Miscellaneous WWE News Thread.

[A.J.]

Taylor sent this in: Just thought I would pass this along. I was at borders the other day in the calendar section and I came across the 2007 WWE calendar. And the funny thing was when I turned it over to look at the pictures, for one of the months the whole page was a big shot of Kurt Angle. Thought it was interesting.

WWE.com has another "Superstar 2 Superstar" article up featuring The Coach interviewing Donald Trump at WWE.com.

As reported yesterday, RAW did a 4.0 rating on Monday. The show did hours of 4.0 and 4.0. The quarter hour numbers were 4.1, 4.2, 4.1, 3.8, 4.1, 4.0, 4.0, 3.9, and 4.6 for the overrun.

 

[A.J.]

Kane vs. The Great Khali is expected to be added to the WrestleMania 23 card.

It is likely that even if WSX is picked up for a second season, MTV will move it to a new timeslot where it doesn't go head to head with ECW.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, John Laurinaitis has been burying Rob Van Dam's matches at recent agents meetings. Laurinaitis has been very negative of Van Dam after the ECW superstar recently mocked the Vice President of Talent Relations of World Wrestling Entertainment. Van Dam's WWE contract expires this summer.

 

[A.J.]

source: PWInsider

-- On Monday’s WWE RAW WWE Tag Team Champions John Cena & Shawn Michaels will take on Edge vs. Randy Orton. Donald Trump will also reveal his pick and we will see the next Money in the Bank Qualifying match.

-- Rey Mysterio’s return to the ring has been delayed until further noticed due to Umaga’s attack on SmackDown. Mysterio has been expected to return for quite some time now.

 

[A.J.]

source: PWInsider

-- WWE has released one of many WrestleMania 23 promotional posters. You can check it out at this link.

-- WWE Diva Ashley Massaro will be signing copies of her Playboy on March 8th at the Virgin Megastore in New York City, New York.

-- Former WWE Superstar Nathan Jones will be appearing in “The Condemned” starring Stone Cold Steve Austin; which will be released this April.

 

[A.J.]

Stacy Kiebler was on this weekend edition of "Extra." She briefly appeared on there & wished the weekend host Mario Lopez the best of luck on his photo shoot for the Latin magazine "Tu Ciudad" [English that means "Your City"]

Comcast on Demand doesn’t carry WSX in its VOD selections, for Lake Worth customers.

Smackdown did a 3.2 fast national rating Friday night. If that number holds, it will be a new record for the show on CW Network. The final number will be in soon.

 

[A.J.]

WWE.com reports that Rey Mysterio's return to the ring has been delayed "inevitably" due to Umaga's attack. That is of course just a storyline as Mysterio was scheduled to return in the summer all along.

Melina has a new commentary up on WWE.com where she responds to Candice Michelle's claims that she stole her finisher.

Phil Muschnick of the New York Post has an article up blasting Donald Trump for working with WWE

 

[A.J.]

So far confirmed for RAW:

* Shawn Michaels & John Cena vs. Edge & Randy Orton
* The next Money in the Bank Qualifying match
* Donald Trump revealing his WrestleMania 23 representative

 

[A.J.]

Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

WWE has interest in bringing in AAA's La Parka. However, the person currently under the La Parka garb isn't the same person that assumed the character in WCW in the late 90's, who was Adolfo Tapia. In 2004, Adolfo Tapia was forced to wrestle under the name L.A. Park, as the AAA promotion owns the rights to the gimmick and the name. L.A. Park currently wrestles for CMLL, AAA's rival promotion. The La Parka in AAA is usually denoted as La Parka, Jr. (even though he is only one year younger), La Parka (AAA) or La Parka (PAP). His real name is Jesús Alfonso Escoboza. He's also a bit smaller than the WCW version. The WCW version was 6-2 and 255 pounds. The one WWE is interested in is 6-0 and 215 pounds.

There is a movement in WWE to try to bring in more smaller, international stars to try to recreate the magic of Nitro in the mid-90s. They also want to get a jump on WSX and TNA, who both are pushing light heavyweights. They're interested in a few guys in Mexico, not to a mention a few guys in Japan. Other names discussed include Gedo and Jado.

 

[A.J.]

Mike Foley reportedly drew a huge line yesterday at New York's Comic Con festival. Mick was signing copies of his new book, "Hardcore Diaries."

An interesting note here. The screenplay for Steve Austin's upcoming movie "The Condemned" was written by Rob Hedden. Hedden directed "Friday the 13th: Part 8, Jason Takes Manhattan."

USA's Bonnie Hammer did an interview with Multichannel News recently where she discussed HD programming coming to the channel. She talked about already doing some experimenting with WWE. It was noted that USA and WWE both see filming wrestling in HD as a challenge because the crystal clear resolution might raise a question of whether a punch hit or missed.

Rey Mysterio is scheduled to return to action in either May or June.

The Rock makes a cameo appearance in the Reno 911 Miami movie as SWAT Team Officer Rick Smith.

 

[A.J.]

Due to recent drop offs in WWE pay-per-view buy numbers, especially with the "B" shows or the brand exclusives - Vince McMahon has decided to include superstars from all three brands on future "B" PPV shows, such as you saw with the 2/18 No Way Out PPV. The brand extension is not being dropped or phased out, but superstars from all three shows will appear more frequently on other shows.

As things stand of this report, the 4/29 Backlash Raw PPV in Atlanta, GA will feature Batista, Undertaker, Rob Van Dam and Bobby Lashley.

 

[A.J.]

Chris Dunne sent the following: I was watching Live At 5 on CTV last night when they had an interview with Robert Maillet (formally Kurgan in WWE). They were talking to him about his role as Uber Immortal in the upcoming movie 300. I just thought that you would like to pass this on to your readers.

Drew Acklin sent the following: I was looking through the News Paper today and found a list of Promotions for The Cleveland Indians, and on September 15, they have a promotion for a Travis Hafner Bobblehead holding a Wrestling Belt. It’s a Bobblehead of Travis Hafner holding a WWE Title. I believe the name on the title is "Hafner", but the picture is too small to read it. Looks like WWE is trying to get it's own baseball players (with TNA having the Indians rival White Soxs Player).

 

[A.J.]

Chris sent the following: Just to let you know Rey Mysterio Jr was in Louisville KY Friday Night signing autographs at the Carl Casper Auto Show! I was there and got to meet him! He appeared to be getting healthier as he was walking okay being escorted to and from the stage!

David Walsh sent the following: In a recent interview aired on Wednesday 21st of February on my local radio station Beat Fm Bret Hart stated his anger and upset at WWE’s failure to induct his late brother Owen into this years HOF. He said that their over looking of Owen was disrespectful to the Hart family to Owens fans and Owens wife.

 

[A.J.]

Jim Ross has another new blog up. Highlights are below.

On Sting getting into the WWE Hall of Fame: Will Sting ever go into the WWE Hall of Fame? It would not surprise me one bit somewhere down the road. Steve Borden is a wonderful human being.

On Sylvester Terkay: I assume Sylvester Terkay is better suited for MMA competition, than the sports entertainment world, as it would seem. Whatever makes one comfortable. Sylvester always treated me respectfully, as I did him. Sylvester is a great athlete who may need to work on his "killer instinct." But not with me!

On Bob Backlund: I have NO IDEA what is going on with Bob Backlund in Orlando and his long walks to and from the hotel looking for and finding loose change on the ground. Bobby is a different, not bad understand, and unique human.

On Mistico: I am not overly familiar with Mistico, other than some I have spoken to that say he is talented. Whether the WWE attempts to sign Mistico or not is not my call, but if he is that good, the WWE should sign him up.

On Lita's WWE departure: I felt Lita's departure from the WWE was a little underwhelming to say the least. Lita deserved more, in my opinion, and I miss seeing her every Monday. She has a wonderful soul and has great passion and I wish her nothing but great health and success. She was one of my hires and I am still a huge fan of her, as a woman and as a wrestler. Who knows, maybe someday she will be back.

On Gordon Solie in the WWE Hall of Fame: Gordon Solie in the WWE Hall of Fame? Oh, hell yeah. Without a doubt "The Dean" is a hall of famer. As I am not on the Hall of Fame committee or involved in the selection process (see the hundreds of Randy Savage comments I have tried to make), I can't say when, but Gordon Solie is definitely a Hall of Fame announcer WAY ahead of the rest of us. Lance Russell and Bob Caudle deserve the honor too.

To check out the full blog entry, click Visit JRsBarBQ.com.

 

[Intensity]

Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

- There will be eight participants in this year’s Wrestlemania Money in the Bank match.

- The direction of the Undertaker vs. Batista match has apparently changed. The original idea was for Batista to end the Undertaker’s Wrestlemania winning streak, but now, it appears more likely that the Undertaker will prevail at Wrestlemania 23.

- As things stand, Mick Foley is not planned to have a role at Wrestlemania. He had tried to get a match for the event, which would have made sense with his “The Hardcore Diaries” book coming out early next month.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

source: AudioWrestling.com

Former WWE and WCW star Billy Kidman was a live in-studio guest on Carnage Bloodsport Banter (on Sunday night 2/25) which airs live every Sunday night at 11PM ET on AudioWrestling.com, Showdown.net, LVRocks.com and CarnageTalk.com. Below is a brief recap of the interview:

Kidman was in town (Las Vegas) for an indy event and starts the interview by talking about having fun spending time in Vegas.

He is going through a rough time now with his divorce from Torrie Wilson. Kidman went into more details of his current relationship with Torrie saying they still talk and that Torrie's travel was one of the problems that led to the split. While a divorce is in the works it has not yet been finalized.

Kidman announced he will be working for 3 weeks in Japan coming up in April.

Kidman said one of his biggest moments in wrestling was when Bret Hart came up to him after a match in WCW vs. Eddie Guerrero and said that Kidman was a credit to the business.

Kidman still marks out during some of Hogan's entrances although he said once he was in the ring with Hogan it didn't feel different from working against a typical opponent.

Kidman announced he is now working on some shows under a mask in a gimmick that is similar to Hayabusa with his hair extending though a hole at the top of the mask.

In WCW, Kidman got to work more matches than he was supposed to on WCW TV because Kidman claimed Raven, on nights he wasn't in the mood to wrestle, would talk the writers into giving Kidman his in-ring slot. This was back during the Raven's Flock era in WCW.

After Kidman was released from WWE, he claims he was not in the mood to work many indy dates so he purposely overpriced himself to promoters. Kidman now wants the work so his price has come back down to a fair price.

Kidman said he has been backstage at TNA to say hi to some friends. While Kidman has not talked business with anyone from TNA yet, he said he would like to work there because they have a great schedule.

Before the interview was over, Kidman was asked to share his favorite road story. Although we cannot go into detail in this news post, you can hear for yourself how Kidman talked about sleeping with two married women (at the same time) that he met during the intermission of a wrestling show.

This show is now archived on AudioWrestling.com and CarnageTalk.com.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

New York Daily News at www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/500480p-422018c.html talks about the shooting of Tommy Urbanski, 43, who is in critical condition and will likely be paralyzed from the waist down and was in a drug-induced coma until Saturday night. Urbanski was the morning manager at Minxx Gentleman's Club in Las Vegas when a bullet fired by people allegedly associated with Adam "Pacman" Jones of the Tennessee Titans severed his spinal cord last Monday after post NBA All-Star game partying at the club. Urbanski was listed in the story as a heel with the WWF. He did work at least one match in Brantford, ONT at a TV taping doing job duty so he was a pro wrestler.

Ric Flair turned 58 years old yesterday.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

- Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler are confirmed for induction this year.

- Larry Hennig, the father of "Mr. Perfect," will induct his son Curt Hennig.

- The Wild Samoans (Afa and Sika) were asked to be in the hall of fame a few weeks back, as previously reported, and did agree.

- Ric Flair is the leading candidate to be the headling act for the 2008 hall of fame.

- Not sure what happened to The Sheik talk, a fixture in Detroit for years. Vince McMahon has never liked The Sheik, and nephew Sabu is basically in the WWE dog house, so that may doom his fate.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Several DSW wrestlers performed at RAW brand house shows over the weekend. Those individuals are DSW champion Bradley Jay, former WCW & TNA star Sonny Siaki, and Eric Perez. They all lost their respective matches. Their matches were likely "tryouts" to see if they're ready to be called up to the main roster.

The Rock is getting good review's for his cameo in Reno 911

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Hardcore Holly will get another chance to win the ECW World Title when he faces Bobby Lashley on ECW on Sci Fi. Anything can happen, as the two Extremists are set to do battle in a Steel Cage Match. Who will prevail as ECW World Champion when the night is over?

Jeff Hardy and Mr. Kennedy are part of the JAKKS "Money in the Bank" toy set for this year's WrestleMania. So, this may be an indication that both are scheduled to take part in the match and that Hardy may likely defeated Shelton Benjamin tonight on Raw to gain the fourth spot. Keep in mind that plans can always change.

FresnoBee.com has an interview up with Ric Flair where he talks about how much longer he would like to wrestle for before retiring and more.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

John Cena & Shawn Michaels will defend the World Tag Team Championship tonight at the very start of the show tonight. That match will kick-off RAW tonight.

As previously noted, the Cleveland Indians are doing a promotion giving away Travis Hafner hoisting a WWE championship belt bobbleheads. Fans who attend the 9/15/07 Indians vs. Kansas City Royal Baseball game will receive a Travis Haffner bobble head doll with him holding the WWE title. Hafner is a long time wrestling fan and a personal friend of Jerry Lawler, who is a big Cleveland Indians fan.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

erry "The King" Lawler is scheduled to be announced as the next inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame - Class of 2007 tonight during Monday Night Raw in Fresno, CA.

It remains to be seen if Jim Ross will be announced along with Lawler tonight, who is also expected to be inducted this year into the Hall of Fame as well.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Before Raw last night.

Dark Match/Sunday Night Heat:

Hacksaw Jim Dugan vs. Bradley

Eugene vs. Tim Jones

The Highlander vs. ???

Charlie Haas vs. Val Venis

Cade & Murdock vs. Cryme Tyme.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

What a bargain. Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, who listed his Tampa home last year for $25 million before taking it off the market, has changed his mind again and listed it for $17.9 million, 28 percent off the initial price. The 53-year-old wrestler and his wife, Linda, bought the property 15 years ago for $2 million and tore down the existing Spanish-style house to build the five-bedroom, 17,000-square-foot house, designed to look like a French chateau. The VH1 reality series Hogan Knows Best showed the family living in the home with more than two dozen pets, including dogs, cats and a rooster. In later episodes, the family moved to a waterfront Miami Beach house they bought for $12 million in April.

Vinny Jones of "The Condemned," who appeared on the No Way Out PPV, did a guest spot at WWE's Capital Carnage U.K. PPV eight years ago. Jones is a former British soccer star.

WWE did 5,442,000 PPV world wide buys for the 16 pay-per-views the company promoted in 2006. By comparison, UFC did 5,225,000 domestic PPV buys for the ten shows the MMA group produced. (The early projections for UFC 67 have the PPV doing between 350,000 to 400,000 buys).

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The final 2/15 TNA vs. WWE head to head numbers are in. Raw (pre-empted by the dog show) drew 4.18 million viewers, while Impact drew 726,000 viewers. As a result, Spike TV is even more opposed to moving Impact to Monday nights.

Former WWE diva Joanie Laurer admitted having a problem with substance abuse in an interview on Valentine's Day.

The main event for tonight's ECW show will feature Bobby Lashley taking on Hardcore Holly in a steel cage match. Vince McMahon will also be on the show to make Lashley's life miserable for aligning with Donald Trump.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

In case you missed Kris Zellner's Lucha Report, WWE Smackdown superstar Funaki will be working for Ultimo Dragon's Toryumon promotion in Monterrey, Mexico on Saturday.

Shane and Vince McMahon recently met to discuss them possibly entering into the MMA world. Shane is said to be all for it, while Vince feels MMA is oversaturated right now in the United States.

There have been suggestions made internally to replace Jim Ross with Michael Cole as the lead voice on Raw. Cole would continue to also do Smackdown. Ross signed a one year contract last fall, which would prevent him from leaving the company until at least this coming fall. Many believe Cole calling the Royal Rumble match this year was a telling sign about the future of WWE announcing.