Apparently, indy women’s wrestler Talia Madison tried out for this year’s Diva Search. She is well known to indy wrestling fans in the Northeast and also happens to be the girlfriend of WWE star Gregory Helms. On WWE.com, there’s a photo of one of the contestants posing with Talia and two other girls during casting day. You can see that photo at this link.

Considering that Talia’s not listed on the site, she obviously didn’t make the cut. She’s been backstage at quite a few WWE shows as a guest of Gregory Helms, not to mention that she’s actually worked a match before on WWE television. She did job duty to Victoria in a match broadcast on WWE Sunday Night Heat a little over two years ago.

SchoolGurl Amber vs. Jagged - SchoolGurl and resident rich chick Amber Van Buren from the Van Buren family goes one-on-one with male competitor Jagged in this intergender mixed matchup. Watch as Jagged completely destroys Amber which a huge array of unbelievable submission manuevers!!!

SoCal Val vs. Nicole Franklin - TNA Superstar SoCal Valerie goes one-on-one with the debuting Battle Angels Superstar Nicole Franklin. The newest addition to the roster Nicole Franklin has quickly taken the title as the most muscular and possibly the most dominant diva in Battle Angels. Watch as Nicole destroys SoCal Val!!!

Crystal vs. Jessicka Havoc - Jessicka Havoc continues her dominate path of destruction as she takes on her new victim. Watch as “The German Giant” steam roles through RingDivas #1 athlete Crystal Johnson!!!

DragonStar vs. Twin Towers of Destruction - After being forced to save the promotion from the threat of complete and utter domination by DragonStar Alexa Lockhart pulled out a trump card in the form of the “Twin Towers of Destruction”. Armed with the task of stopping DragonStars takeover dead in its tracks, former World Champion Vanessa Kraven and “The German Giant” Jessicka Havoc team-up to take on DragonStar.

Download the matches individually above, or click here to get the entire Battle Angels SummerFest 2007 DVD

At the end of the Divas Battle Royal at SummerSlam, Beth Phoenix remained the last woman standing. The beautiful — but deadly — Glamazon emerged victorious among the dozen Divas from across the WWE brands: Raw, SmackDown and ECW. In an impressive victory, Phoenix helped hurl her opponents over the ring ropes for the win and the opportunity to challenge Candice Michelle for the Women’s Championship.

As Candice Michelle watched the action from her perch at ringside, the squared circle erupted into mayhem the moment the bell rang. As the Divas clashed, one by one they found themselves eliminated, tossed out of the ring and onto the unforgiving floor below.

After ten of the Divas were purged, it all came down to the final two, Phoenix and Michelle McCool. The SmackDown Diva unloaded a series of blows on Phoenix, but the Glamazon’s power would prove insurmountable. After shaking off the blows, the Raw Diva clutched McCool in her commanding arms, raised the All-American girl on her shoulder and tossed her over the top ring rope.

As Phoenix basked in the capacity crowd’s admiration, Candice Michelle sat stunned. Was she simply soaking in the match, or had she just glimpsed her future in the form of Phoenix’s decisive victory?

File this one in the “Does anyone really give a flying fuck” category. In case you haven’t heard yet (because you should have…I mean hell, this is huge news), FOX’s Anchorwoman featuring former WWE Diva Lauren Jones (remember her? nah, we don’t either) has been canceled after one episode. On a related note, apparently all the WWE-Jones mentions in the media stem from all Lauren’s WWE references on the shows that were taped. Reports say she repeatedly brought up her WWE career (she had a cup of coffee with a roadie who sort of looked like Triple H’s slightly less retarded brother or something) which we all know (really?) was very brief.

As previously posted, WWE is looking to bring the Hart Foundation 2.0 consisting of Nattie Neidhart, Harry Smith, and Teddy Hart up to the main roster soon and want Bret Hart to do an introductory angle for the group (hey wait, doesn’t he hate Vince?). It’s believed they will start working WWE house shows sometime this fall. SmackDown writer Michael Hayes wants to bring the group in as heels but that’s expected to be overruled by a number of people within WWE including Stephanie McMahon who feel that the Harts are too famous (as the worlds best known Eh’ holes) to be booed right off the bat (in other words, let’s wait and see just how pompous of an asshole Teddy is before we boo them).

Hollywood would probably throw this script away.

A young woman from a small town in Minnesota, graduates from high school with nothing but her ancient Oldsmobile and moves to Florida. She takes a job at a Subway restaurant before eventually working her way up the ranks of professional wrestling and appearing on television. During her time in organizations like the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), she would visit 49 states and 13 countries, competing, performing and winning titles under names like Miss Madness, Starla Saxton and Molly Holly.

Don’t call us, we’ll call you.

Holly, er, Nora Greenwald did all of this before she was 30-years-old.

“That’s just an amazing opportunity that most people don’t get,” Greenwald says.

On the weekend of September 7, Greenwald, a 1996 graduate of Forest Lake High School will celebrate her 30th birthday with a party, and then she and her former co-worker Billy Kidman will take part in Linwood Family Fun Day on Saturday, Sept. 8.

From 4-5 p.m., Greenwald and Kidman will be signing autographs and selling various collectibles and paraphernalia, like 8×10 photographs and Greenwald’s autobiographical DVD.

Greenwald grew up in Linwood Township and shares how when she was 12-years-old, the football coach forgot to turn off the lights at the field. Word passed around the neighborhood kids to sneak out and meet on the field for a midnight game under the yellow glow of electricity. She said they ran around and acted like they were in the National Football League until 2 a.m., “having the time of our lives.”

“And it was just one of my favorite memories,” Greenwald says.

How it all began

Even though her wrestling career paid well and gave Greenwald the opportunity to travel like Angelina Jolie, she says her days at Subway were incredibly happy ones. Seriously. All while she was making minimum wage, had a whopping $3 for her daily food budget and washed her clothes in her sink.

Good times.

A co-worker attended a pro wrestling school and invited Greenwald to tag along. Greenwald didn’t know women actually competed, and the make-shift ring in the backyard of a trailer park wasn’t exactly screaming, This way to Show Business.

“But what I liked about it was there was such a diverse group of characters,” Greenwald says.

From “metal heads,” to a former police officer to transvestites, she was drawn to their shared obsession.

“I personally didn’t have a passion for pro wrestling, but it was really fun being around these people; they were just a really positive, fun group,” she says. “So I started hanging around because it would be a new hobby and (I could) make some new friends.”

After making numerous contacts with people in The Know, Greenwald had a few tryouts and from there she began to cruise up the different levels of World Professional Wrestling Federation, WCW and WWF/WWE.

“Behind the scenes it’s very professional,” she says. “It’s very structured backstage.”

Script writers would give the wrestlers their lines, their skits and their characters. From the catering to commercial breaks, the whole scene is planned and organized.

“In the ring, you know, you’re putting each other’s lives in your hands, so you’re really focused on entertaining the fans and also protecting your opponent from serious injury,” she says.

By 2005, Greenwald was getting out of the pro wrestling circuit for reasons she has kept private. Well, kinda.

“I reveal them on my DVD, which people can purchase at Linwood Family Fun Day,” she says with a laugh.

Nowadays, the woman who used to be featured in pay-per-view events and Wrestlemania, works in White Bear Lake at Minnesota Teen Challenge — a one-year residential drug and alcohol treatment program.

“I could see it as a long-term career, definitely,” Greenwald says.

And why not? The troubles faced by professional wrestlers have been well documented, with Chris Benoit’s murder-suicide being the latest tragedy to grab headlines. Greenwald shares that she’s had more than 10 friends and co-workers die from drugs, and that’s what drew her to the program.

A small chance remains that Greenwald will get back in the ring, but these days she doesn’t have the desire. Instead, she enjoys going to minor league wrestling shows where she might referee or sign autographs.

“It’s still really fun to be around people who are excited about their dreams,” Greenwald says.

And there we have the happy ending…

Linwood Family Fun Day is Saturday, Sept. 8, and runs from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Source: Glen Strandberg/Forest Lake Times

Lacey Von Erich, daughter of Kerry Von Erich, recently signed a developmental deal with WWE. She reported to Florida Championship Wrestling in Tampa just last week. She posted up a blog on her MySpace page talking about her wrestling experience thus far: Lets bring old scool back to WWE. I was signed by WWE and so far my wrestling experience has been amazing, I really feel like I was born for it…. BUT all they want the girls to do is dress like trashy and pull hair… I would rather wrestle like daddy and do back flips off the ropes! I feel like a lot of the girls have talent but we can’t show it as much… So if I don’t represent the Von Erich family like I should its not my fault…. I will do MY BEST to bring back how it was… Love everyone who supports our family!!!

On Raw, a graphic for the Divas Battle Royal at SummerSlam showed Maryse Ouellet on it. They showed the graphic again on last night’s ECW show, and she was removed from it. The battle royal would have been her first match in WWE. Other divas scheduled to compete in the battle royal include Jillian Hall, Beth Phoenix, Mickie James, Melina, Maria, Torrie Wilson, Michelle McCool, Victoria, Kristal, Cherry (her first WWE match), and Extreme Expose. The winner of the match will get an opportunity to challenge Candice Michelle for the Women’s Championship on a future date.

WWE.com has added profiles for all divas participating in the 2007 Diva Search.

Former WWE Diva Nora “Molly Holly” Greenwald is now working at an alcohol and drug rehabilitation clinic. She is slated to make an appearance in early September for “Family Fun Day” alongside former WCW star Billy Kidman. In a recent interview Greenwald says she has no intentions on getting back into the ring anytime soon.

Former wife of Steve Austin and Steve McMichael, Debra Marshall appeared Inside Edition. She talks about alcohol, pills, and steroid use and that it is out of control.

Chris Benoit’s Family tragedy was discussed as well. Debra also mentioned that she was a friend of Chris Benoit and Bryan “Crush” Adams. Her reaction to Crush’s death was “oh my god another wrestler has died”

Debra stated that during her 3 year marriage to Austin he has earned as much as $12 million a year. Debra also said that Austin took steroids and if you remember her being on media outlets in recent past, she did mention Steve Austin being abusive. Inside edition did try to contact Austin’s lawyers but received no return calls. According to Marshall she was hit on three different occassions by Austin. On air they showed Austin’s mugshot and mentioned Austin pleaded no contest to domestic abuse, divorcing shortly thereafter.

Marshall said drug and alcohol abuse is common among pro wrestlers. The voiceover guy said that wrestlers are on the road an “exhausting 250 days a year with no vacations, no pension, no health insurance, and little time for their families.” She said wrestlers have no life and its all about looking good and constantly having to stay in shape. She said that Vince McMahon rules, “this little world and if you complain then you’re going to lose your job.”

WWE issued a statement saying, “WWE is committed to doing everything we can to help the WWE performers of today lead healthier lives than pro wrestlers of past generations.” WWE (via statement) said that they have a zero tolerance drug testing program in place.

Debra thinks more steps need to be taken because “our friends are dying here all the time.” Debra also claimed that the whole ordeal with Steve Austin caused her to suffer from depression.

Source: PWInsider