The Bell To Bell News Report 07.30.10

Welcome back to the Bell to Bell and as it’s been a bit of a quiet week and I’m a bit pressed for time, this will likely be a little shorter version of the column than you’re used to, so let’s get the apologies out of the way straight away. We’ve hit the dog days of summer as the WWE quietly makes its way to SummerSlam and TNA prepares to run a non-TNA pay-per-view full of ex-ECW talent, meaning that there’s not a ton to go on for news this week, but I’ll make the best go of it that I can to still make this one an entertaining read for all of you out there.

Before we get into the heart of the column, congratulations are in order for my Blue Bombers, who somehow managed to avoid choking away yet another game against a winless team and put together a complete sixty minutes of football in a 47-21 beatdown of Edmonton that could have been far more one-sided had Edmonton not managed a touchdown late in each half when the Bombers either had a huge lead or had the outcome decided. For all of the concern regarding back-up QB Steven Jyles, he came through for us with a solid game that saw him make key plays without giving up any big turnovers that cost us points. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t give a shout-out to Jovon Johnson, who was named the CFL Special Teams Player of the Week after an 83-yard punt return TD in the fourth quarter that sealed the game for the boys in blue.

Next up this week is Calgary, who are one of the tougher teams in the league and the task will be even tougher because we are going into Calgary’s McMahon Stadium, where we are just 32-59 since 1945. The biggest key for the Bombers this week, as it has been in each of their previous two wins, will be to control the line of scrimmage. If they’re able to put pressure on Calgary QB Henry Burris and keep the heat off of Jyles in their backfield, while limiting any mistakes on special teams, we should have a pretty good shot.

Anyhow, back to wrestling where this week we’ll be talking more about TNA’s attempt to breathe some life into the stagnant, rotting corpse that is ECW, SyFy getting behind Smackdown in a big way, the latest on Scott Hall’s health and sobriety, and the comments that Vince McMahon made regarding the hot button issue of insurance for wrestlers, along with a whole lot more. All of that plus the five best jokes regarding the “death” of Hulk Hogan are waiting for you inside, so let’s get right to it!

You know the drill…

Ding Ding….

The biggest news this week in the wrestling world continues to be the TNA HardCORE Justice: One Last Stand pay-per-view show coming up next weekend that will see the stars of the old ECW promotion getting one more chance to shine as TNA allows some of the best performers in the history of the beloved bingo hall to strut their stuff in a PPV environment. Now the past couple of weeks have seen some of the early developments in this situation and this week there is more news as there is now a name for the ECW faction, the plans are in place for a couple of the matches for the show and there are also plans from TNA for what happens immediately after the show with the next episode of Impact.

In regards to the name, the ECW faction in the promotion will now be called EV2.0, which honestly sounds more like a piece of stereo equipment rather than a faction of the toughest hardcore wrestlers in the history of the sport. The new name stands for Extreme Version 2.0 and while I applaud them for getting the word extreme in there without coming close to any sort of copyright infringement, the name really is a terrible one. Not only is it a fairly ambiguous name when it comes to identifying with extreme, it also comes across as trying to have the new faction feel hip and current even though it’s populated with guys in their 40’s. Something about it just doesn’t ring true and if I’m being completely honest it feels a bit forced, especially with the short time frame that the angle has had to get off the ground. I guess when you consider that terms like “Hardcore Originals”, “Hardcore Legends” and the like would probably all fall under Vince’s blanket control over ECW’s trademarks and all of that, they did the best that they could, but it’s still not good.

The list of competitors on the show is seemingly growing larger by the day as more and more ECW alums are contacted about one more reunion and while the list features some big names from ECW’s past like Tommy Dreamer, Raven, Mick Foley, Rhino, Team 3D and more, not all of the people who were associated with ECW seem so ready to jump on the TNA bandwagon, including Mikey Whipwreck and Lance Storm, who was one of ECW’s true work horses and a multiple-time champion in the promotion. Whipwreck was one of the early stars of ECW with his “lovable loser” gimmick that even netted him a reign with the ECW title, so if anyone would be qualified to discuss ECW it’d be one of the guys who was there even before they hit the big time. He posted about the upcoming TNA/ECW show on his Facebook page and didn’t sound very impressed with the recent developments;

“For the record, I have no intentions of doing the TNA PPV. I’m happy for the guys that are doing it but its nice to see the little bingo hall company everyone “blew off” back in the day as “insignificant” is called upon everytime business is in the toilet.”

Whipwreck is pretty spot-on here as it’s kind of funny to see a company being run by Bischoff and Hogan pulling in the ECW stars as some sort of last-ditch attempt at turning things around after Bischoff was openly flippant and dismissive of ECW’s contributions in the WWE’s Rise and Fall of ECW DVD set. Bisch apparently thought so little of ECW that he probably wouldn’t have pissed on the ECW Arena if it was on fire, and did little with the company outside of trying to raid their talent and fuck over their Heavyweight title picture with the whole Mike Awesome scandal. I find it hard to believe that his heart is in the right place with this ECW show and that he wants it to live up to the legacy of the original. I find it easier to believe that he sees this as a good way to make a cash grab for the company off of the work of others, much the same way that he “borrowed” from Japanese storylines and ideas to set off the entire nWo angle.

As for Storm, he has been a very vocal critic of TNA’s booking since his retirement and his blog postings on his website usually involve a lot of his second-guessing or questioning TNA for shabby booking decisions or talent decisions. Storm posted another commentary recently addressing the show, his thoughts on the workers that will be there and whether he would work the show;

“I was asked if I would be interested in taking part in the TNA: One Last Stand PPV. I think it was big of them to extend me the offer, considering my general opinion of the TNA product, and want to I thank them for that, but I will not be taking part.

I feel it would be hypocritical of me to work the show, considering my out outspoken views of the TNA product. I have a great deal of respect for the boys who will be working the show as well as the great workers on the TNA roster, but I have no desire to be a part of the TNA creative process. As for ECW, One Night Stand in 2005 was my farewell and am content in letting sleeping dogs lie.”

Firstly, it takes a big man to say no to a chance at appearing on an internationally-televised PPV show because he felt it would appear hypocritical to the wrestling fans who have followed his commentaries. Storm had a chance at what was likely a sizable payday and turned it down based on his strong moral code and I have to give him props for that as a lot of guys in that situation would have folded and just done whatever they had to do to get that check in their hands. True class from Storm, who has always been one of my personal favorites.

THe more interesting point in his statement however is that he talked about the ECW One Night Stand show in 2005 and how he’s content to let sleeping dogs lie, which is a sentiment that a lot of wrestling fans have echoed since this idea came to light. WWE put on an ECW show in an ECW venue with all ECW talent (all the way down to ring announcers) in front of ECW fans with the guy that ran the company at the helm. When you look at it from that regard, what more can TNA do to put on an ECW show than has already been done in the past more than once? Hell, you could even argue that the 2006 version of One Night Stand wasn’t completely necessary as it started to feel more like a WWE version of ECW rather than the true original. Given that it’s now five years later and no one in charge of TNA had anything to do with the original ECW, it looks like this one could be headed for disaster.

Storm may not come right out and say that he thinks that this show isn’t the best idea, but you can pretty clearly pick up the implication and while it will surely be fun to see all of the ECW alumni again and relive the glory days, that time has come and gone and people who book wrestling programs need to realize that. I can at least respect TNA for wanting to try something different to bump up the buyrates for their shows if the estimates from the last couple of months are to be believed, but there has to be a better way to do it than to bastardize the legacy of a groundbreaking promotion in wrestling history yet again.

— I spoke earlier of TNA’s pay-per-view buyrates and there are rumors in the pay-per-view industry that the last few TNA shows have done in the range of 8,000 buys, which is a disastrous number for a company that began as a PPV-only promotion. Given the history that TNA has with pay-per-view, as well as the wrestling talent that they have on their roster, it’s baffling why they would be doing such poor buyrates for their shows. A lot of that fall likely has to do with the booking of the shows since Bischoff and Hogan appeared on the scene, but when you’re trying to bill yourself as the number one wrestling company in the world while trying to establish yourself as a solid number two behind Vince and the WWE, you can’t be drawing such hideous numbers.

There have also been rumblings that TNA may be doing away with their PPV concepts altogether once their contracts run out, instead going the route of the old NWA Clash of the Champions shows by running free PPV-quality programs on Spike TV. While that idea may be risky for TNA in terms of giving them a little less money to operate on without the revenue from the PPV shows, you have to consider that the TNA PPVs that run out of Orlando don’t draw paid attendance and the ones that run outside of Orlando usually have to rely on a heavily papered crowd to get the place looking three-quarters full. Running Clash-style shows on Spike TV and maybe charging the TNA “cast members” in the audience for the shows might be a better idea in the long run as it could give people who don’t watch TNA on PPV a chance to see what they’re missing. A couple of quality wrestling shows with decently booked angles for free and all of a sudden TNA could be drawing a little better in the ratings and getting stronger attendance at their house shows. Suddenly the lack of PPV doesn’t seem like such a doom and gloom scenario.

TNA may be taking the first steps towards such a move with their August 12th edition of Impact, which is going to air on Spike TV as a PPV-quality show with better matches and more in-ring action with less focus on storylines and backstage angles. While part of this is due to the last-second decision to change the Hard Justice PPV into an ECW reunion show and TNA not wanting those matches they had previously planned on to go to waste, there has to be at least a small part of TNA’s management that may be looking towards this as a litmus test for future programs of a similar nature. The night is expected to feature Rob Van Dam vs. Abyss and a Motor City Machine Guns/Beer Money match, both of which are definitely PPV-quality. If they can actually resist the urge to either chop the matches up with commercials or give us a bunch of BS non-finishes or shenanigans, the show could prove to be a strong indicator of where TNA might go in their future.

On the other hand, if they’re committed to the PPV model and don’t want to give up on it completely in favor of the free Spike shows, they could also consider going the route of Ring of Honor by running internet PPV shows for some of their biggest cards of the year. Doing so would still allow TNA to get some PPV revenue in their coffers without the high overhead and costs of putting on a PPV for cable and satellite companies. Ring of Honor was getting killed in the PPV business with their taped shows that drew horrible buyrates, but their model of moving to i-PPV shows for their big events has proved to be a success thus far with the company getting bigger numbers for each show since the concept began. Sure, it may not look good for TNA intially as they could face a bit of PR hit from not only being run off of Monday nights but run off of PPV as well, but their current system doesn’t appear to be working at all. If they decided to spin it as TNA trying to be on the cutting edge of entertainment by using the internet to get their product to the fans all around the world, they might even get a little positive press out of such a move.

All of this is just speculation of course considering that TNA doesn’t release their PPV numbers and there have been no firm talks with Spike about possible PPV-quality specials, but you have to admit that given today’s financial climate and the talk of TNA continuing to bleed red, it may not be the worst idea for TNA to leave their roots behind on PPV and look towards the future before the company finds that there isn’t a future.

— In advance of this fall’s jump for Smackdown from MyNetwork TV to SyFy, the cable channel is already promoting the October 1st debut on their website, in what seems to be an aggressive first move in trying to maintain and possibly grow the show’s fan base even with the loss of househols due to the jump to cable. This is a big move for both the WWE and SyFy and if both sides are willing to put in the time and the effort, the show could actually thrive more than it ever has on network TV. In all of the time that Smackdown has been on network TV, it’s barely been able to be considered as such with the show airing on the lowest level of what could be considered a network. From UPN to CW to MyNetwork, it’s always been the lowest rung of the TV ladder and while there’s a certain cache that comes with being able to say you have a network TV program, it doesn’t much matter if no one can see it due to poor clearance or repeated pre-emptions due to other programming.

While SyFy isn’t among the favored cable channels like TBS, TNT, USA or Comedy Central, there is a very devoted following, much like there is for wrestling. If the WWE can promote some kind of synergy between the two fanbases and people are willing to follow the show over to cable, we could even see a slight revival of the ratings for the blue crew. The ratings haven’t been the strongest for the WWE’s programming on SyFy up to this point, but to be fair it’s been mainly “C” show programming. The days of network TV being a be-all, end-all are over as are the days of people only watching over-the-air TV exclusively without cable or a satellite. If the WWE is able to maintain roughly 90% of their audience from the network presence while adding new viewers with a steady timeslot and schedule along with some new fans checking out the show just from it being on SyFy, we could see a big success story for Smackdown. Of course, none of that would likely change the WWE’s perception of Smackdown being a “B” show, but at least it would be a more successful “B” show.

— Vince McMahon spoke to The Connecticut Post earlier this week on a variety of issues including his character of Mr. McMahon, his description of the WWE as America’s greatest export and more. Even with those kind of hard-hitting topics, perhaps his most interesting statement came in regards to health insurance for professional wrestlers, something that has long been considered a sticking point for workers in the sport. Here’s what McMahon had to say about whether you can expect a WWE-funded insurance program for wrestlers anytime soon;

“Anyone who makes the kind of money that they make can easily afford their own health care. Most independent contractors have their own health care.”

A company spokesman referred to the average salary of a WWE superstar of $550,000 to help put McMahon’s comments into context, it’s likely that the salaries of guys like The Undertaker, Triple H and John Cena are heavily skewing the upper side of that scale and bringing up everyone’s average considerably.

While I can see where McMahon is coming from in terms of someone making that much money being able to afford their own insurance, it doesn’t make it sound any less sleazy. A company the size of the WWE not offering insurance to the people who help make them their fortune is just wrong and is an issue that I don’t see going away any time soon. When the WWE can give the people who work in their front office and the people who work on their production team insurance of that nature, it seems rather disingenuous that they can’t do the same for wrestlers and choose to cite the “independent contractor” line as the reason for not doing so. When they sign a WWE contract, they become WWE employees and there’s no reason why they should not have access to the same kind of priveleges that the rest of the company’s employees are entitled to.

— News from Florida as the new promotion that is expected to begin operations in October and is being personally bankrolled by current New York Mets owner Milton Wilpon has made a slew of major signings with former WCW World Champion Vader, former five-time WCW Champion and WWE and TNA star Booker T, Paul London, Super Crazy, Hijo Del Rey Mysterio, former ECW and WWF star 2 Cold Scorpio and more as the promotion looks to finalize a roster heading into their first set of tapings. According to various reports, the plan is to expand beyond Florida and into the national wrestling landscape, though they are not willing to buy a time slot as they believe that that has killed off several promotions in the past. Whether they are able to get onto a TV provider in Florida and parlay that into a bigger deal remains to be seen, especially when you take into account how brutal the sport has been on large-scale independent promotions not named Ring of Honor in the past ten years.

That being said, it’s always exciting when a new promotion comes along and I hope that someone picks them up to at least give them a shot. Worst case scenario, it’ll give Hulk Hogan someplace to dick around once he’s finally had his fill of TNA. One thing to keep an eye on though with this new company is the idea that Wilpon is planning on offering wrestlers full medical coverage, a 401k plan and possible stock options to try to avoid having wrestlers that work for him fall on the same hard-luck stories that have befallen numerous wrestlers who have gotten too old for the business. This runs pretty much contrary to what Vince McMahon said earlier this week and if Wilpon’s company gets off the ground and manages to become successful, it could mean a big change to how the world of professional wrestling is run. I’ll certainly be interested to see how things shake out once the promotion finally gets off the ground in October and I’m sure that a lot of others in the industry will be watching with interest as well.

— Good news on the Scott Hall front as the former AWA, NWA, WCW, WWF, and TNA star is not only on the road to recovery from a recent bout of sickness that put him into the hospital, but is going into his third week of sobriety according to a recent online post from Hall’s longtime friend and running buddy Kevin Nash. While some may scoff at that length of time for sobriety, in Hall’s case it’s a positive first step after years of on-again, off-again substance abuse. Hopefully he’ll be able to keep things going and continue on with his sober lifestyle because I’d rather not have to cover a story on Hall passing away too soon due to some kind of overdose or accident related to drugs or alcohol. Congratulations to you Scott, and keep fighting the good fight. There are plenty of fans pulling for you in the biggest fight of your career.

— In a story that seems like much ado about nothing, Guinness Book of World Record representatives have given Stone Cold Steve Austin an award in recognition of his record of “Most Royal Rumble Victories”. Now there’s no denying that it takes a special wrestler to be able to win three Royal Rumbles as it means that they have to be involved in the top storylines year after year and also be involved in the headline match at WrestleMania year after year, something that not everyone can do. However, this really feels like an award that’s akin to a those big blue “Participant” ribbons that the kids that finished last on track day in elementary school got. I remember being engrossed with the Guinness book when I was a kid and reading about all of the crazy records that people could accomplish, but it looks like the book must have fallen on some hard times if they’re forced to hand out records for a pre-determined sport. I wonder where Jerry Lawler’s record for most titles held (roughly 856) is, or where the record is for Sting for being the guy that has had the most tag team partners turn on him.

— Rumors are flying that Melina may make her return to the WWE at the side of fellow former MNM member John Morrison to help him in his feud against Ted DiBiase and Maryse. Given that the feud hasn’t exactly done a lot to interest me since it began and Melina’s return doesn’t really set my heart aflutter, I’m almost happy that they’re deciding to stick the two of them back together. I also have to point out that I can’t think of anyone who has seen their stock fall as far as fast as Morrison’s has in the past couple of years. When he and The Miz were together, people always thought that it was Morrison who was going to go on to bigger things while Miz played the “Jannetty” role, but since their break-up it’s gone exactly the opposite way. Morrison was once considered a can’t-miss prospect, but he’s gone from midcard feud to midcard feud with no real purpose and as such has lost nearly all of the momentum that he once had. That’s not to say that he couldn’t get it back someday, but Morrison’s character feels stagnant and if he can’t get it together he could be one of those “he coulda been” kind of wrestlers rather than the main event performer that a lot of us expected him to be.

— Finally this week in the a funny turn on the wrestling death story that we’re usually covering, TNA head Dixie Carter went to Twitter and disputed the rumors that seemingly came out of nowhere regarding Hulk Hogan, who had apparently died due to drowning. Dixie tweeted that Hulk was alive and well and that rumors of his demise were greatly exaggerated. Of course, this set up the usual plethora of Hulk Hogan jokes and in honor of that, here’s the five best jokes regarding Hulk Hogan’s brush with mortality.

5.) Hulk can never die because the pigments involved in keeping him his healthy orange color act as a type of preservative, meaning he’ll outlast the cockroaches.

4.) What, you thought “The Immortal” Hulk Hogan was just a nickname?

3.) Hogan couldn’t stand the fact that Chris Benoit was more famous than him for any reason so he tied a Bowflex around his leg and dived into the ocean.

2.) Hulk actually had died, but when the paramedics came to revive Hulk, he Hulked up and shouted ‘YOU’ before laying out five EMTs with right hands and legdrops.

1.) Even when he’s fighting death, Hulk still has to go over.

Alright, that’s it for me this week. Judging from how last week went, bossman Csonka will be in next with The Wrestling 5 & 1, while Randle will kick off next week with the Wrestling News Experience. I’ll be back tomorrow with this week’s exciting edition of Lucha Libre USA: Masked Warriors and I’ll be back next week with another edition of this column, so in the mean time and in between time, I’ll see you all back here next time for another brand-new edition of The Bell to Bell!

If you’re a fan of MMA, be sure to check out Nokaut.com for more of my work.