WWE news including plane fire, Austin at the CMT Awards, Tickets for upcoming events, Hogans drama, UFC/HBO deal, IFL/Shamus, lots more

By Art Shimko
shimko_7@hotmail.com

-- WWE.com reports that the Raw roster experienced quite the flight scare Monday night when a charter plane they were on originally en route from Milan to Rome experienced an engine fire, fortunately there weren't any catastrophes that resulted. As WWE agent Tim White stated, “Thankfully, the engine blew on the ground and not over the Atlantic.” While the plane was on the runway its engine was revved up to an extreme level causing engine fumes over 900 degrees. With the flight grounded the wrestlers had to make a mad dash for any flights available in order to make the Rome show.

-- Steve Austin was on hand Monday night at the 2007 CMT Music Awards in Nashville where along with country singer Gretchen Wilson presented the award for Male Video of the Year award which went to Kenny Chesney for “You Save Me.”

-- GameDaily has an interview with Steve Austin.

-- Attenion gamers: Want a chance to play against Shelton Benjamin and Johnny Nitro via Xbox Live in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007? You can do so before next Monday's edition of Raw from London by sending the following info to wwewrestlers@gamewithfame.net: Name, Age, Nationality, Gamertag. This takes place 4/23 at 13.00 – 15.00 GMT / 14.00 – 1600 CET.

-- Tickets for this year's Survivor Series (11/18) at the America Airlines Arena in Miami go on sale Saturday at Ticketmaster locations, the AAA box office, or on WWE.com.

-- Smackdown and ECW are back in Philadelphia on 6/12 at the Wachovia Center, tickets are on sale Saturday at 10AM.

-- PWInsider.com have both ECW Spoilers and Smackdown spoilers.

-- The Hogans make PAGE SIX~!

-- Wichita mother Barbara Stewart may be charged with child endangerment for letting her son and his friends do backyard wrestling. "I've had lightbulbs in my face," says Alex Whaley. "My lip has been split open, had 32 stitches." Remember everyone, that's the future right there... future of what I have no idea. Stewart's thoughts? "I feel like I failed as a mother."

-- Alan Wojcik will be back with TNA spoilers for the 4/30 Impact tapings as well as the Sacrifice pay-per-view.

-- Champion Christian happy to be back in Bristol

-- DOI has the latest in CZW's utter stupidity... as you can see, it's always easier to fix the small, easy problems.

-- During a UFC 70 pre-teleconference president Dana White revealed that the company struck a deal with cable giant HBO, a move discussed and contemplated for some time now. Expect a UFC broadcast on HBO sometime this summer although it won't be UFC 72 taking place 6/16 in Belfast, Northern Ireland as that will either be on pay-per-view or Spike TV. HBO will be using its own production team and announcers for the broadcasts, which announcers are used will be interesting and when asked if HBO boxing commentator Jim Lampley would be used White shot that down immediately.

-- UFC on Spike this week: (Times EST) Unleashed tonight at 9PM; Ultimate Fighter on Thursday at 10PM; UFC 70 Countdown: Cro Cop vs. Gonzaga on Thursday at 11PM, Friday at midnight and Saturday at 6PM; Unleased at 7PM and 8PM, UFC 70 at 9PM on Saturday.

-- Ticket info for UFC 72: UFC Fight Club Presale Wednesday 4/18 - 9am GMT [http://www.ufcfightclub.com]/4am ET/1am PT. UFC Newsletter Presale Friday 4/20 - 9am GMT [Join UFC Newsletter]/4am ET/1am PT. General public on-sale begins Saturday 4/21 - 9am GMT/4am ET/1am PT

-- Myself, Casey, Euan and possibly Ric (all of CARE Preview fame) will be recording a podcast previewing UFC 70 on Wednesday. I doubt it'll be as WACKY as the TNA Lockdown podcast was

-- IFL CEO Gareb Shamus was named one of Brandweek Magazine’s 10 “Marketers of the Next Generation”. Shamus is the only sports-oriented subject on the list, others included Senior Vice President of Marketing for Hilton Hotels Amy Spatz; Ryan Clarke, director of marketing for Kraft Foods’ South Beach Brand; and Eric Kintz, vice president of global marketing strategy & excellence, Hewlett Packard.

-- The Fight Network Teams With MediaMen to Assist in International Expansion

-- Pavilion scores one of its top crowds ever with cage fight

-- HIGHLAND: Mixed martial artist leads by example
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