WWE news and notes 1/6/07: NYR, Corporate news, Smackdown preemptions, JR's blog, Punk interview, more

By Art Shimko
shimko_7@hotmail.com

-- WWE presents its New Year's Revolution pay-per-view on Sunday from the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, MO. A preview by myself, Casey, Ric and Euan will be posted on Ric's site by Sunday afternoon. Here's the card:

- WWE Champion John Cena vs. Umaga
- DX vs. World Tag Team Champions Rated-RKO
- Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy vs. Johnny Nitro (Steel Cage Match)
- Women’s Champion Mickie James vs. Victoria
- Ric Flair vs. Kenny Dykstra
- Carlito vs. Chris Masters

-- I LUV DUBEL-DUBEL-EEE~!!! I LUV DUBEL-DUBEL-EEE~!!!

-- Millions of new viewers sample Raw. According the WWE.com article, over 2.5 million new viewers tuned into WWE’s flagship show. In total, Raw reached nearly 9 million people on New Year’s Day, making it the highest rated episode since the summer. If that many people wanted to see Kevin Federline on television with John Cena... wow, I'm really curious what that final rating will be. In the meantime...

-- ECW rating this week was a 1.5, pretty steady rating as of late. TNA doesn't seem to be too far behind but does that really matter at this point?

-- WWE's corporate site has posted some recent press releases, one announces early '07 sellouts for the Royal Rumble on 1/28 and for SummerSlam on 8/26 which sold out in 40 minutes on 12/30. Other press releases from this week include WWE's part in USA finishing as the #1 cable network for 2006, dates announced for The WrestleMania Fan Axxess Tour, the hiring of a Senior Vice President, Marketing and someone being promoted to Senior Vice President, Affiliate Sales and Marketing. I know, exciting shit...

-- Tonight's Edition Of 'WWE SmackDown' Is In The Books

-- Friday Night SmackDown will be preempted in the following areas. Below are the dates and times you can watch SmackDown:

Friday Night SmackDown for January 5, 2007

Waco (KWTX): Sun. 1/7 9:30pm-11:30pm

Friday Night SmackDown for March 2, 2007
Chicago (WGN): TBD

Friday Night SmackDown for March 9, 2007

Oklahoma City (KOCB): Sat. 3/10, 9-11pm
Indianapolis (WTTV): Fri. 3/9, 11pm-1am
Davenport (KGCW): Fri. 3/9, TBD
Baltimore (WNUV): TBD
Birmingham (WTTO): Sat. 3/10, 8-10pm

Friday Night SmackDown for March 23, 2007
Austin (KNVA): Fri. 3/23, 11pm-1am

Friday Night SmackDown for March 30, 2007
Philadelphia (WPSG): Sat. 3/31, 5-7pm
Washington, DC (WDCW): TBD

-- In JR's latest blog he talks about the celebrities in wrestling and talks about the Cena/Federline feud... Federline a "celebrity"? It's sad but that's the case I suppose... anyway, JR says late '90s-early 2000s was his favorite time in the business when the boom period was flying high with Austin, Rock, Foley, Hunter, HBK, etc, he also mentions good times in the '70s and 80s. From there he writes about fan feedback and questions regarding storylines and which wrestlers they feel are held back, his Bells palsy, Gorilla Monsoon, Curt Hennig and tons more including a response to something in Bischoff's book about him.

-- WWE(R) Experience on The Score at a new time beginning January 7

TORONTO, Jan. 4 /CNW/ - WWE Experience, the Canadian exclusive magazine
show covering all things WWE, is moving to a new time, beginning this Sunday
January 7. It will now be seen at 7:00 pm ET.
Hosted by The Score's Ryan Paton, WWE Experience keeps WWE fans up to
date with Monday Night RAW(TM), SmackDown(R) and the newest member of the WWE
family, ECW(TM). Fast-paced and action packed, WWE Experience is the weekly
wrap-up of all things WWE.

WWE Programming at a glance (all times are Eastern):

Monday Night RAW
10:00 pm - midnight
Every Monday night on The Score

Friday Night SmackDown
8:00 - 10:00 pm
Every Friday night on The Score

WWE Experience
7:00 - 8:00 pm
Every Sunday night on The Score

ECW
12:00 am - 1:00 am
Every Friday night on Global Television

Additional information on World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWE)
can be found at wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com.

Trademarks: All World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. programming, talent
names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, and logos are the
exclusive property of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. All other
trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners.


For further information: Media Contact: Dawn Dwyer, Manager, Public
Relations, WWE Canada, (416) 497-8338

-- This Laurinaitis suited for gridiron, not squared circle

-- Ex-WWE grappler knows danger of concussions

-- C.M. Punk's excellent adventure

-- Fit to be Tye Dye

-- 'Armed & Famous,' a.k.a. La Toya's Last Shot
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news or referencing commentary from this site please include a link to meanfilipine.blogspot.com as opposed to "Strong Style Shimko", "From The Mean Filipine Blog" or derivatives. Thank you!