Paul Heyman vs. The NWA, Trish Stratus Appearance, Francine Gets Married

— Last week, Paul Heyman wrote a commentary on The Sun website ripping the NWA for prematurely advertising Ric Flair on Saturday’s show at the Philips Arena. Flair was scheduled to be inducted into their Hall of Fame, but WWE called it off. Heyman wrote: “In the past week, I’ve seen Vince McMahon move forward with his campaign to offer a million dollars a week to viewers just to watch Raw. I’ve seen another eccentric billionaire, Donald Trump become the public face of a new competitor to UFC. I’ve seen Kimbo Slice damn near get beat, and while the ratings were spectacular for the EliteXC primetime network debut the stock took an IFL-like nosedive. But nothing in the past week made me shake my head as much as the stupidity of those who believed that it was appropriate to advertise Ric Flair without written authorisation from the company to which he is contracted.” You can read his piece at this link.

NWA Executive Director Bob Trobich responded to Heyman’s column with the following message to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer: “Since Paul Heyman and the truth have only a passing familiarity with one another, I always find it amusing when anyone gives his opinion on virtually any topic any copy space. It is also the height of irony that Heyman, who bankrupted one company and finds himself on the outside of the business looking in, would think he had standing to criticize any organization that is actually still in business. Seems if he, in fact, wanted to kill off he NWA, he should have tried to run it, since given his track record, that would have been a sure recipe for its death. As it is, we are still here while he trolls about for some relevance.”

Heyman also wrote in his commentary on Friday: “Yesterday, a store in Atlanta named Aaron’s – a pretty big name in the Southeast – offered FOUR free tickets to the event to anyone who wanted to go, and would then give a discount to anyone who brought their ticket stub into the store. I guess the NWA has given up on getting anyone to pay to see their Hall of Fame Ceremony.” As late as Friday night, there were 491 tickets sold and 2,400 free tickets given out for the show that took place on Saturday.

— Trish Stratus will be making an appearance at a summer concert festival in Toronto at the Wonderland Amusement Park on Sunday, July 20, 2008: Breaking all attendance records over the last 4 years, this year the 16th Annual Summer Rush looks to be the biggest one yet! Over 15,000 fans invaded Kinswood Music Theatre last year where they witnessed some of the biggest acts in the world. This year’s Summer Rush returns to Kingswood Theatre and welcomes Nelly, Jesse McCartney, Cascada, Girlicious, Enur, Kreesha Turner, Elise Estrada, Kardinal Offishall, Lady Gaga, Yves Larock presenting Jaba, Jabbawockeez, Snap, Basshunter, Addictiv, DJ Danny D, special appearance by Trish Stratus, and all your favourite Z103.5 personalities.! Get ready to feel the rush!

— The “Queen of Extreme” Francine Fournier got married on Saturday. You can see photos from her wedding at Tammy Sytch’s MySpace page, who was in attendance.

See New pics of SKINNY Trish Stratus (>>)