June 2007 News Archive (Page 4)

Vince McMahon may be alive, folks!

Not only that, but the WWE Chairman will be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2008. McMahon will receive a special ceremony and a permanent star on the Walk of Fame.

He will be honored under the Television category, for his contribution to the broadcast television industry. The date of the ceremony was not announced.

John Cena will be serving as a special guest host of FSN’s The Best Damn Sports Show Period this week.

Among the Best Damn hosts, he joins John Salley, friend and co-star of Fast Cars and Superstars – The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race.

As reported by WWE.com, when The Champ talked all things sports with Salley, Chris Rose, Rob Dibble and Rodney Peete, he spent plenty of time ribbing Salley for being eliminated during the first round of competition on Fast Cars and Superstars.

“I was trying to take the John Cena/John Salley feud all the way to the top. One of us wasn’t really into it,” Cena joked.

John Cena will be a guest host again on tonight’s The Best Damn Sports Show Period, airing at 11 ET on FSN. The season finale of Fast Cars and Superstars airs Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on ABC.

The following is a press release from WWE.com outlining new worldwide TV deals for the company...

WWE Signs Deals in Poland, Serbia, Greece and Turkey

STAMFORD, Conn., June 20, 2007 -- World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. today announced new breakthrough TV deals in Poland, Serbia, Greece and Turkey. The deals, across Free and Pay TV represent 196 hours of original WWE programming to four key new markets.

In Poland, "WWE RAW", a one-hour version of the popular U.S. program "Monday Night RAW," will be broadcast on Extreme Sports Channel, a cable channel wholly owned by Liberty Global Europe, Europe's biggest cable TV provider.

Extreme Sports Channel is available on digital cable as well as many digital satellite services, providing premium extreme sports to over 50 territories and in 12 languages.

In Greece, Multichoice Hellas will broadcast "WWE RAW" on Supersport, the only premium 24-hour sports television service available in Greece. Supersport is available terrestrially and via satellite on Nova, a DTH satellite service owned and operated by Multichoice Hellas.

In Serbia, "WWE RAW" will launch on Fox Televizija, a national commercial television network launched in November 2006 as a joint venture formed in cooperation between News Corporation and partners in Serbia.

In Turkey, Digiturk, the largest and only digital DTH satellite network operator, will broadcast "WWE RAW" on S'NEK. Digiturk offers 128 television, radio and interactive channels, including access to premium blockbuster movies and sports exhibitions.

"These television deals are milestones in the roll-out of WWE programming in Eastern and Southern Europe; it's a direct response by program buyers who have seen the strong commercial potential of WWE throughout Europe," said Andrew Whitaker, Deputy Chief Executive, International TV. "The TV industry has clearly seen that WWE programming has a proven track record in delivering viewers, advertisers and subscribers on a global basis."

Charges were filed against WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler this morning due to an incident at Sam’s Town last Friday night.

According to RasslinRiotOnline.com, Lawler allegedly punched “The Big Cheese” Sal Corrente a number of times and then yelled, “You stupid mother fucker, don't you ever hit a fan.” Lawler believed that Sal, who had been hit by a fan, had retaliated and hit the fan back.

We'll keep you updated as this story develops.

Eric Bischoff recently sat down with ClubWWI.com and responded bluntly with criticism of TNA Wrestling.

Here's what he had to say:

"They have not done anything yet and I don’t even know any of those people except maybe Jeff Jarrett and a handful of talent working there. I don't know anyone behind the (scenes). I don't know Dixie Carter. If she showed up in my driveway, I wouldn't recognize her. I don't know anyone over there. I don't know who's doing what. I really don't care. So it's nothing personal here.

I'd like to see them succeed…But the truth is, from what I've seen of their product, no one there really gets it. They're a small independent company that's been getting a 1.0 rating for the last five years. They keep trying to pull rabbits out of their hat with talent. 'Oh we're gonna bring in Sting and that's gonna turn the business around! ' Well, they brought in Sting, who's obviously a great talent, and guess what? Nothing happened.

And then 'We're gonna bring in Christian Cage. It's a big surprise. He's hot in WWE and we got him and it's gonna turn things around.' Guess what? Nothing happened.

Then 'We're gonna bring in Kurt Angle and he's the real deal. Things are gonna turn around!' Guess what? Nothing happened. Nothing's ever gonna happen until they get it."

PWTorch.com reported late Tuesday night that Konnan and Ron Killings quit TNA Wrestling prior to the iMPACT! tapings.

Konnan, who some had been expecting to quit even prior to Sunday's pay-per-view, was reportedly upset with TNA's failure to provide appropriate support for his health problems.

Killings, who reports had long suggested was unhappy with the company, apparently left due to frustration with his pay and television role.

Both will work for Mexico's AAA.

Thanks to Adam B. for sending in the following ECW report...

- Chris Benoit defeats Elijah Burke by the sharpshooter to go on to the title match at Vengeance

- The Boogeyman dominates in his ECW debut by defeating Shawn Alexander in about 10 seconds and then dumps his trademark worms on him.

- Kevin Thorn defeats Tommy Dreamer. It seemed as though Dreamer may have damaged his right ankle in the match.

- Johnny Nitro, in his ECW debut, defeats Nunzio

- CM Punk defeats Marcus Cor von and moves on to fight Benoit for the title. Therefore, it bears repeating: Chris BENIOT VS. CM PUNK ECW TITLE AT VENGEANCE

Also on the show:
- Stephanie McMahon appearance on WWE RAW is shown again; The footage of the limousine explosion was aired for about the 100th time.

This week's edition of WWE RAW posted either a 4.1 or 4.2 rating.

WWE officials were pleased with the rating and view it as evidence that the Vince McMahon death storyline was a good move.

However, because the rating was not an absolute slam dunk, others are reportedly waiting to see how viewership holds up over the next few weeks before assessing the success of the angle.

TNA iMPACT! Tapings for June 21:

- Jim Cornette announced TNA World Champion Kurt Angle & TNA X Division Champion Jay Lethal vs. TNA World Tag Team Champions Team 3D for the Victory Road PPV main event on July 15. The person who gets the winning pinfall would earn that title.

- James Storm & Robert Roode defeated Rhino & Eric Young.

- Chris Harris defeated Raven. Kaz attacked Raven to cause the finish.

- A backstage brawl between Abyss and Christian Cage spills into the Impact Zone. Abyss tries to use the barbed wire bat on Cage, but AJ Styles and Tomko make the save.

- Samoa Joe defeated Jay Lethal & Chris Sabin to become the NEW TNA X Division Champion. This now changes the Victory Road main event to Kurt Angle & Samoa Joe vs. Team 3D with all titles on the line.

TNA iMPACT! Tapings for June 28:

- Jim Cornette announces that Kurt Angle would defend the TNA World Title tonight against Rhino & Christian Cage in a Triple Threat Match.

- Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle get into a brawl. TNA Security breaks it up.

- Basham & Damaja defeated Voodoo Kin Mafia.

- Kurt Angle defeated Rhino & Christian Cage in a 30 minute match to retain the TNA World Title. Chris Harris took out Cage during the match. James Storm spit beer in the face of Rhino to setup the finish.

Here is the current lineup for WWE's next pay-per-view, Vengeance:

* WWE Championship Challenge Match - John Cena vs. Booker T vs. Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley vs. Bobby Lashley

* World Heavyweight Champion Edge vs. Batista (Last Chance Match)

* Intercontinental Champion Santino Marella vs. Umaga

* United States Champion MVP vs. Ric Flair

* World Tag Team Champions Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch vs. The Hardys

* Cruiserweight Champion Chavo Guerrero vs. Jimmy Wang Yang

* Women's Champion Melina vs. Candice Michelle

* ECW Title Match - Chris Benoit or Elijah Burke vs. CM Punk or Marcus Cor Von (awaiting ECW results tonight)