**A number of outlets are reporting that Shane McMahon is expected to buy a minority stake in the UFC once he officially resigns from the WWE on January 1st 2010. McMahon met with UFC officials earlier this month in Las Vegas however, UFC president Dana White has been very mum on the subject giving a ‘no comment' during the weekend of UFC 105 and then stating this past weekend that ‘you never know'. McMahon cashed in $50 million worth of WWE stock this past summer and still holds a significant amount of stock, which could cash out in the neighborhood of an additional $30 million. It's been said many times but the obvious assets that McMahon brings to the UFC are a vast amount of international contacts through television and other distribution deals he has put together for the WWE (which you have to look no further than the fact that international pay per view buys for the company account for 38% of the final number and the drop in pay per view would be a much bigger story if they didn't have the international numbers to prop up shows). The UFC is nowhere near the level of the WWE when it comes to international distribution as their pay per view business is largely based on their North American clearances.

**Long time NWA promoter Mike LeBell died on Wednesday afternoon due to respiratory problems at the age of 79. LeBell promoted out of the Los Angeles office throughout the 1960's and up until 1982. LeBell was not a popular promoter amongst the workers with the same complaints you will here from most talent towards promoters during the territorial days. LeBell was instrumental in the Freddie Blassie Vs John Tolos feuds as well as a key architect for the 1976 worked / shoot involving Antonio Inoki and Muhammad Ali. Greg Oliver has a great story on LeBell including a very rare photo from Mike Lano on the SLAM! Wrestling site.

**Here is the updated card for the WWE ‘TLC' pay per view on December 13th in San Antonio, Texas:
*John Cena Vs Sheamus for the WWE Title in a ‘Tables Match'
*Chris Jericho & Big Show Vs Triple H & Shawn Michaels for the Tag Titles in a TLC match
*Christian Vs Shelton Benjamin for the ECW Title in a Ladder Match

**Big Show (Paul Wight) is believed to have had arthroscopic knee surgery this past Monday and is hopeful of being back for the pay per view on December 13th. Personally I think that is rushing it to be back in three weeks and especially in a match where a lot of things can go wrong in a TLC match. I would imagine Jericho will carry the load for the majority of the match but with it not being a straight up tag match, it will require Show to be part of the match for the duration and will have to book accordingly and give him rest spots. The last thing any guys on the roster want to do right now is push themselves and put that WrestleMania payday in jeopardy and hence why Big Show is getting this surgery out of the way right now and Mysterio isn't going for the full reconstructive knee surgery that he will eventually have to have. Mysterio missed WrestleMania in 2007 and 2008 (where he was poised for a huge spot on the card as part of the Floyd Mayweather Jr. angle) and doesn't want to forfeit another big show pay cheque.

**After two months Lauren Mayhew is done with the WWE as the ring announcer for ECW. When Mayhew joined the company this past September to fill the void left by Lillian Garcia, she only signed a short term agreement and the two sides couldn't come to an agreement. All I can say is that Howard Finkel is sitting there and any presence from Finkel on TV, which would be a huge positive for the company.

**TNA is holding their championship title shot tournament tomorrow night on ‘Impact' and they has posted the following odds for the participants heading into a TAPED SHOW from last week, which can only be seen ONLINE:
*Kurt Angle - 2:1
*Bobby Lashley - 3:1
*Desmond Wolfe - 5:1
*Abyss - 5:1
*Robert Roode - 7:1
*The Pope D'Angelo Dinero - 10:1
*Suicide - 10:1
*Homicide - 10:1

**Ring of Honor has announced a partnership with GoFightLive.tv to begin streaming their live events online starting with the December 19th ‘Final Battle 2009' show in New York City. Each show will be available on the site for $12.95 if you order in advance and $14.95 on the night of the event. It does create a new revenue stream for the company, albeit one that ROH must have realistic expectations for when it comes to how many people are going to stay home to watch an ROH show online. Where this deal is very interesting is how this affects the DVD sales for the company, which admittedly ROH has stated are down over the past year as had the entire DVD market.

**Hulk Hogan took one bump during his match with Ric Flair Tuesday in Perth. The next show on the tour is Thursday in Brisbane and then they wrap up the tour on Saturday in Sydney, Australia.

**During an interview in Australia promoting the Hulkamania tour, Ric Flair appeared on the 6PR 882 radio station and this is the report we got from a listener in Perth, Australia:

Hi boys, Ric Flair news from down under. Go to 6pr.com.au and listen to the most disrespectful interview ever. It took place on the radio on a morning show here, were the 2 old dick head hosts made fun of Flair so much i was just waiting for him to go nuts, he didn't but Hogan had to come on air to take control or he may have. Off air Flair squared up to 1 of these tools and had to be calmed down. The story made are paper today (The West Australian) These wankers had no idea who they were talking to, it was very uncool. We get so few big tours here as we are so far away and when we do this is the shit we dish up. I will never listen to that station again. But I will be at the Flair v Hogan show tonight as i have followed wrestling for 26yrs and this is a big deal to me to see the 2 icons together even at there age. Its no wonder other countries make fun of us Aussies when there are tools out there that give us a bad name. Cheers Rickstar from Oz

**Howard Brody, the author of the new book ‘Swimming with Piranhas' will be our guest on The LAW this Sunday night. Brody has done everything inside of the industry and his new book is receiving tremendous reviews. Tune in Sunday night at 11pm EST on Sirius 98 Hardcore Sports Radio.

**In other LAW news - in addition to Hulk Hogan coming on the show in December we will also have interviews with Jesse Ventura and Jim Cornette over the next month plus our annual ‘Best and Worst of' shows will kick off January - keep tuning back here for specific dates.

**Despite a press release that was sent out by the Pro Wrestling Unscripted promotion that they would begin airing a two hour show on the Versus network in the United States - no such deal is occurring. PWInsider.com confirmed with Versus that there is no truth to this story and the PWU promotion will not be airing on Versus.  

John Pollock
john@thefightnetwork.com
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