Wrestling News July 21, 2005
Bob Ryder dropped this bombshell concerning Muhammed Hassan: UPN executives have reportedly made it clear to WWE that they don't want the Muhammed Hassan character on their network anymore.
Hassan has been held off Smackdown the last two shows after the controversy that erupted when Hassan was involved in a segment that simulated terrorist activity. The segment aired the same night as the London Subway attacks two weeks ago, and prompted a flood of negative press.
SD: If true, WWE has only themselves to blame. Where do they go from there? Easy: have Hassan come out, use his real name and deliver the exact same promo that he cut for WWE.com. That will free him up from the very negative connotations with his character but allow him to still be the same asshole which will get him just as much heel heat.
Spike TV and TNA officially announced that Impact! is coming to the network. TNA Entertainment, LLC has signed a deal with Spike TV to telecast TNA (Total Nonstop Action) Wrestling’s weekly action athletic entertainment series “iMPACT!” The weekly one-hour show will join Spike TV’s popular “Slammin’ Saturday Night” programming block starting this Fall, taping at Soundstage 21 at Universal Studios in Orlando, FL.
SD: All signs point to TNA taking over the Velocity timeslot, Saturday nights 11pm. If WWE really wanted to embarrass TNA then they would use their extra one hour on USA and keep Velocity. Imapct and Velocity at the same time would give a little bit of that Monday Night War feeling (on Saturdays) but it would also be a can’t lose situation for WWE. If Velocity gets higher ratings that establishes TNA as being inferior. If Impact gets higher ratings, big deal! They beat the WWE’s low-to-mid card show.
In other SpikeTV news, UFC Unleashed debuts this Monday following Raw. From the site: In the first episode of UFC Unleashed, we look back at The Ultimate Fighter Season 1 Live Finale. Catch the epic battle between Bonnar and Griffin that made history! The full schedule:
Stephan Bonnar vs. Forrest Griffin
Diego Sanchez vs. Kenny Florian
Alex Karalexis vs. Josh Rafferty
Mike Swick vs. Alex Schoenauer
SD: If you haven’t seen the Bonnar/Griffin fight then you need to stay up to watch it. It’s simply amazing.
In an interview with Steve Gerweck, Charlie Haas continues to talk about his release and the company. He believes that Smackdown writer Dave Laganza had it out for him. He said John Lauranitis wasn’t the person who released everybody but was responsible for making the calls and is helping Charlie secure bookings in Japan. He also notes that he “can compete anywhere for 90 days, but TNA” since he worked out an early release.
ROH has finished negotiations with Japan's Dragon's Gate promotion. An announcement is coming soon. They also said that their website will soon feature video clips. Now if they can just get a roster up there for the casual wrestling fan…
WWE News & Notes:
In addition to Earl, Dave Hebner has also been fired due to his involvement in the merchandising scam. It appears that the store Earl co-owned was selling bootleg WWE merchandising. Why Dave was also fired remains unclear to the public. If I were to hazard a guess I’d say it was because he knew and didn’t tell the company.
At WWE.com, you can check out photos from John Cena’s first concert. I’m particularly fond of this pic:
Hassan has been held off Smackdown the last two shows after the controversy that erupted when Hassan was involved in a segment that simulated terrorist activity. The segment aired the same night as the London Subway attacks two weeks ago, and prompted a flood of negative press.
SD: If true, WWE has only themselves to blame. Where do they go from there? Easy: have Hassan come out, use his real name and deliver the exact same promo that he cut for WWE.com. That will free him up from the very negative connotations with his character but allow him to still be the same asshole which will get him just as much heel heat.
Spike TV and TNA officially announced that Impact! is coming to the network. TNA Entertainment, LLC has signed a deal with Spike TV to telecast TNA (Total Nonstop Action) Wrestling’s weekly action athletic entertainment series “iMPACT!” The weekly one-hour show will join Spike TV’s popular “Slammin’ Saturday Night” programming block starting this Fall, taping at Soundstage 21 at Universal Studios in Orlando, FL.
SD: All signs point to TNA taking over the Velocity timeslot, Saturday nights 11pm. If WWE really wanted to embarrass TNA then they would use their extra one hour on USA and keep Velocity. Imapct and Velocity at the same time would give a little bit of that Monday Night War feeling (on Saturdays) but it would also be a can’t lose situation for WWE. If Velocity gets higher ratings that establishes TNA as being inferior. If Impact gets higher ratings, big deal! They beat the WWE’s low-to-mid card show.
In other SpikeTV news, UFC Unleashed debuts this Monday following Raw. From the site: In the first episode of UFC Unleashed, we look back at The Ultimate Fighter Season 1 Live Finale. Catch the epic battle between Bonnar and Griffin that made history! The full schedule:
Stephan Bonnar vs. Forrest Griffin
Diego Sanchez vs. Kenny Florian
Alex Karalexis vs. Josh Rafferty
Mike Swick vs. Alex Schoenauer
SD: If you haven’t seen the Bonnar/Griffin fight then you need to stay up to watch it. It’s simply amazing.
In an interview with Steve Gerweck, Charlie Haas continues to talk about his release and the company. He believes that Smackdown writer Dave Laganza had it out for him. He said John Lauranitis wasn’t the person who released everybody but was responsible for making the calls and is helping Charlie secure bookings in Japan. He also notes that he “can compete anywhere for 90 days, but TNA” since he worked out an early release.
ROH has finished negotiations with Japan's Dragon's Gate promotion. An announcement is coming soon. They also said that their website will soon feature video clips. Now if they can just get a roster up there for the casual wrestling fan…
WWE News & Notes:
In addition to Earl, Dave Hebner has also been fired due to his involvement in the merchandising scam. It appears that the store Earl co-owned was selling bootleg WWE merchandising. Why Dave was also fired remains unclear to the public. If I were to hazard a guess I’d say it was because he knew and didn’t tell the company.
At WWE.com, you can check out photos from John Cena’s first concert. I’m particularly fond of this pic:
posted by Stefan at 1:47 PM
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