Miscellaneous WWE News Thread.

[Y 2 Jake]

It was announced on Monday Night Raw Monday night in a segment that Donald Trump would be showing up on Raw next week in Portland, OR to further the "McMahon vs. Trump" storyline. Although WWE will be taping Raw next Monday night in Portland, the show will not air in the United States until Thursday night on the USA Network due to Raw being preempted by the Westminster Dog Show. Wrestling will still be on next Monday night however with TNA presenting it's "This is TNA!" two-hour special on Spike TV starting at 9:00pm ET.

Lance Storm has added a new commentary over on his official website (StormWrestling.com) where he again addresses his current issues with the TNA product, looking at WWE's business and TNA's business and more. It is a very interesting read with many valid points.

Eric Bischoff issued the following statement via his mailing list: "Its been a while! Unfortunately, I get into a "fight" a couple of weeks ago and broke my right arm. Its been tough to send e mails, and impossible to do a decent job on my blog particularly since I'm right handed and that was the arm that was broken. Its a pretty funny story, and not what you would think...so check out the blog this Tuesday for all the details, as well as an update on whats been happening (not so much) since my epic one on one battle in a night club in Salt Lake City!"

 

[Y 2 Jake]

WWE Stocks closed the day on Tuesday at 16.19, a 1.06% increase over yesterday's closing. The day's range was 16.11 - 16.28. (thanks to Colin Vassallo)

The WWE New Year's Revolution 2007 DVD includes the John Cena vs. Kevin Federline and Donald Trump vs. Rosie O'Donnell Raw matches. They have edited out the "we want wrestling" and "TNA" chants.

MTV's Wrestling Society X's commentator Kris Kloss will be the guest tonight on http://www.inyourheadonline.com at 6:00 PM Eastern. Please join us for the live show, chat room and your calls at 508 644 8503 (long distance charges may apply).

The 2/18 Smackdown PPV No Way Out in Los Angeles is a sell out.

Former Smackdown diva Amy Zidian, who appeared briefly on Smackdown as Jimmy Wang Yang's valet, left a nasty message on Kristal's web page accusing the diva of getting her fired. She also posted a picture of Kristal and her dog Ginger, and used Matt Striker's face on the dog. (Striker and Kristal have been dating). Zidian wrote, "maybe you should let him off his leash from time to time." She also wrote, "Thanks for running to Stephanie and trying to get me fired. You got the job done you bald skank." On December 13, 2006, Zidian was released by WWE.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Rob Van Dam's contract with WWE is set to expire this summer. However, RVD had until the end of last week to give his notice to avoid the contract being automatically rolled over. Apparently, the belief is that RVD did the clean job to Hardcore Holly last week on ECW television because he had given notice. Of course, RVD did the J-O-B last night for Elijah Burke.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Hardcore Holly will be undergoing elbow surgery as soon as his program with Bobby Lashley is finished. Considering that he lost cleanly to Lashley at last night's ECW show, and then Gene Snitsky did a run-in after the match, it looks like the feud is done and over with now. The Lashley/Holly feud was scheduled to be a relatively quick one.

Gene Snitsky's profile is now in the ECW section. When the profile was put up late last night, it briefly had pictures and information from his time on RAW, but all mentions of his past (sans his WWE debut date) have since been removed. It seems like they want people to forget about his time as a low-end midcarder & perennial HEAT wrestler on the RAW brand. Prior to his return on Tuesday night, Snitsky had been kept off of television since October.

The 1/30 ECW show did a 1.73 rating with a 1.28 in males 18-49, a 1.29 in males 18-34. The show attracted 2 million viewers overall. WSX going head-to-head with the second half-hour did an 0.78 rating (not 0.99 as had been reported originally) with an 0.99 in persons 12-34 and 945,000 viewers overall.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

ECW has now become a vehicle to make Bobby Lashley a superstar. Vince McMahon is determined to make Lashley look as strong as possible. The new idea is to make Lashley into an unstoppable, dominant champion. The ECW brand is now the catalyst that gives Lashley the credibility to be one of the company's top stars. ECW as a concept is pretty much dead, only surviving because they have a television commitment on Sci Fi to live up to. The main point of the brand is that when it's all over, Lashley can be moved over to one of the other brands and be seen as an equal to the other world champions.

Considering that WWE wants Lashley to look as strong as possible, that pretty much explains why Lashley beat Test cleanly the week before their match at the Royal Rumble. Also, McMahon had given up on Test as being taken as a serious contender by the time of their 1/23 match. His future as an ECW headliner seems to be in doubt, especially considering that Gene Snitsky has taken his place. McMahon was trying to overcompensate for Lashley's lackluster performance at the 1/16 show. After seeing that show, which featured a three-way match between Lashley, RVD and Test, McMahon became so enraged that he vowed that the show would never be aired live again. He also exclaimed that there wasn't a single guy on the ECW roster that knew how to work. Although, he's probably changed his mind since then as the show has been live the past few weeks. McMahon was particularly upset about the main event as he felt that Lashley sold too much when he's supposed to look strong. Arn Anderson, who was the agent for the match, took heat for how bad it was laid out. However, Anderson said that the problem with the match was that Test and RVD insisted that they get their trademark moves in, and thus there were a lot of spots in which Lashley had to sell.

In regards to the 1/23 match with Test, even though many in creative felt the time for the blow-off was at the PPV, there were no disagreements from the creative team on Test losing the match when the finish was brought up. A sea of "yes men" nodded in approval for the finish.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

WWE.com has another "Superstar 2 Superstar" article up with WWE Cruiserweight Champion Gregory Helms interviewing boxing star Sugar Shane Mosley.

Roddy Piper talks about his health right now at WWE.com.

A "Where Are They Now?" section is up on WWE.com and features recent information and photos about Honky Tonk Man, Jake Roberts, Virgil, Haku and Outlaw Ron Bass.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The 2/5 edition of WWE Monday Night Raw drew a final and strong 4.1 cable rating. This is down just slightly from last week's 4.2 rating. We hope to have more details on this rating very soon.

In regards to a possibility of DirecTV picking up WWE's 24/7 Video On-Demand service, DirecTV does not offer an on-demand service to order programming. So, as of now, DirecTV doesn't have anything in place to make 24/7 work.

Following last night's WWE Friday Night Smackdown tapings in Omaha, Nebraska, here is the updated card for WWE's No Way Out PPV on Sunday, February 18: World Heavyweight Champion Batista & The Undertaker vs. WWE Champion John Cena & Shawn Michaels, Paul London & Brian Kendrick (c's) vs. The Hardys vs. MNM vs. William Regal & Dave Taylor in a ladder match for the tag titles, Kane vs. King Booker, and Finlay vs. The Boogeyman. These extra matches will be announced this Friday night on The CW Network. As always, we will be providing *live* coverage of WWE No Way Out on Sunday, February 18 starting at 8:00pm ET/7:00pm CT.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Source: Bryan Alveraz

As reported, Dusty Rhodes has been moved to ECW as part of the creative team. Vince McMahon has been very upset with the brand and feels it is time to turn it around or "put a bullet into it." While he stayed quiet, Michael Hayes was not happy that Rhodes was sent to ECW as they had basically been co-booking Smackdown.

The Ric Flair promo from Raw was intended to come off as a burial of Carlito. It was scripted by Brian Gerwitz, mostly off of notes from the agent reports of Carlito matches. Basically management feels Carlito has progressively gotten lazy, even after constant efforts to push him, and this is a way to "light a fire" under him.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Source: Bryan Alvarez Of F4WOnline.com

Melina is in the WWE doghouse. The losses for her and Nitro (since he is dating her) were "messages" sent to them to shape up.

Super Crazy is in line for a "comedy" push, which is why he has had so much TV time the last few weeks as well as wins over Nitro and Masters.

WWE is working very hard to get Mistico and Shocker to work four WWE dates in March.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Will Bowers sent the following: Hey, I was watching Mad Money with Jim Cramer on CNBC yesterday and a caller asked about the WWE stock. This is what was said: "Here's the thing, WWE has done absolutely nothing since I recommended it, but you got a 6% yield. And you know what? Sometimes it pays to be doing nothing with that dividend. I am sticking by WWE, because of international business. The domestic is not that good. I want you to stick with WWE." WWE stock was up $0.20 (1.25%) today at $16.22 today for those who care.

The Wrestling Observer is reporting that in regards to a possibility of DirecTV picking up WWE's 24/7 Video On-Demand service, DirecTV does not offer an on-demand service to order programming. So, as of now, DirecTV doesn't have anything in place to make 24/7 work.

MTate67539 sent the following: Just wanted to let everyone know about Raw in the UK next week. According to Sky Sports, Raw next week in the UK will be airing live still, but 2 hours later than usual at 4am. They're still advertising it as a live broadcast and the usual 2am slot is filled with repeats of WWE Bottom Line and WWE Heat.

Kyle Gilbertson sent the following: According to IGN.com, THQ announced it would release WWE titles for Nintendo DS, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii and Xbox 360 this year.

Chris sent the following: I stumbled onto bestbuy.com and came across an online tournament for Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 for the XBOX 360. One grand prize winner and one first prize winner will get a trip/tickets to WrestleMania 23...among other things. All the info is on the site: click here.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Jim Ross has a new blog up on his official website (jrsbarbq.com) where he discusses Raw this past Monday night, WrestleMania 23 rumors including if the company will once again do a "Money in the Bank" Match and more.

DeseretNews.com has an article up regarding the CW Network and it's president Dawn Ostroff where she praises WWE's Friday Night Smackdown program and The McMahon's adding quote, "I have to say the WWE, Vince and Linda (McMahon), have been incredible partners. They really have been. I have to say they are excellent show producers. ... They know their characters better than anybody. They understand what their audience is looking for, and who their audience is, better than anything. They have been doing this for a long time, and their business is more than just this show. It is truly a whole culture, a phenomenon."

According to BoxOfficeMojo.com, rental sales for WWE Films' "The Marine" starring John Cena were #1 for the week of January 29-February 4.

WWE.com has an article up with photos about a fan winning a contest who got the chance to work out with John Cena at a Gold's Gym in Dallas.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

WWE's No Way Out PPV in Los Angeles, CA next Sunday is sold out and has been for some time since tickets went on sale.

James Gambles sent word that Vito's profile is no longer listed on the "Smackdown Superstars" page over on WWE.com.

WWE management is said to be happy with Super Crazy both on and off camera, so this explains his mid-card push on Raw as of late.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

All recently released WWE wrestlers have been told that they are not allowed to do media interviews until their non-compete clauses expire. Former Deep South Wrestling head trainer Bill DeMott was not under a "talent" contract, so he was free to talk when interviewed recently.

Paul Heyman remains under a deal with WWE and is still on the payroll. As of now, there are no indications that he has been asked to do anything at this point and the feeling within the company is that he won't be asked to return to the booking team right now.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

According to the official website for the US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona, World Wrestling Entertainment will be taping both Monday Night Raw and the latest edition of Saturday Night's Main Event on March 5.

Given how poorly the ratings were for the first two comeback editions of Saturday Night's Main Event on NBC, many were wondering if the network was going to grant WWE a third show. The show is expected to air on March 10.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

source: PWInsider

Tuesday's edition of ECW on Sci Fi drew a final 1.4 cable rating with a 2.3 share. This was down in a big way from last week's stronger 1.7 rating, despite Vince McMahon appearing at the top of the show.

source: PWInsider

As reported earlier, the 2/5 edition of WWE Monday Night Raw drew a final 4.1 cable rating. The first hour scored a 4.0 rating, while the second hour scored a 4.1 rating. This was down slightly from last week's 4.2 number.

The 2/3 edition of WWE A.M. Raw drew a 0.7 cable rating with a 2.7 share.

The 2/2 edition of WWE Friday Night Smackdown drew a final and very strong 3.1 broadcast rating with a 5.2 share. That is believed to be the best number Smackdown has scored since moving to Friday night.

As reported yesterday, the 2/5 edition of WWE Monday Night Raw drew a final 4.1 cable rating. The first hour scored a 4.0 rating, while the second hour scored a 4.1 rating. This was down slightly from last week's 4.2 number.

The 2/3 edition of WWE A.M. Raw drew a 0.7 cable rating with a 2.7 share.

The 2/2 edition of WWE Friday Night Smackdown drew a final and very strong 3.1 broadcast rating with a 5.2 share. That is believed to be the best number Smackdown has scored since moving to Friday night.

There are some conflicting reports out at the moment regarding the rating Wrestling Society X got this past Tuesday night (2/6). While we first reported the show did a 0.9 cable rating, The Wrestling Observer is reporting that WSX only did a 0.7 cable rating. We hope to get a confirmation regarding this rating very soon.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

According to my digital guide, the preview edition of Wrestling Society X will be on Friday night at 11PM ET.

Apparently the decision to allow Michael Cole to call the Royal Rumble match this year, and not Jim Ross as usual, was a clear message to good ol' JR that Cole is being groomed as the company's #1 announcer.

While Batista has his friends, many in the Smackdown locker room are not fans of the current world heavyweight champion. Some have compared him to The Ultimate Warrior, ouch!

Dave Meltzer reports that The Royal Rumble on 1/28 in San Antonio, TX was a legit sell out. It was announced at 16,118 fans in the building on the PPV broadcast (actually 13,500 paid with about 15,000 in the building).

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Dustin "Goldust" Runnels will wrestle as Gold Dustin on 2/17 on All Japan's Sumo Hall show.

WWE is keeping the door open for possible Mick Foley and JBL Wrestlemania matches.

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin will be returning to television soon. His role at Wrestlemania role has not yet been determined, although it is rumored he may serve as a special guest referee on the show.

The Rock's "Gridiron Gang" finished #1 in DVD sales and rentals this past week, pulling in $5.2 million.

Speaking of The Rock, Dwayne Johnson taped an episode of the Disney Channel's "Cory in the House" back on 1/22. In the episode, Johnson plays a fitness adviser on a show geared toward girls 6-14.

 

[Hender]

AS you may have seen on tonight's RAW, the 1st of the Survivor Series Tour dates has been announced as 19th October 07 in the Odyssey Arena in Belfast.

TICKET INFO:

Tickets on sale Sat 3rd March at 9am.

Prices: £55.00, £38.00, £27.50 & £20.00

Hope this is useful to someone!

 

[Y 2 Jake]

WWE diva Ashley will be signing autographs at the Monster Comics Cards & Toys in Holbrook, NY from 6 to 8PM on Saturday. Call (631) 244-3934 if interested.

Also on Saturday, Chris Masters is scheduled to appear from 4 to 6PM at the Southland Mall in Hayward, CA. Call (510) 783-9100.

Raw on 1/22 did 217,000 Canadian viewers, which translates to a 2.7 rating.

During a recent interview, Trish Stratus said "I'm done" regarding pro wrestling. "I could never do that touring schedule again. Wrestling is in my blood. I love it, so if there were an opportunity to do something again in the ring, maybe. But going on the road? No. I've moved on," stated Stratus.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Vince McMahon is apparently determined to make ECW champion Bobby Lashley look strong and unstoppable.

TriStar Products announced this past week an agreement for a Hulk Hogan Ultimate Grill. Move over Foreman!

It had been recently reported that the Wrestling Society X project was seeking former wrestling divas, such as Dawn Marie and Francine. Apparently, Francine was called and turned down an offer because she was getting married and planned to start a family. In addition, Dawn Marie was contacted about introducing the musical acts, but she also turned WSX down.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

- The morale of WWE management is pretty high right now. The company had three nights of sellouts in a row in Texas for Royal Rumble, Raw, and the Smackdown/ECW tapings.

- The reason behind Lashley being constantly put over on ECW TV is because WWE now wants to use the brand basically to make him a superstar. Vince has his mind set on making Lashley look as huge and unstoppable as possible.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

MTate67539 sent the following: Just wanted to let everyone know about Raw in the UK next week. According to Sky Sports, RAW next week in the UK will be airing live still, but 2 hours later than usual at 4am. They're still advertising it as a live broadcast and the usual 2am slot is filled with repeats of WWE Bottom Line and WWE Heat.

Kyle Gilbertson sent the following: According to IGN.com, THQ announced it would release WWE titles for Nintendo DS, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii and Xbox 360 this year.

Chris sent the following: I stumbled onto bestbuy.com and came across an online tournament for Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 for the XBOX 360. One grand prize winner and one first prize winner will get a trip/tickets to WrestleMania 23...among other things.

1PW is in negotiations with Nu-Wrestling Evolution in Italy (Rikishi's group that Vampiro is the current champion of) to run joint shows.

The AWAStars.com website is saying that they have a number of released WWE stars on board with their "AWA" promotion including Tatanka, Romeo Roselli, Antonio Thomas, Danny Basham, Doug Basham, and C.W. Anderson. However, this promotion has a track record of being incredibly shady, so this could very well be false advertising. This is the same promotion that said back in December that Paul Heyman was joining the promotion after he was removed from ECW programming. However, Heyman is still under contract to WWE and they have no plans to release him anytime soon. Also, AWAStars.com lists Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Jerry Lawler, Bret Hart, Scott Hall, King Kong Bundy and several other big name superstars as being affiliated with them. None of those individuals have ever appeared in the current incarnation of this bush league "AWA" promotion.

In a name from the past, former WWF star Shawn Stasiak worked an indie show for Professional Championship Wrestling (PCW) in Arlington, Texas on 1/27. He wrestled a guy by the name of Shadow in the main event. Shadow kicked a chair into his face and put Stasiak down for the pin. One person in attendance said that Stasiak showed very little ring rust after a virtual four-year layoff. He retired in 2003 to become a chiropractor. WWE let him go on September 27, 2002 and he pretty much stopped wrestling after that.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Hulk Hogan appeared on the Bubba the Love Sponge radio show this afternoon. A variety of topics were discussed in regards to Hogan Knows Best, starting a wrestling promotion, Hogan vs. Russo and more. Perhaps, the most interesting comment made was in regard to Hogan's status in the WWE. Hogan stated he is not involved in WrestleMania 23 and is quoted as saying he apparently no longer works for the company anymore.

Hogan also claimed that he got in trouble following his last appearance on Bubba's show after the Hall of Fame candidates were spilled on the air by Vince McMahon's secretary.

In regards to Hogan's status with the WWE, it must be made clear that Hogan has a tendency to exaggerate or overstate things. Another interesting note, the WWE merchandise website has put Hogan's merchandise on a special clearance sale.

Update

source: PWInsider

Yesterday it was reported that Hulk Hogan made claims that he no longer works for WWE on Bubba The Love Sponge radio show.

Sources within WWE have confirmed that Hogan is indeed gone and is not scheduled to work at WrestleMania 23. This leaves the Great Khali in a hole now as he was expected to work against Hogan at the pay-per-view.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

WWE stars Kane and Ashley Massaro are scheduled to shoot an episode of "Smallville" for the CW Network this week in Canada. There remains no word on when the episode will air or what characters the two are playing. For those who may remember, World Heavyweight Champion Batista appeared on the show previously as the character "Phantom Zone" earlier this season.

Rowdy Roddy Piper is still in good spirits despite undergoing radiation treatment five times a week for four weeks to defeat a low-grade Lymphoma cancer. Back in December, he promised that he would walk down that RAW ramp once again cancer free and Piper is still keeping that promise. "I will be walking down that ramp on Raw again, that's a promise. I want to warn everyone right now, when you see me on that stage, get the heck out of my way," said the Hot Rod in an interview with WWE.com yesterday. He said that he won't know the results for another few months but he feels good. In fact he feels so good that he already went back to work, filming a new movie for MTV.

March 13th will be the day when the Royal Rumble: Complete Anthology DVD box set will be released nationwide. Selling for a retail price. The box set will include 20 DVDs of all the Rumbles that have been on television since 1988. This is the second Anthology box set from WWE, with the first being the WrestleMania set. Due to the name change, all WWF related logos were blurred and some theme songs have been altered as well due to licensing issues. It will be released in Europe in May for a price of 205 Euros. (thanks to Colin Vassallo)

The WWE Smackdown/ECW house show scheduled for this coming Monday night in Yakima, Washington has been moved to Wednesday night.

The Rock's profile is gone from the RAW page and Vito's profile has been removed from the SmackDown page.

Happy birthday wishes go out to WWE hall of famer Sherri Martel.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Trevor Murdoch has been working for Harley Race's WLW promotion, as he's currently the groups champion.

As previously mentioned, Wes Adams was offered a developmental deal and we received word this morning that he has been assigned to Deep South. Adams worked ECW and Smackdown a few weeks back. (Thanks to Rob Robbington for contributing)

Armando Estrada managed Jacob Duncan in Ohio Valley Wrestling last week.

The 1/25 Deep South show drew 300 fans for a full house.

In Deep South, Afa Anoi'a Jr. and Sonny Siaki have formed the Samoan Fight Club.

Referee Nick Patrick, who is the son of Deep South owner Jody Hamilton, replaced Bill DeMott as the color commentator on DSW television.