wrestling / Columns
Your News, My Views 2.05.08
Mickie James welcomes you…
Introduction…and Things I want to talk about~!
1. Velvet Sky is way hotter in person than I thought, and I thought she was really hot. Christi agrees.
2. Daffney is a great woman; she stole the match she was in with ease.
3. Petey Williams is ridiculously jacked, and I am taller than he is. I mean, at least 2-3 inches taller.
4. Scotty II Hotty was 10-levels above anyone else in making his shit look clean, crisp and believable on this show. He also got the biggest reaction of the night.
5. CW Anderson is still a cool dude, although he’s ducking me.
6. Kevin Nash makes more money for doing nothing than anyone I know. Maybe he should be my adviser.
7. James Storm is the king of the world. This man is just beyond awesome.
8. The mullet is still current BIG TIME here in the Carolina’s.
9. Kayfabe is NOT dead in any way, shape or form.
10. It pays to have friends in the business, walking in and snagging front row seats on the super cheap rules.
During the playoff roundtables, John Meehan sported the best overall record. He was a picking machine, and took a lot of pleasure in my sub-par picks. Hell, even with him picking the Super Bowl wrong he still had the best record overall. He did great. Going into the Super Bowl, John had said, “Shameless self promotion factoid #11068: See how –>this guy …HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! OH HO HOOOOOOOOOO! Yes, I am taking great pleasure in this. I figured I would get John in here to see what he had to say, John?
“Well, MEETHINKS that I did very well in my picks in the playoffs and I am glad the boss realizes that. MEETHINKS I was on a great run and I was all set to take the glory of the day. But MEETHINKS I wasn’t ready for the wisdom of the boss. MEETHINKS I underestimated the New York Football Giants. MEETHINKS I underestimated the greatness that is the boss, the greatness that is Larry Csonka. MEETHINKS I shall bow down to his awesomeness for being the only man great enough to pick the Giants in the roundtable special, proving us all wrong. And in conclusion, MEETHINKS I have been BERRIED. MEETHINKS MEE is sad.”
John Meehan everyone, he’s a great sport, read him every Friday! John ended the post season better than myself or anyone else on staff with a 7-4 record, good work John. We’ll meet again next year.
Today in Wrestling History:
Births and Deaths:
~The State of ROH…~ Earlier this week Gabe Sapolsky posted what he entitled the “State of ROH Address.” Much to my dismay it wasn’t an address, more of a list of questions. Basically the ROH fans get to read it, say it is great and then either choose to accept that or to take these questions, answer them and then have some intelligent discussion about it. A lot of them did that, and that’s a good thing. Now while I don’t follow ROH as much as Ari or some of the others, I though that this was in interesting set of questions that I would take a stab at. So let’s get to work.
And that’s that for this commentary. While it wasn’t much of an address from ROH, it was a fun “questionnaire” to fill out and makes for some great discussion. I hope you enjoyed it and feel free to share your thoughts on these questions as well. |
Is it hot in here, or is it just Csonka?
…AND I’M BAAAAAAACK!…
WWE/ECW news, notes and happenings to the EXTREME:
Your News: As has been reported Bobby Lashley has asked for his release from WWE. The two sides are currently working on the terms of that release. Lashley has a long-term deal, and with him asking out of the deal, WWE is in a position of power in regards to negotiating a no-compete clause, which would cover MMA as well as wrestling, North American and International. Most feel that WWE wouldn’t be able to enforce a no-compete longer than one year.
My Views in Bold: This in some ways is like the Brock Lesnar situation more and more. While Brock was at the top, Lashley was getting the push to the top, with tons of support from Vince McMahon. As far as the no-compete clause, I can’t see then getting something crazy like Brock’s initially was, but if he has three or so years left on his deal, I think WWE has every right to try and lock down a no-compete time frame of at least a year. They put time into developing him, they made him a star and if he can just leave after a 90-day time frame, then they are losing out. If Bobby wants out, he should be willing to pay the price of sitting out for some time.
Some of the reasons that Lashley is upset include him not being happy about his WrestleMania pay off, which was for $250,000. Some feel that the pay off was light, due to the fact that he was in the match the drew the most money on the show, while others feel that he should have been grateful for the payoff and spot he received at this time in his career. There also were issues with the behavior of Smackdown lead writer Michael Hayes and comments he made about Krystal Marshall. Lashley was also unhappy with the travel schedule and reportedly become hard to work with when he had to work with local promoters.
On one hand I see Lashley’s point. He has heard stories of One Million Dollar payoffs for being in the big match at WM. And make no mistake about it, the Vince/Trump angle was the big draw for WM, and Lashley was a part of the match. But the fact is that the angle, Vince and Trump made the dram of the angle, Lashley and Umaga were plug and play characters. So the fact that he made 250 LARGE should have made him happy, considering his inexperience and short tenure in the company. As for the Krystal stuff, there is allegedly a lot of racism still in the locker room and Hayes may be a part of that. Lashley already had heat with Hayes, they never got along and Hayes was glad to get him off of SD.
WWE has sent him a release, but he isn’t signing it on the terms WWE has outlined. WWE has been worried as of late with people leaving the company, and then proclaiming unhappiness with the job, schedule and even confirming steroid use. Most in the company feel he will return, because if he gets his release he will not be able to do anything due to the no-compete clause.
I wouldn’t sign the first thing they send me either. Hopefully he has a capable lawyer on his side that can negotiate something that is fair to both parities and they end the drama as soon as possible.
Lashley was a pet project of Vince McMahon’s, which is why he was chosen to work the WrestleMania angle. This was to give him the rub and position him as the #2 baby face in the company, behind Cena. McMahon went as far as to work the program after WrestleMania with Lashley, which was protested because some felt as if Lashley was being given too much, too soon and needed to spend time with an interview coach before they went full force with him.
Much like Lesnar, Lashley was someone Vince planned to make huge, and is leaving. Again we seem to be looking at a “too much, too soon” deal. Sometimes the young guys can’t handle the pressures of the business. Sure there are other circumstances, but this does seem to be another example of it. Lashley was being groomed by the man himself; even against the wishes of his staff it seems, and they seem to have been right, although not for the reasons they were concerned with.
Lashley was recently cleared to return to action and had spoke with John Laurinatis to get things rolling. But in a follow up conversation Lashley stated that he would not be returning to the company. This has now put a lot of heat on Laurinatis, due to Lashley leaving and due to so many top talents opting out of the company. It is felt that the company has spent a lot of time, effort and money into cultivating these talents, and that they are losing a lot when they leave. With the exception of Steve Austin, there were never problems like this when Jim Ross was head of talent relations, but at this time Laurinatis’ job is safe, due to there being no one ready to take the spot.
And we come down to heat on Johnny Ace again. Some of it I feel is deserved and some of it gets blown out of proportion. I mean, he did sign the wrong one-legged wrestler before finally signing Zach Gowen. But when you just glance at the records, he doesn’t seem as successful at the job like Ross was. But as of now, his job is safe, so I don’t expect much to change.
What we do know is that WWE has announced that he is gone, and I suppose that we’ll have to wait on the full details, which I hope to discuss next week.
Your News: The company made the decision to bring back John Cena for the Rumble match in early January as he was medically cleared. He was actually at the January 7th Raw and they were going to have him on TV to announce that he would be in the Rumble match. Brian Gewirtz, Vince McMahon and Michael Hayes all felt that they should shoot the announcement that night, while Stephanie McMahon and Bruce Prichard wanted to go with the surprise idea. Vince would eventually change his mind and go with the surprise theory. The debate was that announcing Cena would increase buyrates, but most agree that the surprise ending made the show very memorable.
My Views: The funny thing here is that I really dug the surprise decision. The reason being that the Rumble always does a really good number regardless, so Cena wouldn’t have been that big a boost. I also agree that the surprise ending made the show very memorable, whether you’re a Cena supporter or hater, you spoke out and will remember this show. Also, No Way Out usually drops a good bit in buys and hasn’t been as successful as they would like. With the return done this way, the Cena title match and two chambers, they have done everything to try and get this PPV to be a buyrate success. It was probably a difficult decision to make, but I think overall they made the right call. We’ll know for sure when the numbers roll in, but as for the surprise factor, they scored huge there.
Your News: A Money in the Bank ladder match is expected for WrestleMania and will likely feature Jeff Hardy and five others.
The plan right now is to resume the Matt Hardy/MVP program once Hardy is cleared to wrestle again, with the two having a U.S. Title match at WrestleMania.
There are also plans to have a Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels match at WrestleMania.
My Views: I have enjoyed the MITB matches thus far, and am not only happy that they are doing it again, but that they seemingly are scaling back to 6-participants. Last year’s match was good, but was also a cluster at times, and I feel that 6-men works better. I am also glad to see that the plans are heading towards a US Title match. I have been worried that MVP and Hardy would be placed into the MITB match, thus taking the US Title match off of the table. Hopefully Hardy is ready, and we get the big match where Matt finally wins.
As for the Flair match, I am very torn on it. On one hand, if this is Flair’s last match it is good for a few reasons. He and HBK are friends, and HBK grew up wanting to be Flair. We all know Shawn will work his ass off because it is WM and because he’ll want to give Flair a proper send off. If anyone can get that one last great match out of Flair, it would be HBK. That being said, there is a part of me that feels very strongly that the match should be used to give an up and comer the rub. Chances like this only come around every so often, and it could be a huge moment and a huge push for someone. I guess I will have to see how it plays out, but I have very mixed feelings here.
Your News: Candice Michelle released the following blog entry this week:
The doctors told me I’d be out for 6-8 weeks at the emergency room. Then, the orthopedist said 8-12 weeks. Now, it’s at 14 weeks and the fracture is still not fully healed. I had my X-rays a week ago, and while it is healing, the rate has been slowed down. Right where the break is, my chest muscle attaches to my collarbone. Normal daily activities move this area, and the process takes more time. I also had an MRI of my shoulder and biceps muscle, and they found contusions in both. Thankfully, they are minor and will heal with time, too! The doctor has said it could be a few weeks or a month – but I don’t know what to believe when it comes to time frames. It’s very frustrating and mostly disappointing to me. I promise I will be back as soon as I can. “Faith!” I apologize to the fans who have expected me to be back already due to time frames, but believe me, I’ve tried to push the doctor to get me back. (Not even flirting works! LOL.) The bottom line is this fracture healing and coming back healthy and strong!
My Views: Well that’s sad to hear. I think we, well most of us cal agree that we don’t wish injury on anyone. Candice went from “just a diva” to someone that was actually becoming a pretty decent wrestler. The injury was scary as hell, and we knew she would have to deal with a recovery time, but the fact that it is taking longer than expected is not cool to hear. I hope that she fully recovers and is back at 100%. And I guess she has, because they have begun running videos on Raw, hyping her return.
Your News: In a press release to stockholders today, NBC Universal stated that as the writer’s strike continues, they will start moving some of their cable shows to national TV. WWE RAW was one of the shows mentioned as possibilities to be moved to NBC.
My Views: It is funny. This little news bite has caused quite a stir. Comments and emails really picked up and for some reason, people seem to think that if WWE airs regularly on NBC that we could be in for another wrestling boom. Why? Yes WWE being on NBC would open them up to a larger audience, but we also have to remember that the SNME specials didn’t exactly do well. Now I am not saying that they would tank on NBC, and they may even get some new viewers out of it, but I can’t see it leading to any kind of new wrestling boom. Hopefully the strike ends some before there are 900 reality shows on a day.
Your News: WWE will be releasing a new DVD called The Greatest Superstars of WrestleMania on 3/25. The DVD will be sold exclusively at a retailer that has yet to be named.
My Views: This sounds like a cool DVD. If they highlighted the right guys, had some good matches and new interviews on it, I would consider checking it out and possibly buying it. But it would have to have some new stuff added in. I own the anthology, so I have the matches. They need to include something new to make me buy it, but overall I would expect something like this to sell rather well.
Your News: WWE started a new policy at the Royal Rumble where any fan taking photos or video with their cell phones are ejected from the building. Digital cameras are allowed, but not cell phone cameras.
My Views: And from a business standpoint I can’t blame them. Some people say they don’t understand why they can have a digital camera, but not the phone that can shoot video or pictures. It is simple. WWE is simply doing this to prevent people from sending photos or video of shows over the Internet before the show ends. This is especially important in the case of TV tapings that will air later, like Smackdown. While some people don’t like it, in the end it is just WWE protecting their property. It’s smart business.
Your News: Ace Steele, Cassidy Riley, G-Rilla and Roadkill were all released by WWE developmental today.
My Views: Steele never made WWE TV, outside of being Trump which was before he was signed. Steele is talented, but I never had much hope for him in the WWE setting, especially when he never could even make ECW TV. Riley made ECW TV as a job guy and was signed after he left TNA. He has success with KC James in OVW as part of the James Boys, an 80’s style Mid-South tag team. They were awesome. But with James stripped of his hair and gimmick, it was only a mater of time before Riley was gone, especially since WWE doesn’t focus on tag teams. Roadkill was never really used and was stripped of the Roadkill gimmick, was clean-shaven and looked nothing like he used to, and I never thought they would do much with him. Finally there is G-RILLA. He was huge, 6’8 and 300+ lbs, you know, the kind of guy they liked. But from what I saw of him he never really improved or became passable, so this is no surprise to me. I would expect more to come as we near WrestleMania.
Your News: The Philadelphia Daily News reports that WWE has offered Philadelphia news anchor Alycia Lane an on-camera role with the company. Lane was fired from her news anchor job after several incidents including an alleged assault of a New York City police officer last month.
My Views: All right, we need some perspective here. What does this chick look like?
Thank you Larry, that is very helpful. She’s a looker I’ll say that. Now, while she has experience in front of a camera, is good looking and they could play up her bad girl image, do we really need another nameless chick backstage? I mean, I thought that is why we hired all of the Diva Search rejects? I am not saying that this is a horrible idea, but do we really need her? We should probably work on making stars and developing people that will draw us money down the road instead of hiring more nameless chicks. Best of luck to her though.
Intermission kids, let’s party!
…Intermission…
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Oh those wacky Japanese…:
My daughter could take this masked kid…
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TNA stories, scuttlebutt and rumors:
Your News: TNA is looking to move their TV tapings to Thursday and Friday nights. With the possible change they have told talent not to take Friday bookings after March, which is when the planned change would likely occur. If they change the taping schedule in late March as expected, the Friday Night taping would go against the ROH show that will be happening WrestleMania weekend.
My Views in Bold: This all seems to be part of a bigger plan, that of going live, which we will discuss as we move on. The one thing is that people think that TNA will draw a lot of newer or out of town fans during this first weekend if they decide to make the change by then. Unfortunately I have to disagree. While they could get a few people from the park, the majority of the fans that attend shows at the Impact Zone are there for every show. They arrive early and usually get the same damn seats every week. I have a friend that used to go a lot, and as he explained it that’s the way it was. I would hope that they do get some new people in for the shows, but I just don’t think that it will be that many.
TNA is planning major upgrades to its television in the coming months, with talk of going live every other week. With the new schedule, Thursday would be live, and Friday would be the taping for the following week’s show. With this change, the company would also switch to taping in HD. For many there is a level of prestige that goes along with going live. They would still save on travel with the back to back taping dates and keep the schedule lighter than WWE’s, which if ratings increase could make them a more attractive alternative for wrestlers burnt out on the WWE schedule.
This is much like the old Raw taping schedule. I think we all remember back in the day Raw would be live Monday, and then tape Tuesday for the next Monday. They would still be spending the same on travel with the back-to-back days, which is good because costs will rise going live. The move to HD has been expected, for the simple fact that this is the way TV is heading. Some don’t understand the prestige deal, but the fact is this. Many people look at Raw, they know it is live and they feel that it is the cream of the crop because it is a live show every week. It looks important, WWE sells it as important and people perceive it as important. With the added importance of being live every other week and a possible rise in ratings, I do feel that the company will be more of an alternative for the workers. If you can make good money for working less days while having a good amount of exposure, you’d be a fool to not even consider it.
The move would increase production cost, and also decrease the margin of error when they are live. SPIKE TV’s support is a big part of this possible change, and they would likely kick in some of the cost. TNA is currently scoring above the network’s primetime average, and if the Ultimate Fighter’s ratings continue to fall as they have been, and if TNA’s ratings can maintain the small growth they have attained, they would become the highest rated weekly original show on the network.
The real good news is that SPIKE is not only behind this, but that they are willing to kick in to try and make the show better. Impact is one of the highest rated weekly original show on the network, and if they can keep growing and TUF keep slipping, they could take that #1 spot for the network. While we joke all the time about them constantly getting 1.1’s, they have been consistent and the network is happy, which is what matters. Two times this month they have been setting new records for total viewers, so maybe they are on the move.
This would be a big deal for Independent’s that book TNA talent, because they wouldn’t have them available on that busy night for shows. It will also cost them more money to bring them in for Saturday shows. Many promoters save on air fare by piggybacking, this is the practice of booking two nights in the same area so the air fare can be pro-rated over two shows, or even two different promoters splitting the cost to bring one guy in for the weekend. They would now have to pay for one round trip ticket out of Orlando, with a return to the wrestler’s home.
TNA is already seen in many ways as an enemy to the Indy world. TNA took over as the booking agent for their men and set the fees and terms, they pulled talent from companies that sell DVD’s nationally, and are seen as the enemy in many circles. Now they will have to spend even more, and I am sure TNA will be made to look evil. The fact is that they are a national company and have every right to set the terms they way they do in order to protect their talent and investment in that talent. Talents who work a lot of Friday shows could end up losing money. The reason being is that they will be working the same amount for TNA, but be losing that Friday booking. But with TNA doing more house shows, it may not be a factor. People low on the card like Dutt, Williams and the like will have trouble and be the ones losing money. They aren’t booked as much on the “TNA” shows and rely on the Indy shows, like the UWF and such.
There is also talk of SPIKE adding another hour of TNA programming, designed to highlight the TNA Knockouts Division. This is because the quarter hour of the show featuring the women has been getting the highest ratings. If this happens, TNA would have to expand the Knockouts Roster.
This one is causing a lot of shit, but there are some facts that support looking at this. As reported, the quarter hour ratings for the Knockouts are beating everything else on the show. Secondly, the division has been the most consistently booked thing in the promotion. And that is due to Scott D’Amore, he is in charge of the ladies. That works on a few levels because not only can he book them, but he can be their agent as well since he is a former wrestler.
Right now they have a strong roster of ladies, let’s look at them:
GREAT: Awesome Kong, Gail Kim, Cheerleader Melissa
VERY GOOD: Peyton Banks, Roxxi, Jackie Moore
GOOD: Angelina Love, ODB, Miss Brooks
FINE or Passable for their role: Velvet Sky, Christy Hemme, Salinas
So they have a strong roster of 12-women. I don’t count Karen Angle or Sharmell because they won’t be active wrestlers. But if they are going to have one hour a week dedicated to the Knockouts, they will have to add some names to this roster. They have done well with what they have, and have a lot more they can do with it but in four to six months where will they be? Good booking only takes you so far before you become completely repetitive. That’s where expansion would come in. In the next few months I feel that they should work on bringing in 3-5 new names for the division, staggered of course. Names I would consider are: Sara Del Ray (Not sure if she has an ROH Contract, but I don’t think so), Daize Haze (Not sure if she has an ROH Contract, but I don’t think so), Jazz, Daffney and if at all possible, Dark Angel.
I just wish that they hadn’t killed the X-Division, because when it was hot, they deserved an hour to themselves and now it is just a “what could have been” scenario. I think they could have done really well playing off of the athletic deal as well as using a strong ranking/points system to add realism to it. But that ship has sailed.
Your News: Raven is finished with TNA. His contract expired and the company didn’t offer him a new one.
My Views: You know it is funny, back in August if you would have asked me I would have told you to get rid of him. Since his medical problems, Raven had looked more like an overweight AIDS patient than a professional wrestler. This isn’t his fault, it isn’t like he just got fat and out of shape. He has medical conditions that are making it near impossible to maintain proper and healthy weight, it is something he has been battling with and it seemed as he had finally got it under control. That being said I thought that he needed to go as an active in ring performer. But what I thought TNA should do is retain Raven in some kind of creative/backstage/onscreen role. Raven has a tremendous mind for the business, and could be a valuable part of the creative team. If you have ever checked out the “Secrets of the Ring” Series with Raven, this man should be an agent. The man can talk and could be just a manager or announcer. He has usefulness and TNA needs to realize this. He did start to get motivated and back in better shape when they used him, but after a PPV hardcore match where he replaced Rhino, he hasn’t been seen since. But I could understand that, they have a very talented roster of performers, and while Raven was showing motivation and I dig his promos, they had other people that need to be used in order for the company to succeed. I think that Raven has a lot to offer any wrestling company, but not in a wrestling role.
Now a lot of people are discussing the way TNA treated him over the years. Here’s how I see that. When he got sick and had to take a lot of time off, they had every right to “trim the fat” and release him. But they didn’t, they kept him around and when he could, he returned and they used him. Not as prominently as before, but they used him and let him keep his job. They didn’t have to do that. But overall when you look at his TNA career, he was an opportunity misses. His debut and initial challenge to Jarrett is to this day one of if not the best angles the company has run with the title. At the time, when they finally met for the title, it was Raven and the interest around him that got them their highest weekly buyrate. But they didn’t pull the trigger and flushed it away. Raven turned into a case for too little and too late. Sure he got the NWA Title run he came for, but it was nearly a year and a half later, and when the company was headed off TV. The funny thing about that time is that they produced their best TV and PPV’s during that dark period. I still think there was a use for Raven, but maybe he wasn’t ready to do that and hang it up yet. Or maybe TNA is not willing to part with their half-assed booking staff.
Your News: The January 25th house show in Troy, Ohio drew over 1,500 paid. The January 26th house show in Niles, Ohio drew a sell out of 1,000 fans in a 600-seat venue, with the other 400 being standing room only.
My Views: While these don’t appear to be spectacular numbers, they are good numbers for the fact that they were running small venues, and on the 25th they went head to head in the Dayton Area with ROH. The funny thing is that neither show was hurt, as the Dayton crowd for ROH was slightly up in attendance, and TNA debuted strong with the 1,500. So that’s great news for both companies. The Niles house show is what impresses me, for the fact that they got 400 people to pay for standing room only. Fuck that, I want a seat. The crowd were reportedly really good as well, which is always good for the guys. It is still a slow process, and they need to work a LOT on their promotion of these shows, but they aren’t off to a bad start.
Your News: The plan for the Barbed Wire Massacre match is to portray the match as if it is live in Orlando, due to the athletic commission’s ruling. There is internal concern as to how the Greenville crowd will respond to the match.
My Views: This is a real catch 22 for them. As mentioned they had advertised the match and they has permission pulled for the match. So if they pulled it they would have gotten shit for pulling the match. But now they have a legitimate concern in regards to the live crowd reaction. In the past even WWE has had trouble when hardcore matches went to the back and people had to rely on the big screen. This entire match is on the screen, and while on PPV we’ll get the Impact Zone reactions, there is a chance that this will deflate the live crowd. It’s a wait and see situation, but the concern is a serious one.
Your News: Internally TNA was pleased with the performance of Tiger Mask on the last Impact tapings, but the same wasn’t said for IWGP Champion Shinsuke Nakamura. Apparently nobody could understand why he was being pushed as IWGP champion over Hiroshi Tanahashi.
My Views: I thought Tiger Mask’s first match back with TNA was a better showing than his last one. The AJ match is this week and that got good reviews, so I am looking forward to seeing it. As far as Shinsuke Nakamura goes, does anyone see the irony of TNA questioning the booking of another company? I will admit to not being very familiar with Shinsuke Nakamura, and will also admit that I really like Tanahashi and wanted him to stay champion. That being said, while TNA is working with NJPW, they really have no room to throw stones in regards to booking.
Your News: There is the possibility of a “Global Impact” special coming from the UK shows planned for the summer.
My Views: This is a good thing. I really enjoyed the Global Impact special, and I would approve of them having them a few times a year. It is a different presentation and one that made people look like stars, one of the goals of a company. Why yes mommy, I would love some more Global Impact please.
Your News: The Canadian iTunes store has added SPIKE TV shows to their service, and you can now download episodes on TNA Impact for $1.99. They have all of the recent episodes as well as episodes all the way back to 2006.
My Views: A lot of people have made this the center of jokes, stuff along the lines of, “$1.99? That is $2.00 too much for an episode of Impact.” While that is indeed funny, and all too true for some of the horrible episodes that plagued us over the last year, this is good for TNA. Anything they can do to get the name out there, possibly make money and possibly draw in new fans it a good idea. This should also cost them next to nothing, so it could be a good little deal for them.
~The HOTTNESS of Rebecca Knox~
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Independent News
Your News: ROH was happy with Joey Matthews (Mercury) during his return appearance and he has been booked to work the ROH shows in Long Island and New York City in February.
My Views: I for one am happy for Joey Matthews. He has admitted that he ha basically fucked up a lot, and knows that he deserves no new chances to redeem himself. But a return to ROH is probably the best for him. He gets to refocus on his work and get back to doing what he loves. His original stint in ROH is what helped him get noticed and signed with WWE. I hope that he gets himself together and finds happiness and success.
Your News: Bobby Heenan was back in surgery this week. While his reconstructed jawbone is doing well, he had to have another surgery where skin and muscle were transferred to his neck. This is one of the cosmetic surgeries he was expected to face during his recovery. Heenan’s recovery is still slow, due to past radiation treatments but he has been joking around and is looking forward to getting out of the hospital, so that he can begin rehabilitation.
My Views: This is just more for update purposes. I had mentioned that he would have to face several plastic surgery procedures for the reconstruction of his face, and this is the continuation of that. I hope that we all continue the Brain well in his recovery. How great was it to hear his voice Tuesday on ECW during that promo video for Chavo?
Your News: As reported, TLC has canceled the Bussey Bunch after just one episode. The reason for the cancellation was that TLC didn’t think that the show was connecting with their demographic, which is primarily female. With 12-half hour episodes edited and complete, the production company in charge of the show is shopping it around to other networks.
My Views: I have to ask, when they decided to give this show a look, couldn’t they figure out that it may not be what they wanted? Apparently not. I watched the first episode, and while it was not great, it wasn’t really bad. It was just there and it wasn’t going to rock anyone’s world. I would think that it could get picked up by Verses, MAVTV or some small network like that, but that would be about it. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if Big Vision picked it up for a DVD release.
Your News: Today Judge George Greer denied Linda Bollea’s motion to freeze Hulk Hogan’s assets. He scheduled a new court date on February 28th to begin arguments on the case. Linda also asked the court that Hulk be banned from coming to the Bellaire mansion and the Clearwater beach house, unless she gives him her permission. There was no ruling on this today.
My Views: I really try to stay away from this shit, because I really don’t like Hogan and think that Linda is an annoying cunt. That being said, this whole thing is some bullshit. Trying to freeze the assets of the man that has made the money all these years is a shitty and vindictive thing to do. Secondly, while she’ll probably get half (if that is the Florida law) then she’ll get one of the houses. But for the woman to try and control both houses is complete bullshit. She is vindictive to the end. Why can’t she just say, “I want this house, he can have that house, and we don’t visit unless we have permission?” Oh that’s right, because she’s a greedy, vindictive bitch. I hate stupid people, and hate stupid rich people even more.
Your News: Former WWE and ECW star Dawn Marie is training for a full time return to wrestling. She has actually been training with TNA’s Jay Lethal in New Jersey.
My Views: Well good for her. I personally don’t have a preference either way, but if a return to wrestling makes her happy, then so be it. Dawn Marie to me was always a fun manager and did her job well, but from what I remember she never wrestled very well at all. I don’t know what she wants to focus on, but in my opinion it should be managing. She was a strong second, and if she made it back to WWE, or even TNA she would be a good addition to someone that needs that. Plus with her years in the business, she would have something to add and teach them; which would be a good thing.
Your News: Larry Sweeney told ROH officials that he will hold out Sara Del Rey forcing the 2/23 SHIMMER Title Match vs. Daizee Haze in Manhattan to be canceled unless he gets his own talk show segment on the live events. ROH officials have agreed. Sweeney’s first talk shows will be on 2/22 in Long Island and 2/23 in Manhattan.
My Views: This just further confirms that Larry Sweeney is indeed a GREAT man. From the super agent gimmick to the fact that he is this generations Bobby Heenan (I didn’t say he was as great as Heenan, but if Heenan started in this decade, he would be Sweeney) he is just awesome. He has been a highlight of the ROH PPV’s in his segments, and brings the fun to ROH for me, which I appreciate.
And I’m out of here!
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