— ECW wrestler Vladimir Kozlov was among those becoming United States citizens today in Tampa, Florida.
“Oh to be a U.S. citizen has been like a dream for long time, Kozlov said. “When I was raised and born in Russia, I had [a] dream to come to United States because U.S. [is a] land of big opportunity. If you work hard, you can reach whatever you want.”
The Fox news affiliated out of Tampa has a story and interview with Kozlov, which you can check out at the following link.
— WWE Studios has plans to release a film entitled Big Red. No word yet on who will be starring in the movie. The synopsis reads as follows: “In 1965, as the world changes all around him, 12-year-old Andy Nichol comes of age when he’s asked by his favorite teacher, Mr. Simon, to partner with school outcast Big Red for an English assignment.” (source: PWInsider.com)
— The WWE website has posted new photos of backstage announcer Savannah.
In anticipation of his debut tonight on ROH on HDNet (8pm), Jim Cornette has written a commentary, or contract, with all of the fans who “want their wrestling back.” Here is some of what he wrote:
“So I make this agreement, this contract, with all the wrestling fans who want an alternative, who “want their wrestling back.†I don’t care if you’re a young fan who has never seen serious pro wrestling, or an older fan who has gone away because you gave up hope, ROH is new style with old school philosophy. I am committing myself to ROH, putting my reputation and credibility where my mouth is. I am not a “big name†taking a payoff to endorse something I don’t believe in. I will not forsake ROH if or when a better offer comes along to reenter the “sports entertainment†cesspool. I truly believe Ring of Honor IS “the wrestling of the future†– and the future is NOW!
“I make this pledge as my end of the contract – in return, I ask all the fans who want an alternative, who want their wrestling back, to support ROH as well. Watch the TV on HDNet – attend live events in your area – check out the DVD’s, go to their website, ROHWrestling.com – and most importantly, spread the word to your fellow fans, current AND disenfranchised. Just as ROH is bigger and better than it was three years ago, it’s not nearly what it will be in 6 months, or a year, or two years, and you can keep track of, even be responsible for, its progress.
“ROH is a company that will listen to, not scoff at, its fans’ requests. But it needs your support, because NO promotion can thrive without the fans. Want your wrestling back? We want to give it to you! That’s why I make this contract with you. I will not forsake you again. Don’t forsake Ring of Honor. If you will us your support, your attention, your dedication, I pledge to you that we will not let you down.”
You can read his commentary in its entirety at the following link.
Also, here are two videos for tonight’s ROH On HDNet show:
— Philstar.com reports that SmackDown superstar Batista was in the Phillipines this weekend to help endorse the launch of a new energy drink called Xplode.
– Tonight’s edition of WWE RAW takes place from the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas. Businessman Mark Cuban will be the special guest host. The main event for tonight will be DX vs. Chris Jericho in a Handicap match.
— ESPN.com features an article hyping NBA Dallas Maverick’s owner Mark Cuban’s hosting gig tonight, looking at what could be a physical showdown between Cuban and Legacy’s Cody Rhodes. Cuban began hyping his appearance last week in the local Dallas media, saying he was looking for retribution against Randy Orton after getting RKO’s back at Survivor Series 2003. Orton protege Cody Rhodes spoke to the Dallas Morning News and issued a challenge against Cuban. ESPN teases a match between the two and includes several potential nicknames for Cuban should he wrestle.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Here’s what Ross said about the untimely death of former WWE superstar Umaga:
The sudden passing of Eddie “Umaga” Fatu certainly put a damper on the weekend as Eddie’s death on Friday came as a total shock to me. Eddie had moved his family to Houston a while back as many WWE performers now base out of the Houston area and some of them actually are neighbors. Nonetheless, when I think of Eddie I think of the many, many conversations that we had over the years and how they usually ended up with Eddie talking about his wife and children. I recall discussing with Eddie that one of his sons, who has the potential to be a special football player, was already on Oklahoma’s radar and I think at the time the young man was only in the 9th or 10th grade. OU coaches were recruiting an upper classman at the same school that Eddie’s son attended but coaches told the OU folks, ” just wait until you see this really young kid we have. His Dad’s a wrestler and this kid is special.” Eddie was elated to know that his son had already distinguished himself on the gridiron and we talked of Eddie sending his son to the OU Summer Football Camp.
Eddie Fatu was very proud of his children and loved his wife tremendously and Eddie was proud of the home that he was able to create for them in Houston. “Umaga” may have been a “Samoan Savage” or “Samoan Bulldozer” but in reality Eddie Fatu was a gifted athlete with amazing agility and quickness for a 300+ pounder who was one of the most sensitive and likable athletes that I have had the honor of being around in the past 35 years.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Here’s what Ross said about the untimely death of former WWE superstar Umaga:
The sudden passing of Eddie “Umaga” Fatu certainly put a damper on the weekend as Eddie’s death on Friday came as a total shock to me. Eddie had moved his family to Houston a while back as many WWE performers now base out of the Houston area and some of them actually are neighbors. Nonetheless, when I think of Eddie I think of the many, many conversations that we had over the years and how they usually ended up with Eddie talking about his wife and children. I recall discussing with Eddie that one of his sons, who has the potential to be a special football player, was already on Oklahoma’s radar and I think at the time the young man was only in the 9th or 10th grade. OU coaches were recruiting an upper classman at the same school that Eddie’s son attended but coaches told the OU folks, ” just wait until you see this really young kid we have. His Dad’s a wrestler and this kid is special.” Eddie was elated to know that his son had already distinguished himself on the gridiron and we talked of Eddie sending his son to the OU Summer Football Camp.
Eddie Fatu was very proud of his children and loved his wife tremendously and Eddie was proud of the home that he was able to create for them in Houston. “Umaga” may have been a “Samoan Savage” or “Samoan Bulldozer” but in reality Eddie Fatu was a gifted athlete with amazing agility and quickness for a 300+ pounder who was one of the most sensitive and likable athletes that I have had the honor of being around in the past 35 years.
— As seen this past Thursday on iMPACT, Kristal Lashley cut a promo ripping Scott Steiner, specifically noting that she’s never been harassed at her husband’s MMA events. “I guess things are a little bit different around here,” she said.
This was the start of a new storyline where she plays the role of a snobby person who looks down on professional wrestling. Her character has her thinking pro wrestlers are low-class individuals and that MMA is a higher-class environment. (source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
— One half of the reigning Knockout Tag Team Champions, Sarita, recently won the CMLL Bodybuilding Championship for the fourth consecutive year. Dalys finished in second place while Amapola finished in third in the women’s division. The TNA Knockout also took part in Freestyle Fitness 2009 this past week just outside of Mexico City, which is a model-athlete competition with catwalk in a bikini, cocktail dress, and an obstacle course.
Early reviews are coming in for the latest WWE Studios release, “The Marine 2,” starring WWE Raw superstar Ted DiBiase and the reviews are surprisingly positive. IGN.com gave a surprisingly favorable review (6/10) saying:
While we wouldn’t expect Shakespeare any time soon, Ted DiBiase obviously has sufficient acting chops to carry the film. That said, the wrestler-turned-action star lacks the kind of distinct and intimidating visual presence of somebody like Cena. In truth, for as tough and capable as the man appears, there’s something all too vanilla about DiBiase. He looks like a normal, Mid-Western good-old-boy in prime physical condition, more likely to hold open the door for the lady at the market than single-handedly assassinate a group of highly trained killers. Regardless, his athletic skills are hardly in question as he does so with a good deal of command.
Overall, The Marine 2 isn’t exactly a great film – honestly, it’s barely a good film – but it’s significantly better and more creatively crafted than anything we’ve seen hit direct-to-video shelves in quite some time. If you liked the original or if you’re just a WWE fan looking for a fun, action-packed night at home, you’d do well to check this out.
— After a brief hiatus from the squared circle following her sudden departure from TNA Wrestling this past September, Angel Williams (a.k.a. “Angelina Love”) has resumed an active wrestling schedule on the independent circuit. The former Knockouts champion has been telling people at said shows that she’s returning to TNA. However, according to this week’s issue of the Wrestling Observer, they “haven’t heard anyone even mention her name.”
— Awesome Kong’s apartment complex in Tampa caught fire two weeks ago. Fortunately for Kong, she wasn’t injured and her actual apartment only had minor smoke damage.
— TNA plans on having Hernandez work more live events.
— The January 4th edition of WWE Raw, which will go head-to-head with TNA’s special 3-hour Monday night iMPACT!, will tape place from the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. The show is currently scheduled to be a 2-hour broadcast, but it will be interesting to see if WWE offers any counter programming to offset TNA’s 1-hour lead-in that night.
— Ashley Massaro got some new tattoos on her wrists over the weekend. The former WWE diva wrote a message on Twitter saying, “This is one of 2 I got yesterday, small but were building, awesome artist, i wanted to distract from the roman num”
— The January 4th edition of WWE Raw, which will go head-to-head with TNA’s special 3-hour Monday night iMPACT!, will tape place from the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. The show is currently scheduled to be a 2-hour broadcast, but it will be interesting to see if WWE offers any counter programming to offset TNA’s 1-hour lead-in that night.
— Ashley Massaro got some new tattoos on her wrists over the weekend. The former WWE diva wrote a message on Twitter saying, “This is one of 2 I got yesterday, small but were building, awesome artist, i wanted to distract from the roman num”
TNA President Dixie Carter posted a message on her Twitter page regarding TNA’s live 3-hour Monday night edition of iMPACT! on January 4th. Carter acknowledges that TNA is going to war with WWE and implies that more moves like this are on the way. She wrote:
“Hogan to debut Jan 4 in a live 3 hr iMPACT! special up against Raw. How’s that for a 1st shot? Spread the word.”
To read more from Dixie Carter and other wrestlers & divas on Twitter, visit PWTweets.com.
The WWE website announced last night that John Morrison would be defending his Intercontinental Championship against Drew McIntyre at the upcoming Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view. Here is the updated card:
Tables Match for the WWE Championship
John Cena (c) vs. Sheamus
Chairs Match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Batista vs. Undertaker (c)
Ladder Match for the ECW Championship
Christian (c) vs. Shelton Benjamin
Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championships
Chris Jericho and Big Show (c) vs. D-Generation X
WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
John Morrison (c) vs. Drew McIntyre
— The CNN website has posted an article regarding the passing of former WWE talent Edward “Umaga” Fatu. The article offers comment from former WWE Diva Dawn Marie.
“He had his demons, but he found a lot of strength in his family,” said Dawn Marie Psaltis, family friend and founder of Wrestlers Rescue. “He was always a jokester, he was always playing a practical joke on someone. He comes from a long line of professional wrestlers and did his family proud.”
— Former WWE talent Armando Estrada (real name Hazem Ali), has said that his match tonight against Mr. Ken Anderson in Milwaukee for the Great Lakes Championship Wrestling promotion will be his retirement match. The former General Manager of ECW has done very few indy dates since being released by WWE on November 18, 2008. Since then, he opened a restaurant called Baby’s Steak and Lemonade in Glendale, Arizona and is attempting to franchise the brand.
– The movie Aztec Revenge starring Mil Mascaras is scheduled for release next year.
Several wrestlers have posted messages on Twitter regarding the hospitalization and rumored death of former WWE superstar Eddie “Umaga” Fatu. Here’s what some of them are saying:
Ken “Mr. Kennedy” Anderson: “Say a prayer for my boy Umaga”
D’Angelo Dinero / Elijah Burke: “Pope was informed many hours ago of my friend Umaga. Pope will not comment until the family speaks, neither should you. Prayer is key! ~ PHS”
Bobby Lashley: “Very sad day today. A good friend is gone.”
Visit PWTweets.com to follow what wrestlers and divas are saying on Twitter about Umaga’s condition.
Former WWE superstar Edward “Umaga” Fatu, 36, is currently in a Houston hospital and is in very bad shape. A long-time friend described his condition as “life threatening.”
Details are still sketchy at this point, but he apparently fell asleep last night while watching television, and several hours later, his wife found him not breathing with blood coming out of his nose. He was rushed to the hospital last night and his family has been told to fly into town as quickly as possible.
There were reports going around that Umaga had died from prescription pain pills and WWE was already preparing a statement regarding his death, but those reports have been unsubstantiated at this time. There was been talk among many wrestlers that Umaga is dead or brain dead, but at this time, his family will only confirm that he’s been hospitalized.
We wish Eddie Fatu the very best and hope he pulls through this.
Former WWE superstar Edward “Umaga” Fatu, 36, is currently in a Houston hospital and is in very bad shape. A long-time friend described his condition as “life threatening.”
Details are still sketchy at this point, but he apparently fell asleep last night while watching television, and several hours later, his wife found him not breathing with blood coming out of his nose. He was rushed to the hospital last night and his family has been told to fly into town as quickly as possible.
There were reports going around that Umaga had died from prescription pain pills and WWE was already preparing a statement regarding his death, but those reports have been unsubstantiated at this time. There was been talk among many wrestlers that Umaga is dead or brain dead, but at this time, his family will only confirm that he’s been hospitalized.
We wish Eddie Fatu the very best and hope he pulls through this.
— The Fox News website has a story today looking at the vast number of deaths to strike the professional wrestling industry. The article features photos and brief stories on twenty-one notable professional wrestling performers who have died including Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Rick Rude, Earthquake and Miss Elizabeth. To see the feature, click here.
— WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin will be guest-starring on the NBC comedy series Chuck next month. Courtesy of BuddyTV.comF, the synopsis of his appearance is as follows: “Austin will portray Hugo Panzer, who becomes entangled in Chuck’s first solo mission. He’ll appear in the fifth episode of season 3 entitled “Chuck vs. First Class”, as a master of close-quarters combat.” The episode is scheduled to air on January 25, 2010.
— In today’s wrestling birthday, former WWE wrestler Sylvester Terkay turns 39 years old. The former MMA fighter was released from his WWE contract on January 18, 2007 in a cost-cutting measure.
WWE has released ome new financial information that includes PPV buyrate estimates for three of the company’s new gimmick-concept events.
– WWE Breaking Point drew under 200,000 buys, making it the least successful event of 2009. The submission-themed show featured The Undertaker’s first WWE match since WrestleMania. By comparison, the event that Breaking Point replaced (WWE Unforgiven) drew close to 225,000 buys last year. WWE recently released its PPV schedule for 2010 and WWE Breaking Point was not part of the schedule, so this event may be a one time affiar.
– WWE Hell in A Cell, which featured three Hell in a Cell cage matches, drew around 300,000 buys, way up from the 261,000 buys that No Mercy 2008 drew.
– WWE Bragging Rights, which featured a Raw vs. SmackDown theme, drew approximately 200,000 buys. This is a big improvement over the event it replaced (Cyber Sunday,) which drew 153,000 buys in 2008.
For more on the WWE’s latest round of financial info, visit Corporate.WWE.com.
– The ongoing speculation that TNA will wind up on Monday nights competing head-to-head with WWE Raw continues. While nobody from TNA or Spike TV have commented directly about the rumor, people who are being contacted by Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff about joining them in TNA are “under the impression” that a Monday night show is inevitable. There has been talk of TNA holding a live television special on Monday night, January 4th to test he waters and see how they would do up against Raw.
– Hulk Hogan is not a fan of TNA’s 6-sided ring and has been telling people that it’s one of the first things he’s like to change when he comes into power next month.
– Hogan and Bischoff are said to be confident that Rob Van Dam and Ric Flair will wind up in TNA.
– Despite being featured on the TNA Genesis PPV poster, Hulk Hogan will not be wrestling on the show. It’s likely that he will eventually step in the ring, but not until the right match has been set up with months of storyline build leading up to it.
– It’s interesting to note that the DVD cover for “End Game†which starred Kurt Angle and former TNA Knockout Jenna Morasca promotes Angle as a WWE star with no mention of TNA. There is also no mention of Jenna’s run in wrestling.
(Credit to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter for some of the information used in this report)
– The ongoing speculation that TNA will wind up on Monday nights competing head-to-head with WWE Raw continues. While nobody from TNA or Spike TV have commented directly about the rumor, people who are being contacted by Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff about joining them in TNA are “under the impression” that a Monday night show is inevitable. There has been talk of TNA holding a live television special on Monday night, January 4th to test he waters and see how they would do up against Raw.
– Hulk Hogan is not a fan of TNA’s 6-sided ring and has been telling people that it’s one of the first things he’s like to change when he comes into power next month.
– Hogan and Bischoff are said to be confident that Rob Van Dam and Ric Flair will wind up in TNA.
– Despite being featured on the TNA Genesis PPV poster, Hulk Hogan will not be wrestling on the show. It’s likely that he will eventually step in the ring, but not until the right match has been set up with months of storyline build leading up to it.
– It’s interesting to note that the DVD cover for “End Game†which starred Kurt Angle and former TNA Knockout Jenna Morasca promotes Angle as a WWE star with no mention of TNA. There is also no mention of Jenna’s run in wrestling.
(Credit to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter for some of the information used in this report)
— Though details are unclear, sources say Carlito’s recent absence from WWE was not an issue of creative having no plans for him. According to the Wrestling Observer, the reason for his absence “was something bad that [WWE is] trying to keep quiet.”
— While Jesse Ventura did a great job as the host of Monday Night Raw last week, the general reaction to him among those in the company was not favorable at all. Many felt he came off as if he was above doing the guest hosting spot. (source: Wrestling Observer)
— Click here for the Bella Twins’ latest video offering advice on Fantasy Football.
Alex Marvez of ScrippsNews.com recently interviewed WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair and asked him about whether he’d ever seriously consider going to TNA Wrestling now that Hulk Hogan is on board.
“I haven’t entertained the idea of working there because I’ve been so loyal to WWE, but you never know what’s going to go on,” Flair said. “I don’t want to make any predictions, but I’ve certainly got a lot left to offer. I think I would be a good addition to (TNA’s) program.
“Everything is about money, timing, what they want me to do and the job description. There’s a lot up in the air. I haven’t talked to (TNA ownership) yet, but I’ve had conversations with people who work there. I’ve stood by WWE, but if they’re not going to use me anymore, I’m ready for any kind of action.”
