News to Start Your Weekend 4.13.07

Part of me wants to spend a long time, many words and a multitude of pages trying to explain why it’s so far beyond ridiculous that Don Imus has been fired. Hell, just that it’s ridiculous that this has been taken so far at all. The man said something he shouldn’t have said. He made what I feel was a heart felt apology, and I believe it’s later today that he will be meeting with the Rutgers basketball team to personally apologize and speak with them. He wasn’t being malicious when he said ‘nappy headed hos’. It was an off-color racial joke – not an insult, not a cruel slur, not whatever else anybody wants to call it. It wasn’t smart for him to say what he said, but nothing should have happened other than him being asked to apologize, something he’s done ad nauseam all week. Instead, he gets fired, and it happens during a radiothon that he’s been doing for 18 years that raises money for sick kids.

Way to go, CBS. Way to really care about what’s important. Back down to pressure from outright racists like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Hell, the same goes for all of the sponsors that ended up being a catalyst for the finalizing of Imus getting kicked off the air. If they didn’t cave in to the pressure, and if they haven’t been caving in for years, guys like Jackson and Sharpton wouldn’t have the undeserved power that for some reason they hold. And what about some of the people who are coming out against what Imus said? Snoop Dogg, a guy who has a criminal background, who just recently plead no contest to gun charges, came out and said that Imus’ comment is a horrible, terrible thing. Why? Because Snoop is black and can hurt other black people physically and be a poor role model to young black kids, but Imus can’t make an off-color comment that might hurt some peoples’ feelings? What about Whoopi Goldberg? She wanted Imus fired, meanwhile back when she was dating Ted Danson, Danson did a routine where he wore blackface. Whoopi defended him and fully backed what he did. Now, years later, Imus says a couple words and she thinks he is the biggest racist in America. There’s two hypocrites right there.

I could go on, but this is just really frustrating. What Don Imus said wasn’t hate speech. What some people, guys like the aforementioned Jackson and Sharpton are doing and have been doing for their whole careers, absolutely is hate speech. They get behind causes to attack white people and back up black people, regardless of what the truth is. Jackson backed the girl who falsely accused the Duke Lacrosse team of raping her and claimed that there was evidence that showed that it happened when there wasn’t. Turns out that they didn’t do it. Oops. In the late 80s, Al Sharpton got into the Tawana Brawley case (look it up if you’re not familiar with it) and made a lot of false accusations and, of course, made sure to bring race into it.

I really didn’t mean to spend three paragraphs on that, but there it is. Like I said, I could continue, but this just annoys me too much, and I don’t want to be annoyed and unhappy. This is a disgrace. That’s what it all boils down to. What has happened this week is an absolute disgrace. Patrice O’Neal said something yesterday morning that I really liked. Maybe the black people who are coming out on issues like this and getting all up in arms should just come out and admit that they want a double standard. That they should be able to say what they want and that white people shouldn’t.

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This is a wrestling column, you know. Some stuff has gone on this week, including:

– Disco Inferno got arrested on Monday for having high stakes poker games in his house. What an idiot. 10,000 dollar buy-ins. Wow. What did he expect? Lots of people coming into his residential home on a regular basis… did he expect his neighbors not to notice?

– King Booker’s bone spur removal surgery was successful. He’ll be back by the end of June. Bobcore Holly will have surgery to repair nerve problems in his elbow tomorrow and he should be back around August.

– MIT is offering a course called “American Pro-Wrestling”. I should have gone there.

– WrestleMania’s attendance was 74,687 rather than the 80,103 that was announced. It was done to say the records were broken and to make it a record that can’t be broken. Official or not, just like WrestleMania III this will be what they always say it was. It’s still below WrestleMania III’s 78,000 legit attendance.

– Larry Hennig wanted WWE to play the ‘Rap is Crap’ song that the West Texas Rednecks used in WCW rather than the Mr. Perfect theme song during the Hall of Fame ceremony. I don’t really know why he wanted that, but I’d have marked out for it.

– WWE is thinking of bringing Cody Rhodes (Dusty’s son and Dustin’s brother) up from OVW in early 2008. Jim Ross is high on him, and a comment he made in his blog about how as long as he doesn’t get called up too soon he’ll be a big star makes me think that he might have heard something about this and is making a veiled comment that it should be more than a year before he’s brought up to the main shows. Probably not, but I’ll mention it because I feel like it.

– WWE is going on a huge tour of Europe this week, doing shows in Germany, Austria, Wales, England, Italy and France. RAW, ECW and SD will emanate from Italy this upcoming week and from England next week.

– UFC President Dana White says Kurt Angle isn’t ready for MMA says that Kurt is wrong to think he is, and that he probably doesn’t know the kind of preparations and training these guys put into each fight. Honestly, Kurt was a great wrestler when he was younger. Even though he had the fucked up neck he did when he won the Gold Medal, he was 11 years younger when he did that and in much better shape otherwise physically. Plus, you need to be more than just a good wrestler to make it. One dimensional guys get eaten up these days.

– Sting apparently will be feuding with Christopher Daniels soon. I’m glad they’re actually going with it and that the stuff Daniels was wearing is actually going to lead somewhere. Awesomeness.

– Apparently Eric Young’s character is based on Abyss’ real life personality. I actually know somebody who knows Abyss through his father, who was a wrestling promoter (not Abyss’ father, the guy I know), and from what I know that’s not far from reality. He’s just a shy, nice dude.

– UFC continues to go international. UFC 70 is next weekend on Spike TV and will be aired on tape delay from England. UFC 72 will be held on June 16 in Belfast, Ireland. UFC is really just getting bigger and bigger, and I couldn’t be happier.

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The big match that was supposed to take place between Hulk Hogan and Jerry Lawler two weeks from tonight is cancelled, and the Big Show will take Lawler’s place. Apparently WWE told Lawler not to do it, and Hogan is claiming that Jerry told him that he’d quit WWE if they did it. I’ll believe it when I see it, Hulk. He also thinks that WWE making the match not happen is a personal attack against him. I think it is too. I don’t like that they’re doing it because it’s a match that the people in Memphis want to see and WWE let them build it up for a few weeks before putting a stop to it. I do like Vince attacking Hogan, though. Fuck that guy. So they’re doing Hogan vs. Big Show instead, with Show going by “The Giant” Paul Wight.

Show seems to be harboring a lot of bad feelings toward WWE, claiming that “Big Show” was his ‘slave name’. He also said that he’s glad to not be owned or to have to do things that other people find funny or good. He has lost 60 pounds since December as well.

Hogan claims that his fans are bigger than WWE.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHHAHA~!

He says that he feels better than he has in years and that this match is something that the fans should have gotten to see at WrestleMania. Well, Hulk, if you were willing to play ball with WWE and weren’t such a douchebag about money and so many other things, then that match would have happened. It’s your fault, not theirs, Hulk. Vince isn’t doing business with you because of things you did, not because he just randomly decided to stop.

Vince has also decided to pull all WWE talent from that upcoming show (Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Haas, and the Boogeyman) as well as barring any WWE talent from working any dates for Memphis Wrestling in the future. I don’t really get it – if Vince is doing all of this just to spite Hogan it’s a shame because he’s taking away from fans of Memphis Wrestling, a promotion that WWE has had a good relationship with for a while now.

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Ring of Honor is doing a pair of shows this weekend, one tonight in Long Island and the other tomorrow night in Edison, New Jersey. Here are the lineups:

Ring of Honor in Long Island, NY
Friday, April 13, 2007 – Sports Plus Entertainment Center

Takeshi Morishima & Chris Hero vs. Nigel McGuinness & Doug Williams

– McGuinness has been siding with Morishima and defending Pro Wrestling NOAH for months now, but all of a sudden he is in a position to win the ROH World Title. Will this match, just one night before his shot at the invader champion be a preview of the kind of attitude that McGuinness will carry into Saturday night? Will he be honorable and respectful or will he try to do anything he can to soften the champion?

Elimination Match: Roderick Strong, Rocky Romero & Davey Richards vs. Austin Aries, Matt Cross & ???

– Davey and Roddy announced Rocky Romero as the third member of their No Remorse Corps in Detroit on March 31. Tonight, Austin Aries will name the third member of his group as well as reveal the name of his group. Things are heating up.

Homicide vs. Brent Albright

– This one was supposed to happen back on March 31 at the Supercard of Honor II, but Adam Pearce and Shane Hagadorn broke it up, and that led to the return of James E. Cornette. This match will happen, however, tonight, and the war will continue where it left off in November, it appears.

Jack Evans vs. SHINGO

– They’re friends and partners, but tonight they will battle. They made a show out of their part of the Four Way Fray in Manhattan in February. Can they live up to the quality of that showing?

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Jay Briscoe

– Jay and Mark Briscoe had a pair of matches against the Kings of Wrestling back in December. Since then the Kings have disbanded and Jay has lost his brother to a concussion. On Friday, Claudio and Jay will hook it up one-on-one in a match that Claudio asked for.

Colt Cabana vs. Delirious

– Colt is beginning his farewell tour tonight in Long Island. He will take on Delirious in a rematch of what was said to be a very good and very funny match in the UK last month.

SHIMMER Bonus Match: Sara Del Ray vs. Daizee Haze

– Two very tough women and a pair of good wrestlers will square off in a bonus match for the Long Island crowd tonight.

Four Corner Survival: El Generico vs. Jason Blade vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Erick Stevens

– All four men are newcomers to Ring of Honor with Generico thus far having made the biggest impact. Jason Blade has made some good showings for himself as has Eddie Edwards, who had good contests with both Austin Aries and Jack Evans recently. Erick Stevens, FIP Florida Heritage Champion, just made his debut in ROH on the WrestleMania weekend shows in Detroit and destroyed his competition. This one is almost like a Do or Die type match. All four men will be trying hard to prove themselves to Ring of Honor and the fans.

Kevin Steen vs. Pelle Primeau

– Steen is a big boy and he’s hungry right now, just like the four men in the prior match. Pelle has a lot of fire and always wants to get a chance to crowd surf. This is a nice bonus match for the LI crowd.

Ring of Honor in Edison, NJ
Saturday, April 14, 2007 – Inman Sports Club

Ring of Honor World Title: Takeshi Morishima vs. Nigel McGuinness

– Nigel has been on Morishima’s side. Now he will be facing him as a challenger to the title, and he looks to be the biggest threat yet. Nigel has pinned Samoa Joe and others on his quest for this title shot and Morishima has been dominant. These two men will butt heads on Saturday night with the most prestigious prize in ROH on the line.

Colt Cabana vs. Doug Williams

– This match will be Cabana’s final match on the East Coast with Ring of Honor. He will be going at it with fellow practitioner of the European style in what should be a very well done and entertaining catch-as-catch-can contest. This is also the second match in the return of Doug Williams to Ring of Honor.

Jack Evans & Delirious vs. Roderick Strong & Davey Richards

– Evans has yet to name anybody for the group he speculated about creating back in February. Maybe he figures that he has enough friends and people that see the NRC as common enemies that he won’t have to actually begin a group. That may be something that could bite him in the ass or be a fine plan. Delirious has taken multiple beat downs from the NRC, so he’s looking for some revenge.

SHINGO vs. Matt Cross

– SHINGO has been very impressive in ROH and has shown some good stuff in matches with other high flyers, such as Jack Evans. Cross is of that ilk and these two men should combine to make for a very entertaining match.

Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Jay Briscoe & Erick Stevens

– Steen, Generico and the Briscoes tore the house down on February 17 in Philadelphia. Mark is injured, so Erick Stevens, an impressive newcomer in ROH, has been chosen to take his place. If the west coast contingent can get a big win here, that may put them in line for a shot at Jay & Mark’s ROH World Tag Team Titles.

Rocky Romero vs. Claudio Castagnoli

– People are speculating that superagent Larry Sweeney has paid off Romero to try to take out Castagnoli. We’ll see how this turns out, as Romero is the newest member of the No Remorse Corps. Could this lead to a relationship between Sweeney’s stable and the NRC? That may lead to some domination in Ring of Honor.

Top of the Class Trophy: Shane Hagadorn vs. Pelle Primeau

– Pelle finally gets his shot to take Hagadorn’s trophy away from him. It may be Shane’s only claim to a tiny bit of legitimacy in this business, but he’s used some very dishonorable tactics to hold on to the trophy. He and Pearce have been picking on Pelle for a while, but this may set Pelle up for revenge. Will we get to see the old standby wrestling cliché if Pelle can win the match and crowd surf with the trophy, destroying it in the process? I don’t think any trophy has lasted this long in North American wrestling history.

Chris Hero & Tank Tolland vs. Jason Blade & Eddie Edwards

– Blade and Edwards are being looked at as a light workout by Sweeney, Tolland and Hero. Winning this one could make some waves and give the young upstarts some momentum in the company.

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Read these columns, please.

– Chris Hero, who apparently digs me, was a bit annoyed at me and voiced some concern as to what kind of a guy I am after I didn’t plug his column last week. That was a mistake on my part. Ari and him have done a great job on the columns they write, so you should read the Column of Hero from last Saturday, and make sure to read tomorrow’s version as well, be it written by Ari or Hero.

– Speaking of ROH, check out the Roundtable Review for this weekend’s Ring of Honor shows that I previewed up above. This was put together by Samuel Berman and features comments from JD Dunn, Ari, puro guy Matt Adamson, Jack’s son Michael Bauer, my boy Stu Carapola, Bayani Domingo and ROH reviewer Brad Garoon.

– I write with Matt Sforcina on The Fink’s Payload. That means you are obligated to read it. Matt has also brought back his column, Evolution Schematic.

– The other news reports from this week are as follows:

– Saturday Spectacular
– Ominous Thoughts
– News Experience
– Your News, Larry’s Views
– The 10th Day
– Small for All

– Tomorrow night NWA Black and Blue will run their first show. It’s going to be out in Levittown, PA. Check out their Myspace account for more information.

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TNA’s LockDown show is coming up this Sunday night in Saint Louie, which will bring me to give you some quick picks for the results before I go:

Team Angle, Team 3D, James Storm, Chris Sabin, Chris Daniels, Bobby Roode, Gail Kim, Senshi, VKM

Bye ‘til next week.