case.
Mick Foley has taped an appearance for TSN's Off the Record that airs Wednesday night in which he'll discuss his belief he has permanent brain damage.
And finally... Eric Bischoff is apparently not a fan of WWE's Nexus angle, calling it "boring as hell" the other day on his Facebook page.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
The Cincinnati Enquirer has a story on Brian Pillman Jr., 17-year-old son of the late Brian Pillman, as he follows in the footsteps of his father and makes his own path in football. http://tinyurl.com/34p7syh. Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh is quoted in the story. "It’s amazing," Harbaugh says. "He has that same nose guard stance as his dad, and he’s quick and ferocious. He’s built similarly. Their mannerisms are the same. It’s uncanny." The connection between Pillman Sr. and Harbaugh is that they were team-mates for the University of Miami RedHawks during the early 80s.
New York's Leader-Herald at http://tinyurl.com/3yxgkol has an story on Christopher Nowinski's recent visit to Amsterdam High School to discuss the danger of concussions and head injuries.
Jim Cornette is a guest on The LAW tonight following the TNA PPV at 11pm on The Score on Sirus 98.
There was a "If You Can Carry It, You Can Keep It" $25 free-for-all at South Philadelphia's Spectrum this past weekend. The storied sports venue, which hosted numerous pro wrestling events in the 1980s and 1990s, will be demolished next week to make way for a new hotel. Among the many pillagers was former ECW wrestler Blue Meanie who was caught on camera in the background during a news report on Comcast Sportsnet Philly.
The long-awaited autobiography of Tony Atlas is now available via the Crowbar Press website at http://tinyurl.com/2wtt2nx.
Bobby Lashley has said he won't be fighting in December, instead opting to take more time to prepare to fight in the new year.
Roddy Piper's next film Legion: The Final Exorcism, also featuring his daughter Ariel Toombs, will be released on DVD early next year.
Matt Hardy makes his first post-WWE appearance for Northeast Wrestling on 1/15 in Poughkeepsie, NY at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center. The show is headlined by Jerry Lawler vs. Tommy Dreamer in a steel cage.
Indy group New England Championship Wrestling called it quits this past weekend following a show in Quincy, MA. The group had been in existance for around a decade, promoted by Sheldon Goldberg.
Today's Babe of the Day at http://thewrestlingpress.com/?page_id=298.
