MON. UPDATE: Thoughts on Brisco, Mania in Atlanta, Radio guys rips wrestling fans, Jeicho, Lashley


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We're looking for your thoughts on last night's Royal Rumble, as well as Saturday night's Strikeforce show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to
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We're also looking for reports on the Friday night ROH show in Los Angeles and the Saturday night WWE house show in Macon, GA.
Raw tonight is live from the Sommet Center in Nashville featuring William Shatner as guest host and the return of Bret Hart. Plus, we'll probably get details on at least one Elimination Chamber match. We're looking for live reports with Superstars results, any dark matches, attendance or anything else not evident from the show.
Smackdown will be taped tomorrow night in Memphis at the FedEx Forum.
Countdown to UFC 109 airs after Raw tonight at 11 p.m. on Spike, pushing Saturday night's Mark Coleman vs. Randy Couture main event, as well as Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen.
ROH tonight at 8 p.m. on HDNet
Colt Cabana vs. Sonjay Dutt
Delirious vs. Rhett Titus
Tyler Black vs. Roderick Strong
Our traditional best selling issue of the year, the 2009 awards double sized issue, comes out today. The issue has a complete rundown of the annual awards, as well as a feature on what may be the biggest pro wrestling news story of the year, regarding the future of Monday night television, plus in-depth on Brock Lesnar and his return, a feature on Georgiann Makropoulos, as well as future booking plans from WWE, UFC, TNA and Strikeforce.
The issue is already available on the web site for members and you can sign up on the front page, and also get access to all of our radio content, all web site articles, and back issues..
We have a rundown of the winners and top ten finishers, as well as every winner in the 30-year history of the Observer awards dating back to 1980, as well as comments on the voting and winners.
Categories are
Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award for Wrestler of the Year
MMA Most Valuable Fighter
Most Outstanding Wrestler
Most Outstanding Fighter
Best Box Office Draw
Feud of the Year
Tag Team of the Year
Most Improved
Best on Interviews
Most Charismatic
Best Technical Wrestler
Bruiser Brody Memorial Award for Best Brawler
Best Flying Wrestler
Most Overrated
Most Underrated
Promotion of the Year
Best Weekly TV show
Worked Match of the Year
Shoot Match of the Year
Rookie of the Year
Best Non-Wrestler
Best TV announcer
Worst TV announcer
Best major event
Worst major event
Best maneuver
Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic
Worst TV show
Worst Match of the Year
Worst Feud of the Year
Worst Promotion of the Year
Best Booker
Promoter of the Year
Best Gimmick
Worst Gimmick
Best Book
Best DVD
We also look at the details of Brock Lesnar's illness, Canadian Health Care, and reactions.
We look at the life of Georgiann Makropoulos, with comments from Bruno Sammartino and others.
We've got notes on the next Dragon Gate USA PPV show.
We also have notes on a possible interview theme for Smackdown in a few weeks, as well as an update on WrestleMania, Dwayne Johnson in WWE, next year's WrestleMania, Royal Rumble preview, major WWE lawsuit settled out of court, why major business analysis publication believes WWE is going up, and some major star injury updates. We also have WWE developmental notes, Royal Rumble stats, The Miz growing up, update on WWE Legends Roundtable discussions as well as highlights from all the weekend WWE live events.
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:
--Ratings from Mexico
--Update on unique partners tag team tournament
--A look at a major first ever big show singles meeting between two of Mexico's biggest stars
--Promotion planning on major changes and expansion ideas
--Battle for top contender for Dragon Gate title
--NOAH tag team tournament rundown, and top title bouts at the next Budokan Hall show
--Promotion with major budget cutting going on
--Hall of Fame wrestler officially announces running for office in 2010
--How MMA became popular in Japan
--Notes on "Tooth Fairy" box office
--Wrestlelicious TV deals or March
--More Hogan family court room fun
--More on the death of Tony Halme
--One of biggest indie crowds in a long time
--ROH TV title tournament
--Jim Cornette talks deaths of wrestlers
--Reaction to TNA tapings
--Update on Awesome Kong/Bubba story and aftermath
--TNA reaction to crowd
--TNA injury updates
--Plans for Ric Flair
--Notes on TNA booking
--A.J. Styles on why he doesn't want to go to WWE
--History of TNA remaking the 1997 Survivor Series
--Notes from TNA European house shows and future TV shows
--Details on UFC in Abu Dhabi
--Updated UFC attendance figures for recent shows
--GSP talks Olympics
--Notes on the new season of Ultimate Fighter
--More notes on the UFC debut in Australia
--Media reaction
--Updates on ticket sales for upcoming UFC events
--What fighter do three different UFC champions all went to face and why
--Update on UFC in Ontario
--TNA game up for an award
--UFC fighter who suffered one of the worst injuries in company history returns
--Fighter cuts major promo on Anderson Silva
--Lots more new fights being made for spring shows
--Notes on next two Strikeforce events including tournament idea
--Changes in K-1 plans
--Head of USADA talks the Mayweather-Pacquiao match falling apart and issues with MMA and WWE drug testing
--Two-time NCAA champion makes debut
--Battle over the rules
--Former Elite XC star arrested
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*August 25, 2003 (2003 Hall of Fame issue with huge profiles on the
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--We've got a story on the front page on the death of Jack Brisco. Obviously Jim Ross has stuff on his web site at http://www.jrsbarq.com as Ross and the Brisco brothers have been friends for years. In fact, Brisco was a childhood hero to Ross. I didn't know Jack well, but he was always very nice and was a great guest on our radio show in the past. His autobiography is one of the better wrestling books out there, particularly to know the scene in the 70s when Jack was top five in the world for a number of years. I would hope WWE shows some footage of Jack tonight or next week. Jerry Lawler wrestled Jack in some world title matches in Memphis that were considered some of the best matches of his career. Jack was the complete package for his era. It was a different era as babyface weren't outlandish or gimmicky and his interview style is so totally unlike anyone today, but in his day, Jack was considered one of the great babyface interviews. I myself have so many childhood memories of Jack as a performer. Again, by the standards of the day because I have no idea how it would look today, but when his 1975 NWA title match where Terry Funk won the title in Miami Beach aired on TV in California, it was one of the best matches for that time.
--Last night's Pro Bowl, going against the Rumble, did an 8.2 rating and 12.3 million viewers. It was the highest rated Pro Bowl game since the game after the 1999 season. It was up 72% from last year among Males 18-34.
--At the press conference today in Atlanta to announce WrestleMania, Falcons president Rich McKay was escorted by Eve and Kelly Kelly and joked about how happy he was that owner Arthur Blank had a schedule conflict and he had to step in. He joked that he'd love to sign Big Show, but couldn't match what Vince pays him. Vince talked about Atlanta having great tradition as a wrestling market, but it was noted that when talking about the tradition he rewrote some history. He never took a jab at Ted Turner or WCW. (thanks to Rich Tate)
--Vince was on Sports Radio The Fan in Atlanta on the Chernoff and Chuck show after the announcement. He was very polite and nice. Chernoff said he was a fan. Chuck said he stopped watching in 1984. Chernoff asked if it gave Vince satisfaction to come to Atlanta because of his rivalry with Ted Turner, and Vince said that it never crossed his mind. He did say he was involved with wrestling dating back to Ray Gunkel at the Atlanta City Auditorium and claimed he did a documentary for HBO with Gunkel. Not sure what he was talking about because. HBO started shortly after Gunkel passed away in 1972. John Kincade who does a daily show on ESPN radio got in an argument with hosts claiming it'll bring $50 million into the local economy, as was reported in an article in the Journal-Constitution today. Kincade said the high end hotels wouldn't see any business increase, but the Knights Inn type places in the suburbs would because he found out that only 13% of WWE viewers graduated college compared with 60% of NFL grads. Not sure of his stats but he said he got those numbers from ESPN research, and said that proves only low lives and white trash would be coming in. Believe me, nearly every city would love to have WrestleMania these days.
--The Washington Post today had a story about how the Pontiac Silverdome was sold for $583,000 and mentioned The Detroit Lions, Elvis, Pope John Paul II and Hulk Hogan all playing there in the lead.
--A number of establishments that carried the Rumble on DirecTV had signal problems, for up to 30 minutes. We got e-mails from several people who had problems at the start of the show, but they cleared up during the first match. We saw it on DirecTV and had no issues.
--We will be back for our fourth straight night of Observer radio talking about tonight's Raw, Rumble fallout, and Jack Brisco
--UFC TV for the week on Spike has Ultimate Knockouts specials from 5-10 p.m. tomorrow night. There is an Unleashed before Impact on Thursday featuring Michael Bisping vs. Jason Day. Friday has Unleashed at 8 p.m., followed by two hours of the Best of Pride from 9-11 p.m.. Saturday will have Unleashed from 7-9 p.m. followed by one hour of UFC prelims live from Las Vegas on Spike at 9 p.m. before the PPV starts.
--Chris Jericho's Chasing the Grail album was No. 1 on the UK amazon.com charts at one point this past week.
--Scott Coker talked of wanting to match Bobby Lashley vs. Brett Rogers next. Lashley's management would be best served to ask for someone like Brandon Cash or Shane Del Rosario before facing Rogers
--UFC will be doing Spanish language PPVs starting with the 3/27 show from Newark, CA. Troy Santiago and Victor Davila are hosting and DirecTV, inDemand and Dish Network have all agreed to pick up the Spanish language feed. They also will be debuting a French language feed for PPVs through Canadian PPV operators.
--Time Warner on Demand has a preview of UFC 109 in the Events Free preview section pushing Coleman vs. Couture. They also have a Lethal Consequences vs. Beer Money match from last year's Against All Odds (thanks to Suju Abraham)
--The dark match last night at the Rumble had The Bellas & Gail Kim & Eve Torres & Kelly Kelly over Alicia Fox & Katie Lea Burchill & Maryse & Natalya & Jillian Hall
--Matt Serra talks about his match against Frank Trigg, which got no time on the Countdown show, at http://www.newsday.com/sports/mixed-martial-arts/matt-serra-is-no-joke-in -the-octagon-1.1726120
--The new episode of Tough Talk is at http://heavytoughtalk.hipcast.com/deluge/755e57d9-98dd-0d99-2650-be-76c71 ce2c7.mp3
--Mick Foley will be on KLAV in Las Vegas at 8 p.m. tomorrow night plugging his 2/6 Total Xtreme Comedy show in Las Vegas. You can listen at http://klav1230am.com
--CZW results from Saturday night at the Arena in Philadelphia: Drew Gulak over Ryan Slater, Little Mondo and Jon Dahmer, Joe Gacy b D.J. Hyde, Tyler Veritas NC Adam Cole, Devon Moore b Lucky, Ryan McBride & Rich Swann b Spanish Armada, Nick Gage b Eddie Kingston, J.C. Bailey b xOMGx, B-Boy b Drake Younger, Greg Excellent b Drew Blood, Ego Fantastico b Scotty Vortekz, Necro Butcher & Danny Havoc b Sami Callihan & Jon Moxley, The Best Around b Blkout to earn the rights to the Blkout name and keep the tag titles. Next show is 2/13 with B-Boy vs. Jon Moxley for the CZW title and Necro Butcher vs. Callihan as the main events.
--Poll on Smackdown
Excellent 38.8%
Good 41.1%
Average 8.1%
Fair 5.7%
Poor 6.2%
27.2% of those responding didn't see the show. Those are some of the best numbers for a show in several weeks.
--Should Herschel Walker fight again?
Yes 67.3%
No 32.7%
--If you were Bobby Lashley, would you?
Do pro wrestling full-time 6.3%
Do MMA full-time 69.4%
Continue what he's doing 24.3%
--Poll on Impact on Thursday
Excellent 19.1%
Good 33.4%
Average 18.8%
Fair 7.2%
Poor 21.6%
22.3% of those responding didn't see the show
--Poll on Superstars
Excellent 14.4%
Good 21.2%
Average 26.9%
Fair 7.7%
Poor 29.8%
58.2% of those responding didn't see the show
--Biggest Japanese star of the past 20 years?
Mitsuharu Misawa 32.1%
Keiji Muto 29.8%
Kenta Kobashi 20.6%
Kazushi Sakuraba 6.7%
Shinya Hashimoto 3.5%
Masahiro Chono 2.5%
Nobuhiko Takada 2.0%
Akira Maeda 1.0%
Kensuke Sasaki 1.0%
Yoshihiro Takayama 0.8%
--Mixed Fight League on 2/27 at the Complex Sports Claude Robillard in Montreal headlined by David Loiseau vs. Isidro Gonzales. Through the work of Loiseau, $2 of every ticket goes to the Red Cross to help earthquake victims in Haiti. Loiseau had both family and friends among the victims and wanted to do a fund raiser. Also former UFC vet Marvin Eastman will face former hockey fighter Steve Bosse
--WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 was the best selling video game for PS2 in Australia. (thanks to Jereme Warneck)
--FCW will debut on 3/13 on WBFS-Ch. 33 in the Miami area to build up the first show in Miami at the Dade County Fair on 4/3
--Jesse Hernandez will be promoting a Louie Spicolli Memorial show on 2/19 as a benefit for the Red Cross fund for Haiti earthquake victims with donations going in Spicolli's name at the American Sports University in San Bernardino
--Don't have an attendance number but Mistico on Saturday night in El Paso drew a packed ballroom in El Paso in a rare U.S. appearance: Principe RBD & Drako b Ghost Rider & ?, Samuray & Samuray Jr. & Trimigestro b Scorpio Jr. & Rey Infernal & ?, Rey Escorpion & Freddy Kruger b Sexy Flower & Principe RBD 2, Blackfish & Crazy 32 & Crazy 33 b Magno & El Hijo del Marquez & La Divina-DQ, Mistico & El Hijo del Fantasma b Ultimo Guerrero & El Texano Jr. Real good match with La Mistica on Texano. They announced Hector Garza, Negro Casas, Maximo, Shocker, La Sombra, Felino and Valiente would be coming in.
--AAW on 2/19 in Davenport, IA a the Central Rec Center has a Battle Royal with the winner facing Silas Young for the title, plus House of Truth vs. Tyler Black & Jimmy Jacobs, as well as Keith Walker, Kyle O'Reilly, Tony Kozina and Mike Sydal. They also run 2/27 back in Berwyn, IL at the Eagles Club with Young vs. Shane Hollister for the AAW title and Colt Cabana vs. Arik Cannon for the Heritage title in 2/3 falls, plus Tyler Black, Jimmy Jacobs and more.
--OVW all cage match show from Saturday night in Louisville: Fang b Joey Barone, James the Saved & Benjamin the Blessed b Head of OVW Security, Scott Hunter & Nick Nelson b Off da Hook, Taryn Shay over C.J. Lane and Epiphany, Asher Knight b Kamikaze Kid, James Thomas b Rudy Switchblade to keep OVW title, Turkan Celik won gauntlet match to become top contender for the OVW title (thanks to Jason Frost)
--NYWC from Saturday night in Deer Park: Big Daddy Haystacks (where did he get that name) won Battle Royal, Mortis (managed by James Mitchell) b High Society, Dickie Rodz b Azrieal, Papadon b Quiet Storm, Bruno Marciano and Josh Daniels in an Iron man mach, Dirty Rednex won Joker Wild card and became new tag champs, Alex Reynolds b Joey Braggiol, Dan Eckos b John Silver, Maverick b King Mega to win heavyweight title. Next show is 2/20.
--XWA Goldrush in the last wrestling event at the Morecambe Dome in England before 350 fans: El Ligero over Tiger Bailey, Marty Scrull and C.J. Banks, Sam Slam b Rockstar Spud-DQ, Stixx b Baz Attitude, R.J. Singh b Tom Labert, Johnny Phere won Rumble (thanks to Mike Fitzgerald and Greg Lambert).
--XWA announced they would be moving to the Carleton on Morecambe Promenade, just yards away from the Morecambe Dome, starting on 4/3
--Dynamic Championship Wrestling on 2/6 in Springfield, OH at the Limestone YMCA
--WWA on Friday night in Melbourne, FL: Craig Classic b Marty Con, Dark City Fight Club b New Heavenly Bodies, Sinn Bodhi (Kizarney) b Bruce Santee, Frankie Capone b Titan, The Sheik b Jesse Neal-DQ, Jake Roberts b Tommy Taylor (thanks to Mike Richman)
--Future Shock Wrestling from yesterday in Cheshire, UK: Simon Valour b Jack Toxic, Sparx b Dirk Feelgood, April Davids & Melanie Price b Team Blossom, Alex Shane b Danny Sensation, Zack Diamond & Mike Fitzgerald b Chris Egan & Hamish Campbell, Nordic Warrior & Baron Syn b Jimmy O'Shea & Danny Boy Evans, Alex Cyanide b Damon Leigh, Raynaldo & Vitamin C b Stixx & Dave Breaks & Paul Malen
--NWA MSW TV taping on 2/6 in Hinton, WV at the Summers County Memorial Building
--APW Gym Wars returns on 2/6 in Hayward, CA at the garage
--Combat Championship Wrestling on 2/5 in St. Petersburg, FL at the Advantage Village Academy Gym
--Mitch Ryder vs. Chris Hamrick headlines on 2/12 at Belindas Nite Club in Cleveland for Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling
--Bill DeMott and wife Lacey DeMott have opened a New Energy Wrestling training center in McDonough, GA. They are doing a camp 2/18 to 2/20 and plan on doing local shows.
--A web site called http://www.stalkingstevephillips.com has the 10 greatest pro wrestling ring entrances. They list Undertaker as No. 1. Believe it or not, Bryan Danielson's ring entrance cracked the top ten.
--John Mills is handling bookings for Greg Valentine and Tommy Rich at 1-513-251-3576 or
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
between March and August for all weekends for shows, flea markets, seminars and any kind of appearances.
--HPW on 2/6 in Columbus, IN at the 4-H Fairgrounds