Saturday, May 3, 2008
Internally TNA was disappointed with the Impact rating after Lockdown and Samoa Joe's title win.
With Michael Hayes on a 60-day suspension, Ed Koskey and Christopher DeJosephs (a.k.a. 'Big Dick Johnson') are taking over as the interim head writers for both Smackdown and ECW. DeJosephs had been the head writer of ECW since Dave Lagana was fired and Dusty Rhodes left for Florida Championship Wrestling.
The WWE Magazine Yearbook 2008 issue that was released this past Tuesday hints at a possible Randy Orton vs. Undertaker feud taking place on Raw in the near future. On Randy Orton's page, they wrote: "With all of the top Raw talent gunning for him, 2008 will be the toughest year of Orton's career. There are even rumors that a certain Deadman would like to come to Raw and inflict some immortal punishment on the self-proclaimed Legend Killer."
Cena has been sidelined since the accident. He organized a charity event to donate money to Mother's Against Drunk Drivers, as well as the Trista Zinck Memorial Scholarship. He'll also use the money to purchase top of the line breathalyzers for local police departments. Playboy model Trishelle Cannatella of MTV's Real World: Las Vegas has signed on for Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff's celebrity wrestling show. Trishele actually does have a couple minor wrestling connections. She appeared in the 2007 GoDaddy.com SuperBowl commercial alongside Candice Michelle and had an on-screen romance with WWE wrestler The Miz during MTV's The Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Gauntlet.
Contestants who appear on the CMT show will be paid $40,000 for roughly one month of filming. There are also rumblings that former WCW World Champion David Arquette will make an appearance, but he is not going to be an actual cast member. There is some talk that Dennis Rodman, who Hogan has stayed in touch with over the years, may also make an appearance on the show.
In case you missed the previous reports, the show has been picked up by CMT and is an Eric Bischoff and Jason Hervey production.
WWE has put out a casting call seeking Brazilian woman 18-27 years old, beautiful, fit, and must speak and understand Portuguese and English. They are also looking for women who fit the same description but speak Spanish and English. They are accepting applications through the middle of this month. As we have been reporting WWE is gearing up to target South America next year. Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Foyd Mayweather has recently been saying that there are no plans to return to WWE, but he is open to it, loved working with them, and is looking forward to working with them again. Mayweather said that he would only do it if he got the same deal he did for WrestleMania, which looks unlikely as things stand right now. The only way WWE could justify giving Floyd that same huge payoff would be if Oscar De La Hoya or Ricky Hatton got in the ring as well. WWE has likely learned from WCW’s work with Dennis Rodman, who drew one of the biggest buyrates in history for his match against Karl Malone but barely drew any attention for his next match with Randy Savage.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
On the night Mark Coleman was inducted into the UFC(ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP) Hall of Fame, the former UFC heavyweight champion and Pride Grand Prix winner announced he is returning to the Octagon and his first fight will be against Brock Lesnar.
Their fight is scheduled for UFC 87, which takes place on August 9th from Lesnar's hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Coleman told UFC, "I'm gonna dedicate my life to this. The fans want to see me. I'm going to pay my dues. I'm going to do the best I can. He's a beast. He's an animal. Don't bet the house against me. I'm going to bring something for Brock Lesnar."
Coleman's fight with Lesnar at UFC 87 will be the first of a four-fight deal he signed this weekend.
ROH booker Gave Sapolsky and Van Dam haven't spoke about a possible appearance yet but it's hoped that RVD will change his mind and make an appearance at the venue where has had multiple time success.
It's also interesting to note that Van Dam recently said he's "burned out" in an with "The Pain Clinic" and that the next time he stepped in the ring would be due to the financial incentive.
The USA Network has announced that WWE will be running another 3-hour RAW special on June 23rd. The show will take place from Shawn Michaels' hometown of San Antonio, Texas.
Only six contestants will be appearing on the show: Rachel Hunter, Jason "Wee Man" Acuna, Christopher Knight, Antonio Sabato Jr., Blu Cantrell and Janet Evans. No word on why she's been removed from the cast.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Melina's Latest Internet Rant, Candice Michelle's Collarbone Injury, WWE Stars Doing OVW
0 comments Posted by Manish Nair at 07:14
Melina rants again on WWE.com. This time she harps on the babyface Divas throwing Mickie James a party and congratulating her for her title win when they should be fighting for the belt themselves. Melina wrote: "One year later, bravo to Mickie James for regaining the championship. A win is a win. I give it to her. But my anger is not at her championship win. I'm upset because I feel that these girls who gave Mickie the party do not take wrestling and what we do seriously. I am still in awe that these girls threw a little party to celebrate Mickie's championship win. They just did it for attention! Come on people!!!! So they can get dressed up and prance around. Don't any of these women want the championship?" She also adds: "Why become a wrestler if you aren't going to compete to be the best you can? I enter that ring to fight for myself. Fight for what I believe in. I believe in this art form that I have trained and studied to be the best I can in. Listen to me carefully. If you are not wrestling to be the Women's Champion, then you shouldn't step foot in a ring. YOU SHOULDN'T BE WRESTLING! You should do hair or whatever Santino Marella said, "Be in the kitchen making spaghetti."
Regarding Candice Michelle's re-aggravated collarbone injury, which has her on the sidelines again, Lewis from Tucson wrote the following: "Just for your info, I'm on my second collar bone surgery. I think I've told you this story before (thus why I'm on pain killers), but I walked around with a broken compressed collar bone for 3 years, got it fixed, and almost 4 months later to the date the plate broke and I had to get two plates put in and the broken one removed. Candice is done. I'd put money on it. She may try again but I'm gonna bet you she's done. These things can snap so easily and get infected so easily. In fact I'm on antibiotics again right now and my surgery was on February 4th".
A number of WWE stars are booked to appear at Ohio Valley Wrestling Six Flags shows in the upcoming months. WWE told OVW they could continue to use WWE wrestlers after the developmental split went down in February, but they must take care of the expenses. Tommy Dreamer, Elijah Burke, Jerry Lawler, Mr. Kennedy, CM Punk, Jimmy Wang Yang, Shelton Benjamin, Kenny Dykstra, John Cena and Mick Foley are scheduled to make appearances at Six Flags in the ensuing months. Visit the appearances section at WWE.com for more information.
1. Jonathan Coachman may be getting replaced as the color commentator on Friday Night SmackDown. WWE officials contacted Mick Foley for an announcer role on the brand.
2. Former enemies Kevin Thorn & Stevie Richards will be working together as a tag team at a Florida Championship Wrestling show on 5/3 in New Port Richey, FL at the Jewish Community Center.
3. Devin Cutting sent in the following... WWE returns to the Civic Center in Erie, Pennsylvania on August 23rd, 2008 and the Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on August 24th, 2008. Go to http://www.prowrestlingevents.tk for info about upcoming shows.
Friday, April 25, 2008
WWE has been concerned with a decline in African American viewers since 2006. Something needed to be changed to rectify that. A directive was placed to involve more African American wrestlers this year. However, that hasn't exactly worked out as expected.
Shelton Benjamin
When Shelton Benjamin was sent from Raw to ECW, the plan was to push him as a top star on the brand. However, that hasn't been the case. If you saw ECW on Sci Fi this week, Shelton Benjamin lost cleanly to upcoming star Kofi Kingston. Former ECW writer Dusty Rhodes was the man responsible for bringing Shelton Benjamin over. It is believed that he had intended to build the Gold Standard into an eventual champion.
Now that Dusty Rhodes is gone, Shelton Benjamin is left to float around ECW.
Elijah Burke
The original plans when Shelton Benjamin was traded over to ECW was for Elijah Burke to be traded to Raw. Raw head writer Brian Gerwitz could not come up with a storyline for Elijah Burke at the time, so Stephanie McMahon made the decision to keep him in ECW. As many of you already know, Elijah Burke hasn't been used properly since the New Breed days.
Kofi Kingston
After two huge wins in a row, it looks like Kofi Kingston is about to receive a significant push in ECW. However, it almost never happened. Several members of management did not want to bring Kofi Kingston up to the main roster just yet.
However, the directive to push African Americans made it possible for Kofi Kingston to get his chance.
Cryme Tyme
It is believed that the directive was a big reason why Cryme Tyme was brought back to the promotion. When they did return, there was a hugely positive reaction from the audience because they were the most popular tag team act when they were fired. Of course, since coming back, though, Cryme Tyme hasn't particularly been used as much as most people had expected them to be used. They pick up random wins here and there, but these guys really need to be utilized in segments because that's what the audience wants.
Closing Thoughts
All of these guys could be used in much better roles. Kofi Kingston, Elijah Burke, and Shelton Benjamin are all entertaining in the ring, while Cryme Tyme is entertaining in segments.
WWE has promised that the upcoming Smackdown vs Raw 2009 is going to have the largest roster in the series history.Based on various photos, videos, and interviews, we can confirm that the following wrestlers are already included in Smackdown vs Raw 2009.
Chris Jericho
Jeff Hardy
John Cena
Matt Hardy
Mr Kennedy
Randy Orton
Undertaker
As we get closer to the release date, WWE should start revealing more of the wrestlers that are going to be in Smackdown vs Raw 2009.
Good Bets
The following wrestlers have yet to be confirmed for Smackdown vs Raw 2009, but there's a very good chance that they'll be included.
Batista
Big Show
CM Punk
Edge
Finlay
JBL
Kane
MVP
Rey Mysterio
Shawn Michaels
Triple H
Umaga
Considering how popular these guys are, and considering how they've been involved in previous versions of the game, there's a very good chance we'll see them.
The Rest
There's a lot of rumors going around right now that since Smackdown vs Raw 2009 is going to focus more on tag team wrestling that there's going to be a lot more tag teams included.That's not necessarily the case.The game will focus on tag team wrestling itself as opposed to tag teams.Things like the "hot tag", tag team shared momentum, and double team moves are what the developers are referring to when they talk about focusing more on tag team wrestling.If there's enough room on the roster, then we'll probably see some of the tag teams get included.Teams like Cryme Tyme and Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder have the best shot at being included.John Morrison and the Miz should probably get in the game as singles wrestlers.The Highlanders have very little chance of making it into the game. Sadly, there's not much of a chance for Paul London and Brian Kendrick either.
Closing Thoughts
Check back here often as i'll keep updating this topic with WWE characters as they become confirmed.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
With the success of the Great Khali, WWE is now looking for a Chinese giant to bring into the company.
Khali is Great
First of all, I know there's a handful of you readers out there reading that first paragraph with a confused look on your face. It's true that there's a lot of wrestling fans who don't find the Great Khali to be all that entertaining. However, there's also a lot of people from around the world that are taking interest in wrestling because of him.
Great Khali is more than just a gigantic wrestler for WWE. He's also a media magnet.He routinely makes headlines in India for various things.This is also a guy that has appeared in a movie with Burt Reynolds, Adam Sandler, Kevin Nash, and Steve Austin. These guys worked together on the Longest Yard.
Great Khali is also scheduled to do a movie with the Rock next. The film is called Get Smart, and it also stars Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway. Everytime the movie gets discussed, there's going to be the obvious mention of a "WWE wrestler" being involved with the show.
World Dominance
The Great Khali is a great marketing tool for WWE to reach fans in India.The country has a population of approximately 1.12 billion. That's enough to rank it as the 2nd most populated country in the world.What's the most populated country in the world, you ask?China is. They have 1.32 billion people living in their country.With that in mind, it makes absolutely perfect sense for WWE to target that country.
Can you imagine a Wrestlemania match featuring the Great Khali against the new Chinese wrestling giant?
Between the neighboring countries, there are 2.5 billion people combined. If WWE can get a fraction of that population to tune into the pay per view, it'd be a pretty nice chunk of change.
If WWE could find a charismatic Chinese giant, then they could easily make millions by doing just one tour of China per year.
Expansion
Of course, WWE probably wants a lot more than just one tour per year.
WWE has been spending quite a bit of their resources as of late to expand the company into a worldwide company.
Having wrestling stars that a particular area of the world is already interested in really makes the process that much easier.
Closing Thoughts
Should be interesting to see what WWE can come up with. There's a ton of people over there, so there has to be someone that fits the bill.
