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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Nov 25, 2002 13:45:00 GMT -5
Scott Steiner News, RVD/RAW, Bradshaw & More
Scott Steiner's former valet Midejia is on the Fox Sports Web page in a contest with other lovely ladies to determine who has the best hard body. As in Chicago, vote early and often. Each woman has multiple pictures of them on the page.
The trailer for the upcoming movie Biker Boyz, currently online at Apple.com, uses Rob Van Dam's entrance music "One of a Kind" in about half of the trailer. The movie stars Laurence Fishburne and is about motorcycle racing, and the music fit in pretty well.
Bradshaw was sitting front row at UFC 40 this past Friday night.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Nov 25, 2002 13:48:45 GMT -5
Hulk Hogan/WWE Relationship, Disco Inferno, & More
The following news is derived and re-written from the Torch Newsletter.
As widely documented in recent weeks, the promotion on WWE television towards Hulk Hogan's book is not a sign of a return for the Hulkster. WWE and Hogan are in on it together, and it's plain smart business to help promote the book, as it puts coin in the pockets of WWE as well.
Another reason for the promotional drive towards Hogan's book, being that Vince McMahon obviously doesn't need the money, is that many feel the interest in pro wrestling autobiographies has dropped off since Kurt Angle came out with his book. The book industry has lost a lot of interest in wrestling books, and WWE feels that a big name like Hogan releasing a book on his career is something that could draw back some of the attention to wrestler's who come out with books.
I will be interviewing Disco Inferno in a couple of days. Anyone who wants to send in questions for me to ask Disco during the interview can click here to email me.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Nov 25, 2002 13:52:26 GMT -5
Update On Syxx-Pac & Chyna Getting Married, more
The following news is derived and re-written from the Torch Newsletter.
RAW ended at 11:00PM sharp last week because TNN has grown frustrated with the fact that they have been abusing the amount of time they are given for the overrun. The overrun, which is only supposed to go 7 minutes past the hour, has turned into 10 and 15 minutes in recent weeks, which TNN isn't pleased with due to pushing back the start-time of the highly promoted reruns of CSI that they paid top-dollar to air. Whether or not WWE was told to end the show, or they did it on their own to avoid further frustration from TNN, isn't really known.
Sean Waltman is currently going through divorce procedues with the mother of his two children. Waltman and Laurer are legitimately engaged despite those who felt it was nothing more than an unsupported rumor. The engagement was officially announced during Laurer's appearance on "The Best d**n Sports Show Period." Many expected nothing more than Laurer running down her work in Japan, until she dropped the bombshell that her "fiancee'" was in the crowd, which was Sean Waltman. The two had been engaged several weeks prior to the show where she officially announced it, but that was the first public acknowledgement.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Nov 25, 2002 14:00:03 GMT -5
Steve Austin Update, Chris Jericho, Bret Hart's Condition
Steve Austin's appearance with the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders at Circuit City in Virgina drew nearly 5,000 fans, just for his autograph session. That is more than WWE has been drawing to a lot of house show in strong markets lately. Looks as though there is a quick-fix solution for the WWE attendance problems.
Chris Jericho is going to be the guest on TSN's "Off The Record" with Michael Landsberg this coming Tuesday, November 26th. It will be an interview with Chris Jericho, mostly wrestling related, most likely some Fozzy promotion, and airs at 6:00PM Eastern Time.
Bret Hart's mailing list recently sent out an injury progress update on the condition of Bret Hart. Bret has progressed to the point in his rehab from the stroke he suffered back in June where he is able to finally drive a car again. To keep up-to-date with Bret Hart, you can sign up for his official mailing list at BretHart.com.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Nov 26, 2002 14:38:46 GMT -5
New Armageddon Poster & Preview, Split News, Hogan Update
Hollywood Hulk Hogan will be signing his autobiography 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 17 at Wal*Mart, 19910 Bruce Downs Rd. in Tampa, FL. WWE will be presenting WWE Armageddon on Dec 17th in Ft. Lauderdale, it will be interesting to see with Hogan in the area if he makes an apperance at any of the house shows or the PPV itself.
The McMahon family is very happy with the way the split has gone thus far and they have no plans to blend the Smackdown! & Raw rosters together anytime in the near future.
Here is the PPV.com preview of WWE Armageddon:
Desire. Lust. Passion. Their hunger to become champion grows stronger with each waking breath. World Wrestling Entertainment presents Armageddon, LIVE on iN DEMAND Sunday, December 15 at 8:00pm EST (Countdown show to begin at 7:30pm EST).
Thanks to Josh Adkins for sending in the following:
A new poster has been released to promote Armageddon with Torrie Wilson appearing in a clad silver suit. Not much else to discuss about the poster with no teasers really revealed.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Nov 26, 2002 14:42:17 GMT -5
Steve Austin Sentenced To Full Year Of Probation
Steve Austin pleaded no contest to the domestic assault charges filed against him at the Bexar County Couthouse today in Texas.
By the terms of a plea bargain, he was sentenced to a full year of probation, and a $1,000 fine. In addition to that, Austin has to go through counseling and perform community service.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Nov 26, 2002 14:54:02 GMT -5
Backstage RAW News: RVD Sick Going Into Tonight's Match
As you know, the RAW crew is back in the US for tonight's show, after doing their tour of India.
Sources I have spoken to claim that RVD developed a case of the flu in India. Not only will that affect his performance tonight, but he also has the natural exhaustion of traveling to and from India.
Therefore, although HBK will be close to 100%, RVD will be a notch below his normal level, which could end up hurting the match.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Nov 26, 2002 14:57:16 GMT -5
Triple H's Injury, His Return To RAW, & More
It is widely known that HHH suffered an injury during the Survivor Series main event. The official diagnosis was a "swollen neck", which puts pressure on the trachea and esophagus, making breathing difficult. Although Ric Flair, when making reference to HHH's injury on RAW last week, called it a "crushed trachea" that was simply for the television angle and is an overstatement of his legitimate injury.
As it stands now, the current plan is for HHH to make his official return on RAW next week. It is very possible that he could appear on tonight's RAW (as hinted in the RAW preview) but do not expect him to be in in-ring action. Since there are six matches already booked for RAW, including a main event between HBK and RVD, WWE seems to have booked around the HHH injury, as no logical match for HHH would fit into the card, regardless of whether he is going to be on the show tonight.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Nov 26, 2002 14:59:58 GMT -5
Bret Hart Helps WWE, Anthology CD Notes, & More
In an update to an earlier story, WWE Anthology scored 13th place on the Billboard charts during its first week of release. It obviously will not last very long in a high rank, typical of wrestling CDs, that tend to draw a decent figure in their first few days before greatly declining thereafter.
Obviously, the nostalgia of the old theme songs is what helped sell the CDs as very few of the modern theme songs are highly regarded.
There is also some talk that Bret Hart informally is responsible for the naming of the CD. Bret Hart has planned on releasing a DVD entitled something along the lines of "The Bret Hart Anthology" for quite some time, so it's believed that WWE used the name to enhance the collection.
Source: Wrestling-Observer
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Nov 26, 2002 15:08:30 GMT -5
News On Backstage Reputations Of Scott Steiner & HBK
The following news is derived and re-written from the Torch Newsletter.
Scott Steiner has been keeping to himself for the most part while backstage during television for WWE the last few weeks. He hasn't been shacking up with any cliques or going out of his way to be friendly with the boys. He has kept to himself for the most part, and hasn't tried kissing up or making any friends with "the right people" since joining the company.
Shawn Michaels hasn't endeared himself to the majority of the locker room since returning to WWE. He is considered to have made great strides in his personality when backstage at events, not giving those who aren't on his level the cold-shoulder like he has been known for in the past. However, he mainly sticks to hanging out with Triple H and William Regal, guys in the upper-echelon of the politic-driven roster. Still, HBK is considered very-unselfish as he has gone on record as saying he is only back to help elevate those in need, like he did with RVD on RAW this past Monday, which many can respect because somebody like Triple H won't.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Nov 26, 2002 15:19:44 GMT -5
Real Reason Booker T Was Not On RAW Last Night
If you read the RAW preview for yesterday either on WWE.com or this website, you know that one match that was listed as confirmed was Chris Jericho and Christian against Booker T and Goldust. However, that is not what aired, as the recently reunited Dudley Boys got the RAW Tag Team Title shot.
Sources I have spoken to claim Booker T developed a sickness from some food he ate in India. The food made him so ill that he could not work his match that night (which is understandable considering Booker T and Goldust would have been a part of the "clothes" angle that was one of the underlying parts of the show).
Booker T, as I reported yesterday, is not the only one to have contracted an illness. RVD also developed a case of influenza while on the Indian Tour.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Nov 27, 2002 13:37:18 GMT -5
Tazz Given Time Off, New Announcers On Tonight's SmackDown!
Kevin Dunn was given this week off by WWE as a small vacation. It'll be interesting to see how the SmackDown! production and editing comes out seeing as he is in charge of it.
Tazz is not backstage at tonight's WWE SmackDown! tapings because of a personal problem. Ernest 'The Cat' Miller is scheduled to take his spot tonight. He was given a tryout several weeks ago and WWE didn't like his in ring work, but offered him a spot as a commentator. Tonight's commentating will be yet another tryout and with the SmackDown! rating expected to be down this week due to Thanksgiving it's a good chance to give him the shot.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Nov 27, 2002 13:39:18 GMT -5
WWE RAW Rating: HBK/RVD Doesn't Bring In The Viewers
Source: Nielsen Media Research
This week’s RAW rating has gone down 0.3, from 3.7 last week to 3.4 this week. Given that last week’s show was off the back of one of the big 5 pay per view showings, Survivor Series, 3.7 was a bad score.
However, given that WWE ‘gave away’ (even though it finished in a no contest) HBK vs. Rob Van Dam for the title on a TV showing, (a match which could quite possibly draw higher at a pay per view than the prospect of the new match – the Elimination Chamber – could) the 3.4 rating last night’s show produced could be considered extremely disappointing for everybody involved.
Smackdown! airs on Thanksgiving day this Thursday, so expect the SD rating to come in a lot lower than usual for that reason.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Nov 27, 2002 13:55:57 GMT -5
WWE Wrestling Game Must Be Pulled Immediately
LONDON, Nov 26 (Reuters) - U.S. video games publisher THQ would be in contempt of court if it continued to market a wrestling game featuring a World Wrestling Federation "WWF" logo, a British judge ruled on Tuesday.
The judge, Justice Robin Jacob, had ruled in October 2001 that World Wrestling Entertainment Inc (WWE), former users of the WWF brand, should give up the initials "WWF" to the conservation charity WWF.
A fifth of THQ's sales come from WWF wrestling franchises across all major games platforms. Jacob advised THQ on Tuesday to pursue WWE for the cost of pulling games from shop shelves.
"It seems to me THQ must look to the Federation for the losses which have been caused. It was the Federation that got them into this mess," Jacob told the court.
THQ's revenue for the third quarter of 2002 was $97 million, the company said in a statement. Its shares closed at $18.66 on Monday.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Nov 27, 2002 14:11:03 GMT -5
Disco Inferno Speaks On WWE Problems, Russo, Nash, HHH, & More
I recently sat down for an interview with former WCW superstar Disco Inferno, who will be part of the WWA tour in December (worldwrestlingallstars.com).
Disco didn't hold anything back during the interview. One of the first questions he was asked was the political atmosphere in WCW. He said it was like working without a boss, as the boss was never at the shows.
Disco Inferno talked a lot about the current state of WWE, and was quick to give his opinion on the writing of the show. He basically said WWE has been doing the same old song and dance, and never giving the audience anything new.
Disco defended Triple H by saying he is the only guy on the RAW roster who is over enough to be the champion, and hold the main-event position on television. He mentioned that there aren't many on the RAW side that if they were given the position, could do what it takes to secure the position. He offered such examples as main-eventers being expected to cut 10 minute promos, and next to no one aside from Triple H can do that on the RAW roster if pushed to the main-event level.
Disco defended Vince Russo's style of booking by simply stating his job was to write for a two hour live television show. He said that once you see good wrestling, which the internet always defends, then you've seen good wrestling. He said the hardcore wrestling fan will watch the show no matter what, so their job was to keep television ratings high, and that's by attracting channel surfers. He mentioned that if a channel surfer flips through, there has to be something waiting for him to keep him tuned in. He also talked a lot about working side-by-side with Russo in writing, and being involved when Russo nearly returned to WWE earlier this year.
Disco talked about his friendship with Kevin Nash a little bit as well. He addressed the rumors of Nash lobbying to get Disco a job as booker in WWE when he came back with the other nWo members. He said that if Nash did that, he wasn't aware of it, but did say they were friends.
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