sources: www.f4wonline.com, Wrestling Observer Newsletter
— There appears to be some confusion regarding the news of the apparent WWE signings of Lucha stars Dos Caras Jr. and Sicodelico Jr. This week’s issue of the magazine Super Luchas out of Mexico ran an article doubting Lucha announcer Arturo Rivera’s report in the Ovaciones newspaper, the original source of the story. Rivera said the two wrestlers signed three-year contracts with WWE. The word coming from WWE is that neither have signed a contract with them. However, sources are saying that Sicodelico Jr. is believed to be in and Caras Jr. is up in the air. Caras Jr. had a private tryout with WWE a few weeks ago. It is pretty well known that the company has been actively seeking Hispanic talent. On another note, the two are cousins as both are nephews of Lucha libre legend Mil Mascaras.
— Regarding tonight’s Saturday Night’s Main Event telecast, practically all of the promotion for the show was based around Jennifer McCarthy raising awareness for Autism. They hardly promoted the show around wrestling, and no matches were announced until Friday’s SmackDown. WWE’s reputation and public perception were damaged in the aftermath of the Chris Benoit double murder-suicide. In an effort to better their reputation, Vince McMahon decided to make the company front-and-center when it comes to publicly promoting certain charitable causes. He wants to make sure to publicize the company’s involvement in such causes. That pretty much explains why you’ve been seeing a bunch of Make-A-Wish and Circle of Champions stuff on television and the company website. Not to say that they didn’t get involved with a bunch of charitable causes before the Benoit incident, but the company hardly ever promoted them, or at least not as much as they do now. For example, in the past, certain wrestlers such as John Cena didn’t want their work with Make-A-Wish publicized, but since the Benoit incident, WWE has worked on getting these type of stories out to boost the public image of the company. From a business standpoint, basing a show such as tonight’s Saturday Night’s Main Event telecast around a charitable cause eases the pressure on the rating from network executives. The ratings for Saturday Night’s Main Event on NBC have been a constant disappointment to say the least. For instance, the heavily-hyped July 15, 2006 telecast promoting an appearance by Hulk Hogan was beat out in the ratings by reruns of COPS on that night. Also, wrestling is a hard sell on sponsors. In past editions of Saturday Night’s Main Event, you’d see a bunch of low-rent commercials for stuff such as vacuum cleaners and other cleaning aids that would never air during other shows on NBC at the same time slot. By basing the show around a charitable cause, whether the ratings are good or bad, sponsors will feel a lot more comfortable supporting WWE. It’s a win-win situation for the company, as the likely low rating probably won’t have any negative ramifications, and WWE comes out looking good to the public. McCarthy’s appearance on tonight’s show was actually her second wrestling-related appearance. She appeared at Wrestlemania XI in 1995 as the guest valet for Shawn Michaels when he wrestled Diesel a.k.a. Kevin Nash.
— Mickie James interviewed actress and Generation Rescue spokeswoman, Jenny McCarthy, for the latest edition of Superstar to Superstar on WWE.com. McCarthy notes that she auditioned for a commentator role in WWE a few months after her appearance at Wrestlemania XI. She admits to being “horrible,” which probably explains why she didn’t land the job. McCarthy said, “I actually tried out to be a commentator for WWE right after that, which makes me laugh now because I’m so horrible at it. Then Vince had called me a couple of months ago and said, “Jenny, it’s been a long time. We want to join forces to fight autism. I can’t think of a better fighter or organization than you and yours.” And Generation Rescue came in, we joined up together and here we are.” You can read Mickie’s interview with McCarthy at this link.
See pics of the confiscated Mickie James sign from SNME! (>>)