David Copperfield and Criss Angel are 8th and 10th respectively in the Ticket News.com Vegas event rankings. Recently, it has been Angel ahead of Copperfield, although this could be the start of a new trend.

It looks like Criss Angel did have a big plan for his WWE RAW appearance. However, the wrestling brass nixed the stunt. This all according to his Twitter.

Inside scoop – I was supposed 2 do something in the ring at Raw but a few days be4 it got cancelled 4 my safety – it would have been awesome

WWE was very, very kind to me! Ill do in season 6 of MF and in live show…

We’re very curious to see what Angel planned.

How did David Blaine get booked as a last-minute guest for Magic-Con. We preview that convention and explain how you can experience it on iTricks if you are not going. Also, listen to Ludacris’ Criss Angel inspired song Mindfreak and much more.

As mentioned in the podcast, to submit a question for David Blaine to answer at Magic-Con, use the submission form HERE on the Magic-Con site

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No surprises here, Copperfield and Criss Angel are among the Ticket News.com Vegas Top Ten again this week. With fixture Bette Midler now permanently vacated, the rest of Sin City’s entertainment should get a little more wiggle room until Celine Dion resumes her show.

Meanwhile, with big changes allegedly coming to Believe, one would be wise to see how much the reshuffling moves the needle from the numbers they are charting now.

Anyone hoping for a big illusion within the squared WWE circle by Criss Angel might have been a bit disappointed by the Mindfreak’s turn as host of WWE Raw on the USA network Monday. Criss performed three backstage segments but played it straight before the main event when he announced the entrances of John Cena and Vince McMahon.

In the first segment, Angel performed Wayne Houchin’s Thread, in the second he read the mind of underrated veteran heel William Regal and in the third he performed the smash and stab, which considering that particular effect’s dodgy success rate, might have been a big enough risk for live television.

So what did you folks think? Comment below and please try and keep it germane to this particular topic.

What is the most profitable element of magic? Is Criss Angel really riding around on a bike made of bones? With all the old acts closing in Vegas, what should take their place? The latest on Tom Mullica and the strangest place you’ve ever seen magic done.

- Trick Shop Magic Find out what is new including great stuff from Eric Jones, Criss Angel, Roberto Giobbi & the classic Electric Touch from Yigal Mesika.

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Something we happened to miss last weekend with all the craziness of the lecture tour but is worth mentioning. Lance Burton, who has always been a friend to the beginning magician held a meet and greet with himself, Siegfried, Jeff McBride, Eugene Burger, Joshua Jay, Johnny Thompson, Criss Angel and Joe Monti attended by 53 young conjurers.

This from Robin Leach:

Master magician Lance Burton helped kick off a week of magic for the youth program of the World Magic Seminar at his castle in Henderson when he hosted a luncheon and meet-and-greet for 53 budding magicians with Siegfried Fischbacher and Criss Angel. The World Magic Seminar is based at The Orleans this week, and Lance invited many of the young magicians to his show at the Monte Carlo. It’s the 20th year of the convention in Las Vegas, with more than 1,000 attending. Lance said, “Can you imagine being a young magician coming to Las Vegas being able to meet one-on-one with some of the world’s most famous magicians? It’s a major international event.”

What an insane opportunity for those kids. The above photo came from @CrissAngel’s Twitter.

Atlanta rapper Ludacriss teams up with Criss Angel on this track Mindfreak left off his last album Theater of the Mind. In case I have to say it, the rap song is NSFW.

We can’t make this up. Criss Angel has commissioned and will receive a new motorcycle constructed from human bones once used for medical testing, according to Robin Leach.

A new $100,000 motorcycle made from human skeleton will be delivered to Mindfreak magician Criss Angel this weekend at his Cirque du Soleil show Believe at the Luxor. The folks at Big Bear Choppers made the custom super bike from bones dipped in stainless steel for the frame. A Georgia foundry cast the purchased bones that had been discarded after medical purposes.

Kevin and Mona Alsop from Big Bear Lake in California manufactured the machine and were featured on last season’s Mindfreak. It’s the seventh bike they’ve built for Criss, who plans to add it to illusions being created for Believe starting in mid-April and then keep it at his home. The other six are on display at the Luxor.

The bike will reportedly be used in one of the new Believe illusions.

Criss Angel Believe is again in the TicketNews.com Vegas Top Ten. With big changes looming to the show, it will be curious to see how these scores are affected.

Above is Perez Hilton attending the premiere of Cirque du Soleil’s new show Viva Elvis on Friday. Early Monday Morning, Angel responded on his Twitter account:

A special thanx 2 PH 4 the shirt support. I knew I’d grow on him… Lol:)

Btw “PH” is Perez Hilton…

Of course, these two have a bit of a history. Feel free to catch up.

And as always, your David Copperfield tour dates.

Newsmaker Interview: Geoff Williams he’s headed out on big European lecture tour so the creator of Miracles for Mortals talks about his past releases and what he is working on now.

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A lot of people will see Criss Angel when he steps inside the squared circle March 8th on WWE’s Monday Night RAW. The wrestling institution is routinely among the top cable programs of the week, but even for the numbers Vince McMahon’s operation is used to doing, that particular Monday will be something special.

That’s the day Vince goes back to war and Angel will be there to help fire the first shots.

On March 8th, rival organization Total Nonstop Action wrestling is moving its own flagship show Impact! to Monday nights so they can go head to head with the WWE. TNA recently overhauled their image by adding plenty of household names like Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan to their roster. The new faces were officially introduced in a special Monday night broadcast on January 5th which produced record ratings for TNA.

But it also produced a big number for the WWE. That’s because the industry leader counter programmed with a Pay Per View-worthy card and the return of legend Bret Hart, who had not been seen in a WWE ring since a legendary 1997 behind-the-scenes incident in Montreal led to a decade plus of vitriolic acrimony between both parties.

Long story short, Vince McMahon doesn’t like to lose. The last Monday Night Ratings War between he and the since-absorbed WCW led to one of the most colorful battles in the history of cable television. Viewership bloomed for both companies and professional wrestling was ushered into a golden age for both cultural relevance and creativity.

During the January 5th RAW, the peak was a 4.4 rating or roughly five million viewers. Compare that with the most watched episode of Mindfreak, the live Building Implosion, which drew about 2.2 million. Adding further perspective, David Letterman’s biggest ratings most recently came when he admitted he had engaged in an affair with a staff writer and was being blackmailed. That particular show drew an estimated 5.8 million viewers. Criss’ last appearance surely drew something far south of that.

UPDATE: However, Criss has had plenty of other bigger audiences, as was pointed out by iTricks Publisher Andrew Mayne in the comments. For example, the first episode of NBC’s Phenomenon starring Criss got 8.3 million viewers and a 5.2 rating. And his appearance on CSI: NY did about 12 million. And then there is the Oprah appearance at about 6 million.

On March 8th, TNA has already announced their main event will feature Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair squaring off. Vince is sure to counter with something to steal the rival promotions thunder. Criss will inadvertently be given a great opportunity to turn his biggest audience into Mindfreak fans.

The question is now, how will he use it?

Quite possibly the most recognizable creative force in the history of Cirque du Soleil, Franco Dragone is the creator of O, Mystère and La Nouba in Walt Disney World. It was shortly after the completion of those productions he left the company. He is still civil with his “former family” and he defends what is quite possibly the most critically maligned show in Cirque’s recent history: Criss Angel Believe.

According to this interview with Steve Friess of the Las Vegas Sun, the issues with the show do not lie on the shoulders of its star.

Dragone, it may surprise many, “will be maybe the only defender of Believe,” which he called “a beautiful production.” There are two reasons for this. First, the creator of rough-starting Le Rêve for Wynn Las Vegas has a soft spot for anyone being relentlessly and unanimously pounded by critics. And, secondly, he’s friends with Angel and the two of them once — and I didn’t know this — shopped a show together to a wisely unsold Steve Wynn.

So, having had a vision of what Angel could have done under his tutelage, Dragone seems to be saying the show, not the star, is the downfall: “It’s just a writing problem. It’s a staging problem.” And that seems to circle back to Dragone’s not-so-unspoken critique of Cirque’s dramatic expansion, the notion that if you try to do too much all at once you end up relying on a formula.

“The danger when you do too many shows is that you think that with the costumes, light, money, and tricks and performers, you do a show,” he said. “I think it’s more subtle than this.”

We are very curious to see how the show dreamed up between Angle and Dragone differed from the one currently playing on stage at the Luxor.

Criss Angel is the sole magic representation on this week’s Ticket News.com Vegas Top Ten. He slots in at fifth behind Cher, Cirque’s Love, Barry Manilow and Blue Man Group.

Newsmaker Interview: James L. Clark He went to Haiti on his own dime and is now starting a charity to target troubled areas in the time of most desperate need. Our buddy James tells us all about why he went down, what he saw and what he plans to do next.

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It’s official Criss Angel is set to “guest host” the WWE’s flagship program RAW on March 8th at the Rose Garden in Portland. He is just the latest to take his turn MC’ing the proceedings. Previous guests have included Pittsburgh Steelers’ QB Ben Roethlisberger and Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban.

Angel has a history with the sports entertainment powerhouse, he did a run of shows pre-Mindfreak in the basement of the WWF theme restaurant in Times Square.

Criss Angel and David Copperfield again represent the only magic listings on the TicketNews.com Vegas Top Ten. It is a particularly big jump for Angel who places behind only the currently closing Bette Midler, juggernaut Cher and Cirque’s Beatles tribute Love.

Perez Hilton has again become a burr in the saddle of Criss Angel. This time the oft-malicious blogger gave voice to members of CA’s Saturday crowd for Believe who were offended by a joke made by the illusionist.

Quoth Perez…

The illusionist began to do his skit with the jr. magician and said, “Just think, if you were a real magician you could get any girl in this audience that you wanted.” Criss pauses for a moment and added, “or in your case any guy.”

It became clear that he expected the audience to erupt in laughter at this “joke,” but all he received were some nervous laughs and boos! And from then on, the LGBT members of the crowd booed every time he finished an act.

Of course, this is not an isolated incident on a couple of fronts. Criss recently drew criticism when an audience member used a derogatory term for gays during the locked box mentalism effect that opens the show. Meanwhile, there is no love lost amongst Hilton and Angel, after the latter slammed the former from the stage last April.

We’d be surprised if this incident blew up as much as the two previously listed, but you never know. Thanks to iTricks reader Nick for passing this along.

According to the man himself, as posted on the @CrissAngel Twitter account, this is the placard that signifies Criss Angel’s parking spot. If you ever see this sign in front of a 2007 Toyota Matrix with a dented rear bumper instead of custom Lambo, you know we’ve made our power move.