- In addition to Kelly Kelly, Layla has made Maxim's Hot 100, which is known as "the definitive list of the world’s most beautiful women." She debuts on the chart at #95, besting Dominique Storelli, Poppy Montgomery, Anahí, Kat Dennings and Nadia G.

-- As noted earlier, Lilian Garcia had a rough night Sunday night at Over the Limit as she mishandled no less than three ring introductions. PWInsider.com reports there is a lot of heat on Garcia backstage for her multiple gaffes.

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

Sexism in the E.

Female ring announcer makes errors: Heat backstage.
Male on-air authority figure makes errors: More camera time.

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Not only that but she does it rarely.
He does it multiple times in the same promo week after week.

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

I like your points, Jackref, I would agree to end the brand extension when they make the move so they can build more and better feuds.

Just a guess, but Smackdown on SYFY, may be their highest rated show.

Actually right now, I feel they have a better program right now for their world champion going than what's on Raw.

SPoiler Alert




In this week's Smackdown, Del Rio wins a title shot against Sheamus. So for them to buld to Summerslam, you could have Del Rio win the belt at No Way Out, and possibly a re-match at the next ppv and then for Summerslam, set up a match between Del Rio and Randy Orton.

Have Orton beat Jericho at No Way Out, beat a possible returning Wade Barrett at the July PPV, shouldn't Barrett be coming back sometime soon, thought it was a 6-8 week injury.

You make Orton look strong and there always wanting to push Del Rio, so have an Orton-Del RIo Title match at Summerslam.

Orton did awful ratings as the champ and Del Rio gets no reaction, plus I doubt they want to take the belt off of Sheamus already. I imagine they're more likely to build to a big Sheamus-Orton match at Summerslam than anything else. Barrett won't be ready until August.

Also on the Smackdown spoilers, inserting Kane into the Punk-Bryan feud is extremely dumb unless it's to make Bryan look good before the PPV or allow the feud to be extended for a few more shows.

WWE's "Revolution" revealed?

May 24, 2012 - 3:38:38 PM

By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

According to a leaked trailer supposedly for the new "WWE '13" video game, the "Revolution" ad campaign will be for this year's WWE video game release. The yet-to-be-verified-as-legitimate trailer focuses on current WWE champion C.M. Punk leading a "revolution" in the game produced by THQ. The final screen shot indicates the tagline is "WWE '13 Live the Revolution" and the release date is November 1.


Video URL: http://youtu.be/F3sOgaZYgzM

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--"Redneck Island," a new TV show hosted by Steve Austin, debuts on 6/9 on CMT in the 10 p.m. Saturday night time slot with a two-hour premiere. The premise is that Austin takes a crew of rednecks to a tropical island and puts them through a series of challenges, with eliminations every week. It's supposed to be both serious and comedic.

--Dragon Gate USA announced shows for 7/28 in Taylor, MI at the Gibraltar Trade Center and 7/29 in Chicago at the Congress Theater for the third anniversary show.

--WWE.com listed fake twitter accounts for their wrestlers. But they didn't do their research since the account for Christian Cage they listed as an imposter for one of their wrestlers was actually for the actor Christian Cage (real name), who has been on shows like Californication on Showtime and Prime Suspect on NBC and in the movie Drive. It's funny because several WWE wrestlers know him.

--Today is the anniversary of two major NWA title changes, as on May 24, 1973, Harley Race ended Dory Funk Jr.'s four plus years as world champion at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, and in 1984, Kerry Von Erich's short NWA title reign ended by losing to Ric Flair in Yokosuka, Japan. The Owen Hart Raw tribute show was on this date 13 years ago. It did a 7.2 rating with head-to-head-competition from Nitro.

--Brooke Hogan did a lot of media today for TNA. On the shows, they've actually pretended she's an executive with decision making power. She was doing stuff with ODB and Velvet Sky in New York and, let's just say it looks like Randy Orton vs. Rey Mysterio when they are all standing next to each other.

--Dwayne Johnson has signed for another movie, "Empire State," based on the real story of a 1980 robbery in New York City.

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even tho i know austin's neck is fucked, i'd still love to see punk/austin. otherwise, cue the face!

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FORMER AWA STAR SUING WWE OVER USING HIS LIKENESS WITHOUT PERMISSION ON DVDS AND OTHER MATERIAL
by Mike Johnson @ 8:01 PM on 5/24/2012

As if we didn't have enough legal news today!

Former AWA World Tag Team champion Doug Somers (Douglas Duane Somerson) filed a lawsuit against WWE and Vince and Linda McMahon in November 2011 regarding the company's usage of AWA footage containing his likeness and matches on four DVDs, WWE Classics on Demand, books and other materials without his personal consent.

Obviously, WWE owns the AWA library, which it purchased from The Gagne family in 2003 for a seven figure price-tag. Since that purchase, Somers has appeared bouts presented by WWE over the last decade, usually matches teaming with the late Buddy Rose against The Midnight Rockers, Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty from the 1980s.

IN his lawsuit, Somers alleges "invasion of privacy, unauthorized use of intellectual property, unjust enrichment, and violation of the Georgia Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act". The lawsuit was covered today in an article published on Lexology.com, which has links to a number of the filings in the case.

According to the piece, the lawsuit was filed in Georgia State court. WWE successfully moved to have the case moved to federal jurisdiction. WWE and the McMahons have filed motions to dismiss the case.

WWE's argument is based on the idea that when they acquired the rights to the AWA library, the AWA intellectual property of and copyrights became theirs to monetize as they see fit. Their argument is that Somers knew the footage was being filmed at the time he performed for the AWA and was paid at the time to perform, so he cannot claim copyright ownership. Since WWE now owns the AWA copyrights, they have the right to use the footage.

WWE is also arguing that any usage of Somers' name and likeness were related to telling a factual, newsworthy story and would fall under the First Amendment, just as a news broadcast or article would be protected.

WWE also attempted to shoot down Somers' "right to privacy" claim by noting that Somers described himself in his lawsuit as a "famous professional wrestler."

WWE also used an old lawsuit filed by Ricky Steamboat over alleged royalties owed for old video footage that was dismissed when the court sided with WWF (as they were known at the time) as precedence that Somers' claims don't hold water.

WWE using material that featured talents they don't contractually have any obligation to pay has been a gray area for some time. WWE talents routinely receive royalty payments for appearances on DVD, WWE Classics on Demand material, etc. even well after they leave the company contractually.

However, talents, announcers, etc. who have never had a relationship contractually with WWE (or were not signed to a Legends deal) have not, in most cases, received any form of payment, even when footage involving their likeness is used on WWE produced material. I've had a number of wrestlers and personalities who have worked everywhere from Jim Crockett Promotions to ECW and beyond note that they have never been contacted or offered payment for their likeness and material.

It should be interesting to see if the Somers vs. WWE case opens up the door for more talents who have not been receiving any form of compensation to receive payments from WWE or whether that door ends up closed via a precedent set here.

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A couple things from this week's Smackdown, we get Sin Cara back.


Spoiler



We get a triple threat match for the title, Punk vs Bryan vs Kane.

I don't think Doug Somers has a case.

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Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

Randy Orton has been suspended for sixty days, reportedly for being seen wearing pants.

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WWE officials have already deemed Lord Tensai a flop.

No shit! Bring back a wrestler everyone still remembers, wax his back, and make him Japanese. These fucksticks are clueless.

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"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." ~ H.L. Mencken

This is at least his third violation, and maybe his forth. It's good to be HHH's buddy.

Personally, it could be 60 months and that would be fine with me.

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"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." ~ H.L. Mencken

I guess this is only his second wellness suspension, third total. He has quite a bit to lose. He signed a ten year deal a couple years ago. What if things go bad, and TNA has a 32 year old bankable, boring new star? Hide your purse Dixie.

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exactly, I think its his 4th or 5th suspension, but only 2nd wellness. iirc, he was suspended for a temper tantrum in europe and the sig pharmacy deal, but those weren't wellness violations. there was another one in there too, but it wasn't a test failure.

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By the way, I didn't suggest Dixie hide her purse because Orton would take a dump in it. The current underneath guys have to get paid somehow.

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So we got
Rey still suspended
Orton Suspended
Jericho suspended

Wow, Pretty thin line up going to the PPV. Plus unless suspension went into effect yesterday he is not going to be active for Summer Slam.

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

Good thing Raw is going to 3 hours.

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This will be a failure and it will be temporary. Kinda like when TNA went to Monday nights for a month.

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Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

Ziggler gets hurt again, rumor was he started to pull away from Swagger to face Orton due to Jericho's suspension, maybe they just do a Swagger-Ziggler match to the ppv.

According to Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the big topic of discussion within WWE yesterday was surprisingly not the suspension of Randy Orton, but rather the low rating Raw received on Monday night, which was a 2.7 and the lowest number of the year.

The rating was hurt by several factors, namely, the debut of the History Channel show "Hatfields and McCoys," The NBA Playoffs, the fact that John Cena didn't appear on the show, and the Memorial day holiday. However, WWE officials were alarmed at the fact that the CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan match lost viewers in the second hour, and the Alberto Del Rio vs Santino Marella match took in the lowest quarter hour rating the show has seen in years.

Finally, the ratings are dropping to the level of entertainment value. Keep going. Maybe they will get really desperate and use my Heyman/Punk/Lesnar faction with Ambrose and some other developmental guys.

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...of course having the night revolve around the big show had nothing to do with it...nothing to do with it at all.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

The Christian-Drew McIntyre match from this week's Superstars was really good, as was Punk-Kane on Smackdown. The latter made me feel a bit more optimistic about Kane's insertion into Punk-Bryan.

Also, apparently there are rumors that Punk's opponent at Summerslam will be Big Show, which sucks. I guess that leaves Bryan for Cena?

I have to agree -- I could see maybe a once a month 3 hour show, but they are really going to struggle to fill that. Your 20 minute monologue to open the show will turn into a 30 minute with a 10 minute HHH rebuttal. Are they going to have more diva botching action? 10 minute vignettes on how WWE does positive things for children in the community? Maybe they'll have a Throwback Theater segment where you watch a replay of some non-HD 1990s match?

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"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

I've noticed alot of replays during raw that have been of previous events during that same raw. I would prepare for alot more of that.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

I see the reason for it, but I could see this more for the July ppv. I know they don't plan for Cena to lose much, but with the last ppv, would say Big SHow wins, and if Punk retains, that sets up for July ppv main event.

To add to the suspension talk, there could possibly be another one, depends if he has a prescritpion for it or not. So we may know soon or the guy gets a pass.

There was talk about Cody Rhodes being suspended too, but he was able to provide the prescrption for it.

WWE to reveal new WWE Title belt?

Jun 4, 2012 - 4:54:09 AM

By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

During a Q&A session Saturday at the Wizard World Comic Con in Philadelphia, WWE champion C.M. Punk said WWE is planning to reveal a new WWE Title belt to replace the spinner belt. However, Punk says he doesn't think it is an improvement over the current belt.

"I email people that you people don't know exist and I bother them constantly about this damn thing. There is a new title. I've seen it. I'll probably get in trouble for saying it, but I don't think it's any better than the current one." Punk re-assessed and said, "It's better than this. They literally just made it. It's about 20 pounds heavier than this one. I keep preaching that I want to be the guy - if I'm not the guy who doesn't produce a new title, then I'll be a liar, and I don't want to be a liar. It's out there, and it's coming soon. Probably a lot sooner than the ice cream bars.

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Punk addresses thin roster, lack of top stars, suspensions

Jun 4, 2012 - 4:59:33 AM

By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

During a Q&A session Saturday at the Wizard World Comic Con in Philadelphia, WWE champion C.M. Punk addressed WWE's thin talent roster and lack of top stars to help carry the load. Punk also joked about the number of wrestlers currently suspended.

"I was home Thursday. And, before that, two weeks ago, I was home for 22 hours. It's not healthy - I need to go home and hibernate, I know I really do. A lot of people go, 'You look really tired today.' Thanks," he said to laughs. "Downtime doesn't exist. There's two guys and the talent pool has never been thinner. How many guys are suspended right now? (laughs) Yeah, they're wearing us out, but we can handle it - it's me and Cena. We need more guys, but I like to be outside (on the road)."

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