WWE News: Sneak Preview For SmackDown vs. Raw 2009, Raw Dark Match Results, Lilian Garcia, Elijah Burke

– Brent Strickland sent in the following… Before Raw, D Lo Brown defeated Matt Striker and Charlie Haas beat some jobber billed from raleigh, nc. After Raw went off the air, Batista defeated CM Punk in a quick match. Also a quick note, sitting in the front 2 rows were 2 of Ric Flair’s kids, one of his daughters and youngest son Reid.

– WWE.com has posted a gameplay trailer of the upcoming WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 video game. The trailer features this year’s cover wrestlers, Triple H and Shawn Michaels, facing off against Matt and Jeff Hardy in a tag match. You can see the trailer at this link. THQ.com has another trailer for the game, which you can see at this link.

– Lilian Garcia and Elijah Burke have been added to WWE’s free SummerFest event live at the Beach in Venice Beach, CA on Saturday, August 9. Other stars slated to appear include Mr. Kennedy, Carlito, Tommy Dreamer, The Miz, John Morrison, Shannon Moore, Funaki, Layla, Lena Yada & Candice Michelle. The event will be hosted by Jimmy Hart.

WWE News: Date For Edge & Vickie Guerrero’s Wedding, Flair On SmackDown?, Rare Michael Hayes Appearance

source: www.f4wonline.com

– Even though Ric Flair is advertised to appear at tomorrow night’s SmackDown taping in Charlotte, it is far from a lock of him appearing on television on Friday night. He’ll likely appear before the crowd and not in a taped segment for tomorrow’s show.

– A promo ran on Raw earlier tonight saying that Edge and Vickie Guerrero’s wedding is scheduled to take place this Friday night on SmackDown.

– SmackDown head writer Michael Hayes is scheduled to appear at the NWA Wrestling Legends Fanfest in Charlotte, North Carolina on Friday, August 15. He will be signing autographs and taking photos with fans from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Later in the night, Hayes will be inducting longtime friend and Freebird partner Buddy Roberts into the NWA Wrestling Legends Hall of Heroes. For more details on Hayes’ appearance and the convention, visit NWALegends.com.

WWE News: SmackDown Storyline Plans For Murdoch & More On His Release, Judgment Day Buys, Raw In Oklahoma

source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

– Prior to his release last Thursday, there was an idea for Trevor Murdoch to be involved in a program with MVP on SmackDown. An angle was proposed for them to do another “Odd Couple” angle. The idea was for them do some comedy segments, and then feud with Murdoch as the babyface. However, it probably didn’t get off the drawing board because it would have been too similar to MVP’s drawn-out program with Matt Hardy that only recently ended.

Regarding his release, it came as a surprise to a lot of people since he was booked on some house shows with MVP. Also, SmackDown head writer Michael Hayes specifically requested him before the draft. Johnny Ace called Murdoch to inform him about his release from the company, although Vince McMahon must approve of all terminations. Ace essentially told Murdoch, “Your character is going nowhere and creative has nothing for you.” The “creative doesn’t have anything for you” line, which Johnny Ace often uses, and Jim Ross did before him, is used to let people down easy because in many cases being fired from WWE is the end of their childhood dream. It sounds better than saying “we don’t need you anymore” or “you’re not very good.” People close to Murdoch are saying he’s taking the release surprisingly well.

On another note, Hayes had booked some mid-card ideas for Murdoch, but was not aware of his release from the company until the company sent out an internal memo right after Murdoch was informed. Some people would normally know ahead of time about a release, but they didn’t see this one coming.

– The preliminary buy rate for Judgment Day stands at 244,000 total buys and 154,000 domestic buys. The pay-per-view featured Triple H vs. Randy Orton in a cage match for the WWE title, Edge vs. Undertaker for the vacant World title, Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho, and John Cena vs. JBL. This year’s numbers are almost identical to last year’s, which did 240,000 total buys and 158,000 domestic buys, although those were the final totals. As a general rule, you can usually count on an 8% average growth from the preliminary figure, so the ’08 number should be even bigger. Last year’s show featured the first Cena vs. Great Khali match (for the WWE title), as well as Edge vs. Batista for the World Heavyweight title, Randy Orton vs. Shawn Michaels, and Bobby Lashley vs. ECW Champion Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon & Umaga. Even though ratings & web traffic were down in May compared to last year, you can say that WWE did a way better job of promoting Judgment Day this year.

– The 6/30 Raw in Oklahoma City drew 11,000 total fans for a $400,000 gate.

WWE News: When You Can Catch The Supplemental Draft, Jim Ross Apologizes, Cole Comments

– The administrator of the WWE Fan Nation site announced that the WWE Supplemental Draft will be taking place tomorrow at noon on WWE.com. The WWE Fan Nation plans on holding a live blog with Howard Finkel and other WWE.com editors to give their expert analysis of the draft picks live as they happen. No other details have been revealed about the draft. They wrote: “The amount of picks and the format of the Supplemental Draft are still unknown, but we’ll be holding a Live Blog here on WWE Fan Nation tomorrow as all the action unfolds.” Last year’s Supplemental Draft featured 13 draft picks, so you can probably expect the roughly same amount tomorrow. And just a few moments ago, WWE put up an announcement on the front page of the site regarding the draft. For their preview, click here.

– Jim Ross has posted a follow-up blog on his website apologizing for his comments in his first blog earlier today. Ross wrote: “Changes in one’s life take some adjusting to especially at my stage of the game. This week I received an unexpected change in my professional address. Within hours of writing an emotional blog, I am positively moving on. I am going to do all I can to make Smackdown the best program the WWE produces.” He also added: “The abruptness of the “trade” shocked me. I most likely responded in a non professional way in the eyes of some fans. That’s their prerogative and each has the right to their opinion, As do I. Not to be cliche, but wrestling has been great to my family and me. I owe it to the business to “man up” and to kick ass on Smackdown. That’s my plan. My emotions are what they are and I will not apologize for my candor or honesty. My feathers were ruffled…poor me. I still bring bona fide passion to every broadcast and fully expect to deliver come show time.” Ross closes his post by saying: “For those of you that were offended by my earlier rant I apologize. For those that think “old J.R.” can’t get the job done, I suggest you sit back and watch. I wish my good pal The King and Michael Cole great success but my professional priority is to help Smackdown kick ass. In more ways than one, “the game is on.” You can read the blog in its entirety at this link.

– WWE.com posted an after-Raw video interview of Michael Cole and Jim Ross talking about the announcer swap. Even WWE.com is acknowledging Ross’ unhappiness regarding the move. They wrote: “Michael Cole and J.R. talk about swapping announce teams with the Draft – a move that made Ross none too happy.” You can see what they have to say at this link.

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