Hailey's Newsies Issue 17 - March 27th 2009

I Love Money : WWE

Time to start with the Battle Royals.

First to become PayMaster.
JBL vs. Batista vs. Mr.McMahon vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Festus vs. Chris Jericho
(Serial vs. Cynbitch vs. Mia vs. Blue vs. Litaisextreme vs. Blue)

Shelton eliminates Chris.
JBL eliminates Mr.McMahon.
JBL eliminates Festus.
JBL eliminates Batista.
Shelton eliminates JBL.

Blue is PayMaster.
Who are his choices?

William Regal vs. Jimmy Wang Yang vs. Curt Hawkins vs. JTG vs. The Great Khali vs. Victoria
(Serial vs. Mia vs. AngelMessiah vs. Heavenisme vs. Litaisextreme vs. NCD)

Victoria eliminates Jimmy.
Khali eliminates Victoria.
Khali eliminates JTG.
William eliminates Curt.
Khali eliminates William.

In danger, we have Jimmy Wang Yang (Mia), Victoria (NCD) and JTG (Heavenisme)

Contacting Victoria

WWE has contacted Victoria to see if she's interested in working the divas battle royale at Wrestlemania 25.

Inducting The Fink

It has been confirmed that ring announcer Howard Finkel will be inducted into the 2009 WWE Hall of Fame.

Sunny vs. Sable

During a radio interview, Sunny took a verbal jab at former WWE diva Sable and her age.

3 Hour Raw

On June 15, 2009, WWE will be doing another special 3 hour episode of Raw. It will be in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Candice Cleared

Candice Michelle has been medically cleared to return to the ring. She might work house shows this weekend.

New Reality TV Show

As of right now, Vince McMahon has been leaning towards doing another reality TV show like Tough Enough.

Autobiography Canceled

WWE has decided to cancel the planned autobiography for the Iron Sheik despite the fact that the treatment was done.

Cena Canceled

John Cena's appearance on the Jay Leno show was canceled when President Barack Obama agreed to be on the show.

Savage vs. Sammartino

It has been confirmed that a match between Randy Savage and Bruno Sammartino will be on the upcoming DVD.

Massaro at Wrestlemania 25

Ashley Massaro has confirmed that she rejected WWE's offer to participate at Wrestlemania 25.

DVD Re-Release

The "Wrestling With Shadows" DVD will be re-released. This time, there will be an additional DVD on Owen Hart.

25 Straight Weeks

For 25 straight weeks now, ECW has been the most watched telecast on the Sci Fi Network.

King of the Ring 2009

There are talks that WWE will be bringing back the King of the Ring tournament in the summer this year.

New Role

Kip James will be following in BG James' footsteps as he takes on a backstage role instead of a wrestling role.

Undertaker to Raw

There are many backstage that are pushing for the Undertaker to be moved over to the Raw brand.

Batista Retiring

In a recent interview, Batista mentioned that he will probably be retiring from the wrestling business in about a year or so.

Morasca's Connection

It appears that Kurt Angle was the one that helped Playboy playmate Jenna Morasca get into TNA.

Inducting the Von Erichs

Smackdown head writer Michael Hayes has been given the honor of inducting the Von Erichs into the Hall of Fame.

Sting's Birthday

Tonight, Sting will be celebrating his birthday. The current TNA world champion turns 50 years old.

Kennedy On Tour

Mr Kennedy has been sent to England by WWE. The company is using him to promote Wrestlemania 25 over there.

Plans for Christian

Vince McMahon is not a big fan of Christian.
However, wrestling fans absolutely love him.
Even before Christian made his official return to WWE, wrestling fans from around the world were already coming up with scenarios for him.
Some wanted to see him working a program with his real life close friend Edge (either in a feud or in a partnership).
Others wanted to see him working a high profile program against Jeff Hardy where Christian is revealed to be mystery attacker.
A small group of wrestling fans were actually hopeful that Christian was finally going to get that main event push in WWE that he had been wanting for years now.
However, those plans didn't exactly match up with what WWE had in mind.

Vince McMahon prefers having Christian in the midcard scene.
While it's still possible that the plans could change, WWE is hoping to keep Christian in ECW after Wrestlemania 25.
It is believed that Christian will start working a program with Jack Swagger again. The two had been feuding for a little bit, but the company stepped on the brakes to enable Christian to work in the Money in the Bank match.
Working a program over the ECW Heavyweight Championship isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, wrestling fans were hoping for something bigger.
A lot of wrestling fans would love to see Christian winning the Money in the Bank match.

I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but I truly believe that WWE would be doing themselves a favor by giving Christian a huge push at Wrestlemania 25.
They can get the ball rolling by having him scale that ladder and grabbing that briefcase that will ensure that he's a threat to jump into the main event scene at any time in the next 12 months.
By having him do that, WWE can then have Christian jumping to either Raw or Smackdown without having to utilize the upcoming draft lottery.
Nothing against ECW, but Christian belongs on one of the two major brands; not the developmental brand.

UFC Contacts Lashley

Bobby Lashley could be headed to UFC soon.

The former ECW Heavyweight Champion recently revealed in an interview that he has had contact with officials from UFC. The belief is that UFC wanted to gauge Bobby Lashley's interest in joining their promotion some day.

Bobby Lashley informed the promotion that he simply did not feel that he was ready to join them just yet. From the very start of his MMA career, the former WWE United States Heavyweight Champion has been very adamant about not joining UFC until he felt that he was ready. In the interview, he stated that he would like to fight at least 3-4 more fights before going to the big leagues.

In the past, UFC president Dana White has stated that he wasn't interested in signing Bobby Lashley. However, that could simply be a strategic business move to ensure that people would be surprised when it happens. A big fight between Bobby Lashley and Brock Lesnar, another former WWE star, could be a marketing goldmine for UFC.

Tensions High Backstage

The first three months of the year are the hardest time to be around Vince McMahon.
From the Royal Rumble until Wrestlemania, the chairman is generally obsessed with creating the best possible content he can.
This is the time of year where Vince McMahon wants huge numbers so that he can show it off to advertisers and stockholders.
Vince McMahon looms over the shoulders of all of his employees around this time of year. He also obsesses over every single little thing.
To say that he's a demanding perfectionist would be quite an understatement.

Numbers for Smackdown have been a bit more disappointing as of late.
The show even dropped as far as to get a 1.9 in the ratings.
With Wrestlemania 25 around the corner, Vince McMahon wants every single one of his shows to have increased ratings.
He bases the hype for Wrestlemania based on how interested wrestling fans are in the weekly televised shows.
Vince McMahon also wants the show to maintain high ratings because he wants to stay on the good side of MyNetworkTV, which recently got rid of the majority of original programming on their network to counteract the struggling economy.

At a recent Smackdown television taping, an incident happened backstage between Vince McMahon and Michael Hayes, who is the head writer for the brand.
With the pressure to increase his brand's ratings, Michael Hayes made a last minute pitch to Vince McMahon to allow him to put on a main event match that would feature wrestlers from all three brands.
The pitch failed pretty badly as Vince McMahon snapped at Michael Hayes.
Vince McMahon berated him for focusing on the 500th episode of Smackdown more than Wrestlemania 25.
He wanted his writing staff to build the show to hype up the biggest wrestling pay per view of the year.

There's a lot of people that are shaking their heads at Vince McMahon for being a bit of a hypocrite with this situation.
It's understandable that he's upset with the way things are going, but he has to stay true to his demands.
Vince McMahon wanted Michael Hayes to get the ratings for Smackdown to increase, but he turns around and berates him whenever he makes a pitch to do so.
While it's true that Wrestlemania 25 is a huge event, the company should not have overlooked the 500th episode of Smackdown as much as they did.

It's become somewhat of a tradition for Michael Hayes to take a vacation after the year Wrestlemania pay per view.
Since he's always under the gun with Vince McMahon during this time, there's a lot of stress that is built up.
Him taking off on a vacation after Wrestlemanias has done wonders for his stress level.
However, many people backstage believe that Michael Hayes might skip his usual routine this year and continue working after Wrestlemania 25.
With Vince McMahon being so upset, it definitely would not be a good idea for him to not be around.

Bret Hart Rejected

With Wrestlemania 25 being one of the most events in WWE history, it would make sense for the company to want their biggest stars ever at the event.
It's not just another Wrestleania. We're talking about the 25th Wrestlemania ever. It's supposed to be a huge event.
For years now, Vince McMahon has tried to load up his Wrestlemania pay per views with celebrities and former stars.
One of the big reasons why Steve Austin was being inducted into the Hall of Fame on this particular year was because Vince McMahon wanted the big event feeling.
Don't get me wrong, Steve Austin definitely deserves to be inducted. He's one of the biggest stars this industry has ever seen.
However, don't for a second believe that it's a coincidence that he's being inducted on this particular year.

Another one of the biggest stars this industry has ever seen is Bret "the Hitman" Hart.
He's one of the most respected wrestlers among his peers.
He's so respected that Dory Funk Jr (another legend in his own rights) called him up to ask him to do the induction.
However, WWE had other plans in mind.
The company has decided that Dusty Rhodes is the right choice to induct Dory Funk Jr and his brother Terry Funk.

This is not the first time that WWE has decided to have someone else induct a wrestler other than the person that the inductee wanted.
Earlier this year, it was discovered that Steve Austin had wanted the legendary Ric Flair to be the person to induct him. However, the company decided that it was best for Vince McMahon to do the honors.
When Jerry "the King" Lawler was being inducted into the Hall of Fame, he wanted legendary Memphis announcer Lance Russell to induct him.
However, the company felt that they could get more publicity by having William Shatner, a celebrity who barely has anything to do with wrestling, to do the honors.
Nothing against Dusty Rhodes. He's a legend that has enough of a history with the Funk family to make sense. However, if Dory Funk Jr wanted Bret Hart to do the honors, then the company should have gone that route.
Granted, Dusty Rhodes is an employee of the company, but it's not like Bret Hart is on bad terms with the company. He's not on great terms, but it's not bad either.
Dory Funk Jr respects Bret Hart and his family. Terry Funk and Bret Hart have a relationship that is close enough to where the Hitman was willing to travel to a small town in Texas (Amarillo) to work a show a few years back against the Funker.

I Love Money : WWE

Now, Shelton Benjamin must eliminate either Jimmy Wang Yang, Victoria or JTG.

Shelton - Welcome to another elimination ceremony. First of all, I'd rather have Victoria get her check first. You were incredible. Now, Jimmy you are very weak and aren't a threat to me, but JTG is my brotha. So, I have to keep JTG around a little longer. Jimmy, your check has been voided.

History
55th Place - Michelle McCool (Mia)
54th Place - Santino Marella (Stickie)
53rd Place - Maria (Cynbitch)
52nd Place - Zack Ryder (AngelMessiah)
51st Place - Jimmy Wang Yang (Mia)

Source : WrestlingRevealed