The Bell To Bell News Report 08.18.11

Welcome, welcome, welcome to this week’s Bell to Bell everyone! I’ve had a long-ish week and there’s a long, long weekend ahead of me so we’ll just dispense with the niceties and get right to business this week. Before we get started though, a quick shout-out and get well wishes to the bossman, Larry Csonka, who has been in the hospital the past few days. Feel better and get back to kicking ass and taking names around the 411 home offices sooner rather than later because it’s just not the same without you.

Alright, plenty of wrestling news to get to this week with all of the fallout from SummerSlam, Matt Hardy returning to action, notes from Ring Of Honor’s first TV taping for Sinclair Broadcasting, an update on the Sin Cara situation, who Kelly Kelly’s been kissing on and more, including the bizarre relationship between New Jack and Terri Runnels that has been making the rounds on the internet as of late. Let’s do it!

You know the drill…

Ding Ding….

— The latest incarnation of the WWE’s version of a summer blockbuster, SummerSlam, took place last weekend at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA and to say that a lot happened at the company’s latest pay-per-view offering would be an understatement. Here’s my thoughts on the show and what went down in the City of Angels…

The show started out with the six-man tag match featuring Rey Mysterio, Kofi Kingston and John Morrison battling R-Truth, The Miz and Alberto Del Rio and while it was alright for an opener, you could tell that it was thrown together at the last minute. There were some issues with all six guys meshing and it was basically like they put all of the midcard feuds on Raw into a blender as it looks like there’s going to be some new pairings out of these six, but it was a decent way to start the show. The six guys fell into a rhythym as the match wore on and it actually built to a good finish with Mysterio beating R-Truth with a top rope splash. Whether he’s 100% or not, it was big to give Mysterio the win as we would see later on in the evening.

Moving on to the actual scheduled matches, Mark Henry and Sheamus met in a very surprising big man match that actually delivered some entertainment. Henry has been tearing it up as of late and having him just obliterate Sheamus into the barricade served two purposes. It kept Sheamus from having to lose and cut the legs out from under his new face push and it also made Henry look like even more of a badass than he did after putting The Big Show out of action with a busted up leg. In terms of the in-ring action, both guys had their working boots on and instead of it feeling like a lumbering battle, it was more like a hard-hitting slugfest where the guy that hit the hardest would come out on top. Though it may not have been within the rules, Henry was the heavy hitter and made it two in a row on pay-per-view while solidifying his spot as the top heel on Smackdown with the win.

Next up was the Divas title match with Kelly Kelly facing Beth Phoenix and I have to say that this one was quite a surprise to me. It wasn’t a great match by any means, but it was much better than I expected going in and that was good news in my book. Beth is one of the better women wrestlers the WWE has on the roster and Kelly was actually able to hold her own against her, another surprise to me. With the win via a fluky roll-up, I would expect to see Kelly and Beth matched up again at the next pay-per-view as there don’t really seem to be any other credible challengers at this point. One of the better women’s matches that the WWE has put on in a while and for once a match that actually felt like it deserved the time that it got.

“Mr. Money in the Bank” Daniel Bryan has been feuding with Wade Barrett since almost immediately after he yanked down that big blue briefcase and they took their feud to the ring in the next bout with Bryan looking great even in defeat while Barrett picked up a ton of credibility and momentum by scoring a win over a Money in the Bank winner and future WrestleMania main eventer. These guys work very well together and had one of the better sequences I’ve seen on WWE PPV in a long time when they started exchanging holds and counter-holds towards the finish with Bryan ultimately ending up clamping on the Lebell Lock. Barrett recovered and scored the big win with his finisher and earned himself a boost on the Smackdown card. The only problem that I had with this one is that it felt like it was lacking a bit in intensity, something that was a little strange for two guys that have been at each other’s throats the past few weeks.

And now we come to the match of the night in my opinion, with Randy Orton becoming the new World Heavyweight Champion by defeating Christian in a no holds barred match. Their bout at Money in the Bank was decent at best, but this one blew it out of the water by a mile and was probably the best match these two have had. Kudos to Christian for being a trooper to take that huge RKO onto the ring steps and while he got stuck with another mini-reign as champion that doesn’t do a lot for his credibility as a main eventer, if he keeps putting on matches like this it will be impossible to keep him from the top of the card. As for Orton, he’s back where he always wants to be, holding the top title on Smackdown. That being said, the heel side of the card is pretty thin and unless they can squeeze a couple of months out of the upcoming program between Orton and Mark Henry, they’re going to run into a problem with having no one to challenge Orton soon enough. Maybe that’s what they’re planning on doing with Barrett after his big win if he can keep that momentum going.

Coming into the huge main event between CM Punk and John Cena to determine the undisputed WWE Champion, there was plenty of concern that Triple H as guest referee would overshadow the in-ring action. Luckily that wasn’t the case, but the match still felt a step off from the classic that these two put on at the MITB pay-per-view. It may not have been as hot a crowd as it was in Punk’s hometown of Chicago and a lot of that is probably because of the slow build at the beginning of the match. Though it took some of the energy out of the crowd, I really enjoyed it as it was a nod back to some of the huge title matches of days gone by and went a long way towards establishing that the guy that won this match was truly going to be the undisputed champion. Triple H did a good job of calling it down the middle while staying out of the way, something that most guest referees have a hard time doing.

Things may have started off slow for the crowd in the main event, but they were plenty into this match as it progressed and when they got to the false finishes including Cena’s first Attitude Adjustment on Punk, the place was buying into whatever the two top stars on Raw were selling. My favorite spot of the match was the Punk elbowdrop, a la Macho Man Randy Savage that had the crowd chanting Savage’s name in a fitting tribute to the recently fallen legend. Punk getting the win was a bit of a surprise, especially with the way they got it done with Cena’s foot on the bottom rope, but it was nice to see Cena take two straight falls against him in big pay-per-view main events. Cena’s popularity and merchandise sales will never take a hit, no matter how many times he loses and seeing him lose also throws some intrigue into whatever matches he takes part in moving forward.

Of course, that wasn’t the end of things as Kevin Nash burst in from the crowd and destroyed a battered and tired Punk with a jacknife powerbomb that allowed Alberto Del Rio to cash in his briefcase to become the new undisputed WWE Champion. While most people were mad that Punk didn’t get to leave LA with the gold, with the way that they booked that finish as well as the Raw show the next night, they’ve managed to make not only one strong feud at the top of the card, but potentially two or three of them with plenty of off-shoots and twists that are still out there to be explored. Sure, I would have loved Punk spending months blasting the WWE with more of his edgy promos while holding the company’s top belt, he’s still got the same edge that he had before and showed that he’s just as interesting when verbally sparring with Nash as he was when he was in there with Cena or McMahon.

As a whole, the show was actually a strong pay-per-view, but it suffers a little by being put on less than a month after what many feel was one of the strongest PPV offerings that the WWE has put on in years. While there were no bad matches on the card, the fact that most of the card was thrown together at the last minute as well as the fact that most of the undercard matches were average knocked this one down a little bit. All in all, it was a show that delivered on its promise of two huge main events, something the WWE tends to have trouble doing, so that makes it a thumbs up in my book.

— Ring of Honor’s first TV tapings for their new television partners in Sinclair Broadcasting Group took place last weekend in Chicago Ridge, IL and from all reports, the wrestling that took place on the show was good to great. Unfortunately for ROH, the show was plagued by technical issues and delays that stretched the taping well over four hours, leaving the crowd drained by the time all was said and done. There are plenty of spoilers for the matches on the show that I won’t get into, but the tapings were punctuated by the semi-shocking return of former ROH World Heavyweight Champion Nigel McGuinness. McGuinness, who was recently released by TNA, will appear on the shows as a color commentator and even teased a possible in-ring return, but if he is still suffering from the mysterious medical issues that forced TNA to let him go I doubt much will come of the tease. McGuinness is gold on the microphone and his previous stint at the commentary table for ROH in 2008 and 2009 was fantastic. Teaming him with Kevin Kelly (who has done a very good job doing ROH’s iPPV shows and has been much better than he ever was in the WWF) is a smart move as it sets up a solid pair that could go up against any other promotion’s announce team and hold their own. Hopefully McGuinness can get his medical issues in order and return to the ring at some point and hopefully ROH addresses the issues that they had with their tapings last weekend and get them sorted out before their next TV taping on October 1st in Louisville, KY.

— In news that was met with relative indifference by virtually everyone, Matt Hardy has announced that he is ready to return to the ring. This comes just a few short weeks after Hardy announced that he was going to be taking some time away from the sport due to unspecified issues. Here’s Hardy’s posting from Twitter on Monday night…

“I’m ready.. It’s time for me to get back in the ring. I’m gonna train my ass off & get ready for the day-wherever it may be. Preach.”

I don’t know about you, but hearing him talk about “wherever it may be” doesn’t sound too good for his future with TNA now does it? Hardy’s TNA run has been a disappointment on numerous levels (although I could really be talking about either one of them when I say that) and it’s beginning to seem like TNA doesn’t want much to do with him anymore. Whether it’s a matter of not feeling like they need him without Jeff around or whether he was that much of a pain in the ass in the locker room, TNA had enough to send him home and haven’t thought twice about him since. TNA stated that it was a suspension, but it seems more and more like they may just let his contract expire or release him outright as it looks like there’s nowhere for him to fit in down in Orlando. It’s been a long strange trip for the Hardy Boys from lovable underdogs to wrestling pariahs, but it’s all been their own doing. If he’s serious about training and re-dedicating himself to wrestling, I’m all for it, but we’ve all been burned by the Hardys enough that it’s become a case of “believe it when we see it”. Sad but true…

— Following the previous suspension of Sin Cara, two more WWE employees have fallen to the might of the Wellness Policy as suspensions were doled out to referee Mike Chioda and Tough Enough winner Andy Leavine, though the company has yet to confirm Leavine’s suspension at this time. Chioda will be on the sidelines for the 30 days that comes with a first offense of the policy and it is suspected that Leavine will be out for 30 days as well, though again it is only rumor that was making its way through the backstage areas of Raw this past Monday night in San Diego. Given that Leavine is not a part of the WWE main roster, I’m guessing that he can be suspended without it being announced, though I could be wrong on that as I’m not completely squared away on the finer points of the plan. If it is true and Leavine was dinged, that can’t be a good way to start your new career with your new employer, especially when there appeared to be some trepidation when he was picked as the winner. Now it will be up to Leavine to work doubly hard to prove that he belongs while erasing the stigma that this positive test will likely leave with him. Whether he’s able to will be a huge factor in whether he ultimately makes an impact in the WWE or just becomes the answer to some obscure trivia question years down the road.

— Since we mentioned Sin Cara in the last bit, now seems like as good a time as ever to update the situation regarding the popular Mexican star and his double. This past Friday saw the first appearance of Hunico under the Sin Cara mask as he took part in a match against Tyson Kidd and picked up the win. While most of the spoiler reports had few noticing a difference between the original and the replacement, it was plain as the nose on my face that it was two different people when I actually sat down to watch the show. Hunico seemed uncomfortable with the mask and was not only a completely different body type, but wrestled in a completely different style than the original Sin Cara. Hell, the announcers even made mention of him looking different, though I think that may have been more of a way for them to cover it up rather than to try to let the fans in on what was going on.

As for the original Sin Cara, his suspension should be up soon and it looks like there are already plans in place for his return according to various reports that surfaced last week. Those reports have the company planning a Sin Cara vs. Sin Cara feud when the original is finished serving his time for a Wellness violation. As much as I understand them wanting to get something out of the guy after making such a big deal about his signing, I have to say that the idea of the two of them feuding is fairly underwhelming to me. Neither guy is particularly over and it feels more like just giving them something to do while hoping that original Cara can mesh styles with Hunico to possibly help him out with his botched moves. Given how horribly feuds like this have gone over in the past with Undertaker vs. Underfaker and Kane vs. Fake Kane, this feud probably has Superstars written all over it in what will likely be the last chance for the original Cara to show that he can hang in the WWE.

As dumb as it will be to watch, you’ve got to give the WWE credit for trying to get their money’s worth out of all of the vignettes and hype they put into the character. Plus, they’ve built themselves a way out of having a deal with the original if he can’t get his shit together quickly. If they decide to bring him back and he manages to nut up and shows some promise during the feud, he stays under the mask and keeps going with the gimmick. If he doesn’t and continues down the same path, they just have the new guy go over and continue on with the gimmick while quietly releasing the original under his given name so he can go back to Mexico and work as Mistico again. Say what you will about the WWE and their booking, but if that’s how things are going to go, it’s a pretty smart move.

— I’m not one to cry wolf before things come to fruition, but there seems to be some financial stress surrounding TNA lately with most of the speculation surrounding former TNA and WWE star Jimmy Yang. After letting a good chunk of their front office staff go a couple of weeks ago, Yang made it known that he has yet to be paid for the appearance he made on Impact roughly a month and a half ago in an X-Division three-way match. Not only did he not get paid, but apparently TNA sent him a check to pay him for his services a couple of weeks back and it bounced like it was signed by Paul Heyman. Taken on their own accords, neither of these seem like a big deal but when things like this start to happen in clusters, there’s bound to be some speculation. Who knows how the financial situation looks down in Orlando at the moment, but TNA has a big roster of talent that likely command big bucks including guys like RVD, Sting, Hogan, Bischoff, Angle and more. Given that they have to heavily paper most of their PPV and TV taping shows when they leave Orlando and their relative lack of impact (no pun intended) on the TV landscape, there has to be a strain on whatever money comes through the door for the company. Here’s to hoping that the two were unrelated and that it was merely some type of clerical error in the case of Yang’s payment as it would be terrible news if TNA went under, no matter how rough their product may be some times.

— WWE filed trademark applications on August 10th for “Future Endeavored”, “Future Endeavor” and “Mr. Future Endeavor”, which means that they are either going to begin to get litigious with all of the various message board posters who joke about a star being “future endeavored” or they’re looking to bring in some kind of character that will use those terms or even that nickname. Honestly, I would love to see it as a guy that gets brought in as Mr. Future Endeavor under a mask and he begins to work his way through the roster one guy at a time while hitting his finisher, which could be called the Pink Slip. Imagine how many worked shoot comments would get on TV with a character like that. CM Punk could just be the beginning of it all if they go through with something like that. Who knows if that’s what they’re actually going to do or if they’re just going to bring Chris Masters back to fire him again and give him the nickname as many commentors here joked, but it’s a fun little point of silly speculation on a strange trademark request.

— With their bizarre and turbulent relationship at an end, New Jack and Terri Runnels have recently engaged in a vicious war of words and accusations that has thrown more fuel on the fires of internet rumormongering. Jack and Runnels relationship flew mostly under the radar, but since their break-up it’s been front page news with Jack posting numerous incredible rants against Runnels, implying that she mixes pills and alcohol frequently while exposing her partners to various sexually transmitted diseases. Runnels and Jack are expected to be in court not only due to Runnels attempting to sue Jack for libel, but also due to a set of nude photos of Runnels that Jack currently possesses. Jack has claimed that he is going to release the photos, which he took with his cell phone, but Runnels was able to gain a temporary order in a Florida court earlier this week to prevent Jack from releasing the pictures. The pair will return to court again soon to determine whether the order will be temporary or whether a permanent order will be enacted that will prohibit Jack from ever distributing the pictures. Given how rough Runnels looked in some of the previous photos that Jack released including some where Runnels was covered in blood, I can 100% say that I am hoping for the courts to rule in her favor, if only to keep them from ever seeing the light of day. It should also be a lesson (Do people still really need to be taught this?) to anyone that getting involved with anything that New Jack is a part of is probably not the best of ideas.

— Fresh from their first TV tapings last weekend, Ring of Honor has announced the first match for their upcoming Death by Dishonor XI iPPV show on September 17th in New York City. Former Ring of Honor World Heavyweight Champions Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong will meet in what is being dubbed as “The Ringmaster Challenge”. The bout is 2/3 falls and will follow a 3 stages of hell format with the first fall being pinfall only, the second fall being submission only and the third fall, if necessary, being a 15 minute Iron Man match. Now, I love whenever Edwards and Strong are in the ring together as they always seem to deliver and I love that they’re doing something different with the match concept, but I have to admit that I’m a little disappointed in having an Iron Man match as the third fall. Not only does it kind of negate the first two falls, but if they’re going to do that, why not just make it a 30 minute Iron Man match and skip the first two falls? I’m still excited to see what Strong and Edwards pull out of their hat, but a different stipulation for the third fall like Last Man Standing or a Texas Death Match could have made this much more exciting for me.

— Apparently the rumors of him returning to the ring are not enough as there are rumors surrounding Hulk Hogan that have him possibly attached to the next season of Dancing With The Stars. As the story goes, Hogan’s fans were pushing for him to be included in the show and the producers took note and offered him a slot. Hogan reportedly turned down the offer and is currently trying to get his daughter Brooke onto the show in his place. Reports indicate that this isn’t the first time that ABC has approached Hogan about appearing on the show and it’s not the first time he’s turned them down. Given that he hobbles at the best of times when he’s making his way into the Impact Zone or even into the ring to cut a promo, I have to think that this is the right decision for Hulk as he would be in serious physical trouble with the amount of practice and physical toll it would take for him to try to learn new dances week after week. With wrestling, he at least knows what to do and how to minimize the damage, but with a new skill like dancing he would probably be at far greater risk for a serious injury. As for Brooke being on the show, they seem to be taking the term “star” more and more loosely with every passing season, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see her with her dancing shoes on come the fall.

— Finally, we unfortunately end on a sad note this week as former heavyweight boxing contender and AWA star Scott LeDoux passed away on August 11th due to complications stemming from ALS. LeDoux joined the AWA as a referee in the mid-80’s mainly due to his star power and connection to Minnesota, an AWA hotbed throughout the promotion’s history. Soon after though, he found himself involved in an angle with one of the AWA’s top stars, Larry Zbyszko and LeDoux moved into the ring for a variety of boxing, wrestling and taped fist matches against the future AWA World Heavyweight Champion. In perhaps one of his biggest victories in the promotion, LeDoux bested Zbyszko in a “boxing” match at WrestleRock 86 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, MN in front of over 20,000 fans. In the realm of boxing, LeDoux battled the likes of Larry Holmes and Leon Spinks and fought eight future or former world heavyweight champions, but he was possibly best remembered as the man who kicked off Howard Cosell’s toupee following a controversial loss to Johnny Boudreaux in 1977. As the legend goes, LeDoux was convinced that the decision in the fight was not on the level and kicked the ring ropes, inadvertantly knocking the verbose commentator’s hairpiece askew. LeDoux is survived by his wife, two children, one step-child, four grandchildren and two sisters. The deepest condolences from 411 Wrestling go out to all of them during what must be an incredibly difficult time.

Well, that’s it for another wild week in the world of professional wrestling. Be sure to check out Greg DeMarco’s Wrestling 5 & 1, Aaron Frame’s Wrestling Framework and all of the other great content here in the 411 Wrestling zone over the weekend and throughout the week. I’ll be back next week to tackle more of the fallout from SummerSlam with news and notes from the WWE, TNA, ROH and more. In the meantime and in between time, I’ll see you all back here next time for another brand-new edition of the Bell to Bell News Report!

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