Miscellaneous WWE News Thread.

[A.J.]

Mick Foley commented during his appearance on Opie and Anthony radio show, that after Wrestlemania he will have a big announcement to make.

- On May 18th, WWE will be coming back to the Blue Grass state at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. The place holds about 19,000. It's supposed to be a "WWE Super Show" with talent from Raw, Smackdown and ECW

 

[A.J.]

Mick Foley was a guest this week on the Opie and Anthony radio show. Foley said he has a big announcement to make after Wrestlemania. It either has something to do with Vince McMahon or Johnny Nitro.

WWE will be coming back to the Blue Grass state on 5/18 at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. The place holds about 19,000. It's supposed to be a "WWE Super Show" with talent from Raw, Smackdown and ECW.

The Big Mosh sent this in ... I am selling two WrestleMania tickets (between this weekend & next Tuesday night): Floor 5 Row 17 Seat 4 & Section 113 Row 28 Seat 21. For more information on how to get your hands on these, e-mail [email protected].

The 3/20 edition of ECW on Sci Fi drew a final 1.6 cable rating. This is the same number the show drew last week.

WWE.com is reporting that the 2007 WWE Hall of Fame will be airing in the U.S. after all on the USA Network on Saturday, March 31 at Midnight ET/11:00pm CT.

 

[A.J.]

Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Chavo Guerrero's contract with WWE expires this April. Guerrero, who is currently the WWE Crusierweight Champion, has not been booked for WrestleMania 23 as it appears the Cruiserweight Title will not be defended unless plans change late. TNA is said to be interested. We will continue to follow this situation as it develops.

RVD’s contract is set to expire some time this summer. TNA officials are very interested in signing him if he lets his WWE contract expire.

As we’ve been reporting, John Cena is viewed as Vince McMahon’s “pet.” Several superstars are saying that McMahon and Cena spend a lot of time together backstage, specifically on television days. It apparently has upset more than one main event wrestler.

 

[A.J.]

From Jeff Sheridan: Here's a 4 & a 1/2 minute video of Mick Foley's 3/21 Opie & Anthony appearance - foundrymusic.com/media/displaymedia.cfm/id/14411/page/show_video_number_14411.html

Randy Orton was pulled by WWE from a St. Louis radio interview on KFNS 590 AM in the wake of all the media attention regarding the steroid controversy.

As announced on WWE's web site, World Wrestling Entertainment will be conducting a press conference for WrestleMania 23 this coming Wednesday at Trump Towers in New York City.

MMAWeekly.com is reporting that a press conference is set for this Tuesday to announce “Softbank presents DYNAMITE!! USA in association with ProElite", which will be a Mixed Martial Arts event broadcast on PPV from Los Angeles. The event will be promoted by K-1's HEROS subsidiary. Former WWE champion Brock Lesnar is slated to make his MMA debut, fighting Hong-Man Choi while MMA legend Royce Gracie will also be competing. Lesnar's bout is believed by MMAWeekly to be the main event of the show. For much more specific info on Lesnar's debut and who he's fighting (photos, videos of past fights, etc.) click here.

Sacred Heart University's school paper The Spectrum has a story WWE's Executive Vice President of Consumer Products, Donna Goldsmith, giving a "career day" lecture at the school yesterday. It's currently the most popular story on the paper's website.

Mick Foley's "The Hardcore Diaries" is listed at number 13 on this week's Wall Street Journal non-fiction best seller list.

 

[A.J.]

Vince McMahon appeared on Fox News Channel yesterday, on World Today with Neil Cavuto. During the appearance, McMahon promised that he or Trump would get their head shaven at WrestleMania 23 even though Neil seemed to think neither would and that it was a joke. McMahon also said that the wrestling business is about to boom again.

Orlando CBS affiliate Local 6 has put up a video and transcript of Vince McMahon responding to the Sports Illustrated steroid story. Check it out at Local6.com.

Mick Foley's The Hardcore Diaries is listed at #13 on the non-fiction Wall Street Journal best seller list this week. The book came in at #49 on the USA Today best seller list and #8 on the non-fiction Publishers Weekly list.

The Detroit News has an interview up with Vince McMahon. In it, McMahon says he works 12 hours a day, says it is more difficult for him now due to lack of competition, the Wellness Program, and more. Check it out DetNews.com.

 

[A.J.]

Bret Hart's book "Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling" is scheduled for a release in September.

DDP will be on Playboy radio on Monday at 3PM Eastern (and Noon Pacific) on Sirius Ch. 198. You can dial into the show by calling 1-877-205-9796.

Hulk Hogan recently stated on the Bubba the Love Sponge that he and Vince McMahon had talked about doing a hair vs. hair match, but both insisted on doing the J-O-B. Hogan has also hinted about doing a legends tour.

Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Wade Boggs will induct Mr. Perfect into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Stacy Keibler was featured as a entertainment correspondent on ABC to hype up the returning of "Dancing with the Stars."

 

[Y2KRIS]

Well Andrew Test Martins,RVD,CHavo Guerrerro Big SHow and Y2J are all signing with TNA one way or another so I better see Chris Jerkiko signing in TNA he is better of there than WWF
TNA is the resurrection of WCW once again it rises from the ashes and I wouldn t be suprised If Eric Bischoff and Donald TRump purchase WWE and Put McMoron out of business LMAO
Having the fans praising Bischoff and the wicked laughter saying to all Wrestling fans "They said it couldn't be done but never say never" lol
As the fans cheer and jeer him an dhe renames it once again
W C W

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Partial Credit: PWTorch.com

Jerry Lawler is scheduled to take on Hulk Hogan on April 27th in Memphis at the Mid South Coliseum. This will be the first time that the two have wrestled in more then 25 years. The event is being put together Hulk Hogan, not by Memphis Wrestling or Jerry Lawler.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The original plan was to have Justin Timberlake to induct Jerry Lawler.

Why?

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Mick Foley's third installment of his autobiography, 'The Hardcore Diaries', noped two places from its last week's placement in the New York Times Best Seller list chart. In its third week on the chart, Foley's 384-page book sits in the eight position after first debuting in the 7th place and then moved to the 6th place a week later. (thanks to Colin Vassallo)

In addition to the Philadelphia and Washington D.C. pre-emptions noted last night, Friday Night Smackdown was also pre-empted in Spokane, Seattle and Portland. All three markets will get a chance to see the episode tonight at 8PM PT.

Before Wrestlemania 23 airs on PPV, WWE will feature a 20 man over the top battle royal dark match.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

TheOneCalledA1 sent this in: The sale of Smackdown/ECW tickets in Philadelphia starts on April 27th.

Lex of ProWrestlingBlog.com sent this in: I got an e-mail from a fan who is very upset after the WWE threatened to kick him out of the building for wearing an nWo t-shirt to Raw last Monday night. He goes into a lot of detail. It's worth the read: click here.

CNNMoney.com's editor-at-large Paul La Monica has written an interesting article which tackles' WWE's business side over at CNNMoney.com . While saying that the Trump/McMahon hype has helped the stocks, it is still only 8 percent above its 52-week low. The story also talks how WWE.com is pretty popular with fans with 16 million unique viewers and 46 million video streams per month. However the company hasn't found a way to make serious money from the traffic generated on the website. Noting that in the past year there were only two people heading up the Internet sales division, now there are a dozen individuals working on securing ads on WWE.com.

Yesterday over 5,000 fans attended the premiere of Stone Cold Steve Austin's new movie 'The Condemned'. The event was free to everyone and was also part of the WrestleMania Travel Package deal. Several WWE Superstars including Batista, Triple H, Mick Foley, JBL, Nitro and Melina, Jim Ross, the McMahon's and others were also present for the screening. WWE Films President Joel Simon and the star of the movie Steve Austin were also in attendance.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

WWE.com has tons of coverage up from last night's premiere in Detroit of WWE Films' "The Condemned" starring Steve Austin.

A daily diary up on WWE.com following Matt Hardy during WrestleMania 23 weekend in Detroit.

There is also an interesting article up on WWE.com focusing on the large amount of pyro that will be used at WrestleMania on Sunday in Ford Field.

Isaac sent this in: Elijah Burke showed up and did some commentating during the sixth round of Thomas Davis vs Joel Julio fight on ESPN's Friday Night Fights. Burke basically talked about WreslteMania this weekend and put himself and his finishing move, The Elijah Express, over. Interestingly enough, he also talked about his experience in the boxing ring to which he owns an impressive 103-1 record. It was only during the 6th round but it was fairly entertaining.

Rocky Dominguez also sent this in: Elijah Burke was used as a guest commentator for ESPN 2's Friday Night Fights. While sitting at ringside Burke talked about his career as an amateur boxer and talked about Wrestlemania this weekend and his match as part of the New Breed vs. the ECW originals

 

[Y 2 Jake]

source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

--Despite several rumors, Edge will not be taking time off this summer. He is scheduled to be in several major storylines of the summer months.

-- Media outlets all around the nation are continuing to pick up on the "Battle of the Billionaires" storyline which will take place at tomorrow's WrestleMania. This is just what WWE expected, thus bringing Donald Trump in, is deemed a success.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

--This year's WWE Hall of Fame ceremony is not brining near as much hype as last year's. This year people are having trouble selling there tickets for face value on eBay, while last year people were getting upwards of $435 per ticket.

--Hulk and Brooke Hogan were spotted at a Jamie Fox concert at the Glass Club in Miami.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

-- Vickie Guerrero's character is in serious jeopardy of being dropped. The idea of her replacing Teddy Long as SmackDown's general manager is still not dead, but is well on its way. The WWE creative team feels that her character is simply losing too much momentum.

--Mick Foley's newest book, Hardcore Diaries has had the most successful WWE book open since Ric Flair's autobiography in 2004.

 

[Kassard]

The Battle of the billionaires has received a fair bit of media attention in Australia this morning. It has been mentioned on two different channels news bulletiens with footage of the stunner on trump and vince getting his head shaved. This was also called a publicity stunt by one new service.

on another note the Today show in Australia highlighted Undertakers win in the tickertape scroll along the bottom of the screen saying: "World heavywieght title: Undertaker wins the World heavyweight championship by defeating batstia"

To my knowlege this is the first mention of a pro wrestling match as a significant headline since Nathan Jones debuted for the company in the early 2000's.

I guess vince got what he wanted!!

 

[wrestling247]

source: PWInsider.com, www.f4wonline.com

Nowadays, WWE is trying to listen to the fans a bit more. They tried to bury these three individuals, but the fans refused to stop cheering for them.

Expect to see big pushes for CM Punk, Matt Hardy and Rob Van Dam. A lot has already been shown by Punk's role at WrestleMania and his good performance on the show. On Raw, you saw Matt Hardy become a champion again. And at WrestleMania, RVD gained a win because they want him to a part of WWE in the future. The company threw him a bone with the Mania win, basically letting him know that if he re-signed, they'd take care of him. No one knows what his plans are and the belief is that he's not 100 percent sure at this point

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Credit: PWInsider.com

- AOL is offering free video of Donald Trump and Bobby Lashley shaving Vince McMahon's head.

- CM Punk recently was involved in an interview with SportsGamer.com. In the interview he discusses games, WrestleMania, and more. It also reveals his real name, Phillip Brooks.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Advertised for the main event of the April 17th SmackDown! Taping in Milan, Italy, is Batista challenging WWE World Champion, The Undertaker.

Jim Ross is back with another b-log today. You can check it out at JrsBarBq.com.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Former WWE and WCW superstar, Sean O'Haire, was involved in a bar fight. A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Juan Brantley, 28 years old. Brantley is the one who injured O'Haire in the fight. O'Haire sustained a fractured orbital bone and some impaired vision. Brantley had not been arrested, as of Friday afternoon. There have been several conflicting stories as to who was the aggressor in the fight.

It should be noted that O'Haire has been charged in four previous fights, but only convicted for one of those charges. He was sentenced to 11 hours, which he was credited for time served.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

King Booker will be out of action for several weeks to tend to a knee issue he's been dealing with for some time. He's going to undergo surgery to repair the problems and is expected back by late June at the latest. That's the reason he was written off SmackDown last night by being tombstoned on a table by Undertaker. WWE.com is reporting that he'll be out of action "indefinitely" due to the tombstone, which will be the storyline reason for his departure.

In his latest blog on jrsbarbq.com, Jim Ross explained himself regarding the "No Man's Land" remark he made on Raw when Vince McMahon hid under Lilian Garcia's long skirt: James- Perhaps you should be a detective. I have never heard that Lilian Garcia was a lesbian! Good grief the wrestling internet can be brutal! Lilian is not a lesbian, but if she were what would it matter? I know that Lilian was married and is now dating a guy. My "No Man's Land" remark Monday night was a cliché

 

[Y 2 Jake]

John Cena will be appearing on MTV's Punk'd on 4/10 at 9PM ET.

The WrestleMania Battle of the Billionaires got a brief mention in the latest issue of Time Magazine. The blurb reads..."After winning a proxy wrestling match, Donald Trump shaved opponent Vince McMahon's head, per their wager. Most viewers would have preferred the opposite outcome, among them 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, who gave Trump a 'stunner.' Gossip site TMZ speaks for all of us: 'One can only hope that this begins a flurry of celeb feud shave-offs."

Fansite Sharmell.net recently conducted a brief interview with Sharmell.

Marcus Bagwell has announced that he will be reforming the American Males with Scotty Riggs as well as Vicious and Delicious with Scott Norton, presumably on the indy circuit.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

WWE has posted video of the 8-Man tag match from ECW this week. The match is getting a lot of praise.

Dean Malenko and Dusty Rhodes were both heavily involved in putting the 8-Man tag match together.

The poster for WWE One Night Stand (and it will be called WWE One Night Stand this year, not ECW) features Bobby Lashley's face and lists all three brands.

Smackdown did a 2.8 fast national rating Friday night. The final number should be in next week.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Booker T will be out until June.

The marketing company for AT&T sent in word about the new WWE Mobile on Cingular website located at http://www.cingular.com/source/sports/wwe . The site features previews of what you can expect if you subscribe to WWE Mobile on their service. Exclusive videos, ringtones and graphics are offered for Cingular subscribers. The basic WWE video package comes standard with Cingular Video, includes weekly video clips with massive amounts of WWE content including show previews, highlights, etc. There's also a 'WWE Ringside' video package which includes 18 weekly WWE clips for $4.99 per month. (Thanks to Colin Vassallo)

From Barbara Pencille: I was just writing to inform you that the episode of Punk'd that features John Cena just aired on MTV in a sneak-preview. It will air officially Tuesday, April 10th at 9:00pm eastern time. 8:00 pm central. The episode deals with something more fitting for Undertaker! You are in for a great episode!

For the rest of the week there will be no live events as WWE gives its wrestlers and staff a break after a very hectic WrestleMania week. After live RAW on Monday and Smackdown!/ECW tapings on Tuesday, everyone will leave on a long European tour with the next live event in the United States being on the 29th of April for Backlash pay-per-view. RAW, Smackdown! and ECW will be taped in Milan, Italy and London, England after next week. (thanks to Colin Vassallo)

WWE.com has an article up noting that ECW Champion Bobby Lashley was recently honored in the "Salute" military magazine.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

WWE has added new video updates to its "Broadband" section featuring RVD, Balls Mahoney, Rey Mysterio, Trish Stratus and more.

Following the "broken arm" injury storyline earlier this week that WWE used for Hardcore Holly's upcoming absence from ECW TV (we reported back in February that Holly was in need of elbow surgery and this was there way to write him off TV), the company now has an article up on WWE.com noting that King Booker suffered a quote "sprain and strained contusion of the neck" following the Tombstone Piledriver he took from The Undertaker on Smackdown. WWE did this angle because Booker has been dealing with knee issues for quite some time and will now be undergoing surgery to repair the problems. As of now, Booker is expected to be out of action until late June at the very latest.

WWE.com has an article up regarding Matt Cappotelli's announcement at a recent TV taping for Ohio Valley Wrestling this week in Louisville, KY where he announced some bad news. Cappotelli's brain tumor has grown and he will now be requiring some serious surgery to remove the growth.