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WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER
Sunday, March14, 2010
 
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Wrestling Globe Newsletter by Mike Aldren – All the latest professional wrestling news, gossip and occasional opinion direct to your mailbox.
WGN is read by industry power players, many top wrestlers and thousands of fans from all around the world.
 
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WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

3/8 Raw TV results from Portland, OR: Eve Torres, Kelly Kelly & Gail Kim over Maryse, Alicia Fox & Katie Lea in a trios; ShoMiz vs. John Morrison & R-Truth for the tag titles was a no contest; Legacy over Randy Orton in a handicap match; Evan Bourne over William Regal to qualify for MITB at Wrestlemania; and Vince McMahon over John Cena changed to a no DQ gauntlet handicap match.

3/9 NXT TV results from Seattle, WA: David Otunga & R-Truth over The Miz & Daniel Bryan; Heath Slater over Carlito; and Justin Gabriel over Wade Barrett.

3/11 Superstars TV results: Dolph Ziggler over Shelton Benjamin; Goldust over Mike Knox; Zack Ryder over Santino Marella; and Christian & MVP over Carlito & Chavo Guerrero.

3/12 Smackdown TV results from Seattle, WA: R-Truth over The Miz; Drew McIntyre over Aaron Bolo–local worker to qualify for MITB at Wrestlemania; Big Show over John Morrison; The Hart Dynasty vs. Cryme Tyme was a no contest; Tiffany over Michelle McCool via DQ; and Kane over Luke Gallows via DQ.

***

Dennis Condrey has a six week tryout as a trainer with developmental in Tampa. Condrey, 58, was better known in the 1980s as one half of the original Midnight Express tag team. Of late he had been booking for an independent group in Birmingham, AL.

Triple H in an interview with the New York Post at http://tinyurl.com/ye7hwko says he’s “not political” when asked about Linda McMahon in the Connecticut Senate race… The Washington Times has an article on the links between Linda’s campaign and WWE, specifically subcontracted work done for some of her political ads at http://tinyurl.com/yjabvkn.

The first issue of the WWE Heroes comic book goes on sale March 23 from Titan Publishing. I’ve seen an advance of the first issue and the art work is very good, although none of these characters would pass Wellness–Matt Hardy has better abs than John Morrison.

David Hasselhoff was announced as guest host for Raw in London, England, on April 12. He is filming a new reality show over there.

TNA’s Ric Flair was removed from the opening montage of Raw. They replaced him with a clip of Ultimate Warrior. Last we heard, Warrior was contacted for the Hall of Fame but talks broke down over money…  Rob Van Dam was also removed from the alumni section of the WWE website.

The WWE website as part of it’s Women’s History Month published a list titled, “The Top 25 Most Impactful Women in WWE history.” An interesting list to say the least. Michelle McCool (10) is listed ahead of Miss Elizabeth (15). Full list is 1. Trish Stratus, 2. Fabulous Moolah, 3.
Chyna, 4. Sensational Sherri, 5. Stephanie McMahon, 6. Sable, 7. Mickie James, 8. Lita, 9. Sunny, 10. Michelle McCool, 11. Wendi Richter, 12.
Mae Young, 13. Alundra Blayze, 14. Melina, 15. Miss Elizabeth, 16. Luna Vachon, 17. Beth Phoenix, 18. Stacy Keibler, 19. Molly Holly, 20. Vickie Guerrero, 21. Jacqueline, 22. Kelly Kelly, 23. Ivory, 24. Bull Nakano, and 25. Torrie Wilson.

Jim Ross is interviewed about amateur wrestling and MMA at http://tinyurl.com/yhpnspc. He says his health has improved lately with a change in his diet and losing 20 pounds after his third attack of Bells Palsy back in October. “Sometimes you have to be scared straight to make decisions that should be simplistic to make,” he said. “But I’m feeling much better, and I think I’m getting better every day.”

Steve Austin did some media interviews this week promoting the U.S. DVD release of Damage. Physically he looks to be in the best shape he’s been in for several years.

Hart & Soul: The Hart Family Anthology released on April 6 includes several matches that have never been released before including some Stampede Wrestling footage from the 1970s and 1980s where Bret started in his father’s promotion. Matches include Bret vs. Davey Boy Smith for the IC title at the 1992 SummerSlam in London, England which is arguably one of the greatest matches in history; The Hart family vs. Shawn Michaels & His Knights (under a mask–Barry Horowitz, Greg Valentine & Jeff Gaylord–who is currently serving a six-year prison sentence for a bank robbery last year in Colorado) from the 1993 Survivor Series; and The Hart Foundation (Bret, Owen, Davey, Jim Neidhart & the late Brian
Pillman) vs. Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust & LOD at the 1997 Canadian Stampede which was one of the most heated matches of the 1990s.
Matt Hardy at http://tinyurl.com/yh4eev2 talks WWE, his injury issues last year, and Jeff going to TNA. “We’re brothers and that’s never going to change. WWE is such a machine, such a monster… I think it’s one of those things, and Mr. McMahon would say this as well, I think competition is good for the work place. I think it gives, for me, other guys who are wrestlers who maybe can’t work here or aren’t working here, gives them somewhere else to work so it’s good. I definitely don’t think that WWE has to worry about TNA really anytime soon. I think it’s good, I think the more opportunities there are for guys to wrestle the better.”

Tommy Dreamer has a new website at www.thetommydreamer.com. “My leaving WWE was the hardest thing to do in my life. I refer to it as WWE A.D.
(After Dreamer). I worked almost 10 years there. I truly liked all the people associated with the company. I miss them and the fans everyday. I left for many reasons, which I will not discuss here. ECW was my world and all that I have is because of ECW. My connection to the fans is something that means so much to me. Fact, when I was the main event on ECW I was the highest rated main event every year. You can look it up.
(me and Chavo Guerrero 1.6, me and Mark Henry 1.5, me and Koslov 1.3 and that match was poopoo. Hell me and Big Daddy V did a 1.2) many men and women came on that show and it was good old reliable me that was the highest rated every year. That is a hard pill to swallow, when you hear of the failing ratings of ECW. Networks wanting to change the show because of ratings. If you want to read into my leaving ECW, you can relate it to the Conan O Brien saga with his show. I felt I left my mark in WWE with the many men and women I hired to help realize their dreams.
The many people I have encountered in my tenure in WWE is something I hold deep within my heart. I hope that I have influenced your life somehow, because you all have influenced mine.”

The next house show at Madison Square Garden is Saturday, June 19.
Tickets are already on sale.

NXT on Tuesday night did a 1.0 rating and 1.3 million viewers–a drop of almost 25 percent in total viewership from last week.
TNA WRESTLING NEWS

3/8 Impact TV results from Orlando, FL: AJ Styles & Ric Flair vs. Abyss
& Hulk Hogan was a no contest; Doug Williams over Daniels and Kazarian
in a three-way; TBP over Tara & Angelina Love and Taylor Wilde & Sarita
for the Knockouts titles; Rob Van Dam over Sting; Eric Young over
Syxx-Pac; Beer Money over Jeff Jarrett; and Hulk Hogan & Abyss over AJ
Styles & Ric Flair.

***

TNA confidence took a major knock this past week when it’s second live
head-to-head war with WWE resulted in a 0.98 rating and 1.4 million
viewers for Impact against a 3.4 rating and 5.1 million viewers for Raw.
If this was a real war, it would be deemed a massacre.

Internally, confidence within TNA management was at an all-time high
headed into Monday night and they were poised to take their place as a
legitimate contender. The night had been dubbed a “new beginning” and
management fully expected a similar number to the 1.5 rating that they
did on January 4. The writing team, headed by Vince Russo and lately
edited by the new regime of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff, had even
predicted Monday’s rating would be comparable to January 4 as all the
major players including Hogan, Kurt Angle and Mick Foley had
participated in mainstream media interviews last week promoting the
permanent move to Monday nights.

On Tuesday evening in Orlando, when the ratings came in, word quickly
spread that they had not only failed to match January 4, but that the
rating had declined from last Thursday’s taped show. The mood was
described as very tense with mostly everyone in a state of shock. That
night there was a lot of finger pointing and blame laying going on
behind the scenes between Hogan and Russo. Hogan blamed Russo for
writing a bad show while Russo blamed Hogan for not delivering since
Hogan featured in the first and last segments of the show. As a result,
expectations for this coming Monday have been lowered considerably.

Monday night was built around Hogan’s first television match in over
three years facing Ric Flair who was coming out of retirement. They also
had the two unadvertised returns of Jeff Hardy, arguably WWE’s biggest
money draw of 2009, and Sting, who Russo turned heel, which has
historically never drawn money, as well as the debut of Rob Van Dam, the
most popular free agent in the industry. In comparison, WWE put on a
predictable and ordinary show, headlined by Vince McMahon vs. John Cena
in what turned out to be a gauntlet match.

TNA President Dixie Carter described both Hardy and RVD as game
changers. She said she was happy with the show. “We will strive to make
every show better, but I am very proud of our effort. It’s our challenge
to spread the word of our move and keep putting out a solid product.”

Spike VP of Communications David Schwartz claimed he was happy with
rating. “We are encouraged by the increase in demo ratings despite heavy
competition on a brand new night.” The demo increase is true but by
small margains and nothing worth bragging about.

Eric Bischoff wrote on his Facebook: “…We are all convinced (as are
most fans) that we proved definitively that we can produce a superior
product. While it is going to take some time (and consistency) to gain
the market share we hope to gain, we are thrilled with the product we
presented, and are more than excited about the future.”

Mick Foley also put over the show on the TNA website. “…There sure
seemed to be a little magic in the air this past Monday, as we kicked
off what we all hope will be a very exciting time for the company, with
what I felt was an excellent Impact. I know the rating wasn’t quite what
we are hoping for, but if we keep delivering the type of show fans saw
Monday night, I have to believe that eyeballs will start turning our way
and the ratings situation will take care of itself.”

On the other side, USA Network reacted by sending out a press release
noting that Raw beat Impact by 274 percent in total viewers. USA Network
VP Ted Linhart also took a swipe at Spike via his Twitter. “Not much of
a Monday Night ‘War.’ Raw trounced TNA by 275% w/total viewers,” he
wrote. “Also Impact much lower than the test Monday ep. in early Jan.”

Here is the quarter hour break down for both shows:

Impact

Q1: 0.99 – Hulk Hogan & Abyss vs. AJ Styles & Ric Flair
Q2: 0.98 – Sting and Dixie backstage, Styles and Flair, X Division match
Q3: 1.00 – X Division match, Shannon Moore run-in, more Dixie, The
Beautiful People
Q4: 1.07 – Knockouts tag title match, RVD vs. Sting
Q5: 1.07 – Sting and Hogan confrontation, Nash & Young/The Band
Q6: 1.03 – Young vs. Waltman, Anderson-Angle exchange
Q7: 0.95 – Bubba The Love Sponge, Beer Money vs. Jeff Jarrett
Q8: 0.76 – Beer Money vs. Jarrett aftermath, Brooke Hogan cries, Hogan &
Abyss vs. Flair & Styles take two
Overrun: 1.01 – Main event with various run-ins, and Jeff Hardy making
the save

Raw

Q1: 3.45 – Undertaker and Shawn Michaels exchange
Q2: 3.15 – Six-Diva tag, Criss Angel
Q3: 3.2 – ShoMiz vs. Morrison & Truth, rubbish Angel magic trick
Q4: 3.15 – Randy Orton vs. Legacy
Q5: 3.39 – Orton vs. Legacy, Batista promo, Triple H promo, Sheamus
Q6: 3.56 – Triple H/Sheamus confrontation, Angel, Bourne vs. Regal
Q7: 3.27 – WrestleMania teaser, McMahon vs. Bret Hart video
Q8: 3.6 – Vince McMahon vs. John Cena gauntlet match,
Overrun: 3.98 – Main event conclusion

While most people who watched both shows will have their own views on
creative, the biggest criticism from wrestling people was aimed at
Impact and the introduction of Rob Van Dam. Former WWE wrestler Lance
Storm along with Chris Jericho were the most outspoken. Storm described
RVD’s debut as “the dumbest” during a radio interview the day after the
show while Chris Jericho wrote on his Twitter, “The beat down of RVD 20
seconds into his debut in TNA was mind boggling. I don’t understand how
so many talented people can be so clueless.”

Storm later elaborated on his website www.stormwrestling.com reviewing
both shows and pulled no punches in his commentary. He wrote regarding
RVD, “This was the worst thing on either show by far. To start I can’t
believe they signed RVD and wanted to keep it secret. TNA needs ratings,
to get those you have to get people who don’t watch your show to start.
Rob is a big deal, fans LOVE this guy, so you need to let them know he
will be on your show. That being said they did such a horrible job with
RVD they should be glad if none of his fans saw this. Fans got to cheer
RVD for about 10 second. He got a fluke (jumped him from behind) win
over Sting, that meant nothing, and then proceeded to get the hell beat
out of him for what felt like 10 minutes. This was a complete burial
because the focus of this endless beat down wasn’t heat between RVD and
Sting; it was between Sting and Hogan. RVD was left as nothing more than
an after thought because the focus at the close of the segment was Sting
laying out Hulk Hogan, again. Rob was not mentioned again, he was
forgotten. What a waste. They wasted Rob Van Dam’s debut in order to get
over Sting hitting Hogan with a bat… something that had already been
done earlier in the show.”

This coming Monday, a taped Impact goes against a live Raw broadcast
with stiff competition in the form of Steve Austin as guest host and
three main event matches–Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho, Triple H vs.
Randy Orton and John Cena vs. Big Show–plus a contract signing between
Vince McMahon and Bret Hart for Wrestlemania 26. Impact is promoted as
Hogan “calling out” Sting while the first ever meeting of Jeff Hardy vs.
AJ Styles in a non-title match isn’t even advertised.

Dixie Carter has some tough business decisions to make over the coming
weeks. The future doesn’t look good especially when you consider the big
money investments which have so far failed to deliver. The toughest
decision involves creative, which she puts over publicly, but is clearly
not delivering. On the surface, the toughest challenges would seem to be
producing a consistent solid product and spreading word of the move to
Monday night.

The harsh reality is that TNA is creatively led by the same people
largely responsible for the death of WCW. And that’s a recipe for
disaster.

***

The current line up for Destination X on March 21: Generation Me vs. The
Machine Guns in an Ultimate X match for a tag title shot; Matt Morgan &
Hernandez vs. Beer Money for the tag titles; Doug Williams vs. Shannon
Moore for the X-Division title; Kevin Nash & Eric Young vs. Scott Hall &
Syxx-Pac; if Hall and Pac win, they earn TNA contracts, if they lose
they must leave TNA for good; Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson; and AJ Styles
vs. Abyss for the TNA heavyweight title.

Sting reportedly underwent a recent shoulder surgery so he is restricted
until he makes a full recovery.

Jeremy Borash on why you should DVR Impact every week at
http://tinyurl.com/yhrxh9c. There is also a wacky video that recently
surfaced at http://tinyurl.com/yfaxlfl which features a teenage Borash
calling Hulk Hogan “really pathetic” and saying he is a huge fan of the
Honky Tonk Man. How times change.

Regarding the Knockouts tag titles they didn’t acknowledge the Awesome
Kong
situation but said Kong and Hamada were stripped of the belts for
not defending them in the last 30 days.

Abyss did an interview with IGN.com and said Hogan’s WWE Hall of Fame
ring means more to him than a World heavyweight title. “That ring, to
me, means more than any World Title that I could ever win. It means more
than anything else in this business that I’ve ever been given. And I
mean that as a shoot,” he said. “For Hulk Hogan to give me that ring,
and he did, as a shoot, give me that ring, it inspires me and I draw
energy from it. If Hulk Hogan has faith in me, then I’m okay.”

Al Snow worked the TV tapings this past week on a tryout as an agent.
Dave Taylor tried out at the prior tapings.

Scott Steiner apparently flew himself in for the tapings. He spent a lot
of time in catering and reportedly ate humble pie with Ric Flair over
things he has said publicly about him over the past few years. The
former Spike Dudley (Matt Hyson) was also hanging out backstage at the
tapings.

Former WWE wrestler Ken Doane had a dark tryout match against Homicide.

Brother Ray was on Bubba the Love Sponge on Thursday. He said he’s been
smart with his money over the years and joked about having to once buy a
hamburger for Jake Roberts because Roberts had no money. He was asked
about The Wrestler and said the movie was a pretty accurate portrait of
the business. He said he stood up and yelled “that’s pro wrestling”
during Randy the Ram’s sex and cocaine scene with a fan.

Kurt Angle and Jesse Neal attended the Arnold Classic last weekend in
Columbus, OH. Angle was said to be very gracious and was talking to a
lot of fans. Neal was at the event for Infinite Labs–a supplement
company.

Rob Van Dam was added to the April 22-23 house shows in Macon and
Albany, GA.

TNA has a new affiliation with a group called Mach 1 Wrestling out of
Anaheim, CA. Apparently they will be sending Lacey Von Erich and
possibly other talent to the group to train and get better. Lacey wrote
on Facebook: “Just got done with my first wrestling training session in
Anaheim, Cali. It was awesome! I didn’t practiced that hard even in FCW!
I’m looking forward to getting better. See you in the ring.”

Hogan is now doing commercials for Rent-A-Center.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS

Identity theft and forgery charges against David “Kid Kash” Cash from
December 2009 were dropped on February 11 in Johnson City, Tennessee.
Cash had allegedly used the credit card of a female acquaintance without
her permission. He claimed this past week that the case was thrown out
because the woman recanted her story and had made it up because she was
upset that they broke up. However, the case was actually dismissed
because the women did not show up to court after Cash’s lawyer moved up
a March 1 court date because he was going to be out of the country. The
women was made aware of the new date but she did not show up. Detective
Thomas Dillard of the Johnson City Police and the District Attorney both
confirmed that Cash paid restitution through the court related to the
charges.

Former WWE wrestler Bobby Horne (Mo from Men on a Mission) is in need of
a kidney transplant due to focal segmental glomerulosclerosis.

Roddy Piper has a role on an episode of CBS’ Cold Case that airs
tonight.

WDBJ Channel 7 in Virginia reports on the death of Sandy Scott at
http://tinyurl.com/ydn2p6d.

Jim Cornette did an interview with Hit the Ropes radio. He had some
interesting comments when asked what Dixie Carter could learn from Jeff
Jarrett’s grandmother, Christine, who was a long-time promoter in the
Memphis territory. “The sad part of it is Dixie Carter couldn’t learn
anything from Christine Jarrett. Christine Jarrett could talk to that
woman for 15 years and I don’t think it would get through. Christine
Jarrett is just way too much smarter than most people in the wrestling
business. As a matter of fact, that popped me, just that visual, of Miss
Christine trying to sit down and smarten up Dixie Carter. They don’t
make women like her anymore and her son was quite a sharp one as well
for 40 years in the business. Jeff Jarrett couldn’t smarten up Dixie. He
might have come closer to her than either one of them because maybe he
could more relate to her on her level. I don’t know. But he couldn’t do
it either, apparently.” Full interview at www.hittheropes.com.

The Greensboro News and Record has an article on Ring of Honor’s Mike
Hogewood and his recovery from Wallenberg syndrome at
http://tinyurl.com/y8mpzn2

Colt Cabana at www.the-sun.co.uk/wrestling talks about his WWE run.

Jesse Ventura did an interview at http://tinyurl.com/ykx2rr6 ripping on
Hulk Hogan for being a stooge for Vince McMahon. “Hogan was the one that
ratted me out to Vince. From the days that I came into wrestling, that
was a no-no and Hogan knows that. You were called an office stooge if
you ratted a guy to the promoter. And that’s how I feel Hogan was to me,
an office stooge. Hogan denies that he did it but I know that he did.
When I sued Vince McMahon and we went to federal court, we had to put
him in deposition. I told my attorney this story and asked him that in
this deposition if he could work his way around it, I’d really like to
know who ratted on me. So my attorney asked Vince, and they can ask
anything in a deposition, and this is under oath: ‘Mr. McMahon, has
there ever been a union in wrestling?’ Vince said no. ‘Has anyone ever
tried to form one?’ and Vince said that I think that Jesse Ventura might
have spouted his mouth about it once or twice. My attorney asked how do
you know this? Did you hear Mr. Ventura do this? And with no hesitation,
Vince went: ‘No. Hulk Hogan told me.’ I didn’t show any emotion but I
almost fell out of the chair. At that time, Hogan and I were friends.
And I thought, wow, he is the guy that ran and ratted me out when I
tried to unionize wrestling. I found out why he did it though. Because
in discovery of my court case, I found out that at WrestleMania III,
Hulk Hogan individually got paid more money than all the rest of us did
combined. And that is documented.” Ventura was promoting his new book,
American Conspiracies: Lies, Lies and More Dirty Lies that The
Government Tells Us.

Booker T, Tajiri, Lita, Tommy Dreamer, Sandman, Tatanka, Big Daddy V,
and Rene Dupre are among the names advertised for the American Wrestling
Rampage tour of France in November. This would be Lita’s first
wrestling-related appearances for some time.

Brian Kendrick and Paul London put the high into Highspots.com at
http://tinyurl.com/yjyuzyt. Highspots has just launched a Video on
Demand service featuring wrestling matches and original content with
March viewing for free.

Julie Hart at http://tinyurl.com/ykxtr9t responds to comments made by
ex-husband Bret Hart in his autobiography in her own autobiography due
out later this year.

Billy Robinson was announced for the 2010 NWA Legends Hall of Heroes to
be inducted this August in Charlotte, NC. More info at
www.nwalegends.com.

The Heyman Hustle at http://tinyurl.com/y9pjr9p has photos of Stacy
Keibler attending Elton John’s Oscar party last Sunday night.

Former Diva Maria Kanellis was interviewed at
http://tinyurl.com/ychg4zf. Regarding going to TNA, she said, “I’m not
sure yet to be honest… (I’ve) probably had seven different phone calls
from companies across the country asking me to come here or go there. I
haven’t decided. It’s such an exciting adventure to be on. It’s like
I’ve been born again or something. I’m really trying to figure out
what’s best for me, what’s best for my future, and then go from there.”

Another former Diva, Candice Michelle, wrote a new blog saying her baby
girl is due in ten week’s. “Her nursery is almost done and preparing for
our home birth.” She is also doing a magazine photoshoot towards the end
of March. “We waited a bit longer until my belly was bigger, I think it
is ready!”

Dawn Marie and Jazz were recently honored at WSU’s third anniversary
show  for their contributions to women’s wrestling. Video at
http://tinyurl.com/ybmmlv7.

Two women’s lucha wrestlers shoot on a BBC TV presenter at
http://tinyurl.com/yaw4ewm.

Today’s Diva of the Day is Kelly Kelly at
http://www.thewrestlingpress.com/DailyDiva.
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