Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NORM: Sighting fuels breakup reports

Ryan Reeves, also known as "Silverback," is among the finalists in the WWE Smackdown competition. Cindy Margolis seen at Hilton party. Frankie Muniz at Beacher's Madhouse.

Nicky Hilton was back in the company of her ex-flame, actor Kevin Connolly, during a marathon party weekend here, adding fuel to reports that her 2-month-old marriage to Todd Meister is splitsville.

Spies tell me Hilton, who was in Las Vegas for a James Bond-themed 21st birthday celebration, was spotted with Connolly on Saturday at Body English, the Hard Rock Hotel hot spot, and dancing at Light, the Bellagio nightclub, on Sunday night.

Meister was not on the guest list, I'm told.

Reports surfaced last week that Hilton and Meister, 33, were quietly negotiating an annulment to their Aug. 15 wedding. Hilton and Connolly had been dating at the time she and Meister got married, according to published reports.

Connolly, 30, plays a friend who keeps his rising-star pal grounded in HBO's comedy series "The Entourage," which starts its second season next year.

Connolly also played Chickie in "Rocky V" in 1990, Morgan Drysdale in "The Beverly Hillbillies" in 1993 and was in the mid-1990s TV series "Unhappily Ever After."

Wrestling with stardom

Ryan Reeves loved pro wrestling so much at age 13 that he landed the job as bell ringer at the Thomas & Mack Center when the World Wrestling Federation came to town.

Now he's on the brink of becoming a bell-ringing success inside the ring.

Wrestling under the name "Silverback," Reeves, 22, is among eight finalists and two alternates who emerged from last weekend's World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Smackdown competition, with a $1 million, four-year contract going to the winner.

The 6-foot-1, 275-pound Reeves, a former sports standout at Western and Palo Verde high schools, made the final eight from a field of 50 after several thousand auditioned for the Los Angeles beach event last weekend.

The Smackdown finals play out on UPN, Channel 14, at 8 p.m. every Thursday until the winner emerges.

Reeves is the son of Las Vegans Rodger Reeves and Janeen St. Claire.

The Scene and Heard

Colleague Geoff Schumacher, whose book "Sun, Sin and Suburbia" hits the stands this week, has a Stephens Press-hosted book signing tonight at the Ice House after a 7 p.m. VIP reception. Full disclosure: He's the editor of the Las Vegas Mercury, which is owned by the Stephens Group, which also owns my employer, the Review-Journal, and Stephens Press. ...

"Wild Time," a showcase presentation featuring the South African troupe Kat and the Kings, is open to the public at 7 tonight in the Pharaoh's Theatre at the Luxor. "Kat and the Kings" was the name of the group's Broadway production.

Sightings

Kanye West, at Nobu (Hard Rock Hotel) on Sunday after his show at the Palms. ... Nicky Hilton, being presented custom birthday cakes fashioned after the handbags she designs during her Hard Rock birthday party on Saturday. Attendees included her sister Paris, her parents, Rick and Kathy Hilton, Bijou Phillips, Connolly, Kevin Dillon of "Entourage," Jason Hervey, Cindy Margolis, skateboarder Chad Muska, Ananda Lewis of "The Insider," and Robin Leach. At Beacher's Madhouse (Hard Rock Hotel) on Saturday: Paris Hilton, Phillips, Margolis and Frankie Muniz.

The Punch Line

"I hate to advocate insanity, violence, alcohol, or weird chemicals to anyone, but they've always worked for me." -- Hunter S. Thompson

Norm Clarke can be reached at 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com.