Former WWE star Umaga hospitalized with life-threatening conditions

The website wrestlingobserver.com is reporting that former WWE star Umaga, real name Edward Fatu is hospitalized in Houston and in what was described as life-threatening condition by a long-time friend. 

His family was told to come into town as quickly as possible and doctors do not have much hope for Fatu to survive.

Fatu, 36, apparently fell asleep last night while watching television, and several hours later, his wife found him not breathing with blood coming out of his nose and he was rushed to the hospital.

Fatu had just returned recently from the Hulk Hogan tour of Australia. 

He was released by WWE in June after failing a drug test and refusing the company's wishes to send him to rehab. 

Update: We regret to report that Fatu has passed away. More details here.

-- Houston Mitchell 

WWE Bragging Rights results

John Cena defeats Randy Orton in 60:00 Ironman Match

It was tied 5-5 when Cena made Orton tap to the STFU with five seconds remaining.

Team Smackdown defeats Team Raw

Team Raw had the upper hand until The Big Show turned on his own team, choke slamming Kofi Kingston off of the top rope and letting Jericho get the pin. Big Show also gave Triple H the Giant Knockout.

The Undertaker retains title against CM Punk, Rey Mysterio and Batista

Batista powerbombed Undertaker, but Mysterio saved.  Mysterio Batista got mad at Mysterio saying they are supposed to be friends. Undertaker pins Batista with a tombstone. Josh Matthews interviews Mysterio and Batista, who says he is sick of his friends betraying him. Batista then attacked Mysterio, officially turning heel.

Captain Lou Albano dies at 76

Legendary pro wrestling manager Captain Lou Albano died this morning, MTV.com is reporting.

Albano, who was sent home from the hospital earlier this week and place under hospice care, was 76 years old.

Albano is best known to non-wrestling fans as the father in Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" video. That helped kick off the Rock 'n Wrestling connection that launched the then-WWF to national prominence in the 1980s.

What is your favorite Lou Albano memory? Leave a comment and let us know.

And here's some video of Albano from his heyday back in 1984:

-- Houston Mitchell

Chris Nowinski discusses concussions and how they affect athletes

Chris Nowinski, one of the founders of the Sports Legacy Institute, recently gave an interview to the website wizofodds.com, talking about advancements made in the study of concussions.

Nowinski, who was a former college football player and pro wrestler who was forced to retire because of concussions, is one of the leading advocates toward better research on the impact concussions can have on players, especially later in life.

"Back when I played — back in the late '90s — if you got a concussion, you'd probably go back into the same game, but if you were really screwed up, you'd sit out a day or two. Now the research is out there that supports the idea that no athlete should ever return to play while symptomatic," Nowinski said.

The entire interview can he heard here.

-- Houston Mitchell

WWE's Linda McMahon to run for the Senate

Let's see. Randy Orton can be campaign manager. DX can handle the media. Jillian Hall can be in charge of music.......

Linda McMahon, the chief executive officer of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., announced Wednesday that she is resigning to run for Senate in her home state of Connecticut. McMahon, a Republican, will look to unseat Democrat Christopher Dodd in the 2010 election.

How soon until her opponents pull out some great moments from WWE's past, such as Stone Cold Steve Austin stunning her, or son-in-law HHH being intimate with a corpse in a coffin? I'm guessing not long.

But if they do, she can always call The Rock, and beg him to come back to WWE, and tell her opponents to take their ads, shine them up real nice, and ...... well, you know the rest.

-- Houston Mitchell

Photo: Linda McMahon. Credit: Douglas Healey / Associated Press

Former WWE star Jeff Hardy arrested

WWE star Jeff Hardy, who lost a loser leave WWE match to CM Punk two weeks ago as a storyline reason for him to leave WWE and pursue a reality TV show, has been arrested in North Carolina, Wrestlingobserver.com is reporting.

During a search of Hardy's house, Moore County (N.C.) officers say they located and seized approximately 262 Vicodin prescription pills, 180 Soma prescription pills, 555 milliliters of anabolic steroids, a residual amount of powder cocaine, and items of drug paraphernalia.

Hardy could be charged with felony trafficking in opium, two counts of felony possession with intent to sell or deliver a Schedule III controlled substance, felony maintaining a dwelling to keep controlled substance, felony possession of cocaine, and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.

He is being held on $125,000 bond in the Moore County Detention Center.

-- Houston Mitchell

Photo: Jeff Hardy appears on the cover of WWE Magazine. Credit: Business Wire.

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WWE Lakers win 5-on-5 battle at Staples

They received a Staples Center introduction by longtime Lakers public-address announcer Lawrence Tanner, and the participants in World Wrestling Entertainment's special 5-on-5 match between the Denver Nuggets (The Miz, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, Big Show and Randy Orton) and the Lakers (John Cena, MVP, Batista, Jerry "the King" Lawler and Mr. Kennedy) went at it after a predicted session of smack talk.

The Miz said Cena "is an overrated, phony poser, kind of like Kobe Bryant," and said he would exact punishment "more painful than Magic Johnson's talk show."

The mammoth Big Show wore No. 99 for the "Nuggets," and big-ego MVP wore Bryant's No. 24.

The bout was preceded by a humorous tag-team match between Goldust and his small-person partner Hornswoggle against The Brian Kendrick and the mentally-deficient Festus, who was perhaps appropriately dressed in a Clippers jersey, that of Baron Davis. Kendrick-Festus lost of course.

Crowd chants of "Let's go Lakers" started the battle but the "nuggets" surged to an early advantage as MVP was battered by all of the powder-blue visitors, twice kicking out of a two-count before tagging teammate Mr. Kennedy.

Kennedy sustained big blows by Orton and a vicious head butt by Big Show, as a real Nuggets fan cheered on and informed the Staples masses that their stars were losing early in the second half.

Kennedy finally got to tag Cena, who punished Rhodes before tagging MVP. MVP and Cena, flashing his classic "You can't see me" pose, then took a turn on Rhodes and MVP finished the job with the pin.

For good measure, Cena and Batista shrugged off a dual chokehold by Big Show by flipping him and starting a Lakers celebration -- no matter what was going on in Denver.

--Lance Pugmire  

McMahon, "Kroenke" go at it early

World Wrestling Entertainment opened its "Monday Night Raw" show with the showdown everyone was waiting for: an impersonator of Denver Nuggets/Pepsi Center owner Stan Kroenke and WWE chairman Vince McMahon heatedly discussing the double-booking dispute that forced WWE out of Denver and to Staples Center.

Looking cheesy with a bad mustache and cheap sports coat, "Kroenke" entered the arena with a basketball and handed it to an actor supposed to be Lakers owner Jerry Buss. The scene fooled some in the crowd, and required at least one fan to explain, "It's an impersonator, dude!"

But "Kroenke" wasted no time further offending WWE fans in L.A., telling the crowd he was owner of the "soon-to-be NBA champion Denver Nuggets."

"I cannot stand the WWE or its fans, for that matter. Do you think I care that I screwed thousands of fans? I have much more important things to do with my time. ... I'm a respected tycoon/billionaire. I've been villified by the WWE, the media and every one of you."

A photo then flashed on a big screen showing Kroenke with a devil's tail and horns, while McMahon wore a halo.

McMahon then entered the arena to say he was announcing the formation of a new pro basketball league, the XBA, that would fail miserably, because, "I will have [Kroenke] and your staff run it."

"All you had to do was pick up the phone and explain that [you] didn't expect [your] team to make the playoffs."

McMahon then ridiculed that Kroenke is formally known as E. Stan Kroenke, revealing the E. stands for Enos.

"Enos, look at you," McMahon said, as the Kroenke impersonator covered his ears in shame. "You're an Enos! ... You have a terminal case of Enos envy.

"You disrespect the WWE fans. You think you can push around the WWE universe? The problem with that is when you push us, we push back.

He then shoved "Kroenke" through the ropes to the arena floor below as cheers erupted.

--Lance Pugmire

Photo: WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon. Credit: Will Ragozzino/Getty Images

Live from Staples for WWE's Monday Night Raw

Since Denver's Pepsi Center booted World Wrestling Entertainment's planned Monday night Raw event out on its ear, payback is scheduled tonight at Staples Center when Denver Nuggets and Pepsi Center owner Stan Kroenke is expected to be the butt of at least one skit scheduled at the show's opening.

We hear impersonators of NBA Commissioner David Stern, Lakers owner Jerry Buss, Jack Nicholson and "some bimbos" will also color the skit, aimed at embarrassing Kroenke for double booking WWE and Game 4 of the Nuggets-Lakers Western Conference finals series tonight.

Staples officials are expecting a limited-venue capacity of near 9,000 fans for the event, pleasing them given that the event was only finalized last week.

Still, coming to WWE on a Lakers night was a tough call, admitted many fans dressed in Lakers garb.

"To get an opportunity to bash on the Denver Nuggets is worth it," Juan Gutierrez, 24, of Los Angeles said, dressed in a Pau Gasol jersey. "It was a hard decision, but I got TiVo on the game, and I'll get updates when I get a chance."

One of the segments Monday at WWE will be a 5-on-5 playoff featuring stars John Cena, Big Show and others going at it in Lakers and Nuggets jerseys. It's expected that Cena's team will have a mystery guest, Mr. Kennedy, who has recovered from a torn labrum that's caused him to miss five months of action.

"We all know who's going to win that one, the Lakers team," Gutierrez said.

We'll have more on this event later at latimes.com/sports. "Monday Night Raw" airs on the USA network at 8 p.m.

--Lance Pugmire

Photo: WWE wrestler John Cena and WWE executive Shane McMahon attend Game 2 of the Western Conference finals on Thursday in Denver. Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

WWE's Shane McMahon, John Cena now Lakers fans after 'Monday Night Raw' moves to Staples

It's been an eventful few weeks in Los Angeles.

The Rockets upset the Lakers in Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference semifinals. The Rockets and Lakers get chippy in Game 2, leading to a Ron Artest suspension and one crazy postgame interview. Dodgers left fielder Manny Ramirez fails a drug test, is suspended 50 games and writers and fans react with either outrage or sadness.

The Lakers test their fans' sanity level, going toe to toe for seven games with a Rockets team that started the series without Tracy McGrady and Dikembe Mutombo, then lost Yao Ming, eventually giving fans a sigh of relief. It looks like the Lakers are back to the same old story, losing to the Nuggets in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals after some thought the series was already over.

Somehow, someway, World Wrestling Entertainment also fit into the sports conversation. Kroenke Sports realized it double-booked WWE's "Monday Night Raw" and Game 4 of the Lakers-Nuggets series Monday at the Pepsi Center in Denver, leading WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to say Kroenke Sports doubted the Nuggets' playoff chances. Preference was given to the Nuggets-Lakers, and soon WWE relocated "Monday Night Raw" to Staples Center.

WWE executive Shane McMahon and wrestler John Cena caught Game 2 of the Nuggets-Lakers series. And before seeing their new favorite team lose, they spoke to The Times in the video below:

-- Mark Medina

McMahon: WWE move to Staples brokered at Lakers-Nuggets Game 1

World Wrestling Entertainment Chairman Vince McMahon told The Times today that the agreement to move his scheduled 'Monday Night Raw" event from Denver's Pepsi Center to Staples Center was verbally agreed upon by his son, Shane, and AEG executive Tim Leiweke at Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference Finals Tuesday night at Staples Center.

"We were invited to come out to L.A., and that's what we did," McMahon said. "It's not easy moving the second largest traveling show in the country behind Ringling Bros. [circus] at the last minute, when you're talking about rerouting trucks and finding hotel rooms on a holiday. But we're doing it. Now we just need to sell tickets."

The rescheduled "Raw" show certainly has attracted publicity after McMahon blasted Denver Nuggets and Pepsi Center owner Stan Kroenke for double-booking his Colorado venue with the WWE and Game 4 of the Nuggets-Lakers series. McMahon is calling Kroenke by his formal name now, E. Stan Kroenke, and encouraged an investigation into "people who have one letter as their first name being bad people."