Bryan Alvarez:
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Dave Meltzer:
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We're looking for your thoughts on tonight's WWE Raw house show in Huntsville, AL as well as the Smackdown brand house show in Puebla, Mexico and last night's show at the bullring in Monterrey at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
ROH has the weekend off and TNA only has Bound for Glory on Sunday. Saturday has Raw in Columbus, GA and Smackdown at Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City.
Sunday has TNA's Bound for Glory at the Bren Events Center at the UC-Irvine campus . Raw will be in Dothan, AL and Smackdown finishes up its Mexico tour with a second show at Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City.
Monday has Raw in Jacksonville with John Cena vs. HHH as the main event, billed as "potentially" Cena's last match on Raw. Snoop Dogg is the guest celebrity host.
Tuesday will have TNA Impact tapings in Orlando as well as Smackdown and ECW tapings in Columbia, SC.
TNA will be doing two weeks of television, on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. The original plan was to do four shows over Tuesday through Thursday, but it was changed to doing two shows this coming week, and then coming back with tapings on 11/2 and 11/3 in Orlando.
Smackdown tonight has:
* Batista vs. Rey Mysterio
* Finlay vs. Mike Knox vs. Dolph Ziggler in a Bragging Rights tag match qualifier
* Cryme Tyme vs. Hart Dynasty in a qualifier
* Matt Hardy vs. Eric Escobar in a qualifier
* Drew McIntyre vs. R-Truth in a qualifier
A look at who are the biggest and most popular names in wrestling, MMA and boxing in 2009, as well as a comparison to 2008 leads off Monday's issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The list is derived from web activity based on the major names, and is interesting to note in the sense everyone has a list of where they think people rate, including promotions.
We look at the surprises, as well as what this tells us in advance about what in some ways when it comes to long-term is the most important show remaining in 2009, which is the Strikeforce debut on CBS on 11/7 and where Fedor does or doesn't stand.
We also have a look at how the last few weeks if you attended the two major shows, it would appear Japanese pro wrestling has made a comeback. We look at why that probably isn't the case, as well as look at notes on the 25th anniversary of the pro debut of Masahiro Chono. We look at Chono's career highlights, as well as look at New Japan's next major events, and what major Japanese celebrity was part of the show including what WWF champion was created based on this celebrity.
We've got an update on the Bragging Rights PPV and the Bound for Glory PPV with new matches, new stips and how WWE changed from the original direction. We look at the promotion of the Raw vs. Smackdown match and Cena vs. Orton match.
The issue is available right now on the web site for premium subscribers. It is also available to be delivered to your home with subscription details below.
We also have thoughts on the divas shuffling of the deck, and why this should lead to several turns in upcoming weeks. We have notes on a future guest host, Maria Menounos talking about her appearance on Raw, a lot of thoughts on the AP story including comments that have had a lot of people laughing at Vince McMahon, McMahon acknowledging the emergence of UFC is affecting the product, as well as more in detail on the most interesting part of the WWE new direction story that is being missed.
We've got notes on the upcoming Smackdown tour of Mexico, changes in PPV names, possibility of WWE doing War Games, who is behind the push of Drew McIntyre and why. We also look at the plight of Jack Swagger, MVP and The Miz on Raw.
We've got a lot more on the first salvo of criticism by Republican party leaders to Linda McMahon, as well as what her opponents in the senate race are saying. We also look at some of the early television commercials Linda McMahon has done.
We've got a long series of stories regarding Booker T and his future, including the different thoughts addressed within WWE regarding him coming in as well as what seems to have led to the end of his tenure in TNA. We look at the differences in expectations in WWE and TNA, the potential of Sharmell and plenty of other issues regarding Booker including issues rarely talked about from his last WWE run.
We have more notes on Big Show's new movie.
We also look at ethnic audience differences when it comes to interest in WWE and UFC PPV events. We look at WWE combating TNA and the Hogan tour in Australia, as well as a part-time WWE wrestler talks about wanting one last match with his most famous rival.
We also have a look at Steve Austin, talking about his WWE career, his favorite wrestler of all-time, his favorite match he was ever in, and his thoughts on his acting career, Vince Russo, Ed Ferrara and even ROH.
We also look at the WWE media situation in the U.K. and how a petty squabble has changed things as well as looking at that squabble.
We look at several new people signed of late by WWE, noting the new trend of what they are looking for. Dolph Ziggler talks about his drug suspension as well as his days as an amateur wrestler, some funny commentary looking back from more than a decade ago, Ted DiBiase responds to criticism of his working in WWE after all the things he had said in the past, as well as a look at the weekend WWE arena events.
We have more on the near death experience in recent days of a popular former WWE woman star, the death of Harley Race's wife, B.J. Race, and the son of a Hall of Famer who at one time was one of the most heavily recruited high school football players in the country who is about to debut as a pro wrestler.
We also look back in history about a former pro wrestler who is little remembered in football but actually was one of two people who broke the color barrier in the NFL and was talked about in this week's Sports Illustrated.
We have a ton of behind-the-scenes notes from TNA regarding not only Booker T, but the future of several of the older wrestlers. We also look at TNA and the price of its PPVs, we've got an update on Kurt Angle's legal situation, an update on the creative team, an update on Bobby Lashley in MMA and plenty of stories regarding Lacey Von Erich.
We also have a look at the WEC show from the weekend, including TV audience, and questions about judging coming out of the Donald Cerrone vs. Ben Henderson main event.
We also have a look at the ratings for all the major pro wrestling and MMA shows on television over the past week.
In this case, we also have details on what segments hit and missed on TNA, as well as how a TNA vs. WWE head-to-head battle did, and interesting notes on where WWE, TNA and UFC's audiences over the past week changed very notably from the prior week.
We also have our usual weekly features such as the results of the biggest matches of the week and rundown of the major television shows.
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-- Nothing new to report on Shane McMahon. He's not talking. Everyone in WWE was taken completely off guard and people who worked with him were said to be "shocked and devastated". WWE.com got the word out as quickly as possible this morning because they didn't want the news to break on wrestling websites first. There are a lot of people in WWE nervous about what this means for the future.
-- Jerry Lawler finished fifth out of 24 candidates in the Memphis mayoral race with 4 percent of the vote, significantly less than he got a decade ago when he took the run far less seriously. AC Wharton Jr. won with 64% of the vote. Lawler said this was probably his last-ever run at the office.
-- And speaking of politics, there is an article here about how Linda McMahon has set the state spending record for her campaign -- $2 million in 2 weeks. That's even more appalling when you read the Deep South Wrestling lawsuit and how WWE paid the head of their only developmental territory $80,000 for the year and gave him another $80,000 to fund operations.
-- And you'll never guess what Connecticut Democrats did today? Why, they found three WWE videos on Youtube (Scott Steiner threatening to rape Stephanie on a table during a Raw contract signing, Live Sex with Lita and Edge, and the necrophilia deal with HHH and Katie Vick) and sent them to reporters to demonstrate how the company objectified women. People actually thought stuff like this would never come up? And this is MONTHS before the primary.
-- TIME Magazine on Lou Albano
-- TUF did 2.8 million viewers this week, so basically the same as the week prior. Final rating was a 2.2.
-- WWE has a new survey up today for Canadian fans asking a number of questions including when they most recently watched UFC, TNA, boxing or other MMA shows on TV, how closely they follow it, what other websites they look at daily, plus a ton of questions about what ads they do or do not notice or click on at WWE.com. What was most interesting was when they asked what other sites you go to, the only MMA site they offered in the listing was MMAfighting.com, which isn't in the same universe in terms of traffic as the top MMA news sites, and also ranks significantly lower than this site.
-- Blue Demon Jr. writes a column for ESPN: The Magazine here about his father, Mexican wrestling, his fears with WWE coming into the country and getting TV, overexposure, and more. And I'm not making this up.
-- A CBS video package on Fedor can be streamed here.
-- AT&T U-verse is moving HDNet to its premium tier starting next month, so you'll have to pay extra to watch ROH.
-- New bikini pics of Torrie Wilson all wet in a shower are up here. Hope my posting of this never comes up should I decide to run for Senate.
-- Chikara has two shows this weekend, their annual Cibernetico on Sunday and a show in Easton, PA on Saturday. More info is up here.
-- The Dragon Gate USA DVD (first show, which was awesome) is now shipping at DGUSA.tv
-- Tickets are still available for the Terry Funk roast next week in Monroe, NJ. Mick Foley, Kevin Von Erich, Superstar Graham, Kevin Sullivan, Mike Graham, New Jack, Dennis Stamp, Missy Hyatt, King Kong Bundy, roastmaster Bill Apter and more will all be in attendance. More info is up here.
-- Signed collages from Terri Runnel's career are being auctioned off to help purchase a voice box for Steve Williams. You can get more info up here.
-- Joe writes: In what appears to be a late change, WWOR in the NY area will be airing the Yankees/Angels playoff game tonight in Spanish (Fox is airing it in English) at 7:30pm. So SmackDown won't air until 11pm at the earliest.
-- Alex Marvez has a big story on AJ Styles up here, who says he's toned down his style to avoid injury, his next goal is to pay off his mortgage, and he wants to say he started and ended his career in TNA.
-- Irv Muchnick talks his new Benoit book on KRON 4 Evening News here.
-- The book itself is available to order here: Chris & Nancy: The True Story of the Benoit Murder-Suicide and Pro Wrestling's Cocktail of Death
-- And don't forget we also have signed copies of Death of WCW available. More info here.
-- Just as a heads-up, we're looking to have some big name guests on our members-only radio shows in the next few days talking the death and memories of Captain Lou Albano.
-- Also a quick note that Figure Four Weekly is being re-designed for this coming week and moving back to 12 pages, so if you're a fan of print newsletters to add to your collection, subscription information is up here.
-- Chris writes: TMZ ran a piece on their syndicated show catching Goldberg outside an office building in NY. They asked him what he had for breakfast and he answered "I started with 10 egg whites this morning and a half pound of turkey bacon". Harvey Levin said that he was lying. One of the staffers pointed out he had a turkey bacon because he was Jewish. They went on to joke that Goldberg is biggest Jew ever to walk the earth. Their comedy continued claiming before Goldberg a lot of wrestlers had to hide their identity with a series of funny snapshots featuring Ultimate Warrior as the Ultimate Kvetcher, Brutus the Barber Beefcake as The Moyel and The Rock as Rabbi Rocksteinowicz. You can check out the video by clicking here. By the way, Brent Kremen, who was on our show briefly yesterday and has been having some personal issues of late, once considered being a local area wrestling manager under the gimmick "the Moyel".
-- Brian writes: The “Iron Sheik”, “Demolition Smash” and one of the “Bushwhackers” (I think Luke) were on “Opie and Anthony” this morning promoting a comic book convention autograph signing that they were participating in. They asked the “Sheik” to respond to Brian Blair’s accusations that were made in a recent shoot interview in which Blair claimed that “Sheik” molested a ring boy in a locker room and smoked crack out of a box of popcorn with the “Junkyard Dog” in an airplane. “Sheik” responded with his usual rants saying these accusations by Blair weren’t true and that Blair and Hulk Hogan would share the same dressing room and have sex. “Sheik” later said that he is getting back with his ex-wife after promising to clean up his act and stay off the drugs. He did seem a little more low-key this morning, almost like he’s bored of the gimmick. His attorney/agent did say that he drank ten beers this morning before the interview so I don’t know how clean he is yet. Overall, “Sheik” did seem a little calmer though. “Bushwhacker Luke” and Barry Darsow were along for the ride but didn’t seem to add much. Luke did bring up some stories about “Mr. Fuji” being a pretty legendary “ribber”.
-- An unnamed person sent this in: Today on ESPN radio and ESPN2 Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic paid tribute to Lou Albano. They played a sound byte from Cyndi Laupers "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and mentioned he was featured in the music video. They went on to say he was best know for being a wrestler/manager in the 70's. Golic, a former pro football player said Albano played college football and was a great athlete as well as entertainer. Both Mikes claim they were fans when they were younger and mentioned guys like Junkyard Dog, Big John Studd, Roddy Piper, The Wild Samoans, The Valiant Brothers, and Cowboy Bob Orton. Golic also said he watched the first Wrestlemania in '85 while playing in the NFL.
Poll on Ultimate Fighter from Wednesday
Excellent 11.7%
Good 47.5%
Average 26.7%
Fair 6.7%
Poor 7.5%
32.6% of those responding didn't see the show
Who was the best of these Hall of Fame wrestlers?
Negro Casas 51.0%
Blue Demon 45.4%
Cavernario Galindo 2.6%
Alfonso Dantes 0.5%
Rene Guajardo 0.5%
What best describes your reaction to buying WWE's Hell in a Cell
I didn't buy it, my interest in WWE has decreased 30.9%
Didn't buy it, there is enough WWE on free television, no need to buy PPVs 11.9%
Didn't buy because too many repeat match ups 11.6%
Bought the show, always buy WWE PPV shows 9.5%
Didn't buy, the lineup didn't interest me 7.4%
Didn't buy, more interested in other companies' PPV shows 7.4%
Bought the show, not a regular buyer, because of the Hell in a Cell matches 6.2%
Didn't buy for economic reasons 6.2%
Didn't buy, the storylines didn't hook me 5.9%
Usual buyer, got it because of the Hell in a Cell match 3.0%
-- Tyron Woodley vs. Rudy Bears has been added to the November 20th Strikeforce Challengers card from Kansas City.
-- Cleveland All-Pro at Belinda's Nightclub on Friday October 16th with Buddy Landell and more.
-- Drunkcast tonight talking Lou Albano and WEC here.
-- Pro Wrestling Fusion this Saturday at Ft. Pierce PAL Center, 1401 N. 2nd Street, Ft. Pierce, FL. 34950
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