More On Orton's Engagement, Benoit-WWE, Coach, More
Randy Orton is on a promotional tour of New Zealand this weekend. He revealed in an interview with www.nzpwi.co.nz that he got engaged about a month ago: "It ll probably be a few years before I think about having kids& you know, the girl I m with, Samantha is her name, I m definitely in love of course, and it s the greatest time of my life right now." He talked about Christian and Chris Jericho recently leaving the company. He thinks that they were burned out with the business and perhaps frustrated creatively, but expects both to return one day: "... they just have enough money right now, where they can take a year off, raise a child, you know, enjoy their wives, their lives, and come back and be more over than they were when they left, just because of that absence...I think that s the smart way to do it." He said he still has problems with his shoulder but does therapy once a week: "I start feeling sorry for myself and I need to be slapped, like Edge I think, he was out with a broken neck, came back, broke his hand, then broke his ankle, then tore his groin, you know, and this was all like back-to-back, you know, poor guy, he worked through all that too... he was healthy I think for 10 years or so, and then got hit with that stream of injuries, so it s really, it s really dumb luck, you ve just got to be prepared as much as you can, s**t happens."
Fans who purchase tickets for the Armageddon PPV will have a chance to participate in a special meet and greet session on the day of the PPV with WWE Smackdown! Superstars. The PPV, held on 12/18, will be live from the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, RI. This session is only available for purchase to Armageddon ticket holders and costs $100 per person. For more information, send an email to meet.greet@wwe.com.
Brutus Beefcake has replaced Rick Steiner on the upcoming December tour series with NOAH wrestlers on it.
It is very interesting to note that Chris Benoit recently dropped the U.S. title to Booker T on Smackdown. With word that his contract is about to expire and that he is not happy, this may be something to look into further. Of course, we'll keep you posted on the status of Chris Benoit.
Jonathan Coachman is calling college football games for College Sports TV. He calls the action with former NFL quarterback Ray Lucas.
The USA Network played a Raw preview commercial today asking the question, "Did The Animal (Batista) accomplish his goal of bringing Jim Ross back to Raw?" in reference to Taboo Tuesday. People within WWE think USA made the promo themselves as they remain unclear about what's going with Jim Ross and WWE. Joey Styles is set to call at least the next two weeks of Raw though.