The Wrestling 5&1 01.22.11: Layla vs. Candice

Technology was not my friend this week, so let’s kick this thing off right…BRING ON THE GIRLS!

The LayCool explosion didn’t do much damage as Layla cruised to her third straight victory. And really, she has yet to be challenged. I’m starting to wonder if asking the question of “if” Layla can get into the Hall of Bang is incorrect. Maybe I should be asking “how far” she will make it in Battle of the Bang 3! But as Mickie James learned, admission into the Hall isn’t guaranteed.

“Greg, I happen to have the one female to put against her that even Layla will not be able to beat. I’ll email you about the idea. Stay tuned kiddies!”
~Black Scorpion

Scorp did indeed send me that e-mail, and even sent along some select photos that helped make up this week’s Versus…

Is Candice Michelle the woman for the job? Or will she do the job as Layla waltzes into the Hall of Bang? That’s a question for you, my loyal DeMarcouts, to answer. But I’d love to help you decide…

And of course, what Candice Michelle version of Versus would be complete without this comparison!

What do you think? Does three become four? Will Layla El join Velvet Sky, Maryse Ouellet and Trish Stratus in the Wrestling 5&1 Hall of Bang? If so, then Battle of the Bang 3 will be upon us.

Because 40 heads is better than 30.

The 2011 Royal Rumble is officially 33.3% bigger than your average Royal Rumble. Thanks to a sluggish build, the WWE wants to inject some momentum into the Rumble match, and is doing so by adding 10 more competitors. But are you officially 33.3% more excited? The Royal Rumble is the one match where statistics matter. Adding in 10 more guys changes the stats! If someone breaks Kane’s eliminations record, do we need to put an asterisk beside the record? If #30 wins this year, is it counted with all of the other #30’s who won? If #40 wins, is he counted with the other #30’s who won?

The match will be longer, but you have to wonder if we’re getting a 120 second clock, 90 second clock, or 60 second clock. I’m hoping for 90 seconds, so we can at least eclipse one hour. 120 seconds seems long, easily making the Rumble match go over 90 minutes. With two world title matches on the show, that could make for a 4 match WWE PPV. As for the 40 participants themselves, it’s not like it opened up more potential winners. I still think our potential winner pool is limited to John Cena, CM Punk, a returning Triple H, a returning Undertaker, Rey Mysterio and Alberto Del Rio. Outside of the two returns, I doubt this pool is impacted by the larger Rumble field.

Here are some items I’d like to see (some are 2011 specific, others are more far reaching):

#30 wins again – It would be interesting to have #30 win, when he wasn’t the last man in. I know it would screw with history a little, but I doubt the WWE cares about that.

#40 enter with one opponent left – I’d love to see the ring get cleared of all but one man, who then waits 15 or 20 seconds for his final opponent to enter at #40.

A shocking winner – I know it will never happen, but what better way to reinforce that anything can happen in the WWE then to have Darren Young win the Royal Rumble. You can do Darren Young vs. The Miz for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania! Yeah, on second thought…

You Decide: Does having 40 participants make the 2011 Royal Rumble more appealing? Is it just a silly way to break records and add hype to this PPV?

WrestleMania 22 was a good event. I actually prefer the normal arena sized shows over the giant oversized stadium shows for the atmosphere and crowd noise, but it’s really just personal preference–I like the fans to be as close as possible. Back to the event itself, it was moving along just fine until the WWE decided to get a little creative with the main event entrances. At the time, I hated them. Looking back, I don’t know how I feel. Take a look and let us know what you think…

You Decide: What’s your impression of these entrances? Worst entrances ever? Great for special occasions like WrestleMania?

That ain’t good! The final 2010 television ratings were released, and wrestling in general dropped a little. It’s tough to say that it wasn’t expected, because pay-per-view buyrates have been down over the last year, and the WWE themselves have admitted that the newer stars aren’t quite as over as they expected them to be at this point.

But TNA’s ratings definitely took a tumble from last year…

2006 – 0.89
2007 – 1.04
2008 – 1.06
2009 – 1.14
2010 – 1.06

Despite the great increase from 2008 to 2009, TNA went back down to 2008’s levels in 2010, a decrease for the first time since they hit Spike TV. 2009 ended with what was arguably a much better booking plan, as the company was pushing newer talent into main event positions. The two main event matches for Final Resolution 2009 were AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels for Styles’s TNA World Championship and Desmond Wolfe vs. Kurt Angle in a Three Degrees of Pain Steel Cage Match. In contrast, the main events for Final Resolution 2010 were Jeff Hardy defending the TNA World Championship against Matt Morgan with Mr. Anderson as the special guest referee and Jeff Jarrett’s win over Samoa Joe in a submission match.

TNA expected 2010 to be a year of great growth, as the company placed Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff at the helm. TNA then went head to head with WWE RAW, drawing inconsistent ratings of 1.45, 1.0, 0.8, 0.86, 0.62, 0.9, 0.8, 0.95, 0.5, and 0.78 before going back to its old Thursday night timeslot.

It is worth noting that the WWE saw declines in their ratings as well. But the WWE didn’t add Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff to the mix with hopes of moving into direct competition and defeating the one opponent above them.

You Decide: What was it? Bad timing? Bad booking? Is the decrease in ratings an area of concern for TNA? More so than the decline for the WWE?

Five Things You Didn’t Know About…Shark Boy!

1. Real name Dean Roll, trained under Les Thatcher in the HWA, portraying both the masked El Piranha and the fifth Baldwin brother Dean Baldwin.

2. He owns the trademark to the name “Shark Boy,” which he obtained in 1999. He sued Miramax in 2005 over naming rights related to the Sharkboy & Lavagirl franchise. While Miramax tried to have the suit dismissed, they ended up settling with Sharkboy for an undisclosed amount.

3. He was under WCW contract for 6 months in 1999 & 2000 before being released. He only appeared on WCW Saturday night.

4. Dean Roll is divorced with one child, and lost nearly all of his personal belongings in a 2009 house fire.

5. Sharkboy can be seen on-camera at both WrestleMania 25 and the Hall of Fame ceremony that preceded it the night before when Stone Cold Steve Austin makes his entrance. Austin is his all time favorite wrestler. In 2008, he emerged from a storyline coma with the ability to talk and engulfed in the persona of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

Double the iPPVs, double the fun! On Friday, Ring of Honor president Cary Silkin announced to the world that both of their WrestleMania weekend events will be broadcast online via their partnership with GoFightLive.tv. This is a gutsy move by ROH, asking fans to pay for two pay-per-view events in the same weekend that many will be paying for the already higher priced WrestleMania. Not to mention that at least a small portion of their regular viewing population might not be home to order the events, as they may make the trip for WrestleMania. And you can add in the fact the Saturday show has a non-traditional start time of 1 PM (eastern). So for ROH’s West Coast fans, we’re looking at a 10 AM start time.

Many diehard fans are already predicting that ROH will go all out for these events, with Roderick Strong defending the ROH World Championship in a rematch with Davey Richards, The Briscoe Brothers getting one more ROH World Tag Team Title shot at The Kings of Wrestling, and possibly a World Tag Team Title shot for Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin the next night. The company stayed away from any international fly-in talent for the WrestleMania 26 shows, and still drew 2000 fans (combined) to the events. And I can tell you that number is legit, since I was working the door.

The iPPV events are basically pure profit for ROH as they simply split the profits with GFL. So even a down weekend in viewership will be a profitable one for ROH. But I do feel like they’re testing the loyalty of their fanbase, asking them to spring for three pay-pre-view events. There’s no word on it the price point will change for these events, but my gut instinct is that they won’t offer a special deal for these events.

You Decide: Is ROH taking too big of a risk here? Are they asking too much of their fanbase on the biggest wrestling weekend of the year? With WrestleMania and the Hall of Fame already being televised, is it overkill?

A few great remarks from 5&1 favorite Joey Styles (@joeystyles):

“Only The Bellas can make a T-Shirt as ugly as Daniel Bryan’s look good.”

“That beating that Miz just laid on Randy Orton is the most aggressive the WWE Champion has ever been. Miz may indeed be able to beat Orton.”

“Mark Henry is so strong that it is truly frightening.”

“At this point, we should just give Derrick Bateman immunity through the season finale.”

“I’m sorry to see Connor O’ Brian go. Luckily, there’s no shortage of rats in this business.”

“Want to become the best pro wrestler you can possibly be? Learn from TAZ! Visit www.teamtaz13.com.”

A very interesting mix of smarky, insider, and kayfabe comments from Styles this week.

Follow 411Mania on Twitter (because I want Ashish to like me…)
Twitter.com/411Mania
Twitter.com/411MoviesTV
Twitter.com/411Music
Twitter.com/411Games
Twitter.com/411MMA
Twitter.com/411Boxing

That’s quite the down payment. Hulk Hogan put his house for sale (again), with another reduced price. If you have ten million lying around, all this can be yours!

I don’t know, it seems a little small to me…

From the 1/20 DeMarco Files:

“Hello, Pussy! … wait .. it’s supposed to be Kitty? my bad.”
~King JL

You see, it’s funny because he said PUSSY! Get it?

“Who’s the chick in the ‘It does matter what you think’… i think im in love…”
~Master

“Maria Kanellis. Insanely hot, has done playboy, has no pubic hair.”
~Guest#4929

You forgot to add future DeMarcette!

“I was thinking more along the lines of Undertaker/kane vs Barrett/Corre in a 3 On 2 Handicap Match. Will Kane intentionally cost his brother the victory and his streak or unite with his brother to defeat Barrett & company?”
~Averoho

“So Kane who buried his brother with the help of Nexus will now join Taker to fued with the guys that put him down? Sorry bro, Woo woo woo, you don’t know it.”
~Guest#6269

I do love it when you guys do my job for me!

“The problem with ending the Steak is who to give the win to. HHH’s career isn’t going to be that much longer. Cena would get even more mixed reactions than now and can’t get more over anyways. … The question is how WWE would benefit the most? Giving it to a guy towards the end of his career is a waste. Why possibly lose marketability of the DVD set for nothing?”
~Guest#6718

The same could be said for The Undertaker retiring Shawn Michaels, even if it was a great storyline and the end of a great series. There are so many variables that go into a decision like that, one that may never even come to pass.

“Taker’s streak shouldn’t end. No one worthy left to end it. Shawn Michaels was probably his greatest fued and most believable guy to go over Taker.”
~Guest#0512

You make a great point. Other than Cena or HHH, I can’t see who’s worthy of doing it, unless they use the win to give someone an insane rub (Alberto Del Rio?).

“I have noi problem with the idea of wade barret being the one who ends the streak. taker seems pretty badly injured as we saw in the brevity of his most recent return. how many more matches could he possibly have left in him? i fear that the wwe is in a now or never type situation, as if they dont end the streak this year, they wont get another chance at it.”
~Jlevysan

I think he’ll make it to WrestleMania 28, but that might be it. I do fear that he’ll remain a minimal special attraction in 2011, with his final run starting with the 2012 Royal Rumble.

“All I know is that if Taker faces Barrett or anybody in the middle of the card he will win, because they would be stupid to end the streak during the middle of WM, no matter who he faces. I don’t think anybody should end the streak, even a heel Cena. … Great DeMarcette, Gail Kim is hot, and I think she is sort of underrated in the looks department.”
~StillGuest#8287

I’ve said my peace about who should end the streak. It needs to be done for someone that will have a great deal of long-term benefit. Otherwise, just let him retire at 20-0. I agree about Gail Kim being hot (that’s why she’s a DeMarcette), but I don’t think she’s underrated in the looks department. She’s got a shot at being in the Hall of Bang at some point.

“Personally, I would like to see a Sting/Taker match at WM27, if the Stinger/WWE can get a deal done. But Barrett works. He doesn’t have to win to get a nice rub. But I don’t see him actually ending the streak. IMO, no one will. 20-0 and then done! Taker retirement.”
~SteveyMac

I’d be all for Taker-Sting. I think Taker is the best match-up for Sting if he does indeed come in. You have to wonder if the WWE would have their eyes on Cowboys Stadium for WM28 if it is in fact going to be Taker’s retirement.

“First off, that’ll teach me for even mentioning the Birth of the Hand incident. I’m never mentioning anything else like that again. … I hope that God has both Eddie and Chris running matches for him in Heaven, and God is cracking as Eddie smacks a chair into the ring, throws it to Chris, and Saint Peter acting as the ref misses it the actual action sees Chris with the chair and disqualifies Chris for using a foreign object in the ring.”
~AGNJoe

First off, yes it does teach you! Second off–and I might get slammed beyond belief for this–but I have to think Eddie & Chris didn’t exactly end up in the same place. It pains me to say it, because he was one of my favorites before it happened.

“If Eddie lived, he would have had 1-2 more title reigns at most. Once Cena/Orton/Edge/Batista were firmly established as the new top guys, Eddie would have been knocked down to upper mid-card again on Smackdown, where he’d play a Jericho role of “guy who jobs to all the youngsters, but can still credibly challenge for the title on a moment’s notice.” After a few years in this role, Eddie probably would have retired and/or transitioned to a backstage role, where he’d be to this day.”
~The TradeMark Experience

Quoted for truth. TradeMark is the voice of reason here and laud out the most likely scenario. Eddie would be a great resource to help get the young talent over, which is a role that seems to be missing right now.

“Wade Barrett is not ending the streak, Alberto Del Rio is not winning the Royal Rumble, and while it’s not the greatest accomplishment in wrestling, the streak should never end.”
~SeanWrestling

Glad to see we’re on the same page.

“I just don’t see Wade going in cleanly and beating Taker. For somebody to beat Taker at a WM they really would have to be on the hottest streak of their career so it is believable.”
~middy

If Barrett did beat Taker and go on to have an amazing career of his own, we wouldn’t remember what he was doing right before he beat Taker. Same goes for someone like Del Rio. It would likely start the hottest streak of his career, or anyone’s for that matter. I’d rather it be Barrett (who can benefit) over Cena, HHH, Orton or any other veteran.

“First off, you are my favorite writer here, Greg. I read your columns weekly. 🙂 … I know a lot of people are saying that ‘no one believes Barrett would win’ about the match up. I think that is understating Barrett’s presence and talents. If it leaked last year before it happened, I am sure no one would’ve believed that Wade would do such an awesome job his rookie year.
~Eboney

You’re right. Daniel Bryan was everyone’s early favorite in NXT, but Barrett was the most deserving winner. And he’ll likely have the better career, too. And kissing my ass will only get you to one place–and I’m not talking about my balls, either–I’m talking about Maria!

“Ugh. The streak will never end. … Discussion over.”
~Please stop…..EVERY YEAR?!?!

You’re right. We shouldn’t speculate. Not at all. Not about this, and not about anything. Hell, we might as well shut the site down and just redirect to PWInsider or The Observer.

I mean, if your complaint really mattered. But as we all know…

Ladies and gentlemen…Ryan Byers!

We are now in week three of the Wrestling 5&1 WOMEN OF PURO TOURNAMENT~! After last week’s (once again close!) result, we have set our first matchup of the second round and it will be Basara vs. Ayuma Kurihara. That means we now have a bracket which looks something like this:

However, before we move on to round two, we’ve still got two more round one matches to get through. The theme of last week’s matchup was youth vs. experience, and we’ve got a similar pairing this week. Remember that it is YOUR votes in the comment section which determine which of these two women will make it into the second round, so carefully review our material so that you can make an informed selection.

The first woman involved in this week’s match (who will appear on the left side of your screen) is Manami Toyota. Even if you who don’t follow women’s wrestling closely, you may already have heard of Toyota, as she was considered one of the best in-ring performers of either gender in the 1990’s. After 22 years in the sport, she is still active in her late 30’s and made her wrestling debut in the United States this past September in a couple of shots for CHIKARA.

Her opponent (appearing on the right hand side of your screen) is Misaki Ohata. Ohata, a former high school band geek who had no athletic background before entering professional wrestling, is known for an in-ring style that melds high flying and MMA-style submissions. She wrestles in many different Japanese promotions and is also one of a crew of young women from the Land of the Rising Sun who has started appearing for SHIMMER in the United States.

Will it be the legend or the up-and-comer who triumphs in this unusual matchup? Let’s see!

One is stern, one likes to have a bit more fun.

However, both occasionally wind up wearing very little clothing.

It’s up to you to pick the winner!

And, as has become traditional in this tournament, you also get to see both of the women involved in actual wrestling action. This week, we’ve got video Manami Toyota hitting the ring against Aja Kong and Misaki Ohata wrestling Ayako Sato.

Be sure to vote for either Misaki or Manami in the comments section below and check back next week to see not just who won but also to vote in our final first round matchup!

In honor of Layla El’s possible induction into the Wrestling 5&1 Hall of Bang, this week’s “&1” Model of the Week is the oft forgotten 2006 runner up, Jennifer England!

And she lost!

Some technical issues (mostly my own fault) almost prevented this edition from happening, but thankfully I didn’t need to redo this thing. So thank you for reading, trust that a lot of work goes into this and all of the columns and articles here at 411Mania.

Now go vote! And comment!

Until next time…

Damn!