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WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER
Tuesday October 20, 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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WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
10/18 Smackdown/ECW house show results from Mexico City, Mexico: Cryme Tyme over The Hart Dynasty; Michelle McCool over Mickie James & Natalya in a three-way; Drew McIntyre over Finlay; William Regal over The Hurricane; John Morrison over Matt Hardy; Christian over Ezekiel Jackson; Batista & Rey Mysterio over Dolph Ziggler & Kane; and The Undertaker over CM Punk.
10/19 Raw TV results from Jacksonville, FL: Big Show, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston, Mark Henry & Cody Rhodes over Chris Masters, Evan Bourne, MVP, Primo Colon & Chavo Guerrero Jr.; Randy Orton over Ted DiBiase Jr.; Triple H over John Cena; The Miz over Marty Jannetty; Melina over Jillian Hall to retain the Divas title; and Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho never happened. Pre show dark match was Jamie Noble over Heath Slater, and Kelly Kelly vs. Gail Kim was taped for Superstars.
The Smackdown/ECW tapings are tonight in Columbia, SC. ECW main event tonight on SyFy is William Regal vs. Zack Ryder.
***
Jim Ross suffered a Bells Palsy attack last night on a flight from Oklahoma to South Carolina for the Smackdown TV tapings. He said he called the WWE doctors in Jacksonville and they arranged for special medication to be couriered to him which will help slow down the paralysis. He was planning to work tonight’s show but WWE said no way and are arranging a flight to send him home so he can see a neurologist on Wednesday.
Ross wrote on his blog this afternoon: “Life is about facing the challenges we encounter so I am going to do all I can to get better and back at the announce desk asap. I wish I had more answers but I simply don’t at this time. I want to be a part of Bragging Rights but only time will tell if that will be physically possible. My passion and love for the game is in tact but I have to do what’s best for my long term health. WWE has been tremendously supportive of my situation of which I am very grateful. Never count me out of the game as this isn’t the first mountain that I have had to climb. Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole will handle SD from Columbia. My thanks to every one for understanding this matter. Better days are on the horizon.” Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler are expected to announce Smackdown this week in place of Ross and Todd Grisham, who is on his honeymoon.
The updated line up for Sunday’s Bragging Rights PPV: Randy Orton vs.
John Cena for the WWE title in a 60-minute no DQ Iron Man match, if Cena loses he leave Raw forever; The Undertaker vs. CM Punk vs. Batista vs.
Rey Mysterio in a fatal four-way for the World title; Chris Jericho, Kane, Dolph Ziggler, Eric Escobar, Drew McIntyre & Cryme Tyme vs. Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Big Show, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston & Mark Henry; John Morrison vs. The Miz in a non title match; and Melina, Kelly Kelly & Gail Kim vs. Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix & Natalya.
Marty Jannetty on Raw last night was a one shot deal. He looked good in the ring but running down the ramp you could tell that ship sailed a couple of years ago. The really skinny guy who Miz was originally going to face was Puma (TJ Perkins) who had a tryout recently with TNA. He also trains at the FCW school in Tampa but isn’t under WWE contract.
Kofi Kingston is now billed from Ghana, West Africa (he was legit born
there) so he isn’t Jamaican any more. Vince wants to use him in more speaking roles and his Jamaican accent wasn’t very convincing.
Kingston’s parents moved to the U.S. in 1981 when he was an infant but he grew up in Cambridge, MA.
NASCAR drivers Kyle Busch and Joey Logano will host Raw next week in Buffalo, NY. Both are driving WWE-themed cars at the Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday.
Jacksonville.com has a story on WWE coming to town for Raw with comments from Kelly Kelly at http://tinyurl.com/yz3ll3l.
WWE did tremendous business in Mexico this past weekend. Four shows drew over 60,000 fans and grossed more than $2 million.
Former WWE wrestler Manu (Afa Jr.) did an interview with Tommy Fierro at http://whosslammingwho.podomatic.com. Responding to an interview Randy Orton gave soon after his release, where Orton buried him, Manu said:
“The guy [Randy] made me look like, I am just not that guy.” He said he was shocked by Orton comments and couldn’t believe that he buried him in the way he did. He was very complimentary when asked about Ted DiBiase Jr. but it was a no comment regarding Cody Rhodes.
The new Smackdown vs. Raw video game went on sale today in the United States. I haven’t played any games for years but I got the chance to try out this game at SummerSlam. It’s pretty addictive. The main feature in this version is customization and enhanced storyline modes. We made a pink Undertaker at the unveil after party which didn’t go down too well with the WWE PR reps. Trish Stratus is included as a bonus character this year along with The Rock, Steve Austin, Bob Orton Jr., Dusty Rhodes, and Ted DiBiase.
The Batista DVD, I Walk Alone, also went on sale today. It’s a 3-disc set with a documentary and matches.
The Jeff Hardy DVD, My Life My Rules, is in the can, meaning it’s complete and ready to ship, and will be released as originally planned on December 15. Silvervision released some notes today. The documentary will focus on his return to WWE in 2008 right up to his match against Matt at Wrestlemania 25. There are 27 matches including; vs. Sean Waltman as the 1-2-3 Kid in 1994, the Triangle Ladder match vs. The Dudley Boyz and Edge & Christian at Wrestlemania 2000, and vs. RVD in their Ladder match at SummerSlam 2001. They also have some bonus footage shot at Jeff’s home and Shannon Moore’s tattoo parlour.
The Heyman Hustle at http://tinyurl.com/yzxbjhm has behind the scenes photos from the next Celebrity Apprentice with Maria Kanellis.
MTV sent out a release hyping the WWE themed episode of South Park on Comedy Central on Wednesday. The description of the episode is the kids signing up for wrestling class after going to a WWE show. However, they soon find out the kind of wrestling they teach at school is not the same thing they saw at the matches.
Cyndi Lauper and Sharon Osbourne were on the Howard Stern radio show on Monday. Lauper talked about Lou Albano passing away and said he was a father figure to her. She said she last spoke to him after he suffered a stroke but didn’t say when that was.
The next 3-hour Raw will be at Giant Center in Hershey, PA on November 23, the night after Survivor Series. All three brands are listed for the show.
CM Punk did a web chat at TheState.com this morning to push tonight’s TV taping in Columbia. Nothing very noteworthy. He said he would love to work a Wrestlemania program with Rey Mysterio, and if he could wrestle anyone from the past it would be Harley Race.
Chavo Guerrero turns 39 today. He noted on his Twittter he partied with Snoop Dogg last night because they share the same birthday.
The Hattiesburg American at http://tinyurl.com/yz72jgp has a story on Big Show’s upcoming movie, Knucklehead.
Story on WWE’s efforts to fight social networking fraud at http://tinyurl.com/yhc2ubf.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING NEWS
Nigel McGuinness is currently backstage at today’s TV taping in Orlando
and is expected to debut. We will have much more on this situation
tomorrow. It’s also believed that TNA has reached out to Bryan
Danielson. Both were WWE-bound a few week’s ago but didn’t sign
anything.
Daffney fractured her arm at the PPV going through the barbed wire
board. We should have an update in a couple of days.
TNA signed a new TV deal with W9 in France to broadcast Impact weekly on
Saturday nights at 11pm.
FanHouse.com, a leading MMA website, ran a story today on the off-camera
confrontation between Lisa Varon (Tara) and Kim Couture at Bound For
Glory. Both claimed the angle was a work that turned into a shoot.
Couture said she was invited to the show by Dixie Carter and the plan
was for a stare down during the Knockouts title match. “I don’t know if
she was in character or if it was adrenaline,” said Couture. “She turned
around and came at me. I’m not just going to stand there and look dumb.
I didn’t know what she was going to do. So I kind of grabbed a hold of
her, and it seems like as soon as we put our hands on each other
security broke us up.” Varon collabrated the story, saying: “I think she
didn’t know what to do, but I felt a shove behind me. At first I
thought, ‘Was that a fan or what?’, because they’re not supposed to
touch us at all. I turned around, because that doesn’t happen, and I
just went after her. I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ … I’m a very
friendly person, but you just don’t invade my space kind of thing. You
just don’t put your hands on me.” After the incident, Varon claimed TNA
management yelled at her and she thought she was going to get suspended
or fined. Couture said she wasn’t getting into pro wrestling claiming
she cleared the air with Varon over the phone on Monday. Varon noted in
the story she is planning to attend Couture’s next fight against Kerry
Vera on November 20 in Kansas City. So to clarify, it’s an angle.
For the record, Team 3D recapturing the IWGP tag titles at BFG was
officially recognized by New Japan.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
Sad to report that Mike Fever passed away on Sunday morning following a
heart attack. He was 53 and I believe residing in Myrtle Beach, FL with
his brother, another former wrestler, Gentlemen Jim Holliday. Fever was
a journeyman for Jim Crockett in the late 70s/early 80s and also worked
on the undercard for CWF. He never really got a push but was well
regarded as a guy who consistently gave good matches. Austin Idol told
us: “Mike Fever was genuinely a nice guy. He was always willing to do
anything he was asked in the business and we all know how much one can
be asked to do. Regardless, he was one of the good guys, liked to laugh,
and I think he was happy to have the opportunity to be in the business
during this era. I think he knew that he was part of a historic time in
the wrestling industry and he embraced it in a very sincere way.”
Japanese veteran Ryuma Go (Hiroshi Yagi) passed away on Sunday
reportedly due to blood poisoning. He was 53. It’s believed his daughter
found him at home last week in a bad way. He was rushed to hospital but
doctor’s could not save him. Go had fractured his wrist in a bicycle
accident a few days earlier and the wound became infected and spread
throughout his body. He had been working in a restaurant of late and was
pretty much retired from the business. In 2004 he was the subject of a
lot of negative media attention due to a purse snatching incident, and
it was also revealed that he starred in an adult video. Career notes
from Zach Arnold of www.fightopinion.com: After going for a try-out in
1970 for Kokusai (Intl) Pro-Wrestling at the age of 14, Go would end up
wrestling all over the world (in Canada, Germany, America). He ended up
working with Tatsumi Fujinami and the two had a WWWF Jr. Title match at
Nippon Budokan in 1978. He floated from New Japan to UWF to All Japan.
He formed Pioneer wrestling in 1989 and would work various independent
dates, including matches featuring space alien gimmicks. Go was known
for his raw strength and power in the ring.
Superstar Billy Graham, Terry Funk, Kevin Sullivan, and Lacey Von Erich,
along with Lou Albano family members, appear for National Wrestling
Superstars this Saturday night at the North Brunswick, NJ Township High
School Gym. For more info call (732) 888-1704.
Jesse White, Vader’s son, makes his pro wrestling debut on November 8 at
the Mid-South Wrestling Alliance event in Midwest City, OK. Vader is
doing an autograph signing before the show.
Randy Orton’s brother Nathan, who is training in MMA, made his pro
wrestling debut this past Saturday in Dupo, IL. We’re told he looks a
lot like his brother. He accompanied his father, Cowboy Bob Orton, to
the ring for Bob’s match against Harker Dirge. Nathan used a roundhouse
kick on Dirge which got Cowboy Bob disqualified.
Q&A with Mike Sydal, brother of Evan Bourne, at
http://tinyurl.com/yjt4yhh.
Scott Hall turns 51 today.
Wrestlers Rescue is looking for street team members at
www.wrestlersrescue.org.
Wednesday’s episode of Ghost Hunters on SyFy features an investigation
of the Congress Theater in Chicago, IL. Dragon Gate USA and numerous
Lucha Libre promotions hold events at the theater.
The Houston Chronicle at http://tinyurl.com/ygz7hr2 has a story on
Torrie Wilson discussing her recent medical emergency. She is mad about
the way some websites reported the story: “I had a horribly close call,
and I’m ashamed to admit that I Twittered’ about it hours after I was
out of the hospital because I was so flabbergasted at what happened! I
guess I forgot how many people actually pay attention to me… I was not
taking prescription pain pills and anything crazy like the Internet
rumors said. It’s horrifying that all those crazy people accuse me of
that just because I used to be a wrestler. Who knows what would have
happened if I didn’t go to the emergency room? It’s a scary thought. My
heart rate was 30 per minute and slowing when I finally got help. I will
never take medication without doing research on possible adverse
reactions. In a nutshell, that’s what happened.”
Rock Solid Wrestling runs Saturday night at the Collingwood Collegiate
Institute in Collingwood, ON with Cody Deaner, Tyson Dux, PJ Tyler,
Anthony Darko, and more.
WRESTLING GLOBE MAILBAG
Just wanted to throw in a few extra notes from my experience at Bound
For Glory.
I enjoyed the Samoa Joe/Lashley matchup. However, I do have to agree
that the ending was a bit uneventful and quick. After the match, there
were some boos going out on Lashley, and a fan threw an empty cup at him
as he walked up the ramp shaking hands with fans near the barricade. It
just grazed his face, but he pretty much laughed it off and continued to
greet the fans that were happy about his win. Another guy right in front
of my row also threw a cup towards the ring as it ended, but it fell
near the announcer’s table. Guy was thrown out a minute later. Probably
wasn’t too smart to do that with Dixie Carter sitting near the end of
our row.
Don’t know if Lacey VonErich is still a bit nervous about her role, but
as she was being thrown out of the ring by the referee in order to keep
her from interfering in the Knockouts Tag Title match, she kind of
slipped up and got her boot caught in between the ropes while climbing
out. She realized it and just laughed it off as fans chanted “You f—ed
up”. Nonetheless, a lot of the male fans were very sad to see her go.
During the other Knockouts match, Tara wasn’t chased out by Kim
Couture–security pulled Couture off of Tara and dragged her away as
Tara was escorted backstage by a staffer. I thought it was kind of funny
because I saw Couture coming before Tara even knew what was going on
because I noticed a striking blond lady with a few black-suited security
guards leading her to the barricades from inside the crowd. Next thing
I know, Tara turned and saw her, went over the barricade and the two
went at it. Nice surprise, especially seeing that most fans didn’t know
who Couture was and thought it was a regular fan.
While the promo video for Sting vs. AJ Styles played before their match,
Earl Hebner started to make his way down the ramp, and was immediately
met with loud boos and “You Screwed Bret!” chants. He stopped and had a
staredown with the angry fans before just shrugging it off. He had a
look on his face as if he was thinking–Really? Get over it! Just like
Bret, I’m over it, but still thought it was pretty funny. Same thing
happened as he was announced as referee at the start of the match, and
again as he walked back up the ramp to backstage. Before going in the
tunnel however, he stopped and did the DX chop to a group of the
chanting fans, and then left. Good times.
Hector Guerrero and the other Spanish announcer came down the ramp to
greet the fans nearby. My seat was near the ramp, and he took some time
to shake hands and goof off with all of us, starting a little “Viva
Mexico!” chant. He was very friendly and so funny.
I was likely one of the few hardcore, long time female wrestling fans in
the audience. I’m 31 years old and since 1995 have been to WWF/E, ECW
(before WWE’s version), ROH, the TNA show last year in Anaheim, and
countless local independent shows and agree with Brian Baiotto’s
statement in his letter to the Mailbag that this was one of the best
shows I’ve ever been to. While TNA still may have work to do when it
comes to television and PPV costs, I still think it’s one of the best
companies out there now and really love how fan-friendly it is. Reminds
me of the good old days when WWE wasn’t so stuffy. My only regret is
that I wasn’t able to go to the TNA Fan Interaction on Saturday, but
Bound For Glory was one show I will not soon forget.
Felicia Raprager
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