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WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER
Thursday, July 1, 2010
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Wrestling Globe Newsletter by Mike Aldren – All the latest professional
wrestling news and analysis direct to your inbox. WGN is read by
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WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT
6/29 NXT TV results from Wilkes-Barre, PA: MVP over Husky Harris; Kaval,
Lucky Cannon & Michael McGillicutty over Alex Riley, Eli Cottonwood &
Titus O’Neil. Kaval won the NXT poll while Titus O’Neil was eliminated,
which is a change as they originally announced no cuts would be made for
another four weeks.
Superstars tonight on WGN has Christian vs. Curt Hawkins; Goldust &
Yoshi Tatsu vs. Zach Ryder & Primo; and Nikki Bella vs. Jillian Hall.
***
CM Punk underwent minor arm surgery a few days ago which will prevent
him from wrestling for a few weeks. He worked the TV tapings on Tuesday
with his arm in a sling.
Ricky Steamboat suffered a legit sprained neck during the Raw segment
with Nexus beating down the legends. The WWE website (storyline) also
reported he cracked some ribs.
Bryan Danielson wrote a blog addressing his release. He said he was
angry about what happened, that he apologised to WWE for the tie choke,
but felt he would be a hypocrite if he apologized for putting everything
he had into the segment that got him fired. He wrote: “As with anyone
who gets fired from their job, especially when they feel its unjust, I
am angry. Very angry. But I can’t fault WWE for how they handled my
release. My contract contained a 90 day no-compete clause in the event I
was let go, yet the WWE has graciously allowed me start wrestling again
on any show that’s not taped for television or pay per view.” He didn’t
say much else other than teasing TNA was interested in his services.
“But regardless of what offers come in, I am in no rush to make any rash
decisions,” he wrote. “I enjoy my freedom as much as I enjoyed the
benefits offered by being in WWE. My future, as usual, is uncertain. But
I am enjoying my return to the independents. I’m hoping to see some of
you there.” Full blog at www.bryandanielson.tv.
Angela Fong said she was blindsided by her release and what hurt most
was that she never got the opportunity to wrestle on WWE TV. She is now
accepting bookings through Steve Woolf at
[email protected].
One of our readers talked to Shane McMahon earlier this week in New York
City. Shane basically said he was enjoying doing nothing and spending
time with his family. He also said he didn’t see himself returning to
WWE anytime in the near future.
NXT on Tuesday night did a 0.9 rating and 1 million viewers.
Abraham Washington is one name under consideration for the mystery Raw
GM spot. He was originally slated for the role a couple of months ago.
Teddy Hart is telling people once again that he’s WWE-bound. Apparently
he just got fired from AAA in Mexico–reportedly for his own safety as
more than half the locker room wanted to kill him.
Jim Ross noted that he and Steve Austin were planning to attend the UFC
pay-per-view together this weekend in Las Vegas. FightHype.com at
http://tinyurl.com/3ajh5rr has an interview with Ross talking
Lesnar-Carwin and business growth comparisons between WWE and the UFC.
The main reason why the Flair style chops are now banned is because it
reminds fans of Flair, and generally the whole building goes, “Whooo!”
each time a chop is delivered. It was also interesting to note on Raw
this week that Arn Anderson didn’t mention Flair’s name when talking
about the five greatest wrestlers of all time. He was however scripted
to call Michaels, Undertaker, and Triple H among five of the greatest
ever. I suppose you could make a case for the first two, but should
Triple H be included in that debate?
Slam Wrestling has a story on Jack Swagger at
http://tinyurl.com/375kv64.
An interesting look at WWE’s social media reach at
http://tinyurl.com/2a9a8ne.
The Miami Herald interviewed Dusty Rhodes at http://tinyurl.com/33dbya3
to promote FCW’s summer tour of Florida.
Muscle & Fitness magazine has an upcoming feature on the Divas including
Maryse, Eve Torres and Michelle McCool.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING
Impact tonight on Spike has Abyss vs. Jeff Hardy with Rob Van Dam as the
special referee; AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe; Desmond Wolfe vs. Brian
Kendrick; Ink, Inc. vs. MCMG; Madison Rayne vs. Taylor Wilde in a
non-title match; plus the return of The Pope.
TNA runs Friday night in Brooklyn, NY with Rob Van Dam vs. AJ Styles;
Jeff Hardy vs. Abyss; Team 3D vs. Ink, Inc. in a tables match; Kurt
Angle vs. Desmond Wolfe; Madison Rayne vs. Angelina Love; plus Jay
Lethal, Brian Kendrick, Homicide and Amazing Red. This is the big show
from MCU Park where they hope to set a new U.S. attendance record. They
also run Saturday night in Asbury Park, NJ.
***
Ed Ferrara was let go from the writing team a few days ago. He was
rehired last September as an assistant to Vince Russo, which was the
impetus for nudging out Jim Cornette, who Ferrara wouldn’t work with due
to an altercation between them a few years earlier.
Russo and Matt Conway are still writing the television shows at press
time.
Hogan missed the taping on Tuesday as his back is messed up. His people
say he may be undergoing another surgery soon which doesn’t sound good.
Eric Bischoff and Jason Hervey, who also sits in production meetings,
missed the taping too. Bischoff was hosting a July 4 event near his
Wyoming home while Hertvey was working on another TV project.
Former TNA wrestler Kid Kash did an interview with www.carnagecrew.net
talking all kinds of nonsense including wanting to shoot fight Homicide.
The Pittsburgh City Paper has a review of Kurt Angle’s Foodies Cafe at
http://tinyurl.com/2ufpyt6.
WWE has now removed TNA programming as competition from it’s internal
weekly memos on ratings.
Raven will make his stand-up comedy debut next Thursday at Cozzy’s
Comedy Club in Newport News, VA.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
The former wife and wrestling valet of Chris Adams, Toni Gant passed
away last week at age 45. She had not been well and developed an
infection in her abdomen following surgery to remove an abscess. Late
last month she suffered a cardiac arrest at home which doctors believe
was the result of choking on her own vomit in her sleep. They managed to
revive her but the family decided to take her off life support on
Thursday. Toni began working in Fritz Von Erich’s World Class promotion
as a production assistant in 1984. She later married Chris Adams, one of
the biggest stars of the promotion, shortly after his divorce from
Jeanie Clarke. Her appearances on World Class television were sporadic,
however she was involved in some segments with Chris while helping to
sell his blinding injury angle in 1986. A few years later, she was
involved in one of the most memorable feuds of the USWA in 1990, when
she and Chris began feuding with his former protege Steve Austin. The
feud later involved Chris’ ex-wife Jeanie, who eventually married
Austin, and faced each other in mixed tag matches for much of that year.
Chris’ personal demons had spiralled out of control around this time,
and Toni divorced him soon after the feud. She returned to wrestling in
Memphis in 1993, managing Brian Christopher as Nanny Simpson, and
participated in several mixed tag matches with him against Koko B. Ware
and Miss Texas (Jacqeline Moore). She also briefly managed Eddie Gilbert
before his infamous feud with Jerry Lawler. Toni eventually quit the
wrestling business in 1995. At the time of her death she was living in
Louisville, KY, and was engaged to marry her third husband. There will
be a burial in Texas at a later date.
Alex Marvez has a story on Greg Valentine at http://tinyurl.com/27qmfhj.
Valentine, 60, claims he’s wrestled his last match after tearing his
quad after accidentally falling off some ring steps (lawsuit pending)
for an indy group in Chicago last summer. “I felt maybe God was telling
me to finally quit,” said Valentine, who became a born-again Christian
in 2002. “He’s taken care of me when I was thinking, ‘Where am I going
to make money?,’ and this and that. I’ve been blessed since this
accident.” When asked about Hogan and Flair in TNA, he said: “I don’t
think Ric should work anymore… Eventually, he might end up getting
hurt bad. I know Hogan has had hip surgeries, and now he’s having back
surgeries. It is financial (why they’re still wrestling). It hurts me to
see that.”
Lance Storm has a TV project in the works. He’s working with a
production company in Calgary to put together a documentary series
involving his wrestling school students. Storm reports, “The show will
be called World of Hurt and will focus on an International cast of
mostly former SWA students who will take part in a grueling advanced
training program with me to try to take their game to the next level…
We will be shooting the project from now till the end of the year and it
will be airing in early 2011 on a National Canadian Network.”
A 30-minute special to preview MTV2’s new Lucha Libre show is online at
http://tinyurl.com/35dxlyy.
The Village Voice has a review of lucha themed restaurant Cascabel
Taqueria in New York City at http://tinyurl.com/2e62ft8.
Antonio Inoki helped set a new Guinness World Record for the largest
simultaneous toast at a Tokyo Yakult Swallows vs. the Hanshin Tigers
baseball game earlier this week.
The former Ryan Shamrock (Alicia Webb) was interviewed at
www.inyourheadonline.com. She claimed WWE released her back in 1999
because she refused to sign a five year contract. That’s a good one. She
said Chyna hated her and used to mess with her gear in the locker room
all the time and make ridiculous complaints about her to management. She
said among some wacky Russo writing that never saw light was an incest
angle involving her and Ken Shamrock (who she was dating at the time but
played his storyline sister), and also a deal where Debra Marshall would
be revealed as her birth mother. She said her future plans involve
getting into fitness and bodybuilding competitions.
Amy Dumas’ (Lita) ink made a Yes Network list of the worst tattoo’s in
sports. They wrote, “How do you un-pretty a pretty girl? Answer: You put
a huge, demonic tattoo on her shoulder. It’s truly unfortunate. This
former WWE diva had amazing athleticism and a great smile. I just can’t
get past the tattoo.”
A new episode of Wrestlicious premieres on America One on Saturday night
at 11:30pm. The main event features CoCo Montego (aka Sojo Bolt) and
Marley vs. The Naughty Girls.
Today’s Babe of the Day is Lizzy Valentine at
http://www.thewrestlingpress.com/DailyDiva.
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