HEADLINE NEWS: upcoming RAW Celebrity Guest Hosts
- Next week's Monday Night RAW from Worcester, Massachusetts, will be hosted by none other than Grammy Award winner Ozzy Osbourne & his wife Sharon. This is not the 1st time that the "Prince of Darkness" has appeared on WWE television & in May of 2007, he performed the song "I Don't Wanna Stop" on Smackdown. Ozzy will be joining Metallica on October 30th @ Madison Square Garden as part of the 25th anniversary of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The crazy duo will be promoting Ozzy's new book, titled "I Am Ozzy." Now that'll be 1 interesting episode for sure!
- British tabloid newspaper The Sun's reporting that former boxing champion Ricky Hatton will be the special guest host for RAW when the show rolls into Sheffield in November. Hatton's a huge WWE fan & Superstars often visit his gym when they're in the country, while some are even present to see his fights whenever he's in Las Vegas. The former 2-time IBF & IBO light welterweight champion from Manchester's certainly a well-known figure worldwide, holding a professional record of 45-2 {with the only 2 losses being against WrestleMania headliner & former RAW guest host himself Floyd Mayweather Junior & Manny Pacquiao} Both fights, which aired on pay-per-view, generated over 1,000,000 buys each.
- In an interview with www.IconvsIcon.com WWE Hall of Famer "Rowdy" Roddy Piper says that he’ll be hosting an upcoming edition of RAW, which seems to be an indication that everything's fine between the he & WWE, but that’s far from the case. Piper says he wasn’t happy with his involvement @ WrestleMania 25 this April & wants to close his career on a better note. "In my mind, I want to put a cap on it, as you say, with 1 more match, an extraordinary performance. Ya know, the clock's tickin’, let’s be honest, so sooner rather then later. So, I think if you saw me in RAW, that it would be leading into that match. I don’t know what it is yet. But yeah, you're correct." Since WrestleMania back in April, the Hot Rod has been outspoken against WWE for booking him in a 3-on-1 handicap match with fellow WWE Hal lof Famers Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat & "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka, against Chris Jericho. “I wasn’t wild about WrestleMania 25, to put it mildly. There’s not a chance in hell that that’s the last way you’re gonna see me,” Piper said on the Monday Night Mayhem radio show in August. "There will definitely be a return of Roddy Piper & sooner than later. How many more fights I have in me, I don’t know. You got Vince McMahon, who’s done a great job of promoting, who became a bodybuilder & the last I saw him, I think he’s convinced himself he could fight now," Piper said. "I say this ~ why don’t you just put Roddy Piper & Vince McMahon in the ring."
PAY-PER-VIEW NEWS: 'Mania, Bragging Rights, Edge, 'Taker & Judgment Day
- WWE will be holding a WrestleMania party on Friday November 6th @ Westgate's WaterDance Plaza in Glendale, Arizona, to celebrate WrestleMania 26 tickets going on sale to the general public the next morning. WWE Unified Tag Team co-champion Chris Jericho & Kelly Kelly will be in attendance to meet with the fans, who will also have a chance to buy tickets for WrestleMania before the 10AM official opening the next day. The party will start @ 6PM & will go on till 10PM. There'll be food & drinks & a portable box office will sell tickets when the party kicks off. "We're excited to partner with the WWE on this signature event coming to Glendale," said Amy Shapiro, Westgate's director of marketing & events.
- @ this past Sunday's Bragging Rights pay-per-view, Bucky Palermo, a longtime friend of the McMahons, came to the show & poke to Stephanie McMahon. He asked to speak to Vince {who eventually spoke to him} & then Shane. When asked about Shano-Mac, Nipple H told him, "He doesn't work here anymore" ~ as opposed to saying "he's not here & is leaving the company." When asked what happened, she said, "I don't know."
- also, during Sunday night’s Iron Man match, a spot where RAW's John Cena got busted open caused a lot of commotion backstage. The incident happened when "Legend Killer" Randy Orton hit Cena with the corner of a microphone. WWE Owner Vince McMahon ordered the Doctor of Thuganomics to be cleaned up immediately after seeing the blood. WWE’s John Laurinaitis, along with trainers, rushed to ringside to clean him up, as WWE currently has a very strict “no blood” policy, as part of their TV-PG programming initiative. With their first attempt, the Chain Gang Commander wasn’t aware what they intended to do, so he played babyface & mounted offence against Orton. The cut was finally glued shut & cleaned up after the next fall. Cena & Orton were scheduled to work among the crowd & WWE wanted to ensure there was no health issue, with a bloody wrestler among fans. If it were to have happened, the issue would have been taken seriously by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission & likely used as more ammunition against Linda McMahon’s senate campaign. As the blood was unplanned, WWE decided to stop the clock during the bout, as it wasn’t known how long the clean-up operation on Cena would take.
- The dark match that opened the pay-per-view, saw ECWWE Heavyweight champion Christian defeating "Ripper" Paul Burchill
- While you're in a Bragging Rights mood, check out my review of the event here
- There's been a lot of concern lately within WWE, that Edge won't return to the ring in time for WrestleMania. His injury's 1 you really can't rush back from, if it's not 100% ready. Well by all means, take your time, Edge buddy!
- Smackdown will feature a 3-way match @ Survivor Series, between Unified Tag Team co-champions Chris Jericho & Big Show, against their Heavyweight champion, The UnderTaker
- www.WWE.com announced that Backlash will be held on April 25th & Extreme Rules will be held on May 23rd. This means that Judgment Day's being replaced with Extreme Rules, instead of being renamed
- Check out my review of TNA Bound for Glory here
WWE NEWS: Jamaican Me Confused, HBK, South Park, Cade's Back, Hogan DVD & WIN A DVD!!
- WWE Hall-of-Famer Jim Ross updated his blog & you can read the latest posting @ www.jrsbarbq.com
- WWE's no longer billing Kofi Kingston from Jamaica, because they wanted to market him without the stereotypical accent, as the feeling was it was limiting his on-screen character. Instead, they're now billing the RAW Superstar from Ghana, West Africa, where he was actually born. Although it should be noted his family moved to the United States when he was 1 year old & he grew up in Cambridge, Massachussetts. He revealed in an interview last year that his parents weren't enamoured with him being billed from Jamaica & doing the accent either. So. . . where was the whole Jamaican thing coming from, anyway?!
- 2016 WWE Hall of Famer "HeartBreak Kid" Shawn Michaels isn't giving people close to him the impression that he’s on the verge of retiring within the next year. People close to Shawn believe he'll continue wrestling on a regular basis for another 2-3 years. Michaels doesn’t work a full-time schedule as it is, in that he doesn’t appear on all the house show events & it’s possible he’ll lighten his schedule even more as time goes on. However, people who know him well, don't believe he’s on the verge of calling it a career. It’s also widely assumed that HBK will receive a grand sendoff, similar to the 1 that 2008 WWE Hall of Famer "Nature Boy" Ric Flair received, when the time comes for him to hang up the ol' chaps.
- Last Wednesday, on Comedy Central, there was a wrestling-themed South Park episode, which had "appearances" by John Cena, Edge & none other than WWE Owner Vince McMahon. The episode was about the South Park boys attending RAW & then signing up to a wrestling school the next day; however, they find out that what they signed up for isn't the wrestling they saw the day before. Then they decide to launch their own WTF wrestling show, as the wrestling coach tries everything in his power to take them down. The funny thing was that they actually never wrestled, but it's all about promos in the ring, with outrageous stories. The episode contains a lot of language that will probably offend some people, so watch @ your own risk. You can
watch the full 21-minute episode @ bit.ly/4oLff
- Former RAW Tag Team co-champion Lance Cade has signed with World Wrestling Entertainment once again & is currently doing some training @ FCW in Tampa. Cade originally appeared on WWE TV for the 1st time in 2003 & spent almost 6 years in the company, before getting fired in October 2008. He was given the pink slip, after he toyed around with substance abuse & suffered a seizure on a plane during a WWE tour, which required quick medical attention. After he was released, WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross said in 1 of his blog updates that Cade "made a major league mistake, while utilizing bad judgment" which was the final nail in the coffin for his WWE career. Trained by 2016 WWE Hall of Famer "HeartBreak Kid" Shawn Michaels, Cade was enjoying a good singles push, before being released, as they paired him up with Chris Jericho & even had a pin on HBK during a RAW handicap match.
- In an interview conducted by a New Zealand-based website, WWE Hall of Famer Bret "Hit Man" Hart talked about the possibility of hosting Monday Night RAW in the future. "Well, there are rumours, there are always rumours & I'm open for offers," the former WWF & WCW Heavyweight champion said. "But that {seeing Shawn & Hunter} would have to be something that was discussed before hand; we cross that bridge, I guess, if we come to it," he added. The When watching HHH & 2016 WWE Hall of Famer "HeartBreak Kid" Shawn Michaels doing the DX gimmick all over again, the HitMan "just wants to put my finger down my throat; it makes me want to be sick." Hart also talked about the Hart Dynasty & how he watches all their matches, "Legend Killer" Randy Orton, Jeff Hardy & much more. You can read the interview @ www.nzpwi.co.nz
- The announce teams of ECWWE & Smackdown were changed, due to WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross being unable to fill in his position, following the 3rd Bell's palsy attack early last week. Slammy-Award-Winning Matt Striker was somewhat promoted to the Smackdown announce team, along with fellow "winner" Todd Grisham, while Josh Matthews got himself a new broadcast partner, Byron Saxton, real name Bryan Kelly, who's a 28 year old wrestler who's currently signed to Florida Championship Wrestling. He's been doing commentary for FCW, along with WWE Hall of Famer "American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, ever since Josh Matthews started his ECWWE gig
- As of last word, WWE was still scheduled to release the Hulk Hogan DVD set this week, but people in the company wouldn't be surprised if WWE Owner Vince McMahon yanks it. Well, that's quite frankly none of my business, I wanna hear about whether or not the DVD's coming out. . .
- Tired of not having enough money in your bank account? Worried that you won't be able to afford many gifts this holiday season? Looking for something other than a bill to arrive in your mailbox? The History of WWE's straight shooting this season & they want you to be part of it! Beginning this week & continuing each week thereafter, they'll be giving away a free DVD shoot interview to 1 of their lucky visitors. Tune in to their new podcast for how to enter. They're kicking it off with 1 of the biggest names ever in lucha libre & WWE. He's the "biggest little man" Rey Mysterio Junior, who talks in detail about how he broke into the industry, making a name for himself south of the border & his groundbreaking run in World Championship Wrestling. Stay tuned for many more names in the coming weeks & remember ~ the holiday season's coming up fast. A shoot interview could be the perfect gift for your friends & family. Unless, of course, they're not wrestling fans. . .
TNA NEWS: Hogan, Mc****ss & Taz
- For all the latest Total NonStop Action news, join the MySpace TNA community @ www.myspace.com/wrestlingwarlordtnafan
- In what could be the biggest story of 2009 so far, WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has announced that he's joining TNA Wrestling, during a press conference held Tuesday, in conjunction with TNA Wrestling & Spike TV in New York. "Hulk Hogan's 1 of the world's top pop culture icons & the biggest superstar in the history of professional wrestling. We're truly excited to welcome him into the TNA family," said Dixie Carter, President of TNA Wrestling. "Our goal's to become the world's biggest professional wrestling company. Hulk defines professional wrestling & we look forward to partnering with him in a variety of ways, as we continue to grow TNA globally." The deal with TNA was brokered by Bischoff~Hervey Entertainment Television's Eric Bischoff & BHE TV has inked a 1st-look deal with TNA, that will be working with the organization to develop new programming extensions of the TNA brand. "I'm thrilled to be jumping back into the world of professional wrestling," said Hogan. "My fans have been asking me to return to the business for many years on a full-time basis, but the timing or the opportunity has never been right until now. TNA Wrestling's a great company, with an already-excellent fan base, business & broadcast partner. I firmly believe now's the time for some change @ TNA, as they're positioned to jump to the next level in their development & I'm here to work with Dixie to help make that a reality."
- The Hulkster made his iMPACT! debut yesterday on Spike TV @ 9PM & commercials are already hitting the Internet, hyping up the former WWF & WCW Heavyweight champion's arrival to the company. This week's iMPACT! was taped last week. It's still not yet known how frequently Hogan will be appearing on the show. This is the 2nd time that Hogan worked with TNA. Hulk taped an angle with Jeff Jarrett back in 2003, while he was in Japan, but nothing ever came out of that. Hogan was doing a press conference when JJ stormed through the door & smashed his guitar on Hogan's head. He then proceeded to hit the Hulkster with chair shots, busting him up. You can see the 30-second commercial hyping Hogan's TNA debut & the Japan incident @ bit.ly/2s6wEM
- Booker TNA has wrapped up his commitments with TNA Wrestling, according to www.PWInsider.com & won't be making any appearances for the company anymore. The Last King of BookahLand wrestled @ Bound For Glory, tagging with Scott Steiner, losing the TNA Tag Team belts & was stretchered out as part of the angle. Rumours of Booker making an exit popped up earlier this month, after the former 5-time WCW Heavyweight champ refused to job against "Blueprint" Matt Morgan during the iMPACT! TV tapings. On the recent overseas tour, Booker told his co-workers that he'll be heading back to WWE once his contract expires. Reports are that Booker will be taking some time off from wrestling for the moment, before making his next move.
- In a strange twist, former ROH champion Nigel McGuiness made his debut with TNA Wrestling during last week's iMPACT! tapings. Early last month, it was reported that Nigel, along with fellow ROHer Bryan Danielson, have signed with World Wrestling Entertainment, but it seems that the London-born 31-year-old only agreed to the contract, but never signed on the dotted line. Nigel instead opted to join TNA & was immediately thrown into an angle with former TNA champ Kurt Angle on his debut. Sounds like more than a fair tradeoff to me!
- In other McGuiness news, Hit the Ropes had the opportunity to interview Les Thatcher on their most recent show. Thatcher trained men such as Matt Stryker, Shark Boy, Charlie Haas, Elix Skipper & of course Nigel, who called in to the show & talked on his time with Les.
- Taz posted a message on his Facebook page, in response to a reader’s comment that TNA should bring in Paul Heyman & put him in charge of the creative team: “How do you know if Paul would want to even be back in the wrestling biz? How do you know if Paul was happy doing with he’s doing? How do you know if Vince Russo & Paul aren’t friends & talk 'shop' @ times? How do you know if TNA wants Paul?? How do you know if Paul wants TNA? How do you know if Paul wasn’t offered to work for TNA already? You don’t, sir.” Well, I guess he's been told!
HAUGHTY HOTTIES NEWS: Shimmer, Maria, Mickie James, Pantsless Divas & Rihanna
- To read the coolest news on the hottest women in wrestling today, check out Shimmer's official Yahoo! Group -- sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/shimmerwre...
- SHIMMER ~ WOMEN ATHLETES returns to live action on Sunday, November 8th @ the Berwyn Eagles Club (6309 26th Street) in Berwyn, Illinois, just outside Chicago. Bell time's 2pm. Doors open @ 1pm. This event will celebrate SHIMMER's 4th Anniversary, as Volumes 27 & 28 of the SHIMMER DVD series will be filmed during the course of the event. Front row seating to November 8th is already SOLD OUT. General admission seating's still available @ a cost of , plus shipping per ticket. You can order tickets online by using the PayPal buttons along the left column of www.shimmerwrestling.com/ right now.
- WWE Diva Maria Kanellis is currently filming the new season of "Celebrity Apprentice", which will air in Spring of 2010. Other celebs on the show include Sharon Osbourne, Rod Blagojevich, Cyndi Lauper, Darryl Strawberry, Bret Michaels, Bill Goldberg & others. www.wrestling-online.com has received several photos from the day when the opening sequence was being taped in New York City, where the former Playboy cover girl showed off her stunning legs in a black outfit & very high heels! There are 9 photos in total, which also include photos from another day of filming. You can check them out @ bit.ly/11zUqZ
- There was an altercation between Luna Vachon & Eric Simms {best known as the Iron Sheik's handler} @ the Legends of the Ring convention on Saturday in New Jersey. Luna was yelling @ Simms from a distance, then made a lunge, but security blocked her attack. An eye-witness said: "[Luna] calmed down & eventually everything went back to normal, but it was still something to see." Apparently Luna was upset that Simms wasn't spending enough time with her as her agent @ the convention.
- There's a technical glitch in the new Smackdown versus RAW video game, that can leave your Diva pantsless. People have been posting bottomless videos on Youtube, but game developers from THQ are hauling them down, as soon as they spring up. We're told the error pops up during the create-a-wrestler mode.
- Smackdown Women's Champion Mickie James has signed with Nashville-based management agents James & Sherry Massaro of Skyline Management Group, reports www.PWInsider.com & she's also signed with Absolute Publicity to manage her PR. Mickie has several educational degrees, which she obtained while on the road with WWE. Expect an announcement soon on her departure from World Wrestling Entertainment.
- Rihanna has been accused of copying the cover of a wrestling album. Paul Heyman, who used to run Extreme Championship Wrestling, wrote on his website that the cover of Rihanna's 'Russian Roulette' single is similar to the 1998 compilation album "ECW: Extreme Music" Rihanna's wrapped in barbed wire for the 'Russian Roulette' image, as is the Sandman on the cover of the ECW album. "It's pretty obvious this was copied from, or @ least extremely inspired by, the ECW album cover," Heyman told The Sun. "From the barbed wire & the right arm up in the air, to the blood dripping off the logo. Hey, I don't blame them. If you're going to copy some1, copy from the best. By the way, Rihanna. . . you're welcome!" After checking out the album cover myself, I can certainly see how somebody might see how it may have been inspired by the ECW: Extreme Music album cover, but I highly doubt it was blatantly copied.
DECLARATION of INDEPENDENTS NEWS: the Brain, the Cruiserweights, OVW & more!
- To view an up-to-date listing of all the bodacious upcoming independent shows, check out www.prowrestlingevents.tk/
- WWE Hall of Famer Bobby "The Brain" Heenan makes his 1st public wrestling appearance in over 12 months, for Great Lakes Championship Wrestling on December 5th in Waukesha, Wisconsin. the Show's headlined by Al Snow versus BG James versus Kip James, with TNA Executive Shareholder Mick Foley as guest referee; Ken Anderson versus Armando Alejandro Estrada; Demolition versus The McCoys; NBC Sports Anchor Lance Allan versus the man they call Gillberg; Headbanger Mosh versus Matt Longtime; plus King Kong Bundy & much more. You can find out more info @ www.BlizzardBrawl.com
- 16 top cruiserweight professional wrestlers will compete in a tournament that, for the 7th straight year, will honour the memory of 1 of their fallen comrades. The Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup will be @ stake, when 4 of the country's leading independent wrestling entities each send 4 wrestlers into a tournament that's now in its 7th year. The tournament honours former independent wrestler Peterson, who passed away in 2002 from cancer. Starting in May 2003 & continuing every year since, a tournament has been held in Peterson's name, with proceeds going to charity. This year's recipient will be All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. The 2009 version of the Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup will take place on Friday, November 20th & Saturday, November 21st @ the National Guard Armories in Brooksville & Crystal River, Florida, respectively. The 4 independent companies sending wrestlers to the tourney include Florida's Full Impact Pro Wrestling, Philadelphia's Combat Zone Wrestling, Chicago's AAW & Ohio's Hybrid Pro Wrestling. Plus in action will be Legendary Pro Wrestler "Outlaw" Ron Bass in a Bullrope match. Previous winners of the tournament include "Reckless Youth" Tom Carter, Justice, Chris Sabin, Milano Collection AT, Chris Hero & Erick Stevens. There'll also be a silent auction @ the event, benefiting All Children's Hospital with items from WWE, TNA & signed items from Celebrities, plus Theme Park tickets & more. For interview opportunities with promoters of the event or Legendary Wrestler "Outlaw" Ron Bass, contact Shannon Rose @ (813) 960-8412 or (813) 389-0801. For more information about the Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup Tournament, visit www.jpc2009.com & for more information about All Children's Hospital, visit www.allkids.org
- OVW TV episode 533 is now online @ www.ovwrestling.com In this week's episode, the TV Title tournament takes center stage. 1st, week 3 of the 1st round of the OVW Television tournament takes place. Tournament matches include. . . Kharn Alexander versus Beef Wellington. . . Andrew the Director of the Network versus Sergio of Off Da Hook. . . El Rojo Uno versus Raul Loco. Not only does ½ of Off Da Hook compete in a tournament match, but after the past few weeks' actions by the OVW originals, the team of Sergio & Demetrius, have called out the Originals for tag team action this week. Who will win the battle between 2 teams who've never met a rule they didn't break? Also, in what could be a preview of the later rounds of the tournament, former champion Mike Mondo takes on Eye Candy Ali 1-on-1. Could the winner of this contest take their momentum to win it all in the TV Title Tournament? Finally, with the final brackets of the 1st round being announced Jamin Olivencia has drawn former OVW man in charge Al Snow as his 1st round opponent next week. We'll have an exclusive interview with Jamin about how he feels about going against a man who's meant so much in the history of OVW. This week, they also have an exclusive video of an incident from last weeks TV tapings, involving D-West interrupting an interview Dean Hill attempted to have with Team Blossom, to clear up who actually won the OVW Womens title from Epiphany.
- The Maritime wrestling history section of www.newscott.com is back online. It's currently under construction, but feel free to check it out, some parts of it may not be working just yet ~ www.newscott.com/history.htm If you have any results, pictures or information that's not listed there, please email maritimewrestling@hotmail.com
- Huge double main event for C*4's ONLY THE BEST 2! 2 former X-Division Champions come to Ottawa! VIP Tickets available soon! More information here
- Hey, what do you know, Jeff Hardy might be innocent!
- Diamond Dallas Page, 53, is telling friends he's returning to wrestling. Of course, I've been telling people that I'm married to Daffney & Maria Kanellis, so I suppose that we'll all have to take that with a grain of salt. . .
- Rob Van Dam's giving away free membership to his website @ www.robvandam.com Well, good for him!
- Former ECW & WWE wrestler Mike Buccie {aka Nova & Simon Dean} posted on his Facebook on the 23rd, that he & his wife welcomed a baby girl into this world.
- Hey all you Halloweenies! If you have, or are going to dress up as a wrestler on Halloween, send us the photo & we'll publish it on www.Wrestling-Radio.com ~ EMAIL PHOTOS TO: ben@wrestling-radio.com Assuming somebody brings a camera, then I'm sure Rey Satano Diablo's gonna get immortalized on film! Hey, I might still have that old picture of me as Chris Jericho from a few years ago, as well! . . .
