Tough Enough July 29 Updates: Matt & Nidia in OVW, Taylor's Debut, and No Jackie Slams

When I was in 7th and 8th grades, my best friend was Scott Bowden. We used to go to the Memphis wrestling events on Monday nights and wished we could be up there performing. A few years later, Scott actually got his chance, becoming the top heel manager in Memphis. Now, Scott has a great wrestling column where he talks about his experiences in Memphis as well as his opinion of current events. Check it out at http://www.moviepoopshoot.com/wrestling/index.html.

Last week, I pointed out that Tough Enough 3 had found a new house west of Los Angeles. Not knowing the area, I consulted our resident L.A. … um… resident, the lovely and talented Dana Walker. She's been on that part of the Pacific Coast Highway, and it consists of killer coastline and breathtaking houses. So it sounds like the new season won't lack for scenery.

Jim Ross pointed out in Friday's Ross Report that he has been in L.A. all week evaluating talent for the show. He estimates that Tough Enough 3 should air on MTV this October. Indeed, it was just mentioned on Confidential that TE3 began production last Tuesday.

Another note in the Ross Report stated that Maven would be back in action in a "few weeks." Great, except they've been saying that for about six weeks now.

Still no word on the Maven action figure that was supposed to be released in mid-July. I've checked a couple of different stores and haven't seen any of the Wrestlemania X-8 line, so if any readers have spotted one in a store, please let me know.

Dale Sherman attended the last OVW Summer Sizzler show of the season, highlighted by the "handcuff match" with Matt handcuffed to Sean O'Haire. At the end of the match, Sean and Matt fought. They were so intent on each other that no one could separate them, and both eventually shoved Jim Cornette to the mat.

Nidia also had a hand in her "boyfriend" Jamie Noble's match against the Hurricane on the same show. She jumped into the ring to get her man disqualified when he was in danger of being beaten for the title. See the accompanying pictures (courtesy Dale and Jill Sherman) for more on both matches.

One note on OVW: Jim Cornette's is taking some time off to take care of his mother, who unfortunately died Saturday morning. Thelma Cornette had been suffering from a long illness. While he is away from his duties, all angles have been put on hold and the normal Wednesday night TV tapings are simply house shows.

So, while Matt and theoretically Jackie and Josh will still be having matches at various house shows for OVW, the matches will not be televised and will have no real angles behind them. They also hope that Cornette's return will coincide with the opening of the "New Danny Davis Arena" (which would replace the "Condemned Warehouse Arena" as described by Dale last year) in September.

On behalf of the writers of RealityNewsOnline, I'd like to ask all the readers to keep the Cornette family in your thoughts. If you would like to send a note of sympathy to Jim Cornette, you can send it to ovwebmistress@ovwrestling.com and it will be delivered to him personally.

In other news, Paulina was spotted backstage at the NWA:TNA show Wednesday night in Nashville. No clue if this means she will become a part of the show any time soon.

Dark Horizons announced that Daniel Cudmore been picked to play Colossus in the X-Men sequel. I don't know anything about Cudmore, and Hawk's full name is Hawk Younkins. I think it's safe to say that Hawk did not get the role, although it is possible Hawk is using a different name. But I would think he'd come up with something better than "Cudmore," wouldn't you? Thanks to Dale for pointing out this info.

One note from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, regarding Jackie's match a few weeks ago. Dave Finlay is the women's trainer and usually lays out the matches. This time, Sgt. Slaughter did it and he is getting an equal part of the blame for the poor performance. Jackie, as I've mentioned before, is supposed to spend some time in OVW and has not been seen on Raw since "the match."

The news sites also reported last week that WWE has reached terms to new agreements with Maven, as well as Nidia, Linda Miles, and Jackie Gayda.

Now, I assumed that WWE would renew the contracts of Nidia and Maven (remember, their one-year contracts have an option for the second year), but I was surprised to hear about Linda and Jackie. But then, as usual, a reader pointed something out:

The news said that they had come to new agreements. They never said that they gave them raises or extended their deals. Technically, even though the two contracts were guaranteed, they could have restructured them into development deals in the threat of never appearing on television again. In one scenario, the ultimatum could have been, "accept the lesser deal and have the chance to make it, or take the guaranteed deal and be guaranteed not to become a star."

This is all speculation, of course, but it is intriguing.

Tough Enough "head" trainer (hee hee… sorry…) Al Snow conducted an interview with the Naples Daily News, which can be found here at http://www.naplesnews.com/02/07/neapolitan/d790650a1.htm. $100 a week on comics? Yeesh. I thought I was bad.

Finally, Jeff Nettleton ordered a copy of Taylor's Arsion debut match from highspots.com, and he sent in his review and thoughts:

Well, I just received my copy of Taylor's debut. Suffice to say, she is by far the best female worker to come out of Tough Enough. That said, she doesn't get a lot of time in the ring. The match consisted of the US Invasion (Bionic J, Cheerleader Melissa, and Taylor Matheny) vs. Mariko Yoshida, Baby A and Kaori Yoneyama.

Taylor starts the match, against Mariko Yoshida. They circle while Yoshida tries a few slaps and a leg dive. Taylor blocks her. Yoshida is able to get a go-behind takedown and does some mat wrestling. Taylor escapes and counters with a hammerlock. Yoshida reverses it into a combination front facelock and hammerlock. Taylor sells well. Yoshida tags out to Yoneyama, who comes off the top with an axe-handle, followed by Baby A, doing the same. Yoneyama misses a bodyblock and Taylor tags in Bionic J.

Yoneyama and Baby A attempt a double suplex, but J reverses it and suplexes both women. Yoneyama does a comedy spot, where she tries to do a People's elbow, but trips over J. J superkicks Yoneyama and throws her into the corner. All 3 Americans hit the corner. Taylor is in again, against Yoshida. Yoshida reverses Taylor into the corner and hits a handspring elbow, which doesn't land right. Taylor sells her head, on the wrong side. Taylor gets a backslide for a 2 count. Melissa is tagged in. Melissa gets put in a reverse crucifix and gets a rope break. She gets Yoshida in a kind of surfboard/neck crank combo. Rope break. The rest of the match is mostly Bionic J roughing up Baby A and fighting Yoshida. Match ends with J hitting a Death Valley Driver on Baby A, while Melissa DDT's Yoshida. Taylor lays out Yoneyama. The Americans pose in the ring. Taylor is still green, but works well.

Thanks, Jeff. Jeff is planning to get more Arsion tapes in the future and he'll share his thoughts of those as well.

E-mail Mike at: mikmaria@earthlink.net.

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