— Like Booker T, Kevin Nash was also scheduled to appear at this weekend’s New Orleans Comic Con, but pulled out. A convention attendee noted that personnel announced: “Kevin Nash never made it to the building. Sorry, guys.” Many in the estimated crowd of 100 fans were said to be very disappointed.
— WWE Champion Edge, who is in Los Angeles this weekend to film retakes for his upcoming WWE Studios film, stayed at the hotel WrestleReunion convention attendees stayed at. He was spotted at yesterday’s Ring of Honor event and notably paid attention to the Kings of Wrestling vs. Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin match.
— WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler wrestled longtime rival Bill Dundee tonight at TNA Wrestling’s original stomping grounds, the Nashville Fairgrounds. Dutch Mantel was the special guest referee.
Booker T and Kevin Nash are scheduled to appear as surprise entrants for tomorrow night’s 40-Man Royal Rumble Match, reports PWInsider.com.
Booker T was expected earlier based on recent talks with organization officials and his scheduled appearance at the New Orleans Comic Con this weekend being canceled. Company sources confirmed this morning he is set for the 40-Man Royal Rumble Match.
WWE sources have also confirmed that Nash is booked for the match and is scheduled to fly into Boston later today. He was in discussions with TNA Wrestling officials as late as yesterday to finalize a contract with the organization, but instead opted to return to World Wrestling Entertainment.
Meanwhile, TNA Wrestling sources have confirmed that discussions with Nash fell through. Both sides had been negotiating on and off with sources indicating at one point that a deal was finalized. An infuriated Nash then accused TNA personnel of leaking the information, which led to new rounds of negotiations. He admitted last week to a Puerto Rican newspaper that he was in talks with TNA regarding a return to the organization. The aforementioned discussions ended within the past 24 to 48 hours.
— It was reported yesterday that Booker T canceled his scheduled appearance at this weekend’s New Orleans Comic Con. Though it has not been confirmed that former world champion will appear at tomorrow’s Royal Rumble, many people within WWE expect him to be on hand for the event.
— Donna Goldsmith, Chief Operating Officer of World Wrestling Entertainment, announced this week she would be leaving the organizaion effective Feb. 28. The notice is available here.
Goldsmith was head of WWE Consumer Products for a number of years, which was considered the premiere division in the company for most of the past decade. She was promoted to COO and only trailed Vince McMahon in regards to power in the organization.
— Kelly Kelly was a Twitter trending topic yesterday in the United States during SmackDown.
— Today is former WWE star Hardcore Holly’s birthday. He turns 48 years old.
— Beth Phoenix revealed to SLAM! Wrestling that she wants another Royal Rumble opportunity. “The Glamazon” took part in last year’s showcase, kissing and then eliminating The Great Khali.
“There’s 10 more spots, and that means 10 more chances to go an compete in the Royal Rumble, and go and compete, to wrestle for the World heavyweight championship at WrestleMania,” she said. “I think that the odds are a little bit better this year to get another opportunity, but like all the superstars, we don’t find out until the very last minute. So, there’s always a chance. That’s the great thing about watching it on pay-per-view is that you never know what you’re going to see.”
— WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy Hart said last week on The Bubba the Love Sponge Show that Wrestlicious is close to securing a television deal with MTV2.
— WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler vs. Matt Riviera headlines New Millennium Wrestling’s Feb. 26 event at the Balch Springs Recreation Center in Balch Springs, Texas.
— Entertainment Weekly is reporting that “Stone Cold” Steve Austin has been tapped to host the revival of Tough Enough on the USA Network.
The show premieres April 4, following Monday Night Raw.
— The Jan. 27 episode of WWE Superstars on WGN America scored a 0.64 cable rating with 755,000 viewers. Viewership was up from last week’s episode, which was a 0.49 cable rating with 565,000 viewers.
The midnight replay scored a 0.17 cable rating with 120,000 viewers.
— The WrestleReunion website noted that Edge was at today’s convention at the Los Angeles Airport Hilton. He’s not there as a scheduled guest, but was visiting former colleague Shane Helms.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. In this update, Ross gives an in-depth preview of Sunday’s WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view. Here’s what he wrote about the event:
“The Royal Rumble is a vitally important PPV for WWE in that there is tremendous pressure to deliver a strong show and kick off the promotional road to Wrestlemania in a significant, thought provoking and memorable way.
Because of increasing the Rumble match from 30 to 40 men largely for the ability to promote Sunday’s event as ‘the biggest Royal Rumble match ever’ it obviously spreads the incumbent, established star power thinner. That means that younger talents who seek stardom need to bring their A+ games Sunday and maximize their in ring minutes.
For many, participating in this match this will be the most significant opportunity that they have had to shine, launch themselves, create awareness for their skill set, etc. I’m sure that we will get feedback on this site that it’s all about the creative process and the subsequent minutes that the talents are allotted but I am of the belief that great talents or talents who want to be great have the ability use their minutes to maximum effectiveness.
I am very interested to see who ‘stands out’ during the Rumble match, who turns heads, and who comes out of the marathon bout better than they were when they entered the ring.
The opportunity to surprise and perhaps even shock the fan base is there and I certainly am of the belief that surprises and unpredictable moments will be the order of the day in the Rumble match Sunday.
In many ways, this year’s Royal Rumble is more intriguing to me than several others in years past when the talent depth wasn’t such a talked about issue. I just have a feeling that multiple talents will have an opportunity to distinguish themselves throughout this 40 man match even though there will likely be only one winner based on historic precedent.”
— Six-time world champion Booker T has canceled his scheduled appearance at this weekend’s New Orleans Comic Con at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Regarding a surprise appearance at Sunday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view, he was in discussions with World Wrestling Entertainment officials a few weeks ago regarding a potential return.
— This Sunday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts is sold out. Complementary tickets for the event are hard to come by and scalpers have reportedly unloaded their share.
— The Bellas Twins made numerous media appearances today in Atlanta, Georgia promoting Wrestlemania XXVII.
– Former WCW World Champion Diamond Dallas Page confirmed on Twitter on Thursday that he will be hosting WWE’s Best of WCW Nitro DVD, set to be released in a few months: DDP wrote:
“IT’s Official! I will Host “The BEST OF NITRO”! This a Great thing for the WCW/NWO/WWE fans! Plus a Great way for DDP to return to the WWE!”
– Ross also wrote that he will be the special referee for the event at the RAW live event in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on March 13th. The match will feature WWE champion The Miz defending against Randy Orton. In a recent blog post, Ross answered a fan question about him becoming a fulltime WWE referee, to which he responded:
“Not expected to be refereeing many matches going forward. Nothing is scheduled. However, Michael Cole is doing some refereeing I’m told in non televised, main events at TV tapings.”
– Ross also said on Twitter that once the WWE DVD on Hall of Famer Gorgeous George is done and released, they will then begin working on the WWE Studios movie on his life.
– Sean “X-Pac” Waltman will be hanging out with fans during a WWE Royal Rumble viewing party at The Dawg House at the Mardi Gras Casino in Hallandale Beach, Florida. The party begins this Sunday at 7pm before the Rumble begins. Call 954-924-3200 for more information.
Posted January 28th, 2011 in News, WWE. Tagged: DDP.
Former WWE and WCW star Scott Hall was recently interviewed The Miami Herald and said he’s heading back to the Menninger Clinic in Houston for treatment. Here are some highlights of what Hall said about:
Going Back To Rehab & Mental Illness “This place is really cool because it’s a psychiatric hospital. A lot the people there don’t have drug and alcohol stuff. Mental illness is real, and I got them. I don’t know if it’s the multiple concussions or the lifestyle choices…I’m going to a place where they can help me.”
His health: “I recently had this pacemaker/defibrillator put in my heart. We have bad hearts in my family genetically. My lifestyle contributed to it, too. I made some bad decisions and some bad choices. If you dance with the devil, you got to pay the price.”
Training Former WWE star Ricky Ortiz: “This is my first student ever. People ask why I don’t open a wrestling school. I tell them that I’m not just going to take anybody’s money, if they can’t handle it. If I don’t think you are going to be a big star, I’m not going to try to hurt anybody’s feelings, but I’m not going to waste my time. So I got this cat [Young]. He doesn’t drink or do drugs. He is very positive. He is like the young me.”
His Trips To Rehab: “I have been to about nine rehabs. They were high dollar and some of the best ones around. [WWE Chairman] Vince [McMahon] has picked up the tab the last couple of times. If you ever work or worked for WWE, if you ever need help, he will give it to you. He is really cool. Thank Vince, his wife Linda, [daughter] Stephanie, [son] Shane and Paul [Levesque/Triple H]. Thank you for helping me. It’s hard to ask for help. It’s even harder to accept it, when people offer it.”
WWE Champion The Miz was recently interviewed by Frian Fritz of Fanhouse.com to promote Sunday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view. Here are some highlights:
You’ve told the story before about when you first came to the WWE that there were various people in the locker room who were not very supportive of you. What is the locker room like now when it comes to you and where you are at this point of your career?
The locker room is great now. It’s completely different because a lot of those veterans are gone, that old school mentality is kind of gone and it’s a whole new school kind of attitude and feel. It’s fresh, it’s new, it’s exciting and the locker room is pretty good. I mean, obviously, you still have a couple of jealous, wandering eyes who see me and see that I have the title. Obviously, everybody wants that. Everybody wants my spot so I have a target on my back which is fine. I’m more than willing to have a target on my back. The fact is, you’re going to miss every time because I’m still going to be the WWE Champion for a very long time.
Do you think we’ll ever see a day when the two world titles are unified?
“I don’t know. People have asked me that. Will they ever be unified? I don’t know if they ever will be. I think it would be a cool thing to happen at WrestleMania, to have a unification of the World Heavyweight and WWE Championship. But who knows whenever that will happen or even if it will.”
Have there been any particular guys in the WWE that have helped influence you? For me, I think I see some characteristics in you from Chris Jericho and various things he did. Did he influence you or was there anyone else that did?
“Yeah, I still talk to Jericho a lot. When he came back that last time, that really influenced me a lot as well as Shawn Michaels. I’ve always been a big fan of The Rock. Those guys kind of influenced me as well as working with John Cena. Last year, I had a whole program with John Cena. Working with him taught me a lot at what I had to get, where I had to go to become a top talent in the WWE and become a main evener.”
Posted January 28th, 2011 in News, WWE. Tagged: The Miz.
WWE taped this week’s Smackdown tonight from the US Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. Below are full results:
Smackdown (Airing Friday on SyFy):
* The show opens with footage of what happened with The Corre on last week’s show.
* Vickie Guerrero comes out to massive heat. Randy Orton comes out to confront her and later Dolph Ziggler. They promote their upcoming tag team match for later tonight
* LayCool come out and are attacked by Kelly Kelly and Kaitlyn. This leads to LayCool over Kelly Kelly & Kaitlyn.
* Drew McIntyre vs. JTG with Kelly Kelly on commentary. Winner after hitting the Future Shock DDT, Drew McIntyre. After the match, Kelly Kelly gets in the ring but McIntyre brushes her off.
* Backstage, “Dashing” Cody Rhodes will not show his face because he says Rey Mysterio broke his nose. He says he’ll be unable to compete in the Royal Rumble.
* Backstage, World Heavyweight Champion Edge is interviewed about The Corre and tonight’s main event.
* Alberto Del Rio comes out in a convertible Mercedes Benz and is announced by Ricardo Rodriguez. It’s time for a top rope challenge. Del Rio throws out two unidentified jobbers and out comes Kane. Kofi Kingston is the next competitor out and he eliminates both Kane and Del Rio.
* This somehow leads to Rey Mysterio and Kofi Kingston fighting Alberto Del Rio and Kane. Vickie Guerrero comes out and declares it an official tag team match. Mid-way through the match Kane took out Del Rio and left him. Mysterio hits 619 on him and Kingston hits Trouble in Paradise to seal the victory.
* Big Show cuts a promo but The Corre come out in new t-shirts. This leads to Show vs. Heath Slater. Show makes easy work of him, hitting a chokeslam and getting the three count. After the match, Ezekiel Jackson and The Corre take out Big Show. Babyfaces from Raw and Smackdown come out and make the save. The Corree is ran off by Santino Marella, Vladimir Kozlov, Daniel Bryan, Chris Masters and R-Truth.
* WWE Champion The Miz w/Alex Riley & Dolph Ziggler w/Vickie Guerrero vs. World Heavyweight Champion Edge & Randy Orton. Winners after Edge hit a Spear on Dolph Zigger, Edge & Randy Orton. After the match Vickie Guerrero gets on the mic and says from this point forward the spear is banned. If Edge uses it at Royal Rumble on Sunday, the World Heavyweight Championship will go to Dolph Ziggler. Edge’s music hits the end the show.
(Credit to Wrestling News World for these results)
— Two ‘legends’ are reportedly scheduled for Sunday’s 40-Man Royal Rumble Match. Another wrestler that would be considered a surprise is also set to appear.
— It was disclosed at a WWE-sponsored web conference yesterday that the Diva Search competition would be brought back to company programming. The concept will reportedly be similar to NXT as the contestants would be mentored by WWE Divas. Additionally, it is said that company officials will make a concentrated effort to recruit female talent from the independent wrestling scene.
— Former WWE Champion Shawn Michaels has been nominated for a Shorty.com Award in the sports category, which honors the best producers of short real time content (on Twitter).
— For weekend live events, the Raw tour saw Friday’s show in Trenton, NJ draw 6,500 paying $189,000. Saturday in State College, PA, drew 4,200 paying $120,000. Sunday in Youngstown, OH, drew 5,400 paying $170,000. Monday’s Raw in Detroit drew 9,000. The SmackDown events saw Saturday’s show in Kalamazoo, MI draw 4,400 and $128,000 and Sunday’s show in Hammond, IN drew 3,300 pay $98,000.
WWE star Triple H was interviewed by RXMuscle.com’s “Heavy Muscle Radio” show earlier this month and spoke to host Dave Palumbo about a number of topics. You can listen to an MP3 of RXMuscle’s interview with Triple H by clicking here. Here are some highlights of what Triple H talked about:
— He guaranteed that he will not want to be like Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, who wrestle into their 60s. Hunter said he and Shawn Michaels agreed to tell the other when it was time to hang it up, and he said he never had to have that conversation with Shawn.
— Regarding his in ring return, he said, Hopefully the goal is sometime in the spring to come back.”
— He spoke about his new daughter, Vaughn Evelyn Levesque. After 3 girls, he does want a boy and says he and Stephanie have a graet name planned, but wouldn’t’ share it. Originally, Stephanie wanted five kids and he wanted two. He said they’re not sure about having more children.
— He currently does not have a lot to do with WWE’s creative process, but has been in charge of running a few WWE shows.
— Consistent with what’s been repoted recently, Triple H said that father-in-law Vince McMahon has been pushing him to take a bigger role in WWE’s front office, “to learn the other side of the business.” He is at the WWE office in Stanford for the majority of the week and attends many of WWE’s televised shows.
— Hunter also revealed details on how he injured his biceps, which has kept him out of action for months. His doctors initially believed it was nerve damage related to a neck injury. The injury occurred during a light workout, just weeks into filming a movie for WWE. WWE doctor Dr. James Andrews looked at the injured arm and said he could not finish shooting hte movie without having surgery first.
– There are rumors that Awesome Kong will make her WWE debut at Sunday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view. One scenario that’s been discussed is for her to interfere during the Divas Title match between Natalya and LayCool.
– There are still people in WWE that believe Batista will return to the company this year. Big Dave is known to be a fan of the “good life” – enjoying the luxury lifestyle that being a top-drawing WWE superstar brings. Batista has been pursuing his acting career, as well as training for his professional mixed martial arts debut, but his best chance to make big money is still with WWE.
While company officials remain optimistic that Batista has not wrestled his last match, the fact that Mason Ryan was brought in last week without changing his look (which most see as very similar to Batista’s) indicates that WWE is moving on without him, for now.
— Bret Hart’s latest role in WWE is taking part in the “Legends Roundtable” series that airs on WWE’s Classics On Demand channel. Jim Ross noted on Twitter this week that he was at WWE headquarters this week with Bret Hart, Pat Patterson, Michael Hayes and Gene Okerlund working on new Legends Roundtable episodes.
– When WWE legend Shawn Michaels is inducted into the Hall of Fame during WrestleMania weekend, he reportedly wants longtime friend Ric Flair to be at the ceremony. While there’s no word yet on whether Flair will appear, feeling is that WWE would have no problem with Flair attending, but they likely would not show him on camera. It remains to be seen whether TNA would have a problem with Flair attending a WWE event.
– Michelle McCool was back on the road for WWE live events this past weekend, indicating that The Undertaker is doing well recovering from surgery.
As noted earlier this week, it’s now expected that he will work WrestleMania 27 this year. McCool had been given time off from live events to stay at home and tend to her husband, The Deadman.
– We’ve reported before about WWE’s has plans plans to make a feature film on the life of WWE Hall of Famer Gorgeous George. There’s now talk of making a DVD set on the flamboyant superstar’s career in an effort ot make him more relevant to today’s generation of fans.
Vince McMahon is said to be a huge fan of the Gorgeous George story and wants to push him as the originator of “sports entertainment” and wrestling’s “Babe Ruth” character. Gorgeous George was a tremendous star in his day, achieving international fame during the early years of television. Many famous athletes have named Gorgeous George as an influence, including boxing great Muhammad Ali.
– The Italian Tribune News reported recently that the movie based on the life of WWE legend Bruno Sammartino will begin filming in April in Italy. The movie is also expected to film in Tokyo, New York, San Francisco and Pittsburgh.
Late last month, WWE superstar Goldust wrote on Twitter that he will be out of action for the first half of 2011 following shoulder surgery. Right before New Years, the Golden One wrote, “Recovery is like watchin paint dry…but me as an impatient person…has to watch it dry…shoulder will be better than ever in time.”
Goldust was interviewed this week by Detroit’s WDFN 1130 AM radio station and confirmed that he will be not be wrestling again until June at the earliest. Goldust said his shoulder had been working with a banged up shoulder for several months, when he decided to get the surgery. He is planning to return this summer, wrestle until the end of 2012 and then retire.
Goldust, who recently released his “Cross Rhodes” WWE autobiography, said that WWE is panning to release a DVD set on his career soon, although he does not have details on when it would be coming out.
Regarding Sunday’s Royal Rumble and his pick to win, Goldust had this to say:
“You know, I kind of like – if Triple H is coming back, which I think he might be, but I’m not sure. If he does, I would have to pick him. If not him, I would have to say probably Alberto Del Rio.”
Posted January 27th, 2011 in News, WWE. Tagged: Goldust.
As we touched on yesterday in our post about the Diva Search Competition would be returning this year (details), WWE held a web conference to entice potential advertisers to promote their products with WWE. WWE’s Senior Vice President of Partner Sales Joe DelGrosso hosted the event.
Aside from the news that the Diva Search competition would be returning, the following things were also discussed:
— WWE will not be cutting back from 13 pay-per-view events a year. 13 pay-per-views is actually the “minimum” going forward, implying that more pay-per-view events may be added in the future.
— WWE is hoping to have SummerSlam take place from Los Angeles, California every year. WWE regards SummerSlam as the second biggest show of the year and the company likes hosting it out in LA, where they have access to celebrities.
— WWE is still looking for sponsors for WrestleMania in April. Sponsors can come aboard for a 5 week promotional period (Feb 28th-April 3rd).
— WWE pushed that 7-Eleven, Slim Jim and Twix have all enjoyed very successful sponsorship campaigns with the company.
Mr. DelGrosso closed the presentation by showing a slide which highlighted the Ad Age endorsement of WWE as “the hottest brand of 2010.”
World Wrestling Entertainment held a web conference today enticing prospective promotional parters and it was disclosed that the Diva Search would be brought back.
Julie Stenz, WWE’s Director of Partner Marketing, said a ten-week competition would be held during the company’s “regularly scheduled” programming and that sponsorship opportunities would be available.
An official start date for the upcoming competition has not been disclosed.
Organization officials have auditioned prospective female talent in recent months, some of whom are expected to participate in the Diva Search.
With Shawn Michaels being announced as the first big name to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in April, WWE officials are already talking about possible candidiates to headline the Class of 2012.
Two names in particular that have come up for next year’s Hall of Fame class ar Trish Stratus, given that it will likely take place in her hometown of Toronto, and Hollywood megastar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
The idea with Rock is it would be mark ten years after his memorable WrestleMania match with Hulk Hogan, which also took place in Toronto.
The Rock and Trish Stratus worked together during their time in WWE, including this memorable moment of them kissing backstage:
— According to a person who spoke directly to Vince McMahon this past week, Wade Barrett vs. The Undertaker is currently penciled in as the main event for WrestleMania XXVII. Barring a setback in recovery, it’s now considered a lock that The Undertaker will work the show. As reported earlier this week, the Undertaker will be appearing at WWE’s Axxess event, which takes place the day before WrestleMania.
— Starting with the Royal Rumble, all future WWE Blu-ray releases will include the DVD version. There will be a price increase of $5.
— WWE officials have been negotiating with representatives of Duane Chapman, best known as Dog the Bounty Hunter, about an appearance at WrestleMania. The talks took place a few weeks ago and it’s said that Chapman’s people were asking for way more than WWE initially offered.
— While numerous seats remain available for WrestleMania XXVII, WWE officials are said to be happy with ticket sales thus far. Tickets for the Hall of Fame ceremony have been selling especially well, with only balcony seats remaining as of early this week.
— There continues to be great concern amongst WWE officials over the match line-up for WrestleMania XXVII.
While it’s likely that WWE will produce a strong wrestling card, the major point of concern is that it will take more than that to attract the masses and draw the type of revenue that is expected of the organization’s grandest event of the year.
— February is “Defrost with the Divas” month on WWE Classics On Demand as the “sexy, smart and powerful” WWE Divas are highlighted with their greatest shows, matches and moments.
— Former TNA Women’s Knockout Champion Taylor Wilde turns 25 years old today while Road Warrior Animal turns 51.
Earlier this week, UFC heavyweight fighter Brock Lesnar set the record straight on his involvement at WrestleMania 27, telling Yahoo! Sports that there was no truth to the rumors that he was interested in working the show.
During a media session that took place on Tuesday to promote the new season of The Ultimate Fighter, commented on the Undertaker attending his most recent fight and their face-to-face confrontation that sparked the WrestleMania speculation.
“The other fellas that wanted to come, like Stone Cold and The Rock, and Goldberg, those guys had all said, ‘I’m coming to watch you, good luck.'”, Lesnar said. “This guy (Undertaker) shows up every time I seem to lose (laughs) so he’s like my black cloud. And we’ve got some history. I’ve worked with him, but I don’t really care for him.”
There’s more to it – check out the interview with Lesnar below:
— Bret Hart revealed to Right After Wrestling that John Morrison once apologized to him backstage for handing out his sunglasses to children before his matches.
“He came up to me, John Morrison did, and he apologized to me, he said he felt bad and made references to stealing my gimmick,” Hart said.
“But the fact that he even addressed it was flattering to me. I don’t think it’s any different than Rey Mysterio giving stuff to the kids. It’s gotta keep moving on, and if there’s any kind of connection between his giving the sunglasses away and my giving the sunglasses away years ago, between an old fan and a young fan, I think that’s beautiful, I have no problem with it at all.”
— A SmackDown brand match pitting Trent Barreta against Tyler Reks was taped last night in Cincinnati, Ohio for this week’s episode of WWE Superstars.
— The Nexus has changed their Twitter handle to @NewNexusWWE.