WWE/TNA News and Notes
From Mike Aldren:
I apologize for my lack of
posts, to myself and to anyone who reads me.
Long story short, I spent
quality time with my family, growing a
business, moving house, and
among other things, enjoying life.
I hope to be able to continue
doing what I started as a teenager,
producing this newsletter each
week, an abbreviated version of the
latest wrestling news, and as
always I appreciate all of you that have
supported and encouraged me
during the past 15 years.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 1,
2012
WWE:
Raw is live tonight from
Oklahoma City billed locally as Jim Ross
Appreciation Night, which
nobody seems to know exactly what that
entails, including JR,
although he’s been pushing tickets on his Twitter
account. No matches announced
at time of writing. Larry King will be the
social media ambassador.
Smackdown, Main Event, and
Saturday Morning Slam are taped on Tuesday
night in Tulsa. CM Punk vs.
Sheamus in a champion vs. champion match
headlines the Main Event show,
which debuts Wednesday on Ion.
---
WWE officially announced the
departure of Barbara Blank aka Kelly Kelly
on Friday afternoon. She had
wanted out months ago but instead took a
sabbatical over the summer as
the company was keen to sign her to a new
deal. She’s since hired an
agent and is said to be focusing on
television and modelling work
right now. Her asking price for an
upcoming wrestling convention
was reportedly $10,000. Negotiations for
that booking fell
through.
Beth Phoenix (Elizabeth
Carolan) has given notice and is also expected
to depart shortly. Perhaps
unrelated to her decision but she’s said to
be now dating a former WWE
champion.
Shaul Guerrero, daughter of
Vickie and Eddy in developmental, has
requested her release for
personal reasons. She wrote on Twitter: “Thank
you all for your love and
support, WWE has been one of the highlights of
my life. I learned so much and
consider them family.”
Sara Amato (Sara Del Ray) was
recently hired as a trainer in
developmental. She told a
mutual friend of ours that it’s her dream job
as she gets paid to wrestle
every day even if it’s not on television.
There was a developmental
try-out camp over the weekend where some
prospects from the UK were
evaluated.
Jerry Lawler during a personal
appearance over the weekend said he plans
to attend the WWE television
taping on 10/18 in Memphis. Lawler also did
an interview with ESPN saying
he feels like he could get in the ring and
wrestle today. “That’s how
normal I feel,” he said. You can read the
story at
http://tinyurl.com/99cllef.
Jim Ross in his latest blog at
www.jrsbarbq.com/blog praises Michael
Cole for his professionalism
on Raw: “@MichaelCole has so many more
responsibilities as the lead
announcer on Raw than I ever did. All the
social media info, etc wasn't
around when King and I were in our heyday.
Michael stays highly organized
with a multitude of information that he
is obligated to distribute
during any given Monday night broadcast.
Michael's role now on Raw and
mine back in the day, even though we were
both 'lead announcers,' are
drastically different. Unless one does prep
work with Cole, you just
doesn't know how good a job he does especially
with SO much on his plate.”
Ross is expected to continue partnering with
Cole in the broadcast booth
until Lawler is medically cleared to return.
Santino tweaked his knee in
Missouri on the weekend loop but it’s not
thought to be a significant
knock.
Alex Riley is sidelined after
undergoing knee and elbow surgery.
John Laurinaitis also
underwent surgery and is likely out of action on
screen for several
months.
There is a Chicago screening
of "Best in the World", the new WWE
produced CM Punk documentary
Thursday night at The Portage Theater. The
first 1,000 fans go free.
Paul Heyman has a WWE.com blog
at
http://www.wwe.com/classics/paul-heyman-guys/
discussing his Top Ten
‘Paul Heyman Guys’. Look out
for the T-shirt in the near future.
The company also has some
interesting Halloween merchandise going on
sale imminently.
Miz is in line for another big
push during the next couple of months.
Mick Foley has a new Christmas
book out titled “A Most Mizerable
Christmas” which is available
on Amazon. I believe Jerry Lawler did some
illustrations and John Cena
(in the book) is an Elf.
WWE is parting ways with its
European DVD distributor Silvervision based
in the UK. The two companies
had worked together for over 20 years. The
upcoming nWo DVD will be among
the last releases and then Silvervision
will likely sell off its WWE
inventory. A WWE source noted a deal with a
new distributor will be
announced soon.
TNA:
Impact on Thursday night on
Spike has the debut of King Mo plus Hulk
Hogan announces who will team
with Sting against Aces and 8s at Bound
for Glory.
The company is planning to run
in New York and New Jersey during
Wrestlemania 29 weekend having
just announced an April 5 date in
Westbury. A press release at
www.impactwrestling.com states: “Wrestling
fans worldwide will pilgrimage
to the New York City area for one of the
wrestling industry’s biggest
weekends of the year. TNA IMPACT WRESTLING
brings its one-of-a-kind live
event to Westbury offering fans an
opportunity to experience
today’s top talent in the ring.” For the last
several years TNA has stayed
away from running events around
Wrestlemania, which I’ve
always found mind boggling from a business
standpoint.
Bully Ray recently signed a
new deal while Devon appears to be gone
after his contract expired in
August. When a fan recently asked Hogan on
Twitter about Devon, he wrote:
“I’m all over it. Devon is too valuable
to ever let him slip away.
Huge screw up on somebody’s part.” The Tweet
was subsequently deleted.
Devon later did a radio interview saying he
had no ill will towards anyone
in the company but was sad that a new
deal could not be reached.
When asked about going back to WWE, he said:
“I would be lying to you if I
said going back to the WWE wasn’t a
thought. It’s always a thought
for anyone who’s ever been there and then
left.”
Also quietly departing
recently was Katrina Walters aka Winter. The
contract lapsed and they
didn’t renew. She’s concentrating on acting
right now and has several
independent film roles upcoming plus several
more auditions in the
pipeline. She’s also advertised for an iPPV on
10/5 in Brooklyn, NY teaming
with Maria Kanellis vs. Angelina Love &
Velvet Sky.
Former WWE Diva Jillian Hall
had a try out at the TV tapings this past
week.
Rosita did an interview on
Busted Open radio teasing coming back with a
new look. She hasn’t been seen
on television for months.
Hogan and his people are
working on pitching a reality TV concept to
networks where he runs his own
restaurant in the Tampa area.
THIS AND THAT:
Dave Bautista is scheduled to
fight Vince Lucero this weekend, reports
TMZ. Lucero, 40, 20-22-1, is a
last minute replacement for Rashid Evans
who pulled out of the fight
citing injury. This will be Bautista’s MMA
debut headlining the CES MMA
fight card Saturday night in Providence,
R.I. at Dunkin' Donuts Center.
John Layfield posted a Tout
from the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro at
http://www.tout.com/u/johnlayfield.
Layfield is in the process of
climbing seven mountains,
sponsored by WWE over a two year period, to
raise funds and awareness for
his kids project in Bermuda where he
lives. Next he plans to climb
Mt. Aconcagua the highest mountain in
South America in January. He
said while climbing Kilimanjaro he lost 10
pounds and didn’t shower for 8
days.
Lacey Adkisson, 26, who was
last seen in TNA as Lacey Von Erich
(youngest daughter of Kerry),
gave birth to a baby boy last month.
Stacy Keibler is a guest judge
on the upcoming season of Project Runaway
All-Stars. The show premieres
on Lifetime on 10/25.
Jesse Ventura during a
television interview last week with Piers Morgan
teased the idea of running for
President in 2016 as an independent.
Never happening.
