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WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER
Monday, September 13, 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 industry power players, many top wrestlers and thousands of fans from around the world.
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WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT
Raw is live tonight from Cincinnati with John Cena vs. Randy Orton on top plus Chad Ochocinco announced as the guest celebrity. They are doing the roulette gimmick too, which won’t be good for some people. The NXT/Smackdown tapings follow Tuesday night in Detroit at Joe Louis Arena.
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Matt Hardy left the European tour one day early this past weekend, missing a scheduled appearance in Skegness, England. WWE officials would give no explanation but others within the company were of the understanding that this was due to concerns over Hardy’s health. Hardy traveled home with the rest of the crew today but didn’t work the last show of the tour on Sunday. He even released a video blog earlier stating that he was fine but had dropped weight due to eliminating red meat from his diet. He also ranted at some wrestling websites on Twitter for reporting what he feels was erroneous information. All that said, there is nuclear heat on him right now from the only direction that matters.
A Republican fundraiser attended by Linda McMahon was evacuated Sunday afternoon after someone called in a bomb threat. Linda was a guest at the home of Madison Republican Town Chairman Tom Banisch when someone called the local police to report a bomb at the Banisch home, reports the Connecticut Post. Between 75-100 people were evacuated to the town green across the street. Linda left the fundraiser soon afterwards. She faces Democrat Richard Blumenthal in the 11/2 CT Senate election.
Triple H‘s unofficial role as a senior adviser (to Vince McMahon) was recently formalized as he was given his own office at WWE’s headquarters in Stamford, CT. It’s believed that he will be transitioning to the corporate side of the business and winding down his in-ring career over the next few years in readiness for the day that McMahon, 65, hands over the business to Stephanie.
Legendary, WWE Studios’ sports drama with John Cena, Danny Glover and Patricia Clarson didn’t fare too well in it’s first week limited release at the U.S. box office. The film showed in 178 theaters over the weekend and was estimated at doing a little over $135,000 or $764 per screen. The film is actually the second most watched new release on the charts this week, basically because no major titles were released with the exception of Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D which did $27.7 million. Critics generally gave the film a negative response with many calling it predictable and overdone. Legendary is scheduled for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 9/28.
Chris Jericho recently turned down a spot on Dancing with the Stars due to a scheduling conflict but said he would love to do the show in the future should the opportunity arise.
Joey Styles’ WWE talent contract recently expired although he remains with WWE’s New Media department.
Johnny Knoxville of Jackass fame is booked for Raw on 10/4 from Wichita.
Rob McNichol has a story on Tyler Black signing with WWE at
http://tinyurl.com/39egztl. Black, 24, says he was renegotiating with ROH but Evan Bourne convinced him to sign here and that he also turned down an offer from TNA. “To be honest, and no disrespect meant, but it wasn’t a hard decision to make. You have to want to test yourself against the best and WWE is the pinnacle of our industry. They were actually the last to make me an offer. I was renegotiating with ROH and TNA had made an offer, but when WWE came in it was no contest. I understand that I may have to sacrifice a little artistic integrity — and I don’t know if I’ll have to change my name — but I’m so excited about the challenge that lies ahead.” Black finished up with ROH this past weekend dropping the heavyweight title to Rodrick Strong. He will report to WWE developmental in Tampa later this month.
The future of Aloisia (Lindsay Hayward) the 23-year-old 6-9, 240 pound, giant pulled from NXT last week is still unclear. Those who you would think would know don’t, so it’s quite the mystery. The stories that she was pulled due to the emergence of suggestive photos she posed for several years ago are untrue, according to one WWE official. Hayward, likely without realizing it, buried herself in a blog on her website addressing the situation a few days ago. She wrote: “When I first received my offer from WWE, they asked me to fill out a `Talent Information Form,’ providing them with information about myself and my background. One of the questions was, `Have you ever posed nude?’ I answered, `No,’ to this question because that’s the truth. If they asked me if I ever posted suggestively, I would of course have answered, `Yes,’ but there’s a big difference between suggestive and nude. As to the question of whether this was why they took me off the show, that’s something you’d have to ask them. Perhaps it was a factor in their decision, but I honestly don’t know their entire thought process, as they’ve communicated very little to me about this. From what I’ve been reading on various blogs, it seems that they may have had a political motivation to get me off the show, but again, you’d have to ask them.” Welcome to the mental torture of working for WWE…
Hayward was replaced on NXT by Kaitlyn, the new name of Celeste Bonin, a 23-year-old former fitness model from Houston.
Skip Sheffield is recovering following surgery to repair a shattered ankle a few weeks ago suffered during a house show. He is expected to be sidelined until early next year.
Jerry Lawler’s Memphis Championship Wrestling TV show is no more. The show that aired on 9/11 was the last and included an interview with Lawler blaming the economy and local sponsors dropping out. The show had averaged a litte over 11,000 viewers since it’s debut in June on Channel 50 in Memphis. The demise of the group follows a disagreement between Lawler and his business partner Joe Cooper who negotiated most of the original sponsorship deals.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING
Hogan’s back is in really bad shape again. He was hospitalized last week which was covered blow-by-blow by the TMZ website, as his people calls their people these days when he wants some publicity. It’s believed he tore a muscle due to frequent bending over. The day of the injury he was collecting seashells at the beach and later in the day his back locked up. Hogan has now endured six back surgeries over the past three years, his last in May which was to remove bone spurs, and he’s said to be in immense pain most of the time.
Hogan said he plans to marry his girlfriend, Jennifer McDaniel, very soon.
Jeff Jarrett, 43, and the former Karen Angle, 37, tied the knot on 8/21 in a private ceremony at Jarrett’s home in Tennessee.
The syndicated Family Feud game show recently taped a TNA special that will air in November. The teams are Jay Lethal, Mick Foley, Matt Morgan, Mr. Anderson and RVD against the Knockouts of Velvet Sky, Lacey Von Erich, Angelina Love, Tara and Christy Hemme. So, a real meeting of the minds. Anderson and Hemme previously did the show while working for WWE a few years ago.
The Winnipeg Sun at http://tinyurl.com/38ozttv reported on the mistress of Billy Gunn/Kip James (Monty Sopp) who has been publishing audio recordings, videos and photos from her affair with him after it ended. Sopp, who is married, says 24-year-old Deborah Simmons has been harassing him after his wife became aware of their affair. Simmons had posted several photos of her together with Sopp on her Facebook page. Quite the story–and a lesson to learn for some. Sopp was spotted hanging out last week at the TNA TV tapings but hasn’t been used on television here since his release last year.
Team 3D are advertised as appearing next weekend on the company’s Northeast tour, which could be their last appearances for the company together as a team. Brother Ray will be still working behind the scenes. The Pope gave an interview this past week saying that he is six more classes away from finishing a criminal justice degree.
The lawsuit filed by Highspots.com against Ric Flair is scheduled for trial on April 18, 2011… ROH is also suing Flair for breach of contract after Flair pulled out personal appearances which he was paid upfront for in 2009.
Impact will air live on 10/7 which is the date that Dixie Carter says TNA will change forever. The show is headlined by Flair vs. Foley in a Last Man Standing match.
Former WWE official and manager Bruce “Brother Love” Prichard recently granted a rare interview to the Monday Night Mayhem radio show. When asked about Vince Russo as a writer and taking the credit for the success of WWE’s attitude era, he said: “There were times when you just had to buckle up and go; there was always tension. Once it got past that initial creative discussions, then you had to go sell it to talent, and then you had to get talent to go out and deliver your vision. I listen to guys all the time, and one of the things I always get amazed by is when different people and guys who have written or booked in this business take credit for something the talent does. There’s a guy over in TNA who has taken credit over the years for the creation of ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, The Rock, and people like that. At the end of the day, the guy who deserves credit for ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin is Steve Austin. He went out and delivered. Steve went out, and he was ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin 24/7. When Russo used to write up all these scripts, Steve would look at it, crumple it up, and throw it in the trash. Steve would go out, and he had a rapport with Vince McMahon, and he used to come to me and say ‘I wanna say this.’ I said ‘Hey man, that’s life, so if you wanna take the ass-chewing when you get back, do what you think is right.’ After a while, Steve gambled, and went out, and he did what he thought was right. He had an ear, and he knew what was working, and what they buying and weren’t buying, and at the end of the day, it may not have been the ideal creative situation that was created, but Steve made it his own, and made it bigger than anything that’s ever been done in the business. Without talent, you can have the greatest creative in the world… if they can’t deliver, it doesn’t matter.”
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
ROH tonight on HDNet has Austin Aries vs. Delirious in a lumberjack match; Christopher Daniels vs. Rhett Titus; The American Wolves vs. The Super Smash Brothers, plus a sit-down interview with Davey Richards that aired during Saturday’s Glory By Honor IX iPPV discussing him not retiring. Richards had said in June that he planned to quit the wrestling business before the end of the year to concentrate on other areas of his life. You know, like marriage. However, he got a divorce instead and is now dating a former WWE Diva, who is said to be thrilled to be dating him.
Mike Shaw, aka Bastion Booger, Friar Ferguson, Norman the Lunatic and several other gimmicks, died on Saturday from a heart attack at age 53. Matt Johnson has a personal remembrance at http://tinyurl.com/3yes4tv. A funeral mass is scheduled for Thursday at the Fassbender Funeral Home in Marquette, MI.
Lucha Libre star La Fiera, real name Arturo Casco, 49, was stabbed to death early Sunday morning in Mexico. La Fiera was one of Mexico’s biggest stars in the 1980s, but injuries had slowed him down in the last decade or so.
Mr. Wrestling II (Johnny Walker) is resting comfortably in an Atlanta area hospital, recuperating from triple bypass surgery a couple weeks ago in Charlotte. Promoter Greg Price says that Walker expects to be released from the hospital in a couple days and hopes to fly home to Hawaii in the next week or so. Price said Walker was, “Very appreciative of everyone’s thoughts and prayers. He’s helped pass his time, helping me plan next year’s Atlanta fanfest, which he will be a huge part of.” www.nwalegends.com
The Miami Herald has a story on Debra “Madusa” Miceli talking Luna Vachon‘s death at http://tinyurl.com/2ucaynx. She said: “I’m saddened by the death because we really don’t know what is going on in the mind of people. They are good on the outside, but on the inside, they are fighting their own demons. I’m saddened because of all the losses in our business that have happened so often. It happens too often in almost the same case and reasons. When you have someone like Luna that did nothing but live, breathe, sleep, eat and was dedicated as she was to pro wrestling and then just have it yanked underneath her, it’s sad. But we all have our own choices. We are totally in control of ourselves, and we make our own destiny. It’s unfortunate that depression or something gets the best of it, and we can’t fight ourselves fast enough before the inevitable happens.” Vachon was found dead on 8/27 at the home of her mother in Florida. Investigators found Oxycodone and multiple prescription drugs in her bedroom. The official cause of death won’t be released for a few more weeks. She was recently laid to rest in a private ceremony at the ranch owned by the estate of her godfather, Andre the Giant, in North Carolina.
Jim Neidhart, 55, is still incarcerated in Hillsborough County following his arrest last weekend in Florida on drug, burglary and theft charges. Police arrested him at a gas station in Thonotosassa on 9/5 in possession of 95 Oxycontin pills and 28 Methadone pills. He was charged with two counts of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute, two counts of trafficking an illegal substance and one count of grand theft third degree and one count of burglary. The sheriff’s office said the person whose name was on the pills had reported that her medication was stolen from her home. Police were called to the gas station after reports came in that a “crazy man” was yelling abuse at passers by.
Dave Bautista recently filmed an episode of NBC’s Chuck following in the footsteps of Steve Ausin and Stacy Keiber. He’s also negotiating for a number of other upcoming acting projects.
Dwayne Johnson has landed a role in the next Journey to the Center of the Earth movie. Like the first film, the sequel will be shot in 3D, and is scheduled for release in September, 2011. Filming begins next month in North Carolina and Hawaii.
Bobby Lashley has just taken a pro wrestling booking in Japan for the Inoki Genome Federation, but MMA is still his number one priority. Lashley said today that he hopes to get a rematch soon with Chad Griggs and avenge his Strikeforce loss last month.
Jim Cornette is back working again with Danny Davis and Ohio Valley Wrestling in Louisville. Cornette was head booker for OVW from 1999-2005 when the group was part of WWE’s developmental program, and helped launch the careers of many current stars.
Medallion Press recently pulled out of a book deal with former Diva, Dawn Marie.
The former Lita, Amy Dumas, is planning to open a Lucha Libre themed restaurant in the Atlanta area next year.
Today’s Babe of the Day is Kaitlyn at
http://www.thewrestlingpress.com/DailyDiva.
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