Miscellaneous WWE News Thread.

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If you purchase WWE's No Way Out DVD from Blockbuster, you will receive a bonus disc, which contains the 2/16 Smackdown matches of HBK and Cena vs. Kennedy and MVP and The Undertaker and Batista vs. Rated RKO.

The security guards used by Vince McMahon on Raw Monday night were Raul and Ramon Loco, Pat Buck, Nick Andrews, Adam Revolver and Maison Rage.

Dave Meltzer is reporting that eTopps at www.etopps.com is offering WWE wrestling cards for one week only. There are cards of The Rock, Roddy Piper, John Cena, Shawn Michaels, Batista and Undertaker.

Lauren Jones, former Smackdown diva, will become an employee of TV station KTYX for the filming of a reality comedy show to be aired by the Fox TV network.
 
Mickie James and Dykstra are both on tour in Canada.

The presale password for the WWE SmackDown/ECW show in Pittsburgh on Tuesday May 8th is “TAKER”. The presale will take place on Thursday March 22nd starting at 10am and will end on Friday, March 23rd at 10pm. Here is the link: http://www.ticketmaster.com/promo/yqm9h7.

DirecTV has a channel that is devoted to WWE WrestleMania 23. The channel is 115, and is listed as "IAC". The channel features a loop of a McMahon/Trump segment from RAW played over and over again. It also features an interactive WrestleMania 23 puzzle.
 
The reason Sabu was wearing Diavari's tights on ECW on Sci-Fi last night was because he showed up late to the arena and claimed the airlines had lost his bags.

XtremeFalls43 sent this in: MORE MEDIA COVERAGE ON WWE - The Best Damn Sports Show covered the story in a very heated argument. John Sally was very pro WWE and was defending Wrestling. The rest of the group was saying its not the same thing as sports but the Wrestlers shouldn't be taking steroids. Out of all the Wrestling Discussions I've seen today in the media this show came off the best I think. They all seemed to at least know something about the sport while other shows like Around The Horn poked fun at the WWE. Pardon the Interruption dedicated a segment to the Steroids Scandal on their show Tuesday. While both hosts seemed to not take the topic as serious as the subject probably is Wilbon did say wrestlers such as Sammartino, Freddie Blassie, and the recently passed Ernie Ladd didn't need steroids. Odd part was the SportsCenter lead in talked about while knowing Professional Wrestling is fake it is bad with the recent number of deaths in the Wrestling business. However PTI never really got to the lead in they were given. I was impressed that the hosts knew so many older wrestlers.

Erin Hayes sent this in: Due to another sporting event Smackdown will be seen at the following times this week on The Score in Canada: Saturday, March 24 1:00 am ET, Saturday, March 24 9:00 pm ET, Sunday, March 25 10:00 pm ET.
 
WWE Champion John Cena is seen as Vince McMahon’s “pet” around most locker room circles. John Cena and Vince McMahon spend a lot of time together backstage on television days. Reports are suggesting that it has started to get frustrating to more than one main event wrestler.

Sabu was dressed in Daivari's tights on ECW last night. According to PWInsider, Sabu didn't arrive at the arena until close to 7pm. Sabu said that his luggage had been lost by the airline. It is required for WWE performers to check in at TV tapings early in the afternoon. This couldn’t have made management too happy with Sabu.
 
Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Internally, Batista is being compared to Jim "Warrior" Hellwig a lot now. People inside of WWE say that he doesn't really love wrestling and simply got in because he had a great a body and was always protected & pushed. Also, he didn't have to sacrifice to get where he is compared to others.

On the other hand, Triple H is a big supporter of Batista because he saw him as his personal protege who he took from nothing and groomed him into be a major drawing card. Triple H wanted Randy Orton and Batista as the next two big stars of wrestling since he and Ric Flair could legitimately say they developed them, which was the final goal of the Evolution faction. When Batista started getting over in 2005, Triple H was obsessed with him becoming a big star because he felt creating Batista would be a major part of his final legacy in wrestling. He's very much into his legacy, particularly because he realizes from the outside, there is some question as to how he will exactly be remembered.

Batista has developed a star attitude and the feeling is he felt because he was handpicked by Triple H to be the next big star, and because he has a unique look, people feel as though that he comes off with a sense of entitlement. Things he's said in the SmackDown locker room at times plus percieved arrogance and aloofness hurt his reputation backstage.

His fight with Booker T last May hurt him badly with Vince McMahon. Several SmackDown wrestlers lost a bit of respect for him with his behavior that day, as much as for him actually losing the fight. Vince McMahon copped a major "Bill Watts attitude" about Booker beating him up in the fight. Batista was scheduled to win the World Title at SummerSlam at the time the fight took place. After the fight, Vince pulled the scheduled title change and told people that Batista wouldn't get the belt back at all. However, during the fall, Michael Hayes and Dusty Rhodes talked Vince into giving Batista a long run as the top guy on SmackDown, including winning the title, because he had drawn before. SmackDown business at the time was way down. Hayes & Rhodes saw Booker T as a comedy heel and his run wasn't working as the top star of the brand. Vince didn't completely agree with them, but he went with it and Batista would go on to win the title at the Survivor Series.

Even though from a business standpoint, Hayes & Rhodes were vindicated (ratings and attendance have since gone up), there is still trepidation with Batista. At one point after SmackDown business had turned around, the plan was for him to beat Undertaker at WrestleMania because they believed it would take him to next level of stardom. However, as of late, WWE isn't too sure about letting Batista end the Undertaker's storied WrestleMania win streak. The feeling is that if he beats him, people are going to see him as a major heel because the audience sees Taker's win streak as just about the only real thing left in professional wrestling. At the moment, the more likely scenario is Taker beating Batista, thus keeping his win streak intact, not to mention winning the title, but we won't know for sure until WrestleMania.
 
MTV2 has quietly started airing episodes of WSX. Episode five and six aired last night with no advertising. MTV Tr3s is airing WSX every Wednesday at 5:30PM. So one could assume that the finale, which has yet to air, will end up airing at some point on MTV2 or MTV Tr3s.

SciFi.com has an interview up with Steve Austin where he talks about The Condemned. In the interview, Austin says he wants to act for the rest of his life. He also talks about the fighting styles he used in the film.

The Orlando Sentinel has comments up from Vince McMahon regarding WrestleMania coming to Orlando. Check those out here.

Jim Ross has another new blog entry up. Some highlights are below. On Warrior being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame: Will the Ultimate Warrior ever be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame? Beats me. Not my call, for the record again. Would Warrior even accept if called? Does Warrior deserve the nod? Probably. On Brock Lesnar: I get asked about Brock Lesnar all the time. Jerry Brisco worked hard on recruiting Brock out of the University of Minnesota and I signed him to a WWE contract. Lesnar appeared to be a natural. Physically there was no doubt. But Brock either burned out with all the travel or he simply wasn't a fan of the genre. Nonetheless, if Lesnar were in the WWE today he could be making HUGE money, but only if his heart was in it. I wish things had worked out differently with Brock, as none of us are getting any younger and for a wrestler, one's younger years are generally, not always but generally, the best. I call it a lost opportunity for Lesnar and the business. On Scott Hall: We get lots of Scott Hall questions and I have not heard if Scott ever wants to wrestle a full time schedule again, but it is "highly unlikely". He has a smart wrestling mind though. On tri-branded WWE PPVs: Yes, in the future all WWE PPV's will feature all three brands. My question is, does that include all three announce teams plus the vaunted Spanish announce team that works every PPV (and does a great job by the way)? Perhaps my travel just increased and I am just not aware of it yet. Hooray.
 
The Smackdown and ECW brand will be heading off on a tour of Mexico this week starting this Thursday with an event in Mexico City. The tour continues on after that with a second event in Mexico City on Friday, Chihuahua on Saturday and Monterrey on Sunday. WWE.com has an article up featuring various Smackdown and ECW stars talking about the upcoming tour.

WWE Canada has confirmed to The LAW that the March 31st Hall of Fame ceremony will be carried by TSN. The show will be shown at 11pm EST and will be replayed Monday April 2nd at 7pm EST. This is the first time the WWE and TSN have worked together since the WWE left the station back in July of last year and moved their successful Monday night "Raw" program to The Score. As of right now there is no broadcaster for the Hall of Fame in the United States though talks are ongoing for the special to air on the USA Network.

It has been confirmed that Don Muraco will be inducting Mr. Fuji into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Former SmackDown Diva Lauren Jones will become an employee of TV station KTYX for the filming of a reality comedy show to be aired by the FOX TV network. The show will be centered around her and it is scheduled to run for six episodes. The show is scheduled to begin taping in May, with the first episode set to air in mid-to-late summer or in January because those are the months when they have open spaces in their programming.
 
Lita just finished up recording all the tracks for the debut album of her punk group, The Luchagors. She's said to have changed her look and is straight out of the 90s now. Skid Row bassist Rachel Bolan produced the CD. She's got some dates with Hermie Sadler's UWF coming up, but that's about it. She's asking for $3,000 per shot, and the feeling among most promoters is that a guy like Rob Van Dam might be worth $3,000 if he's straight off TV (and there have been many WWE guys straight off TV that are eager to work and want less than $1,000 per shot), but not Lita. It may be a deal where she has very little interest in wrestling, and figures no one is going to pay that money, but if they do, fine, that's $3,000 for a wrestling match.

There is a local promotion in Haleyville, AL that has banned Buff Bagwell from their shows. He was working as a main eventer, but according to the local newspaper he had used profanity and, according to another source, "was just an *** in general." The promoter vowed never to use him anywhere again.

Ricky Steamboat got the rights to his ring name back, which is why he's been appearing as "Ricky Steamboat" in video packages and mentions on WWE.com. His wife had originally gotten the rights to the name in a divorce settlement and refused to give them up. WWE didn't want to do anything major with Steamboat on TV (he's been working there as a road agent) because they figured nobody would care about "Richard Blood". They likely made a deal where he was given the rights, and his ex-wife will get a split of the profits that they can now make off merchandise, DVDs, etc. They can also now induct him into the WWE Hall of Fame.
 
As noted in the press release we posted earlier today, it was officially announced today that WrestleMania 24 would be taking place next year in Orlando, Florida on March 30, 2008, outdoors at the Florida Citrus Bowl.

This will be the first outdoor WrestleMania since 1993, which was held in Las Vegas. That show was considered a technical disaster in terms of coverage with shadows everywhere in the presentation of the show (not to mention it was considered one of the worst WrestleMania's ever). It is interesting that WWE decided to go with this plan as it was almost a given they wouldn't do WrestleMania outdoors again. Not to mention, the company can't control bad weather if that comes up next year.

It was worded that the event will hold close to 60,000 fans and according to a company source, with the set and needs for overall production, the capacity will be just in that range of somewhere between 58,000 to 65,000 seats. A crew from WWE flew in immediately after last night's Smackdown/ECW tapings in Cleveland for the press conference today in Orlando. On hand were Vince McMahon, John Cena, Bobby Lashley, Batista, Melina and Ashley Massaro. More than 50 members of the local media attended, although WWE took no questions from them on stage due to the recent steroid publicity.
 
Thanks to Martin Hawrysko for the following:

Mick Foley was a special guest on the Opie and Anthony radio show today. Opie and Anthony can be heard weekday mornings on XM Satellite Radio and most Free FM radio stations. Considering it's been about seven and a half hours since I listened to it, I'm doing my best to recap it.

- There was A LOT of discussion about Vince McMahon. Mick Foley's impersonation of Vince is dead on! They talk about the book and how it was Vince's idea for Foley to write a third autobiography. Foley impersonates Vince asking him to write the book and telling him to bash a lot of people (obviously because WWE book sales have slumped lately compared to Foley's first two autobiographies).

- Foley says the book talks about a lot of backstage stuff, which sounds enticing to me.

- Foley discussed the storyline involving Melina, Vince and himself on the WWE Family Reunion show back in October. Foley talked about how he was supposed to save Melina's job by kissing Vince's rear, but got fired anyways. Foley said that his wife never approved of Melina being the godmother of his son.

- At one point Vince asked Mick how the new book was coming along. Foley tells Vince he has good news and bad news. The good news is that there is someone who Foley is critical of throughout the book. The bad news was that the person was Vince.

- The infamous Jim Ross and Dr. Heiney skit was brought up. Foley mentioned that the skit started off funny, but lost all humor after the twelve item was pulled out of JR's rear. Foley mentioned the people's jaws dropped backstage while watching the skit and that Vince was the only person who thought it was funny. If reminded about it today, Vince would probably still laugh and say how funny it was, said Foley.

- Foley says that Vince gave him freedom to right anything in the book, and nothing was censored. Foley joked that he could picture Vince with his attorneys reading the book. Mick dedicating the book to Vince was the only thing that got him (Vince) mad, said Mick.

- Foley quoted Vince as saying "I may not be a good person, but I am a good businessman." One of the hosts mentioned the XFL and that Vince probably wishes he could erase the XFL from people's memory using the Men in Black mind erasing tool. Foley said he called the WWE office back then and asked to speak to Vince, and was told he was not in because he was starting a football league. They talked about how the NFL adapted some of the XFL's innovations, such as the cameras on the field.

- Foley said that when many of the talents get together, they have enough material on Vince to keep them laughing for hours. Foley said that Vince described Vince as being one of a kind.

- Foley says that back in the early nineties, wrestlers would have stayed in character if they were doing interviews of any kind. Today, wrestlers are allowed to be themselves. One of the hosts mentions McMahon's appearance on Bob Costas and asked if that was really Vince or the character. Foley said he once asked Vince that question and impersonated Vince's answer saying that he didn't know.

- At one point, one of the hosts mentioned that Vince was supposed to be on the show tomorrow. Now that should be interesting! There wasn't any talk of the current WWE storylines, and only a mere mention that WrestleMania was coming up soon.

- Overall, Mick Foley came across very well. He was very funny and his impersonation of Vince was absolutely hilarious. If there is a podcast of today's show, I definitely recommend listening to it, if possible.
 
Paul Z. sent in the following report:

I was watching the local Orlando, Florida CBS affiliate "Local 6" 5:30 newscast, and they talked about Mania coming to Orlando . They then segued into the steroid scandal since it involved a local pharmacy. Vince McMahon commented on it in the story, saying it was a select few individuals and you will find that in any sport. On the 6 o’clock newscast, they pretty much ran the same news story during the sports segment that they ran at 5:30 including the steroid portion and the McMahon comments.

At the end, however there was one extra portion to the story that I will now recite verbatim from the broadcast, Sportscaster Todd Lewis commented, “Now off-camera after the interview, McMahon said bringing up this topical segment of performance enhancing drugs today was in poor taste. Vince, you have your employees dieing prematurely due to health problems from steroid abuse, you send women out to wrestle in dental floss with more silicon in their body than a Tupperware convention, and you are going to lecture folks about poor taste? Make sure you Windex that glass house you live in before throwing those stones, my friend.”

I felt the reports by Todd Lewis I saw tonight were fair. He spoke about the economic impact of Wrestlemania 24 on the community, and he seems to actually understand the business. His final retort sounded as if he grasped what is going on, not coming off like a media elitist who dismisses everything about it and tries to paint wrestlers and their fans as nothing but total losers.
 
Partial Credit: PWInsider.com

- In the latest edition of Superstar 2 Superstar, Extreme Expose interviews Rich Boy. For those who don’t know who Rich Boy is, he be a hip hop artist. Check out WWE’s website to read the recap of the interview.

- Next month Mark Henry is scheduled to be appearing on the European tour with the SmackDown! Brand. It should be noted that Bobby Lashley and King Booker aren’t advertised for any of these shows.

- Speaking of European tours, this European tour will have both brands overseas. There will be two shows each day for 11 days straight starting from April 14th to the 24th.
 
source: WrestlingNews.com

WWE Films is currently in production of their next move titled Jornada del muerto (a/k/a Journey of the Deadman ).

The plot is outlined as “a modern-day Western where gangs, drug trafficking and broken codes of honor rule.”

Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Dave Batista, and Bobby Lashley are all scheduled to be in the cast. John Milius will be directing and it is set for release in 2009.
 
The following is from WWE.com:

As first reported by WWE Mobile Alerts, WWE has come to terms on the release of ECW Diva Rebecca DiPietro. WWE wishes Rebecca all the best in all future endeavors.
 
WWE will be broadcasting Raw live and taping Smackdown at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas on Monday, July 2nd, 2007.

Just wanted to drop you a line about a podcast at WDFN.com. WDFN’s mid-day host, Sean Baligian interviewed Shawn Michaels this morning. Scroll down to the podcasts from ‘Sean Baligian’.

The Smackdown! and ECW crew will take a tiny break from their United States live events tour and are headed south of the border for a four day tour in Mexico. On Thursday and Friday, there will be back-to-back shows in Mexico City at the Palacio De Los Deportes. On Saturday they travel to Chihuahua at the Gimnasio Manuel Bernardo Aguirre and on Sunday in Monterrey at the Plaza De Toros. (thanks to Colin Vassallo)

From Jeff Sheridan: Just came back from the Fan Axxess tour, it's pretty much everything what they said it was at other locations. Spoke to someone that works there, he told me that Hillbilly Jim's there, Foley would be there by 5PM & Carlito cancelled [as predicted]. About an hour later I finally got to meet Hillbilly Jim. Told him who I was that I do a transcript of his weekly Sirius show, the conversation was brief [maybe 2 or 3 minutes], but he said he deeply appreciated of what I do for his show. When I asked him as to how long was his contract with Sirius, he told me that he's on for another year & I believe he said his Sirius contract ends around 2/2008. Got a picture of me & him together & shook his hand. Had a great time there.
 
From Will Marchildon: I was just watching TSN's broadcast of the NHL. The game is Nashville at Vancouver. At the very start of the game before the opening faceoff they arena was playing HHH's theme "The Game" by Moterhead.

During ECW on Sci Fi in Cleveland, OH last night, Ed "The Original Sheik" Farhat was announced as the sixth inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame - Class of 2007 this year.

The Detroit News has an interview with Batista at DetNews.com where he talks about trying out for WCW and being shown the door.

Every major newspaper and news broadcast networks in the Orlando area picked up stories about WrestleMania 24 coming to the city next year at the Florida Citrus Bowl on March 30.

As noted earlier, Sabu had to wear Daivari's tights at the ECW TV taping on Tuesday night in Cleveland, OH. According to reports, Sabu didn't arrive at the venue until 7:00pm and claimed his luggage was lost by the airline hew flew on. All WWE wrestlers are required to report in at TV tapings very early in the afternoon, so Sabu arriving late obviously didn't help his current standing with WWE management at the moment.

WWE.com has an interview up with Triple H where he talks about wanting to return to the ring by SummerSlam in August.
 
Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

There is a good deal of internal frustration and disappointment that the Trump/McMahon angle hasn't gotten much mainstream publicity. McMahon was expecting a second wave of mainstream publicity due to Stone Cold Steve Austin's involvement in the angle, but they haven't really gotten any extra attention for it. The only thing out was a business wire story that WWE wrote, and nobody picked up except for a local Detroit-area newspaper.
 
Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

It seems like no one bothered to mention that K.C. James had been out with some sort of injury for a few months. That explains why Idol Stevens was teaming without him in OVW for some unknown reason for a few months. James finally returned to action a few weeks ago in OVW. James & Stevens were told that the team would be brought back up to the main roster when James finally recovered, but that obviously hasn't happened yet. While James was out with an injury, Idol Stevens was teaming up with fellow WWE demotee Johnny Jeter.

Speaking of Johnny Jeter, he's gained some weight since being demoted to OVW and is said to look "Pillsbury Doughboy-like". The weight gain has slowed his ring speed. Former Spirit Squad member Mikey, who is now in OVW as well, has also gained some weight, although it hasn't really affected his ring speed. Even so, his physique has been compared to that of 80's wrestling star Buddy Rose before his weight got out of control.

Mark Henry gained quite a bit of weight while he was out with an injury. He looks to be in the neighborhood of 450 to 460 pounds. WWE's website bills him as being 380 pounds. He also looked immobile in his return match against Daniel Rodimer in OVW a few weeks ago. He was also seen sporting a huge knee brace.
 
source: PWTorch Newsletter

--Cruiserweight champion Chavo Guerrero’s contract is set to expire this April. No word yet on if he plans to resign; however WWE normally tries to persuade talent to resign several weeks before their contracts expire. This helps prevent talent from working a WWE show one night and TNA the next.

--Friends close to Chris Jericho say that he is getting the “itch” to return back to the ring. Jericho is not interested in resuming a full travel schedule and would like to get a contract that is similar to Mick Foley. He is open to working in TNA if the money is right, but he would prefer to sign back with WWE.
 
Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Edge hasn't wrestled much as of late due to an injury. He has a banged up jaw. He may not be 100% at WrestleMania, but the expectation is that he'll go full-time again starting with that event. His injury also explains why he hasn't appeared on recent house shows.

There is an article on the Winnipeg Free Press' official website in which RAW star Kenny Dykstra defends WWE against the alleged steroid ring. Dykstra said, "OK, you made an accusation, but that doesn't mean it's true." He also said, "I don't think they have to defend themselves. I believe (the WWE is) doing fine." Dykstra said the WWE's current policies are working well. "I think they're policing it just fine," said Dykstra. "They have a wellness program with random testing. If you fail you're gone, if you don't fail you're still here. They're definitely cracking down on it." He also added, "If people want to look for substances, why don't they just look at bodybuilders? Look at those guys."

Melina was told that her match match at WrestleMania with Ashley will be a big determining factor in how her future in WWE will go. It's accepted that she's the best female personality in the company, but she's had tremendous heat in the past and even present which is why both she and Johnny Nitro aren't getting pushed to the level of their respective abilities.
 
Smackdown last week finished with a 2.8 rating.

It turns out that the second hour of RAW did a 4.1 rating, not a 4.0 as originally reported. The first hour did a 3.3 and the overall rating was a 3.7.

AM RAW on 3/17 did a 0.8 rating.
 
The Daytona News Journal has an article up about WrestleMania 24 taking place at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, FL. In the article, Vince McMahon says that the wrestlers will continue to work the show even if it rains. He also says that the other locations being considered for WM24 were Paris and Las Vegas.

The Detroit News has an interview up with Mr. Kennedy. In it, he says Steve Austin has been his biggest influence.

WWE has pulled Randy Orton from all his upcoming media appearances. No reason was given but WWE probably doesn't want him answering questions about the Sports Illustrated steroid story.

WWE.com has an article up in which Batista acknowledges that the internet doesn't think he should be in the main event at WrestleMania 23.
 
WWE announced earlier today that William Shatner will induct Jerry Lawler into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Despite frequent denials, Kevin Dunn apparently talked Jerry Lawler out of asking for legendary wrestling broadcaster Lance Russell as the person to introduce him for the WWE Hall of Fame. Dunn has been reported to have claimed that "No one knows who Lance Russell is".

Lawler claimed that the story wasn't true, and that Russell had some unnamed "personal problem" that would prevent him from performing the honor.

In other HOF news, Steve Austin will induct Jim Ross this year.

Sabu will induct The Sheik.

Dusty Rhodes' sons will induct him.

Don Muraco will induct Mr. Fuji.
 
It now appears that the WWE will air the '07 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on the USA Network at Midnight 12AM ET / 11 PM CT on Saturday night, 3/31.

Wrestlemania 23 will be replayed on April 3, 4, 6, 9, 20, and 22 on DirecTV.

ECW on Sci Fi scored a 1.6 cable rating this week.
 
Former WWE diva search hopeful Carmella DeCesare will be marrying Tampa Bay's quarterback Jeff Garcia. Garcia recently signed a contract with Tampa Bay, after playing for the Philadelphia Eagles last year.

According to Box Office Mojo, John Cena's "The Marine" has now pulled in $25.71 million in gross DVD rentals, as of 3/18. The movie only pulled in $18,844,784 at the box office domestically.

From Carlos aka RideMoreTrainz: A Fan-Cam video of WWE's Wrestlemania 23 Promotional Tour at South Street Seaport in NYC with an appearance by Mick Foley is available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm7k59qbhQo

Candice Michelle and Diamond Dallas Page are starring in an upcoming movie called "Horrorween," directed by Joe Estevez.
 
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