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WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER
Monday February 8, 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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Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/wrestlingglobe
 
Please send all news tips to: [email protected]
 

WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
 
2/6 Raw house shows results from Alexandria, LA: Chris Masters over
Carlito; Jack Swagger over Santino to win his first match of 2010; Paul
Burchill over Johnny Curtis; Divas match but we didn’t get names; The
Miz
over MVP; Mark Henry & ? over Legacy; Randy Orton over Kofi
Kingston
; and John Cena over Sheamus via DQ.
 
2/6 Smackdown house shows results from Waco, TX: Kane over Mike Knox;
Goldust & Koslov over William Regal & Tyler Reks; Mickie James over
Michelle McCool with Beth Phoenix as referee; Cryme Tyme & Maria over
The Hart Dynasty & Natalya; Matt Hardy over Finlay; Drew McIntyre over
John Morrison & R-Truth in a three-way; Christian over Ezekiel Jackson;
and Rey Mysterio over CM Punk.
 
We didn’t receive any reports from the 2/7 Supershow in Lake Charles.

Raw is live from Lafayette with DX vs. CM Punk & Luke Gallows vs. The
Miz & Big Show in a tag team elimination match for the tag titles. The
first inductee for the 2010 Hall of Fame will be officially announced
tonight. Stu Hart and Antonio Inoki are the only names WWE has confirmed
but there are others who were contacted recently about going in. NASCAR
driver Carl Edwards is the guest host and Bret Hart is also booked on
the show.
 
The Smackdown/ECW tapings are Tuesday in Baton Rouge. We’re looking for
reader reports to [email protected].
 
***
 
WWE production designer Jason Robinson did an interview with Sky
magazine in the UK to promote the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. He
noted that the chamber cost $250,000 to construct, takes around 24 ring
crew to assemble, and costs the company $10,000 each time they use the
chamber as they replace the Perspex in each pod after every match.
Robinson also said the chamber is housed in storage in Newark and they
have to hire a special 500-foot flatbed truck for trans as it’s too wide
for the typical WWE ring trucks. “It weighs 16 tons so we’re pushing
maximum weight limit,” said Robinson.
 
The Elimination Chamber pay-per-view is being marketed in Germany as No
Way Out. I assume this is for the obvious reason.
 
A story on Ted DiBiase Sr. and Jr. at http://tinyurl.com/yjkctrt where
they discuss the Wellness Program and suggest wrestlers don’t party
anymore like they did in the 80s and 90s. I think that’s probably true
in some respects. Sr. said: “Today, the business has changed, it’s much
more corporate… When you go back to the hotel, there is nobody. I
don’t know if it’s a well-kept secret, or what. The WWE has changed so
much now. They work four days a week, then they go home to their
families.”
 
John Cena had his publicist call Hooters in Lafayette yesterday to
reserve a table to watch the Superbowl. Cena didn’t show up until 11pm
but gave the servers a huge tip when he did. Those on his table included
DiBiase Jr., Masters, Kingston, Michaels, and a couple of the Diva’s.
The Super Bowl last night was the most watched show in U.S. television
history with 106.5 million viewers. The previous most-watched show was
the 1983 finale episode of MASH that did 106.0 million viewers.
 
Maria Kanellis did an interview on Arizona radio to promote
Wrestlemania. She also talked Celebrity Apprentice and noted she got on
well with all the other celebs aside from Cyndi Lauper. “It was more
like, girls just wanna be mean, than girls just wanna have fun… I
still like [Cyndi], I just don’t want to work with her again… EVER!”
 
Mickie James‘ debut country album is titled Strangers & Angels’ and is
due for release/download on March 23. She is releasing a track from the
album called Are You With Me on February 16 which will be played on
country radio stations in Virginia and Tennessee.
 
The Paisley Daily Express in Scotland at http://tinyurl.com/yln89vc has
a story on the NXT Wrestling group noting they have used the name NXT
since 2006 and have offered to fight it out in the ring with Vince
McMahon for rights to the name. The story noted that McMahon had to
ditch the WWF acronym in 2000 due to losing the court ruling to the
World Wildlife Fund. On a related note, the change from World Wrestling
Federation to World Wrestling Entertainment made No. 7 on Time’s new
list of Top Top Worst Corporate Name Changes at
http://tinyurl.com/m3d72u.
 
Ron Simmons worked what was billed as his retirement match this past
weekend before 900 fans at the Historic Purks International Championship
Wrestling show in Cedartown, GA. Lot’s of talk that he will be inducted
into the WWE Hall of Fame this year. He will be inducted into the
Georgia Sports Hall of Fame on February 20.
 
Bret Hart commented on meeting with Jeremy Borash in Nashville last week
shooting down rumors he has plans to do anything with TNA. He said: “Why
anyone would ever think I’d let Hogan and Bischoff anywhere near my
Hitman persona again is truly beyond me.”
 
The postponed house show Friday night in Philadelphia was rescheduled
for Thursday. Some WWE people are not happy as they will miss Jack
Brisco’s memorial service… The service is Thursday at 1pm at St.
Lawrence Church, 5221 N. Himes Ave Tampa, FL 33614. Phone: 813-875-4040.
WWE talent flying from Los Angeles to Philly on Friday were notified of
the house show cancelation at 6am. They had to deboard from their 6.30
flight, but unfortunatley their luggage didn’t leave the plane with
them. They eventually got their bags back later that night.
 
Superstars last Thursday night did a 1.0 rating and 1.1 million viewers
 
Foxy Brown’s latest song Let ’em Know contains a line referencing John
Cena.
 
Former Diva Jazz was recently added to WWE’s Alumni website.
 
Chris Jericho‘s band Fozzy is touring the UK in May with dates in
Glasgow, Nottingham, and a double shot in London. More info will be
posted soon at www.chrisjericho.com.
 
Jim Ross noted he was heading to Tampa this week to check out recruits
in WWE developmental.
 
Edge is appearing on Friday night in Melbourne, FL, at the FCW show at
the Melbourne Auditorium. The show includes the main event of Justin
Angel, Kaval & Bryan Danielson vs. Curt Hawkins, Trent Barreta & Caylen
Croft. More info at www.fcwwrestling.info.
 
Beth Phoenix tweeted over the weekend that a Texas state trooper pulled
her over while driving to Dallas and gave her a ticket.
 
The city of Vancouver has formed a bid committee and is attempting to
bring WrestleMania to Vancouver, British Columbia, in either 2013 or
2014. More info at www.wrestlemaniavancouver.com.
 
Big Show turns 38 today.
 
 
TNA WRESTLING NEWS
 
2/4 house show results from Topeka, KS: Chris Sabin over Jay Lethal;
Tara over ODB with Shark Boy as referee; Hernandez & Matt Morgan over
Team 3D; Samoa Joe over Abyss; The Pope over Desmond Wolfe; and Jeff
Jarrett over Mr. Anderson. Earl Hebner is on the road but they are
playing up to the suspension storyline so he comes out to referee a
match but Jeremy Borash has security eject him from the building.
 
2/5 in Wichita and 2/7 in Joplin had the same results. We didn’t get
anything by way of numbers but Joplin was close to sold out.
 
***
 
Impact last Thursday night did a 1.2 rating and 1.6 million viewers,
down around 15 percent in viewership from the week before.
 
Jimmy Hart did an interview at http://tinyurl.com/ykl7bzr talking about
going to TNA. He tongue-in-cheek tells the story of how Jerry Lawler
once told him that Hulk Hogan would never draw a dime in wrestling.
Technically Lawler is right, because Hogan was Terry Boulder when he
said that in Memphis and the Boulder gimmick never did draw a dime. When
asked whether he thinks Hogan will wrestle again, he said: “Please,
brother. You know he will. Come on, man. Hulk Hogan, I tell him all the
time, every time he walks by that ring he gets goosebumps. You know he’s
going to. Those boots’ll be back on before long.”
 
The Honky Tonk Man did a radio interview saying it was Jeff Jarrett who
called him in December about the Jakks action figure deal.
 
Tara chipped some teeth in Wichita over the weekend and underwent dental
surgery today. She tweeted this afternoon that she can’t do BJ tonight
as a result–Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for those with their minds in the
gutter.
 
Ric Flair makes his house show debut this weekend in Norfolk in the
corner of AJ Styles.
 
Brian Fitz interviewed Shane Douglas at http://tinyurl.com/yk6elud. He
was fairly critical of TNA television saying Dixie and Bob Carter have
made a huge investment on a product that is vastly underachieving. I am
not sure many people will completely agree with his assessment, but he
said: “I think fans want to see something more realistic with the
storylines, force them to think a little bit and get to something that’s
a lot more old school. That’s one portion of the formula that Vince
[McMahon] has steadfastly refused to try and Dixie Carter has been
unwilling to try. They’ve tried everything else. They’ve tried ever
flip-flopping move, every kind of iron cage they can build, every tower
they can build, every kind of storyline and vignette that can do off of
‘sports entertainment’ and we’re down 10, 15 million fans over the last
10 years. My belief is that old school is where it has to go to bring
some of those fans back and create new fans.” Again, I personally don’t
believe in this new school vs. old school mentality. Bottom line–there
is good wrestling and bad wrestling. It’s just that some people book or
write it better than others. Anyway, Douglas also rips on Vince McMahon
for his treatment of the ECW brand.
 

OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
 
Gene Kiniski is still hospitalized in Bellingham, WA, battling pneumonia
and undergoing chemotherapy treatments for cancer. He has lost a lot of
weight, but is resting comfortably and is in amazing spirits, according
to a close friend. He said on Saturday night: “What a great life–I wish
I could do it all over again, I have been everywhere, and got paid to do
it, it is just the sh–ts to go out like this.” He was very sad to hear
about the passing of Jack Brisco and joked that you could make up a hell
of a territory with all the wrestling talent that came out of Oklahoma.
 
There was a G.L.O.W. [Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling] reunion last weekend
in Los Angeles to honor Emily Dole [Mountain Fiji] who has been in poor
health recently. Many of the original crew were in attendance including
Lisa “Ivory” Moretti, Little Egypt, Americana, Gremlina, Beastie,
Hollywood, Tulsa, Vine, Evangelina, and Daisy. Former G.L.O.W. director
Matt Cimber also stopped by for a few minutes. He is the youngest child
of 1960s sex symbol Jayne Mansfield and brother of actress Mariska
Hargitay. The reunion was filmed for a documentary. Jimmy Hart, Larry
Zbyszko and Johnny Fairplay all gave interviews for the film.
 
Ring of Honor tonight on HDNet has The American Wolves vs. The Young
Bucks; Steve Corino & Kevin Steen vs. Alex Payne & Bobby Dempsey; The
Dark City Fight Club vs. The Bravado Brothers; plus an interview with
Tyler Black regarding the title match he had with Austin Aries in New
York City.
 
ROH taped television Friday night in Philly for HDNet and quite smartly
put the word out they would allow free admission to any WWE ticket
holders. Former WWE and TNA wrestler Shawn Daivari made his debut. The
Saturday night taping was canceled due to the snow storm and potential
electrical issues.
 
Roderick Strong just signed a contract renewal with ROH.
 
The controversy surrounding Davey Richards and The Young Bucks [TNA’s
Generation Me] pulling out of Dragon Gate USA’s Wrestlemania weekend
shots in Phoenix intensified last week. Richards had verbally agreed to
multiple dates with Dragon Gate and Evolve for the rest of the year
despite being under contract to Ring of Honor. Dragon Gate had
advertised his name for months in Phoenix, but it seems Richards balked
on his commitments when confronted recently by ROH lawyers. ROH had
previously agreed Richards could work for Dragon Gate although Richards
had misrepresented himself to the company and claimed he wasn’t under a
contract. Richards released a short statement a few days ago saying ROH
was his home and he wouldn’t be working for Dragon Gate or Evolve.
Regarding The Young Bucks, TNA decided to pull Matt and Nick Jackson
from their Dragon Gate bookings when they signed with the company. They
like Richards had also been advertised for months in Phoenix. However,
cooler heads prevailed and now TNA are allowing the Bucks to honor their
remianing dates. Dragon Gate booker Gabe Sapolsky wrote a blog praising
TNA while alluding to his dealings with ROH as “just plain ugly”
writing, “I know my place in the food chain. The issue was finishing up
the dates a talent let himself be advertised for. That is all that can
and should be expected. Even WWE, which could squash any independent
promotion like an ant including DGUSA and EVOLVE, makes sure its
wrestlers keep their word and finish advertised dates. That’s something
I always respected about this corporate giant.”
 
Well-regarded indy wrestler Human Tornado just announced his in-ring
retirement from wrestling.
 
Dwayne Johnson lost an NFL bet with Regis Philbin and made good on it
this past week by appearing in a pink tutu in a video on his show.
 
Tooth Fairy starring Johnson finished at No. 5 at the box office this
past weekend grossing $6.5 million for a domestic total of $34 million
after three week’s.

John Graziano’s family is now seeking additional punitive damages from
Hulk and Nick Hogan. The family say Nick’s driving and Hulk’s parenting
skills amount to gross negligence. Nick was involved in a serious car
accident in 2007 when he wrecked Hulk’s Toyota Supra, allegedly in a
street race, severely injuring his best friend and passenger, John
Graziano, an Iraqi war veteran, who now requires 24-hour-a-day care.
Story is at http://tinyurl.com/yaukwnl.
 
Hulk Hogan’s nephew David Bollea and Roddy Piper’s son Colt Toombs
fought on the same MMA card last Thursday in Lemoore, CA. Bollea beat
Tim Denham with an armbar submission while Toombs lost a unanimous
decision to Art Becerra. Toombs has recently been training under MMA
legend Matt Lindland in Oregan.

Dan Severn talks Brock Lesnar at http://tinyurl.com/yl3pab2.
 
The Miami Herald interviewed Julie Hart [former wife of Bret] about a
book she wrote at http://tinyurl.com/yzpnwas. She told the Herald: “My
book is going to be dark. It will obviously surprise a lot of people and
family, of course, because those are the first people who are not going
to like what you say or don’t remember it that way.” She said she has
been working on the book for six years based on journals she kept since
the 80s. Originally her book was a joint project with her sister
Michelle [who was once married to Tom Billington, The Dynamite Kid] but
her sister backed out. “Biographies are really hard to write. You’re
really bearing your soul to people, especially your family. They’re
either going to agree or disagree with what you’ve written. They’ll like
it. They’ll deny it. It’s a tough decision what you’re going to say in a
book. You want to be remembered for good things because once the story
is out, it’s out. That’s it. There’s no turning back.” Hart said the
book is complete and she is looking for a publisher.
 
There are a number of wrestling-related items up for sale at
http://tinyurl.com/yzbxgp2 — all previously owned by Georgiann
Makropoulos to help defer her funeral costs.
 
The Las Vegas Review has a Q&A with Colt Cabana at
http://tinyurl.com/y85hyoh. Cabana was in town with Mick Foley and Bruce
Prichard for a comedy benefit at the Hilton this past weekend. The local
CBS news affiliate also interviewed Foley at http://tinyurl.com/yb7bdhd
which included some TNA talk.
 
Mark Nulty has some interesting facts on Jack Brisco at
http://jackbrisco.com/thingstoknow.html.
 
RVD’s upcoming movie Wrong Side of Town will be released on February 23
direct to DVD. Dave Batista co-stars with Van Dam and is featured all
over the promotional material.
 
Chris Nowinski of The Sports Legacy Institute did a lot of media during
Super Bowl weekend to raise awareness of the institute’s research on
brain injuries among professional athletes. He said in recent years the
NFL and it’s players have mostly been supportive of his work. The
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review interviewed Nowinski at
http://tinyurl.com/yhobmcz.
 
Jim “Sinister Minister” Mitchell has reappeared on Jeff Katz’ Geek Week
website at http://tinyurl.com/ye74537.
 
Tijuana Entertainment is looking for backyard wrestlers [18 and over] in
Southern California to be part of a documentary. For more information,
email Anna Zukowski at [email protected].
 
The latest edition of www.thewrestlingpress.com is now online with
interviews with Desmond Wolfe and Cody Deaner.
 
Today’s Diva of the Day is Karen Angle at
http://www.thewrestlingpress.com/DailyDiva.
 
 
WRESTLING GLOBE MAILBAG
 
 
Mike,
 
Thanks for the link to the Jack Brisco interview.
 
That was one of my all-time favorites and I’ve interviewed some
incredible members of the wrestling fraternity – Terry Funk, Dory Funk
Jr., Bruno Sammartino, Gordon Solie, Ricky Steamboat and George Scott,
to make a few.
 
I tracked down Jack by letting my fingers do the walking. I called the
Brisco Brothers Body Shop in Tampa. I left a message and Jack called me
back the next day. As you can tell from the interview he was open and
honest and had great stories to tell and insight to share. That
interview is one of my proudest moments as co-editor and co-publisher of
Wrestling Perspective.
 
Again thanks for bringing it to the attention of those who’ve never read
and for those who read it 14 years ago.
 
David Skolnick
Wrestling Perspective
 
 
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