The Tuesday Communique 09.25.12: Four Score and a Few Columns Ago

Here we are and here we go. I’m not good at coming up with intros. That’s good enough for me.

– The Wrestling News Experience with Stephen Randle
– The Wrestling 5&1: Maria vs. Velvet Sky with Tony Acero
– Handicapping The News 9/21/12 with Gavin Napier
– The Wednesday Wrestling Week That Was with Sam Smith
– The Piledriver Report: An Eventful Week with Ronny Sarnecky
– The 8-Ball: Ugliest Foreheads with Ryan Byers
– Column of Honor Special Comment: Buyer Beware with Ari Berenstein
– The Contentious Ten PPV Wrestlers with Gavin Napier

I am the egg man
I am the walrus, goo goo
G’joob, goo goo ga–

Couldn’t finish. Stupid haikus and their constrictive format.

“We get it, shhh! Let’s get to matches!” – My 6-year-old son
– Brad Maddox looks a little too much like Garrett Bischoff.
– Remember the scab referee angle? That happened.
– Seriously, this new suit-on-top, short-shorts-on-bottom is HOT.
– Hey, they’re booing Punk! He’s such a smarmy dick.
– If they don’t make him a chickenshit (they will) then this heel run WILL be great.
– And now they’re chanting his name.

Dolph Ziggler def. Kofi Kingston (11 min)
– The Little Jimmy stuff is great. Fuckin’ love it.
– Kofi missed that dropkick by a country mile.
– Made up for it with that dive though.
– Ziggler shows him how you throw a damn dropkick.
– Spinning Boom Drop!
– Counter! Counter! See-saw boots! Flying clothesline!
– Dolph needs
– Holy shit what an SOS! Holy shit what a nearfall!
– Counter! Counter! Counter!
– Zig Zag! Clean victory!
– What a fucking match!

– SmackDown last week centered around Kane & Bryan was AWESOME.
– Kane’s name isn’t Gerald!
– Gerald is a bad waiter!
– This shit is fantastic. Whomever is writing the comedy right now needs a raise.
– Gabe Sapolsky tweeted that Kane & Bryan should be called the “Air Devils”. DANGEROUUUUUUUS!

Prime Time Players def. Santino Marella & Zack Ryder (2 min)
– Team Cobro! This won’t end well.
– Nice dodge of the crossbody by D-Young.
– Man, I thought Titus was going to use the Cobra against Santino. Disappointment.

– Ooooh a special guest! Who will it be?
– Also, the Social Media Ambassador idea is WAY better than guest stars.

– Mick Foley! Oh, his book is coming out next week. That makes sense.
– CM Punk! Did he get a haircut backstage?
– Foley may have brought his big boy microphone tonight.
– Fuck you Foley! He drinks PEPSI!
– Shit, Foley makes a hell of a point. I didn’t realize he only had the belt for 29 days.
– Not the best promo ever but very good.
– I really hope they only do one HIAC match this year.

I thought that looked familiar…

Non-Title: Ryback def. The Miz (2 min)
– Weird to hear Cole say “veteran instincts” about Miz.
– And it’s over?
– For a moment there it seemed like we were going to get a decent little match.

– Kinda awkward to have Kane and Bryan recreating that scene.
– Hey! I’m actually not upset to see Mae Young!

Wade Barrett def. Tyson Kidd (2 min)
– Good luck Tyson!
– Kicks by Kidd!
– Oh, shit. Another “We Want Nexus” chant. At least it was tiny.
– Nice rollup by Tyson.
– Sweeeet Black Hole Slam!
– He calls the elbow “The Souvenier”. Not bad. Crowd doesn’t care, though.
– Hey, what’s up with the whole “open for business” thing? Where’d that go?

– Why go into the Owen Hart Voice if King’s fine?
– King’s house was WAY more fun when Stacy Carter was running around naked.
– Whoa… why does he look so bad? He looked perfect when he TOUTed and when he returned to Memphis.
– This has to be some kind of angle.
– The end of the interview was uncomfortable. It felt like somebody was going to take him out.

Sheamus, Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara def. Alberto Del Rio, David Otunga & Lucha Rodriguez (7 min)
– We are Joined In Progress!
– Really? An inside-out flip bump from a shoulder block?
– Lucha Rodriguez!
– That was a #SSSIIICCCKKK leaping enzugiri.
– WOW that was a helluva knee lift on Otunga.
– THE BUTTONS POP! TWO FANS’ EYES ARE POKED OUT!
– Seriously though, that could not have worked out better.
– Headscissors into the barricade!
– That springboard swanton was quite awesome by Sin Cara.
– It looks like Sheamus just teamed with midget wrestlers.
– Shades of WrestleMania III!

– The hand over the mouth after Kane’s burp!
– Oh no! That wasn’t a vegan meatball!
– Team Teamwork? I bet they don’t even realize it’s redundant.
– Bryan was already in a tag team called Teamwork!

Austin Aries & Bryan Danielson v. Motor City Machine Guns || Part 2 || Part 3

– The Rhodes Scholars! Oh my god!
– I really AM welcome. Thank you!
– That shirt!
– This feud will be awesome.

Eve Torres & Beth Phoenix def. Alicia Fox & Layla (1 minute-ish)
– That was quick.
– Wow, I didn’t even recognize Kaitlyn’s music. I thought it was somebody new.
– She was wearing a wig. Come on now.
– I’ll give them this, at least they’re trying to give us a reason to care. Not a bad angle, really.

Brodus Clay -NC- Tensai (2 min)
– This could be a great big man match, but it won’t be.
– Told you so.
– If this was 15 years ago JR would have been shitting himself when Show’s music hit.
– Aaaaand Show makes Brodus his Bitchasaurus again.

John Cena (w/Pipe) def. CM Punk (w/Paul Heyman)
– Wow… a “Cena” chant. It only took going overboard on telling everybody how much he hates cancer.
– And he still got boos during the chant.
– Really John? Really? If you truly are upset then ditch the stupid shit for a second.
– A lot of cheap heat here on both sides. It does feel like two main event stars, though, which is nice.
– He’s got Sheamus’ POIPE!
– John Cena just gave that woman a weapon!
– I thought that seemed like a weird way to close the show.
– Ballshot! Right in Mrs. Foley’s baby boys!
– THAT was certainly unexpected…

Overall RAW Thoughts
I was really excited for the show after the fantastic Kofi/Ziggler match but really, how could the rest of the show lived up to it? That’s not to say it was bad (by any means) because I really enjoyed watching it this week. I believe that’s the most important part. Big Show is back seemingly with a vengeance, and I assume they will be writing Orton off TV by having Show fuck him up on SmackDown. It’s a shame Brodus had to go down at the hand of Big Show again. I was excited to see Clay get some comeuppance (and the fans seemed like it too), but whaddayagannado? I wasn’t expecting anything other than Team Frienship, but RHODES SCHOLARS trumps everything. Honestly, I’m not really sure if a whole lot happened on RAW this week or a whole lot of nothing happened. Punk gets the Steve Austin “Higher Power” eyes because Ryback showed up? That was a bit of a letdown (I couldn’t fathom a guess as to who it would be) but now I am quite interested to see where that’s going. He beat Miz… is he now tired of him and doesn’t even want the title? Who knows. Thumbs up because it was fun and some good stuff was set up for the future.

@ScottotD on Main Event Feuds
“I just wrote a 4 paragraph tirade before I noticed I had written a 4 telegraph tirade about something that’s supposed to be fun… the fact the creative team is still stuck in (and apparently sees no problem with) their ‘Anyone not named Punk/Cena/Orton/Sheamus random match generator’ no feuds needed idea is COMPLETELY counter productive to long-term booking.”

It is most certainly a mess indeed. They usually try to push a couple people around Money in the Bank (to make the match slightly less predictable) and Elimination Chamber (because they need to fill 12 spots in “main event” matches). Throw Big Show in there along with Del Rio, Kane, Bryan and Henry (when he’s not hurt) and it’s a mess. It’s very much a broken record subject though.

Leno on JBL the Commentator
“the reason people think JBL is good on the mic is because he doesn’t work for WWE and doesn’t have to worry about keeping a job. You think Vince would have allowed King or Cole to say half the things JBL said? Also he is a bit esoteric and brings up obscure references for my tastes, this is why Matt Striker is relegated to the ‘C’ shows.”

I don’t think that’s the reason that people think he’s good. It’s definitely one of the reasons, but he’s also very knowledgeable and entertaining in regards to the WWE-approved stuff he says. King and Cole bickered all the damn time, but neither one of them have any wit whatsoever so it was like a couple of idiots trying to convince the audience that the other was the bigger idiot. JBL can very easily make anybody else look like an idiot whenever he pleases. Unlike King and Cole, though, that’s not his main focus, mostly because he doesn’t have to focus on fighting in order to win a fight. JBL can call a match, put over wrestlers and put the other commentators in their place all at the same time. Add on his obscure (to casual fans) references and you have a very entertaining act. JBL did pretty much all of the same stuff when he was employed by Vince — the difference between him and Striker is that JBL has credibility. He was on the roster for a long time as a dominant tough guy and then spent a few years as an asskicking main eventer. Striker was a jobber and a sniveling shit character of a manager.

Guest#0015 on Secondary Titles
“Why are 2ndary titles jokes in WWE? Because there are THREE of them. Yes THREE: IC, US, World (let’s be honest). The World Champion now is the IC title of old. The US title & IC title are nothing more than 2 versions of the European Title. Merge the 3 to 1 belt, end the brand split, be done with it.”

CM Punk himself pretty much said that the WHC is a secondary title, and I agree with his assessment as well as yours. The World Heavyweight Championship doesn’t feel like a World title, it feels like a midcard title. There’s nothing wrong with that. They try to portray it as a title that is on par with the WWE Title, though, which is why it’s a problem. PLEASE just merge them. The brand split is for all intents and purposes over, now more than it ever has been. The only guys who don’t appear on both shows are, for the most part, Punk and Cena. Everybody else does double duty at least a couple times a month. In fact, if they were to merge the WWE and WHC, they could continue with that trend while making the Intercontinental Title into a really big deal on SmackDown while still having the champion on RAW as well. The US Title could be like the European Title was in 2000 thru early 2001, as a third tier belt that’s just there as an easy lower card feud device.

Guest#9862 on Important Titles
“The WWE & World titles are only as important as the shows they are on. I guarantee that if the WWE & World titles switched spots like they did a couple of years ago the World title would be considered the bigger because it’s the title that would be featured on Raw.”

That pretty much sums it up, really. At this point, though, I don’t see why any title should be more important than the title that bears the name of the company.

M Dub Cee on Title Credibility
“Although I understand why people are upset over the booking of the secondary and world titles but, it doesn’t mean they should all be merged. If the WWE creative team put forth the effort to make credible feuds and hyped the titles up on commentary the view on the titles would change. Look at a few years ago when the brand extension first happened, they a made big deal separate brands down to Survivor series matches between the two making it seem as if it was two separate brands. WCW for years made the TV, U.S. and World titles all seem important with easy. As a kid I wanted to be the TV champ because that was “The best wrestler on TV” it just sound cool. If WWE creative actually tried they could all the titles relevant.”

You are absolutely right. Personally, the only titles I want merged are the WWE and World Titles. Get rid of the WHC and give a guy like Sheamus the IC Title and make the audience think that after the WWE Title, the IC Champ is the most important guy on the roster. You can have a few different secondary and tertiary titles. That isn’t a problem at all, as long as you make them out to be important aspects of the show instead of afterthoughts.

Mr B on What’s Good For Business
“I don’t think selling replica belts is the reason they won’t unify the WWE and World titles, or at least it’s not the biggest reason. Raw and Smackdown tour separately. They want to be able to main event both shows with a major champion. Two shows on one night and one doesn’t have a World or WWE champion? Not good for business.”

See the above bit with M Dub Cee and my response. Importance of a title is based on perception. More people will care about the titles and pay to see the champions if there are more reasons as to why they are relevant and important. I made the replica belt statement because less belts = less products to sell. Yeah, they could just sell all of the belts and list the non-active ones as such, but the belts being on television is a great advertisement. That’s why I feel that they won’t unify or get rid of any titles. What businessman gets rid of free and effective advertising? It also helps my point (in my mind) that shortly after I wrote the column one of my IWC idols Scott Keith made the same assessment. Justification!

the mecca on Sheamus and Long Title Reigns
“honestly I’ve been loving Sheamus as champ. I don’t normally buy best of the year dvd’s, but Sheamus’ hell of a run and all his entertaining promos, some of them must be on 2012, plus his falls count anywhere match with Bryan so i’m looking forward to the best of 2012. its nice to see a face champion who will defend the belt any time, anywhere against anyone, and have a good happy time doing it. Sheamus is hilarious, and he is a believeable ass beater. also be prepared, word on the street is HHH is a big fan of longer title reigns so they mean something, so that’s why Sheamus has held the belt for so long. I would say how they are reusing the story with Ryback and Clay, have Cesaro keep the US title and beat Brodus, but have Ryback destroy Miz and become IC champ. he’ll have a decent title run till we get a new monster in the IC division. if Mason Ryan improves it could be him, or a returning Matt Morgan, but i would say Ryback wins IC title, at Hell in a Cell, or Survivor Series, and keeps it till Wrestlemania.”

I agree wholeheartedly about Sheamus. He’s very charismatic and extremely solid in the ring. He is sometimes a little too happy-go-lucky, but generally it’s not too much of a big deal. I definitely like the idea of longer title reigns, and hopefully a longer US Title reign will be the ticket for Cesaro getting over well. Putting him in the ring with a guy like Ryder helps, since the fans were very much excited at the prospect of him winning the title back. Looks like Matt Morgan is staying away from WWE (thankfully) and Mason Ryan needs to be future endeavored.

Bonerfied Goes Anti-Sheamus
“I DO NOT think he is a good wrestler. He may be passable in the “5 moves of doom” era, but that doesn’t mean anything to me. I long for the days when guys like Vader and Bam Bam Bigelow did Moonsaults, you know, things that us normal human beings couldn’t do.

Look no further than today’s finishing moves.. RKO, Crossrhodes, Ziggler’s finisher, Sandow’s finisher, Brogue Kick… go down the list…

Why the hell should a big ass kicker like Sheamus have to bicycle kick you to win? They stopped him from doing the Razor’s Edge because he was so sloppy with it.

Sheamus has explained it on multiple occasions, and it’s the same thing with some of the best finishing moves of all time (Stunner, Sweet Chin Music, etc) — you can hit the Brogue Kick on anybody. You can kick Heath Slater and Santino’s head off and at the same time you can also take out Khali or The Big Show. I’m not sure what your point is about today’s finishing moves. Let’s look at some finishers of the past.

Sweet Chin Music, Stunner, Spear, Rude Awakening, Diamond Cutter, Sharpshooter, Pedigree, Rock Bottom, Lariat, etcetera, etcetera. Are you trying to say that the current crop of finishers are lame or something? There’s no basis to that whatsoever. As far as Sheamus not being a good wrestler, I think the majority of people would disagree with that sentiment, myself included.

Mozz1974 Doesn’t Like Sheamus
“Seriously, how can anyone think Sheamus is a great wrestler and be over the age of 12?

He is slow in the ring and has little (Unforced) charisma, fella. You only have to look at D Bry and even Kane to see how ppl with charisma can really carry any kind of angle and still go in the squared circle..

When you call bloated jacked up fuckers like Sheamus “great”.. true greats like curt hennig, randy savage etc etc must turn in their graves.

He is a decent (at best) worker who has been pushed far beyond his abilities and there is at least 4/5 better ‘workers’ with as much charisma if not more who could and should be world champ instead of him.”

Sheamus is bloated? On the moon, maybe. I don’t get the sudden outspoken dislike for Sheamus. How widespread is this? Communiquetors, speak up!

Guest#8793 on JBL’s Commentary
“I would certainly say JBL leans to the heel side, with the traditional defending of the bad guys shenanigans prevelent with Eve, the Prime Time Players, and Sandow. I did like the consistency with the “goofy face” characters (Clay, Santino, and Ryder). JBL dumped all over their gimmicks without saying they were bad wrestlers.”

I can see where you’re coming from, but he’s playing more of a logical thinker than a heel. It seems more heelish because the typical face announcer is gung-ho with the rah rah cheering on of good guys. I always took JBL as a pretty objective commentator. He points out the flaws and strengths of both good guys and bad guys. Remember his extreme hatred of Miz, who was a full heel? JBL just has his likes and dislikes.

C-Girl is a Zack Ryder Fan
“Why in the world are they burying Zack Ryder!? He has charisma, kids love him, and he is mad sexy! As a woman, I prefer him over John Cena anyday!”

Then why aren’t you Z-Girl? Huh? Huh? It is true though. He is all of those things.

Simply “Donnie” on John Cena
“Cena actually changed my mind about him with 1 promo cut in Montreal last week. lol. Sounds cheesy I know, but I’ve been watching this guy 4 a while now, and like many fans, found him 2 be just plain stale (except when he was with B squared). lol. But in Montreal he changed the way I look at him. He made me see him as kind of a Tim Tebow with an attitude type o guy, and that, is dare I say, original. Why does it seem that the pre requisite to being a rebel or a “punk” in this case, is to be an anti establishment type? Seems like that has become the norm in our society and it’s refreshing 2 see a character truly buck the system and a good ol All American Jock. Cena is more Stone Cold than anybody else in the business in my opinion and I NEVER thought I would be even pondering that association. 2 me, the “Prototype” has finally lived up 2 the hype that he could be the next Sting. Hype that he got back in the early 2000s when he was an up and comer. Cena=Best in The Business 2day.”

I don’t see it. Cena is GREAT at stepping up to put on a fantastic important matches and he has insane charisma and presence. He hasn’t changed, though… if you see him right now how you are saying you do (Stone Cold-like), that’s because you weren’t paying attention in the past. His attitude, character and mannerisms haven’t changed in the past 6 years, if not more. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it doesn’t work with how he’s been booked. I like that he’s a dick. He’s more Hulk Hogan than Steve Austin, though. He preaches to the choir and panders to the crowd but treats everybody else like they’re shit compared to him. That’s classic Hogan. The problem is that just like Hogan, the crowd is tired of how along with all of that, he’s booked to always overcome the odds. It worked in the 80s with kids and adults alike, but only works now with the kids. Chicks like him because he’s hot and he’s a charity-doing all-around nice guy. Kids like him because kids like Superman. Men (and non-casual female fans) dislike him because he’s a cocky asshole that is far from being a goody-twoshoes (and he knows it, and owns up to it), but the commentators insist on painting him to be a goody-gumdrops babyface and the booking does the same. Solution: he needs to be vulnerable sometimes and they have to stop pretending he never does anything wrong.

The Great Capt. Smooth on Dr. Shelby’s Services
“Why do I want to see a Ryback/Dr. Shelby bit?”

Because it would be comedy gold? “Eating is how you cope with your anger, Ryan. That’s not healthy. Instead of eating and screaming to be fed more, how about you count to ten after each meal and then go out to wrestle like a sportsman? Help your opponent up after you beat him and thank him for the meal he provided.” Something like that.

Ryan Raze on ROH v. DGUSA & Dean Ambrose
“Do you think there is a chance of a DGUSA vs. ROH feud? Would there be too much ego on the line for DGUSA to job to the #3 promotion? I only call it #3 because they have a television deal and more “seniority” on the circuit.

What do you think happened with Dean Ambrose? He seemed to be on the right path towards something big, and it feels like he dropped off the map. Do you believe we’ll see Seth Rollins before Dean Ambrose?”

I doubt we’ll ever see Gabe work with Ring of Honor again. He’s said some pretty harsh things about the lack of professionalism under the current regime and the higher-ups don’t tolerate even the slightest of criticisms, it seems. A feud between DGUSA and ROH would produce some great matches, but right now ROH doesn’t have any sort of true identity to speak of and there’s no gung-ho hardcore fanbase like the one that existed 6+ years ago when the CZW feud happened.

It seems like Ambrose is about to show up on the main roster. He has been working dark matches before some of the TV tapings and is also touring for the live shows. He worked with Michael McGillicutty on Friday night (or Saturday) on a RAW house show, so who knows. I don’t know if there was any heat on him after the Foley deal fizzled out, and I don’t even know if that whole thing was approved by WWE in the first place. There’s a ton of fuzziness and grey area about it; because Foley has become a non-entity in the current wrestling scene and Ambrose has never been on the main roster people stopped caring pretty quickly.

Ring of Honor Frustrations and Thoughts
The previous question is a decent enough lead-in to my discussion about my current views on Ring of Honor. Let’s start it off with a reader’s assessment.

Dr Wiki on Ring of Honor
“I have a similar problem with you concerning ROH. I watched the first episode and was very excited on a weekly show that had an old school feel but modern wrestling. I loved Richards vs Strong and was greatly pleased with the next few weeks but soon after I felt the show becoming a drag. The matches felt like Superstars without the dazzle. The Main Events felt like they belonged at the beginning of the show and the only character I felt intrigued by was Tomasso Ciampa.

I hoped that ROH having a national television show would make them try to become the company where the best in the Indies are. I believed that they would try to expand by bringing in some guys from NOAH, some veteran luchadors and some guys from the other major indies promotions to add diversity to the roster. Instead they bring in guys who can wrestle but feel like a generic CAW from Smackdown vs RAW and have the majority of them get squashed.

I believed that ROH would be what TNA is currently but with smaller names and guys who work hard to try to make up for their lack of recognition. I was expecting a show based around the gold and that all matters would be settled in the ring. Instead we have had Cornette coming out acting like a super obnoxious WWE general manager and making everyone look bad. Richards and Strong are great wrestlers but really bad speakers when displaying a personality that doesn’t suit them. This guy should have stayed on taped interviews backstage instead of relying on them to work in ring promos.

The biggest problem I have however is the waste of indie talent available both female and male. I personally don’t want to see Kevin Kelly in every backstage interview. ROH guys are not 6’4 so Kelly makes Richards look even shorter. Have Veda Scott interview them and make them look bigger in comparison. Have the TV Title Champion wrestle every week leading to the next IPPV and have all who were able to beat him get a shot at the title.

ROH at the moment is the only show in which I don’t feel bad about missing since I barely remember when it is on. The only thing that I regret missing is Maria and that is a very small regret.”

That is a very good perspective. When they first started doing the show it felt like something fresh and new and I immediately liked it far more than the HDNet show. The production wasn’t fantastic, but it felt way more like ROH than the HDNet shows did. I was excited that they were going to run it like a truncated version of WWE and TNA’s shows. 2-3 good matches of decent length with in-ring promos and interview/storyline segments felt like a good formula. The initial 4-weeks of TV from the Chicago taping was a very good start. Nothing set the world on fire (Lethal v. Generico was GREAT, though) but it set the table for what looked to be a consistently strong television program. The move to the Du Burns Arena in Baltimore was great as well. The arena looks freakin’ fantastic and the crowd has been unbelievable.

However, as they continued running in that same building month after month after month it became a bit tiresome. Thankfully the crowd has been packed every taping with people who actually paid to get in, they have not seemed to grow tired of having ROH there and it’s not an audience full of “smart” “fans” who are trying to get themselves over. That is one thing that I can’t complain about at all. The Baltimore audience has been absolutely amazing and seem legitimately thankful that they are able to get quality wrestling on a regular basis. As I’m surely making clear, the crowd isn’t the issue. The fact that they are continually running in the same building has made it feel like a late 80s-early 90s NWA/WCW set of small tapings. In itself that isn’t a problem. The issue is that the static setting makes for a boring backdrop. They want the whole Kevin Steen as champion and SCUM running things to seem like “anything can happen” but when you’re in the same building all the time, how can that be? If they want to continue with that route, fine, but they have to go on the road. They taped Survival of the Fittest over the weekend in Baltimore and also did “Fan Appreciation Night” and they will be going out to the Pittsburgh area soon to tape some TV out there so maybe it will feel fresh again. As tends to be my mantra, time will tell.

I’m so frustrated about the fact that ROH has confined themselves to the crutch of having an overactive authority figure. For all intents and purposes Jim Cornette is the heel authority figure trying to take down the popular anti-hero champion in Kevin Steen. He’s insane, just completely out of his mind, and ROH seems dead-set on making him and SCUM a full-on heel team, but the crowd cheers Steen no matter what he does. I was unbelievably uninterested in the storyline by the time Steen won the belt because Jim Cornette had completely hijacked the show and often made it unbearable. He was the heel in the situation even though he was positioned as a face trying to defend the company. The angle of Cornette trying to save Ring of Honor from the evil that is Kevin Steen MUST be aborted. It’s not working. I am very glad to have not seen him on the TV show for a few weeks, so there’s some progress in that.

I think it would be a huge benefit if they went in a bit of a hybrid style. Backstage “live” promos, matches and commentary that is all taking place continually in the same night like they currently have it, but also with pre-taped videos with promos done in different locations. Backstage in the locker room, outside the buiding after a show — on location stuff. They can have the Briscoes do toned down versions of the promos they do from their farm in Sandy Fork, Mike Bennett’s Prodigy Service Announcements should be on the TV show, stuff like that. That way they can make sure to pre and post-produce a lot of it and make the show look a lot cleaner and better produced. That way, when they do have any kind of promo segments in the arena/in-ring they seem much more important. Just a thought.

I have actually had the chance to check out the last few weeks of the TV show and I’m up to date by now. The shows have all been good. The wrestling has been very strong (which is the only good constant ROH has right now) and the storylines are simple and straightforward.

As far as the iPPV situation is concerned, Ari Berenstein has that covered.

After the events that occurred on SmackDown, it has been revealed (I guess) that Heath Slater, Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre will be forming a group called Encore. That’s a pretty cool idea, actually, if “encore” means that Heath is getting a second shot after Nexus, Jinder is getting another go at it after embarrassing himself with the Great Khali stuff and Drew is reinvigorated after losing his shine from the “Chosen One” angle. Didn’t this group of guys attack Ryback or Brodus or somebody else a few weeks/months ago?

Dean Ambrose is scheduled to continue traveling with the RAW team, which has made the dirt sheet writers come to the conclusion that he will be debuting soon. I’m all for him being brought up — maybe he can be the mastermind behind the Encore group. That would be pretty sweet.

If Mick Foley’s upcoming Christmas book featuring The Miz does good business (surely it will, I know I’m buying it) he said that he may pen a Halloween book starring Daniel Bryan. Buy the X-Mas book, people!

The Miz says that his good-guy character in The Marine 3 is based on an amalgam of Paul Newman characters. I wonder if he pulled it off. The more interesting part of the interview that came from is regarding who helped him keep his head up and persevere when he was on the bottom of the totem pole in WWE. Billy Kidman told him to “stick with it.” Granted that’s very generic advice, but I think it’s significant because Kidman was probably one of the only people that was willing to give him a chance. That’s how I interpret it at least.

I saw something in him!

You did, Fat Billy Kidman? What was it?

Nobody else was around so I was pocketing food. Miz saw me but didn’t rat me out! I decided to take him under my wing.

Is that true, Billy? Really fully truthful?

No boss, I’m just not good at giving advice.

Thought so. I don’t like liars, Fat Billy Kidman. Remember that for next time. If there even is a next time. Slob.

In a ridiculous effort by the McMahon for Senate campaign, Linda McMahon herself is showing up to personally hand over money owed by her and (mostly) her former wrestling promoter of a husband Vince. She gave a dude at a car rental place in Connecticut a check for $18,000 in payment of a car that was rented in the nineteen goddamn seventies. Seriously? It is said that is about 4 times the original amount, as adjusted for interest and inflation. Isn’t it so clear how Vince was able to not lose his father’s company right after it became his? Dude just stiffed people. True wrestling promoter there, folks.

WWE has struck a deal with Hulu Plus to start streaming all (or most) of their first-run TV programming. This includes, for what I believe is the first time ever, Monday Nigh RAW. The deal began effective yesterday (9/24) meaning that if you missed RAW and have Hulu Plus you can check it out today. Based on the reports about the deal, Hulu Plus will carry RAW, SmackDown, SuperStars and the new “Main Event” show that will premiere on Ion TV on October 3. Articles are saying that NXT will be included, but they also refer to it being shown on WWE.com, which hasn’t been the case for the past few months since the revamp. That leads me to believe that NXT will not be included.

CM Punk took to Twitter this week to praise a bunch of wrestlers for their weekend house show performances. He gave credit to the Cesaro v. Ryder match, Michael McGillicutty v. Dean Ambrose and Layla v. Eve. That match also received a praise from fans who attended the live show in White Plains, NY. Many people, myself included, said the Layla v. Eve match from NoC was pretty good and would have come off even better if there was any reason for the crowd to care.

Beth Phoenix is currently finishing her contracted dates before leaving WWE on good terms. Her last advertised date is the October 22 RAW from East Rutherford, NJ. It is being said that she plans to try her hand at acting. I would LOVE to see her go back to SHIMMER and/or SHINE. She would also probably be a great fit in CHIKARA, where she would be able to wrestle great women from around the world as well as men, which she did early in her independent career. Good luck to her no matter what she chooses.

Matt Morgan interfered with a recent TNA live event and stated that he’s tired of being patient and we’ll have to guess who he’s with. Something to that effect. Everybody went home that night and promptly forgot they ever knew he existed. He’s like a lame kayfabe version of crazy Twitter Matt Hardy.

Robbie E will host a pro wrestling clinic this Saturday (9/29). I’m opting not to put in the location in hopes that no future wrestler finds him or herself in such a terrible predicament. Unless it’s free I don’t expect anybody who actually shows up to ever make it to TV. I guess part of the seminar is about what it’s like to be an indy wrestler turned TV star. He does realize that TNA only brought him in because he’s from New Jersey and kinda looks like Paulie D, right? He was an average indy wrestler who wasn’t brought in because he was a standout but rather because he fit the bill for a stupid gimmick TNA was looking to put together. I don’t know why I care so much.

Kurt Angle claims that he’s not as hurt as people think he is. I believe this has to do with a leg or groin injury he has been dealing with for a few weeks that has caused him to be put into more tag matches to compensate. His general MO is to tell people he’s not as hurt as they think, even though the truth is probably that he’s hurt worse.

Does anybody believe that Vince McMahon was really sending Kurt Angle flowers to get him to come back to WWE? Maybe they were actually for Karen but Kurt was too self-centered to figure it out.

Hulk Hogan will be going into “enemy territory” this week on Impact to deal with Aces & 8s. I’m still guaranteeing that Hogan is going to either be the leader of Aces & 8s or an integral part of what has allowed them to continue hijacking the show. He doth protest too much.

FREE PRO WRESTLING!

American Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) v. Up In Smoke (Cheech & Cloudy) ||2CW Living on the Edge 2010 – April 2, 2010

For more, please visit FreeProWrestling.com.

I haven’t been able to watch the last few episodes of NXT (I haven’t even seen the Seth Rollins title win yet) so I am going to hold off on the NXT profiles until I can get myself well-versed with the show again. Hey, I finally talked about Ring of Honor though! I was really enjoying that it bugged Zig Zag Zach so much. Maybe I will just say I’ll get to the NXT profiles until Triple Z starts pulling out his hair. Then I’ll wait a few more weeks before I continue with it.

That’s all. Get outta here. Sam Smith tomorrow followed by Sean Kelly, Gavin Napier, Greg or Tony De Marco or Acero and finally back to Randle on Monday. Then it’s me on Tuesday and we do it all over again. I just explained how a week works!

– Nicholas A. Marsico