August 2006 News Archive (Page 2)

We had hoped this Unforgiven spoiler was false, but the WWE appears to actually be incorporating it into a story line now.

The company website has posted the following announcement on the future of everyone's favorite WWE Diva, Trish Stratus:

In a blockbuster that will send a shockwave throughout sports-entertainment, WWE.com has learned that Trish Stratus will be retiring following Unforgiven next month.

However, it wasn’t Trish herself that provided this information. Earlier today, Women’s Champion Lita called the WWE.com offices to announce Trish’s retirement.

Apparently, Lita overheard a personal telephone conversation this weekend between Trish and her parents about her decision to hang up the boots.

"Trish was saying that the road has been taking its toll on her and it was time to take some time for herself,” Lita said, “but the hardest part was that she couldn’t decide how to tell her fans. Well, being the good friend that I am, I figured I’d break the news through WWE.com to alleviate her worries and save her the trouble of figuring out how to let down all her fans like that."

Call us crazy, but we see this ending with Trish defeating Lita to close out her career on top. Mmmm ... Trish on top ...

Layla El, WWE Diva Search Winner, is headed to Smackdown, fans. She posted the following on her myspace.com account:

Hi All,
hope all is well!! thanks for all the love and well wishes!!
I am going to to be on SMACKDOWN!!!!!!!
so for now I am a Smackdown Diva!!!!!
I know some of you wanted me on Raw.......so sorry!!
you now how things always change.....so plz watch friday nights!!!!

well I will talk to you all soon.......
enjoy the rest of your night..............love always Lay

Looking quite dapper, The Rock greeted troops at Maryland's Andrews Air Force base last week. The former WWE superstar held a special screening of his film Gridiron Gang for our nation's heroes.

So, it's come to this, has it? Chris Jericho could return to the ring ... or he could star in a FOX reality show in which he shows up those supposedly impressive pipes.

Shown here, Jericho is given customers at McDonald's a preview of Celebrity Duets, the upcoming program in which he'll be paired with a famous singer and attempt to impress a panel of judges:

We have more on Unforgiven, the September RAW pay-per-view:

During the airing of an ECW show on Global Canada, a commercial announced that the main-event for this show will be John Cena taking on Edge ... in a TLC match for the WWE Championship.

Needless to say, we're a bit excited for this.

The following report is courtesy of lordsofpain.com …

WWE World champion King Booker names Finlay and William Regal his "Royal Knights" with a ceremony inside the ring. They both thank Booker and promise to take care of anyone who crosses him. Bobby Lashley, then Batista hit the ring, with everyone brawling. Smackdown General Manager Teddy Long comes out and decrees there will be a handicap tag main event tonight: King Booker & William Regal & Finlay vs. Batista & Lashley.

Ken Kennedy defeated Matt Hardy after WWE Cruiserweight champion Gregory Helms (at ringside doing commentary) hits Hardy.

Backstage, The Miz and Ashley discuss Layla winning the Diva Search.

The Miz comes to the ring and brings out Layla, who thanks everyone for their support. Miz plugs that he'll make his in-ring debut on next week's Smackdown.

Sylvester Turkay defeated Tatanka.

They show highlights of Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero from SummerSlam. They show Vicki Guerrero walking backstage, as she'll be coming to the ring after a commercial break.

Vicki Guerrero comes to the ring and addresses the crowd. She apologizes for getting involved in the Guerrero vs. Mysterio PPV match and said she is going to move on with her life, but first she wants to apologize to both. Mysterio comes to the ring. She apologizes to Rey and they hug. Guerrero comes to the ring and hugs Vicki as well. They are all about to leave when Chavo attacks Rey.

He goes to hit Rey with a chair, but Vicki stops Chavo and takes the chair away ... then hits Rey with it. Chavo suplexes Rey on the chair. He and Vicki hug and leave Rey laying in the ring.

WWE Tag Team champion Paul London (with Brian Kendrick) defeated KC James (with Idol Stevens & Michelle McCool) via DQ when The Pitbulls hit the ring and attack London. All three teams brawl.

MVP comes to the front row to sit ringside with two women as they go to commercial.

Kristal Marshall defeated Jillian Hall.

They aired a vignette for Jimmy Wang Yang, which is his new official name, doing the cowboy gimmick he's used during a few recent dark matches.

Vito defeated Sylvan. MVP was laughing at Vito from ringside, so Vito called him out. MVP got in the ring to confront him, but MVP's agent calls on the cell phone and says they don't have a contract yet, so MVP turns down the challenge.

Batista & Bobby Lashley defeated WWE World champion King Booker & William Regal & Finlay.

Wow. We didn't see this coming.

For personal reasons - he's been going through a divorce, for example - Kurt Angle has actually been released by the WWE. Here's the snippet from wwe.com:

Due to personal issues, Kurt Angle has been granted an early release from his contract. WWE looks forward to establishing a new relationship with Kurt in the near future.

They better establish that!

Angle, of course, is a six-time World Champion, having also held the Intercontinental Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship; he also won the 2000 King of the Ring tournament and has been in ECW for the last couple months.

How well has ECW been doing on the Sci-Fi channel in its brief return back to the airways so far? Well enough to have the channel issue a press release, praising the success.

The following must make Paul Heyman proud ...

Extreme Championship Wrestling On SCI FI Is #1 In Households On Tuesday, August 15th

New York - ECW has remained consistent throughout its summer run, averaging a 2.3 household rating, ranking as one of SCI FI's highest rated weekly programs. It has consistently been one of the top-rated programs in primetime on Tuesday among male teens and one of the top-rated cable programs in households.

In its 10 week run, ECW has been among the top three rated primetime programs on ad-supported cable television five times since its premiere on June 12, 2006.

The ECW premiere has brought more than 1.8 million new viewers to the SCI FI Channel. 43 percent of ECW's premiere audience had not watched the SCI FI Channel during the prior four weeks.

Now that his baby, ECW, is sort of back, how does Paul Heyman feel about the brand? The creator of extreme professional wrestling recently sat down with The Poughkepsie Journal and talked about this brand revival, among other topics.

On ECW''s audience: "The biggest star in ECW was always the audience and the crowd in Poughkeepsie never let us down. What appealed to me about Poughkeepsie was they always had a great history of delivering a great TV audience in WWE. We would have done more there, had we stayed in business.

You had people coming from Albany, White Plains and across the river, over the Mid-Hudson Bridge. It was a rabid crowd and a great audience."

On his role in the new ECW: "I thought it was great closure. It was a night everyone waited five years for. But people wouldn't stop buying the DVDs, the books, the t-shirts. It became this huge domino effect. It's far different. Before I was the sole proprietor. I was doing the creative and I was taking creative input from everybody, whether it was the top star or the janitor.
Here, it's a huge corporation and as lead writer, the buck stops with Vince McMahon. I organize all the pitches and the concepts, but it's much different. It's much more a large entertainment conglomerate than eccentric and personality-driven."

On working with Vince McMahon: "It's an interesting clash of two eccentric personalities with two totally different takes on the business, but who respect each other's visions. Familiarity breeds contempt. I think Vince got too familiar with me."

On why ECW cannot be just a nostalgia show: "You really need to help people understand that this can't be a nostalgia show. It's great to go to Yankee Stadium for Old Timers' Day. It does great business one day a year. But nobody wants to see Stan Musial step up to the plate. They want to see A-Rod. Well, maybe not how he's hitting today.

But they want to see the A-Rods, the Mike Piazzas, the Johnny Damons. Once a year, it's wonderful. But presenting these guys as though it were still 1999 is not going to happen."

On C.M. Punk: "You have to look into the eyes of a guy like C.M. Punk. Five years down the road, this is the guy that stands in Rob Van Dam's and Sabu's and Kurt Angle's shoes. The groundwork from today has to be laid for tomorrow."

Attention, all you MAJOR Hulkamaniacs out there:

Aside from a DVD collection of Hulk Hogan actually wrestling, true fans can watch the Hulkster attempt to act when his 1990 show, Thunder in Paradise, is also released next month.

The three-DVD set will be out September 26. And we're as confused as you are about how there were enough episodes of this program to fill up a trio of discs.