Big time news coming your way in this special edition of The Wrestling List. What a stunner of news today coming from the wrestling world. Hulk Hogan had a press conference take place today at Madison Square Garden. The press conference has been scheduled for a while and I figured was just going to be about the book. However, TNA officials were in attendance where it was announced that he has signed with TNA. Yes, you read that right. Hulk Hogan has signed with TNA!! He is apparently going to be partnering with the company so I’m not sure what that extends to. I also found it funny that this news was announced at MSG which is mostly home base for WWE. The news isn’t done though. Someone else is joining him in the venture. Eric Bischoff. Yes, you read that right too. Eric Bischoff is working with TNA on the business end of the company and the deal between Hogan and TNA was negotiated by Bischoff. Bischoff will partner with TNA through his production company with Jason Hervey. TNA recently signed a new deal with Spike TV and the deal included letting them expand their programming including to other outlets from what I understand. So, Bischoff being involved is going to help them with that. He is mostly going to be involved with that end of the company.
This is the official press release from TNA:
HULK HOGAN JOINS TNA WRESTLING
Legendary Wrestler and Pop Culture Icon Returns To The Ring With Fast-Rising Wrestling Organization
“Hulkamania” is back! The biggest name in professional wrestling history, Hulk Hogan, is joining Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling (TNA), the fastest rising wrestling organization in the world and home to one of cable television’s highest rated shows for young men, TNA iMPACT! The announcement was made today by TNA Wrestling in conjunction with Spike TV at a press conference held in New York City.
“Hulk Hogan is one of the world’s top pop culture icons and the biggest superstar in the history of professional wrestling. We are truly excited to welcome him into the TNA family,” said Dixie Carter, President of TNA Wrestling. “Our goal is to become the world’s biggest professional wrestling company. Hulk defines professional wrestling and we look forward to partnering with him in a variety of ways as we continue to grow TNA globally.”
“I’m thrilled to be jumping back into the world of professional wrestling,” said Hogan. “My fans have been asking me to return to the business for many years on a full time basis, but the timing or the opportunity has never been right until now. TNA Wrestling is a great company with an already excellent fan base, business and broadcast partner. I firmly believe now is the time for some change at TNA as they are positioned to jump to the next level in their development and I’m here to work with Dixie to help make that a reality.”
Through Hogan’s partnership with Bischoff Hervey Entertainment Television, the deal with TNA was negotiated by longtime Hogan colleague Eric Bischoff. Additionally, BHE TV has inked a first-look deal with TNA and will be working with the organization to develop new programming extensions of the TNA brand.
“Hulk Hogan adds yet another level of star power that positions TNA iMPACT as Spike TV’s version of ‘Must-See TV’ on Thursday nights,” said Kevin Kay, president of Spike.
Hogan most recently penned an autobiography with Mark Dagostino, “My Life Outside The Ring” with St. Martin’s Press
What does this mean? Well, TNA just took a HUGE step into becoming competition. Hogan will bring publicity to the company and get their name out there. Will Hogan wrestle? It does sound like that he may wrestle every so often but he is going to appear on Impact obviously at times when he isn’t wrestling.
Now, when you see all the names that are now within the organization of TNA, you have to think that there is no way that this works. When I saw this, I had to think Vince Russo is going out of the door very soon. You have to remember that Russo does not have any kind of good relations with Hogan or Bischoff. Hogan and Russo’s relationship went really bad back when they worked together toward the end of WCW. You may remember the shoot incident that went down at WCW’s Bash At The Beach in 2000 where Russo and Hogan had a disagreement. Russo decided to do his best to ruin Hogan including him having Jarrett lay down in the middle of the ring. Hogan responded by getting on the mic saying to Russo in the back that this was the reason that the company was in such horrible shape. He did cuss on live PPV while describing this too. Then, Hogan left the building and never came back to WCW. Russo went to the ring later in the show and did a shoot promo on Hogan completely ripping on him. Hogan ended up filing a suit against Russo. Obviously, their relationship ended there. Bischoff worked with Russo for a few weeks on the relaunch of WCW which also took place in 2000 and in the time line before what happened with Hogan. Bischoff got fed up with Russo’s ideas just after a few weeks and left the company. He said that he just couldn’t work with him. Bischoff has been critical of Russo for years.
You just have to wonder on what Vince McMahon and WWE’s reaction is to this news? Keep in mind that WWE has a new Hulk Hogan DVD coming out next month.
Needless to say, this obviously is going to get a lot of attention on TNA. This is the most excited that I’ve been for the company since the first confrontation between Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe. I was already set to start watching the show again just based on the fact that we were getting an Angle/Nigel McGuinness feud. This takes it to a whole different level. Hopefully, this is going to be a move that steps TNA up to the next level. Hogan’s name value and Bischoff’s experience should be a great combination. Hopefully, the company will go back to focusing on wrestling and start using that great amazing young talent that they have. Like I said in last night’s List, having AJ vs. Joe vs. Daniels as your next PPV main event at the same time that you’ve building an Angle/Nigel feud is a huge step in the right direction. Now, you add the news of today with Hogan and Bischoff and optimism is abound. I’ve also heard rumblings that another big name might be following over but we’ll have to see. TNA will have to find a way to mix that young talent with the established stars and grow. If they can get the right combination of creative minds with that talent, the sky is the limit for them. It’s just a matter of them doing it. Expect to see Hogan’s signing shown on Impact this week as it is already being promoted on TNA’s website. Hogan was on Larry King tonight and did mention his signing with TNA and has more talk show appearances scheduled for this week promoting his book. So, that will be even more promotion for the company. This is huge news everyone!! Huge news!! We’ll just have to see what TNA can do with this move. Dixie Carter is in a good position right now and we’ll have to see what she can do with this company from here.
Here is the link to check out the Impact promo featuring the Hogan announcement.
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Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Bragging Rights Results, Jim Ross News, Raw Thoughts, & More - October 26, 2009
Welcome to the “why wasn’t Carl Edwards the pick for a Nascar GM since he is such a huge WWE fan?” edition of The Wrestling List. One month away from the ten year anniversary of The Wrestling List. That is unreal to think that I’ve almost been typing this thing up for ten years now!!
Jim Ross suffered another bout with bell’s palsy last week as he was a plane on his way to the Smackdown tapings. So terrible to hear this news. This is his third time that he has been hit hard with it. That was why he did not appear on Smackdown last week or on the PPV last night. He has been blogging about his condition. His vision in his right eye is not good and he is having to wear an eye patch. He added that the right side of his face has drooped but not as badly as previous attacks of it. He has been seeing doctors of course and there is no word on when he could return but he is vowing to return. JR posted on his blog today that his MRI results were met with mixed reactions from the medical community and wasn’t sure where they were going to go from here with his recovery. I know I speak for everyone in saying prayers for JR and wishing him a great and speedy recovery. I just feel awful for him that he is still having to battle this awful thing.
Ok, I do just have to laugh for a moment at WWE changing up the big seven on seven match last week on Smackdown. It looks like WWE even realized that they had a weak team that no one was going to believe had a chance. Escobar, McIntyre, Dolph Ziggler, and Cryme Tyme were pulled from the match after they lost the match on Smackdown. Replacing them were Matt Hardy, Finlay, R Truth, and The Hart Dynasty. Yeah, that is a much more compelling team than having such a one sided match.
Here are the results of last night’s WWE Bragging Rights PPV. There was a three man announce crew including Michael Cole, Todd Grisham, and Jerry Lawler. The first Raw vs. Smackdown match was The Miz taking on John Morrison. Miz won the match when Morrison went for the moonsault but Miz knocked him off of the ropes and got the win. Raw is up 1-0 and I thought that was a big win for Miz that needed to be done. Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix, and Natalya defeated the team of Melina, Kelly Kelly, and Gail Kim when Beth hit her finisher on Melina to get the pinfall. That tied up Raw and Smackdown at 1-1. Next was the fatal four way for the World title between Undertaker, Batista, Rey Mysterio, and CM Punk. The story of the match was the problems between Rey and Batista. Each kept breaking up one another’s pin attempts. They ended up arguing during the match with Rey saying that they agreed that it was every man for himself. The finish had Punk being thrown from the ring and then Batista threw Rey on top of him. However, then Undertaker hit the tombstone to pin Batista to retain the title. After the match, Josh Mathews entered the ring to get comments from Rey and Batista. Rey played everything off that all was cool between them while Josh questioned Batista on how it must feel to keep getting so close to winning. Batista said that he was tired of his best friend stabbing him in the back. He ended up clotheslining Rey and firing him out of the ring. Batista continued the assault on the floor while yelling that Rey was supposed to be his friend. He then threw him into the barrier. Well, there is the Batista heel turn that people had been thinking was coming. I think it is a good call cause he just isn’t working as a face lately. Maybe a heel turn will be good for him. Next was the seven on seven match with Team Raw of DX, Big Show, Cody Rhodes, Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger, and Mark Henry taking on Team Smackdown of Chris Jericho, Kane, The Hart Dynasty, Matt Hardy, R Truth, and Finlay. The finish had Big Show turning on the Raw team. He chokeslammed Kofi and then hit the knockout punch on to Triple H. Show left the ring and then Jericho pinned Kofi to win the match for Team Smackdown. Smackdown wins the series. That gets us to the main event, the 60 minute ironman match with Randy Orton defending the WWE title against John Cena. If Cena loses, he leaves Raw. Cena and Orton were tied going into the last minute of the match with five falls a piece. Cena hooked on the STF with one minute left and Orton tapped out with five seconds left. That gave Cena the six falls to five falls win to win the WWE title.
Tonight’s Raw. Ehhhhh. Not much worthwhile on it and just felt like a filler kind of show. It wasn’t awful but it was just one of those ehhh kind of shows. Tonight’s show was hosted by Nascar’s Kyle Busch and Joey Logano. I was disappointed with what they did with Busch and Logano. Well, for one, it was the wrong place to have them host as you could tell a lot of the audience wasn’t Nascar fans. This should have been done in Charlotte or somewhere nearby to get a bigger reaction. It was kind of bizarre cause they played Busch as a heel at the beginning and then it was like that went away later on. The show opened up with Jericho bragging over the win at Bragging Rights with Big Show by his side. Jericho credited Show on what he did last night but also added that they would have won anyway regardless of Show cause of Jericho’s genius. Show went on to say that he didn’t do that for anything other than for himself. He said that he did it to further himself and had talked to Teddy Long who had given him a World title shot against The Undertaker. Jericho then said that he didn’t approve this and that was when Busch and Logano arrived driving their cars into the building. Busch sided with Show while Logano sided with the Raw roster that had gotten turned on. Logano made a match with Triple H taking on Big Show while Busch made a match for Jericho which was against Kofi Kingston. That match started the show and Kofi was able to get the win on Jericho. The odds were then stacked for Big Show when it came time for the main event. Triple H said that they had talked to the GM’s and that the match was now a lumberjack match with the Raw roster being the lumberjacks. Jericho took off quietly through the crowd when the lumberjacks made their way to the ring. Shawn Michaels added that the match was No DQ as well and that the lumberjacks could do whatever they wanted. Cena was then introduced as the special referee. The finish was pretty much the Raw roster just nailing finishers left and right to Show which was finished by an adjustment from Cena, a superkick from Shawn, and a pedigree from Triple H who got the pin. The other tease of the night was who would be the opponent for Cena at Survivor Series for the title. Orton couldn’t get it although he did a promo saying that he was going to fight against the stipulation of the loss last night. Dibiase and Rhodes did a promo as well saying that they were going to bring the title back to Legacy. Cena said that he had earned the right to move on and that everyone was sick of the feud already. Cena did get Dibiase and Rhodes a match with MVP and Henry. MVP got the pin on Dibiase to win the match. Now, I guess this factors into the Survivor Series main event decision as well. Hornswoggle was served with papers by DX to quit wearing their merchandise. Well, Busch and Logano returned later after the main event saying that Hornswoggle had helped them come up with the match for Survivor Series. Cena will defend the WWE title in a triple threat match against Shawn Michaels and Triple H. In other Raw action, Orton and Kofi Kingston are set to feud. After Kofi won his match with Jericho, Orton attacked him on the ramp. Later, Dibiase and Rhodes presented Orton with a race car with Orton’s likeness on it. Well, Kofi ended up destroying it later in the night for Orton to watch up on the big screen. Melina and Santino defeated Chavo and Jillian when Melina pinned Jillian. Evan Bourne defeated The Miz by countout. Earlier in the night, Swagger had talked trash to Miz while also hitting on Eve. Eve was the special ring announcer. Swagger made his way to the ring during the match. He hit on Eve and talked trash on Miz once again. Miz confronted him on the floor. Bourne dove outside and took out both of them. Then, Bourne got back in the ring and won by countout. Sheamus has been moved over to Raw and won his debut match against Jamie Noble.
Other notes from Raw. I’m still surprised why they didn’t have Carl Edwards as a guest host if they were getting someone from Nascar. He frequents WWE events and is a friend of Cena. Maybe they’ll have him later. Maybe in the offseason since he is in the chase for the championship. Wow, nothing screams squash match when you see Jamie Noble first thing in the ring after coming back from commercial. Again, I just didn’t understand the idea of the booking of Kyle Busch tonight. He was siding with Big Show to open the show up but yet was part of stacking the deck against Show in the main event. I thought they should have done a heel/face GM deal this week which they did….for one segment.
The guest hosts for next week’s Raw will be Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne.
Major surprise news last week when Nigel McGuinness signed with TNA. Yep, he was originally going to WWE but WWE apparently took a pass on him. He has had some major injuries over the years so that may have scared off WWE. So, he signed with TNA. He is going by the name of Desmond Wolf. What is he doing right off the bat after entering the company? Feuding with Kurt Angle. Now, there is a dream matchup. The main event for next month’s PPV is AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Daniels which is a rematch of possibly the greatest match in TNA history. Is TNA starting to make a change in direction here? I’m feeling better about some of their recent moves here.
Hulk Hogan’s new book “My Life Outside The Ring” is released tomorrow. The focus of the book will be mostly on his tough personal battle in the last couple of years and there have been some shocking things to come out of it quote wise in the last week. Hogan will be on Larry King Live on CNN tomorrow night.
There was a photo released last week of the cast of the new Celebrity Apprentice and in it were Maria and Goldberg. So, it appears that both will be appearing on the show.
A week away from November programming on WWE 24/7 Classics On Demand and still no choices for votes. Remember that next month is fan voted all around to celebrate the fifth anniversary. Only thing is that we’re still waiting on choices to show up to vote on. Strange.
That is it for this week. Take care and God bless!!
Jim Ross suffered another bout with bell’s palsy last week as he was a plane on his way to the Smackdown tapings. So terrible to hear this news. This is his third time that he has been hit hard with it. That was why he did not appear on Smackdown last week or on the PPV last night. He has been blogging about his condition. His vision in his right eye is not good and he is having to wear an eye patch. He added that the right side of his face has drooped but not as badly as previous attacks of it. He has been seeing doctors of course and there is no word on when he could return but he is vowing to return. JR posted on his blog today that his MRI results were met with mixed reactions from the medical community and wasn’t sure where they were going to go from here with his recovery. I know I speak for everyone in saying prayers for JR and wishing him a great and speedy recovery. I just feel awful for him that he is still having to battle this awful thing.
Ok, I do just have to laugh for a moment at WWE changing up the big seven on seven match last week on Smackdown. It looks like WWE even realized that they had a weak team that no one was going to believe had a chance. Escobar, McIntyre, Dolph Ziggler, and Cryme Tyme were pulled from the match after they lost the match on Smackdown. Replacing them were Matt Hardy, Finlay, R Truth, and The Hart Dynasty. Yeah, that is a much more compelling team than having such a one sided match.
Here are the results of last night’s WWE Bragging Rights PPV. There was a three man announce crew including Michael Cole, Todd Grisham, and Jerry Lawler. The first Raw vs. Smackdown match was The Miz taking on John Morrison. Miz won the match when Morrison went for the moonsault but Miz knocked him off of the ropes and got the win. Raw is up 1-0 and I thought that was a big win for Miz that needed to be done. Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix, and Natalya defeated the team of Melina, Kelly Kelly, and Gail Kim when Beth hit her finisher on Melina to get the pinfall. That tied up Raw and Smackdown at 1-1. Next was the fatal four way for the World title between Undertaker, Batista, Rey Mysterio, and CM Punk. The story of the match was the problems between Rey and Batista. Each kept breaking up one another’s pin attempts. They ended up arguing during the match with Rey saying that they agreed that it was every man for himself. The finish had Punk being thrown from the ring and then Batista threw Rey on top of him. However, then Undertaker hit the tombstone to pin Batista to retain the title. After the match, Josh Mathews entered the ring to get comments from Rey and Batista. Rey played everything off that all was cool between them while Josh questioned Batista on how it must feel to keep getting so close to winning. Batista said that he was tired of his best friend stabbing him in the back. He ended up clotheslining Rey and firing him out of the ring. Batista continued the assault on the floor while yelling that Rey was supposed to be his friend. He then threw him into the barrier. Well, there is the Batista heel turn that people had been thinking was coming. I think it is a good call cause he just isn’t working as a face lately. Maybe a heel turn will be good for him. Next was the seven on seven match with Team Raw of DX, Big Show, Cody Rhodes, Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger, and Mark Henry taking on Team Smackdown of Chris Jericho, Kane, The Hart Dynasty, Matt Hardy, R Truth, and Finlay. The finish had Big Show turning on the Raw team. He chokeslammed Kofi and then hit the knockout punch on to Triple H. Show left the ring and then Jericho pinned Kofi to win the match for Team Smackdown. Smackdown wins the series. That gets us to the main event, the 60 minute ironman match with Randy Orton defending the WWE title against John Cena. If Cena loses, he leaves Raw. Cena and Orton were tied going into the last minute of the match with five falls a piece. Cena hooked on the STF with one minute left and Orton tapped out with five seconds left. That gave Cena the six falls to five falls win to win the WWE title.
Tonight’s Raw. Ehhhhh. Not much worthwhile on it and just felt like a filler kind of show. It wasn’t awful but it was just one of those ehhh kind of shows. Tonight’s show was hosted by Nascar’s Kyle Busch and Joey Logano. I was disappointed with what they did with Busch and Logano. Well, for one, it was the wrong place to have them host as you could tell a lot of the audience wasn’t Nascar fans. This should have been done in Charlotte or somewhere nearby to get a bigger reaction. It was kind of bizarre cause they played Busch as a heel at the beginning and then it was like that went away later on. The show opened up with Jericho bragging over the win at Bragging Rights with Big Show by his side. Jericho credited Show on what he did last night but also added that they would have won anyway regardless of Show cause of Jericho’s genius. Show went on to say that he didn’t do that for anything other than for himself. He said that he did it to further himself and had talked to Teddy Long who had given him a World title shot against The Undertaker. Jericho then said that he didn’t approve this and that was when Busch and Logano arrived driving their cars into the building. Busch sided with Show while Logano sided with the Raw roster that had gotten turned on. Logano made a match with Triple H taking on Big Show while Busch made a match for Jericho which was against Kofi Kingston. That match started the show and Kofi was able to get the win on Jericho. The odds were then stacked for Big Show when it came time for the main event. Triple H said that they had talked to the GM’s and that the match was now a lumberjack match with the Raw roster being the lumberjacks. Jericho took off quietly through the crowd when the lumberjacks made their way to the ring. Shawn Michaels added that the match was No DQ as well and that the lumberjacks could do whatever they wanted. Cena was then introduced as the special referee. The finish was pretty much the Raw roster just nailing finishers left and right to Show which was finished by an adjustment from Cena, a superkick from Shawn, and a pedigree from Triple H who got the pin. The other tease of the night was who would be the opponent for Cena at Survivor Series for the title. Orton couldn’t get it although he did a promo saying that he was going to fight against the stipulation of the loss last night. Dibiase and Rhodes did a promo as well saying that they were going to bring the title back to Legacy. Cena said that he had earned the right to move on and that everyone was sick of the feud already. Cena did get Dibiase and Rhodes a match with MVP and Henry. MVP got the pin on Dibiase to win the match. Now, I guess this factors into the Survivor Series main event decision as well. Hornswoggle was served with papers by DX to quit wearing their merchandise. Well, Busch and Logano returned later after the main event saying that Hornswoggle had helped them come up with the match for Survivor Series. Cena will defend the WWE title in a triple threat match against Shawn Michaels and Triple H. In other Raw action, Orton and Kofi Kingston are set to feud. After Kofi won his match with Jericho, Orton attacked him on the ramp. Later, Dibiase and Rhodes presented Orton with a race car with Orton’s likeness on it. Well, Kofi ended up destroying it later in the night for Orton to watch up on the big screen. Melina and Santino defeated Chavo and Jillian when Melina pinned Jillian. Evan Bourne defeated The Miz by countout. Earlier in the night, Swagger had talked trash to Miz while also hitting on Eve. Eve was the special ring announcer. Swagger made his way to the ring during the match. He hit on Eve and talked trash on Miz once again. Miz confronted him on the floor. Bourne dove outside and took out both of them. Then, Bourne got back in the ring and won by countout. Sheamus has been moved over to Raw and won his debut match against Jamie Noble.
Other notes from Raw. I’m still surprised why they didn’t have Carl Edwards as a guest host if they were getting someone from Nascar. He frequents WWE events and is a friend of Cena. Maybe they’ll have him later. Maybe in the offseason since he is in the chase for the championship. Wow, nothing screams squash match when you see Jamie Noble first thing in the ring after coming back from commercial. Again, I just didn’t understand the idea of the booking of Kyle Busch tonight. He was siding with Big Show to open the show up but yet was part of stacking the deck against Show in the main event. I thought they should have done a heel/face GM deal this week which they did….for one segment.
The guest hosts for next week’s Raw will be Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne.
Major surprise news last week when Nigel McGuinness signed with TNA. Yep, he was originally going to WWE but WWE apparently took a pass on him. He has had some major injuries over the years so that may have scared off WWE. So, he signed with TNA. He is going by the name of Desmond Wolf. What is he doing right off the bat after entering the company? Feuding with Kurt Angle. Now, there is a dream matchup. The main event for next month’s PPV is AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Daniels which is a rematch of possibly the greatest match in TNA history. Is TNA starting to make a change in direction here? I’m feeling better about some of their recent moves here.
Hulk Hogan’s new book “My Life Outside The Ring” is released tomorrow. The focus of the book will be mostly on his tough personal battle in the last couple of years and there have been some shocking things to come out of it quote wise in the last week. Hogan will be on Larry King Live on CNN tomorrow night.
There was a photo released last week of the cast of the new Celebrity Apprentice and in it were Maria and Goldberg. So, it appears that both will be appearing on the show.
A week away from November programming on WWE 24/7 Classics On Demand and still no choices for votes. Remember that next month is fan voted all around to celebrate the fifth anniversary. Only thing is that we’re still waiting on choices to show up to vote on. Strange.
That is it for this week. Take care and God bless!!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Raw, Smackdown, TNA Bound For Glory Results, Bragging Rights Preview, & More - October 19, 2009
Welcome to the “when I looked at the clock near the time of the Shawn/Jericho match, I realized we weren’t going to get a match” edition of The Wrestling List. That figures too cause that was the match that I was looking forward to.
Rupp Arena hosted Smackdown last week and here is a recap of the show. Teddy Long opened up the show announcing Chris Jericho, the team captain of Smackdown. Jericho talked trash on DX and then was interrupted by Kane. Kane was saying how he was going to be a co-captain. Jericho said that was his idea all along for him to be in that role which was pretty funny. Smackdown team qualifying matches took place all night. Dolph Ziggler qualified by defeating Finlay and Mike Knox in a triple threat match. Finlay nailed Knox with the shilleigheigh (yeah, I’m sure that isn’t how you spell it, LOL) but Ziggler stole the victory by pinning Knox. Next was a tag team qualfiier. Cryme Tyme defeated The Hart Dynasty when JTG pinned Tyson Kidd. Eric Escobar defeated Matt Hardy to qualify. Escobar is Vickie Guerrero’s new man. Vickie got the distraction of Matt which led to Eric getting the pin on Hardy. Drew McIntyre was the last one to qualify by defeating R Truth. In other action, Rey Mysterio got a win on Batista in the main event. Rey hit a 619 and then went for the springboard which was caught. Batista went to hit the Batista bomb but Rey countered it into a rana. Rey got the win but Batista’s shoulder was up with the ref not seeing it. Batista argued the call with the ref but then let it go. He congratulated Rey and left the ring. CM Punk hit the ring and attacked Rey with the GTS. Punk took off through the crowd. Batista ran back to the ring to help Rey. Really good back and forth between John Morrison and The Miz as they reunited on The Dirt Sheet. They talked trash on one another. I really liked the line of Morrison’s by saying that Raw had become a cheap version of Saturday Night Live. You know, it really does remind me of SNL now that I think about it with a little bit of wrestling thrown in. The talk was how teams break up and one goes on to super stardom while the other goes nowhere. That brought up The Rockers with them arguing over who would be Marty Jannetty. The divas had a segment backstage with Mickie and Beth both making their statement to Michelle and the Women’s title.
This week’s Raw was a better show than last week. It had more wrestling on it which I liked but I was hoping for more. Cena and Triple H was good but I was really looking forward to another Shawn Michaels/Chris Jericho match. Tonight’s show was guest hosted by Snoop Dogg. I thought he did a solid job. He’s a long time WWE fan and also does good with his appearances. He got in some action as well getting to throw some shots at Chavo. DX talked about the Smackdown team including doing a lot of comedy. They introduced their team. Basically, the problems started with the team not getting along. DX then announced that the team would then be in action. Not including DX of course. So, Henry, Big Show, Kofi, Swagger, and Rhodes took on the team of MVP, Bourne, Primo, Chavo, and Masters. The idea was that if anyone from Team Raw lost the match, they would be replaced by the person who pinned them. The finish had Cody hitting the crossrhodes on to Primo. Swagger then tagged himself in and made the pin on Primo. Swagger stole the win from Cody. This started problems between them and then the whole team ended up going at it. DX was watching from the monitor in the back at this time. Later, John Cena took on Triple H. This was hyped as Cena’s possible last match on Raw. Lots of counters and kick outs to finishers. Cena kicked out of the pedigree while Triple H was able to kick out of the adjustment. The finish did have Triple H winning with the pedigree. After the match, they shook hands. Cena got up and saluted the fans with a look of knowing this could be his last Raw match. The show finished with the Shawn Michaels/Chris Jericho match. Well, it didn’t happen. Jericho got on the mic instead and brought out his Smackdown team. Shawn was on his own till Triple H brought out a reunited Team Raw. They faced off with Triple H telling Jericho that what brought them back together was their common hatred for Jericho, the team, and Smackdown in general. Vickie Guerrero arrived saying that she was a consultant for the team and denied the fight happening. Triple H mocked Jericho about listening to his boss and then said that they don’t work for Vickie and Team Raw started the fight. The show went off the air with the brawl going on. Snoop Dogg set up a match with Orton taking on Dibiase. Dibiase said he had been trying to call Orton all week but got no response. Orton walked in on the interview saying that Dibiase would do the right thing tonight and show respect by not fighting back against him. Dibiase’s excuse of the pin last week was saying that he did what he had to do to get a win adding that Orton would have done the same thing. The match took place with Orton landing a shot and then he would stare at Dibiase. Dibiase would look furious and then Orton would land a kick. This kept going including Orton shoving Dibiase. Dibiase then shoved Orton back and Orton landed on the mat. Dibiase then backed off and then Orton hit him with a RKO for the pinfall. After The Miz called out Jannetty last week, Snoop appeared replacing Miz’s opponent for tonight. Marty Jannetty was the opponent and got to have a decently competitive match with Miz. Miz won with the skull crushing finale. Melina defended the Divas title against Jillian Hall who was accompanied by Chavo. Hornswoggle stopped Chavo from interfering and then Melina hit the split legdrop for the win. After the match, Chavo went after Hornswoggle but Snoop Dogg ran out to save him. Snoop then landed some shots on Chavo. The divas came to the ring and everyone danced including Hornswoggle as well.
Other notes from Raw. Great tribute to Captain Lou Albano tonight on Raw. I’m not sure that mocking the Smackdown team on how nobody knows who they are is the best way to build a PPV match. Why? Well, because the team does have talent on it that people don’t know. LOL. I’m not sure that WWE making fun of the Triple H/Kane angle was a bright thing to do when Linda is trying to fight in politics and they are bringing that stuff up against her. Yes, the people fighting against her have brought up some of the more tasteless angles that WWE has done over the years and that has been one brought up in the last week. I did laugh at Triple H bringing up Kofi’s accent being gone. That has been discussed a lot lately with wondering when that character change happened. Wow, Mickie James didn’t even get put on the Smackdown Divas team. She was replaced by Natalya who barely gets to wrestle anymore. That music video of the Cena/Orton feud was really well produced which aired tonight. Their production team is just amazing at putting together video packages like that especially set to mainstream music. Isn’t it kind of silly to promote this as possibly Cena’s last match on Raw? They do cross promotional shows all the time. Even if he loses on Sunday, the odds are that Cena would be on the next three hour Raw which is coming up soon. I did laugh at Santino when he walked in cause I got the Charlie Brown/Snoop Dogg joke immediately. Wow, WWE sure was balancing that kids rating tonight during that whole segment with Snoop Dogg lighting……candles. Did anyone else laugh at the “did you know” segment which asked if we knew that they were the longest running entertainment program? Yes, we did know that. You remind us of it at least five times every show. I’m not sure why you would have Triple H go over John Cena right before Cena’s big iron man match where he is going in as the challenger. That just didn’t make much sense to me other than making Triple H look bigger.
Wow, how weak does the Smackdown team look against Team Raw? That fatal four way on Smackdown really took a lot of star power out of that elimination match. I just don’t get how you build this match with so many unknowns on the Smackdown side especially when you have them being mocked as nobody’s. The star power is very one sided for Raw. It didn’t help that they put Show on the Raw side when he would have at least added some star power to the Smackdown side. Smackdown has some young guys with potential but not enough has been seen of them yet. Escobar and McIntyre are being thrown right in there with not much known about them. I’m wondering if this match turns into a squash with Jericho being the only one left battling.
Next week’s Raw will be guest hosted by Nascar’s Kyle Busch and Joey Lagano. When I saw that Busch would be the host, I had to look on the schedule to see where Raw is next week. I was kind of surprised to see that it takes place in Buffalo, NY which is out of Nascar country for the most part. If you aren’t familiar with either, expect to hear a lot of boos for Busch. He has become Nascar’s bad boy. Lagano is a youngster who recently started driving the #20 that used to be driven by Tony Stewart before Tony left to form his own team this year.
TNA held their Bound For Glory PPV last night which is of course their WrestleMania show of the year. The show opened with the TNA X Division title match with Amazing Red defeating Suicide, Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, and Daniels. Daniels did suffer a separated shoulder and hurt his neck during the match taking a nasty bump off of the Ultimate X wires. Sarita and Taylor Wilde defeated The Beautiful People to retain the Knockouts tag team titles. Eric Young defeated Kevin Nash and Hernandez to win the Legends title when Young pinned Nash. The Full Metal Mayhem match featured Team 3D taking on Beer Money, The British Invasion and Booker T/Scott Steiner for the TNA and IWGP tag team titles. The belts hung above the ring and that was the way to win. Devon was able to grab the IWGP tag belt to win those for Team 3D. A few minutes later, The British Invasion was able to win the TNA tag team titles. ODB defeated Awesome Kong and Tara in the Knockouts title match. Bobby Lashley defeated Samoa Joe but Joe never tapped out. The ref called for the bell since Joe was out of it in the submission. The crowd was much more into Samoa Joe. The LA crowd was booing Lashley. Joe also wrestled this match with the flu. In the Monster’s Ball match, Abyss defeated Mick Foley which also had Dr. Stevie as the special referee. Lots of nasty spots in this one. The biggest was Daffney being chokeslammed on to a barbed wire board. Abyss took out all three of them and counted the three count with Stevie’s hand. Kurt Angle defeated Matt Morgan. The crowd was very mixed on Angle and Morgan. The finish had Morgan catching Angle’s moonsault attempt but Angle rolled up Morgan for the win. Then it was main event time with AJ Styles defending against Sting. If Sting loses, he would walk away from wrestling. AJ was able to defeat Sting with the pele followed by a splash to retain the title. Sting and AJ shook hands afterwards. Sting let AJ have the moment in the ring with the victory. AJ called Sting back to the ring to speak for the fans. He thanked the fans and put over AJ’s victory. Sting said that he didn’t plan on pulling a Brett Favre and making an announcement. He said that he didn’t know if he’d come back but wanted to stay forever after hearing the fans reaction to the match. Glad to see AJ get the win.
Jerry Lawler will be commentating on Smackdown this week and be reunited with Jim Ross. Todd Grisham is on his honeymoon after recently getting married.
The Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 video game is released tomorrow in stores. The WWE Batista: I Walk Alone DVD is released in stores tomorrow.
Well, we’re halfway through October and WWE has yet to put up ANY voting for next month's Pick Your Big Month for the five year anniversary of WWE 24/7 Classics On Demand where the fans choose the programming.
It appears that WWE has listened to the fan complaints of the editing of blood on WWE 24/7 Classics On Demand. For a few months, WWE started going black and white during bloody matches to mask it. They got a lot of complaints over it and I’ve already voiced my opinion of leaving original footage the way it is. There have been several matches that have aired which do have blood in them and the black and white is gone.
The WWE Bragging Rights PPV is this Sunday on PPV and here is the lineup for it. Randy Orton defends the WWE title against John Cena in a 60 minute iron man match with no rules. If Cena loses, he leaves Raw. The Undertaker defends the World title against Batista, Rey Mysterio, and CM Punk in the fatal four way. Team Raw of DX, Mark Henry, Big Show, Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger, and Cody Rhodes take on Team Smackdown of Chris Jericho, Kane, Cryme Tyme, Dolph Ziggler, Eric Escobar, and Drew McIntyre. Intercontinental Champion John Morrison takes on US Champion, The Miz. Raw vs. Smackdown with the divas as well. For Raw, Melina, Kelly Kelly, and Gail Kim take on Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix, and Natalya from Smackdown.
That is it for this week. Have a great week!! Take care and God bless!!
Rupp Arena hosted Smackdown last week and here is a recap of the show. Teddy Long opened up the show announcing Chris Jericho, the team captain of Smackdown. Jericho talked trash on DX and then was interrupted by Kane. Kane was saying how he was going to be a co-captain. Jericho said that was his idea all along for him to be in that role which was pretty funny. Smackdown team qualifying matches took place all night. Dolph Ziggler qualified by defeating Finlay and Mike Knox in a triple threat match. Finlay nailed Knox with the shilleigheigh (yeah, I’m sure that isn’t how you spell it, LOL) but Ziggler stole the victory by pinning Knox. Next was a tag team qualfiier. Cryme Tyme defeated The Hart Dynasty when JTG pinned Tyson Kidd. Eric Escobar defeated Matt Hardy to qualify. Escobar is Vickie Guerrero’s new man. Vickie got the distraction of Matt which led to Eric getting the pin on Hardy. Drew McIntyre was the last one to qualify by defeating R Truth. In other action, Rey Mysterio got a win on Batista in the main event. Rey hit a 619 and then went for the springboard which was caught. Batista went to hit the Batista bomb but Rey countered it into a rana. Rey got the win but Batista’s shoulder was up with the ref not seeing it. Batista argued the call with the ref but then let it go. He congratulated Rey and left the ring. CM Punk hit the ring and attacked Rey with the GTS. Punk took off through the crowd. Batista ran back to the ring to help Rey. Really good back and forth between John Morrison and The Miz as they reunited on The Dirt Sheet. They talked trash on one another. I really liked the line of Morrison’s by saying that Raw had become a cheap version of Saturday Night Live. You know, it really does remind me of SNL now that I think about it with a little bit of wrestling thrown in. The talk was how teams break up and one goes on to super stardom while the other goes nowhere. That brought up The Rockers with them arguing over who would be Marty Jannetty. The divas had a segment backstage with Mickie and Beth both making their statement to Michelle and the Women’s title.
This week’s Raw was a better show than last week. It had more wrestling on it which I liked but I was hoping for more. Cena and Triple H was good but I was really looking forward to another Shawn Michaels/Chris Jericho match. Tonight’s show was guest hosted by Snoop Dogg. I thought he did a solid job. He’s a long time WWE fan and also does good with his appearances. He got in some action as well getting to throw some shots at Chavo. DX talked about the Smackdown team including doing a lot of comedy. They introduced their team. Basically, the problems started with the team not getting along. DX then announced that the team would then be in action. Not including DX of course. So, Henry, Big Show, Kofi, Swagger, and Rhodes took on the team of MVP, Bourne, Primo, Chavo, and Masters. The idea was that if anyone from Team Raw lost the match, they would be replaced by the person who pinned them. The finish had Cody hitting the crossrhodes on to Primo. Swagger then tagged himself in and made the pin on Primo. Swagger stole the win from Cody. This started problems between them and then the whole team ended up going at it. DX was watching from the monitor in the back at this time. Later, John Cena took on Triple H. This was hyped as Cena’s possible last match on Raw. Lots of counters and kick outs to finishers. Cena kicked out of the pedigree while Triple H was able to kick out of the adjustment. The finish did have Triple H winning with the pedigree. After the match, they shook hands. Cena got up and saluted the fans with a look of knowing this could be his last Raw match. The show finished with the Shawn Michaels/Chris Jericho match. Well, it didn’t happen. Jericho got on the mic instead and brought out his Smackdown team. Shawn was on his own till Triple H brought out a reunited Team Raw. They faced off with Triple H telling Jericho that what brought them back together was their common hatred for Jericho, the team, and Smackdown in general. Vickie Guerrero arrived saying that she was a consultant for the team and denied the fight happening. Triple H mocked Jericho about listening to his boss and then said that they don’t work for Vickie and Team Raw started the fight. The show went off the air with the brawl going on. Snoop Dogg set up a match with Orton taking on Dibiase. Dibiase said he had been trying to call Orton all week but got no response. Orton walked in on the interview saying that Dibiase would do the right thing tonight and show respect by not fighting back against him. Dibiase’s excuse of the pin last week was saying that he did what he had to do to get a win adding that Orton would have done the same thing. The match took place with Orton landing a shot and then he would stare at Dibiase. Dibiase would look furious and then Orton would land a kick. This kept going including Orton shoving Dibiase. Dibiase then shoved Orton back and Orton landed on the mat. Dibiase then backed off and then Orton hit him with a RKO for the pinfall. After The Miz called out Jannetty last week, Snoop appeared replacing Miz’s opponent for tonight. Marty Jannetty was the opponent and got to have a decently competitive match with Miz. Miz won with the skull crushing finale. Melina defended the Divas title against Jillian Hall who was accompanied by Chavo. Hornswoggle stopped Chavo from interfering and then Melina hit the split legdrop for the win. After the match, Chavo went after Hornswoggle but Snoop Dogg ran out to save him. Snoop then landed some shots on Chavo. The divas came to the ring and everyone danced including Hornswoggle as well.
Other notes from Raw. Great tribute to Captain Lou Albano tonight on Raw. I’m not sure that mocking the Smackdown team on how nobody knows who they are is the best way to build a PPV match. Why? Well, because the team does have talent on it that people don’t know. LOL. I’m not sure that WWE making fun of the Triple H/Kane angle was a bright thing to do when Linda is trying to fight in politics and they are bringing that stuff up against her. Yes, the people fighting against her have brought up some of the more tasteless angles that WWE has done over the years and that has been one brought up in the last week. I did laugh at Triple H bringing up Kofi’s accent being gone. That has been discussed a lot lately with wondering when that character change happened. Wow, Mickie James didn’t even get put on the Smackdown Divas team. She was replaced by Natalya who barely gets to wrestle anymore. That music video of the Cena/Orton feud was really well produced which aired tonight. Their production team is just amazing at putting together video packages like that especially set to mainstream music. Isn’t it kind of silly to promote this as possibly Cena’s last match on Raw? They do cross promotional shows all the time. Even if he loses on Sunday, the odds are that Cena would be on the next three hour Raw which is coming up soon. I did laugh at Santino when he walked in cause I got the Charlie Brown/Snoop Dogg joke immediately. Wow, WWE sure was balancing that kids rating tonight during that whole segment with Snoop Dogg lighting……candles. Did anyone else laugh at the “did you know” segment which asked if we knew that they were the longest running entertainment program? Yes, we did know that. You remind us of it at least five times every show. I’m not sure why you would have Triple H go over John Cena right before Cena’s big iron man match where he is going in as the challenger. That just didn’t make much sense to me other than making Triple H look bigger.
Wow, how weak does the Smackdown team look against Team Raw? That fatal four way on Smackdown really took a lot of star power out of that elimination match. I just don’t get how you build this match with so many unknowns on the Smackdown side especially when you have them being mocked as nobody’s. The star power is very one sided for Raw. It didn’t help that they put Show on the Raw side when he would have at least added some star power to the Smackdown side. Smackdown has some young guys with potential but not enough has been seen of them yet. Escobar and McIntyre are being thrown right in there with not much known about them. I’m wondering if this match turns into a squash with Jericho being the only one left battling.
Next week’s Raw will be guest hosted by Nascar’s Kyle Busch and Joey Lagano. When I saw that Busch would be the host, I had to look on the schedule to see where Raw is next week. I was kind of surprised to see that it takes place in Buffalo, NY which is out of Nascar country for the most part. If you aren’t familiar with either, expect to hear a lot of boos for Busch. He has become Nascar’s bad boy. Lagano is a youngster who recently started driving the #20 that used to be driven by Tony Stewart before Tony left to form his own team this year.
TNA held their Bound For Glory PPV last night which is of course their WrestleMania show of the year. The show opened with the TNA X Division title match with Amazing Red defeating Suicide, Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, and Daniels. Daniels did suffer a separated shoulder and hurt his neck during the match taking a nasty bump off of the Ultimate X wires. Sarita and Taylor Wilde defeated The Beautiful People to retain the Knockouts tag team titles. Eric Young defeated Kevin Nash and Hernandez to win the Legends title when Young pinned Nash. The Full Metal Mayhem match featured Team 3D taking on Beer Money, The British Invasion and Booker T/Scott Steiner for the TNA and IWGP tag team titles. The belts hung above the ring and that was the way to win. Devon was able to grab the IWGP tag belt to win those for Team 3D. A few minutes later, The British Invasion was able to win the TNA tag team titles. ODB defeated Awesome Kong and Tara in the Knockouts title match. Bobby Lashley defeated Samoa Joe but Joe never tapped out. The ref called for the bell since Joe was out of it in the submission. The crowd was much more into Samoa Joe. The LA crowd was booing Lashley. Joe also wrestled this match with the flu. In the Monster’s Ball match, Abyss defeated Mick Foley which also had Dr. Stevie as the special referee. Lots of nasty spots in this one. The biggest was Daffney being chokeslammed on to a barbed wire board. Abyss took out all three of them and counted the three count with Stevie’s hand. Kurt Angle defeated Matt Morgan. The crowd was very mixed on Angle and Morgan. The finish had Morgan catching Angle’s moonsault attempt but Angle rolled up Morgan for the win. Then it was main event time with AJ Styles defending against Sting. If Sting loses, he would walk away from wrestling. AJ was able to defeat Sting with the pele followed by a splash to retain the title. Sting and AJ shook hands afterwards. Sting let AJ have the moment in the ring with the victory. AJ called Sting back to the ring to speak for the fans. He thanked the fans and put over AJ’s victory. Sting said that he didn’t plan on pulling a Brett Favre and making an announcement. He said that he didn’t know if he’d come back but wanted to stay forever after hearing the fans reaction to the match. Glad to see AJ get the win.
Jerry Lawler will be commentating on Smackdown this week and be reunited with Jim Ross. Todd Grisham is on his honeymoon after recently getting married.
The Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 video game is released tomorrow in stores. The WWE Batista: I Walk Alone DVD is released in stores tomorrow.
Well, we’re halfway through October and WWE has yet to put up ANY voting for next month's Pick Your Big Month for the five year anniversary of WWE 24/7 Classics On Demand where the fans choose the programming.
It appears that WWE has listened to the fan complaints of the editing of blood on WWE 24/7 Classics On Demand. For a few months, WWE started going black and white during bloody matches to mask it. They got a lot of complaints over it and I’ve already voiced my opinion of leaving original footage the way it is. There have been several matches that have aired which do have blood in them and the black and white is gone.
The WWE Bragging Rights PPV is this Sunday on PPV and here is the lineup for it. Randy Orton defends the WWE title against John Cena in a 60 minute iron man match with no rules. If Cena loses, he leaves Raw. The Undertaker defends the World title against Batista, Rey Mysterio, and CM Punk in the fatal four way. Team Raw of DX, Mark Henry, Big Show, Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger, and Cody Rhodes take on Team Smackdown of Chris Jericho, Kane, Cryme Tyme, Dolph Ziggler, Eric Escobar, and Drew McIntyre. Intercontinental Champion John Morrison takes on US Champion, The Miz. Raw vs. Smackdown with the divas as well. For Raw, Melina, Kelly Kelly, and Gail Kim take on Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix, and Natalya from Smackdown.
That is it for this week. Have a great week!! Take care and God bless!!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Shane McMahon Leaving WWE - October 16, 2009
Wow, big news out of WWE today. Shane McMahon is leaving WWE. Yes, you read that right!! WWE released this statement earlier today: STAMFORD, CT – Shane McMahon, Executive Vice President of Global Media, announced today he has tendered his resignation effective January 1, 2010.
Shane stated, “It has been an incredible experience to help build WWE® into a global phenomenon. However, having been associated with this organization for the majority of my life, I feel this is the opportune time in my career to pursue outside ventures.”
“Even though I am personally saddened by Shane’s decision to leave the company, I am proud of the enormous contributions he has made. He will unquestionably bring passion, commitment and extensive business experience to any endeavor he pursues,” said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman and CEO.
http://www.wwe.com/inside/news/shanemcmahontodepartWWE
Now, Shane McMahon has since released this personal statement about his leaving the company.
It is with great sadness that I announce my resignation from the WWE, effective January 1, 2010.
I have never even considered a future outside the walls of the WWE. However, sometimes life takes an unexpected turn and while it is the most difficult decision I have ever made, it is time for me to move on.
First and foremost, I would like to thank my father for the incredible education working with him has provided and for giving me the opportunity to play a role in building WWE into the global phenomenon that it is today. I am extremely proud to have been the 4th generation in this business, and I am grateful for everyday I was able to work along side not only my own, but the entire WWE family.
Thank you to all of the WWE Superstars both past and present for your passion, pride and dedication. You are truly the engine of the organization and it has been a pleasure to work with, learn from and get to know all of you. Thank you for the privilege of sharing the stage with you and for allowing me to become but a momentary member of your elite brotherhood. I have so much appreciation for the many sacrifices you endure, both physically and personally, to make this business the success that it is. The respect I have for each of you is immeasurable.
Finally, there are no words to express my gratitude to WWE fans the world over for supporting this company through good times and bad and for your unbridled passion that fuels the Superstars’ performances. I am profoundly grateful to have been able to entertain you both in front of the camera and from behind the scenes. You are the greatest fans in the world.
I will always love this business and will remain a fan forever.
Shane
http://www.wwe.com/inside/news/shanemcmahonresigns
My reaction to this? Umm, WOW!!!! What can you say to this news? I am completely shocked and, like everyone else, wondering what the reasoning is behind this move. Keep in mind that Linda McMahon recently stepped down as CEO to pursue politics in Connecticut. So, that leaves Vince and Stephanie. I'm curious to see what Shane's next move is cause I just really have this gut feeling that he is going to try something business wise. I, of course, know nothing other than the press release and his comments with what has been put out there so far.
Ok, now I just have to speculate and let my imagination run wild. This is all just me being hopeful. How awesome would it be for Shane to go start his own promotion and be a competitor? I just really feel like Shane may try to do something but I don't know what. If not wrestling, maybe it will be something else. He is into the MMA stuff too and has often wanted to tie MMA into WWE but that got shot down too as he saw a long time ago how MMA was taking off in popularity. It will be interesting to follow this story and see what happens. Wouldn't it be funny if the storyline of 2001 came true in real life where Shane steps up as a competitor to WWE cause he didn't like the current product of WWE? Again, this is all just me talking, speculating, and hoping. It is fun to just let your imagination run wild though on a story. This story could be something simple on why he is leaving or there could be more to it. We'll just have to wait and see.
Shane stated, “It has been an incredible experience to help build WWE® into a global phenomenon. However, having been associated with this organization for the majority of my life, I feel this is the opportune time in my career to pursue outside ventures.”
“Even though I am personally saddened by Shane’s decision to leave the company, I am proud of the enormous contributions he has made. He will unquestionably bring passion, commitment and extensive business experience to any endeavor he pursues,” said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman and CEO.
http://www.wwe.com/inside/news/shanemcmahontodepartWWE
Now, Shane McMahon has since released this personal statement about his leaving the company.
It is with great sadness that I announce my resignation from the WWE, effective January 1, 2010.
I have never even considered a future outside the walls of the WWE. However, sometimes life takes an unexpected turn and while it is the most difficult decision I have ever made, it is time for me to move on.
First and foremost, I would like to thank my father for the incredible education working with him has provided and for giving me the opportunity to play a role in building WWE into the global phenomenon that it is today. I am extremely proud to have been the 4th generation in this business, and I am grateful for everyday I was able to work along side not only my own, but the entire WWE family.
Thank you to all of the WWE Superstars both past and present for your passion, pride and dedication. You are truly the engine of the organization and it has been a pleasure to work with, learn from and get to know all of you. Thank you for the privilege of sharing the stage with you and for allowing me to become but a momentary member of your elite brotherhood. I have so much appreciation for the many sacrifices you endure, both physically and personally, to make this business the success that it is. The respect I have for each of you is immeasurable.
Finally, there are no words to express my gratitude to WWE fans the world over for supporting this company through good times and bad and for your unbridled passion that fuels the Superstars’ performances. I am profoundly grateful to have been able to entertain you both in front of the camera and from behind the scenes. You are the greatest fans in the world.
I will always love this business and will remain a fan forever.
Shane
http://www.wwe.com/inside/news/shanemcmahonresigns
My reaction to this? Umm, WOW!!!! What can you say to this news? I am completely shocked and, like everyone else, wondering what the reasoning is behind this move. Keep in mind that Linda McMahon recently stepped down as CEO to pursue politics in Connecticut. So, that leaves Vince and Stephanie. I'm curious to see what Shane's next move is cause I just really have this gut feeling that he is going to try something business wise. I, of course, know nothing other than the press release and his comments with what has been put out there so far.
Ok, now I just have to speculate and let my imagination run wild. This is all just me being hopeful. How awesome would it be for Shane to go start his own promotion and be a competitor? I just really feel like Shane may try to do something but I don't know what. If not wrestling, maybe it will be something else. He is into the MMA stuff too and has often wanted to tie MMA into WWE but that got shot down too as he saw a long time ago how MMA was taking off in popularity. It will be interesting to follow this story and see what happens. Wouldn't it be funny if the storyline of 2001 came true in real life where Shane steps up as a competitor to WWE cause he didn't like the current product of WWE? Again, this is all just me talking, speculating, and hoping. It is fun to just let your imagination run wild though on a story. This story could be something simple on why he is leaving or there could be more to it. We'll just have to wait and see.
The Passing of Captain Lou Albano - October 16, 2009
Such a sad news story to hear this week with the passing of Captain Lou Albano. There was talk the night before he passed that he was in very bad health and things weren't looking good. Albano passed away at the age of 76 of natural causes. Albano's popularity really showed this week based on the amount of media outlets that picked up the story. Albano was big into helping get the then WWF over to the mainstream media and helped the wrestling boom of the 80's. He was put with Cyndi Lauper and helped with the build of her with WrestleMania. You may also remember that he appeared in her music video, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Lauper and Albano kept in touch over the years including her writing the fore word for his autobiography released in recent years. Lauper has been quoted in recent days with crediting Albano in helping get her music career climbing. When I started watching wrestling, Albano was a manager so that is what I'm always going to remember him for. He was also a face by the time I was watching so his heel stuff that I've seen over the years has been on tapes. His name is always thrown in there when you talk about great wrestling managers over the years. Albano was inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame in 1996. He was truly one of the legends of WWE history and, like I said, it has shown this week with the many tributes and articles about him. He will be missed for sure. Wrestler's Rescue released this official statement from the Albano family after his passing: Speaking on behalf of the Albano family, Wrestler's Rescue is sad to report that Captain Lou Albano has died at the age of 76. Albano carved out his place in pro wrestling history for, as best put by Bruno Sammartino, his inimitable "gift of gab," all complemented by his trademark rubber bands and Hawaiian shirts. Albano enjoyed a rich career as both a wrestler and manager, gaining worldwide fame as Cyndi Lauper's father in the smash hit, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." The family is currently in the process of planning funeral services; please respect their privacy during this tough time. Wrestlers Rescue will keep you updated as the family makes it available. For more information, go to www.WrestlersRescue.Org or email questions to WrestlersRescue@aol.com
Monday, October 12, 2009
Raw & Smackdown Thoughts, Divas Trade, WWE 24/7, & More - October 12, 2009
Welcome to the “what a strangely booked episode of Raw that was” edition of The Wrestling List.
That was one strange edition of Raw. The booking was all over the place. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Strange night of booking around the teams. Teams not getting along. Nancy O’Dell and Maria Menounos of Access Hollywood were the guest hosts. I thought they did a solid job. I’ve always liked Maria and think she’s cute. Triple H opened the show but there was no Shawn Michaels there. So, the joke was that they had Shawn on the phone all night. Jericho announced that he would be captaining Team Smackdown at Bragging Rights in the big 7 man tag team match against Raw. Triple H would be the captain for Raw. Jericho and Show made their way to the ring. Show was a Raw roster member so Jericho said that he wanted him on his team. Triple H started a riff between the two when he asked Show if Jericho was the boss of him. The two traded little verbal jabs at each other. Show ended up saying that he’d rather be on the Raw team. Triple H then said that there was no room for Show on the team. LOL. Triple H said that he had gotten a match between Show and Jericho and if Show won, he earned a spot on Team Raw. The two did go at it after Jericho continued to make Show mad. Show nailed a shot on Jericho out of the ring. Jericho held his knee like he was hurt. Show went to check on him and then Jericho ran in trying to beat the count. Show pulled him out and then Show beat the count in to win the match by countout. Show joins Team Raw. A qualifying match was set with John Cena vs. Ted Dibiase vs. Cody Rhodes. If Cena won, neither of Priceless was on Team Raw. The others could earn a spot by getting the win in the match. It was a doubleteam most of the way on Cena. As Cena hooked a STF on Dibiase, Orton slid in and out of the ring getting Cena’s attention. As Cena and Dibiase looked at Orton, Cody rolled up Dibiase to get the win and earn the spot on Team Raw. Dibiase and Orton were furious over what occurred while Cena laughed on the ramp. Nancy then made a match with Cena teaming with Orton against Rhodes and Dibiase. That match finished the show. Cena got a tag to Orton while he wasn’t looking and Orton did go at it with his teammates. Cena went for the adjustment on Dibiase but Orton attacked Cena. As he was pounding on Cena in the corner, Dibiase rolled up Orton to get the pinfall. Orton was furious after the match while Priceless went up the ramp. Orton then turned to get hit by an adjustment from Cena to end the show. Orton mentioned earlier about getting Cena a big opponent for possibly his last match on Raw. His opponent next week will be Triple H. In other qualifiers for Team Raw, Swagger defeated MVP. Kofi Kingston defeated Evan Bourne with the trouble in paradise kick as he caught it on Bourne as he jumped off the turnbuckle. Surprise segment with the divas. Mickie James defended the Divas title against Jillian Hall. Mickie was hit with a powerbomb in the corner and then Jillian made the pin while she had her feet on the ropes. The ref didn’t see it and Jillian won the title. However, Nancy arrived to say that she had made a trade over the weekend involving the divas. Melina was brought out as the newest member of Raw and the title was on the line at that moment. Melina won the match quickly. The finish was messed up as she was going to win with the legdrop into the splits. I’m glad that they decided to go with something else as Melina then hit the sunset flip slam for the pinfall to win the Divas title. Later, Beth Phoenix confronted Nancy and Maria about how she had heard that she was being traded to Smackdown. Maria made a joke about it and Beth slammed her head against the wall challenging her. Santino egged it on and Maria was put into a match later. So, it was Maria Menonous teaming with Kelly Kelly and Gail Kim against Beth, Rosa Mendes, and Alicia Fox. Maria looked solid in the ring and did get a kick and slap in on Beth before tagging out. The finish had Maria dropping and clotheslining Rosa on the rope. Kelly then landed a legdrop on the back of the head of Rosa to get the win for the team. The Miz did a promo where he announced that he would be facing John Morrison at the PPV. Triple H had some funny backstage segments with Shawn on the phone. He did have a cardboard standup of Shawn in the room. It was usual DX comedy.
Other notes from Raw. When Jericho and Show started not getting along at the beginning of the show, my immediate thought was Vince Russo just entered the building and that Jericho and Show would hate each other only to team up at the end of the night faking out everyone. Ok, the segment with Hornswoggle and Triple H was completely silly but I laughed hard at him superkicking the cardboard standup. It was funny too with the next segment later on and a bandage was on the standup’s head along with a bandaid. I laughed at that too. I said it already but I thought Maria did a solid job in the ring. She’s as good as several of the other divas for sure. Good job Maria!! I thought her and Nancy were really good tonight and one of the better co-hosts so far. They seemed to be having a good time and did a solid performance. Did you see Lawler’s “Lawler for Mayor” shirt that he was wearing? I still laugh at Jericho saying that he’ll fight Bob Barker anytime and any place. Good job by Melina and Jillian to call an audible and do a different finish to the match. I’ve seen many mess up a finish and just go ahead and do the pinfall. Glad that they did the kickout and then go with a different finish.
Snoop Dogg will be the guest host next week on Raw.
WWE promoted the divas trade that was going to be posted on WWE.com and here is what it is. On Raw, it was announced that Melina had been moved to Raw. Beth Phoenix had been moved to Smackdown. Now, the rest of the trades have been revealed. Mickie James is going to Smackdown. Rosa Mendes is going to ECW. The Bells are going to Raw. Eve is going to Raw. I’m curious to know what the deal is with all the switching. It did seem like we needed some fresh matches with the divas. Yeah, I’m not happy with Mickie going to Smackdown. They sure did just take that belt off of her quickly tonight on Raw. It almost felt like a squash of sorts cause it happened so fast. I guess Mickie will be able to feud with Michelle now for the Women’s title. Umm, weren’t the Bellas already on Raw?? They are on Raw all the time anyway. Actually, Smackdown looks like it will have a stronger women’s division than Raw with Beth and Mickie going over to Smackdown. There could be a nice battle between Mickie, Beth, and Michelle for that Women’s title. Now that I think about it, I think I might like the move of Mickie to Smackdown. Actually, I am more optimistic about it cause the divas stuff on Raw has went away from wrestling. Smackdown will maybe have more wrestling with the division. I expect the Divas title to revolve around Melina on Raw.
The Smackdown side of the title match at Bragging Rights was set up on Friday night with Teddy Long opening the show. However, he was interrupted by CM Punk who had his own idea for a rematch. Vince McMahon made his way to the ring and announced what Long’s main event for Bragging Rights would be which was Undertaker defending against CM Punk, Rey Mysterio, and Batista in a fatal four way. Undertaker did make an apperance on the show where he did some trash talking about his opponents for Bragging Rights. The main event of the show was CM Punk taking on Batista. The finish had Punk trying to get away from Batista including crawling under the ring. Batista pulled Punk back and then picked him up for a Batista bomb on the floor. Punk grabbed the ropes to counter it and then kicked Batista away. Punk then got back in the ring beating the ten count and won by countout. Rey Mysterio defeated Chris Jericho after hitting the 619 and the springboard splash for the win. John Morrison defeated Dolph Ziggler to retain the Intercontinental title. I liked the finish of this match. Maria came to ringside to support Dolph. He had set up a chair to use in the match by sitting it next to the ring. She took the chair to sit in at ringside to support him. So, when he went to grab the chair, it was gone. He realized that Maria had it and then turned to take Punk’s flying kick. Morrison got the win. Backstage, Maria apologized while Dolph was upset over the loss. He said that his professional life was looking great but not his personal life. He then dumped Maria. Michelle McCool defeated Eve with a boot to the jaw to get the win. Drew McIntyre and Kane defeated Matt Hardy and R Truth. The finish had McIntyre sending Hardy into a Kane uppercut on the apron. McIntyre then hit his finisher on Hardy to win the match. There was a backstage segment with Vickie Guererro and her new man with her saying how she was disappointed that he wasn’t booked on the show while also criticizing Long’s decision on the Bragging Rights main event. Her point was that it stacked the odds against the original combatants but he did start to say that it was Vince’s idea.
Want to own the NWA title once held by Ric Flair? The much talked about Highspots auction for the belt is going up. Highspots has asked for a $75,000 minimum bid on it. Will the bidding go up? We’ll see. This isn’t an Ebay auction but you instead have to contact them directly to be a legitimate bidder. http://www.highspots.com/nwabelt.asp
WWE continues to change names of their PPV’s. The No Way Out name for the February PPV is now gone and is now just going to be called The Elimination Chamber. Not sure if I’m crazy about the name change but that is the focus of that show every year anyway. I liked the No Way Out name but oh well.
Stone Cold Steve Austin did an audio interview with the UK Sun which you can check out at this link: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/wrestling/2672063/Stone-Cold-Steve-Austin-on-The-Suns-WrestleCast-Download-exclusive-interview-with-Damage-star.html
In the interview, he talks of how he is going to be very picky about future WWE appearances after seeing the great tribute music video of his career that was made for him at the Hall Of Fame. He mentioned the creative side of WWE and said that he would make sure that it was going to be something big time good for him to come back for if he did. He did say that he has recently turned down invitiations to appear as a Raw guest host and also to appear on the ten year anniversary of Smackdown.
Three hours of TNA Impact this Thursday night on Spike TV with there being a Kurt Angle/AJ Styles match that is said to be very good. So, if you don’t tune into anything else on the show, it sounds like that match may be worthwhile.
Say some prayers for Dr. Death Steve Williams. He is once again battling cancer which has unfortunately returned. He has had such an awful battle against it over the years. He was able to defeat it after a tough battle five years ago. Praying for him to be able to do it again.
It looks like the Nashville Fairgrounds which has run wrestling for many, many years now will be shut down in the near future. You may remember that TNA ran their weekly PPV shows from that venue when the company first started before moving to Orlando.
I was watching some Kane stuff on WWE 24/7 Classics On Demand over the weekend. I’ve thought about this for a while now but don’t you think it is time to go retro with Kane? Put the mask back on him and go full out with the gimmick again. This Kane has long run its course long ago so why not go retro and put the mask back on? It worked big time for Undertaker and I think fans would be into Kane’s return as well.
Jim Ross mentioned in his latest blog about the newest set of roundtable shows set for WWE 24/7 Classics On Demand. They taped a show on managers which included JR, Michael Hayes, Jimmy Garvin, and JJ Dillon. Cowboy Bill Watts was unable to make it so JR moved over to the guest chair and Joey Styles was picked as a replacement host for the program. JR said that Bobby Heenan was talked about a lot. Yep, I’d say best manager of all time if I had my pick. He was able to get heat not only himself but more importantly on his wrestler. http://www.jrsbarbq.com/blog/roundtable-updatejblvickies-backhiac-intriging
WWE 24/7 Classics On Demand will have their five month anniversary next month. I’m happy to say that I’ve been a subscriber for three of those five years. Believe me, I wanted it from day one but ordered it literally from the first day uit was made available here locally which was October of 2006. To celebrate five years, WWE 24/7 Classics On Demand will be doing Pick Your Big One month, which based on the preview, means that the fans will be voting for programming including Big Ones, TV Classics, Shorties, and more. No news on what the voting will be between or anything like that.
And last but not least. After hearing all this talk from people that Murray was going to get some professional wrestling for over ten years now, they are finally getting a show. No, it isn’t WWE but TNA is coming to Murray. A TNA house show will be held at the RSEC on Friday, November 6. I am curious to see what the attendance will be for the show. The TNA show in Cape didn’t draw a big crowd from what I remember and I don’t really expect a big crowd in Murray. The only thing that is an unknown factor here is that this is the first wrestling in Murray so that in itself could draw more people. I will say that the promotion for this event has been bad so far. No one knows it is happening. The way that I found out was that there was a thing in the newspaper months back where all the local venues were promoting their lineups of stuff for months ahead. The way that I found out about when tickets were going on sale was on TNA’s website. There has been nothing in the newspaper about it. I don’t know what the advertising is like up in Murray but here locally, there has been NOTHING about it since that original one little mention. Advertised on the show are AJ Styles and Samoa Joe and I’m hoping that will be the main event.
Wishing all of you a great week!! Take care and God bless!!
That was one strange edition of Raw. The booking was all over the place. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Strange night of booking around the teams. Teams not getting along. Nancy O’Dell and Maria Menounos of Access Hollywood were the guest hosts. I thought they did a solid job. I’ve always liked Maria and think she’s cute. Triple H opened the show but there was no Shawn Michaels there. So, the joke was that they had Shawn on the phone all night. Jericho announced that he would be captaining Team Smackdown at Bragging Rights in the big 7 man tag team match against Raw. Triple H would be the captain for Raw. Jericho and Show made their way to the ring. Show was a Raw roster member so Jericho said that he wanted him on his team. Triple H started a riff between the two when he asked Show if Jericho was the boss of him. The two traded little verbal jabs at each other. Show ended up saying that he’d rather be on the Raw team. Triple H then said that there was no room for Show on the team. LOL. Triple H said that he had gotten a match between Show and Jericho and if Show won, he earned a spot on Team Raw. The two did go at it after Jericho continued to make Show mad. Show nailed a shot on Jericho out of the ring. Jericho held his knee like he was hurt. Show went to check on him and then Jericho ran in trying to beat the count. Show pulled him out and then Show beat the count in to win the match by countout. Show joins Team Raw. A qualifying match was set with John Cena vs. Ted Dibiase vs. Cody Rhodes. If Cena won, neither of Priceless was on Team Raw. The others could earn a spot by getting the win in the match. It was a doubleteam most of the way on Cena. As Cena hooked a STF on Dibiase, Orton slid in and out of the ring getting Cena’s attention. As Cena and Dibiase looked at Orton, Cody rolled up Dibiase to get the win and earn the spot on Team Raw. Dibiase and Orton were furious over what occurred while Cena laughed on the ramp. Nancy then made a match with Cena teaming with Orton against Rhodes and Dibiase. That match finished the show. Cena got a tag to Orton while he wasn’t looking and Orton did go at it with his teammates. Cena went for the adjustment on Dibiase but Orton attacked Cena. As he was pounding on Cena in the corner, Dibiase rolled up Orton to get the pinfall. Orton was furious after the match while Priceless went up the ramp. Orton then turned to get hit by an adjustment from Cena to end the show. Orton mentioned earlier about getting Cena a big opponent for possibly his last match on Raw. His opponent next week will be Triple H. In other qualifiers for Team Raw, Swagger defeated MVP. Kofi Kingston defeated Evan Bourne with the trouble in paradise kick as he caught it on Bourne as he jumped off the turnbuckle. Surprise segment with the divas. Mickie James defended the Divas title against Jillian Hall. Mickie was hit with a powerbomb in the corner and then Jillian made the pin while she had her feet on the ropes. The ref didn’t see it and Jillian won the title. However, Nancy arrived to say that she had made a trade over the weekend involving the divas. Melina was brought out as the newest member of Raw and the title was on the line at that moment. Melina won the match quickly. The finish was messed up as she was going to win with the legdrop into the splits. I’m glad that they decided to go with something else as Melina then hit the sunset flip slam for the pinfall to win the Divas title. Later, Beth Phoenix confronted Nancy and Maria about how she had heard that she was being traded to Smackdown. Maria made a joke about it and Beth slammed her head against the wall challenging her. Santino egged it on and Maria was put into a match later. So, it was Maria Menonous teaming with Kelly Kelly and Gail Kim against Beth, Rosa Mendes, and Alicia Fox. Maria looked solid in the ring and did get a kick and slap in on Beth before tagging out. The finish had Maria dropping and clotheslining Rosa on the rope. Kelly then landed a legdrop on the back of the head of Rosa to get the win for the team. The Miz did a promo where he announced that he would be facing John Morrison at the PPV. Triple H had some funny backstage segments with Shawn on the phone. He did have a cardboard standup of Shawn in the room. It was usual DX comedy.
Other notes from Raw. When Jericho and Show started not getting along at the beginning of the show, my immediate thought was Vince Russo just entered the building and that Jericho and Show would hate each other only to team up at the end of the night faking out everyone. Ok, the segment with Hornswoggle and Triple H was completely silly but I laughed hard at him superkicking the cardboard standup. It was funny too with the next segment later on and a bandage was on the standup’s head along with a bandaid. I laughed at that too. I said it already but I thought Maria did a solid job in the ring. She’s as good as several of the other divas for sure. Good job Maria!! I thought her and Nancy were really good tonight and one of the better co-hosts so far. They seemed to be having a good time and did a solid performance. Did you see Lawler’s “Lawler for Mayor” shirt that he was wearing? I still laugh at Jericho saying that he’ll fight Bob Barker anytime and any place. Good job by Melina and Jillian to call an audible and do a different finish to the match. I’ve seen many mess up a finish and just go ahead and do the pinfall. Glad that they did the kickout and then go with a different finish.
Snoop Dogg will be the guest host next week on Raw.
WWE promoted the divas trade that was going to be posted on WWE.com and here is what it is. On Raw, it was announced that Melina had been moved to Raw. Beth Phoenix had been moved to Smackdown. Now, the rest of the trades have been revealed. Mickie James is going to Smackdown. Rosa Mendes is going to ECW. The Bells are going to Raw. Eve is going to Raw. I’m curious to know what the deal is with all the switching. It did seem like we needed some fresh matches with the divas. Yeah, I’m not happy with Mickie going to Smackdown. They sure did just take that belt off of her quickly tonight on Raw. It almost felt like a squash of sorts cause it happened so fast. I guess Mickie will be able to feud with Michelle now for the Women’s title. Umm, weren’t the Bellas already on Raw?? They are on Raw all the time anyway. Actually, Smackdown looks like it will have a stronger women’s division than Raw with Beth and Mickie going over to Smackdown. There could be a nice battle between Mickie, Beth, and Michelle for that Women’s title. Now that I think about it, I think I might like the move of Mickie to Smackdown. Actually, I am more optimistic about it cause the divas stuff on Raw has went away from wrestling. Smackdown will maybe have more wrestling with the division. I expect the Divas title to revolve around Melina on Raw.
The Smackdown side of the title match at Bragging Rights was set up on Friday night with Teddy Long opening the show. However, he was interrupted by CM Punk who had his own idea for a rematch. Vince McMahon made his way to the ring and announced what Long’s main event for Bragging Rights would be which was Undertaker defending against CM Punk, Rey Mysterio, and Batista in a fatal four way. Undertaker did make an apperance on the show where he did some trash talking about his opponents for Bragging Rights. The main event of the show was CM Punk taking on Batista. The finish had Punk trying to get away from Batista including crawling under the ring. Batista pulled Punk back and then picked him up for a Batista bomb on the floor. Punk grabbed the ropes to counter it and then kicked Batista away. Punk then got back in the ring beating the ten count and won by countout. Rey Mysterio defeated Chris Jericho after hitting the 619 and the springboard splash for the win. John Morrison defeated Dolph Ziggler to retain the Intercontinental title. I liked the finish of this match. Maria came to ringside to support Dolph. He had set up a chair to use in the match by sitting it next to the ring. She took the chair to sit in at ringside to support him. So, when he went to grab the chair, it was gone. He realized that Maria had it and then turned to take Punk’s flying kick. Morrison got the win. Backstage, Maria apologized while Dolph was upset over the loss. He said that his professional life was looking great but not his personal life. He then dumped Maria. Michelle McCool defeated Eve with a boot to the jaw to get the win. Drew McIntyre and Kane defeated Matt Hardy and R Truth. The finish had McIntyre sending Hardy into a Kane uppercut on the apron. McIntyre then hit his finisher on Hardy to win the match. There was a backstage segment with Vickie Guererro and her new man with her saying how she was disappointed that he wasn’t booked on the show while also criticizing Long’s decision on the Bragging Rights main event. Her point was that it stacked the odds against the original combatants but he did start to say that it was Vince’s idea.
Want to own the NWA title once held by Ric Flair? The much talked about Highspots auction for the belt is going up. Highspots has asked for a $75,000 minimum bid on it. Will the bidding go up? We’ll see. This isn’t an Ebay auction but you instead have to contact them directly to be a legitimate bidder. http://www.highspots.com/nwabelt.asp
WWE continues to change names of their PPV’s. The No Way Out name for the February PPV is now gone and is now just going to be called The Elimination Chamber. Not sure if I’m crazy about the name change but that is the focus of that show every year anyway. I liked the No Way Out name but oh well.
Stone Cold Steve Austin did an audio interview with the UK Sun which you can check out at this link: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/wrestling/2672063/Stone-Cold-Steve-Austin-on-The-Suns-WrestleCast-Download-exclusive-interview-with-Damage-star.html
In the interview, he talks of how he is going to be very picky about future WWE appearances after seeing the great tribute music video of his career that was made for him at the Hall Of Fame. He mentioned the creative side of WWE and said that he would make sure that it was going to be something big time good for him to come back for if he did. He did say that he has recently turned down invitiations to appear as a Raw guest host and also to appear on the ten year anniversary of Smackdown.
Three hours of TNA Impact this Thursday night on Spike TV with there being a Kurt Angle/AJ Styles match that is said to be very good. So, if you don’t tune into anything else on the show, it sounds like that match may be worthwhile.
Say some prayers for Dr. Death Steve Williams. He is once again battling cancer which has unfortunately returned. He has had such an awful battle against it over the years. He was able to defeat it after a tough battle five years ago. Praying for him to be able to do it again.
It looks like the Nashville Fairgrounds which has run wrestling for many, many years now will be shut down in the near future. You may remember that TNA ran their weekly PPV shows from that venue when the company first started before moving to Orlando.
I was watching some Kane stuff on WWE 24/7 Classics On Demand over the weekend. I’ve thought about this for a while now but don’t you think it is time to go retro with Kane? Put the mask back on him and go full out with the gimmick again. This Kane has long run its course long ago so why not go retro and put the mask back on? It worked big time for Undertaker and I think fans would be into Kane’s return as well.
Jim Ross mentioned in his latest blog about the newest set of roundtable shows set for WWE 24/7 Classics On Demand. They taped a show on managers which included JR, Michael Hayes, Jimmy Garvin, and JJ Dillon. Cowboy Bill Watts was unable to make it so JR moved over to the guest chair and Joey Styles was picked as a replacement host for the program. JR said that Bobby Heenan was talked about a lot. Yep, I’d say best manager of all time if I had my pick. He was able to get heat not only himself but more importantly on his wrestler. http://www.jrsbarbq.com/blog/roundtable-updatejblvickies-backhiac-intriging
WWE 24/7 Classics On Demand will have their five month anniversary next month. I’m happy to say that I’ve been a subscriber for three of those five years. Believe me, I wanted it from day one but ordered it literally from the first day uit was made available here locally which was October of 2006. To celebrate five years, WWE 24/7 Classics On Demand will be doing Pick Your Big One month, which based on the preview, means that the fans will be voting for programming including Big Ones, TV Classics, Shorties, and more. No news on what the voting will be between or anything like that.
And last but not least. After hearing all this talk from people that Murray was going to get some professional wrestling for over ten years now, they are finally getting a show. No, it isn’t WWE but TNA is coming to Murray. A TNA house show will be held at the RSEC on Friday, November 6. I am curious to see what the attendance will be for the show. The TNA show in Cape didn’t draw a big crowd from what I remember and I don’t really expect a big crowd in Murray. The only thing that is an unknown factor here is that this is the first wrestling in Murray so that in itself could draw more people. I will say that the promotion for this event has been bad so far. No one knows it is happening. The way that I found out was that there was a thing in the newspaper months back where all the local venues were promoting their lineups of stuff for months ahead. The way that I found out about when tickets were going on sale was on TNA’s website. There has been nothing in the newspaper about it. I don’t know what the advertising is like up in Murray but here locally, there has been NOTHING about it since that original one little mention. Advertised on the show are AJ Styles and Samoa Joe and I’m hoping that will be the main event.
Wishing all of you a great week!! Take care and God bless!!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Smackdown Ten Year Anniversary Thoughts, Raw Thoughts, PPV Results, & More - October 5, 2009
Welcome to the “that Eddie Guerrero tribute music video stole the show for the Smackdown X Year Annivesary Special” edition of The Wrestling List.
WWE held their Cell PPV last night and here are the results. The three Cell matches were spread out through the PPV. The World title match opened the show with CM Punk defending against The Undertaker in the Cell. The Undertaker hit the tombstone to win the World title. John Morrison hit the starship pain to retain the Intercontinental title against Dolph Ziggler. Mickie James retained the Divas title by defeating Alicia Fox following a nasty DDT. Chris Jericho and Big Show defeated Batista and Rey Mysterio to retain the Unified tag team titles. Rey hit Big Show with the 619 but then caught a Show punch on the springboard attempt and Big Show got the win. The next Cell match was John Cena defending the WWE title against Randy Orton. Cena and the referee made contact sending the ref crashing to the floor. Cena then hooked the STF and Orton tapped but the ref didn’t see it. As Cena returned to the ring after trying to get the ref, he got hit with a RKO. Orton then hooked a submission hold but the finish was Orton nailing the punt on Cena. The punt whiffed pretty badly but Orton did get the pinfall to win the WWE title. Drew McInytre defeated R Truth following a DDT. Kofi Kingston defeated The Miz and Jack Swagger to retain the US title. Swagger nailed Miz with the powerbomb but Kofi was able to hit Swagger with his kick and got the pin. The show finished with DX taking on Rhodes and Dibiase in the Cell. The fight ended up on the floor instead of inside the Cell. Dibiase and Rhodes ended up locking themselves inside the Cell alone with Shawn. Triple H could not get into the Cell. He left and came back with cutters to get the door open. Triple H got back in it and evened up the odds. The ref brought a new chain out to lock the door and Triple H used it on Dibiase. Triple H hit a pedigree on the floor on to Dibiase and then threw him out of the Cell and locked the door to keep him out. A chair was put on Cody’s throat and Shawn hit a top rope elbow on to Cody. Triple H then nailed Cody with the sledgehammer while Shawn nailed a superkick. Shawn then pinned Cody to win the match for DX.
Tonight’s Raw was guest hosted by Ben Roethlisberger. He opened the show with a football themed match with the Diva Bowl. Mickie, Melina, Kelly, Maria, Eve, and The Bellas defeated Beth, Michelle, Jillian, Rosa, Natalya, Alicia, and Layla. Mickie hit a big DDT on Michelle but then pinned Alicia with a forward roll. Gail Kim was the referee for the match. After the match, Orton arrived. He went ahead and called out Cena knowing that Cena would have something to say. Cena did walk out and have something to say but Orton would not do the rematch tonight. Cena talked about how they have THE rivalry going in WWE today and how there needs to be one more match to decide it. Cena challenged Orton to a 60 minute ironman match and then no more rematches. Orton said that there was nothing in it for him and wanted stipulations added. Orton made it no disqualification and no countout. Cena accepted but then Orton wanted another stipulation. If Cena loses, he leaves Raw. He can go anywhere else but he would be off Raw if he doesn’t win the title. Cena did accept and the match will take place at the next PPV, Bragging Rights. Roethlisberger was in the ring later in the night and was confronted by Jericho and Big Show. They talked of how it was a shame that he didn’t have his offensive line to protect him. Ben brought out his offensive line. They and Big Show lined up but then Show and Jericho bailed out. DX then arrived. DX and Jericho had a way too short mic exchange. I really wish that had went longer. DX laid down the challenge but Jericho and Show backed down from it. Ben however made the match for later in the night. DX and the Steelers all then posed together including doing the DX chop with the pyro. The match took place to end the show. DX looked to be about ready to finish the match but Big Show put a double suplex on to both of DX. Show ended up outside the ring where he was taken out. Jericho was then surrounded by Shawn and Triple H. Jericho took off to leave but was then stopped by Ben and the Steelers wearing DX gear. Jericho went back to the ring where he took a superkick from Shawn and was pinned by Triple H. DX, Ben, and the Steelers then all celebrated and posed together to end the show. In other action, Miz went to Ben wanting a match with Kofi. Ben granted him the US title match but said that if Miz lost, he would have to utter the phrase “I’m the Miz and I’m awful”. Miz agreed to the stipulation and the two had a solid match. Kofi hit the trouble in paradise but Miz landed outside the ring. Kofi went and got him but Miz was able to kick out. There were more near falls but Kofi eventually was tripped up on the turnbuckle. Miz hit the skull crushing finale to get the pin and won the US title. Jack Swagger did a promo promising to go undefeated for the rest of the year. His first win on this promise was against Primo as he beat him with the powerbomb. Chavo and Masters had a match with MVP and Henry. The finish had MVP pinning Chavo but Masters broke it up. However, the elbow to break it up by Masters caught Chavo. Henry took out Masters with a charge and then MVP pinned Chavo. Henry came up hobbling on his knee. Masters and Chavo argued over what happened and then Masters hooked the masterlock on to Chavo. Hornswoggle arrived and bit Masters to save Chavo. Chavo hit a DDT and then faced off with Hornswoggle. Hornswoggle smiled and did the DX chop and took off up the ramp.
Other thoughts from Raw. Yeah, that DX pose with the Steelers was pretty cool and you know that they’re going to use that for some publicity. I said this already but I really wished that DX and Jericho could have had more mic time back and forth. I thought the penalty flag throwing in the Diva Bowl was lame. I get why they did it cause of the gimmick of the match but it just goofy to me. Santino was funny with his backstage segments tonight including him taking two slaps, one from Alicia and the other from Hornswoggle. Did you get the vibe from the fans that they weren’t as excited about a Cena/Orton rematch as they were supposed to be? So, an ironman match with no rules. Well, that is at least different. That match will definitely be a challenge for both of them.
Next week’s guests hosts for Raw will be Access Hollywood’s Nancy O’Dell and Maria Menounos.
WWE is announcing the plans for the Bragging Rights PPV besides the 60 minute ironman match. There will be Raw vs. Smackdown matches with the winners of the matches facing each other in a big finale at the end of the night. It is very similar sounding to the 1990 Survivor Series grand finale match. The one and only year that they did that at Survivor Series.
The Smackdown Ten Year Anniversary show was on Friday night and was a fun show. There were two segments that obviously stood out over the others. One being The Rock’s pre-taped appearance but to me the segment that stole the show was the music video tribute to Eddie Guerrero. Wow, this was incredibly produced and set to the Boyce Avenue song called “Hear Me Now”. It covered his career and also the Eddie tribute shows. Just incredible!! That is really all that can be said. The Rock was a major highlight with his taped segment. He opened the segment trying different scripted openings and scrapped them all going with the normal, Finally the Rock has come back to Smackdown. He went right into full Rock character very easily and was great. Lots of good comedy including him pondering who Dolph Ziggler was. He went on to sing Smackdown hotel and then started mentioning World Champion, CM Punk calling him BM Punk cause every time that he talks, fans want to take a bowel movement. He started to talk trash on The Undertaker and then backed off asking if they could edit it. He was afraid of payback and called in the producer who wouldn’t do the edit. He then gave him a “it doesn’t matter” and it was classic Rock. Rock then gave the big tease saying that he had his time on Smackdown and that maybe it was time for him to try Raw and be a guest host. There is a tease that we’re going to be hoping for to happen!! Other action on the show had the 8 man tag team main event, DX, John Cena, and Undertaker against Legacy and CM Punk. I was really interested to see the interplay between Shawn Michaels and Undertaker since this was the first time that they were in the ring together since their epic encounter at WrestleMania. They did have some nice staredowns. Shawn offered a tag and got a stare from Taker. As Shawn bounced off the ropes, Taker tagged himself in and they had a stareoff. The finish of the match had Triple H feeding Punk to Taker but Punk ran and bailed. So, Taker grabbed Orton and brought him in the hard way. Taker hooked the submission on Orton but Cody broke it up. Dibiase was about to hit dreamstreet on Triple H when Shawn superkicked Dibiase. Cena dumped Punk over the ropes on to Priceless on the floor. Orton was then surrounded by all four faces in the ring. Undertaker hit the tombstone on Orton to get the pinfall. Undertaker then stared down with Punk who was laying in the aisle. Dolph Ziggler and The Miz defeated John Morrison and Kofi Kingston. Dolph countered Morrison’s springboard move and then hit his finisher for a clean win on Morrison. Michelle McCool defended the Women’s championship against Melina in a lumberJILL match. I just don’t understand the whole lumberjack thing for the women. The lumberjills ended up in a brawl on the floor. Beth ended up tripping Melina up as she was on the turnbuckle. Michelle then hooked the Styles Clash from there and pinned Melina with it. Batista defeated Kane with a Batista bomb for the pinfall. The rest of the show was backstage segments at the Smackdown party. Vickie Guerrero was there and announced that she was returning to Smackdown as a manager and had her new boyfriend and wrestler with her. The Iron Sheik and Sgt. Slaughter provided some comedy arguing over countries. Michael Cole was there and they had him saying “vintage (insert name here)” lines over and over. Jericho and Show walked in wanting more respect for being there on the very first Smackdown in 1999. R Truth and Drew McIntyre got into an altercation during the party. The show did start with a new open and theme song. The highlight segment of the history of the ten years was well produced as well. I would have liked to have seen more highlight clips throughout the show.
If you missed the incredible Eddie Guerrero tribute video on Smackdown, here is a link to check it out: http://www.wwe.com/content/media/video/vms/smackdown/2009/october1-7/11909428
I am halfway through the WWE Judgment Day 2009 PPV that is currently airing on WWE 24/7 Classics On Demand. That Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho match was a LOT of fun!!! The counters to the 619 were fun and that crowd went nuts when Jericho countered it into the walls.
Dennis Miller is saying that he is going to be a guest host on Raw coming up soon.
Samoa Joe has been using his Twitter account asking for help for relief for the tsunami and earthquake that hit Samoa last week. Fox News even did an article on him: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,558000,00.html
That is it for this week. Wishing you all a great week!! Take care and God bless!!
WWE held their Cell PPV last night and here are the results. The three Cell matches were spread out through the PPV. The World title match opened the show with CM Punk defending against The Undertaker in the Cell. The Undertaker hit the tombstone to win the World title. John Morrison hit the starship pain to retain the Intercontinental title against Dolph Ziggler. Mickie James retained the Divas title by defeating Alicia Fox following a nasty DDT. Chris Jericho and Big Show defeated Batista and Rey Mysterio to retain the Unified tag team titles. Rey hit Big Show with the 619 but then caught a Show punch on the springboard attempt and Big Show got the win. The next Cell match was John Cena defending the WWE title against Randy Orton. Cena and the referee made contact sending the ref crashing to the floor. Cena then hooked the STF and Orton tapped but the ref didn’t see it. As Cena returned to the ring after trying to get the ref, he got hit with a RKO. Orton then hooked a submission hold but the finish was Orton nailing the punt on Cena. The punt whiffed pretty badly but Orton did get the pinfall to win the WWE title. Drew McInytre defeated R Truth following a DDT. Kofi Kingston defeated The Miz and Jack Swagger to retain the US title. Swagger nailed Miz with the powerbomb but Kofi was able to hit Swagger with his kick and got the pin. The show finished with DX taking on Rhodes and Dibiase in the Cell. The fight ended up on the floor instead of inside the Cell. Dibiase and Rhodes ended up locking themselves inside the Cell alone with Shawn. Triple H could not get into the Cell. He left and came back with cutters to get the door open. Triple H got back in it and evened up the odds. The ref brought a new chain out to lock the door and Triple H used it on Dibiase. Triple H hit a pedigree on the floor on to Dibiase and then threw him out of the Cell and locked the door to keep him out. A chair was put on Cody’s throat and Shawn hit a top rope elbow on to Cody. Triple H then nailed Cody with the sledgehammer while Shawn nailed a superkick. Shawn then pinned Cody to win the match for DX.
Tonight’s Raw was guest hosted by Ben Roethlisberger. He opened the show with a football themed match with the Diva Bowl. Mickie, Melina, Kelly, Maria, Eve, and The Bellas defeated Beth, Michelle, Jillian, Rosa, Natalya, Alicia, and Layla. Mickie hit a big DDT on Michelle but then pinned Alicia with a forward roll. Gail Kim was the referee for the match. After the match, Orton arrived. He went ahead and called out Cena knowing that Cena would have something to say. Cena did walk out and have something to say but Orton would not do the rematch tonight. Cena talked about how they have THE rivalry going in WWE today and how there needs to be one more match to decide it. Cena challenged Orton to a 60 minute ironman match and then no more rematches. Orton said that there was nothing in it for him and wanted stipulations added. Orton made it no disqualification and no countout. Cena accepted but then Orton wanted another stipulation. If Cena loses, he leaves Raw. He can go anywhere else but he would be off Raw if he doesn’t win the title. Cena did accept and the match will take place at the next PPV, Bragging Rights. Roethlisberger was in the ring later in the night and was confronted by Jericho and Big Show. They talked of how it was a shame that he didn’t have his offensive line to protect him. Ben brought out his offensive line. They and Big Show lined up but then Show and Jericho bailed out. DX then arrived. DX and Jericho had a way too short mic exchange. I really wish that had went longer. DX laid down the challenge but Jericho and Show backed down from it. Ben however made the match for later in the night. DX and the Steelers all then posed together including doing the DX chop with the pyro. The match took place to end the show. DX looked to be about ready to finish the match but Big Show put a double suplex on to both of DX. Show ended up outside the ring where he was taken out. Jericho was then surrounded by Shawn and Triple H. Jericho took off to leave but was then stopped by Ben and the Steelers wearing DX gear. Jericho went back to the ring where he took a superkick from Shawn and was pinned by Triple H. DX, Ben, and the Steelers then all celebrated and posed together to end the show. In other action, Miz went to Ben wanting a match with Kofi. Ben granted him the US title match but said that if Miz lost, he would have to utter the phrase “I’m the Miz and I’m awful”. Miz agreed to the stipulation and the two had a solid match. Kofi hit the trouble in paradise but Miz landed outside the ring. Kofi went and got him but Miz was able to kick out. There were more near falls but Kofi eventually was tripped up on the turnbuckle. Miz hit the skull crushing finale to get the pin and won the US title. Jack Swagger did a promo promising to go undefeated for the rest of the year. His first win on this promise was against Primo as he beat him with the powerbomb. Chavo and Masters had a match with MVP and Henry. The finish had MVP pinning Chavo but Masters broke it up. However, the elbow to break it up by Masters caught Chavo. Henry took out Masters with a charge and then MVP pinned Chavo. Henry came up hobbling on his knee. Masters and Chavo argued over what happened and then Masters hooked the masterlock on to Chavo. Hornswoggle arrived and bit Masters to save Chavo. Chavo hit a DDT and then faced off with Hornswoggle. Hornswoggle smiled and did the DX chop and took off up the ramp.
Other thoughts from Raw. Yeah, that DX pose with the Steelers was pretty cool and you know that they’re going to use that for some publicity. I said this already but I really wished that DX and Jericho could have had more mic time back and forth. I thought the penalty flag throwing in the Diva Bowl was lame. I get why they did it cause of the gimmick of the match but it just goofy to me. Santino was funny with his backstage segments tonight including him taking two slaps, one from Alicia and the other from Hornswoggle. Did you get the vibe from the fans that they weren’t as excited about a Cena/Orton rematch as they were supposed to be? So, an ironman match with no rules. Well, that is at least different. That match will definitely be a challenge for both of them.
Next week’s guests hosts for Raw will be Access Hollywood’s Nancy O’Dell and Maria Menounos.
WWE is announcing the plans for the Bragging Rights PPV besides the 60 minute ironman match. There will be Raw vs. Smackdown matches with the winners of the matches facing each other in a big finale at the end of the night. It is very similar sounding to the 1990 Survivor Series grand finale match. The one and only year that they did that at Survivor Series.
The Smackdown Ten Year Anniversary show was on Friday night and was a fun show. There were two segments that obviously stood out over the others. One being The Rock’s pre-taped appearance but to me the segment that stole the show was the music video tribute to Eddie Guerrero. Wow, this was incredibly produced and set to the Boyce Avenue song called “Hear Me Now”. It covered his career and also the Eddie tribute shows. Just incredible!! That is really all that can be said. The Rock was a major highlight with his taped segment. He opened the segment trying different scripted openings and scrapped them all going with the normal, Finally the Rock has come back to Smackdown. He went right into full Rock character very easily and was great. Lots of good comedy including him pondering who Dolph Ziggler was. He went on to sing Smackdown hotel and then started mentioning World Champion, CM Punk calling him BM Punk cause every time that he talks, fans want to take a bowel movement. He started to talk trash on The Undertaker and then backed off asking if they could edit it. He was afraid of payback and called in the producer who wouldn’t do the edit. He then gave him a “it doesn’t matter” and it was classic Rock. Rock then gave the big tease saying that he had his time on Smackdown and that maybe it was time for him to try Raw and be a guest host. There is a tease that we’re going to be hoping for to happen!! Other action on the show had the 8 man tag team main event, DX, John Cena, and Undertaker against Legacy and CM Punk. I was really interested to see the interplay between Shawn Michaels and Undertaker since this was the first time that they were in the ring together since their epic encounter at WrestleMania. They did have some nice staredowns. Shawn offered a tag and got a stare from Taker. As Shawn bounced off the ropes, Taker tagged himself in and they had a stareoff. The finish of the match had Triple H feeding Punk to Taker but Punk ran and bailed. So, Taker grabbed Orton and brought him in the hard way. Taker hooked the submission on Orton but Cody broke it up. Dibiase was about to hit dreamstreet on Triple H when Shawn superkicked Dibiase. Cena dumped Punk over the ropes on to Priceless on the floor. Orton was then surrounded by all four faces in the ring. Undertaker hit the tombstone on Orton to get the pinfall. Undertaker then stared down with Punk who was laying in the aisle. Dolph Ziggler and The Miz defeated John Morrison and Kofi Kingston. Dolph countered Morrison’s springboard move and then hit his finisher for a clean win on Morrison. Michelle McCool defended the Women’s championship against Melina in a lumberJILL match. I just don’t understand the whole lumberjack thing for the women. The lumberjills ended up in a brawl on the floor. Beth ended up tripping Melina up as she was on the turnbuckle. Michelle then hooked the Styles Clash from there and pinned Melina with it. Batista defeated Kane with a Batista bomb for the pinfall. The rest of the show was backstage segments at the Smackdown party. Vickie Guerrero was there and announced that she was returning to Smackdown as a manager and had her new boyfriend and wrestler with her. The Iron Sheik and Sgt. Slaughter provided some comedy arguing over countries. Michael Cole was there and they had him saying “vintage (insert name here)” lines over and over. Jericho and Show walked in wanting more respect for being there on the very first Smackdown in 1999. R Truth and Drew McIntyre got into an altercation during the party. The show did start with a new open and theme song. The highlight segment of the history of the ten years was well produced as well. I would have liked to have seen more highlight clips throughout the show.
If you missed the incredible Eddie Guerrero tribute video on Smackdown, here is a link to check it out: http://www.wwe.com/content/media/video/vms/smackdown/2009/october1-7/11909428
I am halfway through the WWE Judgment Day 2009 PPV that is currently airing on WWE 24/7 Classics On Demand. That Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho match was a LOT of fun!!! The counters to the 619 were fun and that crowd went nuts when Jericho countered it into the walls.
Dennis Miller is saying that he is going to be a guest host on Raw coming up soon.
Samoa Joe has been using his Twitter account asking for help for relief for the tsunami and earthquake that hit Samoa last week. Fox News even did an article on him: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,558000,00.html
That is it for this week. Wishing you all a great week!! Take care and God bless!!
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