Sources: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, PWInsider.com,
www.f4wonline.com
- WWE's Rory McAllister welcomes son Ian
By Angela, CBB News Editor
Rory McAllister, 31, part of the WWE's tag team duo The Highlanders, is a new dad after his girlfriend Gina gave birth to son Ian McAllister at 9:22 a.m. on Monday, February 4th. He weighed 8 pounds, 5 ounces. Both mom and son are reported to be doing well.
Source: Rory's MySpace Page
(thanks to Mike Informer)
- AAA is likely to induct Eddy Guerrero into the promotion's hall of fame. Guerrero would become the third member inducted by the Mexican promotion. Rey Mysterio Jr. and Antonio Pena were the first two inductions by AAA.
- from Rob O'Brien: Just a quick note that TNA has finally added some photos of Angel Williams (aka Angelina Love) to the Knockouts Gallery section of the website.
- from Tremont Nichols: I was on ticketmaster and looking up tickets for TNA "Against All Odds" PPV and you can purchase tickets in row 7 for $ 125.00. I wouldn't pay that much for a TNA show, PPV or not.
- Karen Angle will take part in Spike TV/TNA's monthly conference call tomorrow.
- New Japan's Tiger Mask said he liked working in TNA and hopes to return.
- TNA is looking for a tall African-American muscular woman model with a great body.
- Dave Meltzer is reporting that Raven is done with TNA. Apparently his contract came up and the company didn't offer him a renewal.
-- He's still listed on TNA's official website, but Raven is finished with the company. Raven is now looking to open up a wrestling school. He posted a blog on his official website talking about looking for a building, tuition for the school (which is around $5,000), how the training will be, and more. He wrote: "Training would probably average 3 days a week and i will generally be attending all 3. I will also have Johnny Swinger there to help me train students, so most of the time there will be 2 people there to give you much more of a hands on feel. I would not have anyone train someone under my name if I didnt think they were more than qualified. Remember, its my name, and I am very protective of that." He's hoping to get his wrestling school off the ground by March.
- AJ Styles received high marks in how he played his role as referee of the Kurt Angle vs. Tomko match. Styles had no previous experience for the role.
- TNA is working with British promoter Alex Shane to run shows in Coventry, Liverpool and Essex in June.
- Pro Wrestling Insider is reporting that Zinkin Entertainment and Sports Management has taken on Bobby Lashley as a client. Zinkin Entertainment and Sports Management also handles MMA clients such as Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin, Josh Koscheck, and Mike Swick.
- New Orleans' Playboy girl Taryn Terrell has been signed by World Wrestling Entertainment. For those that remember, Terrell was a participant in the 2007 Diva Search contest and was actually training in WWE developmental soon after the contest finished.
- The head of WWE developmental, Ty Bailey, and John Laurinaitis will be meeting with developmental talent at OVW today and will then make their way to Florida in the afternoon to meet with talent there.
-- There have been rumors on WWE moving in this direction for years, but now more than ever, a number of people in management are pushing for WWE to finally sever ties with developmental promotion Ohio Valley Wrestling. It may be something to keep an eye on after WrestleMania.
-- To add to the uneasy feeling some of the developmental wrestlers have after the latest round of firings, there are 14 WWE-contracted wrestlers left in Ohio Valley Wrestling. The feeling among some of them is that Ohio Valley Wrestling's connection with WWE could be coming to an end. It's interesting to note that nearly all of the developmental signees over the past few months have been sent to Florida Championship Wrestling instead of OVW, the lone exceptions being Matt Sydal, and Lupe Viscara & Andrew Vain, who came straight out of the Ohio Valley Wrestling school. A number of wrestlers are waiting to see what happens when Florida Championship Wrestling starts running a regular schedule of TV tapings and live events. FCW plans on holding their first-ever TV taping on February 28.
-- As noted earlier, WWE developmental wrestler Shawn Osbourne was among those let go by the company on Monday. Osbourne was said to be on the chopping block for quite some time. WWE agents who saw him buried his work, saying he had "bush league indy-level skills" and no potential to ever break out. The WWE creative team also didn't like him, so he was pretty much doomed.
-- Two weeks ago at the SmackDown/ECW taping, which was the day before Bobby Lashley revealed on his official website that he was through with WWE, the word going around backstage from management was that Vince McMahon fired Lashley to make an example out of him. It was said as such to be a lesson to the wrestlers in the back because they don't want people complaining in the company. In actuality, it was Lashley's complete decision to leave the company and he was not actually "fired" by McMahon.
- It seems as if the Randy Orton/Jeff Hardy program might not be over just yet; a WWE Championship match between the pair was advertised for a house show in Madison, WI (March 08) on RAW this past Monday. Also advertised for the show was a tag-team match with Umaga and Snitsky vs. DX.
- After the six recent cuts by World Wrestling Entertainment many developmental talents are fearing that they could be next. Nobody is under any illusions that the cuts are over as it is that time of year and the company has recently had talents filming videos with information about their background and how long they have been in the developmental system.
-- Chris Masters' 90-day no-compete clause with WWE expires today, so he's free to wrestle where ever he wants now.
-- Cassidy Riley, who was released on Monday, was formerly of TNA and landed a developmental contract last year after creative team member Dusty Rhodes pushed hard for him. The two worked together when Rhodes was the head TNA booker in 2005, and he liked him, thinking he looked like former wrestler Dick Slater. At around the same time, K.C. James was demoted to Ohio Valley Wrestling and so the two formed an "old school" Southern tag team called "The James Boys." Riley's new gimmick was 'Kassidy James', the little brother of K.C. James, even though he is several years older than him. The James Boys won and lost the OVW Southern Tag Team Championships on four different occasions dating back to June, the last run taking place in September. Anyway, there was talk of calling The James Boys up to the main WWE roster, but when it came time to make that decision, Stephanie McMahon, who is the WWE Executive Vice President of Talent and Creative Writing, hated the act, and of course, their call-up was nixed. The team disbanded shortly thereafter. Riley was left to fend for himself after K.C. James was given a peculiar role on ECW as a wrestler making semi-regular appearances on their program, but yet, isn't an official member of the roster. The chances of Riley getting a call-up to WWE as a singles wrestler were slim to none and the axe finally fell on him this past Monday.