The Late Night News Dribble

News

Welcome back to the Late Night News Dribble.

– The WWE is holding their “quarterly” conference call on February 13th at 11 am. We’re in the middle of an eight month transition period where the WWE switches to a January start of their fiscal year, so this call wil cover the last eight months. In order to listen in at corporate.wwe.com or by calling 800-862-9098 (conference ID: WWE), they’re asking you call 15 minutes ahead of time to get your spot. This is usually a financial call with some very sparse info given about anything that doesn’t have a dollar sign associated to it.

– Krazy Kurt Angle was on Bubba the Love Sponge saying he is gonna fight in an MMA fight soon and it will probably be with the EXC. Now, the MMA guys are getting more and more pissed at us wrestling guys for taking Angle so seriously about this.

Everyone knows how Kurt exercises good judgment on a regular basis, like when he was asked about how he would be able to be medically cleared to shoot fight, he responded that the only issue would be his neck and that he would lie to be cleared. This clearly is a man who took enough time away from pro wrestling to heal up properly. I don’t care how good his body feels, there are no pills to take for “idiot”.

He mentioned Chuck Liddel, Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture and he said there are preliminary discussions with Frank Shamrock. When Shamrock was with World Fighter, he attempted to get Angle to fight for them, but Angle was uninterested at the time. Thanks to the Observer for that tid bit.

– Pro Wrestling Insider is reporting that ex-TNA talent Cassidy Riley is expected to report to Ohio Valey Wrestling soon.

– Game Biz Daily sat down with two managers from THQ to discuss and fellate the success of RAW vs. Smackdown! 2007. Check it out here. Too busy to care? RAW vs. Smackdown! was the #6 selling game in November and December.

– Edge has interviewed all around super Hockey guy Martin (pronounced mar-TAN for you hockey n00bs) Brodeur an you can read all about it here. Topics don’t include (but should) how awesome it is being professional sports stars near the top of their game, and how many people that do the same things they do aren’t as good as them. Actual topics include how Edge loves hockey, Brodeur’s book, hockey, the Olympics, hockey, Canada, hockey and retirement.

– Speaking about Edge and Hockey, you might have missed him being interviewed during the All Star game last night. I know most of America and the world wasn’t watching, so you probably missed it, so WWE.com posted it here. Also, in case you need more Edge, check out his interview with local San Antonio press about the Royal Rumble.

– Booker T’s got a promotion he runs with a show coming up. The Pro Wrestling Alliance is an offshoot from his wrestling school and will feature talent from the school alongside WWE talent like Gregory Helms, The Boogeyman, The World’s Greatest Tag Team and non-talent like the Boogeyman. Don’t let the Boogeyman drive you away from the show. It’s not his fault that he got that gimmick. Booker T will emcee the event and you might see him kick an ass or two while he’s there too.

Tickets are cheap to allow most anyone who would like to see the show. This and future shows will benefit a charity that Book started called the Booker T Fights for Kids Foundation (no kidding that’s the name!) and hopefully by the eighth show of this string he will be able to break ground on a facility that will offer 24 hour access to Houston kids who want to use a basketball court or a computer. This is a really great charity.

You can see the PWA Thursday night at 7 p.m. CT at the Pasadena Convention Center. Tickets are $10 or $15 and are available at King Booker’s Pro Wrestling Academy. More info here.

– Dixie Carter announced that Lockdown will take place in St. Louis on April 15th. Not too much more about it to be said, but read up about it here. Perhaps for the day they can get Mike Rotundo to relive the IRS gimmick because it’s tax day. Joke too old? Are you there?

– The Royal Rumble doesn’t take place inside a cage, but it does feature the greatest gimmick match of all time. WWE.com has posted a bunch of special features on the event, including 3 things to watch for at this year’s show, a list of Royal Rumble “don’ts” and more.

– Movies Online has the “honor” of being the people to post the first promotional photos of Stone Cold Steve Austin’s new movie The Condemned. Check out the photos of Stone Cold looking like… Stone Cold here.

– My sharp eyes spied that, combing WWE.com, Layla El has been moved from Smackdown’s superstars page to ECW’s extremists page, and new ECW addition Brooke Adams (she was also in the 2006 Diva Search, and recently called up from Deep South) has also been added to ECW.com. Deuce, Domino, Cherry and Maryse were added to the Smackdown page, and the Great Khali has been added to the RAW page, to the chagrin of those people who watch RAW.

– Melle Mel’s desire to be a pro wrestler has been picked up by AOL here.

– The Vancouver Sun has a feature on Armando Alejandro Estrada and his old school managerial skillz here, and it’s a nice read.

– Wondering what everyone’s favorite CPA turned pro wrestler is up to lately? D-Lo Brown is part owner of a Continental Indoor Football League team. Watch out for the Springfield Stalions.

– WNBC in New York is running a slideshow of dead professional wrestlers. If Bam Bam’s death doesn’t depress you enough, here’s a whole list of guys who died recently.