WWE Notes from the 8/25 Observer

[Enigma 0]

The latest WWE annual shareholder booklet listed Vince McMahon as earning $1,085,000 in salary and another $1,085,000 as a bonus (not to mention another $9.4 million in stock dividends). It didn't indicate how much, if any, McMahon earned from being a performer, but it is believed to be around $850,000 to play Mr. McMahon. Linda McMahon earned $750,000 in salary and another $750,000 in bonuses last year. She also earns money as a performer, but it's fairly negligible since she only makes here-and-there TV appearances as Linda McMahon, the TV character. Kevin Dunn, head of production, earned $517,692 in salary and received a $300,000 bonus.

 

WWE's closed circuit of SummerSlam in Windsor, ONT, as the "Famous Players" theater, has signal problem, and about 80 minutes into the show, it was canceled and everyone was given refunds.

 

More notes on Carmella DeCesare, who everyone has tabbed as the favorite in the Diva Search coming off her 2003 Playmate of the Year winning. She's 22, and attended an open call at a restaurant near her home town of Avon Lake, OH, to appear in a reality show called "The Girl Next Door." She made the cut, but quit the show after one day. The show was putting 12 girls in a house and the winner would become a Playmate. After quitting, Playboy asked her to do a test shoot anyway and put her on the cover. She wasn't at SummerSlam because she had a prior promotional tour that day she had committed to. The other women didn't like her also because of a newspaper article where, when she was asked her goals, she didn't even say working in WWE, but that she wants to be a game show or talk show host. DeCesare was also in the news over the past week regarding boyfriend, Cleveland Browns quarterback Jeff Garcia. Former San Francisco 49ers teammate Terrell Owens made several remarks questioning whether Garcia was gay, and DeCesare was quoted defending his sexuality.

 

There were all kinds of rumors regarding Bret Hart being in Toronto to negotiate with WWE. In actuality, he was in Toronto, but it was to film a CBC television show on national heroes in Canada. He was narrating a piece on, I believe, NHL announcer Don Cherry. He had no contact with any officials from WWE. A lot of fans saw him, of course. Actually the rumors were almost natural in the sense that he'd told people when he was in Buffalo the night before, that he was going to Toronto, and people put it together. It was interesting with SummerSlam being in Toronto, but WWE never once called Hart, asking if he'd be interested. After being turned down so many times on previous attempts to get him to make live appearance on TV shows and big shows, they must have gotten a message, and particularly with the Ric Flair book, it wasn't going to happen now.

 

The Lycos Network listed Torrie Wilson (No. 5) and Trish Stratus (No. 7) as the most searched for athletes in the world. The top four are Russian tennis player Anasataia Myskina, tennis player Anna Kournikova (who is almost always No. 1), Kobe Bryant, Softball player Jennie Finch, Wilson, tennis player Maria Sharapova, Stratus, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Christiano Ronaldo (soccer) and track star Amy Acuff.

 

There was an incident the morning of SummerSlam at the hotel that many of the wrestlers and fans were staying at right across from the ACC. Someone must have pulled the fire alarm at 5:30 a.m., and they had to evacuate the building. One reader there noted that several of the Diva wannabees were there, including Amy Webber, who is a highly paid model in real life, and a couple of the others. Anyway, as you can imagine at 5:30 a.m., some of the fans were shocked at how they looked. Yes, women don't wake up at 5:30 a.m. and look like they do on television.

 

Nunzio was off this past weekend because his wife was having a baby.

 

The company is going to advertise its 10/19 Taboo Tuesday Raw show as the first interactive PPV in history. I don't know what that means.

 

They are doing a Raw house show on 9/17 in Bossier City, LA, billed as a tribute to Mid-South Wrestling. Steve Williams will be brought in for the show, plus they will have appearances by WWE personnel Jim Ross, Michael Hayes, and Arn Anderson. Bossier City is the sister city to Shreveport, where Mid South did its television tapings in the late 70s through the mid-80s.

 

This week's scary coincidence: Tess Broussard, Steve Austin's ex-girlfriend, is best friends with Tracy Dali, the actress who played the role of Undertaker's old girlfriend who claimed she was having an affair with him in a blackmail storyline involving Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar in fall 2002.

 

Because of recent violations, wrestlers have been threatened with fines regarding the new dress code, which is, nice slacks and a dress shirt have to be worn into the arena. A lot of wrestlers, being that it is summer and hot out, have been vocal about having to travel in uncomfortable clothes.

 

Marcin Makulski, a graphic designer in the front office, passed away on 8/12 in a motorcycle accident in Stamford. He was 31. He was hit while riding his motorcycle, thrown, and pronounced dead on the scene at 1:45 a.m. He came from Warsaw, Poland, and moved to the U.S. in 1985, and lived in New York before moving to Stamford in high school.

 

8/16 Smackdown house show in Owen Sound, Ontario, drew 1,800.

[The Mandarin 0]

Not much really noteworthy this week, but thanks for doing it anyways.

 

I'd like to find out where I can get some of those figures from the shareholder booklet online. I'm just interested.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

The other women didn't like her also because of a newspaper article where, when she was asked her goals, she didn't even say working in WWE,

 

Eliminate her!