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Post by Head Booker on Mar 16, 2011 10:34:02 GMT -6
Tough Enough dudes and dudettes
Men
-- Matt Capiccioni (30), a/k/a independent wrestler M-Dogg 20.
-- Andy Leavine (23), who went by Kevin Hackman in FCW developmental. Leavine, a former NFL player for the Miami Dolphins, was a college star at FIU.
-- Jeremiah Riggs (28), an MMA fighter who appeared on Ultimate Fighter. USA inaccurately describes Riggs as "trying to become the first legitimate MMA fighter to crossover into WWE," ignoring Ken Shamrock, among others.
-- Martin Casaus (26), an independent wrestler. USA's description promotes that he is "co-owner of Ultra Championship Wrestling Zero, a promotion and wrestling school."
-- Ryan Howe (23), an independent wrestler trained by Tracy Smothers.
-- A.J. Kirsch (27), an independent wrestler who mainly wrestles in California.
-- Luke Robinson (26), a personal trainer and independent wrestler.
-- Eric Watts (25), a former high school football star from Los Angeles.
-- Michael Zakki (26), "an unemployed WWE hopeful."
Women
-- "Miss USA" Rima Fakih (25), who appeared on WWE TV in 2010.
-- Christina Crawford (22), the sister of WWE Diva Alicia Fox. She recently began training at FCW developmental.
-- Michelle Deighton (25), who is married to Johnny Fairplay. USA mentions Fairplay in Michelle's description.
-- Ivelisse Velez (22), an independent wrestler who goes by Juliet "The Huntress."
-- Ariane Andrew (23), behavior therapist working with autistic children.
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Post by Head Booker on Mar 19, 2011 10:43:12 GMT -6
WWE Partners With Gay & Lesbian Organization After Cena's Remarks By Michael Bluth Mar 18, 2011 - 11:40:35 AM WWE is partnering with GLAAD (the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) after the organization received a number of complaints about some comments that John Cena made towards The Rock that many WWE viewers saw as anti-gay. GLAAD issued the following statement this week: WWE Partners with GLAAD on Anti-Bullying Messages World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) will be working with GLAAD to create and promote an anti-bullying initiative aimed at their core audience, and has invited us to conduct trainings for their staff of writers and editors. Our outreach to WWE was prompted by outrage from many LGBT viewers, about a series of homophobic taunts by wrestler John Cena on the USA program WWE Raw in late February. We reached out to WWE Incorporated, which responded swiftly and positively. GLAAD was first made aware of the incidents by several of its members following the February 21 broadcast of WWE Raw, which featured wrestler John Cena responding to taunts made by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson with a rap song making fun of Johnson’s film roles. The song included lyrics like “You left us high and dry to play a fairy with a tooth?” and “He wore lipstick in Get Shorty, and rocked a skirt for The Game Plan.” But the real kicker came near the end when he said: "Just don’t go racing to Witch Mountain, Rock, cause your mountain is Brokeback." The next incident occurred on the show a week later (Feb. 28), when Cena was challenging another wrestler known as “The Miz” while in the ring with him, and had the crowd roaring when he joked about the Miz and his wrestling partner secretly being a couple. It began with Cena saying “Do you really want to look back years from now and realize you shared your legacy with another man?! ….Wait don’t answer that.” Cena continued: “Now The Miz and Alex Riley are co-champions and to celebrate it they’re going to move in together. They’re going to buy one of those tandem bikes and ride to bed bath and beyond to buy some duvets. And every evening they’re going to relax with a glass of warm piot noir and watch The Notebook, or reruns of last season’s Bachelor. ……….You want to be a mentor and train him? Well, tonight I’m going to train you on how to be a man.” The incidents were particularly troubling because WWE recently began promoting itself as PG-rated entertainment marketed primarily towards adolescent males. Young boys are of course the demographic most likely to experience homophobic bullying or to be bullying themselves. And there was wrestling superstar John Cena performing what amounted to scripted homophobic bullying of other wrestlers on a nationally broadcast show for kids. GLAAD contacted WWE executives and explained the problem after receiving our first reports. They then spoke to John Cena and the show’s writers. We have been assured that not only will such incidents not happen again, WWE intends to reach out to their adolescent audience, with messages aimed making it clear that bullying someone with homophobic taunts or for their perceived sexual orientation is wrong. WWE released the following apology statement to that effect: "WWE takes this issue very seriously, and has already spoken with our talent about these incidents. We are taking steps and working with GLAAD to ensure that our fans know that WWE is against bullying or discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. We strongly value our fans in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and apologize to them for these incidents." We are very much looking forward to developing our relationship with WWE, and we thank them both for hearing our message loud and clear, and for planning to send an anti-bullying message of their own. Actual GLAAD statement |
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Post by Icon Lord Jon Kellar on Mar 19, 2011 12:05:58 GMT -6
You know during the Attitude era they'd have just created a heel faction with a name similar to GLAAD and had the Undertaker beat them up every week...
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Post by Rico on Mar 21, 2011 5:21:31 GMT -6
A publicist for World Wrestling Entertainment demanded last week that a television industry news website not refer to them as a wrestling company.
The website in question, TVWeek.com, ran a story on Drew Carey's induction into the WWE Hall of Fame last week with the headline "Drew Carey Inducted Into Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame. Huh? Drew Carey??!!" The headline drew the ire of WWE publicist Kellie Baldyga, who sent a stern e-mail to the author demanding that the headline be 'corrected'.
Baldyga wrote in her email, “We are no longer a wrestling company but rather a global entertainment company with a movie studio, international licensing deals, publisher of three magazines, consumer good distributor and more.”
During a subsequent phone conversation, the publicist stated, "No, we don't do wrestling events. They're entertainments. And we don't call them wrestlers. They're superstars and divas."
Rather than change the headline, the article was removed from the website altogether. Baldyga sent a follow-up e-mail, reading, "I know the perception is that we are a wrestling company but we are actually much more than that--we are a global media company which is how our Chairman and CEO, Vince McMahon, positions us."
source: rajah.com
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Post by Icon Lord Leon Corbin on Mar 21, 2011 7:28:44 GMT -6
Tragic...We all know this is the case but to hear that confirmed is just tragic.
Entertainers? Most people have a looong way to go before they can even be refered to as that.
Might as well change their name again. Just remove the word Wrestling from it too seeing as they don't deem it as wrestling anyway.
How about:
Waste of Sport Lack of Entertainment?
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Post by Head Booker on Mar 21, 2011 9:15:03 GMT -6
here is more to the article Rico posted... I hadn't given the WWE much thought lately when we here at TVWeek received a press release the other day that we wrote up and published as follows: Drew Carey Inducted Into Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame. Huh? Drew Carey??!! Comedic actor and game show host Drew Carey is the newest member of the WWE Hall of Fame. According to the WWE, "Carey established his place in WWE history as a surprise entrant in the 2001 Royal Rumble. However, Carey's fortunes quickly turned, when the massive WWE Superstar Kane entered the ring, prompting Carey to eliminate himself from the match." The announcement adds, "The WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony...will take place at the Philips Arena [in Atlanta] on Saturday, April 2, and the one-hour TV special will air Monday, April 4, at 8/7c on USA Network." Next thing I know, I've received an email from one Kellie Baldyga, a publicist for WWE, DEMANDING that we correct the story. She also copied our owner, Rance Crain, on the email. What had drawn her ire was the headline. Baldyga wrote in her email, "We are no longer a wrestling company but rather a global entertainment company with a movie studio, international licensing deals, publisher of three magazines, consumer good distributor and more." No doubt WWE is into more things than just wrestling, which is its bread and butter, I thought, but this can't really be a big deal. I was busy and emailed her I'd call her the next day, which was yesterday, March 17. First thing yesterday morning I received this email from her: "Chuck, did you mean call me today (Thursday)? I apologize but I really need the correction made sooner than later if possible…" As regular readers to this blog may recall, for most of my career as a journalist I haven't gotten along with most publicists. Most of them don't like me, and I don't have patience for many publicists. Baldyga was beginning to bother me. First, our headline was perfectly fine and accurate. Second, what was this "demand" about changing OUR headline? I called her and introduced myself. The conversation then basically went as follows: Me: Your release says that Carey is being recognized as being an entrant in the 2001 Royal Rumble. I believe that was a wrestling event. Kellie: No, we don't do wrestling events. They're entertainments. And we don't call them wrestlers. They're superstars and divas. I'm thinking to myself, is she kidding me? Is this woman mad? The company's official name is World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. Its crown jewel is an event called WrestleMania. In the best tradition of wrestling on TV since its earliest days, they put on terrific shows (and events), with athletes who are performers and they've got storylines that are far more elaborate than any Gorgeous George and Freddie Blassie would have ever imagined. Why would they want to run away from who they are, from what's made them wildly successful beyond most people's dreams? Me: Kellie, I really don't have time for this. WWE presents wrestling events. I'm not going to change the headline or anything in the item. If you'd like, I'll just remove it. Kellie: Huh? What? Me: Kellie, I don't have time for this. What do you want me to do? Kellie: Remove it. So I did. Kellie sent me a follow-up email saying "I hope nothing was contentious in our conversation…" She added, "I know the perception is that we are a wrestling company but we are actually much more than that--we are a global media company which is how our Chairman and CEO, Vince McMahon, positions us." Whatever. Take away wrestling from WWE and what do you basically have? I don't think WWE is quite as diverse as global media companies such as News Corp. or Time Warner or Viacom, but what do I know. www.tvweek.com/blogs/2011/03/whoaa-nellie-when-brands-go-horribly-wrong-pstvince-mcmahon-and-the-wwe-are-no-longer-in-the-wrestli.php |
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Post by Head Booker on Mar 21, 2011 9:19:03 GMT -6
Husky Harris' new gimmick...
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Post by Rico on Mar 21, 2011 11:20:05 GMT -6
paying homage to his Grandfather, BlackJack Mulligan....If memory serves me correct, wasn't the story of the Blackjacks pt 2 (Windham and Bradshaw) that Windham was the son of Mulligan? if so is Harris the Son of Windham?
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Post by Head Booker on Mar 21, 2011 11:37:02 GMT -6
his grandfather is Blackjack Mulligan...father Mike Rotunda...uncles Barry and Kendall Windham...
Tate
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Post by Icon Lord Jon Kellar on Mar 21, 2011 15:25:30 GMT -6
Bloody hell that's a lineage to live up to if ever there was one....
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Post by Head Booker on Mar 21, 2011 15:33:10 GMT -6
Rotunda also has another son that wrestles in FCW named Taylor...he currently goes by Bo Rotunda there...
Tate
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Post by Rico on Mar 21, 2011 17:55:11 GMT -6
I didn't know that Rotunda was related to the Windhams....that is a great lineage.
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Post by Head Booker on Mar 21, 2011 18:04:33 GMT -6
yeah Rotunda married into the family...why I love that old territory/NWA/WCW wrestlin' and patterned a lot of my characters off of that...
Tate
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Post by Head Booker on Mar 21, 2011 18:55:10 GMT -6
REY MYSTERIO has hit out at rumours saying he wants to retire from wrestling and pledged his future to the WWE
Taken from the UK Sun
Speculation was rife that he wanted out, at the same time as WWE signed Mexico's current most popular wrestler Mistico.
However Mysterio went on Twitter to tell fans: "Confirming! Did not ask for release!
"Those that like me, you will have Rey for a good time and those that don't, well life isn't always sweet, 619 out!"
Meanwhile 28-year-old Mistico, real name Ignacio Almanza, is set to debut very soon for WWE.
He is arguably the biggest star in Mexcian wrestling since the legendary Mil Mascaras and has scored highly in polls to find the world's best wrestler for the last four years.
He'll wrestle for WWE under the name Sin Cara, which is Spanish for "without face", although he will almost certainly wear a mask.
WWE have gone to the unusual step of acknowledging Sin Cara's prowess and superstardom in Mexico noting his "strong international fan following" on their website and even that he used to be called Mistico.
The WWE.com article also carries a quote from Stephanie McMahon, stating: "Sin Cara is a tremendous performer who brings the crowd to its feet every time he steps into the ring.
"With us, his stardom will only get bigger and brighter."
~~
Per the WWE Facebook:
Welcome "The Madman from the Sudan" to the WWE Hall of Fame!! Former WCW & ECW alumnus Abdullah The Butcher will be inducted April 2 at Philips Arena as part of WWE WrestleMania XXVII weekend. The WWE Hall of Fame presented by WWE All Stars, the video game airs April 4 at 8/7 CT on USA Network!
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Post by Sir Chris Cairns on Mar 21, 2011 19:30:44 GMT -6
I agree, WWE shouldn't be running from who they are. I also agree that if you took the 'wrestling' out of WWE then you wouldn't have a whole lot left to shout about.
On the other hand, regardless of individual business practices and moral issues, I really admire them as a company in the way they have just kept growing and expanding - it's really something. They're bringing in profits across a wide range of media. They have their film studios subsidiary, their own print publishers, a music label as far as I'm aware. Shops, restaurants, entertainment and leisure centers. They license toys, video games, food. I can see the motives for trying to build themselves into 'more' than 'just wrestling' but if they want to do that, why can't they do so whilst still treating wrestling as wrestling?
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