NFL
– The Cowboys have waived RB Tashard Choice. His frequent injuries were stopping his overall production. Over his past 22 games, Choice has averaged just 3.4 yards on 94 carries with poor production in the passing game. RB DeMarco Murray could become the new feature back, with RB Felix Jones as the third-down guy.
NBA
– Heat’ owner Micky Arison interacted with his followers on Twitter on Friday night, telling one fan who criticized him for the lockout that he was “barking at the wrong owner.” He agreed when another follower called owners “grown men making stupid decisions over money,” and also agreed with one follower’s request for him to starting barking at the other owners. Arison could be walking a tight rope given how much money he has invested in LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. While a fine is likely coming for violating David Stern’s gag order, it will be interesting to see if this public comment moves the needle at all with the owners.
NHL
– Avalanche’ F Peter Mueller (head) remains out indefinitely. It seems more and more likely that he has had a recurrence of his concussion woes that have plagued him for the last 18 months. Stay tuned.
– The Coyotes have claimed D Brett MacLean off waivers from the Jets. MacLean has no goals and two assists in five games this season.
WWE
– WWE will be holding another 3-hour episode of RAW in November, the week before Survivor Series. The November 14 RAW Supershow will take place from Boston’s TD Garden and has been billed a “Rock Reunion.” Aside from an in-person appearance from The Rock, the other major name advertised for the show was Mick Foley, who hasn’t appeared on WWE television since 2008. The TD Garfden has updated their preview for the event, and not only is the show no longer billed as a “Rock Reunion” show, but Mick Foley is no longer advertised for the show. It’s worth noting that The Rock is still advertised to appear. At this point, it’s unknown whether Foley has been completely pulled from the show or whether WWE wants to keep his appearance a surprise.
– According to WWE’s updated monthly Key Performance business figures, September’s Night of Champions PPV (featuring Triple H’s in-ring return against CM Punk) drew only 165,000 PPV buys. By comparison, this number is dead even with last year’s Night of Champion event. WWE has been doing approximately 64% of PPV buys from the United States, so applying that figure to the Night of Champions buyrate, the show did approximately that translates to roughly 105,000 buys from the United States and 60,000 buys internationally.
– The WWE Network has landed its first major clearance – being announced as a partner of Google & Youtube in Youtube’s new “premium channels” program. Youtube is getting into the television” business and has announced it will soon be launching upto 100 premium “channels” featuring niche programming from various niche content providers. This new content will be produced exclusively for YouTube and is part of Google’s big push to compete with traditional television networks. The online TV channels will be programmed by the likes of WWE, Ashton Kutcher, The Wall Street Journal, pro skateboarder Tony Hawk and many more. YouTube has already spent $150M in advances, with a maximum of $5M going any individual channel (such as WWE). YouTube will receive as much as 55% of ad revenue from the entities.
– Maryse Ouellet celebrated her release from WWE’s shackles Friday at a night club in Los Angeles, California. She posted a photo on Twitter of a cake that reads “Congratulations on your release Maryse Be Sexy.” She captioned the pic as “lets get this party started.” Meanwhile, Eve Torres praised her longtime rival. She tweeted, “(Maryse) is an incredible performer & a beautiful woman inside & out. She taught me how to have fun in the ring. #ThankYouMaryse.”
TNA
– Hulk Hogan posed the following question to his Twitter followers Friday: “Should Hulk Hogan or should Hollywood Hulk Hogan come back and save the wrestling world. HH or HollywoodHH?” Hogan’s query to return as “Hollywood” garnered an overly negative response as he stated the following hours later: “Ok ok ok guys I get it, the good guy red and yellow, I just thought I would ask,I get it brother.”