WWE has entered negotiations to book the former ECW Arena on Saturday 6/24 for an Extreme Championship Wrestling house show in Philadelphia, PA. The venue, which has been remodeled since the company shut down operations in 2001, is now known as the New Alhambra Arena.
The official website for Dayton, Ohio’s Nutter Center confirms that the 6/7 WWE event will be “WWE vs. ECW Head to Head” on their events page. a 20 man Battle Royal is listed as the main event, with a number of WWE Raw talents listed as appearing. The website does not list any ECW talent beyond Rob Van Dam at this time.
The show is officially billed as “WWE and See No Evil present WWE vs. ECW Head to Head.” Ticket prices are listed as $42, $32, $27, and $22. For more information, visit www.nuttercenter.com/, then click on “Upcoming Events.”
WWE will be taping a 2 hour special that will air later that night on the USA Network to promote that weekend’s ECW One Night Stand PPV in New York City.
It is being reported, and cofirmed by his web site, that Sabu has agreed to a one year deal with the WWE to compete in the revived ECW brand. It is rumored that the contract will have an additional two year option.
They are slowly building up the ECW roster to what it once was. I wonder how many more ECW Alumni will leave TNA to come “home” to ECW and Paul Heyman. Will ECW mainstays like Shane Douglas and the Dudley Boyz will be offered contracts once their TNA ones expire? With the heat they have with Vince, I wonder if they will be welcome, but you can’t deny that they are a big part of what ECW was. And finally, will this bring Lance Storm out of retirement?
Several former WCW stars have shown up at the TNA Impact taping tonight. It will be interesting to see how these stars fit into current storylines. If you want to know who may be appearing this Thursday on TNA Impact, read on.
Continue reading Spoilers From The TNA Impact Tapings
The Twin Cities Business Journal reported today that World Wrestling Entertainment and former WWE champion Brock Lesnar have agreed to a settlement of Lesnar’s lawsuit against the company.
Terms of the settlement were not announced. Lesnar’s attorney David Bradley Olsen commented, “Although the settlement with WWE does not give Brock the clear-cut court victory he was looking for, it does provide him with the certainty he needs to pursue new ventures while he is still in his athletic prime.”
Continue reading Lensar And WWE Settle Lawsuit
Former WWE Diva Christy Hemme has signed a TNA deal and is working full time for the company.
Low Ki has also signed a TNA deal. Low Ki’s name was changed to Senshi so TNA would have ownership and rights to the name. Low Ki wasn’t going to sign over the name he’s built over his career.
TNA started talking with Low Ki a few weeks ago after Jushin Liger pulled out of Lockdown. If they couldn’t secure Low Ki, TNA was considering trying to sign Lance Storm to face Christopher Daniels at Lockdown.
WWE is planning on relaunching the ECW brand under the booking of Paul Heyman and Tommy Dreamer. ECW will be relaunched this fall, possibly around September. It is unclear what form ECW is going to take, if it will be on the same level as the Raw and SmackDown brands, replace OVW as the farm system or something else. WWE has already talked to The Sandman and Francine and will be talking to more ECW alumni about bringing them in.
This is what should have happened immediately after One Night Stand last year. Now the big question is, what will ECW be. I don’t think Vince would replace OVW with ECW because it would be pretty embarrassing to have your farm system being the more popular brand of your company. I really hopes he gives Heyman a budget and lets him go wild. He could easily establish ECW back as the number two wrestling promotion in the United States, surpassing even TNA. Vince has to ask himself a question, what’s better . . . owning the number one wrestling promotion in the United States, or owning the number one and number two wrestling promotions in the United States?
Continue reading ECW Making A Comeback
Due to a communications error, Jushin Thunder Liger was double booked for TNA Lockdown as well as a New Japan tour. Liger opted to honor his New Japan obligations. TNA has already removed his match against Christopher Daniels match from their Lockdown website and are expected to announce the replacement match shortly.
WWE issued a text message via their mobile service confirming that Randy Orton has been suspended for 60 days due to unprofessional conduct. It will be interesting to see how this affects the SmackDown main event. I am also a little curious to find out what he did.
WWE and Tyson Tomko have come to terms on his release. The word going around is that Tomko was disappointed in his lack of push and asked for his release. He probably will be heading over to Japan for a tour.