=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER
Monday, June 21, 2010
www.twitter.com/wrestlingglobe
=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Wrestling Globe Newsletter by Mike Aldren – All the latest professional wrestling news and analysis direct to your inbox. WGN is read by industry power players, many top wrestlers and thousands of fans from around the world.
To subscribe email: [email protected]
Please send all news tips to: [email protected]
WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT
6/19 Supershow results from New York City: Kofi Kingston over Drew McIntyre; Christian & MVP over Luke Gallows & The Mystery Man; Kane over CM Punk; The Miz won a four-way over Mark Henry, R-Truth & Evan Bourne; Jack Swagger over Big Show in a no-DQ match; The Bellas & Eve Torres over Maryse & LayCool; Randy Orton over Edge; and John Cena over Sheamus. The show was sold out and did a $800,000 gate. Hot crowd. They crapped all over the women including a chant of “This is stupid!”
Following the main event, Cena talked about Wrestlemania returning to the Garden in four years, which is pretty much expected based on history. Vince McMahon missed the show and John Laurinaitis was steering the ship instead. Berry Skaaland, the widow of Hall of Famer Arnold Skaaland, was sat front row.
6/20 Fatal 4-Way PPV results from Long Island, NY: Kofi Kingston over Drew McIntyre to retain the IC title; Alicia Fox won the Divas title in a four-way over Eve Torres, Gail Kim & Maryse; Evan Bourne over Chris Jericho; Rey Mysterio won the World title in a four-way over Jack Swagger, CM Punk & Big Show; The Miz over R-Truth to retain the U.S.
title; The Hart Dynasty & over The Usos & Tamina to retain the tag titles; and Sheamus won the WWE title in a four-way over John Cena, Randy Orton & Edge. Dark match was hometown boy Zack Ryder over MVP.
Nassau Coliseum was far from a sell out.
Raw tonight is live from the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, CT.
Nothing announced at press time. They haven’t announced a guest host either although the company was working on somebody interesting. John Cena & Randy Orton vs. Edge & Sheamus is advertised locally as a dark match.
***
TMZ cameras filmed Dave Batista over the weekend during which he alluded to an offer to fight for Strikeforce. When asked who he will be fighting, he said, “We’ll see. I know but I’m not telling you.” He did say he wants no part of Fedor Emelianenko. Several MMA websites have already jumped the gun on this story to the point that Strikeforce spokesperson Mike Afromowitz denied that Batista had signed a deal.
Video is at http://tinyurl.com/2w3jrfz.
WWE confiscated some Bryan Danielson and Daniel Bryan fan signs last night at the pay-per-view. Danielson has just opened a new website at www.bryandanielson.tv.
Chris Jericho on his match with Evan Bourne last night via Twitter: “Had the best match I’ve had in months tonight. Bourne is the real deal…
and I must destroy him.”
Maryse had a major wardrobe malfunction last night when her breast popped out as she was pinned at the conclusion of the Divas title match.
Some trivia. Sheamus winning the WWE title again marks the 100th
recognised time that the title has changed hands.
WWE has filed to trademark the term, The Nexus, possibly as a name for
the NXT rookie group.
The company is working on a Bobby Heenan DVD which is slated for release
just before the holidays in December. They are also putting together a
“100 Craziest Moments” set that will also go on sale in December.
Ricky and Richie Steamboat teamed together at FCW’s Father’s Day show on
6/18 in Fort Myers. Sr. did most of the work since Jr. is not too long
removed from knee surgery. Results: Yoshi Tatsu over Tyler Reks; Wes
Brisco & Lucky Cannon over Curt Hawkins & Vance Archer; Donny Marlow
over Rudy Parker; Naomi Night over Liviana for the Women’s title; Eli
Cottonwood over Derrick Bateman & Leo Kruger in a 2-on-1 handicap match;
Hunico & Dos Equis over The Usos for the tag titles; Alex Riley over
Husky Harris to retain the FCW title; and Ricky & Richie Steamboat over
The Dudebusters.
FCW announced its 2010 Talent Evaluation Clinic from 7/30-8/2 at its
facility in Tampa. More info at www.fcwwrestling.info.
A trailer for the WWE Studios film Legendary with John Cena, Patricia
Clarkson and Danny Glover is online at http://tinyurl.com/2vqcsb6.
Superstars last Thursday night, bumped late due the NBA playoffs, did a
dismal 0.35 rating and 308,000 viewers.
The Charleston Gazette has a story on Jerry Lawler at
http://tinyurl.com/362cq7s who notes in four decades of wrestling he’s
never suffered a major injury, broken a bone or needed knee surgery. He
also talks about his new group in Memphis. “It’s a good looking show,
but there’s not a lot of money in independent wrestling,” he said. “It’s
a labor of love.”
The New Haven Register at http://tinyurl.com/34h4nv2 has a story on
Linda McMahon which focuses on WWE’s drug testing programs during her
tenure as CEO. Linda was asked to comment but declined. The reporter did
talk to her Senate campaign spokesperson Ed Patru, WWE attorney Jerry
McDevitt, Dr. Joseph Maroon, medical director for the WWE’s wellness
program, and former wrestler Marc Mero. The story noted that several
high profile wrestlers died after WWE dropped it’s drug policy in 1996
to compete with WCW. Brian Pillman, however, was the only wrestler to
die on WWE’s watch, although the Register mentioned Rick Rude, Curt
Hennig, Davey Boy Smith and Louis Spicolli as former WWE names who later
suffered drug-related deaths. Patru used the ridiculous line of, “there
is no competitive advantage for someone to use steroids,” when really,
almost everyone with half a brain now understands that pro wrestling is
a cosmetic business as much an athletic contest.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING
6/18 house show results from Columbus, OH: Velvet Sky over Sarita;
Douglas Williams won a four-way over Jay Lethal, Homicide & Shannon
Moore; Madison Rayne over Taylor Wilde; Mr. Anderson, Jeff Jarrett &
Kurt Angle over Eric Young, Matt Morgan & Abyss; Rob Terry over Orlando
Jordan; and Jeff Hardy over AJ Styles. Columbus was said to be a weird
deal as they shared the Nationwide Arena with a Glen Beck political
rally. Apparently all kinds of wacky extremists were outside the arena
preaching and promoting various causes. Show was well received by fans.
From one reader, “Overall, this was my first time seeing TNA live and
although I’m not a big fan of the television show, I had a pretty fun
time at the house show tonight. Some of the matches weren’t the best,
but they were given time and most of the wrestlers were pretty cool
about trying to meet up with fans.”
We didn’t get any reports from Saturday night in Fort Wayne which marked
the company’s eight-year anniversary. We do know the show drew
approximately 1,400 people.
***
The Miami Herald has a story on Kurt Angle at
http://tinyurl.com/36vhjhn. He talked about taking a month off recently
to rest nagging injuries, but had actually hoped for two or three months
off. “It was one of those things where 3 ½ years straight, and you
didn’t really take any time off. I didn’t really spend a lot of time
with my family,” he said. “At the same time I felt a huge gigantic
responsibility to helping TNA get more popular and elevate them. I was
doing overseas tours. I did a lot of media. I was pretty much the media
guy for two, three years. So even if I wasn’t wrestling three or four
days a week, the other two or three were on the road doing something for
TNA. They pay me really well, and I earn my money.” He was kind of
critical regarding booking, both here and in WWE: “I like (creative) to
look at an individual and say all or nothing. In other words, push him
to the moon or don’t push them at all. No halfway. Let’s ride them as
far as you can ride them, and then maybe get somebody else. Once they
rise to stardom, God willing, then maybe we can do another one as well.
It’s going to take a little time. We need to follow through with our
characters. We were getting there with AJ Styles. He was just at that
elite status. He was very close. Then we kind of pulled the title off.
AJ, in my mind, still is the best wrestler today. His championship run
was a little short.” He also touched on some recent free agents that he
would love for the company to bring in: “I think Batista is an
incredible wrestler. I think he has improved more than any wrestler in
the past three years. I like to see some younger fresh talent from Ring
of Honor. Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas, I’ve been knocking on the
door for them for probably a year now. I’d love to bring back Team
Angle, from a babyface perspective first. Then we could spread off. We
never really had an ending. We just split off, when I got injured. They
are two really solid wrestlers. They’ve both been wrestling for over 10
years. If anything, they could help elevate these younger guys.”
Impact last Thursday night did a 1.0 rating and 1.2 million viewers
which they are thrilled about considering heavy competition from the NBA
playoffs.
Jeff Hardy was banged up following the weekend loop and is visiting a
chiropractor today to look at his neck.
Hardy’s upcoming court date, which was scheduled for 7/6 in North
Carolina, has been postponed to 7/8.
The location for October’s Bound For Glory pay-per-view will be
announced later this week. As of a few week’s ago we had heard they were
looking locations in Charlotte, but we are now hearing San Antonio or
Houston, TX which is the home base of TNA’s card maker, TriStar.
The company will also be announcing a live event in India soon. Two
words: Sonjay Dutt.
The Baltimore Sun has a Q&A with Jim Cornette at
http://tinyurl.com/323yugt. He was promoting ROH but when prompted made
some valid points about TNA booking: “You’ve got to have a plan and a
vision, and Vince Russo’s got such ADD, he can’t even remember what he
wrote last week. I don’t mean to make this a whole knocking Russo thing,
but he’s emblematic of the whole problem of outside people that have
been let in the wrestling business that have no respect for the
business, or the people in it, or the traditions of it, or the way that
it’s done, or the fans. If the fans like his stuff then he goes, ‘Yeah,
that’s because I’m great,’ and if the fans don’t like his stuff – which
is the majority as I’m sure you’ve gathered – he blames them. ‘Ah, it’s
these wrestling fans.’ Well what are you in the wrestling business for
if you don’t like the wrestling fans? He actually made this statement:
He wants to write wrestling shows for people who don’t like wrestling.
He thinks, ‘Well, I’ll just write this show that everybody can be
entertained by and the wrestling fans will like anything as long as it’s
in a ring.’ No! I don’t like golf. I don’t care if they play golf in the
nude and the 18th hole is surrounded by flames. I’m not going to watch
golf because I don’t like golf. So he writes wrestling for people who
don’t like wrestling. And the people who like wrestling are insulted by
it, and the people who don’t like wrestling – guess what? – they ain’t
watching it because they don’t like wrestling! He’s an idiot.”
Roxxi, the abused girlfriend of TNA, wrote a classy blog at
www.healthhugsandheadlocks.blogspot.com to thank fans and well-wishers
for their support saying that she feels good about leaving the company
with her head held high. She also says she’s going to compete at the
next NPC Jay Cutler Classic in Boston.
Brooke Adams (Miss Tessmacher) has been going to wrestling practice of
late.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
ROH Death Before Dishonor VIII (on PPV for $14.95 at
www.gofightlive.com) Saturday night in Toronto got some rave reviews,
especially for the Davey Richards-Tyler Black main event, which was a
bonifide match of the year candidate. I haven’t talked to anyone that
did not love this show.
Dick ‘The Destroyer’ Beyer attended the Friday night ROH show in
Hamburg, NY.
Awesome Kong just taped a show for Lucha Libre USA which will air this
summer on MTV2 and MTV Treś. This is her return to wrestling on
national television which she teased on Twitter.
Japan’s SMASH promotion (Tajiri’s group) has booked Mickie James, Scotty
2 Hotty and U-Gene Dinsmore for their SMASH 5 and SMASH 6 double taping
on 7/24. SMASH is the follow up to the old HUSTLE promotion that seemed
to parody WWE style.
Brock Lesnar talks training with UFC legend Randy Couture ahead on his
fight on 7/3 with Shane Carwin at http://tinyurl.com/3xz4dgu.
April Hunter competed in the annual NPC Junior Nationals Bodybuilding,
Fitness & Figures Show that took place this past weekend in Chicago.
Despite a partially torn quad she finished 16th out of 48 in her tall
class. Photos are online at www.aprilhunter.com.
Today’s Babe of the Day is Francine at
http://www.thewrestlingpress.com/DailyDiva.
=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
To send news tips or change email address: [email protected]
© 2010 Copyright – Wrestling Globe Newsletter – All Rights Reserved.