Post by andrew8798 on Dec 26, 2007 18:47:29 GMT -5
So Dr. Phil Astin was in court last week hoping to get his bail conditions eased up so that he could go to work. He's totally broke and has been offered a job at a local towing company. Well, he got to court and the government produced surveillance photos of him gallivanting all over town. He's allowed to leave his house to go to church, see the doctor, visit with his attorney or attend court hearings. Well, he was shopping at stores, eating at a local restaurant, and even showing up at the home of his ex-wife who has a restraining order against him.
Apparently Astin's attorney was taken completely off guard and called this a government ambush. The prosecuting attorney said the judge should increase Astin's bail conditions rather than ease them up. Judge said she'd make a ruling next month. Worse, Assistant US Attorney General John Horn announced that the government had obtained evidence showing that Astin had been overprescribing painkillers for Benoit and Nancy (and numerous others) long in advance of the killings. Horn said Astin had prescribed methadone and Oxycontin "well in excess of what is legitimate medical practice".
Latest on Hulk Hogan is that he will likely be held liable at least to a degree in the expected Nick Hogan/John Graziano Family civil lawsuit. The two keys are that Hulk is the registered owner of the yellow Supra that Nick crashed in August, and that he signed for Nick's driver's license. According to state law, any parent that signs "shall be jointly and severally liable with such minor for any damages caused by such negligence or willful misconduct." The third key is whether or not he provided the alcohol that was in Nick's system at the time of the crash. Hogan bought nearly $100 worth of beer that day for himself and several of Nick's friends, all of whom were over 21.
Nick was seen sipping from a plastic cup when everyone tried to get into a Tiki bar that afternoon, but nobody knows what he was drinking. There is no proof that Hogan gave him any alcohol, and in fact the story (granted, this is from the Hulk side) is that Nick was drinking while Hulk was in the shower, then left to go to dinner with Graziano and his friends, all without Hulk's knowledge. Of course,
Hulk also said that he was irate when he found that Nick left while he was in the shower, and the question is why would he be so irate if he didn't know that Nick had alcohol in his system? These things will all be determined in court. The other big question is how much liability will be placed by the court on Graziano for not wearing his seat belt. Graziano, at 22, was of age and was thus responsible for his own actions in that matter, and he was not buckled in. What percentage of the responsibility for his injuries rests with him will be taken into account when totaling damages. Obviously the Hogan side will claim that had he been buckled up he wouldn’t have suffered the cracked skull and head injuries that have left him likely needing nursing home care for life. Nick was buckled up and was able to walk away from the crash.
The Major Brothers are legitimately neither twins nor brothers. They both grew up in Glen Cove Long Island and were friends for life, breaking into wrestling under Mikey Whipreck. They're young, 21 or 22 years old, and look remarkably similar, hence the brothers gimmick.
Vince McMahon apparently didn't know they were really related until a few weeks ago and was upset about it. They were having a creative meeting and got into a discussion of relaunching them with some sort of new gimmick on Raw or Smackdown and the subject came up. Someone noted how impressive it was that they were pulling off this twin brother gimmick given the fact that they weren't even related. Vince was "stunned and frustrated" to learn this fact, saying (and think of how funny this is) that if two guys aren't really brothers they shouldn't be booked as such, because fans are too smart about things like that nowadays.
Aside from the obvious comedy of all the fake brothers in WWE history, including Kane and Undertaker, and the fact that Vince himself has a fake midget son running around on TV every week, this is a situation where VINCE didn't know, and if he didn't know I'm pretty sure the wrestling fans weren't going to figure it out (or, more importantly, care).
So anyway, he told them to talk to the Majors and come up with new names. Michael Hayes wanted them on Smackdown to be a Von Erich-style young babyface team to fill the void created when London and Kendrick went to Raw (and what a bust that has been). The new idea, with the Rated Rmy (much better name than Edgeheads I have to say), is to bring out more of their personalities. Hayes also seems them as very similar to a young Edge and Christian when they debuted in WWF in the 90s as protégés of Gangrel. The difference, of course, is that Edge and Christian had both worked quite a bit in Canada before breaking in, plus had trained extensively with Dory Funk Jr., who was probably the best trainer in America during that period.
The WWE tour of Mexico is actually a South of the Border Tour with February 9th in Guatemala City, February 10th in Guadalajara, February 12th in Quito, Ecuador, and February 14th Santiago, Chile. Because of international touring, they're also taping two weeks of TV on February 4th, 5th and 6th. On the 4th in Austin, TX they'll tape two weeks of Raw, on the 5th in Corpus Christi it's Smackdown and ECW, and then on the 6th in Houston it's another Smackdown and ECW.
According to the Record newspaper in Mexico, WWE is back in talks with Mistico. We can confirm that others have heard the rumor, but we don't know how serious it is. When the idea for the WWE Juniors division was first conceived, it was to be a vehicle for Mistico. Suffice to say, this was lost in translation. Talk heated up big-time earlier this year after (seriously) he became the first luchador in history to win Wrestler of the Year in the Observer.
He was brought in this past February to work a dark match in San Jose (which is, in fact, the hometown of Dave Meltzer, but the decision to do the match there was made from the Mexican side, not the WWE side) and did well. It was thought at the time that, pass or fail, this would great effect the wrestling world in 2007. Strangely, he did his tryout (which actually took place before the show with Dean Malenko), people were impressed, and then he just went back to Mexico and life went on as if nothing had happened. The issues are obviously that he has no experience working WWE style, the ring is very different than it is down in Mexico and would require him to change his style, he can't speak English, he's very small (well, about 160 pounds at 5-8 or so, and that may be with the aid of some protein shakes), etc. Nothing we haven't discussed a hundred times before about any outsider coming in.
WWE signed Apollo. He'd worked for IWA in Puerto Rico forever before jumping to WWC last year. He'd also spent some time in TNA over the years, working at one point under a mask as Leono, then later becoming part of LAX before he no-showed some events (including the Final Resolution PPV in 2006) and was replaced with Machete. He's had a number of different issues backstage, and he also just happens to be the guy who superkicked Scott Steiner in the neck during a tag match in Puerto Rico in June and nearly killed him. Steiner suffered a trachea injury and was hospitalized for weeks. This signing baffled me, but he's BIG so I shouldn't be surprised. He had a tryout in OVW last week and they liked what they saw.
Eve Torres, who won the Diva Search this year, is heading to OVW after Christmas.
WWE signed Silas Young to a developmental deal.
The new Raw DVD at Walmart has an insert listing all the PPV events for 2008, and both Cyber Sunday and One Night Stand are listed.
Duane Gill in an interview with Alex Marvez talked about meeting the real Goldberg for the first time in 2003. For years, he'd been playing Gillberg in WWE as a spoof on Bill. "He was pretty cool and actually took some pictures with me. But you could tell that night he hated my guts and everything that had to do with me." He said he'd always wanted a PPV match between himself and the real deal, though in hindsight he's very happy that Vince McMahon didn't book it, because he figured Bill would have "killed me
credit:F4W Newsletter
Apparently Astin's attorney was taken completely off guard and called this a government ambush. The prosecuting attorney said the judge should increase Astin's bail conditions rather than ease them up. Judge said she'd make a ruling next month. Worse, Assistant US Attorney General John Horn announced that the government had obtained evidence showing that Astin had been overprescribing painkillers for Benoit and Nancy (and numerous others) long in advance of the killings. Horn said Astin had prescribed methadone and Oxycontin "well in excess of what is legitimate medical practice".
Latest on Hulk Hogan is that he will likely be held liable at least to a degree in the expected Nick Hogan/John Graziano Family civil lawsuit. The two keys are that Hulk is the registered owner of the yellow Supra that Nick crashed in August, and that he signed for Nick's driver's license. According to state law, any parent that signs "shall be jointly and severally liable with such minor for any damages caused by such negligence or willful misconduct." The third key is whether or not he provided the alcohol that was in Nick's system at the time of the crash. Hogan bought nearly $100 worth of beer that day for himself and several of Nick's friends, all of whom were over 21.
Nick was seen sipping from a plastic cup when everyone tried to get into a Tiki bar that afternoon, but nobody knows what he was drinking. There is no proof that Hogan gave him any alcohol, and in fact the story (granted, this is from the Hulk side) is that Nick was drinking while Hulk was in the shower, then left to go to dinner with Graziano and his friends, all without Hulk's knowledge. Of course,
Hulk also said that he was irate when he found that Nick left while he was in the shower, and the question is why would he be so irate if he didn't know that Nick had alcohol in his system? These things will all be determined in court. The other big question is how much liability will be placed by the court on Graziano for not wearing his seat belt. Graziano, at 22, was of age and was thus responsible for his own actions in that matter, and he was not buckled in. What percentage of the responsibility for his injuries rests with him will be taken into account when totaling damages. Obviously the Hogan side will claim that had he been buckled up he wouldn’t have suffered the cracked skull and head injuries that have left him likely needing nursing home care for life. Nick was buckled up and was able to walk away from the crash.
The Major Brothers are legitimately neither twins nor brothers. They both grew up in Glen Cove Long Island and were friends for life, breaking into wrestling under Mikey Whipreck. They're young, 21 or 22 years old, and look remarkably similar, hence the brothers gimmick.
Vince McMahon apparently didn't know they were really related until a few weeks ago and was upset about it. They were having a creative meeting and got into a discussion of relaunching them with some sort of new gimmick on Raw or Smackdown and the subject came up. Someone noted how impressive it was that they were pulling off this twin brother gimmick given the fact that they weren't even related. Vince was "stunned and frustrated" to learn this fact, saying (and think of how funny this is) that if two guys aren't really brothers they shouldn't be booked as such, because fans are too smart about things like that nowadays.
Aside from the obvious comedy of all the fake brothers in WWE history, including Kane and Undertaker, and the fact that Vince himself has a fake midget son running around on TV every week, this is a situation where VINCE didn't know, and if he didn't know I'm pretty sure the wrestling fans weren't going to figure it out (or, more importantly, care).
So anyway, he told them to talk to the Majors and come up with new names. Michael Hayes wanted them on Smackdown to be a Von Erich-style young babyface team to fill the void created when London and Kendrick went to Raw (and what a bust that has been). The new idea, with the Rated Rmy (much better name than Edgeheads I have to say), is to bring out more of their personalities. Hayes also seems them as very similar to a young Edge and Christian when they debuted in WWF in the 90s as protégés of Gangrel. The difference, of course, is that Edge and Christian had both worked quite a bit in Canada before breaking in, plus had trained extensively with Dory Funk Jr., who was probably the best trainer in America during that period.
The WWE tour of Mexico is actually a South of the Border Tour with February 9th in Guatemala City, February 10th in Guadalajara, February 12th in Quito, Ecuador, and February 14th Santiago, Chile. Because of international touring, they're also taping two weeks of TV on February 4th, 5th and 6th. On the 4th in Austin, TX they'll tape two weeks of Raw, on the 5th in Corpus Christi it's Smackdown and ECW, and then on the 6th in Houston it's another Smackdown and ECW.
According to the Record newspaper in Mexico, WWE is back in talks with Mistico. We can confirm that others have heard the rumor, but we don't know how serious it is. When the idea for the WWE Juniors division was first conceived, it was to be a vehicle for Mistico. Suffice to say, this was lost in translation. Talk heated up big-time earlier this year after (seriously) he became the first luchador in history to win Wrestler of the Year in the Observer.
He was brought in this past February to work a dark match in San Jose (which is, in fact, the hometown of Dave Meltzer, but the decision to do the match there was made from the Mexican side, not the WWE side) and did well. It was thought at the time that, pass or fail, this would great effect the wrestling world in 2007. Strangely, he did his tryout (which actually took place before the show with Dean Malenko), people were impressed, and then he just went back to Mexico and life went on as if nothing had happened. The issues are obviously that he has no experience working WWE style, the ring is very different than it is down in Mexico and would require him to change his style, he can't speak English, he's very small (well, about 160 pounds at 5-8 or so, and that may be with the aid of some protein shakes), etc. Nothing we haven't discussed a hundred times before about any outsider coming in.
WWE signed Apollo. He'd worked for IWA in Puerto Rico forever before jumping to WWC last year. He'd also spent some time in TNA over the years, working at one point under a mask as Leono, then later becoming part of LAX before he no-showed some events (including the Final Resolution PPV in 2006) and was replaced with Machete. He's had a number of different issues backstage, and he also just happens to be the guy who superkicked Scott Steiner in the neck during a tag match in Puerto Rico in June and nearly killed him. Steiner suffered a trachea injury and was hospitalized for weeks. This signing baffled me, but he's BIG so I shouldn't be surprised. He had a tryout in OVW last week and they liked what they saw.
Eve Torres, who won the Diva Search this year, is heading to OVW after Christmas.
WWE signed Silas Young to a developmental deal.
The new Raw DVD at Walmart has an insert listing all the PPV events for 2008, and both Cyber Sunday and One Night Stand are listed.
Duane Gill in an interview with Alex Marvez talked about meeting the real Goldberg for the first time in 2003. For years, he'd been playing Gillberg in WWE as a spoof on Bill. "He was pretty cool and actually took some pictures with me. But you could tell that night he hated my guts and everything that had to do with me." He said he'd always wanted a PPV match between himself and the real deal, though in hindsight he's very happy that Vince McMahon didn't book it, because he figured Bill would have "killed me
credit:F4W Newsletter
helped $lim jinx NXT. Woops
