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RAW FAMILY REUNION PREVIEW & MORE WWE NOTES
by Mike Johnson 

The Raw Family Reunion special will begin at 8 PM Eastern tonight on the USA Network. Announced thus far is Kane vs. Umaga in a Loser Leaves Raw match, plus a ton of ECW and Smackdown names including Big Show, Rob Van Dam, King Booker, Sharmell, Finlay, William Regal, Chavo Guerrero, Bobby Lashley, Rey Mysterio, Undertaker, Batista and Mr. Kennedy will be appearing. If you read the spoiler on the main page for the Cyber Sunday PPV main event, I expect they will kick that storyline off tonight. We'll have full coverage on the site later tonight.

WWE Diva Victoria has opened an official MySpace.com page at http://myspace.com/victoria_lisamarievaron.

Chris Kanyon called back into the Howard Stern Show today to discuss the Yankees being eliminated from the playoffs. At this rate, they may as well sit him down next to Robin and make him a regular.

Stefan sent the following....I just wanted to note that the match against Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) at the No Mercy - PPV wasn't the first WWE TV-Match from Marty Garner this year. He also lost a tag team bout with Prince Malik against Jamie Noble & Kid Kash at the June 30 edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown!

Garner worked for the original ECW as Puck Dupp and also did a lot of indy shots around the country under the ring name "Cham Pain." He's from the North Carolina area and worked for OMEGA and a lot of the other area independents.

The Pennsylvania Tribune-Democrat today noted the generosity of Vince McMahon, who paid for a $2.5 million indoor tennis center to be built in Ebensburg as a gift to the community and his mother, Vickie Askew, who resides there, with comments from Askew at this link.

The Ohio Morning Journal noted over the weekend in an article about James Laurinaitis that he's been nicknamed "Little Animal" and some fans have been smuggling in shoulderpads with spikes on them in support of, an obvious nod to his father, Road Warrior Animal. Laurinaitis commented, "I'm very proud of what my dad has done....especially as a linebacker, if they want to call me the Little Animal, I'm going to be proud of that." You can check out the complete story by clicking here.

The Harrison Daily Times in Arkansas wrote today about a local boy who traveled to California to meet Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson via the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Hollywood during the premiere of "Gridiron Gang". It was noted that Johnson made sure to introduce those who had come as part of their wish while on-stage during the premiere's ceremonies. You can read much more about it, including comments from the family, at this link.

For those of you who just can't get enough Chris Kanyon in your life, he's now answering questions on the official Howard Stern message board.

In a correction from yesterday, I incorrectly listed Nattie Neidhart as a second-generation wrestler. Of course, being Stu Hart's granddaughter would make her a third-generation performer, likely the only third generation female in the business. I apologize for the error.

Our pals over at Highspots.com are now accepting bookings for former WWE star Jon Heidenreich.

WWE NEWS, DAILY LARIAT UPDATE AND MORE

I want to take a second to thank Mike and Buck for the great job they did while I was away on vacation.  I had a ball and am thankful that they were here holding down the fort so that I could get away.  Thanks guys.

I received a number of emails asking me where the Daily Lariat was.  While I was away, it was on hiatus.  I posted a note about it on the site before I left.  It will return to the site today.

Sandra Gingras sent word that the December ECW PPV will be released on DVD on December 26, 2006.

GaySports.com has an article today chronicling Kanyon's claims that WWE fired him because he was gay.  To read it, click here. 

Rob Craddock sent this item. ... I just caught part of the replay on UK Sky Box Office for No Mercy. They have cut the Regal shower bit out and it just starts with Regal with Teddy Long.

The Big Mosh sent word that tonight's Monday Night Mayhem will include Chris Nowinski's first radio interview since retiring from in-ring WWE competition, as well as Chavo Guerrero Sr.'s first public comments since last night's WWE No Mercy PPV involving his son & Rey Mysterio's Falls Count Anywhere match. The show will be broadcast On The Monday Night Mayhem Radio Network tonight at www.MondayNightMayhem.com. 

TONIGHT'S RAW, SMACKDOWN RATING, BUSY CENA, NO MERCY AND MORE

The 10/6 edition of Smackdown did a 2.4 broadcast rating, with a 4 share.  That was down slightly from last week's 2.5.  Given the loss of audience that CW has had for its other shows, Smackdown is actually holding up pretty well.  The show did hours of 2.3 and 2.5.

For those of you looking for feedback on last night's No Mercy PPV, we have it up on our sister site www.PWInsiderXtra.com.   

Concerning Raw tonight, all I have heard is that there has been a lot of booking action on the show over the weekend.  The word is that neither Umaga or Kane will "retire", but rather end up on one of the other brands.  I have also heard that they were planning on surprises as well.  You can pretty much mark Moolah and Mae Young in ink since they live in town.

Mike K sent this link, which goes to a very busy schedule of events for John Cena this week as he prepares for the debut of his new movie "The Marine".

Manuel JR Bergugnat reporting. ... According to Mondo Wrestling, the website owned by WWE Italian Commentanto on SKY TV, WWE has planned 11 dates for their spring tour with four raw shows and seven Smackdown events.  Also there will be two TV tapings in Milan, one for each brand. The April dates are as follows:

RAW
15 Mantova 
16 Milan (TV SHOW)
17 Rome
18 Treviso

SMACKDOWN 
14 Florence
15 Turin
16 Genoa
17 Milano (TV SHOW)
18 Rome
19 Caserta
20 Treviso

Steven Fernandes reporting. ... WWE.com have released the lineups for the house shows in Portugal, Spain and Switzerland in December.

For Lisbon (First Night), Barcelona, Madrid and Zurich

Lashley vs. King Booker (Queen Sharmell) - World Heavyweight Championship Match 

Chris Benoit vs. Mr. Kennedy - United States Championship Match 

Batista vs. William Regal & Finlay (Lil Bastard) - Two on One Handicap Match 

Paul London & Brian Kendrick (Ashley) vs. KC James & Idol Stevens (Michelle McCool) - WWE Tag Team Title Match 

Flash Funk vs. Chavo Guerrero (Vickie Guerrero) 

Matt Hardy vs. MVP 

Vito vs. Tatanka 

Funaki vs. Gregory Helms - Cruiserweight Championship Match 

Ashley - Jillian - Kristal - Diva Best Body Contest 

For Lisbon (Second Night)

Batista vs. King Booker (Queen Sharmell) - World Heavyweight Championship Match 

Chris Benoit & Lashley vs. Finlay (Lil Bastard) & William Regal - Feature Tag Team Match 

Matt Hardy vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. Chavo Guerrero (Vickie Guerrero) - United States Championship Match, Triple Threat Match 

Paul London & Brian Kendrick (Ashley) vs. KC James & Idol Stevens (Michelle McCool) - Six Person Tag Team Match 

Flash Funk vs. Tatanka 

Vito vs. Gregory Helms 

Jillian vs. Kristal - Diva Match 

Funaki vs. MVP 

Also the Japanese lineups have been updated. Sabu, RVD, Umaga, Torrie Wilson have been removed while Shelton Benjamin, Maria, Balls Mahoney, Kevin Thorne have been added. 

First Night Oct 21

DX vs. Edge (Lita) & Randy Orton - Feature Tag Team Match 

Tommy Dreamer vs. The Big Show - ECW Title Match, ECW Rules Match 

Jeff Hardy vs. Johnny Nitro (Melina) - Intercontinental Title Match 

CM Punk vs. Hardcore Holly 

Carlito vs. Shelton Benjamin 

Balls Mahoney vs. Test 

Highlanders vs. Spirit Squad - World Tag Team Title Match 

Sandman vs. Mike Knoxx (Kelly Kelly) 

Second Night Oct 22

DX vs. The Big Show & Hardcore Holly - DX vs. ECW Feature Tag Team Match 

Test vs. Edge (Lita) 

CM Punk vs. Randy Orton 

Balls Mahoney vs. Shelton Benjamin

Tommy Dreamer & Sandman vs. The Spirit Squad - RAW vs. ECW Tag Team Match 

Steven Richards vs. Nitro (Melina) 

Carlito & Maria vs. Mike Knoxx & Kelly Kelly - Mixed Tag Team Match 

Jeff Hardy vs. Kevin Thorn 

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