James Toney to make UFC debut in Boston, UFC 118

James Toney, former heavyweight boxing champion, will make his UFC debut at UFC 118, slated for Aug. 28 at TD Garden in Boston, according to reports and TheSteelCage.net sources. Toney will face former UFC heavyweight champ Randy Couture in a talent-laden card which will be UFC’s first in Boston.

The show will also feature a rematch between B.J. Penn and Frankie Edgar for Edgar’s lightweight championship. Kenny Florian will fight Gray Maynard in what many expect to be a No. 1 contender’s bout to face the winner of Penn-Edgar. Joe Lauzon is also rumored to be on the card.

Toney (right), who is 41 years old, last boxed Sept. 12, knocking out Matt Greer in the second round. Toney hasn’t lost a fight since 2007, when Samuel Peter won a unanimous decision, in a rematch for a split-decision that also went for Peter.

UFC 118 will be Toney’s first MMA fight, up against Couture, an accomplished wrestler who one can assume will try to take the boxer to the mat.

Couture wrestled as an alternate on three Olympic teams and was a three-time All American at Oklahoma State University.

Report: Tito Ortiz arrested for domestic violence

TMZ.com is reporting that Tito Ortiz was arrested this morning in California at a home he shares with his girlfriend, Jenna Jameson. According to the report, police responded to a 911 call made at 9:53 a.m. local time today (Monday). TMZ reports that Jameson had “visible injuries.”

Ortiz was reportedly taken into custody.

Ortiz, currently a coach on UFC’s reality show, The Ultimate Fighter, was removed from the show mid-season (as of the last episode, he is still present on the program) for undisclosed reasons. Originally slated to fight Chuck Liddell at UFC 115 in Vancouver, he was replaced by Rich Franklin, who also reportedly will replace Ortiz on TUF.

Lance Storm’s commentaries are a must read

I was a huge Lance Storm fan when he I first saw him in ECW and, of course, followed his career through WCW and WWE.

Storm is now retired and runs a school in Canada. He also posts regular commentaries on his website, which you can read by clicking here. Storm’s thoughts and insight into the business are a great take for any wrestling fan. His travel stories and just thoughts on the current product give you a unique and knowledgeable insight.

Recently, Storm wrote about his best and worst travel partners, as well as some Wrestlemania reviews and a commentary on my hometown – Boston – which was quite unflattering, but I forgive him for it (mainly because everything he said was 100% true).

2010 WWE Draft Predictions

Edge to Raw
It’s been a while since the Rated-R Superstar has been on Raw – almost four years in fact.

Kofi Kingston to Smackdown
Kingston’s push seems to have come to a sudden halt after feuding with Randy Orton in the fall.

MVP to Smackdown
It was a good move to switch him to Raw, because he grew stale on Friday’s. Now, the same has happened on Monday’s.

Cody Rhodes to Smackdown
In order for the Legacy split to really take shape, someone needs to go to SD! Rhodes seems like a good choice, so Orton-DiBiase can setup a feud on Raw.

Drew McIntyre to Raw
McIntyre bringing the IC belt with him.

Miz to Smackdown
Completing the switch with SD! for the straps.

Hart Dynasty to Raw
Seems like they’ll be feuding with ShowMiz for the Unified belts, so this move makes sense. Also opens up new opponents for a team that’s never been on Raw before.

Chris Masters to Smackdown
He’s rarely found television time on Raw. Masters is good, and a move to SD! could open new avenues to him and help his re-launch into the WWE.

Sunday Notes: Extreme rules tonight, Batista done with WWE?

Rumors are that Batista may be finishing with WWE this weekend. His contract had been rumored to expire sometime this year. Batista will battle John Cena in a Last Man Standing match at tonight’s Extreme Rules event (8 p.m. EST, PPV).

Here are some quick (and last-minute) Extreme Rules predictions for tonight:

JTG vs. Shad Gaspard
Strap Match
Shad seems to be getting the television time lately, so I’m assuming he’s getting the bigger push out of the gate after Cryme Tyme’s split. So, we’ll go with Shad.
Winner: Shad Gaspard

Women’s Championship
Michelle McCool [c] vs. Beth Phoenix
Extreme Makeover Match
I haven’t followed this feud closely enough to really make an educated guess, but we’ll go with McCool to keep her story with Layla and Vickie Guerrero alive.
Winner: Michelle McCool retains

Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk
Hair Match
There are no stipulations on Mysterio if he loses, and Punk’s hair is important to his gimmick, so my head tells me to go with Punk. But, Mysterio took a hunk out of Punk’s hair on Raw last week, and that really has be thinking it will go the other way.
Winner: Rey Mysterio

Triple H vs. Sheamus
Street Fight
Triple H went over cleanly at Wrestlemania but Sheamus will go over here. Triple H is protected more in a street fight, where he’ll likely lose after some sort of weaponry by Sheamus.
Winner: Sheamus

Edge vs. Chris Jericho
Steel Cage Match
Edge needs a win here, in my opinion.
Winner: Edge

WWE Championship
John Cena [c] vs. Batista
Last Man Standing Match
If Batista is leaving – and that’s a big if, because nothing has been confirmed – then he obviously will NOT win the strap tonight. But remember last year’s Extreme Rules? It was reported, and turned out to be true, that Batista had a torn muscle that required surgery. But, he went over, swerving the “smarks” and then had to forfeit the title the next night due to injuries “suffered in the match.” Batista could go over here, it depends on how much time is left on his contract, but I think Cena retains.
Winner: John Cena retains

World Heavyweight Championship
Jack Swagger [c] vs. Randy Orton
Extreme Rules Match
This could go either way. Dropping the strap off Swagger this early into his reign makes no sense and hurts his push. Orton could absorb the loss, but he’s in the middle of a face turn, so how much does a loss hurt that heat? Not sure, but I think Swagger has to retain or else it destroys his character.
Winner: Jack Swagger

WWE releases Mike Knox

Continuing its spring cleaning, WWE released Mike Knox, adding the 6-6, 300 pounder to the latest round of releases which started with six being cut on Thursday.

Knox was drafted to Smackdown on April 15 of last year, making some minor changes to his character but rarely being used on television – mostly as an enhancement talent, putting over other wrestlers in the midst of a push.

Knox – real name Michael Hettinga – was in the middle of a steroid controversy in 2008, when new residents of a home he used to live in found boxes containing steroids, a copy of a WWE contract and a referendum to talent regarding WWE’s new dress code.

Mickie James, Shelton Benjamin among WWE released talent

WWE released six talents on Thursday – Mickie James, Shelton Benjamin, Kung Fu Naki, Jimmy Wang Yang, Slam Master J and Katie Lea Burchill – just days before both the Raw and Smackdown roster will be shaken up at the annual WWE Draft episode of Raw (this Monday).
-Slam Master J

-Katie Lea Burchill

Kelly: “ROH roster impresses me more everyday”

Kevin Kelly penned a great column at Wrestlezone.com talking about a slew of topics, including deaths in professional wrestling and the atmosphere at Ring of Honor, where he now works calling PPV matches.

In particular, I thought it was interesting how he described a Tyler Black interview in which the ROH champion spoke of the  locker room banning chairshots to the head themselves, not waiting for a ruling from “the office.” These guys put their bodies on the line and the long-term effects of a cheap pop aren’t worth it – just look at Chris Benoit.

ROH is a unique and entertaining product, if you ask me. They’re vastly different from WWE and TNA, which I assume is part of their business model. It’s going to work for them. They might never be recognized on a global marketing level like WWE, but niche brands still have a spot in the marketplace. If they have a solid business sense behind, they should continue to survive and even thrive.

ECW was a niche brand and Paul Heyman helped the brand carve out quite a spot for itself in the wrestling landscape. And if the business end was handled better, and the promotion was able to land on another network in time after getting the shaft from TNN, then maybe they would still be around today.

MOTD: Brock Lesnar vs. Min Soo Kim (’07)

Raw/iMPACT ratings for 4/19

WWE won the ratings battle again on Monday, with Raw scoring a combined 3.05 rating, down from last week’s 3.24. TNA’s iMPACT scored a 1.0, one of its best showings since the company’s permanent move to Monday nights, which is up from last week’s 0.8.

Obviously, the most telling figure in these numbers are the +/- for both Raw and Impact. Raw, with Smackdown talent invading the program while Raw talent was stuck in Europe, lost 0.19 rating points from the previous week while Impact gained 0.20 ratings points.

It seems that Impact gained what Raw lost.

Raw won the coveted M18-49 demographic 2.19-0.87. … Impact’s highest quarter-hour breaks (1.04 and 1.02) actually occurred during the Jeff Hardy–Rob Van Dam No. 1 Contender’s match, and not that main event that saw Van Dam take the title from AJ Styles.

Raw lost roughly 20% of its viewers in both P18-49 and M18-49 whereas Impact gained 30% in M18-49 and 28% in P18-49.

Certainly not a victory for TNA – they were beaten again, and still easily – but it’s a small step in the right direction. Competition wasn’t going to occur overnight. Monday’s Impact, which I found to be a more entertaining show than Raw, really kept me on Spike TV and prevented me from changing the channel.

I’m a little surprised the title match didn’t do better in the ratings against Raw’s 9:50-10 p.m. segment. RVD-AJ Styles is one of those matches that hardcore fans dreamed about when RVD signed with the company.

Maybe it’s a sign that appealing to the masses is more important than appealing to the hardcore, down and gritty fans.