After a crazy couple of weeks, things have slowed down a bit in the wrestling world.
Last night's Raw was an enjoyable show especially for a holiday show. A lot of times the holiday shows aren't that good because the ratings are usually lower on them. I felt bad for WWE for the technical problems that they were having at the beginning of the show. All I could think was that it had to be chaos backstage trying to figure out what was going on. This company rarely ever has technical problems so things are going to happen like that from time to time. The real bummer was that the R Truth segment looked pretty entertaining. We did get to hear a lot of it despite the audio and video being out of sync. The stuff with the "fan" was pretty good stuff. Truth and Cena had a good back and forth all night including the match. Truth later threw a drink in the fan's face on the way out of the building. Cena went over to the guy and wiped his face off helping him out. Yeah, obviously a plant in the crowd but it was interesting all night. I really like Truth as a heel. All eyes on Alex Riley. He has had two big weeks in a row with his brawls with Miz. Great stuff and the crowd is eating it up. The reaction was even bigger this week after the brawl was finished with the fans cheering Riley. I was stunned last week over the way that Kharma was booked but then understood more when the news came out that she is pregnant. No, this is not some storyline and is the real deal. Wishing her all the best with her pregnancy. She did a really good speech on wanting to get into WWE and her road to get there. The speech was finished by The Bellas who came out and stirred things up. I loved the finish of it with Kharma saying that she'd be back in a year and hoped that The Bellas were there too. I've said this before but I really like the Bellas as heels. Kharma has a ready made program for when she returns. However, this is WWE so I'd be amazed if they even remember this or care when she comes back. Remember Edge not going after the person that took him out and his reaction to creative of, uh, shouldn't I be going after that person now? Solid matches with Ziggler taking on Kofi and also with Rey and CM Punk.
Other notes from Raw. Again, I just know that Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn must have been losing their mind during that first ten minutes of the show. Really nice Memorial Day video played to open the show. They always do something really classy for Memorial Day. Anyone else find it as strange as me to just have Cole and Lawler suddenly just letting bygones be bygones and commentating next to each other again?
A news story got out last night from PWInsider.com. Every week, the site has ongoing live spoilers from the TNA Impact tapings. Last night, a story broke that their TNA correspondent that sends in the Impact spoilers as they happen was ejected from the building and also from Universal Studios. He was ejected for…..posting spoilers. To say that it stirred up a hornets nest online would be an understatement. Apparently, someone there did not like the fact that spoilers were being sent out. Why this is suddenly a big deal? I don't know. Spoilers have been a part of the business for a VERY long time now. Just curious if TNA realizes that it is 2011. Ugh, this company. I could rant about so many things with them right now but I'm just going to leave it at "ugh, this company".
Mick Foley posted on Twitter during Raw about how Alex Riley was his new favorite wrestler. Interesting that he was commenting so much about WWE programming on Monday night. However, this begs the question. If he was commenting on TNA at that time, it would be during the Impact tapings and would he be thrown out of the building as well?
THQ announced today that they are not going to be making any more of the Smackdown vs. Raw video games. Instead, the next series will be simply by year such as NBA 2K11 or things like that. WWE '12 is the name of the new game and there will be a lot of changes to the gaming. Probably a good idea as there is not near as much buzz on those games as there used to be. I think that is why there was that genuine excitement of the WWE All Stars game cause it was just so different.
Talk about a cool match to see on WWE Classics On Demand this month. The Undertaker vs. Unabomb from Smoky Mountain Wrestling in 1995. Unabomb is of course Glen Jacobs who would go on to be Kane. Just a cool match to see those two face off that early on knowing how their careers would soon be tied together. Lots of good stuff in that Smoky Mountain shorties category including a couple of Chris Candido matches which brings Tammy Sytch on to the screen as well. That was when I first became a fan of Tammy Sytch was watching Smoky Mountain tapes back in the day.
I watched the WWE Film, The Chaperone which is one of their most recent releases. The movie stars Triple H and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. I had heard that it was one of their better efforts and I give this movie a big thumbs up. Triple H plays the character of Ray. Ray spent seven years in prison after a robbery. It was part of a group effort though but the others escaped leaving him to take the fall as the driver. The movie begins with Ray being a free man. His goal upon leaving is to get his family back including his wife and daughter. Will Ray be able to stay on the straight and narrow or fall back into his own habits of trouble? Lots of good action, drama, and comedy in this movie. Triple H does really well in his role and I really liked the cast all around. When I saw the promos for this movie during Raw, it looked like it could be a fun movie. It was.
I am currently reading the Death of WCW book. It is a good read so far. A lot of the stories I already know but there are more details that I am learning about the company including back in the 90's build. I'm about 100 pages in.
That is all I have for this week. I still have some things on the horizon of ideas for editions of the List. Some are typed up and some will be done in the future. Hopefully, they'll be things that you'll enjoy reading. Have a great week!! Take care and God bless!!
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Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Mickie James Helps The Flood Victims In Southern Illinois - May 29, 2011
Friday night was a fun night for me as I got to meet one of my all time favorites, Mickie James. Anybody that knows me knows that I've been a Mickie James fan for a long time now. When Trish Stratus retired back in 2006, I was already cheering for Mickie. Their styles reminded me quite a bit of one another and Mickie just took that spot left by Trish as my favorite in the women's division. How many times have I ranted in this Wrestling List about the use of Mickie James by WWE? Yes, I've ranted about TNA as well. I was thinking the other day on what is my favorite Mickie James match? I think it goes back to that first title win at WrestleMania 22 when she defeated Trish in Chicago. It was a really fun match and had an awesome crowd behind it. Chicago is known for being more of a heel kind of city so there were a lot of fans cheering for the heel Mickie James that night. Mickie would eventually make that face turn and hold six championships in WWE including the Women's and Divas titles. She was one of the most popular wrestlers in the company. She is fun to watch in the ring and has that great personality to go with it. Along with her wrestling schedule, Mickie also has been working on her career as a musician. She is scheduled to perform down at CMA Fest in Nashville next month. Basically, she is a very busy person these days.Carrier Mills, IL was the the host of this event as part of their Catskin Days. Bert Prentice's USA Championship Wrestling was on the bill for a show and Mickie James was announced for a special guest appearance. People came from all around to meet the current Impact Wrestling knockouts champion. Money was being raised to help benefit those that have been impacted by the terrible recent flooding. The show started with Mickie in the ring taking photos with fans. Make a donation and get your photo taken with her. I was, of course, one of those that said "sold" and had to get my picture taken with her. LOL. This again to the surprise of no one that knows me. It was a pleasure to get to meet her and she was extremely nice. She later had a table set up where she would sign autographs. She had a long line for the photo opportunity in the ring as well as the autograph signing at the table. Fans of all ages were thrilled to get to meet her and she was so kind and friendly to everyone. Just a great, great person. Later in the night, Mickie would help to present the money to the mayor of the money raised. It has been a really rough spring in the area for flooding and severe weather and every bit of money will count to help those in need. Mickie was extremely excited to be there to help to raise money. I know she made an even bigger fan out of me on Friday night.
Raw Thoughts, Ring Of Honor, & More - May 26, 2011
Monday night's Raw entertained me. It was a lot better than the last couple of weeks. Last week was making me beg for it to be over. Monday night saw tributes to the Macho Man. The show opened with the in memory of graphic. At around 9:40 or so, a music video tribute played that was just incredible. The main event hit the ring after that and I had noticed the yellow boots that CM Punk was wearing earlier in the night. I was thinking that was a Savage tribute and then saw the tights that he was wearing as well. The classic pink with white stars Macho Man tights. Only difference was that he had his own name on the back of them instead of Macho Man's. It was a really nice tribute from Punk for one of his favorite wrestlers of all time. I love seeing tributes like that. Thank you CM Punk for doing that. I did notice one spot in the match where Punk was tagged in and did the slingshot jump over the ropes. He then ran across the ring and dropped an axe handle on the back of the head. There was a lot of other good stuff on the show and one segment that left me dumbfounded. I liked the opening segment where it looks like a feud is setting up for Cena and R Truth. I think that could be fun and the verbal exchange between the two was entertaining. Bret Hart was a surprise on the show. That added a lot to it. Bret was named the special ref of a match between the teams of Cena and Rey against Truth and Punk. Entertaining main event which ended with Bret putting Punk in the sharpshooter followed by Rey hitting the legdrop off the top rope. The Miz and Alex Riley. Wow, that was more than I bargained for with that segment. When Riley finally started hammering on Miz, I thought that we'd just get a little something and it would set up a feud. Minutes later, I was amazed that he was still hammering on him. Definitely put Riley over as a problem for Miz and the crowd was chanting for him. That was a brutal attack. Injury angle done with Del Rio taking out Big Show's knee with the car. Lots of time devoted to that Monday night with medical people trying to help Show who wanted no help. He eventually fought his way to his feet with the help of Kane. It should be mentioned too that the new Nexus defeated Show and Kane to win the tag team titles earlier in the show before that happened. Now, I have to talk about the thing that drove me absolutely crazy. The divas match. We get set for a 8 diva tag team match. Based on who I was seeing in the ring, I was happy to get it especially with several in there who don't get TV time anymore. Twenty seconds or so in, Kharma's music hits. All the divas line up for strength in numbers. Kharma gets in the ring and is surrounded by the divas. A big staredown ensues and I'm having all kinds of thoughts. Beth Phoenix being the one to step up to her. Wondering if Melina is about to get beaten down with how she has been used lately. Will it be a pile on? What happens? Kharma gets down on her knees and……cries. I could not believe it. All that build up as a monster and weeks of beat downs for them to have her sit down in the ring and cry. Ugh. You have got to be kidding me. I have heard why this turn suddenly happened but that is all they could come up with? Moving on, Michael Cole returns to Raw for the second hour in a much more somber mood after Over The Limit. I did wonder a lot throughout the first hour of the show if I was liking it more than normal due to the fact that I wasn't having to listen to arguing commentators distracting me from the action. Josh and Lawler were easy to listen to. I watched a little of Smackdown on Friday night and just could not take anymore of listening to Cole and Booker argue. Just takes too much away from the ring.
Other notes from Raw. I loved the interaction between Bret Hart and CM Punk. Punk would hit Hart moves and then laugh at Bret. The moment where he picked him up for the backbreaker and laughed right at Bret was awesome. I cracked up too at Punk yelling at Bret, "where did you learn to count, Canada?" Bret laughed at it too. How funny was Truth ranting at Cena and then quoting Legendary by saying "I want my son back". LOL.
CM Punk got three big names pulling for him last week courtesy of Twitter. Paul Heyman posted on Twitter this comment about Punk: "I'm sure he will get heat for me saying this, but @CMPunk is STILL the most underutilized talent on the WWE roster. And my apologies to to @CMPunk for the heat he'll get, but come on already. Punk is the best heel in the biz today! WAKE UP! It's amazing to me (and not in a good way) that WWE doesn't see how @CMPunk has brought out the best in every opponent". Stone Cold Steve Austin later saw what Heyman wrote and said "Agreed." Bret Hart also retweeted what Heyman had to say. Punk later responded to Heyman's comments saying "oh you know me, if I don't have heat I'm doing something wrong. Keeps me warm."
Big news out of Ring Of Honor last week. The company has been sold to Sinclair Broadcasting. This is a big move by ROH and we'll see where the company goes from here. The company has been kind of stagnant here in the last couple of years so something seemed to have to change. Gary Juster is being brought in to promote the live events and he has done this for WCW back in the early 90's. In the press release, the company said that the front office will not change. Jim Cornette is also remaining. ROH's Cary Silkin posted this on the ROH forum saying "It's a new dawn!! I just want to take a moment to thank everyone for all the years of support.As corny as it sounds if is was not for the fans and the passion of all of you we would have never made it to this day. ROH will now live on bigger and better than ever.We look forward to this new era of ROH. Lots of news will be coming out over the next few weeks and I am thrilled to stay on with the company and be able to enjoy a bigger and better Ring of Honor. Thank you Joe Koff and the Sinclair team for making this happen and I will see everyone in NYC !!! It's a new dawn!!" Sinclair Broadcasting has a big part of the United States with TV and will get the shows out to a wider audience. Hopefully this is a great thing for Ring Of Honor and can help grow the company.
Have clues finally started showing up on what the problem was between Randy Savage and Vince McMahon? Rowdy Roddy Piper posted on Twitter that "Randy slapped Vince in a bar. End of that story!!!". George Steele did an interview saying that he was an agent at the time of when Savage left for WCW in 1994. When Savage said what he was going to do, Steele said that Vince looked "broken".
Paul Heyman was on the ESPN Gross Point Blank podcast and had this to say about Randy Savage. I recapped what he had to say. He didn't know Randy that well. He met him a handful of times but was a huge admirer of his success. Just like Piper and Hogan in the 80's and 90's, he became a pop culture icon. His passing has touched a lot of people. Those that knew him were very moved by him cause he was so intense in his professionalism. Those that got the opportunity to work with him, I heard from many that knew him said that he did whatever he could to bring out the best. A lot of people are losing a part of their youth. In the business, he was someone that everyone universally respected. The most criticism on him is that he cared too much. Heyman then added, "I hope that is the worst that people can say about me is that I cared too much." Heyman was asked about the relationship with Savage and McMahon. Heyman said that something happened and there are ten billion rumors on what happened. Until Vince wants to go public with it which will probably be never, we'll never know. Every year that Heyman was there, Savage's name was brought up for the Hall of Fame. People would say that you've got to induct Savage and Bruno. Then, the subject was dropped immediately by Vince. In 2002 or 2003, his name was brought up and Vince looked down at the yellow note pad and said I don't want anything to do with that man. Jim Ross brought Savage up every year for the Hall of Fame and got shot down every year. Something happened but he doesn't know what happened. Whatever it was, it was pretty serious. Heyman said that he had seen Vince do business with people that he hated especially if there was money to be made. Savage was a sore subject with him.
That is it for tonight. Wishing all of you a great rest of the week!! Take care and God bless!!
Other notes from Raw. I loved the interaction between Bret Hart and CM Punk. Punk would hit Hart moves and then laugh at Bret. The moment where he picked him up for the backbreaker and laughed right at Bret was awesome. I cracked up too at Punk yelling at Bret, "where did you learn to count, Canada?" Bret laughed at it too. How funny was Truth ranting at Cena and then quoting Legendary by saying "I want my son back". LOL.
CM Punk got three big names pulling for him last week courtesy of Twitter. Paul Heyman posted on Twitter this comment about Punk: "I'm sure he will get heat for me saying this, but @CMPunk is STILL the most underutilized talent on the WWE roster. And my apologies to to @CMPunk for the heat he'll get, but come on already. Punk is the best heel in the biz today! WAKE UP! It's amazing to me (and not in a good way) that WWE doesn't see how @CMPunk has brought out the best in every opponent". Stone Cold Steve Austin later saw what Heyman wrote and said "Agreed." Bret Hart also retweeted what Heyman had to say. Punk later responded to Heyman's comments saying "oh you know me, if I don't have heat I'm doing something wrong. Keeps me warm."
Big news out of Ring Of Honor last week. The company has been sold to Sinclair Broadcasting. This is a big move by ROH and we'll see where the company goes from here. The company has been kind of stagnant here in the last couple of years so something seemed to have to change. Gary Juster is being brought in to promote the live events and he has done this for WCW back in the early 90's. In the press release, the company said that the front office will not change. Jim Cornette is also remaining. ROH's Cary Silkin posted this on the ROH forum saying "It's a new dawn!! I just want to take a moment to thank everyone for all the years of support.As corny as it sounds if is was not for the fans and the passion of all of you we would have never made it to this day. ROH will now live on bigger and better than ever.We look forward to this new era of ROH. Lots of news will be coming out over the next few weeks and I am thrilled to stay on with the company and be able to enjoy a bigger and better Ring of Honor. Thank you Joe Koff and the Sinclair team for making this happen and I will see everyone in NYC !!! It's a new dawn!!" Sinclair Broadcasting has a big part of the United States with TV and will get the shows out to a wider audience. Hopefully this is a great thing for Ring Of Honor and can help grow the company.
Have clues finally started showing up on what the problem was between Randy Savage and Vince McMahon? Rowdy Roddy Piper posted on Twitter that "Randy slapped Vince in a bar. End of that story!!!". George Steele did an interview saying that he was an agent at the time of when Savage left for WCW in 1994. When Savage said what he was going to do, Steele said that Vince looked "broken".
Paul Heyman was on the ESPN Gross Point Blank podcast and had this to say about Randy Savage. I recapped what he had to say. He didn't know Randy that well. He met him a handful of times but was a huge admirer of his success. Just like Piper and Hogan in the 80's and 90's, he became a pop culture icon. His passing has touched a lot of people. Those that knew him were very moved by him cause he was so intense in his professionalism. Those that got the opportunity to work with him, I heard from many that knew him said that he did whatever he could to bring out the best. A lot of people are losing a part of their youth. In the business, he was someone that everyone universally respected. The most criticism on him is that he cared too much. Heyman then added, "I hope that is the worst that people can say about me is that I cared too much." Heyman was asked about the relationship with Savage and McMahon. Heyman said that something happened and there are ten billion rumors on what happened. Until Vince wants to go public with it which will probably be never, we'll never know. Every year that Heyman was there, Savage's name was brought up for the Hall of Fame. People would say that you've got to induct Savage and Bruno. Then, the subject was dropped immediately by Vince. In 2002 or 2003, his name was brought up and Vince looked down at the yellow note pad and said I don't want anything to do with that man. Jim Ross brought Savage up every year for the Hall of Fame and got shot down every year. Something happened but he doesn't know what happened. Whatever it was, it was pretty serious. Heyman said that he had seen Vince do business with people that he hated especially if there was money to be made. Savage was a sore subject with him.
That is it for tonight. Wishing all of you a great rest of the week!! Take care and God bless!!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Randy Savage Tributes From All Around - May 24, 2011
WWE and TNA obviously released statements on the passing of Randy Savage. WWE issued this statement: WWE is saddened to learn of the passing of one of the greatest Superstars of his time, Randy Poffo, a.k.a. Randy “Macho Man” Savage. Poffo was under contract with WWE from 1985 to 1993 and held both the WWE and Intercontinental Championships.Our sincerest condolences go out to his family and friends. We wish a speedy recovery to his wife Lynn. Poffo will be greatly missed by WWE and his fans.
TNA released this statement: TNA joins the entire wrestling world in mourning the passing of the legendary "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Savage was one of the most talented athletes to ever compete inside a wrestling ring. He truly transcended professional wrestling, becoming one of the true "icons" of our sport. Millions of wrestling fans grew up watching Savage battle other legends such as Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat and many more.Savage appeared with TNA during our 2004 "Victory Road" and "Turning Point" events - memorable moments that we hope wrestling fans will never forget.TNA hopes all of our fans remember Randy Savage's amazing life and career, and how he helped shape the sport as we know it today.
Hulk Hogan is someone that has been posting a ton about Savage on his Twitter and Facebook accounts. He has really been hit hard by this news and talked about how Savage and him just started reconnecting lately after ten years of not talking. He has been posting fan videos and using his page as a way for fans to come and talk about Savage memories and post tributes.
Jim Ross has done an excellent blog on Randy Savage at www.JRsBarBQ.com which is very much worth a read.
Shawn Michaels comments on Savage came across my news feed late last week and I just loved what he had to say on Savage's advice to him. From Shawn's Twitter: "Greatest advice from "Mach"- I was angry & wanted to leave WWE. He said, Don't take urself out of the game. If ur still here...there's always a chance. If ur gone, there is no chance. It was then I determined never to leave. Stay in the "game" & there's hope."
Speaking of Twitter, here is a list of comments from various people on Twitter.
Steve Austin: "Just heard about Macho Man Randy Savage... Unmatched intensity in the ring. A hellacious performer and terrific promo. A real bad a**. RIP."
The Rock: The Rock: "RIP Randy Macho Man Savage - you were one of my childhood inspirations and heros. Strength, love and prayers to the Savage/Poffo family. Today Team Bring It will celebrate a life – we will kick a** and chase greatness #OOHHYEEEAAAHHH style!”
Roddy Piper: "Too SAD TO TWEET."
Shawn Michaels - "@IAmJericho jus txt me the news. We've lost one of the greats!! Our prayers go out to the family & friends of Randy Savage."
Hulk Hogan: "I'm completely devastated, after over 10 years of not talking with Randy, we've finally started to talk and communicate. He had so much life in his eyes & in his spirit. I just pray that he's happy and in a better place and we miss him. We miss him a lot. I feel horrible about the ten years of having no communication. This was a tough one. I just pray that Randy's happy and in a better place and we miss him. HH"
Trish Stratus - "Rest in peace Randy-my first inspiration in the ring. My prayers & condolences to the Savage family #RIPMachoMan"
Chris Jericho: "Randy Savage was a true influence and inspiration to me and taught me some very important lessons, in and out of the ring. Rest in peace, Mach."
Jim Cornette: "Our deepest condolences in losing another legend. R.I.P. Randy."
Howard Finkel - "I am profoundly saddened by the passing of one of the all-time greats, Macho Man Randy Savage. My condolences go out to the Poffo family."
Kevin Nash: "I lost a close friend today. If anybody in heaven is wondering who the cat is in the ugly cowboy hat is it's Randy. Love you Bro. Never another".
Rey Mysterio - "RIP Macho Man Randy Savage! Doing promotion in Seattle for Over the Limit ppv, was asked earlier today at a radio station, Who would I of loved to wrestle from back in da day? I said would of loved to hit it off in a 3ple threat, Macho Man, Ricky the Dragon, and myself!RIP RMS!"
Bret Hart: "I have no words to say. This one hits me hard. We lost one of the best.”
CM Punk - " (retweeted Bret Hart's words of) “@BretHart: I have no words to say. This one hits me hard. We lost one of the best.” (Punk then added this) This sums it up."
John Cena - "CeNation. The untimely passing of randy savage is indeed tragic. All true fans of wrestling will mourn this loss. One of the all time greats"
Christopher Daniels: "RIP Randy Savage, an inspiration who set the standard! As a fan watching Randy in WrestleMania 3, 4 and 5 was incredible! True Story: at Turning Point 2004 (AMW-XXX cage match), I asked Randy's permission to drop the elbow of the top of the cage! Randy's reply? "God bless you, brother, I don't even do the elbow anymore." And, he gave me a thumbs up after the match as well!
Mark Henry - "Wow family, one of my favorites is gone! Rest well (Randy savage) you will be missed. Savage vs steamboat look it up do yourself a favor family one of my favorite."
Kharma - "In utter shock about Macho Man. So much charisma in one soul. #ripmachoman"
Yoshi Tatsu - "The Macho Man Randy Savage was one of my heros when I was childhood and one of the best of all time. Rest in peace."
Darren Young - "JUST like that! Life can end. Tell those close to ya that you love them cause ya never know! RIP Macho Man"
Wade Barrett - "Bow to the kingdom of the madness. RIP Macho Man, amazing performer."
Curt Hawkins - "I carry this picture in my gear bag ...7yr old Hawkins & my 1st tag team partner. RIP Macho Man. http://yfrog.com/h097hykj"
JTG - "To one of my favorite Hall of Famers, inducted or not. Macho Man Randy Savage. R.I.P OOOOOOOOOH YEEEEEEEAH !"
Goldust - "Prayers go out to randy savage family.....god be with them in this tough time"
Vickie Guerrero - "RIP Randy Macho Man Savage. My prayers are to your family"
Ezekiel Jackson - "Whoa....just heard about macho man Randy savage...God bless the family, the wrestling world just lost one of the greatest ever...R.I.P"
Justin Roberts - "Macho Man...simply awesome. Incredible and entertaining in everything he did. One of the best ever. RIP"
Christian - "Sad 2 hear about "Macho Man"Randy Savage..Only met him once briefly.No doubt 1 of the best & influenced so many performers you see today RIP"
Scott Stanford - "Sorry to hear about the Macho Man! He was one of the best!"
Jeff Jarrett - "Just got a call w the news. RIP Randy. I met him when I was 11yrs old. He would always teach, correct, encourage, and compliment as my career progressed. I have NEVER forgotten the intricacies and attention to detail he taught me over the years. Randy always had a method to his madness. Randy is gone, but will never be forgotten. Thoughts and prayers are w the entire Poffo family. And, he may be the greatest card player the business has ever seen... When he lost, he was only setting you up to take more money from you!
Tommy Dreamer - "Randy Savage was the 1st person I saw piledrive someone thru a table. Thanks 4 all the memories. Hope u walk the aisle w/ Liz & Sherri again"
Doug Williams - "RIP #randysavage I was fortunate to see him live at his peak..."
Joey Styles: "There's no other way for me to celebrate the life & career of The Macho Man than to let him keep entertaining me.VIDEO: http://bit.ly/lZLBj8"
Karen Jarrett - "My thoughts and prayers go out to Randy Savage's wife and family!"
Mickie James - "Ooh No! My childhood favorite! RIP Macho Man... *finger in the air*
Jay Lethal - "R.I.P. Macho Man Randy Savage. You were amazing... Oohh yea!!!"
Shane Helms - "Totally heartbreaking news about Randy Savage. One of my all-time favs!! So sad!! RIP Macho"
William Regal - "Just heard of the passing of Randy Savage.A one of a kind great performer. RIP."
Jim Ross - "Just heard Macho Man died this morning of a heart attack while driving his vehicle in Tampa. Condolences to all Randy Savage fans/family."
Zack Ryder - "RIP MACHO MAN. One of my favorites and one of the best of all time. DIG IT! http://t.co/PSYmsrJ"
Bill DeMott: "When I got my start in WCW it was Randy that gave me the rub....my prayers and thoughts to the Poffo Family"
Jack Korpela: "Hogan vs. Savage at WrestleMania V was the match that got me hooked on WWE as a kid. RIP "Macho Man" Randy Savage. My condolences."
Natalya: "My prayers are with Randy Savage and his family right now".
Beth Phoenix: "No words for this very sad day. Condolences to Randy Savage's family, friends and millions of fans." #MachoMan
Darren Young: "JUST like that! Life can end. Tell those close to ya that you love them cause ya never know! RIP Macho Man."
Torrie Wilson: "Just heard the news of Macho Man Randy Savage passing... Rest in peace, Randy.
Lilian Garcia: "Just heard the news about "Macho Man" Randy Savage passing away. So sad. RIP Randy. My prayers go out to your friends & family."
The Bella Twins: "Very sad to hear about Macho Man... His family is in our thoughts & prayers... Truly an amazin' & captivatin' man!"
Gail Kim: "RIP macho man. Thank u 4 all the great yrs u gave us. u were part of the reason I loved wrestling...what u did 4 all..."
Ricardo Rodriguez: “Thoughts go to Randy Savage's family. Definitely an amazing talent and a great inspiration to many. Can never forget Savage vs Steamboat.”
There have been a lot of videos popping up online of different wrestlers being asked their thoughts on Savage's passing. Everyone is just stunned and saying great things. There was one that was done with Sean Waltman where he said that he woke up Friday morning and his phone had been lit up with texts and messages including from Triple H and more. He said that his first thought was that Scott Hall had finally passed. How sad is that??!! That just made me sad hearing him say that cause that is just awful to be anticipating that. Waltman talked about Savage with tears in his eyes through the rest of the video.
Diamond Dallas Page has posted a video online of his thoughts on Savage. He has such great things to say and you have to remember that the feud with Savage was what sent DDP to the different level. Their feud was incredible. Great comments from Page.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4wmvpNIMK3c
Hulk Hogan has posted this video online with his words about Savage.
http://youtu.be/yITu6455sNU
Jay Lethal posted a poem in tribute to Savage. You may remember that Lethal did a Macho Man imitation gimmick in TNA.
You inspired me more than this world will ever know. Enjoy.
You were a tower of power that was too sweet to be sour,You were funky like a monkey every minute of every hour. For you, space was the place and time distortion had to be,And your fans here on earth wanted the madness for eternity. You met every challenge with fists clinched and face to face, You even fought and defeats dragons and snakes. Flying off the ropes with an elbow drop, There was no way you could ever be stopped. Identifiable by your voice alone, Even being Dubbed the macho king while you sat on your throne. We hung on your words with interviews memorable and classic, And we knew it was serious when you took off your glasses. I promise not to lose you in the sands of time, For you will always be that all time hero of mine.
The Ultimate Warrior has posted a video giving his thoughts on Randy Savage. It is a really touching video where he just talks about a guy that he respected so much. Warrior has always said great things about working with Savage and these two videos are really worth watching. Just a classy tribute by the Warrior.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74NjMY5bsnc&feature=player_embedded
Lance Storm has posted an incredible blog about Savage and how Savage was really the reason as a fan that he got into the business. He also includes a couple of pictures that he took of Savage at live events including the big win for Savage at WrestleMania IV. He talks about meeting him during a Smoky Mountain wrestling show in 1994 and the advice that Randy gave him. Read this if you get a chance.
http://stormwrestling.com/052011.html
Slim Jim has spoken out about Savage and released this statement: "We're saddened by the loss. Randy was a beloved ambassador for the Slim Jim brand for many years and will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and prayer are with his family and friends at this time."
There have been reactions from across all the entertainment world on Twitter paying tribute including Ryan Seacrest, Alyssa Milano, Maria Menounos, Donnie Wahlberg, and more. Savage was honored at Yankee Stadium the other night with a graphic up on the screen after "Macho Man" was played for the crowd during a break in the action. Fans gave him a big ovation.
I'll have more on Savage and the other happenings in the wrestling world later on. Been a wild and sad week for sure.
TNA released this statement: TNA joins the entire wrestling world in mourning the passing of the legendary "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Savage was one of the most talented athletes to ever compete inside a wrestling ring. He truly transcended professional wrestling, becoming one of the true "icons" of our sport. Millions of wrestling fans grew up watching Savage battle other legends such as Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat and many more.Savage appeared with TNA during our 2004 "Victory Road" and "Turning Point" events - memorable moments that we hope wrestling fans will never forget.TNA hopes all of our fans remember Randy Savage's amazing life and career, and how he helped shape the sport as we know it today.
Hulk Hogan is someone that has been posting a ton about Savage on his Twitter and Facebook accounts. He has really been hit hard by this news and talked about how Savage and him just started reconnecting lately after ten years of not talking. He has been posting fan videos and using his page as a way for fans to come and talk about Savage memories and post tributes.
Jim Ross has done an excellent blog on Randy Savage at www.JRsBarBQ.com which is very much worth a read.
Shawn Michaels comments on Savage came across my news feed late last week and I just loved what he had to say on Savage's advice to him. From Shawn's Twitter: "Greatest advice from "Mach"- I was angry & wanted to leave WWE. He said, Don't take urself out of the game. If ur still here...there's always a chance. If ur gone, there is no chance. It was then I determined never to leave. Stay in the "game" & there's hope."
Speaking of Twitter, here is a list of comments from various people on Twitter.
Steve Austin: "Just heard about Macho Man Randy Savage... Unmatched intensity in the ring. A hellacious performer and terrific promo. A real bad a**. RIP."
The Rock: The Rock: "RIP Randy Macho Man Savage - you were one of my childhood inspirations and heros. Strength, love and prayers to the Savage/Poffo family. Today Team Bring It will celebrate a life – we will kick a** and chase greatness #OOHHYEEEAAAHHH style!”
Roddy Piper: "Too SAD TO TWEET."
Shawn Michaels - "@IAmJericho jus txt me the news. We've lost one of the greats!! Our prayers go out to the family & friends of Randy Savage."
Hulk Hogan: "I'm completely devastated, after over 10 years of not talking with Randy, we've finally started to talk and communicate. He had so much life in his eyes & in his spirit. I just pray that he's happy and in a better place and we miss him. We miss him a lot. I feel horrible about the ten years of having no communication. This was a tough one. I just pray that Randy's happy and in a better place and we miss him. HH"
Trish Stratus - "Rest in peace Randy-my first inspiration in the ring. My prayers & condolences to the Savage family #RIPMachoMan"
Chris Jericho: "Randy Savage was a true influence and inspiration to me and taught me some very important lessons, in and out of the ring. Rest in peace, Mach."
Jim Cornette: "Our deepest condolences in losing another legend. R.I.P. Randy."
Howard Finkel - "I am profoundly saddened by the passing of one of the all-time greats, Macho Man Randy Savage. My condolences go out to the Poffo family."
Kevin Nash: "I lost a close friend today. If anybody in heaven is wondering who the cat is in the ugly cowboy hat is it's Randy. Love you Bro. Never another".
Rey Mysterio - "RIP Macho Man Randy Savage! Doing promotion in Seattle for Over the Limit ppv, was asked earlier today at a radio station, Who would I of loved to wrestle from back in da day? I said would of loved to hit it off in a 3ple threat, Macho Man, Ricky the Dragon, and myself!RIP RMS!"
Bret Hart: "I have no words to say. This one hits me hard. We lost one of the best.”
CM Punk - " (retweeted Bret Hart's words of) “@BretHart: I have no words to say. This one hits me hard. We lost one of the best.” (Punk then added this) This sums it up."
John Cena - "CeNation. The untimely passing of randy savage is indeed tragic. All true fans of wrestling will mourn this loss. One of the all time greats"
Christopher Daniels: "RIP Randy Savage, an inspiration who set the standard! As a fan watching Randy in WrestleMania 3, 4 and 5 was incredible! True Story: at Turning Point 2004 (AMW-XXX cage match), I asked Randy's permission to drop the elbow of the top of the cage! Randy's reply? "God bless you, brother, I don't even do the elbow anymore." And, he gave me a thumbs up after the match as well!
Mark Henry - "Wow family, one of my favorites is gone! Rest well (Randy savage) you will be missed. Savage vs steamboat look it up do yourself a favor family one of my favorite."
Kharma - "In utter shock about Macho Man. So much charisma in one soul. #ripmachoman"
Yoshi Tatsu - "The Macho Man Randy Savage was one of my heros when I was childhood and one of the best of all time. Rest in peace."
Darren Young - "JUST like that! Life can end. Tell those close to ya that you love them cause ya never know! RIP Macho Man"
Wade Barrett - "Bow to the kingdom of the madness. RIP Macho Man, amazing performer."
Curt Hawkins - "I carry this picture in my gear bag ...7yr old Hawkins & my 1st tag team partner. RIP Macho Man. http://yfrog.com/h097hykj"
JTG - "To one of my favorite Hall of Famers, inducted or not. Macho Man Randy Savage. R.I.P OOOOOOOOOH YEEEEEEEAH !"
Goldust - "Prayers go out to randy savage family.....god be with them in this tough time"
Vickie Guerrero - "RIP Randy Macho Man Savage. My prayers are to your family"
Ezekiel Jackson - "Whoa....just heard about macho man Randy savage...God bless the family, the wrestling world just lost one of the greatest ever...R.I.P"
Justin Roberts - "Macho Man...simply awesome. Incredible and entertaining in everything he did. One of the best ever. RIP"
Christian - "Sad 2 hear about "Macho Man"Randy Savage..Only met him once briefly.No doubt 1 of the best & influenced so many performers you see today RIP"
Scott Stanford - "Sorry to hear about the Macho Man! He was one of the best!"
Jeff Jarrett - "Just got a call w the news. RIP Randy. I met him when I was 11yrs old. He would always teach, correct, encourage, and compliment as my career progressed. I have NEVER forgotten the intricacies and attention to detail he taught me over the years. Randy always had a method to his madness. Randy is gone, but will never be forgotten. Thoughts and prayers are w the entire Poffo family. And, he may be the greatest card player the business has ever seen... When he lost, he was only setting you up to take more money from you!
Tommy Dreamer - "Randy Savage was the 1st person I saw piledrive someone thru a table. Thanks 4 all the memories. Hope u walk the aisle w/ Liz & Sherri again"
Doug Williams - "RIP #randysavage I was fortunate to see him live at his peak..."
Joey Styles: "There's no other way for me to celebrate the life & career of The Macho Man than to let him keep entertaining me.VIDEO: http://bit.ly/lZLBj8"
Karen Jarrett - "My thoughts and prayers go out to Randy Savage's wife and family!"
Mickie James - "Ooh No! My childhood favorite! RIP Macho Man... *finger in the air*
Jay Lethal - "R.I.P. Macho Man Randy Savage. You were amazing... Oohh yea!!!"
Shane Helms - "Totally heartbreaking news about Randy Savage. One of my all-time favs!! So sad!! RIP Macho"
William Regal - "Just heard of the passing of Randy Savage.A one of a kind great performer. RIP."
Jim Ross - "Just heard Macho Man died this morning of a heart attack while driving his vehicle in Tampa. Condolences to all Randy Savage fans/family."
Zack Ryder - "RIP MACHO MAN. One of my favorites and one of the best of all time. DIG IT! http://t.co/PSYmsrJ"
Bill DeMott: "When I got my start in WCW it was Randy that gave me the rub....my prayers and thoughts to the Poffo Family"
Jack Korpela: "Hogan vs. Savage at WrestleMania V was the match that got me hooked on WWE as a kid. RIP "Macho Man" Randy Savage. My condolences."
Natalya: "My prayers are with Randy Savage and his family right now".
Beth Phoenix: "No words for this very sad day. Condolences to Randy Savage's family, friends and millions of fans." #MachoMan
Darren Young: "JUST like that! Life can end. Tell those close to ya that you love them cause ya never know! RIP Macho Man."
Torrie Wilson: "Just heard the news of Macho Man Randy Savage passing... Rest in peace, Randy.
Lilian Garcia: "Just heard the news about "Macho Man" Randy Savage passing away. So sad. RIP Randy. My prayers go out to your friends & family."
The Bella Twins: "Very sad to hear about Macho Man... His family is in our thoughts & prayers... Truly an amazin' & captivatin' man!"
Gail Kim: "RIP macho man. Thank u 4 all the great yrs u gave us. u were part of the reason I loved wrestling...what u did 4 all..."
Ricardo Rodriguez: “Thoughts go to Randy Savage's family. Definitely an amazing talent and a great inspiration to many. Can never forget Savage vs Steamboat.”
There have been a lot of videos popping up online of different wrestlers being asked their thoughts on Savage's passing. Everyone is just stunned and saying great things. There was one that was done with Sean Waltman where he said that he woke up Friday morning and his phone had been lit up with texts and messages including from Triple H and more. He said that his first thought was that Scott Hall had finally passed. How sad is that??!! That just made me sad hearing him say that cause that is just awful to be anticipating that. Waltman talked about Savage with tears in his eyes through the rest of the video.
Diamond Dallas Page has posted a video online of his thoughts on Savage. He has such great things to say and you have to remember that the feud with Savage was what sent DDP to the different level. Their feud was incredible. Great comments from Page.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4wmvpNIMK3c
Hulk Hogan has posted this video online with his words about Savage.
http://youtu.be/yITu6455sNU
Jay Lethal posted a poem in tribute to Savage. You may remember that Lethal did a Macho Man imitation gimmick in TNA.
You inspired me more than this world will ever know. Enjoy.
You were a tower of power that was too sweet to be sour,You were funky like a monkey every minute of every hour. For you, space was the place and time distortion had to be,And your fans here on earth wanted the madness for eternity. You met every challenge with fists clinched and face to face, You even fought and defeats dragons and snakes. Flying off the ropes with an elbow drop, There was no way you could ever be stopped. Identifiable by your voice alone, Even being Dubbed the macho king while you sat on your throne. We hung on your words with interviews memorable and classic, And we knew it was serious when you took off your glasses. I promise not to lose you in the sands of time, For you will always be that all time hero of mine.
The Ultimate Warrior has posted a video giving his thoughts on Randy Savage. It is a really touching video where he just talks about a guy that he respected so much. Warrior has always said great things about working with Savage and these two videos are really worth watching. Just a classy tribute by the Warrior.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74NjMY5bsnc&feature=player_embedded
Lance Storm has posted an incredible blog about Savage and how Savage was really the reason as a fan that he got into the business. He also includes a couple of pictures that he took of Savage at live events including the big win for Savage at WrestleMania IV. He talks about meeting him during a Smoky Mountain wrestling show in 1994 and the advice that Randy gave him. Read this if you get a chance.
http://stormwrestling.com/052011.html
Slim Jim has spoken out about Savage and released this statement: "We're saddened by the loss. Randy was a beloved ambassador for the Slim Jim brand for many years and will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and prayer are with his family and friends at this time."
There have been reactions from across all the entertainment world on Twitter paying tribute including Ryan Seacrest, Alyssa Milano, Maria Menounos, Donnie Wahlberg, and more. Savage was honored at Yankee Stadium the other night with a graphic up on the screen after "Macho Man" was played for the crowd during a break in the action. Fans gave him a big ovation.
I'll have more on Savage and the other happenings in the wrestling world later on. Been a wild and sad week for sure.
Friday, May 20, 2011
A Tribute to Macho Man Randy Savage - May 20, 2011
Now, he's headed to the outside. A flying elbow. Hooks the leg. One, two, it's over. We have a new champion. That was the call by Gorilla Monsoon on March 27, 1988 as Macho Man Randy Savage won the tournament at WrestleMania IV to become the undisputed World Wrestling Federation Champion.
Randy Savage is one of my favorites of all time. I got hooked into wrestling just as he was moving up that ladder of success. A lot of my childhood revolves around wrestling and especially Randy Savage. When I was little, we would all wrestle and imitate our favorites. I loved climbing up on that couch or chair and raising those two arms up in the air to drop that double ax handle. It was fun. He was fun to watch. One thing that I found interesting about Savage even as a kid was that he was hard to cheer against him. I always talk about how Shawn Michaels was probably the first full fledged heel that I got behind with cheering. However, Savage was the one that got the ball rolling. I remember cheering him against The Ultimate Warrior. I couldn't cheer him against Hogan though cause I was too big of a Hulkamaniac. Savage was one of those guys that I enjoyed watching. When his matches air on WWE Classics On Demand, I will often watch them and still enjoy them. He did things that others weren't doing. The Randy Savage DVD set was released in the last couple of years and I enjoyed every bit of it.
1985 saw the launch of Savage in the World Wrestling Federation. He got people's attention for sure and his first match at MSG has been shown on DVD and also on Classics on Demand. You just have to laugh at the fact that Savage was such a heel magnet that he was getting stuff thrown at him already. Savage's heel run would be amazing to watch as he introduced Elizabeth as his manager. They did a big thing on TV where managers were trying to get Savage to allow them to be his manager. Elizabeth was introduced and we went to the next level with Savage. It didn't take long for Savage to be in the main event picture having some great matches with Hogan. They had some great matches at Madison Square Garden in the mid 80's.
WrestleMania III. You know where I'm going. Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat. Still one of my favorite matches of all time. While all the attention was on Hogan and Andre, Savage and Steamboat went out there and stole the show. You can ask so many wrestlers about that match and it is a favorite of theirs. Chris Jericho talked in his book about how he and his friend could work the full match by memory when they were kids. 93,173 fans were just glued to this match and it is one of the best WrestleMania matches in history to this day.
It wasn't long before Savage would make that face turn. A feud with Honky Tonk Man was the launching pad and then a teaming of the Madness and the Mania. The Mega Powers were formed in late 1987 on Saturday Night's Main Event in what was a perfectly done story. This would all lead to Savage taking the top spot in the company as World Wrestling Federation Champion by defeating Ted Dibiase in that tournament final. Savage was one of my favorite champions ever. Just always had good matches and interesting feuds. That year of 1988 saw feuds with Dibiase, Andre, and Bad News Brown. However, then the build turned to becoming a heel once again. Savage would turn on Hogan and there would be these great promos showing how Hogan had been a backstabber to him throughout his title reign. I recently commented about how Classics On Demand is now in that time period with Prime Time Wrestling and is airing those promos. I haven't seen them since probably that time they aired. Savage would drop the title to Hogan at WrestleMania V. A series of rematches would occur including bringing Sherri into the mix as Savage's manager while Elizabeth paired up with Hogan. Great stuff with the rematches. Savage's next feuds would be with Hacksaw Jim Duggan (which brought him to becoming the Macho King) and then on to Dusty Rhodes. The build to WrestleMania VII would be Savage not getting a title shot against The Ultimate Warrior only for him to cost Warrior the title at The 1991 Royal Rumble. WrestleMania VII was set up with a career ending match in place. One would have to retire. The result had one of the most garbage finishes ever with Warrior kicking out of five Savage elbow drops which should have been career ending, much less kicked out of. Warrior would end Savage's career but the big story became Elizabeth sitting in the building. After Sherri turned on Savage, Elizabeth ran to the ring to toss Sherri out of there. Savage and Elizabeth were reunited in one of the best booked feel good moments ever. It was great stuff and the crowd gave them a huge send off. We had the wedding that headlined SummerSlam 1991 and then the launch of the Jake Roberts feud. Roberts brought out another side of Savage's character. The insane Savage where you just watched as a viewer thinking that he is going to seriously injure this guy. That feud was just intense as could be. The next version of that was the feud with Ric Flair where he claimed that Elizabeth was "mine before she was yours" to Savage. Savage would win his second world championship that night. Not long after that, Savage would mostly work as an announcer for the company. The story that I've always heard was that Savage wanted to continue wrestling but Vince didn't want him to be that anymore. So, Savage left to go to WCW and his continue his in ring career.
WCW was definitely a revival of his in ring career. Savage kept teasing on why he was coming to WCW but we didn't know if it was friend or foe of Hogan's. Savage and Hogan would reunite and eventually feud once again. Savage continued his rivalry with Flair and had some title reigns thrown in there as well. Hogan turned heel and it was the legdrop on the Macho Man that sealed the deal on what was going on at Bash At The Beach in 1996. Savage was one of the guys that led the brigade of WCW against the nWo. However, Savage eventually joined the group but there ended up being a power struggle within the group. When the Wolfpack formed, Savage jumped over to that group. Savage would reinvent the character in 1999 with new music and a new look. Enter also Gorgeous George. Another title reign in there but Savage wasn't around a whole lot longer in WCW.
Savage has kind of faded out of the spotlight over the last ten years. He did make a few appearances for TNA including appearing in a main event match. Savage would pop up and do some convention appearances. Would he ever make another WWE appearance has been the talk for so long now? Would he go into the Hall Of Fame? There has been so much talk as to what exactly the heat was between Vince and Savage keeping him from being brought back into WWE. When Savage recently appeared in the new All Stars game, that was a good sign. An even better sign was the recent promo video that was done for WWE by Savage pushing the new Savage WWE figure. It was great and just classic Savage. I know I loved it and it got people all stirred up. People have been trying to figure out for years now just how long it would be until he went into the WWE Hall Of Fame. It didn't happen this year but attention turned to next year. Sadly, we didn't get the WWE sendoff for Savage which is always going to be sad. I am sure he will now go into the Hall Of Fame but it isn't going to be the same great moment that it should have been. Savage being up on that stage and saying farewell would have been great. It was a moment that I was really looking forward to. One of the all time greats has passed away today. Thank you Randy Savage.
Randy Savage is one of my favorites of all time. I got hooked into wrestling just as he was moving up that ladder of success. A lot of my childhood revolves around wrestling and especially Randy Savage. When I was little, we would all wrestle and imitate our favorites. I loved climbing up on that couch or chair and raising those two arms up in the air to drop that double ax handle. It was fun. He was fun to watch. One thing that I found interesting about Savage even as a kid was that he was hard to cheer against him. I always talk about how Shawn Michaels was probably the first full fledged heel that I got behind with cheering. However, Savage was the one that got the ball rolling. I remember cheering him against The Ultimate Warrior. I couldn't cheer him against Hogan though cause I was too big of a Hulkamaniac. Savage was one of those guys that I enjoyed watching. When his matches air on WWE Classics On Demand, I will often watch them and still enjoy them. He did things that others weren't doing. The Randy Savage DVD set was released in the last couple of years and I enjoyed every bit of it.
1985 saw the launch of Savage in the World Wrestling Federation. He got people's attention for sure and his first match at MSG has been shown on DVD and also on Classics on Demand. You just have to laugh at the fact that Savage was such a heel magnet that he was getting stuff thrown at him already. Savage's heel run would be amazing to watch as he introduced Elizabeth as his manager. They did a big thing on TV where managers were trying to get Savage to allow them to be his manager. Elizabeth was introduced and we went to the next level with Savage. It didn't take long for Savage to be in the main event picture having some great matches with Hogan. They had some great matches at Madison Square Garden in the mid 80's.
WrestleMania III. You know where I'm going. Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat. Still one of my favorite matches of all time. While all the attention was on Hogan and Andre, Savage and Steamboat went out there and stole the show. You can ask so many wrestlers about that match and it is a favorite of theirs. Chris Jericho talked in his book about how he and his friend could work the full match by memory when they were kids. 93,173 fans were just glued to this match and it is one of the best WrestleMania matches in history to this day.
It wasn't long before Savage would make that face turn. A feud with Honky Tonk Man was the launching pad and then a teaming of the Madness and the Mania. The Mega Powers were formed in late 1987 on Saturday Night's Main Event in what was a perfectly done story. This would all lead to Savage taking the top spot in the company as World Wrestling Federation Champion by defeating Ted Dibiase in that tournament final. Savage was one of my favorite champions ever. Just always had good matches and interesting feuds. That year of 1988 saw feuds with Dibiase, Andre, and Bad News Brown. However, then the build turned to becoming a heel once again. Savage would turn on Hogan and there would be these great promos showing how Hogan had been a backstabber to him throughout his title reign. I recently commented about how Classics On Demand is now in that time period with Prime Time Wrestling and is airing those promos. I haven't seen them since probably that time they aired. Savage would drop the title to Hogan at WrestleMania V. A series of rematches would occur including bringing Sherri into the mix as Savage's manager while Elizabeth paired up with Hogan. Great stuff with the rematches. Savage's next feuds would be with Hacksaw Jim Duggan (which brought him to becoming the Macho King) and then on to Dusty Rhodes. The build to WrestleMania VII would be Savage not getting a title shot against The Ultimate Warrior only for him to cost Warrior the title at The 1991 Royal Rumble. WrestleMania VII was set up with a career ending match in place. One would have to retire. The result had one of the most garbage finishes ever with Warrior kicking out of five Savage elbow drops which should have been career ending, much less kicked out of. Warrior would end Savage's career but the big story became Elizabeth sitting in the building. After Sherri turned on Savage, Elizabeth ran to the ring to toss Sherri out of there. Savage and Elizabeth were reunited in one of the best booked feel good moments ever. It was great stuff and the crowd gave them a huge send off. We had the wedding that headlined SummerSlam 1991 and then the launch of the Jake Roberts feud. Roberts brought out another side of Savage's character. The insane Savage where you just watched as a viewer thinking that he is going to seriously injure this guy. That feud was just intense as could be. The next version of that was the feud with Ric Flair where he claimed that Elizabeth was "mine before she was yours" to Savage. Savage would win his second world championship that night. Not long after that, Savage would mostly work as an announcer for the company. The story that I've always heard was that Savage wanted to continue wrestling but Vince didn't want him to be that anymore. So, Savage left to go to WCW and his continue his in ring career.
WCW was definitely a revival of his in ring career. Savage kept teasing on why he was coming to WCW but we didn't know if it was friend or foe of Hogan's. Savage and Hogan would reunite and eventually feud once again. Savage continued his rivalry with Flair and had some title reigns thrown in there as well. Hogan turned heel and it was the legdrop on the Macho Man that sealed the deal on what was going on at Bash At The Beach in 1996. Savage was one of the guys that led the brigade of WCW against the nWo. However, Savage eventually joined the group but there ended up being a power struggle within the group. When the Wolfpack formed, Savage jumped over to that group. Savage would reinvent the character in 1999 with new music and a new look. Enter also Gorgeous George. Another title reign in there but Savage wasn't around a whole lot longer in WCW.
Savage has kind of faded out of the spotlight over the last ten years. He did make a few appearances for TNA including appearing in a main event match. Savage would pop up and do some convention appearances. Would he ever make another WWE appearance has been the talk for so long now? Would he go into the Hall Of Fame? There has been so much talk as to what exactly the heat was between Vince and Savage keeping him from being brought back into WWE. When Savage recently appeared in the new All Stars game, that was a good sign. An even better sign was the recent promo video that was done for WWE by Savage pushing the new Savage WWE figure. It was great and just classic Savage. I know I loved it and it got people all stirred up. People have been trying to figure out for years now just how long it would be until he went into the WWE Hall Of Fame. It didn't happen this year but attention turned to next year. Sadly, we didn't get the WWE sendoff for Savage which is always going to be sad. I am sure he will now go into the Hall Of Fame but it isn't going to be the same great moment that it should have been. Savage being up on that stage and saying farewell would have been great. It was a moment that I was really looking forward to. One of the all time greats has passed away today. Thank you Randy Savage.
Macho Man Randy Savage Passes Away - May 20, 2011
Things have been so busy this week that I haven't been able to begin typing up a Wrestling List but this breaking news obviously couldn't wait. Very sad news from the world of wrestling as TMZ.com is reporting that Macho Man Randy Savage passed away earlier today at the age of 58. The report says that he was driving with his wife, Lynn, in Florida and suffered a heart attack while behind the wheel. He lost control of the vehicle and drove across the median through traffic hitting head on with a tree. He was transported to the medical center where he passed away from the injuries. Both were wearing seat belts. Lynn survived with minor injuries. Savage and Lynn have been married for just about a year. This is obviously devastating news to hear of one of the all time greats. Savage is one of my top five favorites of all time and I will tend to sit and watch Savage matches when I see them on Classics. This is obviously very sad too as that I was really looking forward to closure for Savage when he would be inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame. Savage and WWE have not had a good relationship for many years after his departure from the company in the mid 90's. However, the launch of the WWE All Stars game including him, the new Savage wrestling figure, and the fact that he taped a promo to promote it was a positive that things were getting better between the two. I really thought that Savage would be inducted soon and it was just a matter of time. I'll of course be typing up a tribute to Savage but this is tough news to digest for sure this morning. Savage was a definite part of my childhood as I grew up watching and loving Randy Savage. Tributes are starting to be posted on Twitter and here are a few already. One from The Rock and the other from Kevin Nash.
The Rock: "RIP Randy Macho Man Savage - you were one of my childhood inspirations and heros. Strength, love and prayers to the Savage/Poffo family."
Kevin Nash: "I lost a close friend today. If anybody in heaven is wondering who the cat is in the ugly cowboy hat is it's Randy. Love you Bro. Never another".
Hulk Hogan: "I'm completely devastated, after over 10 years of not talking with Randy, we've finally started to talk and communicate. He had so much life in his eyes & in his spirit, I just pray that he's happy and in a better place and we miss him. We miss him a lot. I feel horrible about the ten years of having no communication. This was a tough one. I just pray that Randy's happy and in a better place and we miss him. HH"
Mick Foley: "I just heard the sad news about the Macho Man. Randy Savage was one of my favorite performers, and my heart goes out to his loved ones."
The Rock: "RIP Randy Macho Man Savage - you were one of my childhood inspirations and heros. Strength, love and prayers to the Savage/Poffo family."
Kevin Nash: "I lost a close friend today. If anybody in heaven is wondering who the cat is in the ugly cowboy hat is it's Randy. Love you Bro. Never another".
Hulk Hogan: "I'm completely devastated, after over 10 years of not talking with Randy, we've finally started to talk and communicate. He had so much life in his eyes & in his spirit, I just pray that he's happy and in a better place and we miss him. We miss him a lot. I feel horrible about the ten years of having no communication. This was a tough one. I just pray that Randy's happy and in a better place and we miss him. HH"
Mick Foley: "I just heard the sad news about the Macho Man. Randy Savage was one of my favorite performers, and my heart goes out to his loved ones."
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Orton Wins The World Title, Impact Wrestling, WrestleMania DVD Edits, & More
Welcome to the "we need to build more stars so let's put the titles on the two top established guys that we already have" edition of The Wrestling List.
WWE and TNA were the focal point of something last Tuesday night. However, they were the focal point of fan anger. Why Tuesday? Well, this was the night that Smackdown was taped in Orlando while TNA was also taping Impact in Orlando. I won't yet get into the Impact deal since it hasn't aired but my goodness I just don't understand that company. So, let's get to WWE. If you watched Smackdown, you know that Christian's world title reign last all but two days. I'm saying two days cause that was when it was actually taped. The match was good. However, fans were furious over Christian's title reign being ended so quickly. Fans vented on Twitter and also lit up WWE through other social networking. The anger was definitely noticed by WWE and Joey Styles even commented on his Twitter saying: "When sending hate tweets to myself or @WWE because of @Christian4Peeps, @RandyOrton and the World Heavyweight Championship, please be PG ;)". Randy Orton commented on his Twitter saying: "Biggest change from Raw to Smackdown…Ignorance x Jealousy + Spoilers = entertaining tweets!! Keep em coming!!". WWE is said to be shocked over the outrage and also kind of annoyed at it. The talk appears to be that Christian was never planned to be a long term champion and that the change of Del Rio to Raw altered their plans and resulted in giving Christian that feel good championship winning moment. Ok, here is my thing with this. How much have we talked about the young guys lately? Even so much with WWE mentioning it in their conference calls. In one week, we had the belt go back to Cena on Raw. Then, the belt goes to Orton on Smackdown. The two top established guys in the company have both titles now. What does that accomplish?
Monday's Raw. Just don't have much to say about it. It was just kind of there for me. The main event was solid with Miz defeating Del Rio and Mysterio to get the title shot at Extreme Rules. Cena also won a match earlier in the night against Alex Riley. It was just there for me. Been there done that. R Truth continues his heel turn and it's turned into a conspiracy against him kind of deal with the storyline where he is getting overlooked. Kharma laid out what I believe was her first "face" diva as Eve attacked Kharma as Kharma stood in the ring with Eve and Kelly. Kelly then ran away. One problem that I see with Kharma is that WWE has decimated the women's division so much that I just don't see anyone that should be able to be a strong opponent against her. She is this monster heel and they don't have a strong opponent on the other side for her. Even if she was a face, she wouldn't have a strong heel to go against either. The last one would probably have been Michelle McCool as far as someone believable as a stronger opponent. Now, Michelle is gone though. Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler. This is going on so long and the segments are so long as well. Every time that a Cole segment comes on, I just tend to zone out. It's just boring. I think it would be fine if Cole was just a character but he's a commentator. We listen to him for the whole show giving his thoughts so why do we need long promo segments from him as well. They just have Cole dominating these shows way too much. The payoff of the crowd getting to see him get beat up isn't even fun anymore. It isn't for me anyway. Just bores me.
Other notes from Raw. I loved the Bellas hiding and then running away from Kharma. I thought that was great. That is what you should do instead of just standing there in fear. Especially if you have a good minute before she gets to the ring to do anything. Can't really think of anything else to say about this show that I haven't already said.
Significant news out of TNA last week and those letters really are the news. TNA is rebranding itself. They will now be referring to themselves as Impact Wrestling. The domain has been bought for the website and the change will be coming soon. I can't say that I blame them for this cause it is hard to take a company very seriously that has those initials. Although there are other reasons to not take the company seriously but I'll refrain. I don't know why they thought those letters would be good and was anyone thinking about marketing that thing in the future when they created the name? Impact Wrestling will be something to get used to and I was thinking about whether it would hurt what they're already built as far as a name. Maybe a little bit but I still don't think many people know they're out there. When you see a TNA clip on TV, people not in the know about wrestling will refer to it as WWE when it isn't. I like having letters for a company name but this is the plan going forward. I just want the company to do more "wrestling" with the name change. On a side note, I did watch about five minutes of the show last week and I felt a headache arriving on the scene and changed the channel.
Hulk Hogan still needs to get off of Twitter. Some fan took him to task about not jobbing much to other talent and Hogan brought up that he had jobbed to Kidman three times back in WCW. That is true but then another fan brought up to him about not wanting to job to Shawn Michaels. Hogan tweeted saying "Vince is the only man that makes thoeszdecisions,that came from him.hbk didn't want to job not me. By,over it. HH". He didn't bring up the fact that Shawn wanted to do a three match series with Hogan that year. Shawn pitched having Hogan win the first one, Shawn winning the second, and then Hogan winning the third. Instead, Hogan wanted to win all three. It ended up being one match and Hogan won. Shawn then ranted a little on Raw the next night after SummerSlam about the experience. LOL.
The WrestleMania XXVII DVD and Blu-ray release is this week and it has already been reported that there are a couple of music changes. Johnny Cash's song for the Undertaker's entrance has been replaced as has the Metallica entrance for Triple H. Just how much has Metallica got to charge for WWE to cut them out of two big entrances in the history of the company. I'm referring to the Sandman from the first ECW One Night Stand in 2005 where the music was replaced on the DVD release. Then again, the DVD had a JBL commentary track on it so it was fitting to make that DVD worse. Strange though to see music replaced on a WrestleMania DVD as that hasn't happened in years. I thought that maybe WWE had worked out a deal with the rights where they could use it on live shows but also include on DVD. I guess I was wrong. Wrong in this instance anyway for sure. So, if you pick up your WrestleMania set, don't be surprised to see music changes. Really takes a lot of kick out of those entrances.
Good month to be a WWE Classics On Demand subscriber. The shorties section for May is all about Smoky Mountain Wrestling. I am really excited about watching this stuff. I've watched some of it over the years of course but didn't have weekly access to it. So, the shorties section is going to be various Smoky Mountain matches. In this is a treat for fans, especially Shawn Michaels fans. There is a match included in there from 1995 where Shawn went to Smoky Mountain as then WWF Intercontinental champion and took on Buddy Landell. The match was never released on video as the company went out of business not long afterward. So, now here it is for Classics subscribers.
Wishing you all a great week!! Take care and God bless!!
WWE and TNA were the focal point of something last Tuesday night. However, they were the focal point of fan anger. Why Tuesday? Well, this was the night that Smackdown was taped in Orlando while TNA was also taping Impact in Orlando. I won't yet get into the Impact deal since it hasn't aired but my goodness I just don't understand that company. So, let's get to WWE. If you watched Smackdown, you know that Christian's world title reign last all but two days. I'm saying two days cause that was when it was actually taped. The match was good. However, fans were furious over Christian's title reign being ended so quickly. Fans vented on Twitter and also lit up WWE through other social networking. The anger was definitely noticed by WWE and Joey Styles even commented on his Twitter saying: "When sending hate tweets to myself or @WWE because of @Christian4Peeps, @RandyOrton and the World Heavyweight Championship, please be PG ;)". Randy Orton commented on his Twitter saying: "Biggest change from Raw to Smackdown…Ignorance x Jealousy + Spoilers = entertaining tweets!! Keep em coming!!". WWE is said to be shocked over the outrage and also kind of annoyed at it. The talk appears to be that Christian was never planned to be a long term champion and that the change of Del Rio to Raw altered their plans and resulted in giving Christian that feel good championship winning moment. Ok, here is my thing with this. How much have we talked about the young guys lately? Even so much with WWE mentioning it in their conference calls. In one week, we had the belt go back to Cena on Raw. Then, the belt goes to Orton on Smackdown. The two top established guys in the company have both titles now. What does that accomplish?
Monday's Raw. Just don't have much to say about it. It was just kind of there for me. The main event was solid with Miz defeating Del Rio and Mysterio to get the title shot at Extreme Rules. Cena also won a match earlier in the night against Alex Riley. It was just there for me. Been there done that. R Truth continues his heel turn and it's turned into a conspiracy against him kind of deal with the storyline where he is getting overlooked. Kharma laid out what I believe was her first "face" diva as Eve attacked Kharma as Kharma stood in the ring with Eve and Kelly. Kelly then ran away. One problem that I see with Kharma is that WWE has decimated the women's division so much that I just don't see anyone that should be able to be a strong opponent against her. She is this monster heel and they don't have a strong opponent on the other side for her. Even if she was a face, she wouldn't have a strong heel to go against either. The last one would probably have been Michelle McCool as far as someone believable as a stronger opponent. Now, Michelle is gone though. Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler. This is going on so long and the segments are so long as well. Every time that a Cole segment comes on, I just tend to zone out. It's just boring. I think it would be fine if Cole was just a character but he's a commentator. We listen to him for the whole show giving his thoughts so why do we need long promo segments from him as well. They just have Cole dominating these shows way too much. The payoff of the crowd getting to see him get beat up isn't even fun anymore. It isn't for me anyway. Just bores me.
Other notes from Raw. I loved the Bellas hiding and then running away from Kharma. I thought that was great. That is what you should do instead of just standing there in fear. Especially if you have a good minute before she gets to the ring to do anything. Can't really think of anything else to say about this show that I haven't already said.
Significant news out of TNA last week and those letters really are the news. TNA is rebranding itself. They will now be referring to themselves as Impact Wrestling. The domain has been bought for the website and the change will be coming soon. I can't say that I blame them for this cause it is hard to take a company very seriously that has those initials. Although there are other reasons to not take the company seriously but I'll refrain. I don't know why they thought those letters would be good and was anyone thinking about marketing that thing in the future when they created the name? Impact Wrestling will be something to get used to and I was thinking about whether it would hurt what they're already built as far as a name. Maybe a little bit but I still don't think many people know they're out there. When you see a TNA clip on TV, people not in the know about wrestling will refer to it as WWE when it isn't. I like having letters for a company name but this is the plan going forward. I just want the company to do more "wrestling" with the name change. On a side note, I did watch about five minutes of the show last week and I felt a headache arriving on the scene and changed the channel.
Hulk Hogan still needs to get off of Twitter. Some fan took him to task about not jobbing much to other talent and Hogan brought up that he had jobbed to Kidman three times back in WCW. That is true but then another fan brought up to him about not wanting to job to Shawn Michaels. Hogan tweeted saying "Vince is the only man that makes thoeszdecisions,that came from him.hbk didn't want to job not me. By,over it. HH". He didn't bring up the fact that Shawn wanted to do a three match series with Hogan that year. Shawn pitched having Hogan win the first one, Shawn winning the second, and then Hogan winning the third. Instead, Hogan wanted to win all three. It ended up being one match and Hogan won. Shawn then ranted a little on Raw the next night after SummerSlam about the experience. LOL.
The WrestleMania XXVII DVD and Blu-ray release is this week and it has already been reported that there are a couple of music changes. Johnny Cash's song for the Undertaker's entrance has been replaced as has the Metallica entrance for Triple H. Just how much has Metallica got to charge for WWE to cut them out of two big entrances in the history of the company. I'm referring to the Sandman from the first ECW One Night Stand in 2005 where the music was replaced on the DVD release. Then again, the DVD had a JBL commentary track on it so it was fitting to make that DVD worse. Strange though to see music replaced on a WrestleMania DVD as that hasn't happened in years. I thought that maybe WWE had worked out a deal with the rights where they could use it on live shows but also include on DVD. I guess I was wrong. Wrong in this instance anyway for sure. So, if you pick up your WrestleMania set, don't be surprised to see music changes. Really takes a lot of kick out of those entrances.
Good month to be a WWE Classics On Demand subscriber. The shorties section for May is all about Smoky Mountain Wrestling. I am really excited about watching this stuff. I've watched some of it over the years of course but didn't have weekly access to it. So, the shorties section is going to be various Smoky Mountain matches. In this is a treat for fans, especially Shawn Michaels fans. There is a match included in there from 1995 where Shawn went to Smoky Mountain as then WWF Intercontinental champion and took on Buddy Landell. The match was never released on video as the company went out of business not long afterward. So, now here it is for Classics subscribers.
Wishing you all a great week!! Take care and God bless!!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Rock's Birthday Celebration on Raw & More - May 3, 2011
Welcome to the "Rocky, it's your birthday" edition of The Wrestling List.
Let's get into Extreme Rules. This sounds like it was a really good show based on all reports. Top to bottom people are saying that it was better than WrestleMania from an in ring standpoint. John Cena wins the WWE title back against The Miz. Yeah, I didn't care for this. When we need something new on WWE programming, having Cena as champion again just doesn't scream new to me. Christian wins the World title. On the other hand, I loved that. Christian finally gets his dream of being a world champion and gets to celebrate with Edge. The Layla/Michelle McCool match ended up being loser leaves WWE and saw the debut of Awesome Kong or who is now known as Kharma. Put over Kharma big in the debut by having her lay out Michelle on her way out.
Last night's Raw was a mix of patriotism and The Rock. The show kicked off with a big salute of patriotism with Lilian Garcia returning to sing the national anthem. This of course was in response to the news of Bin Laden from the night before. How fitting was it to have her kick off that show when she was the one that got to also sing that incredible anthem on the Smackdown show after 9/11 in 2001? It really brought back memories of that time. That video that they opened the show with definitely put tears in my eyes thinking back. Lilian was incredible last night and it was fitting that The Rock was there as well just like in 2001. I remember watching that show in 2001 and how horrible of a week that it had been. The Rock's music hitting and him walking to the ring was the first time that I had truly smiled all week at that time. Having him on this show last night really felt like a flashback as well. Rock was a good one to have out there as a face of the company to get the patriotic feel going. The Rock then had a face off with Michael Cole which was funny and the crowd ate it up. Several good Rock segments throughout the night for his birthday celebration. The stuff with the past movie roles was so cheesy that it was funny especially with Simmons finishing it off. Rock got the big celebration from the end of the show including Vince McMahon coming out to pay tribute to him along with a music video that was very well done. There was a face off with Rock and Cena backstage where Cena held up the WWE title saying that he would have it at WrestleMania XXVIII when they faced off. My goodness, I hope he doesn't hold that thing for eleven more months. Other happenings on the show had Truth putting a beating on Morrison before their match started. Definitely added more to that feud. Kharma once again returned getting involved in the Maryse and Kelly Kelly match. I loved the expression on Kelly's face as Kharma made her way to the ring with the look of fear. Then, Kharma lays out Maryse while Kelly looks on scared in the corner. John Cena and The Miz was a good match. Strange ending though with Miz cheating and using the belt to pin Cena to win the title. I reacted to it but was thinking there has to be a twist. Hoping there wasn't but then there was the DQ. The ref saw the title fly out of Miz and Riley's hands and the ref DQ'd Miz. Cena retains. Umm, yeah. I didn't pay much attention to the tag match with Rey and Kofi against Drew and Swagger so I can't really comment on that. Wow, they are really pushing Mason Ryan. He was taking down both Kane and Big Show and blocking big moves. Take a look at the next guy that WWE is going to push as a monster only for him to be squashed three months ahead.
Other notes from Raw. Nothing like having Rock lay out Michael Cole and seeing JR when they come back from commercial. Just a good sign for commentary for the rest of the night. Being someone that doesn't like the Miami Heat and being someone that cheers every single team that plays them, I did like Cole standing up with the Celtics jersey on in Miami. LOL. I laughed at the Rock's line of picking at himself with his old picture saying he looked like the lead singer of Menudo. Surely, Kharma isn't going to be a face, is she?? Alex Riley's excuse to Miz for not being at the PPV was that he isn't a Raw talent anymore. Umm, aren't both brands supposed to be the PPV's?
Michelle McCool is indeed done with WWE. That was a surprise last week. Michelle has decided not to continue with WWE and has moved on. She thanked her fans on Twitter and that is it. Really surprised by this as she was someone that I expected to be around for a long time especially with who she is married to. I'm interested to see what they do with Layla from here. She made a face turn at the PPV with the divas locker room basically saying we don't like either one of you but we dislike Michelle more. I really like Layla as a heel so I'm going to wait and see what her face turn is like. I am bummed that the LayCool gimmick is over cause I really enjoyed it.
The news about Bin Laden was told to the live crowd after the main event at Extreme Rules. John Cena got on the mic and told the live crowd the news. Probably some knew it already from their phones but you could tell some were very shocked over the news. WWE definitely had a big moment there including some media outlets showing it to get the reactions from around the country to the news.
WWE held their stockholders meeting last week. It was announced that WrestleMania did over a million buys so the return of The Rock did help with buys. Highlights of the meeting was Vince being asked about the PG product. He said that sometimes you have to go backwards to go forward saying that they went back to their roots of being PG. He didn't talk like they would ever go back to an adult type product. I think there is that balance and they have been doing it lately with the build to WrestleMania. Plus, Vince said that being PG is going to help them get bigger name sponsors that they wouldn't be able to get with a higher rating. Absolutely true there. Vince did also say that they were going to focus on bringing in more international stars. Funny moment when Vince was asked if they were going to buy that company in Nashville, TN and if he was going to save the world from Dixie Carter. That of course is TNA. Vince said that "Stephanie has more brains that Dixie Carter has" which got a lot of laughs including from Stephanie and Triple H. Vince answered saying that he didn't know that they were for sale. They aren't of course but it was kind of a funny little moment.
The theme for WWE Classics On Demand in May is The 90's. The programming will center around 90's happenings and events. The Hall Of Fame will be on Stone Cold Steve Austin which will include a profile and matches from his career. The Greatest Superstars of the 90's DVD will be airing. The In Your House Ground Zero PPV will air this month which is one of my favorite PPV's of 1997. It took place from Louisville and that crowd was hot. Other events airing include WCW SuperBrawl VI, WCW Clash Of The Champions XX, and also the WWE TLC 2010 event. A new Ten Count will also air with a top ten list focusing on the 90's. The Shawn Michaels: My Journey DVD will also air in several parts throughout the month. It is a very good program to watch if you haven't seen it. The shorties appear to have a Smoky Mountain Wrestling theme to it which is exciting to see. Just something different and I like it. Those are just some of the highlights for the month.
Take care and God bless!!
Let's get into Extreme Rules. This sounds like it was a really good show based on all reports. Top to bottom people are saying that it was better than WrestleMania from an in ring standpoint. John Cena wins the WWE title back against The Miz. Yeah, I didn't care for this. When we need something new on WWE programming, having Cena as champion again just doesn't scream new to me. Christian wins the World title. On the other hand, I loved that. Christian finally gets his dream of being a world champion and gets to celebrate with Edge. The Layla/Michelle McCool match ended up being loser leaves WWE and saw the debut of Awesome Kong or who is now known as Kharma. Put over Kharma big in the debut by having her lay out Michelle on her way out.
Last night's Raw was a mix of patriotism and The Rock. The show kicked off with a big salute of patriotism with Lilian Garcia returning to sing the national anthem. This of course was in response to the news of Bin Laden from the night before. How fitting was it to have her kick off that show when she was the one that got to also sing that incredible anthem on the Smackdown show after 9/11 in 2001? It really brought back memories of that time. That video that they opened the show with definitely put tears in my eyes thinking back. Lilian was incredible last night and it was fitting that The Rock was there as well just like in 2001. I remember watching that show in 2001 and how horrible of a week that it had been. The Rock's music hitting and him walking to the ring was the first time that I had truly smiled all week at that time. Having him on this show last night really felt like a flashback as well. Rock was a good one to have out there as a face of the company to get the patriotic feel going. The Rock then had a face off with Michael Cole which was funny and the crowd ate it up. Several good Rock segments throughout the night for his birthday celebration. The stuff with the past movie roles was so cheesy that it was funny especially with Simmons finishing it off. Rock got the big celebration from the end of the show including Vince McMahon coming out to pay tribute to him along with a music video that was very well done. There was a face off with Rock and Cena backstage where Cena held up the WWE title saying that he would have it at WrestleMania XXVIII when they faced off. My goodness, I hope he doesn't hold that thing for eleven more months. Other happenings on the show had Truth putting a beating on Morrison before their match started. Definitely added more to that feud. Kharma once again returned getting involved in the Maryse and Kelly Kelly match. I loved the expression on Kelly's face as Kharma made her way to the ring with the look of fear. Then, Kharma lays out Maryse while Kelly looks on scared in the corner. John Cena and The Miz was a good match. Strange ending though with Miz cheating and using the belt to pin Cena to win the title. I reacted to it but was thinking there has to be a twist. Hoping there wasn't but then there was the DQ. The ref saw the title fly out of Miz and Riley's hands and the ref DQ'd Miz. Cena retains. Umm, yeah. I didn't pay much attention to the tag match with Rey and Kofi against Drew and Swagger so I can't really comment on that. Wow, they are really pushing Mason Ryan. He was taking down both Kane and Big Show and blocking big moves. Take a look at the next guy that WWE is going to push as a monster only for him to be squashed three months ahead.
Other notes from Raw. Nothing like having Rock lay out Michael Cole and seeing JR when they come back from commercial. Just a good sign for commentary for the rest of the night. Being someone that doesn't like the Miami Heat and being someone that cheers every single team that plays them, I did like Cole standing up with the Celtics jersey on in Miami. LOL. I laughed at the Rock's line of picking at himself with his old picture saying he looked like the lead singer of Menudo. Surely, Kharma isn't going to be a face, is she?? Alex Riley's excuse to Miz for not being at the PPV was that he isn't a Raw talent anymore. Umm, aren't both brands supposed to be the PPV's?
Michelle McCool is indeed done with WWE. That was a surprise last week. Michelle has decided not to continue with WWE and has moved on. She thanked her fans on Twitter and that is it. Really surprised by this as she was someone that I expected to be around for a long time especially with who she is married to. I'm interested to see what they do with Layla from here. She made a face turn at the PPV with the divas locker room basically saying we don't like either one of you but we dislike Michelle more. I really like Layla as a heel so I'm going to wait and see what her face turn is like. I am bummed that the LayCool gimmick is over cause I really enjoyed it.
The news about Bin Laden was told to the live crowd after the main event at Extreme Rules. John Cena got on the mic and told the live crowd the news. Probably some knew it already from their phones but you could tell some were very shocked over the news. WWE definitely had a big moment there including some media outlets showing it to get the reactions from around the country to the news.
WWE held their stockholders meeting last week. It was announced that WrestleMania did over a million buys so the return of The Rock did help with buys. Highlights of the meeting was Vince being asked about the PG product. He said that sometimes you have to go backwards to go forward saying that they went back to their roots of being PG. He didn't talk like they would ever go back to an adult type product. I think there is that balance and they have been doing it lately with the build to WrestleMania. Plus, Vince said that being PG is going to help them get bigger name sponsors that they wouldn't be able to get with a higher rating. Absolutely true there. Vince did also say that they were going to focus on bringing in more international stars. Funny moment when Vince was asked if they were going to buy that company in Nashville, TN and if he was going to save the world from Dixie Carter. That of course is TNA. Vince said that "Stephanie has more brains that Dixie Carter has" which got a lot of laughs including from Stephanie and Triple H. Vince answered saying that he didn't know that they were for sale. They aren't of course but it was kind of a funny little moment.
The theme for WWE Classics On Demand in May is The 90's. The programming will center around 90's happenings and events. The Hall Of Fame will be on Stone Cold Steve Austin which will include a profile and matches from his career. The Greatest Superstars of the 90's DVD will be airing. The In Your House Ground Zero PPV will air this month which is one of my favorite PPV's of 1997. It took place from Louisville and that crowd was hot. Other events airing include WCW SuperBrawl VI, WCW Clash Of The Champions XX, and also the WWE TLC 2010 event. A new Ten Count will also air with a top ten list focusing on the 90's. The Shawn Michaels: My Journey DVD will also air in several parts throughout the month. It is a very good program to watch if you haven't seen it. The shorties appear to have a Smoky Mountain Wrestling theme to it which is exciting to see. Just something different and I like it. Those are just some of the highlights for the month.
Take care and God bless!!
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