| From WRESTLING-NEWS.com
Latest News Headlines - Booker T is in Pittsburgh PA and will be on Raw this Monday. No
word as to who they will feud him with. Two names discussed to feud
with Booker T, is Randy Orton and Christian. Jeff Hardy returned to in ring action Friday night for Big Time Wrestling's 7th anniversary show in Newark, CA. You may remember the article about this match being a dedication to a friend who passed away from breast cancer. Hardy defeated Wild Storm and from emails Wrestling-News.com received, the match was excellent. He received a nice reaction from the fans in attendance. Last week we wrote about WWE not allowing Jimmy Yang to fulfill the rest of his Indy dates. It looks as if he may be brought to TV without an OVW stint as we speculated. The original idea was to put him with Tajiri and form a tag team. They also feel that he would be a great asset for the Cruiserweight division. There was brief discussion about bringing him in under a gimmick and/or name change. As of this writing, that has been scrapped. It wouldn't surprise me if this is brought up again.
Here are highlights of Joanie Laurer's appearance on Xtreme Mayhem radio this weekend. For a complete transcript, checkout their website. Joanie started the interview by reminding everyone that he new nickname is "The Chynna Doll" which is just a longer version of the name she used in WWE. She discussed her latest movie "Romp" which has just been completed. She didn't do the movie for money and she hopes to make money due to the success of the film. She said it is sort of a wrestling movie, and it's about an underdog who has no arms. She talked about traveling for the movie and the upcoming film festivals, as well as charities for people with missing limbs. - She talked about her music background and how she has learned every musical instrument under the sun. She mentioned that she bought a grand piano after doing her Playboy shoot. She has played cello and she teaches herself by ear. She also has a drum kit and she recently finished an album with Reggie Benjamin, a friend of her's. The album is called 2X-Centrix and she has her own single on the album. She plays drums and does backing vocals on the album. She plugged the record release party on October 21st and she joked that she would clothesline any hecklers. - She said it was important to have a fanbase behind her, and she admitted that she basically got fired from WWE. She was sad about it, but she kept moving on with her music and film roles, as well as wrestling in Japan. She thanks the wrestlers and the fanbase that have "helped make me one of the top five wrestling stars in the world." She stands up for people who bust their ass 365 days a year and go out there without having WWE's promotional machine. She added that "Vince McMahon can kiss my ass." - Joanie talked about how she wasn't quite prepared for what it was like to wrestle in Japan, and she thought it would be like WWE. Once she got there, she was taught submission fighting and mixed martial arts. A fan in Japan later sent her a china doll which holds a special place in her heart. She is amazed that she would go to places in Japan and would see her face in magazines and newspaper covers. She said she is grateful to Antonio Inoki and considers him a mentor. Unlike Vince McMahon, she said Inoki is a peacemaker and a visionary who isn't about politics. He is a man of few words and lots of action. - She talked about her release from WWE, and how she was let go because of a personal issue. I would assume it's HHH/Stephanie, but she never made it clear during the interview. She said that the company was wrong to her, and the whole situation was very hurtful. She has lost everything overnight and she had to move forward. She said she is a lover, not a fighter. She said an objective to return to WWE would not be for ego or money. She talked about how every dime she made was spent on new endeavors, and she brought up hundreds of auditions among other things that she has done since leaving WWE. She brought up the old "never say never" line in regards to a WWE return. She had always wanted to remain in WWE, but she felt she was held back from TV and then she found out about her "personal situation" and she said she was the last one to find out about it. She tried watching WWE again several months after her departure, but she said it had become so bad and she feels that they ! are trying too hard to turn things around. - Joanie said that posing for Playboy was an absolute wonderful experience. She said that they are the most professional and classy organization that she has ever worked for besides New Japan. It allowed her to make a lot of money at one time, which allowed her to continue doing things up to this day. She said that they made her look and feel as beautiful as one could possibly be. She said that the first shoot was her favorite, but she also like the second shoot because it still did three quarters as good as the first one without having the WWE's promotional machine behind it and relying strictly on her own fanbase. She said there was more pressure with the second shoot, but Hugh Heffner had faith because he made the biggest production set for that photo shoot in the history of the magazine. - Joanie talked about her celebrity boxing match with Joey Buttafuoco. She said that she originally said no because she had no desire to fight a 260 lb man in front of millions of people for the heck of it. As it turned out, John Wayne Bobbit couldn't do the fight at the last minute and she agreed to be the replacement the day before the fight. She was taught the day of the fight how to protect herself, and she brought up a McMahon quote "Perception is reality" and how that wasn't that case. - She talked about how she was approached by NWA TNA and would still consider doing something with them. She said a lot of things were happening at the time and the offer was rushed. The timing was too fast so she declined the offer. She thinks that they are doing a wonderful job and she gives kudos for them giving guys another option besides WWE. She said she would buy TNA's three-hour PPV just to see Hulk Hogan. - Joanie talked about many of her greatest memories in WWE. She was nervous her first year, but once DX took off, things began to become fun and she made a lot of friends. They talked about the DX skit with the "two newest members" and she said Shawn Michaels is one of the most incredible entertainers in the history of the business. She enjoyed the Mark Henry storyline and said it was cut short because Mark had knee surgery. She said her favorite storyline was being Eddie Guerrero's mamacita. She talked about how Eddie put her over like a million bucks and taught her a lot of things. She wasn't crazy about working with Chris Jericho because she felt he was better off on his won. Henry, Guerrero, and Billy Gunn saw the bigger picture and were willing to take a backseat to help her get over. She loved working with Jeff Jarrett and said the good housekeeping match has been her favorite. She talked about winning the IC title and how she has a replica that she proudly keep in a c! ase at her home. She said another highlight was working with Ivory in front of 72,000 people at Wrestlemania. Joanie also mentioned that a group of fans got together and bought her a world title replica belt for Christmas, and she donated it towards her latest flim project. - She talked about her book and how she lost a lot of control over the book to WWE and she didn't know how the finished product was going to turn out. Countless people tell her to this day how special the book has been to them. She has been trying to do a second book, but it has been difficult to get the idea out there. - They wrapped things up once again with Mike Nagel's WORLD FAMOUS~! Word Association: Mick Foley (Socko), Vince Russo (Scandal), Bret Hart (got the shaft), Owen Hart (tragic, she still thinks about him most days), Shawn Michaels (entertainer), Ric Flair (Joanie does a WHOO!), Killer Kowalski (humpty-dumpty), Jerry Lawler (funny), Val Venis (towel), the 10th wonder of the world (new California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and she also gave her thoughts on him), Steve Austin (stunner, she talked about the first stunner she got), Howard Stern (very smart), and The Chynna Doll (that's Ms. Doll to you). She gave a final thank you to the hosts and everyone else who has supported her and continues to do so and she says she has a really neat future ahead of her.
Thanks for reading.
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