LAW
LAW Jan. 17 Update - Big Wedding Tonight
John Pollock / January 17, 2013 - 3:16pm
**Tonight Impact Wrestling is live at 8pm EST on Spike TV as the lead-in for the debut of Bellator on the station. They are going all out promoting the wedding between Bully Ray and Brooke Hogan with a big push on social media to ensure the segment gives Bellator it’s best possible lead-in. We will see when the numbers come out but there seems to be little retention available going from a wedding angle into live fights that anyone new you attract to check out the wedding likely isn’t the same audience that will be sticking around for Pat Curran Vs Patricio “Pitbull” Freire.
The show tonight will also feature clips from Bully Ray’s bachelor party that they taped at Rick’s Cabaret last night and will run throughout the show. Bully Ray was teasing on Twitter that some “old friends” would be attending as well.
**We will be back with Review-An-Impact tomorrow as Wai Ting and I chat the wedding and more from the show along with Nate Milton and take your feedback.
**Ring of Honor has added a second show to their WrestleMania weekend of events. The company will run their “Supercard of Honor VII” iPPV on Friday night April 5th at the Hammerstein Ballroom and the next day they will hold a set of television tapings at the Manhattan Center in the Grand Ballroom with a 2pm EST start time.
**The CW Network is moving Saturday Morning Slam to a new timeslot starting this weekend with a 10:30am EST start time, which will be its permanent home.
**Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that Ric Flair is booked for Raw Monday night in San Jose and the Smackdown tapings Tuesday night in Sacramento leading into the Royal Rumble.
**Bellator MMA (the new official name of the company and dropping “Fighting Championship” from the name) premieres on Spike TV tonight from Irvine, California with a three-fight main card including two title fights and the chance to run some of the prelims if the main card ends early. The card kicks off at 10pm EST and here is the main card line up:
*Pat Curran Vs Patricio “Pitbull” Freire for the Featherweight Title (this will kick off the televised card)
*Michael Chandler Vs Rick Hawn for the Lightweight Title
*Renato “Babalu” Sobral Vs Mikhail Zayats in the opening round of the Light Heavyweight tournament
**Immediately after Bellator concludes Spike TV will be airing a special on Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal called Unrivaled and building up to his promotional debut next Thursday night.
**Spike TV has done a ton of promotion for the debut including a bug on the screen all day Wednesday and Thursday promoting the debut with Bellator getting lots of stories and coverage in the MMA media. A few weeks ago I felt confident they would hit 800,000 viewers but they may fall short of that mark. I would expect tons of mentions during the TNA broadcast and perhaps a satellite interview with Bjorn Rebney to alert TNA viewers to stick around for the debut.
**The MMA Report will be delayed until tomorrow so I can cover the Bellator debut on the show. It will be posted tomorrow afternoon with the final Strikeforce welterweight champion Tarec Saffiedine popping on the program along with Robin Black from Fight Network to discuss Bellator’s debut and a look ahead to the UFC on FX 7 card in Sao Paulo, Brazil this weekend.
**A great stare down between Vitor Belfort and Michael Bisping at the UFC on FX 7 press conference:
**Mike Chiappetta from MMAFighting.com reported today that Dennis Siver has been forced to pull out of the UFC on FUEL 7 card on February 16th in London, England. The UFC has announced that Dustin Poirier will take his spot against Cub Swanson, which sounds like a hell of a fight on paper and could create the new Featherweight Title challenger.
**Spike TV’s Senior Vice-President Jon Slusser speaks to Jonathan Snowden of Bleacher Report about tonight’s debut at http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1488456-spike-exec-bellator-less-risky-than-being-in-business-with-somebody-like-ufc.
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REVIEW-A-WAI – WWF Royal Rumble 1991
(John Pollock and Wai Ting review the ’91 Rumble featuring the battle royal and Ultimate Warrior Vs Sgt. Slaughter for the WWF Title)
http://datav3.fightnetwork.com/blog/35802.mp3
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REVIEW-A-RAW – January 15th 2013
(John Pollock and Wai Ting review #RAW20, take your feedback and details on the Royal Rumble Pool)
http://datav3.fightnetwork.com/blog/35783.mp3
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THE LAW – January 14th 2013
(Dan Lovranski and Jason Agnew chat with Dave Meltzer, review TNA Genesis and discuss The Rock Vs CM Punk, Del Rio winning title and more)
http://datav3.fightnetwork.com/blog/35765.mp3
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REVIEW-AN-IMPACT – January 11th 2013
(John Pollock and Wai Ting review Impact with Nate Milton and are joined by TNA’s Christopher Daniels)
http://datav3.fightnetwork.com/blog/35725.mp3
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THE MMA REPORT – January 10th 2013
(John Pollock chats with Daniel Cormier and The History of Strikeforce)
http://themmareport.podbean.com/mf/web/ssiyhm/THE-MMA-REPORT-JAN10-2013.mp3
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Contact John Pollock - john@fightnetwork.com / @LAWradio / @iamjohnpollock
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