Miscellaneous WWE News Thread.

[Y 2 Jake]

At the moment, Tatanka's profile is still in the SmackDown section on WWE.com whereas the profiles of the released ECW stars such as Jazz and Sylvester Terkay were removed yesterday. As noted yesterday, Tatanka updated his official website with a message to his fans. During the first part of his update, he stated that he asked WWE for the release so that he could pursue other interests. Hee also said that several fans had contacted him so that they could speak to WWE or TNA in reference to him. Whatever the case may be regarding his release, he doesn't seem to be too upset about being let go by WWE.

According to the blog on his official website, former WWE manager Paul Bearer was backstage at the WWE house show in Biloxi, MS on January 21st and at last night's SmackDown/ECW taping in Mobile, Alabama as well. He was simply visiting friends. Bearer also worked a dark match featuring The Undertaker following the SD! taping last night.

See No Evil is up to $15.75 million in rental fees, meaning it has now officially beaten the domestic theatre haul of $15.0 million. International is currently at $1.9 million, bringing the total take at this point to $32.65 million. The movie cost $8 million to make.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Batista will be appearing at the Cincinnati Convention Center Cavalcade of Customs on Friday January 26 from 7-9pm

Edge and Randy Orton will be appearing at the Westfield Mall in Milford CT on Friday January 26 fro 6-8pm. For more details call 203-878-6837.

Funaki and Paul London will be appearing at Ingram Park Mall in San Antonio on Friday January 26 from 5-7pm.

The Rock has signed on to play the newly-created AGENT 23 in the theatrical remake of the TV series Get Smart. It'll star Terrence Stamp and Steve Carell and will be directed by Peter Segal. Shooting starts February 23rd in LA, Washington D.C. and Moscow.

The legendary Von Erich family will more than likely be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year. Kevin Von Erich was given the impression that when WWE bought the tape rights to World Class, the deal was that they would go into the Hall of Fame and then they'd market a DVD of the promotion. Also, starting next month on WWE 24/7, Kevin will be co-hosting classic episodes of World Class with Michael Hayes.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

WWE.com has added a profile on the roller-skating WWE Diva Cherry to the SmackDown section. Also, Tatanka's profile was finally removed from the page.

2006 Diva search winner Layla's profile has been moved from the Smackdown section to the ECW one, thus meaning that she's officially a member of ECW. She debuted on Tuesday's show during a "Kelly's Exposé" segment dancing alongside Kelly Kelly and Brooke Adams. Also, ECW has yet to put Brooke's profile up on the site.

WWE.com has revamped the WWE Divas page with a cool new flash graphic. They've added the ECW girls to the page as well. The two lone exceptions from the page are Vickie Guerrero and roller-skating girl Cherry, so maybe they don't consider them to be WWE Divas. Also, Brooke Adams doesn't have a profile on the site yet, but she probably will soon.

Michelle McCool turns 27 years old today. No word yet on when she'll be returning to television, although she's now healthy enough to appear at shows if needed. Her television return seems to hinge on if WWE wants to continue using K.C. James and Idol Stevens as a tag team on SmackDown. They were taken off the road as soon as McCool got sick back in November. The tag team is currently down in Ohio Valley Wrestling.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

As things stand now, Vince McMahon will be cutting promos on Donald Trump on episodes of RAW until March 12th. Trump will be appearing on television eventually, but when he actually does hinges on when his schedule frees up.

Howard Stern mentioned in his show yesterday that 'Armed and Famous' originally offered his girlfriend/model Beth Ostrosky the spot that Trish Stratus wound up taking on the show. Beth was offered $60,000 per episode. Not to say that Trish got that amount as well, but it was likely in that area. Trish was brought into the project at the last minute. Also, on last night's episode, Trish went undercover as a prostitute during a sex sting. Later in the show, she had to cope with the discovery of a body of someone who had passed away.

Last week, the idea of putting someone new into DX to make a new top level star and to also give Shawn Michaels a tag team partner was discussed. Triple H nixed the ideas immediately. Also, Ric Flair is expected to work as an honorary DX member at house shows in which he teams up with HBK to take on Edge & Orton, but he won't be allowed to be put over and put into DX on television.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

AllHipHop.com is carrying an article about rapper Mele Mel planning to become a member of World Wrestling Entertainment as a wrestler. "I'm going to try and get some of John Cena's money and get with the WWE to do my thing," Mele Mel told AllHipHop.com. "I went to the wrestling school over the summer and picked up a little bit of moves. I wanted to see if it was something that I wanted to do, other than just dreaming of wanting to be a wrestler. It's a little rough, but it's something that can be done." A lot of other music related websites have picked up the story. (thanks to Colin Vassallo)

WWE Stocks closed the day on Wednesday at 16.16, a 0.44% increase over the previous closing. The day's range was 16.08 - 16.28.

Many in WWE believe CM Punk's big push by Paul Heyman has gone to his head. Apparently WWE producer/agent Arn Anderson offered Punk some advice, but Punk blew him off.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The son's of WWE legend "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase, Mike DiBiase & Ted DiBiase Jr., are on their way to the Pro Wrestling NOAH dojo in Japan.

XtremeFalls43 sent in this recap: (On Wednesday) Edge did a radio interview with The Kidd Chris Show from Philadelphia. He talked about how he loved being a heel over a face. He ripped Philadelphia for being so easy to rip on during interviews. He and the host joked about the Mountie and The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers being so over the top. Edge talked about talked about the difference between him and Christian being more goofy as a heels when he and Orton are more evil heels. They then talked about Triple H's injury and Edge stated its sad because the feud was starting to get heated and it left a huge hole in the company. Edge then talked about the match on Monday with Shawn Michaels. The Host then brought up Lita and Edge said she started a band and is having fun with that. They joked about Edge and the other divas backstage and Edge said he learned his lesson from last time. The Host then brought up Mickie James and Edge said she was a tiny little thing but a spark plug. They then said good bye to end the interview. Weird Edge didn't mention the Royal Rumble this weekend but mentioned he was at the NHL All Star Game. Edge came off pretty good in the interview though.

The recently released Gymini are looking for work. Mike and Todd Shane can be contacted for independent bookings at [email protected]. Also, former OVW wrestler Jack Bull, who was released last Saturday, is also now accepting bookings. For more information, contact [email protected].

John Laurinaitis had to get the brunt of Vince McMahon's furor after Laurinaitis' secretary Ann Russo was unknowingly on the air during the Bubba the Love Sponge radio show two weeks ago. McMahon was angry to say the least. He doesn't like the names of who he's approved of getting out before they announce them, much less the names of those even being considered. Without telling her, Hogan put Russo on speaker phone when she read out the names being considered for this year's WWE Hall of Fame ceremony to Hulk Hogan. After she was done, Hogan told her that she was on 'Candid Camera'. She was not amused and told Hogan that she could get in trouble. And of course, Laurinaitis ended up getting the heat for all this.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

There were some politics involved in the release of Deep South Wrestling trainer Bill DeMott, who was soon replaced by Tom Prichard.

Mike Bucci (Simon Dean), the current WWE Head of Developmental, had been trying to get rid of DeMott since before DeMott even started as head trainer of Deep South. Although, sources are saying that unlike some political moves in WWE, this one was probably for the best as DeMott's training consisted mostly of drill's and not actual wrestling training.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

CM Punk's latest blog on the ECW website is up, writing about WWE signing his original trainer Ace Steel to a developmental deal. You can read the blog at ECW.com. The ECW website also features video of a promo Striker cut for the live crowd this week at the ECW on Scifi taping.

Former TNA star Cassidy Riley is expected to be assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling.

Initially not even under consideration for the role, Shawn Michaels is now one of the favorites to receive a title shot at WrestleMania 23. Although the other two option's are Orton and Edge.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

CNN listed the death of Scott "Bam Bam" Bigelow on the ticker on the bottom of the screen last night. It more than likely got attention on CNN yesterday since the story hit the Los Angeles Times picked up an AP story about Bam Bam's passing.

Phil Washington sent this in: Just wanted to let you guys know that NBC10 in Philadelphia has a slideshow on their website showing professional wrestlers that have died young, with the most recent being Bam Bam Bigelow.

Edge, accompanied by his wife who he is now back with were both sitting in the audience at the NHL All-Star Game last night.

Wrestling Society X is being listed as airing on CFTO in Canada on February 4 at 1:35am. WSX debuts in the United States tomorrow night at 11:00pm and also airs on Sunday at Midnight. The show "officially" debuts on Tuesday (January 30) at 10:30pm going head-to-head with the last 30 minutes of ECW on Sci Fi.

When Jim Ross appeared on the Motor City Middays radio show on 97.1 in Detroit (something he will be doing every week until WrestleMania 23), he announced that tickets for the 2007 WWE Hall of Fame will go on sale Saturday, March 3 at all Ticketmaster outlets. The Hall of Fame will be held on March 31 at the Fox Theater in Detroit, just one day before WrestleMania 23. We reported earlier this week that the USA Network does not have the Hall of Fame on the schedule for that night, so it remains to be seen if it will air on TV this year.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Vince McMahon didn't appear pleased at all by the New Year's Revolution PPV. And he thought ECW's December to Dismember was good? Geesh.

Colin Mac from Trumbull sent this one: I was just on the ECW web site and I noticed that they have once again changed Monty Brown's name from Marquis to Marcus Cor Von.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

At this point, Big Show has not committed to doing WrestleMania, and WWE wants to get the ball rolling. Big Show hasn't decided on anything at this point. As things stand, the feeling is Show will never be back wrestling full-time as his body can't take it. As far as doing select dates, it's possible. He hasn't turned down doing Mania, the company just decided on using The Great Khali in his place for the time being. Right now, Show is trying to lose as much weight as possible and assess the situation at that point.

In addition to Andrew Goldstein, SmackDown writer Travis Carter was fired as well last week. There is a lot of controversy in regards to Goldstein's firing. Those who support Goldstein said Michael Hayes saw him moving up the ladder and he wanted him gone. Some were blaming Hayes for the firing, but it was done quietly because he is in the inner circle in WWE. Although, others say that Goldstein was a big wrestling fan and didn't get the business aspect of wrestling. He had been warned in the past of disrespectfully mocking an agent, so that may have played a part in his dismissal. In regards to Travis Carter, his termination was believed to be inevitable. He too had a personality clash with Hayes. Also, Zachary Soto has been added to the SmackDown team.

John Laurinaitis was not at the 1/8 RAW taping because he was in Phoenix watching his nephew play in the national championship game.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

WWE would really like to get boxing legend Muhammad Ali inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year. Considering that they are in Detroit for Mania this year, and Ali lives in Detroit, they'd like to get him, especially because they'd get a lot of press for it. If Ali agrees to come, his daughter Layla Ali is the leading candidate to induct him into the WWE Hall of Fame. Ali appeared at WrestleMania 1 in a referee shirt standing outside the ring during the Hogan/Mr. T vs. Piper/Bob Orton match. Pat Patterson was the actual referee in the match though. Ali also wrestled Antonio Inoki in a match in 1976.

Vince McMahon was not pleased with how the New Year's Revolution PPV went down. The next night in St. Louis before RAW, he read the Riot Act in front of talent because of problems with execution during the PPV.

WWE PPV shows will go live in Italy starting with the Royal Rumble. Italy has been one of WWE's best markets for PPV even though the shows had aired on tape delay. The live shows will air from 2-5 a.m. in Italy.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Wednesday night's airing of Trish Stratus' reality show Armed & Famous did a 2.9 rating on the fast nationals, which is considered to be pretty bad by CBS standards. It was 4th among the five networks, beating only Beauty & The Geek on The CW at 2.2. Trish Stratus and Latoya worked as undercover prostitutes in order to catch a "john."

During the main event of the 1/13 3CW show in the UK, there was a notable incident involving former WWE star Kid Kash. Right in the middle of his match, he leaned out of the ring and grabbed a female photographer by the name of Amy Hanifan for no apparent reason. He then pulled her into the ring, hair and camera first. He then took the camera and threw her out of the ring. This was not a part of the match. She injured her back during the ordeal. Kash apologized to her after the show. Also, later in the match, he went after another woman with a video camera. This time around, he simply took her camera away and filmed himself beating up his opponent. At this point, a few security guys hit the ring and Kash gave the camera back. Later, he went to the announce position and chased away the announcers and put on the head set. During the match, there were some "steroids" chants directed to him (he failed a WWE drug test in the summer and was suspended shortly before he was let go). Also, Kash was working particularly stiff on his opponent.

Hulk Hogan was shown at ringside at last night's UFC Fight Night on Spike TV. The event was held at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida. He was acknowledged by the announcers as an "International Superstar" and was accompanied by his daughter Brooke. There was an audible "Hogan" chant during the Heath Herring-Jake O'Brien fight, although it wasn't acknowledged by the announcers.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Former 3PW owner Jasmine St. Claire has her 2nd volume of "Metal's Darkside" DVD coming out 1/30.

Hulk Hogan was mentioned in the 1/25 New York Post.

The Spectacular Legacy of AWA debuts on WWE Fanatics PPV on 3/1. Piper's "Born To Controversy" debuts on 2/1.

Earlier this week, it was reported that WSX would be airing on CFO Network in Canada with MTV Canada not picking up the show right away. However, Mike Johnson is reporting that the listing for WSX on the network has now been pulled.

For those wondering, the masked wrestler Matt Classic on WSX is Ring of Honor regular Colt Cabana. A full list of WSX talent can always be found over at WSX.MTV.com.

Wrestling Society X will be debuting tonight in a "preview show" fashion on MTV at 11:00pm ET (10:00pm CT). A replay of this preview show will also take place on Sunday at 12:00am ET. WSX and MTV have touted the "official" debut as taking place on Tuesday, January 30 at 10:30pm ET (9:30pm CT) going head-to-head with the last 30 minutes of ECW on Sci Fi.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

WWE.com has an article up saying that WWE Champion John Cena will indeed wrestle at the Royal Rumble PPV this Sunday, playing up the storyline injury the company did at Raw with Umaga splashing him through a table.

Christopher Hopewell sent this in regarding a story from yesterday: Just for the sake of clarification, the StoneColdOnline.com website is not registered with the WWE, but an individual named Daniel Flores. Additional information can be found at GoDaddy.com under WHOIS lookup.

WWE isn't running any house shows this weekend due to the Royal Rumble PPV. The Rumble will take place on Sunday at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, TX. RAW will broadcast on Monday from the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, TX. Smackdown/ECW will tape on Tuesday from the Toyota Center in Houston, TX.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

A correction on an earlier report as I posted that Edge was married to Val Venis' sister, Alana. The two split several years ago and the woman with Edge at the NHL All-Star game this past week was actually Lisa. Sorry for the mistake and thanks to the many readers who sent me an email. Please don't be afraid to email me if you see a mistake on the site so that I may correct it.

According to Dragon's Gate, the company announced today in Japan that they would be sending CIMA, Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Yokosuka, Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, Genki Horiguchi and Shingo Takagi to the Ring of Honor events oN March 30 and 31 in Detroit, Michigan during WrestleMania 23 weekend. Dragon's Gate did this with Ring of Honor last year, sending talent to the promotion during WrestleMania 22 weekend in Chicago. Tickets for the ROH events during WrestleMania 23 weekend in Detroit are now on sale over at rohwrestling.com.

TNA will be taping two weeks worth of iMPACT! for Spike TV this coming Monday night in Orlando, Florida at Universal Studios. These will be the final tapings before the Against All Odds PPV on February 11. The next set of tapings are scheduled on Monday, February 12. We'll have full spoilers posted on forums.wrestlezone.com Monday evening.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

WWE posted an article noting that Raw commentator Jerry "The King" Lawler will draw Superman for an upcoming web project at DCComics.com. In the story, The King states that its his lifelong fantasy.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Vito won the DSW World Title the other day.

As noted earlier here on the site, Effective immediately, CBS has pulled the struggling reality series "Armed and Famous" from its Wednesday night slot due to lackluster ratings. Wednesday night's episode drew a disastrous 2.9 rating. There are still three more unaired episodes in the series. It remains to be seen if CBS airs them.

If you live in the San Antonio, Texas area, you may want to go down the The Alamo and San Antonio River Walk today and tomorrow because they are having a photoshoot with the WWE Divas in those areas. The Divas participating in the shoot include Kristal, Kelly, Rebecca, Victoria, Lilian Garcia and Mickie James. WWE.com will be posting photos from the photo shoot in the next few days.

Big Show has yet to say yes or no to any involvement in Mania.

CM Punk now has heat for "'excessively making out with Maria" according to a source when they were in Iraq, as well as what he usually has heat for. We've noted that stuff here on the site before.

Big Dave Batista isn't popular with the boys backstage. They feel he's got no passion for the business and is just a body who can't work and who's still coasting on his HHH angle.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

According to TMZ.com, the three remaining unaired episodes of CBS' reality show "Armed and Famous" will air in the summer. Here is what they said: CBS' reality show "Armed and Famous" failed to keep its ratings up against "American Idol" and has been shelved until the summer.

This month's edition of "Hispanic" magazine has a masked Mexican wrestler on the cover. Inside the magazine, there is cover story on Lucha Libre with lots of color photos.

Several hundred tickets to Royal Rumble will be released today and tomorrow to the public. Tickets are available at the AT&T Center box office in San Antonio, Texas. WWE fans can also buy tickets at www.Ticketmaster.com. Don't miss the year's most unpredictable event as 30 Superstars fight only for themselves in the main event. Buy your tickets now.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The official website of Asbury Park Press has posted video footage of Scott "Bam Bam" Bigelow's wake, which apparently took place yesterday. The video features comments from Bigelow's brother Todd Bigelow. Also, you can see photos from the wake as well. Visit App.com for the story.

WWE.com has posted up a tribute video on Bam Bam Bigelow. The video features highlights from his wrestling career, not to mention comments from Tazz and Joey Styles. The tribute video will probably air on WWE programming this coming week.

See No Evil is now available for download on Microsoft's new video service for the Xbox 360.

Nathan sent this in: Hello, I am currently a student at Ferris State University, the college where Monty Brown graduated. Since signing with the WWE, Ferris has been beaming about him. On their main page (www.ferris.edu) they even added a bio about Brown talking about his collegiate life and wrestling endeavors.

Speaking of Monty Brown/Marcus Cor Von, Joseph sent word that his profile on ECW.com now lists him coming from Detroit, Michigan instead of "The Animal Kingdom." This change was first noticed on ECW this past Tuesday on Sci Fi.

Lee Cox sent this in: Couldn't stand to let this one slip by. On ECW.com there is an article about Kelly, Brooke and Layla's "Extreme Exposé" referring to the three as "ECW

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The Toronto Sun featured an interview with former WWE Women's champion Trish Stratus yesterday to promote the Armed & Famous reality series. During the interview, Stratus ruled out a full-time return to the company. ""I'm done. I could never do that touring schedule again. Wrestling is in my blood. I love it, so if there were an opportunity to do something again in the ring, maybe. But going on the road? No -- I've moved on."

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The Toronto Sun featured an interview with former WWE Women's champion Trish Stratus yesterday to promote the Armed & Famous reality series. During the interview, Stratus ruled out a full-time return to the company. ""I'm done. I could never do that touring schedule again. Wrestling is in my blood. I love it, so if there were an opportunity to do something again in the ring, maybe. But going on the road? No -- I've moved on."

James sent this along: Hi, Just thought I would let you know that the WWE has made a mistake on the History of the Undertaker DVD. At the beginning of the Sid Vs Undertaker Wrestlemania 13 highlight, the date is incorrect and reads that the match took place on April 5th, 1992. The correct date of course is March 23, 1997. Not too bad WWE, only 5 years out of date!

Derrick sent this along: I was reading the new WWE Magazine and it has February 3rd WWE Raw House show from Cedar Rapids listed as being at 1 o clock. I am attending the show, and the tickets and wwe.com both have the show listed as being at 7:30...Just thought I'd pass that along to ya.

Another Derrick sent this one: Hi, I was looking on Ebay when I came across this Batista's 2003 BMW 745 LI. It's at a buy it now of $75,000. Simply do a search for Batista's car on the main ebay.com site and it should come up. What a ride!!

 

[Y 2 Jake]

- Four matches have been planned so far for this years Wrestlemania.

One of those four bouts include John Cena vs. Edge vs. Orton for the WWE Championship. The other matches include Undertaker vs. Batista; Hogan vs. Shane McMahon with Khali in his corner; Shawn Michaels vs. King Booker with Donald Trump managing Michaels and Vince managing Booker.

- Former WWE wrestler, Chyna (AKA Joanie Laurer) will take part in doing a "panty shot" on TMZ.com.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Spoiler







WWE will shoot an injury angle tonight to remove two of the announced superstars for the 30-man over the top Royal Rumble match.

This will leave open two spots - and while they won't be explained beforehand, two major superstars from the past are backstage at the Royal Rumble PPV site right now and will be involved in the match.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

CM Punk's push is now completely dead. Almost nobody backstage likes him as they feel he's got an attitude that only the top guys should have. If he was a "top guy" like Kevin Nash people would think his comments were funny and cool, but as he's not a main eventer he's got an attitude problem. He won't be cut however as there is concern that he could become a star in TNA.

There are plans to bring in mini's dressed as Vince and Donald Trump.