news bits on Storm, victoria, Rock, some Diva, WWE says Hell no to Storm Options

[Guest_Trivia247_*]

Thanks to PWInsider for the following:

-- WWE trainer Lance Storm recently asked to open his own WWE territory/school in Calgary, however WWE turned it down. The company has been pushing for Storm to relocate from Calgary to Lousiville, KY where he works for WWE now. This would save WWE some travel expenses, however Storm does not wish to move from Calgary. There are strong rumors that Al Snow may take over Storm’s position in the near future.

-- Victoria was recently interviewed by Alex Marvez for the Sun-Sentinel. In regards to recent changes to the female roster on RAW, she said “We are confused. There are so many girls who do not have wrestling experience. I can't hate them. Of course, I'm jealous of Christy Hemme. But I hope that they're itching to wrestle because that's what happened to me. I don't want to see us die out. There's only four [female wrestlers] left on Raw. Dave Fit Finley was given the girls as a joke, kind of like, `You're a new agent. Go ahead and take the girls,' He said, `All right, they're going to be serious competitors.' We used to get to the house shows early, get in the ring and get beaten up by Fit. But he was toughening us up. I would like to thank him because he has pushed us to the limit every match. We're still doing what we can to bring the girls up even more."

The following is from the Plataka Daily News, in Plataka, FL.

Palatka High grad part of WWE show in Jacksonville
By Andy Hall

So there she was, minding her own business in the middle of the ring, when Michelle McCool Alexander was taken for a spin by Kenzo Suzuki, a Japanese wrestler with an eye on more than just John Cena's WWE United States championship belt.

McCool-Alexander was startled. Hiroko was jealous.

So the 5-foot-2 Hiroko — in Kabuki makeup and wearing traditional Japanese garb — jumped the 5-10 McCool-Alexander, who played basketball, softball and volleyball at Palatka High School.

McCool-Alexander seemed started, but knew what to do, flipping her attacker and making a hasty retreat from the ring as the wrestlers went at it.

So went her first, nationally-televised in-ring "action" Thursday night on Smackdown — Tuesday night, actually. That's when the show was taped, after which she was off to Mexico for a photo shoot for a World Wrestling Entertainment "diva" magazine.


McCool-Alexander is due home today — just in time for a Monday night appearance at a WWE "house show" at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. The next night, she'll in Tampa for the weekly Smackdown taping.

Monday's show begins at 7 p.m. Tickets range from $20-40. Headliners on the card include the current WWE champion, JBL, along with former Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle and the 7-foot, 470-pound Big Show.

It has been a fast-paced life in recent weeks for the budding WWE "superstar," who parlayed a series of appearances during last summer's Raw Diva Search into a three-year, developmental contract with WWE. She made her first Smackdown appearance last month and was limited to backstage skits until Thursday night.

"To Michelle, (the contract) means they have some interest in working with her and developing her into someone they'd like to have on one of their shows," said her husband, Jeremy Alexander, a communications specialist at Georgia Pacific — and like McCool-Alexander, a PHS grad and lifelong Palatkan.

Thus the latest Smackdown appearance was significant.



"Obviously, I was excited," Jeremy Alexander said. "She's been very anxious to get in the ring. She would like to be involved in an active storyline and ultimately she'd like to wrestle. That was the first step in that direction."

He believes his wife's role Monday night will be as part of a Miss Smackdown competition also involving established "divas" such as Torrie Wilson, Dawn Marie and Miss Jackie.

In contrast to some of the women involved in WWE programming, McCool-Alexander's love of professional wrestling is genuine and not an avenue to other opportunities as an actress or model. She grew up watching wrestling on television with her father, Terry McCool, the associate superintendent of Putnam County schools.

She responded to a Raw Diva casting call last summer and became one of 10 finalists who appeared in a series of sketches on the Monday night program last summer. While McCool-Alexander did not win the grand prize, the experience became the springboard to another WWE opportunity.

In addition to recent Smackdown appearances, McCool-Alexander spent two weeks at a WWE training facility in Louisville, Ky., "trying to learn the basics of wrestling," according to her husband.

"She's having a blast. She's getting to see the country," Jeremy Alexander said. "The biggest thing for her is she's getting to interact with some of the superstars she was a fan of growing up."

Although the plan is to have The Rock be involved at WrestleMania 21 in some capacity, it doesn't look as though his movie career will be slowing down anytime soon.

He's scheduled to film four more movies in the near future, including "Instant Karma" (about a safecrackerwho dies and is reincarnated as different animals), "Spy Gunter" (begins filming right after WrestleMania), "Gridiron Gang" (about a head coach of a prison football team) and a rol in a yet to be named movie about Johnny Bravo, a cartoon character.

[Guest_The Shadow Behind You_*]

"Spy Gunter"? Thats Spy Hunter right?

U know; just thinking logically here...Vince should have brought out the Hart House and put the WWE School there. Storm running the hart dungeon would be great; I bet Bret would make a few apperences to help out Lance as well.

But no; stay at Louisville. Snow likely will take over; as he lives in the Ohio/KY area.

[AndrewTS]

In contrast to some of the women involved in WWE programming, McCool-Alexander's love of professional wrestling is genuine and not an avenue to other opportunities as an actress or model.

Or as a country music superstar.

Has any WWE girl ever moved onto anything "bigger?", especially the non-wrestlers (Trish I could see, but otherwise...). Aside from a Playboy shoot, the new "Divas" better face the fact that they aren't going to be going on to fame and fortune as a respected model or actress because of their WWE careers.

[The Amazing Rand...]

"Spy Gunter" is the new Swedish Wrestling Phenomenon and Secret Agent.

[Guest_The Shadow Behind You_*]

In contrast to some of the women involved in WWE programming, McCool-Alexander's love of professional wrestling is genuine and not an avenue to other opportunities as an actress or model.

Or as a country music superstar.

Has any WWE girl ever moved onto anything "bigger?", especially the non-wrestlers (Trish I could see, but otherwise...). Aside from a Playboy shoot, the new "Divas" better face the fact that they aren't going to be going on to fame and fortune as a respected model or actress because of their WWE careers.

Joanie Lauer has a spot on VH1's surreel life...

[Guest_Fook_Theta_*]

-- Victoria was recently interviewed by Alex Marvez for the Sun-Sentinel. In regards to recent changes to the female roster on RAW, she said “We are confused. There are so many girls who do not have wrestling experience. I can't hate them. Of course, I'm jealous of Christy Hemme. But I hope that they're itching to wrestle because that's what happened to me. I don't want to see us die out. There's only four [female wrestlers] left on Raw. Dave Fit Finley was given the girls as a joke, kind of like, `You're a new agent. Go ahead and take the girls,' He said, `All right, they're going to be serious competitors.' We used to get to the house shows early, get in the ring and get beaten up by Fit. But he was toughening us up. I would like to thank him because he has pushed us to the limit every match. We're still doing what we can to bring the girls up even more."

I hate WWE creative/booking some times. They're given a INSTA-HEAT wrapped up logical storyline, which at the end Victoria would trade with either Molly or Trish to go back to tweener/badass heel.

Reality + wrestling = good storyline

[razazteca]

There is only so much they can do with Molly, Victoria, Trish, Lita, sooner or later one of the Nitro Girls.......I mean Christy and the others are going to have to get bitch smacked by a jealous wrestler eventually. What else can they do with the Nitro Girls other than have a generic hoss like Gene Snitsky or Kane chokeslam them thru tables when a heel turn is needed?

[Guest_LooneyTune_*]

If Kane chokeslams all their asses on a PPV, I would definitely buy it.

[The Dames]

As much as I like Storm and as much as I'd like to see the company do something nice for the guy...did he really think they were going to just build him a school in Calgary? I'd LOVE it, since Calgary has traditionally bred greatness, but that's just added expense for the company.

Dames

[RavishingRickRud...]

The company is looking to expand its development programs, though. There's been talk about putting one in Canada. It will be interesting to see what Storm will do here, because he has been pretty adamant about not moving his family to the states and keeping them in Calgary.

[reign]

Speaking of the Hart House I'm still suprised that someone other than the family now owns it as it's a definate part of wrestling history. Vince is just hell bent on erasing history so I guess he supposes that since he couldn't just buy it and bulldoze it into dirt he'll just sit back and hope everybody forgets about it. Vince doesn't want anymore "good" Calgary bred wrestlers anyways...they don't mesh well with his tatted out OVW army and people tend to like them more than his son-in-law which of course isn't good.....

[Lightning Flik]

As much as I like Storm and as much as I'd like to see the company do something nice for the guy...did he really think they were going to just build him a school in Calgary?  I'd LOVE it, since Calgary has traditionally bred greatness, but that's just added expense for the company. 

Dames

If it was in Calgary, I'd be there instantly.

On topic, I don't understand why they don't let him. I'm quite positive Lance could get quite a few bright new stars out of our province. Simply because those who'd apply would want to be like the Harts, Benoit, Jericho, Storm, etc. They'd work themselves to hard to get to the squared ring.

Speaking of the Hart House I'm still suprised that someone other than the family now owns it as it's a definate part of wrestling history. Vince is just hell bent on erasing history so I guess he supposes that since he couldn't just buy it and bulldoze it into dirt he'll just sit back and hope everybody forgets about it. Vince doesn't want anymore "good" Calgary bred wrestlers anyways...they don't mesh well with his tatted out OVW army and people tend to like them more than his son-in-law which of course isn't good.....

But how many of these "good" workers became top-tier wrestlers? That's something he tends to forget. Although, Vince forgets a lot these days.

And I'm not sure we should blame OVW for the "tatted army" when in fact some of the talent is actually good, but get neutered by the WWE upon call up.