WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT
2/21 Raw TV results from Fresno, CA: CM Punk over John Morrison; The Bella Twins over Gail Kim & Eve Torres; Mark Henry over Sheamus; The Miz & John Cena over Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel to capture the tag titles; and Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel over Miz & Cena to win back the tag titles. The show also included a face off between Triple H and Undertaker, and Jim Duggan was announced for the Hall of Fame. He will be inducted by The Million Dollar Man. Save Mart Center was virtually sold out which would be close to 11,000 for wrestling.
2/22 NXT results from Sacramento, CA: Johnny Curtis won a Grace Under Pressure challenge, Johnny Curtis over Derrick Bateman & Brodus Clay; Brodus Clay won a Talk the Talk challenge; and Derrick Bateman was eliminated.
Superstars on Thursday night has Santino vs. Tyson Kid; Ted DiBiase vs. Daniel Bryan; Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel vs. Trent Barreta & JTG; and Chris Masters vs. Tyler Reks.
The Raw crew is touring South America over the next few days with Cena, Orton, Miz and Punk on top. They run tonight in Santiago, Chile; Thursday in Guayaquil, Ecuador; Friday in Quito, Ecuador; and Saturday in San Jose, Costa Rica. The Smackdown crew runs Saturday in Fort Wayne, IN (Expo Center) and Sunday in Toledo, OH (John F. Savage Arena).
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Raw on Monday night did a 3.9 rating and 5.86 million viewers which slightly exceeded internal projections based on fan response from the previous week and is credited to the return of The Rock. It was the highest Raw viewership in almost two years... Smackdown on 2/18 did a 2.0 rating and averaged 3.2 million viewers--the second highest ever viewership since the show started on SyFy.
A press conference is scheduled Thursday afternoon in Mexico City. This is expected to be the official announcement that Mistico has signed with the company. I should really write the artist formerly known as Mistico because reportedly the deal to free him from CMLL is them retaining the rights to that name. WWE is flying in Jim Ross and Rey Mysterio for the press event. "This will be my first ever trip to Mexico City and one of which I'm exited," Ross wrote in his latest blog at www.jrsbarbq.com. "I am honored that WWE has chosen me to be such a significant part of this function that is sure to make headlines in the sports entertainment world."
The Chaperone with Triple H did a little under $15,000 during it's limited release run last weekend in theaters. That's according to WWE's own internal estimate that we obtained through a well-placed source. The film played in just 10 theaters in major cities across the country. It's part of WWE's new marketing strategy which essentially is a smart way for the company to save on advertising costs by running just one campaign. The real gravy is the DVD which goes on sale on 3/8.
Christian in an interview with the WWE website noted that he's not fully medically cleared to wrestle but said he should be good to go in a few week's.
Joke of the Week to Brian Heffron aka The Blue Meanie. He suggested on his Facebook page that WWE has Natalya referee the Jerry Lawler-Michael Cole bout at Wrestlemania and call it the first ever Nat King Cole match.
A one-year television deal with Brazil's Esporte Interativo was announced today to broadcast Raw each week from 3/2. Esporte is the country's biggest sports channel which reaches more than 33 million households. "We are investing in new attractions and planning varied programming. WWE programming was consistently requested among our viewers and we are delighted to be able to deliver WWE Raw to our viewers," said Mauricio Portela, Production Vice President for Esporte.
Vince McMahon gave a rare interview to the Miami Herald at http://tinyurl.com/63rn3cq. He talks about Wrestlemania coming to Sun Life Stadium next year saying that he hopes it doesn't rain and joked that he has good connections to make sure that doesn't happen. He said in the coming years he wants to take the show to new host cities. He also nearly said that WWE is bigger than Disney. "Every year it becomes more and more of a spectacle. We will be going to cities that welcome us and cities that give us the infrastructure to be able to adapt and grow WrestleMania. We do that every year, grow in some respects. We are into every form of entertainment there is. More so than any other company, even Disney, because Disney doesn’t do pay-per-view."
A special commemorative magazine for Wrestlemania was released this week which claims to include every result and photos from every match in Wrestlemania history. It does, except that Chris Benoit is erased from all records. The magazine lists the main event of Wrestlemania 20 (Benoit winning the World title over Triple H & Shawn Michaels) as Undertaker vs. Kane.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING
TNA is promising "the most shocking surprise of the year" in the final moments of Thursday's Impact show. I spent about five minutes trying to think of a witty line, I really tried hard, but I just couldn't come up with anything. And for those who asked, it's not Paul Heyman. Main event is Rob Van Dam vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Mr. Anderson.
Thursday also has the TV tapings in Fayetteville, NC (Coliseum) with Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and The Hardy's all in attendance. Advance ticket sales are said to be soft but they are expecting a strong walk up.
There are also house shows Friday in Norfolk, VA (Ted Constant Convocation Center) and Saturday in Richmond (Landmark Theater) with Scott Steiner vs. Jeff Jarrett; The Hardy's vs. Matt Morgan & Crimson; Samoa Joe vs. The Pope; Beer Money vs. Ink, Inc; Mickie James vs. Sarita; plus Mick Foley, Rob Terry, Eric Young, Magnus, and more.
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Traci Brooks on eBay auctioned off a 20-minute phone conversation with herself to raise money for the ASPCA. The winning bid was $70.99 or $3.55 per minute.
As you can tell, a slow news day on the TNA front...
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
Brooke Hogan has been taking acting classes again of late and is currently working on a low budget movie called Sand Sharks. She also just wrapped a movie called Devour--about three popular kids in high school who become lesbian cannibals.
Former Diva Jillian Hall confirmed her pregnancy on Tuesday. This will be her second child--she has an 11-year-old from a previous marriage.
Sad to report that Candice Michelle suffered a miscarriage on Sunday. She reported the tragedy herself today writing, "I have both physically and mentally been through a lot of trauma. I have seen the Doc and there must have been a genetic defect and this angel wouldn't have been able to survive in the outside world." She added: "If anyone out there has ever gone through this you know the difficulty in this. I humbly ask for your respect in letting me keep this matter private beyond this mention. I love you guys and appreciate you respecting my family's privacy in this matter." She also wrote that she will be making her scheduled booking this weekend at the Wizard World convention in Miami.
Austin Aries at http://tinyurl.com/5tc8r9a says he needs to start making serious money in wrestling or it may be time for him to move on. He said he doesn't want to use the word "retire" but is starting to rethink beyond destroying his body for little compensation.
CBC has a story on Christopher Nowinski and his work on sports related brain injuries at http://tinyurl.com/46e6btu.
Slam Wrestling has an interesting article investigating the reality of Samoa versus the wrestling characterization at http://tinyurl.com/653pbd5.
