World Wrestling News round up for Saturday 13th February 2010.

Television

• PWInsider.com is reporting that the new WWE NXT show will be reality based, as the SyFy network has been wanting WWE to do something along these lines for awhile now. The show will reportedly be a mix of on-air feuds and reality based TV where the viewers can actually follow the wrestlers outside of the ring as well. The viewers will be following the wrestlers from day one, and they will get to know who they actually are, as they fight to become the next big WWE star and hopefully get moved to either the Raw or Smackdown brand. It should be noted that WWE has been pitching ideas for the new show since the fall of '09, and although there can certainly be aspects of the show different from what we're reporting now, the base idea for the show seems to be that it will be reality based and focus entirely on new talent.
  
  
• Next week's Raw will be guest hosted by talk show host Jerry Springer.
  
  
• Next week's final episode of ECW will be headlined by a Unified Tag Team Title Match featuring The Miz and Big Show (c's) vs Yoshi Tatsu and Goldust, and ECW Champion Christian vs Ezekiel Jackson in an Extreme Rules Match for The ECW Title.
  
  

Pay Per View news

• Sad news during a conference call this week, as Vince McMahon said that the PPV name Survivor Series is now "obsolete," and will not be used as the title of the November event in the future. He added that the PPV name has "outlasted its usage."
  
  

Other news

• Bret Hart posted the following blog on his official Facebook page in regards to meeting Jeremy Borash after Raw last week: "It was nice seeing Jeremy Borash, a longtime friend of mine, from TNA while I was in Nashville. He hung out with me and we never once talked wrestling. Some feeble minded idiot who saw us in plain view tried to start the rumour that I might be heading to TNA next; although why anyone would ever think I'd let Hogan and Bischoff anywhere near my Hitman persona again is truly beyond me."
  
  
• UltimateDwayneJohnson.com is reporting that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson recently did an interview with Boston's Mix 104 and had the following to say concerning a possible return to WWE Raw this summer: "How I would come back is a different capacity than what Hulk Hogan did or I believe Ric Flair is doing. Those guys are coming back to actually wrestle. I don't want to wrestle; I have no intention of wrestling a match. I do have intention of going back and Hosting the show. Hosting a show like that would give me the opportunity to get on the microphone, rip open the writing, and invite guests on to come host with me. We wanted to create something cool and big and fun for the audience."
  
  
• The UK Sun has posted an article noting that Japanese star Antonio Inoki has been confirmed as an inductee into the 2010 WWE Hall of Fame. Although WWE has yet to confirm Inoki's name on TV, there is a photo along with The Sun article which features Inoki holding up a card noting that he had been named as an inductee.
  
  
• F4WOnline.com is reporting that Smackdown star John Morrison might be turning heel in the near future. WWE is still very high on Morrison, but many in creative feel that he works better as a heel than a face. With news that his former tag team partner Joey Mercury is returning to WWE, there's always the possibility that MNM could reform, although that has not been confirmed in anyway.
  
  
• The Wrestling Observer is reporting that WWE might not not be renewing many of the legend's contracts which are set to expire this year. The legend's deals are mostly in place for marketing reasons, and allow WWE the exclusive right to sell certain legend's merchandise. In some cases, the legend's deals prevent wrestlers from working with rival wrestling promotions.
  
  
• John Morrison posted the following tweet on his official Twitter account:
  
  "My ankle is broken in three places, but I'm just going to walk it off- on the flight to Quito"
  
  
• WWE Diva Beth Phoenix recently posted the following on her Twitter account: "just finished shooting the first 3 episodes of Santino's sitcom! The crew laughed til they cried...so proud of everyone! Thank u Santino!"
  
  
• Time Magazine has compiled a list of the Top 10 worst business name changes, and WWE has made the list with their name change from World Wrestling Federation to World Wrestling Entertainment.
  
  
• The Wrestling Observer is reporting that Shawn Michaels once again plans to take time off of WWE after WrestleMania 26. At this point, it's being said that he will make his return in time for SummerSlam.
  
  
• It was announced on Raw this week that the finals of the Divas Championship tournament will be held at The Elimination Chamber PPV. Gail Kim will face Maryse at the event with the winner becoming the new Divas Champion.
  
  
• TMZ.com recently caught up with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson getting into his car, and the camera guy asked The Rock who owns the rights to his catchphrases, to which The Rock replied by saying that both he and WWE mutually own the right to use his catchphrases.
  
  
• During a conference call this week, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon said that he hopes to launch a WWE Network within 18 months. He added the it will not affect regular WWE programming, and that he wants Raw to continue airing on USA and for Smackdown to have a strong home network, whether that be MyNetwork TV or elsewhere.
  
  
• Bryan Danielson, WWE's newest talent acquisition from Ring of Honor, is now going by Daniel Bryan down in Florida Championship Wrestling.
  
  
• The first inductee into the 2010 WWE Hall of Fame will be "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase.
  
  

Ratings

• This week's RAW rating finished at 3.6, the same final number the show drew last week. RAW had 5.34 million viewers with hours of 3.48 and 3.69.
  
  
  

Television

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Comings and Goings

• From wrestlezone.com: TNA has removed the profile of Bobby Lashley from the company website. Eric Bischoff recently fired Lashley on an episode of Impact, however that was worked and we have not received any confirmation that Lashley is in fact gone from the company. It should be noted, however, that Lashley has said his pro wrestling future is in doubt due to his recent signing with Strikeforce.
  PWInsider.com is reporting that although this may indicate that he has left TNA, it should be noted that he is still under contract with the company. At this time, however, TNA has written him off TV and has no current plans for him. Lashley remains on good terms with TNA, and could return to TV whenever he wants, but at this time TNA is not considering him a part of the active roster.
  Bobby Lashley has a note on his website lashleynutrition.com where he mentions his wrestling future and says he will be addressing it soon.
  
  
• It's being reported that although she requested her release from TNA following the incident with Bubba The Love Sponge and did not work the TNA UK tour, Awesome Kong has apparently been talked into staying with the company. It should be noted that in addition to the Bubba incident, Kong was also upset with TNA over pay issues as well.
  
  
• It's also being reported that former WWE star Johnny Stamboli, who worked with Nunzio and Chuck Palumbo as part of the FBI tag team in WWE, recently asked TNA about the possibility of working with Palumbo as a tag team in TNA. It's being said, however, that TNA rejected Stamboli and Palumbo's request.
  
  

Other news

• ProWrestling.net is reporting that TNA plans to make a major announcement this Monday during a press conference at The Impact Zone at 2:30pm EST. Although it has not been confirmed what TNA will be announcing, it might be that the company plans to move Impact to Monday nights as early as March 1st. Hulk Hogan and Dixie Carter will be making the announcement.
  ProWrestling.net is reporting that TNA has suspended Awesome Kong. Although it has not been confirmed how long Kong has been suspended by the company, it is believed that she has been suspended for a few weeks.
  
  
• PWTorch.com is reporting that TNA announcer Bubba The Love Sponge is said to be one of the least liked people in the TNA locker room right now. The general feeling by most is that once you look past his shock jock radio personality, he often times gives off the impression that he's above everyone else in the company due to his close friendship with Hulk Hogan.
  
  
• PWTorch.com is reporting that several talents in the TNA locker room reacted negatively to The Nasty Boys and Hulk Hogan mocking Jay Lethal recently backstage at an Impact taping. Apparently, Jerry Sags questioned how long Lethal will be employed by TNA as he feels the "Black Machismo" gimmick is somewhat of a slap in the face to Randy Savage.
  
  
• The March 2010 issue of Men's Exercise Magazine will be running a feature on TNA star Matt Morgan. The story focuses on Morgan's training and diet regimen and notes that he is about to join the ranks of such wrestlers as Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash.
  
  
• It's being reported that on a recent edition of The Bubba The Love Sponge Show, Hulk Hogan claimed that he will be turning heel soon. Additionally, he said that he does not want his daughter Brooke to become an on-air performer in TNA.
  
  
• PWInsider.com is reporting that Scott Steiner is 100% gone from TNA Wrestling.
  
  
• TNA is offering what they're calling season one of Impact, which originally aired on Fox Sports Net back in 2004, for free in the Video Vault section of their website. Viewers can watch the complete season of Impact online.
  
  
• After initial fear that he might miss a significant amount of ring time, it's being reported that Alex Shelley will be working through several herniated and bulging discs in his back.
  
  
• TNA Knockout Madison Rayne turned 24 on February 5th.
  
  
• TNA star Chris Sabin celebrated his 28th birthday on February 4th.
  
  

Ratings

• Last week's edition of TNA Impact drew a final 1.2 cable rating.

• From rohwrestling.com:
  
  
  February 12th:
  - Huge news broke this week as Ring of Honor, in association with HDNet International Sales and Big Media LLC, has secured a deal to provide the best pound for pound wrestling in the world to the people of Italy via Dahlia TV! This is a huge step forward for ROH, and will hopefully be the first of many!
  
  
  Joey Ryan, “Skullkrusher” Rasche Brown, Delirious w/ Daizee Haze, and Former ROH World Champion Jerry Lynn have signed to compete when ROH and HDNet return to South Philly on March 5th and 6th. The ROH World Television Title Tournament will be completed on March 5th!
  
  
  Pro Wrestling RESPECT returns to the Burlington, New Jersey Armory on March 14th, 2010. RESPECT consists exclusively of Ring of Honor Academy graduates with the occasional Ring of Honor and established independent wrestling stars. RESPECT is a great way for young wrestlers to gain experience on an inexpensive event that is performed in a family friendly manner. See rising star Andy “Right Leg” Ridge in the biggest match of his young career as he battles ROH Academy Head Trainer Delirious! Also in action: Daizee Haze, MsChif, Bobby Dempsey, Ricky Reyes, Shane Hagadorn, Grizzly Redwood, Jamilia Craft, Alex Payne, Pelle Primeau, Sly Stetson, and many more.
  
  
  February 8th:
  
  
  (Bristol, PA- February 8, 2010) Ring of Honor is proud to announce that Roderick Strong has signed a contract renewal.
  
  Since debuting for Ring of Honor back in March 2004 at “Do or Die II”, Strong has evolved into one of the pillars of ROH. He is a former ROH World Tag Team Champion with Austin Aries in the 2nd longest reign in ROH history that is also highlighted by a record number of successful title defenses. In 2009, Strong had a banner year with his first ever tour of Pro Wrestling NOAH early on, followed by tremendous ROH World Title matches with Jerry Lynn at “A Cut Above” and Austin Aries on HDNet, a superb ROH World Tag Title match at “Violent Tendencies”, a tremendous bout against Katsuhiko Nakajima at "Supercard of Honor IV", a great series with Tyler Black that culminated at “Eye of the Storm 2”, and that is only a small sampling of the excellent matches “The Messiah of the Backbreaker” had throughout 2009.
  
  "Roderick has grown into one of the foundations of Ring of Honor over the years." said ROH Vice-President Sydney Eick. "We are very happy that he has elected to resign with ROH, and look forward to seeing just how far Strong can go in 2010 and beyond."
  
  Roderick Strong faces off with Brian Kendrick this Saturday at ROH’s “8th Anniversary Show” in NYC, and will also be competing on all of our scheduled events throughout March as well as “The Big Bang!” in Charlotte, NC on April 3rd!
  
  

• From dgusa.tv: February 10th: DGUSA officials are in the final stages of setting the 2010 schedule. Expect several new markets. Thank you for supporting us and making us grow.
  
  
  February 9th: From 2006-2008 the highlight for many fans during the weekend of mania was the Dragon Gate six man tag team match. This was something that the entire Dragon Gate company took great pride in. This was a highlight of the entire year for the Dragon Gate promotion. Last year, these athletes were unable to perform on this huge weekend. It was disheartening for the entire Dragon Gate roster. One of the prime motivating factors for starting Dragon Gate USA was to have the forum to return and present the Dragon Gate style of action again on this important weekend. After a one year hiatus, the Dragon Gate six man tag team tradition is back. The main event for DGUSA at The Celebrity Theater on March 27th has been officially signed. Without further ado here it is:
  
  
  The Six Man Tradition Returns: CIMA, Gamma & Dragon Kid vs. Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino & BxB Hulk
  
  
  

• Fanhouse.com has posted an interview recently done with former ECW star Shane Douglas. The following is an excerpt from the interview: "From my affinity of ECW, I was extremely frustrated but the veteran in me said that it's pretty much what I expected and if you go back and look at interviews at the time I said as much. I knew that Vince was short-sided. If there was one thing I could be positive of was that he'd screw that up. And sure enough he did, sadly he did. I don't know what the general consensus is but my feeling on it is that it done nothing to damage the real legacy of ECW. If anything, it made it stronger. I would think that if anyone would have the wherewithal to bring the original ECW back – I'm not sure if it could be done today with the parameters and restrictions on TV but if someone could do it – then it would be interesting to take a second go-around at it. It's funny to me where wrestling it back to exactly where it was in 1992, '93 that gave rise to ECW in the first place. We're right back there again so who knows. Stranger things have happened but I think there's a pretty strong possibility that somebody is going to try to do something with wrestling to bring it back away from what it's become and where it's gone."
  
  
• The Human Tornado, one of the independent wrestling scene's top talents, officially announced his pro wrestling retirement on his Facebook page by posting the following: "Human Tornado is officially retired."
  
  The Human Tornado wrestled for top indy companies such as Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and Dragon Gate USA. He has since been removed from bookings with both promotions since announcing that he has retired.
  
  
• Following his loss to Matt Serra, former TNA Star and current UFC fighter Frank Trigg noted on his Twitter account that he has been released from his UFC contract.
  
  
• Former WWE star Marty Jannetty turned 48 on February 3rd.
  
  
  

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