prowrestling news/ spoilers 18th-25th November

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WWE RAW Rating Surges - Is It Good For WWE?

Last night's edition of WWE RAW surged, in terms of ratings, when compared to last week's show. Last week received a shockingly low number of 3.1, a rating which moved up by 0.6, to 3.7 for this week.

Generally, this is not necessarily a good thing. Although WWE always benefits from having an increase in viewers (especially when the large amount of viewers saw such a great program like RAW last night), there were so many factors that highly boosted the RAW rating. These include the fact that RAW was a post-PPV show, Steiner made his RAW debut, HBK made his first statement as champion, and many other interesting angles. Hopefully, the positive fan reaction to last night's show will cause next week's rating to go up.

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RAW Crew Boards An Airplane, Triple H, UFC & More

(Thanks To Ryan Clark For The Following)

The RAW crew is leaving this afternoon to India for their tour which starts Thursday night in New Dehli. RAW staff going on the trip includes Kane, Chris Jericho, Christian, Bubba & Spike Dudley Booker T, Rob Van Dam, Test, Jeff Hardy William Regal, Lance Storm, D-Lo Brown Raven, Tommy Dreamer, Goldust, Justin Credible, Ivory, Al Snow and Hurricane. Does anyone remember what happened the last time the RAW crew headed oversea's?

Also on the tour is Triple H. It was up in the air as to whether he would be going or not due to his throat injury. He will be at the show, but not in a wrestling role.

Frank Shamrock is scheduled to throw a party on Friday night in Las Vegas at the Hard Roc immediately following UFC 40.

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WWE Brand Extension Not Ending Anytime Soon

Despite recent rumors, the brand extension in WWE will not end anytime soon. Despite failing ratings, Vince McMahon is fairly happy with how things are turning out. Vince has spoken out in the past that he expected ratings for his shows to fall at the beginning, but he was looking at the future.

Vince anticipates that in a few months from now the brand extension will be more interesting, with trades and more competition between RAW & Smackdown brands. With the recent signing of Scott Steiner & Big Show getting over well on Smackdown, WWE expects for both brands to become more entertaining to fans.

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Recap of Interview with Champion Shawn Michaels

In case you missed it, Shawn Michaels was this week's guest on the No Holds Barred radio show (www.noholdsbarredwrestling.com). Here are the highlights from the interview.

He felt like he could really contribute in the chamber match. A main reason he wanted in the match was that it was in Madison Square Garden. He has not been there in 5 years and said the Garden crowd always appreciates hard work.

He put over his match with Razor Ramon at Mania 10 as his favorite. He said the Undertaker was his toughest opponent but he was also the most professional.

He enjoyed his matches with Bret Hart because the two of them could go any style. He regrets the Survivor Series incident with Bret but he and Vince McMahon felt it was best for the company. Vince asked Shawn to do it and Shawn has no regrets as he had to protect his company.

He regrets not being able to give his best effort verses Austin at Wrestlemania due to his ailing back. He said it was Austin's time and he wanted a g! reat match but the back was in terrible pain. His back felt pretty good the first couple of days after Summerslam but actually bothered him a couple of weeks later.

He wants to help the young talent with his time left and then ride off into the sunset.

He put over being a father and wants to be a role model for his son.

If you want to hear the interview with the NEW WWE Raw Heavyweight Champion, visit www.noholdsbarredwrestling.com .

Link:

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Hogan Speaks On Lesnar, His WWE Return, & More

Thanks to Adam Martin for the following report:

Despite the chat being held on MSNBC.com, you would think the usual boring topics would be discussed but it was actually quite good. Hogan spoke on a WWE comeback, saying that it probably won't happen for a while as he is busy touring with his new book. Hogan said that there was talks for a Survivor Series return with Brock Lesnar but both himself and Vince McMahon could not come to a "creative agreement." Hogan also said that if he was to make a WWE return, he would want it to be on a positive note and not constantly losing matches and being quote "flat on his back after every show."

Hogan also commented on his relationship with Jesse Ventura. Hogan said that Ventura was one of those people that were nice to your face but would say bad things behind your back. Hogan said Ventura asked him to help out with his election in Minnesota few years back but Hogan, after taking advice from a friend in Minnesota, said he didn't want to get involved with politics and decided not to help out Ventura. Ever since then, Ventura has made nothing but negative comments about Hogan. Hogan also said quote, "Jesse Ventura will always be jealous of Hulk Hogan and I am sorry he has to feel that way."

Hogan also briefly touched on a possible wrestling appearance in Japan, saying that he is not done with wrestling and would pursue options in Japan if he couldn't work out a comeback with Vince McMahon and WWE.

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More On Goldberg's Last Second Decision To Japan

Bill Goldberg spent Tuesday night at home in San Diego - in a battle against jet-lag, following his 72-hour Japanese journey.

Goldberg explained again Tuesday that his decision to wrestle last Sunday in Japan, made last Friday after stating on his website last Thursday that he was not going, was simply affected by his movie filming schedule in Los Angeles. "The fact was, I was never cleared to go and couldn't give (the Japanese) the clearance to advertise my appearance," Goldberg said.

However, Goldberg's appearance was leaked in Japan, though unconfirmed, "and that put me in a bind because I couldn't dictate to the movie (executives)," he said. Goldberg said he ultimately "made it happen" when he heard the fact that the Japanese "were in a serious bind," he said.

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Angle Shops At K-Mart, WWE Cancellations; More

WWE Superstar Kurt Angle Takes Contest Winners on a Four Minute Shopping Spree at Kmart in NYC on Wednesday, November 20

--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Excellent Video, Photo, and Interview opportunities available What: As part of an in-store and online sweepstakes, World Wrestling Entertainment (TM) and Kmart have selected three grand prize winners out of more than 20,000 entries to win a trip for two to New York City for a four-minute shopping spree at Kmart with WWE Superstar Kurt Angle (TM). Winners will also take home $500 cash.

Where: Kmart 770 Broadway (8th and Astor Place) New York, NY 10003

When: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 10:00 AM ET

Cancellation Notice! Due to unforeseen circumstances, the WWE Superstar appearance this Saturday November 23rd at Zellers at the Bramalea City Centre in Brampton, Ontario has been cancelled. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Meet the Big Valbowski On November 20th, the Big Valbowski will be appearing from 4 to 5 p.m. at McDonald's, 645 Landsdown St. West in the Landsdown Place Mall in Peterborough, Ontario. He'll be behind the counter serving customers, and $1 from every Big Mac goes to the Ronald McDonald House.

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Scott Steiner, WWF Trying to Block Sale of WWE Games, more

- Newly signed Scott Steiner will make his debut on WWE's Byte This! on Friday at 4 P.M. WWE is also encouraging fans to send in their questions to be answered by Steiner on the show. Depending on whether the right kind of questions are asked it should make for an interesting show.

- In a press release issued earlier this afternoon by WWE they state that they will host a conference call to discuss their second quarter 2003 earnings results. Any one who is interested in listening to this live webcast can do so by visiting WWE's Corporate Website- corporate.wwe.com

- In another press release issued earlier today by WWE they claim that the WWF's (World Wide Fund) pursuit of a 90 million dollar settlement is ludicrous. Word is that the WWF is also trying to pressure WWE by using a United Kingdom court to block the sale of WWE video game products for Christmas. WWE Chairman, Linda McMahon had this to say:

In a statement issued today, Linda McMahon said "Until recently, we have never understood why this environmental group in Switzerland has harassed us and our business affiliates for over a decade now. We even changed our name, a name we had used for over 20 years, just to make peace with these people. They are the charity. We are not. We did business side-by-side with the American affiliates for The Fund for many years in the United States before Rogers entered the picture. We will not pay extortion or send $90 million of our hard earned money to Swiss bank accounts, and intend to vigorously pursue our rights."

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WWE Fans Upset At Survivior Series, The World & More

(The Following Has been Derived From 1Wrestling)

Recently reported by Mike Johnson:

"I've heard from a number of readers who attended the PPV showing at the World this past weekend that there was a lot of unhappiness with the fans in attendance because whenever Saliva was on stage, all the monitors in the facility were showing the band's performance, as opposed to the show going on at Madison Square Garden."

WWE performer appearances at the World for the remainder of the month are scheduled as:

11/21 Randy Orton hosting Smackdown

11/25 Jazz hosting Raw

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Austin/WWE In Talks, Rock's Return, Steiner, HBK, more

Linda McMahon confirmed today at a conference call that WWE has been in constant discussions with Steve Austin since in the infamous walk-out. She worded it as if it were just one friend calling another, but to this point WWE has never acknowledged contacting him at all. Many assume that even if the two sides haven't been talking regularly, when this year's WrestleMania rolls around both sides will be wanting to come to some kind of terms.

Other conference call notes:

- Asked if HHH had influence over creative writing due to his relationship with Stephanie McMahon. Linda claimed it was a new relationship (they've been dating for the better part of a year now) and he is a big superstar, but does not get booking privelages just for dating Stephanie.

- Put over Scott Steiner coming to the company and feels it should be something that will help WWE.

- Put over Shawn Michaels returning to the squared circle despite the injury risk.

- Claimed The Rock would be back on WWE television by early Spring.

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Goldberg Making $2.4 Million, Scott Steiner's WWE Future, more

The latest word going around is that Bill Goldberg's Japanese deal is for 12 shows at $200,000 per show. That would mean he is making $2.4 million for the entire deal. Call me crazy, but I don't see WWE coughing that kind of dough up for Bill Goldberg.

There was some concern in WWE with having Scott Steiner debut at a "WWF venue" like Madison Square Garden. Many were curious as to whether or not he would get the kind of reaction they were hoping for due to his WCW roots. However, all that quickly changed when he got the response that he did at Survivor Series. At this point the plan is to draw out the storyline "where will Steiner sign?" for a couple more weeks. When it is all said and done, at this point, the plan is for him to settle in with the RAW "brand."

For everyone who has been asking, there was no real reason that RAW didn't use the overrun time this past Monday. According to TNN, the show was done, so it ended. Pretty simple explanation.

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Kurt Angle vs. The Big Show, Torrie Wilson Notes; More

Just before 7:30, WWE superstar, Kurt Angle appeared on FOX WXIN 59 Indianapolis' morning news show.

He appeared via satellite, the location of Angle was not disclosed. He was only on briefly to talk about Angina. Angle has had 14 family members who have suffered from this disease. He stated the most common time frame for this disease to flare up is during the holiday seasons because it's cold weather and most people eat a lot during holidays. Angina is hereditary. Angle stated even though he does not drink or smoke, he is checked by a doctor frequently to see if he has any symptoms. One fan was able to ask Kurt a question. The fan asked when Angle will go to "creative" and tell them to forget about matches with Benoit and the Guerreros and that he (Angle) wants the strap and Big Show. Angle's response was that he will be going into contention very soon and that's all he can say. They closed the segment by saying that "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan will be on tomorrow.

Torrie Wilson will be answering fans' questions in the MSN.com chat room on November 21st at 7 PM (ET).

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THQ/JAKKS Clarify WWE Remarks On Videogame Sales

CALABASAS HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 20, 2002--THQ(R) Inc. (Nasdaq:THQI) and JAKKS Pacific (Nasdaq:JAKK) clarified remarks made earlier today in a press release issued by World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. with regard to WWE licensed videogame sales.

THQ/JAKKS commented that holiday sales of its newly released "WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth" for the PlayStation(R) 2 computer entertainment system and "WWE Road to WrestleMania X8" for Nintendo(R) Game Boy(R) Advance would not be affected because they do not contain the use of the initials "WWF," which initials are the subject of litigation between World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. and the World Wide Fund for Nature.

All products currently on retail shelves containing the "WWF" initials, including "WWE Raw" for Xbox and PC, "WWE WrestleMania X8" for GameCube, as well as the Greatest Hits edition of last year's "WWE SmackDown! Just Bring It" for PlayStation(R) 2, shipped to retail before November 10, 2002, are not subject to recall and will remain available to consumers.

Neither THQ nor JAKKS are parties to the litigation. Both Companies also commented that they would be exploring other available solutions in order to continue to sell the older products containing "WWF" references, as discussed in THQ's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, which was filed on November 14, 2002.

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WWF Seeks $90 Million From WWE

STAMFORD, Conn. -- World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (NYSE:WWE - News) said the demand by Switzerland's World Wide Fund for Nature that it pay $90 million in damages for using the "WWF" initials is "ludicrous."

World Wrestling said Wednesday it won't respond until its lawyers finish investigating the demand, which World Wide Fund is seeking in order to settle alleged damage claims totaling $360 million involved in the fund's United Kingdom lawsuit against World Wrestling.

Officials at the Washington office of the World Wide Fund for Nature weren't immediately available for comment Wednesday evening.

World Wrestling claims the fund is using the U.K court to block the sale of the company's video game products for Christmas. World Wrestling contends the packaging on these products uses WWE names and trademarks without mentioning WWF.

World Wrestling said the Swiss fund hasn't offered into court evidence that the company caused them "a dime's worth of damages."

In May, World Wrestling changed its name and logo, dropping the word Federation, shortly after World Wide Fund won the U.K. case barring World Wrestling from using the name and logo it adopted in 1998.

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Mick Foley Turns Down Offer From WWE To Return

The following news is derived and re-written from the Torch Newsletter:

Mick Foley's WWE contract expires in the early part of December. A full-time return to wrestling in any fashion is seemingly distant from Foley's interest.

Before NWA-TNA officially launched, Jerry Jarrett attempted to sign Foley on as a possible color commentator.

In addition to that offer, Vince McMahon recently came at Foley with an offer to make Foley a "secret adviser" to the WWE creative team.

Foley turned down both offers, and is seemingly uninterested in involving himself with pro wrestling at this point, mainly due to the direction WWE has gone since his time as an on-air talent.