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        We're looking for reports on tonight's Raw show in Worcester, MA, with dark matches, Superstars matches and anything else not evident from watching the TV show at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , as well as reports from tonight's TNA TV tapings in Orlando.

       

        Raw has Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne as guest hosts.  Impact has Bobby Lashley vs. Homicide, Team 3-D vs. Matt Morgan & Hernandez and Tara vs. Daffney.  Hulk Hogan won't be appearing live on Impact for a while and is not scheduled to be in Orlando.

 

        We're also looking for reports on both Thursday night's TNA house show in Clovis, NM and Friday night's show in Rio Rancho, NM.

 

         Tuesday has ECW & Smackdown tapings in Providence with Batista vs. Matt Hardy, plus another set of Impact tapings in Orlando. 

 

        ROH tonight on HDNet at 8 p.m.:

*Young Bucks vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe

*Alex Payne vs. Rhett Titus

*Grizzly Redwood vs. Claudio Castagnoli

*Colt Cabana vs. Nigel McGuinness (McGuiness' last ROH TV Match) 

 

        Tonight on Spike will be a tape of the June 12, 2007, show from Hollywood, FL, headlined by Sam Stout vs. Spencer Fisher and Jon Fitch vs. Roan Carneiro from 9-11 p.m. head-to-head with Raw.  Last Wednesday's episode of Ultimate Fighter based around Matt Mitrione airs at 11 p.m. tonight on Spike.  

 

       They also have a Showtime special at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night building up the Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers match.   

 

        With the full story on Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff going to TNA, including more on what the deal entails, what the deal is regarding television deals and a look at the biggest names in wrestling not with WWE and where they say they stand regarding the new TNA is our lead story of a double-issue coming out Monday. 

 

        The issue also includes a lengthy life and times piece on Lou Albano.  The issue is available right now to web site members and can be ordered via weekly mail deliver with details below.

 

        We talk about the Australia tours, Vince Russo, a new booker name that has surfaced, as well as a look at new talent and where they stand at press time.

 

        We also look at Brock Lesnar pulling out of UFC 106, including when Dana White got the word, details on the illness and his training camp, as well as UFC plans from January of next year.  We look at new matches coming up that will be main events, what top name is not interested in fighting right, and why new main events haven't been announced yet.  We also look at the mega-match they were trying to build for the spring, where and why, and how Lesnar's pulling out of UFC affects the timing of that plan.  We also update the situation with the Quinton Jackson vs. Rashad Evans match.

 

        We've got notes on the folding of a promotion that was once in the running for a long-term deal with Steve Austin, and had Bill Goldberg under contract after WCW.

 

        We have a major look at the life and times of Captain Lou Albano.  We look at his active career as a wrestler, how he became a manager, his first program as a manager and how it went including records set, we've got a list of all the men he managed to championships over his long career as well as awards.

 

        We look at the cause of his death, comments from friends, family, people from his city and fellow wrestlers.  We look at the Ivan Koloff title win over Bruno Sammartino and background of it, the emergence of the Grand Wizard and Fred Blassie as WWWF managers, violent fans, terrorizing Vince McMahon, the story behind the Cyndi Lauper angle and his importance in the rise of WWF.

 

        We look at the WWF national expansion, the story behind "The Brawl to Settle it All" and "The War to Settle the Score," why there were no more MTV specials after that point, interesting notes about the Moolah vs. Richter match, the rise of Hulk Hogan as a celebrity outside the wrestling audience, the beginnings of Saturday Night's Main Event, the glory period of pro wrestling at Madison Square Garden, Albano's frequent firings, acting, his parents, his days as a real athlete, his breaking into pro wrestling, the gimmick that got him run out of town at a time when wrestling was on fire in Chicago, the real story behind his winning the tag team title in 1967, his record as a wrestler and manager in MSG, what all his matches were like, his role in major turns, the change of the business in the 80s, Albano as the media go-to-guy, and his falling out with Bruno Sammartino in real-life.

 

        We also have more on the surprise resignation of Shane McMahon, including what happened, and why it appeared to happen, with thoughts from many in the company on his strengths and weaknesses and the Shane vs. Stephanie dynamic.  We look at his attempts to run various companies and how they fell through, the plans for international expansion and his role that fell through, as well as what recent happening showed just how much power he had lost.

 

        We've got full coverage of WWE building Survivor Series, thoughts on Bragging Rights both as a first show and doing forward, the Iron man match and what it told about Randy Orton and John Cena, a well as match-by-match coverage, business notes, star ratings and poll results on the show.

 

        We also have a look at the Machida vs. Rua decision, how the three judges voted, how the public reacted, reaction from Machida, judges and why Machida won, how it was as a live show, match-by-match coverage including how much the fighters earned, business notes and poll results on the show.

          

        We also have an update on the condition of Jim Ross, notes on the WWE announcing changes, notes about who attended WrestleMania this past year, notes on two WWE movies, notes on 2010 PPV shows, wrestler looking at a new career, plans to combat UFC, more on the Cena movie 12 Rounds, why the Smackdown team changed at Bragging Rights, a new angle idea, new WWE signing, Shad Gaspard talks about missing Smackdown, Bret Hart talks about his book, former WWE Diva rips on the company, notes on new giant that was signed, story behind Hornswoggle role on recent TV show, and house show notes.

 

        We've also got notes on the total unknown who was chosen to headline the biggest show of the year, and why that is now in danger, as well as coverage of both the K-1 World Max tournament final and the most recent Dream show.    

 

         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.

 

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Also in this week's issue:

 

--What American is getting a big push in Mexico

 

--Former WWE Diva at Arena Mexico this past week

 

--Mexico ratings

 

--Promotions threaten to sue each other

 

--Update on NOAH jr. tournament and New Japan tag tournament

 

--Hulk Hogan book promotion and story behind his suicide

 

--Update on Turning Point PPV plans including several matches not yet announced

 

--TNA star has surgery

 

--How Nigel McGuinness got his new ring name

 

--McGuinness talks about WWE, and signing with TNA

 

--What wrestler nearly got kicked off Bound for Glory at the last minute

 

--What TNA woman wrestler beat up a guy after Bound for Glory

 

--Story behind all the backstage turmoil in TNA

 

--Early Bound for Glory PPV numbers

 

--Mick Foley gets mad at Terry Funk roast

 

--Tara vs. Kim Couture notes

 

--TNA house show coverage from the past week

 

--Notes on TNA television and the problems of it

 

--UFC counters Strikeforce on CBS

 

--Update on Dan Henderson UFC negotiations

 

--Lot of new UFC matches

 

--Where Kimbo Slice goes next

 

--Dana White mad at fighters and why

 

--Promoting Fedor vs Brett Rogers

 

--Return of Cung Le

 

--Update on Herschel Walker in MMA

 

--Josh Barnett steroid test hearing

 

--Pacquiao-Cotto business news

 

--MMA and wrestling stars in world grappling championships

 

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--ROH announced that Pro Wrestling NOAH is sending Katsuhiko Nakajima to replace KENTA for the 11/13 show in Detroit and 11/14 show in Toronto.  With KENTA out, they have added Roderick Strong vs. Delirious to Saturday's show in Edison, NJ.  ROH also listed that they are in negotiations with AAA.  Colt Cabana will be Tyler Black's partner on Friday night's TV tapings against Austin Aries & Kenny King.     

 

--As it turned out, the planned NFL Halftime interview with Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers didn't happen due to time constraints.

 

--UFC on Spike this week, besides the stuff tonight, has three hours tomorrow night from 8-11 p.m. with the first hour being a Royce Gracie special, the second hour headlined by Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra and Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping, and third hour headlined by the famous first Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar match plus Diego Sanchez vs. Kenny Florian.  Wednesday has Unleashed from 8-10 p.m. with main events of Stephan Bonnar vs. Sam Hoger and Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Hughes, plus Ultimate Fighter at both 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. featuring Marcus Jones vs. Mike Wessel and the announcement of the quarterfinal matches.  Thursday has Unleashed at 7 p.m. headlined by Anderson Silva vs. Travis Lutter plus the TUF replay airs before Impact.  Friday has a Matt Hughes special at 8 p.m., and then at 9:30 p.m. will be the December 10, 2008, Fight Night headlined by Josh Koscheck vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida.  Saturday has Unleashed from 7-9 p.m. with Karo Parisyan vs. Nick Diaz, St. Pierre vs. Frank Trigg and Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva as the top matches, followed by a two hour main event special from 9-11 p.m. and replayed 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. with Randy Couture vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Vitor Belfort vs. Rich Franklin, B.J. Penn vs. Kenny Florian and Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin.  That goes head-up with Fedor on CBS Saturday night.  All in all, there are 17 hours of UFC programming in prime time out of Spike's 28 prime time hours this week.

 

--MyNetworkTV has a WWE week with Dolph Ziggler as the banker and Eve Torres and Maria as models on "Dean or No Deal at 9 p.m. tomorrow.  Thursday will be the TV debut of "The Marine" with John Cena.

 

--Linda Bollea responded to Hulk Hogan's book, although not that vehemently at http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2009/11/02/  She said the book is filled with sensationalist lies.  Well, that has been the general reaction.  Anyway, she pointed out that she and Brooke are back together again.

 

--Frank Shamrock will be doing a book signing for his MMA for Dummies book tomorrow night from 7-9 p.m. at Borders Books in Schaumburg, IL 

 

--Dwayne Johnson made news for apologizing to a man who he snubbed for an autograph and offering him a role as an extra in the movie "The Other Guys," that he's filming in New York right now.  A security guard on the set reported asked him for an autograph and a photo for his son and was blown off.  After being criticized in the New York Post, Johnson found the guy, gave him an autographed photo and a walk-on part on the movie and apologized to him. (thanks to Jeff Sheridan)

 

--Mick Foley and Colt Cabana have canceled their stand-up act tonight at the Gotham Comedy Club in New York because of the Yankees being in the World Series.  They will reschedule the date.

 

--Candice Michelle announced publicly she is pregnant and due in May.

 

--Odds for Saturday:

Fedor Emelianenko -495 to -625

Brett Rogers +350 to +447

 

Jake Shields -290 to -300

Jason Miller +220 to +230

 

Antonio Silva +135

Fabricio Werdum -165

 

Gegard Mousasi -445 to -500

Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou +350 to +365

 

--Odds for next week's UFC

Brandon Vera-120 to +110

Randy Couture -110 to -140

 

Denis Kang -115 to -145

Michael Bisping +100 to +115

 

Dan Hardy +150 to +175

Mike Swick -180 to -215

 

--Strikeforce will be airing in the U.K. at 9 p.m. on 11/8 (one day tape delay) on Bravo

 

--Sam Ford in a totally serious article about 10 things major corporations can learn from watching pro wrestling at http://www.fast.company.com  

 

--Democrats in Connecticut filed a complaint against Linda McMahon claiming Youtube was helping her campaign by taking down offensive WWE videos.  That is ridiculous.  WWE constantly gets youtube to take down videos of copyrighted material as they should.  The Democratic party claimed the videos amounted to a prohibited corporate contribution to the McMahon campaign.

 

--Best TV show of the past week

Impact 30.3%

Smackdown 19.9%

ECW 15.9%

ROH 12.6%

Raw 11.6%

K-1 World Max finals 6.9%

AAA 2.2%

Superstars 0.7%

 

--Best junior heavyweight in history

Chris Benoit 31.4%

Jushin Liger 31.0%

Eddie Guerrero 19.0%

Danny Hodge 10.3%

Satoru Sayama 7.5%

Hiro Matsuda 0.7%

Leroy McGuirk 0.2%

 

--Greatest drawing card in history

Hulk Hogan 43.4%

Steve Austin 25.7%

Bruno Sammartino 11.2%

The Rock 5.7%

Ric Flair 5.3%

Andre the Giant 3.7%

Jim Londos 2.3% (ridiculously overlooked figure in history)

Lou Thesz 1.0%

The Sheik 1.0%

Bill Longson 0.5%

Buddy Rogers 0.3%

Strangler Lewis 0.0%  

 

--WWE is moving Night of Champions next year from July to September, taking place on September 19, 2010 in Chicago

 

--War Machine (not Rhino, but the MMA goof) is now doing porn.

 

--JWA Universe Wrestling on 11/14 in Sayreville, NJ at the VFW Hall

 

--Combined wrestling and Roller Derby show in Manukau City, New Zealand on Saturday night before 375 fans:  Pirates & Ninjas b Jon E. King & Flagboy, Danny Jacobs b Link Van Haggard, Just Plain Evil b Alita Capri, Jordan Invincible & NZ Dream b Joseph Kinkade & Mischa Ivanoff, Vinny Dunn & A-Class & Lil T b Curt Chaos & Liger & Waipukurau Warrior (thanks to Steve Ogilvie)

 

--Kerry Brown Memorial show in Winnipeg on 11/10 at the Marlborough Hotel Skyview Ballroom with Chi Ch Cruz & Brian Jewel vs. Robbie Royce & Anderson Moore in 2/3 falls

 

--ACE & SWU on 11/7 in Union City, NJ at the Ace Arena

 

--There will be an MMA Expo on 1/9 and 1/10 in Philadelphia at the Volley Forge Convention Center with Sean Sherk, Marcelo Garcia and Shonie Carter, Cung Le and  Kim Couture.

 

--NWA Anarchy from Saturday night in Cornelia, GA before 160 fans:  J-Rod & B.J. Hancock won tag team Rumble, J.T. Talent & Drew Pendleton III b J-Rod & B.J. Hancock to keep Anarchy tag titles, Bo Newsome b Brodie Chase, Skirra Corvus b Hayden Young, Mikal Judas b Kimo, Shaun Tempers b Ace Rockwell in last man standing, Phil Shatter b Caprice Coleman, Shadow Jackson b Jeremy Vain in a dog collar match.  Next show is this coming Saturday night with a tribute to Iceberg (thanks to Larry Goodman)

 

--CRW from yesterday in Montreal before 220 fans:  Seth Seifer b Carl Choquette, Chris Cruize & Urban Miles & Joe Tibo b Alex Miller & Eddy Morales & WonderFed, Aextreme & Eve b Johnny North & Candy Girl, Leon Saver b Pat Skillz, Razz Mansour & Super Chato b Koko Mansour & Kid Loco, Sylvan Grenier b Pauly Platinum, Sexxy Eddy b Kevin Skully, Mike Sydal b Pat Guenette, Ken Anderson (Mr. Kennedy) & Jeremy Branoff b Darkko & Matt St. Jaques (thanks to Pat Laprade)

 

--OVW from yesterday in Louisville:  Demetrius & Jay Millz b Guido Andretti & Randy Royal-DQ, Mr. B b Benny the Producer, Kamikaze Kid & C.J. Lane & Epiphany b Sucio & Jessica Cheyanne & Taryn Shay, Hog Wild b Eye Candy Ali, Moose & Tilo b Beef Wellington &  Asher Knight, Mike Mondo b D.C. Spencer, Low Rider b Vic the Bruiser in a casket match (thanks to Jason Frost)   

 

--NWA Wisconsin from Saturday night (not sure of city):  Nick Colluci b Brandon Hayze, TW3 NC Cody Rice, Shane Hills b Matt Longtime, UAT b McCoys, Justin Dredd b The Sheik, Hellriders b American History Next, Steve Corino b Dinn T. Moore

 

--An interview with Larry Matysik is up at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Edward-Loredo on the Drunkcast

 

--wXw from yesterday in Oberhausen, Germany before 208 fans:  Sha Samuels over Farmer Joe, Markus Seeman, Lazio, Carnage and Karsten Beck, Jimmy Jacobs & Emil Sitoci & D.J. Marcello & Tim Suxdorf b Absolute Andy & Bernd Foehr & Axeman & Ivan Kiev in an elimination match with Jacobs as the last man left, Big Van Water b Martin Stone, Tommy End & Zak Sabre Jr. b Kris Chambers & Corey Mason, Johnny Kidd (70s British star) b Mike Quackenbush 2/3 falls in World of Sport rules (great match), Bad Bones b El Generico

 

--The Travel Channel's Man vs. Food show on Wednesday at 10 p.m. visits Detroit and the Revolucha promotion.  There will be team of wrestlers, roller Derby skaters and rock stars trying to eat a 190 pound hamburger

 

--CZW on 11/14 in Philadelphia at the Arena

 

--NWS on 11/6 in Belleville, NJ at the Knights of Columbus Hall and 11/7 in Dunellin, NJ at the Knights of Columbus Hall

 

--NWA MSW on 11/7 in Fallsview, WV at the Community Building