News Archives - Winter 09(Jan-March)
Friday, January 16th, 2009 :
-In the best news in a long time, Bob Holly was fired today(Credit : Wrestling Observer). Of course, it's about 15 years too late, but hey, better late than never. Maybe he can stiff 'green horns' on the indies to feel better about himself. On a more professional sounding note, fuck that prick.
-Indy wrestler Paul E. Normous died today(Credit : pwinsider.com). One wouldn't be insane to presume that a 32 year old bodybuilder whose heart stops in his sleep was probably a steroid abuser. But to be fair, other drugs might have been involved by themselves or in combination.
-At The Florida Championship Wrestling tapings, Low Ki wrestled as "Kawal" (Credit : pwinsider.com). One would expect this to be Low Ki's name in WWE for now, as Low Ki himself(Brandon Silvestry) owns the name and has been very protective of it. Low Ki would not sign the rights to the name over to TNA in his last run, which lead to the name "Senshi" being agreed upon instead.
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 :
-Bigger news than mere pro wrestling, Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the 44th President in the history of the United States of America, the first in 233 years with any African American ancestry. Never thought I'd see the day, and coming appropriately the day after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, it was quite a moment to be witnessing history of such magnitude. Time to get to work, don't fuck it up!
-Back to wrestling, last night on RAW, CM Punk won the Intercontinental title from William Regal. This, however, does NOT make him a "Triple Crown" champion despite some websites' claims, as that would entail Punk winning the 'real' belt, the belt that spins i.e. the belt that Jeff Hardy wears. The Triple Crown in WWE are the belts now called the "IC" title, The "World Tag Team" titles & the "WWE title." Punk's had 2/3 of those. And don't give me that "any world title counts but the ECW one" shit, because last I remember, when Pedro Morales, Diesel, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Steve Austin, The Rock, etc. all won the Triple Crown, it was THOSE titles. Period. So there.
-This past Friday on Smackdown, former multiple-time WWE Women's Champion Victoria wrestled her last match for WWE - for the time being. She said on her Myspace page that she's considering MMA. As a huge fan of Victoria, may I say, PLEASE! I want Victoria getting the winner of Carano/Cyborg in WEC :)
-The ROH Newswire today(Credit : rohwrestling.com) hinted that Mike Quackenbush would be returning to ROH soon. Jesus fucking christ. I guess that's good news if you like parachute pants.
Friday, January 23rd, 2009 :
-Looks like WWE's a little worried about people spending money on them. According to the Wrestling Observer, they're offering $5 discounts to RAW in Cleveland this Monday, & pushing that ordering WWE Pay-per-views comes out to a $9.99 "average per household"(who says there are four individuals in a household who want to watch, let alone pay for, wrestling - whoops, sports entertainment, in the first place?) as a way to sell their overpriced PPVs. Look to this groveling : "Since WWE pay per views are distributed directly to the home, parking is free, Mom provides the refreshments, and no waiting in line for the bathroom"(Source: WWE/Yahoo Finance) Firstly, that garage isn't paying for itself, and neither is/are the car(s) inside it. Secondly, what a sexist/backwards statement about women and their roll in the kitche...uuh, HOUSE! And lastly, anyone with a sibling will tell you that's a lie, and considering WWE thinks there's enough people to split the PPV, that means they're not single children.
Of course, I'm just being mean to the Big Brother of wrestling, but with all the money they saved firing Tim White and Sgt. Slaughter, you'd think they'd hire someone to write better press releases.
Anyway, this behavior is kind of funny considering this past RAW's rating of 3.9 was their highest since March. Guess people think paying cable is enough are stay in to watch WWE IN THESE TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES!
-Mickey Rourke & Marissa Tomei were nominated for Academy Awards this week for Best Actor & Best Supporting Actress(Funny, nothing was supporting Tomei's nice tits during many of her scenes!). Rourke has some stiff competition, however, between Sean Penn, & Brad Pitt. WWE is now all of a sudden acknowledging the movie now that it's getting mainstream recognition.
-The NWA saw a setback as their debut show on the Colour Channel(I never heard of it either) of the Dish Network was delayed due to a mix of of the tape format(HD Vs. standard definition). (Source : NWA)
-The New Alhambra Arena(the former Viking Hall aka ECW Arean, the most famous bingo hall in the world) is not shutting down despite claims otherwise(Credit : Wrestling Observer). Philadelphia lost the Spectrum, but at least they keep that! CZW will unfortunately be holding their 10th Anniversary show there in a few weeks.
-In a short interview with ROH owner Cary Silken, TicketNews.com said ROH would "soon be announcing a television deal," obviously referring to the HDNet offer. Sooner than they think!
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 :
-The biggest news in wrestling yesterday was that Ring Of Honor signed a deal with HDNet(Credit : rohwrestling.com). This is the first 'national' TV deal for the indy, making it probably the most prominent since (the original/"real") ECW landing on TNN in 1999. The last time ROH was on TV was a local Philadelphia late night show(also ala ECW) in 2002, and with them expanding to DirecTV ppv last month also, you would think ROH is making strides.
-Big Vision Entertainment is resurrecting G.L.O.W.(Credit : Big Vision Entertainment). Glow? Shimmer? Why is women's wrestling so shiny?
-Randy Orton won his first Royal Rumble on Saturday, about 4 1/2 years after winning his first world title. Melina also regained the Women's title from Beth Phoenix.
-Shane McMahon returned on RAW last night. Stephanie doing stuff with Jericho, McMahon getting beat up by the Rumble winner, Shane on TV? My, things have changed in 9 years! A more-or-less universally panned segment saw a 40-year old non-wrestler destroy the entire top faction of the show, which included the winner of the Rumble(Orton) who is of course now a world title contender, with his horrendous looking punches.
-Rob Van Dam's surprise Rumble appearance was seemingly a one-time only deal, again.
-WWE's One Night Stand, on the heels of Cena's FU becoming "his patented manuever" & the STF dropping the "U," in a further effort to push their PG image, will now be called "Exteme Rules."
Thursday, January 29th, 2009 :
-Helio Gracie, patriarch of the famous Gracie family of Brazil, died in his sleep this morning at the age of 95(Credit: Wrestling Observer). Father of early UFC innovator & Hall Of Famer Royce, Helio helped develop the Gracie style of Jiu-Jitsu, which saw smaller fighters such as his sons conquer bigger opponents in combat. His son Rorion was instrumental in the Ultimate Fighting Championship organization's 1993 start up. Today, MMA is "America's fastest growing sport" with millions of fans and Brock Lesnar is the current UFC Heavyweight Champion.
-Mickey Rourke's publicist is claiming Rourke will not be participating in WrestleMania 25 afterall(Credit : Wrestling Observer). Last week, Rourke implied he'd be at WrestleMania to fight Chris Jericho, and while it appeared that the angle to set up the match was the other night's embarrassing appearance by both men on Larry King Live, it's possible Rourke could be back "on" for WrestleMania after the Oscars.
-Dr. Phil Astin(54), Chris Benoit's personal (mark) doctor famous for prescribing the infamous , unstable murderer steroids, pleaded guilty today to 175-count federal indictment charging him with illegally distributing prescription drugs and conspiring to distribute prescription drugs. His prescriptions also contributed to the overdose death of a female patient in 2007 during the same month of the Benoit family murder/suicide.(Credit : AP)
Monday, January 2nd, 2009 :
-Diana Moody, the wife of William Moody (Percy Pringle/Paul Bearer) passed away today after a long battle with cancer(Credit : 411mania.com). On behalf of The Wrestling Roundtable, our sincere condolences to Mr. Moody & the Moody family.
-'Stone Cold' Steve Austin had initially asked for Flair to induct him in the WWE Hall Of Fame until Mcmahon vetoed the idea(Credit : Wrestling Observer). Flair will now be inducting Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat!
-WWE shut down their Australian office last week, and this week will be shutting down their Canadian office that had been open for over ten years(Credit : Wrestling Observer). Seems WWE's been closing a lot of offices lately IN THESE DIFFICULT FINANCIAL TIMES.
-ROH's first tapings for HDNet will be the Saturday & Sunday of Feb. 28th & March 1st at the (ECW) Arena(Credit : rohwrestling.com). You can bet that a couple members of the Roundtable will be in attendance.
-D-Lo Brown challenges Nigel McGuinness for the ROH title in his debut for Ring Of Honor this Saturday in Coral Springs, FL(Credit : rohwrestling.com). ROH is, apparently, also interested in bringing in Sean Morley(Credit : PWInsider). D-Lo Brown Vs. Val Venis was the opener for SummerSlam 1998.
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 :
-The message board for wrestlingroundtable.com is up & running. Click on the Message Board tab in the column on the left to find a link that will bring you to where you, the fans, can discuss whatever you want! Also, feel like writing a column? Submit it to wrestlingroundtable@gmail.com and have it posted here for everyone to read
-Christian Cage made his return to WWE last night on the third-string C-level show, fake ECW, where midcarders are (rightfully?) put. To cap off a show where the internet had a collective orgasm due to Christian's mere presence, he defeated Jack Swagger in a non-title match in furthering their efforts to undermine someone with actual potential. Speaking of potential, they also started running promos for the return of Matt Sydal.
-T.J. Wilson, after years in developmental limbo, debuted on fake ECW as Tyson Kidd. Must suck to wait for years to be called up, only to be given THAT name.
-In the past two days, TNA has made several cuts to their roster in THESE DIFFICULT FINANCIAL TIMES : Petey Williams(most surprisingly), as well as the Rock 'N Rave Connection. Apparently this is part of an effort to 'freshen up' the undercard by eliminating names that had been around for a while but were directionless(Credit : PWInsider). Funny, they don't seem to take that same attitude towards the main event scene.
-WWE's Hall Of Fame Class Of 2009 so far seems to be 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, Bill Watts, The Von Erich Family, and the Funk Brothers.(Credit : PWInsider). So far, all my Texas predictions except the Freebirds have been met. It'd be cute if they did Undertaker & Michaels also for the Texas-theme, just because it might add some more sizzle to their match likely to be announced for WM25, but I guess they'll be saved for another time.
-Oh yeah, Jericho punched some cunt fan who spit on him the other day. Way to go, tough guy! How appropriate that he'll probably be facing famed woman-beater Steve Austin at WrestleMania. Shouldn't they be teaming instead? They could have a tag boxing match against the fan & Debra.
Friday, February 13th, 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!
-Speaking of merchandise, the news we've been waiting for has finally been made official ; After a cancellation last year, WWE is finally creating a Macho Man DVD set, and a 3-disc one, no less. (Credit : PWInsider) Called "Macho Madness : The Randy Savage Ultimate Collection," the plan calls for just matches & no documentary - probably because that would mean, you know, TALKING to Savage - though Jim Ross hinted in his blog that Matt Striker would be hosting the DVD while still denying, as he does seemingly weekly, that he knows anything about why Macho Man is considered incommunicado by WWE(despite JR working there a million years) and that we're crazy for thinking something is going on. We're nuts for thinking it's weird that one of the biggest names in wrestling ever, that they made, hasn't been inducted in their Hall Of Fame, been brought back in some form, and NOT in the upcoming Legends Of WrestleMania game. Now, you could probably say the same things for the Ultimate Warrior, but they wanted him back for that DVD set & even HE is in the game. Every other big name associated with WrestleMania is in the game, but not Macho Man. Kamala is in the game, but Savage isn't. And we're making something out of nothing. Sure, fuck face.
-Last night on TNA iMPACT!, Stevie Richards "debuted" as Abyss' psychiatrist and Ashley Lane, one half of the Shimmer Tag Team Champions with Neveah, also debuted as Madison Rayne. She is rather gorgeous, so good for TNA as they've 'raided' a lot of good names from Shimmer(Amazing Kong, Josey, Daffney, etc.). It was also Petey Williams' last TNA match for the time being as he lost to Scott Steiner.
-Mick Foley's proposed comedy series wasn't picked up by Spike TV(Credit : PWInsider). Apparently Spike felt Foley shouldn't be in too many comedy shows at the moment so his limit will remain the one he's currently on Thursday nights at 9.
-After suffering an ankle injury in training the other month, Bobby Lashley's next MMA fight will be March 21st at the Pensacola Civic Center in a card featuring Boxing & MMA bouts. Also fighting that night is former IFL heavyweight champion Roy Nelson as well as Roy Jones, Jr.(Credit : 411mania)
-Al Snow & Bobcat are supposed to have been married today. To our knowledge, this is the first time two former WWF Hardcore Champions have gotten married.
-WWE has three former ROH champions under contract already & may be interested in adding another former ROH champion to their roster soon.
Saturday, February 14th, 2009 :
-Former WWF Intercontinental & World Tag Team Champion Ken Shamrock is now blacklisted from CBS. Last year, Shamrock was set to face Kimbo Slice in the main event of Elite XC's last Sat. night primetime special, but pulled out hours before the show went live due to a cut received warming up. Disaster entailed. Since then, StrikeForced has bought Elite XC's assets & paid off their debts to CBS, with plans on running shows n CBS as well. They've signed the top face of women's MMA, Gina Carano, are interested in Kimbo, and seem to be hopefully of having Ken Shamrock Vs. Frank Shamrock, but CBS has mandated that they refuse to allow Ken on their station anymore, so it would have to be on PPV should it ever happen(Credit : Wrestling Observer).
-Speaking of women's MMA, recently retired former WWE Women's Champion Victoria has been stating on her Myspace page that she might be interested. She said she's been training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and now is taking MMA classes. She said she'd consider it once she's ready. With StrikeForce looking to have locked down Gina Carano & Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos for their long awaited dream match, it seems like StrikeForce is the place to be for Victoria down the line. Good luck, Victoria!
Monday, February 16th, 2009 :
-ROH announced today that Ric Flair will be making several appearances for them starting with their show in Collinsville, IL on March 13th(Credit : ROHwrestling.com).
-Last night at No Way Out, the two Elimination Chamber matches featured title changes ; Edge won his 8th World title in about 3 years & HHH won his 13th in 10 years. 13? Lucky for us! One step closer to Flair!
-The management of current WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko(29-1) will be meeting with UFC President Dana White in June about doing a match against former WWE/IWGP Champion & current UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar(3-1). Before that match were to take place if a deal is reached, both men will be defending their titles ; Brock against Interim Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir at UFC 98 on May 23rd, and Fedor on the next Affliction PPV(Credit : DreamFighters.com). Speaking of Brock, a great video piece on his fighting career can be viewed here:
http://www.bigtennetwork.com/videos/wrestling.asp
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 :
-Boy, wrestling is fucked up. You got guys like Cena & JBL making media appearances still doing the "We never take steroids" routine to the point where you almost think they're doing it to be funny, then Jerry Lawler said this in an interview with the UK Sun concerning Chris Jericho's altercation the other week :
"Vince (McMahon) was kinda chuckling about it. Vince and I were talking and Jericho walked by and he said: 'Watch out! Jericho will hit you! He'll knock you right down!' Then he adds: 'Especially if you're a girl!' Everybody is having a joke about it and to me it's not a big deal, because that used to be very prevalent in the past. We used to be able to get the fans so riled up that they literally wanted to physically attack you after the matches. That hasn't happened in a long time, so it's almost like hats off to Chris Jericho – for doing his job."
Could you imagine if all these musicians being interviewed about Chris Brown said the same thing? It's bad enough they don't right out condemn the jerk off(Instead it's pussy garbage like, "We're praying for both of them"), but what if they said, "Everybody is having a joke about it." Apparently part of Jericho's job of being a good 'bad guy' is punching women in the face. That's some way to run a publicly-traded company. Or any company for that matter.
-The Oscars are on Sunday, and the two stars of The Wrestler are up for awards(Mickey Rouke for Best Actor, Marisa Tomei for Best Supporting Actress). Since Gran Torino has been nominated for NOTHING, I won't be watching.
-Speaking of elderly ass-kickers, looks like Verne Gagne may have killed somebody : The Minnesota Post & other news outlets out of MN are naming the retired multiple-time AWA World Champion as a suspect in the of his 97-year old roommate at the Friendship Village home, Helmut R. Gutman. Both suffered from Alzheimer's Disease, and Gagne, who had several previously assaults including to Gutman before, put Gutman in the hospital on January 26th with a broken leg & head injury that he died from four days later. Gagne is no longer at the home.
-In a non-story at the moment, MyNetworkTV was dropped from 'network status' by NewsCorp & all programming will go into reruns except WWE Smackdown, the only show people were apparently watching on the channel. All other programming is now up to local affiliates. WWE's contract with MyNetworkTV doesn't expire for another year or so(Credit : 411mania)
-Chyna will be doing another porn movie, this time called, "Another Night In Chyna." No word on whether she still has a penis-like clit, or how much I'll be paid for it.
Thursday, February 19th, 2009 :
-Hilariously, Scott Siegel - the actor who portrayed the steroid dealer in The Wrestler - was arrested yesterday by federal drug task force agents for dealing...wait for it...steroids! (Credit : Wrestling Observer). I guess the movie was full of people playing themselves.
-RAW did a 4.1 Nielsen rating on Monday, and ECW did a 1.2 on Tuesday, both the highest rated shows in a long while for each 'brand.' (Credit : Wrestling Observer). Just watch HHH take all the credit for RAW.
Friday, February 20th, 2009 :
-WWE released Colt Cabana today. They weren't pushing him anyway, and it's their loss as Colt "Scotty Goldman" Cabana is a very talented & entertaining individual. Their loss will definitely be someone else's gain!
*UPDATE* Turns out it was us who gained, because Cabana joined us for our first special edition of the show where he discussed his time in WWE, which you can view here :
-Hogan appeared on Bubba The Love Sponge's Sirius radio show and seemed to confirm that he won't be at WrestleMania after trying to work out a deal. Typical.
-ROH will debut on Saturday, March 21st at 8pm on HDNet(Credit : ROHwrestling.com)
-Robert Roode has signed a contract extension with TNA for five years(Credit : Peterborough Examiner)
-It looks as if there will be a convention in Houston the week/weekend of WrestleMania featuring non-WWE wrestlers such as Sting.
-TNA set a ratings record with iMPACT! on Thursday scoring a 1.3(Credit : Wrestling Observer). I can't explain this either.
-The Great Sasuke was arrested yesterday for assault(Credit : Japanprobe.com). Apparently while riding the train, a passenger took a picture with his cell phone of the maskless Sasuke, who got pissed about getting his bare face's picture taken, kicked the guy & grabbed his collar. He denies the allegations now, but all of us fans can rejoice that kayfabe is still alive!
Sunday, February 22, 2009 :
-"The Wrestler" actors did the job tonight at The Oscars as (hot) Marisa Tomei lost to (also hot) Penelope Cruz in the Best Supporting Actress category, and in the lead-in to the main event, Mickey Rourke lost to Sean Penn.
-Pro Wrestling Guerilla featured the first appearances of Colt Cabana(Scotty Goldman) & Paul London in their post-WWE tenures.
-Sonjay Dutt and TNA decided not to renew his contract(Credit : PWInsider).
Tuesday, February 24, 2009 :
--WWE is once again promoting a Mickey Rourke appearance at WrestleMania (Credit : Wrestling Observer). I guess that means he might be in Austin's corner Vs. Jericho.
-After Mike Knox seemingly accidentally injured Jaime Knoble on RAW while doing his finish, WWE.com reports that after several tests Knoble appears to be fine and should be back as early as Monday.
-WWE officially announced WrestleMania 26 will take place in Arizona. PWInsider reported shortly afterwards that ROH is already looking in to running shows there that weekend, no the surprise of no one.
-Necro Butcher's name was dropped and clips of his match from The Wrestler were shown during a skit at the Oscars, so good for Necro.
-WWE.com announced that Manu was wished the best in his future endeavors today. Back to WXW you go, Afa Jr!
Friday, February 27, 2009 :
-In some really terrible news, the Stamford Advocate reports that federal Judge Peter Dorsey dismissed the lawsuit filed by Raven, Mike Sanders & Kanyon on behalf of thmselves and all wrestlers employeed - whoops, I mean, contracted to - WWE ever. Their attorney said they would pursue the case and were considering their options. While WWE is probably breathing a sigh of relief as this means they won't have to spend money to protect wrestlers, this is a sad day if you care about their welfare.
-WWE released their 2008 year-end financial numbers this week, and numbers were down in every category except TV licensing fees & digital media. Digital media - as in, say, WWE 24/7 Classics On Demand. Could this be an indication that perhaps people like the older stuff better? Possibly. For a complete listing of WWE's financial numbers, I encourage everyone to read the great column the Hamilton Ave. Journal and their report this week :
http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/columns/97893/The-Hamilton-Ave-Journal-02.26.09:-Volume-2-%E2%80%93-Issue-75.htm
-Freddie Prinze, Jr., recently joining the SmackDown! creative team, quietly left the company recently. I guess more people would be saying, "I'm surprised he lasted this long!" if they cared to remember he was there.
-Pro Wrestling NOAH was recently dropped from the Nippon Television(NTV), making it the first time in 55 years there there is no wrestling on the Japanese channel. Speaking of NOAH, KENTA will be making a return tour for Ring Of Honor after getting his visa cleared. NTV owns the rights to NOAH's video footage.
-OVW is in bad shape as they lost their deal with Six Flags(where they ran shows) and their TV deal. WWE has been lending wrestlers to OVW lately such as Mickie James & JBL I suppose in an effort to help them out a little.
-Ruth Hennig(no relation to the Hennig wrestling family), claimed she wanted no files charged against Verne Gagne as he clearly had no idea what he was doing when he threw her father down(a cancer researcher who escaped Nazi Germany), breaking his hip & leading to his death. (Credit : Wrestling Observer). Gagne, who suffers from Alzheimer's, was ruled to have committed a homicide despite not being a member of LAX.
-Shark Boy's house was destroyed in a fire while he was on the road this past week, with all his merchandize going up in the flames(Credit : Wrestling Observer). Rather than make a, "How can there be a fire in water?" joke as I'm sure most of you already have, I'll wish Shark Boy the best as he recovers because I'm a fan and it's sad to hear. At least a dog didn't die this time.
-WWE has been shipping 'mini-fridges' (complete with their logo all over them, of course) to large cable satellite providers as part of marketing their HD programming(Credit : delivermagazine.com). This is part of vice president of affiliate marketing Lisa Richards' "So Real It Hurts" campaign, which she herself describes as a pun. I'm sure the guys breaking their noses & bumping every night appreciate the pun as their athletic efforts are continually undermined by self-hating marketing, but then they never rally behind someone like Kanyon, Sanders, etc. when they try to organize something that will help them, so whatever. This shit actually won the broad an award, too ; the "prestigious" Gold Mark Award from the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing. Basically what that says is you bribe cable companies with trinkets to sign up for your HD programming, and get an award no one's heard of. That's cute. Oh, and apparently, WrestleMania 2000 is now retroactively called "WrestleMania X-6," which is no better.
-This week, James Maritato(Little Guido/Nunzio), opened up a wrestling training program in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ. Having a 17-year long career spanning from training with Billy Robinson, to the UWFI to ECW & WWE, those are some great credentials for prospective wrestling trainees to learn from! He's also a nice, personable guy from when we've met.
-And to end on a good note, Todd Bridges - who should have won Hogan's CCW title - makes his indy pro wrestling debut this Saturday for Fog City Wrestling(Credit : Combat-Hooligans.com). No word on whether he'll be doing his "Mr. Not-So-Perfect" gimmick
Friday, March 6, 2009 :
-According to the Hamilton Ave. Journal, Judge Peter Dorsey's dismissal of Raven/Kanyon/Sanders' lawsuit was due to a lack of clarification in the plaintiff team's complaints. As such, the Judge would be open to hearing the case if damages were specifically outlined & a more clear definition of laws violated were to be presented. In other words, it might not be over yet!
-Former ECW World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Lashley will fight former UFC Super Fight & WWF King Of The Ring/Intercontinental/World Tag Team Champion Ken "Banned From CBS" Shamrock at the March Badness pay-per-view on March 21st (BloodyElbow.com). This will be Lashley's second MMA fight, as he won his debut fight in December via ref stoppage due to a cut in 41 seconds. Shamrock's last fight was against fat tub of lard Ross Clifton on February 13th, his first win in 5 years. Both Lashley & Shamrock's last fights lasted under a minute.
-The Houston Press reported the story of WWE paying off names from Booker T's charity convention the day before WrestleMania to not appear for Booker and instead come to their convention. One of the names to pull out was Sid, by the way, so hopefully that means they bring him back, but more seriously, at least Booker has a lot of strong non-WWE names such as Sting and other TNA main eventers to support his cause.
-Matt "Evan Bourne" Sydal has been cleared to return & will be back any day, and Batista is set to return in May(Credit : Wrestling Observer).
-Mr. T said this week that he refused to accept induction in WWE's Hall Of Fame because it didn't mean anything seeing as they let Pete Rose in the same wing without ever wrestling a match.
-TNA has signed Survivor : Amazon winner Jenna Morasca, a former Playboy cover girl. (Credit : Entertainment Weekly).
-Tammy Sytch's Facebook page says she'll be at WrestleMania, undoubtedly part of the 25 wrestler...whoops, I mean DIVA battle royal.
-In a Q & A with 411mania regarding the Legends Of WrestleMania game, a THQ representative was not allowed to answer a question about why the fuck The Macho Man Randy Savage isn't in the game. But there's no conspiracy and according to Jim Ross we're crazy & making it up. Right.
-The Boogeyman was released this week for the second time.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009 :
-It was announced during UFC 96 that the Frank Mir/Brock Lesnar Heavyweight title unification match originally scheduled to take place on May 23rd at UFC 98 has been pushed back to sometime this summer. Despite most (especially me) hoping that it would happen at UFC 100 on July 11th, no announcement has been made as of last night as to when exactly the fight would be happening. Hopefully Brock, reportedly now a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, will use that extra time to improve even more for the formidable Mir as he tries to avenge his only loss in MMA so far.
-The AP reports that Verne Gagne & Helmut Guttman both suffered from dementia and didn't remember the incident where Gagne "grabbed, shook & threw down" the former cancer researcher who escaped from Nazi Germany, breaking his hip and eventually ending his life. Police records show Gagne had at least two other incidents within the previous five months assaulting someone at the Friendship Village.
-JBL won the Intercontinental title from CM Punk Monday night, making him the only person so far to have won the WWE(World) title, the World Tag Team Title, the IC title, the European title, the Hardcore title AND the US Title. The new Grand Slam/Triple Crown Champion/Fucking Douchebag JBL, more importantly, announced on a wwe.com BLOG this week that he's investing in former WWE developmental promotion Ohio Valley Wrestling. Shortly after, it was announced by Danny Davis on the OVW website that he'll be promoting MMA under the name "Vyper Fight League." No word on whether VFL wants to end up to UFC like OVW did to WWE ; creating stars & then getting their whole gimmick changed on TV.
-Danny Bonaduce will be wrestling for TNA at the LockDown PPV on April 19 in Philadelphia that many panelists from the Wrestling Roundtable will be attending(Credit : PWInsider). Bonaduce said he wanted to face Dennis Rodman, but I want "Mr. Not-So-Perfect" Todd Bridges to get the spotlight he deserves!
-On his latest BLOG, Jim Ross says that Ritchie Steamboat has been in Japan for the past several months "training in a dojo." No word on whether this was with Sheng Long or Akuma.
-Afa(Sr.)and Kizarny, along with developmental wrestlers Ryan Braddock & Kaleb O'Neal, were released IN THESE DIFFICULT FINANCIAL TIMES. Afa, which no one knew was employed by WWE, worked as a consultant who would recommend names to the office. Kaleb O'Neal is being reported to have been fired due to getting unauthorized tattoos(Credit : PWinsider), but it was probably the straw the broke the camels back as supposedly he also let himself get very out of shape and showed up late for appointments. Kizarny? How that shit got on TV, I'll never know.
-The "divas battle royal" at WrestleMania 25 is now being billed as "Ms. WrestleMania" and as we know tons of old names are being brought back for it, but most surprisingly, PWInsider reports that they've asked Wendi Richter to participate. Richter was part of the original WWE screwjob in 1985 where Fabulous Moolah, under the "Spider Lady" gimmick until unmasking post-match, won the Women's title from her. Wait....Richter, Moolah, WM25? Revenge?
-Hulk Hogan has asked "The Court" recently to take $300,000 out of his frozen bank accounts because apparently he only has $410,000 in his available account but his bills are $312,000(Credit : Wrestling Observer). No word on whether the bill is from his recent back surgery or not, but as if he can't make money without actually wrestling.
-Bryan Alvarez is a fucking idiot.
Friday, March 20, 2009 :
-MVP regained the US title from Shelton Benjamin on SmackDown! tonight. I'd ask why they couldn't have just done that at WrestleMania, but why should we give a shit when they clearly don't? I'll tell you why : Cause fuck that! Excuse me if we want to care. Anyway, they finally aired the video announcing the Von Erich family being inducted in the Hall Of Fame since a wrestler didn't die a couple days before. If you don't know what I mean by that, WWE didn't air it as originally scheduled during RAW because Test had died this weekend(by the way, steroids and drugs were found in his apartment to the shock of no one. Frankly, I'm more shocked he was having a pizza and soda) and I guess they didn't want to demonstrate a family of dead wrestlers days after another young wrestler died, showing the more things change, the more they stay the same. They also did not have a graphic for Test on RAW, either.
-Amazingly, TNA scored a record high this past Thursday for iMPACT! with a 1.34 ratings(Credit : Wrestling Observer). I'm perplexed.
-Danny Bonaduce will be facing Eric Young at LockDown. Ugh, who gives a shit about THAT?
-Tyson Tomko was fired by WWE. Back to All Japan you go, Tomko!
-Howard Finkel will be announced(ha, get it?) as the final entrant of the HOF class 2009 this Monday. Cool. I say Gary Michael Cappetta inducts him, heh, but you know it'll be some lame nut like Justin Roberts or Lilian Garcia. Please.
-ROH announced in their newswire this week that Sylvan Grenier's going to be coming in to feud with Kevin Steen and/or El Generico, because they're Canadian too presumably(Credit : ROHwrestling.com).
-Hulk Hogan's writing a new book! "My Life Outside the Ring" comes out October 27th from St. Martin's press(Credit : Wrestling Observer).
-The next King Of The Ring is expected to be the RAW on June 15th.
-The finals of the NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Championships are this Saturday(Credit : NCAA.com). Sad that this used to be something WWE looked at for potential future wrestlers. Now, they're more likely to end up in UFC than WWE. That's great that they could end up in UFC, but WTF, WWE?
-Debra's agent is begging fans to write TNA in an effort to get her reunited with Jeff Jarrett.
-Reid Flair was arrested in North Carolina for driving while intoxicated. Runs in the family, I see. Too bad the talent doesn't
-One a recent promotional tour in the Philippines(cause he's half Filipino, you see), Batista said he thought he had a year left in wrestling before retiring. Of course, Booker T's said the same thing for like 10 years, but I'm surprised he didn't say so years ago, actually.
-Just saw a picture of Jercho and Kelly Kelly kissing, allegedly. I say 'allegedly' because I can't tell Barbie(yes, that's her real fucking name) from any other blond. Punching one woman one month, kissing another that's not his wife the next. Nice Christian values, Jericho.
-In indy news, Kenny Omega was stripped of the JAPW title after the company decided not to use him any longer. Also, M-Dogg 20 Matt Cross, Mike Quackenbush and, more importantly, current GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion KENTA returned to ROH tonight in Elizabeth, PA.
Monday, March 23, 2009 :
-It was 7 years ago today that WCW was officially purchased from AOL/Time Warner by the World Wrestling Federation. What a sad, terrible day in wrestling history.
-Steve Doll, who wrestled as Steven Dunn in the tag team Well Dunn, was taken off life support Sunday. No word on what he was suffering from. He & Timothy Well(Rex King) held the USWA tag team titles five times.
-AAA wrestler Abismo Negro(Andres Palomeque), 37, was found dead in Mexican river. You can't make this stuff up. He lost his mask in a feud with Calo in 1995, wrestled in the 1997 Royal Rumble match and some RAWs later, and was part of Team Mexico in TNA's 2004 World X Cup. Supposedly he had a panic attack while on a bus that the coroner said may have been brought on from anabolic steroid abuse(he had a history of drug problems), the bus pulled over, he exited, disappeared, and was found in the river hours later(Credit : Wrestling Observer).
-Speaking of drug addicts, Scott Hall showed up apparently drunk for a "11 years too late" match of the (former) Outsiders Vs. the (former) New Age Outlaws this weekend in Wisconsin(Credit : gerweck.net). It was Nash's first match back after "suffering"(quotations are because, do you really think Nash considers not wresting 'suffering?') from a staph infection and apparently didn't do much either, but had to help the jeans-and-ICP-jersey-wearing Hall up the steps to even get in the ring. WWE had issued a cease & desist order on the Great Lakes Championship Wrestling show because they apparently were promoting it as a "nWo Vs. DX" match.
-Bobby Lashley is now 2-0 going to a decision victory over Jason "Piece of Shit" Guida at the Squared Ring Promotions PPV March Badness. Lashley struggled for a takedown in the first round, eventually landing one in the second. He had some good flurries of strikes(punches) on occasion but not enough to do serious damage. He escaped a potentially match-ending guillotine late in the third round. Though he said he was disappointed with his performance and vowed to do better, it was an alright showing. He obviously needs a lot of work, and looked possibly even more juiced than his WWE days, but there's promise there.
-Colt Cabana and Jimmy Rave returned to Ring Of Honor this past weekend at the 7th Anniversary Show in New York City. Prince Nana has reformed The Embassay with himself, "Dirty" Ernie Osiris, Bison Smith and Rave reprising the "Crown Jewel" role. Hopefully this means the return of toilet paper throwing. Despite suffering a fever, Bryan Danielson was once again putting in a great performance with Cabana against Rave & Smith. In the main event, Champion Nigel McGuinness retained in a great match against the always spectacular KENTA. The current GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion did not bring his belt and Nigel is reported to be suffering from two torn biceps. He's supposed to take some time off after WrestleMania weekend.
-Speaking of Ring Of Honor, it seems(for the time being anyway) that ROH - notorious for protecting their copyrighted footage on the internet - will be allowing uploads of the HDNet show. For more on ROH or the HDNet program, visit rohwrestling.com
-Bobby Heenan is reportedly out of the hospital now after reconstructive jaw surgery and telling Verne Gagne jokes.
-Kid Rock will be performing a "medley" of songs at WrestleMania. What the point is, I'm not sure, and could be time for, I dunno, a MATCH, but if that's what they're gonna give us, I gotta say...cool! Oh, and the Pussycat Dolls will sing the national anthem(Credit : People Magazine). I don't even know what they look like, are they hot? Can they even sing?
DEAD WRESTLER TALLY FOR THE WEEKEND : 2
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 :
-I'm happy to announce that at the next set of Wrestling Roundtable tapings, ROH & Shimmer wrestler Daizee Haze will be sitting in our panel to discuss Women In Wrestling in the show that will be taped for the week of April 19th. Not quite sure if her new found flame Delirious will be around, but we've gotten lots of requests to do this topic and we're thrilled to have Daizee, who just made her HDNet debut this past weekend, on the show.
-In what was pretty surprising news, Tazz has decided to leave WWE "to recharge his batteries" after his contract expires, which was today(Credit : ProWrestling.net) after apparently being in a similar position as Foley of being yelled at a lot recently by Vince McMahon on the headset. He had offered to do WrestleMania, but I suppose they declined. The timing couldn't be any better for TNA, who must be salivating at the opportunity to insert Tazz in to the Mike Tenay/Don West angle they're currently doing. Good fuckin luck on that one.
-Molly Holly will be appearing in the Miss WrestleMania battle royal, despite claiming she had no desire to ever come back to wrestle at all.
-Simon Diamond has filed a sex abuse lawsuit against Wilmington, Delaware's Salesianum High School priest teacher Dennis Killion (Credit : Wrestling Observer). Guess Simon really DID have a problem!
-Jimmy Rave doesn't appear to be full time with ROH as Colt Cabana is. He will be routinely brought back, however.
-Bobby Lashley's management team is shopping around for a fight possibly in April, but the previously reported bout against former NFL player Marcus Jones for XFC will not be happening(Credit : Wrestling Observer.).
-Speaking of legit wrestlers, Jack Swagger's push has been rumored to have been slowed down as WWE has some reservations on him after two lackluster PPV matches in a row, against Matt Hardy at the Rumble & Finaly at No Way Out. This news sucks if that's the case, where the fuck is our Swagger/Sydal ECW title match at WrestleMania? Does Kid Rock have to sing in that slot?
- Sonjay Dutt will be returning to Ring Of Honor(Credit : rohwrestling.com)
-Apparently Jack Evans and Konnan beat the shit out of Juventud Guerrera in AAA recently backstage. Not quite sure on why, but Juvy Juice claims Konnan's had it out for him for a while and posted pictures of himself bloody and bruised. Lizzy Valentine may have quit the promotion in response.
-In the best news in a long time, Bob Holly was fired today(Credit : Wrestling Observer). Of course, it's about 15 years too late, but hey, better late than never. Maybe he can stiff 'green horns' on the indies to feel better about himself. On a more professional sounding note, fuck that prick.
-Indy wrestler Paul E. Normous died today(Credit : pwinsider.com). One wouldn't be insane to presume that a 32 year old bodybuilder whose heart stops in his sleep was probably a steroid abuser. But to be fair, other drugs might have been involved by themselves or in combination.
-At The Florida Championship Wrestling tapings, Low Ki wrestled as "Kawal" (Credit : pwinsider.com). One would expect this to be Low Ki's name in WWE for now, as Low Ki himself(Brandon Silvestry) owns the name and has been very protective of it. Low Ki would not sign the rights to the name over to TNA in his last run, which lead to the name "Senshi" being agreed upon instead.
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 :
-Bigger news than mere pro wrestling, Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the 44th President in the history of the United States of America, the first in 233 years with any African American ancestry. Never thought I'd see the day, and coming appropriately the day after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, it was quite a moment to be witnessing history of such magnitude. Time to get to work, don't fuck it up!
-Back to wrestling, last night on RAW, CM Punk won the Intercontinental title from William Regal. This, however, does NOT make him a "Triple Crown" champion despite some websites' claims, as that would entail Punk winning the 'real' belt, the belt that spins i.e. the belt that Jeff Hardy wears. The Triple Crown in WWE are the belts now called the "IC" title, The "World Tag Team" titles & the "WWE title." Punk's had 2/3 of those. And don't give me that "any world title counts but the ECW one" shit, because last I remember, when Pedro Morales, Diesel, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Steve Austin, The Rock, etc. all won the Triple Crown, it was THOSE titles. Period. So there.
-This past Friday on Smackdown, former multiple-time WWE Women's Champion Victoria wrestled her last match for WWE - for the time being. She said on her Myspace page that she's considering MMA. As a huge fan of Victoria, may I say, PLEASE! I want Victoria getting the winner of Carano/Cyborg in WEC :)
-The ROH Newswire today(Credit : rohwrestling.com) hinted that Mike Quackenbush would be returning to ROH soon. Jesus fucking christ. I guess that's good news if you like parachute pants.
Friday, January 23rd, 2009 :
-Looks like WWE's a little worried about people spending money on them. According to the Wrestling Observer, they're offering $5 discounts to RAW in Cleveland this Monday, & pushing that ordering WWE Pay-per-views comes out to a $9.99 "average per household"(who says there are four individuals in a household who want to watch, let alone pay for, wrestling - whoops, sports entertainment, in the first place?) as a way to sell their overpriced PPVs. Look to this groveling : "Since WWE pay per views are distributed directly to the home, parking is free, Mom provides the refreshments, and no waiting in line for the bathroom"(Source: WWE/Yahoo Finance) Firstly, that garage isn't paying for itself, and neither is/are the car(s) inside it. Secondly, what a sexist/backwards statement about women and their roll in the kitche...uuh, HOUSE! And lastly, anyone with a sibling will tell you that's a lie, and considering WWE thinks there's enough people to split the PPV, that means they're not single children.
Of course, I'm just being mean to the Big Brother of wrestling, but with all the money they saved firing Tim White and Sgt. Slaughter, you'd think they'd hire someone to write better press releases.
Anyway, this behavior is kind of funny considering this past RAW's rating of 3.9 was their highest since March. Guess people think paying cable is enough are stay in to watch WWE IN THESE TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES!
-Mickey Rourke & Marissa Tomei were nominated for Academy Awards this week for Best Actor & Best Supporting Actress(Funny, nothing was supporting Tomei's nice tits during many of her scenes!). Rourke has some stiff competition, however, between Sean Penn, & Brad Pitt. WWE is now all of a sudden acknowledging the movie now that it's getting mainstream recognition.
-The NWA saw a setback as their debut show on the Colour Channel(I never heard of it either) of the Dish Network was delayed due to a mix of of the tape format(HD Vs. standard definition). (Source : NWA)
-The New Alhambra Arena(the former Viking Hall aka ECW Arean, the most famous bingo hall in the world) is not shutting down despite claims otherwise(Credit : Wrestling Observer). Philadelphia lost the Spectrum, but at least they keep that! CZW will unfortunately be holding their 10th Anniversary show there in a few weeks.
-In a short interview with ROH owner Cary Silken, TicketNews.com said ROH would "soon be announcing a television deal," obviously referring to the HDNet offer. Sooner than they think!
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 :
-The biggest news in wrestling yesterday was that Ring Of Honor signed a deal with HDNet(Credit : rohwrestling.com). This is the first 'national' TV deal for the indy, making it probably the most prominent since (the original/"real") ECW landing on TNN in 1999. The last time ROH was on TV was a local Philadelphia late night show(also ala ECW) in 2002, and with them expanding to DirecTV ppv last month also, you would think ROH is making strides.
-Big Vision Entertainment is resurrecting G.L.O.W.(Credit : Big Vision Entertainment). Glow? Shimmer? Why is women's wrestling so shiny?
-Randy Orton won his first Royal Rumble on Saturday, about 4 1/2 years after winning his first world title. Melina also regained the Women's title from Beth Phoenix.
-Shane McMahon returned on RAW last night. Stephanie doing stuff with Jericho, McMahon getting beat up by the Rumble winner, Shane on TV? My, things have changed in 9 years! A more-or-less universally panned segment saw a 40-year old non-wrestler destroy the entire top faction of the show, which included the winner of the Rumble(Orton) who is of course now a world title contender, with his horrendous looking punches.
-Rob Van Dam's surprise Rumble appearance was seemingly a one-time only deal, again.
-WWE's One Night Stand, on the heels of Cena's FU becoming "his patented manuever" & the STF dropping the "U," in a further effort to push their PG image, will now be called "Exteme Rules."
Thursday, January 29th, 2009 :
-Helio Gracie, patriarch of the famous Gracie family of Brazil, died in his sleep this morning at the age of 95(Credit: Wrestling Observer). Father of early UFC innovator & Hall Of Famer Royce, Helio helped develop the Gracie style of Jiu-Jitsu, which saw smaller fighters such as his sons conquer bigger opponents in combat. His son Rorion was instrumental in the Ultimate Fighting Championship organization's 1993 start up. Today, MMA is "America's fastest growing sport" with millions of fans and Brock Lesnar is the current UFC Heavyweight Champion.
-Mickey Rourke's publicist is claiming Rourke will not be participating in WrestleMania 25 afterall(Credit : Wrestling Observer). Last week, Rourke implied he'd be at WrestleMania to fight Chris Jericho, and while it appeared that the angle to set up the match was the other night's embarrassing appearance by both men on Larry King Live, it's possible Rourke could be back "on" for WrestleMania after the Oscars.
-Dr. Phil Astin(54), Chris Benoit's personal (mark) doctor famous for prescribing the infamous , unstable murderer steroids, pleaded guilty today to 175-count federal indictment charging him with illegally distributing prescription drugs and conspiring to distribute prescription drugs. His prescriptions also contributed to the overdose death of a female patient in 2007 during the same month of the Benoit family murder/suicide.(Credit : AP)
Monday, January 2nd, 2009 :
-Diana Moody, the wife of William Moody (Percy Pringle/Paul Bearer) passed away today after a long battle with cancer(Credit : 411mania.com). On behalf of The Wrestling Roundtable, our sincere condolences to Mr. Moody & the Moody family.
-'Stone Cold' Steve Austin had initially asked for Flair to induct him in the WWE Hall Of Fame until Mcmahon vetoed the idea(Credit : Wrestling Observer). Flair will now be inducting Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat!
-WWE shut down their Australian office last week, and this week will be shutting down their Canadian office that had been open for over ten years(Credit : Wrestling Observer). Seems WWE's been closing a lot of offices lately IN THESE DIFFICULT FINANCIAL TIMES.
-ROH's first tapings for HDNet will be the Saturday & Sunday of Feb. 28th & March 1st at the (ECW) Arena(Credit : rohwrestling.com). You can bet that a couple members of the Roundtable will be in attendance.
-D-Lo Brown challenges Nigel McGuinness for the ROH title in his debut for Ring Of Honor this Saturday in Coral Springs, FL(Credit : rohwrestling.com). ROH is, apparently, also interested in bringing in Sean Morley(Credit : PWInsider). D-Lo Brown Vs. Val Venis was the opener for SummerSlam 1998.
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 :
-The message board for wrestlingroundtable.com is up & running. Click on the Message Board tab in the column on the left to find a link that will bring you to where you, the fans, can discuss whatever you want! Also, feel like writing a column? Submit it to wrestlingroundtable@gmail.com and have it posted here for everyone to read
-Christian Cage made his return to WWE last night on the third-string C-level show, fake ECW, where midcarders are (rightfully?) put. To cap off a show where the internet had a collective orgasm due to Christian's mere presence, he defeated Jack Swagger in a non-title match in furthering their efforts to undermine someone with actual potential. Speaking of potential, they also started running promos for the return of Matt Sydal.
-T.J. Wilson, after years in developmental limbo, debuted on fake ECW as Tyson Kidd. Must suck to wait for years to be called up, only to be given THAT name.
-In the past two days, TNA has made several cuts to their roster in THESE DIFFICULT FINANCIAL TIMES : Petey Williams(most surprisingly), as well as the Rock 'N Rave Connection. Apparently this is part of an effort to 'freshen up' the undercard by eliminating names that had been around for a while but were directionless(Credit : PWInsider). Funny, they don't seem to take that same attitude towards the main event scene.
-WWE's Hall Of Fame Class Of 2009 so far seems to be 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, Bill Watts, The Von Erich Family, and the Funk Brothers.(Credit : PWInsider). So far, all my Texas predictions except the Freebirds have been met. It'd be cute if they did Undertaker & Michaels also for the Texas-theme, just because it might add some more sizzle to their match likely to be announced for WM25, but I guess they'll be saved for another time.
-Oh yeah, Jericho punched some cunt fan who spit on him the other day. Way to go, tough guy! How appropriate that he'll probably be facing famed woman-beater Steve Austin at WrestleMania. Shouldn't they be teaming instead? They could have a tag boxing match against the fan & Debra.
Friday, February 13th, 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!
-Speaking of merchandise, the news we've been waiting for has finally been made official ; After a cancellation last year, WWE is finally creating a Macho Man DVD set, and a 3-disc one, no less. (Credit : PWInsider) Called "Macho Madness : The Randy Savage Ultimate Collection," the plan calls for just matches & no documentary - probably because that would mean, you know, TALKING to Savage - though Jim Ross hinted in his blog that Matt Striker would be hosting the DVD while still denying, as he does seemingly weekly, that he knows anything about why Macho Man is considered incommunicado by WWE(despite JR working there a million years) and that we're crazy for thinking something is going on. We're nuts for thinking it's weird that one of the biggest names in wrestling ever, that they made, hasn't been inducted in their Hall Of Fame, been brought back in some form, and NOT in the upcoming Legends Of WrestleMania game. Now, you could probably say the same things for the Ultimate Warrior, but they wanted him back for that DVD set & even HE is in the game. Every other big name associated with WrestleMania is in the game, but not Macho Man. Kamala is in the game, but Savage isn't. And we're making something out of nothing. Sure, fuck face.
-Last night on TNA iMPACT!, Stevie Richards "debuted" as Abyss' psychiatrist and Ashley Lane, one half of the Shimmer Tag Team Champions with Neveah, also debuted as Madison Rayne. She is rather gorgeous, so good for TNA as they've 'raided' a lot of good names from Shimmer(Amazing Kong, Josey, Daffney, etc.). It was also Petey Williams' last TNA match for the time being as he lost to Scott Steiner.
-Mick Foley's proposed comedy series wasn't picked up by Spike TV(Credit : PWInsider). Apparently Spike felt Foley shouldn't be in too many comedy shows at the moment so his limit will remain the one he's currently on Thursday nights at 9.
-After suffering an ankle injury in training the other month, Bobby Lashley's next MMA fight will be March 21st at the Pensacola Civic Center in a card featuring Boxing & MMA bouts. Also fighting that night is former IFL heavyweight champion Roy Nelson as well as Roy Jones, Jr.(Credit : 411mania)
-Al Snow & Bobcat are supposed to have been married today. To our knowledge, this is the first time two former WWF Hardcore Champions have gotten married.
-WWE has three former ROH champions under contract already & may be interested in adding another former ROH champion to their roster soon.
Saturday, February 14th, 2009 :
-Former WWF Intercontinental & World Tag Team Champion Ken Shamrock is now blacklisted from CBS. Last year, Shamrock was set to face Kimbo Slice in the main event of Elite XC's last Sat. night primetime special, but pulled out hours before the show went live due to a cut received warming up. Disaster entailed. Since then, StrikeForced has bought Elite XC's assets & paid off their debts to CBS, with plans on running shows n CBS as well. They've signed the top face of women's MMA, Gina Carano, are interested in Kimbo, and seem to be hopefully of having Ken Shamrock Vs. Frank Shamrock, but CBS has mandated that they refuse to allow Ken on their station anymore, so it would have to be on PPV should it ever happen(Credit : Wrestling Observer).
-Speaking of women's MMA, recently retired former WWE Women's Champion Victoria has been stating on her Myspace page that she might be interested. She said she's been training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and now is taking MMA classes. She said she'd consider it once she's ready. With StrikeForce looking to have locked down Gina Carano & Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos for their long awaited dream match, it seems like StrikeForce is the place to be for Victoria down the line. Good luck, Victoria!
Monday, February 16th, 2009 :
-ROH announced today that Ric Flair will be making several appearances for them starting with their show in Collinsville, IL on March 13th(Credit : ROHwrestling.com).
-Last night at No Way Out, the two Elimination Chamber matches featured title changes ; Edge won his 8th World title in about 3 years & HHH won his 13th in 10 years. 13? Lucky for us! One step closer to Flair!
-The management of current WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko(29-1) will be meeting with UFC President Dana White in June about doing a match against former WWE/IWGP Champion & current UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar(3-1). Before that match were to take place if a deal is reached, both men will be defending their titles ; Brock against Interim Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir at UFC 98 on May 23rd, and Fedor on the next Affliction PPV(Credit : DreamFighters.com). Speaking of Brock, a great video piece on his fighting career can be viewed here:
http://www.bigtennetwork.com/videos/wrestling.asp
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 :
-Boy, wrestling is fucked up. You got guys like Cena & JBL making media appearances still doing the "We never take steroids" routine to the point where you almost think they're doing it to be funny, then Jerry Lawler said this in an interview with the UK Sun concerning Chris Jericho's altercation the other week :
"Vince (McMahon) was kinda chuckling about it. Vince and I were talking and Jericho walked by and he said: 'Watch out! Jericho will hit you! He'll knock you right down!' Then he adds: 'Especially if you're a girl!' Everybody is having a joke about it and to me it's not a big deal, because that used to be very prevalent in the past. We used to be able to get the fans so riled up that they literally wanted to physically attack you after the matches. That hasn't happened in a long time, so it's almost like hats off to Chris Jericho – for doing his job."
Could you imagine if all these musicians being interviewed about Chris Brown said the same thing? It's bad enough they don't right out condemn the jerk off(Instead it's pussy garbage like, "We're praying for both of them"), but what if they said, "Everybody is having a joke about it." Apparently part of Jericho's job of being a good 'bad guy' is punching women in the face. That's some way to run a publicly-traded company. Or any company for that matter.
-The Oscars are on Sunday, and the two stars of The Wrestler are up for awards(Mickey Rouke for Best Actor, Marisa Tomei for Best Supporting Actress). Since Gran Torino has been nominated for NOTHING, I won't be watching.
-Speaking of elderly ass-kickers, looks like Verne Gagne may have killed somebody : The Minnesota Post & other news outlets out of MN are naming the retired multiple-time AWA World Champion as a suspect in the of his 97-year old roommate at the Friendship Village home, Helmut R. Gutman. Both suffered from Alzheimer's Disease, and Gagne, who had several previously assaults including to Gutman before, put Gutman in the hospital on January 26th with a broken leg & head injury that he died from four days later. Gagne is no longer at the home.
-In a non-story at the moment, MyNetworkTV was dropped from 'network status' by NewsCorp & all programming will go into reruns except WWE Smackdown, the only show people were apparently watching on the channel. All other programming is now up to local affiliates. WWE's contract with MyNetworkTV doesn't expire for another year or so(Credit : 411mania)
-Chyna will be doing another porn movie, this time called, "Another Night In Chyna." No word on whether she still has a penis-like clit, or how much I'll be paid for it.
Thursday, February 19th, 2009 :
-Hilariously, Scott Siegel - the actor who portrayed the steroid dealer in The Wrestler - was arrested yesterday by federal drug task force agents for dealing...wait for it...steroids! (Credit : Wrestling Observer). I guess the movie was full of people playing themselves.
-RAW did a 4.1 Nielsen rating on Monday, and ECW did a 1.2 on Tuesday, both the highest rated shows in a long while for each 'brand.' (Credit : Wrestling Observer). Just watch HHH take all the credit for RAW.
Friday, February 20th, 2009 :
-WWE released Colt Cabana today. They weren't pushing him anyway, and it's their loss as Colt "Scotty Goldman" Cabana is a very talented & entertaining individual. Their loss will definitely be someone else's gain!
*UPDATE* Turns out it was us who gained, because Cabana joined us for our first special edition of the show where he discussed his time in WWE, which you can view here :
-Hogan appeared on Bubba The Love Sponge's Sirius radio show and seemed to confirm that he won't be at WrestleMania after trying to work out a deal. Typical.
-ROH will debut on Saturday, March 21st at 8pm on HDNet(Credit : ROHwrestling.com)
-Robert Roode has signed a contract extension with TNA for five years(Credit : Peterborough Examiner)
-It looks as if there will be a convention in Houston the week/weekend of WrestleMania featuring non-WWE wrestlers such as Sting.
-TNA set a ratings record with iMPACT! on Thursday scoring a 1.3(Credit : Wrestling Observer). I can't explain this either.
-The Great Sasuke was arrested yesterday for assault(Credit : Japanprobe.com). Apparently while riding the train, a passenger took a picture with his cell phone of the maskless Sasuke, who got pissed about getting his bare face's picture taken, kicked the guy & grabbed his collar. He denies the allegations now, but all of us fans can rejoice that kayfabe is still alive!
Sunday, February 22, 2009 :
-"The Wrestler" actors did the job tonight at The Oscars as (hot) Marisa Tomei lost to (also hot) Penelope Cruz in the Best Supporting Actress category, and in the lead-in to the main event, Mickey Rourke lost to Sean Penn.
-Pro Wrestling Guerilla featured the first appearances of Colt Cabana(Scotty Goldman) & Paul London in their post-WWE tenures.
-Sonjay Dutt and TNA decided not to renew his contract(Credit : PWInsider).
Tuesday, February 24, 2009 :
--WWE is once again promoting a Mickey Rourke appearance at WrestleMania (Credit : Wrestling Observer). I guess that means he might be in Austin's corner Vs. Jericho.
-After Mike Knox seemingly accidentally injured Jaime Knoble on RAW while doing his finish, WWE.com reports that after several tests Knoble appears to be fine and should be back as early as Monday.
-WWE officially announced WrestleMania 26 will take place in Arizona. PWInsider reported shortly afterwards that ROH is already looking in to running shows there that weekend, no the surprise of no one.
-Necro Butcher's name was dropped and clips of his match from The Wrestler were shown during a skit at the Oscars, so good for Necro.
-WWE.com announced that Manu was wished the best in his future endeavors today. Back to WXW you go, Afa Jr!
Friday, February 27, 2009 :
-In some really terrible news, the Stamford Advocate reports that federal Judge Peter Dorsey dismissed the lawsuit filed by Raven, Mike Sanders & Kanyon on behalf of thmselves and all wrestlers employeed - whoops, I mean, contracted to - WWE ever. Their attorney said they would pursue the case and were considering their options. While WWE is probably breathing a sigh of relief as this means they won't have to spend money to protect wrestlers, this is a sad day if you care about their welfare.
-WWE released their 2008 year-end financial numbers this week, and numbers were down in every category except TV licensing fees & digital media. Digital media - as in, say, WWE 24/7 Classics On Demand. Could this be an indication that perhaps people like the older stuff better? Possibly. For a complete listing of WWE's financial numbers, I encourage everyone to read the great column the Hamilton Ave. Journal and their report this week :
http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/columns/97893/The-Hamilton-Ave-Journal-02.26.09:-Volume-2-%E2%80%93-Issue-75.htm
-Freddie Prinze, Jr., recently joining the SmackDown! creative team, quietly left the company recently. I guess more people would be saying, "I'm surprised he lasted this long!" if they cared to remember he was there.
-Pro Wrestling NOAH was recently dropped from the Nippon Television(NTV), making it the first time in 55 years there there is no wrestling on the Japanese channel. Speaking of NOAH, KENTA will be making a return tour for Ring Of Honor after getting his visa cleared. NTV owns the rights to NOAH's video footage.
-OVW is in bad shape as they lost their deal with Six Flags(where they ran shows) and their TV deal. WWE has been lending wrestlers to OVW lately such as Mickie James & JBL I suppose in an effort to help them out a little.
-Ruth Hennig(no relation to the Hennig wrestling family), claimed she wanted no files charged against Verne Gagne as he clearly had no idea what he was doing when he threw her father down(a cancer researcher who escaped Nazi Germany), breaking his hip & leading to his death. (Credit : Wrestling Observer). Gagne, who suffers from Alzheimer's, was ruled to have committed a homicide despite not being a member of LAX.
-Shark Boy's house was destroyed in a fire while he was on the road this past week, with all his merchandize going up in the flames(Credit : Wrestling Observer). Rather than make a, "How can there be a fire in water?" joke as I'm sure most of you already have, I'll wish Shark Boy the best as he recovers because I'm a fan and it's sad to hear. At least a dog didn't die this time.
-WWE has been shipping 'mini-fridges' (complete with their logo all over them, of course) to large cable satellite providers as part of marketing their HD programming(Credit : delivermagazine.com). This is part of vice president of affiliate marketing Lisa Richards' "So Real It Hurts" campaign, which she herself describes as a pun. I'm sure the guys breaking their noses & bumping every night appreciate the pun as their athletic efforts are continually undermined by self-hating marketing, but then they never rally behind someone like Kanyon, Sanders, etc. when they try to organize something that will help them, so whatever. This shit actually won the broad an award, too ; the "prestigious" Gold Mark Award from the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing. Basically what that says is you bribe cable companies with trinkets to sign up for your HD programming, and get an award no one's heard of. That's cute. Oh, and apparently, WrestleMania 2000 is now retroactively called "WrestleMania X-6," which is no better.
-This week, James Maritato(Little Guido/Nunzio), opened up a wrestling training program in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ. Having a 17-year long career spanning from training with Billy Robinson, to the UWFI to ECW & WWE, those are some great credentials for prospective wrestling trainees to learn from! He's also a nice, personable guy from when we've met.
-And to end on a good note, Todd Bridges - who should have won Hogan's CCW title - makes his indy pro wrestling debut this Saturday for Fog City Wrestling(Credit : Combat-Hooligans.com). No word on whether he'll be doing his "Mr. Not-So-Perfect" gimmick
Friday, March 6, 2009 :
-According to the Hamilton Ave. Journal, Judge Peter Dorsey's dismissal of Raven/Kanyon/Sanders' lawsuit was due to a lack of clarification in the plaintiff team's complaints. As such, the Judge would be open to hearing the case if damages were specifically outlined & a more clear definition of laws violated were to be presented. In other words, it might not be over yet!
-Former ECW World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Lashley will fight former UFC Super Fight & WWF King Of The Ring/Intercontinental/World Tag Team Champion Ken "Banned From CBS" Shamrock at the March Badness pay-per-view on March 21st (BloodyElbow.com). This will be Lashley's second MMA fight, as he won his debut fight in December via ref stoppage due to a cut in 41 seconds. Shamrock's last fight was against fat tub of lard Ross Clifton on February 13th, his first win in 5 years. Both Lashley & Shamrock's last fights lasted under a minute.
-The Houston Press reported the story of WWE paying off names from Booker T's charity convention the day before WrestleMania to not appear for Booker and instead come to their convention. One of the names to pull out was Sid, by the way, so hopefully that means they bring him back, but more seriously, at least Booker has a lot of strong non-WWE names such as Sting and other TNA main eventers to support his cause.
-Matt "Evan Bourne" Sydal has been cleared to return & will be back any day, and Batista is set to return in May(Credit : Wrestling Observer).
-Mr. T said this week that he refused to accept induction in WWE's Hall Of Fame because it didn't mean anything seeing as they let Pete Rose in the same wing without ever wrestling a match.
-TNA has signed Survivor : Amazon winner Jenna Morasca, a former Playboy cover girl. (Credit : Entertainment Weekly).
-Tammy Sytch's Facebook page says she'll be at WrestleMania, undoubtedly part of the 25 wrestler...whoops, I mean DIVA battle royal.
-In a Q & A with 411mania regarding the Legends Of WrestleMania game, a THQ representative was not allowed to answer a question about why the fuck The Macho Man Randy Savage isn't in the game. But there's no conspiracy and according to Jim Ross we're crazy & making it up. Right.
-The Boogeyman was released this week for the second time.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009 :
-It was announced during UFC 96 that the Frank Mir/Brock Lesnar Heavyweight title unification match originally scheduled to take place on May 23rd at UFC 98 has been pushed back to sometime this summer. Despite most (especially me) hoping that it would happen at UFC 100 on July 11th, no announcement has been made as of last night as to when exactly the fight would be happening. Hopefully Brock, reportedly now a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, will use that extra time to improve even more for the formidable Mir as he tries to avenge his only loss in MMA so far.
-The AP reports that Verne Gagne & Helmut Guttman both suffered from dementia and didn't remember the incident where Gagne "grabbed, shook & threw down" the former cancer researcher who escaped from Nazi Germany, breaking his hip and eventually ending his life. Police records show Gagne had at least two other incidents within the previous five months assaulting someone at the Friendship Village.
-JBL won the Intercontinental title from CM Punk Monday night, making him the only person so far to have won the WWE(World) title, the World Tag Team Title, the IC title, the European title, the Hardcore title AND the US Title. The new Grand Slam/Triple Crown Champion/Fucking Douchebag JBL, more importantly, announced on a wwe.com BLOG this week that he's investing in former WWE developmental promotion Ohio Valley Wrestling. Shortly after, it was announced by Danny Davis on the OVW website that he'll be promoting MMA under the name "Vyper Fight League." No word on whether VFL wants to end up to UFC like OVW did to WWE ; creating stars & then getting their whole gimmick changed on TV.
-Danny Bonaduce will be wrestling for TNA at the LockDown PPV on April 19 in Philadelphia that many panelists from the Wrestling Roundtable will be attending(Credit : PWInsider). Bonaduce said he wanted to face Dennis Rodman, but I want "Mr. Not-So-Perfect" Todd Bridges to get the spotlight he deserves!
-On his latest BLOG, Jim Ross says that Ritchie Steamboat has been in Japan for the past several months "training in a dojo." No word on whether this was with Sheng Long or Akuma.
-Afa(Sr.)and Kizarny, along with developmental wrestlers Ryan Braddock & Kaleb O'Neal, were released IN THESE DIFFICULT FINANCIAL TIMES. Afa, which no one knew was employed by WWE, worked as a consultant who would recommend names to the office. Kaleb O'Neal is being reported to have been fired due to getting unauthorized tattoos(Credit : PWinsider), but it was probably the straw the broke the camels back as supposedly he also let himself get very out of shape and showed up late for appointments. Kizarny? How that shit got on TV, I'll never know.
-The "divas battle royal" at WrestleMania 25 is now being billed as "Ms. WrestleMania" and as we know tons of old names are being brought back for it, but most surprisingly, PWInsider reports that they've asked Wendi Richter to participate. Richter was part of the original WWE screwjob in 1985 where Fabulous Moolah, under the "Spider Lady" gimmick until unmasking post-match, won the Women's title from her. Wait....Richter, Moolah, WM25? Revenge?
-Hulk Hogan has asked "The Court" recently to take $300,000 out of his frozen bank accounts because apparently he only has $410,000 in his available account but his bills are $312,000(Credit : Wrestling Observer). No word on whether the bill is from his recent back surgery or not, but as if he can't make money without actually wrestling.
-Bryan Alvarez is a fucking idiot.
Friday, March 20, 2009 :
-MVP regained the US title from Shelton Benjamin on SmackDown! tonight. I'd ask why they couldn't have just done that at WrestleMania, but why should we give a shit when they clearly don't? I'll tell you why : Cause fuck that! Excuse me if we want to care. Anyway, they finally aired the video announcing the Von Erich family being inducted in the Hall Of Fame since a wrestler didn't die a couple days before. If you don't know what I mean by that, WWE didn't air it as originally scheduled during RAW because Test had died this weekend(by the way, steroids and drugs were found in his apartment to the shock of no one. Frankly, I'm more shocked he was having a pizza and soda) and I guess they didn't want to demonstrate a family of dead wrestlers days after another young wrestler died, showing the more things change, the more they stay the same. They also did not have a graphic for Test on RAW, either.
-Amazingly, TNA scored a record high this past Thursday for iMPACT! with a 1.34 ratings(Credit : Wrestling Observer). I'm perplexed.
-Danny Bonaduce will be facing Eric Young at LockDown. Ugh, who gives a shit about THAT?
-Tyson Tomko was fired by WWE. Back to All Japan you go, Tomko!
-Howard Finkel will be announced(ha, get it?) as the final entrant of the HOF class 2009 this Monday. Cool. I say Gary Michael Cappetta inducts him, heh, but you know it'll be some lame nut like Justin Roberts or Lilian Garcia. Please.
-ROH announced in their newswire this week that Sylvan Grenier's going to be coming in to feud with Kevin Steen and/or El Generico, because they're Canadian too presumably(Credit : ROHwrestling.com).
-Hulk Hogan's writing a new book! "My Life Outside the Ring" comes out October 27th from St. Martin's press(Credit : Wrestling Observer).
-The next King Of The Ring is expected to be the RAW on June 15th.
-The finals of the NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Championships are this Saturday(Credit : NCAA.com). Sad that this used to be something WWE looked at for potential future wrestlers. Now, they're more likely to end up in UFC than WWE. That's great that they could end up in UFC, but WTF, WWE?
-Debra's agent is begging fans to write TNA in an effort to get her reunited with Jeff Jarrett.
-Reid Flair was arrested in North Carolina for driving while intoxicated. Runs in the family, I see. Too bad the talent doesn't
-One a recent promotional tour in the Philippines(cause he's half Filipino, you see), Batista said he thought he had a year left in wrestling before retiring. Of course, Booker T's said the same thing for like 10 years, but I'm surprised he didn't say so years ago, actually.
-Just saw a picture of Jercho and Kelly Kelly kissing, allegedly. I say 'allegedly' because I can't tell Barbie(yes, that's her real fucking name) from any other blond. Punching one woman one month, kissing another that's not his wife the next. Nice Christian values, Jericho.
-In indy news, Kenny Omega was stripped of the JAPW title after the company decided not to use him any longer. Also, M-Dogg 20 Matt Cross, Mike Quackenbush and, more importantly, current GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion KENTA returned to ROH tonight in Elizabeth, PA.
Monday, March 23, 2009 :
-It was 7 years ago today that WCW was officially purchased from AOL/Time Warner by the World Wrestling Federation. What a sad, terrible day in wrestling history.
-Steve Doll, who wrestled as Steven Dunn in the tag team Well Dunn, was taken off life support Sunday. No word on what he was suffering from. He & Timothy Well(Rex King) held the USWA tag team titles five times.
-AAA wrestler Abismo Negro(Andres Palomeque), 37, was found dead in Mexican river. You can't make this stuff up. He lost his mask in a feud with Calo in 1995, wrestled in the 1997 Royal Rumble match and some RAWs later, and was part of Team Mexico in TNA's 2004 World X Cup. Supposedly he had a panic attack while on a bus that the coroner said may have been brought on from anabolic steroid abuse(he had a history of drug problems), the bus pulled over, he exited, disappeared, and was found in the river hours later(Credit : Wrestling Observer).
-Speaking of drug addicts, Scott Hall showed up apparently drunk for a "11 years too late" match of the (former) Outsiders Vs. the (former) New Age Outlaws this weekend in Wisconsin(Credit : gerweck.net). It was Nash's first match back after "suffering"(quotations are because, do you really think Nash considers not wresting 'suffering?') from a staph infection and apparently didn't do much either, but had to help the jeans-and-ICP-jersey-wearing Hall up the steps to even get in the ring. WWE had issued a cease & desist order on the Great Lakes Championship Wrestling show because they apparently were promoting it as a "nWo Vs. DX" match.
-Bobby Lashley is now 2-0 going to a decision victory over Jason "Piece of Shit" Guida at the Squared Ring Promotions PPV March Badness. Lashley struggled for a takedown in the first round, eventually landing one in the second. He had some good flurries of strikes(punches) on occasion but not enough to do serious damage. He escaped a potentially match-ending guillotine late in the third round. Though he said he was disappointed with his performance and vowed to do better, it was an alright showing. He obviously needs a lot of work, and looked possibly even more juiced than his WWE days, but there's promise there.
-Colt Cabana and Jimmy Rave returned to Ring Of Honor this past weekend at the 7th Anniversary Show in New York City. Prince Nana has reformed The Embassay with himself, "Dirty" Ernie Osiris, Bison Smith and Rave reprising the "Crown Jewel" role. Hopefully this means the return of toilet paper throwing. Despite suffering a fever, Bryan Danielson was once again putting in a great performance with Cabana against Rave & Smith. In the main event, Champion Nigel McGuinness retained in a great match against the always spectacular KENTA. The current GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion did not bring his belt and Nigel is reported to be suffering from two torn biceps. He's supposed to take some time off after WrestleMania weekend.
-Speaking of Ring Of Honor, it seems(for the time being anyway) that ROH - notorious for protecting their copyrighted footage on the internet - will be allowing uploads of the HDNet show. For more on ROH or the HDNet program, visit rohwrestling.com
-Bobby Heenan is reportedly out of the hospital now after reconstructive jaw surgery and telling Verne Gagne jokes.
-Kid Rock will be performing a "medley" of songs at WrestleMania. What the point is, I'm not sure, and could be time for, I dunno, a MATCH, but if that's what they're gonna give us, I gotta say...cool! Oh, and the Pussycat Dolls will sing the national anthem(Credit : People Magazine). I don't even know what they look like, are they hot? Can they even sing?
DEAD WRESTLER TALLY FOR THE WEEKEND : 2
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 :
-I'm happy to announce that at the next set of Wrestling Roundtable tapings, ROH & Shimmer wrestler Daizee Haze will be sitting in our panel to discuss Women In Wrestling in the show that will be taped for the week of April 19th. Not quite sure if her new found flame Delirious will be around, but we've gotten lots of requests to do this topic and we're thrilled to have Daizee, who just made her HDNet debut this past weekend, on the show.
-In what was pretty surprising news, Tazz has decided to leave WWE "to recharge his batteries" after his contract expires, which was today(Credit : ProWrestling.net) after apparently being in a similar position as Foley of being yelled at a lot recently by Vince McMahon on the headset. He had offered to do WrestleMania, but I suppose they declined. The timing couldn't be any better for TNA, who must be salivating at the opportunity to insert Tazz in to the Mike Tenay/Don West angle they're currently doing. Good fuckin luck on that one.
-Molly Holly will be appearing in the Miss WrestleMania battle royal, despite claiming she had no desire to ever come back to wrestle at all.
-Simon Diamond has filed a sex abuse lawsuit against Wilmington, Delaware's Salesianum High School priest teacher Dennis Killion (Credit : Wrestling Observer). Guess Simon really DID have a problem!
-Jimmy Rave doesn't appear to be full time with ROH as Colt Cabana is. He will be routinely brought back, however.
-Bobby Lashley's management team is shopping around for a fight possibly in April, but the previously reported bout against former NFL player Marcus Jones for XFC will not be happening(Credit : Wrestling Observer.).
-Speaking of legit wrestlers, Jack Swagger's push has been rumored to have been slowed down as WWE has some reservations on him after two lackluster PPV matches in a row, against Matt Hardy at the Rumble & Finaly at No Way Out. This news sucks if that's the case, where the fuck is our Swagger/Sydal ECW title match at WrestleMania? Does Kid Rock have to sing in that slot?
- Sonjay Dutt will be returning to Ring Of Honor(Credit : rohwrestling.com)
-Apparently Jack Evans and Konnan beat the shit out of Juventud Guerrera in AAA recently backstage. Not quite sure on why, but Juvy Juice claims Konnan's had it out for him for a while and posted pictures of himself bloody and bruised. Lizzy Valentine may have quit the promotion in response.
