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READER ALERT: For all the latest wrestling happenings, check out our News & Rumours section.
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News and Rumours
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
On the next Smackdown! broadcast:
Cena delivers a X-mas rap.
Orlando Jordan versus Big Show.
Heyman announces Morgan and A-Train versus Bob Holly and Shannon Moore. If Holly loses, he is history.
The Bashams versus Los Guerreros, TWGTT and Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty.
Vince McMahon rips The Cat for kissing Sable last week. Vince dances. Vince attacks The Cat from behind then leaves with Sable.
Rey Mysterio versus Jamie Noble.
Chuck Palumbo versus Chris Benoit.
Faarooq versus Rhyno.
Brock Lesnar versus Shannon Moore.
Hardcore Holly and Shannon Moore versus A-Train and Matt Morgan
Raw only scored a 3.5 in the ratings Monday night. That's down from the previous week. Speculation is that the poor reaction to the PPV translated into viewers not bothering to watch Raw Monday night. Once again though, Mick Foleyt presence on Raw isn't enough to increase the ratings.
SLAM! correspondent Corey David Lacroix has returned from Monterrey,
Mexico safe and sound. Keep checking in to SLAM! Wrestling for stories
he brought back, featuring the Lucha Libra Femenil (LLF) promotion. Here
are the results from the LLF third anniversary show that was held this
past Saturday night in Monterrey, Mexico: Match #1: Diana La Cazadora
won the LLF Monterrey Neuvo Leon Championship title in a five Luchadoras
elimination match that included La Felina, Martha La Sarapera, La
Chacala and La Justiciera ... Match#2: Simply Luscious defeated Luna
Magica ... Match #3: Dark Angel defeated Shira - retaining the LLF
Juvenil (Junior) Championship ... Match #4: La Bruja & Tigresa defeated
Nikki & Poly Star - winning the LLF Tag Team Championship ... Match #5:
LuFisto defeated Princesa Sugey - winning the LLF Extreme Championship
... Match #6: Christie Ricci defeated Persephone - retaining the LLF
International Championship ... Here are the results from the Copa LLF
Saltillo 2003 event that took place this past Sunday in Saltillo,
Mexico: Match #1: Princesa Sugey & Paty Rey defeated Martha La Sarapera
& Gatubela ... Match #2: Diana La Cazadora & Princesa Sugey defeated
Persephone & Nikki ... Match #3: Christie Ricci & Shira defeated La
Bruja & Tigresa ... Match #4: LuFisto & Dark Angel defeated Simply
Luscious & Persephone ... The winners from all matches then entered into
a wild steel cage main event where Princesa Sugey managed to escape and
claim the Copa LLF Saltillo 2003.
David Sammartino has agreed to be a part of the March 13th Fan Slam
Tribute to WrestleMania in Totowa, NJ.
Acclaimed boxing writer Thomas Hauser has a new collection of his
work out called The View from Ringside. In it, Hauser explores
the "absurdity of tax dollars being spent to 'regulate' professional
wrestling in the State of New York", including a follow-up after the
commission dropped its monitoring of the sport. You can read more about
the book, and order it, by clicking here.
J.J. Dillon, whom Steven
Johnson interviewed for SLAM! Wrestling in August has agreed to
return to managing for Major League Wrestling.
Wrestling great 'The Buffalo Bomber' Don Curtis was featured on a
Jacksonville, FL news segment last night talking about his career. You
can read about Don, and see the segment by clicking
here.
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
Jeff Walton, who used to be the publicity director and TV announcer
for Championship Wrestling from Los Angeles' Olympic Auditorium in the
70s and 80s
and was manager Tux Newman in the Tennessee area has written a new book
called
'Richmond 9-5171 - A Wrestling Story' about the 'Golden Years' of
wrestling on the West Coast and his 35 years of experience in the
business. The book contains chapters on Andre The Giant, inside the
'Hollywood Wrestling Office,' the 1971 L.A. Coliseum show, and much
more. Anyone interested can get complete details on how to order the
book which will be available on December 16th by e-mailing scottwalton@prodigy.net. This
book will not be sold in stores. Each copy will be personally
autographed. SLAM! Wrestling has arranged for an interview with Jeff
Walton down the road as well.
Rocky
Johnson has surfaced as the commissioner of the Memphis Wrestling
promotion, apparently still wearing suits from his '70s heyday.
Border City Wrestling is teaming with Prime Time Wrestling for shows
in Michigan, including Sunday, February 8, 2004 in Belleville, Michigan
at the Diamondback Saloon. Shane Douglas, Raven and Chris Savin are
among the announced big names. For more info, see their web
site.
Friday, December 12, 2003
The Hollywood Reporter says that "WWE Films has acquired an untitled horror movie pitch from writer Dan Madigan with plans to develop it as a starring vehicle for one of the organization's most popular wrestlers. There is no studio attached to the project yet, with WWE purchasing the pitch with its own money. It is unclear yet whether WWE will partner with a studio on the film or finance the project itself." Word is the WWE would like "Stone Cold" Steve Austin or The Undertaker to star in the project.
The WWE had its attendance record in Australia wiped out by a Robbie Williams concert.
The San Francisco Chronicle has a great story on "Pro Wrestling Iron" including an interview with Manny Fernandez. You can read it here.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
On the next Smackdown! broadcast:
Rey Mysterio challenges Brock Lesnar.
Bradshaw versus Rhyno.
Heyman claims to have turfed Nathan Jones. He rips into A-Train for betting on Benoit. A-Train will have to battle Shannon Moore tonight.
A-Train versus Shannon Moore.
Sable turns down The Cat's invitation for her to dance.
World's Greatest Tag Team versus Los Guerreros.
Big Show and Cena have a rap off.
Brock Lesnar versus Rey Mysterio.
Here's news of another blockbuster idea from the WWE thinktank that is just sure to bring fans back in droves. The WWE has unveiled its new marketing campaign for its WWE Monday night Raw franchise. The "Escape The Rules" campaign will run over the next four months and is valued at over $2 million (U.S.). The campaign will "take universally accepted axioms, such as 'don't take candy from strangers' or 'look before you leap' and shows how Raw turns those conventions upside down". The ads show viewers that "by watching Raw you can truly escape the rules vicariously and safely". What!?!?? What?!?!?! What you talkin' about McMahon? Whatever.
Despite bringing back the Rock and Sock connection, Raw still only managed to pull it its usual 3.8 rating. You know things are bad when Foley and The Rock can't spike a rating for the WWE. The first hour scored a 3.5 and the second a 4.1. In Rock related news, The Great One has confirmed he will be wrestling at WrestleMania XX.
SLAM Wrestling's own Corey David Lacroix (Ariba la rassa!) is on his way to Monterrey, Mexico! He will be accompanying Montreal based wrestler LuFisto and will be reporting on her matches at the Lucha Libre Feminil third anniversary wrestling show that will take place this Saturday night in Monterrey. Corey will also be looking to bring back other Lucha Libre stories while in Mexico.
Tuesday, December 9, 2003
WWE star Trish Stratus will present the best sports DVD award at the first annual Canadian Entertainment Network Awards, to be handed out Feb. 6. The extended edition of The Fellowship of the Ring and the theatrical cut of The Two Towers lead with four nominations each. Other major contenders include Monsters, Inc., The Animatrix and restorations of the classic films West Side Story and Singin' In The Rain. Ballots were filled out by readers of the bi-weekly trade publication, Canadian Entertainment Network magazine, and cover many of the 30 categories for the best in DVD releases. Other awards were voted on by the retailers, suppliers and studios.
For the period ending December 7th, WWE Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain (Playstation 2) finished 10th in the Rogers Video Top 10 game rentals list.
On the Publisher's Weekly chart "The Stone Cold Truth" by Steve Austin with Dennis Brent clocked in at tenth on the non-fiction chart.
Apparently, the WWE has released Daffney (Shannon Ward) from her developmental contract in OVW.
Thursday, December 4, 2003
Raw's ratings this week were a 3.5 (first hour) and 3.8 (second hour). Those stats are about typical for the WWE. It seems as though Mick Foley's appearance had little or no affect on the overall ratings for the show and that gives support to the theory that some of the WWE's former fan base are gone for good no matter what happens on Raw or Smackdown!
WrestleMania XX could be five hours long.
In Australia this weekend, John Cena will face Brock Lesnar for the WWE Title and Los Guerreros battle The Bashams for the WWE Tag Titles. In one strange match-up, Shannon Moore faces Ultimo Dragon.
Rumour has it that John Cena's push includes him winning the Royal Rumble but that the Rumble prize will NOT be a WWE Heavyweight Title match this year.
Wednesday, December 3, 2003
On the next Smackdown! broadcast
Basham Brothers versus Rikishi, Scotty 2 Hotty
Dawn Marie is introduced as Heyman's new 'assistant'.
Heyman announces that Shannon Moore's next challenge is...Big Show.
Big Show versus Shannon Moore.
Jamie Noble versus Sakota.
Chris Benoit versus John Cena. Winner will face Brock Lesnar. Big Show interferes.
Chavo Guerrero versus Shelton Benjamin.
Brock Lesnar versus Benoit OR Cena.
Tuesday, December 2, 2003
It is rumoured that at tonight's Smackdown! tapings, a match will occur between Rey Mysterio Jr. and Chris Jericho to be put in the can for Spike TV's Video Game Awards show.
Some globetrotting to take note of: NWA Mid-Atlantic promoter David
Baucom has arranged for three shows in Guangzhou, China between Dec. 28
and Jan. 4. Booked for the shows are Steve 'Dr. Death' Williams, Terry
Taylor, Mike Rapada and Chris Hamrick, among others.
WWE Smackdown! is hitting the road too, going to South Africa at the
end of February, including Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and East
Rand. South Africa has a rich wrestling history.
Here are the results from saturday's Neo Spirit Pro Wrestling show
in St. Catharines: The All-Knighters (Joey Knight and Robin Knightwing)
beat Silver Fusion (Jace Fury and The Hacker) and Derek Wylde and Eric
Young in a three-way tag match to become the new tag champs ... Sean
Spears pinned Knoxx ... Marco Malaquias and Crazzy Steve beat The
Italianos (Tony Carbonie and Primo Scordino) ... Angel beat Beth 'The
Phoenix' Carolyn with help from Kris Chambers ... Sinn beat Kris
Chambers ... Floyd Osbourne beat T.J. Harley ... Tyson Dux beat
Independent champ Cody Steele in a non-title match ... J.T. Playa beat
Lazz to retain his Grand Championship ... The promotion returns to
Niagara Falls at the Polish Hall in January.
Larry Booker, aka Moondog Spot, will be at rest at Christ the King
Church, 143 Court Street, Dyersburg, TN, from 6 to 9 p.m. tonight, and
the funeral service is Wednesday at the same church at 2 p.m.
Monday, December 1, 2003
Variety is reporting that Mick Foley is in talks to star in his own action series for CBS. In the Jackie Chan-esque series complete with bloopers of Foley doing his own stunts, Foley would portray an off-the-wall, hard-nosed detective in Tampa. CBS is of course part of ViaCom. ViaCom owns MTV, UPN and Spike TV.
In their editorial for The Online Artbiter, Aubrey Salazar and Esther Tolson call Vince McMahon a "sociopath" and rip Boise State University for allowing Smackdown! to visit there last week. You can read the entire editorial here.
WWE has cancelled the Raw-brand house show in Lake Charles, Louisiana on
January 2nd. Refunds are available at the point of purchase.
Canada's own LuFisto
is globe trotting once again. The Montreal-based wrestler will be
returning to Monterrey, Mexico to continue her feud with arch nemesis
Princesa Sugey, this time, the LLF Extreme Championship title will be up
for grabs. Other female grapplers from the U.S. and Canada will be
making the trip to mark the third anniversay of the LLF all women's
promotion. Will we see the conclusion of the LuFisto/Sugey saga?
Here are the results from Stampede Wrestling at The Bowness
Sportsplex on Friday: Kid Nicholls pinned Jason Carter; "Marvellous"
Marky Starr beat Rod Rage; Danny Myers vs. "Ravenous" Randy Myers was a
no contest; Despite Ted
knocking out TJ Wilson's tooth, he and Jack Evans lost to Wilson and
"Dirty"
Duke Durrango; The North American Title Fatal Five-Way with Johnny Devine,
Greg Pawluk, Harry Smith, Dave Swift and Karnage was a no contest.
Here are the results from Stampede Wrestling at the Wainwright
Community Theatre, in Wainwright, Alberta, on Saturday: Rory Hunter
pinned "Ravenous" Randy Myers with a backslide; Rod Rage beat Jason
Carter; Karnage beat Kid Nicholls with a Rock Bottom; TJ Wilson beat
Johnny "Went to Battle School in Wainwright" Devine; Harry Smith beat
Dave Swift via tap-out. Lots of shows scheduled for December, check out
www.stampedewrestling.com for details.
Here are the results from the Prarie Wrestling Alliance show at Reds
Nightclub in the West Edmonton Mall on Sunday afternoon: TJ Wilson
battled "Dirty" Duke Durrango to a 20:00 draw; Greg Pawluk beat Phoenix
Taylor by submission; "Crazy" Dean Durrango beat Marky Mark; All three
matches featured monkey-flips, which the crowd popped for; Harry Smith
beat Tex Gaines via submission; Rod Rage beat Dave Swift by DQ when Red
Thunder interfered; NWA-TNA Star Don Callis cut a hysterical promo about
PWA being racist, and how he and Thunder were being held down by
"Whitey" due to the color of their skin; The 6-man tag match featuring
Don Callis, Chris Steele and Highlander vs. Johnny Devine, Rick Vain,
and Juggernaut was thrown out due to intereference from Red Thunder and
Eric Freeze. The Next PWA show is January 24th at NAIT with a huge
line-up, plus they announced a wrestling convention in June, details to
come. See their web site, www.pwawrestling.ca, for more.
Les Thatcher, Ricky Steamboat and Harley Race, along with friends
like Lelani Kai, have banded together to form Elite Pro Wrestling
Training, and are running various seminars across the U.S., including
the Cauliflower Alley Club in Las Vegas in April. "Our clinics are a
cross breed of old school and current trends, and our idea is to combine
the two into one beautiful art form. We want to help add dimension to
some of the one-dimensional matches we are all too familiar with in
today's independent wrestling scene," their new web site --
www.epwt.com --
promises.
Friday, November 27, 2003
Just a reminder to readers in Alberta, Stampede Wrestling returns to the
Bowness Sportsplex tonight with Ted Hart & Jack Evans vs. TJ Wilson & Duke
Durrango. Stampede has a lot of dates booked for the next month around
alberta, visit their site (www.stampedewrestling.com) for details. As well,
PWA presents an afternoon show at Red's in West Edmonton Mall Sunday, with
Juggernaut, Johnny Devine and Rick Vain taking on Chris Steele, Highlander,
and TNA's Don Callis.
The good folks at the Mid-Atlantic Gateway reminded us that it's
been 20 whole years since Starrace '83: A Flair For The Gold, where Ric
Flair claimed the NWA title from Harley Race. Man, that brings back some
memories... Check out their site at www.midatlanticwrestling.net.
ECCW is in Surrey, BC tonight for an 8 pm start at Bridgeview Hall,
11475 - 126A Street. On top is Scotty Mac and Chance Beckett vs. Vance
Nevada & Disco Fury. Also on the show: Matt Classic battles Aaron Idol
for the NWA Pacific Northwest Jr. title, it's Madison vs Avalon vs Nikki
French in a women's three-way, Rocky Della Serra takes on Adam Firestorm
and Michelle Starr vs Dropkick Murphy.
The latest edition of the monthly Pro Wrestling Press 'zine from
the UK is now out, featuring a review of Jim Wilson's Chokehold book and
the new WWE Unscripted coffee table book, a profile of Paul London, and
Dusty Wolfe tells more road stories and more. See their web site for
ordering information and more of what's in the latest issue.
Speaking of Jim Wilson, the Cauliflower Alley Club has announced
that he will be in attendance at the CAC banquet/reunion in Las Vegas,
April 16, 2004. For more information on the CAC, see their web site at
www.caulifloweralleyclub.org.
New Jack is headlining a Rough Wrestling show Saturday, December 6
in Welland, Ontario, at the Club Social Hall, 810 East Main Street, with
a bell time of 7:30 pm. It'll be Bloody Bill Skullion facing New Jack.
Magnus, Master Kwan Chang, The Custom Made Man and Eddie Osborne are
also scheduled for the show, promoted by 'Pretty Boy' Chuck Simms.
Ole Anderson has been added to the ever-growing roster of stars for
the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Legends Convention and Fanfest, scheduled for
Saturday, January 31 and Sunday, February 1, 2004, at the Hilton
University Place in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Expect Nidia to join Tajiri's group and turn on Jamie Noble soon when it is revealed she was in on the Japanese Buzzsaw's plans from the start.
Ric Flair could be taking on Ricky Steamboat at WrestleMania.
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