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The big head-to-head Randy Couture/Dana White conference call battle wasn't quite as big a deal as I'd hoped. Randy's press conference was largely boring, with him explaining that, no, he did not make nearly $4 million per fight from UFC, and although there was a slight chance of the two sides coming to terms again he mostly felt that it was time to move on. Dana's conference was largely to gush over Brock Lesnar and Spike TV (more in a moment) and promote the hell out of Wanderlei Silva vs. Chuck Liddell in December. He was more confident that they could get a deal done with Randy, but also went completely ballistic on Randy's agent. He said he liked Kurt, but that he'd "get his fucking ass kicked" if he thought he could go into MMA and streamroll through guys, and also claimed Fedor Emelianenko wasn't even a top five heavyweight in 2007. When it comes to soundbytes, Dana is the king. We'll have much more in the next few days and in next week's newsletter.Regarding UFC and Spike, the new three-year deal was signed and both sides love each other again. They've agreed to seasons 9 through 12 of Ultimate Fighter (7 and 8 are part of the last deal), 12 live fight cards (four per year), two seasons of "a new, weekly live fight series", and 39 new episodes of UFC Unleashed. Dana said both sides are working on some cool new concepts, and that the proposed live fight series will feature guys at a level above those currently seen on TUF.
Sorry this is up late today. The Apostle Paul tried to cut the DETHTOUR off early. After X-rays, antibiotics and a tetanus shot (???), apparently I will be fine.
Raw did a 3.3 this week and ECW did a 1.4, both up from the recent lows.
ECW will not be airing on Christmas Day, so no show that week.
Paul Buentello vs. Alistair Overeem added to the November 16th Strikeforce show to determine a new heavyweight champion.
Also, regarding the upcoming Strikeforce one-night tournament, all tourney matches will consist of two five-minute rounds.
The CSAC released its drug violations report for the last six months. Kickboxing had 2 violations. Boxing had 8. MMA had 33. And people say MMA and pro-wrestling are nothing alike. Full breakdown in next week's newsletter.
A quick newsletter correction. April Hunter has retired from in-ring wrestling due to a spinal injury, but NOT managing. She's relocated to Louisville and is actively pursuing bookings.
ROH Champion Nigel McGuinness is off all bookings for the time being with a biceps injury. He has an MRI Friday and will have the results by Tuesday.
TNA canceled a THIRD press conference for the December show in Monterrey, Mexico. They also have a show scheduled in El Toreo that has sold almost no tickets. Things may be bleak for this tour.
Condemned was number fifteen in rentals this week.
Thursday's scheduled Dave Meltzer show will be postponed as he's up to his neck in work. It'll take place sometime this weekend if all goes well. In the meantime, we've already done THREE Figure Four Dailies this week, with Keith Lipinski (who posed for our headline picture today with the great DON FRYE shortly after Frye's second unsanctioned fight of the evening Saturday), Mike Lano and Blue Meanie, all at some point discussing the DOOM AT THE COW PALACE. We've got some good reviews for all three, so check them out if you haven't already. Friday's Figure Four Daily will be with Greg Oliver of SLAM! Wrestling, author of a number of books including the new one on Benoit. If you have any questions about anything related in any way to Canadian wrestling, post them on the BOARD! We'll also have two more Bryan & Vinny Shows this weekend, our usual Friday night episode and a post Cyber Sunday edition following the PPV!
Jeremy Bixler interviews Mike Coughlin about UFC 77 here.
There is a huge interview with Bret Hart available here. Over an hour in length. Bret will also be our guest on Wrestling Observer Live in two weeks.
Speaking of, Jericho on Observer Live here. Thanks to cutrer for archiving all the shows on the BOARD. Our Figure Four Daily interview with him is also up in our members-only archives.
Jericho was also on Between the Ropes Wednesday night. Show should be up for download soon here.
Bret on Off the Record is up here.
Candace is out 6-8 weeks with her cracked collarbone, which won't need surgery.
Talia Madison officially signed with TNA.
Adam writes: BBC’s Inside Out in the Midlands today showed a feature on Twinkletoes (Martin Evans) training in DCW. A clip was shown at the start of the program with Twinkletoes talking to Finlay who advised him to get the next plane back home. The feature started with a very brief shots of OVW, and how Twinkletoes always wanted to be in wrestling. Brief discussion about his past watching World of Sport, and wrestling in his primary school. He has hundreds of wrestling memorabilia (pictures, tickets etc) around his house and how he wanted to move to America to try professional wrestling. There was an interview with the rest of his family about how they dislike wrestling. They show him training with Rip Rogers in the ring and he shows him how to do a lock-up, headlock etc. Rip throws Twinkletoes out the ring very hard and shows him flexing (not a pretty site), Rip then gets all the trainees to take it in turn to stretch Twinkletoes etc. One of the insurgency tells him ‘welcome to professional wrestling’. He goes to see a chiropractor to help his back, as they describe how tough wrestling is on your body ! Clips of his first show in DCW commentating, including clips of the DCW show as a whole (including Ted McNaler). He talked about how hard it was in the wrestling business, but did not want to give up. Very short feature, I don’t know if they will be doing any follow up features as they ended the feature quickly. The episode (Midlands edition) should be available here very soon.
The end of Randy Couture's relationship with UFC headlines the new, nearly 28,000-word Figure Four Weekly newsletter! We've got the full story of what went down, how he alerted UFC, the fascinating way in which he did it, and what his issues with the company were. We'll discuss how much he made and what others were paid, where there might have been miscommunication, why the company didn't get Fedor, what Randy's major Fedor-related demands were, and how Dana responded both initially and after hearing some of the things Randy had to say. We've got quotes from both Dana and Randy about the situation and about Fedor and other related issues. We'll talk about who Fedor signed with, what this group is all about, how long they've been around, plans for the future, who may have purchased them, what the plans are for the UFC Heavyweight Title and who is in line for the belt, and, perhaps most importantly, whether Randy vs. Fedor will ever take place. We'll discuss the legal ramifications involved, Randy's contract and what it says, what he believes and what UFC believes, what this means for the future of UFC, and tons more. It's the biggest MMA story in the year and we've got in-depth coverage. Also, a big story on the potential merger of ECW and Smackdown, including why it's coming about, why ECW is underperforming and how bad, the directive Vince McMahon sent, who is in charge of ECW and who may be in charge of the combined brand, how this affects the entire USA/Universal/WWE relationship, how Raw fits into all of this, how WWE's decline in PPV fits into all of this, and much more. This story has the potential to be huge. Our third major headline story is a full run down and analysis of TNA's version of WrestleMania -- Bound for Glory 2007. Results of all the matches, star ratings, what worked and what didn't work, backstage notes, injuries, the whole nine yards. Other major stories include what happened with Booker T and WWE and why they parted ways, what Booker's demands were before re-signing, the carefully worded WWE announcement, why Teddy Hart got fired, what this means for the future of the Hart Foundation, plans for this past week with Harry that ended up being changed, more on concussions including a baffling statement by WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt, update on Rock's film, wrestler gets letter from Congress, Raw ratings of late and thoughts on why things are so bad, two people quit WWE for the stupidest reason imaginable, the entire story behind both of their tenures, why Robert Gibson got released, Iron Sheik update, Cyber Sunday update, thoughts on Batista's book and the new Benoit book, including notes from a review not yet published, California taxing pro-wrestling, TNA ratings, Dixie Carter interview notes, TNA on the road with house shows, Karen Angle's thoughts on getting in the ring, UFC line-up and thoughts for this weekend, Liddell vs. Silva update, Matt Hughes on what would have happened if they wouldn't let him hand out Bibles, UFC ratings, more drug test failures, big fight added to December Fight Night, Dana White talks comparisons to Vince McMahon, new MMA company starting in Japan to fill the void left by PRIDE, what their plans are, whether they have a TV deal, the overall state of combat sports in Japan and what has happened over the past two years to really hurt it, Mark Cuban runs first show, Frank Shamrock axed from company, Ken Shamrock considers fight with Frank, Pro Elite teaming with Contender creator to start new show, Tank vs. Kimbo update, awesome interview with Nick Diaz, tournaments return to MMA, John Graziano update, Jonny Fairplay legal update, a new wrestling movie starring Nicholas Cage, tons of lucha news and notes including the full story on how Blue Demon Jr. nearly lost his mask, ROH notes, Vince reviews some Mid-Atlantic from 1978, and I have full reviews of every major TV show including Raw, Smackdown, TNA, Ultimate Fighter, and TONS more! Of course, as a member you also get full access to ALL new and archived radio shows dating back to 2005, plus all the new and archived (320-plus issues) Figure Four Weekly newsletters dating back to 2001. To sign up, please click here, or PayPal users can use the Quick Buy link at the top of this page to be online within 60 seconds. Rates start at just $7.99 per month (27 cents a DAY), so it's a steal. Thanks for your support!
Our latest FREE radio show, the October 9 Bryan & Vinny Show, can be downloaded here.
My newest Fight Network column is here with a look at the doom of ECW. If you like the columns, they're about 1/25th the length of each issue of Figure Four Weekly, and we've got 300 back issues archived from 2002-today, all available 24/7 with an online membership to this site. See below for more info and ordering details.
Thanks to the Great Estilo Latino for our new banner, and ICHIBAN~! for the DethTour idea. For information on the November 15th Louisville match with Ted McNaylor, click here. For info on Reading, PA and the Philadelphia match with Larry Sweeney, click here. Newark will be UFC 78.
An awesome Lance Storm column about the art of the promo
Brian Fritz with an interview with Booker T
Irv Muchnick on hormone replacement therapy
Latest FHM Magazine update on the DIVA SEARCH~!
Blue Meanie very upset about the San Francisco debacle
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For the most in-depth and detailed news and analysis on pro-wrestling and MMA, always turn to Wrestlingobserver.com/Figure Four Weekly Online, the #1 website of its kind on the Internet. Members receive online access to both the Wrestling Observer and Figure Four Weekly newsletters and growing archives, Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer three times per week, the popular Bryan and Vinny Show twice per week, additional radio shows including Figure Four Daily with Alvarez, Mike Coughlin's Five Star Radio, the Dr. Keith Lipinski Show, The Adam and Mike Big Audio Nightmare, Tough Talk and the Karl Stern Wrestling History Show, the infamous BOARD, and more! Members also have full access to the thousands of hours of audio in our radio show archives which date back to 2005. For your convenience, we offer secure online payments using your VISA, Mastercard, American Express, Discover card or PayPal account. Don't miss out on the fun, sign up now! Don\'t miss out on the fun, sign up now!
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