Frontier Wrestling Alliance

World News Round Up - 27/02/10
Posted by FWA Admin. on 27/02/2010

World Wrestling News round up for Saturday 27th February 2010.

Television

RichmondColiseum.net is reporting that the 2010 WWE Roster Draft will take place on April 26th, live, from The Richmond Coliseum. The show will be a 3 hour Raw special.
The Wrestling Observer is reporting that Sheamus suffered a concussion at The Elimination Chamber PPV and was therefore pulled from Raw last night. The original plan was to have Cena face Sheamus in a number one contender's match, but due to the injury, WWE replaced Sheamus with Batista.
Yoshi Tatsu, Christian, William Regal and Zack Ryder are now officially RAW Superstars.
It was confirmed on RAW this week that Cheech & Chong will be the special celebrity guest hosts for next week's WWE RAW show.
It's also being reported that there has been a lot of talk within WWE lately of permanently moving Raw to 3 hours. Because TNA has decided to move to Monday nights, WWE has been wanting to combat the move hard, and one of the proposed ideas is to make Raw a 3 hour event every week. However, since the idea was brought up, the talk of a 3 hour move has died down a bit.
The Figure Four Weekly Newsletter is reporting that Stone Cold Steve Austin might end up being Raw's final guest host. At this point, Austin is the last scheduled host of the show, and it's uncertain whether or not WWE will continue with the gimmick. Originally, the plan was to end the guest host angle at Wrestlemania, but in light of TNA moving to Monday nights, WWE is considering an extension of the angle to combat TNA's efforts.

Pay Per View news

The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels in a 'career vs. streak' match, Edge vs. Chris Jericho for the World title, John Cena vs. Batista for the WWE Championship, and Money in the Bank with Christian the first confirmed participant) were confirmed for Wrestlemania this week.
The Undertaker was lucky to escape serious injury at the Elimination Chamber Pay Per View, as his fire pyro was mistimed, and he was briefly engulfed in flames as he made his way to the ring. Undertaker then sprinted to the ring, throwing off his coat, and was doused with water by referees. WWE are understandably removing videos of the incident from the internet as they appear.
From PWInsider.com: For those wondering how Shawn Michaels got under the chamber at last night's Elimination Chamber PPV, several fans who attended the show noted that while the viewers were watching the recap of the Raw Chamber match from earlier in the night, the lights went out in the arena and only the TitanTron was on. In the darkness, several crew members made their way to the ring and HBK was hidden amongst them. This is how Hornswoggle usually gets under the ring at events.
Following the WWE Elimination Chamber PPV and his 6th World Title win, Chris Jericho posted the following on his Twitter account: "Wow, World Champion for the sixth time. This could never happen in TNA!" He then Tweeted, "At least one Canadian won a big match up tonight..."
Jim Ross has posted a new blog over at JRsBarBQ.com. On the subject of making an appearance at WrestleMania, Ross said:

"My goal has always been to attend WM26 and that matter is in play. I truly love the event and I know that this year's show will be awesome with or without me."

Other news

Paul Burchill, Shane 'Hurricane' Helms and Maria were all released on friday of this week.
PWInsider.com is reporting that The Ultimate Warrior has declined an invitation to be inducted into the 2010 WWE Hall of Fame. Originally, WWE wanted to focus the 2010 Hall of Fame ceremony around Warrior, but since he declined the invitation, WWE has decided to make Stu Hart the major inductee this year.
It was revealed on RAW that female wrestler Wendi Richter will be the third official inductee into the WWE Hall Of Fame 2010 class. Inducting Richter will be fellow Hall Of Famer "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.
F4WOnline.com is reporting that next week's WWE Hall of Fame inductee is likely to be Stu Hart.
TMZ.com is reporting that there is not enough evidence to proceed with charges against WWE star Randy Orton following claims that Orton spat in the face of a 15 year old Massachusetts fan.
WWE NXT star Daniel Bryan suffered some pretty bad scrapes and bruises as a result of his crash into the announcers table during a high spot onto the floor in his match with Chris Jericho on the debut episode of WWE NXT On SyFy last night. The official WWE website refers to the bumps and bruises as an "injury," although it is said to be nothing serious, despite how bad the bump looked on TV. For those interested, WWE.com has several close-up photos of the marks on Bryan's body.
PWInsider.com is reporting that WWE is being sued by The Turtle Company, Inc. for allegedly violating text book patents. The company is claiming that WWE's production of text book covers which bare the images of Triple H, CM Punk, John Cena and other WWE superstars has violated a patent the company had for "Adjustable book jackets" and their "method" for making said book jackets.

Turtle wants WWE to halt production of the covers, and of course is seeking financial rewards for what it claims to be covers designed by WWE which have damaged the image of the company. Turtle wants a trial by jury and WWE has until 3/13 to respond to the lawsuit.
The following is an excerpt from an article on TheSun.co.uk:

Sexy Jem set to heat up WWE

By MIKE ALDREN

SEXY Jemma Palmer will become the WWE's latest British Diva in just one month's time, SunSport can reveal. And former Gladiator Jemma — who played Inferno in the Sky One television series Gladiators — told us she's delighted to be following in the footsteps of other Brit babes Katie Lea and Lalya El. The gorgeous 24-year-old from Tamworth, Staffordshire, will relocate to Tampa, Florida, next month to join the WWE developmental program — Florida Championship Wrestling. In an exclusive interview, she told SunSport: "I've been waiting on my Visa which has taken seven months but I fly out at the beginning of March. In the meantime I've been training hard in the gym twice a day power lifting and fitness training and also showing my little sister the ropes — I've been beating her up!"

Jemma says she would have joined WWE last year but the Visa process was an obstacle. She added: "WWE applied for a special green card so I can eventually be a US citizen but you have to be a person of extraordinary ability. I had lots of evidence to put together and in the end the application weighed five pounds in total."
The following is an article from ContactMusic.com:

Grappling Bride Jennifer Hudson

Jennifer Hudson's fiance David Otunga would love the pair to get married in a wrestling ring. Jennifer Hudson's fiance wants to marry her in a wrestling ring. David Otunga - who is one of eight professional wrestlers appearing on the World Wrestling Entertainment's new reality show 'WWE NXT' - believes the squared circle would be the perfect place to tie the knot. When asked whether the WWE could convince the couple to get married in the ring, David joked: "We could do that. I don't know if Jennifer would go for it, but I'd be up for it."

As for the date, he says it's set but won't reveal anymore information. He revealed to E! Online: "I can't divulge the date or anything but we definitely have the plans." The couple met at Jennifer's 27th birthday party in 2008 and have a six-month-old son, David Jr., together. Grappler David claims their child is already trying to follow in his singer mother's musical footsteps. He revealed: "One of his favourite things is to hear the piano. Jennifer will play the piano or sing to him, and he will calm down immediately.

"We had a guy over once tuning the piano and he was pecking the keys, and David started trying to sing and imitate the notes. It was the most unbelievable thing."
The following is an excerpt from an article on Slam! Wrestling:

'We're not PG,' says Cryme Tyme's Shad

By MIKE ADREN - For SLAM! Wrestling

Shad Gaspard of Cryme Tyme seeks crowd reaction at a May 2008 show. Shad Gaspard of Cryme Tyme has blown WWE's claim of being PG-rated out the water. "We're not PG. You see, we don't break the rules we just bend them until they're about to break, then we're still good," he explained. "I understand that our show portrays a PG image but to be totally honest with you, when I'm in the ring, I don't think of PG; I think about entertaining and enjoying myself. Because if I'm not enjoying myself and you're not enjoying yourself, nobody is enjoying themselves," Gaspard said at an event to promote the WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010 video game a few months back.

Speaking his mind, Shad added with a chuckle: "It's like if your watching a porno and the guy in the movie isn't enjoying himself, then I'm like, 'Oh man I don't wanna watch this,' ... You know what I'm saying?" "You wanna watch someone who is enjoying what their doing. That's why I watch

[porn], that's why all us guys watch it." "WWE is sports entertainment, and sports entertainment has to be enjoyable to the viewer. And if the viewer is tuning into PG and below then they're not going to enjoy it."

"It has been brought to my attention that there is an article about me for an interview that I did several months ago, that was supervised by the WWE. The interviewer was very cool but for some reason, has decided to take some of the comments I made out of context, and not use our full conversation. At the time of the interview, we were laughing and joking and having a good time. But now, several months later, because of all the press for Conan, he has made me sound ignorant and uneducated by excluding parts of the conversation. This is a common tool of the media. I myself enjoy WWE programming, but at the same time, sometimes find myself disagreeing with the direction things go. Nonetheless, I always understand that there is a bigger picture than what I see in front of me. As a whole, WWE has taken great strides in preserving our PG rating, and has achieved much success, seeing as our ratings have gone up and our viewership has as well. If this story were worthwhile and creditable, he would have put it out several months ago.

"I've always had a love hate relationship with wrestling dirt sheets. But since the last few fiascos where false information was said about me, and websites have corrected themselves and done better reporting, and websites like PW Insider, Lords of Pain, 411 Mania, and E Wrestling have done a great job deleting rumors, and reporting factual news about the wrestling industry. For that, I congratulate them, but this article about me likening the WWE to porn is pure B.S. Lets face it, the only reason it has been brought up now is because of my recent press outside of the WWE."

Ratings

WWE NXT pinned a 1.3 Household Rating and 1.7 Million Viewers according to Nielsen Data. This was 32% higher than Syfy's first-quarter delivery on Tuesdays in the 10 p.m. hour, according to network officials.

From a demographic perspective, NXT notched a 73% gain among adults 18 to 34 (430,000), a 51% advance against persons 18 to 49 (787,000) and 35% improvement with adults 25 to 54 (767,000).

This marked WWE's best performance among households and adults 18 to 49 on Syfy since Sept. 1, 2009.

Pay Per View

The following were added to the Destination X card this week:
TNA World Tag Team Championship Match: Matt Morgan and Hernandez (c) vs. Beer Money, Inc., and TNA X Division Championship Match: Doug Williams (c) vs. Kazarian

Television

ProWrestling.net is reporting that TNA is in the process of changing the Abyss character on TV. It's being said that during the course of his program with Hulk Hogan, Abyss' character will lose a lot of the neurotic aspects of his character and eventually emerge as an invincible force in TNA.

Other news

The following is an excerpt from an article on TheSun.co.uk:

TNA go Extreme
By PHIL ALLELEY

TNA have announced a new PPV deal for the UK, with their huge monthly events broadcast on the Extreme Sports Channel. The shows will air at 10pm on the Friday following the live US transmission, starting with the company's Destination X supercard on March 26. Extreme Sports can be found on Sky Digital channel 419 and Virgin Media channel 527. It is free as part of Sky's News & Events Pack or Virgin's L offering. The channel will also start airing TNA Xplosion, a one-hour show of highlights and new matches, on Fridays at 9pm, also from March 26. TNA's flagship weekly TV show Impact will stay in its current home of Bravo, where it is shown every Saturday night at 9pm. The group — whose stars include Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Kurt Angle and world champion AJ Styles — also renewed their agreement with BT Vision, who will show replays of the monthly PPVs and Impact.

TNA president Dixie Carter said: "The United Kingdom has become a battleground for professional wrestling fans as TNA's ratings have continued to climb.
"This is another important moment for TNA and is another step to become the number one professional wrestling company in the world by giving our fans what they want; more TNA programming."
On Vince Russo's Facebook Fan Page, the status update puts a quote from his recent interview on "The Pain Clinic" stating:

Vince Russo 's opinion on WWE's creative product: "I think their show is terrible...I'm not saying this because it's the competition. I'm saying this as a wrestling fan, I don't watch their show every week because quite honestly, it would be a huge waste of 2 hours to me in a very busy week. But segments I do catch...if I'm in a h...otel on a Monday night, it is so boring." - The Pain Clinic (2/20/2010)
WISTV.com is reporting that Ric Flair's wife, Jacqueline Beems, has been released from jail following assault charges. The report goes on to state that Beems was arrested and charged with assault using "personal weapons such as hands, feet and teeth."
The following is an excerpt from a recent Facebook entry by TNA Wrestling's Eric Bischoff:

[Question] - BRING BACK VAMPIRO!!!!

[Answer] - no talent gimmick come lately.

[Question] - you said no chance that ddp would show up at TNA, how about kimberly page

[Answer] - double no

[Question] - What do you think of the guest hosts that have been coming onto raw? Seems despreate for ratings..

[Answer] - Weak stunt.

[Question] - MR. Bishoff, there is something odd in your outlook, I mean, it's great u envisage monday night wars part2 all over again, (thanx a lot) for that, but what i dont understand is vince won the last war on his terms and not your terms. You are again doing the same, first instance changing TNA ring look. Please let the orignality in u win. U r a winner, coz b'coz of u we love Wrestling

[Answer] - He won it on AOL/Time Warners terms. Not mine.

When asked about former WCW Cruiserweight Champion Juventud Guerrera, Eric Bischoff posted the following on his Facebook page: "He's a world class screw up," Bischoff said about Guerrera.

A reader then said that the same could be said about Scott Hall, and Bischoff responded by saying, "Good point, but Scott Hall has the potential to be one of the greatest minds in the business and still has a gift in the ring. Juventud....I'd rather take an ice pick to my thigh."
The following is from CourtHouseNews.com:

Wrestler Accuses 'Love Sponge' of Hate Call
By KARINA BROWN

(CN) - Pro wrestler Awesome Kong claims a radio host called her in the middle of the night from a blocked number and threatened to "'sucker punch' her until she stopped breathing," adding, "You'll be dead like all those other niggers in Haiti you fat black bitch!" Kong, whose real name is Kia Stevens, says AT&T refuses to identity the caller, who she believes is Todd Clem, aka Bubba the Love Sponge.

Stevens, who works for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, says she got into a backstage spat with Clem, a Total Nonstop contracted interviewer and radio host known as Bubba the Love Sponge, after Clem disparaged efforts to raise money for victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

Stevens claims Clem called her at her Tampa home from a blocked number at 5 a.m. on Feb. 10. She says the caller said, "'This is Bubba the Love Sponge here at (and at this point the caller named a radio station' and then alluded to the fact that the call was being broadcast on the radio. "The caller then started talking in a stream, threatening to come to the petitioner's house and 'sucker punch' her until she stopped breathing and then said, 'You'll be dead like all those other niggers in Haiti you fat black bitch ... Fuck Haiti!"

Stevens claims that when she did not respond, "the male who had identified himself as 'Bubba the Love Sponge' stated 'What d'ya think about that, Monkey Kong?' ... 'What? Those big fat Jimmy Walker lips ain't talking shit now, huh?'"

Stevens says she recognized Clem's voice, having heard his radio show.

According to media reports, Clem claimed on his show that Stevens had approached him backstage after a Jan. 18 wrestling match and "sucker-punched" him in the face several times while yelling "This is for Haiti!"

Kong reportedly served a two-day suspension for the altercation.

Stevens sued Clem and AT&T, demanding that the phone company release records that would identity the caller.

She is represented in Hillsborough County Court by Chris Mancini of Fort Lauderdale.
The following statement is from syndicated and satellite radio host Bubba the Love Sponge:

"This morning I was made aware of allegations made in a petition for full bill of discovery by Ms. Kia Stevens, a professional wrestler with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. The allegations in this petition are one hundred percent false. To be clear; everything contained in this petition is not true. Ms. Stevens attributing outrageous racist statements and physical threats to me is disgusting."

"We can prove without any doubt the allegations made in this petition are false. First Ms. Stevens claims that she was called on the air, at 5:08 AM on February 10th, we are not even on the air until 6 AM Eastern time. We have phone records and eye witnesses that account for my every movement that day from 4:50 AM forward. No call was made to Ms. Stevens at all."

"We will be pursuing all legal remedies available to us in the State of Florida to fight these deliberately malicious allegations."

From rohwrestling.com:

- News broke over the weekend on our Twitter page (http://twitter.com/rohonhdnet) that AAA star Alex Koslov is returning to Ring of Honor when we make our Arizona debut on March 26th!!! Koslov told ROHWrestling.com that as soon as he saw that Rocky Romero would be appearing in Phoenix he had to be there as well. “Romero got lucky at Final Battle,” said Koslov. “But he won’t be lucky in Arizona because I’m coming to get my victory back.” Signed for March 26th it will be Rocky Romero versus Alex Koslov in a rematch from Final Battle!!! Can Koslov score the win after suffering the controversial loss to Romero last December? Or will “Mr. Azucar” dance once more?

- Tag Team action has been signed for ROH’s return to suburban Detroit on March 19 in Dearborn! The House of Truth returns to action with a tough test as Josh Raymond and Christian Able will face El Generico and Colt Cabana!!! “The tests for Raymond and Able continue,” said Truth Martini. “As Generico struggles to handle his own truth, the House of Truth will begin the climb toward glory in ROH, March will be a very big month for the House.” Can Generico get it together long enough to stay on the winning end of things before he faces Chris Hero the next night, or will the HoT steal one from “Boom Boom” and company? Be there in Dearborn to find out!

- Just signed to appear for ROH’s huge Arizona debut: The Kings of Wrestling of “That Young Knockout Kid” Chris Hero and “Very European” Claudio Castagnoli, Eddie Edwards, Shawn Daivari, Joey Ryan and Bison Smith of the Embassy, and “Skullkrusher” Rasche Brown.

From dgusa.tv:

February 25th: Paul London will make his DGUSA debut in Phoenix!!! It will be Paul London & Jimmy Jacobs vs. Brian Kendrick & Jon Moxley on March 26th. Watch the Jacobs promo mentioned above for details on why this match is happening. London will also wrestle on the March 27th event.

February 25th: Tommy Dreamer has now been challenged by both Jimmy Jacobs and Jon Moxley for March 27th in Phoenix. Dreamer has looked to his past to offer a simple solution. He said to make the match an old school extreme Three-Way Dance. DGUSA have obliged and the hardcore bout has been made official:

Three-Way Dance - March 27th - Phoenix
Tommy Dreamer vs. Jimmy Jacobs vs. Jon Moxley

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