Fanshots

Well, this was odd. Michael Barton is an obscure pro wrestling & MMA blogger who recently started...

2

Well, this was odd. Michael Barton is an obscure pro wrestling & MMA blogger who recently started a podcast on Blog Talk Radio. Yesterday, he trolled Eric Bischoff on Facebook, claiming that Bischoff would be terminated for lack of results in any other business. Bischoff shot back with a nasty message, so Barton challenged him to call his show that night. Barton started the show by explaining what happened and then went to his first caller...Eric Bischoff. What ensued was close to a half hour of back and forth arguing with neither coming off especially well. Bischoff had a slight edge because TNA is a private company with various revenue streams that there are no publicly available numbers to work from (like licensing revenue) and Barton came off like a stereotypical annoying internet fan at points, once making a statement about information being available "on the internet" without qualifiers. He also mentioned the low attendance of TNA's shows in Abu Dhabi as a critical issue when they were sold shows that would've made TNA the same amount of money if they had drawn well. Having said all that, it was entertaining as hell and is well worth going out of your way to listen to. Barton did a (badly formatted and hard to read) postmortem blog post where he admits that his lack of preparation made him look awful. He could have easily Googled some of the things talked about (like ratings) during the show, though.

Shawn Michaels has reached a long term agreement with WWE, which means that when WWE needs him all...

1

Shawn Michaels has reached a long term agreement with WWE, which means that when WWE needs him all they have to do is pick up the phone and he'll help them out, provided his schedule is free. Given the current state of WWE business, I expect it won't be too long before they give him the call and we'll see him back on our screens in some sort of short term or part time non wrestling role.

Realising they might have lightning in a bottle, or maybe taking a leaf out of Bellator's playbook,...

+

Realising they might have lightning in a bottle, or maybe taking a leaf out of Bellator's playbook, the official UFC Youtube channel has uploaded a clip of Anthony Pettis "Showtime Kick" while shrewdly getting other clips of the kick taken off the top video site. After all, if a Zuffa owned clip is going to go viral, at least have it go viral on their own account.

Video of one of the most infamous gimmicks in wrestling history has finally surfaced on YouTube. ...

4

Video of one of the most infamous gimmicks in wrestling history has finally surfaced on YouTube. In the dying days of the Los Angeles office, they unleashed The Monster upon the world. Accompanied here by The Great Goliath in a lilac New Japan Pro Wrestling jacket, he was billed as being built in a lab by the promotion itself, which made the hardcore fans REALLY angry at the time. Later on, he wrestled Andre The Giant. Andre didn't know he was billed as a legitimate monster and unmasked him. Whoops.

Anthony Pettis' "ninja kick" from WEC 53.

+

Anthony Pettis' "ninja kick" from WEC 53.

Raven's Rambles, week 2 (NSFW). Raven somehow manages to follow up his first vlog less than several...

+
Raven's Rambles, week 2 (NSFW). Raven somehow manages to follow up his first vlog less than several months later. And talks about wrestling this time. Sort of. Brian Pillman, Sauekraut and Traveling with some Um's in-between.

TMZ - Gun Threat in Hulk Hogan Wedding Brawl

1

Poor Hulk Hogan, never the quiet life for him. Even at his wedding yesterday, he has a photographer crash the party, kick off a fight with a family friend who asked him to leave and claim that he's "packing a gun" causing the police to get involved.

A very trustworthy source with knowledge of the issue told me last week that right now the...

4

A very trustworthy source with knowledge of the issue told me last week that right now the commissions are largely hands-off on the issue and that no major studies are underway.

Zach Arnold on what the athletic commissions are doing in response to the recent research into CTE and brain trauma in contact sports. If true, then that's disappointing, though not all that surprising when it seems that in Nevada they are even taking a lax attitude to boxers falsifying MRI tests.

New York, NY, December 14, 2010 - Bellator Fighting Championships, a growing force in the world of...

2

New York, NY, December 14, 2010 - Bellator Fighting Championships, a growing force in the world of mixed martial arts, has a new television home, MTV2. It was announced today jointly by Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney and Eric Conte, SVP, Programming and Production, MTV2. The three-year deal will commence in 2011. Featuring some of the sport's top stars, Bellator brings a unique format of world-class fighting to fans with 12-week, eight-man tournaments in respective weight classes. MTV2, which features the highest concentration of M12-24 and M12-34 in television, will telecast two of these LIVE tournaments per year, plus a collection of special feature events. The first tournament will premiere in March 2011. "MTV2 is the perfect home for the intense mixed martial arts action of Bellator," Eric Conte, SVP, Programming and Production, MTV2. "MMA is at the top of our audience's wish list, and partnering with Bellator to bring live events and specials to MTV2 made complete sense since our viewers are so hungry to see more MMA on-air." "We are thrilled to partner with MTV2 which has such a strong audience of hard-to-reach young guys," said Rebney. "With a timeslot on a prominent nationally-distributed cable network aimed at young men, we now have the perfect platform to showcase our exciting, action-packed tournaments and fighters." Bellator which is Latin for "Warrior," is based in Chicago, IL and was founded in 2008 by Rebney. The stable of fighters include some of the most exciting in the sport including Eddie Alvarez, Hector Lombard, Joe Warren, Ben Askren, Zoila Frausto and Roger Huerta, once featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Bellator events are held in venues all across the country. Their fights have previously aired on Fox Sports Net, NBC, bi-lingual channel Mun2, ESPN Deportes, and the Score. About Bellator Fighting Championships Bellator Fighting Championships is a Mixed Martial Arts promotional company headquartered in Chicago. Bellator's Founder/Chairman & CEO, Bjorn Rebney, is an experienced fighting sports and entertainment professional with a deep commitment to the purity and integrity of the sport of MMA and its athletes. Bellator Fighting Championships' executive team is comprised of top industry professionals in the areas of live event production, television production, fighter relations, venue procurement, sponsorship creation/development, international licensing, marketing, advertising, publicity and commission relations. For more information go to www.Bellator.com About MTV2 MTV2 is a man's best friend, available in nearly 80 million homes and with the highest concentration of males 12-24 and 12-34 on TV today. A vibrant mix of music, lifestyle and action sports programming, MTV2 has reflected the habits and behavior of young people since its launch in 1996. MTV2 is part of MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom, one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.

Bellator's rumoured FX deal falls through and they sign with the weaker MTV2 cable channel. So expect the company to continue to tread water, as being on MTV2 is only marginally better than being pre-empted all the time on Fox Sports Net and having a late Saturday night deal on NBC. On the positive side, they can't possibly do any worse than the Lucha Libre Masked Warriors promotion did.

Perry Saturn sighting - Saturn gives one of his first interviews in several years explaining his...

6

Perry Saturn sighting - Saturn gives one of his first interviews in several years explaining his whereabouts. In a nutshell he was shot in Atlanta, developed a meth addiction and was homeless for a long time. I remember a few years ago hearing he was shot while saving a woman from being raped though I'm not sure if that detail can be confirmed or if it was just hearsay. Saturn is now sober and lives in Minnesota. It's refreshing to see a tragic tale from the world of pro wrestling have some light at the end and hopefully Saturn can stay on the straight and narrow. The video was shot for 1wrestling.com and was at a wrestling convention that included Saturn's long time friend and often road trip partner in crime Raven.