Miscellaneous WWE News Thread.

[A.J.]

Source: Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Former TNA star A-1 (real name Alastair Ralphs) is expected to go to Ohio Valley Wrestling. He has the size WWE likes, so that's why he's getting his foot in the door. He doesn't have a WWE developmental deal just yet, but he's going to OVW in hopes of landing a contract eventually. He was recently released by TNA because they had nothing for him.

Henry O. Godwinn is something of a player/coach, or wrestler/coach if you will, down in Deep South Wrestling. Also, there are no plans to bring him up to the main roster any time soon.

Chavo Guerrero's WWE contract will be expiring in a few months.

 

[A.J.]

source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

-- The current plan is to move Chris Benoit to the RAW brand after this year’s WrestleMania.

-- Dusty Rhodes has pushed WWE to add tag team titles to the ECW brand. The new belts are currently on order and should be in by the end of this month. We could possibly see the champions crowned at WrestleMania.

-- Speaking of Rhodes he is also pushing for Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch to move to the ECW brand after WrestleMania. Rhodes is said to really be impressed with both of these superstars.

 

[A.J.]

Source: Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Dusty Rhodes has successfully lobbied for WWE to add tag team titles to ECW. New belts have been ordered and are expected to be ready by the end of the month.

There was much opposition to this because many feel that the company already has enough championship belts. Rhodes pushed Vince McMahon hard, saying that ECW is too one-dimensional and shallow when it comes to talent. The tag team titles would give more purpose to different people on the show and allow more variety in booking.

As far as talent is concerned, La Résistance (Rene Dupree and Sylvan) were the first team brought over. Their profiles were recently removed from ECW.com for some unknown reason, but they are still considered to be aligned with ECW.

WWE also plans on calling Vito back up to the main roster so that he could go back to his old gimmick; teaming with Little Guido Maritato to reform the FBI. Also, they would be managed by Trinity. However, they are trying to come up with a logical explanation because of how they were broken up, not to mention the emphasis on Vito wearing a dress. He won't be wearing a dress when he returns though.

Rhodes is also pushing for Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch to move over to ECW after WrestleMania. Dusty Rhodes likes both guys a lot.

Lastly, there are no plans at the moment as far as a time or place to crown the new champions is concerned. Although, the timing means that something should be going down right after WrestleMania.

 

[A.J.]

source: PWTorch Newsletter

It was reported last week that WWE Hardcore Legend Mick Foley was spotted on camera at a New Jersey Nets game on Tuesday. The commentators made no mention of the superstar but he while on camera fans noticed his normal attire and him sipping back on several beers.

Foley was actually involved in an angle with the mascot of the Nets, Sly-Fox. After the first quarter Foley and the mascot got into a wrestling match while doing a slam dunk contest. He then pulled out Mr. Socko to calm the situation.

Sly-Fox later came out wearing Foley’s flannel shirt.

 

[A.J.]

According to Geof Rochester, the Vice President of Marketing for WWE, Wrestlemania 23’s marketing campaign will cost the company around an estimated $70 million this year.

Aside from WWE’s usual print ads in major cities, Wrestlemania ads will also be featured on websites like YouTube, Myspace and banner advertising on key men's lifestyle, sports and gaming sites. Retailers Wal-Mart, F.Y.E., Game Stop, Steve and Barry's and Arm Air Force Exchange Services will display promotional material at 10,000 locations across the nation.

WWE 24/7 will also play an integral part of the Mania promotion with 1.25 million direct mail promotion pieces and free on-demand and broadband content. Perhaps the weirdest promotion is part of a radio deal in seven markets where WWE will pay its fans to shave 'WM23 April 1' into their hair.

 

[A.J.]

The Daily Sentinel newspaper has a story regarding tonight's episode of 'Deal or No Deal' on NBC which will have John Cena, Bobby Lashley, Randy Orton and Edge as special guests along with Rick Achberger, an individual known to many fans and WWE Superstars as 'Sign Guy'. Achberger is a huge WWE fan and goes to around 40 shows per year, and winning the $1 million prize on the show tonight will certainly help him pay off his credit cards! "I see these guys in airplanes, bars and restaurants and they are the nicest people I know," he said. "The Big Show one time came up to me and gave me a big hug and told me, 'Hey, we love you and your signs.' That just floored me that someone that I've insulted with my signs said something like that to me."

WWE's WrestleMania 23 marketing campaign will cost the company an estimated $70 million according to its VP of Marketing, Geof Rochester. Apart from the usual print ads in different major cities, WWE will have WrestleMania ads on YouTube, MySpace and banner advertising on key men's lifestyle, sports and gaming sites. Retailers Wal-Mart, F.Y.E., Game Stop, Steve and Barry's and Arm Air Force Exchange Services will display promotional material at 10,000 locations across the nation. WWE 24/7 will also play an integral part of the Mania promotion with 1.25 million direct mail promotion pieces and free on-demand and broadband content. Perhaps the weirdest promotion is part of a radio deal in seven markets where WWE will pay its fans to shave 'WM23 April 1' into their hair.

 

[A.J.]

Tickets for the post WrestleMania RAW and Smackdown! are currently on sale. RAW will be taping live from Dayton, OH., at the Nutter Center on April 2nd while Smackdown! and ECW will be taping their shows in Fort Wayne, IN., at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum the next day. Tickets can be bought at Ticketmaster. com. Mick Foley will be on both of these live TV tapings.

Test and Terry Funk have both been removed from the ECW roster page.

Jon Bolen and Shawn Osbourne have been moved from OVW to DSW.

 

[A.J.]

Bradley Jay defeated Vito for the DSW title at the 2/22 tapings. Vito's title reign was short because DSW officials were given word that he would be called up to ECW soon to tag with Nunzio with the new tag division set to debut in the next few months. Due to that, they had to get the title off of him fairly quickly.

Ace "Donald Trump" Steel recently started on DSW television. He's going under the name of Chris Guy, which is his real name.

Jon Bolen and Shawn Osbourne have been moved from OVW to DSW.

 

[A.J.]

Jim Ross recently updated his B-Log on this website again. The following are the highlights from the latest submission:

- Ross discussed the Hall Of Fame, and once again stresses that he does not have any information about who is being considered for induction and who isn't (and why).

- Concerning the "glory period" of wrestling Ross, feels for him it was either the 80's with the various territories or the "Attitude Era" of WWE.

- Regarding the series of interviews Ross conducted with Mankind (which really opened up that character to the viewing audience), he feels they "were some of the best and most effective interviews I have ever been a part of".

- Regarding Lance Russell inducting Jerry Lawler into the Hall Of Fame (which apparently was suggested at one point), Ross writes "I assume Lance Russell is not inducting The King into the 2007 HOF. Too bad, as I was looking forward to visiting with Lance who, along with his wife Audrey, are wonderful folks. Lance anchored the Memphis wrestling TV show forever and was arguably the second most popular person on the show next to the King himself. Who knows for sure who will induct Jerry as it might be Lance after all."

- Ross isn't sure when Chris Masters will reach the main event level, and suggests Masters study tapes of Paul Orndorff.

- In regards to the "Who was bigger, Austin or Hogan?" question (which we get constantly here at the site as well) Ross writes: "Who out drew who? Who had the biggest year ever for a wrestler in the WWE? We get this question a great deal. Steve Austin had by far the biggest single year ever and had several huge money making years to go along with that one. Hogan may have had more years on top as he was in a main event position longer than Austin, but no one in WWE history ever surpassed Steve’s single season earnings record. For the good of the business, I hope someone does some day."

- Ross talks about Sable being rehired in 2003, and that there were no problems with her during her last run.

You can read the full blog at jrsbarbq.com.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

On her MySpace page, Jillian Hall responded to claims that she's imitating Brooke Hogan with her new singing gimmick. Hall wrote in her blog, "I just wanted to drop a few lines to let you know what's going on with me. I assume you all know that I have been doing some things a little different from what you're use to on Smackdown. Some of you may like it and some may hate it, but I'm having a ball!!! This is the closest thing to me that you all have seen yet. I'm constantly singing backstage, and this thing kind of just happened. I love to sing, I love to wrestle and I love to entertain...it's perfect for me! A few people asked me lately, why I am imitating Brooke Hogan? Coming straight from me, I AM NOT IMITATING OR MAKING FUN OF IN ANY WAY BROOKE HOGAN. My favorite pop star is Britney, so I get a lot of inspiration from her."

Mark Henry is currently in Ohio Valley Wrestling training for a return after his most recent knee surgery.

Down in Deep South Wrestling, Nattie Neidhart is being used as a backstage interviewer and sometimes even as a commentator for their television show.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Source: Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

There has been some talk of making Todd Grisham the play-by-play man for ECW. This also indicates what people think of Joey Styles right now.

WWE is thinking about adding an authority figure to ECW. ECW writers Dusty Rhodes and Dave Lagana recently came up with a list of names for the role. Rhodes suggested that Paul Heyman briefly become the General Manager of ECW. He would get then get attacked by the New Breed faction, and he'd come back again as a babyface manager for the ECW Originals, and in particular, Rob Van Dam (with the idea that this would help keep RVD from leaving). However, Vince McMahon quickly shot the suggestions down. It was also suggested for Heyman to go down to OVW and DSW to book & teach promos, but it is believed that he turned that request down.

When Brad Armstrong was originally hired by WWE last September, the plan was for him to be an agent for ECW house shows. But the shows were canceled, so that was off the cards. They then tried him out as a color commentator, but that didn't work out either. They are now thinking about making him an agent again.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The Miami Herald has an interview up with Mick Foley where he talks about his new book "Hardcore Diaries", adding that many in WWE were not happy about some of things he talked about.

For those who may have watched last night's UFC 68 PPV, Batista was clearly spotted behind current UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva during the Rich Franklin vs. Jason MacDonald match. Considering that UFC is one of WWE's biggest PPV competitions right now, it was very interesting to see a "top guy" in WWE sitting at ringside at a PPV competitors show.

Clark sent this in: Rey Mysterio Jr. was in Salt Lake City signing autographs at the Parts Plus Autorama yesterday

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Tonight's Raw in Phoenix, AZ at the US Airways Center is officially a sell out. We will provide live coverage of tonight's show at 9PM ET. This was to be the night they taped the March Saturday Night's Main Event special, but of course, it has been re-scheduled for a June broadcast.

On a side note, the March Saturday Night's Main Event was originally slated to be the return of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and he was expected to be there live in Phoenix.

If you caught Smackdown last week, you may have noticed Daniel Puder in the San Jose, CA crowd. Dave Meltzer was also present at the ECW/Smackdown tapings, and sitting next to Puder.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

According to Dave Meltzer, Jerry "The King" Lawler was not overly excited about being inducted into the WWE hall of fame. Apparently "The King" feels that the hall of fame implies that he is old and retired, which isn't the impression Lawler wants to convey. Believe it or not, Lawler had baseball tickets, and would have preferred to attend the ballgame rather than being inducted. Lawler was also upset when asked whom he would like to induct him into the hall of fame. Lawler picked legendary announcer Lance Russell, but he was told no one would know who Russell is.

Bubba the Love Sponge was on Howard Stern last week. Stern asked Bubba if he thought that once Hulk's reality show was over, and if Hulk and Linda would separate. I guess Stern had heard rumors that Hulk and Linda were on the outs. Bubba said yes, he thought they would separate but would not elaborate further. I was surprised that Bubba made this comment, seeing how close he and the hulkster are. Maybe some truth to it?

From Adam in Stoke-on-Trent: Just to let you know that the entrance videos of Beth Phoenix, Big Show, Danny Doring, Jazz, K.C. James & Idol Stevens, Lita, Paul Heyman, Rob Conway, Spirit Squad, Sylvan, Sylvester Terkay, Tatanka, Test, The Rock, and Vito are still up on the Entrance Videos page on WWE.com.

 

[A.J.]

Former 2005 diva search competitor Leyla Milani did a spot on Fox News Channel's "The 1/2 Hour News Hour" Sunday night.

Hulk Hogan claimed on Bubba the Love Sponge's radio show that he turned down a $400,000 offer to work at Wrestlemania. Apparently it was brought up that Hogan once wiped his behind with a paycheck from Vince McMahon since he felt that it was the more entertaining thing to do with the check rather than actually cashing it. Wife Linda burns through money, so why not?

 

[A.J.]

WWE.com has added "Part 1" of a video interview with Mick Foley (conducted by Jim Ross) where Foley talks about his new book "Hardcore Diaries." It is well worth checking out.

More "Deal or No Deal" coverage is up at WWE.com.

Hulk Hogan could be making his first independent wrestling appearance in decades with Memphis Wrestling. According to reports, a segment aired over the weekend on Memphis TV with Hulk Hogan on the phone while Cory Macklin and Jimmy Hart were at Jerry Lawler's home. Basically, the whole storyline has to do with Hogan signing a contract to face Jerry Lawler since Hogan (playing a heel) was upset that Lawler continues to play a clip of himself beating Hogan from 25 years ago. As of now, the storyline has Lawler signing the contract and all that is left is for Jimmy Hart to bring it to Hogan to sign. We will continue to follow this storyline as it develops.

Ashley talks about her new Playboy issue at WWE.com.

 

[A.J.]

According to Dave Meltzer, talks are currently ongoing between WWE and USA to get the 2007 Hall of Fame ceremony on the network either live or on tape. As of now there is no deal to air the ceremony on TV, which takes place on March 31 in Detroit. The ceremony will be included in the WrestleMania 23 DVD package though.

WWE has announced that more tickets for the WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony will be released soon.

WWE will be releasing two different WrestleMania 23 DVDs. One will be a two-disc edition which will feature the entire four hour PPV event. The other will be a three-disc Ultimate Edition that will feature the event, the Hall of Fame Ceremony, bonus matches, and five hours of extras. Both editions will be released on 5/22.

 

[A.J.]

Steve Austin will appear on ECW on SCI-FI live tomorrow night. Vince McMahon is also expected to be there.

The main event for the show will be Rob Van Dam vs. Elijah Burke.

 

[A.J.]

During WWE Monday Night Raw in Phoenix, AZ, Nick Bockwinkel was announced as the fourth inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame - Class of 2007 this year. Here is the list for this year's Hall of Fame so far: "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig, Jerry "The King" Lawler, and Nick Bockwinkel.

Donald Trump will appear live next week on RAW.

As noted earlier, Steve Austin will be on ECW on SCI-FI on tonight. The main event is Rob Van Dam vs. Elijah Burke.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The Japanese tag team Gedo and Jado worked a WWE dark match try out at the 2/20 San Diego Smackdown tapings. It appears WWE wasn't too impressed with their match.

Shane McMahon has been pushing John Laurinaitis to re-sign Rob Vam Dam, but Laurinaitis is still negative on RVD after he mocked the Vice President of talent relations.

For those that have asked, Too Cold Scorpio is at home collecting WWE paychecks. WWE signed Too Cold Scorpio last summer, and apparently, WWE creative has still yet to come up with something for him to do.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Mickie James was not hurt when she landed on her head in her match with Melina.

In this month's U.K. Maxim magazine there is a free Karma Sutra guide. They use a Mr. Kennedy figure for example's of how to perform the sexual position's.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

During WWE Monday Night Raw in Phoenix, AZ, Nick Bockwinkel was announced as the fourth inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame - Class of 2007 this year. Here is the list for this year's Hall of Fame so far: "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig, Jerry "The King" Lawler, and Nick Bockwinkel.

Donald Trump will appear live next week on RAW.

As noted earlier, Steve Austin will be on ECW on SCI-FI on tonight. The main event is Rob Van Dam vs. Elijah Burke.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Todd Grisham To ECW, WM23 Battle Royal?, SD!, More

Apparently WWE is considering promoting Raw backstage interviewer Todd Grisham to play by play announcer on ECW. Grisham was voted the Wrestling Observer Newsletter's 2006 worst announcer. Sucks to be Joey Styles right now.

Talent was informed of a tag team battle royal for Wrestlemania 23, although, that match has yet to be officially announced.

Last week's WWE Smackdown scored a 2.9 broadcast rating, earning a 5 share. Hourly, the show did a 2.8 and a 3.0. The final 2.9 is down from last week's huge 3.3 rating.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The recent Raw and Smackdown television tapings in Fresno and San Jose, CA were officially sell outs.

WWE has decided to no longer give Oleg Prudius (Vladimir Kozlov) the main event push. The company has also cooled on developmental wrestler Daniel Rodimer, who at one time, was slated to be apart of Rated RKO.

Ace Steel (who played the imposter Donald Trump vs. "Rosie") has arrived in Deep South, wrestling under his real name Chris Guy.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

From backstage reports at the 2/20 SmackDown/ECW tapings, it's very clear that much of the ECW cast is looked down upon. The dressing room vibe at RAW was enjoyable, but on SmackDown/ECW, everyone was on edge. Although, part of that had to do with the production side as the building they were in is much smaller than most buildings they do SmackDown/ECW tapings in.

Here is a rundown of the ECW talent with heat at the 2/20 tapings:

- Sabu and Sandman changed in the extras/jobbers locker room in an attempt to lessen the amount of heat they currently have.

- Matt Striker has heat with JBL and thus he was hiding his bags in the extras/jobbers locker room to keep something from happening to them.

- It was clear from a number of reactions that a lot of the women on roster hate Kelly Kelly. Also, most of the guys give her no respect and Joey Mercury in particular was running her down to anyone who would listen to him.