Saturday, September 5, 2009 :

-Former ROH Champion Nigel McGuinness has made an agreement with WWE and will be finishing up with Ring Of Honor the same night as fellow new (about to be a) signee, Bryan Danielson, on September 26th in the Manhattan Center(Credit : pwinsider). WWE has been scouting ROH since they moved their HDNet show to 8pm Monday Nights.

-Koko B. Ware's wife has died of cancer. The Wrestling Roundtable sends our condolences.

-Mike Bloomfield, former WCW production worker in the late 90s, died in West Virginia from swine flu Thursday night(Credit : WGN). 

-Police in Kobe, Japan are presenting a case to prosecutors regarding the abuse of a monkey kept at the Dragon Gate Dojo(Credit : UPI). Police will try to press charges against four wrestlers, one formerly on the roster and three currently on. Dragon Gate held a press conference announcing CIMA would get a 30% pay cut for three weeks, Naoki Matsushita will have his debut delayed, Kagetora will donate a percentage of his pay to animal protection agencies & Ryoma will serve a one year suspension, with all four issuing apologies(Credit : Wrestling Observer. Took 'em long enough).

-John Morrison won his third Intercontinental title from Rey Mysterio, Jr. in a match that aired last night on WWE Smackdown.

-Jenna Moresca and Angelina Love were fired from TNA this week. Angelina was especially surprising, but the situation was due to the Canadian citizen needing to sort out her Visa issues. WGN reports she will return as soon as her paperwork is in order.

-Kevin Thorne wrestled a try-out dark match for TNA this past week, and Kristal Marshall is to be signed eminently(Credit : WGN).

-Former Michigan State football play Kyle Rasmussen was signed to a WWE developmental deal(Credit : WGN).

-Traci Brooks, originally scheduled to appear on the November cover of Playboy, will be relegated to their website instead, as Playboy was unimpressed with TNA's lack of using her on TV to promote the shoot.

-Former ROH Champion (John) Xavier is now fighting in mixed martial arts, winning a fight in Ring Of Combat at 'Proving Ground' in South Amboy, NJ on August 22nd via 14 second knock out against Christopher Howard.

-Tyler Black had neck surgery to repair a bulging disc recently & hopes to be in the ring again soon(Credit : WGN).

-Bryan Danielson won the PWG title in his last match with the company, defeating Chris Hero. He immediately vacated the title, with a new champion to be crowned at the Battle Of Los Angeles 2009. How fucking stupid.

-John Rew, 83-year old pain management doctor who was Bryan Adams' doctor before Adams died of an overdose from the drugs Rew prescribed him, plead guilty to improper prescription of oxycodone, unrelated to Adams' death(Credit : TBO.com)

-The Iron Sheik recently had surgery on his prostate when cancer was detected.

-WWE.com removed their "Industry News" section from their website.

-Former WWF announcer/commentator Charlie Minn is producing a documentary about the 20th anniversary of the Las Cruces, New Mexico murders(Credit : pwinsider).

-Lisa Marie Varon(Tara/Victoria) clarified she doesn't have an agent and will be representing herself in her MMA aspirations & she hopes to attend next month's Strikeforce event in Oklahoma.

-Dwayne Johnson voices the lead character in the animated movie Planet 51, coming out Nov. 20(Credit : WGN).

-PWU is hinting that Jonny Fairplay will make an appearance at their ECW Arena show with Danny Bonaduce.


Wednesday, September 16, 2009 :

-The Wrestling Roundtable had originally scheduled a taping on Sunday, September 27th, to discuss SummerSlam 2009, UFC 103, the Best/Worst of SummerSlams & Best/Worst Gimmick matches. These topics will be post-poned until October when we tape our Season Finale for Season 2 because instead, on the 27th we'll be taping a special edition of the Roundtable with guest panelist Colt Cabana, ROH wrestler and formerly Scotty Goldman in WWE. Cabana will be on for the entire show. The Roundtable will also be taping a special BLOG outside & inside the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Saturday September 26th. Outside, we'll be trying to get fans' thoughts on "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson & Nigel McGuinness' leaving ROH for WWE. Inside, we'll get some parting words from the man himself, Bryan Danielson! So if you're going to Ring Of Honor's Glory By Honor show in Manhattan a week from Saturday, look for our camera!

                                                                        

-The biggest news in wrestling this weekend was Jeff Hardy being arrested in Cameron, NC Friday after cops received a tip off. Charges include felony possession of cocaine, felony drug trafficking of opium, maintaining a dwelling for drug use and/or distribution, two counts of felony possession with intent to redistribute a Schedule III drug, and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, which were filed after Hardy was arrested. Police had found 262 Vicodin prescription pills, 180 Soma prescription pills, 55 milliliters of anabolic steroids, a residual amount of powder cocaine and items of drug paraphernalia. Hardy was released from the Moore County Detention Center on $125,000 secured bond & his first court date is September 26th(Credit : thepilot.com).

-This past Sunday at WWE Breaking Point, John Cena won his fourth WWE Championship from Randy Orton, making him a 6-time world champion.

-TNA fired agents Jim Cornette & BG James last night(Credit : pwinsider).

-Linda McMahon is about to announce a run for Connecticut Senate(Credit : The Hill). Anyone else reminded of The Omen?

-Annihilation(Joe Iaconelli), 42, Philadelphia indy wrestler, died last week.

-Matt "Riot" Lowry, 22, indy wrestler from Philadelphia, died after suffering an aneurysm while "warming up outside the ring at The (ECW) Arena" in the official story that's probably not what really happened(Credit : CBS3).

-Former luchador Perro De La Muerte III died September 7th after five gunshots(Credit : WGN).

-Kerry Brown, 51, former Stampede wrestler in the 80s, died a few days ago(Credit : Wrestling Observer).

-Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff announced the "Hulkamania" world-wide tour with it's first show("Let The Battle Begin") set to be in Australia several days ago(Credit : pwinsider). However, it was reported today Ric Flair has just signed a three-year deal to wrestle for the tour, going back on his retirement word(What? A wrestler would do such a thing?). Hogan & Flair will be working on a reality show together as well. Also signed on for the Hulkamania tour are Ken Anderson(Mr. Kennedy), the Godfather, Sean Morely(Val Venis), Lacey Von Erich, Diamond Dallas Page, Jimmy Hart, Umaga, Gangrel, The Nasty Boys, Brutus Beefcake, & Shannon Moore with rumors of new WSW Champion Rob Van Dam & Jeff Hardy being pursued. Goldberg stated he wouldn't be doing the tour and would be doing 'three reality shows(Credit : WGN). Hogan, also, has filed suit against two of his former lawyers for overcharging him in his defense case against the Graziano family(Credit : The AM Law Daily).

-WWE has fired several developmental wrestlers this week : Espiral(Sicodelico Jr.), Fletcher Chase(Jason Garrison), Troy Jackman(Ian Richardson), Aiden Frost (Jason Riggs) & Kris Logan.

-Kurt Angle was found not guilty of 3/4 charges in a Pittsburgh court from his escapades on August 15th. He was cleared of harassment, driving with a suspended license & drug possession(He produced a 2006 script for his HGH). However, there will be a separate hearing for the restraining order violation/assault charge from Trenesha Biggers(Rhaka Kahn). 

-Jack Foley, 76, Mick Foley's father whose name inspired the character "Cactus Jack", died two days ago after a "long sickness"(Credit : Newsday.com).

-CMLL will be presenting Jushin Liger Vs. Mistico on Sunday(Credit : Wrestling Observer).

-TNA is offering a new call service in which you are presented with a selection of wrestlers whom you can order customized phone calls/messages from for $3.99.

-Antonio Thomas(The Heartthrobs in WWE) has signed on to donate his brain after his death to Christopher Nowinski's Sports Legacy Institute(Credit : wrestling observer).

-Jackson Andrews & Jimmy Uso(Haku/Meng's son) have been added to FCW's roster.

-Batista returned to WWE Monday & announced going to the Smackdown roster. Trish Stratus returned for one night only as the guest GM, wrestling in the main event and winning a 6-wrestler tag team match with a pinfall over Beth Phoenix. Next week's guest host will be Cedric The Entertainer.

-The Royal Rumble was delayed a week, from January 24, 2010 to January 31, 2010, to avoid going against the AFC/NFC Championship games.

-The Great Khali will be having knee surgery shortly, and Kelly Kelly just had an MRI on her leg with apparently bad results. Khali & Big Show got into a backstage fight the other weekend at a house show in Puertro Rico. It was started by Big Show and broken up by several wrestlers including The Undertaker.

DEAD WRESTLER TALLY FOR THE WEEK : 4


Saturday, September 19, 2009 :

-Linda McMahon officially stepped down as CEO of WWE(Vince filling her spot. That's what she said) to run for a Senate seat in Connecticut(Credit : CNN). She is spending some of their own money to run & won't accept contributions from special interest groups(ha!), political action committees(haha!) or private donations above $100.

-Wrestling Observer reports Lester Welch died yesterday, describing him as a "Southern legend." Never heard of him. Some legend. That word needs to stop being used so liberally for anyone who just happens to be old. Anyway, he wrestled in the 60s for the AWA & NWA Florida.

-Mistoco defeated Negro Casas in the mask vs. hair main event of CMLL's 76th Anniversary Show, Friday at Arena Mexico in Mexico City.

-WWE will be returning to the Middle East for the annual Tribute To The Troops special to be aired on NBC in December(Credit : pwinsider).

-Judge Douglas L. Rayes ruled against Warrior in Warrior's defamation lawsuit against WWE over their Self Destruction Of The Ultimate Warrior DVD, citing Warrior himself first had violated a March 2000 Settlement Agreement in which either party wouldn't disparage each other(Credit : pwinsider). Meanwhile, Muscle Flex, Inc. has filed a lawsuit against WWE over "financial damages" for unauthorized use of the trademark "RAW" in Canada.

-Sam Houston, half brother of Jake The Snake & Rocking Robin, son of Grizzly Smith & a former WWF/NWA wrestler, was arrested & jailed in Louisiana on Wednesday for probation violation of a 10-year sentence stemming from multiple DUIs in 2005.

-Contrary to initial reports from The Sun that Jim Cornette's TNA firing was due to "unprofessional behavior" in meetings and elsewhere in an effort to reduce Jarrett allies, pwinsider says it was an amicable separation with the possibility of returning in the future. After firing Cornette & other agent BG James this week, TNA re-hired both D-Lo Brown & Simon Diamond in agent capacities.

-Several of Traci Brooks' nudes are up at Playboy.com as a preview.

-Triple H will be accompanying Floyd Mayweather tonight in his fight against Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grande Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on HBO PPV. Mayweather has stated recently that he's interested in joining WWE "fulltime," presumably to wrestle. Sure.

-Road Warrior Animal has an autobiography coming out(Credit : pwinsider).

-Trish Stratus' "Stratusphere Yoga" is in development from Frima Studios for the Nintendo Wii(Credit : 1up.com).

-Hulk Hogan is promoting guarenteedlowerpropertytax.com as it's spokesman based out of Ft. Meyers, FL, but WFTV reports rather than the $995 fee the group charges, FL residents can get the same result for $15 elsewhere. Also, apparently DDP is not confirmed for the Hulkamania Australian tour despite initial reports.

-Speaking of washed up blond wrestlers endorsing things because they need the money after a divorce, North Carolina's Ric Flair Lottery started yesterday.

-The Tri-State Wrestling Alliance(TWA), which was the precursor to the original ECW in the northeast, is reforming for a Reunion Show on Sat. Oct. 24. but is not being promoted by original founder Joel Goodhart.

-At the ROH on HDNet tapings last week, Prince Nane & Joey Ryan lost a tag match against the Necro Butcher & Grizzly Redwood with the stipulation that "Dirty" Ernie Osiris' beard was shaved post-match.


Tuesday, September 22, 2009 :

-This past Sunday at TNA's No Surrender PPV, AJ Styles won his first TNA World title in a five-way with champion Kurt Angle, Matt Morgan, Sting & Hernandez, making him a 3-time world champion. A new father for the second time last week, AJ is also the only grand slam champion in TNA history, having won every title in the pre & post-NWA eras. Elsewhere on the PPV, Sarita & Taylor Wilde defeated Madison Rayne &  Velvet Skye to win the finals of the tournament to crown the first Knockouts Tag Team Champions, Bobby Lashley defeated Rhino in his in-ring PPV debut, and ODB won the Knockouts title from Jaime Noble...I mean, Cody Deaner.

-Dawn Marie, head of Wrestlers Rescue, claims she's on the verge of facilitating the first 'national health care program for professional wrestling,' which would be huge if it's true(Credit : baltimoresun.com).

-Ed Ferrara was backstage on Sunday's TNA PPV, though it's unofficial whether he's on the creative team or not for now on.

-After losing in court to WWE last week, Warrior has been ordered by the judge to pay WWE's lawyers' expenses of $18, 967.46 in defending the breach of contract lawsuit(Credit : pwinsider).

-Last night on RAW was Lilian Garcia's last day in WWE after 10 years. Next week, guest hosting will be Al Sharpton.

-After getting out of her Wrestlelicious contract, Lacey Von Erich signed with TNA and is planned to be part of The Beautiful People(Credit : wrestling observer).

-Larry Sweeney was backstage at ROH's Chicago show this weekend once again, reportedly 'looking' much better than last time.

-After firing a slew of developmental wrestlers last week, reports of WWE signing Montreal-based indy wrestler Tomassino are incorrect according to SLAM Wrestling.

-Big Show will be starring in WWE Films' next straight-to-DVD production, a comedy called Suckerpunch.

-Linda Hogan withdrew her motion of enforcement against Hulk Hogan last week for $225,000 & a Harley Davidson motorcycle(Credit : WGN).

-Unconfirmed and probably untrue internet rumors that WWE offered Kanye West $10 to wrestle for them on PPVs/TV, and/or guest host RAW. Sure.

-For those wondering WTF ever happened to Perry Saturn(i.e. everyone), WGN reports he's living in Minnesota, working for a door manufacturing company.


Tuesday, September 29, 2009 :

-This past Saturday at ROH Glory By Honor 8 : Final Countdown, Ring Of Honor said goodbye to two of their biggest stars and welcomed back another. Bryan Danielson, face of the company since their first show(which he main evented) on February 23rd, 2002, fought fellow former ROH Champion Nigel McGuinness in both their last match in the company as both have verbally agreed to WWE deals that have yet to be finalized, with Chris Hero(among others) rumored to be the next to be signed, though he has not been contacted personally just yet. While two of their biggest names left, former commissioner Jim Cornette returned as "executive producer of the HDNet show" in his first post-TNA appearance, set in motion by ROH President Cary Silkin the day after Cornette's release. TNA's Homicide, Julius Smokes, former ROH wrestlers Slugga & Monsta Mack were also visiting the sold out Manhattan Center in New York City, where The Wrestling Roundtable also shot a new BLOG featuring comments from fans & wrestlers alike that you can view here :



-ROH Tag Team Champion Eddie Edwards broke his elbow doing a dive in a Boston Street Fight against Kevin Steen on ROH's Final Countdown show at Boston University on Friday. He gutted through a Ladder War tag title match the next day at Glory By Honor where he & Davey Richards defended the Tag titles against Steen & El Generico, but will need surgery to repair his destroyed bone & will be off shows indefinitely.

-The Rock taped a promo for SmackDown's 10th Anniversary Show to be aired this Friday & also made a surprise appearance Saturday at the WXW C4 Show in Mineola, FL(promoted by his Wild Samoan uncle Afa) that featured Jimmy Snuka's daughter Sarona's wrestling debuit.

-Jerry "The King" Lawler is considering legal action against Memphis' Channel 3 for excluding him from a televised debate this past Saturday(Credit : wrestling observer).

-Satoshi Kojima recaptured the AJPW Triple Crown Saturday, defeating Yoshihiro Takayama in Yokohama, Japan(Credit : WGN).

-Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Togi Makabe to win the IWGP heavyweight title vacated by Hiroshi Tanahashi in Kobe, Japan on Sunday(Credit : wrestling observer).

-Jimmy Snuka is shopping around a reality TV series where he tries out different "9-5" occupations. 20 years too late apparently.

-In a similar move as WWE made in requiring company approval before giving any interviews, Dixie Carter has mandated a ban on employees calling in to Bubba The Love Sponge's radio show(Credit : wrestling observer).

-Dennis Coralluzzo was inducted in to the NWA Hall Of Fame this past Saturday at the NWA NJ Dennis Coralluzo Invitational Tournament in Wayne, NJ which also saw Crowbar win the NWA NJ TV(what TV?) title in the tournament final(Credit : WGN).

-Dennis Miller will be guest hosting RAW later this year.

-Lacey Von Erich has "apparently" been pulled from the Hulkamania tour, while King V(iscera), John Heidenreich & several bikini models have been added. Danny Bonaduce turned down the tour over money.

-The story about Karl Afflis dying last week was a hoax. He's still alive for those who know him.

-Colt Cabana had a try-out with Puma in a dark match at last week's TNA taping in Orlando. It reportedly went well and several TNA wrestlers are pushing for Colt to be signed, but nothing has been offered as of yet. Colt appeared in a special edition of The Wrestling Roundtable taped Sunday that discussed this tryout & will be uploaded this week!


Monday, October 5, 2009 :

-Colt "Boom Boom" Cabana joined us for a special 2-on-1 edition of The Wrestling Roundtable where he announced a new documentary coming out next year called The Wrestling Road Diaries following himself, "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson & many more on the road for several weeks, all leading to ROH's Glory By Honor 8 : The Final Countdown show in New York City featuring Danielson's last independent wrestling match before departing for WWE. What's life like for an indy wrestler? Will he go to TNA? Find out more by viewing the special show here :



-Last night at WWE's Hell In The Cell pay per view, The Undertaker reclaimed the (WCW) World Heavyweight title for the third time in the opening match, defeating CM Punk in the first HITC of the night, making him a 7-time world champion. Randy Orton won his fifth WWE Championship from John Cena in the second HITC of the night, making him a 6-time world champion. Rey Mysterio Jr. also returned in his first match after a suspension, losing in a Tag Team title match with Batista against champion Big Show & Chris Jericho.

-After the earthquake & tsunami that devastated American Samoa last week, Wild Samoa Afa will be holding a fundraising luau or other entertainment event in Minneloa, Florida within another week or so(Credit : daily commercial).

-For the first time ever, UFC's Ultimate Fighter reality series defeated WWE's Monday Night RAW in the ratings, 3.7 to 3.1 due to Kimbo Slice's hyped first UFC fight, against former IFL Heavyweight Champion Roy Nelson. Even the replay beat ECW on SyFy 1.5 to 1.0. Many internally in WWE are concerned about the continuing ground lost to MMA bit by bit(Credit : wrestling observer).

-After his scheduled fight against Ron Waterman was delayed, Bobby Lashley's Prize Fight Promotions contract is in negotiations to be transferred to StrikeForce, who reportedly wants to feature Lashley on their November 7th live CBS show featuring Fedor Emelianenko's heavyweight fight against Brett Rogers(Credit : dave meltzer).

-After an arraignment last Wednesday, Jeff Hardy is scheduled to return to a Carthage, North Carolina court on November 4th for a preliminary hearing(Credit : WGN).

-Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback and alleged rapist Ben Roethlisberger & other fellow Steelers will be hosting RAW tonight, with Dennis Miller to host the 3-hour November 23rd. Ice T & hot piece of ass wife Coco have been contacted about hosting a future RAW.

-Former WCW Tag Team Champion Sean O'Haire has a hearing on December 10th in Savannah, Georgia on charges of battery & trespassing against his former girlfriend(Credit : WGN).

-After just debuting last week, Lacey Von Erich has already ruffled feathers in TNA due to comments made about Angelina Love in the Miami Herald last week, presumably because TNA intends to bring Love back as soon as her Visa situation is resolved(Credit : WGN). Lacey was asked to apologize and do damage control.

-Steve Corino will be returning to ROH at the next HDNet tapings on November 5th & 6th in the ECW Arena, the same building where Shane Douglas' "November to Remember" ECW-style reunion show has been postponed indefinitely.

-Former WWF/WCW wrestler Buddy Wayne had successful heart surgery last Wednesday(Credit : WGN).

-Highspots will be auctioning off the original NWA World Heavyweight belt lended to them from Ric Flair due to Flair not paying back money owed to them from a loan they had given him.

-King V(iscera) has pulled off the Hulkamania tour due to getting a movie role, with Godfather reportedly off as well(Credit : pwinsider). They have been replaced by Nick Dinsmore & Paul London.

-WGN reports rumors of Vickie Guerrero returning to TV as the girlfriend/manager of former FCW Champion Eric Escobar.

-Live Nation has filed a motion for their attorney's fees to be covered by WrestleReunion since they won the original decision in the ongoing lawsuit, where WrestleReunion has asked for the same, as well as a new trial or the original settlement to be paid to them(Credit : pwinsider).

-Eddie Edwards had surgery this weekend to repair two fractures in his elbow endured last week.

-Scott Siegel, who played the steroid dealer in The Wrestler, plead guilty to steroid distribution & trying to run down the police officers who arrested him this past Friday in a New York Court(Credit : WGN). He remains in jail without bail pending his January 14th sentence & could face up to five years in prison.

-Several weeks ago, longtime WWE employee & former president of WWE's Canadian division Carl Demarco left the company unexpectedly on his own accord.

-Scott Steiner riled up some fans during TNA's Zurich, Switzerland house show by tearing up a Swiss flag, to which some fans responded by throwing chairs, bottles and other garbage in the ring. Though not quite the "riot" reported elsewhere, Booker T & Sharmell refused to perform due to the amount of debris in the ring.


Wednesday, October 14, 2009 :

- Grapplingkings.com, the official website for panelist Rodney Leconte's upcoming documentary, is now online, so check it out for more on this exciting film.


-Kurt Angle appeared in a Pittsburgh court today for a hearing on alleged harassment of Trenesha Biggers(recently removed from TNA's webpage roster and unofficially done with TNA itself), who did not appear(Credit : thepittsburghchannel.com). If she does not make an appearance on the rescheduled Nov. 10th date, the case will be dropped.

-Highspots' sale of Ric Flair's NWA World Heavyweight belt is said to be narrowed down to three major bidders(Credit : pwinsider).

-Wrestler's Rescue is accepting donations for Captain Lou Albano, who is ill & home under hospice care.

-Dr. Death Steve Williams' throat cancer has returned & he is entering chemo therapy once again.

-This past Monday on RAW, WWE announced a (useless) "Diva's Trade," featuring broads we'll end up seeing on the shows they just got traded from anyway, so whatever. During the course of the night, however, SNL...I mean, RAW guest host Nancy O'Dell(co-hosting along with Maria Menounos) made an 'impromptu' Divas Title match after Jillian Hall defeated champion Mickie James for the title. Melina than went on to defeat Hall for the Divas title in less than 30 seconds to become the third woman to hold the Women's & Diva's title, after Michelle McCool & Mickie James. Snoop Dogg will be hosting RAW next week, with Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne scheduled in November and Michael Richards or Andy Samberg rumored for October 26th.

-This past weekend, Tyler Black won ROH's Survival Of The Fittest 2009 tournament, on the same show Kevin Steen hurt his often-injured knee in a qualifying match during the opener against Colt Cabana. Eddie Edwards, who is missing the next several ROH shows, had started physical therapy for his surgically repaired broken elbow.

-WWE signed Afa students Joe Gomez & Reon Mahima to developmental deals(Credit : WGN).

-WWE issued a cease-and-desist letter to The Wine School of Philadelphia due to their naming a wine class series "Sommelier Smackdown(Credit : The Philadelphia City Paper)" Director Keith Wallace says he has no plans to do so.

-Bobby "The Brain" Heenan missed an autograph convention in Philadelphia the other weekend after injuring his back in a fall.

-Torrie Wilson was hospitalized last night after a "bad reaction to some meds." Do I even need to say it?

-Midwest indy wrestler Zachary Porter(Napalm), 25, was shot to death this weekend in Missouri.

-Beverly "B.J." Race, 60, wife of Harley Race who helped Harley run WLW, died this past Friday of pneumonia. The future of WLW is in question.

-Ghenghis Khan(Juan Rafael Rodriquez Mamani), 69, luchador who wrestled in Argentina & Paraguay, died of liver cancer last week(Credit : WGN).

-WGN reports rumors of Umaga potentially returning to WWE soon. Also alleged to be returning to WWE is Booker T, who just refused to job to Matt Morgan at the last set of iMPACT! tapings. His contract expires sometime around November, while Morgan recently re-signed with TNA for 5 years.

-The Sandman pulled out of an NWS show in Manville, NJ this past weekend due to 'getting his knee scoped.'

-Nick Logan won ECWA's Super 8 tournament this weekend, defeating Tomasso Ciampa in the finals.

-Trent Acid was arrested in Philadelphia last weekend after being caught with Percocets(Credit : WGN). Acid was released without bail and is scheduled in court on October 30th because he was on probation(after he violated a house arrest last year due to drug & assault charges). In a word : DIRTBAG.

-Gail Kim ruptured an implant a few weeks ago, as Mickie James did last month. Quite the month for tits, eh?

-So the story with Punk losing the belt in such squash/bitch-like fashion is that Undertaker, himself exempt from the dress code, took issue with Punk's appearance during the recent European tour, saying he should dress more appropriately for a champion, to which Punk responded, "What about John Cena?"(Credit : wrestling observer). So yeah, because Punk thought he should dress like, well, a PUNK, he got punished with the title loss in the opener of the last PPV.


Wednesday, October 21, 2009 :

-Former WWF manager, WWWF wrestler & Hall Of Famer Captain Lou Albano, 76, died Wednesday at home. The Wrestling Roundtable honors Captain Lou Albano as one of the all-time great wrestling managers/personalities who was also a very pleasant & friendly person, and we send our condolences to his family & friends.

-This past Friday, wwe.com broke the story of Shane McMahon announcing his leaving of the company on January 1, 2010 so the dirtsheets wouldn't be the first to report it. No explanation why or what his future goals are, but WWE COO Donna Goldsmith will be taking over Shane's responsibilities as VP Of Global Media until the decision is made about whether to fill the role or not(Credit : WGN).

-Nigel McGuinness, originally making a verbal commitment to sign with WWE, has signed with TNA instead and debuted at the iMPACT! tapings last night in Orlando doing an angle with Kurt Angle under the name Desmond Wolf(due to Nigel did not want to sign over the rights to his indy wrestling name). WWE has not been returning their portion of the contract Bryan Danielson signed either, and word is TNA has interest.

-On a flight from Oklahoma to South Carolina for the SmackDown taping, Jim Ross suffered a Bells Palsy attack(his third). He phoned WWE doctors for special medication to be couriered to SC so he could go on the show but WWE arranged  a flight home for him instead(Credit : WGN). He will be seeing a neurologist next week. Ross had just taken off last week to celebrate his 16th wedding anniversary.

-This past Sunday at TNA Bound For Glory, Eric Young won the Legends title in a three way dance with champion Kevin Nash & Hernandez . Later, in four way for both the IWGP & TNA Tag Team titles, Team 3D won the New Japan titles, while Doug Williams & Brutus Magnus won the TNA titles, which they promptly lost to Beer Money Inc last night at the iMPACT! tapings. Elsewhere on the PPV, Daffney broke her arm in the Abyss/Mick Foley match when she went through a barbed wire board, Christopher Daniels separated a shoulder in the Ultimate X match with Homicide, Suicide, the Motor City Machine Guns(replacing D'Angelo Dinero, who had to fly to California for a family emergency) & X Champion Red, and TNA did a 'worked shoot' angle with Kim Couture 'attacking' Tara during a three-way Knockouts title match with Awesome Kong & champion ODB. WGN reports ODB has a contract coming up soon & that Ed Ferrara is officially now on the writing team. 

-Mike Fever, 53, wrestler for 70s/80s JCP & CWF, died of a heart attack Sunday(Credit : WGN).

-Ryuma Go(Hiroshi Yagi), 53, Japanese wrestler who performed in NJPW, AJPW, UWF, WWWF and many more, also died Sunday of blood poisoning(Credit : fightopinion.com)

-Highspots ended their auction of Ric Flair's NWA World Heavyweight Title early and won't be selling the belt anymore due to Conbraco Industries claiming the title ; Flair had used the belt, and many other possessions, as collateral in yet another deal he reneged on, so, in the midst of a lawsuit against Flair(one of many), Conbraco is yet to make a decision on whether Highspots, who physically have the belt in their possession, can indeed sell the strap(Credit : WGN).

-Jerry Lawler finished fifth place(4% out of 24 candidates) in Memphis' mayoral election.

-Mick Foley will be doing a stand-up comedy tour with Colt Cabana in November.

-The Boogeyman(Marty Wright), who was believed to have been missing for some time, has gotten back in touch with his friends now, claiming he was in Argentina attempting to find the Appalachian Plain. Crazy AND stupid, I see.

-NASCAR drivers Joey Logano & Kyle Busch will be hosting RAW next week, with former WCW World Heavyweight Champion David Arquette being invited to host in the future as well.

-WWE signed another former UK Gladiator, Barri Griffiths, to a developmental deal(Credit : Caemarfon Herald).

-SmackDown Vs. RAW 2010 was released for the leading video game systems yesterday.

-Maria Kanellis & Bill Goldberg will be on the next Celebrity Apprentice on NBC, which will air in March.

-Jesse White, song of Big Van Vader, will make his debut for Mid-South Wrestling Alliance in Midwest City, OK on Nov. 8th. Randy Orton's brother Nathan made his debut this past Sat. in Dupo, IL.

-Jody Hamilton's breach of contact lawsuit against WWE for closing Deep South Wrestling looks to be moving forward after several charges were thrown out(Credit : WGN).

-The Jeff Hardy DVD will in fact be released on schedule Dec. 15th with The Marine 2 starring Ted Dibiase Jr coming out Dec. 29th.

DEAD WRESTLER TALLY FOR THE WEEK : 3


Friday, October 30, 2009 :

-Next week will be the season finale of The Wrestling Roundtable's second season! It will be a very special show for the fans, as the entire content of the show will be fan-driven ; The first topic will be the contest-winning topic from Steven Malesky from Ashville, NC of The Wrestling Roundtable message board("What should WCW have done after Starrcade 1997?"), and the second half will be Submission Round 3, the Q & A featuring questions submitted by you, the viewers! It's our way of showing our appreciation for your support as a way to send off our second year. But we're not done ; we're working on some very special projects that will be announced here on wrestlingroundtable.com in the coming weeks, so don't forget, just because the show is 'off-season,' the show isn't off season, heh. wrestlingroundtable.com will constantly be updated and always feature new content, as well as our other pages on Myspace, Facebook & Twitter. So join us next week for the season finale and enjoy this week's show!

                                                    

-Just a few weeks after Shane McMahon left WWE in what may have been the biggest wrestling story of the year, TNA dropped a bombshell when they announced Tuesday at Madison Square Garden of all places that they had signed a contract with Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff's Bischoff-Hervey Productions. They had been in negotiations since August. Ric Flair's agreement with Hogan from several weeks ago means he'll be involved in any wrestling-related project Hogan is for the next three years, so presumably it's a matter of time before Flair shows up in the IMPACT Zone as well, and Spike TV has dibs on the proposed Hogan/Flair reality show. The Hulkamania Australia tour will still be going on as scheduled, as is the WWE release of Hogan's new 3-disc DVD set. Bischoff's role is not in creative(same for Hogan, despite what he claims, though he will probably have creative control in his deal), but rather in a TV developmental deal to create new programming for TNA. Perhaps related, WGN reports DDP is telling people he is returning to wrestling, while Hogan himself is spreading rumors that TNA is in 'serious communication' with the Macho Man Randy Savage(sure). Despite rumors, there are no plans in TNA or Spike to move iMPACT! to Monday nights. The thinking in WWE(and the TNA undercard, incidentally) is that Hogan will ruin TNA(Credit : pwinsider).

-One of the biggest independent wrestling promotions in Japan, HUSTLE, shut down two days ago(Credit : wrestling observer).

-Jim Ross' MRI was inconclusive and they are awaiting more results, but multiple scleroses was ruled out.

-Ultimo Guerrero seems to have had a seizure during a 6-man match at EMLL's Arena Mexico a week ago. Teaming with Atlantis & Negro Casas against Toscano, Mistico & "Strongman" Jon Anderson, Guerrero went in to convulsions after taking a powerbomb from Anderson(Credit : luchaworld). He was hospitalized but released Sat. morning.

-KENTA suffered a torn ACL on Oct. 28th in a Junior Heavyweight tournament match against Kotaro Suzuki and will be out of action six to nine months, delaying his next ROH tour(Credit : pwinsider).

-UFC Undisputed Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar's planned title defense against Shane Carwin at UFC 106 in Las Vegas on November 21st has been postponed until January 2nd due to illness(WGN reports the flu), leaving him unable to train for several weeks. Also in MMA this week, the Massachusetts House Of Representatives passed a bill 144-10 to regulate MMA in the state(Credit : wrestling observer), which means a UFC event in Boston is eminent.

-This past Sunday at WWE Bragging Rights, John Cena defeated Randy Orton in an Iron Man Match to win his fifth WWE Championship, making him a 7-time World Champion. Also, Smackdown's team of WWE World Tag Team Champion Chris Jericho, Kane, R-Truth, The Hart Dynasty & Fit Finlay won a trophy in a match against RAW's World Tag Team Champion Big Show, Mark Henry, Kofi Kingston, HHH, Shawn Michaels, Jack Swagger & Cody Rhodes. Here The Chort, have a trophy!

-Former WCW/SMW/WWF wrestler Brian Logan has an autobiography with a forward by Jim Cornette coming out in December called Worker : Last Of A Dying Breed(Credit : logansworldonline.com). Bill Anderson just released a book titled The School Of Wrestling as well, about training with several big names and I just read WWF jobber Dusty Wolfe has a book too. Aside from books, a pro wrestling play, The Elaborate Entrance Of Chad Deity, will be playing at the Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre in Philadelphia through Nov. 22.

-Rowdy Roddy Piper is being considering as a backup host for the MSG RAW on November 16th in case they can't get a another name(Credit : pwinsider). Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne will host next week, while boxer Ricky Hatton will host Nov. 9th in Sheffield, England.

-Bryan Kelly, who had been wrestling in FCW and tried out for Tough Enough 4, made his commentary debut on WWE's ECW on SyFy last night as Byron Saxton. Congratulations, Byran! or Bryon? Bryark? Elsewhere, WWE re-signed Lance Cade. Booker T, however, is officially gone from TNA. The Flatliners, a tag team based out of Canada, will make their ROH debuts on Nov. 14th.

-Mickie James signed a deal with Skyline Management Group with intentions to start a country music career.

-The Sandman is currently going to rehab on WWE's dollar after telling people he was getting knee surgery(Credit : WGN).

-Chris Sabin suffered a stinger at the iMPACT! tapings this week in a tag match with Alex Shelley against Team 3D. Kevin Nash blew a gasket backstage, upset the match wasn't stopped. Sabin went to the hospital immediately and was released later that day, but consequently, Nash wasn't booked at the next taping. Jay Lethal injured a hamstring Saturday at TNA's Racine, WI house show. Eric Young had successful throat surgery & isn't expected to miss any time, while Tara had two tanning-related moles removed(Credit : WGN).

-THQ was given an extended renewal notice by WWE, which means they have until December 31 to decide is they'd like to renew their license to continue making WWE video games for 5 years.

-Rumors are Nigel McGuinness aka Desmond Wolfe, had his deal with WWE dropped due to not doing well on physical screenings. TNA signed him for two years, and after programming him against Kurt Angle immediately, TNA dropped the planned Angle/AJ Styles feud for the title this month, which in part lead to an argument TNA Champion AJ Styles had with booker Vince Russo. Bryan Danielson, after some initials fears of enzyme levels and the heart, has passed his medical exam and WGN reports is expected to start "soon" with WWE.


Tuesday, November 10, 2009 :

-Firstly, I want to apologize to everyone for the delay in our Season Finale episode, as it might not be online in full until next week, but there's a very good reason ;  I got a new gig doing commentary for select Ring Of Honor matches! That's right, yours truly will be calling several matches over the course of the next several ROH DVDs. My first show, the Final Countdown Tour : Dayton, is available on rohwrestling.com now, with Chicago coming out this week, and I'll also be on the next several releases through Survival Of The Fittest. So between that, working very late hours recently, not to mention a 24-hour flu virus, I was swamped last week and I'll do what I can for this week. I want to thank those in Ring Of Honor who gave me a shot, I hope I did justice to the task, and thank all of you for all of your patience!

-Secondly, the theme of our Season Finale is "Thank you" to all the fans! The content is 100% fan driven, topics and questions chosen strictly by fans of The Wrestling Roundtable! To continue our giving back, we're having an exclusive offer to our biggest fans! Check the message board for more details

-"El Antorchia" Adam Firestorm(Adam Dykes, 32), indy wrestlers from Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest US, committed suicide Thursday(Credit : Slam! Wrestling).

-The restraining order against Kurt Angle filed by Trenesha Biggers was withdrawn yesterday, as all charges against Angle have been dropped by the former Rhaka Kahn. Angle will be starring in a new straight-to-DVD movie, Deadman's Gold.

-Dixie Carter held a meeting with the staff of TNA prior to a TV taping last week where she more or less threatened everyone with the same treatment Jim Cornette got(i.e. fired) if they don't support the company's directions 100%. They also felt the need to post it online to expose themselves to the world as telling their employees to be mindless, souless zombies who won't question anything no matter how stupid, akin to WWE telling their wrestlers not to Twitter after midnight recently.

-Although unofficially rescheduled for January 2nd's 108 show, UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar's already delayed title defense against Shane Carwin is now postponed indefinitely, as Lesnar has been suffering from mononucleosis and cannot train for six weeks(Credit : espn). UFC officials said they hoped for Lesnar to fight by March.

-Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart made his TNA debut at last week's tapings defeating Black Machismo. Raven was also at the tapings, but unlike Neidhart, WGN reports Raven appears to be returning as a regular.

-Mad Dog Vachon was inducted in to the Quebec Sports Hall Of Fame the other day(Credit : Montreal Gazette).

-Katsuhiko Nakajima will be replacing KENTA at ROH's shows in Detroit & Toronto this weekend. ROH has also hinted at negotiations with AAA in the future.

-WWE will be raising PPV prices to $44.95 starting with the Royal Rumble in January and dropping one of the June shows.

-Chris Jericho's band Fozzy has a new album coming out January 26, 2010.

-Dennis Miller is confirmed to host RAW December 14th, which will be a three hour Slammy Awards edition.  Rowdy Roddy Piper will host next week's MSG RAW.

-Former WWE developmental 'talent' Saylor James is in a new porn video, Model Amateur Tour(Credit : WGN).

-Jeff Jarrett's first match in months will be November 14th in West Kentucky Championship Wrestling. Jarrett will wrestle Dutch Mantell Princeton, KY

-Gabe Sapolsky of Dragon Gate USA, Sal Hamoui of FIP & Davey Richards announced plans to form a new promotion called EVOLVE Wrestling today. Richards, one half of the ROH World Tag Team Champions, will defend the ROH belts with partner Eddie Edwards against The Briscoes at ROH's Final Battle show in December at the Manhattan Center in NYC. Edwards will also be touring NOAH in Japan soon along with Chris Hero.


Monday, November 16, 2009 :

-The first half of the Season Finale of The Wrestling Roundtable's second season is online! The winner of our first t-shirt contest winner, Steven Malesky, chose the topic, 'What Should WCW Have Done After Starrcade 97?' Check out the discussion & let us know if you'd like to see more details of our year's plan. What would you have done? Sign up for the message board or write a guest column to let us know! Maybe we can turn this into a bigger discussion & exchange of ideas! View the video on our YouTube page or below :



-In what is huge news, Dave Meltzer reports that Shane McMahon(who was, last we know of, to officially leave WWE Jan. 1st) and 'one other party' met with UFC President Dana White last week. No details of the meeting, but being Shane is long reputed to be a big MMA fan, one has to assume that getting involved in what his father's company unofficially fears as competition is what has led to Shane's departure being one of the 'unmentionable' topics with Vince Jr., along with The Macho Man Randy Savage. Shane was VP Of Global Media for a long time in WWE, facilitating WWE's international TV expansion among other deals(an area UFC is also interested in), so between that & his lifelong involvement in 'fight' promotion, Shane could be a valuable addition to UFC's staff, firing another big shot against their scripted counterpart.

-After hoping to reschedule the delayed UFC Heavyweight title defense between sick champion Brock Lesnar & Shane Carwin in March, Lesnar's mono is now coupled with another illness that could be career-threatening, or put him out for a long time if nothing else. Lesnar wanted neither illness reported, and Carwin is getting an MRI on his knee to determine the extent of nagging knee issues(Credit : wrestling observer). 

-Dixie Carter announced via Twitter, which seems to be the place TNA likes to break their news, that Pope D'Angelo Dinero was signed to a new, longer contract.

-WWE was granted an extension to respond to Jody Hamilton's lawsuit regarding DSW(Credit : WGN). They now have until Nov. 16th.

-Jim Ross reported on his BLOG that he probably won't be ready to return to TV for 3-4 months.

-Trenesha Biggers(Rhaka Kahn) claims she will re-file charges against Kurt Angle with the Pittsburgh DA's office due to having evidence she was unable to submit before dropping the charges(Credit : WGN).

-Speaking of crazy bitches, Ric Flair re-married for the 5th time last week in Charlotte, NC(Credit : Primetime with the Pacman). Moron.

-Kaval(Low Ki) returned this weekend to FCW from reconstructive knee surgery(Credit : WGN).

-Jesse Ventura's Conspiracy Theory show will debut on TruTV December 2nd at 10pm.

-WGN reports Rey Mysterio Jr. needs knee surgery again, as his ACL & PCL are "completely destroyed."

-In addition to guest host Rowdy Roddy Piper, WGN reports The Iron Sheik will be on tonight's RAW.

-Linda McMahon has officially left WWE, filing her resignation with the SEC(Credit : examiner.com). She had stepped down as CEO over the summer. USA Today lists Linda as spending $3.5 million of her own money so far in the campaign, more than anyone else running for Senate. CT state Democratic party Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission regarding WWE flagging YouTube videos featuring their racier and sexual segments from years ago. Although WWE is perfectly in the right to claim ownership of their footage to get it taken down, the timing is naturally suspect, being that it's been online for years untouched but now that they are trying to protect their new PG image for Linda's Senate race, all of a sudden they care about that specific footage being online. DiNardo also claims WWE has made illegal in-kind campaign contributions to Linda's campaign(Credit : courant.com). When would the McMahons EVER do anything illegal?

-Lance Hoyt debuted in WWE for ECW on SyFy a few weeks ago.

-Following The Sandman's lead, Axl Rotten, who recently canceled a convention in Baltimore, MD, has taken up WWE on their rehab offer(Credit : WGN).

-Sojourner Bolt was fired from TNA last week, as creative said they had 'nothing for her' but she may be brought back(Credit : pwinsider).

-SouthPeak has acquired the TNA iMPACT! video game assets from Midway, while WWE & THQ have agreed to renew their video game deal through 2014(Credit : WGN).

-Candice Michelle is pregnant. Bitch told me she was on the pill!

-Konnan is writing an autobiography(Credit : WGN).

-Less than 3 months after closing IWA Mid South down, Ian Rotten says he is running a return show on 11/20 in Addison, IL to raise money to pay off his debts. Loser. 

-Tara/Victoria was inducted in to Rialto, CA's Sports Hall Of Fame (Credit : WGN).

-Marty "Boogemany" Wright is claiming he will return to WWE in January(Credit : clubwwi). Guess that means The Royal Rumble.

-The Great Khali has agreed to become an ambassador for the Special Olympics(Credit : WGN). Insert your own joke here.

-SEScoops.com reports Dos Caras Jr. is back under his original name after it was changed to Alberto Banderas in FCW.

-Matt Morgan has agreed to donate his brain upon death to Chris Nowinski's Sports Legacy Institute(Credit : WGN).

-Greg "The Hammer" Valentine is suing Windy City Pro Wrestling, the Village of Bridgeview & a third defendant claiming an injury at the 7/10 Hulk Hogan Appreciation Day show in Bridgeview, IL's Toyota Park when stairs leading to WCPW's ring constructed by the Village collapsed on an "improperly" lit catwalk (Credit : Chicago Now).

-DDP is shooting a movie in Dec. with former tag partner David Arquette called Lance Of The Astronauts(Credit : WGN).

-Dutch Mantell is now booking Showtime All-Star Wrestling of Nashville, while Lance Storm is booking Prairie Wrestling Alliance in Alberta(Credit : pwinsider).

-Big returns to Ring Of Honor in December : Jack Evans, Teddy Hart, Alex Kozlov & Rocky Romero from AAA will all be appearing at ROH's shows in Manassas, VA December 18th & Final Battle in New York City's Manhattan Center the next night December 19th. They aren't the last name from ROH's past who will be appearing, either.

-Kozlov(WWE's, not Alex) was apparently in WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko's M-1 Global entourage at the CBS Strikeforce show last weekend when Fedor beat previously undefeated Brett Rogers.

-Daffney returned in her first match back after suffering a broken arm last month's Bound For Glory at Shimmer's DVD tapings the other weekend.

-And finally, in the best news of the entire fucking YEAR, The Wrestling Observer reports that WWE may have re-hired SEAN MOONEY!  He had an interview last week at Titan Towers(Credit : WGN).


Wednesday, November 25, 2009 :

-Firstly, I owe everyone an apology once again for the lack of content on our sites lately ; I've had a ridiculously busy month with only one or two days free with long, long hours & travel, so forgive me for the delay in the Q &A's uploading and lack of posting on the sites(although I do often tweet on our Twitter account! The fastest way to stay updated on the show!). However, being busy has been good - I've been doing commentary on some select ROH DVDs & matches, and you're also soon going to see a teaser for the new Wrestling Road Diaries documentary following Colt Cabana, Bryan Danielson, Sal Rinauro & more on the road, showing the life of an independent pro wrestler, during Danielson's Final Countdown Tour with Ring Of Honor & various other indies(look for the documentary to be released sometime next year!). We're also working on some ideas/projects for the Roundtable show itself as well such as podcasting, so thanks for everyone for making us more successful this year, and we look forward to doing more for the third season in early 2010!

-Orig Williams("El Bandito"), 78, former 70s Welsh wrestler, died last week in what is thought to be a heart attack.

-Mike LeBelle, 79, former 2nd generation promoter(of the NWA in Los Angeles in his time) & brother of "Judo" Gene, died yesterday afternoon apparently of respiratory failure(Credit : Slam Wrestling). He is reported to be the first promoter to use closed-circuit television.

-During a rare WWE PPV that didn't feature a world title change, referee Scott Armstrong suffered a concussion at the Survivor Series this past Sunday when current #1 contender for the spinning belt Sheamus accidentally kneed him in the head during the opening match of Team Miz Vs. Team Morrison. Also on the PPV, Batista/Rey Mysterio Jr ended with an injury angle to explain Mysterio's absence while he is off getting knee surgery on his ACL. Mysterio opted for a "quick fix" lesser surgery to return quicker, but will need the full surgery later on. Big Show will also have knee work done soon(scoping), but he & Rey are not expected to miss much time & Rey is hoping to return at the Royal Rumble in January(Credit : pwinsider).

-As reported on wrestlingroundtable.com, Shane McMahon recently met with Dana White and 'one other party.' We've since discovered that party to be Carl De Marco, former president of WWF/WWE Canada and longtime employee who resigned some months back. Both were instrumental in WWE's international presence, and heavy.com's Jonathan Snowden straight out says that McMahon wants to buy in to UFC as a minority owner along with White under the Fertittas. Whether that's credible or not, Dana White admits Shane is a friend and reveals no further details on their meeting. 

-Another followup on last week's news : UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar's mystery illness was a hole in his intestine along with abscesses(Credit : Yahoo Sports!). While Lesnar was sent home to recover, his jiu-jitsu coach Rodrigo Medeiros told tmz.com that Brock would fight again within 6 months. It remains undecided whether or not UFC will crown an interim Heavyweight champion in the meantime, but seems like a waste at this point as Brock's scheduled challenger Shane Carwin may not fight in February anyway due to the expected birth of his child.

-ROH announced their first live internet show will be on GoFightLive.tv, a website that shows boxing & MMA cards. The show will be Sat. night Dec. 19th in New York City as Final Battle 2009 and you can bet several panelists from the Roundtable will be there!

-ROH World Tag Team Champion Eddie Edwards had his first match back from surgery to repair a broken elbow this past weekend in Japan for Pro Wrestling NOAH(Credit : WGN). Katsuhiko Nakajima has pulled out of the tour after reaggravating an ankle injury in ROH a couple weeks ago.

-Pro Wrestling Unplugged in Philadelphia run by professional dirtbags The Backseat Boyz have changed their name to Pro Wrestling Unscripted, though their claims to be airing on the Versus Network are untrue. Speaking of Philadelphia, The Briscoes & Becky Bayless(who made a cameo on Slam Master J's wwe.com show) received tryouts before the doors opened in the Wachovia Center last week at Smackdown/ECW(Credit : pwinsider).

-The Great Khali recently visited an Indian prison to give a motivational speech to the younger in-mates. Question is if they understood a word he said(Credit : Times Of India). Khali was also suspended by the Punjabi Police Department due to overstaying his leave of absence, scheduled to end 11 months ago.

-IWA Mid South's comeback show this weekend saw Heavyweight champion Dingo stripped of the title and a tournament announced to crown a new champion, along with a return date & King Of The Death Match show promised also. Dingo will unfortunately be retiring due to a neck injury, and the Roundtable wishes Dingo well(Credit : WGN).

-RAW next week will be hosted by Verne Troyer & involve a lot more midgets. Cause nothing makes me want to watch pro wrestling more than midgets. Mark Cuban, owner of HDNet which airs Ring Of Honor, will be appearing as a guest host Dec. 7. Cuban has yet to appear on ROH.

-John Cena will be the grand marshall of the Fort McDowel Fiesta Bowl Parade on Jan. 2(Credit : azcentral).

-AAA announced an animated movie about their promotion would premiere on Jan. 22(Credit : WGN).

-Shane Hollister will debut in ROH Dec. 5th in Chicago.

-Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson recently appeared as a spokesman for NASA in some PSAs. His movie, Planet 51, opened at #4 in the box office this weekend, earning $12.4 million and The Wrestling Observer claims it is planned for him to host RAW in January.

-The Wrestler, a movie I was an extra in but ripped on the show, will premiere on HBO this Saturday.

-The Pontiac Silverdome, home of WrestleMania 3 headlined by Hulk Hogan Vs. Andre The Giant & probably the biggest wrestling show in North American history, sold last week for $583,000 to the city of Pontiac, MI, about 1% of what it cost build(Credit : csmonitor.com).

-Lauren Mayhew, who had been on a short term deal to replace Lillian Garcia, has left WWE after they couldn't agree to a longer term deal(Credit : pwinsider).

-Before leaving for Australia, Hulk Hogan bought girlfriend Jennifer McDaniel an engagement ring(Credit : wrestling observer). Dear lord. Hogan has defeated now unretired Ric Flair twice on the tour so far.


Saturday, December 5, 2009 :

-Umaga(Edward Fatu, also known as Jamal in 3 Minute Warning, Ekmo and U-maga), 36, died yesterday after a heart attack while in the hospital. He had been found by his wife several hours after falling asleep while watching television not breathing with blood coming out of his nose(Credit : wrestling observer). He was rushed to the hospital fearing he had suffered a heart attack. He suffered a second heart attack in the hospital while unconscious. The doctors were
able to restart his heart, but he was taken off of life support after being declared brain dead(Credit : WGN). The Wrestling Roundtable sends its' condolences to the family & friends of Fatu.

-Alexis Michelle Reed, 26, stepdaughter of Brian Pillman who had been wrestling on indies as "Sexi" Lexi Pillman, died in a car accident on Thanksgiving.

-Dana White said the other day that Brock Lesnar is (still) "very sick" and he still doesn't know if Brock will ever fight again. I still think they're working this to a degree, or at least I HOPE they are. Meanwhile, Antonio Rodrigo
"Minitauro" Nogueira and undefeated Cain Velasquez have agreed to fight at UFC 110, Feb 21 in Sydney, Australia in a fight that Sherdog.com reports will NOT be for an Interim Heavyweight Championship.

-Jim Ross reports that Dr. Death Steve Williams had a PET Scan result come back showing the cancerous Stoma in his throat has gotten smaller, and that he has 6 more chemotherapy treatments left.

-Jesse Ventura's Conspiracy Theory debuted on TruTV Wednesday night scoring the biggest rating in channel history, a 1.4. Ventura has been making the media rounds promoting the premiere, and stormed off the Opie & Anthony radio show on XM after a intense argument with Jim Norton on Dec. 2nd.

-Bobby Lashley's next MMA fight should be announced soon(Credit : WGN).

-SyFy & WWE have had talks regarding "re-branding" fake ECW by replacing it with a more "Superstars"-esque show that will focus only on new wrestlers as it seems the "ECW" name has worn out it's usefulness in their eyes, though that is not set in stone yet(Credit : Hamilton Ave Journal). In other words, say goodbye to WWECW soon.

-Eric Santamaria, host of The Wrestling Roundtable, had an interesting meeting this week with some name
independent wrestlers regarding a new project in 2010. More details forthcoming.

-The Big Show had his knee scoped Tuesday, and Rey Mysterio, Jr. is already back way too soon, having just wrestled on the Tribute To The Troops taping in Iraq the other night(Credit : wrestling observer).

-pwinsider also reported the following on WWE-related lawsuits & courtroom dramas : Warrior's defamation lawsuit ended on Nov. 19th with Warrior unable to prove why his appeal should continue, along with rumors of a payoff to Warrior in exchange for dropping the charges, which many have jumped to the conclusion of the result being his induction into the Hall Of Fame in his home state of Arizona next year, but none of that has been substantiated yet. Also, WWE has gotten yet another extension(until Dec. 15th) to file a response to Jody Hamilton's breach-of-contract suit regarding the closing of Deep South Wrestling without 90-days notice. Meanwhile, Jeff Hardy's probable cause hearing was also delayed - for the second time -  until Jan. 27th.

-WWE is releasing a new comic book series through Titan Publishing, "WWE Heroes," where HHH, Undertaker & the crew fight off zombies & tigers or shit like that.

-Shane Hollister will debut in ROH tonight in Chicago Ridge, IL.

-Mark Cuban might wrestle Cody Rhodes on RAW(Credit : The Dallas Morning News).

-On Tuesday, Lester Henry, a 58 year old man in Burlington, KY, was caught masturbating in the Boone County Library while watching a wrestling video(Credit : wcpo). Now you know who buys Shimmer. Anyway, he was arrested for second degree indecent exposure & disorderly conduct, and is currently in the Boone County Detention Center with no bond set yet.

-2009 Playboy Magazine Model Of The Year Jillian Beyor, 24, has been signed to a WWE developmental deal(Credit : WGN).

-Kevin Steen's knee, while he has had problems with it, is not in as bad shape as the "insiders" report.

-Jeff Jarrett will be returning to TNA on camera/in the ring, presumably full time, imminently(Credit : pwinsider).

-iN DEMAND's TNA Genesis PPV poster advertises "Hulk Hogan Returns To Pay-Per-View." And yup, that doesn't mean to wrestle. Blegh. Anyway, Hogan told TMZ he 'could' marry his current girlfriend, Jennifer McDaniel and Bubba The Love Sponge claimed yesterday on his radio show that Hogan would be 'in attendance' at the Jan. 4th iMPACT! tapings.

-While Brent Albright is still under ROH contract in the official story, he isn't scheduled to return to wrestling at the moment. I know, I know, how can life go on?

-'The Wrestler' by Bruce Springsteen has been nominated for the Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television of Other Visual Media Grammy.

-Mick Foley's next book, Countdown To Lockdown, will be released in 2010(Credit : pwinsider).

-Post production on Stone Cold Steve Austin's latest movie, Damage, has been completed as the first film released by Affinity Mediaworks & will be sold to film markets in 2010.


Friday, December 11, 2009 :

-TNA made a huge announcement via Hulk Hogan on UFC's The Ultimate Fighter season finale card this past Saturday. While being interviewed by Joe Rogan during the highest rated TUF ever on Spike TV and with Dixie Carter & Eric Bischoff being shown on camera sitting in the crowd, Hogan announced that TNA would be doing a live 3-hour iMPACT! at 8pm, Jan. 4th on Spike, head-to-head with WWE's Monday Night RAW. Planned to be an experimental one-off show, this will be the first time in almost 9 years WWE has had another wrestling show counter-programming against them on a Monday night. TNA has taken out a Times Square billboard in New York City to promote the event that will feature Hulk Hogan's debut with the company, while Team 3D will be missing the show due to a tour of New Japan defending the IWGP Tag Team Titles. Brutus Beefcake, Jimmy Hart & The Nasty Boys were in attendance at TUF : Heavyweights Finale but not shown during the broadcast that drew a 2.4 rating(and an average of 3.7 million viewers) to see former IFL Heavyweight Champion Roy Nelson win the contest by defeating Brendan Schaub in the main event via knockout, and speaking of Hogan & Friends, WGN reports the current plan is for Hogan to lead a faction against another headed by Mick Foley, while Hogan has been pushing to return to a traditional four-sided ring. Both ideas seem to suck, but if it leads to the Cactus Jack/Hogan match I've been wanting, whatever.

-British wrestler Nik Bali was paralyzed from the neck down Nov. 27th in Cardiff, Wales in a match for Celtic Wrestling after a botched double team Styles Clash or piledriver-type maneuver(Credit : WGN). Santinobros.net reports "subsequent surgery hasn't worked" initially, but he has since regained some feeling in his hands & legs.

-WGN reports WWE's production crew made a video tribute to Umaga, but apparently Vince McMahon made the call not to air it.

-Chris Nowinski's Sports Legacy Institute & Dr. Bennet Omalu of The Brain Injury Research Institute issued statements this past week regarding Andrew "Test" Martin's brain, stating that he suffered from CTE(Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy), the second wrestler ascribed as having this syndrome of brain damage, behind Chris Benoit(Credit : ESPN.com). After comparing his brain to that of He Who We Do Not Speak Of's, WWE was quick to respond, stating they had asked to see the research & test results of Chris Benoit 'for years" and have not been supplied with them, to which Dr. Julian Bailes of the Brain Institute replied that they'd never received a request from WWE.

-Speaking Of HWWDNSO(or not?), LFP Publishing Group, publisher of Hustler Magazine, has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court against the federal court ruling that Hustler used nude pictures of Nancy Benoit(taken 20 years ago
but recently re-published) for commercial rather than news purposes, violating her family's right-of-publicity interests(Credit : WGN).

-America On-Line & Time Warner officially split in to two separate entities once again last week.

-There has been no discussion regarding extended RAW to 3 hours on Jan. 4th, which, as the Wrestling Observer reports, is exactly the opposite reaction TNA expected, as their initial plans were for a 2 hour special from 8-10, but they figured WWE would extend RAW in response, so they went with a 3 hour iMPACT instead. TNA's special has not been discussed openly by Vince McMahon, either(Credit : pwinsider). Also, John Cena will be missing that RAW due to flipping a coin at the Fiesta Bowl while this may be the show The Rock hosts.

-WGN claims former WWE Canada President Carl DeMarco interviewed with UFC recently.

-ECW on SyFy this past Tuesday did a 0.8, it's lowest rating ever.

-Lisa Marie Varon/Tara went to Los Angeles yesterday to pitch a reality series that would chronicle her attempt to start in MMA to 'network exec.s'(Credit : WGN).

-WGN reports that Brock Lesnar was scheduled to check in to the Mayo Clinic this week for tests to determine treatment for an 'undisclosed ailment' & that he has lost a 'ton' of weight since his Nov. 16th intestine surgery, while Lesnar's trainer Greg Nelson told MMAWeekly Brock is feeling much better, though still 'on the mend' & not training.

-Go Shiozaki lost NOAH's GHC Heavyweight Title to Takashi Sugiura this weekend, on the same card that saw Mohammed Yone & Takeshi Rikio defeat former ROH champion Takeshi Morishima & Kensuke Sasaki for the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team titles(Credit : wrestling observer).

-In possibly the most irrelevant news of the day, Maryse is slated to be getting another Divas Title reign soon(Credit : WGN).

-Charlie Haas asked for his release from WWE several months ago, but under the belief Kurt Angle had plans for Haas in TNA, WWE instead offered Haas a deal for more money, which he signed, but they still don't plan on using him at
the moment(Credit : wrestling observer). Angle has been suffering from back problems recently, since at least the
TNA Turning Point PPV.

-Christy Hemme will be returning as an interviewer for TNA until her neck heals, while Sarita participated in the Freestyle Fitness 2009 'model-athlete' competition last week(Credit : WGN).

-Ronnie Gossett, wrestler/promoter of Universal Championship Wrestling, suffered a 'severe' heart attack today & is in critical condition(Credit : wrestling observer).

-Sid claims to have tore a a bicep muscle while wrestling on the American Wrestling Rampage tour of the UK & flew home(Credit : santinobros.net)

-EMLL wrestler Metallico underwent surgery this past weekend to remove an abscess from his ass(Credit : Lucha World).

-Mayor Tom Barrett of Milwaukee, WI proclaimed Dec. 5th to be Bobby "The Brain" Heenan Day at a GLCW show, Blizzard Brawl 5.

-Rey Mysterio Jr. plans to hold off major knee surgery until after WrestleMania(Credit : WGN).

-All Japan recently had to rebook almost an entire tag team tournament when many of the wrestlers came down with the Swine flu(Credit : wrestling observer).

-The Royal Rumble 2010 will be WWE's first non-WrestleMania Blu-Ray release.

-Ed Farhat, Jr.'s AWWL has arranged to start showing Big Time Wrestling, taped in Detroit 35 years ago, on WHPR TV-33 & The Fight Network.

-J.D. Costello claims NWA Charlotte will return next year with monthly shows(Credit : WGN). Also returning is Jac Sabboth's Impact Championship Wrestling March 19th in Union, NJ, while Norm Connors is promoting his final IWC show in Pittsburgh this weekend.

-Yoshihiro Tajiri is starting up a new promotion, Japan SMASH, that will feature three divisions of pro wrestling, kick boxing & MMA matches, with their first show scheduled to be March 26 in Tokyo(Credit : wrestling observer).

-Expect a surprise return at ROH's Final Battle 2009 iPPV. Speaking of ROH, WGN reports that some in WWE were worried Mark Cuban, who guest hosted RAW on Monday, would plug ROH on camera & one suggested to Stephanie McMahon to not let him have a live mic to prevent the chances of it happening. Who wants to bet it's more likely Mark Cuban didn't even think of it than he was told not to?

-Tatanka defeated Jay Lethal at the iMPACT tapings this past Tues. & Big Brother 'star' Jessie Godderz, who had been training at FCW, wrestled Alex Shelley in a dark match.(Credit : WGN). Referee Mike Posey & Nikki Roxx returned as well, with two new women rumored to debut Jan. 21. A random drug test was also administered last week.

-Kaval/Low Ki, who WGN reported was expected to debut under a mask, wrestled Goldust in a dark match at this week's Smackdown taping while Trent Berreta & Caylan Croft debuted on fake ECW as a tag team.

-The Hamilton Ave Journal reports rumors of WWE targeting China for a tour sometime in 2010.

-In a CNBC interview, President of WWE International Andrew Whitaker stated WWE is looking to break in to the Brazilian & Russian markets.

-Baron Von Raschke will be inducted in the St. Louis Wrestling Hall Of Fame this weekend(credit : wrestling observer).

-The World According to Dutch, Dutch Mantell's book, will be released next week, and Vance Nevada's Wrestling In
The Canadian West is out now.

-Mickie James' country music album is expected to be released in the spring(Credit  : WGN).

-The Wrong Side Of Town, starring Rob Van Dam & Batista, will be released on DVD & Blu-Ray on Feb. 23, and End Game starring Alex Jones....whoops, I mean, Kurt Angle & Jenna Morasca was released last week.

-John Cena's next movie, Brother's Keeper, will start shooting later this month in New Orleans(Credit : WGN).

-Timbaland will guest host RAW on Dec. 28th.

-AAA has threatened now-independent group Perros Del Mal regarding use of the name AAA owns the trademark to, and in response, they have changed their names : Charly Manson to C. Manson, Psicosis to Psycosis Extreme, Alebrije to Gran Alebrije, Histerio to Hysteria Extreme & Cuije to Pequeno Cuije(Credit : santinobros.net)

-Vladimir Kozlov(Oleg Prudius, which is a much cooler name I might add) became a US citizen this past Monday,
taking the Oath of Allegiance at the Tampa Convention Center(Credit : myfoxtampabay.com).

-AAA wrestler Octagon was recently sentenced to 20 hours jail time after a DUI, but only served almost 6 1/2 hours before being released early to file his defense. He never returned and if he doesn't soon a warrant for his arrest will
be filed & he will suffer a stiffer penalty(Credit : WGN).

-Lacey Von Erich got engaged last week. Speaking of marital bliss, the Tampa Tribune reports Hulk Hogan claims ex-wife Linda removed many valuable fixtures from their Belleair mansion, causing some damaged property to the
tune of "tens of thousands of dollars" worth in the process. Linda's attorney says Linda offered to repair the damage but Hulk refused her offer.

-Lilian Garcia recently did a photo shoot for same-sex-marriage campaign No H8(Credit : WGN).


Tuesday, December 15, 2009 :

-The first piece of merchandise from The Wrestling Roundtable is now available on our online store! The Wrestling Roundtable Logo T-shirt, in black, is available in sizes Medium-Double Extra Large. Before everyone asks, the design on the back is of a chalky handprint left over as if from a carny promoter around the turn of the century, leaving his "mark" on the "mark." That's where the carny term "mark" comes from. They considered you a sucker & left their chalky handprint as a signal to the other promoters that you were easy to make a buck off of.  That's why it's X'ed out ; Don't be a sucker! Get yours & support the show today!

-Going to do any last minute holiday shopping for a wrestling fan this season? Plan on getting the latest pro wrestling/MMA DVD or book? Well now there's a great new way to support the show ; If you purchase the product through clicking the links on our Amazon Store page(Highlight "Online Store" in the tabs on the left side of the wrestlingroundtable.com screen & go to "Amazon Store"), we'll get $! It will help keep the movement going, so if you're going to put money in Vince McMahon, Dixie Carter or Dana White's pockets, we might as well get a cut, right? :) Support the Wrestling Roundtable community when you shop for the holidays! Also, don't forget to shop at The Wrestling Roundtable's official store, available when you click the "Online Store" tab on the left!

--We're happy to announce that the host of The Wrestling Roundtable, Eric Santamaria, will be co-hosting Ring Of Honor's first live pay-per-view, Final Battle 2009, on GoFightLive.

-There were several title changes at WWE's TLC PPV this past Sunday :
-Drew McIntyre won the Intercontinental Title from John Morrison
-Sheamus O'Shaunessy defeated John Cena in a Tables match to win the WWE Championship, his first world title
-Triple H & Shawn Michaels as DX (finally) won the WWE Undisputed World Tag Team Titles, about 3 years too late, from Chris Jericho & The Big Show. This is HHH's 2nd Tag Team title and Shawn Michaels' 6th(Yes, I'm counting the Marty Jannetty phantom title switch. Fuck it).

-Last night, WWE resurrected The Slammy Awards, with RAW itself hosted by Dennis Miller. Here are the "winners" :
-Extreme Moment(formerly "Slam") Of The Year : Jeff Hardy's Swanton on to CM Punk off a ladder through the announce table at SummerSlam 09
-RAW Guest Host Of The Year : Bob Barker(Thought for sure Shaq was a shoe-in. Either way, fun to see wrestlers downgraded by their own company as they weren't even nominated in favor of the celebs, when the wrestlers were the best ones apparently)
-Shocker Of The Year : CM Punk retires Jeff Hardy in a Smackdown Steel Cage Match(If you're 6 & don't read the internet I guess)
-The "Oh My" Moment Of The Year : Michael Cole vomits on Jericho(The "George Takei" Award?)
-Tag Team Of The Year : "Jeri-Show"(They're actually calling them that?)
-Breakout Star Of The Year :  Sheamus(See what spotting HHH at the gym brings?)
-Match Of The Year : Shawn Michaels Vs. Undertaker at WrestleMania 25(No big surprise)
-"Diva" Of The Year : Maria(whatever)
-Superstar("Wrestler," I prefer) Of The Year : John Cena. Cena won a mini-tournament, defeating Randy Orton in the finals, to win the award. This would be like the Oscar for Best Actor being determined by the nominees doing scenes during the show itself.
Next week, New York Yankee Johnny Damon will host RAW.

-In much more interesting news, TNA wrestler and undefeated MMA fighter Bobby Lashley, 4-0, signed with Strikeforce, as announced on Saturday. Lashley's first fight with the league will be January 20th on Showtime, with no opponent named as yet. He will be staying with TNA as well.

-Dana White has said in interviews recently that UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar may need major surgery due to diverticulitis, which will be determined over the next couple of months. Until it is known, he is holding off on determining whether or not there will be an Interim Heavyweight champion crowned. Shane Carwin, Brock's original challenger, would more than likely face Frank Mir, who defeated Cheick Kongo

-Richie Steamboat, Ricky's son, has signed a developmental deal with WWE(Credit : pwinsider).

-WGN reports that Edge has told wrestlers he was helping train in FCW that he is projecting a return in the first quarter of 2010.

-Jack Evans & Teddy Hart have been pulled from the Ring Of Honor show this Friday in Manassas, VA due to "unexpected scheduling conflicts."

-AAA wrestler Mascarita Divina broke his fibia & tibula at Guerra de Titanes Friday in Madero City. He had successful surgery yesterday with no return time set just yet(Credit : Lucha World).

-Bobby "The Brain" Heenan was hospitalized in Tampa several days ago with an infection in his jaw(Credit : WGN).

-"Wapakman," a Filipino film starring current WBO World Welterweight/IBO & Ring Magazine Light Welterweight boxing champion Manny Pacquaio(who recently announced his candidacy for The Philippines' Congress in the 2010 elections) as the lead & Dave Batista as the villain will debut on Christmas at the Metro Manila Film Festival(Credit : wrestling observer).

-Promoter Marvin Ward of Virginia is planning a tour of China for American Wrestling Entertainment with Dave Hebner, featuring many OVW wrestlers & Ryan O'Reily(Credit : WGN).

-CZW & German promotion wXw(Westside Xtreme Wrestling) will be running two shows back-to-back at the ECW Arena in March(Credit : pwinsider).

Monday, December 21, 2009 :

-For Wrestling Roundtable fans, if you missed Ring Of Honor's Final Battle 2009 Saturday night, you can order the show at Go Fight Live starting today here : http://gofightlive.tv/showEvent.do?event=560
This event featured Roundtable host Eric Santamaria commentating the event with Dave Prazak & the surprise return of Larry Sweeney in what was a huge show for ROH's first live internet pay-per-view. Go Fight Live is also hosting several older Ring Of Honor shows for purchase.

-Eric & Lawrence of the Roundtable commentate the opening match(Kevin Steen Vs. Roderick Strong) of ROH's Clash Of The Contenders DVD, available at rohwrestling.com

-In what was huge news this past week, after Dennis Miller(of all people) mentioned Bret "The Hitman" Hart on RAW this past Monday as who he thinks should host RAW in the future, Hart has re-signed with WWE(after over 12 years away) to a 4-month deal that starts on January 1st(Credit : wrestling observer). The Observer goes on to say it is expected that 1. Hart will have a role in WrestleMania this year 2. will probably induct Stu & Owen in the Hall Of Fame that weekend 3. a Hart Foundation DVD is being made 4. he will be involved in a storyline based on the Montreal Screwjob that will also include "working a match in some capacity," which translates to not truly wrestling a traditional match but more like being tagged in & throwing a punch while the Hart Dynasty does all the real work against DX and/or Vince McMahon. This also leaves it likely Hart will appear on Jan. 4th's RAW.

-Damien Truth(Damien Evans), 29, former Ontario indy wrestler, died of a heart attack Friday(Credit : Slam! Sports).

-At TNA's Final Resolution pay per view yesterday, Tara regained the Knockouts title for a second time, defeating ODB. Also, in the Feast Or Fired battle royal, many briefcases were won(how original) : Kevin Nash won a tag title shot, Samoa Joe won a world title shot, Rob Terry(who?) won an X title shot, and Bashir(Davari) was fired, as he has legitimately left the company. Scott Steiner was injured in a last man standing match with Bobby Lashley, hurting his left knee.

-Bobby Lashley's next MMA fight will be for Strikeforce on Showtime, Jan.30th in Florida against another undefeated heavyweight, Shane Del Rosario, 9-0(Credit : mma worldwide).

-Jim Ross' contract has been extended "for a few months" so that he may heal from Bells Palsy.

-Mae Young was called for a RAW appearance tonight, while WWE looks to have finally taped the Little People's Court skit they've been putting off and we've been DYING for(Credit : wrestling observer).

-The Young Bucks will be getting a TNA tryout today, while the current ROH World Tag Team Champions, the Briscoe Brothers(having defeated the American Wolves for the belts at Final Battle this past Sat.) were invited to a week long FCW tryout(Credit : pwinsider).

-TNA backstage interviewer Lauren Brooke has left the promotion after shooting an angle with The Beautiful People wherein she 'walked off.' Christy Hemme, who recently announced her in-ring retirement, will be filing her role.

-Amber O'Neil & Lorelei Lee are scheduled to be at TNA's "all knockouts" taping.

-Booker T's first match back post-TNA will be in IWA Puerto Rico, Jan. 6th at the Histeria Boriuca show.

-Flight cancelations reeked havoc on ROH's planned tag matches at Final Battle, as the Necro Butcher, who was to team with Delirious against Erick Stevens & Bison Smith of the Embassy and bring Gypsy Joe along with him, could not fly out of West Virginia. Necro was substituted first with recently returning Pelle Primeau, then Bobby Dempsey. Then, the planned Jack Evans & Rocky Romero Vs. Teddy Hart & Alex Kozlov match was turned in to two singles matches ; Romero Vs. Kozlov, then an 'impromptu exhibition' between Evans & Hart when the two were finally able to arrive to the building well in to the show. It was also announced that Brian "Spanky" Kendrick would return to ROH at the 8th Anniversary Show in New York City, Feb. 17th.

-Grizzly Redwood injured his knee in training this week, gutting through a match in Manassas, VA Friday against Sonjay Dutt, but it also kept him off Final Battle the next day. No word on the extent of the injury or how long it will keep him out.

-Former NWA President Howard Brody's new book, "Swimming With Piranhas : Surviving The Politics Of Professional Wrestling," is now available.

-Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson gave the commencement speech at the University of Miami last week.

-Kenny Dykstra will be part of the Seducing Cindy reality show starting Jan. 30th on the  Fox Reality Channel(Credit : WGN).


Monday, December 28, 2009 :

-TNA continues their attempt to re-create the WCW-side of the Monday Night Wars as they've booked Scott Hall to return for Jan. 4th, with Sean "X-Pac" Waltman rumored to have been asked to return as well. In response to TNA's saber-rattling, WWE has removed Hulk Hogan & Mick Foley from the fanfare that opens their programming.

-TNA recently made a deal with Setanta Sports Africa to broadcast their programming in nearly four dozen new countries, all in Sub-Saharan Africa. Meanwhile, their "Epics" show is set to debut next month along with "Before The Bell" on DirecTV this January 11th. However, they have canceled their Feb. 2010 Australian tour(Credit : Hamilton Ave Journal).

-DirecTV's preview for WWE Monday Night RAW on January 4th pretty much confirms what we were already guessing, "Shocking Guest Host Bret The Hitman Hart returns to confront Mr. McMahon." WWE.com also announced that Mike Tyson will host on January 11th, head to head with UFC Fight Night on Spike TV.

-Dixie Carter announced on her twat....I mean, Twitter, that The Young Bucks have signed with TNA, while the Wrestling Observer reports 'talk' of them debuting Jan. 4th. Rumors also hint Angelina Love's return will be that date as well.

-Also announced on Twitter, Saron Snuka, "Superfly" Jimmy's daughter, has signed with WWE.

-Incognito, formerly Mystico de Juarez(not to be confused with luchador Mistico), has signed a developmental deal with WWE as well(Credit : wrestling observer).

-Tommy Dreamer will wrestle his last match for WWE under his last contract against Zack Ryder on fake ECW. He requested to be let go.

-Christy Hemme got engaged over the holiday weekend(Credit : pwinsider). Congratulations to the future Mrs. Santamaria

-Naomichi Marufuji of Pro Wrestling NOAH won the Super J Cup 2009 in Kurakuen Hall, Japan on Wed., defeating Prince Devitt in the finals, hosted by NJPW.

-Kid Kash was arrested in Johnson City, TN Tuesday on four counts of identity theft, two counts of forgery under $500 & four counts of property theft under $500. He was released from the Washington County Detention Center on $10,000 bond and is set to appear at the Washington County General Sessions Court on January 4tht to answer charges he used a 'female acquaintance's' credit card without permission, permission he claims was granted(Credit : Kingston Times). Wonder if he'll get home in time to see Bret Hart's return Vs. nWo 2009. He used the credit card twice at a convenience store, once at a grocery store, and once at a car wash, rallying up $100 worth of charges.

-WWE, THQ & JAKKS Pacific have reached an agreement regarding WWE's video games license : THQ will pay WWE $13.2 million and pay JAKKS $20 million over the next 4 years. THQ & JAKKS Pacific's relationship will terminate on Dec. 31st, but THQ & WWE's deal has been renewed for 8 more years.

-Ole Anderson was hospitalized with an infection in his leg this weekend but was released quickly & is at home(Credit : pwinsider).

-Nikki Roxx/Roxxi broke her ankle in two places at the iMPACT! tapings Tuesday in a match against Hamada.

-George Michael, 70, a Washington DC sportscaster who would cover WWF & WCW events in the 80s, died Thursday morning from cancer(Credit : wrestling observer).

-Bubba The Love Sponge will be holding a parade for Hulk Hogan's TNA debut at Margaritaville at Universal City, Orlando's City Walk. Did I fall asleep & wake up in the wrong century or something?

-And, being the last news update for the year 2009, I thought we'd take a look back at the death tally :

TOTAL DEAD WRESTLERS : 41
Drug-related : Paul E. Normous, Peter Goodman, Umaga(probable, not confirmed), Abismo Negro(found dead in a river, possible/probable drug use), Test
Age/non-drug related : Steve Doll(taken off life support), Playboy Buddy Rose(diabetes), Ted Grizzly(old), Princess Jasmine(old), Derek Wayne(?), "Tank" Tim Robertson(asphyxiation due to bee sting), Canibal(struck by a truck), Jose Arguello Lunca(old), Mitsuharu Misawa(severed spine), Cesar "Guerrillero" Valentino(old), Billy "Red" Lyons(cancer), La Parkita(hooker murder), Espectrito II(hooker murder), William "Bud" Osbourne(old), Waldo Von Erich(old), Karl Von Brauner(old), Damien Dothard(aneurysm), Anthony Roderick(?), "Whirlwind" Woodie Johnson(80), Jay Smith(car accident), Al Tomko(old), Karl Von Hess(old), Gladys "Killem" Gillem(old), Peter Goodman(drugs), Matt "Riot" Lowry(aneurysm), Annihilation(?), Perro De La Muerte III(gunshots), Kerry Brown(?), Captain Lou Albano(old), Zachary Porter(gunshots), Ghenghis Khan(cancer), Mike Fever(heart attack), Ryuma Go(blood poisoning), Adam Firestorm (suicide), El Bandito(heart attack), Lexi Pillman(car crash), Damien Truth(heart attack).