9/2 THIS DAY IN HISTORY: THE STAGE IS SET FOR LESNAR TO CONQUER UFC

September 2nd 

On this day in history in ....

1962 - Tracy Smothers is born.

1972 - WWWF runs at Madison Square Garden in New York City, headlined by WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales defeating Ernie Ladd and Bruno Sammartino defeating George "The Animal" Steele. After Bruno's win, the final match of the evening, it was announced that Sammartino would face Morales (a battle between the top two babyfaces in the company) at Shea Stadium on September 30th, WWWF's first ever stadium show. Over 22,000 fans would attend that event, with Sammartino vs. Morales ending in a draw. 

1984 - WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs. UWA World Champion El Canek in Mexico City ends in a draw in a two out of three falls match. Hogan won the first fall via pinfall, Canek won the second via DQ, and the third fall ended in a double DQ. The match received a great deal of attention in Mexico, has Canek had defeated Andre The Giant the previous February, and only Hogan's WWF title was on the line, giving Canek the chance to become a dual World Champion. 

1985 - World Class Championship Wrestling held their Labor Day Weekend "Star Wars" event in Ft. Worth, Texas. Here are the results: 
- Kelly Kiniski defeated Jim Powers.
- World Class Television Champion John Tatum defeated Steve Casey.
- Gino Hernandez defeated Brian Adidas to win the World Class Texas Heavyweight Title. 
- Bruiser Brody defeated One Man Gang via disqualification.
- Kevin Von Erich defeated Chris Adams. 
- Mark Lewin defeated Iceman Parsons. 
- Kerry Von Erich, Kevin Von Erich & Brian Adidas defeated One Man Gang, Mark Lewin & Jack Victory to win the World Class Six Man Tag Team Title. 

2002 -During an edition of Raw, Eric Bischoff creates a new World Heavyweight Title and awards it to Triple H. WWE Champion Brock Lesnar had been signed "exclusively" to Smackdown by Stephanie McMahon, so a new title was needed for the Raw brand. The championship belt was a recreation of the "big gold belt" that had been identified with the WCW and NWA World Title. 

Triple H would defend the belt against Ric Flair that night, defeating him with a Pedigree following a low blow. Chris Jericho, angry over not being given a title shot, would then come in and put Flair in the Walls Of Jericho. Rob Van Dam would make the save, setting up a tag team main event for Raw in which Ric Flair & Rob Van Dam would defeat Triple H & Chris Jericho when RVD pinned Triple H with a Five Star Frog Splash after kicking the championship belt into the face of the new champion. 

Here is Tim Whitehead's original report on the show: 

The 9/2 edition of RAW IS UNDERSTAFFED aired live from Milwaukee. It was once again a bland show, which highlighted how lopsided the talent roster now is in favor of Smackdown. In addition, the decision to create a second world title for RAW was not a good idea. It creates a dispute over Brock Lesnar's status as champ right at the point where he, as a newcomer still needing to get over, should be the sole focus. Also, title controversies like this hurt the title's credibility no matter who is champ. 

Eric Bischoff came out to the ring carrying a briefcase. He said that Brock Lesnar may call himself the Undisputed World Champion, but by becoming exclusively a Smackdown wrestler, he has rendered his belt very disputed. He stated that RAW fans deserve a world champion, calling RAW the top brand in the history of sports entertainment. Continuing, Bischoff asserted that Stephanie McMahon may want a Lesnar vs. Undertaker match at the Unforgiven PPV, but the whole world knows that Triple H is the rightful number one contender. HHH came down to the ring as Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler both agreed with Bischoff that RAW fans deserve to have a world champion. HHH began ragging on Lesnar, accusing him of wanting to stay on Smackdown because he knows he isn't in his league. He buried Lesnar pretty well, saying the Next Big Thing has no balls. Bischoff agreed 100% and repeated his claim that, had he signed HHH to WCW, Nitro would have won the Monday Night Wars. He kept heaping the praises on HHH, which led to him opening the briefcase and presenting HHH with his own RAW WWE World Title. It was the old WCW title belt. HHH said that most guys would act modest and say they don't really deserve the belt, but he isn't most guys and he bragged that he does indeed deserve to have the title presented to him. He praised Bischoff as being a better judge of talent than his ex-wife. At this point, Ric Flair came down to the ring. The Nature Boy agreed that the title has become disputed and that RAW fans deserve to have a champion. He said HHH is The Man, but added that he (Flair) has been The Man 16 times, and each of those times he won his championship in the ring through blood and sweat and busting his ass, not by having it handed to him. Actually, Kevin Nash handed the WCW Title to Flair once during one of those Vince Russo angles but I don't think Flair counts that one among his 16 "official" reigns. In any event, Flair was right about it being a bad idea to hand belts out like that. Bischoff set up a HHH vs. Flair title defense for later, with the idea of giving legitimacy to HHH's reign. HHH said it would be an honor to defend the belt against Flair. Flair offered to shake HHH's hand, but HHH shook Bischoff's hand instead and then sucker punched Flair. HHH walked off with a smirk on his face, shouting out a sarcastic "whoooo!" 

Backstage, Steven Richards and Johnny Stamboli congratulated HHH. But Bubba Ray Dudley didn't seem as good-natured. HHH asked Bubba if he had a problem, and accused him of being jealous. He told Bubba to get in line and that maybe he could work his way up to a title shot, adding that unlike Lesnar he'll be defending his belt. Bubba said he isn't jealous, he's hungry, and that for every hungry guy in the locker room, the world title is their salvation. Bubba told HHH to wipe that smug expression off his face, because eventually someone will slap it off. Bubba then excused himself, saying it was time to put someone through a table. 

Bubba Ray Dudley & Trish Stratus defeated Christopher Nowinski & Molly Holly in an intergender tables elimination match in 6:35. They aired an earlier interview with Nowinski where he said that after bursting Bubba & Trish through tables, he would burst through something else. Yes, he actually said he would burst through Molly's hymen. Lawler acted like he didn't know what a hymen is. JR said, "You of all people don't know what a hymen is?" Maybe Lawler only knows it by its slang term. The match began and was pretty much what you would expect. Molly's pants got pulled down, exposing her unaphrodisiac undies. I think she bought those at a mall store called Great-Grandmother's Secret. Trish got a pop for flashing her thong. A "we want puppies" chant started and Lawler shouted "we want hymen". They did a spot where Nowinski ended up face down in Molly's private (i.e., hymen) area. I'm trying to find discrete ways of writing about this. Nowinski took a wazzup from Trish. Molly plastered Trish with a somersault splash off the top. She laid Trish out on a table on the floor and was going to splash her through it from off the top, but Bubba blocked it. Nowinski then tried to splash Trish through, but Trish moved and Nowinski crashed hard through the table. It was counted as an elimination, even though in the past offensive moves haven't been counted that way. So much for consistency. Trish gave Molly a huracanrana off the top and Bubba then put Molly through another table for the win. 

Jonathan Coachman interviewed Lance Storm & Christian about their upcoming handicap match against Kane. Coach noted that their tag belts wouldn't be on the line, but their pride would be. Christian said Americans know nothing about pride. Storm said the Un-Americans aren't the bad guys, but are just trying to help us change our ways by pointing out our hypocrisy, such as when a bunch of fat unemployed people celebrate Labor Day. Test showed up with a blowtorch and boasted that they'll finish the job they started last week by burning a U.S. flag. 

Bischoff invited Terri and Stacy Keibler to his office. They were in robes. Bischoff boasted that he was making history by booking them in the first ever lingerie pillow fight match. Terri complained that she just wants to conduct interviews. Bischoff made them give him a peek beneath their robes. He said Stacy had the best assets (emphasis on ass) while Terri had the best pillows. Stacy said at least her pillows are natural. And nature is a beautiful thing. 

Chris Jericho confronted Flair. Y2J was angry that Bischoff gave a world title shot to a 53 year old has-been. Flair reminded Jericho that he beat him at SummerSlam. Jericho told Flair he wants him to beat HHH so he can then kick Flair's ass and take the title from him. 

Booker T beat William Regal in 3:13. Just a regular, short TV match. Booker won, but his momentum seems to have been stalled. I think the scientific term for that is TripleH-us Interruptus. Booker scored the pin with a scissor kick and did the spinaroonie afterward. 

Highlight footage aired from SummerSlam of the HHH vs. Shawn Michaels match, including HHH's post-match attack with the sledgehammer. JR & Lawler then conducted an interview with Michaels via satellite. Michaels was in a wheelchair. He said he has feeling in his legs but his mobility isn't good. He vowed to make it through rehab and to get out of the wheelchair. Lawler asked if the match was worth it. Michaels said he wondered going in if he could live up to his past performances, and thinks he did so. He thanked God and the fans for allowing him to do what he loves to do. So he felt the match was worth it, noting also that his injury came not in the match, but in HHH's attack afterward. JR asked if Michaels had anything to say to HHH. Michaels said HHH should never hurt what he can't kill and said what goes around comes around. Michaels then held up a sledgehammer as the segment ended. 

Hour two began with HHH beating Flair in 9:38 to retain the RAW World Title. Flair did some takedowns and then strutted. He hit some chops and let out a "whooooo!' They did some traditional mat stuff. Flair took his bump over the top in the corner. He fell short on that one at SummerSlam but did it this time. HHH went on offense and Flair sold like a heel. Flair hooked the figure four but HHH made the ropes. HHH then hit a low blow and won with the pedigree. This was another Flair match that could have been saved for a specialty bout at a PPV, but was given away. It was just an average match. Afterward, Jericho ran in and attacked Flair, putting him in the walls. Rob Van Dam ran in for the save. He bumped HHH while running in, which caused HHH to go back in the ring after RVD. RVD, however, caught HHH with a spinkick. Both HHH and Jericho retreated. 

Big Show got in Bischoff's face, moaning about how Bischoff had Rosie & Jamal (the Island Boyz) attack him two weeks ago. He also was pissed over HHH being given the new RAW championship. Bischoff told him he could have a title shot if he put in an impressive performance in his scheduled match against Tommy Dreamer. I think Shakespeare wrote a play about Show's chances of being champion. It was called Much Ado About Nothing. The phone rang and whoever was on the other end told Bischoff that one of his wrestlers was going to defect to Smackdown to be with a family member. Bischoff was pissed and called Stephanie a bitch. By the way, throwing in all the fake and real family storylines, this defection theoretically could have been Jeff Hardy, Crash or Molly Holly, Kane, Bubba Ray or Spike Dudley, Christian, or even Rosie & Jamal. 

Kane beat Christian & Storm in the non-title handicap match in 5:22. Kane's lost a lot of weight. Kane controlled almost the entire match, tossing the tag champs all over the place. Christian & Storm finally doubled on Kane and scored some twos on him. Storm accidentally kicked Christian. Kane pinned Storm with a chokeslam. Afterward, Test ran in and gave Kane the boot to the face. The Un-Americans were once again about to burn Old Glory when Bradshaw charged in. He and Kane cleaned house and captured the flag, saving it yet again from destruction. 

Big Show beat Tommy Dreamer by DQ in 2:42. I actually got several e-mails last week objecting to the phase-out of the Hardcore Title, so that belt apparently had a constituency. Show just bullied Dreamer around for a couple of minutes. Show got a chair, but decided not to use it since he might get DQ'ed. So Dreamer used it instead, and got DQ'ed. He really laid in some sick chairshots, with Show taking some scary blows. Dreamer was doing his full ECW gimmick here and earned an "ECW" chant from the crowd. Show won, but didn't look very impressive in doing so. 

HHH told Bischoff he wanted to fight RVD. Bischoff said RVD was already scheduled to defend the IC belt against Jericho. HHH said he's the champ and is entitled to get whatever he wants. Jericho overheard all this and naturally didn't want to lose his IC shot. But lose it he did, as Bischoff agreed to cancel that match and replace it with HHH & Jericho vs. RVD & Flair. So HHH screwed Jericho again. 

Jeff Hardy vs. Crash Holly never got started. Bischoff came out and said he had been tipped off that someone was about to defect to Smackdown to be with a family member. He assumed it was Jeff, wanting to get at brother Matt for attacking him a few weeks ago. Bischoff was furious, and sent in Rosie & Jamal to do the weekly squash job. Jeff was flattened with the big splash. Bischoff boasted that anyone defecting in the future will face a similar beating at the hands of Rosie & Jamal. But to Bischoff's dismay, Crash announced that he was the one defecting, and fled. I guess they'll revive the Hollies gimmick on Smackdown. 

Terri beat Stacy in the lingerie pillow fight in 1:43. Lawler was special ref. Shakespeare also wrote a play about him called King Leer. They had a bed set up in the ring with pillows and stuffed animals. There was also a night table with an alarm clock, which was there for foreign object purposes. JR said, correctly, that this match wouldn't be like Bruiser and Crusher (Milwaukee legends) being in the ring. It was one of those matches that sucks as far as wrestling is concerned, but I still liked it, for reasons upon which I don't need to elaborate. The two babes fought with pillows in their lingerie, doing a few sexually charged spots before Terri pinned Stacy, who always seems to lose. With her long legs, she should learn the figure four. Stacy attacked Terri after the match and hit her with clock (Lawler said Terri got "clocked"). She then retrieved a bowl of syrup, or some similar sticky substance, which for some reason was under the ring. She poured it on Terri and then dumped feathers from the pillows on her, leaving Terri tarred & feathered and looking like Foghorn Leghorn would look if he had a sex change operation and got implants. 

Flair & RVD beat HHH & Jericho in 9:35. HHH & Jericho attacked RVD before Flair got to the ring. RVD hit a flip splash on Jericho. Jericho responded with a spin kick. Flair got pounded and again sold it big. RVD did his kicks. Jericho hit RVD with a hard chairshot but HHH only scored a two when he went for the pin. The crowd got into this match after not being too hot overall for most of the show. They were hot for RVD. Jericho put the walls on RVD but Flair broke it up. Flair threw a bunch of chops on both opponents. RVD scored two on HHH with the rolling thunder. RVD blocked a pedigree, kicked HHH, and went to the top for the frog splash but Jericho shoved him off. Jericho hit a lionsault on RVD, scoring two. Flair pulled Jericho out and put the figure four on him on the floor. Jericho tapped but it didn't count since they were outside, and HHH was the legal man. RVD then scored the upset pin by laying HHH out with a kick and hitting the frog splash. The first half of the match wasn't all that good but the latter half was okay and the ending was good. The show ended with RVD holding up his IC belt and also the RAW World Title, indicating that he should be in line for a shot at HHH's belt.

2007 - WWE releases Nick Dinsmore, who had portrayed the Eugene character.  He would be brought back in 2009, but after one appearance on Raw, would be released again.

2008 - During a conference call with the MMA media, Ultimate Fighting Championship announced that they had come to terms with MMA legend and UFC Heavyweight champion Randy Couture to return to the flagship MMA promotion.  Couture had been at odds with UFC over contractual issues since late 2007.

Couture's first opponent will indeed be former WWE champion Brock Lesnar on 11/15 in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Arena.  It will undoubtedly be the biggest test in Lesnar's UFC run.    It will be a five-round fight, and Couture's UFC Heavyweight Championship is on the line. 

Lesnar won the fight via TKO when it took place.

2008 -Jakks Pacific, which holds the action figure license for World Wrestling Entertainment, issued the following press release today:

WWE’s Entire Case against JAKKS Pacific and Its Senior Officers Dismissed

MALIBU, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As reported on August 29, 2008, the Superior Court of Connecticut granted summary judgment dismissing WWE’s remaining state claims against JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAKK) and its senior officers relating to alleged wrongful acts occurring more than a decade ago of bribery and conflict of interest involving its videogame license and amendments to its toy license. The Connecticut Court determined that WWE’s claims were time-barred under Connecticut State law. In addition, the Connecticut Court separately found that WWE was precluded from litigating its state court claims based on the previous federal court determination that WWE’s then remaining federal claim was time-barred by the applicable federal statute of limitations. The Connecticut Court also dismissed WWE’s state antitrust claim based on the lack of any antitrust injury under Connecticut State law and, separately, because WWE was precluded from relitigating in state court antitrust claims that the federal court had already dismissed under federal law.

As a result of prior federal court decisions, all of WWE’s federal claims against JAKKS Pacific and its senior officers were dismissed, including claims alleging violations of RICO, the Sherman Antitrust Act, and the Robinson-Patman Act. Now, by virtue of this Connecticut Court’s summary judgment ruling, all of WWE’s remaining claims relating to the procurement of the subject licenses have also been dismissed.

Jack Friedman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of JAKKS Pacific stated, “From the outset, we have maintained that WWE’s claims against us were meritless and part of an attempt by WWE to force us to relinquish our financial stake in our licenses. We have refused to be bullied into submission and are delighted that the Connecticut Court has granted summary judgment in our favor.”

WWE has indicated that it plans to appeal the adverse rulings against it, and JAKKS Pacific and its senior officers, consistent with what they have done until now, intend to vigorously defend on appeal the court rulings.
About JAKKS Pacific, Inc.

JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAKK) is a multi-brand company that designs and markets a broad range of toys and consumer products. The product categories include: Action Figures, Art Activity Kits, Stationery, Writing Instruments, Performance Kites, Water Toys, Sports Activity Toys, Vehicles, Infant/Pre-School, Plush, Construction Toys, Electronics, Dolls, Dress-Up, Role Play, and Pet Toys and Accessories. The products are sold under various brand names including JAKKS Pacific®, Play Along®, Flying Colors®, Creative Designs International™, Road Champs®, Child Guidance®, Pentech®, Trendmasters®, Toymax®, Funnoodle®, Go Fly a Kite®, Color Workshop®, JAKKS Pets™ and Plug It In & Play TV Games™. JAKKS and THQ Inc. participate in a joint venture that has worldwide rights to publish and market World Wrestling Entertainment video games. For further information, visit www.jakks.com.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) that are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about JAKKS Pacific's business based partly on assumptions made by its management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such statements due to numerous factors, including, but not limited to, those described above, changes in demand for JAKKS' products, product mix, the timing of customer orders and deliveries, the impact of competitive products and pricing, and difficulties with integrating acquired businesses. The forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date on which they are made, and JAKKS undertakes no obligation to update any of them to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release. © JAKKS Pacific, Inc. All Right Reserved.

2008 - WWE broadcast ECW on Sci Fi.  Mike Odd filed the following TV report:

2009 -  The following press release was issued:

Avail-TVN becomes WWE’s® Industry-Wide VOD Services Partner

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Avail-TVN®, the largest independent digital media services company in North America today announced a comprehensive, long-term VOD service deal to support World Wrestling Entertainment®’s various VOD programming initiatives. Included under the deal is distribution for WWE Classics On Demand, WWE’s successful VOD product that allows WWE fans to access current and classic matches; historic pay-per-views, vintage episodes of primetime series such as “Monday Night Raw” and WCW Nitro, as well as original series such as the roundtable talk show “Legends of Wrestling.”

Avail-TVN will support all of WWE’s VOD needs including multiple codecs (MPEG2 and MPEG4), SD and HD, advanced asset management tools and services, programming stunts, as well as fast turn services to accommodate VOD advertising sales timelines and other high profile programming.

“We’ve been using Avail-TVN’s services for nearly five years and are continually impressed with their business acumen, customer service, responsiveness and strategic insight. We are excited to extend our partnership into the future,” said Jim Brown, Director of Operations, WWE Classics On Demand.

“We continue to enhance customized solutions for our content partners, including the ability to efficiently modify VOD assets during their lifecycle, which allows partners like WWE to quickly respond to VOD usage trends, ultimately resulting in an optimized offering for their affiliates and fans,” said Matt Cohen SVP, Content Services for Avail-TVN. “As the WWE’s VOD strategy grows, we will continue to innovate and simplify the process to showcase one of the hottest brands on TV.”

WWE Classics On Demand utilizes Avail-TVN’s award winning ADONISS 2 Asset Managment platform that houses all of the content and the PRI interface that allows each provider to remotely manage their content. For more information please visit www.avail-tvn.com.

About Avail-TVN

Avail-TVN is the largest independent digital media services company in North America. Working with every major studio and television network, the company offers a full content line up of MPEG-4 encoded live programming as well as video on demand content in MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 to multichannel video providers throughout the US, Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico. The Avail-TVN platform is an open, advanced technology, offering the most comprehensive, end-to-end solution for licensing, managing, distributing and marketing linear and on-demand content to virtually any platform today and is extensible to support the new services of tomorrow. For more information about TVN’s and Avail’s products and services, please visit www.avail-tvn.com.

About the WWE

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., a publicly traded company (NYSE: WWE), is an integrated media organization and recognized leader in global entertainment. The company consists of a portfolio of businesses that create and deliver original content 52 weeks a year to a global audience. WWE is committed to family-friendly, PG content across all of its platforms including television programming, pay-per-view, digital media and publishing. WWE programming is broadcast in more than 145 countries and 30 languages and reaches more than 500 million homes worldwide. The company is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Shanghai, Tokyo, Toronto and Sydney.

2010 - TNA broadcast Impact Wrestling.  Stu Carapola filed the following TV report:

Welcome to PWInsider.com's ongoing coverage of TNA Impact!

We open with a video package hyping tonight's tag match with the four remaining contenders for the TNA World Title, with all four guys giving their thoughts on even being in this match and their frame of mind going into teaming with guys they're going to be fighting three days from now.

We go to the Impact Zone as Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, and Miss Tessmacher make their way to the ring. I'll be honest, I'm going to find it hard to concentrate on what Hogan and Bischoff are saying, for obvious reasons. Hogan greets the cast members and says how much he loves being in the back with the greatest talent in the wrestling business. But now we're down to the semifinals in the title tournament, and he'd like to bring each of the guys out one at a time. While they're all coming out, I go and pour myself a cup of coffee, and they're almost done coming out when I return. Hogan says that everyone knows what happened to RVD, and whoever becomes the TNA Champion has to raise the bar because we can't have what happened to RVD happen ever again. Bischoff chimes in, saying he knows the decision to make tonight's tag match was a controversial one, but it's something that's going to help TNA decide which of the four of them is worthy of becoming the champion. As Bischoff continues babbling, Abyss comes out to the ring with Janice. Abyss says that he's here bearing newsworthy revalations from THEM. Hogan says to knock the crap off because everyone knows that THEM is Fortune. Abyss says that Hogan is ignorant because the THEY that he referred to was never EV2.0 and was never Fortune, and that Ric Flair is a liar. THEY have told him that the chess pieces are in place and the plan is ready to proceed, and have even given him the date of their revalation, and that date is 10.10.10. Hogan says THEY had better tell Abyss to get out of his face, and Abyss says that on 10.10.10 when THEY arrive, THEY are not only taking TNA over, but THEY are going to take TNA and turn it upside down, starting with the removal of Dixie Carter and continuing with the systamatic extermination of Hogan, Bischoff, Pope, Hardy, Anderson, and...Hardy attacks Abyss aaaaaaaaaand we go to commercial.

We're back and, instead of seeing what happened with Abyss, we see a video package detailing the history of the Beautiful People, Dumpy Ass, and the TNA Knockouts Title, and then we head back to the ring for our opening match...

Angelina Love & Velvet Sky vs Madison Rayne & Dumpy Ass

Angelina and Velvet get announced first, but Madison and Dumpy Ass come out first on the motorcycle. They're all so pissed at each other that, after their 20 minute entrance, all four girls start fighting on the floor. Velvet & Angelina whip Dumpy Ass into the guardrail and then surround Madison in the ring. She tries to make nice and do the ass shaking thing, but Velvet and Angelina aren't having it and double team Madison in the ring. They ping pong her back and forth a bit before Dumpy Ass comes in the ring and lays both Angelina and Velvet out. Now the bell rings to officially start the match, and Angelina recovers and kicks Madison in the...uh...love pudding. Velvet tags in and runs Madison over with a series of clotheslines, then mounts her and repeatedly rams the back of her head into the mat and then covers for 2. Tag to Angelina who comes in and powerslams Madison, then tags back out to Velvet who bends over right in front of the camera before the both of them nail Dumpy Ass and send her flying off the apron, then double suplex Madison and cover her for 2. Dumpy Ass runs in to try and make the save, but Angelina spears her out to the floor. Velvet goes for something but Dumpy Ass nails her with the motorcycle helmet and Madison covers Velvet for the win.

Winners: Madison Rayne & Dumpy Ass

Madison and Dumpy Ass continue the attack after the match and then Dumpy Ass finally removes the mask and reveals herself to be...Tara! Wow, it's not like everyone knew that for weeks!

We go backstage to Stevie Richards, who says that he has been asked all day if he's afraid of facing Abyss tonight, but he said no because he's been through throat surgeries and broken necks, and tonight he's going to stand on his own against Abyss.

Speaking of Abyss, we go to the video package from last week's TNA Reaction looking at Abyss' recent actions, and next week: Rob Van Dam will speak for the first time since the attack.

After all the Abyss talk, let's go back to the ring for our next match...

Stevie Richards vs Abyss

Stevie attacks Abyss on the floor before he gets in the ring and beats him up all around ringside. Stevie rams Abyss into the ring steps, but charges and runs into Abyss' boot. They head back into the ring and the bell rings to officially start the match. Stevie tries a Stevie Kick, but Abyss blocks and takes his head off with a clothesline, then charges Stevie with a splash in the corner. Stevie tries to fight back, but Abyss just pummels him down. Abyss with a front powerslam and then goes outside the ring and grabs a chair, but Stevie hits the Stevie Kick and pins Abyss.

Winner: Stevie Richards

Abyss nails Stevie and gives him Shock Treatment, and as this is going on, we go backstage to Foley laying on the ground holding his ankle as EV2.0 and Fortune are being pulled apart by security. Abyss sees all this on the screen, then casually no-sells it, tosses the ref out of the ring, and gives Stevie the Black Hole Slam. Abyss grabs Janice, but Brian Kendrick runs out and nails him from behind before he has a chance to use it and helps Stevie to the back.

We go backstage to Ken Anderson, who says he doesn't understand why Pope doesn't like him because he's been really nice to him. Pope comes up laughing behind him, and Pope says Anderson's still up to his same old tricks, but Anderson says that they can kick each other's ass at No Surrender, but tonight all they have to do is cooperate as a team. Pope says he doesn't like or trust Anderson, and he better not screw Pope tonight. Anderson says he doesn't plan on screwing anyone because if he screws Pope, he's screwing himself, and he needs to know that Pope will be there for him tonight. Pope says we'll see what happens out in the ring.

Still to come: Kurt Angle & Jeff Hardy take on the Pope & Ken Anderson, and...get ready for this...Jeff Jarrett takes on Sting!

We're back from commercial, and Tommy Dreamer is in the ring with what's left of EV2.0. Dreamer tells Fortune to come out and fight them, so Fortune comes out and AJ has a mic. He says that Dreamer doesn't call Fortune out in his house, because this is his house and he makes the rules. He tells EV2.0 to look at themselves and ask if they really think they'll have a chance at No Surrender. He says Douglas Williams will slaughter Sabu for the X-Division Title, Abyss will slaughter Rhino, and then asks how phenomenal it will be when the Innovator Of Violence begs AJ to stop hurting him and says I Quit. AJ says he's going to embarrass Tommy in his own house, and Dreamer tells him he doesn't have to wait for the PPV, and that they should do it now. Yes, this is AJ's house and also the house of people who think that he really sucks, so Dreamer says to take the four of them and face EV2.0. Obviously he can't count since there's seven guys in Fortune, but whatever. Dreamer and company get ready for Fortune to rush the ring, but instead...

We go backstage to Jeff Jarrett who is with Samoa Joe, and Jarrett says that before he goes out and gets his butt kicked, he wants Joe to know that he's going out there for TNA, Samoa Joe, and everyone in the locker room, so it's up to Joe to do the right thing. Joe says that if there's one thing he's learned in this business, it's that you should mind your own. Joe walks away, and Jarrett vs Sting is up next, so I guess we're going to blow off the Fortune-EV2.0 segment as well. Hey, this is really easy when you don't need endings to any segments!

We go backstage to Sting and Kevin Nash as they make their way to the ring, and they say they don't know if Joe's on Jarrett's side, but they know who will show up and Sting plans on pulling him in the ring. We then go to Jarrett, who says that he knows he's heading into a losing situation tonight, but hopes someone will stand up and help him out.

Jeff Jarrett vs Sting

Sting sends Jarrett into the ropes and Nash trips him from the outside. Sting with a boot to the gut and begins hammering Jarrett with rights, but Jarrett starts to come back, ducks a clothesline, and gets tripped by Nash again. Nash starts chasing Jarrett and Jarrett runs back into the ring where Sting continues pummeling him. Sting puts his head down and Jarrett connects with a boot and a clothesline, then dives out to the floor and goes after Nash. Sting comes out as well and rakes Jarrett's eyes from behind, then rams him into the guardrail a couple of times and then hits a short clothesline on the ramp as Mike Tenay again points out that Sting is wearing the Wolfpac facepaint. Jarrett tries to suplex Sting into the ring but Nash trips Jarrett from the floor and Sting falls on top for the win.

Winner: Sting

Jarrett goes after Nash again and Sting comes from behind to choke him with the bat, but Hulk Hogan's music hits and he comes sauntering out with no sense of urgency whatsoever. Hogan stops to take off his watch and walks down the ramp so slowly that Samoa Joe finally loses his patience and comes out of the crowd to lay Nash out, then goes around to the ramp and tells Hogan to stay back before going face to face with Sting, who backs down.

We're. uh...at the beach. It's another promo for "Shore", whatever that is.

Okay, we go back to the Impact Zone where Desmond Wolfe and Magnus, otherwise known as London Brawling, are in the ring with Chelsea saying that they're going to beat the Motor City Machine Guns at No Surrender. Magnus says the fans are obviously embarrassed to have the MCMGs as their champions, but fear not, because they're here to save the day. Those belts are coming off the boys and coming to the real men. So says the guy with the tight shirt and beret. The MCMG come out and go face to face with London Brawling as the fans start a USA chant. Shelley says if they think the MCMG killed themselves in five matches with Beer Money just to lose the belts to them at No Surrender, they're not thinking hard enough because they're the best tag team in the world and if they don't believe that, they can just ask the fans. Crowd pops for that one. Sabin says they may be the #1 contenders, but the MCMG haven't seen them beat anybody, and from the look of things, the only tag teaming they've been doing lately is with each other. Desmond asks the MCMG if they think they're a couple of poofs, and then says he hates to break up their comedy routine, but London Brawling are the only ones in the ring with a bird, then Magnus says instead of making jokes, they ought to grow some more hair on their nuts. Shelley responds by saying that if they're such men, why does Chelsea always have such a lousy look on her face? Shelley then offers her $10 for a go round, and then Sabin says to stop torturing Chelsea because she needs to make a living just like any call girl. Desmond then tells Chelsea to tell them how he's the biggest guy on this side of the pond, and Chelsea says that if this were a sword fight, his weapon would fall just a little bit short. London Brawling all start arguing with each other, then turn around and start laying out the MCMG. They toss Sabin to the outside and then double team Shelley, just not in the way the MCMG suggest they double team people.

We go backstage to EV2.0, and Tommy says they've already lost the FBI and now they've lost Mick, and Brian Kendrick comes in and offers his services tonight. He says it's not just for EV2.0, it's for each other because Mick's hurt. Tommy tells him not to get involved, but Brian says he loves what they've created and he wants to create with them. Mick says he's the only one who's going to name his own replacement. He says that Kendrick is out of his mind...and that makes him perfect for EV2.0. Tommy says he's in, but has no idea what he's getting himself involved in.

We go backstage to Kurt Angle and Jeff Hardy, and Hardy says that if he beats Angle at NS, his career could be over. Angle says that's not happening, but he's focused on tonight because if you're not focused, that could lead to injury that'll affect them at No Surrender, and at No Surrender, he doesn't plan on losing.

Back to the ring for our next match...

Elimination Match: AJ Styles, Frankie Kazarian & Beer Money vs Tommy Dreamer, Rhino, Sabu & Brian Kendrick

Storm and Rhino start, Storm sends Rhino into the ropes and Rhino runs him over with a shoulderblock. Storm takes Rhino to the Fortune corner where he gets quadruple teamed. Kazarian tags in and Rhino starts to come back and nails Kazarian with a dropkick and tags out to Sabu. Sabu with a springboard clothesline and nails the Fortune guys in the corner. Kazarian whips Sabu to the corner, but Sabu comes out with a tornado DDT for 2 and AJ tries to run in, but Sabu lays him out and goes for another springboard move, but Williams trips him off the ropes and Kazarian rolls him up for the elimination.

Sabu is eliminated.

Sabu dives out onto Williams on the floor and they brawl to the back as Dreamer comes into the ring to face Kazarian. Dreamer gets a Texas Cloverleaf, but AJ comes in to break it up so Dreamer tags in Kendrick, and he nails Kazarian with a series of dropkicks and gets a 2 count. Kendrick goes for a crossbody out of the corner but Kazarian drops him on his knee and tags Roode in. Roode works Kendrick over in the corner then rams a series of knees into Kendrick's gut and gets a back suplex for 2. Kazarian tags in and gets a salto for 2 and then they exchange rollups until Kendrick nails Kazarian with a leg lariat for 3.

Frankie Kazarian is eliminated.

AJ comes in and goes at it with Kendrick, and Kendrick gets a Thesz Press and chokes AJ, then hits a running dropkick to the referee and sends him flying out of the ring. Kendrick gets a big smile on his face as a big brawl erupts and spills out to ringside as we go to commercial.

Okay, we're back and Kendrick got disqualified for his little run-in with the referee during the commercial break.

Brian Kendrick is eliminated.

So now it's 3-on-2, and Beer Money are double teaming Dreamer in the ring. Just not with London Brawling. Storm holds Dreamer up so Roode can drill him with a right to the ribs and a bodyslam, then he goes up to the second rope, wastes enough time to know what's going to happen next, and sure enough he comes off right into Dreamer's boot. Dreamer follows with a SIDEWALK SLAM and makes the hot tag to Rhino, who comes in and cleans house on Fortune. Storm tries a superkick but Rhino catches the boot and gives Storm a big belly to belly suplex. Rhino hits the Gore and...Roode breaks the cover. Rhino with a belly to belly for Roode and sets up for the Gore, but Abyss comes to ringside so Rhino bails out to the floor and starts brawling with Abyss instead and gets counted out.

Rhino is eliminated.

I bet Dreamer's going to win, he never loses when in a tough spot. That was sarcasm for anyone who didn't pick it up or didn't see enough of the original ECW to know that Dreamer ALWAYS LOST. Fortune tag in and out and take turns beating Dreamer up. Dreamer goes for the DDT on Roode and AJ comes off the top to try and nail Dreamer, but Dreamer ducks and AJ nails Storm, so Dreamer hits the DDT on Roode and he's gone.

Robert Roode is eliminated.

Storm charges Dreamer and gets rolled up, and he's gone.

James Storm is eliminated.

So we're down to Dreamer and AJ, and AJ goes for the Styles Clash but Dreamer backdrops out and catches AJ in a Crippler Crossface, but AJ makes the ropes. Dreamer reverses a whip to a DVD attempt, but AJ slips out and hits a dropkick. AJ off the ropes with the Fancy Kneedrop but Dreamer moves, he goes for the DDT but AJ reverses into a cross armbreaker, but Dreamer makes the ropes. AJ with a slam and goes up top, but Dreamer recovers and nails him and gets a superplex. Dreamer goes over to AJ, looks Flair right in the eyes, and goes for the figure four, but Matt Morgan tries to come in. Dreamer crotches him on the top rop as Foley beats Flair up at ringside, and Dreamer turns around and eats a Pelle Kick and that's enough for AJ to get the win.

Winner: AJ Styles

No time to dwell on that, we have to head to commercial, and Angle/Hardy vs Pope/Anderson is up next!

Pope and Anderson have a little conference in the corner as the bell rings, so Angle comes up behind Pope and suplexes him out of his shoes and then tags in Hardy, and Angle sets up so Hardy can hit Poetry In Motion and then the springboard dropkick in the corner. Pope starts firing back and looks at Anderson untrustingly, then tags him in. Anderson picks Hardy up and goes for a right, but Hardy blocks and gets an inverted atomic drop, double legdrop to the crotch, and a diving dropkick, then nails Pope, but Anderson recovers and kills Hardy with a clothesline for 2. Pope tags himself in and snapmares Hardy, pulls down the kneepads and gets a Ric Flair kneedrop out of the corner for 2. Pope tags Anderson back in and holds Hardy so Anderson can nail him in the ribs. Anderson with a slam and covers for 2, and it appears that Anderson's reluctant to go all out against his friend Hardy, so instead we HIT THE CHINLOCK! Hardy elbows out and comes off the ropes, Anderson catches him and tries for the Mic Check, but Hardy escapes and hits Anderson with a Diamond Cutter. Both men make the hot tag and Angle comes in and nails Pope with a series of clotheslines and an overhead belly to belly, then a German Suplex for Anderson, then one for Pope, and he covers Pope, but Anderson breaks it up but Anderson nails him with a clothesline. Hardy comes off the top rope with the Whisper In The Wind, but Anderson moves and Hardy nails Angle, so Anderson hits the Mic Check and Pope steals the cover and pins Angle.

Winners: Ken Anderson & The Pope

Pope and Anderson smile at each other briefly before they start duking it out, and they tumble out to the floor together as Angle and Hardy recover in the ring and they go face to face over what just happened. Now Hardy and Angle start going at it as Pope and Anderson continue to brawl out on the floor, and Angle sends Hardy out to the floor, then follows him outside as security comes out to try and break this up, and we are off the air!

2010 - WWE broadcast Superstars.  Richard Trionfo filed the following TV report:

We start off tonight’s show with the Raw brand and your announcers are Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole.

Match Number One: Ted DiBiase with Maryse versus Goldust

They lock up and Ted with a hammer lock into a side head lock. Goldust backs Ted into the corner and Goldust barks at Ted. Goldust with arm drags and then Ted goes to the floor. Ted returns to the ring. Ted with a kick and punch to Goldust. Goldust with an uppercut and a side head lock followed by a shoulder tackle or two and he gets a near fall. Goldust with knees to the arm and he goes to an arm bar. Ted with a knee but Goldust with a leaping butt bump and a clothesline that sends Ted over the top rope to the floor. Goldust goes to the floor after Ted and Goldust with a punch and then he sends Ted into the ringside barrier. Goldust returns Ted to the ring and Maryse grabs Goldust’s leg and that allows Ted to knock Goldust off the apron. Ted sends Goldust into the ring post and ring step as we go to commercial.

We are back and Ted has Goldust in a reverse chin lock but Goldust with elbows but Ted with the rebound clothesline for a near fall. Ted with a kick to the ribs and Ted gets another near fall. Ted punches Goldust in the head and then he chokes Goldust in the ropes. Maryse slaps Goldust while Ted distracts the referee. Ted with a neck breaker to Goldust and he gets another near fall. Ted with a hard Irish whip and a near fall while Maryse yells at the referee. Ted with a knee drop followed by a series of fist drops and he gets a near fall. Ted returns to the reverse chin lock. Goldust with clotheslines to Ted followed by the drop down uppercut. Goldust with a reverse atomic drop followed by a bulldog for a near fall.

Goldust punches Ted in the corner but Ted pushes Goldust off. Ted charges at Goldust and Goldust with a power slam for a near fall. Ted tries for Dream Street but Goldust with an arm drag. Ted with a flapjack for a near fall. Ted with an Irish whip but he runs into a boot and Goldust tries for a suplex but Ted blocks it and then he drops Goldust on the top rope and kicks Goldust followed by Dream Street for the three count.

Winner: Ted DiBiase

It is time to take a look back at the season finale for NXT.

Match Number Two: Santino Marella with Vladimir Kozlov versus Jimmy Uso with Jey Uso and Tamina

They lock up and Santino works on the arm but Jimmy pushes him away. They lock up again and Jimmy pushes Santino away. Santino misses a flying kick by a few feet and then he does some tai chi in the ring. Santino tries for a drop toe hold but Santino is the only one to drop to the mat. Santino with a fireman’s carry and Santino celebrates and walks into a thrust kick. Jimmy with a slam and a diving head butt for a near fall. Jimmy with a reverse chin lock. Jimmy with a single arm Flatline and then he continues to work on the arm by slamming it to the mat and then he stomps on the arm. Jimmy with a hammer lock and he sends Santino into the turnbuckles. Jimmy with an Irish whip but he misses a splash in the corner. Santino with punches and then he connects with a forearm and he does a split followed by a hip toss. Santino with a diving head butt for a near fall. Jey comes off the apron and he runs into a head butt from Kozlov. Jimmy with a slam and then he goes up top but Santino gets his knees up and then he gets the three count.

Winner: Santino Marella

After the match, Tamina comes into the ring and Santino backs himself into the corner. Tamina leis Santino and Tamina pets Santino’s cobra and she gives it a kiss.

We go to commercial.

We are back and it is time for the Smackdown half of the show and your announcers are Todd Grisham and Matt Striker.

We see the China video package one more time.

Match Number Three: Kofi Kingston versus Chavo Guerrero

Kofi with a waist lock but Chavo with a standing switch. Kofi with a dragon screw leg whip after blocking a kick. Chavo limps but Kofi with a punch and kicks to the leg. Chavo pushes Kofi away but Kofi with a drop kick. Kofi leaps into the corner but Chavo puts Kofi on top. Kofi with a cross body for a near fall. Kofi with a key lock and then he hits a splash onto the arm. Kofi sends the knee into the mat and Kofi with another drop kick when Chavo’s knee buckles. Chavo continues to limp as Kofi works on the let and he applies a knee bar. Chavo kicks Kofi away with his good leg. Chavo with kicks to Kofi. Chavo tries to throw Kofi out of the ring but he bounces off the ropes. Kofi throws Chavo over the top rope and then Chavo trips Kofi on the apron and he falls to the floor as we go to commercial.

We are back and Kofi is the one favoring his leg now. Chavo with a kick to Kofi and Kofi kicks Chavo away. Chavo with a forearm that sends Kofi to the apron. Kofi’s leg is sent into the ring post. Chavo with a slingshot senton and then he gets a near fall. Chavo puts Kofi’s leg in the ropes and he works on the knee while Chavo tries to get feeling back into the leg. Kofi punches Chavo and he connects with a forearm. Kofi with a flurry of punches in the corner and the referee pulls Kofi out of the corner. Chavo with a Liger Kick and he gets a near fall. Chavo still tries to get feeling back into his knee and he chokes Kofi in the ropes. Chavo with knees to the leg. Kofi punches Chavo in the head to get Chavo to release the hold. Chavo with an Irish whip but he runs into an elbow. Kofi with a neck breaker to Chavo and both men are down.

Kofi with chops to Chavo followed by a knee and a drop kick but Kofi’s leg still hurts. Kofi misses the Superman punch and his knee buckles a little. Kofi with an SOS and Chavo gets his hand on the rope. Chavo with a sunset flip but Kofi rolls through and he kicks Chavo. Kofi with a gingerly placed Boom Drop. Kofi sets for Trouble in Paradise but he turns it into a charge into the corner. Kofi with a pendulum kick and Kofi hits a cross body but Chavo with knees to counter. Chavo can only get a two count. Chavo does the family shimmy and then he hits the Three Amigos but Chavo gets up slowly as his knee still hurts. Chavo barely gets to the turnbuckles for the frog splash. Kofi crotches Chavo and then they fight on the turnbuckles and Kofi tries for a superplex. Chavo punches Kofi off the turnbuckles. Kofi hits Trouble in Paradise that knocks Chavo off the turnbuckles and Kofi gets the three count.

Winner: Kofi Kingston

2011 - WWE.com ran a story announcing that Santino Marella had suffered a separated shoulder when his car was hit by a truck, flipping over Marella's car.  Marella noted that he crawled out of his car's sun roof after the wreck.   WWE did not specify when the wreck took place.

2011 - WWE ran Puerto Rico.  Jose M. filed the following live report:

WWE RAW House Show - Live Report from San Juan, PR

I attended the show tonight at "Coliseo de Puerto Rico" in San Juan, PR. Overall an average show, although the crowd being fairly hot all night made for a fun event. Also, there were at least 2 really good matches, 3 ok matches and the other 2, well; they were part of the show. Let’s get into the quick match rundown and some comments about the show.

1. Evan Bourne & John Morrison defeated The Miz & R-Truth - I missed part of the opener but was able to catch about 1/2 of the match and with what I saw, I would've liked to have seen it from the beginning. This was very fast paced with a few nice spots spread throughout the match. I could hear the crowd roaring while I was on my way to our seats. After the match R-Truth and Miz attacked Bourne with Morrison making the save and running them off. As Bourne and Morrison were making their way back, out came Mason Ryan running out of the dressing room and attacked them in the aisle.

2. Zack Ryder defeated Mason Ryan - Mason Ryan went in the ring and challenged Ryder to come and face him. Ryder came out to a nice pop as his music played. After that, the crowd went into idle mode for the match. This was one of the matches that was just there. Nice to see Ryder pick up the win here.

3. Jack Swagger defeated Percy Watson - When the match was announced I was not too excited about it. However, after they got going, they actually had a really good back and forth match that saw Swagger win via submission with the ankle lock.

4. WWE Championship Match - Alberto Del Rio defeated CM Punk - Ricardo Rodriguez came out to the ring and as soon as he got on the mic he started getting heat. Alberto Del Rio made his way to the ring, thus making his comeback to US territory after spending a little over a week in Mexico trying to get his work visa renewed. The guitar riff from Cult of Personality hit and the crowd went nuts. Punk seemed to soak in the moment as he made his way to the ring. This was by far the best match of the night. Crowd was hot all throughout and definitely made it even better. These two guys can put a really good match if given the appropriate time. They had about 15 minutes for this one and it was very entertaining.

Out came Eve Torres and announced a contest where 4 fans would have the opportunity to win a pass backstage to meet the favorite superstar. She was interrupted by Beth Phoenix who started to threaten Eve until out came Kelly Kelly to stop the bully Phoenix. Yes, Kelly made the save even before Beth put her hands on Eve. Oh well....

5. Kelly Kelly retained her Divas Championship by defeating Beth Phoenix.

After the match Kelly and Eve did the contest and they had a tie for 1st place, which meant that both kids (girl and boy) were winners and they went to the back to meet their favorite superstar.

6. US Championship Triple Threat Match - Dolph Ziggler retained after defeating Alex Riley and Primo Colon. In my opinion the 2 best match of the night. Crowd was hot for this one. Primo, even being at home, did not receive a big reaction from the crowd when he first came out. However, after the match got started the people were 100% behind him. Each of the participants hit their finisher at different points during the match, only to have the third opponent break the pin. After about 13 minutes Primo was able to mount a comeback against Ziggler. He got the crowd to their feet when he started to get Ziggler's leg ready to put on his father's finishing hold, the figure 4 leg lock. He was able to put it on for a few minutes until Riley came back in to break it. Then Primo hit the "back-stabber" on Riley but was not able to pin him because Ziggler threw him out of the ring and pinned Riley for the win. After the match, Ziggler was mocking Primo and taunting the crowd, only to have Primo hit the "back-stabber" on him too and leave the crowd happy going into the main event.

7. John Cena defeated Alberto Del Rio via DQ after interference from Ricardo Rodriguez, when came in the ring to hit Cena with a chair right in front of the referee. After the bell sounded and Del Rio was disqualified they started to attack Cena again and out came Punk to make the save. Punk hit the GTS on Rodriguez and Cena hit the AA on Del Rio and everyone went home happy.

Notes:

Last year’s show I wrote that the coliseum was about 90% full then. Tonight there were a lot more seats available in the upper bowls (3rd and 4th floor). The lower bowl was full, as well as ringside. I had never seen a WWE in PR that did not draw a sellout, or very close to it. That is until tonight. Having said that, tonight’s crowd was hot from the beginning to the end, which helped make it a fun show.

Biggest Pops:

John Cena
CM Punk
Evan Bourne & John Morrison

Biggest Heat:

Alberto Del Rio
Dolph Ziggler
The Miz

No return dates announced, but I would not be surprised if the tried to bring SmackDown sometime in the next 6 months. The show has a stronger audience here in Puerto Rico than RAW. I did hear a lot of people in my area commenting that we are ready to host a televised event; no matter if it is a RAW or SmackDown taping or a PPV. I am all for that.

2011 - A lawsuit WWE filed against J.F. Ramos, a company based out of Portugal that had acquired the license to produce WWE licensed clothing was dismissed by United States District Court of Connecticut as a result of an interesting defense by Ramos - that WWE couldn't prove it was responsible for the allegations brought against them until a lawsuit filed AGAINST WWE in France was resolved.

Here's the back story: WWE filed the lawsuit against Ramos in September 2010 as a result of a currently ongoing legal proceeding in France. Sun City, Inc., a French company, sued WWE for $21,632,489 in damages after World Wrestling Entertainment alleged that Sun was selling counterfeit merchandise to stores based in France.

As it turned out, Sun City had purchased the clothing from J.F. Ramos, who WWE alleges passed off unapproved merchandise as the real thing.

After Sun filed their lawsuit against WWE in France, WWE opted to bring their own lawsuit against J.F. Ramos on 9/2/10 in the United States District Court of Connecticut, blaming Ramos for the French proceedings and requesting that their licensing agreement be severed (that agreement contractually expired in December 2010 and was no longer an issue). 

In their suit against Ramos, WWE alleged that Ramos misappropriated paperwork for items the company did approve to be licensed and forged new paperwork in order to move additional shirts and other apparel that WWE did not give company approval for.

In their initial filing, WWE noted that after they sent a cease and desist letter to Sun City regarding the unlicensed material, Sun City then went to Ramos for proof the items were indeed officially licensed. WWE claimed that, "Ramos, in response, deceptively created fraudulent approval sheets(based on prior forms where WWE had, in fact, denied Ramos approval for the distribution of certain products), and provided these fraudulent approval sheets to Sun City."

Those actions by Ramos, according to WWE, led to the aforementioned Sun City lawsuit filed against them in France. WWE claimed that the French lawsuit is "relying upon the fraudulent approval sheets submitted to it by Ramos, contends that the Counterfeit Clothing was, in fact, not counterfeit, but was approved by WWE and therefore lawfully obtained from Ramos. Sun City further claims, among other things, that WWE engaged in unfair commercial practices by “succeeding in diverting Sun City’s customers through false accusations of counterfeiting to the clients of the plaintiff.” Sun City’s allegations are false; contrary to Sun City’s allegations, the product sold by Ramos to Sun City, and then by Sun City to its customers, was the Counterfeit Clothing—i.e., WWE never approved for sale the Counterfeit Clothing."

WWE also demanded that Ramos be responsible for any legal costs in the French lawsuit and that Ramos be barred from trying to pass off any additional WWE-related merchandise as legitimately licensed.

Ramos filed a motion to dismiss the WWE lawsuit this past February, citing the currently ongoing legal issues in France. In short, Ramos' argument was that since the French judicial system requires that the losing party in a lawsuit covers the winner's losses and court costs, Ramos shouldn't be on the hook. The Ramos argument was that should WWE win, the ruling against Sun City would cover anything WWE would deserve related to the case. However, should WWE lose against Sun City, only then would a lawsuit against Ramos need to be heard. Ramos' argument was also that until the French proceedings with Sun City are resolved, there's no way WWE can argue for damages, because nothing has been proven.

On 8/30, the Court sided with Ramos, noting, "The complex nature of the underlying action in this case distinguishes it from the more straightforward declaratory judgment actions which deal with an insurance coverage “paradigm.” In the paradigmatic insurance case, the court may issue a declaratory judgment on the insurer’s indemnification obligations despite not yet knowing whether the insured may ultimately be found liable for damages. Such a declaration serves a useful purpose in clarifying or settling the legal issues involved, because after the declaratory judgment, the insured knows out of whose pocket—his or his insurer’s—any damages and costs of defense will be paid. In this case, even were the Court to determine the scope of Ramos’s indemnification obligation pursuant to its licensing agreement with WWE, such a declaration would not do much to clarify which party will be responsible if Sun City prevails in the underlying litigation. Only some of Sun City’s claims in the underlying litigation relate to allegations that Ramos sold products in violation of its licensing agreement. Other claims allege that the structure of WWE’s licensing agreements unfairly partitioned the French market in violation of French and European law. Any declaration by this Court about the extent of Ramos’s obligations under its licensing agreement with WWE would not substantially clarify who—WWE or Ramos—is obligated to pay Sun City if Sun City ultimately prevails in the French litigation. Because any declaration would, at best, only tentatively clarify legal issues involved in the underlying suit, and would not offer WWE relief from uncertainty, the Court exercises its discretion and finds this declaratory judgment action is not appropriate at this time."

2012 - WWE Diva Cameron (real name Ariane Andrew) was suspended by WWE as part of the fallout of her 8/24 DUI arrest.  Andrew had been on tour in Australia as WWE learned of the arrest while the Raw crew was en route on the tour. She was pulled prior to the end of the tour.  There was a lot of heat on her for the company finding out about the arrest from online reports, as opposed to her informing them of the issue. Another factor was the embarrassment of being part of the first act featured on the new WWE children's series, Saturday Morning Slam.

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