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WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER
Monday, February 22, 2010
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Wrestling Globe Newsletter by Mike Aldren – All the latest professional wrestling news, gossip and occasional opinion direct to your mailbox.
WGN is read by industry power players, many top wrestlers and thousands of fans from all around the world.
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WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
2/21 Elimination Chamber PPV results from St. Louis, MO: John Cena captured the WWE title over Sheamus, Triple H, Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase & Kofi Kingston in the Raw Chamber; but then Batista won the title over Cena after Vince made a title match straight away; The Miz over MVP for the U.S. title in a match added to fill time; Maryse vs. Gail Kim for the vacant Divas title never happened but instead we got Michelle McCool & Lalya over Maryse & Gail Kim; Drew McIntyre over Kane to retain the IC title; and Chris Jericho captured the World heavyweight title over The Undertaker; John Morrison, R-Truth, CM Punk, & Rey Mysterio in the Smackdown Chamber. Final two were Jericho and Taker but Shawn Michaels was hidden beneath the ring and screwed Taker likely to set up their match at Wrestlemania. Dark match was Christian over Ezekiel Jackson.
Raw is live tonight from Indianapolis with Ty Murray and Jewel as the guest hosts; plus Edge announcing who he will face for the ttile at Wrestlemania. Nothing else announced for the show at press time. The Smackdown tapings are Tuesday in Milwaukee with Michelle McCool vs.
Mickie James for the Women’s title with Vickie Guerrero as referee.
We’re looking for reader reports from both shows to you2us@wrestlingglobe.com.
***
The Undertaker got the shock of his life last night when he was engulfed
in a fireball due to a pyro malfunction during his ring entrance. The TV
cameras didn’t show entirely what happened but he ran down the aisle
while frantically trying to remove his black leather robe. He suffered
first and second degree burns on his chest and neck, and off camera as
the match progressed referee’s handed him bottles of water to douse his
burns. You can watch fan cell phone footage of the incident on YouTube
although WWE has been working hard all day to remove them claiming
copyright infringement. Backstage after the PPV, according to sources,
Taker cut a promo on production crew, as he was understandably upset
over the incident. He isn’t expected to miss any time.
The Connecticut Post has an article on the competition between Rob
Simmons and Linda McMahon for press coverage in the Connecticut
Republican primary campaigns. No real new ground is broken and the
article contains a couple of inaccuracies, depending on context,
especially where Linda discuses the use of steroids. The Post quotes
George Steele, Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy Hart, Brutus Beefcake, and Bret
Hart. Everyone was complimentary to Linda except Beefcake who is still
upset that WWE owns the copyright to Brutus the Barber. The story at
http://tinyurl.com/y9qjbd6 noted that, “Vince McMahon has been kept away
from the media, and the WWE declined a request to interview him.” Most
interesting is the story also notes that WWE is now providing mainstream
press with primers which answers the most commonly asked questions like,
‘How many wrestlers have died while under contract with the WWE?’ The
WWE answer is “only five” which I assume means under their watch.
Presumably they are including — Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero, Chris
Benoit, Brian Pillman and Rick McGraw [1980s prelim wrestler who died of
a heart attack]. McGraw was well-known in the wrestling business as
having a severe drug problem. In Bret Hart’s autobiography, Bret wrote:
“Every night he’d swallow a handful of Placidyls and wind up passed out
face down in his dinner…The cause of his death was labelled a heart
attack, but we all knew his heart had given out under deadly dosages of
downers.” McGraw died just days after wrestling Roddy Piper in a
nationally televised match. Some less savvy fans at the time felt the
match led to McGraw’s death.
Chavo Guerrero Jr. badly sprained his ankle over the weekend.
A couple of interesting Tweets last night from Jim Ross and Chris
Jericho. Ross tweeted regarding announcing on the PPV, “Wish King would
backhand Striker. Cole directing traffic. Chamber hard 2 follow.
Striker’s on an adjective rush. Intervention pls.” Jericho wrote, “Wow,
World Champion for the sixth time. This could never happen in TNA!” This
was in reponse to Eric Bischoff saying during a recent radio interview
that he feels Jericho could never be a world champion in TNA.
The new backstage nickname given to Drew McIntyre is Avatar. You know,
like the tribal creatures from the movie and apparently because his
girlfriend controls him.
The Fox news affiliate in St. Louis has a nice piece on John Cena
granting a wish to a 10-year-old girl who suffers from a rare form of
Epilesy at http://tinyurl.com/y9yo89y.
World-class talker Jim Cornette recalls Dave Batista when he first
started in WWE developmental in Louisville a few years ago at
http://tinyurl.com/yj4h39w
Cliff Compton [the former Domino] is back working in developmental.
British wrestler Jemma Palmer got her Visa application stamped and
starts in FCW next month. She is best known in the UK for playing the
character “Inferno” on the Gladiators television series.
Slim Jim sent out a press release today announcing themselves as
official sponsors of Wrestlemania 26 and SummerSlam later this year. A
new “Spicy Side” commercial featuring Edge, who now follows in the
footsteps of Randy Savage, will debut on USA Network and MyNetworkTV
during upcoming episodes of Raw and Smackdown.
Bret Hart posted a message on his website playing up to last week’s
storyline twist. He wrote: “It was really great seeing so many of the
WWE wrestlers backstage in the last couple of months. I would’ve loved
to have spent more time with many of them. I won’t be at Raw in
Indianapolis but it would’ve been great to have gone back there another
great city where I’ve had many great matches. One of the greatest
matches of my career was against Roddy Piper at WrestleMania VIII. I can
think of a lot of guys that loved wrestling there. It was a good
wrestling town and it would’ve been nice to say ”Hi’ to them after all
these years. It’s been hard getting around with my leg but, all things
considered, the weather’s been really nice and, with the Olympics on,
it’s worth propping your leg up and getting lost in the excitement of it
all. I simply don’t have anything to say about Canada’s loss in Olympic
hockey against the feisty Americans. Canadians fight best when their
backs are pressed against the wall. I still believe! Go Canada Go!”
TNA WRESTLING NEWS
Ric Flair‘s wife, Jacqueline Beems, was arrested late last night
following a domestic dispute. She was charged with simple assault for
using aggressive physical force. Cops responded to a disturbance call
from the couple’s Charlotte apartment in which Flair suffered minor
injuries, but refused hospital treatment, according to the arrest
report. Beems has since been released from jail. Flair told the cops
that they had just returned home from dinner when Beems assaulted him.
The story has already made the Charlotte Observer newspaper as well as
local news and radio affiliates. Flair and Beems were married on
November 11. This is not the first time that Flair and his family have
had violent run-ins. He was left bloody after an alleged street fight
with his daughter Ashley’s boyfriend in 2008.
Mick Foley has just completed his fourth memoir, Countdown to Lockdown,
which will be published later this year. Foley will be donating half the
proceeds from his book to RAINN, the Rape Abuse and Incest National
Network.
One of our readers writes: ‘I ordered Against All Odds last Sunday on
TNA Video Vault since they stopped showing the PPV’s in the UK. The
stream was OK but it cut out a few times causing me to miss the first
six or seven minutes of the AJ vs Joe match. I was a bit annoyed since
I’d had to pay for the show and didn’t get to see it all so I sent TNA
an email explaining what happened and asking them if they’d be improving
the service in the future. I didn’t really expect a reply so I was
surprised when I saw an email in my inbox this morning. More than that I
was really surprised and impressed when it said that since I had
problems with the PPV I would be able to watch Destination X for free.
Just thought I’d pass on since it’s good to see any company offering
such good customer service and it’s always nice to hear something
positive about TNA.’
Rent-A-Center announced that Hulk Hogan is their latest “power
personality” to join them as a spokesperson along with former Dallas
Cowboys QB Troy Aikman. Hogan is scheduled to pitch the laurels of
renting when you can’t afford to buy later this month.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS
ROH tonight on HDNet had Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. The Young Bucks in their
last televised match as the Bucks; Rhett Titus vs. El Generico; Colt
Cabana vs. Bobby Shields; and footage of Tyler Black’s ROH title win in
New York City.
Memphis-area indie wrestler Tommy Wayne was arrested on February 6 for
failure to appear stemming from an old speeding ticket. He was also
charged with soliciting nude photos of an underage girl. He appeared in
court on Friday where the father of a 13-year-old girl claimed Wayne had
been exchanging improper text messages with his daughter. The court
dismissed the charges and declared it no contest due to lack of
evidence. The judge suggested the father petition the court for a
no-contact order – so that his daughter and Wayne could not text each
other. Wayne paid a small fine and was ordered to complete some
community work in relation to the speeding ticket.
Mexican wrestler Hijo del Tirantes was robbed last weekend at knife
point following a flight from Apizaco back to his home in Mexico City.
He was reportedly setup by a taxi driver that was taking him to his
hotel. The driver stopped at a street blocks away and told him that he
was being robbed as two more men entered the cab with a knife and took
all of his possessions. They struck him in the face and jabbed him in
the neck with the blade although he wasn’t actually stabbed. He was
eventually dropped him off on a street where the police found him but he
couldn’t give them any details as it was so dark he couldn’t see his
attackers clearly. He eventually made it to his hotel where he was
cleaned up. He said that he is very thankful to God for keeping him
alive and that material things can come and go but his life is
invaluable. [Thanks to Kris Zellner]
Box y Lucha in Mexico is reporting that Juventud Guerrera won his court
case against AAA and Konnan. He was reportedly awarded cash
compensation. Shortly after his return to AAA last year, Guerrera
suffered a broken nose in a backstage fight with Konnan and Jack Evans.
The fight started after Guerrera accused Konnan of defecating in his
bag, which Konnan denied, and then Evans, with whom Guerrera had had a
match that night, grabbed Guerrera from behind, provoking the fight.
Guerrera has not wrestled for AAA since the incident.
Leon “Vader” White is planning to form a tag team with his son Jesse in
Japan this summer. Vader has dropped a lot of weight during the past
several months having made some lifestyles changes and becoming a
born-again Christian. Jesse played football with Oklahoma University and
was touted for the NFL, but was taken out last year with a back injury.
He graduates in May and spent last summer training with Harley Race at
his school in Eldon, MO.
Former ECW wrestler New Jack announced in a video message that he was
donating his brain after death to medical research. He said Dawn Marie
contacted him recently and talked him into calling The Sports Legacy
Institute who do great work examining the long-term effects of head
trauma among athletes. The video is at http://tinyurl.com/ycwgf72.
Paul London and Brian Kendrick will be hosting a training seminar in
Burlington, NC, on Friday. For more infomation you can email to
pwsprowrestling@gmail.com.
Candice Michelle is making a GoDaddy.com appearance today at UCLA.
Today’s Diva of the Day is Kelly Kelly at
http://www.thewrestlingpress.com/DailyDiva.
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