Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff Sign with TNA
The latest on Hulk Hogan signing with TNA is that he will be a major on-screen character, but will not wrestle on a regular basis. With Hogan and Eric Bischoff joining TNA, it allows Spike TV to get first opportunity at signing a deal for the Hogan/Ric Flair reality series.
The Hogan signing is said to be the first of many major announcements from TNA and Spike TV. A speculated announcement is a timeslot change for Impact to go head-to-head with Raw and additional programming.
Eric Bischoff's main role with TNA is to work behind the scenes. He will help secure television deals for the new TNA products and work on the creative direction of the company. According to a source, he will appear on television at some point. In the past TNA wanted to launch a series for the Knockouts, The X-Division and the Jeremy Borash-hosted Spin Cycle and with the new SpikeTV deal they will be allowed to pitch their series to other networks if Spike decides to pass on them.
Credit: F4WOnline.com and LordofPain.net
Illness forces Brock Lesnar out of UFC 106 Title Fight
BetweenTheRopes.com Reports:
UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar has been forced to pull out of his UFC 106 title defense against Shane Carwin on Nov. 21. Five Ounces of Pain is reporting that Lesnar contacted UFC President Dana White to inform him that he had been ill fro close to a month and has been unsuccessful in fighting the illness.White told Yahoo! Sports, who broke the story, that Lesnar has "never been this sick in his life," and that "he said it's been going on for a long time & he just hasn't been able to shake it". With Lesnar out it is uncertain if Shane Carwin will compete on the card or what (if any) fight UFC pans to put in motion to replace this one.
Carwin did say via his Twitter account that he has heard the possibility of the fight being rescheduled to UFC 108 in January, and elaborated that Lesnar may be suffering from the H1NI1 flu virus.
Word around the MMA rumor mill seems to indicate Tito to the rescue for the Nov. 21 show, but nothing has been announced yet from the UFC camp.
In Defense of Lyoto Machida
Contributed by: Sweet Pea
UFC 104 ended in controversy last Saturday when the main event, Lyoto Machida versus Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, resulted in a unanimous decision victory for Machida. Machida retained his light heavyweight championship belt and his undefeated mixed martial arts record (now 16-0). The decision was met with boos from the audience and shock from many fans watching the event on pay per view. Everyone who saw the fight to whom I have thus far spoken thinks Rua won, and I count myself among them, but I also think the judges' decision is defensible.
Historically, judges are apprehensive to award a victory to the challenger in a close title fight. Conventional wisdom states that in order to become the champion, you have to beat the champion. If there is any doubt, the champion scores the win.
Machida's style is often described as elusive. He is what boxing announcers would call "smooth." According to a recent issue of Black Belt Magazine, in all of mixed martial arts he is hit the second fewest number of times per minute in the ring, outmatched only by Fedor Emelianenko. In this respect, he even surpasses Anderson Silva who is largely regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC. Since arriving on the scene, Machida has only been in danger once, when in a his fight against Tito Ortiz, he nearly fell prey to a triangle choke. Keeping all these things in mind, Machida was heavily favored to defeat Rua.
Ultimately, I think this expectation worked against him in the eyes of the fans. Halfway through round two, it became obvious Rua was giving Machida some difficulty. We have never seen Machida struggle in any of his bouts since arriving in the UFC, and I believe the shock of Rua's unexpectedly good performance in some way biased spectators into thinking it was better than it actually was. This situation was not helped with Joe Rogan's incessantly biased commentary, as he simply failed to acknowledge any of Machida's successes throughout the fight. (My brother-in-law, a big Shogun fan, noticed this as well.) Watching fan commentary on the fight, you would think Rua dominated the bout from beginning to end. He did not. The fight, as far as I can remember it, was very close. Machida successfully defended all of Rua's takedown attempts, landed more blows to the head, did not get in trouble the entire fight, but did sustain a lot of damage in his legs and (less so) in his left side.
This bout will undoubtedly be remembered infamously, but for my money, it was very entertaining and has paved the way for an inevitable rematch. Rua has exposed a weakness in Machida's game, demonstrating his reliance on countering and seeming inability to pull the trigger as an aggressor. Machida is no longer untouchable, and all the fans now know this, so I suspect the rematch will be a bigger draw than this intial encounter.
Machida now has a rival, and he is worthy.
WWE Bragging Rights Results
MATCHES
- John Cena def. WWE Champion Randy Orton (One Hour, Anything Goes WWE Iron Man Match)
- Team SmackDown def. Team Raw
- World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker def. CM Punk, Batista & Rey Mysterio (Fatal Four Way Match)
- SmackDown Divas def. Raw Divas
- United States Champion The Miz def. Intercontinental Champion John Morrison
FIGHT-ON: EPISODE 6
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
FIGHT-ON
EPISODE 06: Family Affairs
DATE: October 23rd 2009
Elias and Pro Wrestling Dragon talk of UFC 104, Shane McMahon's departure from WWE, Lou Albano's passing, Nigel McGuiness, Booker T's future in pro wrestling and we preview UFC 104 and WWE Bragging Rights.
TNA Bound for Glory Results
- Motor City Machine Guns def. Lethal Consqeuences via pinfall.
- ULTIMATE X MATCH: Amazing Red (c) def. Suicide, Homicide, Christopher Daniels, Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin retaining his championship.
- Sarita and Taylor Wilde def. The Beautiful People via pinfall.
- LEGENDS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Eric Young def. Kevin Nash (c) and Hernandez to become the new Legends Champion via pinfall.
- TNA Tag and IWGP Tag Title Match: British Invasion versus Booker T and Scott Steiner versus Team 3D versus Beer Money in a Full Metal Mayhem Match. Winners were Team 3D (IWGP) and British Invasion (TNA).
- ODB (c) def. Tara and Awesome Kong.
- Submission Match: Bobby Lashley def. Samoa Joe.
- Monster’s Ball Match: Abyss def. Mick Foley (Guest Referee Dr. Stevie) via pinfall.
- Kurt Angle def. Matt Morgan via pinfall.
- TNA World Heavyweight Title Match: A.J. Styles (c) def. Sting via pinfall to retain his championship.
TNA Bound for Glory 2009 Preview and Predictions
It's one of TNA's biggest shows of the year and I must say that they've done an incredible job of hyping the show. "Super Impact" was a 3-hour show that not only built nicely to the PPV but also included Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles in an incredible match-up. Now, we take a look at the card for this month’s event and I'll give my predictions for what looks to be a spectacular show!
- The Motor City Machineguns (Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley) vs. Lethal Consequences (Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed)
PREDICTIONS: The Motor City Machine Guns would seem the likely choice in this pre-show match given the fact that TNA hasn't exactly done much with Lethal Consequences as of late.
- Matt Morgan vs. Kurt Angle
PREDICTION: Believe it or not, I see TNA pulling the trigger on Matt Morgan and giving him the victory over Angle. Even if Morgan wins this match it certainly won't Angle who is without question a made man (pun intended).
- A.J. Styles (c) vs. Sting
PREDICTION: No one is sure how long Sting will be with TNA. Even if he is going to be with the company for an extended amount of time if TNA wants to continue to make AJ Styles one of their top guys he needs a win against a big star like Sting. If Styles wins this match, I think we can all safely say that Sting will have passed the torch to Styles.
- Samoa Joe vs. Bobby Lashley
PREDICTION: While it will do the company no good, I see Bobby Lashely getting the W. I like Lashley as a person but I really don't see why TNA has brought him in considering the fact that he's not going to be with the company long-term.
- Mick Foley vs. Abyss
PREDICTION: I've stated on the show that I don't feel Mick Foley should be in a standard 1-on-1 match anymore. However, I believe that a hardcore match is a different story. Mick Foley is the king of hardcore and I see this one being quite a match. With that said, I think Abyss will pick up the win. Expect one crazy ending to this match!
- ULTIMATE X: Amazing Red (with Don West) (c) vs. Suicide vs. D'Angelo Dinero vs. Daniels vs. Homicide
PREDICTION: Ultimate X has never been my favorite match-up but it does always provide some cool spots. My prediction and hope is that Amazing Red keeps the strap! I'm so glad to see Don West back on television--and as Red's manager! GO RED GO!!!
- Sarita and Taylor Wilde (c) vs. The Beautiful People (Madison Rayne and Velvet Sky)
PREDICTION: The Beautiful People
- The Main Event Mafia (Booker T and Scott Steiner) (TNA) vs. The British Invasion (Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams) (IWGP) vs. Beer Money, Inc. (Robert Roode and James Storm) vs. Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon)
PREDICTION: Whow, this one is going to be fire! Considering Booker T. is probably going to be leaving TNA after this pay-per-view I'm going to go with The British Invasion on this one.
- Kevin Nash (c) vs. Hernandez vs. Eric Young
Prediction: Hernandez is a guy I see TNA pushing to the world heavyweight championship along with Matt Morgan. Kevin Nash certainly doesn't need the belt at this point (nor do I feel he should be an active competitor). I'd feel that the person who would benefits most from winning the title is Eric Young.
- ODB (c) vs. Awesome Kong vs. Tara
PREDICTION: Awesome Kong
WORTH THE MONEY?: Bound for Glory promises to be an action packed show with tons of high quality matches. Many within the company have claimed that this is the beginning of a new direction. If "Super Impact" is any indication of what's to come, TNA is on the right track. I'm skeptical but one can hope! The bottom line is that if you buy one TNA pay-per-view this year, Bound for Glory 2009 is probably the one you want.
Shane McMahon quits WWE
WWE boss Vince McMahon has been left 'saddened' after his son Shane decided to quit the company.
The Sun is reporting that Shane McMahon will resign on January 1st, 2010.
Shane is currently one of the most powerful people in wrestling as the WWE's Executive Vice President of Global Media - heading up all their international development.
But earlier today he tendered his resignation and will leave on January 1 2010.
Shane said: "I have never even considered a future outside the walls of the WWE.
"However, sometimes life takes an unexpected turn and while it is the most difficult decision I have ever made, it is time for me to move on.
"First and foremost, I would like to thank my father for the incredible education working with him has provided and for giving me the opportunity to play a role in building WWE into the global phenomenon that it is today.
"I am extremely proud to have been the fourth generation in this business, and I am grateful for everyday I was able to work along side not only my own, but the entire WWE family.
"Thank you to all of the WWE superstars both past and present for your passion, pride and dedication.
"You are truly the engine of the organisation and it has been a pleasure to work with, learn from and get to know all of you.
"Thank you for the privilege of sharing the stage with you and for allowing me to become but a momentary member of your elite brotherhood.
"I have so much appreciation for the many sacrifices you endure, both physically and personally, to make this business the success that it is.
"The respect I have for each of you is immeasurable.
"Finally, there are no words to express my gratitude to WWE fans the world over for supporting this company through good times and bad and for your unbridled passion that fuels the superstars' performances.
"I am profoundly grateful to have been able to entertain you both in front of the camera and from behind the scenes. You are the greatest fans in the world.
"I will always love this business and will remain a fan forever."
Vince added: "Even though I am personally saddened by Shane's decision to leave the company, I am proud of the enormous contributions he has made.
"He will unquestionably bring passion, commitment and extensive business experience to any endeavour he pursues."
Shane's mum Linda also recently resigned from her position as WWE CEO.
She is currently fighting to be named as the Republican candidate for the US Senate seat in Connecticut.