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- Speaking to Inside Wrestling, Booker T was asked for comment on the late Chris Benoit after working closely with him for a number of years. The SmackDown General Manager is asked how he separates Benoit's wrestling accomplishments and friendship with him from the horrible event that occurred in 2007.
"I separate them because I have to," said Booker. "You can't put the two together. I think of the Chris I knew on the road and in Japan, eating the frickin' noodles, traveling and working together for years. I can't put those two people together because I really think the two were different people at the time. We'll never know what happened, and that's the thing: We don't know. The brain is a fragile machine, because you can live with a person for 30 years and then they kill you one day."
- The Prime Time Players, Darren Young and Titus O'Neil, appear at Cricket Communications in Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday beginning at 4:00 p.m.
- After recently returning to North America, Rene Dupree competed in his first match in the United States since leaving WWE on Saturday in Rahway, New Jersey for Pro Wrestling Syndicate. He lost a Four-Way match, which also featured Dan Maff, Devon Moore and the winner, The Dynamic Sensation.
Dupree competed in Japan and Europe during his time away from North America. Though still muscular, he has since lost a considerable amount of weight.
WWE Superstar and current Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston spoke with 'Smacktalk Radio Live' Thursday night. You can listen to the interview in its entirety and the latest episode of SRLradio by going to SmacktalkRadioLive.com or by looking up 'Smacktalk Radio Live' in the iTunes store. Follow @SRLradio on Twitter.
Kofi spoke on a variety of topics to help promote the upcoming WWE 'Survivor Series' PPV:
The Survivor Series elimination match: "Obviously with myself, I've had a rivalry pretty much (at some point in the past) with everyone who is on my team right now…The Miz, he and I have gone back and forth and pretty much hating each other for the past month and a half, so it really brings an interesting dynamic because no one really knows where the Miz's mind is at right now…I can't say that I trust him…I've never known him to be a good guy so I need to have my eyes peeled for the Miz specifically and then everyone on my team, but hopefully we can put our differences aside and come together and win this match because none of us want to lose to anyone on Team Ziggler."
Evan Bourne: "Yeah, Evan is doing alright, he has been doing some rehab for his ankle. For those who don't know, he got into a pretty bad motorcycle accident and pretty much broke almost every bone in his foot…but he's doing great and he has a real positive attitude…he'll be back before we know it and doing what he does best and that’s fly around the ring and do all types of superhero/action figure-esque video game type moves…he should be back hopefully soon, not sure the exact timetable on it but yeah he's doing great."
Whether Kofi has ever wanted to turn on the WWE Universe and become a bad-guy: "To be honest, I've always been a guy who looks at everything with a pretty positive outlook. As far as going the other way, it really is up to the WWE Universe…As long as everyone is boom-clapping with me, I'll stay with them because I appreciate the WWE Universe and I realize that without them there is no us, there is no me….I don't want to say never, you never say never in the WWE…
"As far as me becoming a bad guy, the line is so blurred these days, not like back in the 80's where you had Hulk Hogan come out and tell people to eat their vegetables and take their vitamins and he was a good guy, and then you had other guys come out and frown at the crowd and insult the crowd and automatically be bad guys….all of a sudden you had 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin do bad guy things and he was getting cheered where Bret Hart was doing everything right and all of a sudden he was getting booed. There is no clear-cut good-guy and bad-guy line these days, it really depends on the WWE Universe and how they start reacting to certain people. Specifically me, I guess we'll have to wait and see."
His match against Randy Orton in January 2010 where Randy was heard yelling 'stupid': "Everyone knows Randy kinda has an attitude, so that's Randy being Randy. What everyone doesn't remember is that we were in a heated rivalry so a lot of what you saw was him being his character and him kinda playing to that. I thought it was real funny when I started reading these things like 'Randy Orton doesn't like Kofi', which I think is fine because it added to what we were doing at the time, it made people more interested in what we were doing…it is what it is…."
With Linda McMahon's U.S. Senate campaign over, WWE is expected to release wrestlers from their
contracts on a more regular basis.
According to PWInsider.com, there are people in and out of the organization who feel officials were holding off on purging talent more frequently this year to prevent her campaign from receiving negative press since she branded herself as a
job creator. It has been said that the campaign led WWE to temporarily cease cutting multiple talents in one fell swoop as it had in the past.
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Charles Wright will appear as Papa Shango at two autograph signings in Pennsylvania on Saturday,
according to WrestlingFigs.com. He will appear at Pro Wrestling World at the Merchants
Square Mall 1901 S. 12th St. Allentown, from 11:300 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. For
more information, call 610-798-9900 or e-mail prowrestling1@aol.com. He will then appear at George's Cards & Collectibles 7755 New Falls Road Levittown, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Call 215-943-2475 for
more information.
- Tyson Kidd is featured in today's "Superstar Spotlight" on
WWE.com.
Speaking to Wrestling101.com, Chavo Guerrero commented on whether people in WWE took notice of TNA Wrestling during his tenure with the sports-entertainment organization.
"At first it wasn't, TNA was seen as just coming up in the business but then little by little they started to pick up more momentum and at this point in time I think TNA has the most momentum we have ever had," said Guerrero. "If you look at our roster compared to anybodies, WWE’s, New Japan, Ring of Honor, I think we have the best roster in the world right now."
Having worked for Eric Bischoff, Vince McMahon and Dixie Carter, Guerrero compared the three bosses in terms of their similarities and differences.
"First of all they are all great businessmen and women, they are at the head of companies because being a business person you have to be able to make those hard decisions and make good decisions, so that’s the similarities," Guerrero said. "Differences, to me you have Vince McMahon who rules with fear, you better watch out or he’s going to cut your head off. Dixie Carter she rules with love and she is happy to have you on her roster and when you do well she lets you know about it. Eric Bischoff, he was kind of in the middle, sometimes he was very mean and wanted to bite your head off and other times you would go out for a beer with the guy."
After only competing for two years, Chavo Guerrero received his first break with World Championship Wrestling in 1996. He recalls his time with the company.
"Wrestling in WCW was awesome because I was so young and it was a great mix of wrestlers. We had older wrestlers that had been around since my dads time like Arn Anderson and Paul Orndorff then we had the younger generation wrestlers which included guys like William Regal and Fit Finlay, then there were the likes of Eddie, Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit, and even younger guys like Rey Mysterio and Chris Jericho," said Guerrero.
"There was such a big mix of people that we really learned all different styles from all different eras. Every era of wrestling changes, it is always evolving, so we learnt so many different things and that’s what I took away with me the most from my time in WCW, it was just like going to school, I was at the Harvard for wrestling."
Guerrero also recalls being part of the Cruiserweight division in WCW, the final episode of WCW Monday Nitro, joining WWE, winning the WWE Tag Team Championship with Eddie Guerrero, working alongside Vickie Guerrero, comparisons of WCW to TNA Wrestling, and more. The full interview is available here.
- Promoting TNA Wrestling's upcoming tour of the United Kingdom and British Boot Camp in an interview with The Sun, Kurt Angle feels the company has underutilized Doug Williams and Magnus.
"I think that TNA as a whole might have dropped the ball a little bit with Doug Williams and Magnus, when you look at the talent they have," said Angle. “They are starting to use Magnus and I believe they have big plans for him. But the reason I thought they might have dropped the ball is because he was so young when he started. They might have thought ‘he’s just a baby, we can wait,’ but four years later he’s still only 25."
The interview is available here.
- TNA Wrestling has posted its latest IMPACT Post Show. Here is the synopsis: "Jeremy Borash is standing by as IMPACT WRESTLING goes off the air along with Todd Kenely. We hear from Bobby Roode right after his match with James Storm. Christopher Daniels is also on hand to give more insight into what happened between him and AJ Styles. We also get a word with Knockouts Referee Taryn Terrell about the Knockouts Royal and the new #1 Contender to the Knockouts Title."
- On next Thursday's episode of Impact Wrestling, the past winners of "Gut Check"—Alex Silva, Taeler Hendrix, Sam Shaw and Christian York—return for "Open Fight Night." TNA Wrestling has released the following video previewing the show.
- AJ Styles and James Storm appear at Direct Auto Insurance 4883 North Broadway St. Knoxville, Tennessee, today from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Call 865-688-4800 for more information.
- Thursday on Impact Wrestling, Mickie James became the #1 Contender to the TNA Women's Knockout Championship currently held by Tara with her victory in the Knockout Battle Royal. The other participants were Gail Kim, Madison Rayne, Miss Tessmacher and ODB, with James last eliminating Kim for the victory.
- Promoting his World Heavyweight Championship Match against Sheamus this Sunday at Survivor Series, the official WWE website has published an article chronicling Big Show's seven greatest moments.
WWE states, "Sheamus is hungry to reclaim the World Heavyweight Championship from Big Show's colossal clutches at Survivor Series, but given Show's formidable history, he'd be wise not to underestimate the giant a second time. Here are seven reminders of why Big Show won the "Big Gold Title" to begin with ... and why he may still have it when all is said and done on Sunday."
Feats listed are becoming the youngest WCW World Heavyweight Champion in history at 23-years-old, his 1999 WWE debut, becoming WWE Champion for the first time, capturing the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, successfully defending the Unified Tag Team Championship against R-Truth and John Morrison at WrestleMania XXVI, winning the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania XXVIII, and defeating Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Championship at Hell in a Cell.
- As recently as last week, WWE creative was forwarding storylines with the idea that CM Punk will be featured in the closing match of WrestleMania 29.
- Former WWE Superstar Lance Storm appeared on Over the Top Radio to discuss a number of wrestling topics. (Listen)
- TNA Wrestling President Dixie Carter announced on Twitter that all "Gut Check" winners will appear on next week's Thanksgiving edition of Impact Wrestling for "Open Fight Night."
"Interested to see who seizes the spotlight," wrote Carter.
Winners of the contest include Alex Silva, Taeler Hendrix, Sam Shaw and Christian York.
- Kenny King, who has not appeared for TNA Wrestling since losing an X Division Championship Match to Zema Ion at Hardcore Justice in August, resurfaced at Wednesday's TNA Xplosion taping in Orlando, Florida. He faced Ion and Kid Kash in a three-way match.
A Knockouts contest was taped for TNA Xplosion Wednesday as Miss Tessmacher faced Madison Rayne.
- This week's featured match on TNA Xplosion on Challenge pits James Storm against Joey Ryan.
Speaking to Fighting Spirit Magazine (available at FightingSpiritMagazine.co.uk), Booker T recalled his physical altercation with Batista on May 8, 2006 at a commercial photo shoot in Encino, California for that year's SummerSlam pay-per-view event.
Batista, who rose to main event status in a relatively short period of time, was already unpopular within the locker room due to his lack of respect for those who came before him coupled with a sense of entitlement. That day, Booker T took issue with The Animal's poor demeanor.
According to eyewitness reports, Booker T challenged Batista to "[go] into an empty room and go for it." The two fought for approximately five minutes in the room, with Booker T dominating the muscle-bound wrestler. After the two were separated by fellow wrestlers, Batista snuck in one last sucker punch on Booker T just as he did immediately after the decorated wrestler closed the door to signal the start of fray.
Finlay, who was among the wrestlers who broke up the brawl, said during an earlier interview with the publication that the story was blown out of proportion. Booker T disagreed with his assessment.
"It wasn't blown out of proportion. He took a pretty good beating," said the SmackDown General Manager.
"The thing is, when you're in a fight, it's different from an MMA fight. That's the thing with me. I've fought my whole life. You don't just call a person out to a fight if you don't know their background, what they've been through, and how to test them. That was his mistake, and I think it was definitely a case of him underestimating me, and thinking he was the bigger guy. For me fighting is in the blood, and it's something I grew up doing. Honestly though, I hope Batista does well (in MMA), even just for the business' sake."
- Darren Young and Titus O'Neil will be appearing at the Cricket Communications store in Dayton, Ohio on November 17th at 4pm.
- We've noted how the WWE Network will likely end up being a premium subscription service. WWE and TV industry sources report that they are looking at going with a price point of $10 per month.
- There are big plans in place for The Rock going into early 2013 and the WrestleMania season. Besides the WWE Title match with CM Punk at the Royal Rumble, Rock is set to make more regular appearances and will be a focal point of the company. Most within WWE expect Rock to capture the WWE Title and end Punk's reign at the Rumble.
