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WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER
Thursday July 23, 2009
 
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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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Please send any news tips or feedback to: [email protected]

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WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

7/20 Raw TV results from Raleigh, NC: Primo, MVP & Kofi Kingston over Carlito, Jack Swagger & Big Show; Jerry Lawler over The Brian Kendrick; Mark Henry over Chris Jericho via DQ; Hornswoggle over Chavo Guerrero; Alicia Fox & Rosa Mendes over Kelly Kelly & Gail Kim; and John Cena & Triple H over Randy Orton & The Legacy.

Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz vs. Jack Swagger vs. Primo Colon vs. Big Show vs. MVP for the U.S. title was added to Night of Champions.

7/21 ECW TV results from Richmond, VA: Yoshi Tatsu over William Regal; Ezekiel Jackson over Mike Williams; and Shelton Benjamin over Goldust.

Superstars tonight on WGN has Evan Bourne vs. Jamie Noble; Christian vs.
William Regal; and John Morrison vs. Kane.

***

Former WWE developmental wrestler Damian Steele (not to be confused with Tim Fisher) died yesterday. He had told friends that he was feeling unwell and was going to sleep. His body was found at his home a few hours later. An autopsy is anticipated.

I have a story on Austin Idol on the Slam Wrestling website at http://tinyurl.com/naxk6u talking about his plans to run for Mayor in Tampa, FL

Also want to mention my buddy Tommy Fierro at http://whosslammingwho.podomatic.com/ has an excellent website with regular audio shows from several wrestling personalities including Jim Cornette, John Cena Sr., Lanny Poffo, Jody Hamilton, Bill Behrens and some jabroni called Kenny Bolin. The latest show with Jim Cornette is “must listen” material discussing UFC, Brock Lesnar and what he calls the rebirth of professional wrestling.

Raw on Monday night drew a 3.5 rating averaging 5.2 million viewers.

WWE sent out a press release pushing Shaquille O’Neal as the guest host of Raw next week at Verizon Center in Washington, DC. Emmy Award-winning actor and Entourage star, Jeremy Piven will also host Raw on 8/3 at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. Piven is promoting his new movie The Goods:
Live Hard Sell Hard. For what its worth we’ve heard that the company has either contacted or been approached by reps for rapper Snoop Dogg to do the gust host deal. Snoop is a long-time fan who used to watch wrestling as a kid with his grandfather.

Several WWE execs dumped stock on Wednesday including TV Producer Kevin Dunn ($273,000), COO Donna Goldsmith ($137,000) and Talent Relations VP John Laurinaitis ($98,950). Shane and Stephanie McMahon also sold off smaller amounts that were previously accrued but not reported as dividends.

Dusty Rhodes was brought to TV this week with the intention of co-hosting Raw with ZZ Top. The plan changed after he arrived and all the segments with the band were pre taped as apparently they didn’t have much faith in putting them in front of a live crowd.

Matt Hardy drove to Raleigh for Raw. He was said to be in good spirits following his recent abdominal surgery.

Evan Bourne wrote on his WWE.com blog that he was kept off Raw due to a minor neck injury, however he did work a match against Jamie Noble that airs tonight on Superstars at the same TV taping. I think the idea was that they are selling his beat down at the hands of Big show from last week.

Fit Finlay is down in Tampa with FCW this week running training camps.

Regarding the on-screen romance of Dolph Ziggler and Maria someone in creative recently pitched an idea that would see Ziggler tape himself having sex with Maria and then try to bribe her over exposing the tape.
The idea was shot down given the PG direction of the show but creative of late has been trying to push the envelope with subtle sexual innuendo. The segment with Santino and the Trish Stratus doll being the most recent example.

Amy Dumas, the former Lita, did an interview with her band at http://tinyurl.com/njllsl. When asked why she turned down a spot in the Diva battle royal at Wrestlemania, she said: “… I was dying laughing, I was in stitches, rolling on the couch, thinking, “Thank God, I’m not there, because that is nothing I need to be a part of.” No, first of all, let me tell you this, because Kid Rock was playing for like forever, right? I was like, “Get out of the way, what is this guy doing?! Come on! I didn’t know this guy still sang!” and then, these girls started coming out and I’m thinking they’re like his hoes, his hired dancers, about to break out into some choreographed Beyoncé-shit, but then I realised and was like, “Oh my God!” I can only imagine them being like, “So, what we’re wanting you to do is: grab Kid Rock’s leg, start grinding up on it, then go into the ring and do a drop toehold.”
I’d be like, “Absolutely not, under no circumstances.” So, yeah, that is why I did not do that match.”

WWE has a deal with Ckeckers drive-ins and are giving away thumb toys with kids meals.

Jim Duggan wrote a new blog at http://tinyurl.com/n45yzz detailing some of his travels and listing his many injuries over the years. He wrote:
“No question, injuries are a big part of wrestling. Here is a list of the ones that I have suffered over thirty years in the ring. Working from bottom to top, broken big right toe, three sprained ankles, ruptured Achilles tendon, four knee surgeries, two scopes and two major surgeries, torn pectorial muscle, broken ribs, dislocated shoulder, torn bicep, torn rotator cuff, broken wrist, two broken fingers, sprained neck, two broken noses, two concussions and more stitches and staples than I can keep track of.”

The release date of Batista: Unleashed on DVD is 10/13 and will be a 3-disc set documentary and matches.

Devin Cutting sent word that WWE will tape “A Decade Of Smackdown”
special on 9/29 at the Garden in Boston, MA. The show will actually air on 10/2 and includes talent from all three brands.

WWE has recently applied to register the following trademarks: WWE Bragging Rights (the new PPV replacing Cyber Sunday), Slam Master J (for Jesse), Delicious (for R-Truth’s alter ego Pretty Ricky), and Celtic Warrior (for Sheamus).

Gregory “Hurricane” Helms was today walking around the floor of the San Diego Comic-Con in full gimmick. TNA also has a presence at the convention. We would love to hear from any readers in attendance.

TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING NEWS

Impact tonight on Spike includes AJ Styles vs. Matt Morgan in a best of three series for a TNA title shot; Scott Steiner & Booker T vs. Big Rocco & Sally Boy for the tag titles; Homicide vs. Samoa Joe; Kevin Nash vs. Amazing Red for the Legends title; The British Invasion, Kiyoshi & Sheik Bashir vs. Beer Money, Daniels, AJ Styles & Eric Young; and a Knockouts battle royal with the winner getting $50,000 in monopoly money and a spot in the MEM (Traci Brooks is back here). Plus, Taz and Bobby Lashley both appear. You can leave feedback on this show for our mailbag at [email protected].

TNA are back on the road this weekend with a house show tour. They run tonight at the CenturyTel Center in Shreveport, then Friday at the Civic Center in Monroe, LA and Saturday at the Civic Center in Southhaven, MS.
Tonight’s card is listed as AJ Styles vs. Scott Steiner; Samoa Joe vs.
Abyss; Beer Money vs. The British Invasion; Homicide vs. Sheik Bashir; Awesome Kong vs. Taylor Wilde; plus Rhino and Kip James. Daniels is struggling with a knee injury so is off the tour, while Kurt Angle is still listed for Southhaven with a groin tear, and Joe is still working with a torn triceps. We’re looking for reader reports from these shows to [email protected].

***

There was a miscommunication during the Sting-Samoa Joe match at Victory Road which led to Joe calling an audible to change the finish of the match from pinfall to submission. Sting, apparently wasn’t game for taking a muscle buster, which led to the strange finish. There were some people upset with Sting because the story of the Foley-Angle main event was the idea that Foley hadn’t tapped out in a match for 18 years.

The Miami Herald at http://tinyurl.com/ko6487 has a story on Bobby Lahsley talking TNA and MMA. He says he got into wrestling after a near death experience where he was caught up in a bank robbery. One of the robbers shot at him but missed and that was the moment he decided to pursue pro wrestling. Seriously.

Lashley is considering a fight on 10/3 in Dener, CO for Prize Fight Promotions. This week he was also one of a small handful of fighters considered to face Fedor Emelianenko next weekend for Affliction after Josh Barnett failed a drug test and was refused a fight license by the California State Athletic Commission. He was reportedly offered $500,000 to fight Fedor but turned down the payday. “To just jump in there probably wouldn’t be the smartest thing for me right now,” Lashley told sherdog.com. “A lot of people would say that might be a money fight.
They figure, ‘If we give him enough money, will he do it?’ That’s what people tend to look a… I don’t want to get into fighting for the money so much right now.” Lashley noted he hasn’t been training hard for the past few weeks. Fedor will now face either Vitor Belfort or Brett Rogers.

IGN.com at http://tinyurl.com/n3uhgx interviewed Velvet Sky. I guess this interview took place before Jenna vs. Sharmell at Victory Road. On comparing the TNA Knockouts to the WWE Divas, she said: “With the WWE, obviously their girls aren’t getting the highest segments and they never have, so they’re obviously not doing something right with their girls.
Whereas, with the Knockouts, we’re hard hitting. Everything you see in the ring is real. The chops, the forearms, the punches. You know, we’re not fluffernutter.” For the record every quarter hour rating Raw does obliterates Impact. She also talks about having a culinary degree and is a huge videogame nerd.

Tara is recovering following a bout of food poisoning a couple of days ago.

Awesome Kong was caught with an errand shot during the TV tapings this week and had her front teeth loosened.

Apparently Jim Cornette had a “Dairy Queen” moment this past weekend at IHOP. No word on what set him off but the food went back to the kitchen.
If you don’t know what we’re referring to, check this out http://tinyurl.com/nmyy6g.

Naming no names but at a recent indy show during intermission several Knockouts took great delight in vandalizing a promo shot of Rhaka Khan.
They blacked out her teeth and drew horns on her head. To say Khan is unpopular in the locker room would be an understatement. Much of the heat stems from the incident that led to the release of Roxxi Laveaux, who was well liked among the crew, and Khan’s on-off relationship with Kurt Angle.

Impact in France will be movng over to the W9 channel on TNT in the fall.

Interview with Daffney at http://tinyurl.com/l6cbb8 where she puts over Vince Russo for spotting her talent in WCW.

OTHER WRESTLING NEWS

Ring of Honor run their last house shows of the summer this weekend in
Toronto with Bret Hart and Ric Flair signings, and Lance Storm, who will
be wrestling on the shows. More info at www.rohwrestling.com.

Bob Holly headlines three shows for the National Wrestling Superstars
group this weekend in New Jersey. Also appearing is Nunzio, Salvatore
Sincere, Brooke Carter and Angel Orsini. They run in Middleton on
Friday, Dunellen on Saturday, and Pleasant Beach on Sunday. More info at
www.nwswrestling.com.

DragonGate USA debuts on Saturday at The Arena in Philadelphia, PA. More
info at www.dgusa.tv. Dawn Marie will be at the show representing her
www.wrestlersrescue.org project.

Fog City Wrestling runs on Saturday at the DNA lounge in San Francisco
More info at www.fogcitywrestling.com.

Florida Wrestling Association runs on Saturday at Volusia Speedway Park
in Deleon Springs, FL. For more info call (386) 985-4402 or go to
http://www.volusiaspeedwaypark.net.

Independent Wrestling Federation runs on Saturday and Sunday in West
Paterson, NJ. More info at www.WrestlingIWF.com.

Police in Mexico City arrested a 65-year-old woman on Tuesday in
connection with the deaths of mini wrestlers La Parkita and Espectrito
Jr. The women was identified from hotel CCTV footage where the wrestlers
were found drugged on 6/29. Prosecutors said previously that gangs of
female robbers use drugs to knock men out and rob them, but they may
have used too strong a dose in this instance. Police located the women
by tracing phone calls from a cell that she stole from La Parkita. Smart
move.

Roddy Piper pled not guilty to charges of DUI and driving without a
valid license today in Los Angeles, CA. The case will now go to trial in
August. He faces a $1000 fine plus costs and a maximum of six months in
jail.

The state of California recently filed a $22,024 lien against Steve
Austin
on his former Malibu, CA home. For some reason I don’t think he
will have a problem stumping up the cash.

The Sun at http://tinyurl.com/l5mg6v has a story on 78-year-old Dave
Kidney who is regarded as the UK’s oldest pro wrestler. He is the
subject of an upcoming BBC1 documentary called Dave Kidney: Superstar.
That shows airs in the UK next Tuesday at 10.35pm.

Brooke Hogan‘s album The Redemption escaped earlier this week. She will
be signing copies on Saturday at Wal-Mart in Cooper City in South
Florida.

The Honky Tonk Man has been audio blogging on his official website at
www.honkytonkman.net.

www.worldwrestlinginsanity.com has an interview with Ron Simmons talking
about his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. He also
talks about breaking into the business under Hiro Matsuda, the
importance of tag team chemistry, JBL, The Rock and where the “Damn”
gimmick came from.

Lanny Poffo at www.lannypoffo.com has a new video fan Q&A section on his
website.

Several new names have been added to Justin Credible’s Icons of
Wrestling convention on 8/2 at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel in Cromwell,
CT. The current line up includes Scott Hall, Terry Funk, Harley Race,
Marty Jannetty, Bob Backlund, Spike Dudley, Stevie Richards, King Kong
Bundy, Balls Mahoney, Axl Rotten, Missy Hyatt, Dawn Marie, Joy Giovanni,
Nidia, Ryan Shamrock, and many more. For more info and to order tickets
visit www.prowrestlingicons.net or email [email protected].

Axl Rotten is currently writing an autobiography. The book will deal
with his drug addictions, including a story where his heart stopped
beating and his aunt had to revive him, and all this happened shortly
after he signed with WWE. He says this book will be a shoot and he won’t
be changing any names to protect the innocent.

Bret Hart has started work on a new book but at press time we don’t have
any details.

A member of WWC’s ring crew known as Liber passed away on 7/12 in Puerto
Rico. He reportedly suffered a heart attack and was just 36-years-old.

The latest Shot in the Dark audio show has Colt Cabana as a guest at
http://www.georgiawrestlinghistory.com/gwhrn/sitd/home.html.

Evan Ginzburg’s Wrestling Then and Now: The Movie is now available for
order at www.wrestlingthenandnow.com.

Jackie Haas is signing autographs on Saturday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel
in Baton Rouge LA. Proceeds from the event will go to the Early Doucet
980 Foundation, a nonprofit organization created to inspire young people
to take responsibility by reducing their “at risk” status and allowing
mentors to take an active role in assisting them to reach their goals.
Former Dallas Cowboy Leon Lett, Kansas City Chief Glenn Dorsey, Arizona
Cardinal LB Ali Highsmith and Green Bay Packer Quinn Johnson will also
be at the signing.

Handsome Jimmy Valiant will be signing autographs on Friday at the New
River Valley Fair in Dublin, VA.

Diva-Dirt.com presents WGN’s Diva of the Day, Nikki Bella at
http://www.diva-dirt.com/divaoftheday/

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WRESTLING GLOBE MAILBAG, QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Please send any mailbag letters or questions to
[email protected]

***

I was at Raw last night and this, is, nor is not in any way my opinion
of Obama or Bush.
While I don’t have blow buy blow of the matches, I thought it was
interesting to note that while most media seems to paint Obama in a bad
light, the WWE is still running the Iraq 08 promo with Pres. Bush in it
speaking at the shows.   Whenever the promos with troops come on. 
People cheer and chant USA.  But each time Bush came on the entire
stadium started to Boo.  It was unreal that that may people don’t like
Bush still.  He comes on twice during the promo.  The 2009 new promo ran
as well but just with music..

Fox Feltman
Foxfeltman.com

***

A question you or your readers might have the answer to. I found in my
closet a tape from 1987 called Secrets of Pro Wrestling. It has two
masked wrestlers demonstrating moves. The tape claims that they
“wrestled on national television and all over the world, from Japan to
the Middle East… but got a raw deal and are now giving away secrets.”
 
I don’t recognize their styles or body shapes. Would you know who the
two in this tape are?
 
Jerry

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