---WGN with Mike Aldren.
WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT
11/29 Raw TV results from Philadelphia, PA: Alberto Del Rio over Daniel Bryan; John Morrison over Cody Rhodes; Drew McIntyre vs. Ezekiel Jackson was a double count out; Sheamus over Kofi Kingston; Mark Henry & Yoshi Tatsu over Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel; John Morrison over Alberto Del Rio; Natalya, Melina & Gail Kim over Maryse, Alicia Fox & Tamina; and Sheamus over John Morrison to win King of the Ring.
11/30 NXT TV results from Norfolk, VA: The Bella Twins & AJ over Alicia Fox, Maxine & Aksana; Kaitlyn over Naomi; and Kaitlyn was also announced winner of the entire season.
Superstars tonight includes Tyson Kidd vs. DH Smith with a very familiar finish, and Trent Barreta vs. Tyler Reks.
***
Raw on Monday night did a 3.1 rating and 4.8 million viewers for the three hour period. The usual 9-11pm time slot did a 3.4 rating and 5.1 million viewers. The first hour did a 2.65, the second did a 3.35 and the third did a 3.41.
The Miz vs. Randy Orton for the WWE title and Kane vs. Edge for the World title will headline the TLC pay-per-view on 12/19 in Houston. Mysterio vs. Del Rio is also expected on the undercard.
Orton was kept off Raw this week as he's nursing a neck injury. The storyline is that he suffered a displaced patella from the attack by Nexus two week's ago.
Eve Torres and Kelly Kelly also missed television this week due to flying out to Afghanistan for WWE's goodwill tour with Vince McMahon. Quite the ménage à trois. Tribute To The Troops will be taped next week in Fort Hood, TX which includes several celebrities--Sean Combs' new band Diddy Dirty Money are performing a song, Cedric the Entertainer is doing comedy, Ariel Winter from Modern Family will sing the National Anthem, Sherri Shepherd from The View is likely stalking MVP, and Miss USA Rima Fakih will be guest ring announcer.
Goldust is scheduled for an MRI today to check out an injured shoulder.
WWE COO Donna Goldsmith said this week that plans for the company to launch a TV Network have been pushed back at least two years to 2012 or even 2013. "It's taken us longer to galvanize the troops and figure out where we're going," Goldsmith revealed at the Reuters Global Media Summit. "My guess is more like the middle of 2012 or even the beginning of 2013 before we're ready to go forward." Goldsmith added that WWE's cable model would likely be similar to the MLB Network with several companies owning a stake. She confirmed that Linda McMahon has told her that she doesn't plan to return to the company as CEO following her failed Senate campaign in Connecticut. Goldsmith was also complimentary when asked to compare WWE talent to NBA players (Goldsmith formerly managed Global Licensing at the NBA before leaving to work for WWE). She said: "Our talent is so wonderful and so articulate, to bring them to a Wal-Mart managers meeting is something we do often. They understand the business side of things, which is so different to any NBA player, I wouldn't bring the twelfth guy on the bench with me to Wal-Mart because I wouldn't know what would come out of that."
The company just announced a new TV partnership with 2X2 in Russia to broadcast Raw on a weekly basis from February 2011. Andrew Whitaker, EVP of International business, said this is WWE's first step in expanding it's reach in Russia. He also hinted at touring in the country within the next couple of years. "2X2 is proud to present the captivating culture of World Wresting Entertainment for the Russian audience because it perfectly correlates with the interests of our viewers -- a young, active audience who prefer fresh and entertaining content, instead of traditional TV programs," said Roman Sarkisov, General Director of 2X2.
The traditional early afternoon pre-Super Bowl show was announced for Philadelphia on 2/6.
Forbes listed Linda McMahon at No. 9 on the list of Biggest CEO screw ups of 2010 for not knowing whether WWE pays its employees minimum wage, and not knowing exactly what the minimum wage was.
The WWE website has a brief Q&A with Lex Luger at http://tinyurl.com/2akjo7y to push his playable character in the new video game. He said he's currently working on a business in Atlanta called Total Package Fitness--which offers people consultation on wellness, exercise, nutrition and supplementation.
Other than Jerry Lawler, Gene Okerlund (68), JBL (44) and Christian (37) also celebrated birthday's this past week.
Another controversial WWE DVD in the works will be "The 50 biggest matches in WWE history" which is due out in the fall of 2011.
Triple H's uncut interview for the Motorhead documentary is also an extra feature on the DVD due out on 1/24.
Jack Swagger's wife Catalina White has a pictorial in the new issue of American Curves Magazine.
Author Kevin Sullivan (not the wrestler) posted comments from Howard Finkel that didn't make the final edit for his new WWE Championship book at http://tinyurl.com/25zjqve. When asked his opinion on the greatest WWE champion of all-time, he picked Bret Hart: "My definition of a champion is a guy who has everything going for him… a guy who can employ good psychology inside the squared circle, the ability to play to the crowd, the ability to be technically gifted and the ability to use the most important part of his repertoire, his mouth."
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING
Impact tonight includes Machine Guns vs. Beer Money vs. Generation Me vs. Ink Inc in a non-title match; Madison Rayne vs. Angelina Love vs. Sarita in a non-title match; The Pope & Samoa Joe vs. Jeff Jarrett & Abyss; Kaz vs. Douglas Williams; plus the fall out of Dixie Carter's return and Matt Morgan announces the special referee for his title match against Jeff Hardy at Sunday's Final Resolution pay-per-view.
***
The shows in Abu Dhabi this past week turned into somewhat of a disappointment in that the local promoter had claimed they would sell-out, but each show drew less than 400 people paid (mostly young kids with parents) in a 4,000 seat arena, which is why the footage the company posted on its YouTube channel didn't include any visible crowd shots. It's important to note that these were sold shows--so the company either already has or gets paid whatever the promoter guaranteed in advance including costs. Tickets were reportedly very expensive priced upwards of $200 and local promotion wasn't very good. There was also an issue with the ring, in that upon inspection nobody felt like taking many bumps.
AJ Styles suffered a hand injury on the first night of the tour. One of his fingers or thumb was broken and he was sent to a local hospital for treatment. He worked the other shows so he wasn't hurt too badly.
Mick Foley was interviewed by Jeff Katz for his www.geekweek.com website. Foley, who was brutally open in this interview, indicated that when his current deal expires next year he probably won't be re-signing. "Once you have Hulk Hogan as the face of your company, there's no need for me. And one of the challenges they have on their show, and I understand completely, is there's only so much room for the non-wrestling talker every week, and I had a lot of time to do that for a year and a half. I don't know if wrestling is going to play a role at all. Who knows? Part of my life will always be involved in wrestling. I don't see myself at the Motor City Comic Con or doing many indys." He talked about being really disappointed that the company decided not to air footage of his appearance at the Jon Stewart 'Rally For Sanity' in Washington, DC. He also expressed frustration with creative saying that sometimes he feels like he doesn't know who's running the show, comparing some aspects of the way the company is run to WCW back in the day.
Reaction on 12/16 has been moved down to 11:30pm by Spike to make way for a new show called Phowned.
The Sun at www.the-sun.co.uk/wrestling interviewed Bret Hart who elaborated on his recent comments on Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff: "(TNA) spent several years building their young stars and, like with what happened to me in WCW, I just sense they don't have enough brains between them to keep all the other guys going where they need to go. I fear TNA simply bought the names and they're going to get the same baloney we all did in WCW. No matter how old he is, or what kind of shape he's in, Hogan believes in his heart that he's the star of the show and he is wrestling. I don't think he gives a damn about anyone else... I have a lot of friends there and I would never rule out working for the company. But I certainly never see myself there while Hogan or Bischoff are. I think I'd rather not put myself through that again."
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
We were honored to receive a letter from Billy Robinson regarding his altercation with Peter Maivia (Grandfather of The Rock) which we noted in the last newsletter. Billy tells us that the altercation took place in late 1969 during a tour of Japan. This is his first ever public comments on the matter 41 years later. He writes, "Peter Maivia was a great guy. I knew him in England, and got him and George Gordienko booked in Japan for that tour. Peter was a little wild when he had a few drinks. We were in the south of Japan and in an area where not too many people spoke English. Peter got impatient and started to act up which was making things worse and nobody was getting served at the bar. I told him to grow up and shut up so that we could all get served, which he did, but Peter being Peter, it played on his mind. On the way back to the hotel Peter for some reason wanted to fight me and started throwing punches. I grabbed him and held him so he couldn't move. He then tried to bite me in the neck, so I pulled my jaw down so he couldn't do any real damage, but he bit through cheek. When I saw the blood I got angry and knocked him out... he was unconscious for 25 minutes. I had to go to hospital to get a shot for the bacteria. The next day I found out that George had instigated the whole episode so I went into both their rooms, locked the door and challenged them. Neither wanted to do anything after that. And a couple of days later we were good friends again, As for the eye story, I had an operation on my right eye when I was 11 years old. Peter did not have the ability as a street fighter to get close to my eyes, and the reason I got bitten was because I didn't want to hurt him. But as you know over the years stories get exaggerated... Reputations are usually made by people who have never been on the mat, or in a street fight. Like most pro wrestlers/workers they start to believe they know how to wrestle and are really tough. But they never seem to have fought or beat anyone."
Luchadore El Hijo del Cien Caras (Ignacio Jimenez Ibarra, 32) and his 45-year-old female companion Adela Luna were murdered Sunday night in Mexico City. Both suffered fatal gunshot wounds while parked outside a house in their Honda CRV. Authorities are investigating. Ibarra was the half-brother of LA Park.
Glenn Gilbertti (Disco Inferno), Scott Colton (Colt Cabana), and Jon Dalton (Jonny Fairplay) are among the cast of a TV pilot called Ghost Trek, reportedly a spoof on ghost hunting shows. which is shooting next weekend in Charlotte. One of the filming locations will be the NASCAR hall of fame building in the city.
Slam Wrestling has article on the self-written obituary of Jack Laskin following his death on Sunday at age 81. Story is at http://tinyurl.com/26dvesl.
Taryn Terrell, the former Diva Tiffany, for personal appearances is asking promoters for around $2,000 per shot plus hotel, trans and two flight tickets--the second for her road manager.
Today's Babe of the Day is at http://thewrestlingpress.com/?page_id=298.
