Bryan Alvarez:
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Dave Meltzer:
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We're looking for your thoughts on Sunday night's WWE Bragging Rights PPV as well as Saturday night's UFC 104, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
We're also looking for reports on last night's TNA house show in Green Bay and Saturday night's TNA house show in Racine, WI.
Smackdown and ECW will be taped tonight in Rochester, NY, with Christian vs. Yoshi Tatsu for the ECW title as the ECW main event.
A look at Shane McMahon's departure from WWE with comments from several people who have worked with him in recent years, possible future, and analysis is the lead story in today's issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
The issue looks at his resignation, the reaction of Vince McMahon, and possible reasons why this is taking place now. We also look back historically at several different times when Shane McMahon was expected to run a promotion and that in all cases for a variety of different reasons it never materialized. We look at what league he is in financially when it comes to being able to start a franchise.
We look at what he would and wouldn't bring to a new venture, reactions to his job running a division from both the inside and outside, and a look at people in other businesses in similar situations.
Monday's issue is available right now to web site subscribers. You can also get the Observer by mail subscription with details below.
We have a huge feature on the life and times of Lou Albano that will be out next week.
We've got a look at where TNA stands after Bound for Glory, including the pros and cons of the current direction. We look at the problems continuing with the company's inability to get paying customers, even to its biggest show of the year.
We look at the Kim Couture angle and why it's doomed to fail, the injuries on the show, how everything builds to Turning Point as well as a TNA major main event scheduled for after.
We've got notes on the signing of Nigel McGuinness and how it happened and why he is in the main event picture so quickly, as well as notes on the short-term direction of Kurt Angle and Mick Foley.
We also have an updated Turning Point lineup, match-by-match coverage with star ratings for Bound for Glory as well as poll results on the show.
We also have the story behind the changing of the main event at Bragging Rights. We also look at the funny story to some, but not to at least one of the participants who ended up not there, regarding the match where the Smackdown team changed.
We've got notes on Jerry Lawler's reaction to the Memphis mayoral race, one of the last significant business deals put together by Shane McMahon that will affect PPV buys, Maria Menounos talks about being a wrestling fan, notes on the change to Kofi Kingston, John Cena being pulled from house shows soon, several WWE surveys regarding PPV numbers being down as well as the effect of MMA.
We've got a major story on Linda McMahon's political campaign, including the early days and involvement of pro wrestling, as well as new places her comebacks have made her vulnerable to opposition.
We also have notes regarding two Hall of Famers who are in talks about guest hosting Raw and updates on time frames they are looking at. We've got funny notes on WWE booking, updates on FCW, Punk talking about who he wants to face at WrestleMania and hints at a stipulation, as well as a rundown on all the weekend WWE events, including some huge shows in Mexico. We also have notes on how WWE has changed the Mexico landscape and scary numbers for the locals with the new ratings being released.
We also look at names announced for what will be most likely the most-watched television event of the year worldwide, the annual New Year's Eve Dynamite show. We look at who has been chosen for the main event, what matches are scheduled and what four major pro wrestlers are headlining.
We have an update on Jim Ross, notes on his Bell's Palsy attack as well as a look back at his past history with the malady, how it has affected his career, a look at his career dating back 35 years, and how, in various situations, he was brought back after the decision was made to take him off announcing, including what two wrestlers got him back in 1999, and how fan reaction at a show literally saved his job two years ago, update on his negotiations, as well as why he ended up with WWF and the strange circumstances of the announcement.
We've also got the updated business charts for WWE and TNA, looking at the summer with live attendance, gates, ratings of all the major TV shows, and PPV buys for both companies, so you can see where things are up and where things are down. We look at the first month where WWE showed a PPV increase, but how it is tempered by SummerSlam numbers.
We also look at a new promotion debuting in April that already has a three-pronged television deal for MMA, which will include weekly two-plus hour live shows on national television, as well as a major network recap show. We look at the schedule, as well as the viability of the project, and the format.
We've got a story on the death of longtime Japanese journeyman wrestler Ryuma Go, including how and why he got one of the biggest reactions on what can be argued was the biggest show, in terms of talent, in pro wrestling history that took place in 1995. We look at a wrestler who started at the age of 15, and went all over the world, and at one time was a cult television star in Japan. We also look back on his most famous program, where he ended a famous winning streak in a match 30 years ago this month that is still widely remembered in Japan.
We also have a look at the ratings for all the major pro wrestling and MMA shows on television over the past 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.
The Wrestling Observer ranges from 25,000 to 40,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA all over the world.
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-- Hulk Hogan has signed with TNA and is bringing Eric Bischoff and Jason Hervey with him. More as the day rolls on. Hogan was asked about Vince Russo and said as long as Russo knew his place in the company everything would be fine. So this isn't a death knell for him yet. It was insinuated that Hogan would be a major on-screen character but would not wrestle regularly. Dave and I will be up soon with a breaking news audio on the subject, and Dave will have all the details in the new issue of the Observer that comes out tomorrow.
-- From TNA:
“Hulkamania” is back! The biggest name in professional wrestling history, Hulk Hogan, is joining Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling (TNA), the fastest rising wrestling organization in the world and home to one of cable television’s highest rated shows for young men, TNA iMPACT! The announcement was made today by TNA Wrestling in conjunction with Spike TV at a press conference held in New York City.
“Hulk Hogan is one of the world’s top pop culture icons and the biggest superstar in the history of professional wrestling. We are truly excited to welcome him into the TNA family,” said Dixie Carter, President of TNA Wrestling. “Our goal is to become the world’s biggest professional wrestling company. Hulk defines professional wrestling and we look forward to partnering with him in a variety of ways as we continue to grow TNA globally.”
“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 is a great company with an already excellent fan base, business and broadcast partner. I firmly believe now is the time for some change at TNA as they are positioned to jump to the next level in their development and I’m here to work with Dixie to help make that a reality.”
Through Hogan’s partnership with Bischoff Hervey Entertainment Television, the deal with TNA was negotiated by longtime Hogan colleague Eric Bischoff. Additionally, BHE TV has inked a first-look deal with TNA and will be working with the organization to develop new programming extensions of the TNA brand.
“Hulk Hogan adds yet another level of star power that positions TNA iMPACT as Spike TV’s version of ‘Must-See TV’ on Thursday nights,” said Kevin Kay, president of Spike.
Hogan most recently penned an autobiography with Mark Dagostino, “My Life Outside The Ring” with St. Martin’s Press.
-- The Hogan interview on Bubba the Love Sponge moments ago where the first thing he talked about was his book was actually an interview taped before the press conference.
-- Bubba claimed Hogan and Eric will be booking TNA from this point forward, although sources in TNA have denied that. Time will tell.
-- Among the deals is that Spike TV will get the first look at the Hogan/Flair proposed reality series.
-- Dave and I have a breaking news audio up right now with tons of thoughts on the situation, what it means, and what we know about what is to come. There is more.
-- Hogan's new book is out today. He'll be on Larry King Live pushing it tonight as well, so that should be awesome. He was also on the early and later editions of The Today Show. Apparently that one was kind of a disaster as they had cut-ins to him where he couldn't hear the audio, and they were talking about how his life had hit rock bottom while he was there smiling and waving and giving the thumbs-up. He'll be on Jimmy Fallon tomorrow night. Should be interesting to see how much he talks about TNA if at all.
-- You can read the entire first chapter of the book for free here.
-- You can order the book by clicking here.
-- Superstars tapings from last night saw Jack Swagger beat Primo with the doctor bomb, and Alicia Fox beat Kelly Kelly. Arena was said to be packed and might have been totally sold out. Thanks to Chris Webber.
-- As of last night there was a long-term angle planned with Eve and Miz, so we should keep track of how long before they drop it.
-- Jim Ross, who believe me was deeply missed Sunday during the Iron Man match, has an update on his health issues here, and also thoughts on the judging of the Mauricio Shogun Rua vs. Lyoto Machida match Saturday.
-- Regarding whether HHH every pinned Undertaker from last night's radio show, Dan wrote in with this: On last night's show you guys were wondering if Undertaker had ever put over Triple H. He did and I remember it because I was at the show. It was the 8/26/02 Raw at MSG, the night after Summerslam, where Brock Lesnar had beaten The Rock for the World Title. Undertaker and HHH met in the main event of Raw in a number one contender's match, and HHH pinned Taker after Brock did a run-in, and hit Undertaker in the head with the championship belt. This was after Undertaker had confronted Brock earlier in the show, and asked if he was the next big thing, or the next big bitch. HHH was then theoretically the number one contender to face Brock for the title, but of course that never happened, as Undertaker and Brock took their feud to Smackdown, and Eric Bischoff awarded Triple H the big gold belt on Raw the following week, and Raw started really going downhill. Ironically, seven years later, they're still sliding down that hill. So yeah, Undertaker put over HHH, even though it wasn't clean. I don't recall it ever happening at any other time. They faced each other on PPV twice, at WM 17 and King of the Ring 2002, and Undertaker won both of those matches.
-- New issue of Figure Four Weekly is up right now for members with a huge story on UFC, including what happened with Brock vs. Carwin and what it means for UFC in both 2009 and 2010, when the fight is scheduled to happen, Lyoto vs. Shogun thoughts, backstage notes on the scoring and a near-brawl that took place where guys had to be separated, WWE's Bragging Rights PPV, tons of turmoil in TNA and who is unhappy about what, the latest on Jim Ross and Nigel McGuinness, and tons more.
-- Despite being sick (and he was really sick), Brock had enough in him to blow the horn at the Vikings game last week. You can check out the footage here. Thanks to Zack Nelson.
-- A story on the Nascar drivers at last night's Raw is up here.
-- The UFC prelims on Spike this past Saturday did a 1.1 rating and 1.4 million viewers. It was beaten in males 18-34 and 18-49 only by college football on ESPN.
-- Howard Stern has been asking convention regulars where they were when they heard Lou Albano died.
-- Mickie James has signed on with a group that promotes country music stars. They said she'd make her intentions known in a few weeks. One would guess, given the evidence, that her intentions might be to sing country music.
-- WWE Supershow rouses crowd's cheers, jeers. How many Kevin Sullivans are there, by the way?
-- It's been a week now and the Paul Heyman/Rihanna story is still making the front page -- the FRONT PAGE -- of entertainment sites. The latest is here.
-- You can be among the first to get WrestleMania tickets by ordering a travel package here.
-- This guy here is the former Pat Brady, who was actually the only guy that Honky Tonk Man ever trained to wrestle in Calgary.
-- The Nigel McGuinness interview in the new issue of Figure Four was actually from the Daily Star in the UK, not the UK Sun. We apologize for the error.
-- The Chris Jericho Bloodstained Memoirs trailer is up here.
-- Bobby Dempsey is the guest on the Drunkcast this week here.
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