Welcome to an all-new Joe’s 411: B/R Pro-Wrestling News, the June 28 edition. As always, there is a lot of news to get to, so let’s get started.
Big Show update
As many probably know by now, the Big Show (Paul Wight) is in a lawsuit with SoBe Entertainment. SoBe claims they bought a $1 million house for White, plus $84,000 a month on Wight’s promise that it could manage him as he trained to become a pro boxer.
As we know, the boxing career didn’t turn out well for Wight. Therefore, the issue came up between SoBe and Wight.
He also failed to tell SoBe that he owed the IRS $450,000. Now the IRS has filed a lien on the house, according to Sobe.
This is what started the whole issue, if the IRS didn’t come into play, then it is possible SoBe would not be doing much.
SoBe demands $2 million from Wight and his wife. I don’t know what the wife has to do with this, but they want $4 million total.
So Wight has to pay both the $450,000 to the IRS and if they lose the suit to SoBe, they have to pay $4 million to them. It will probably be reduced on SoBe’s end though, especially because the government would want Wight to pay the IRS first.
To be fair to Wight, the court would reduce the lawsuit filed by SoBe most likely to half or more from what SoBe is asking.
Show is a part of the WWE, and SoBe was not happy when he signed back with them. The WWE will not be involved in this, because it is a personal issue with Wight.
However, there is a possibility they will let him go if the lawsuit continues according to reports. Wight gets paid a little over half a million dollars from the WWE annually, so he needs to keep his job with the WWE if he wants to pay for the lawsuits.
This is the main reason why Show will not be a Champion in the WWE, so don’t expect him to even be US or Tag Team Champion. He may be in some main event caliber feuds, like he was with John Cena, but that is about it for him.
However, the WWE is gradually taking him off of TV as we have seen. This is only a rumor for now on the WWE parting ways with Show. But, I report everything, so keep in mind that Show could be let go.
Bobby Lashley’s TNA Future
If you managed to see the Bobby Lashley vs. Bob Sapp fight last night, you saw Lashley win by submission. He actually made Sapp tap twice, the first time the ref didn’t see it. However, the next time the ref obviously did and ended the fight.
Lashley’s MMA record is now 4-0; people believed that Lashley had to prove himself, and a win over Sapp would do that.
Lashley does not want to be a pro wrestler for a long time, he wants to be a Mixed Martial Artist. The reason he went to TNA in the first place was because he wanted help promoting fights and what not.
Dixie Carter told Lashley that she wanted him to do work with her program, and she would promote the fights Lashley was in if he did so.
This would be good for Lashley’s career, because he would start to get big name fights if the promoters realize they are going to get sold-out arenas and PPV buys from him.
So of course Lashley was on board. This is no MMA guy trying to get into wrestling like we have seen in the past with Frank Trigg and others. Lashley is a former pro wrestler, who worked for the WWE in the past as we all know.
He is a former US Champion and two-time ECW Champion. So TNA knows they can use him if they can just get him in. And on top of that, Lashley gets out good in the deal.
There was a rumor going around that Lashley may do something with TNA this summer. However, no one knows for sure what he will do yet. Lashley was interviewed recently and was asked about that.
Lashley said, “Can I plead the Fifth?”
This can have multiple meanings, Lashley may have spoke with TNA about possibly coming in, but they asked him to keep it secret.
He also could mean that he does not want to go to TNA.
Obviously, there is a lot we can think here. But I would assume because Lashley would love to have promotions such as UFC calling him up, that he will take TNA up on their offer to have him come in.
The original idea from Lashley was that he would want 2 to 4 weeks off before fights, and the same after. TNA has to realize that is a pretty good deal, I mean they could just not have Lashley at all right?
In any case, expect to hear a lot about this in the coming weeks.
More from TNA
In a recent 411, I told you the WWE was interested in TNA talent Sheik Abdul Bashir. He was with the company a little while back under the name Daivari. He never showed any wrestling ability to me whatsoever in the WWE.
When he went to TNA, he actually looked like a good wrestler. He even got the X-Division Title pretty much right off the bat there. Why would he go back to the place that almost killed his wrestling career?
Thankfully, the man thought about this and decided to re-sign with TNA. According to Jeremy Borash, he signed a multi-year deal with them.
Samoa Joe told AJ Styles on iMPACT that he can ask him himself at Victory Road, referring to who has been in Joe’s ear the past few months.
There is a new video up showing the number 13, which was the same number used from Tazz in the WWE for his entrance video. The whole video package is set to come up this week on iMPACT.
People doubted that Tazz was the man behind all of this with Joe, but it seems to be obvious that we will finally see “Taz” at Victory Road. I don’t think we will see him wrestle much, considering he himself said his wrestling career is behind him.
But he can talk as we all know, so expect that from him.
TNA has been playing this up for some time, but now it seems that it has come full circle. The reason why Taz was unable to come straight to TNA was because of a no-compete clause he had from the WWE.
He had to wait 90 days before he came to TNA naturally. This kind of made no sense to me, considering he let his contract expire before leaving, but I guess he had something special attached.
Because of the video, the rumors, and the hints given by TNA, it is obvious Taz will be in TNA very soon.
MVP news
It seems as if the WWE’s partnership with The View’s Sherri Shepard is not over yet. MVP and Sherri have become friends since teaming up, and the WWE feels that it would be good to build on that by having MVP do more public appearances with her.
They will both be at the BET Awards coming up, and MVP could possibly be on The View again.
The View has a high female demographic, which is good for the WWE. Traditionally, the WWE’s audience has been made up by men. Yet every single year, their female viewers continue to rise.
The WWE wants to keep that going, and they also want to get new viewers, to the show of course.
They feel by having MVP be a regular there, that the viewers of The View will want to watch RAW to see him. It is a good idea if you ask me.
Batista Update
As we all know, Batista is out with an injury right now. However, he is now set to be in a new movie called “Wapakman”. He will be playing the lead villain in the movie, which is good, because he will have such a big part.
The movie also stars Manny Pacquiao, who is a good friend of Batista’s, and the very hot Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger. There is no word on if it will be a theatrical release or not.
Batista said he really wants to get into acting after wrestling, yet he would be in two movies before his contract expires.
He is in another movie called “Wrong Side of the Tracks” with former WWE Superstar RVD, which will be going straight to DVD.
If the two movies he does go straight to DVD, then this won’t be great for Batista’s acting career. True, he will have a big part in both movies, but that means nothing if no one is going to see the movie.
I feel Batista will really arrive in the acting scene when he gets a movie that hits theaters.
B/R Article To look At
For a while now I have seen a ton of great writers come on B/R. They have had great articles, yet no one seems to read them as much as they should.
So, I decided to promote them on the 411 to help them get the reads they deserve. Check this article out, one of the best of the day if you ask me.
It is from Hayley Graham
Small 411
Candice Michelle actually had a new entrance video for her in-ring return. However, as we all know she was released. So we won’t get to see it, oh well.
Jeff Jarrett sent out his first tweet the other day, he was taught how to do it by none other than the Twitter expert himself, Jeremy Borash.
Former WWE Superstar “Grand Master Sexay” Brian Christopher was arrested for public intoxication, wonderful mugshot by the way.
Superstar Billy Graham was hospitalized last night due to numbness in his legs. X-rays revealed that two discs in his lower back somehow fused on their own with the obliteration of a disc separating them. He underwent traction and is back home now. Hopefully, he will get better soon.
Gerald Brisco will undergo heart surgery next week, JR has been keeping people up to date on him for a little while now. So I am sure he will post something about him when he gets out of surgery.
That is all for the 411 today, make sure to read the next edition coming up on the 30th.
credit: ewrestlingnews.com, busted open, lordsofpain.com, pwtorch.com, wrestlenewz.com, wrestlingtruth.com, prowrestling.com, prowrestling.net, pwrestlingnews.com, pwmania.com