Miscellaneous WWE News Thread.

[Y 2 Jake]

Former WWE Diva Lauren Jones recently launched a casual couture line of clothing called Laur Baby. The line is currently in its first season and pieces can be found at her official website, LaurenJones.net. The pieces will be sold exclusively at stores nationwide and on her official website. Some men's and women's shirts in which she personally designed are up for sale in the store.

Anna Nicole Smith recently met up with fellow platinum blonde Hulk Hogan. TMZ.com has an article up on her chance meeting with the Hulkster. In the pictures enclosed in the article, she shows off her new tattoos.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

On Friday, you can meet the Hardy Boyz from 6 to 8PM at Bookends in Ridgewood, NJ.

Also on Friday, you can meet the beautiful Torrie Wilson from 6 to 8PM at the Palmetto Expo Center for the Greenville, SC Auto show.

WWE hall of famer Sgt. Slaughter will be signing autographs on Saturday at the Omega Sports-Summit Park Mall in Niagara Falls, NY from 6 to 8PM.

Speaking of autographs, Cpt. Lou Albano will be doing a signing on Saturday from 2 to 4PM at the Montgomery Mall in North Wales, PA for SB Promotions.

CMLL's final big show in 2006 on 12/15 was entitled Sin Piedad (No Mercy).

 

[Y 2 Jake]

-- The word going around backstage is that Shawn Michaels is longtime due for time off. His recent grueling schedule has done numbers to him physically. Michaels has had a history of back problems and refuses to take pain killers to eliminate his discomfort. The long overseas flights are particularly tough on the superstar. With Triple H getting injured, Michaels is under heavy pressure to pick up the slack as WWE's roster is currently lacking.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

-- Mike sent the following: I was listening to Pro Bodybuilding Weekly on bodybuilding.com and the promoter for the Arnold Classic made mention that WWE will have recruiters at the upcoming event. He also mentioned that WWE Heavyweight Champion John Cena would be there as well.

-- Matthew sent word that TNA star Kip James has been appearing in a UK drink commercial.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

-- WWE Diva Candice Michelle will once again appear in this year Go Daddy comercial.

-- Hulk Hogan will be Bubba The Love Sponge's best man at his wedding this weekend.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Ian P. sent the following: I was at The View (I know, my Mom had free tickets and I was hoping to get a free iPod) Tuesday morning after Raw this past Monday night. During the commercial breaks Rosie does a Q/A with the audience and I asked her about the WWE angle that was shot the night prior on RAW. She said she doesnt watch wrestling.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Police: Pro wrestler pulled over for speeding: PEORIA - A professional wrestler running late for a show at the Peoria Civic Center was pulled over on Interstate 74 on Tuesday afternoon for reportedly driving more than 40 mph over the speed limit. Sylvain Grenier, 29, of Davie, Fla., best known to World Wrestling Entertainment fans for his role in La Resistance, an anti-American tag team, was arrested about 3 p.m. by an Illinois State Police officer doing a routine detail. He will have to return to Peoria for a scheduled court date. Grenier was headed east on I-74 near mile marker 91, which is in Peoria city limits, near Downtown. The speed limit is 55 mph at that location. He was going 96 mph, State Police said. Grenier was booked into the Peoria County Jail, but a WWE co-worker paid his $200 bond to get him out about 4:30 p.m., two hours before show time.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The "Subway" commercial featuring John Cena with Jared Fogle was airing during the Saturday and Sunday slate of NFL Playoff games last weekend. Some have pointed out how Cena wore the WWE Title in the commercial and how it was unlikely that we could see a title change until WrestleMania when airings of the commercial winds down. Then again, WWE could change their minds next week for all we know.

As of last week, Paul Heyman is still under contract with WWE as they have not released him from his deal or fired him. Heyman has yet to quit or resign as well. So, at this time, Heyman is basically getting paid to do nothing. Either WWE has plans to utilize him in the future for another project or they want to keep him away from TNA through the length of his contract.

Trish Stratus talks about the new CBS reality show at WWE.com.

WWE Diva Ashley interviews rapper Bow Wow at WWE.com as well.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Vince McMahon has been bringing up the names Mick Foley and Chris Jericho is discussions for WrestleMania 23 as of late. As far as Jericho goes, nothing close to a deal has been negotiated yet.

At one point Foley vs. McMahon was assumed to be penciled in, but talks of that have died down.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

During the Rosie vs. Trump match on RAW, some fans in attendance were chanting "TNA" and possibly "VKM" as well. According to a fan in attendance, Vince McMahon, who was sitting by Lilian Garcia, acted like he didn't hear the chants. However, there was one fan right behind him that was repeatedly screaming "TNA, TNA, TNA" in his ear. When this happened, Vince McMahon's smile to the match toned down considerably. Furthermore, his body language seemed to go from excited to slouched down & bored while people in the Scottrade Center chanted his competitor's name.

Internally Monday night's edition of RAW was seen as an utter disaster and embarrassment. It was likely due to the Rosie vs. Trump match as it failed to a monumental degree in the building and had the fans loudly chanting "TNA!"

The "Rosie" vs. "Trump" match hasn't gotten as much mainstream publicity as WWE probably hoped for. Thus far, I have only been able to find a single article on TMZ.com on the stunt. I have yet to hear word of the match being mentioned on television. Furthermore, Rosie O'Donnell didn't acknowledge the impersonation on "The View" yesterday.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

CMLL advertised Rey Mysterio Jr. appearing at a 12/25 house show, which drew a good house. Of course, WWE didn't allow Mysterio to make an appearance.

According to Dave Meltzer, Monty Brown is resting up an injured knee before debuting in WWE. Brown was originally scheduled to debut in ECW, but those plans may have changed.

Not a good '06 ending for former WWE superstar Psicosis. He is once again working as Nicho in Mexico for CMLL, Psicosis got his nose shattered in a match by Hijo del Misterio (accidentally), and got his head shaved and rushed to a nearby hospital to get his nose set. Ouch. WWE officially released Psicosis in October.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Christian Connor passed along the following report:

Today on The Howard Stern show on Sirius Radio, Howard played some clips from Monday Night Raw's "Historic" Rosie vs. Trump face off. Howard began playing the clip and immediately asked what happened to Vince's voice, JD (part of the show's crew) came in and explained how Vince was in his "Mr. McMahon" character. Howard played more of the clip where Vince meets Rosie in the dressing room, about 20 seconds in Howard stopped the clip and started going off on how boring the clip was and how he couldn't believe people actually watched wrestling. Stern then played another clip hoping it would be more entertaining, playing the clip where Vince was introducing Rosie to the ring and you could hear Jim Ross commentating as Rosie made her entrance. At this time Stern finally stopped the clip for good, again asking how people actually found WWE entertaining. Some of the other studio crew started to make fun of how bad the WWE clips were and then JD went on to mention how the Rosie vs. Trump match was actually booed by the fans at the arena and how they were loudly chanting "we want wrestlers" during the "match".

The entire time Stern spent discussing WWE was about 2 minutes overall. You could almost sense that Howard was expecting funny material from the WWE clips and was very disappointed when he found it wasn't entertaining. I found it very ironic that even the "King of All Media" (who is widely known for his love and use of adolescent humor) was unable to find any kind of entertainment in WWE's current product.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

source: PWTorch Newsletter

As reported earlier, Jim Ross made a rare request to WWE brass to give him New Year's Day off so that he could watch his beloved Oklahoma Sooners play Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. J.R. was denied his request because they needed him that night for RAW. Making matters worse, he was ribbed unmercifully as the Sooners fell, 43-42, in one of the greatest bowl games of all-time. According to an article in The Post and Courier, one WWE performer said, "I don't know why they give J.R. such a hard time, but Vince was really ribbing him all night about the game. They were all ribbing him during the game because he couldn't watch it."

As of last week, Paul Heyman remained under contract to WWE as they had not released him or fired him, and he did not quit or resign. He is getting paid to do nothing, so either WWE plans to utilize him in the future for another project after what amounts to a leave of absence or suspension, or they want to

 

[Y 2 Jake]

As announced on Tuesday's broadcast of ECW on Sci Fi, Kelly Kelly will be making her triumphant to ECW programming on next Tuesday's show. This will be her first appearance on the show since December 5th.

According to WrestlingFigs.com, Jakks Pacific has pulled the Paul Heyman action figure from the upcoming line of ECW action figures (ECW Series 1). There will now only be five action figures in the set instead of six (CM Punk, Sandman, Rob Van Dam with ECW Title Belt, Kevin Thorn, and Tommy Dreamer).

The Great Khali's profile is now in the RAW section, thus making his move to RAW official. The storyline reason given for his move to RAW was that his contract had expired.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

ContactMusic.com is carrying a short article about rapper Jayceon Taylor who uses the nickname 'The Game' complaining that WWE and Triple H "copied" him and is "challenging his namesake to a fight" to prove his credentials. The rapper is claiming that he was 'The Game' long before Triple H started to call himself that. "He's on TV wrestling and it's pretend, made up. I wrestle in real life and I win," he said. Okay, nobody laughs now. The rapper rose to fame in 2005 following the success of his debut album, titled 'The Documentary' and his two Grammy nominations. He is notorious for feuding with East Coast rappers and artists like Ja Rule, Jay-Z, Xzibit and others. (thanks to Colin Vassallo)

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The Paul Heyman action figure has been pulled from the first series of ECW figures to be released.

WWE.com is playing up an angle where Little Bastard is suing WWE.com for invasion of privacy. The latest twist in the story is that the photographer is counter-suing Little Bastar

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Credit: Various

Daivari is expected to move over to SmackDown from ECW to compete in the Cruiserweight Division. Also, Daivari's profile has been removed from ECW.com.

As of last week, Paul Heyman remained under contract to WWE as they had not released him or fired him, and he did not quit or resign. He is getting paid to do nothing, so either WWE plans to utilize him in the future for another project after what amounts to a leave of absence or suspension, or they want to keep him away from TNA through the length of his contract.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Source: PWInsider.com

At this moment, it is not expected that Paul Wight (Big Show) will return for WrestleMania. Previously, it was believed that Wight might be rested and healed enough to compete. The original idea was for Wight to wrestle against his good friend Hulk Hogan. Of course a lot can still happen between now and WrestleMania, so you can never say never. The ball is in Wight's court.

The projected plan or idea in the WWE now is that Donald Trump may have some involvement at WrestleMania. According to Dave Scherer of PWInsider, the idea now is that any involvement from Trump may be his being in the corner of a wrestler or wrestlers during a match at WrestleMania. On the opposite corner would be none other than Vince McMahon. If this projected plan or idea goes through, that would almost eliminate any plan for a Mick Foley and Vince McMahon match. As reported previously here on the site, Foley has been lobbying for months to have a match against McMahon at this year's WrestleMania. Foley's last appearance on WWE television was back in the fall on an episode of Raw, when he was "fired" after kissing McMahon's rear. Again, I would like to stress that any talk of Trump being involved at WrestleMania is just a projected plan or idea at this point. Nothing has been confirmed and it is very well possible that Trump will not make any appearances in the WWE.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Credit: The Pro Wrestling Torch

The Great Khali was moved over to RAW in response to Triple H's injury because they needed a new big star. The plan was for the DX vs. RKO feud to continue a little longer. There had been talk of Khali vs. Lashley for the ECW Title at WrestleMania, but no longer. Plans are being reworked for the next several months as we speak. Furthermore, there were plans for Khali to move over to RAW, but not this soon.

With Big Show looking less and less likely to be able to go at WrestleMania, Khali is now the leading candidate to face Hulk Hogan at the event. Vince McMahon really wants to play off of WrestleMania 3 with Hogan vs. a giant, and now Khali appears to be that man.

Khali was moved over to RAW to get more exposure in preparation for his match with Hogan. There is still a chance that Big Show may return for this, but with it looking less and less likely with each passing week, Khali has been penciled in to wrestle Hogan at WrestleMania. Also, there are people who strongly believe that Big Show's done with the business.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Source: The Wrestling Observer

WWE is currently in the early staged of trying to put together a new Hart Foundation. The current idea would see it comprised of Harry Smith, Nattie Neidhart, Teddy Hart and TJ Wilson. Harry has been signed for a while now and Nattie was signed to a developmental deal just recently. She will be reporting to Deep South soon. Teddy Hart's contract with WSX is up in February however there is a massive question mark over him do to his past history and reputation. They are trying to sign TJ Wilson but they are having problems with his work visa which they are currently trying to work out. With Survivor Series coming up this year from Montreal (10 years after the Screw Job), they would like to have them on TV as established characters by then so they can have a prominent role in the show.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Source: The Wrestling Observer

Mike Dibiase, the son of Ted Dibiase, is currently dating Bret Hart's daughter Jade.

The word now is that the Vince McMahon vs Donald Trump "Battle of the Billionaires" angle will now culminate at Wrestlemania 23, and not at the Rumble. The deal is done and Trump should be making some appearances on Raw soon to further the angle.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Source: The Wrestling Observer

Daivari is scheduled to be moved back over to Smackdown now that The Great Khali has been moved to RAW.

Matt Striker continues to have backstage heat in the ECW locker room. The heat is so heavy that as of late he has been changing by himself.

Tickets for WWE's 4/29 Backlash PPV in Atlanta, GA go on sale 3/24. This will be the first time WWE returns to the Phillps Arena since 2002.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Larry Zbyszko has contacted WWE in hopes of landing a Legends deal and a commentary gig. No word as of yet if Vince McMahon is interested. Zbyszko is no longer affiliated with TNA because they didn't plan on using him anymore. Also, in late 2001, Zbyszko requested that WWE cease referring to Chris Jericho as "The Living Legend", claiming that this infringed upon his common law trademark. After WWE refused to comply, Zbyszko launched a lawsuit against WWE. In addition, he challenged McMahon to a shoot fight during the February 2002 World Wrestling All-Stars pay-per-view.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

In addition to the Royal Rumble match itself, three title matches are scheduled to take place at the pay-per-view. Those matches are Umaga vs. John Cena, Mr. Kennedy vs. Batista and Test vs. Bobby Lashley. Rob Van Dam may be added to the ECW title match to make it a three way match. The Royal Rumble match itself is seen as the big draw and the show is a chance for the champ(s) to get a convincing win on the way to WrestleMania which is why you get the likes of Mark Henry, Bob Holly and now Test getting title shots.

Jim Ross has updated his blog once again. He gives his NFL Playoff predictions for this weekend's games. He also talks about The Sopranos, Trish, midget wrestler Cowboy Lang (who recently passed away), Bruno Sammartino and much more. Visit JRsBarBQ.com to read the always newsworthy blogs.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

As noted earlier here on the site, Matt Striker continues to have backstage heat in the locker room. The heat is so heavy that as of late he has been changing by himself. Apparently, he just seems to rub people the wrong way. In early November 2005, he received some heat after openly telling some of the road agents that the RAW locker room was better than SmackDown's. When word got back to Chris Benoit, JBL, and Hardcore Holly, the trio were angry to say the least. Also, the late Eddie Guerrero thought he was disrespectful when talking to him once, which infuriated Chris Benoit, who threw Striker's bags out of the locker room and told him to change elsewhere. Even though he was a RAW wrestler at the time, he wrestled in a dark match prior to Smackdown for one show, which was the show in which all of this went down.

Daivari was not brought over to RAW with The Great Khali because WWE officials felt as though that he was a 'distraction' when Khali was in the ring. As noted, Daivari is expected to head on over to SmackDown to compete in the cruiserweight division.

On ECW.com, Ariel tells the unfortunate tale of the returning Kelly Kelly.