wrestling / Columns

The Wrestling Sandwich 01.28.12

January 28, 2012 | Posted by Wes Kirk

Welcome to the end of January ladies and gentlemen, and with the beginning of a brand new month coming up shortly I have to take this time to make a major announcement:

I will not be writing the Wrestling Sandwich any longer…

THIS MONTH.

The reason for that is next week will be February, of course! Gotcha again.

Speaking of the lovely readers a few comments have come in regarding some of my responses in the various weekly articles for 411. I’ll just make a few brief remarks here in terms of the Sandwich and the Top 5, WOTW, and all the other columns I’m in that you only read because of me:

1. I didn’t include Ashley Massaro’s match at the Royal Rumble as one of the worst matches ever because she served a purpose. Even if that purpose was being hot, that’s still enough to have kept my interest.
2. You guys seem to forget that Top 5 and WOTW is also a matter of opinion more than anything. Of course we’ll never have everything you will fully agree on. Also, we won’t remember every single match ever in history when comprising the lists although I do try and add the older stuff when I can. I don’t like adding the older material to Worst Of… lists because obviously all of it worked to get the massive ratings in the 1980’s that wrestling did. There were a lot of stinkers, but the main events were more than enough to make up for it in the end.
3. Check is not spelled cheque in the United States or pretty much anywhere outside of the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and I think that’s it. I’m in the US, this website is in the US, and therefore we’ll be using United States terminology. I respect the United Kingdom slang and also their version of our words as they came first from England and second from America but being an American I’m going to use my country’s choice.
4. One of you asked me to explain the logic of having Daniel Bryan suspended for a PG violation choking Justin Roberts out with his tie but allowing Kane to choke out John Cena every week with his claw hold. You really want me to actually explain WWE logic? This is the same company that actually put together a multi-month program allowing the son-in-law of the owner to have simulated sex with a mannequin in a casket and thought it would draw money. My gut feeling tells me because Kane is using his hand on Cena’s jaw mostly and he doesn’t have anything wrapped around his neck somehow it is a technicality and they are able to get by, but who the hell knows! Good observation!
5. No, the abuse isn’t getting to me. In fact, the whole point of the Great Guest Experiment is to show you how easy it is to do what you do. To do what I do is not anywhere near as easy, but if you guys don’t want to participate that’s just fine. If not enough participation takes place, I’ll put something else in the column of my choice.

Anything I want. For the entire column! Make your choices carefully.

I wanted to also post something in regards to a few mistakes I’ve been making that caught the attention of this reader during the Worst Rumble Matches:

“In the last top five list, I commented about Wes Kirk’s perchance to get his facts wrong when making up his, and here he goes again getting his Shawn Michaels feud timeline wrong.

Kirk has been accused by MANY readers of this site as simply being a troll, and with that in mind I’ve come to a startling realization. Kirk may be INTENTIONALLY getting his facts wrong as part of his supposed troll persona in an effort to incite fans like me who know their wrestling history.

Posted By: Al Lobama (Guest) on January 18, 2012 at 04:11 PM”

Hmm. So, hypothetically, for that to be true I’d have to make about one mistake per column and I’d need to be doing it purposely to troll the readers into actually doing a little research to find out if I was right or not. Sounds like something a troll would do, alright! There is nothing I hate more than those goddamn trolls on the Internet.

The State of the Union was last week and I did a little “State of Wrestling” later on in the column to read that might help assure you I’m not just a jaded, bitter wrestling critic. As far as the State of the Union for our country, I think Obama is trying his best to put his hands over his eyes and saying, “I can’t see you!” to all our problems because he doesn’t wish to either acknowledge them or deal with them. The idea of making millionaires pay more tax money than they already do to fix all our problems is rubbish and technically, the extra money STILL won’t cover our costs at all!

It is very telling that the smallest audience for Obama’s SOTU ever turned out this year because he has lost people every single year he began making his speeches. I don’t know what’s so impressive about staring at a teleprompter and reading words written by other people but some find him to be their cup of tea, so to speak. With that said, I have five solutions to the problems that haunt our country right now and frankly if they are implemented everything will get fixed very fast:

1. Anybody receiving welfare or government assistance (including food stamps) is cut off after 52 weeks (one year) unless they are disabled, in which case they will continue receiving benefits but must submit to drug testing. If found to be using drugs, all of their benefits will be cut except for the absolute basic requirements to survive.
2. Corporate tax rate should be lowered to 18% to make it the lowest corporate tax rate in the world, capital gains taxes should be removed, the death/estate tax should be repealed as well as Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank and Obamacare. The more than 50% of Americans who do not pay taxes should have to pay something no matter how much or how little they earn so we really do get “a fair share” for everybody.
3. We need to open up all shale gas and oil reserves and drill on and off-shore as well as agreeing to the Keystone Pipeline to reduce dependence on OPEC and other oil controlling countries that charge us ridiculously high amounts of money so they can sponsor people to come in and kill us in terror attacks.
4. Right To Work needs to be implemented across the nation immediately so nobody is required to join a union to work in a business of their choice. Unions will retain the right to strike, but people are no longer required to join them if they think things are just fine on their end.
5. Any and all climate change/global warming funding will be removed unless and until PROOF is given and subjected to objective testing that humans are causing a significant change in the climate that never happened before, and if it cannot be proven objectively then the funding will end permanently and the AGW idea considered false. In addition all the EPA sanctions on light bulbs, showers, toilet water flows, dishwashing detergent and other items will be repealed and all subsidies for alternative energy will end. If the product works, it must work on the free market because people WANT IT. If they don’t want it, let it fail.

I’d love to see the response of millionaires and business people all around the country to these ideas as I have a feeling they would be on board with all of them. The worst part is, we know all of that will work but we still don’t do it because it isn’t politically correct.

Top Stories of the Week!

1. Weekly Ratings Roundup

TNA Impact Wrestling – 1.2, 1.6 million viewers (up from last week)
WWE Smackdown – 2.1, 3.3 million viewers (down from last week)
WWE RAW – 3.1, 4.6 million viewers – Hour 1 4.6 million, Hour 2 4.5 million viewers – (Up from last week)

Impact takes another step towards a higher average rating in 2012 with the 1.2 pulled in on Thursday, easily staying as the #1 show on SpikeTV which sadly isn’t very much to brag about. Smackdown lost a small amount of people viewing for the advertised Henry/Bryan title rematch which isn’t that surprising since I said he wasn’t a draw, and RAW stepped it up a notch gaining in the ratings although continuing to lose 100,000 viewers or more in the second hour. For reference the second hour featured the John Laurinitas vs. CM Punk match that never happened as the advertised main event, while the first hour saw Punk/Cena against Ziggler/Swagger. It does continue to appear that Cena remains stagnant as far as ratings go and Punk has yet to really prove himself as a ratings draw although frankly I have no complaints with him other than he’s not in TNA!

2. TNA Impact Wrestling Quick Recap

1. #1 Contendership for Knockouts Title at Against All Odds: Tara defeated Mickie James and Velvet Sky when she pinned Mickie after slamming Velvet on top of her with an Arachnaphobia fireman’s carry into a spinning side slam. ***
2. #1 Contendership for X-Division Title at AAO: Alex Shelley defeated Zema Ion with the Shiranui/Sliced Bread #2 off the turnbuckles ***
3. ODB and Eric Young defeated Angelina Love and Winter when ODB hit the BAM! (TKO) on Angelina Love 1/2*
4. Matt Morgan defeated Samoa Joe with a clothesline **1/2
5. Tag Team Tables Main Event Match: James Storm and Jeff Hardy defeated Bobby Roode and Bully Ray when Storm hit a top rope splash through Roode on a table held by Hardy ***1/4

Best Booking of the Night: Great Old Fashioned Hardcore Tables Match Fun!

Worst Booking of the Night: ODB/Young against Love/Winter AGAIN? WHY?!?!

Against All Odds is starting to shape up, as we now know that Alex Shelley will be challenging the most dominant X-Division champion in modern history, Austin Aries. Also, Tara earned a #1 contendership spot against Gail Kim and it appears that Robert Roode, Bully Ray, Jeff Hardy, and James Storm are all headed for a fatal fourway match of some sort. The tag team champions chalk up another one with Morgan taking out Joe but once again the champions were beaten down by the challengers who continue to claim they are one step ahead and may be purposely losing the singles matches to give the champions a false sense of their abilities. I can dig that idea, since it would be interesting to purposely lose matches when the title isn’t on the line and learn your opponent’s top moves in the process while never disclosing your ace in the hole.

We actually had a pretty damn good show tonight, considering all the matches that easily hit three stars and frankly the women’s wrestling here blows WWE away so badly it isn’t even worth pointing out the times anymore of the matches. Just know that there was likely more women’s wrestling on tonight than there was for two months of RAW and Smackdown episodes combined in terms of time spent in the ring! Against All Odds is looking good and obviously that’s on the agenda to pick up for next month. You guys can take that Elimination Chamber PPV and well, frankly, do what the name suggests (shoutout for those of you in the U.K who invented the term!) if you think it’ll be better than AAO.

3. WrestleMania Card Predictions

1. WWE Championship: CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho
2. World Championship: Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus and/or Randy Orton
3. Career vs. Career and Streak: Undertaker vs. Kane, take 3
4. Main Event: The Rock vs. John Cena
5. WWE Diva’s Championship: Beth Phoenix vs. TBD
6. WWE IC Championship: Cody Rhodes vs. Goldust/Dustin Runnels

Okay, so a few changes here and there but the general outline as it looks right now is for Jericho, Sheamus, or Orton to take the Rumble and challenge their brand champion. I believe that Barrett/Orton will likely be settled before the event, OR it will be a match on the card depending all on Randy Orton’s ability to go or not.

Punk/Jericho will likely result from the Rumble, or the Elimination Chamber. After beating Ziggler, Punk should be entered pretty fast into a program with Jericho and possibly as early as the RAW after the Rumble. Bryan seems to be built as a heel champion for some time, I think he’ll win the triple threat and go on to face either Sheamus or Orton at the event. I still believe firmly Undertaker and Kane will go at it one last time as it seems Kane is being built as this unstoppable force and there’s only one guy who historically has been able to deal with him. Both men are getting up in their years and I can think of no better way to go out for Kane or Undertaker than to battle each other, considering their matches and history. Beth will likely defend against one of the interchangeable bimbos; question is which one or how many of them will be involved. Cody against his brother also seems to be built, and I’d even think a Swagger vs. Ryder US title match might happen with Ryder doing a big return in time for the Rumble. It also appears Cena is doing his slow burn towards becoming a heel and possibly will be a heel in time to face The Rock OR he’ll turn heel at the event, or on the RAW afterwards. It won’t be long now!

4. Did You Know? WWE Lies Again!

On the Jan 23, 2012 edition of Monday Night RAW WWE advertised in their now infamous “Did You Know?” segment that Smackdown beat both NBA games combined in viewers. Not only is that not true, but Smackdown LOST in a key demographic to one of those games!

According to the final cable ratings, WWE Smackdown placed 3rd for the night in the 18-49 demographic, the first of which was dominated by the very same NBA game they claimed to beat! Smackdown combined did not beat both NBA games, as 3.3 million viewers watched Smackdown while a total of 4.3 million viewed the combined games. Smackdown still would have lost the night in either category anyway, with Gold Rush scoring the top viewers and 18-49 demographic and Jessie on Disney scoring a slightly higher viewer number.

Another sneaky little trick they used was not telling the viewers that the scheduled NBA game aired late at 10:39 PM instead of its regular starting time. Just more disinformation being used to make them look better than they really are!

Smartest Thing of the Week: TNA Beating WWE At Its Own Game

There actually was once a time when WWE was known as the company that put together compelling storylines and interesting wrestling matches that didn’t include people standing around in a ring with a mic for five minutes saying absolutely nothing or involving massively overrated hometown hot crowds that would have been molten for anything their guy said or did. Today, that company turned into World’s Worst Entertainment while TNA has quietly been putting together wrestling matches on their show that blow away the boring crap on Smackdown and RAW on a regular basis, and generally get more time as well. TNA has improved the time their wrestlers get to compete and that is a good thing, as I still believe they have a billion dollar roster and they just need the ideas and the booking to utilize it properly. Having these wrestlers perform every week for extended periods of time is going to gather in new fans and keep the old ones coming back, as the Knockouts and X-Division will run rings around the WWE Divas and midcard scene in a heartbeat. While Impact may be a distant second to RAW in the ratings, WWE is a far distant second in terms of match quality against the company not afraid to use the term wrestling in its advertising!

Dumbest Thing of the Week: Burying Zack Ryder on RAW

So you have this kid who is up and coming and has gotten over thanks to YouTube and Twitter as well as the top face of your company promoting him to the fans and the management. What do you do with him? Why, take his championship title away and then feed him to the company monster for an extended squash segment to write him out for weeks! Ryder competed against Kane in a match that resembled one of the 1980’s episodes of Superstars rather than a competitive contest as Ryder got about five offensive moves in and Kane dominated the remainder of the near ten minute fiasco before chokeslamming Ryder through the steel stage and the match seemingly just stopped. All the people jumping on TNA for having non-finishes must be trying very hard right now to hide under a rock and I wouldn’t blame them, as honestly this really didn’t elevate anybody. Kane always looked good from his beatdowns of John Cena lately, Ryder was getting taken seriously until this, and Eve is about as over as she’ll ever be as one of the interchangeable Divas. So now Ryder has a “broken back” which is a pretty major injury requiring years of recovery? How will WWE write themselves out of this one… Oh, wait, they just did by claiming now it is a herniated disc! Worse, they blame Lawler for bad information on the website!

OLD SCHOOL WRESTLER OF THE WEEK

“The Brooklyn Brawler” Steve Lombardi

Everybody knows who the Brooklyn Brawler is, as he’s one of the most famous jobbers in the history of the WWF! But did you also know that the Brawler was once managed by Bobby Heenan, pinned HHH to the mat during his main event status, and even became the Boston Brawler for one night only? Read on to find out more!

Steve Lombardi actually started his long career with the WWF in 1983, working as enhancement talent for a good six years before he’d have the moment that defined his brand new persona as the Brawler. Lombardi was often seen in a pink ring jacket during the early days working a semi-technical style before being outwrestled and pinned, usually by heels at the time. Lombardi slowly began to turn into a heel as time went on although his losing ways would continue and then he received a chance to really make a name for himself.

After the Red Rooster left the Heenan Family and beat down Bobby Heenan, on a special edition of Prime Time Wrestling Heenan had invited the Rooster to bury the hatchet and let bygones be bygones. Unfortunately, as Rooster shook the hand of the Brain, he got slapped by Heenan while Lombardi came over and clobbered him from behind, and even hit Gorilla Monsoon with the stool during the melee! The segment ended when Lombardi slammed the Rooster through a furniture unit and headed off with Heenan, repackaged as the Brooklyn Brawler, which Heenan explained, was teaching him to fight like he was in the streets rather than trying to wrestle his opposition. For once, Brawler actually began winning matches and beating enhancement talent! Torn New York Yankee’s shirts, tattered jeans and for a while a cigar with a hat were his preferred attire and he’d pummel his opponents with strictly brawling tactics to score his victories. Unfortunately, the Red Rooster would take out the Brawler at Saturday Night’s Main Event and then defeat Heenan at WrestleMania V which sent the Brawler back to jobberland where he’d become famous for losing just about every single match he had.

Lombardi competed in various matches and occasionally would get a win on Prime Time or Superstars if competing on the house show circuit depending on his opponent. He even had a brief tag team with Bad News Brown, which ended with Brown clobbering the Brawler out cold with a Ghettoblaster after he lost a match. In addition to his chronic jobbing, he donned the mask to play Kim Chee as Kamala’s handler and also became the mysterious individual known as Abe “Knuckleball” Schwartz, originally known as MVP (Most Violent Player) who used a superplex from the top rope as his finishing move. His top highlight during the Schwartz era was being in a battle royal for an IC title shot but lost in semi-quick fashion.

Lombardi would continue on as a road agent but also continued to work various matches and comedy segments in the WWE, and was actually the very first opponent for a young Rocky Maivia in his tryout match on March 10, 1996. Lombardi would go on to lose to the Rock again during a storyline in which Rock had to work his way up from the bottom of the ladder on the Feb 28, 2000 taping of RAW. While in the company, he also managed the Flying Stirpe Brothers in the indy scene, who were most known for throwing uncooked pasta at the crowd.

Amazingly, the Brawler actually had a chance to become WWF champion once! In 1997, a Madison Square Garden battle royal was held for a challenger for the WWF title later on, and Brawler actually won. He would go on to face Shawn Michaels and lost handily. Lombardi also substituted for the referees on strike during the September 20, 1999 RAW and scored a pinfall on HHH in the year 2000 along with Kaientai in a three-on-one handicap match while HHH was the champion!

In 2004, Lombardi appeared after the World Series to announce to the world he was going to be known as the Boston Brawler because the Yankees sucked! This was during the time Heidenreich was attempting to get over as a face, and he didn’t want to be Heidenreich’s friend so naturally, he destroyed him. Lombardi hosts the WWE.COM show “5 Questions” in which he developed a friendship with John Cena. Cena and Brawler would joke and Cena even told the fans that the Brawler was born in Detroit rather than Brooklyn, as pop culture would have you believe. In 2006, the WWE announced there would be a special WWE Classic Brooklyn Brawler action figure. Lombardi would also come out as Doink the Clown at Vengeance that year and worked an August edition of ECW against Angle which lasted a very short period of time, and then put over Vito on Smackdown the same week. Lombardi competed in the 30-man battle royal on December 18ths RAW but lost the match. On May 5, 2007 he’d appear on Smackdown to try out for the new general manager assistant job but sadly, didn’t do too well. During the December 10 anniversary show that same year for RAW’s 15th years on the air, he appeared as Abe “Knuckleball” Schwartz as one of the people Vince McMahon had sex with along with Sunny and several overweight women, and after introducing himself HHH remarked that, “I guess the Brooklyn Brawler was busy tonight!”

The second most recent appearance as a wrestler in WWE was on July 12, 2010 when Florence Henderson hosted RAW and booked a match between William Regal, Zack Ryder, Primo Colon, and Lombardi as Doink the Clown. They competed against Santino, Vladimir Koslov, Goldust, and The Great Khali. Naturally enough, Lombardi got pinned by Khali! He’d also appear as an opponent for Ezekiel Jackson during Old School RAW on November 15, 2010 and lose decisively despite the managerial skill of Dr. Harvey Whippleman!

My Memories

Lombardi wrestled all of the great competitors of the 80’s and 90’s that he could, and as mentioned jobbed out to The Rock on his tryout match. My favorite memories of Lombardi revolved around that day he became the Brooklyn Brawler as I wasn’t a fan of the Rooster and loved seeing Brawler kick his ass, although I was concerned when Monsoon got hit. In those days, it was rare to see a wrestler attack a non-wrestler and in that Brawler was one of very few guys to get away with attacking a company official. I also loved the MVP/Schwartz gimmick because I hated baseball and loved watching the WWF bash the rich baseball stars for not having a season back when baseball was bigger than football if you can imagine that! I’m one of the few people who raised an eyebrow when we found out some guy named “MVP” would debut in 2006 as I remembered that name pretty well. Of course, if anybody mentions the gimmick of MVP now people will point to Montel Vontavious Porter rather than the Most Violent Player that competed during the baseball strike.

The main reason Lombardi appeared at all in the segment with HHH as one of the people Vince had sex with was because Lombardi had recently come out of the closet and admitted he was gay. This makes him and Pat Patterson the most notable gay officials in the WWE although Patterson had much more success than Lombardi in the ring and also as the Royal Rumble planner each year.

When will we see the Brawler next? Probably around the 20th year anniversary show of RAW if they hold a battle royal or other gimmick match with the older guys, but until then here’s something to whet your appetite in a match featuring the Brooklyn Brawler against the Red Rooster, with special TROUBLESHOOTING referee “Rugged” Ronnie Garvin!

Take 5 will once again be postponed this week due to a special feature being run only for this week and that is our very special State of The Wrestling World, in the style of the State of the Union address earlier this week from the campaigner-in-chief only with facts.

State Of The Wrestling World

You would be hard-pressed to find a more mediocre year than 2011 in recent memory, as wrestling continues a downward spiral in the eyes of the mainstream and undeservedly so in many cases. Every single time I try and convince people wrestling isn’t all that bad, it appears as if something stupid has to occur on the very episode I recommend they check out almost like clockwork. A friend recommended Smackdown to somebody they knew and they tuned in during the Christmas special, and will never watch again. I know another person who recommended people watch RAW and the episode their friends tuned in to see was the one involving Zack Ryder changing a tire for ten minutes. This isn’t helping our cause, now is it? I did recommend people watch Impact and luckily that hasn’t gone as badly for me as several years ago when I asked a friend to check out RAW and McMahon’s limo blew up…hell that almost cost me a friendship right there! 2011 wasn’t filled with horrible, tragic moments but neither was it filled with the right kind of attention wrestling needs right now.

WWE ratings are hitting their lowest levels in over nine years, and worse than that people aren’t attending as often and not purchasing as much in the arenas. WWE lost both NXT and Superstars last year due to low interest in the television shows and TNA lost Reaction last year as well, as people aren’t tuning in outside the base audience. The Rock’s big return was not even enough to break the 4.0 barrier for RAW and has resulted in lower ratings every appearance since, leaving one to wonder what the hell has to be done to break that barrier. TNA continued to do an impressive rating considering the lack of an audience for this sport, but they are still a distant #2 at the moment in the ratings. Quite a few wrestlers are getting suspended for Wellness violations lately, a few drunken driving incidents with WWE talent made headlines last year, and in the end it looks like a lot more of the same in 2012. This isn’t what wrestling needs right now.

I’ve often been accused of hating wrestling or not being a true fan. To those who know me best, I am a true fan because I at least have the balls to speak out on not only what I love about the sport but also what I hate. There are a lot of people who blindly follow wrestling and never take the time to explain what is so special about it to anybody, and get a bad reputation as an idiot who follows “that fake sport” that actually is the top sport in the world. Think about this, folks… Wrestling is the hardest sport to compete in. In the NFL you get tens of millions of dollars to throw on some pads and work six months out of the year, one game a week, and you can take timeouts and substitutions anytime you like. Baseball revolves around a more grueling six month schedule but even there, the athletes get half a year off and can take timeouts or pinch hit if they want a break that game. Basketball is another season sport and it doesn’t even have any contact yet people are paid millions of dollars to put a ball in a hoop. The worst part of all of this? Wrestling requires so much more mental and physical strength and dedication to the business and those guys and girls who compete in the ring never get the money or the recognition they deserve, whether they are wrestling for WWE, TNA, ROH, CHIKARA, or anywhere else. These grown men and women compete day after day with no seasons off, no timeouts, no Gatorade breaks or bathroom breaks when competing in the ring and they wrestle night after night for 15-20 minutes against each other on television, at house shows, and on PPV events and still have to train, eat, sleep, and travel to the new location while signing autographs and doing company events for PR.

John Cena wrestles four days a week, signing autographs and granting wishes for kids the rest of the time and basically never has a day off. Kurt Angle is training for the Olympics while balancing a wrestling schedule on top of so many neck injuries it is a miracle the man can still move on his own. Day after day, these men and women we watch and admire step into the ring hurt, battered, bruised, and basically exhausted while we cheer or boo them and then go online and cut them to shreds while most of them probably require pain medication just to get five hours of sleep at night after busting their ass for us. I like to place blame on the bookers and writers for poor segments and embarrassingly bad television, although I also like to take a shot here or there and I’m just as guilty as you guys in that regard. However, ultimately I am a big fan of the sport and want it to succeed. It frustrates me to not be able to talk about a sport I enjoy because people will give me the old and stupid “You know it’s fake, right?” argument and wonder why they should even bother. I ask them if they still watch movies they know the endings of because it is somewhat of the same thing. Sometimes the journey is more worthwhile than the destination.

I’ve never seen people wrap up their broken bones and torn muscles and still compete despite injuries that would keep any of those multi-millionaire “real” athletes shelved for an entire season. I’ve watched guys with broken wrists and arms attempt to work hurt, and as much as I may not like Mark Henry as a wrestler he is a hell of a man for trying to work with a groin injury at his size and still put on a decent match. I look at those overpaid morons that sit out three or four games with a hangnail and wonder why the people I like can’t get the deserved salaries that those overrated athletes receive, and it is frustrating. I doubt anybody would beg to go in a regular season game if they had a sprained ankle or a torn abdominal yet wrestlers do it all the time!

Realism must rule the day. We have to be realistic about wrestling because right now a lot of people are anxiously awaiting a boom period that will not come. We have to take what we have right now and turn it into a sustainable entity by supporting our favorite companies and most importantly the athletes who compete in them. By expressing our feelings to the companies about what we think of their storylines, we allow them to make the required changes so that all of us are happy with the overall result, at least in theory. As always, the best way to make an impact is with your wallet so if they continue to provide a bad product, don’t buy their stuff! We’re not probably ever going to have another Hulk Hogan or The Rock in the years to come, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have some pretty good wrestling and a happy, energized base of fans.

Starting the year off is an excellent collaborative effort from ROH and CHIKARA. I wish TNA and WWE would work for a while together, but we all know it won’t happen. At least those companies realize the money involved and the exposure involved in putting together matches and supercards. Right now wrestling needs all the help it can get to continue being profitable and gathering new fans, and I wish WWE would finally break down and tell TNA to run an invasion angle with them and have it done right this time, even if WWE guys ultimately win. At least make it legitimately appear that TNA could win with actual TNA wrestlers in the company representing them! The more competitive it appears, the more people will be interested in it. Think about it in this manner if you will: Would people pay more money to see Santino Marella against Big Show or Bobby Roode against CM Punk? The more evenly matched things seem, the less “cut in stone” the ending will be and people will tune in to see what ultimately happens. We need to push WWE to work with TNA, to try something out of the box, and to push TNA to listen to our ideas and to cut back on the dumbass booking from time to time so their wrestlers can truly shine. For the sake of wrestling in 2012 and beyond, we need the sport to listen to their dedicated fans and give them what they want because if they do that, they can survive and pull a good profit along the way.

The Good, The Bad, and The… WTF?

The Good

“Finally, you say something I agree with, although it has little to do with wrestling. SOPA and PIPA were attempts by those in government (Democrat and Repulican) to serve their corporate masters, particularly those in the entertainment industry to censor the net if it means cracking down on privacy. Fortunately, thanks to the publicity they backed down, although I think it has less to do with outrage from those who use the Internet than pressure put to bear by the ISP and website providers who would themselves become targets of the law.

One of the more gratifying things I’ve seen in the last year is that people in America and around the world are waking up and finding their voice again. Instead of just letting government and corporations run roughshod over them, they are protesting and trying to enact change. Sometimes they are successful, sometimes not. Netflix made perhaps the worst business decision since New Coke, and was forced to back down due to customer outrage. The banks tried to charge customers money if they had the nerve to actually use their debit card. And of course, we’ve seen the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street movements trying to protest things are they currently are. I’m very gratified that the spirit of protest and rebellion has not been completely squashed in America.

Let’s hope this continues on, and that it translates into real action, particularly when it comes to the next round of elections. If you don’t like what Congress is doing–don’t complain about it–vote out your congressmen. Members of the House get re-elected 95% of the time when they run for office, even when people complain about Congress as an institution. It’s time to do something about it. If you don’t like your representatives–“throw the bums out.” But above all, participate.

Posted By: Michael L (Guest) on January 21, 2012 at 12:17 AM”

Very true words, Michael. I really don’t have anything to say to add to your comment other than if more people woke up and “got it” with how to take out the trash in this country and more people educated themselves on issues, we might actually have the country we deserve once again instead of the mess we’ve created.

” DAMN, do you ever have a bad writing day? another great column…

thanks…

and i hope you can make the wrestler of the week/year section fair…

ive tried caring about it, but theirs so much bias, its a great idea the should be excited fair and with out bias…

some writers either don’t watch or don’t like tna and other promotions…

they should be disqualified from voting!

only open minded wrestling fans should vote, the ones that can look past their favorites and give credit to who really deserves it no matter what company their in & no matter who their favorite wrestler is!

____________________________________

and i know i keep asking but please, can you or anyone else on 411 either bring back tna instant analysis, or even make a new column impact analysis, that could be released a day late with the impact ratings?

I just want fair coverage for all promotions, with fair breakdowns!

____________________________________

people on 411 act like they have stock in wwe or help manage it…

no your just fans and bragging about their success doesn’t mean they have better talent/matches, it just means their the popular choice, it means they’ve been doing it longer and are more experienced…

the best talent, is spread through many promotions and matches happen can happen any where, in any country, in front of any crowd, no matter how full or how large a arena is!!!

Posted By: Guest#4208 (Guest) on January 21, 2012 at 12:51 AM”

I do have a bad writing day now and again, but I post under the name Tony Acero when that happens. KIDDING TONY!

All I can do about WOTW is to keep voting for the rightful top five, and I try to do that every week. Remember that I’m only one vote and there are quite a few others who have vested interests in seeing their darling WWE or Indy sweethearts always at number one. I believe I’ve been fair in recommending WWE talents when they deserve it as well as TNA and also IWGP champions as I value that title as the 2nd most prestigious in wrestling, although fans of the column know I downgraded the WWE title earlier this year and view TNA’s as the most prestigious right now. At least their belt doesn’t look like somebody ripped off one of Snoop Dogg’s hubcaps.

I’ll inquire about the instant analysis and as far as the Impact reviews go, I feel DeMarco is handling the job just fine. He gives TNA credit when they do well, and he gives them crap but doesn’t go overboard if they screw up. Analysis I’ll have to ask about but they weren’t keen on me writing it the last time. Gee, wonder why a WWE biased site wouldn’t want a TNA fan to write a TNA analysis…

Several writers here DID own WWE stock. Suffice to say, they probably don’t any longer.

And you know what makes a truly great match? When the crowd is on neutral turf and STILL they go wild for both wrestlers instead of playing to the home field. I’ve seen matches that started slow and then the crowd warmed up and began screaming and going crazy for both guys by the end of it and that’s the type of match I consider worth five stars.

“ECW the joke of the wrestling world that is only popular because of one DVD full of lies and one overrated PPV with boring short matches.

Fact is not only did Paul E steal from FMW he also stole from Florida Wrestling and some of Kevin Sullivan stuff just cranked it to the XTREME!!!!!

But let’s be real ECW was mostly a bunch of guys who couldn’t wrestle so they had to do garbage matches while botching 75% of their moves.

ECW frankly was unwatchable and if it weren’t for testosterone driven teens and WWE marketing it wouldn’t be shit.

There was a reason TNN didn’t want ECW because it sucked.

ECW stands as the most overrated promotion ever.

Posted By: Guest#7881 (Guest) on January 21, 2012 at 01:01 AM”

You are so right it is almost illegal my friend. If TNA had any of the angles or matches exactly like ECW had in their so-called glory days, the fans would boo the piss out of them and rip it to shreds. But if it happened on ECW, everybody was immune! Oh thank god the company died (again) and we’re hopefully rid of them.

“I think I get what you’re trying to do with your upcoming guest sandwich. I get that every week your column in inundated with criticism and that you want to turn the table on your tormentors.

But I’m not sure exactly what your expecting the result to be.

It’s one thing if anybody in your comment section had shown that they were truly capable of writing a coherent, thoughtful, 2800 character+ opinion piece…but they don’t exist here.

Much of what I see is the typical one or two sentence nonsense that is found throughout 411. And if somebody actually manages a complete paragraph it’s usually riddled with spelling and grammar errors, not to mention the ramblings of their disorganized and cluttered minds.

What I suspect you will find is that the brave few who willingly take your challenge are not brave at all, rather they are foolhardy.

These are the types of people who call into talk radio shows and believe themselves to be intelligent, when in fact they are delusional.

Much of what I see in the 411 comment section is filled with the pseudo-bravado most commonly associated with the internet.

The reason they are so quick to spew bile is that they can do so from the safety of a keyboard, shielded from retribution by the anonymity provided by the ridiculous alias they type above their comments.

The Sandwich is one of the last bastions of intelligent thought here on 411.

Csonka is to busy being in love with the sound of his own voice on 411 blogtalk to notice how far 411 has fallen. The veterans are complacent and boring, while newer columnists like DeMarco are just sad, sexist gimmicks.

I will defend Aaron Frame. He is intellectually honest and the only columnist other than yourself that I read regularly…but that is it.

I do not want to see you devote anymore time to the borderline personalities who leave comments than you already do with the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, which I personally believe is far too much as it is.

You are only encouraging these small minded and short sighted mouthbreathers to continue to write.

Clearly if they had the ability to string more than a handful of sentences together, they would have already applied to write a column, only to be rejected.

Csonka- in one of his few moments of clarity- had the good sense to never publish their nonsensical drivel.

But your only going to encourage them with this challenge and letting them think they could actually be a writer. These people need to learn to accept the mediocrity of their lives. They should not be encouraged to share the inner-working of their tiny minds with anybody.

I can appreciate that your continuing to be innovative but you have to realize that by challenging them, you are doing the journalistic equivalent of challenging a retarded kid to a fight.

Posted By: WWE IS SHIT…BUT FRAME IS OK (Guest) on January 21, 2012 at 02:03 AM”

Don’t worry yourself too much my friend, I have a plan no matter what to make sure the Sandwich will contain interesting information, opinion, and a flash of brilliance here and there although obviously not from any of the guests. Suffice to say I’m going to do what nobody else on 411 has ever done and let the readers write the column for me IF they can back it up, and if not I get the entire edition to talk about whatever I wish! So if they don’t try, they look stupid. If they try and get destroyed, they look stupid. Win/win.

Let them try, is the whole point. Then when they fail that’s one more excuse they can’t use, you know how they love to use excuses right? I believe in giving opportunities to people, not guarantees. If the content is horrible I’ll make sure to provide everybody with a quality column instead, so don’t worry about it.

As far as what you are saying about the podcasts and all, that’s his pet project and he’s made a name for himself over the years doing A LOT of work for 411. Seriously, the guy is the hardest working 411 staffer period and if it wasn’t for Larry this site would have died years ago during the big split. You don’t see what I see behind the scenes but trust me, the dude works a frenetic pace 24/7 for this site and it is better off that we have dedicated people like Larry than slouches who refuse to do anything unless prodded repeatedly.

You will get your intelligent thought in the Sandwich… just trust me on this one. You’ll see why.

“Bravo for opposing SOPA and PIPA and it is damn good to see they are both almost dead. Also damn good to see that people do still have power in this country if enough of them agree on something. Still, with the amount of money in politics, we will have to keep an eye out to make sure the flawed ideas in these bills don’t reappear. Also, I find it quite depressing that these terrible ideas were the ideas that could get bipartisan support in Washington. At least until the voice of the people shouted down the stupidity.

Posted By: gpjunk (Guest) on January 21, 2012 at 02:20 AM”

Hollywood and the music industry are the main ones supporting those particular pieces of legislation and I have no doubt that should they ever have passed, the people who introduced them would not have to work another day in their life because of the payout in some form or fashion they would receive.

Back in 1913 Woodrow Wilson thought it was a good idea to start collecting taxes on everybody’s income. In the 1920’s, they thought America would be fine with banning alcohol. Bad decisions do get made, and it is up to the people to make sure they are erased from history.

Did You Know? WWE supported the SOPA and PIPA bills! Let’s see that on RAW!

“Wes, while I agree with you that it was a bad thing for Vince to pull Punk from being in the corner of Chael Sonnen at the UFC event, can we really be that surprised by them doing this? I mean, there’s always this talk about the WWE and UFC having this relationship but let’s be honest here. If you’re a UFC fan, even with their event next weekend being on regular tv, how likely are you to watch the Royal Rumble the next night on PPV just because Punk is there? I mean, as a WWE fan, I could care less whether or not Punk shows up at a UFC event. WWE promotes their events well enough that they don’t really need to go to their competition to promote it.

And by the way, I liked how you disagreed with the commenter who mentioned how the national title game kept RAW’s rating from being higher than it could have been. Monday Night Football and the national championship football game (which this year happened to fall on a Monday) are legitimate reasons for the RAW rating not being as high as it could. Now I’ll admit that the product isn’t as good as it has been in the past. But people have more options of things to watch now than they did in the past. And Wes, let me ask you an honest question. How do you think that TNA would do if it had to go up against what WWE did on Monday nights? What competition does TNA really have right now on Thursday nights in terms of programs that would give them legitimate competition in comparison to the WWE? Before you give the WWE grief about their ratings not being that high, you have to remember the type of competition they’ll be going up against for roughly half the year. Would TNA’s ratings be anywhere near where they are at now if they had to face the competition that the WWE had to?

Posted By: The Hodge (Guest) on January 21, 2012 at 12:42 PM”

Surprised? Of course not. I just actually feel bad because it could have been a big moment for Punk and gotten him more exposure and money than he’d had to date. Ah well.

People can blame anything they want on the Monday ratings since 2002. They can claim that a racist episode of South Park got people so riled up they turned off only the USA network from 9-11 for some reason, and they would too if they had the chance.

How do I think TNA would do against the same stuff? I believe that 90% of their fan base would remain intact, and that they may even gain in viewership at times if the game is a blowout or just plain boring. You can only tolerate so many replays and timeouts.

What goes up against TNA in their timeslot? Only one of the world’s most popular television shows, Jersey Shore. And that’s not all from 9-11 pm EST:

CBS has Person of Interest from 9 to 10, and The Mentalist from 10 to 11, which draws over 14 million viewers each.
ABC has Grey’s Anatomy from 9 to 10, which draws over 9 million viewers, and Private Practice at 10 with around 6 million viewers.
NBC has The Office at 9 with 6 million viewers and The Firm at 10, which barely gets 3.5 million.
FOX has some serious work to do to keep up in that time period.

This is in addition to occasional football games, basketball games (this week) and plenty of other obstacles but they have GROWN in the last five years in their overall ratings. WWE has dropped with the same competition in the last five years overall. So, again, what’s the excuse this week going to be from WWE supporters?

I think TNA would keep their support because TNA fans seem a lot more loyal. WWE fans turn off the show almost like clockwork in the second hour lately and when anything new is on they tend to watch that over WWE, while TNA keeps a good rating against some of the top shows on television. Hopefully this helps answer the question!

The Bad

“I like the part where Wes actually believes he’s ever proven me wrong about anything when I’ve exposed how little he truly knows about wrestling at least thrice.

Remember when Little Wesley couldn’t figure out who raised the KotR ’99 briefcase?

Also LOL @ you not calling Mizark a draw when he pulled better ratings than iMPACT! was getting.

Posted By: Ice Dagger (Guest) on January 21, 2012 at 01:39 AM”

As posted in the Sandwich twice before:

1. You challenged my knowledge as a wrestling fan and I challenged you to a trivia contest moderated by a 411 staff member. You never answered my challenge.
2. You said you never challenged my knowledge of wrestling, and I showed you the EXACT QUOTE from the edition you posted it in. You still haven’t admitted that you were wrong there.

I’ve watched a lot of wrestling over the years, Icy. I don’t know every single moment with every single date, arena, and background to it by memory. My first memories of matches begin in 1986 and go on to 2012 so if you can pick ONE MOMENT that was discussed for all of fifteen seconds and didn’t really matter in the end and have it be entirely factual, congratulations. At the time, GTV ran for a while and then was ended way later than it should have been.

As proven by the ratings, the top rated edition of Smackdown in 2011 did NOT include Mark Henry. Recently Smackdown received a 2.2 for the Show/Bryan main event with No Disqualifications, will Henry/Bryan get the same? No. The show featuring Henry’s title run LOST ratings compared to the week before. Can’t argue with the facts!

Oh, and you can go on and on about Impact not doing as well as Smackdown but last I checked Impact’s ratings were not down by half the average since 2002. Oh, and Impact didn’t get cancelled in the last three years like ECW, NXT, and Superstars were off network television and cable television. In the upcoming Great Guest Experiment, you have the chance to be co-writer of the column with me for an edition, so if you want to show me up you’ll get your opportunity. Be prepared, it’ll be coming up next month and then you’ll have to actually back up what you say!

“Global warming exists because it is happening. The science is in. It’s settled. It’s only anti-science, anti-evidence, “god will fix it” fools who deny it.

Let me guess, Kirkie – you probably don’t accept the theory of evolution either?

Posted By: Guest#9557 (Guest) on January 21, 2012 at 04:40 AM”

Science is settled right? That’s unusual because I swore I just saw a whole bunch of leaked documents from the East Anglia University’s CRU division as the sequel to the original document leak and I could SWEAR they were discussing how to stop people from publishing information that opposed their viewpoint and had appointed their own people to peer review boards to approve their work and give it their blessing. Oh, and of course, that also doesn’t help when the following remains on the books:

* The UN claimed 50 million people would die because of climate change by 2012. That didn’t happen and now they changed the year, but people posted the Google cache of the original statement and they were made to look like IDIOTS.

*IPCC’s infamous report discussing how global warming is real? Written by a student who wasn’t even an expert and hadn’t graduated yet! Exposed HERE so eat your heart out as this is actually old news.

*Remember the Atlas that was supposed to show global warming impacts on Greenland that ended up INACCURATE? Oh, maybe not but here’s the proof anyway and the APOLOGY from the creators of that Atlas here as well.

*Arctic sea ice is supposedly going to be gone in less than 240 days… yet, the sea ice image sure looks pretty damn thick to me. Al Gore also said the ice caps will be gone in a little under 870 days… you can be reminded of this stupidity as recorded on the left side of this page if you wish to read and weep.

Don’t argue with me about “global warming” because I have facts and all you have is a guy who failed divinity school thinking he’s an expert on over a hundred factors on climate since the beginning of time. I believe in a combination of evolution and intelligent design in which we evolved from primates due to our Creator, but that’s another topic I’d destroy you with so don’t bother.

“I don’t expect many people to bother with your silly writing challenge. Most of us have better things to do than write 2000 words on Barry Horowitz.

Posted By: Guest#6618 (Guest) on January 21, 2012 at 04:42 AM”

In other words you quit before the challenge even begins. Wimp.

“I see that you ignored by comment from last week. Probably cause you know you are a liar.

I was hoping that Wes would give an explanation behind the John Cena/CM Punk match from Money in the Bank. He rated it 3 3/4 or something on that Match of the WWE and then in the year end column he mentioned he recently just watched the match. Basically Wes is a liar just like the WWE.

Posted By: Guest#0324 (Guest) on January 21, 2012 at 11:04 AM”

I didn’t ignore it at all, I thought the reasoning explained itself but I forgot how stupid you people really are.

I watched the last twenty minutes of the match a few days after it took place on YouTube. While the crowd clearly enjoyed the match it was the same reaction Punk received at Survivor Series 2006 in Chicago as well when he out-popped DX. I watched the entire beginning as well as the ending recently for the first time together and frankly I seriously do not get the fuss behind the match. Anybody with two decent wrestlers, a hometown crowd, and a vaguely interesting storyline can get that reaction if they work for it. Call me when they can do that all around the world and still get the same reaction… oh wait, they can’t!

LOL, also, at you being so obsessed with my rating for one match. I must really matter!

“Take my challenge you wesley and me in a slap fest

Posted By: ice Dagger (Guest) on January 21, 2012 at 11:11 AM”

I think you have way more experience in palming pieces of flesh than I do, Ice. Giggity.

The WTF

“Oh Wes, I figured you’d come back with the “Lincoln was a republican and he freed the slaves” line of BS.

Well you’re right, Lincoln DID free the slaves. Why? Because all those pious Southern Christians somehow MISSED the part of the bible that mentioned the least of “their bretheren”. The notion of freedom had to be forced upon them at gunpoint.

What happened as a result? The South switched to voting for Democrats solidly for the next 100 years until — wait for it — Johnson signed Civil Rights legislation into law! At which point the South switched party affiliation yet again! Now, if you want to argue that all those good white Christian Southerners who were opposing the federal government coming in and FORCING freedom upon them were liberals, I’ll gladly listen, and chuckle.

But you’re right, there is no proof of global warming. Certainly all those billions of tons of pollution we pump into the atmosphere simply go away? Right? Maybe to a mystical, magical place that doesn’t really exist — like heaven?

Of course we have to stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon, since it is obvious that they are trying to build one, right? I mean, just because they’ve been working obtaining nuclear power for over a decade and yet STILL haven’t developed a weapon, whereas Pakistan did it in half the time. Ok, so maybe Iran doesn’t have their own version of A.Q. Khan? Well we can certainly afford to borrow MORE money from China for the sake of protecting Israel — who has done what for us exactly? Oh, I remember, some carpenter supposedly lived there once! Right, good reason! The same guy who told us that we had to follow the laws of the Old Testament — which proscribes repeatedly how we may buy, sell, beat, kill, and have sex with our slaves! Good ol’ Christian family values!

Having said that — I agree with you about affirmative action, and California, and electric cars. I just yearn for the days of country-club Republicans.

Posted By: Scott B (Guest) on January 21, 2012 at 12:59 PM”

Wow, we found the one guy who watches MS-NBC! WE FOUND HIM GUYS!

Abraham Lincoln was indeed a Republican and did indeed free the slaves and unfortunately for you it is on public record and you can’t change that by yelling about Johnson a hundred years later. Slavery was something people figured out was wrong as time went on because a long time ago, things were acceptable then that are not acceptable now DUE to the fact we saw the atrocities as time went on.

Johnson’s civil rights legislation was designed to get and keep the black vote in the Democratic Party and it has done just that over the past fifty years. While giving over all the rights and privileges that blacks deserved, somewhere along the way some liberal idiot decided that wasn’t enough and came up with the ideas of affirmative action, racial quotas, preferred minority status, special treatment on SAT’s and standardized testing of all sorts… and even with all of those programs one could argue doesn’t give equal as much as superior rights they still have been proven ineffective in changing the black unemployment rate, illiteracy rate, or the crime rate. Prove me wrong if you can.

The billions of tons of PLANT FOOD (CO2 is plant food in case you forgot) we expel into the atmosphere does not have significant effect on the atmosphere because the planet is quite good at fixing itself, as various disasters have shown us. At the center of the global warming movement is human hubris, believing we are so powerful as a people that we and we alone can change an entire planet’s atmosphere and climate. We also thought the sun revolved around us and the planet was flat and those two scientific FACTS were exposed, weren’t they? Pollution does have an effect on all of us but not by raising the temperature of the Earth, although it can come down as acid rain and cause some health issues to say the least. The fact that a Medieval Warming Period showed warmer weather than we have today back before all the pollution existed doesn’t help your cause either. Oh, and where’s the giant hotspot your experts claim exist in the atmosphere on current hypothesized radiative forcing? Odd, the models all show a hotspot but satellites and other real, actual data does not. But then again more than 70% of the weather stations in America are rated unreliable with a bias over two degrees Celsius by the NOAA/NCDC with CRN4 or CRN5 stations. This means that the stations are positioned near artificial heat sources to reflect a warming trend mostly in commercialized, urban areas whereupon they are supposed to be positioned in specific locations with specific conditions that are not met by the majority of stations currently used in the Climate Reference Network. But you already knew that!

The fact all the work went underground into heavily concealed areas tells me they probably did a lot more than research the bomb. If you think their intentions are simply to use nuclear energy and not threaten Israel or the United States or even both with the weapon then perhaps you can go to Iran and live there and see how it is for us? Or maybe you’d prefer Cuba? After all, they have free health care!

Heaven certainly will be an imaginary place for you because you’ll never get there. Oh how could we espouse the values in the New Testament (certainly you know Old Testament is Jewish faith and New is included in the Christian faith? Maybe?) To treat everybody as you want to be treated yourself, right? Murder is against the Old Testament if you bothered to read the Ten Commandments. You also cannot have sex with another woman when you are married or covet another woman actively, slave or not. The fact you are so angry and love mocking religion and the belief of billions of people just shows me you are one bitter little basement dweller. Lighten up!