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WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER
Thursday April 30, 2009
by Mike Aldren
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Wrestling Globe delivers all the latest pro wrestling news and analysis direct to your mailbox. It’s read by industry power players, many top wrestlers and thousands of fans from all around the world.
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WWE NEWS
4/28 ECW results from New York, NY: Tyson Kidd over Finlay, and Christian vs. Tommy Dreamer was a no contest.
Two good TV matches. It seems they are going down the route of a three-way with Christian vs. Swagger vs. Dreamer for the title at Judgement Day. Kozlov has a new outfit as a Russian army officer that got him good heat. He has that kind of heat in that people boo him more because they hate the gimmick rather than because of what he says in promos. Shane Helms is now a backstage interviewer. He still has issues with his neck after surgery in 2007 which kept him out for 18 months. He suffered an injury at a house show earlier this year that largely went unreported aside from here. The person who runs his official website contacted us at the time saying there was no truth to the report, but he hasn’t wrestled since, so go figure.
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Superstars tonight on WGN has the main event of Carlito vs. Ted DiBiase, Evan Bourne vs. Paul Burchill, and Gail Kim & Maria vs. Michelle McCool & Alicia Fox. It appears they are going to program The Colons vs.
DiBiase and Rhodes for the tag titles. DiBiase should be one to watch over the next few months. They want him babyface by the time his movie comes out, which is the DVD sequel to The Marine with John Cena.
Tommy Dreamer’s contract is up in a couple of months and there is talk of having him as the ECW GM. The internal vibe is that Tiffany isn’t projecting well enough in that role due to her poor delivery.
WWE is getting some good pub bringing in Sherri Shepherd from The View.
Shepherd has been talking on The View this week about how she has a crush on MVP, that he’s single, huge in more ways than one, and she didn’t need to run a credit check on him as he works 52 weeks a year.
Barbara Walters asked Shepherd if MVP was “smacking her down” and she wished he was. They are working on getting MVP on the show at some point next week.
John Morrison and Khali were dropped from the advertised scramble match for this week’s Smackdown. The winner faces Edge for the title at Judgement Day. The match is now a four-way with Jericho, Mysterio, Hardy and Kane. They are going to push Morrison as a bayface this summer and didn’t want to risk him getting a negative reaction. Vince doesn’t see Khali as a contender anymore.
There are some rumblings that Tyson Tomko may be brought back. WWE is scouting guys that are both big and athletic which they feel lacks in developmental… Lance Hoyt, 6’5, 260, who was just signed, is confirmed as headed to FCW in Tampa.
Mike Knox worked a dark match over Ricky Ortiz at Madison Square Garden.
Knox, with Charlie Haas, are expected to debut soon as The Hard Knox Connection. They debuted as a team in matching outfits during the European tour last week.
Smackdown on 4/24 did a 1.6 rating averaging 2.7 million viewers. Way down on last week and a really bad number… Raw on Monday finished as a
3.4 rating, down almost 10 percent from last week’s 3.7. The first hour did a 3.46 and the second hour did a 3.37. This is the first times in months that the second hour dropped from the first. Usually more viewers tune in for the final two quarter hours. Overall the show averaged 5 millions viewers down slightly from the original estimate… ECW on Tuesday did a 1.2 rating averaging 1.6 million viewers down from last week’s 1.7. The competition from the NBA playoffs and NHL seem to be making a dent in WWE ratings this week.
As noted John Cena Sr. was at Backlash. Cena was with Dan Mirade, who promotes wrestling in Boston, escorting Shiloh Pepin, 9, known as the mermaid girl due to her deformities, who is a huge WWE fan. She got to meet wrestlers backstage and was given a replica women’s title belt. The Learning Channel was shooting footage as they are doing a documentary on her.
Jim Ross in his latest blog said he is riding with Matt Striker and Josh Matthews not that Taz has left the company. Ross reportedly has issues with his eye that makes it difficult for him to drive after dark. Ross also noted that starting with Judgement Day they will be going back to having all three announce teams ringside after all.
A minor spoiler in that Alicia Fox is now a heel.
The elimination of the New Orleans Hornets from the NBA playoffs means that the 6/7 Extreme Rules PPV will take place at the New Orleans Arena.
TNA NEWS
TNA are back on the road this weekend starting tonight at the Coliseum
in Knoxville. They also run the Expo Center in Corbin, KY on Friday,
Big Sandy Arena in Huntingon, WV on Saturday, and the Expo Center in
Pikeville, KY on Sunday. Jim Cornette had a hand in the tour being the
old loop he ran when promoting Smoky Mountain in the early 90s.
Tonight’s line up is listed as Brutus Magnus vs. Shark Boy; Eric Young
vs. Cute Kip; Consequences Creed vs. Kiyoshi; Abyss vs. Sheik Abdul
Bashir; Angelina Love vs. ODB; Team 3D vs. Beer Money, Inc.; and Jeff
Jarrett vs. Booker T. We’re looking for reports from all these shows to
[email protected]
I assume that Angelina Love listed on the shows means she is cleared
following her concussion at Lockdown. She has suffered 3/4 concussions
in the past and there are people worried about her… Cute Kip is still
under contract although he is off TV.
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Tonight’s Impact on Spike has Abyss vs. Cody Deaner; Awesome Kong vs.
Madison Rayne in a stretcher match; The Amazing Red & Suicide vs. The
Motor City Machineguns in a the Team 3D tournament; and AJ Styles &
Samoa Joe vs. Kevin Nash & Booker T. There is also more on Bobby Lashley
and the debut of a new heel faction from the UK.
Bobby Lashley is expected to finally sign with TNA. He is booked for the
TV tapings on 5/4 and 5/5 where all the loose ends should be tied up.
Going forward the deal will be a limited schedule that doesn’t preclude
him from MMA. A rep from his camp said that there was no real interest
from WWE although they don’t want him doing business with TNA.
Kurt Angle continues to pick up movie work away from his commitments to
TNA. He is playing the role of a werewolf is a zombie movie called Dead
of Night which is currently filming in New Orleans. He also has roles in
upcoming movies called River of Darkness and Land of the Astronauts.
None of the movies are expected to do major business but he’s getting
the same pay as he would working a TV taping.
Jenna Morasca has a lot of heat right now. It’s that weird jealous pro
wrestler mentality of being mad at her because the owner brought her in,
paid her more than any other women on the roster, paired her with a top
star, and she doesn’t have to bump. I personally don’t see what she adds
to the show, and she clearly isn’t a star to the level of bringing in
new viewers. She got in based on Kurt Angle’s recommendation after he
shot the movie End Game with her.
OTHER NEWS
The 22-year-old only son of former WCW and TNA wrestler Elix Skipper was
tragically shot dead yesterday in Columbus, OH. Very little information
is known other than three men came to his apartment before the shooting.
He was transported to Grant Medical Center where he later died. Our
condolences to the Skipper family.
The Clark County medical examiner’s office said the death of Paul
Perschmann (Playboy Buddy Rose) was from natural causes. Funeral
arrangements are by Davies Cremation and Burial Services in Vancouver,
WA. I want to thank everyone for their kind comments after we posted our
short piece on Rose. The story is getting play all over Oregan and also
in other parts of the country due to an associated press article. KPTV
in Portland, which was the station that first aired Portland Wrestling
in the 1950s, covered the story with an interview with longtime friend
Ed Wiskowski at http://tinyurl.com/cnagph
Howard Finkel paid tribute to Rose at http://tinyurl.com/cgs5vb and so
did Percy Pringle (Paul Bearer) as he likes to be called at
http://tinyurl.com/cm9b3e … On Google.com on Wednesday the term
“Playboy Buddy Rose” was in the Top 20 most searched terms of the day.
The Iron Sheik, 66, was on the Opie/Anthony and Howard Stern radio shows
this morning. We will have a report in the next newsletter. On one show
they fed Sheik several beers and he pissed his pants live on air. Really
sad: http://tinyurl.com/cu4kv6
We’ve spoken to people close to the Fliehr’s over the past few days
following Reid’s drug bust on 4/26. One source told us: “It’s a serious
situation, and I think Ric is handling it as well as could be expected.
Reid needs help, and hopefully he’s going to get it. He really is a good
kid, but he’s going to have to want to get better.” Of late, Ric Flair
and his people have been shopping a reality show to different networks.
The idea of the show is that Ric shares an apartment with Reid and they
get up to allsorts of crazy antics like going on double dates, getting
wasted in Charlotte, etc. Reid’s latest arrest may throw a spanner in
the works.
NWA Charlotte owner J.D. Costello announced the group was shutting down
following an inspection by the Fire Dept. during a show on 4/25.
Costello claimed they had spent $250,000 renovating the building they
were using, but to make improvements that would keep the CMFD off their
back it would cost another $250,000, including a new a fire sprinkler
system, so it wasn’t viable to continue. Costello blamed their success
as their failure and took shots at rival promoters Greg Price, George
South and others saying that they were jelous of his success. The
question remains if he was so successful why doesn’t he just run another
building?
Jim Cornette has been added to the upcoming NWA Legends fanfest in
Charlotte. He will be doing a Q&A. More info at www.nwalegends.com
The WSU women’s fed run 6/6 in Boonton, NJ at the Darress Theatre. They
are promoting a 60-minute IronWomen match with Angel Orsini vs. Mercedes
Martinez. You can find out more about the show at www.doiwrestling.com
or by email to [email protected].
Mike Brendli, the former Mike Mondo, who was suspended by the Kentucky
athletic commission at an OVW show on 3/21 for failing a drug test
(marijuana) asked for his board hearing to be held over until June. They
take this kind of thing seriously in that neck of the woods.
WG Diva of the Day — Maria Kanellis — http://tinyurl.com/d3rrfz
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