Message-ID:  

http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/

1/23/2004 2:24:00 PM

Friday news update: Hogan says nada, weekend schedule, Austin,
ratings, Special Mania offer, Smackdown has tough road, TNA big live
event, Urlacher and more

by Dave Meltzer

hsmeltzer{at}juno.com

With it being Royal Rumble weekend, there are no weekend house shows
from WWE. The biggest weekend event, aside from the Rumble, would be
Sunday's NOAH show in Kobe with Kenta Kobashi vs. Takuma Sano for the
GHC title as the main event. We'll be having live Rumble coverage on
the site starting at about 7:45 p.m. Sunday night, as well as taking
our usual poll after the show.

The WWE schedule for the next several days consists of the Rumble in
Philadelphia, which was announced as being sold out last night
(however, as of 3:10 p.m. today, there were blocks of four still
available in the $67 section), the live Raw in Hershey, PA on Monday,
a Smackdown brand house show in Reading, PA on Monday night, and the
Smackdown tapings Tuesday night in Washington, DC at the MCI Center.
Nothing has been announced for any of the shows, and probably much
will stem from angles to be shot on Sunday.

With the Rumble, Wrestling Observer Live will be a taped show on
Sunday night from 8-10 p.m. Eastern time and 5-7 p.m. Pacific time on
the Sports Byline USA radio network. You can listen live at
www.sportsbyline.com or check the site for a list of network stations
(not all stations will carry the show). For those in the Detroit,
Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester and Toronto areas, you can probably get
it on the radio on clear channel 610 AM CKTB out of St. Catherines,
ONT, and many have had good luck listening at www.610cktb.com. Again,
I'm never informed ahead of time which weeks they are and aren't
carrying the show, but they have been carrying it when there isn't a
football game on.

--Hulk Hogan said nothing about future plans, or much of anything, on
Jimmy Kimmel last night. He got a great reaction coming out and mainly
told Andre the Giant stories.

--Smackdown last night did a 4.4 rating in the overnights in the 55
metered markets. That is better than the show has done in months. As
we've seen, there is often no correlation between this number and the
final number.

--For those who get DirecTV, there is a deal that ends tomorrow for
$99.95 for Royal Rumble, No Way Out and Mania, which would be a $20
savings if they were bought separately. You can order at
www.directv.com/see/landing/wwe_roadtowrestlemania.html (thanks to
Michael Stamcoff)

--There were apparently a lot of unhappy people at the Steve Austin
book signing last night at the WHSmiths in London. An estimated 1,000
people came, but they only allowed 500 in, and taped up the windows of
the store to keep those not allowed in from looking in. At today's
signing, they were doing a ticket deal so there shouldn't be the same
problems.

--WWE is scheduled to release a John Cena DVD in March

--At this point, the only mainstream coverage we've seen on Jonny
Fairplay in TNA was in the gossip column of the Nashville Tennessean.
There has been no mention in any of the Chicago newspapers of Brian
Urlacher's appearance this Wednesday. (thanks to Keith Lipinski)

--A week ago Monday, Raw placed No. 2 in the national cable ratings
for the week, behind only the much publicized debut of "Monk" on the
USA Network. Sex in the City on HBO, which is put in a different
category as premium cable, was viewed by more people than Raw. With
ESPN's Sunday Night Football over, Raw may start hitting No. 1 again.

--There is a short story in the 1/26 issue of Jet Magazine on Bob
Sapp. It's a page-and-a-half and has photos of him vs. Akebono. It
talks about K-1 and Tyson. (thanks to Greg Harris and Marc Geer)

--NBC has changed its Thursday night line-up once again. The hit show
The Apprentice, the Donald Trump reality show, which was earmarked for
Wednesday after a Thursday debut, is now being moved again to Thursday
at 9 p.m. starting next week and through February sweeps. Smackdown
will not only be bucking a Survivor All-Star show and Friends/Will &
Grace in the first hour, but both CSI and Apprentice in the second
hour.

--MLW tonight at midnight on the Sunshine Network features Vampiro vs.
Raven in a screwface match, Terry Funk vs. Steve Corino in a barbed
wire match, Michael Modest vs. Jerry Lynn plus appearances by 80s
managers J.J. Dillon and Gary Hart

--TNA line-up for this coming Wednesday's PPV is Erik Watts (with
Urlacher) vs. Don Callis in a loser must resign, Mike Tenay interviews
Fairplay, ICP will be in the house, Chris Sabin vs. Michael Shane for
the X title, 3 Live Kru defends tag title against Kevin Northcutt &
Joe Legend, D-Lo Brown vs. Abyss, Sandman & ? vs. Julio & Punk. For
those attending live, they will be taping some Americas Cup matches
with Hector Garza, Juventud Guerrera, Mr. Aguila and Abismo Negro. I
believe Lynn faces Aguila and Guerrera vs. Sonjay Dutt

--UFC weigh-ins are Friday at 1 p.m. at the RA Nightclub inside the
Luxor

--ESPN's web site at
www.sports.espn.go/espn/page3/story?page=Simpsons%20Sports%20Moments2
in an article on The Simpsons listed Bret Hart's appearance No. 70
among its sports moments. (thanks to Bill Fitzmaurice)

--ROH is doing a ticket giveaway contest for 5 pairs of tickets for
the 1/29 show in Glen Burnie, MD. You can enter by sending your name
and address to Feinstend{at}aol.com by midnight tomorrow night. The show
features the return of Jim Cornette to the Baltimore area, managing
the Briscoes vs. Jerry Lynn & Samoa Joe, plus Homicide vs. C.M. Punk,
Matt Stryker vs. Dan Maff vs. Xavier vs. B.J. Whitmer, Chad Collyer
vs. John Walters with the rope break rule in effect, Sonjay Dutt vs.
Chris Sabin vs. Jack Evans vs. Caprice Coleman vs. Hydro vs. Slyk
Wagner Brown, Justin Credible & Loc vs. Backseat Boyz vs. Special K
and SAT & Qenaan Creed vs. Chad & Dino & ?.

--Wisconsin Organized Wrestling tomorrow night at the Oak Creek Civic
Center

--shawn.montreuil{at}sympatico.ca is looking for a tape of the 3/1 Misawa
vs. Kobashi

--KSTP radio in Minneapolis did a 60 second promo out of Howard Dean's
infamous concession speech in Iowa combined with a Ric Flair promo
from the WWE DVD, said to be pretty funny (thanks to Kyle Wolf)

--3PW is Saturday night at Viking Hall in Philadelphia with Raven vs.
Sandman, Al Snow vs. Sabu and a live appearance of Steven Richards
doing something with Blue Meanie. Richards won't be wrestling, and
won't appear in the show video because he's a WWE contracted employee.

--Empire State Wrestling tomorrow night in Wheatfield, NY at the St.
Johnsburg Fire Hall

--Jesse Ventura will be appearing at 8 p.m. tonight Eastern and
Pacific on a Travel Channel show about Minnesota

--Spanky is expected to work as a mystery partner at the Pro Wrestling
Guerrilla show in Santa Ana

--Shark Boy is teaching a 15-week wrestling training course starting
on 3/7 and is looking for ten students. You can e-mail
SharkBoy{at}cinci.rr.com for more info


--- Internet Rex 2.29