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WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER
Thursday September 3, 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
The Smackdown/ECW crew tour Puerto Rico this weekend hitting San Juan, Arecibo and Ponce. Hurricane Erika is expected to pass tonight but it’s not expected to cause any major issues. As a precaution the WWE travel department brought forward the flights of a number of talent that were flying into the country tomorrow.
Friday’s show in San Juan is advertised as a Supershow with The Undertaker & Triple H vs. CM Punk & The Legacy; Christian vs. William Regal vs. Tommy Dreamer vs. Shelton Benjamin in a four-way; John Morrison vs. Dolph Ziggler; Cryme Tyme vs. The Hart Dynasty vs. The Big Show & Chris Jericho, who are working the entire tour with Smackdown, in a triple threat; The Great Khali vs. Kane; Primo vs. Carlito; Matt Hardy vs. Mike Knox; and Melina vs. Michelle McCool with Eve as referee and Tiffany as live event host.
The Raw crew run this weekend in Sioux Falls, St. Paul and Madison with the main event of Randy Orton vs. John Cena.
Raw TV is Monday at Allstate Arena in Chiacgo with Bob Barker as guest host, and the Smackdown/ECW tapings are Tuesday at the Rockford MetroCentre.
We’re looking for brief reports from any readers attending these shows to [email protected].
Superstars tonight on WGN has Tyler Reks vs. William Regal; Evan Bourne vs. Chris Masters; and Cryme Tyme & Eve Torres vs. The Hart Dynasty.
***
Krissy Eubanks (Krissy Vaine), a one-time developmental prospect, at http://tinyurl.com/m97h3y wrote a really honest blog explaining what she went through to achieve the “Diva-look” noting plastic surgery, botox and restylane. This blog will no doubt rustle a few feathers although she doesn’t mention any names. Here is an excerpt: “Did it matter to me that the cost of these procedures were more than half of what I was receiving in salary a month? Or that the procedure itself generally wore off in about 2 months? Heck no! I didn’t care. I looked good… or so I thought and at that point in my life that was the most important thing.
The girls on the main roster were long ‘in the know’ about my findings and all of the miracle ‘juices’ out there for us females. How do you think they stay looking good on the road over 300 days a year? Not by themselves, I can guarantee.”
Nancy O’ Dell confirmed herself as a future Raw guest host to push her foundation which supports suffers of Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
Hollywood actor Jeremy Piven, who hosted Raw a few week’s back, and Kelly Kelly were shown together on the big screen at today’s New York Jets game. Their date will no doubt lead to a lot of rumors.
Jim Ross in his latest blog at www.jrsbarbq.com wrote about Bryan Danielson coming in. “Danielson’s skill level is superb even though he isn’t the biggest dog in the hunt which, thankfully, seems to be meaning less and less these days,” Ross said. “Talent comes in all sizes and shapes and having a roster full of look alikes helps no one. The wrestling business has always been built on individuality and uniqueness. I am a firm believer that every prospect doesn’t have to be
6-2 and weigh no less than 240 pounds and look pretty in an 8X10. It’s hard to measure a man or a woman’s passion by how they look in a still photo.”
Ross also noted starting a new radio gig every Wednesday at 5pm CT at www.1560thegame.com talking Big 12 Football and pro wrestling.
ECW, beating Impact for the sixth straight week, did a 1.3 rating, it’s best number since April, helped on by the misleading advertising of Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels from Wrestlemania 25.
9,000 tickets have been sold for Breaking Point in Montreal with less than two week’s to go. Not looking like a sell-out without a strong walk up in the 20,000-seat Bell Centre. Even scalpers are selling tickets for under face value on eBay because they can’t move them.
Tickets for Wrestlemania 26 in Phoenix go on sale November 7 at 10am. I assume there will be some type of Internet pre sale as with previous years. Prices range from $755 for ringside down to $25 for nose bleeds.
The Hulk Hogan DVD will be another compilation of matches and promos using mostly the WCW archives that has never been released before.
There is an FCW show at the Conference Center in Punta Gorda, FL on September 11 as a tribute to 9/11. Santino Marella is signing autographs before the show along with a Diva swimsuit contest with Tiffany, Alicia Fox, Rosa Mendes, Serena Mancini, Liviana and many more. More info at www.fcwwrestling.com.
The Miz talks his Twitter feud with Chris Jericho at http://www.b95forlife.com/pages/Salas.html.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING NEWS
Impact tonight on Spike has the continuation of the title shot
tournament with two winners out of the following matches getting a title
shot at No Surrender; Sting vs. Rhino; Suicide vs. Doug Williams; AJ
Styles vs. Chris Sabin; and Homicide vs. Hernandez; plus Christy Hemme &
Tara vs. Hamada & Sojo Bolt in the Knockouts tag team title tournament.
Hulk Hogan and Brian Knobs were in-studio guests today on the Bubba
radio show in Tampa. Hogan repeated the story claiming he was going to
main event Wrestlemania 25 with John Cena but had to go in for back
surgery so the match never happened. He and Bubba then tried to call
Kurt Angle and left goofy messages on his voicemail. They eventually got
Kurt on the air and Hogan and Kurt joked around about doing a match.
They then tried to call Dixie Carter on the air to make the match happen
but they only got her voicemail. Bubba then started ripping on Vince
Russo as a booker calling him the “cancer of the wrestling industry”.
Alex Marvez at http://tinyurl.com/pnytb2 talked to Taz about joining
TNA. He said TNA reminds him of the old ECW but with the TV contract. He
was complimentary of WWE but said being an announcer for Vince McMahon
was too much at times. He said: “You have to listen to your (announcing)
partner, the executive producer and the company owner while trying to
follow the talent in the ring and tell a story. I only have two ears,
not six. … If you have thick skin and want to be a WWE announcer,
you’ll do good. If not, you’ll flop quick. Vince doesn’t mean anything
personally. He’s just very aggressive when it comes to the announcing
because he’s very well aware of how important it is. It’s the last line
of communication to the audience to sell the product.” He also talked
about having no regrets when he decided to retire from the ring: “A lot
of times I get people who say I left (the ring) way too soon. I was just
not going to be one of those guys who risk their future health. I want
to be able to throw a baseball with my son with some velocity or without
having to use a cane. Once in a while, my son will ask me, ‘Dad, can you
choke a guy out or use a suplex on him?’ I tell him, ‘I’ve got a bunch
of DVDs you can watch that stuff on.’ ”
Matt Morgan at http://tinyurl.com/le3b28 was interviewed in the Miami
Herald. He claims he can bench 655 pounds which would put him ahead of
Mark Henry and Tony Atlas in their prime, so that’s some claim. He puts
over Sting, Angle and Nash for giving him good advice: “When I’m at the
arena, Sting will pull me aside nonstop and give me business advice,
besides wrestling and personal advice as well… Kevin and Kurt will
text back and forth and shoot ideas, telling me to maybe try this, maybe
don’t do this, that kind of stuff. It’s not only going to help me get
better but stay at the level I’m at right now. I would be stupid to not
listen to people who have done stuff I want to do in my career.” He
said his goal is to be remembered as one of the better big men in the
business.
The Herald at http://tinyurl.com/npxdak also has a story on Taylor
Wilde. She noted designing her own ring gear and talked about her TV
persona: “A heel is not something I am. I’m really aggressive, but being
the bad girl is not me. I think that would be the incident the fans
would jump all over me because it’s not me and not believable.” She
added: “I’m an extremely sarcastic individual, and sometimes I think
certain things are misconstrued. I joke around, and I goof a lot. I am
an all-around good girl. I always have been, but sometimes it might be
misconstrued as me being a little bit of a heel, but I’m just goofy. So
I think the fans don’t know how to take me sometimes.” Comparing the
TNA and WWE locker rooms, she said: “`It’s great. I have no complaints.
I’ve been on other side of the tracks [WWE]. It’s not a family there.
It’s a business, and there’s nothing wrong with that whatsoever, but I’m
happy to come to work here.”
Lauren Brooke has a new travel show on the Golf Channel that airs in
October.
D’Angelo Dinero (Elijah Burke) talks life in TNA comparable to WWE at
http://tinyurl.com/lnpl6r.
IGN.com at http://tinyurl.com/nhkclu has a Q&A with AJ Styles. When
asked about Michelle McCool lending his finisher, he said he didn’t mind
and ragged slightly on John Morrison: “The fact of the matter is this.
People know it. That’s the Styles Clash. That’s my move. I came up with
it on my own. It’s okay. I understand, you gotta come up with something
and there’s not a lot of moves in the world. It’s hard to be different.
But it’s cool with me. Now it would be different if it was a guy in my
own company. But there is that one dude. What’s his name? I’m like, good
grief, this guy does everyone else’s move and hasn’t come up with one.
He’s a heck of an athlete. Morrison. Yeah, I’ve seen him do a lot of Low
Ki’s moves. He does my Spiral Tap. I was like, “Man, this guy watches a
lot of tape.” But he does them well, so I can’t say anything bad about
him. He does them well. He’s heck of an athlete.”
Former WWE security chief Jimmy Noonan was a guest on the Monday Night
Mayhem radio show. On all the recent controversy surrounding Kurt Angle,
he recalled the day he found out about the Chris Benoit murders,
thinking it may have been Kurt. He said: “A former security colleague of
mine didn’t have all the facts yet, but told me it appeared that WWE
superstar went home and killed his family in a horrific murder-suicide.
I thought to myself, ‘Oh no Kurt Angle.’ And while it was painful and
tragic, I was glad to hear that it wasn’t Kurt. Do I think Kurt Angle is
capable of something like that, of course not. But when I think of Kurt,
I think of his intensity, his intensity is scary. He is a complex human
being, he is almost unnaturally driven. [WWE] don’t release you from the
WWE and say ‘Good luck buddy, have a great career.’ They release you
because you are a liability. Then there were detailed monogamy
problems… then you heard some stories about Kurt. I can’t get into
some of the behavior problems I saw with Kurt… It would not be
appropriate. All I’m saying is there seems to be some unrest in
‘Angleville.’ And it worries me. Remember the saying, ‘If there is
smoke, there is fire.'”
The TNA house show on 10/23 in Chicago has been moved for the third time
to the Convention Center at Chicago State University.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
The Iron Shiek recently underwent a minor procedure on his prostate. No
cancer was detected. We’re told his health is much improved as a result
although he has some ongoing issues with his knee and ankle. He will be
appearing this weekend at Dragon Con in Atlanta and at the Wizard Big
Apple Con October 16 -18 in New York City. He is also doing the Howard
Stern radio show again in October.
ABC News in Tampa ran a feature on Powerball millionaire, 20-year-old
Jonathan Vargas and his all-girl Wrestlicious group at
http://tinyurl.com/m28apo.
Austin Idol at www.austinidollive.com has a new DVD out sharing how he
made his millions in real estate.
Planet 51, an animated movie starring the voices of Dwayne “The Rock”
Johnson and Jessica Biel, hits theatres on November 20. A preview we
received read: “Like District 9, only in reverse. And animated. And for
kids. The little green people of a faraway planet fear they’re about to
be invaded when an astronaut from Earth (voiced by Dwayne “The Rock”
Johnson) makes landfall.”
The former Rikishi (Solofa Fatu) has been working out in Chile for the
RLL group of late. He noted in a recent interview that he doesn’t watch
WWE or TNA anymore: “I don’t watch it anymore… I think that pro
wrestling has gotten away from what made pro wrestling and that is
creating characters that fans like and good easy storylines. Easy to
follow. Easy for the kids to understand, and also fun for the adults
too.”
Brian Elliot at http://tinyurl.com/ma4ql8 has a great article looking at
the early years and career of Val Venis, from his time in WWE to Mexico
to the UK and now Japan.
www.InYourHeadOnline.com interviewed Scott Hall. He has a new website at
www.theoutsiderscotthall.com as well as a new talk show “The Last Call
with Scott Hall” on Youtube. He puts WWE over for paying for his rehab.
He also talks about wanting to go back to WWE, as an announcer.
Seriously. He says he wants to be a modern day Jerry Lawler. A really
crazy show worth downloading if you have a long commute to work.
Tickets for the 2010 NWA Wrestling Legends Fanfest are now on sale at
www.nwalegends.com.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts headlines the Vintage Wrestling event in
Sanford, FL on September 19.
Brooke Hogan appears on the Early Show on CBS this coming Saturday
morning.
Lacey Von Erich (daughter of the late Kerry) is interviewed at
http://tinyurl.com/ndothh talking WWE, TNA and Playboy.
Ring of Honor is giving away free pairs of general admission tickets to
next week’s HDNet TV tapings at The Arena in Philadelphia, PA. The event
on Thursday, September 10 starts at 7:00pm and the event on Friday,
September 11 starts at 8:00 pm. Winners will be chosen at random and
will be notified by email. To enter the contest please send your name
and complete mailing address to [email protected]. Tickets will be
mailed out to all winners. In the subject heading please enter which day
you can attend, either Thursday, Friday, or Both, if you can attend
either night.
Irv Muchnick at http://tinyurl.com/n8rdso has a story on former WWE
prospect and Tough Enough winner Daniel Puder. It’s basically a look
back at the deal between Kurt Angle and Puder with some insight from
Paul Heyman, who rarely grants interviews.
Dory Funk Jr. has a TV taping at his sound stage in Ocala, FL on
Saturday. For more information you can call 352-895-4658 or visit
www.dory-funk.com.
Wrestle Talk Radio with Tim Stein at www.wildtalkradio.com.
Gabe Sapolsky talks Dragon Gate USA’s PPV debut this weekend at
http://tinyurl.com/mdcmf7.
Kiwi Pro Wrestling (www.kiwiprowrestling.co.nz/) announced a television
deal with Prime TV which is a free-to-air nationwide in New Zealand.
Sabu, Eugene, The Barbarian, Chris Hero, Sonjay Dutt, Rhett Titus, Adam
Pearce and more will be appearing at the Expoland Wrestling
Entertainment event in Fishersville, VA on October 17. More info at
www.expolandwrestling.com.
“Hacksaw” Jim Duggan will be part of the Wrestling Supershow at the
Tailgators Sports Bar in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on October 4.
Nasty Boy Brian Knobs has a new wrestling school at www.nastyknobs.com.
He is holding tryouts every Saturday in September.
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