According to WWE.com, Vince McMahon will open tonight’s edition of Monday Night Raw to announce a special “guest host” for the show.

Tonight’s show will also see a rematch for the Unified Tag Team Championship with Chris Jericho and Edge defending the tag titles against Carlito and Primo.

WWE DRAFT being held tonight! Click for details (>>)

El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori are the new IWGP Jr. Tag Team champions following tonight’s title match at Road To The New Beginning.

The duo defeated El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru in a match that featured three different referees being laid out throughout the course of the match. ELP eventually picked up the win for his team after superkicking Kanemaru. ELP’s gimmick during recent tours is scoring wins with what opponents suspect to be a loaded boot. In a backstage interview, ELP took off his boot and showed that nothing was inside.

After the match, ELP cut a promo praising his new superkick finish, calling himself an all-time great striker.

Desperado and Kanemaru had held the titles for 132 days, defeating Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI in a tournament final on September 11. The titles were previously vacated after YOH of Roppongi 3K suffered a torn ACL.

The next major NJPW show will be on January 30 with The New Beginning in Nagoya. Shingo Takagi will defend the NEVER Openweight championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi in the main event.

— “Hulk Hogan Appreciation Day” is taking place this afternoon at Toyota Park in Chicago. Hulk Hogan will be on hand for an autograph signing alongside a number of other former WWE performers including Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, Jimmy Hart, Tito Santana, Greg “the Hammer” Valentine, Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags.

The autograph session costs $99 and will be taking place from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Windy City Wrestling will be holding a “Legends Night” wrestling card inside the Major League Soccer stadium following the session.

While Hogan will not be wrestling on the card, Valentine, Beefcake, The Nasty Boys, Tito Santana, and Ring of Honor Champion Austin Aries are advertised to appear on the show.

For more event information, click here.

— Former WWE stars Snitsky, Manu, Haku and Gavin Spears will be wrestling at tomorrow night’s wXw “Samoan Invasion” event in Minneola, Florida (located at the Minneola Recreation Center 800 N. Highway 27 Minneola, FL). Snitsky will team up with Haku to take on Da Biff and WXW Hardcore Champion Dylan Knight whereas Manu will be tangling Gavin Spears. The event will also see WWE Hall of Fame members Afa and Sika “The Wild Samoans” reunite. Click here for more information on tomorrow night’s event.

– In today’s wrestling birthdays, former WWE star Billy Jack Haynes turns 56 years old whereas former WCW wrestler Johnny Grunge would have turned 43.

See video of R-Truth’s bizarre new gimmick (>)

source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

— The finishes to the Sting vs. Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle vs. Mick Foley matches at Sunday’s Victory Road pay-per-view were not scheduled to end in the same manner. According to those in TNA, Sting allegedly forgot the finish to his match.

While Sting was still scheduled to lose his match to Joe, it would have been via pinfall after a Muscle Buster rather than submission. Towards the conclusion of the match, Joe attempted to get Sting up on the top turnbuckle to setup his Muscle Buster finisher, but he dead weighted him. After two attempts at getting Sting up for his finisher, Joe called an audible and put Sting in the rear naked choke, calling for him to tap out.

Foley had done a promo building up the idea that he hadn’t tapped out in a match since 1991, and that while he may lose, he would never tap out. Foley did that promo to set up the shock of him tapping for the finish. Many backstage were unhappy with Sting as Foley tapping out was diluted by the fact it had just been done in the prior match. It also made the babyfaces come off weak as top babyfaces rarely tap, and it’s only done to have huge impact or if they are somehow cheated on.

— Following Victory Road, Jeremy Borash conducted unscripted interviews with Mick Foley and Kevin Nash. Click here to see the video interviews. Foley can be seen sitting with his children.

— Click here for a video message from TNA newcomer Alissa Flash. She has apparently tweaked her character’s look by adding a new eye makeup design.

TNA in talks with *MAJOR* former WWE star (>>)

TNA Knockout Lisa Marie Varon (formerly Victoria in WWE) is heading to the world of mixed martial arts and plans to make her pro MMA debut in the next year. Her manager, J.T. Stewart, who also manages former UFC champion Rich Franklin, discussed her plans with the Dayton Daily News.

“Obviously, with the exposure from the WWE, she already had the marquee value,” Stewart said. “She has the name. Women’s MMA is just starting to peak, and with her built-in fan base, she’ll have lot of opportunities with endorsements, sponsorships, autograph signings and card shows. Plus, she’s also just very athletic. We’ve seen Lashley and Lesnar cross over and do very well in MMA. I’d expect no less from her.”

Despite Varon’s recent debut with TNA Wrestling, Stewart said the nonrestrictive contract will allow Varon to wrestle and compete in MMA simultaneously.

Following Saturday’s Strikeforce MMA event featuring Gina Carano and Chris Cyborg, Strikeforce now appears to be the place to be for women fighters. Stewart and Varon currently have their sights set on Strikeforce fighter Kim Couture (1-1), the ex-wife of former UFC champ Randy Couture. “That’s definitely a fight we’re interested in,” Stewart said.

** HUGE List Of Celebrities Contacted By WWE To Host Raw (Some Weird & Shocking Names)

British fashion designer Kim Jones, who was appointed artistic director
of Fendi in September 2020, has unveiled his for the Italian fashion house.

Drawing from seemingly diverse inspirations, from the visual language of
Bernini’s marbles to Virginia Woolf’s time-travelling, gender-blurring
novel ‘Orlando’, the show navigates through a maze-like structure of glass
boxes offering a “unique journey from the British Bloomsbury to Rome’s
Galleria Borghese,” explained the fashion house.

This was certainly the most anticipated show of the haute couture
season, not just because of it being Jones’ debut collection for the
Italian brand, but also to see which of his famous model friends would take
to the catwalk.

He didn’t disappoint with Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Kate
Moss all marked their return to the catwalk, alongside appearances from
Kate’s daughter Lila Moss, Bella Hadid, Cara Delevingne, Adwoa Aboah, and
actress Demi Moore, who opened the show.

Supermodels Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Kate Moss return to
the catwalk for Fendi couture

Inspired by ‘Orlando’ and the Bloomsbury set of strong, intellectual
women, Jones’ debut couture collection, offered both looks for women and
men. It was filled with decadent, regal and structured silhouettes in
metallic brocade, luxe translucent silk fabrics, woven jacquards, and
hand-beaded tailoring.

A love letter written by Virginia Woolf to Vita Sackville-West in 1928,
only three years after Fendi was founded, Orlando’s literary conceits are
directly interspersed throughout the collection, in form of metal-bound
book clutches, as well as the text itself being inscribed onto Mother of
Pearl minaudières and leather boots.

Another key detailing is in the embroidered embellishments on the gowns
inspired by painted murals from Charleston, home of the Bloomsbury Group in
Sussex, located only a short distance from where Jones spent much of his
childhood.

“I like how this family of people – and particularly these two
pioneering sisters – moved things forward,” says Jones in the show notes.“I
admire the way that they lived their lives, the freedom that they created
for themselves and the art that they left behind for the world.”

Highlights from the show included a pearl-encrusted chiffon gown worn
over a cream bodysuit, a metallic brocade suit, a grey maxi embroidered
maxi dress with capelet sleeves, numerous beaded and sheer layered gowns,
and off-the-shoulder two-pieces.

For red carpet events in the future, celebrity stylists were probably
adding the gorgeous capes to their wishlist. Worn by men and women, the
capes were seen over tailored trouser suits as well as draped over slinky
gowns in gold, navy and silver marble-effect prints, inspired by the
hand-printed, marble-bound books published by Virginia and Leonard Woolf
for Hogarth Press.

There was also a small homage to Karl Lagerfeld with Karligraphy
monograms taken from Lagerfeld’s final collection beaded onto boots.