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The WWE senior management, which consists of Jim Ross (talent relations), Kevin Dunn (television production) and Ed Kauffman (legal affairs), were all promoted this past week. But the promotions seem to be only in their company title because their duties remain the same. Ross, Dunn and Kauffman were boosted up to Executive Vice President. Stephanie McMahon was promoted from Director of Creative to Vice President of Creative. A memo was sent out to all employees announcing their respective promotions.
Criticism has been mounting in WWE about the pushed talent on television not working house shows. Now, Vince McMahon, Steve Austin, Eric Bischoff and others will be working house shows. Austin will be doing the usual ass kicking and stone cold stunning followed by the beer guzzling.
Nothing new on Bill Goldbergs situation with his arm. We do know that he had taken creative control of his character. Most of the recent happenings involving him were from his ideas. The Goldberg & Booker T. vs. Chris Jericho & Christian on the 6/16 edition of RAW and the Goldberg vs. Rodney Mack on the 6/23 edition of RAW were mainly his doing.
Former WCW announcer Mark Madden was slated as ghost writing the Ric Flair autobiography for what seems like the past couple of years. He recently received a phone call from Keith Elliot Greenberg, who wrote the "Classy" Freddie Blassie Biography, to be asked a few questions about Greenberg's book on Flair. It was the first time Madden heard he was not going to write the book.
Rico had been studying old tapes of Adrian Street, who use to prance around the ring during matches. Rico was told to mimic Street for his new gimmick. After a few of the agents saw him doing it at a couple of house shows and noticed the bad reaction from the crowds, he was told to cut back on it.
Speaking of Rico, he is getting his own segment on Sunday Night Heat Called Ricos Runway. This is being done to get his character over more.
Lance Storm injured his ribs before the 6/27 weekend and was told to take that weekend off.
Chris Nowinski did not work wrestle at any house shows on the 6/27 weekend. His spot was taken by Rosey, he mainly worked in the corner of Rosey and Rodney Mack.
Buff Bagwell called WWE road agent John Laurinaitis, better known as Johnny Ace, asking if there was any work. John said that he was calling at a really bad time, which actually means no we dont.
Nathan Jones returned to Australia last week to renew his visa. He is expected to return this week.
Right before he debuted in TNA, Joe E. Legend, (better known in WWE for his Just Joe gimmick) was brought to the RAW show in Buffalo to work a dark match, which means that WWE doe have some interest in him.
The reason that we did not see Mark Jindrak join Evolution this past Monday on RAW was because he made a bad impression on road agents at house shows during the weekend due to poor connections with the crowd during his matches. The decision to let him join the lead heel group on RAW is definitely up in the air.
Due to the fact that John Cena was cheered at SmackDown last week against the babyface Billy Gunn, it might change the winner of the U.S. Title tournament. The plans going into last weeks edition of SmackDown were for Gunn to win the title; however, Benoit could actually end up walking away champion.
The talk of Mick Foley replacing Goldberg at SummerSlam against Triple H has stopped. It is doubtful that Foley will wrestle at SummerSlam and that he will indeed make his return to the ring at WrestleMania XX in New York City.
Triple H was unable to wrestle the Saturday night RAW brand house show in Green Bay due to a hematoma in his leg. He was in attendance at the show and worked the corner but still no word on how serious his condition is.
WWE diva Trish Stratus is on the cover of the current issue of Ontario Golf Magazine. In it, there is a comparison between wrestling and golf and talks about her playing golf with Booker T in England.
We have confirmed that Kanyon, Glen Gilberti, Chris Jericho, Dawn Marie & Simon Diamond, Test & Stacy, and Victoria were all at Torrie Wilson and Billy Kidmans wedding this past Friday. The couple has not gone on their honeymoon yet and will continue to reside in Tampa.
An unidentified wrestler was at the SmackDown taping last night, he name is Carly Colon, son of Carlos Colon. The younger Colon has signed a developmental contract with WWE.
Stone Cold Steve Austins book is slated to be release on October 21.
Bill Goldberg is currently scheduled to return to the ring this Sunday night in San Jose for his first match against Triple H. Triple H is scheduled to work a full weekend, doing a singles match with Big Daddy Cool Kevin Nash in Sat Lake City tomorrow night. Goldberg will also be fine to wrestle this Monday night on RAW.
There has been a line-up change regarding WWEs upcoming RAW house show in San Jose. Kevin Nash was originally scheduled to take on Chris Jericho. However, it has been confirmed that Jericho will not be wrestling. Instead, he will do his Highlight Reel with Eric Bischoff and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Kevin Nash will be in a six-main match with Scott Steiner and Trish Stratus taking on Test, Steven Richards, and Victoria which is a duplicate of the match that took place on last weeks edition of RAW.
Mick Foley will at the Moravian Bookshop in Bethlehem, PA reading and signing books tonight. If you are in the area, you may want to stop in and check that out.
Last nights edition of SmackDown did a 3.4 cable rating, with a 6 share. That number is down from last weeks 3.6 cable rating, however, it should be noted that the show did not air in Denver or Los Angeles.
The Zach Gowen story will be featured on Confidential this upcoming Saturday night on TNN. The piece should be interesting to see what parts of the story that they leave out, although, I look for the piece to also be a big promotional feature for the Vengeance PPV coming up Sunday.
The new SmackDown videogame for PlayStation 2 is set to hit stores this fall.
I found it interesting that Theodore Long was not in the corner of Rodney Mack last night at the RAW house show in San Jose, California.
As most of you have probably heard, Jeff Hardy received boos during his most recent Indy appearance with Ring Of Honor. According to sources within ROH, Hardy was not upset at the fans on Saturday night and stayed late to sign autographs.
- There has been a lot of talk backstage in WWE concerning the recent angle with Jim Ross getting burned by Kane. Some feel that the company wants to move Ross out of the RAW announcing booth due to Vince McMahon being very concerned about the cosmetics of anyone who appears on television.
- One WWE executive was quoted as to saying, "Vince wishes Ross's face wasn't like that," Nevertheless, the executive continued by saying, "But he also realizes Ross is by far the best announcer he's got."
- Some feel that this angle is a good opportunity to give Jim Ross extra juice as an on-screen character, while others believe it is to give Jonathan Coachman more of an opportunity to prove himself and feel that he has become the chosen one out of the B-team announcers. Both Al Snow and The Coach have received praises from many in the company concerning their work on Heat.
The plans are still to hold Jim Ross off of television to sell his burning that he received last week by Kane, quite possibly lasting as long as SummerSlam. This means that Jonathan Coachman will fill in doing RAW play-by-play. Nevertheless, many in the company feel that The Coach did not do a very good job last week on RAW and feel that it will be very hard for the company to sell Triple H vs. Goldberg without J.R. in the announcers table, thus, forcing J.R. to return earlier than expected.
As I reported a few weeks ago, The Rock said that he would be on RAW tonight in LA and again in two weeks on the show in Vancouver, BC. However, we have now received word that The Rock has not been written into tonights show. So an appearance is now looking doubtful, however, anything can change at the last minute.
An official announcement is expected later this week to confirm Bill Goldberg vs. Triple H for SummerSlam. The two paired off for the first time ever last night at a RAW brand house show in San Jose. Triple H took the win with help from Evolution members Randy Orton and Ric Flair. Reports from the show indicate that the match look alright, but needed some work to get to PPV quality.
WWE announcer Mar Lloyd has been transferred to a job in the companys sales department.
One wrestler recently spoke out for Triple H, defending the claim that he meddles into everyone elses storylines by saying, "Hunter looks out for himself and that's all at this point. I wouldn't be shocked to see him be a booker some day, but right now he's primarily concerned about his stuff and leaves the rest up to Steph, Vince, and the writers"
Rob Van Dam is developing a comic book called Twisted Perception. The book was written a created by RVD. Some exclusive art work from the book can be seen at this weekends comic con in San Diego, CA. Van Dam is schedule to be there today. For more information you can head on over to TwistedPerception.com.
The following comes from WWE.com:
Lita's N.C. fund-raiser this Saturday
Lita, aka Amy Dumas, has founded an organization to support animal-related causes, and shell be participating in a celebration and fund-raiser this Saturday (July 19) in Aberdeen, N.C. |
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