The Orange Goblin takes up all the good wrestling news this week, so you’re stuck with Mickie James going country and a whole lot of press releases.
Opening Witty Banter
I hope everyone is having a fantastic time out there in Internet-land. I’m still suffering from my crazy fun Halloween outing and smarting from losing my ID and cards. A real pain in the ass. As for wrestling news, TNA took all the good stuff this week so things might be a little light this week.
Let’s take some ‘E…
The News of the Week
Well Hulk Hogan’s singing with TNA dominated the wrestling newsboard this week and backstage those at WWE didn’t seem too fazed. Internal reaction at the TV tapings on Tuesday from many WWE personnel felt Hogan and Bischoff going to TNA is merely a huge mistake. Many feel that Hogan and Bischoff will be out for themselves and not the company and there wasn’t a real sense of shock.
Hogan’s new WWE DVD with ultra-rare WWE matches will still go out as planned, but will merely be positioned more as a nostalgia DVD than anything else, and likely receive no TV promotion. Basically the news of his signing just put Vince McMahon in a more foul mood than normal at the TV tapings. It should also be noted that both Hogan and Ric Flair have been removed from WWE.com’s Alumni section as well.
AllAccess.com has reported that Mickie James has signed with Nashville based management agents James and Sherry Massaro of Skyline Management Group, who specialize in the development of country music stars. James also signed with Absolute Publicity to handle her public relations.
Mickie James a country star, huh? I can get into that. She is clearly not the “it†girl in WWE anymore, and her absence (much like Candice Michelle’s) wouldn’t be that missed.
The Hartford Courier has an article up in which WWE’s Robert Zimmerman states that John Cena was cleaned up for blood at Bragging Rights due to WWE’s PG rating. PWInsider reports that one of the reasons was actually to avoid creating an incident that Linda McMahon’s Senate opponents might use against her.
I don’t like the idea of stopping the match mid-match in order to clean him up. I think the blood could have really added to the drama of the match and made it have that epic feel everyone was so desperate to have.
Bryan Saxton (real name Bryan Kelly) debuted on ECW as the new color commentator this past week to replace Matt Striker, who moved up to SmackDown to cover for Jim Ross’ medical leave. Saxton apparently is a former legit newscaster and has been doing commentary and managing down in Florida Championship Wrestling.
Bragging Rights as a show essentially proved the theory that ECW is truly a televised developmental, and moving Striker up and putting Saxton in is a great move. Lest we all forget that Striker and Grish are a Slammy-award winning announce team. That being said, get well soon JR.
The WWE’s Corporate website made the following announcement on October 29, announcing some awards they won:
WWE.com Wins Two Big Awards for Microsites
WWE.com has won two big industry awards for their microsites. The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania microsite won a “Web Award” for “Outstanding Achievement in Website Development” from the Web Marketing Association. The 2009 SummerSlam microsite won a Gold W3 Award in the Entertainment category.
That’s cool I guess. It’s a slow news week.
Speaking of slow news weeks, a WWE themed edition of Dinner: Impossible will air on Food Network on November 11 at 10PM ET. Here is the episode description from Food Network:
WWE: A Mission on the Mat
Robert is taken to the mat as he joins up with some of World Wrestling Entertainment Superstars at Summer Slam, WWE’s biggest summertime event. Stephanie McMahon gives Robert his mission to feed 300 WWE VIPs a “Superstar” meal in just nine hours, this means every dish he creates must be based on some of WWE’s Superstars’ signature moves such as Frog Splash, Clawhold, and Knife Edge Chop. Stephanie is center ring joined by her seven foot tall, 400 pound “enforcer”, Big Show, who’s there to make sure Robert knows that failure is not an option!
I’ve watched the show a few times and it’s alright. It will interesting to see if WWE will promote the episode at all. After all they’ve got this whole guest hosting thing lying around that Chef Robert could step into and do some serious cross-promotion. Then again Food Network isn’t under the NBC Universal umbrella so it may just get glossed over.
More press release fun from WWE, as they sent out the following press release, announcing that they generated a nearly $50 million dollar economic windfall for the greater Houston area. Here’s the full press release:
WrestleMania Makes Close to $50 Million for Host City
STAMFORD, Conn.–(Business Wire)– World Wrestling Entertainment announced today that The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania generated a $49.8 million dollar economic windfall for the greater Houston area, according to a study conducted by the Enigma Research Corporation. Despite one of the biggest economic downturns in recent history, local and state governments collected $5.7 million in taxes. This follows the $51.5 million of economic impact WrestleMania XXIV brought to Orlando.
“Having the opportunity to host The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania was a huge honor and success,” said Greg Ortale, President and CEO of the Greater Houston Convention & Visitor`s Bureau. “The direct expenditure demonstrates that WrestleMania is indeed economically on par with the world`s greatest sports and entertainment offerings.”
“Our overarching goal with our public and private sector partners is to consistently provide positive economic impact for WrestleMania`s host communities and establish a lasting pro-social legacy, “said John P. Saboor, Senior Vice President of Special Events for World Wrestling Entertainment.
A capacity crowd of 72,744 from all 50 states, 24 countries and seven Canadian provinces attended the pop culture extravaganza. Key highlights from the study included:
* $49.8 million of direct, indirect and induced impact derived from spending by non-locals visiting specifically for The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania, equating to 600 full time jobs for the area.
* During WrestleMania Week, 86% of out of state, overnight visitors who came in for the festivities, stayed in local Houston area hotels. 67% stayed for three nights or more.
* Nearly 75% of fans that came to The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania from outside of Houston traveled by air.
* 23% of the fans that came from out of state were from California and New York.
* Nearly 65% of the fans that attended were between the ages of 10 and 34.
Next year, WrestleMania XXVI will take place March 28, 2010 from University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ. Tickets go on sale Saturday, November 7 at 10 AM MT through the University of Phoenix Stadium box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, www.ticketmaster.com, or charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000. The event will be broadcast live on pay-per-view, and viewed in more than 100 countries.
Enigma Research Corporation is an international consulting firm which specializes in measuring the economic impact of special events. Enigma`s economists developed a customized model which converted expenditures into economic impact, employment created and taxes generated as a result of the event.
And now we know why cities are now bidding for WrestleMania like an Olympic event.
The Road to…Survivor Series
World Heavyweight Championship
Undertaker (c) v. The Big Show v. Chris Jericho
WWE Championship
John Cena (c) v. Triple H v. Shawn Michaels
Wrestler of the Week
Week of October 26 – November 1: Kofi Kingston
Kofi Johnson…er…Kingston came out of RAW looking a real superstar this past week. Now with a more serious character and happy-go-lucky attitude gone Kofi is perhaps primed to take a shot up the ladder. He pinned Chris Jericho in RAW’s opening match, but really established himself when he interrupted Randy Orton’s promo and desecrated his new race car. Whether Kofi will be able to maintain his momentum (hi MVP) is still unknown, but this past week Kofi sure delivered.
RAW’s On Tonight!
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne will be the next co-hosts for WWE’s guest hosing initiative on their flagship Monday Night RAW show. The eccentric rock duo will be hosting RAW this coming Monday when the show emanates from Worcester, Massachusetts. Ozzy is no stranger to WWE as way back in 1986 he accompanied The British Bulldogs to their WWF Tag Team Title match at WrestleMania 2 at the Rosemont Horizon in suburban Chicago, Illinois. With WWE now promoting TV-PG programming, it should be interesting to see how the normally erratic Ozzy plays out on live television. It has all the makings of a highly entertaining episode of Monday Night RAW. Plus John Cena looks to battle Triple H and Shawn Michaels in a battle of super powers at Survivor Series, while Randy Orton and Legacy are getting trouble from Kofi Kingston. I smell a Cena, DX-Legacy six man tag leading to some more in fighting. Also Jack Swagger looks to challenge The Miz for the United States Championship. A true battle of the douche bags?
On Last Week’s Episode…
Eison handles SmackDown. Who would have thought an Armstrong would be competing on WWE television in 2009?
Eison also has the low down Superstars, featuring a great old-school style mid-card six man tag match that would have been at home on the original Superstars.
Marshall gives RAW some love.
How They Rated
Superstars (10.22.09) – .9
SmackDown! (10.23.09) –
A.M. RAW (10.25.09) – .7
RAW (10.26.09) – 3.7
ECW 10.27.09) – 1.0
This is Boring, What Else is There to Read?
Hack keeps fighting the good fight for the indys.
The always phenomenal Ditch brings back the puro goodness.
Marshall brings the TNA love with notone, but two editions of Total Nonstop Weekly. I mean its not like anything important happened.
Wheeler recaps RAW the only way he knows how…
For more relevant, interesting and exciting wrestling information from your truly, check out my gig as the Pro Wrestling Examiner over at Examiner.com.
