UFC’s parent company Zuffa filed a lawsuit on Friday against website Justin.tv for their “repeated and ongoing failure” to address the problem of streaming live UFC pay-per-view events.

This comes after UFC bosses attended a House Judiciary Committee hearing on illegal streaming back in 2009 with Justin CEO Michael Seibel. In July of last year, UFC served the website with a subpoena requesting the names of users who streamed UFC events.

In the new lawsuit, UFC claims that more than 50,000 people watched UFC 121 on the Justin website. UFC hired more than 200 workers to get the UFC 121 streams taken off the website during the show.

UFC lawyer Donald J. Campbell said: “Zuffa has attempted to work on numerous occasions with Justin.tv over nearly a two-year period to encourage it to prevent or limit its infringing activities. Regrettably, Justin.tv has not only turned a blind eye to the massive online piracy occurring on its website, we believe it has actually induced its users to commit copyright infringement thus leaving Zuffa no alternative but to take this fight to the courts.”

Obviously those in WWE and TNA will be paying close attention to the Zuffa lawsuit against Justin.tv. WWE officials have tried hard to stop illegal content over the past few years.

— Michael Tarver resurfaced on Friday’s SmackDown as he appeared in a backstage segment alongside Dolph Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero, standing over an unconscious Teddy Long. The former Nexus member was not acknowledged over commentary.

On the October 4 episode of Raw, Tarver was attacked by John Cena, with Wade Barrett later stating that he would have thrown Tarver out of The Nexus anyway. This storyline was put in place due to Tarver sustaining a groin injury.

— Jim Ross said he will be making several appearances at this year’s WrestleMania Axxess event in Atlanta, Georgia. Details have not been disclosed.

— The Wrestling Observer has indicated a few times in the past year that a WWE main eventer plans on leaving the organization once his current contract expires. The wrestler has been speculated as Edge, who’s deal runs out next year.

The Wrestling Observer also notes that four other wrestlers are looking to leave WWE when their contracts expire.

— The official website of Florida Championship Wrestling has added Mike McGrath, Monty Lynch and Kenneth Cameron to their roster page.

McGrath is Canadian wrestler Mattias Wild, a graduate of Lance Storm’s wrestling academy. Both Lynch and Cameron are from England. Lynch previously performed under the name Rampage Brown and did job duty to Mark Henry on the November 10, 2008 episode of ECW.

— Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston appears today at 6:00 p.m. at the Kmart located on Beechmont Avenue in Cincinnati, Ohio. A wristband policy in effect for the first 300 attendees.

source: www.f4wonline.com

Check out these candid new pictures of the beautiful Kelly Kelly arriving at a WWE show:

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross is back with another blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Here are some highlights of what JR said about:

Why WWE Doesn’t Use WCW PPV Names: “I assume just to be more original or contemporary. The titles of the PPV’s seem to be being tweaked all the time but no matter the name of the event it is still and always will be the ‘attraction’ that sells PPV’s not the title of the event. I do expect to see ALL the WCW PPV’s and Clash of Champions events utilized when WWE launches their own network down the road. You might even see some of them monetized via DVD releases at some point in time.

Using Superstars To Promote Young Talent: “Someone suggested that WWE Superstars be utilized to feature WWE’s younger talents. I thought that was usually the case. The talents who don’t get much time on Raw or Smackdown often time end up on WGN America’s Superstars broadcast. These are the times when talents really need to elevate their game, maximize their minutes and not look at wrestling on Superstars as be exiled or some form of ‘punishment.’ These are the moments that game day players go out and turn heads and make positive impressions. It’s like playing on special teams for a NFL team or being the 8th or 9th man on a NBA roster…always maximize one’s minutes and opportunities.”

Becoming A WWE Referee: “Nope… 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.”

WWE Hall of Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart was a guest on Sunday night’s Live Audio Wrestling radio show on Sirius XM. Among the topics discussed was the announcement that Shawn Michaels will be joining him in the Hall of Fame during WrestleMania weekend in April. Hart says despite the long standing issues he and Shawn had in the past, they buried the hatchet last year when he returned to WWE television on January 4th and remain friends to this day. When asked whether he would induct Shawn into the Hall of Fame, Bret responded:

“I wouldn’t have any problem inducting Shawn. The truth is Shawn was a great wrestler and I had a lot of great matches with him. I’m proud of some of the great memories I had with Shawn and I would be happy to induct him into the Hall of Fame if they asked me to,” Hart told John Pollock of the Fight Network for an interview on Sunday’s Live Audio Wrestling show.

Regarding his future with WWE and whether he’d be open to working this year’s WrestleMania and future storylines, Bret said:

“I’m not expecting to be involved in WrestleMania, but at the same time, I could get a call tomorrow to ask me to play some sort of part. I would be happy to be involved with WrestleMania or something that comes up the next few months.”

The Hitman also spoke about concussions in wrestling, saying that the lingering effects of concussions suffered during his career are more of an issue for him today than the career-ending stroke he suffered several years ago.

Visit TheFightNetwork.com to download an MP3 of Bret’s appearance on the LAW show.

John Piermarini, a former writer with WWE, recently started a blog recalling numerous behind the scenes stories that occurred during his two year stint with the organization. Highlights include:

* Piermarini says he originally proposed that Mason Ryan fill Sheffield’s powerhouse role in The Nexus shortly after “The Cornfed Meathead” fractured his ankle. Vince McMahon, however, rejected the idea.

* Vince McMahon views Skip Sheffield as a potential number two babyface, behind John Cena. He remains sidelined after suffering a compound fracture of his ankle in August.

* Piermarini says the original concept of the Uso brothers was to present them as the opposite of the stereotypical Samoan wrestler—educated, intelligent and wear boots. “Usos would essentially have been the Russell Simmons of the WWE. That preppy hip-hop style,” he says. Piermarini attributes their lackluster push in the organization to Vince McMahon not understanding hip-hop culture, and thus couldn’t comprehend the appeal of the brothers Uso. He also says they fell victim to bad timing due to The Nexus debuting shortly after them.

Many have attributed Michelle McCool’s high-ranking status in World Wrestling Entertainment to her real-life relationship with The Undertaker. The two, who are now married, became a couple in late 2007 and she has been arguably the most spotlighted — and criticized — female competitor in the organization ever since. McCool herself is well aware of her critics as she frequently brushes them off on Twitter.

John Piermarini, a former writer with WWE, recently started a blog recalling numerous behind the scenes stories which occurred during his two year stint with the organization. He reveals that he was the exclusive writer of Lay-Cool and adamantly denies McCool receiving preferential treatment due to her relationship with The Undertaker.

Piermarini wrote, “Vince McMahon appointed me the exclusive writer for LayCool. Not because she got that special privilege but because we asked for it. Let me take this time to say Michelle McCool gets zero favors because she is married to Undertaker. Michelle McCool accomplished everything she got because she was the best.

“If you need to blame someone you need to blame me because I was the one who would push hard for anything Michelle got on TV. Michelle could wrestle and Michelle could talk, a lot of MALE Superstars can’t do that and Michelle would have been successful with or without Undertaker. There were a lot of people who wanted to see Michelle fail and she fought that the entire time I was there.”

— Triple H revealed during a recent interview with RXMuscle.com that his and Stephanie’s third daughter’s name is Vaughn Evelyn. She was born in late August.

Their other childrens’ names are Aurora Rose (born in 2006) and Murphy Claire (born in 2008).

— The advertised main event for last night’s SmackDown live event in Kalamazoo, Michigan was changed from a Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Championship between Edge, Kane and Dolph Ziggler to Edge vs. Kane. Following Edge’s victory over Kane, it was announced that Vickie Guerrero had given Ziggler a shot at Edge’s title. Edge retained the belt against Ziggler.

— The Franklin Square Library in Franklin Square, New York is holding “WWE Day” this Saturday at 2:00 p.m. Brian Shields, who wrote WWE Encyclopedia as well as other WWE books, will be on hand for the event.

source: www.f4wonline.com

— WWE creative has discussed reuniting Randy Orton and Edge as a tandem after the Royal Rumble. The duo is scheduled for a dark match at this Tuesday’s SmackDown taping in Cincinnati, Ohio against WWE Champion The Miz and Dolph Ziggler.

Orton and Edge formed an alliance known as Rated-RKO in October 2006 to challenge the team of Triple H and Shawn Michaels. The group captured the World Tag Team Championship in November 2006 and officially disbanded in May 2007, after Edge moved to the SmackDown brand.

— Triple H appeared today on ESPN’s NFL Countdown to talk about Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rogers, who makes a belt motion around his waist during on-field celebrations.

— DirecTV is still advertising the Royal Rumble as a 30-Man Match in their commercial promoting the event. The commercial also has Randy Orton and Edge boasting about winning the match. Both Superstars have not been announced for the battle royal.

source: www.f4wonline.com

— WWE Hall of Famers Eddie Guerrero, Sgt. Slaughter and Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka have been confirmed for THQ’s WWE All Stars video game.

— The storied careers of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were highlighted on last night’s episode of WWE Vintage Collection. The following segments aired:

* “Razor Ramon” vs. Savio Vega from WWF Raw on September 30th, 1996
* The Diamond Stud and Oz vs. Tom Zenk and Big Josh from WCW Main Event on August 25th, 1991
* Razor Ramon’s vignette from WWF Superstars on June 13th, 1992
* Razor Ramon vs. Paul Van Dow from WWF Superstars on August 15th, 1992
* Shawn Michaels introducing Diesel from WWF Raw on June 7th, 1993
* Diesel vs. Lex Luger from WWF Raw on July 18th, 1994
* Scott Hall invading WCW from WCW Monday Nitro on May 27th, 1996
* Scott Hall introducing Kevin Nash from WCW Monday Nitro on June 10th, 1996
* Eric Bischoff confronting The Outsiders from WCW Great American Bash 1996
* The Outsiders vs. The Nasty Boys vs. Meng and The Barbarian from WCW World War 3 in 1996

— WWE Champion The Miz appears tomorrow for an autograph signing at the Kmart located on Boardman-Poland Road in Youngstown, Ohio beginning at 5:00 p.m. A wristband policy is in effect for the first 300 attendees.

source: PWInsider.com

— Corre members Wade Barrett, Ezekiel Jackson, Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel have been officially added to the 40-Man Royal Rumble Match. This brings the confirmed count to 25 WWE Superstars, 18 from Raw and 7 from SmackDown.

• PREDICTIONS: Tell Us Who YOU Think Will Win The Rumble

— The Jan. 20 episode of WWE Superstars on WGN America scored a 0.49 cable rating, with 565,000 viewers. Last week’s show drew a 0.58 cable rating, with 606,000 viewers.

The midnight replay did a 0.18 cable rating with, 174,000 viewers.

— Former WCW Hardcore Champion Crowbar made his Ring of Honor debut at last night’s ROH on HDNet television taping in Philadelphia. He’s also slated to appear at tonight’s show.

(source: PWInsider.com)

— Members of The Corre, Ezekiel Jackson, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel and Wade Barrett, have been added to the SmackDown Superstars page on WWE.com.

Barrett announced the formation of the group last night on SmackDown.

— Lizzy Valentine recently revealed to fans on her Facebook account that the casting director for the upcoming season of WWE Tough Enough urged her to submit an application for the USA Network reality show. In an update on the situation, Valentine said she declined registering for the show. She will instead perform for MTV2’s Lucha Libre USA: Masked Warriors as she is on hand for this weekend’s tapings at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

World Wrestling Entertainment issued a press release Friday announcing lower-than-expected earnings when the organization releases fourth-quarter financial results on Feb. 10.

The company anticipates its earnings per share for the three months ended Dec. 31 will range from 8 cents to 10 cents. Analysts were estimating earnings of 17 cents a share.

Shares in WWE stock slid $1.13 (8.4 percent), to $12.37 in aftermarket trading after falling 33 cents (2.4 percent) to $13.50 during the regular trading day.

The news has been picked up by The Associated Press, as well as the WallStreet Journal and TheStreet.com.

Some mid-card talent are already wondering if a talent purge will soon take place since company officials told all of those that were released in November that they were let go due to budget cuts.

WWE dropped 35 main roster talents and 19 developmental talents over the course of 2010, marking the fifth consecutive year in which over 50 talent departures occurred within a calendar year.

• UPDATE: WWE Stock Hits 52-Week Low

— It was reported earlier that Hulk Hogan would be appearing in THQ’s upcoming WWE All Stars video game as he is featured on the preliminary cover for the game. Screenshots of Hogan in the video game, however, have yet to surface. It is rumored that WWE officials nixed THQ’s decision to feature Hogan in the game.

— It was reported Thursday on various websites that Shawn Michaels cut his hair as part of a benefit for the Arnold S. Leonard Cancer Research Fund. Michaels said on Twitter that his friend’s hair was cut, but did not indicate whether his own hair was cut. Michaels enclosed photos of himself about to cut hair.

Michaels also said that he ran into Steve Austin yesterday in Las Vegas, Nevada. He wrote: “Saw “Stone Cold” this morning. The “Texas Rattlesnake” looks as good as ever. There will only be one Stone Cold Steve Austin. Cool.”

— WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter will be on hand for the Richard Karn Golf Tournament, which takes place Saturday, April 9 through Monday, April 11 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

— The Undertaker has been announced for this year’s WrestleMania Axxess event in Atlanta, Georgia. “The Deadman” will be participating in an autograph session on Saturday, April 2 for VIP ticketholders.

WWE has added an exclusive VIP signing for each AXXESS session to the $75 VIP ticket, as opposed to the $35 general admission fee.

Other Superstars scheduled for VIP signing appearances include Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Edge, Randy Orton, John Cena, Rey Mysterio and the combination of WWE champion Miz and Alex Riley.

— Triple H was interviewed for VH1’s Rock Docs episode on Lemmy of Motörhead. The episode premieres Friday, February 11.

— The pre-sale code for the WWE SmackDown taping in Charlotte, North Carolina on Tuesday, April 5 is WWESD. This will be the first SmackDown taping after Wrestlemania XXVII. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)

source: PWInsider.com

— More than one person within WWE feels its only a matter of time before Batista returns to the organization. He’s currently in Thailand filming The Man with the Iron Fist with mixed martial artist Cung Le, his highest profile acting role to date. Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu also star in the movie.

— One WWE source feels the Royal Rumble match expanding from 30 to 40 men is not a good idea.

“When you have 30 guys who are not over and you add ten more guys, it isn’t special,” the source said. “It’s like adding vanilla to vanilla.”

— Today is WWE Diva Maryse’s birthday. She turns 28 years old.

source: Pro Wrestling Torch

World Wrestling Entertainment’s upcoming WCW Monday Nitro themed DVD set is now titled The Best of Nitro. It was previously titled Best of Seasons 1 & 2.

The DVD set is tentatively scheduled for release on May 25, 2010. The change in the title apparently indicates that WWE will not release progressive sets on individual seasons.

Diamond Dallas Page, a three-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, indicated today on Twitter that he’s in the running to host the video.

DDP wrote, “Just got the Word… Looks like I may be hosting the Best of Nitro coming out on WWE DVDs…Sounds like a Great time… I’ll keep you posted.”

source: WWEDVDNews.com

– The Undertaker has been announced for the WrestleMania 27 Axxess event in Atlanta this year. Taker will be meeting fans and signing autographs on Saturday, April 2nd for VIP ticketholders.

Other stars who will be making VIP appearances include Edge, Randy Orton, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, John Cena, Rey Mysterio and The Miz with Alex Riley.
like he’s going to get that opportunity.

– John Cena and Triple H will be starring in two new WWE Studios films, set to be released later this year. Blood Brothers starring John Cena and Inside Out starring Triple H are both scheduled to be released between September and November.

– Speaking of Triple H, he will be interviewed for an upcoming episode of VH1’s Rock Docs show that will profile Motorhead lead singer Lemmy. Triple H and Lemmy are longtime friends and as many know, Triple H’s theme music is performed by Motorhead.

– Part of the reason WWE had Jim Ross do the off-air segment with Jack Swagger at Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings in Oklahoma was so that the crowd, Swagger’s home state crowd, wouldn’t boo Kofi Kingston in their match t hat followed the JR segment. The idea was to have Swagger put down Jim Ross, who they knew would get a big reaction.

–  The pre-sale code for the WWE Smackdown taping in Charlotte, NC on Tuesday 4/5 is WWESD. This will be the first Smackdown taping after Wrestlemania 27. (Credit: Devin Cutting)

– WWE newcomer Mason Ryan got some mainstream media publicity this week in the UK, with BBC covering his RAW debut from Monday night.

The general feeling within WWE that Triple H is going to be winding down his in-ring career this year and will be focusing more on the company’s corporate operations. Aside from starring in his own WWE Studios project (The Chaperone), Triple H has been learning the ins and outs of WWE’s marketing division as of late.

On a related note, it’s said that Stephanie McMahon is traveling less these days as she’s taking care of their three daughters at home. Stephanie is still on call but isn’t in the office as much and isn’t attending WWE tapings as frequently as last year.

SmackDown writer Michael Hayes and RAW’s Brian Gewirtz have assumed creative power behind the scenes, with Stephanie scaling back her duties to raise her young children.

Check out this recent picture of Triple H and Stephanie with their daughter poolside:

(Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Here are some highlights of what JR said about:

Batista In The Royal Rumble? “An emailer to this site asked me if I thought Batista would be back for the Royal Rumble and my guess is no. Dave has been filming a movie out of the country plus preparing to launch a long awaited, much anticipated MMA career with Strikeforce sometime in 2011 as I understand it. With that said, would it be a shocker to see Batista be of the 40 men in the Rumble match….perhaps….a mild one. Any thing’s possible these days and the biz is short on star power.”

Randy Savage In WWE’s Hall Of Fame: “A Twitter follower @JRsBBQ asked the obligatory Randy Savage questions that we get inundated with at this time of the year. There’s a video of Macho Man on line with him talking about the WWE’s Wrestling All Stars video game which is due to be released on March 29 but Savage going into the WWE HOF this year would surprise me. HBK is this year’s headliner and even though Savage had a distinguished, HOF level career he would also be a headliner and not a supporting role player IMO. Look at it any way you choose but each year there is only one headliner at the WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. The year that I was inducted in 2007 Dusty Rhodes was the headliner.”

• Related: Macho Man Confirmed For New WWE All Stars Game (VIDEO)

Jerry Lawler In The Royal Rumble: “An emailer hoped that Jerry Lawler would win the Royal Rumble match and I’m not aware that King is going to even be in the Rumble. One thing that I can say is that Jerry is as popular as virtually any wrestler in WWE right now due to recent events which speaks to two points. One, Jerry is extremely talented and, two, it speaks to the issue of the lack of main event depth currently in the wrestling biz in general.”

The following is a spoiler-free preview for tonight’s episode of SmackDown on SyFy, taped Tuesday night from Tulsa, Oklahoma:

– World Champion Edge vs. Justin Gabriel.

– Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes.

– Alberto Del Rio vs. R-Truth.

– Beth Phoenix vs. Layla.

– Drew McIntyre vs. Trent Baretta.

– Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger in an arm wrestling match.

There will also be appearances from Wade Barrett, Ezekiel Jackson, Heath Slater, The Miz, Alex Riley, Kelly Kelly, Teddy Long, and Vickie Guerrero.

Related News:

• Jim Ross Make Surprise Appearance At SmackDown Tapings
• *SPOILERS* WWE SmackDown Tapings Results For Tonight

WWE SmackDown on Syfy

The following are spoiler results for Friday’s episode of WWE SmackDown, taped on 1/18 from Tulsa, Oklahoma:

Wade Barrett names the group The Core. They even have a new video put together. Big Zeke talks, then Heath Slater, then Justin Gabriel. Theodore Long comes out and interrupts to lay down the law.

Del Rio comes out & tells the Core he’s going to win the Royal Rumble. He’s facing R-Truth.

(1) Alberto Del Rio beat R-Truth via submission. During the match, the Jumbotron cuts to Teddy Long unconscious in the back with Michael Tarver, Vickie Guerrero, and Dolph Ziggler checking on him. R-Truth dominates most of the match. They cut to the Jumbotron and Long is being wheeled out on a stretcher. The match evens out. Truth back in control and Del Rio’s announcer gets involved again. Del Rio takes advantage catching Truth’s arms in the ropes to apply his finishing submission move. Truth taps.

(2) Beth Phoenix beat Layla. Phoenix dominated and won with the Glam Slam.

Vickie goes into her office to see the Core waiting on her. She then announces that one of the Core will face Edge tonight.

(3) Rey Mysterio beat Cody Rhodes. High-flying back & forth match. Mysterio hits the 619 and wins. Rhodes receives medical attention with a “bloody nose.”

The Miz & Alex Riley interrupt an update on Teddy Long. Awesome.

Next match is an exhibition with actual wrestling between Kofi Kingston and Jack Swagger.

(4) Jack Swagger beat IC champion Kofi Kingston 10-6 in an amateur wrestling match. Swagger wins, then attacks Kofi, but Kofi hits Swagger with Trouble in Paradise.

(5) Drew McIntyre beat Trent Barreta. Drew dominates and wins. After winning, he tries to shake Barreta’s hand to bury the hatchet, but Barreta hits McIntyre, infuriating him. When McIntyre is about to hit his finisher on Barreta, Kelly Kelly came out to save Barreta.

WWE champion The Miz comes out talking about Raw when he attacked Randy Orton. He’s interrupted by Edge to build heat for the champion vs. champion match on Monday.

(6) Justin Gabriel beat World Heavyweight Champion Edge in a non-title match. Dolph Ziggler is special guest commentator. Gabriel wins with some interference from the Core, then they pummel Edge. Smackdown ends with Ziggler standing with one foot on top of Edge.

(source: Pro Wrestling Torch)

WWE Diva Kelly Kelly and former Nexus member Justin Gabriel are an item – check out these pictures of the two of them together, including a few of them making out.

— Regarding the report of Kimbo Slice making an appearance at WrestleMania XXVII, the mixed martial artist’s name has been internally brought up as a potential special enforcer for The Undertaker at the event.

— John Cena has been dealing with an assortment of injuries in recent weeks. In addition to his hip injury, Cena has also been working through an issue with his neck.

— Yoshi Tatsu vs. Tyson Kidd is the lone match advertised for tonight’s episode of WWE Superstars on WGN America. Other bouts scheduled to take place include David Hart Smith and Darren Young vs. Primo and Zack Ryder, Chavo Guerrero vs. JTG, and Chris Masters vs. Curt Hawkins.

source: Pro Wrestling Torch