Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter (F4WOnline.com)
As reported on earlier this week, The Undertaker is pretty banged up right now and wasn't used at WWE TV tapings for the last two weeks.
Initial sources stated that he needed surgery on his hip, while another source stated surgery was needed for his knees. Both parts of his body are in bad shape and have been for quite some time right now. The plan as of right now is that he will be getting arthroscopic hip surgery done. This will keep Undertaker out of action for a little more than two months through the summer.
The hope internally was that giving him the time off right now will help him rest his knees and they hope to have him back for TV by July allowing for a build towards SummerSlam in August. There is said to be something significant planned in creative for Undertaker at SummerSlam, but it is possible that may not be in play with his injuries forcing him off TV for the time being. The biggest hope is that Jeff Hardy will stay with WWE through the summer with Undertaker being out as Hardy would be considered the top babyface on Smackdown with Undertaker's absence. It should be noted that some are fearing that once he gets the surgery that they may discover some serious problems that will keep him out of action even longer since he has worked through injuries for so long.
Former WWE Diva Terri Runnels is being accused of fraud by a legal attorney, saying her Make The World "Write" contest from last year is a scam. The contest could only go into effect if it garnered a minimum number of entries (5,000 to be exact), which it did not. Hence, the entrants were supposed to be receive a refund of their entry fee ($180.00 after the processing fee), but the attorney is saying they have yet to have their money returned nearly a year later.
Georgiann Makropoulos of WrestlingFigs.com contacted Runnels regarding the situation, with the former WWE Diva issuing a response. Runnels assures that everyone was refunded and she has the records to prove it. She also adds that if anyone was not refunded, all they would have to do is contact her through her manager on her official website to rectify the situation.
Here is her response in its entirety:
"I just got off the phone with Terri Runnels and she was not very happy. She received an email w/ the link to this story. She said she would never do such a thing and would love to know who if anyone did not receive their refund. She has all records from PayPal which is where contestants sent their money and how they were refunded. As far as she knows everyone was refunded...and if they weren't she would have hoped that they would have contacted her through her manager on her website www.TheTerriRunnels.com.
"Terri said, "The sad thing is that I sincerely wanted to help other people with this contest. It hurts me that someone is trashing my name as opposed to contacting me, if they truly were not refunded. I can assure you that if someone accidentally fell through the cracks...all they would have had to do is send an email to my manager and say that. I would also love to know names of people and the attorney's name!"
Warmest Regards, Terri
www.MySpace.com/TheTerriRunnels
www.TheTerriRunnels.com
ThePittsburghChannel.com has a behind the scenes look at Warrior, a new film Kurt Angle is working on. There is also a two-minute interview with Angle on the set of the movie. During the interview, he claims he's looking to get out of wrestling and into movies full-time.
As seen on this week's episode of TNA iMPACT!, Jeff Jarrett was shown spending time with his children at his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Many viewers have pointed out that as Jarrett was driving his three daughters around, neither child was wearing a seat belt, including his eldest daughter sitting in the front seat. You can see the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzh71cErK90
Jon Croitoru, better known as Johnny K-9 in the World Wrestling Federation in the 1980s and Bruiser Bedlam in Smoky Mountain Wrestling in the 1990s, has been arrested and charged with conspiracy to murder. The former WWF enhancement talent was one of eight members of a gang arrested for plotting the deaths of members of a rival gang. This isn't his first run-in with the law as he has also been linked to a murder and a police station bombing. Johnny K-9 may be best known for wrestling Hulk Hogan in a televised match when Hogan rarely wrestled on television.
In birthday news, Charles "The Godfather" Wright turns 48 years old today. It was also Ron Simmons and Kevin Von Erich's birthdays yesterday. Simmons turned 51 whereas Von Erich turned 52
The latest issue of Maxim features a four page article on Brock Lesnar. He discusses NCAA wrestling, the NFL, World Wrestling Entertainment, Ohio Valley Wrestling, UFC, acting foolish with his money, and much more
Batista and RVD are both going to be in the movie "Wrong Side of Town" and here is RVD on set
Bobby Lashley isn't getting paid by the hour in his new profession. The former ECW Champion beat veteran Mike Cook in just 24 seconds of Round 1 in his third MMA fight
The Boston Herald posted an article about John Cena appearing at the Celtics/Magic game last night. Here are some excerpts from the article (Thanks to Tom and Yasman):
Professional wrestler - and pride of West Newbury - John Cena was given a seat right across from the Magic bench for tonight's game. He is seated next to Celtic owners Wyc Grousbeck and Steve Pagliuca, who got the Shamrock fan a team jersey from the dressing room.
When Magic people noticed, they got him a custom Orlando jersey and, according to the Celtic types, said in effect that if wanted to stay in the seat, he had to put it on.
The locals may have been joking, but Cena didn't take any chances. Instead, at halftime, he got a piece of paper and a felt-tip pen and carefully made a sign, taking the time to color in each letter:
"LEAVE THE MAGIC AT DISNEY!" he wrote.
WWE Diva Jillian Hall is apparently engaged. She issued the following note on her MySpace account (www.myspace.com/jillianhall1) this morning: "finally got the ring!" Hall is engaged to wrestler Tank Toland (a.k.a. former WWE star "Chad "), who she managed in Ohio Valley Wrestling.
During a video clip promoting the Slammiversary travel package, announcers Mike Tenay and Don West take a cheap shot at World Wrestling Entertainment, believing they don't embrace the fans like TNA does. Without mentioning World Wrestling Entertainment by name, they say "the competition" holds a pretty big event around April every year and they wanted to keep the wrestlers away from the fans in Houston. "Do you think they stayed 45 miles away from Houston because it was more convenient for the wrestlers?" said Tenay. West replied, "Well, they stayed because it was more convenient for the wrestlers to stay away from the fans. What do we do? We stay WITH THE FANS!" You can watch the clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mofjfXiSojY&e
WWE Legal has become very aware of illegal stream sites like Justin.TV. The company plans to attack the sites and shut down illegal PPV feeds. They will all sites like Justin.TV like they have people posting copyrighted material on YouTube.
WWE.com head honcho Joey Styles was recently interviewed by the Miami Herald and said he doesn't miss announcing. "I called matches for 10 years, and I feel like I'm contributing to the company more now. I don't want to give away too much, but I think you've seen changes in WWE.com over the past year, and mostly in terms of video and television programming that can be distributed on the web."
He continued saying he doesn't really fit in anymore anyway. "We don't have traditional play-by-play announcers which I am. I'm probably better suited to call amateur wrestling or MMA or football. We have storytellers."
In regards to the controversial WWE.com stories on Jeff Hardy he commented, "As far as I'm concerned, we are an entertainment web site. We are scripted entertainment which we make very clear to the public, and I think we should be a scripted web site. We should follow storylines. We don't need to follow hard news."
If you wondered whatever happened to former WWE wrestler Mark Jindrak, he is now down in AAA Mexico and has quickly become a breakout Tecnico (face). Now going by Mark Corleone he has definitely improved his in-ring work and is often caught taking to the air like the Lucha stars.
Former developmental star Teddy Hart is also down there having great matches with Jack Evans.
Rey Mysterio will still be working Judgment Day on Sunday despite the knee injury he suffered at the Smackdown taping this week.
Buckcherry guitarist Keith Nelson will be doing a WWE Universe chat on Monday at 8PM ET, right before RAW. The band's "Rescue Me" is the theme for Judgment Day
In addition to attending the White House Correspondents Dinner this past Saturday with his ex-wife, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was also invited to bring his mother for a private tour of the White House for Mother's Day.
Yahoo Sports has an article up on Ric Flair and Brutus Beefcake supporting their hockey teams in the playoffs. The article is favorable to Flair, while Beefcake's arrest for cocaine a few years back is mentioned.
Machomadness.com has started an online petition to get "Macho Man" Randy Savage into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Ending the news, we look back at The Ultimate Warriors surprise rescue of Hulk Hogan. Warrior had been gone for 8 months (SummerSlam) and the fans were happy to see the first return after the first hiatus.
