THURS. UPDATE: BENOIT LAWSUIT FILED; EX-WWE CHAMP CRITICIZES WHITE'S BOOKING; WWE BOUTS
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TNA Impact lineup for tonight at 9 p.m. on Spike
*Alex Shelley & Jay Lethal vs. Team 3-D
*Samoa Joe vs. Booker T first blood
*Samoa Joe vs. Scott Steiner first blood
*A.J. Styles vs. Shane Douglas
*Kurt Angle vs. Sting King of the Mountain qualifier
Plus more fun with Mick Foley and Jeff Jarrett
Lineup for WWE Superstars tonight at 8 p.m. on WGN America
*Evan Bourne vs. Zack Ryder
*Bella Twins vs. Beth Phoenix & Rosa Mendes
*John Morrison vs. Chris Jericho
Scheduled for UFC Unleashed tonight from 7-9 p.m. on Spike:
*Rory Singer vs. Josh Haynes
*Georges St. Pierre vs. Sean Sherk
*Anderson Silva vs. Rich Franklin
*Randy Couture vs. Mike Van Arsdale
*Frank Mir vs. Tank Abbott
*Chuck Liddell vs. Jeremy Horn
Sorting out the chaos that is WWE over the past week is the lead story in this coming Monday's issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The issue also has full coverage of WWE Extreme Rules, WEC 41 and Strikeforce, as well as a look at the buy rates for several of the most recent big shows including Wrestlemania, what they mean, as well as the numbers for the recent MMA events.
We sort out the booking moves that were made this past week involving Batista, Umaga, and others, who knew what when, as well as why Vickie Guerrero left, when she made the decision and what reasons she gave. We look at the long-term ideas that were on the table for Batista and Umaga that are now off, as well as notes on an even bigger star that some of the WWE wrestlers were talking about possibly being the next to leave.
We go through the Batista injury, the next PPV, the next Raw, Batista's injury record, Punk's future, the original plans with Vickie Guerrero, as well as updates on Jeff Hardy and Kane.
The issue is available right now for web site subscribers, and you can get a mail subscription to the Observer with information below.
We also look at the Extreme Rules PPV, with an interesting note on the number of major title changes the company is doing and comparing it with other companies, poll results, and match-by-match coverage with star ratings.
We examine the PPV numbers for Wrestlemania and Backlash, how much each show is down from last year, the key element of why Wrestlemania did surprisingly well, as well as updates on records set.
We also look at the WWE's new signing on why so many questions are being asked about it, as well as looking at Donna Goldsmith's statement about MMA not having any stars or storylines, as well as some fears regarding comments being made by a WWE personality having the potential to hurt the company from the sponsorship side, and where WWE right now is the most popular, and how much the popularity has gained in the past few months.
We also look at where the WEC is after its biggest fight in history. We look at the company going forward, what the ratings of the show told, who is watching and who wasn't watching. We also have business notes on the show and match-by-match coverage with all the fighters purses, and poll results.
We also have a feature on the Gina Carano vs. Cris Cyborg fight and if it will hit its potential, why the decision was made to put it where it is, the weight issue, and more notes. We also look at the ratings for the most recent Strikeforce show and match-by-match coverage.
We also have our usual weekly features including ratings for all the major national shows, broken down with demo numbers, as well as results from the major league arena events held around the world, and the major TV show reviews.
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Also in this week's issue:
--Top star knee surgery update
--Top star in international group threatens to join WWE
--The tournament of champions event in Mexico
--Court case before a major show regarding whether a top star can appear as well as update on battles with the commission
--Update on Santo and AAA
--Final update on TripleMania
--The biggest attended match in Mexican history and feud is being brought back this week
--Updates on Teddy Hart and Jack Evans
--WWE titles to be defended outside WWE on an overseas show
--TNA cut back to Puerto Rico as a top star
--Update on Dragon Gate USA shows
--Hall of Famer does first traditional pro wrestling match in two decades
--A look at Keiji Muto's 25th anniversary show
--An 18-year-old being talked about already as a potential international top star
--Kenta Kobashi wins first title in four years
--More on Kobashi's summer plans
--First meeting of two world championships
--Lots of big matches coming for NOAH
--NOAH star entering bodybuilding competition
--New Japan Best of the Super Junior tournament news
--Hulk Hogan, Linda Bollea, drug testing and court cases
--Notes on next ROH PPV show
--Notes on next ROH TV tapings
--HDNet makes a call on a wrestler they didn't want on the show
--Update on Slammiversary
--Notes on Samoa Joe's planned return
--TNA overseas plans
--TNA looking at international superstars
--TNA house show notes
--Business notes on UFC 98
--More on the bill to legalize MMA in New York and notes on why the bill is completely unfair
--UFC's popularity peak
--Plans for Machida's first title defense
--More news for next season's Ultimate Fighter including a former champion will be in the cast
--Notes on lawsuit filed against Tito Ortiz
--More on Mirko Cro Cop's relationship with UFC
--Show held in Las Vegas on UFC 100 weekend
--Top star in next to last match and his opponent announced
--Update on Super Hulk tournament
--Gold medalist decides against doing MMA for three years
--Former Heisman Trophy winner says he will debut in MMA this year
--Former IWGP champ faces the man who beat Fedor last year
--What was ordered confiscated at the last WWE tapings
--WWE marketing to Hispanics
--More on the Jim Mitchell situation with Steve Keirn in Florida
--Best selling wrestling and MMA DVDs
--Lots more cuts
--Bourne on the old vs. new ECW
--RVD and his movie career
New subscribers ordering 24 or 40 issues have to let us know what major story (ies) of the past 11 years you are most interested in and we'll send the issue with the best coverage of that story. We've got coverage of every major PPV event and world wide spectacular, every major star switching promotions, histories of companies like FMW, Rings and New Japan, retirement and obit issues of every major star who fits into those descriptions over the past 11 years, as well as our biggest issue every year, the annual awards issue, and our most controversial issue of every year, the Hall of Fame issue. Our most requested issues in our history are:
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--The family of Nancy Benoit has sued Dr. Phil Astin in a wrongful death lawsuit, claiming he did not do his job as a doctor in what he prescribed to Chris Benoit, and the result was the death of Nancy and Daniel. Story is in today's Atlanta Journal Constitution at
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/fayette/stories/2009/06/11/ The key component of this story is that they are only suing Astin. At one point a few years ago, it appeared they were primed to sue WWE, but in the end, clearly they must not have thought they had a case against them.
--The Association of Boxing Commissions attempted to shut down Saturday night's Tim Sylvia vs. Ray Mercer boxing match in a cage because, well, it's in a cage and because it is illegal to hold boxing matches in the U.S. without being regulated. Since it was in Alabama, which has no commission, they used the River Cree Sports Commission out of Edmonton as the regulatory body. However, it is illegal to use a regulatory body that is not American for a fight on U.S. soil. They also questioned John McCarthy as referee because he has no sanctioning to referee a boxing match. However, there is a loophole in the law in that MMA is not under the same laws, and unregulated MMA takes place in Alabama all the time. So, the fight is now an MMA match, presumably with Sylvia having a gentleman's agreement to only box. Told ya this stuff was going to wind up sleazy as hell.
--The UFC sent out a press release that they are opening their first gym in Concord, CA on 6/17, this coming Wednesday, at the Willows Shopping Center. They have already announced plans to expand such gyms worldwide, including a St. Pierre Gym in Montreal and a Penn Gym in Hawaii.
--UFC Undisputed was No. 4 in rentals for XBox for he week ending 6/1. For the week ending 6/6, it was No. 3 in sales in the U.K. (thanks to Jereme Warneck)
--It looks like another Evan Bourne vs. Mark Henry match at the ECW taping on Tuesday night in Roanoke.
--Shaver Hansen, the son of Stan, was the sixth round draft choice of the Seattle Mariners in yesterday's baseball draft. Hansen played at Baylor and was one of the nation's top college home run hitters. (thanks to Mark Coale and others)
--JBL did an interview at
http://www.oddjack.com saying that Dana White made a bad choice in booking the first Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar fight. What the???? JBL clearly isn't paying close enough attention. His feeling is Lesnar should have been given eight easy fights before a tough one, which under normal circumstances would make sense. However, in hindsight, the booking was brilliant, because Mir won the first one, the second one is going to probably be the biggest buy rate in MMA history and likely the biggest fight of any kind in history on PPV that doesn't have Holyfield, De La Hoya or Tyson as the headliner.
--Best of the current world champs
C.M. Punk 16.5%
Jun Akiyama 4.6%
Mick Foley 4.6%
Tommy Dreamer 4.2%
Jerry Lynn 4.0%
Ultimo Guerrero 2.8%
Yoshihiro Takayama 1.0%
Manabu Nakanishi 0.9%
Mesias 0.9%
My God, who would have ever believed this list one year ago 60.5%
--Best current UFC champion
Georges St. Pierre 40.0%
Anderson Silva 17.3%
Lyoto Machida 17.2%
Brock Lesnar 16.5%
Miguel Torres 3.9%
Mike Brown 2.0%
Frank Mir 1.7%
B.J. Penn 1.4%
--When Donna Goldsmith said UFC has no stars and no storylines, what did she really think:
She has been told it so many times that she doesn't know any better and believes it 46.8%
Is just saying what she's been told because that's the corporate world 43.8%
Honestly believes it and completely understands the situation 5.7%
Believes different 3.7%
--ROH weekend lineups are tomorrow night in Manassas, VA with Jerry Lynn vs. Tyler Black, Davey Richards vs. Jay Briscoe, Bryan Danielson vs. Kenny King, Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Nick & Matt Jackson, Sonjay Dutt vs. Jimmy Jacobs Austin Aries vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Roderick Strong vs. D-Lo Brown and more. Ric Flair will be doing an autograph session at the show at 6 p.m.
--They also run Saturday night at the Hammerstein Ballroom with a Flair autograph session, plus Lynn vs. Aries for the ROH title with Flair as outside the ring ref, American Wolves vs. Steen & Generico in a submissions match for the tag title, Black vs. Jacobs first blood, Danielson vs. Colt Cabana vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brown, Jimmy Rave vs. Necro Butcher, Dutt vs. Strong, Jacksons vs. Kenny King & Rhett Titus and Jay Brisco vs. Guido Maritato.
--ROH also has its final PPV, Take No Prisoners, tomorrow night with KENTA & Tyler Black vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Austin Aries, Jerry Lynn vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Erick Stevens vs. D-Lo Brown for the ROH title, Jacobs vs Butcher no holds barred, Strong vs. Alex Koslov, Brent Albright vs. Castagnoli vs. Blue Demon Jr., Steen & Generico & Jay Briscoe & Magno vs. Chris Hero & Wolves & Incognito and opening with Cabana vs. Ace Steel
--If you are looking for free tickets for the ROH TV tapings on 6/19 and 6/20, you can be in a drawing by sending your name and complete mailing address to
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Also note which show you can attend.
--The 6/27 Chicago match with D-Lo Brown vs. Erick Stevens has been changed to Brown vs. Bryan Danielson\
--WWE is looking for a new ring announcer. Basically, they are looking for Lilian Garcia as they've placed an ad an ActorsAccess.com looking for a young, attractive female to sing the national anthem and be a regular television wrestling ring announcer. The biggest joke is they claim WWE is seen in 500 million households in 150 countries. Well, over the course of the year, 52 weeks, sure, they'll hit 500 million with a household like mine being about 175 all in one.
--Future Stars of Wrestling is planning a show on UFC 100 weekend in Las Vegas, a 4 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. Among those appearing will be Disco Inferno, Kenny King, Derrick Neikirk, Nick & Matt Jackson and Michael Modest.
--More deals at Best Buy include TNA Cross the Line 3 DVD set with Victory Road, No Surrender and Hard Justice for $6.99. They also have 11 other TNA DVDs available for $4.99 each. (thanks to Scott Whitt and Ken Hamblin)
--WWC's big show of the week will be Sunday in Yauco instead of Saturday, as they are taking the night off so as not to compete with the Miguel Cotto fight. Thunder & Lightning defend the tag titles against La Pesadilla & Idol Stevens, and Shane the Glamor Boy (Sewell) vs. Steve Corino, plus a Battle Royal to determine who gets a Puerto Rican title shot at the Aniversario event on 7/11
--Monday night in Puebla: Astro Boy & Guerrero Maya & Hijo del Ultraman b Rene Guajardo Jr. & Kid Tiger & Puma King, Pequeno Damian 666 & Pequeno Violencia & Pierrothito b Bracito de Oro & Electrico & Shockercito, Felino & Negro Casas & Mr. Niebla b Shocker & La Sombra & Volador Jr., Atlantis & Misterioso Jr. & Ultimo Guerrero b Averno & El Terrible & El Texano Jr.-DQ
--Tonight in Puerto Vallarta has Marco Corleone & Mesias vs. Chessman & Ozz. IWRG in Naucalpan has Fuerza & Juventud Guerrera vs. Black Terry & Dr. Cerebro. (thanks to Kris Zellner)
--Tons of MMA on TV in Sweden this weekend. Tomorrow has The Zone FC (Swedish group) on TV4Sport and Icon Sport headlined by Kala Kolohe Hose vs. Phil Baroni in Viasat. Saturday has UFC 99 on TV4Sport live and Dream 8 on Viasat. Monday has the 4/21 K-1 Max and an Elite XC show on Viasat (thanks to Daniel Carlsson)
--Here's a crazy ratings stat. In Memphis, they aired the same TV show on both 5/30 and 6/6. On 5/30 the show did a 0.1 rating and 1,620 viewers and on 6/6, it did a 1.5 rating and 24,000 viewers, including peaking at 31,000 for a Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee match. That reminds me in 1989 when somehow there was a screw-up at TBS and they put the wrong WCW show on, a show from several weeks earlier and everyone in the company was thinking they'd do terrible numbers, and they actually did about the same as they always did. (thanks to Brian Tramel)
--Jersey All Pro Wrestling on 6/27 in Jersey City, NJ at the Golden Door Charter School with Jay Lethal vs. Dan Maff for the heavyweight title, plus B.G. & Kip James, ODB, Necro Butcher, B-Boy, Eddie Kingston, Kevin Thorn, Sonjay Dutt and more
--NWA MSW on 6/13 in Hinton, WV and the Summers County Memorial Building
--M-1's next TV taping will be 7/4 in Seoul, South Korea with Team South Korea vs. Team Brazil, Team USA West vs. Russia Imperial and Team Bulgaria vs. Team Finland
--NAAFS MMA tomorrow night in Sandusky, OH at the Rockin Horse Entertainment Complex
--Round 5 Series 3 action figures of Andrei Arlovski, John McCarthy Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira hit the retail outlets this week
--Joe Rogan will have a comedy special airing on Spike on 6/20 at midnight Eastern time, after the UFC TUF finals broadcast. It's a taped from a show in March in Columbus, OH. It's similar to his usual comedy act, except if it's on TV, it's going to have to be toned down somewhat. It's the first comedy special ever co-produced by Spike and UFC.
--Lisa Varon posted on mypsace that the reason she went to TNA is because she didn't enjoy her role in WWE and didn't think it would be changing, the brutal travel schedule and that in TNA the schedule is easier and she can work without limitations. A funny line is that people have brought up whether this will affect her chance of being "elected" into the WWE Hall of Fame. She said she didn't think WWE would hold it against her. Insert your own joke here.
--Flip Kendrick and Johnny Gargano were announced as appearing in pre-show matches for Dragon Gate USA on 7/25 in Philadelphia and 9/6 in Chicago. Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino will be on the Chicago show.
--MCPW on Saturday night in Roscommon, MI with Petey Williams
--Fedor Emelianenko appeared on "My Wife is a SuperWoman," a South Korean drama that aired Tuesday night in Los Angeles. It was a comedy show where a guy lost his wife to another guy, challenged him to a fight, and then got knocked out, finding out the guy was a special forces member of the South Korean army. He then met Fedor and asked him to destroy the guy for him, and Fedor did just that. (thanks to Jose Gonzalez)
