Former WWE superstar Dave Batista won’t be making his professional mixed martial arts debut any time soon.
* VIDEO of BATISTA’s MMA Training: The Next Brock Lesnar?
A cameraman from TMZ.com caught up with Batista at the LAX airport over the weekend and asked him for an update on his MMA career. To see the video, click here.
Batista said he was negotiating with the Strikeforce MMA promotion to have his first fight soon, but that deal fell through after the company was recently bought out by the UFC.
Batista said he is “real disappointed” with the way things turned out says he really “had his heart set” on Strikeforce.
Could Batista’s MMA career getting knocked off track before it ever left the station – could we see his return to WWE this year?
COMMENT BELOW and tell us if you’d want to see Batista back in WWE.
With the 2011 WWE Draft just hours away – we’ve got an interesting co-incidence that corroborates a previous report here on the site about a top SmackDown star heading to RAW.
Earlier today, the web address of SmackDown star Alberto Del Rio’s profile page on the official WWE website denoted the WWE Superstar as a member of the Raw roster.
Under the “All” bracket on the WWE Superstars page on WWE.com, his picture linked to the web address www.wwe.com/superstars/raw/albertodelrio. The error has since corrected as the URL now redirects to his original SmackDown based page.
Similarly, SmackDown Diva Beth Phoenix was denoted as a member of the Raw roster over the weekend. The miscue was corrected this morning.
WWE officials have discussed moving Del Rio to Raw during tonight’s WWE Draft as he is currently scheduled to headline SummerSlam against John Cena. It has also been broached for Del Rio move to the brand as World Heavyweight Champion, with The Miz, as WWE Champion, heading to SmackDown.
— Jim Ross doesn’t believe he will remain on WWE programming on a regular basis. However, tonight’s WWE Draft could change his assumptions
Ross wrote on Twitter, “I’d be shocked if I return to wk’ly tv in any form on a regular basis. Draft could change my assumptions. I do miss Mon nites w/ King.”
— WWE.com listed Beth Phoenix as a member of Raw over the weekend. The URL error was fixed today as her profile page denotes her as a member of SmackDown.
— Rosa Mendes replaced Kaitlyn during the final portion of SmackDown’s overseas tour last week.
— Jim Ross is advertised for appear at this Saturday’s Legends of the Ring 12 event, which takes place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Monroe, New Jersey. More information is available at www.legendsofthering.com.
— WWE’s upcoming Night of Champions pay-per-view event, which was previously listed on the events listing page of www.WWELiveTour.com, has been removed.
The buy number for last year’s show was down 36.7% from the previous year, from 267,000 buys to 169,000.
Meanwhile, WWE recently issued an online survey asking fans to give their thoughts on the following new pay-per-view titles: WWE Uprising; WWE Vengeance; WWE Champions; WWE Revolution.
— Jim Ross stated on Twitter that Steve Austin is working on a new action/adventure movie. According to Ross, Austin said the script is “great.”
— The FedExForum, the home arena of the Memphis Grizzlies, ran a video of Jerry Lawler cutting a promo prior to their NBA Playoff game against the San Antonio Spurs last night. He said the Grizzlies would pull the strap down on San Antonio, which concluded with his theme song being played. The Grizzlies went on to secure their first home playoff win in franchise history.
— Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s latest movie, Fast Five, is a huge hit in Australia. One out of three people in Australia who went to the movies on Thursday (the day of its premiere) went to see Fast Five, earning $2.4 million. It premieres this Friday in the United States.
— John Miller, who currently appears as a contestant on the Oxygen reality show Love Games: Bad Girls Need Love Too, stated during an interview with NewsandTribune.com that he will on hand for next week’s WWE television tapings, as well as Extreme Rules.
Miller, who has competed for Ohio Valley Wrestling, wrote the following on Twitter last week regarding his upcoming WWE tour: “11 more days till I go on a 4 day tour with WWE! I’m going to get a job and sign hopefully sign a contract, wish me luck everyone!!! Im booked for WWE Pay Per View in Tampa on May 1st. Then I will be in Miami,Fl May 2nd for Monday Night Raw then May 3rd Orlando for smackdown.”
— WWE developmental talent Seth Rollins was asked on Twitter to give his thoughts on WWE no longer referring to themselves as a professional wrestling organization. He replied:
“I think you have to understand the idea of it. I was skeptical at first too, but it’s all a marketing scheme. When push comes to shove WWE will always be professional wrestling, but they are branching out and doing so much more nowadays that the word “wrestling” really pigeonholes the brand…so eliminating the word expands the brand and creates many new avenues to go down.”
— Both SmackDown and Raw have returned from the recent tour overseas for this week’s television tapings in North Carolina. The Raw crew had a 14-hour flight yesterday from Qatar to Raleigh, North Carolina. John Cena, who did not tweet during the tour, wrote the following:
“CeNation. Tour was gr8. UK was madness as usual. Qatar was unreal. I mean spectacular. It is truly a paradise in the desert. Saw great things out of ziggler, morrison, evan, Sheamus, and D.B. this makes the draft 2 morrow that much more exciting . Thanks to all for the b day wishes especially the crowd in Qatar for singing me happy b day. Moment I will never forget.”
— WWE returns to the Festival Hall in Frankfurt, Germany on Saturday, November 12, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
Tough Enough contestant Christina Crawford hopes to one day win the WWE Divas Championship. But the person she would like to take the belt from is the same person who inspired her to be a Diva in the first place — her sister, Victoria — better known as Alicia Fox.
“I would love love love to win that title one day,” Crawford told CentralFloridaFuture.com. “But it would be the best if I could take it from my sister.”
Ever since her sister joined WWE, Crawford wanted to follow in her footsteps. She said Tough Enough is a once in a lifetime opportunity that she can’t pass up.
“What started my dream of working with the WWE was when my sister got hired, but I was too young at the time to apply,” Crawford said. “My dream was to go to school and then I would try out for the WWE.”
She is excited that she may work with her one day.
“She is on the main roster and I haven’t gotten the chance to work with her yet,” Crawford said. “But we do hang out together and it’s great moral support.”
One of the most important things the trainers teach the contestants is how to avoid getting hurt. Even though wrestling is staged, the injuries are real.
“I am not worried about injuries because the training environment is always safe,” Crawford said. “The trainers are helping us learn to build and to protect our body.”
Tonight we’ve got new episodes of WWE RAW and Tough Enough – plus the latest performance from Chris Jericho on ABC’s Dancing With The Stars. Here’s what to expect tonight:
– Tough Enough will feature a special appearance from Hall of Famer Bret Hart. The USA Network is hyping a shocking surprise for tonight’s show – which has been titled, “The 110-pound Elephant in the Room.”
– Tonight’s WWE RAW takes place from the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina and will feature the 2011 WWE Draft.
The advertised dark match main event after tonight’s RAW will see John Cena and Randy Orton team up against WWE champion The Miz and Nexus leader CM Punk.
– Chris Jericho is still going strong on ABC’s Dancing With The Stars and will be dancing the Tango tonight with his partner Cheryl Burke. After getting his best score yet last week – Chris Jericho revealed over the weekend that his metal band FOZZY will be in the house tonight for his performance! Jericho tweeted on Sunday:
“GREAT rehearsal today with @cherylburke This tango is gonna rock…literally! Also found out that @fozzyrock will be on DWTS on Mon too!”
— Just two days before WWE’s annual Draft, Beth Phoenix is listed under the Raw Superstars folder on WWE.com.
Her profile page’s original URL source, www.wwe.com/superstars/smackdown/bethphoenix, now redirects to www.wwe.com/superstars/raw/bethphoenix. However, “The Glamazon” is still listed as a member of the SmackDown roster.
It is possible that it is a glitch as her page, as well as Rosa Mendes’, were briefly unavailable this morning.
— An image of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson shaking John Cena’s hand a few weeks ago on Raw is featured on the cover of the latest issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated. The cover can be seen at www.pwi-online.com.
— WWE Hall of Famer Tony Atlas celebrates his 57th birthday today.
— The title for WWE’s upcoming DVD release on Rey Mysterio is Rey Mysterio: The Life of a Masked Man. It is scheduled for release on July 12. The synopsis is as follows:
“For the first time ever, Rey Mysterio sits down and reviews his historic career, reflecting on his greatest matches and moments. This all-new interview features exclusive and candid comments from the Ultimate Underdog on his Sports Entertainment path through ECW, WCW, and WWE; his rivalries with Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho, CM Punk; his thoughts on battling men almost twice his size, and his emotional Cruiserweight, Intercontinental, and World Championship runs.”
— Big Show appears on Supah Ninjas tonight at 8:30 p.m. on Nickelodeon.
— WWE has a live event scheduled for Stockton, California on Sunday, August 7.
— Ezekiel Jackson celebrated his 33rd birthday yesterday.
— Big Show and Kane grabbed championship glory together for the second time in their careers, triumphing over Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel on SmackDown to capture the WWE Tag Team Championships.
The match concluded with Big Show chokeslamming Slater to the canvas for the victory.
— John Cena celebrates his birthday today as he turns 34 years old. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, his opponent at WrestleMania XXVIII, wished him a happy birthday on Twitter.
He wrote, “Happy Birthday @JohnCena – I’m 5 yrs older than you which means I will always be your daddy bitch!”
— Chris Jericho appears on this Monday’s episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
As we’ve been reporting here on the site, the recent surprise retirement of Edge has left the SmackDown brand in dire need of a top baby face. This is one of the main factors that led Vince McMahon to move this year’s WWE Draft from June to this Monday night’s episode of RAW.
WWE officials have discussed moving Alberto Del Rio to Raw during next Monday’s WWE Draft as he is currently penciled to headline SummerSlam against John Cena. It has also been broached for Del Rio move to the brand as World Heavyweight Champion, with The Miz, as WWE Champion, heading to SmackDown.
With that being said, the identities of who gets moved are constantly changing.
The entire mid-card, with Cody Rhodes, The Nexus, The Corre, Jack Swagger, Drew McIntyre and R-Truth specifically cited, are also strong candidates to change brands during the Draft.
COMMENT BELOW: We want to know who YOU think should switch brands at Monday’s Draft! If you are not already a member of SEScoops.com, REGISTER NOWand comment below!
— The Raw crew concludes their near two-week long international tour today and tomorrow in Qatar. The shows, however, will be without the “Sexy, Smart and Powerful” WWE Divas as they are prohibited from wearing clothing that doesn’t cover their legs or shoulders in public. Qatar is an Islamic country with strict dress laws.
Eve Torres and The Bella Twins, among others, have already flown back to the United States.
— Michael Cole had his Extreme Rules tag team partner, Jack Swagger, join him as a woman, who looked vaguely like the Queen of England, enter the ring and knight him on this week’s episode of Raw. The entire segment was cut from the encore telecast on Sky Sports in the UK, as well as most references to it.
This was not the only segment cut from the replay as R-Truth smoking a cigarette was also edited out.
— Donald Moore (a/k/a Dr. Cable Jones), who was released from his developmental contract with WWE in November, is considering resuming his wrestling career on the independent scene after undergoing major shoulder surgery. (Thanks to Don Tintle)
– There are already plans for a sixth Fast and Furious movie, which will likely see The Rock return to the franchise. Fast Five premiers in theaters next weekend.
– Former WWE announcer and current ESPN news correspondent Jonathan Coachman has contacted The Rock and said that he may be at RAW next Monday (5/2) from Miami.
– In an interesting bit of trivia … the WWE Championship ladder match at at Extreme Rules between Christian and Alberto Del Rio is believed to be only the second time in company history where a match guarantees that someone will become World Champion for the first time. In the rare cases when there’s a vacated title on the line, at least one of the contenders has been WWE champion before. The only other WWE match when two superstars battled for a vacant WWE championship was on March 27th, 1988 – when Randy Savage defeated Ted DiBiase in the title tournament finals at WrestleMania 4.
– Jim Ross’ BBQ sauce business seems to be doing well since WWE’s shop website started carrying the products as Ross noted on Twitter this week that their online business is up almost 200% from last year. WWE’s shop website takes domestic and international orders from fans and then places the order with JR. JR noted that they just received their biggest order ever from WWE’s shop website.
– It’s been determined that Spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spinal cord that causes pressure on the spinal cord) is what ultimately led to the end of Edge’s WWE career. The condition is usually genetic and typically does not cause problems for people until they reach their 70’s. It is what also ended Steve Austin’s career.
With spinal stenosis, the risk of paralysis from taking a bad bump is high – and any type of regular in-ring performing would accelerate potential health problems and adversely affect the performer’s overall qualify of life.
For both Edge and Steve Austin, there is risk of their health problems worsening even after they leave wrestling – but retirement will hoefully allow both men to recover enough to live normal lives.
– Jim Ross wrote the following on Twitter this week after being with Awesome Kong in Las Vegas for the CAC Reunion convention:
“Awesome Kong can become a big star in the near future. Lots of charisma. Natural badass. I believe in her.”
– Speaking of Kong, word coming out of WWE is that even though they trademarked the name Kharma, she may not use it after all. The name she will use in WWE is still up int he air.
WWE is taping Friday’s episode of Smackdown today from the London O2 Arena in London, England.
* Michael Cole comes out to occupy The Cole Mine which features a royal looking gold and burgundy throne by it. Josh Mathews and Booker T follow.
* The World Heavyweight Championship belt is suspended above the ring.
* The show opens with a Edge video package followed by a rundown of the Extreme Rules lineup. On tonight’s show, Big Show & Kane will face Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel for the WWE Tag Team Championship and Kofi Kingston will face Wade Barrett for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
* Sir Michael Cole comes out to the British National Anthem to a ton of heat.
* Cody Rhodes comes out with three men wearing suits with one pushing a shopping cart. In the cart there are paper bags. Rhodes instructs his posse to hand out the bags to the crowd because they all need them. Everyone on the front row is given a brown paper back to put over their head. Rhodes cuts a heel promo which leads to his Wrestlemania XXVII rematch with Rey Mysterio.
* Cody Rhodes vs. Rey Mysterio. Winner via reversed powerbomb into a sit down pin, Rey Mysterio. After the match, Rhodes beats him down and they brawl on the outside. Cody finally gets the upper hand after a lengthy battle and puts a paper bag over Mysterio’s head.
* Michael Cole introduces Jack Swagger after footage from his Knighting Ceremony from this week’s WWE Raw airs.
* Jack Swagger vs. Trent Barreta. Swagger makes him tap out in the ankle lock in a squash match.
* Big Show and Kane are shown walking backstage to the ring as their match for the WWE Tag Team Championship is up next.
* The new Awesome Kong vignette airs.
* For the WWE Tag Team Championship, Big Show & Kane vs. Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel w/Ezekiel Jackson. Winners & new WWE Tag Team Champions, Big Show & Kane. They got the win after miss-communication from The Corre.
* Backstage, The Corre argue and Ezekiel Jackson blames Heath Slater. Slater pushes Justin Gabriel.* Drew McIntyre vs. Chris Masters. Winner after hitting the Future Shock DDT, Drew McIntyre
* Wade Barrett b. Kofi Kingston to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship. Ezekiel Jackson came out with Barrett but when he nearly cost him the match by accidentally clotheslining him, Barrett banished him to backstage.
* Alberto Del Rio hosts a retirement party for Edge. He comes out and unveils his gifts to the Rated R Superstar… A grandfather clock, adult diapers and the love of his life Lita. Out comes a very obese lady posing as Lita. Del Rio also says he got him a new ride. Ricardo Rodriguez drives a mobile scooter out to an Edge-like entrance. Del Rio tells Brodus Clay to attack Edge (who is on the ramp) but as Clay goes up the ramp Christian is hiding under the ring with a ladder. He attacks Clay on the ramp then takes out Del Rio. Christian gets in the ring with the ladder and grabs the World Heavyweight Championship from up top. Edge applauds from the ramp to end the show.
— Vickie Guerrero introduced the “new and improved” Dolph Ziggler on Monday’s episode of Raw as he unveiled a freshly trimmed head of brown hair just before facing Evan Bourne.
The former WWE World Heavyweight Champion is not thrilled with his new ‘do as he wrote the following on his personal Facebook account the morning after the show: “I feel like ‘bender’ from Futurama, when they chopped off his antenna….”
— Tyler Reks is in action on this week’s episode of WWE Superstars as he faces JTG. Also featured is Maryse vs. Natalya and Mark Henry vs. Ted DiBiase.
The episode is available here.
— Alicia Fox has replaced Melina on the last leg of Raw’s ongoing tour of Europe. The brand’s tour concludes Saturday in Doha, Qatar.
According to ESPN the Magazine, UFC star Brock Lesnar made $5.3 million from fighting in 2010.
Lesnar is getting paid huge money to crush his opponents in the ring – and that’s because when he’s fighting on a UFC event, it’s virtually guaranteed to be a blockbuster success.
In 2010, Brock Lesnar joined Mike Tyson as the only fighters to ever draw over 1 million pay-per-view buys in a single year. Tyson actually did it three times in 1996.
While Lesnar’s heavyweight annual income looks great, it pales in comparison to boxing champion Manny Pacquiao who took home a staggering $32 million in 2010.
On the surface, this looks boxing look like a far more lucrative sport for potential fighters to get into. By that standard, guys like Lesnar, Georges St. Pierre should be making much more than Lesnar made in 2010. MMA promoters argue that MMA has dozens of fighters that make over $500,000 a year, while there are only a handful of boxers making big money.
Credit to John Benoit and PWInsider.com for the following TNA iMPACT! tapings results, set to air on Thursday, April 28th on Spike:
* Impact opens with Karen and Jeff Jarrett coming out. Karen demands all the Knockouts come out as she is sure one of them was Kurt Angle’s mistress. She goes down the Knockouts one by one and comes down to Velvet Sky. She rips apart Sky, who goes to slap Karen but Jeff ends up taking the slap. Winter and Angelina Love go after Velvet…
* Angelina Love defeated Velvet Sky via submission when Sky passed out to a Love submission. Love was doing the trance deal where nothing hurt her when Sky was on the offense.
* Anarquia defeated Chris Sabin. Mexican America worked over Sabin until the returning Alex Shelley made the save. Mexican America noted they were going to celebrate Cinco del Mayo next week.
* Gunner defeated Christopher Daniels.
* Backstage Sting destroys Mr. Anderson’s truck and leaves his bat in the windshield before leaving.
* Crimson vs. Samoa Joe ended in a no contest when Abyss attacked Crimson and laid him out with a Black Hole Slam.
* New TNA Knockouts champion Mickie James cuts a promo dedicating her title win to the fans and thanks them for their support.
* TNA champion Sting defeated Bully Ray and Mr. Anderson. Great match with all three getting a decent amount of offense in. Bully Ray played his ultra heel great in this match. Bully used a steel pipe on Sting after a ref bump. AJ Styles came out and attacked Ray. Sting used the pipe on Ray and scored the pin.
Monday Night Mayhem with Stacy Keibler
Hosts: The Big Mosh and “The Chairman of the Board” Todd Vincent
Report by Paterson.
Airs every Monday at 7:00 P.M. (EST)
Show available at MondayNightMayhem.com.
Her thoughts on guest-starring on this week’s episode of WWE Tough Enough & whether or not she sees this as the first step in returning to the WWE in the near future: “For right now, this is something I did with them, but I don’t have any plans for wrestling officially and coming back & being on the road every week. It was so great to be back in the family, and seeing everybody, and to watch these kids. It’s really fun to see them so eager to become a part of this business.”
The experience of working again & teaming up with Trish Stratus on Tough Enough: “It was so fun, and it brought back a lot of memories. It’s been a couple of years since we worked together. We spent so much time on the road together traveling & working. It was just really great to catch up and just have fun with each other.”
How she defines the era she was a part of in the WWE Divas division & why she would “like to do something together” in the future with her fellow WWE Diva alumni: “I feel like we were all part of an era that was a really special time in wrestling, and I feel so lucky to be there then. It was just so much fun, with excitement & energy going on. With Vince buying WCW, it was an important transitional moment for the business, and I’m very lucky I was a part of it. I saw Torrie (Wilson) the other day, and I think we would all like to do something together. It would be so fun to feel that energy, and be together, and do something fun.”
Former WWE star Sean “X-Pac” Waltman feels John Morrison should apologize for his unprofessional conduct towards Trish Stratus at WrestleMania XXVII.
“I think he should be ashamed,” Waltman wrote on Twitter. “I think he owes Trish a public apology, and deserves to be in doghouse. Total bullshit.”
He continued, “I lost a lot of respect for Morrison over that. He may not care, but he f’n should.”
The former WWE Women’s Champion stated during a radio interview two weeks ago that Morrison gave her the cold shoulder during their post-match celebration. She also said that he rejected her suggestions during pre-match planning.
Company sources indicate that he and/or his girlfriend Melina believe Stratus took the WrestleMania spot away from the Diva regular, hence Morrison’s behavior towards her.
Those on Morrison’s side say as he was laying out the match with Stratus, she was insisting that her trademark spots be featured, which led to his resentment. The complaint was that Stratus wanted to be the “star” of the match when its intention was for Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi to garner mainstream attention for WWE. Also, the match was also under extreme time constraints and Morrison should have been treated as a rising star as opposed to “just another guy.”
While Stratus is generally regarded well behind the scenes, she has had her share of detractors over the years. She was not popular during her early years in the promotion and there have been complaints of her being arrogant, self-centered and phony. Former WWE announcer Kevin Kelly, who worked with Stratus from 2000 to 2003, was particularly negative towards her during a 2007 “shoot” interview and alleged that she engaged in a sexual relationship with Vince McMahon. Stratus also received a lot of heat from WWE officials for refusing to participate in the 25-Diva Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXV. She reportedly declined working the match because she was not guaranteed she would win. More recently, Stratus drew the ire of numerous Divas as they believe she “took their spots” at WrestleMania XXVII.
Seldom seen WWE talent Harry Smith (a/k/a David Hart Smith) apparently has plans to cross over from professional wrestling to mixed martial arts. His mother, Diana Smith, wrote on Twitter that he plans on following his father and grandfather’s trail as a shoot fighter.
“My son Harry Smith is quite the shoot fighter, does everyone know that?” she wrote. “He is following in his dad Davey’s and Grandfather Stu’s footsteps.”
Diana also believes he is good enough to compete in a premiere mixed martial arts organization today.
“I actually think my son Harry Smith could compete in Pride, MMA/UFC now as a high level wrestler, he’s honestly that good! Ask Josh Barnett.”
Barnett, a former UFC Heavyweight Champion, said last year in an interview that he has been training the WWE Superstar in catch wrestling. Smith can be seen sparring with Barnett in the DVD seminar W.A.R. Catch Wrestling: Lessons in Catch-As-Catch-Can with Billy Robinson.
CagesideSeats.com reported last month that Smith became an assistant coach in the Scientific Wrestling certification program under Catch-As-Catch-Can-Wrestling legend Billy Robinson. Smith earned the designation after logging over 100 hours of training with Robinson and receiving his approval to teach his concepts.
Robinson stated to Wrestling Observer Newsletter editor Dave Meltzer that if he personally trained Smith for 18 months, he could win the UFC Heavyweight Championship—he was that impressed by him in the time they sparred.
Smith, however, remains under contract to WWE, which prohibits him from joining a mixed martial arts organization. While no indication has been given that the third generation wrestler is leaving WWE, his future prospects with the entertainment empire appear grim as he finds himself in a bigger rut than his 2007-2008 stint on the main roster where he primarily competed on WWE Heat. Sans an appearance in the 22-Man Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXVII, Smith has not competed in over two months; his last match occurred on the February 17, 2011 episode of WWE Superstars. Even further, Smith has not competed in a match on Monday Night Raw in nearly six months. He last appeared on the program on December 6, 2010, which saw him lose to former tag team partner Tyson Kidd in a blow off match. He was then laid out by Kidd’s short-lived bodyguard Jackson Andrews.
— Britani Knight, a women’s wrestler from the UK, is denying online reports that she has signed a contract with WWE.
Knight wrote on her Facebook page today: “Woahhh thanks the congratulations but i dont even know whats going on yet! Hopefully though guys fingers crossed!”
Knight, who currently reigns as the Pro-Wrestling: EVE Champion, participated in a tryout before WWE officials this week. She also had a tryout with WWE last November.
— WWE Monday Night Raw on July 18, 2011 will be held at the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
— WWE is holding a live event on July 22, 2011 at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Massachusetts. Tickets go on sale May 21, 2011.