tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62280172147802664302024-03-13T00:47:21.817-04:00Wrestling for everyone!Is it wrestling? It's probably here. TNA, WWE, ROH, indie, breaking news, reports and recaps.Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.comBlogger66125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-11683576372538015202015-03-21T23:37:00.000-04:002015-03-22T00:15:13.611-04:00Gauntlet For The Gold 10!First I want to preface this by saying, holy god Tyler Black/Seth Rollins is going to find me and kick my ass. Secondly I'd like to thank whoever linked to me in that forum for getting me all those hits, but if Tyler/Seth does find me, I'm finding YOU.<br />
<br />
Anyhoo, remember when I used to be a reporter? Did you know AIW had a show this past weekend? Wanna hear about it?<br />
<br />
Friday March 20th marked AIW's tenth annual Gauntlet For The Gold, or AIW's Answer To The Royal Rumble. Here's what happened.<br />
<br />
<b>Match 1: 6 Way Scramble: Tyson Dux, "Hot Sauce" Tracy Williams, Flip Kendrick, Eric Ryan, Nikki Storm and Tyler Thomas.</b><br />
<br />
Tyler Thomas and Tracy Williams are some newcomers to AIW (although you may have seen Tracy Williams at Beyond Wrestling) and I have to say, I like what they're bringing. I firmly believe that Dux and Williams need to tag team, but more on that later.<br />
<br />
Good opening match with a lot of strong spots throughout. I found it rather obnoxious that Nikki Storm elected not to wrestle, just stood around and fluffed her hair, until Eric Ryan bounced Tyler Thomas off of her and she came in with a vengeance. I like her and I think she's great (and her accent is also great) but you're there to wrestle, so... wrestle.<br />
<br />
<b>Best Part of the Match</b>: Probably the last spot, with Flip Kendrick on Eric Ryan's shoulders, who was on Tracy, who was on the turnbuckle, and everybody splattered all over the ring.<br />
<br />
<b>Winner: </b>Flip by pinning Eric Ryan<br />
<br />
Gave it a good 3.5 out of 5, for some awkward spots but on the whole a strong match and very fun. Tyson and Tracy need to tag team and that's all there is to it. They look great together, they work great together, we need some tag teams, let's get on this. <br />
<br />
<b>2. Woman's Grudge Match: Alexia Nicole vs. Jasmine (AKA Team Barely Legal)</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
So what happened was these two tagged with Veda Scott at the last show, and they lost, so they fought each other for what felt like twenty minutes, and then this time they had a whole match.<br />
<br />
I like women's wrestling. I want women to wrestle. I want women to wrestle other women, and also dudes, and do big strong powerful moves just as bad-ass-ly as any guy wrestler.<br />
<br />
This was not that match, I am sorry to say.<br />
<br />
It was just sort of slow and eh and nobody really seemed to care much. I don't know these girls, I don't know why they're fighting, and I don't really care.<br />
<br />
<b>Best Part of the Match: </b>When Alexia put Jasmine in a figure four, or when Jasmine powerbombed Alexia.<br />
<br />
<b>Winner: Alexia Nicole after a neckbreaker</b><br />
<br />
1/5, not impressed. They were friends at the end of it, so whatever, they worked it out. (I have a kindly anon tell me Jasmine is going to NXT, which is pretty awesome for her, I hope she does well.)<br />
<br />
<b>3. Tag Team Match: Colin Delaney and Cheech (Team Infinity And Beyond) Vs. BJ Williams and Jimmy Jacobs (The Forgotten)</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Can I just remind everybody for a second that BJ Whitmer BROKE HIS GODDAMNED NECK not that long ago, and here he is wrestling again? Can we for just a second? Because holy balls.<br />
<br />
These guys have been feuding for a while and this match was not particularly different from any of those other times (except for one thing which I'll talk about at the end). It was approximately 90% Colin Delaney getting the crap whooped out of him and 10% Cheech being total bad ass machine of awesome.<br />
<br />
<b>Best Part of the Match</b>: Cheech helicoptering Jimmy Jacobs around, when he powerbombed Jacobs and Colin splashed him.<br />
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<b>Winner: Colin Delaney pinning Jimmy Jacobs</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Worst Part of the Match: </b>Technically it was after the match, but it was when Jimmy got on the mic to have a very quick but very brief goodbye speech... after 16 years on the indies, he's decided to retire. Thank you Jimmy, it was fun.<br />
<br />
3.5/5 Very solid, could have used less Colin Delaney getting his ass whooped.<br />
<br />
<b>4. 4-Way for the Intense Title: Chris Sabin, Candice LeRae, Louis Lyndon and Davey Vega (C)</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Spoiler alert, I'm really biased about this match. I love that Davey is a fighting champion but he's held that title for a while now and sooner or later he's going to have to drop it and that makes me nervous.<br />
<br />
But anyhow, let's talk about Candice LeRae, what do you think? She's one of the strongest women wrestlers I've seen in a good long while (and a breath of fresh air after that grudge match) so if she could just be in every AIW show from here until forever that would be great, thanks. There was a spot very early on where Candice leapt out of the ring and landed VERY awkwardly (I couldn't see, despite being in the bleachers I was still on the other side of the ring) and everything sort of stopped for a minute. I don't know if she was injured at any point or not, but she fought like a son of a bitch through the rest of the match, so either way I absolutely commend her.<br />
<br />
<b>Best Part of the Match: </b>When Candice kept fighting at 110% despite possibly being injured and almost certainly in pain, when she had everybody by the balls, Louis Lyndon's double sharpshooter, Chris Sabin, Davey Vega.<br />
<br />
<b>Winner: </b>Davey retained by pinning Lyndon<br />
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4/5 possible slight bias but also Candice LeRae is a beast.<br />
<br />
<b>5. Raymond Rowe vs. Johnny Gargano</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Sort of a grudge match. Both are very strong competitors but I felt they were slightly mismatched together here. Heavy on the grappling which is not my favorite thing (if I wanted to watch dudes rolling around hugging I would watch MMA) but can be entertaining if done well. Johnny was very fast and wonderful to watch as per usual, Raymond Rowe was all about strength and trying to throw Johnny through the ring.<br />
<br />
<b>Best Part of the Match: </b>Raymond Rowe holding Johnny upside down for 50 seconds (we counted), Johnny taking lot of serious goddamn bumps and still getting up.<br />
<br />
<b>Winner: </b>Raymond, after accidentally kneeing Clemons, the ref, and then hitting Johnny with a bell before the new ref came out, and then kicking the crap out of him until he stayed down.<br />
<br />
3.2/5 Solid throughout, if heavy on the grappling. Crowd dropped out in the middle but came back at the end.<br />
<br />
<b>6. Rickey Shane Page vs. 2 Cold Scorpio</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
I'm going to start off by saying that I have no idea who 2 Cold Scorpio even is, but I'd like to apologize for my ignorance and say that he was fucking great and I'm a terrible wrestling fan for not knowing him.<br />
<br />
This match was a fun, awesome, great entertaining match. RSP looked so excited to even just be in that ring (and RSP is such a funny theatrical guy in the ring anyway so it was even more fun) and 2 Cold was holy shit I can't even. They tell me this guy is 49 and I don't believe it. This guy was doing motherfucking top rope shit like he was born doing it and in his prime. He was doing high kicks, he was doing moonsaults, he was doing MOTHER-DAMN-FUCKING REVERSE 'RANAS CAN YOU HANDLE IT. NO YOU CANNOT.<br />
<br />
<b>Best Part of the Match: </b>Everything 2 Cold did, especially the reverse 'rana, RSP very clearly having the time of his goddamn life, the wrestlers backstage fanboying easily just as hard if not harder than all of us in the crowd (Davey Vega and Eric Ryan, I'm looking at you guys and it was hilarious.)<br />
<br />
<b>Winner: </b>2 Cold Scorpio, after a crazy moonsault-slash-leg drop combo that probably has a special name that I don't know because I suck. (It's apparently called Dropping The Bomb, so, if you know what that means, yeah, that's the thing he did.)<br />
<br />
4/5 for awesomeness and humor and wrestlers being total fanboys.<br />
<br />
<b>7. AIW Title: Dick Justice vs. Josh Alexander (C) w/Veda Scott</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
So many dick puns. SO MANY. DICK. PUNS. Not since Johnny Cockstrong came to town with Beyond Wrestling have I heard that many dick puns. (Although nothing beats "Use your cock-strength") There was a "We love Dick" chant and a "Dick's gonna fuck you" chant which we couldn't even keep up because we were all just laughing too damn hard. Josh Alexander even took a second to call out "Looks like Dick's getting fucked" as he had the upper hand. Dick puns everywhere.<br />
<br />
<b>Best Part of the Match: </b>Dick puns. The match itself was fairly standard in terms of fighting. More dick puns, when Dick Justice kissed Veda while she was trying to interfere.<br />
<br />
<b>Winner: </b>Josh Alexander retains after beating Dick bloody (SO MANY PUNS) and Dick just sort of gave up. But he tried. And we love him anyway. Veda tried to get on the mic afterwards but I literally could not understand what she was saying because there were too many boos. Heel stuff I would suppose.<br />
<br />
3.1/5 for dick puns.<br />
<br />
<b>8. Gauntlet Match</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Here's a list of the entrants! Spoiler alert!<br />
<br />
1. Marion Fontaine<br />
2. Nikki Storm<br />
3. Alessandro Del Bruno<br />
4. Alex Daniels<br />
5. Action Jackson<br />
6. Raymond Rowe<br />
7. Jerry, from the Iron Curtain<br />
8. Bobby Beverly<br />
9. Tyler Thomas<br />
10. Rickey Shane Page<br />
11. BJ Whitmer<br />
12. Johnny Gargano<br />
13. Flip Kendrick<br />
14. Josh Prohibition<br />
15. Tyson Dux<br />
16. Davey Vega<br />
17. Chris Sabin<br />
18. Ben Boone, The Other Iron Curtain Guy<br />
19. Joshua Singh<br />
20. Greg Iron<br />
21. Facade (who got a huge pop, from myself included)<br />
22. Tracy Williams<br />
23. Colin Delaney<br />
24. Candice LeRae<br />
25. Cheech<br />
26. Ethan Page<br />
27. Izeah Bonds, Mr. RBI (Who also got a pop and a "please come back" chant)<br />
28. Louis Lyndon<br />
29. Eric Ryan<br />
30. Eddie Kingston<br />
<br />
<b>Best Part of the Match: </b>When Marion "woo'd" Nikki Storm in the very beginning of the match by dancing with her (and then there was a chorus of Ric Flair Woo's to accompany it), when Flip moonsaulted like four people in a row, when Sabin hid under the ring and Fontaine dragged him out, Facade (although I wish he had stayed in longer, give him a real match next time!), Fontaine being in there for like six damn years, RSP and Ethan Page flipping Eddie Kingston the bird, when RSP's and Eddie Kingston's straps came down, RSP's victory water.<br />
<br />
<b>Worst Part of the Match: </b>When Colin took a nasty hit on the back of his head as he was eliminated (seriously, are you okay? That looked awful), when RSP and Ethan Page eliminated Kingston when the ref's back was turned, and he snuck back in, and threw Ethan through the middle rope, but the refs thought he had been eliminated when he wasn't and Ethan was out but Kingston was still in. God damned refs.<br />
<br />
<b>Winner: </b>Rickey Shane Page, who celebrated a little too hard with the water and fell down. But we love him anyway, bless his heart. He had a good night.<br />
<b><br /></b>
The show on the whole gets a solid 3/5 and I had fun. Should you buy the DVD? If you like 2 Cold Scorpio, I would go for it. But I wouldn't say it was anything you need to run out and tell your mother about.<br />
<br />
<i>AIW's next show is April 24th and their yearly gangster themed show, so that should be a good time. They say The Young Bucks and Mickie James will be there! Tix can be purchased on <a href="http://shop.aiwrestling.com/">shop.aiwrestling.com</a> but if you're trying to get front row you have to pay extra and give 'em your email!</i>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-6238980432887975892014-05-18T14:57:00.000-04:002014-05-18T14:57:35.041-04:00AIW's JT Lightning Invitational Tournament and why you need to be thereThis coming weekend, May 23rd and 24th, marks the third annual JT Lightning Invitational Wrestling Extravaganza which is not quite its official name but in all honesty it probably should be. It's two (two!) days of wrestling amazingness smack in the middle of Cleveland with afterparties and a Fan Fest on day two and everybody's staying in the same hotel -- that means you AND the wrestlers, should you decide to book said hotel -- and I haven't even told you about the matches yet.<br />
<br />
The JLIT, as it's affectionately known, is (mainly) a bracketed series of matches where the winner gets a title shot (at the show) with a couple of other matches thrown in for shits and grins. Because what's AIW without shits and grins, am I right?<br />
<br />
Here's just a couple of the opening bracket matches announced for Day One (which starts at 7:30, like any other regular AIW show):<br />
<ul>
<li>Danny Havoc vs. Ultramantis Black (holy fucking shit on a stick)</li>
<li>Sonjay Dutt vs. Davey Vega (are you fucking serious?)</li>
<li>Heidi Lovelace vs. Rickey Shane Page (intergender matches whaaaaaat)</li>
<li>Jimmy Jacobs vs. Eric Ryan (you have to be fucking with me now)</li>
<li>Veda Scott vs. #AllEgo Ethan Page (MORE intergender matches!)</li>
</ul>
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Not to mention an Absolute Title match with title holder Michael Elgin vs. Eddie Kingston. Also appearing in the bracket are: Tim Donst, Buff Bagwell, Matt Cross, Marion Fontaine, Louis Lyndon, Flip Kendrick, John Prohibition, and BJ Motherfucking Whitmer who you might recall <i>just broke his fucking neck wrestling not all that long ago</i></div>
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Day Two (which starts at 6pm and is preceded by a Fan Fest at 3pm) will have the final matches of the bracket and</div>
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are you ready for this</div>
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no you aren't don't even lie<br />
<br />
It's Chris Sabin vs. Johnny Gargano<br />
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Yeah. That Chris Sabin. One half of the Motor City Machine Guns, former TNA X-Division, heavyweight and tag team champion.<br />
<br />
Versus Johnny Gargano.<br />
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Can you even? No, no you can't.<br />
<br />
Now, if you've been following Johnny on Twitter, you've probably heard he's had to cancel a couple of appearances due to a minor jaw fracture. He hasn't said anything about being unable to make it to JLIT so let's all just cross our fingers and hope he's healed up by this Saturday.<br />
<br />
And even if he doesn't make it, we still get to see CHRIS MOTHERFUCKING SABIN live in action, so there is that.<br />
<br />
Also happening at the show:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Greg Iron open challenge!</li>
<li>He might fight a fan!</li>
<li>He will probably also continue to be creepy at Veda Scott!</li>
<li>Fan Fest! What's at Fan Fest? I don't know! Come find out!</li>
<li>Afterparties at the Tavern on Biddulph both nights!</li>
<li>Hotel parties with wrestlers? Maybe! </li>
<li>Surprises!</li>
<li>Probable chaos!</li>
<li>The last two JLITs have had engagements, perhaps there will be a third! That's adorable!</li>
<li>Other additional shenanigans!</li>
</ul>
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So yeah, you should probably be at this show or you will hate yourself forever and be resigned to buying the DVD which won't be the same.</div>
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--</div>
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<i>Tickets are $20 per night individually or you can <a href="http://shop.aiwrestling.com/">purchase both nights</a> for $40 with a free Fan Fest ticket kicked in. (Otherwise the Fan Fest is an additional $5.) Doors open about an hour before the show starts and seats are general admission/first-come first-serve. </i></div>
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<i>The official JLIT hotel is America's Best Value Inn - Cleveland Airport on Brookpark Rd. Call them at 216-267-2350 to reserve a room and make sure to mention Absolute Intense Wrestling to get their special rate, which is $64 and some change with tax.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>Coming from out of town and have no idea what to do when you aren't at the wrestling?</i></div>
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<i>Do you like music? <a href="http://www.rockhall.com/">There's the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!</a></i></div>
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<i>Do you like food? There's <a href="http://meltbarandgrilled.com/">Melt Bar and Grilled</a> or the <a href="http://www.westsidemarket.org/">West Side Market</a>, which is pretty bad ass!</i></div>
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<i>Do you like to enrich your brain? Try our <a href="https://www.cmnh.org/">Museum of Natural History</a> or our <a href="http://www.clevelandart.org/">Art Museum</a>, which is free!</i></div>
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<i>Are you a hipster and/or a hippie? Visit <a href="http://coventryvillage.org/">Coventry</a>! They have a bunch of cool shops and also a delicious restaurant called <a href="http://tommyscoventry.com/">Tommy's</a>! It's vegan/vegetarian/gluten-sensitive friendly! But they also have cheeseburgers! </i></div>
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<i>Want to go shopping but you don't want to deal with hippies and/or hipsters? Try <a href="http://www.towercitycenter.com/">Tower City</a>! It's a very nice mall with a cool fountain in the middle and also a movie theatre, so you can see Godzilla or the new X-Men movie! Plus it's underneath the Terminal Tower, which is our badass flagship skyscraper. (Shut up, we only have a couple, don't judge us.)</i></div>
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<i>If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask! Leave me a comment or tweet me @FindAStone.</i></div>
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Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-83469803870936983042013-08-16T00:47:00.004-04:002013-08-16T00:47:50.568-04:00In Which I Offer TNA A Critique and Some Helpful AdviceI've started watching TNA again. My reasons for which are mostly uncomplicated; I love Chris Sabin and I'm going to a show in two weeks. (So I'm going to be on TV. Look for the hat.)<br />
<br />
My reasons for wanting to go to a TNA show are slightly more complicated, but we're just going to go with I love Chris Sabin for that one too.<br />
<br />
I haven't watched TNA since probably 2009, 2010 at the latest. Actually the last one I watched was when Chris Sabin came back from a knee injury only to injure his OTHER goddamned knee.<br />
<br />
I've heard rumors about TNA hemorrhaging money basically since I started watching in like 2009. They'd be bankrupt in a few years, they're losing $600,000 every house show (how that is even possible, I do not know), their checks to the talent keep bouncing, talents are taking paycuts, Dixie's dad is running the show.<br />
<br />
TNA was like... my first real wrestling. I went to a ton of shows. I am extraordinarily fond of the roster. I think they have some great fucking talent there. Samoa Joe, Magnus, AJ Styles, Daniels, Kazarian, Chris Sabin, Eric Young, even Jeff Hardy, presuming he's got his shit together.<br />
<br />
But watching TNA just makes me angry. It should be SO MUCH BETTER than it is. Why does it suck SO BAD?<br />
<br />
I feel like a lot of the reasons were clearly illustrated on tonight's episode, which is supposed to be a "free pay per view" which isn't a half-bad idea, in theory.<br />
<br />
The opening match was a four-man ladder match. Jeff Hardy, Kazarian, AJ Styles and Austin Aries. Generally solid match-up, plus a few weeks earlier AJ and Aries had what I considered to be an amazing match.<br />
<br />
This one was just... boring. A lot of the spots were so weak you had to roll your eyes. They were flying all over the ring and out of it at the lightest touches. Hits and kicks were CLEARLY whiffed. I know; wrestling is "fake." I know. But I still think you need to put on a realistic, believable show. That's part of the THING, guys. I'm not saying that's their fault. I'm not really sure why that was choreographed the way it was. I just felt like that match was not very strong.<br />
<br />
Then we had Dixie Carter make an appearance. I don't think we need Dixie to come around until she gets good at being on the mic. She sounded terrible. "So uhhh... Kurt Angle's in rehab... um... he'll be there for a while... he's still there now... um..." You know what? Get JB to be your voice. JB is fucking great. He can speak. he can speak WELL, and he can speak seriously and from the heart. Dixie doesn't need to be Vince McMahon. Vince McMahon is GOOD at what he does. Dixie Carter is not. And that's okay. You don't NEED to be the face of the company. You really don't.<br />
<br />
Then two MMA fighters, Rampage Jackson and Tito Ortiz, talked to each other for a while.<br />
<br />
I don't like MMA. I feel like by all logical means I probably should. It's still dudes beating each other up right? But I just don't like it. I find it boring. I like wrestling for the acrobatics. I love seeing dudes flying out of the ring. MMA just looks like a lot of dudes rolling around hugging. If I wanted to watch shirtless dudes hugging, well... I'd watch something else.<br />
<br />
Some wrestling fans DO like MMA, and that's totally okay. But I feel like that's why they're two separate things. If you want to watch MMA, watch MMA. If you want to watch wrestling, watch wrestling. Don't put MMA in my wrestling. If MMA dudes want to wrestle, great! Let them wrestle! Don't put them on the mic for fifteen minutes to TALK about either/both of these things!<br />
<br />
Although admittedly I did find myself liking Rampage Jackson after that vignette. So that was OKAY... I guess.<br />
<br />
I don't know why this MMA crossover thing is happening. Basically it sounds like those two dudes are shilling for this fight that I DON'T CARE ABOUT and I HAVE NO INTENT OR DESIRE TO SEE. Using MMA is not going to draw in WRESTLING FANS.<br />
<br />
There were a ton of backstage vignettes. I don't have a problem with backstage vignettes; <i>in moderation. </i>I love backstage stuff. What goes on back there? What's it look like? What are they doing back there? I even like the way they're filmed. I love the handheld caught footage aspect of that. WWE doesn't have that. WWE's backstage scenes are always like "Oh there just NATURALLY happens to be a camera back here JUST IN TIME to film this TOTALLY UNSCRIPTED SCENE."<br />
<br />
But when we have to talk backstage for fifteen minutes about a ten minute match... you know?<br />
<br />
Moderation in all things.<br />
<br />
The Knockouts match was okay. I like that they have A. Have a women's division and B. The women actually kick some ass. That's more than what I get from the WWE. There COULD be more women, and they could be LESS like supermodel-lookin-diva-ladies (Hamada? Awesome Kong? Anybody?) but they're women and they're fighting and that's all I'm going to ask for. Maybe fight a dude every now and then. Intergender matches are the shit.<br />
<br />
Then there was like a tag match with tables, and that was OKAY... and the cage match with Sabin and Bully Ray, which was probably the best but then again I'm kind of biased... it was just altogether not a very strong show.<br />
<br />
If I had one piece of advice, one aspect to change on TNA wrestling, this is what I would offer.<br />
<br />
1. Wrestling. Back to basics. You have a fucking amazing roster. USE IT. You are a wrestling show. You market yourself as TNA/IMPACT WRESTLING. You call the people working on your show WRESTLERS. You put on WRESTLING MATCHES. Do you see what I'm getting at here? You are a WRESTLING show. You want to attract WRESTLING fans. Fans of wrestling have STOPPED WATCHING YOU because your wrestling, the CORE OF YOUR SHOW, is so goddamn terrible!<br />
<br />
This is your foundation. This is the thing that your show, your company, was BUILT on. Right now you have too many branches on too small a base. MMA! Phone apps! Action figures! Record albums!<br />
<br />
We don't need any of this crap!<br />
<br />
We want wrestling!<br />
<br />
That's it! GOOD wrestling. Good, CONSISTENT wrestling. I want a solid match. I want a clean ending. I don't want interference from outside sources, I don't want illegal weapons, I don't want cheaty pins with feet on ropes, I don't want cheaty pins with tights being grabbed. I want a clean pin or a clean submission. I want two dudes (or two teams, or whatever) in the ring, who know what they're doing. I don't want gimmicks or surprises or interference or weapons or whatever. Two dudes, in the ring, one loser one winner.<br />
<br />
I don't think I ask for that much.<br />
<br />
I haven't been watching for long enough to get a long-term picture of what this show is doing, but the Heavyweight title has changed hands twice since I started watching. I don't like the sound of that at all. By slapping around your MAIN TITLE you devalue it. If it's changed hands two different times in the past MONTH, you're saying anyone can get it.<br />
<br />
That's just a pet peeve of mine; WWE does that too occasionally.<br />
<br />
But seriously. TNA, Dixie, Hulk Hogan, Bischoff, whoever is running the damn joint, please. PLEASE. I don't purport to know what you're doing or how you're doing it. I wouldn't know how to run a wrestling company if my life depended on it. But I really, truly, seriously think you cannot go wrong with buckling down and going back to your core basis, which is badass motherfuckin' wrestling.<br />
<br />
I know you can do it. I have seen matches that PROVE you can do it. You don't need MMA and a hundred different factions and points and free-per-views and mobile apps and action figures and whatever else the fuck. Quit this fucking nonsense and go script some legit wrestling. Your show is two hours long. Try making at least an hour of that pure wrestling. You don't need to talk about it, just put this dude and that dude out there and let them duke it out. Do they need a reason? Fuck no they don't need a reason. AJ Styles and Austin Aries from a couple weeks back was fucking AMAZING. Why were they fighting? Who gives a fuck? It was great! And then you said "Now we have to finish up this amazing stiff as fuck match so we can have talking."<br />
<br />
No. We don't need to have talking. I don't give a fuck about talking. I want to watch dudes beat the shit out of each other. You don't need to complicate things. You really don't. If you put on consistent, good, quality, not gimmicky wrestling... seriously, it will only help you. You cannot go wrong with building up your foundation, you just can't.<br />
<br />
Seriously, TNA. You have SO MUCH POTENTIAL with your roster, and I have seen you do amazing, badass, <i>brilliant motherfucking things. </i>Stop trying to be every fucking thing at once. Just be wrestling.<br />
<br />
You did this once.<br />
<br />
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You can do it again.Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-33603494640097357862013-07-28T00:38:00.003-04:002013-07-28T00:38:44.962-04:00Dear Wrestling: A Love Letter<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
<br />
Dear Wrestling,<br />
<br />
I love you.<br />
<br />
I've been looking for you my entire life, ever since my dad took a tiny seven year old me to a hockey game, and that tiny seven year old me ended up stood on a chair and screaming for the players to fight. I did not realize for many years that wrestling was really the thing I was looking for.<br />
<br />
You have given me a place to belong, something I never really had before. I was always the loner, the outcast, the loser. But now, I belong. I have a group. A place where people know me and welcome me with big squishy hugs. A place where I am missed when I'm not there. A place that is always waiting for me, a place I can always come back to. A place that feels an awful lot like home.<br />
<br />
You have given me such great friends, and such great adventures. I have seen things and done things that I still to this day have trouble believing happened to me. Me! Little old me, from nowhere Ohio, has found herself in the most amazing situations. These are memories I will cherish for the rest of my life.<br />
<br />
You have given me a self-confidence that I never had before. I was the girl who never spoke and tried to hide behind my hair all the time, or in a book. Now I'm the girl standing on chairs and shouting at the top of my lungs, or looking to my right at a bar in NYC and saying "Oh hey, it's Eddie Edwards."<br />
<br />
(And to which he responded, "Why yes it is. I like your hat." This is the best wrestling memory I have. He probably doesn't even remember me anymore, but I remember, and that's enough for me.)<br />
<br />
I'm the girl whose writing is on a variety of different sites, sites that reach more viewers than I even care to know about, in more countries than I can even think of. This site alone, my wienery little blog here, has done almost 6000 views since inception, and almost 600 this month alone, which is an all time high. It has views from something like two dozen countries around the world. That probably isn't that much, in the grand scheme of things, but it utterly <i>boggles</i> me. These words, that I wrote, are being read <b>around the world.</b> These words I write from my couch in Ohio, when I'm probably not even wearing pants. (Or trousers, for those of you who may be reading from the UK.)<br />
<br />
You have given me a voice and a platform. I am so unbelievably passionate about this weird sport thing. I have had other "passions" in life, things I've enjoyed doing, but none of them has stuck so hard and for so long. I've always enjoyed writing, and wrestling has brought out the very best in me in that regard. That is another reason I love you, wrestling.<br />
<br />
You gave me myself, you gave me my words. You brought out this strange loud version of me that I never imagined existed (although perhaps a shade of her was there, at age seven, at the first and only hockey game her father ever took her to).<br />
<br />
I don't know why all this should be. I don't know why I should be so passionate about men and women wrestling each other in spandex tights. It sounds incredibly weird. It's incredibly hard to explain to people who aren't wrestling fans.<br />
<br />
(And the amount of times I have to dispel the silly notion that wrestling is <i>fake</i>, ugh)<br />
<br />
I just do. I love it. I keep trying to find words for it. The sound of bodies hitting canvas, moonsaults, dragonranas, suicide dives, near-falls, title matches... but it never feels like enough. Perhaps to someone who isn't a fan, it will never be enough.<br />
<br />
Perhaps it's because wrestling itself is a sport of passion. For every wrestling fan who finds it hard to describe to normal people why they love it, it surely must be ten times harder for someone who just wants to become a wrestler.<br />
<br />
"You want to put on underwear... and roll around... with another dude in underwear... in FRONT of people?"<br />
<br />
But still, they go for it. They train and they put their bodies on the line, day after day after day, and they get back up, and they keep going. They fight for every inch and every angle, every little handhold in the business, just to make a name for themselves.<br />
<br />
I remember reading in an interview once -- I think it was the Miz -- who said something along the lines of "Everyone gets into wrestling imagining they will headline Wrestlemania."<br />
<br />
You have to respect the kind of passion that takes for someone to work so hard for that moment... and be so utterly thrilled when they succeed. When you see someone go from the indies to ROH, from ROH to TNA, and TNA to WWE? That's fucking amazing. You see this person living their dream. Living their passion. And it gives you hope, that if they did it, so can you, whatever your passion happens to be.<br />
<br />
My passion happens to be this. I have dreams for someday getting paid for this... whether it's writing or reporting or even writing for one of the big companies themselves. (I think I'd be great at storylines, I'm just saying.) I don't know if that will ever happen for me. I want it to, more than anything. I hope so. I feel it in my heart, in my bones.<br />
<br />
Wrestling has given me so much already that I feel so selfish asking for more. Even if this ultimate dream, my personal Wrestlemania, doesn't happen for me, I can only hope wrestling will always continue to feel like my home, to bring me new stories and more great adventures, more wonderful friends, and the ability to reach people all over this big gorgeous world of ours.<br />
<br />
For giving me even the smallest bit of opportunity, the tiniest presence I have in this crazy business, my words and my whole, actual, greatest self, I have absolutely nothing but love and humility and joy. I am so thankful just to be a part of this thing. To have had the opportunities I've already had. The adventures and the memories, good and bittersweet.<br />
<br />
Thank you. Thank you so much.<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
MeAmandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-10257485355376638372013-07-10T17:04:00.000-04:002013-07-10T17:04:29.579-04:00In Defense of AIW<br />
So <a href="http://themandibleclaw.com/2013/07/02/the-mandible-claw-podcast-9-waiting-for-the-punchline/">this podcast</a> happened, right?<br />
<br />
As a rule, I don't really like podcasts. I don't know why, I just find them boring. I don't even like Colt Cabana's podcasts that much, even though I've found them hilarious when I've heard them, and I generally just adore Colt Cabana. (Who DOESN'T adore Colt Cabana though, am I right?)<br />
<br />
But there was this podcast. I heard about it when I woke up to go to work at 5am yesterday and my twitter feed was just blown up with tweets about AIW. I was like "What the hell is this?" and then I went to work.<br />
<br />
Over the past day or so I've learned a little more about what the hell happened and listened to some of this podcast, in the interest of fairness.<br />
<br />
I didn't like it.<br />
<br />
Danielle Matheson, the podcast... I don't know, owner? Host? goes into a rant about AIW and the fans in general. She basically called the fans shitty and bad and homophobic and racist and sexist and... stuff. Really strong stuff.<br />
<br />
That's basically what I'm going to focus on here. There are some other things (Whether or not AIW is bad, whether or not someone used the N word in a chant during an ACH/AR Fox match -- I wasn't there, I don't know -- whether or not her personal information was given out and she received threats. If that's true, that's not cool, guys, come on.)<br />
<br />
Let me tell you about myself.<br />
<br />
I've been going to AIW since 2011.<br />
<br />
I've gone alone to almost all of the shows. I've gone alone, to the west side of Cleveland, to an arena with a very large majority of men.<br />
<br />
I have never felt unsafe there. I have never felt afraid or threatened, felt like my own personal safety was at any point a serious issue. I have had wrestlers come barreling through the crowd, over the barrier, throwing things in my near vicinity (like a table... and a garbage can) and I have had to move out of the way very quickly. I have never felt threatened or afraid.<br />
<br />
In fact, when I took a personal hiatus, and I came back to AIW after being away for NEARLY AN ENTIRE YEAR, I STILL had people coming up to me and telling me they missed me, and giving me big squishy awesome hugs, and telling me they were glad to see me coming back to shows.<br />
<br />
AIW... feels like home. Feels like family. I go to shows and I see the same faces every time. People say hi. People wave. People talk to you. When I first started going, I knew no one. And I made friends. It's not easy for me to make friends. Maybe it's something about wrestling. Maybe it's being misunderstood and then being in a group FULL of people like you, who all came together out of that misunderstanding. These people, for better or for worse, are my people.<br />
<br />
In any case, I love my AIW friends. I love that so many people said "Hey, welcome back! We missed your face!"<br />
<br />
Now, about the crowd at large.<br />
<br />
Are we obnoxious? Yes. Are we vulgar? Fuck yes we are. To me, that's one of the best parts of AIW. We chant what we want, when we fucking want to, because we fucking can, and fuck you if you don't like it. One of my favorite chants of all time is "YOU'RE GONNA GET YOUR FUCKIN' HEAD KICKED IN" usually chanted at Johnny Gargano.<br />
<br />
Now, are there some wrestling fans that are sexist, or racists, or homophobic, or generally just shitty people? Yes. Because when you put a large group of people together, you're going to get a mixture of things. You get people from everywhere, all walks of life. Have I heard people say shitty racist, sexist things while at an AIW show? Yes. Yes I have. But I've heard people say shitty racist things at the bar. Hell, I've heard my own mother say shitty racist things. Because one person in one place says a shitty thing, it doesn't make the whole group shitty. That's actually being prejudiced.<br />
<br />
Like I said, I don't know if someone was shouting racist things at ACH and/or AR Fox. I wasn't there. I don't have that DVD. I don't know. If it's true, yes that person did set a bad example. That one person does not represent AIW, the company or the crowd.<br />
<br />
People probably shouldn't chant racist or sexist things. I agree with you there.<br />
<br />
But you can't tell people what to chant or not to chant. That's just not on. John Thorne and Chandler Biggins don't have to control us to make us more tolerable for the rest of the world. We are perfectly happy doing what we do. You don't like us? Go away. Controlling us for your own pleasure is not their job. They provide great wrestling. That's what they do. If anything I've heard is any indication, it's not very easy, either. Policing us like this is 1984 is shit that they don't need. And to what end? Because someone, somewhere, might be offended by something? Here's the thing. If you're out looking to find something to be offended by, chances are high that you're going to find it.<br />
<br />
AIW works. Their last show, Absolution 8, sold out. People come from out of state to see AIW shows. Some of their highest draws are the Girls Night Out shows, shows featuring ONLY women wrestlers. Is that sexist? That's awesome, is what it is.<br />
<br />
I don't like it when people say shitty racist or sexist things either. I really wish all that shit would go away. But people are just going to say shitty things, because people are always and only people. They are imperfect. There are always going to be assholes.<br />
<br />
But I really, truly resent the implication that ALL AIW fans are shitty people. I don't think I'm a shitty person. I'm not racist, or homophobic, and I'm certainly not sexist. Because one person said one thing at one show ONE TIME, a show that I was not even AT, suddenly I'm a terrible excuse for a human being? I really don't appreciate that. I don't know who you think you are that you can make that kind of broad-sweeping generalization.<br />
<br />
If you don't like AIW, fine. Then don't like it for the booking, for the venue, because it's in Cleveland, because the quality is bad, because the tickets or the DVDs are too expensive, whatever. Something. Don't hate it because of something that is literally out of its control, that makes it what it is.<br />
<br />
(AIW fans, this is directed at you. I've heard that some of you threatened the podcast host lady. If you did, and I sincerely hope that you didn't, that's not cool. If someone accuses you of being shitty and bad, the way to respond to that is not to be shitty and bad. Threatening people is generally never the answer. Please don't threaten her. You can disagree with a person civilly.)<br />
<br />
I love AIW. I will continue to love AIW and go to shows, and hang out with my buddies, and shout loud, vulgar things at wrestlers, because it is awesome. Because it is fun. It makes me happy. If you don't like AIW... don't come to a show. Don't buy the DVDs. It's that easy. You don't have to like us. We don't care.<br />
<br />
Listen... we're all wrestling fans here, right? We all love wrestling? Instead of trying to divide into groups or cliques or whatever... let's all just... love wrestling, okay? We're all on the same side here.<br />
<br />
Finally, in closing:<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Alh6iIvVN9o" width="560"></iframe>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-52943800602418284612013-07-03T16:21:00.000-04:002013-07-03T16:21:40.953-04:00Spotlight: Michael ElginI recently returned to the land of independent wrestling after a rather long hiatus, because of reasons that don't matter because HI<br />
<br />
Naturally my drug of choice is AIW, Absolute Intense Wrestling, otherwise known as The Only Wrestling In Cleveland That Matters. The show? Absolution 8.<br />
<br />
Absolution is like AIW's answer to Wrestlemania, except with actual wrestling and less explosions and more mind-blowing twists. (Like last year, when #Nixon was revealed to be ERIC RYAN (And RSP, and Bobby Beverly, although you really kind of just expect Bobby Beverly to be involved with that sort of thing, and Duke) and then he threw a table at me. Well, not at me personally, he threw a table and I just happened to be in front of it. Admittedly it sure does beat having a GARBAGE CAN thrown at you, but I digress.<br />
<br />
Needless to say, if you go to one AIW show, go to Absolution. (If you go to two, you should probably go to JLIT and save on your travel expenses.)<br />
<br />
Anyway, the point I was trying to make here, is I went to AIW for the first time in the while and I'm a little bit out of the loop, because one of the most amazing, ridiculous, easily show-stealing matches of the night was between Michael Elgin and Josh Alexander, AKA two guys I had literally never heard of before that night.<br />
<br />
I don't know what rock I was hiding under.<br />
<br />
I really want to make a The Rock joke in there somewhere, but I'll refrain. I'm a professional, damn it. This post is supposed to be about Michael Elgin being badass.<br />
<br />
Anyway, here I am at Abso8 and here is this match between dudes that I do not know. (Although I had been sitting in front of Michael Elgin as he was shilling shirts, and he definitely at one point said "Hey, those nachos would taste better if you were wearing an Elgin shirt" and I do not doubt the veracity of this claim.)<br />
<br />
It looks like one of those matches that's going to be brawling and grappling, which is <i>okay</i> but not my favorite. After a while it's like "Okay if I wanted to watch MMA... I'd watch MMA!"<br />
<br />
But here's this match. It's okay. Lots of grappling as I expected, but I'm not bored. Neither guy is really coming out as a heel or face so I'm not real sure who to root for. Then here is Michael Elgin, holding Josh Alexander upside down, straight up in the air. Which I've seen, we've all seen it. I'm not sure why being upside down makes it more effective but it looks pretty cool. It's impressive, I suppose, in the physical sense.<br />
<br />
Michael Elgin held that move for something close to two minutes.<br />
<br />
Any other time I've seen it, the guy holds it for ten seconds, maybe twenty if he's trying to be impressive (or if the opponent is smaller than he is).<br />
<br />
But this guy, Michael Elgin, this guy right here, holds Josh Alexander, who is easily Elgin's size if not maybe slightly taller, upside down, straight up, over his head, for two minutes. Well, I didn't have like a stopwatch going, but I will comfortably say between a minute and a half to two. When the DVD comes out, we can time it.<br />
<br />
(On an aside, kudos to you Mr. Alexander for being upside down for that long. I applaud you. His face was PURPLE, guys.)<br />
<br />
And he suplexes Alexander and I'm like, "Welp! This guys has my vote."<br />
<br />
The match goes on for a spine-melting thirty minutes of awesomeness. There were suplexes and powerbombs so massive I thought the ring was going to break. There were near-falls that had me clutching my hat in shock. There was at least one "This is awesome!" and "Holy shit!" chant. The room pretty much collectively lost its shit.<br />
<br />
In the end they simply ran out of time. They ran down their thirty minute time limit, because that's how amazing they are. They each got on the mic, put each other over, and set a rematch.<br />
<br />
Needless to say, I'm ready.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/rOUFCWCk7ak" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
Here's an MV of Michael Elgin vs. Davey Richards, because who doesn't also love a little Davey Richards am I right? It's not a match so much as it is a match cut and edited to music, but it's still pretty badass. Apparently Michael Elgin is in ROH which perhaps accounts for a bit of my cluelessness. I haven't followed ROH with any degree of consistency since they went off HDNet. It also turns out that Elgin is actually in contendership for the Heavyweight title.<br />
<br />
Whoops.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/B9NAdXMgCQw" width="420"></iframe>
<br />
Anyway, here is him vs. Brodie Lee. He does get the crap beat of him a bit but he puts on a heck of a good fight. Also, the announcer at one point uses the phrase "beating the cock out of", so there's that.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XJ9UbQeSTHM" width="420"></iframe>
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Here's one with him and Josh Alexander, from 2009, when they were but wee tiny babies. You can see a ghost of the awesomeness that will be them at Abso, especially around the 10 minute mark when Elgin goes "ALRIGHT I have had ENOUGH of your SHIT Alexander!"<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/GTni_ltCHlU" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
A proper match between Elgin and Davey Richards. For whatever reason I enjoy these two together; I think it's because I find them to be similar. Not in movesets or anything -- Davey Richards is more like KICKS and FLYING, whereas Elgin is like "I WILL POWERBOMB YOUR FACE" -- but because you basically have to half-kill them to keep them down. Three-quarters in the case of Davey Richards. And maybe that aspect doesn't show so much in this match but in Abso8? Oh my goodness. I actually found myself rooting against Davey while watching this, which is rare, to say the least.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/baA557UgYDw" width="420"></iframe>
And one final time, here he is wrestling obvious crowd favorite Manabu Soya. In it you will find excellent of examples of Elgin just not staying the fuck down, and those massive powerbombs I mentioned earlier.<br />
<br />
So, if you're a clueless noob like I am, apparently, I hope I made a good case for Michael Elgin and why you should definitely know who he is. I hope he does well in ROH with his title aspirations... just so long as he doesn't forget about AIW and the rematch he promised us!Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-71040807740413319322012-05-22T19:11:00.000-04:002012-05-22T19:11:06.490-04:00Double Double, Toil and TroubleOn June 16th, Beyond Wrestling and St. Louis Anarchy are coming together to bring Cleveland the most mind-blowing wrestling event you can possible imagine and then some. Double Trouble.<br />
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I've been trying to write this release for about an hour now, and let me tell you the one singular piece of information you absolutely need to know.</div>
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The main event is ACH vs. Johnny Gargano. </div>
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That's it. You really don't need anything else to want to come to this show. I don't care if you've never heard of St. Louis Anarchy, or if you could care less about Beyond Wrestling. I'm going to go ahead and <i>tell</i> you that you need to know about St.LA and that you need to care about Beyond Wrestling, but if you need to be further convinced about this show, I have no idea how you even got here. (You should probably go here <a href="http://icanhas.cheezburger.com/">instead</a>)</div>
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'Well,' you might be saying to me, 'That's all fine and well, but that's only one match. It's a great match, but do I want to ship my ass up to Cleveland for one great match when the rest of the show is a bunch of asshats I've never heard of and don't particularly care to see?' </div>
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My response is a sigh and this look -________-</div>
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But if you need something else to look forward to, other matches and appearances announced include:</div>
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*Dan Walsh, St.LA Champ vs. Rickey Shane Page</div>
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*Mark Angel vs. Drew Gulak</div>
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*Arik Cannon, Darin Corbin and Christian Rose vs. Pierre Abernathy, Evan Gelistico and Gary Jay (also known as the Submission Squad)<br />
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*Aaron Epic, Sugar Dunkerton and Pinkie Sanchez vs. KJ Crush, Jack Verville and Maserati Rick<br />
<br />
Also scheduled to appear includes RD Evans. That's another one of those things I don't even need to elaborate on. RD Evans is going to be wrestling. Come on now. But also Mat Fitchett, Davey Vega, Chase Burnett, Zane Silver, Johnny Mangue, Matthew Justice, the Pitboss, Corvis Fear and Johnny Cockstrong. Among many others.<br />
<br />
And that's just so far. We still have a little under a month for more fun and excitement to be announced.<br />
<br />
But okay, enough TALKING about wrestling. Let's have some LOOKING at wrestling.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bfLi4Kh_wUQ" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
Here's Dan Walsh vs. Davey Vega from Metro Pro Wrestling, located in Kansas City. Now, imagine this, only with RSP instead of Davey Vega. Do you think the Danimal is going to get splattered all over Turner's Hall? Because I think the Danimal is going to get splattered all over Turner's Hall. Better not sit by any trashcans.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/poAkI_xmhY4" width="560"></iframe><br />
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Here's a good bout between Aaron Epic and Drew Gulak from Beyond's Tournament for Tomorrow. It's pretty heavy on the grappling and the holds, but quite lovely just the same. It gives you a good feel for their characters, I believe. See also Pinkie Sanchez and Sugar D in the background. Those three will be wrestling. Yeah.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_if8tKl2V2E" width="560"></iframe><br />
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The Pitboss vs. dany only vs. KJ Crush vs. Eddie Graves. There's a lot going on in this matchup. There's a venue-spanning brawl between dany only and the Pitboss, there's chairs being thrown between KJ and Graves. It's pretty intense. And I would like to remind everyone that the last time Pitboss showed up in Cleveland with Beyond, he was forcibly ejected from the venue for being a douche. So. That should be fun.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kgRle3bhOao" width="560"></iframe><br />
Unfortunately, this whole match isn't available on Youtube, but you should have already bought the DVD. RD Evans vs. AR Fox, from the last time Beyond came to Cleveland, Back in Flesh. This match was exactly as brilliant as you would imagine. "Hey ref, count me out! Oh wait, it's no DQ!" I'm pretty sure this match cemented my love for both AR Fox and for RD Evans. I need to go watch it again. (Because *I* bought the DVD. I might also be in the background in this video *shifty eyes*)<br />
<br />
Come to this show. Just do it. It's good wrestling. You like good wrestling. Hell, you love good wrestling. If you want to see it, I can guarantee it will be in Cleveland on June 16th.<br />
<br />
--<br />
<i>St. Louis Anarchy and Beyond Wrestling come to Cleveland June 16th at Turner's Hall, 7325 Guthrie Avenue. Doors at 6:30, bell at 7:30. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased <a href="http://lookmanofans.com/store/live-event-tickets/double-trouble/">here</a>. Be here or you suck.</i>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-85137388688954630122012-05-15T14:39:00.001-04:002012-05-15T14:39:38.398-04:00A Conscientious FanI got the notion to write this after seeing <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Popular_YouTube_Personality_Says_John_Cena_Denied_His_Request_For_A_Photo.html">this article</a> the other day. In summary, a guy saw John Cena on a shuttle and John Cena refused his request for a picture. The man took incredible offense to Cena's denial, though to his credit seemed understanding when he learned Cena had just filed for divorce.<br />
<br />
But I was more intrigued by the first aspect of the story. I've heard a lot of stories of fans interacting with wrestlers. Some good, some... not so much. I find it so interesting to see how "normal" people interact with "famous" people... especially when that behavior shades to the poorer sides of it.<br />
<br />
So I thought I could say a few things.<br />
<br />
For the record, I don't by any means claim to be a "good" fan, though I like to believe I have common sense when it comes to interacting with "famous people."<br />
<br />
Also, this is geared towards the fans of wrestlers, because that's just how I do. And I think you're more likely to run into, you know, CM Punk at the grocery store than Angelina Jolie. However it's probably a good basis for running into any kind of Famous Person.<br />
<br />
<b>It happens...</b><br />
<b><br /></b><br />
You're out minding your own business and by strange fate or providence, you come to discover you are sharing space with a bona fide Famous Person. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. What do you do? HOW DO YOU APPROACH? WHERE'S SOME PAPER? DO I HAVE A PEN??<br />
<br />
Before you run up to John Cena and start waving a paper in front of his face, I want you all to run through a few things in your head. Put the cap back on your Sharpie and take a second to use your noggin before John Cena shorts it out.<br />
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<b>1. Wrestlers are people too.</b><br />
<b><br /></b><br />
When you see a wrestler outside of the ring, he's just a normal dude. Be it John Cena or Josh Prohibition, all he wants to do is his normal dude stuff. Buying his groceries, eating dinner with his family, taking a leak, working out, calling his wife or his children on the phone. He just wants to do his thing with the minimum amount of hassle possible. I think that's something we can all relate to, right? You just want to get to work; you don't want to deal with asshole drivers cutting in front of you, or rush hour traffic, or rubberneckers rubbernecking at an accident on the <i>opposite side of the highway</i>. Wrestlers just want to do their own thing too.<br />
<br />
Maybe he's in a good mood. Maybe he's not. Maybe he's dealing with a divorce, or his kid is sick, or his parents are sick, or his parents are getting a divorce, or he's hungover, or he's sleep-deprived, or his stomach is upset from all that shitty on the road food he's been eating. You don't know. Just as your tolerance for bullshit goes down when you're in a bad mood, so too does theirs. Before you go up to a wrestler just trying to be a normal dude, remember that he just might not want to deal with some stranger getting all up in his face. It has nothing to do with you personally; nor is it a credit to his character. Sometimes people just have bad days.<br />
<br />
<b>2. Timing Is Everything</b><br />
<b><br /></b><br />
If you absolutely must approach a wrestler on his normal-dude time, try to do it at an appropriate moment.<br />
<br />
Appropriate moments do NOT include:<br />
<br />
*When he's in the bathroom. CM Punk complains about this on Twitter <i>all the time.</i> I would assume it is common sense, but apparently it's not. Don't follow a dude into the bathroom. It's fucking creepy and weird. If there is absolutely no other moment you can catch him and you absolutely NEED to catch him, at least wait outside.<br />
<br />
*When he's with his family. Leave the man alone, okay? Like I mentioned previously, he's just trying to be a normal dude and spend time with his family. Bear in mind, he's probably on the road a lot so he doesn't get to see them very often, let alone spend quality time with them.<br />
<br />
If you're not sure, just think about it. Think about how you would feel in that situation. Getting off a plane after a twelve-hour flight. Out of a car after an eight-hour drive. In the middle of dinner. At the gym. I see that gripe a lot from wrestlers on Twitter. I don't go to the gym, I do not purport to understand gym etiquette, but it still goes back to normal dude on normal dude time just trying to do what normal dudes do.<br />
<br />
<b>3. Wrestlers do not owe you anything, nor do you have a "right" to receive anything from them</b><br />
<b><br /></b><br />
This is a little touchy. You could argue "He wouldn't be famous without his fans! The least he could do is spare me a shitty autograph!" or "He knew what he was getting into before he got famous!"<br />
<br />
I agree with the former statement. If not for fans, no one would be famous. Fans make the famous dude famous. And it's nice to receive a little recognition.<br />
<br />
But just because you stumble across a wrestler on his normal dude time, it doesn't mean you are automatically entitled to go up to him and get a picture and/or an autograph. If you're at a show or a meet-n-greet or some type of fan-oriented deal, that's one thing. He's still in wrestler-mode. He's well prepared for fans.<br />
<br />
But when you run into him at the grocery store, or the gym, or the restaurant, or whatever, you're cutting into his normal dude time. He's not in the ring, he's not in his gear, he's just buying food for dinner. He's running his errands. It's his personal time. He's not getting paid. He's not on the clock.<br />
<br />
Have you ever been at your job, running some errands after your shift is over, and someone asks you to help with something? Or at a store you don't even work at and someone walks up to you? I mean, at your own work you probably try to help them, right? At least point them in the right direction. At the very least, you're polite about it. But you don't OWE them any help because you're not on the clock. You're just trying to run your errands after a long fucking day so you can go home and get off your feet.<br />
<br />
Just because John Cena happens to be out in public doesn't give you the automatic unassailable right to get in his face and demand a picture or an autograph or both. He's off the clock, so to speak. He'll do it, to be nice, to be polite, because I'm sure he generally enjoys his fans. But he doesn't OWE you. You're on HIS time.<br />
<br />
<b>4. Social Media</b><br />
<b><br /></b><br />
Stop asking for RTs and follows on Twitter. This is spam. What you are doing is spamming. Nobody likes spam. NOBODY. LIKES. SPAM. John Cena is not going to follow you. John Cena is definitely not going to follow you if you ask him to 9000 times a day. And this is just my personal opinion, but I'm less likely to follow someone if they ask me.<br />
<br />
Asking for RTs is lame. If you really want to be retweeted, maybe say something worth a RT, other than "Hey plz RT me" because no. Unless you do that to CM Punk, and he probably would RT you just to call you an idiot. But hey, if that's what you're going for... knock yourself out.<br />
<br />
So... let's all agree that that needs to stop. Besides, wouldn't you rather be RT'd for something cool you said, or something intelligent, or interesting, than just because you asked for it? Doesn't that have more meaning? I think it does.<br />
<b><br /></b><br />
I also want you to recognize the fact that you are not the only person who tweets John Cena. John Cena probably gets literally a bajillion tweets a day (half of which are probably asking for follows or RTs!) He doesn't have time to reply to every single one of them, or RT all the ones that ask for it. He probably doesn't even look at his @replies all the time.<br />
<br />
So if you consistently tweet at John Cena and he never tweets back, he's not ignoring you. It's not personal. He's buried under 10,000 tweets of the same content and consistency. I just searched @JohnCena, a little scientific experiment here, and he's gotten 22 tweets in the last ten minutes. Average it out a little, that's two tweets a minute. That's two tweets a minute ALL THE TIME.<br />
<br />
Also, if John Cena does, god forbid, have a few minutes to himself and go "Hey, I'm going to converse with my fans on Twitter for a bit." do you think he's going to be more likely to reply to a well-thought-out question or someone just saying "Hi" or "Sup John". Plus when all his followers (of which he has over <i>two million of</i>, by the way) see he's tweeting at fans, think of how many tweets/minute that would go up to. Ten? Fifteen? Thirty? I can't even imagine. The man simply <i>cannot get to all of you. </i><br />
<br />
Also, you might be spamming him. See above.<br />
<br />
<b>5. Don't be creepy</b><br />
<b><br /></b><br />
Let me share with you this story I heard some years ago.<br />
<br />
WWE was doing an Australia tour. This girl went to the airport and waited at the gate for the plane that Randy Orton and John Cena were getting off of. I don't know how she was able to GET to the gate, but she did.<br />
<br />
When Cena and Orton got off the plane, she followed them <i>from the gate to the baggage claim</i>. Not just that. She had her camera on them, with some setting that allowed automatic pictures to be taken every three seconds or some nonsense. FROM THE GATE. TO THE BAGGAGE CLAIM.<br />
<br />
One of the superstars (I seem to recall it was Orton) actually told her to knock it off, and she actually had the gall to take <b>offense. </b>Let me remind you these two men just spent upwards of twelve hours on a plane and this girl was following them around with a camera like the fucking paparazzi like this was a sane and okay thing to do.<br />
<br />
Short answer; no, no it's not.<br />
<br />
Long answer; oh my god, are you insane? If I have to break down for you all the ways that that is rude and inconsiderate and shady and batshit crazy, you need to go back to your home planet, sugarpie. I don't think there is any one part of that story that can be considered <i>acceptable</i>.<br />
<br />
If you want to wait someplace where you know a wrestler may happen to be, fine. I know a lot of people have done that. I have done that. I am not entirely proud of it, but I have. Not in an airport though, for the love of Jesus. But there's a line. You get your autograph and your picture and you go on your merry way.<br />
<br />
If you have to lurk around to meet or greet your favorite wrestler, you're doing something wrong. Please reconsider your tactics.<br />
<br />
<b>In closing...</b><br />
<b><br /></b><br />
I want you to meet your favorite wrestler. I really do. I want you to have pictures and autographs -- autographed pictures! -- and those memories. Those memories are the best. I'm there with you, I promise. I just want you to try and do it in a way that makes the experience as pleasant as possible for everyone involved.<br />
<br />
It's easy to get starstruck, I know. Something in your brain short-circuits when you get near some of these guys. I completely lost my brain when I met Chris Sabin, for example. I can't even be entirely sure actual words came out of my mouth.<br />
<br />
Just before you go up to anyone, before your brain gets too frazzled by realizing that <b>oh my god I'm breathing the same air as John Cena right now </b>and you fumble for your Sharpie, just think. Is this moment appropriate? Is John Cena about think you're a huge douchebag? Do you WANT John Cena to think you're a huge douchebag?<br />
<br />
Do you, while your brain is busy going <b>oh my god I'm talking to John Cena right now, </b>want John Cena to be thinking "Oh my god, can't this asshole hurry it up, my ice cream is melting."<br />
<br />
Or "Oh my god, what a creeper."<br />
<br />
Just... think for a second. Is he busy? Is he with his family? Is he in the bathroom? Are you lurking right now?<br />
<br />
Do you know where your Sharpie is?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><br /></b><br />
<br />Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-64999789828312730602012-04-02T12:41:00.001-04:002012-04-02T12:41:53.739-04:00Wrestlemania 28; The Good, The Bad and the UglyYesterday I watched the "Once in a lifetime" Wrestlemania event (at least until next year's Wrestlemania) in a bar stuffed to the rafters with wrestling fans. Which is pretty much the only way to watch any kind of wrestling show whatsoever.<br />
<br />
Here's what I thought about the WWE's mainest of all main event shows.<br />
<br />
The Good:<br />
<br />
<b>Undertaker vs. Triple H.</b> There was a spot right in the middle where the both of them had very, very near falls on the other. HBK nailed a Sweet Chin Music followed by Triple H's Pedigree, Undertaker landed a Tombstone. Both kicked out. I have to tell you, the bar lost its shit in that moment. It was amazing. Unfortunately, after that moment, the finish felt a little anticlimactic.<br />
<br />
I'd felt on the fence about whether I believed Taker would be retiring at nice, round number 20 and 0. Seeing everyone hug it out after the match made me wonder a little harder if this would be the last we saw of the old guy. I would be sad, but the ending was very poignant.<br />
<br />
<b>That One Spot in the Big Tag Match. </b>Team Teddy and Team Johnny. Nothing particularly spectacular throughout the whole thing, unless you want to count the time Miz almost jobbed to Santino. Despite being the biggest Mizfit that EVER was, I found that potential outcome quite hilarious. Poor Miz. How far the mighty have fallen!<br />
<br />
But there was one spot. You know the spot I'm talking about. Team Red was mostly outside of the ring. Team Blue picked up Hornswoggle and put him on the top rope. He leapt onto Mark Henry, who caught him and tossed him to the side. SUDDENLY OUT OF NOWHERE THREE PEOPLE LEAPT OVER THE TOP ROPE IN A BEAUTIFULLY SYNCHRONIZED SUICIDE DIVE.<br />
<br />
Caps and all. It was beautiful.<br />
<br />
<b>Punk and Jericho. </b>Unfortunately, I missed a chunk out of the middle of this match because the bar lost power. And then the fire alarms went off. And noooobody evacuated. It took a little while for the satellites to reset and all told I don't think we missed more than five or so minutes. It FELT like a long time though.<br />
<br />
I was really surprised that Punk walked away with the belt. I would have bet that it would have been Jericho. So... I'm impressed.<br />
<br />
The Bad:<br />
<br />
<b>Hey, Let's Squash the WHC Title, Guys... That'll Be Great. </b>I like Sheamus. I like Daniel Bryan. What I did not expect was to see was a ten second squash match of the heavyweight title in the opening match of the show. Really? That was a good idea? To SQUASH one of your main championship titles? Really? And to OPEN YOUR SHOW with that? I can't remember if Daniel Bryan was in Wrestlemania last year. He wrestled a dark match. So if I read everything correctly, this would have been his first real Wrestlemania. He was "headlining" Mania as a heavyweight champ. And he dropped the belt in less than five seconds. How awful must that feel.<br />
<br />
Also, you just know they're setting it up for him to blame AJ, and they're gonna further this "Daniel Bryan is an abusive boyfriend" storyline, which is just a BRILLIANT angle, if you ask me. (Unless at some point in the future, AJ rises up righteous and kicks the crap out of Daniel, which of course won't happen, because wrestling is the men's work in this company, darling, why don't you head on back to the kitchen and make us some coffee)<br />
<br />
<b>Speaking of Women and Wrestling. </b>I hate Kelly Kelly. I'm sure in real life, she's a wonderful person, and she's very pretty, but she couldn't wrestle her way out of a paper bag if it was wet. She's been wrestling for WWE for six years. She still can't run the ropes. Her "finishers" are a glorified cartwheel and shaking her ass in your face. (I'm sure there is a select number of people in the 'verse who would love to wear Kelly Kelly's ass as a hat. We are not talking to those people... they are very strange.) That's not wrestling. That's an affront to any women wrestlers who actually bust their asses and train and scratch and claw to be taken seriously in the ring.<br />
<br />
Maria Menounos is not even a wrestler. Maria Menounos is a TV personality, who barely qualifies for the "star" portion of "Dancing With The Stars." She is quite possibly the only person they could have found who is less of a wrestler than K2.<br />
<br />
And instead of pulling a decently qualified member of the lady roster, or someone like Natalya, they pulled in some random person off the street that I'm willing to bet a comfortable percentage of the people watching had never heard of.<br />
<br />
Already this match was an affront to any sane fan of wrestling.<br />
<br />
And Maria Menounos pinned Beth Phoenix. I can't even formulate anything to say to that. How weak does that make Beth look, honestly. Beth Phoenix is one of the strongest women they have on the roster, and they job her to this NOBODY? For what purpose, exactly? What in the name of all things does that seek to accomplish??<br />
<br />
The Ugly:<br />
<br />
<b>Somebody Call My Momma. </b>I have to confess, I died laughing at Brodus Clay's "momma" and her booty shaking bridge club, because it was just SO ABSURD. I literally had no other way to react to it. You guys realize that Brodus Clay and his army of Mommas got more air time than the WHC match? With goddamned DANIEL BRYAN? There's your problem, WWE. That's where you're going wrong.<br />
<br />
The Eh:<br />
<br />
<b>Randy Orton and Kane. </b>The viper! The big red monster! How could this go wrong? It went wrong.<br />
<br />
Do you remember a couple years ago when Orton was out of his mind and he punted Stephanie McMahon in the head and then kissed her while she was unconscious? That was great, right? I thought so.<br />
<br />
The point I'm getting at here is both Kane and Orton have been known in the not-so-distant past to be completely batshit insane. What I wanted to see was two completely batshit insane people tear each other and themselves apart in the ring. I wanted fire. I wanted blood. I wanted mayhem. I wanted Crazy!Viper!Orton. I did not get any of these things (unless you count the little bit of Kane's ringpost fire). I got a fairly standard run-of-the-mill match between two guys that really didn't seem to know why they were there. There were no spectacular spots, there didn't seem to be any particular heat between them, just a fairly average... boring match. Nothing was gained or lost in this match.<br />
<br />
<b>Boots To Asses. </b>I don't even need to tell you guys how huge this match was hyped. I saw all the same video packages you did. This match had been building for a year. This match was going to be bigger than Jesus. More time was spent on RAW having these two guys talk to each other than any actual wrestling. This match was going to be the best thing ever. This was a ONCE IN A LIFETIME EVENT. This was THE ROCK AND JOHN CENA.<br />
<br />
Did it live up to even a quarter of the hype?<br />
<br />
I don't think so. I mean, it was okay. It had some good spots. I thought the Rock looked good in the ring for the first time in I don't even know. Cena jumped off the top rope, which he only does at PPVs. It wasn't bad, don't get me wrong, but for all that hype, goddamn.<br />
<br />
And I'm not gonna lie, I would have liked to have seen Cena land a People's Elbow on the Rock. I think it would have been funny.<br />
<br />
Granted, I think it's pretty hard, if not nigh on impossible to live up to any kind of expectation for a match that's been hyped for over a year. Maybe you shouldn't hype matches up for that long, I don't know. Maybe it was just too heavy, too overbearing.<br />
<br />
<b>And in closing. </b>I thought it was fairly decent. Obviously there were a few things they could have done differently, or better, or not at all, but it did certainly have its standout moments.<br />
<br />
I have to judge WWE differently than I do other wrestling. I don't watch WWE because I expect to get my mind blown; that why I watch AIW. If I watch WWE and I'm not disgusted or horrified or completely bored for the whole thing, it was a success. Please bear that in mind.<br />
<br />
So what did you think?<br />
<br />
<br />Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-12788468080836113922012-03-05T21:38:00.000-05:002012-03-05T21:38:36.209-05:00What It Means To Be AthleticSo I found this article today. <a href="http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1084816-pro-wrestling-the-30-skinniest-non-athletic-looking-wrestlers-of-all-time">The Thirty Skinniest, Non-Athletic-Looking Wrestlers Of All Time</a><br />
<br />
The first time I read it, I only managed to get to #10, which by coincidence just happened to be Chris Sabin. I later went back and read the whole thing out of sick morbid curiosity.<br />
<br />
I truly don't understand what this author considers "athletic" to look like. Sometimes it seems that "athletic" just means "tall." So guys under six foot, like Jamie Noble, Evan Bourne and AJ Styles (AJ Styles isn't athletic, y'all) by virtue of being, say, five foot eight, aren't athletic. Maybe in basketball athleticism equals height, but then again, consider Spud Webb at 5'7, or Muggsy Bogues at 5'3. A five foot three inch tall professional basketball player! That's barely taller than I am!<br />
<br />
And yet Spud scored an average of 9.9 points per game. Muggsy had 11.2 Plus Muggsy was in Space Jam. Not that that has anything to do with athleticism... it's just awesome.<br />
<br />
Anyhow, I digress. The point I'm trying to make here is that height and athleticism are not implicitly tied. Tall people aren't always athletic.<br />
<br />
Of course, there were some people on the list who were quite scrawny. Colin Delaney, for example. Ginger luchador El Generico is another. El Generico regularly flips all over the ring, inside and out. But that's not athleticism? I'd like to see the guy who wrote this article pull off a split-legged moonsault or nail a 450* splash, I'm just saying.<br />
<br />
Some entries on this list go right into "wtf" territory. Namely Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley and Chris Hero, not to mention Daniel Bryan and CM Punk. Perhaps you can lump Sabin, Shelley and Daniel Bryan into the "Short equals nonathletic" category, by virtue of being less than six feet tall.<br />
<br />
Which leaves CM Punk, a comfortable 6'2, and Chris Hero, an even more comfortable 6'4.What puts them on this list? Skinny arms.<br />
<br />
Or consider Jay Lethal, who is "only" 225 pounds. Only 225 pounds! My goodness! What a shrimp! What an absolute weakling!<br />
<br />
Clearly the author values height and size as athleticism. So by that token, guys like Batista, Ezekiel Jackson, The Great Khali, Big Show, The Rock, John Cena, Triple H, and Mason Ryan are the most athletic guys in the business, or at least in the WWE roster's side of things.<br />
<br />
According to this author (and probably Vince McMahon too, all things considered) athleticism is muscles. Huge giant probably ill-begotten (steroids!) musculature. Only that and nothing more. To be athletic you clearly have to have shoulders on your shoulders, a neck wider than your head, the inability to put your arms down (bulky snowsuits notwithstanding) and less than 3% bodyfat. Oh, and you have to weigh over 250 lbs and be taller than six foot, minimum. Six foot five and up is probably preferred.<br />
<br />
So clearly things like agility and speed don't matter a fig where athleticism is concerned... at least to the author of that article. I hope he does the flip side and tells us who the thirty most athletic guys in the biz are. I'd love to see it.<br />
<br />
<br />Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-91322171267642036442011-11-19T21:24:00.001-05:002011-11-19T22:37:23.430-05:00Tyler Black's Incredibly Low Opinion of Female Wrestling FansI'm a female. I love wrestling. That should be self-evident. I shouldn't have to justify why I love it. It should just be enough that I say I do. Nobody questions a male wrestling fan. But because I'm a girl, I'm only in it for the hot guys, right?<br />
<br />
No. Like I said, I shouldn't have to justify my love for this sport. I could draw up a whole blog post about why. I could talk about the sound of bodies smacking the canvas, or sitting in a crowd of raucous fans chanting obscenities, or the matches that take your breath away and make you rise to your feet and scream at the top of your lungs and do victory arms so hard your shoulders hurt. It's moonsaults and enziguiris and suicide dives off the top rope and dragonranas and crazy submission moves. It's passion; the passion of the guys in the indies, doing what they love. And doing what they love is what we love.<br />
<br />
Seriously, I could talk about this for hours. And pages. But that's not why we're here, that's another post. (Or possibly several other posts.)<br />
<br />
Now. There are wrestlers I do find attractive and love to watch because of that in addition to their incredible talent. Chris Sabin off the top rope, Alex Shelley Slicing Bread, Eddie Edwards in a backbend, whatever. There are some incredibly good-looking wrestlers, I'm not going to lie to you guys about that.<br />
<br />
But so we're absolutely 100% completely clear on this fact, it is not all about the attractive guys in spandex. Okay? Okay.<br />
<br />
Now that we've cleared that up. Here's what I came here to talk about. I stumbled across this today:<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nw76HjwqDhk/TshohgvORMI/AAAAAAAAABY/MLNGVtBfbtM/s1600/what+an+asshole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nw76HjwqDhk/TshohgvORMI/AAAAAAAAABY/MLNGVtBfbtM/s1600/what+an+asshole.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
This is Tyler Black (AKA Seth Rollins, referred hereafter as Tyler for continuity's sake) responding to a question on Formspring.<br />
<br />
Now, in my opinion, a ring rat is essentially a wrestling "groupie". Someone who's there for the sole intention of gaining a wrestler's attention in order to fuck him. I honestly don't know how often this happens, but you generally find rats attending the main promotions. Whether these girls are honest fans of the sport or are just there to fuck a pseudo-famous person, I don't honestly know. It probably varies from person to person. I'm not a rat nor have ever been a rat, so I really cannot say with any authority on the matter. However, I can say that there absolutely is a difference between honest fan and ring rat.<br />
<br />
(Feminist disclaimer: it's the 21st century, and women can fuck whoever they want as many times as they want, I don't care. However, "ring rat" holds a negative connotation, whether rightly or wrongly given. I speak only of the reputation of the term in the industry.)<br />
<br />
But apparently there are some people who don't feel the same.<br />
<br />
When asked the difference between an honest fan and a ring rat, Tyler Black blithely says that there is no difference. In essence, Tyler Black just called the entire female wrestling fanbase whores.<br />
<br />
There are so many things wrong with that statement that I don't even know where to start.<br />
<br />
As a female wrestling fan, I am appalled and offended by that answer. That is a horribly negative, sexist, unthinking stupid assholish thing to say. I don't know if he was kidding, or being a smart ass, or trying to stir some stuff up. I don't care. The fact of the matter is that he looks like a sexist moron. It's one thing for an average dude (or average wrestling fan) to say something stupid like that. But this man is (supposed to be!) a professional.<br />
<br />
I get it. Sometimes you say stupid things. Sometimes you accidentally call a fan a fag when you're trying to heel up the audience. (Punk, I'm looking at you.) In the heat of the moment, sometimes things slip out. While that is an incredibly derogatory term, I forgive Punk for having said it because, again... things slip out.<br />
<br />
Sometimes you're trying to be incendiary because you're a heel. I get that too. And one of the best and easiest ways to be a heel is to alienate your fans. There's a lot of "YOU PEOPLE" in heel parlance. But there's a line. You call your fans stupid; you don't call them whores or faggots or retards. You don't alienate one subsection of your fans.<br />
<br />
I don't know what Tyler's current character orientation is at this time, nor do I care. There's being a heel, there's being ignorant, and then there's just being an asshole. Refusing to acknowledge a solid percentage of serious fans isn't being a good heel, if that is what he was going for. It's being a sexist idiot, end of statement, no excuse.<br />
<br />
<br />Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-83370877587930091602011-10-16T21:58:00.000-04:002011-10-16T22:08:09.469-04:00Bound For Glory/Wrestling MathI'll admit. I haven't watched TNA or iMPACT or whatever the hell they're calling it these days in months. I think the last time was when Daniels came back. I tried to keep watching but it was just SO BAD...<br />
<br />
And now tonight is Bound for Glory. Why am I writing about BFG when I could admittedly give less than half an arse about TNA/Impact as a whole?<br />
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<br />
Because there is an I Quit match between AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels and I literally did not find out about it until I looked up the match list for the PPV.<br />
<br />
"Well, Amanda," I can hear you say. "You don't watch TNA, so why would you know what the matches are? You just admitted to giving less than half an arse about the company."<br />
<br />
Because I still follow TNA's twitter. I follow AJ. I follow Daniels. I've heard about exactly two matches for the upcoming show. Bobby Roode vs. Kurt Angle for the championship... and Sting vs. Hogan. As a matter of fact, 90% of everything I've heard about BFG has been this Sting and Hogan... whatever the hell it's going to be. The "fight".<br />
<br />
They're plugging THAT... over AJ and Daniels, two ridiculously huge amazing talented performers who are no less than utterly spectacular when pitted against each other, who have IN FACT HEADLINED PREVIOUS BFGs and are now getting passed over for a "match", involving a participant who can't... even... wrestle.<br />
<br />
And then I started thinking. I remember seeing this article about the average age of TNA roster vs. the WWE roster. I can't remember where I saw it, or I would link you and accurately quote it. Let's just say the average age of the TNA roster was a considerable gap higher.<br />
<br />
So now I'm curious to see the average age of the participants in just this PPV. (Excluding Jeff Hardy; he's not booked in any "fights" or matches.) All ages are determined via Wikipedia.<br />
<br />
Bobby Roode -- 34<br />
Kurt Angle -- 42<br />
Hulk Hogan -- 58<br />
Sting -- 52<br />
Mr. Anderson -- 35<br />
Bully Ray -- 40<br />
AJ Styles -- 33<br />
Christopher Daniels -- 40<br />
Rob Van Dam -- 40<br />
Jerry Lynn -- 48<br />
Austin Aries -- 33<br />
Brian Kendrick -- 32<br />
Samoa Joe -- 32<br />
Crimson -- 26<br />
Matt Morgan -- 35<br />
Hernandez -- 38<br />
Anarquia -- 36<br />
Shannon Moore -- 32<br />
Jesse Neal -- 31<br />
Winter -- 30<br />
Madison Rayne -- 25<br />
Velvet Sky -- 30<br />
Mickie James -- 32<br />
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Wow, I haven't even started the math yet and I see a terrifying trend. Two people -- TWO PEOPLE -- booked tonight are under 30 years of age. Are you ready to see the average age? I'm a little afraid to, not gonna lie.<br />
<br />
The average age of persons booked in matches in tonight's Bound For Glory pay per view, arguably TNA's biggest event of the year, is... 36.<br />
<br />
For the record, the average age of wrestler in ROH's last PPV, Death before Dishonor, is 27. (Give or take; some wrestlers' wikipedia pages did not have birthdays.)<br />
<br />
Additionally for the record, WWE's Hell in a Cell had an average wrestler age of 31.<br />
<br />
You know this is serious business because I am mathing for FUN. "Math" and "fun" don't normally belong in the same sentence for me.<br />
<br />
I'm not going to sit here and say that age is always a detrimental thing in wrestling; obviously there's a balance of experience vs. stamina, or perhaps experience vs. ability.<br />
<br />
I mean, Christopher Daniels at age 40 is breathtaking in the ring, absolutely no less breathtaking than Davey Richards, who is 28 or Johnny Gargano, 24, or Randy Orton, all of 30.<br />
<br />
Age is not indicative of talent; talent is talent, at 24 or 35 or 40.<br />
<br />
But I think there comes a certain point, a certain age, when you simple aren't as good as you used to be. When you aren't as quick, aren't as precise. When you don't go as all-out as you used to because it hurts more in the morning and it takes more time to recover.<br />
<br />
To me, a good match needs a few elements to make it really good, really memorable. Obviously, you need talent. You need two guys (or two teams, or three guys, or two girls, or whatever) that are good in the ring. They gotta have the skills, first and foremost. They have to know what they're doing and own the ring.<br />
<br />
They have to have a reason to be there. This is not always a prerequisite, because I have seen some matches that blew my mind and I didn't even know who was who, let alone why they were fighting each other. But an important match, a long rivalry, former tag team partners who now hate each other, whatever. The fight has to mean something.<br />
<br />
Take for example Davey Richards and Roddy Strong at Final Battle last year for the Heavyweight title, which Davey had not yet held. That match was spectacular. Davey half-killed himself during that match for that title... and still lost. I'm pretty sure I almost cried when they had to stop the match because he was concussed and bleeding.<br />
<br />
Or a match like CM Punk vs Jeff Hardy, when you totally knew Jeff Hardy was leaving WWE and he was absolutely not going to win the match. And I still watched that match transfixed with baited breath hoping against every single shred of logic in my soul for Jeff to win, because I used to be a really big Hardy mark.<br />
<br />
Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker at Wrestlemania (...the first time)<br />
<br />
Just a few examples off the top of my head.<br />
<br />
Now, tonight at Bound for Glory, the main event is a "fight", not even an actually wrestling match, between two men, aged 52 and 58. Hulk Hogan and Sting. Hulk Hogan had major back surgery. The man can barely walk. That's why it's a fight and not a match, because <i>Hulk Hogan can't even wrestle. </i>Can you see the problem here? A major wrestling company's major pay per view's main event isn't even a wrestling match.<br />
<br />
As opposed to the second-to-last match, an I Quit match between AJ STYLES and CHRISTOPHER DANIELS, who have had a long and storied and completely wonderful history in TNA since almost its very inception. An I Quit match, between two men who are essentially faces of this company, who were friends and tag team partners and kings of the X-Division, a match which by all rights should end with one of them leaving and never to return...<br />
<br />
And I didn't hear a word about this match until only a few hours ago because they've been too busy plugging Sting and Hogan, two old men who can't even have a proper wrestling match.<br />
<br />
TNA is doing it wrong. And if they can't figure out why this is wrong, then I honestly don't think they can go anywhere else until they do.<br />
<br />
(And this is also why I can no longer support this company, when you're trying to sell me two old men over two of the longest-running and most talented members of your roster.)Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-42380137819711972592011-08-17T19:30:00.004-04:002011-08-17T21:09:01.150-04:00Rumor Mill 8/10 - 8/17Sorry I missed last week. I don't really have any excuse at all; I'm even doing this week's with the pain of having had my wisdom teeth out five days ago and under no Vicodin whatsoever, so. <div>
<br /></div><div>Anyhoo, you're here for the news.</div><div>
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<br />WWE (just now?) <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/17/wwe-registers-future-endeavor/">registers the phrases</a> "future endeavor", "future endeavored" and "Mr. Future Endeavor." So I guess that means anytime we say that so-and-so was future endeavored, we owe Vince McMahon a quarter. Also, I feel really bad for whoever "Mr. Future Endeavor" is or will be. <div>
<br /></div><div>In "Barely wrestling related but nevertheless... ew" news, Brook Hogan posed nude for PETA and her photos were <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/11/hogan-to-attend-brookes-nude-peta-photos-unveiling/">unveiled earlier this week</a>, and her doting father the Hulkster was there to... be creepy. Here's one of Brook's <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/12/the-controversial-brooke-hogan-peta-photo/">PETA pics</a>... <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/12/photo-hogan-reacts-to-brookes-peta-pix/">here's Hulk... being creepy.</a> Brooke Hogan <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/16/brooke-hogan-lashes-out-at-critics/">takes to Twitter</a> (natch) to defend her father's totally, like, not creepiness... whatever. *huff*</div><div>
<br /></div><div>Former TNA and ROH tag team Generation Me/The Young Bucks received a <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/16/former-tna-stars-receive-wwe-try-out/">WWE tryout</a> recently. With the almost certain addition of KOW, it seems like WWE might have finally realized that the tag team division is a real actual thing that people like and want to see more of. If they'd only have the same realization about the women's division... but anyway... *ahem*</div><div>
<br /></div><div>Wow, that didn't take long -- Tough Enough winner Andy Leavine was <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/15/another-wwe-suspension/">suspended</a> for violating WWE's Wellness Policy. WWE hasn't confirmed this yet. Ref Mike Chioda has also been suspended for violating the Wellness Policy. This one at least been <a href="http://www.wwe.com/inside/mike-chioda-suspended">confirmed. </a></div><div>
<br /></div><div>Melina is still working after her recent release from the 'E. She's main-eventing in Union City, NJ-based indie promotion WSU in a match against Serena coming up in November. If you're in the area, it might be something to check out. Hit <a href="http://www.declarationofindependents.net/wsu/">http://www.declarationofindependents.net/wsu/</a> for more info. It's also available online if you're not in the area.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>Gail Kim speaks out (way out) following her... um... departure from WWE, via <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/13/gail-kim-i-wasnt-gonna-be-held-down-anymore/">Twitter</a>, as so many seem to do. She makes an excellent point. </div><div>
<br /></div><div>There's been buzz that the reason our favorite addled Hardy brothers haven't been on TV is because TNA wants them to go through rehab... and they refuse. <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/12/matt-hardy-refutes-report-that-tna-asked-him-to-attend-rehab/">Matt says</a> -- of course -- this is not true. He says he's "ecstatic" about the place that they're in. For the record, Jeff hasn't been on TV since May 13th, since he showed up at the Victory Road PPV in no condition to work, and Matt has been gone since June, when he announced he was "taking time off"... which was later revealed to be a suspension. Boys. Believe me when I say this and I mean it from the bottom of my heart, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this, but we love you and we want you to be okay. We want you to get better. We do not want you to be a sad footnote in the history of wrestling. We don't want you to end up like He Who Shall Not Be Named And I Do Not Mean Voldemort. </div><div>
<br /></div><div>Former diva Terri Runnels is <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/12/former-wwe-diva-sues-hardcore-icon/">suing </a>ex-lover and former wrestler New Jack (aka Jerome Young) for libel, claiming he's spreading slurs about her around the internet and peddling sexually explicit pictures of her. I saw this on the front page of MSN.com today. Wrestling... is serious news business, guys. Yeah. </div><div>
<br /></div><div>Former WWE star Jimmy Wang Yang claims he has <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/12/former-wwe-star-claims-a-check-from-tna-bounced/">not yet been paid</a> for a TNA appearance some weeks ago... because a check from them <i>bounced</i>. I'm not going to sit here and say it's true or not, but I do find it inherently hilarious if it is. I mean, that their check bounced, not that Jimmy isn't getting paid, because that's not cool, yo. As of yesterday the 16th, he claims he has received <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/16/jimmy-wang-yangs-update-on-payment-from-tna/">no compensation.</a> TNA, you need to get your stuff together.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>A security officer is claiming that WWE star Heath Slater (...really?) <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/12/wwe-star-accused-of-assault-in-atlanta/">assaulted her</a> back during Wrestlemania weekend in Georgia. Heath Slater, really? It's always the ones you don't expect, I guess. This was reported almost a week ago, no updates since. </div><div>
<br /></div><div>Linda McMahon may <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/11/linda-mcmahon-likely-to-run-again-for-senate/">run for Senate</a> again; she will announce her decision by the end of September. Does this mean WWE is going to go back to being PG? I kind of liked this "Hey, it's okay, we're going to say 'ass' and 'bitch' and stuff, it's cool." thing they had going. </div><div>
<br /></div><div>Rumors are a-flyin' that TNA's own Samoa Joe is seriously <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/11/former-tna-champion-interested-in-jumping-to-wwe/">looking to join WWE</a> when his TNA contract runs up in a few months. He even has a ringing endorsement from Steve Austin himself. Part of me thinks that this would be <i>awwwweeeesoooommmmmeeee</i> but the other part of me thinks that they'd just midcard him and make him like Mark Henry. And he and his talents and his wicked enziguiri would be utterly wasted. </div><div>
<br /></div><div><a href="http://www.pwpix.net/superstars/r/randyorton/gallery/photoscans/1/index.php?gal=1&pic=50">Randy Orton hugging Barney the Dinosaur</a>; your arguments -- all your arguments ever, for that matter -- are invalid. </div><div>
<br /></div><div>And. For all of you out there with blogs, who write, who write your asses off and love it, love the writing, love the sport... a <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/10/wwe-hires-former-pro-wrestling-columnist/">pro-wrestling columnist has been hired by WWE creative. </a> It happens. That's all I'm saying. Congratulations Kevin Eck, you are living the dream for all of us. </div><div>
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<br /></div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-54840916541977397982011-08-04T15:02:00.003-04:002011-08-04T15:49:42.988-04:00Spoiler Alert: SummerSlamWhen things aren't quite rumors...<div><br /></div><div>Okay, I don't know if this is going to be an ongoing thing or not, but I just saw a spoiler for what they want to do with the title at SummerSlam and I felt the need to... discuss it.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you want to know, read on. If you don't want to know -- and I can't say I blame you -- go look at one of my spotlights or some lolcats. I won't judge you.</div><div><br /></div><div>Okay, are we clear?</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br />This is the spoiler: <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/04/spoiler-regarding-the-wwe-title/">Alberto "Weaksauce" Del Rio gets the title</a>. <div><br /></div><div>What? <i>What??</i> Are you even... you can't be... what. What.</div><div><br /></div><div>First of all, let's talk about some other things regarding the title situation. </div><div><br /></div><div>Who thought the Cena/Punk at MitB was amazing? Show of hands, please. Okay, well, I can't actually see your hands, but I'm willing to bet a lot of people loved that match. I loved it. I thought it was the greatest thing WWE did in a good long while. I saw all kinds of positive feedback from it. I saw positive feedback from people who <i>hadn't been wrestling fans in years.</i> Punk's promos and this match made wrestling fans out of people who had stopped watching years ago.</div><div><br /></div><div>But why? Why did we all lose our shit for this match? </div><div><br /></div><div>I think it was a combination of things. We loved Punk breaking the fourth wall during his promos. We loved hearing a wrestler talking about the things that a lot of us were feeling towards WWE and maybe also towards Vince. </div><div><br /></div><div>We loved the match because it was not only between two people who hadn't already fought each other nine hundred times, but because Punk had a clean win and made off with the belt. We were expecting him to get screwed, and he scored a clean win. </div><div><br /></div><div>Clean wins are not necessarily a thing that happens a lot in the WWE, especially when title belts are on the line. There always seems to be interference or flat-out cheating or a screwjob or a countout, or a dozen other unsatisfying ends to a match.</div><div><br /></div><div>We loved all of these things, and this angle... because it was different. Because it was new. Because it was not the same old regurgitated BS that Vince has tried to shove down our throats before.</div><div><br /></div><div>It was amazing. It was huge. Everyone was talking about it. Was Punk really gone? Was he going to come back? Wrestling was like mainstream for a little while there. </div><div><br /></div><div>And now... this. We went through this huge, amazing, mind-blowing angle only to see CM Punk come back a week later, set up the exact same match for SummerSlam that we just saw, and now this. To give ADR the belt. To, once again, forcefeed us the same old reheated BS we've seen a thousand times before.</div><div><br /></div><div>I can't even begin to say how disappointed I am to hear this. That they had this huge angle on their hands, that could have changed WWE forever... to give us the same old shit at the next PPV. To give us the "Vince McMahon is no longer part of the company" angle that they've given us five times in as many years. </div><div><br /></div><div>And I don't understand why. Like it actually boggles me. They could've blown it up. Imagine if Punk didn't come back until Summerslam. Say it was like... John Cena and Rey Mysterio for the title. John retains, obviously. ADR comes out to cash in the briefcase. Maybe he even wins, who knows. And then... CM Punk comes out, right at the end. After all this sneaky viral marketing stuff. Just bam, CM Punk, out of nowhere. GTSs ADR. End. Whapow. Everybody's talking about it. He's been gone for a month and then suddenly there he was! What happens next? ADR vs. Punk? I don't know! </div><div><br /></div><div>I think it'd be better than this sham of a match they have planned.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's like they -- the writers, Vince, HHH, whoever -- thinks we're dumb and have no memory. Like we're babies; if we can't see them, they're not there. Or if a feud goes on for more than a month, we'll get bored. Granted, a lot of kids are into wrestling nowadays, but there's still a lot of adults there too. And we're not idiots. We can follow an arc that lasts for more than a month. That's why I like ROH, to go on aside. They have good, solid, drawn-out feuds. I happen to think a good long feud is better. The match means more, you get more emotionally invested, you're more willing to buy the PPV because of it. Whereas half the time in WWE, if you miss a match, you'll probably see the same match at the next PPV. Or it was on the PPV before it.</div><div><br /></div><div>I think I lost track of where I was going, because I was about to start comparing ROH to WWE. (If you watch ROH, just think of the difference between the champ John Cena and the champ Davey Richards. Think of depth of character. Who would you say is the more satisfying champion?)</div><div><br /></div><div>I really only meant to discuss ADR winning the title at SummerSlam. Ew. Not that I have anything against Del Rio as like a wrestler or even against him being champ -- better than John Cena for the 9000th time -- but I just... it feels like a letdown. WWE always seems to does this. They run this angle that is different and shiny and has this feel of "Oh my goodness what is this amazing new thing? Where could they take it?" and you <i>think</i> they're going to take it somewhere awesome and then they're just like "Lol nope, made you look. Have some same old shit."</div><div><br /></div><div>I think they could have taken this CM Punk angle to awesome new heights and they just decided not to. I am very disappointed.</div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-5943498100020151032011-08-03T14:23:00.003-04:002011-08-03T16:23:00.267-04:00Rumor Mill 7/28 - 8/3This week's Mill. <div><br /></div><div>News of the weird world of wrestling. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /><br /><a href="http://s915.photobucket.com/albums/ac358/nyxraisa/?action=view&current=therumormill.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac358/nyxraisa/therumormill.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br />Last week I mentioned Maryse had herself a good old-fashioned creepy stalker. Today she went to court to get a <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2011/08/03/maryse-ouellet-wwe-disturbing-email-obsessed-fan-security-protection-filed-for-a-permanent-restraining-order/">restraining order</a> on him, which fortunately she was able to do. 61-year-old creeper Larry Silbin is now legally required to stay a minimum of 300 feet from Ms. Maryse for the next three years. Miz was also present with her at the courtroom as you can see by the included video. In other Maryse news, she <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/02/wwe-diva-scheduled-for-surgery-2/">announced via twitter</a> that she's gonna be out of action for a while due to an abdominal hernia and subsequent surgery. Poor thing's having quite a run of bad luck lately.<div><br /></div><div>WWE has also bolstered <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/01/wwe-will-will-protect-our-diva-tmz/">event security</a> for recent shows in response to this threat, in addition to other things they're not at liberty to say.<br /><div><br /></div><div>Former diva Stacy Keibler is rumored to be <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/03/report-former-wwe-diva-dating-famous-actor/">dating George Clooney</a>. Yes, THAT George Clooney. Yes, that is totally news. </div><div><br /></div><div>To counteract that totally not important piece of news, I have this. Colt Cabana worked a dark match against Wade Barrett... in a Lexington, KY show... <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/02/photo-colt-cabana-returns-to-a-wwe-ring/">for the WWE</a>. <a href="http://www.twitpic.com/601yde">OH. MY. GOD.</a> I quite simply cannot even. To have Colt Cabana back in the WWE proper... there are no words.<br /><div><br /></div><div>Edge is gonna star in <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/01/edge-will-guest-star-on-four-episodes-of-syfys-haven/">four episodes</a> of the SyFy show Haven. Look for him August 5th (That's this Friday!) and September 9th, 16th and 23rd. </div></div><div><br /></div><div>Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins fame is starting his own <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/08/01/rock-star-to-start-his-own-wrestling-promotion/">wrestling promotion</a>, called "Resistance Pro". Everybody should come out to Smashing Pumpkin songs. Dibs on "Disarm". No, I'm not a wrestler, why do you ask? A killer in meeee is a killer in youuuuu... I think that'd make an awesome theme.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Speaking of badass women wrestlers, The Queen of badass women wrestlers, <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/07/31/sara-del-rey-pins-a-member-of-the-kings-of-wrestling/">Sara Del Ray pinned Claudio Castagnoli</a>. Pinned him. Hell yeah. Thank god for Sara Del Ray; she singlehandedly makes up for the entire women's division in WWE (minus Beth Phoenix and Natalya.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Back in March, Shad Gaspard was arrested in Columbus for <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2011/07/29/shad-gaspard-wwe-columbus-pd-racial-profiling-charges-dropped-cryme-tyme/">resisting arrest</a>. After he was pinned down by three officers. For jay-walking. Yeah, Ohio. Earlier this week, those charges of resisting arrest have been dropped, though he has been hit with a lesser charge of obstructing official business, and had to pay a fine. *facepalm* Ohio, I am disappoint.</div><div><br /></div><div>Sin Cara -- who's in the middle of serving his 30 day suspension for violating the Wellness Policy -- is being <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Update_on_Sin_Cara_s_Suspension_and_Return_to_WWE.html">advertised</a> for the August 20th house show in Washington. So it appears they're bringing him back after all. </div><div><br /></div><div>The eagle-eyed among you, or those who pay attention to the Divas, may have noticed Gail Kim basically eliminated herself during Monday's RAW Diva Battle Royal. Here's what <a href="http://www.pwpix.net/pwpixnews/headlines/314403442.php">she has to say</a> about it. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-70327116998099484742011-07-28T20:42:00.005-04:002011-07-28T22:53:13.455-04:00Rumor Mill 7/20 - 7/28Rumor Mill... late again. My apologies. <div><br /></div><div><br /><div><br /><a href="http://s915.photobucket.com/albums/ac358/nyxraisa/?action=view&current=therumormill.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac358/nyxraisa/therumormill.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /></div><div>TNA has signed former Big Brother reality TV star <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2011/07/27/big-brother-star-impact-wrestling-tna-spike-jessie-godderz-contract/">Jesse Godderz</a>. It's believed that TNA's version of The Miz will be on TV by the end of the year.</div><div><br /></div><div>Speaking of the Miz, he's been everywhere this week. Tuesday, he threw out the opening pitch at the Indians game. (yes, I was there. Don't judge me. I also happen to like baseball. And basketball. And football. But I digress.) On <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Busy_Night_for_The_Miz_HHH_s_Birthday_Reks_Responds_to_Fans_RAW.html">Wednesday</a>, he was in New York City to host this MTV show, and then to the George Lopez show to <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Video_The_Miz_Appears_on_Lopez_Tonight_to_Promote_WWE_SummerSlam.html">promote SummerSlam</a>. Tonight he's on the Ferrall show, which is or will be broadcasting on SiriusXM Howard 101. He's also due to guest star on <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/WWE_Pay-Per-View_Buy_Numbers_Improve_The_Miz_To_Guest_Star_On_USA_Series.html">Psych</a>, though there's no word on when that episode would be airing. </div><div><br /></div><div>Not that any of that was news, exactly, but I'm pretty impressed by Miz's ability to be... everywhere at once. </div><div><br /></div><div>Back to actual news time, former independent wrestler Devon Nicholson has filed<a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/Former_Wrestler_Files_Multi-million_Dollar_Lawsuit_Against_WWE_Hall_of_Famer.html"> a multi-million dollar lawsuit</a> to the tune of 6.5 million against Hall of Fame wrestler Abdullah the Butcher (Larry Shreve). Nicholson claims Shreve cut him with a razor without his permission, his blood mixed with Shreve's blood and he came down with a nasty case of Hep C. Sheve of course vehemently denies having Hep C or any type of blood disease and has the proper paperwork to back that up. Nicholson had been in line for a 3-year contract from the WWE, but upon hearing of his diagnosis, rescinded the contract. </div><div><br /></div><div>Speaking of redonkulous bullshit, recently released superstar Michael Tarver posted... <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Michael_Tarver_Accuses_John_Cena_Of_Intentionally_Breaking_His_Arm_Last_Year.html">this thing</a> where he claims that John Cena purposely fractured his arm because he -- that would be Cena -- was jealous of Tarver's push and talent. Really? Just... really? I once said this to an ex of mine, but I feel it bears repeating to you: "Does your ego still fit in a bag, or have you upgraded to one of those rolling suitcases to cart it around?"</div><div><br /></div><div>I've been following the future of KOW, <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Latest_On_ROH_Wrestlers_Joining_WWE_John_Laurinaitis_Added_To_WWE_Site.html">Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli</a>, in the WWE. It's said they will be finishing their obligations with ROH next month and coming on to WWE immediately. It's even theorized that they have a part to play in CM Punk's storyline. Which could be... awesome? I don't know. </div><div><br /></div><div>In creepy news, Diva Maryse appears to have a <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Maryse_Files_for_Restraining_Order_Against_Fan_Says_She_Fears_for_Her_Life.html">creepy stalker</a> and is headed to court to get a restraining order on him. He's 61 years old and has left numerous voice mails on her phone, letters, promised to buy her a ring and give her a $100,000 check. (Hint; she works for the WWE. She probably doesn't need your money.)</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/tna/Generation_Me_Respond_To_Rob_Van_Dam_s_Dismissive_Interview_Comments.html">RVD is being a douchebag again. </a>He made some (in my opinion) snobby comments towards a certain young tag team recently employed by TNA, saying that the younger guys, in general, have no respect. Also mentioned is how he would love to help them improve their ring skills. To which GenMe replied that they were always respectful and polite to him and maybe would have asked his advice, if he wasn't such a snob and changed in his own private dressing room. Ah, politics.</div><div><br /></div><div>TNA has reportedly <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/tna/TNA_Reportedly_Signs_Shiima_Xion_Tara_Comments_On_Tag_Team_Title_Victory.html">signed</a> one "Zema Ion", also known as Shiima Xion, local indie dude. I look forward to seeing his pretty face on TNA. </div><div><br /></div><div>Speaking of local indie guys, Greg Iron was recently given a <a href="http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/WWE_News_3/article_51637.shtml">ringing endorsement</a> by none other than CM Punk and Colt Cabana while at an AAW show in Illinois. Greg Iron, who also does shows in the Cleveland area, suffers from cerebal palsy. And is still a pro-wrestler. A spotlight may need to be done for you to get the full effect.</div><div><br /></div><div>TNA knockout Madison Rayne puts a <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/tna/Cage_Match_Advertised_For_Impact_TNA_Knockout_Rattled_By_Blogger_s_Bad_Review.html">blogger</a> "in his place" for daring to make some negative comments about her match with Tara on a recent episode of TNA. I read his blog on the matter, and I think his comments are perfectly fine. For someone who's supposed to be banging Chris Sabin, she's a leetle bit uptight. But then, his knees all messed up, so I suppose the sexytimes have been put on hold. In any case, Miss Rayne, you have Chris Sabin. The rest of us don't. You win by default.</div><div><br /></div><div>And lastly, it seems everyone in TNA is getting injured. <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/tna/TNA_Star_Out_for_Six_Weeks_Jarrett_Carrying_the_AAA_World_Title_More.html">Matt Morgan</a> is out for six weeks with a torn pec and <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/tna/Wrestler_Injured_at_Impact_Tapings_TNA_Star_Engaged_BFG_Theme_Hogan_s_MCW.html">James Storm</a> was injured during a backstage segment and has a bulging disc. No word on if he'll be out and if so, for how long. </div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-14281531503645728412011-07-25T23:13:00.003-04:002011-07-26T00:20:51.761-04:00RAW 7/25Cult of Personality/Two Steps Forward, One Step Back.<div><br /></div><div>If you've seen RAW, you know what you're going to see here. If you haven't, you're going to get spoiled. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br />The very first match of the evening was the championship match between Rey Mysterio and Miz, which I found interesting and the reason of this would be discovered later. The match was... okay. I don't think Miz and Rey are a really great match-up; their styles are too different and don't really lend well to each other. Miz had a nice bounce-off-the-ropes powerbomb and Rey did all his usual high-flyin' jumpin' around moves, winning -- natch -- with the 619, after targeting Miz's "bad knee." Weak win, but eh. Good for Mysterio, I guess.</div><div><br /></div><div>Weaksauce Del Rio comes out to cash, but gets kicked in the face and runs back out like a bitch before officially cashing. </div><div><br /></div><div>There's a quick little backstage vignette of Rey celebrating with the roster, including a couple of guys I don't even recognize and one that looks an awful lot like that one guy Percy Watson. Is he on the roster still? (...Again?) John Cena also offers his congrats and Rey has some mic time during which he thanks his wife. Awww. </div><div><br /></div><div>They give us a nice little recap of last week, what with Hunter firing a teary-eyed Vincent Kennedy McMahon, just in case we might have missed it somehow. </div><div><br /></div><div>The next match is Dolph Ziggler vs. Evan Bourne. Zig comes out to a slightly reworked version of his theme and seems to be growing his hair out again. Evan brings his all, as he usually does, with some very nice kicks and maybe a slightly botched hurracanrana, but we love him anyway. To no avail, as Ziggler puts Evan in the sleeper for the win. Lamest finisher ever. Not a bad match, but I love to watch Evan do his stuff, so maybe I'm a tad biased.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Bellas and Eve have fight backstage and Keith Stone -- yep, that guy -- comes out to be smooth and draw on the one Bella's arm so as to distinguish her from the other. Here. Hold my stones. Completely random and absurd, but I laughed anyway. There's a fine line between absurdly hilarious and just plain absurd... as we will discover later.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is of course a lead-in to the Diva's evening squash, with Eve and Kelly Kelly vs. Melina and Maryse. The majority of the very brief match is spent by the Divas shaking their butts at each other and me trying to figure out if Melina's hair is black or blue. Melina seems to be the only one with actual wrestling moves, as she busts out a dropkick but still manages to lose to Kelly's ass. Women's division... yep. </div><div><br /></div><div>Triple H then comes out, to cheers and fangirling all around to make a few announcements, including the "blockbuster return" of a superstar. First, however, he thanks Vince, to which the crowd responds with a mixture of boos and cheers. The boos are slightly more prevalent.</div><div><br /></div><div>He then announces a second championship match will take place later in the evening, it being Rey Mysterio vs. John Cena. Well, we all know how THAT'S going to end up. He goes into this "blockbuster return" spiel, and naturally the crowd starts chanting "CM Punk!" </div><div><br /></div><div>The blockbuster return is actually JR, but that's okay, because we like JR. Michael Cole takes great offense to this, and gets up on the announce table to protest. He calls JR, among other things, a "fat hayseed" and an "Oklahoma redneck" and threatens to quit. Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out, Cole. JR observes this all very stoically. Like a boss.</div><div><br /></div><div>Some back and forth between Hunter and Cole, which nobody cares about because really? Hunter relieves Cole of his commentary for the evening and puts him in a surprise match with someone. </div><div><br /></div><div>R-Truth comes out as Cole heads backstage to get ready. There is some slightly amusing back-and-forth here, with both Truth and Trips talking to imaginary people, but I really think that entire bit was set up just so Truth could say "YOU MIGHT BE THE GAME, BUT I AIN'T PLAYIN."And then John Morrison came out in jeans and no shirt and I died.</div><div><br /></div><div>(I know, I'm trying to be a serious wrestling writer person right now, but seriously, what do you want from me, John Morrison in tight ass jeans and abs so hard you could grate cheese on them, I don't even. Anyway... where was I?)</div><div><br /></div><div>Cole comes out for his match in Triple H's ring gear, to Triple H's music, with a water bottle and doing the whole... thing. His opponent is none other than Zack Ryder, who probably gets one of the loudest pops of the night.</div><div><br /></div><div>As you might expect, it's a two minute squash and Cole cries into the mat after his loss.</div><div><br /></div><div>Weaksauce Del Rio comes out to fight Kofi in probably the least exciting match of the evening that lasts longer than two minutes. I find it rather hilarious that Del Rio has absolutely no crowd reaction. The match is eh. Kofi taps. Crowd responds with a collective yawn.</div><div><br /></div><div>Last match of the evening, Rey vs. John Cena. Match is quick paced with lots of back and forth and near falls. John catches Rey a lot and slams him; Rey refuses to go down and stay down. At one point Rey has John in the STF, which was pretty cool. John finds his red mushroom, gains a second wind and stands up. And now everyone knows how to get out of the STF, provided they first have superhuman strength, of course. Jerry Lawler calls this match historical like eight times. Can I just say, for a second, that every match cannot be historical? Every match is not MEANT to be historical. If they were ALL historical, NONE of them would be. Okay, carrying on. </div><div><br /></div><div>John slams Rey with a big fat Attitude Adjustment for the totally not at all surprising win. </div><div><br /></div><div>Then "Cult of Personality" plays. What is this theme, I wonder?</div><div><br /></div><div>Guess who walks out. CM motherf*cking Punk. With the belt around his waist. Walks in to the ring and each of the titleholders hold up their titles. End.</div><div><br /></div><div>Once I got done fangirling over Punk -- if you follow me on Twitter, you may have noted my capslock button got stuck -- I'm not at all sure how I feel about this.</div><div><br /></div><div>At first it seems awesome. CM motherf*cking Punk. But on the other hand, that whole... thing was just a work. Like I should even be surprised at this point, but seriously. I mean, I know it was a work, but... I wanted to believe that parts of it were true. That Punk's last night was true, that his running away with the title was really... a thing. That it meant something. </div><div><br /></div><div>But now it's just all the same shit again. I mean, John's the champ... the official champ, I think. And where are they going to take this? Punk vs Cena at Summerslam? The matchup they just had at the last PPV? And how do you suppose they are going to top it? They can't. There is no way they can top CM motherf*cking Punk running out of the arena with the title. They can't. They shouldn't even try. But they're going to.</div><div><br /></div><div>For some reason, it seems that the ubiquitous "they" (usually referred to as merely Vince McMahon, because it's easier to point the finger at one person then a faceless "they") seem to have a theory on storylines. If it worked once, it will always work. HBK and the Undertaker at WM26... it will work at WM27. Because it worked so well last time. </div><div><br /></div><div>Now, I don't presume to speak for all the fans, but I do think the prevailing opinion of Punk's angle leading up to MitB was that it was awesome, because it felt <i>real</i>. We wanted to believe Punk's anger and dissatisfaction; haven't we all felt dissatisfied at the WWE at one point or another? And then Punk won, he won clean, and he ran away with the title, and I think in that moment he kind of became our hero. We all expected differently, we expected a screwjob, but we were wrong. I don't know about you guys, but I was shocked. Hell, I was euphoric. Do you know why?</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Because we didn't expect it.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>Because that was some shit that we did not expect to see, and because it was different. This was a thing that has never happened. This was a thing that was <i>new.</i><br /><br />And now it seems like they're leading up to the same match, which they will have absolutely no way of topping from the last time they did it. I don't know why they do this. "Punk vs. Cena worked before; it'll work again." It wasn't the matchup that worked... it was everything <i>else</i> that worked. It worked because it was <i>different.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>You guys know what I mean here? It drives me crazy that WWE always seems to do this. They start out with these things that are new and exciting and gets everyone up in a tizzy with the "OMG WHAT IS THIS THING THAT I HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE?!" only to go back into the same old shit. It's a cop-out. It pisses me off. It's insulting. They promise us awesome shit only to feed us the same old tired crap, like we won't know any better or be able to tell the difference. </div><div><br /></div><div>I hope I'm wrong though. I've been wrong before. I don't mind being surprised. What do you guys think? Is this leading to a reheated Cena/Punk match for Summerslam? Would you want to see it again? Do you think it's even remotely possible they could top MitB?</div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-91613664228654421132011-07-20T18:11:00.003-04:002011-07-20T19:46:05.999-04:00Rumor Mill 7/13 - 7/20Rumor Miiiiill... sorry I missed last week. <div><br /><br /><a href="http://s915.photobucket.com/albums/ac358/nyxraisa/?action=view&current=therumormill.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac358/nyxraisa/therumormill.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br /></div><div>Alright, let's just get this out of the way. Vince McMahon. If you watched RAW, which I'm pretty sure you did, you know what I'm talking about. My personal introspection on the matter (other than what can be found elsewhere on this blog) is that I really don't know what's going on. X-Pac <a href="http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/WWE_News_3/article_51519.shtml">claims</a> it was real. The <a href="http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/WWE_News_3/article_51534.shtml">stocks and investors</a> seem unaffected if it is real. Until we know more, I guess it's up to personal interpretation. </div><div><br /></div><div>I mentioned Sin Cara has been<a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/07/18/smackdown-star-supsended-for-wellness-violation/"> suspended</a> for thirty days for his first violation of WWE's wellness policy. However, there appears to be a great amount of doubt as to whether or not he'll be <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Latest_Word_on_Sin_Cara_s_WWE_Status_Update_on_Jackie_Gayda-Haas_More.html">coming back</a>. He claims he is not taking steroids and that a knee injection containing steroids might have caused a <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Sin_Cara_Says_He_Does_Not_What_Triggered_Drug_Test_Failure.html">false positive.</a> </div><div><br /></div><div>Apparently CM Punk turned down a new <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/07/18/punk-claims-he-turned-down-new-deal-from-wwe/">5 year deal</a> with the WWE.</div><div><br /></div><div>And in Hardy news, because there is ALWAYS Hardy news, Jeff's <a href="http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/Other_News_4/article_51530.shtml">court date</a> has been continued AGAIN, for the 934587324th time, to September 8th, nearly a two full years after his arrest. Coincidentally, maybe, the day before this news broke, he announced on twitter he's got <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/07/18/jeff-hardy-comments-on-new-tna-dvd/">a DVD</a> coming out soon. I remember when Jeff was our hero, our underdog. This whole goddamned thing just makes me sad. </div><div><br /></div><div>Anyhoo.</div><div><br /></div><div>Remember a couple weeks ago when Ric Flair was supposed to show up at a Brooklyn house show and then didn't? It seems his relationship with TNA is getting <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/07/16/update-on-flairs-relationship-with-tna/">a little strained.</a> </div><div><br /></div><div>Chris Sabin's got dead person body parts following <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/07/16/update-on-chris-sabin/">knee surgery</a> to repair a torn ACL. Poor dude. He's still got a good many months ahead of him before he's able to return to the ring. (However he has been able to rock it out <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/thehighcrusade">in the studio</a>, so. At least he's keeping busy.)</div><div><br /></div><div>WWE has announced plans to construct a physical <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/07/14/wwe-to-construct-a-physical-hall-of-fame/">hall of fame</a>, which may or may not be in Orlando and may or may not be awesome. </div><div><br /></div><div>There seems to be a lot of speculation as to a <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Speculation_on_WWE_Working_with_ROH_Update_on_CM_Punk_s_Storyline_More.html">connection between ROH and WWE</a>, which of course officials from both sides are vehemently denying. Considering certain remarks from Punk's famous promos, the fact Colt Cabana was ringside at MitB (though they did pretty much everything they possibly could to not actually show him) and has <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/07/14/report-colt-cabana-holding-off-on-future-bookings/">stopped taking bookings</a> for some indie companies, that KOW have potentially signed with the 'E... I don't know. I don't know how I feel about this. I like the WWE again, but I LOVE ROH, and I worry that... if WWE... takes it over, it'll lose everything that was ever good about it. Of course, I'm pretty sure the same rumor has been swirling around TNA since it got started. I guess time will tell. I hope it's not true though. One wrestling company shouldn't have all that power.</div><div><br /></div><div>I cannot word the TNA talent's thoughts on Vince Russo any better than <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/07/13/report-tna-talent-lose-confidence-in-russo/">this article</a> does it. </div><div><br /></div><div>Former WWE talent Gene Snitsky appears to have some kind of bug up his butt about The Miz, <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Ex-WWE_Star_Snitsky_Responds_To_Miz_Fans_With_Multiple_Homophobic_Remarks.html">taking to twitter</a> to spout his nasty remarks and be similarly nasty to fans who try to defend Miz. Today Snitsky takes to twitter to claim the all-too-famous Twitter Excuse... <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Snitsky_Says_It_Wasn_t_His_Fault_Claims_His_Twitter_Was_Hacked_Following_Outburst.html">HE WAS HACKED</a>. He has since deleted his account. *shrug*</div><div><br /></div><div>Good Humor has no intention to bring back WWE <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Good_Humor_Responds_to_Fans_Requesting_the_Return_of_WWE_Ice_Cream_Bars.html">ice cream bars. </a></div><div><br /></div><div>According to Tough Enough contestant Jeremiah Riggs, TE winner <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Update_On_Tough_Enough_Winner_Andy_Leavine_s_Backstage_Heat.html">Andy Leavine</a> got basted for not selling the Stone Cold Stunner on the finale of the show. </div><div><br /></div><div>And that's all the news that is news. </div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-70311723738003089012011-07-18T23:26:00.003-04:002011-07-19T00:22:49.427-04:00RAW 7/18Wait... what?<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br />So... this is what happened.<br /><br /><div>Vince started the show as promised, announcing they were just going to vacate the title and were going to hold a tournament to crown a new champ. Also, the name CM Punk was never going to be mentioned again.</div><div><br /></div><div>After a series of six more or less unremarkable matches to determine the final two (Rey Mysterio and The Miz) and one unremarkable Diva squash, with nary a sight of Punk, Vince came out to close the show and presumably to fire John Cena.</div><div><br /></div><div>He postpones the title match to next week and Cena comes out.</div><div><br /></div><div>After some back and forth -- and let me just point out that Vince McMahon was wearing a bright, Pepto-Bismol pink sport coat -- Vince is about to fire Cena wheeeeennnnnn...</div><div><br /></div><div>Triple H's music hits. </div><div><br /></div><div>Triple H comes out, looking very spiffy in a suit, and after several agonizing minutes of build-up (during which I was seriously just waiting for Punk's music to hit and him to come out with the belt on one arm, Colt Cabana on the other, and be like "Sup, bitches?")...</div><div><br /></div><div>He fires Vince McMahon. </div><div><br /></div><div>Vince cries. Triple H walks away.</div><div><br /></div><div>End show.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now, I had high hopes for tonight. I was worried Vince was gonna drop the ball. I mean, there was huge talk about last night and Punk and everything. So there was a ton of momentum going into tonight.</div><div><br /></div><div>Plus, Punk had been tweeting almost nonstop about being in Chicago, with Cabana and the belt, watching the Cubs game. It was very "Look, here I am! I'm in Chicago! 200 miles away from RAW! There's NO WAY I'm going to be there tonight! No chance at all! Suckers!"</div><div><br /></div><div>Which I was talking to mean "I'm in Chicago! There's no way I'm going to be at RAW tonight! Wouldn't it be SHOCKING if I showed up? Since I'm so obviously in Chicago right now?"</div><div><br /></div><div>And then... nothing. Absolutely no Punk. (Though there was an excellent Punk sign: Punk 3:16 says I just stole your title!)</div><div><br /></div><div>Granted, Vince McMahon getting fired is an interesting angle, I suppose. I definitely didn't see it coming and I am interested to know where it's going, but... I just don't know. I don't really think he's fired, just like he obviously really wasn't dead that time... and I don't think all that momentum is totally gone, but I think a lot of it has dissipated.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm mostly just... confused. And slightly disgruntled. I don't know; I think I have to think about it. I think it has the potential to be interesting, but it definitely doesn't have that "OH MY GOD DID YOU SEE THAT" effect that Punk has had over the past couple of weeks. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm willing to give it a chance though, and I'm definitely not ready to count Punk out yet. </div><div><br /></div><div>I just... I don't know. What do you guys think? </div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-22481421536678071032011-07-18T15:13:00.003-04:002011-07-18T19:10:35.230-04:00Money in the Bank: 7/17/11Review, recap, assorted fangirling.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br /><b>Opening match: Smackdown Money in the Bank Ladder Match (Sin Cara, Daniel Bryan, Kane, Cody Rhodes, Wade Barrett, Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater and Sheamus)</b><br /><br /><div>Solid opener. The cast of characters seemed a little weak compared to the RAW matchup later, with five people having been in the company for a year or less. That being said, there were a few "Oooh!" moments, like Justin Gabriel hitting a tricky 450 splash off a ladder set over the corner ropes (though I don't quite understand that finisher; it's very pretty, but it always seems to hurt him as much as it hurts his opponents! It's not very effective...) and Kane chokeslamming everyone at least once. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sheamus seemed to be more into redecorating the ladders in the ring for most of the time, except when he tossed Sin Cara over the side and onto a ladder. Sin Cara was later stretchered off into the unknown, working an injury angle while he waits for his 30 day Wellness Policy <a href="http://www.wwe.com/superstars/smackdown/sin-cara/sin-cara-suspended">suspension</a> to run down. </div><div><br /></div><div>In the end, it was Daniel Bryan walking away with the briefcase. Considering his bumpy history with the company, I was both surprised and incredibly pleased. Of course now this paves the way for the "Will be be the first to cash in the briefcase and not win?" speculation.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Match 2: Divas Title (Kelly Kelly vs. Brie Bella)</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Hardly memorable. An ineffectual blonde and an ineffectual brunette flailed ineffectively at each other for roughly five minutes. Kelly retains. I long for WWE to have an actual women's division with women actually wrestling.</div><div><br /></div><div>On the way back up the ramp, Nikki berates Brie for losing to a girl who "doesn't even eat." I remember when Vickie Guerrero was made fun of for being fat; now we're making fun of Kelly for being too skinny. You just... can't... win!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Match 3: Big Show vs. Mark Henry</b></div><div><br /></div><div>I wasn't expecting this to be a particularly thrilling match and I was right. I love Mark Henry as a heel; I think it suits him a lot better. Plus, it's nice to see them actually doing a proper storyline with him instead of throwing him in a tag team or as the "no chance in hell" third opponent to add some strength to a match. </div><div><br /></div><div>If anything, I would have expected a full out knock-em-down-drag-em-out brawl between these guys, but we got a couple of really big slams and that was it. Big slams do not an awesome match make. </div><div><br /></div><div>Henry makes a clean pin after a World's Strongest Slam (and it is pretty nifty to see somebody able to pick up the Big Show and then make a convincing slam with him). After the bell, Henry cranks up the heel factor by grabbing a chair from outside the ring, threading Show's leg through it and slamming him. </div><div><br /></div><div>The medics come out and cart Show to the back; WWE runs a <a href="http://www.wwe.com/shows/moneyinthebank/big-show-sin-cara-injured">feature</a> claiming the Big Show will be out for four to six weeks. </div><div><br /></div><div>I think the crowd summed up everyone's feeling on this match by starting a rousing chant of "C-M-Punk!"</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Match 4: RAW Money in the Bank match (Alberto del Rio, Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger, Evan Bourne, Alex Riley, R-Truth, The Miz and Rey Mysterio)</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Another solid ladder match with a lot more oomph than the Smackdown roster's attempt. RAW treats this match like a chaotic ladder fight rather than an attempt to redecorate the in-ring ladder scheme. </div><div><br /></div><div>There's a comfortable amount of high flying, including early on in the match when Evan Bourne does his patented SSP off a very high ladder. And it was beautiful. </div><div><br /></div><div>Miz also took a tumble to the ring after dangling from the briefcase for a second and was helped backstage, only to come out towards the end of the match limp-running like a boss. </div><div><br /></div><div>Del Rio ended up with the briefcase for the win after ripping off Rey Mysterio's mask and throwing it into the crowd. </div><div><br /></div><div>On the whole, an excellent match with a ton of energy and great spots. Can't say I'm in love with Del Rio winning the case but can't say I was all that shocked either.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Match 5: Randy Orton vs. Christian; World Heavyweight Championship</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Another very strong match, though it didn't get really fun until towards the end, when Christian spat in Randy Orton's face (out of view of the ref, of course). Orton retaliated by giving Christian a good swift kick in the balls, which the ref DID see, and naturally got DQ'd. Which, by special rules, allowed Christian to be crowned the new champ.</div><div><br /></div><div>Orton then flips out, hears voices, goes Viper and proceeds to heel turn in spectacular fashion by beating the almighty hell out of Christian, ending with a big old RKO on the announce table. Orton stalks all the way up the ramp before deciding to turn right around and give Christian another big fat RKO on the announce table. This time he stalks all the way backstage and doesn't come back.</div><div><br /></div><div>I love me some crazy Orton, not gonna lie. I haven't really watched Smackdown in a while so I'd only heard he was face, but the whole concept of a face!Viper just seems <i>weird</i>. You can't be a Viper and face at the same time. Like having a Rated-R Superstar on a PG show. It's just awkward.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Match 6: John Cena vs. CM Punk for the WWE championship</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Oh man. If you didn't see it... you just need to see it. This match was spectacular, pure and simple. Both guys absolutely brought it and gave it 1oo%. Punk played the crowd like a piano, though since I'm pretty sure 90% of the crowd was already behind him, I'm sure it didn't take much effort.</div><div><br /></div><div>Punk brought out a Hurracanrana, which was spectacular and John threw every single move he had right back, multiple times. The actual, physical matchup was just phenomenal.</div><div><br /></div><div>Also amusing was Colt Cabana at ringside, and the cameras making every effort NOT to show him, including resorting to incredibly awkward angles. Poor Colt. I don't know why it was such a thing. We all knew he was there. </div><div><br /></div><div>Vince and John Laurinaitis made an appearance towards the end, and Cena went and decked Laurinaitis, which was pretty stunning. Punk took advantage with a super effective GTS and made... wait for it... a <i>clean pin</i> for the title. 100% no bullshit three count for the win. </div><div><br /></div><div>The crowd blew up. I, myself personally, sitting on my couch, actually screamed. The girl who never thought she'd be a fangirl. </div><div><br /></div><div>BUT WAIT. After allowing for some epic celebration, Vince grabbed the headset and called for Del Rio to cash in.</div><div><br /></div><div>The 'verse has a moment of slumped shoulders and disappointment when Del Rio charged out with the briefcase; we knew something like this would happen.</div><div><br /></div><div>Instead Punk walloped Del Rio flat to his back, grabbed the title, hopped the barrier, blew Vince a kiss, and RAN OUT THROUGH THE AUDIENCE WITH IT. He then proceeded to<a href="http://www.tmz.com/2011/07/18/wwe-champ-celebrates-on-the-chicago-streets-cm-punk-colt-cabana-ace-steel-john-cena-mike-ditka-money-in-the-bank-title-pepsi/"> party around Chicago</a> with the belt, Ace Steel and Colt Cabana before tucking the belt into his <a href="http://www.yfrog.com/kkb09zyj">fridge</a> for safekeeping.</div><div><br /></div><div>Somebody give this man a cape; CM Punk is now Superman. </div><div><br /></div><div>In conclusion. Wow. This is probably the best PPV WWE has put on in years. People who don't even talk about wrestling are talking about wrestling. People who haven't watched wrestling in years are tuning into RAW tonight. This is amazing. This is beyond amazing. We were all expecting to get screwed last night, along with Punk. Instead we were treated -- treated! -- to an utter hero move the likes of which we could not even have hoped for in our wildest fannish dreams. </div><div><br /></div><div>Which begs the question... what happens tonight? CM Punk tweeted and has been subsequently <a href="http://yfrog.com/kkgn1wzj">photographed</a> at Wrigley Field in Chicago, with the belt and Cabana in tow. For the record, Wrigley Field is in Chicago; tonight's RAW is in Green Bay, Wisconsin (...Wisconsin), roughly 200 miles away. </div><div><br /></div><div>John Cena has taken to <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/JohnCena">twitter</a>, claiming he has been "Future endeavored" and that we should tweet WWE to make them change their minds, in addition to apologizing to the Rock. You should note there is no mention of this on the official WWE website. </div><div><br /></div><div>There is a mention of the fact Vince is going to open tonight's RAW with an announcement. </div><div><br /></div><div>This, right now, is huge. CM Punk is huge. This angle is huge. This is the hugest thing to happen to WWE that didn't involve anybody dying in... I don't even know when. If Vince plays his cards right... he could build this thing up to epic proportions. He has run this angle perfectly so far, and my only hope is that he continues to run it perfectly and not ruin this epic tide of awesome by somehow screwing it up.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have hope. And I can NOT wait to see what happens tonight.</div><div><br /></div><div>Your thoughts, guys. Tell me them. What do you think is going to happen tonight? What were your thoughts on the PPV? Is CM Punk face now? Is that an okay thing? Would you keep a title belt in your fridge?</div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-8740736964759405432011-07-16T13:58:00.000-04:002011-07-16T13:58:25.299-04:00Special Spotlight: CM PunkSince it's been all but confirmed that this Sunday is CM Punk's last appearance with the WWE, whether or not he wins the belt (which, personally, I hope he does) I wanted to do a special look at this superstar. Love him or hate him or somewhere in between, you have to admit the term suits him. <div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br /><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DnbFmhb5B8U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br />(<a href="http://youtu.be/MYoDpbcyEpo">Part two</a>)<div><br />I start out with this match for a number of reasons, but mostly because it was intensely personal to me at the time. I'm sure you've seen me mention several times that I hated Punk during this feud, partially because I was just a ginormous Hardy mark, and partially because I thought Punk overstepped about a dozen lines in his quest for legit heat against Hardy. WWE loves to blur the lines between reality and storyline (see also: Matt Hardy, Lita and Edge) but I think a man's past, upbringing and dead mother should be off the table in a storyline situation. Called me old-fashioned. <div><br /></div><div>You could argue that Punk's heat absolutely worked. Two years later (god has it been two years? Holy crap) I'm still talking about a feud in a company that goes through a "major feud" every three months or so, or involve the same couple of people (John Cena and Randy Orton, much?). And the point of the heel is to be hated... and I definitely hated him. </div></div><div><br /></div><div>I remember watching this match with my heart in my throat and a knot in my stomach; every logical impulse I had, everything I knew, all the dirt sheets I'd read... I knew Jeff was gone after this match. I knew. But I still watched, and hoped... and then I'm pretty sure I cried. Don't judge me. I was a different fangirl then. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/P4Mu6-zuIRM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><div>(<a href="http://youtu.be/bYBeQ2XQM-8">Part two</a>)</div><div><br /></div><div>Next I go all the way back to 2004, where a blonder, less tattooed CM Punk takes on Homicide in ROH. One of the things I really enjoy about this clip <strike>besides the fact it was the only ROH match I could find</strike> is how raw Punk's skills are in the ring. Whether that's account of Punk being green or that's just the way ROH plays the game (inadvertent Triple H reference), I loved watching it. Punk in the WWE is quick. Precise. You could probably almost say elegant, dispatching his opponents with either a submission move or his Muay Thai inspired high kicks. (Did I just call CM Punk <i>elegant</i>? Oh my <i>god</i>.)</div><div><br /></div><div>But here, in 2004 ROH, he's suplexing people, flying off the top rope, calling Rocky Romano a pussy (For serious! At 3:15!) and in part two, a superplex (1:05) and a gorgeous belly-to-belly suplex at 2:33.</div><div><br /></div><div>Plus he has a move called the <a href="http://youtu.be/Cz51K-c8Y8s">Pepsi Plunge</a>. What's not to love about that?</div><br /><br /><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZTqOv3gJbEg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><div><br /></div><div>Next up is Punk's WWE/ECW debut, which a quick trip to Wikipedia tells us happened on August 1st, 2006. I like this clip for two reasons.</div><div><br /></div><div>1. A preponderance of all those pretty Muay Thai legkicks I mentioned earlier. (Yep, I just called CM Punk pretty. Moving right along.)</div><div><br /></div><div>And 2. Notice Punk as a wrestler. Notice his gimmick, notice his gear. This debut happened slightly less than five years ago, but he still has the same theme music, the same straight edge gimmick, the same basic ring gear --black leg gear, black trunks with bright colored stripes (minus the Stars of David), taped wrists with the black X's on the back of the hand. CM Punk has maintained exactly the same character gimmick for five straight years. In the WWE. Sure, sometimes he's heel, sometimes he's face, sometimes he's Jesus but it still remains... the exact same character. That is <i>awesome</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Oh my god, you guys.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vCGH6A-tPmE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>All the way from 2000 and care of St. Paul Championship Wrestling, I bring you baby Colt Cabana vs. baby CM Punk. Colt Cabana's theme is "I Wanna Sex You Up" by Color Me Badd. Colt Cabana is heel. Could not make this stuff up.</div><div><br /></div><div>Match gets into good standing at about 5:30. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'll let the rest of the match speak for itself. Considering it's from 2000, from an indie promotion in Minnesota, and that this was the <i>opening match</i>, this match is awesome. </div><div><br /></div><div>Oh man, speaking of awesome indie matches.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TYPqPNd_tCQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><div>(<a href="http://youtu.be/_yodjFGlvHc">Part two</a>)</div><div><br /></div><div>CM Punk vs AJ Styles in IWC, during 2004. Special guest appearance by AJ Styles' curvaceous lower half.</div><div><br /></div><div>Mm.</div><div><br /></div><div>Since my one-track mind has just gone off on the <i>wrong </i>track, here's a vid of Punk and Cabana giving a lapdance to one very lucky ladyfan. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hQPEpgObLLs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>What, did you think I was kidding? Would I joke about something like that? </div><div><br /></div><div>Another quick video without any discernible merit, other than it makes me laugh.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wmifOPIWqPk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>CM Punk dancing in a serape during his <strike>Jesus</strike> Straight Edge Society phase. While in Mexico. One of these days I have to do a compilation post of wrestlers doing silly things. </div><div><br /></div><div>Alright, back to serious business. </div><div><br /></div><div>Ahh, here we go. What's more serious business than winning the World Heavyweight title?</div><br /><br /><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qlGVKzV8y28" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><div><br /></div><div>Punk wins the title for the first time back in '08. But how? Capitalizing on half beat-to-death current champ Edge (by way of pissed off Animal Batista) by turning in his Money in the Bank briefcase. How deliciously underhanded and sneaky. (Of course he does nearly the same thing to Jeff Hardy a year later, though turning in his briefcase on the champ who had been champ for roughly a minute and a half. And I was pissed.)</div><div><br /></div><div>It's kind of funny that the superstar who used to be known as Mr. Money in the Bank is choosing the PPV of the same name to go out with a (hopefully huge and amazing) bang. </div><div><br /></div><div>Oh hey, speaking of. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/agsiGyw--Xc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>Yep. I remember getting accidentally spoiled for this. Back at that time I didn't watch the PPVs, so I would avoid the internet like the plague until Monday nights. I happened to be watching TV when there was a commercial for RAW and there was a shot of Punk with the belt. My reaction was something along the lines of "Why is Punk the heavywe-- *huge indrawn gasp noise* OH MY GOD." </div><div><br /></div><div>Ah, memories.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here we have a highlight of Punk's last Wrestlemania match against Randy Orton. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/e1yCtYVt_ME" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>The music is slightly fannish and annoying, but it does show off a lot of nice bits from the match. Perhaps skewed towards the Randy Orton fannish side, but that's okay, we can appreciate that too. </div><div><br /></div><div>And finally...</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2OS9wZGb_3g" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>The promo that turned the 'verse on its ear. </div><div><br /></div><div>I just want you guys to know that in the process of putting this post together, I have found myself becoming a 100% confirmed CM Punk fangirl. (Self from '09... I'm sorry. Really sorry. If it's any consolation, you're still really in love with The Miz for whatever reason.) It would figure I become a fangirl the day before he's set to leave the company forever. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm sure I missed a thousand awesome matches, but I hope I managed to get some good ones too, and that you guys enjoyed the ones I found. </div><div><br /></div><div>Extra credit -- Interview with <a href="http://www.gq.com/sports/profiles/201107/cm-punk-wwe-wrestling-interview?currentPage=1">Punk via GQ</a>. Yep... that GQ. (Notable note: there are actually separate buses for heels and faces. The more you know.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Extra extra credit -- <a href="http://www.scrippsnews.com/content/marvez-no-longer-roster-colt-cabana-still-figures-wwe-drama">Colt Cabana</a> rings in on Punk's promo and MitB... which he plans to attend. </div><div><br /></div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-25154165763386337542011-07-06T18:38:00.003-04:002011-07-06T19:37:17.200-04:00Rumor Mill 6/30 - 7/6Rumor Mill, grinding away.<div><br /><br /><a href="http://s915.photobucket.com/albums/ac358/nyxraisa/?action=view&current=therumormill.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac358/nyxraisa/therumormill.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a><br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /></div><div>Seems like CM Punk made a bit of a <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2011/07/04/cm-punk-wwe-wrestler-wrestling-homo-homophobic-slur-australia/">faux pas in Adelaide</a> this past week, getting up in an Australian fan's face (as one does, when one is a heel) and got a bit carried away. After emphatically asserting said fan had a vagina, he then called the young man a "homo". GLAAD announced on their website that they were speaking with WWE to make sure their talent chooses their heel words better, but then said a WWE spokesperson said Punk would <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/07/06/spoiler-update-on-cm-punk/">no longer be with the company</a> after July 17th. So maybe that answers that question. Punk also took to Twitter to <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/07/04/cm-punk-im-embarrassed/">apologize</a> for his offensive remarks. </div><div><br /></div><div>On their way to South Africa, apparently over half the Smackdown roster had <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/07/05/wwe-wrestlers-robbed-on-way-to-south-africa/">items missing</a> from their personal checked luggage. </div><div><br /></div><div>WWE has registered a new <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/07/04/wwe-registers-new-trademark-for-the-undertaker/">trademark</a> for the Undertaker, "The Last Outlaw"... whatever that's supposed to mean. </div><div><br /></div><div>Rey Mysterio's <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/WWE_Very_Determined_To_Re-Sign_Rey_Mysterio.html">contract</a> runs out in early 2012 and the 'E is very desperate to make sure he re-signs, since that seems to be a problem with WWE's talent right now. Apparently <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Major_Heat_On_WWE_Executive_Over_CM_Punk_s_Contract_Situation.html">the blame</a> is resting firmly on John Laurinaitis's shoulders and both Vince and Triple H are not happy with his failure to make the guys re-sign. Interesting. </div><div><br /></div><div>Colt Cabana <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/Colt_Cabana_Explains_Why_CM_Punk_Wants_To_Leave_WWE.html">rings in</a> on CM Punk's state of mind as to the work/shoot nature of Punk's infamous promo. I still want to believe. </div><div><br /></div><div>Scott Hall <a href="http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/Other_News_4/article_51245.shtml">checks himself into jail </a>(you can check yourself into jail?) for his 10-day stint following his 2010 arrest for drunkenly resisting arrest. It's expected he will only stay 2-3 days. </div><div><br /></div><div>Ric Flair's still Naitchin'. Despite being <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/07/02/report-ric-flair-leaves-tna-event-early-in-brooklyn/">advertised and promoted</a> for the Brooklyn, NY TNA show July 1st, he only showed up to sign for the VIP ticket holders and left before the show was over. He claims <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/07/02/ric-flair-tna-update/">he wasn't told</a> he had to go before the rest of the live audience. He appeared at the Asbury, NJ show to all fans without further incident. </div><div><br /></div><div>Associated press released the <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/07/02/associated-press-runs-story-on-savage-autopsy/">autopsy results</a> for Randy Savage. Official cause of death is heart disease; drugs nor alcohol played any factor in the crash. RIP Macho Man. Thanks for saving us from the rapture. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you have 9.2 million dollars just sitting around and you're in the market for a new house, Hulk Hogan's Florida mansion hit <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/07/06/hogans-multi-million-dollar-florida-home-hits-the-market/">the buyer's market</a>. 17,000+ square feet, five bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, gym, pool with waterfalls... </div><div><br /></div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-24859554154418641092011-06-30T12:21:00.004-04:002011-06-30T13:08:30.482-04:00Rumor Mill 6/22 - 6/30Sorry I'm late. My internet has been broken. Really didn't miss much... it appears to have been a slow week.<div><br /></div><div><br /><br /><a href="http://s915.photobucket.com/albums/ac358/nyxraisa/?action=view&current=therumormill.gif" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac358/nyxraisa/therumormill.gif" /></a><br /><div><br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /></div><div>So, Randy Orton apparently has a very <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/06/29/orton-talks-cena-the-rock-kelly-kelly-and-more/">candid interview</a>, implies Kelly Kelly is a whore, later <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/06/30/orton-apologies-to-kelly-kelly/">apologizes</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Mason Ryan is supposedly <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/06/28/wwe-raw-superstar-injured/">injured</a>, rumored to be out from anywhere from six weeks to six months. </div><div><br /></div><div>Jeff Hardy was due back in court the 28th, but his case <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/06/28/update-on-jeff-hardys-court-case-2/">never came up</a>. It's expected to come up today, hopefully once and for all getting settled today. Also, TNA wants him to enter <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/tna/Angelina_Love_Joins_Twitter_Matt_Hardy_Says_He_s_Getting_Better_TNA_Xplosion.html">rehab</a>. I hope he does. </div><div><br /></div><div>After their tryouts with the WWE, the Kings of Wrestling Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli have been <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/06/27/update-on-the-kings-of-wrestling/">offered a contract</a>, though it is unknown if they have signed with them or ROH. </div><div><br /></div><div>The Rock has been <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/06/25/the-rock-confirmed-for-fast-and-furious-six/">confirmed</a> for The Fast and the Furious Six and the next <a href="http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/NXT_Star_Loses_His_WWE_Pro_Rock_Confirms_GI_Joe_Legends_Needing_Surgery.html">GI Joe</a> movie. </div><div><br /></div><div>Chavo's been <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/06/25/long-time-wwe-superstar-released/">released</a> from the WWE, claims he asked for it as he was <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/06/25/chavo-comments-of-wwe-release/">no longer happy</a> there. </div><div><br /></div><div>For those among you needing your ROH fix, they have released a list of <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/06/24/roh-announces-tv-schedule-and-stations/">times and stations</a> on which they will be making their weekly appearance, naturally not anywhere around where I live. I hope the rest of y'all have better luck.</div><div><br /></div><div>Remember when Melina posted that cracked out video of her talking smack to/about Gail Kim? She posted a <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/06/24/melina-explains-the-gail-kim-video/">statement</a> on her website stating she was just kayfabing it up. More or less. I'm still confused, honestly. </div><div><br /></div><div>John Morrison is expected <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/06/30/john-morrison-update-2/">back in the ring </a>around September or October, it appears his neck injury is taking longer to recover from than expected. </div><div><br /></div><div>All the rest of the news this week is CM Punk, which really comes as no surprise. I already did <a href="http://wrestlingfix.blogspot.com/2011/06/cm-punk-i-want-to-believe.html">my thoughts</a> on that situation. </div></div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-36947320211885378592011-06-28T12:22:00.005-04:002011-06-28T13:35:28.148-04:00CM Punk: I Want To Believe(Or, "It's my turn to talk about that thing that everyone else is talking about.")<div><br /></div><div>Since I generally make it a habit not to watch RAW, I didn't even know anything historical was happening until my twitter started blowin' up about Punk and Colt Cabana and ROH. I managed to catch a vid of the promo on a friend's tumblr and let me just say... wow. Wow. </div><div><br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br />Here's the video if you haven't seen it yet... or just want to see it again.<br /><br /><iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2Is9SdaC-X8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /><br /></div><div>"Ooops, I'm breaking the fourth wall!"</div><div><br /></div><div>I never, ever in a million years imagined I would say these words, but... I love CM Punk right now. And I used to hate him. I don't mean like cheap-heat-heel-hate, I'm talking deep profound personal hate. Back when I used to be a giant mark for Jeff Hardy, and him and Punk had that thing... remember that thing? Before Jeff quit the 'E? I thought Punk crossed so many lines during the course of that thing (and then turned out to be right about how much of an addict Jeff was, which only made me hate him more) and then came out to Jeff Hardy's music in Jeff Hardy's gear the next week? I was in the audience for that. I almost cried. I thought it was unspeakably cruel. (Now of course, I can't stand Jeff Hardy and think that angle was actually quite brilliant. The times they are a-changin')</div><div><br /></div><div>But personal anecdotes aside, I never thought I'd actually <i>like</i> CM Punk, EVER, though I'd developed kind of a grudging admiration for him in recent months.</div><div><br /></div><div>And now this.</div><div><br /></div><div>The question everyone seems to be asking is, Is it a work? Is it a shoot? Is it a worked shoot? (Well, those are three questions, I guess. In any case.) </div><div><br /></div><div>I think the basic fact of the matter is, if Vince McMahon didn't want it on TV, it wouldn't be on TV. Whether the whole promo from start to finish was scripted or Punk said "Hey I want to cut this promo on you, here are some things I want to cover", Vince allowed it. I want to believe that it was a shoot and somewhere Vince was screaming red-faced into a phone going "CUT HIM OFF <b>NOW</b>!" but I really doubt this is so.</div><div><br /></div><div>I want to believe that the reason his mic was cut off and the show ended so abruptly was because he went off the Vince-allowed script and started REALLY shooting... but I don't believe that is so either. </div><div><br /></div><div>I think it all boils down to the fact that this is a publicity stunt. It's been announced and acknowledged that Punk's leaving the 17th (which so happens to be Money in the Bank, how convenient for him) and Punk's a pretty big star, so that's a pretty big deal. As I recall, PPV buy rates are looooooow low low and have been for a while. Before Punk announcing it was his last day on the job, interest in MitB was probably "eh." After he announced it, it was maybe more like "Oh?"</div><div><br /></div><div>Now, after this amazing promo and rampant news stories (including <a href="http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2011-06-27/mcmahon-suspends-punk">wwe.com front page headlines</a>) that he's been suspended, interest for MitB has probably gone up to "WOAH." Everybody is talking about this promo, his suspension, if he's even actually really quitting on the 17th. This one singular, amazing promo has generated so much talk, which, if this is played right, will probably end up in a lot of buys for MitB.</div><div><br /></div><div>Remember, Vince McMahon wants your money. He wants your money in his pockets and he doesn't care what he has to do to get it there. Will he promise you an amazing, historical PPV, take your money, and then give you a PPV that is meh at best? Yes, he will. And I think the 'verse is finally cottoning on to that kind of lousy bait-and-switch.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now, with Punk, this promo, all the attention this has gotten... Vince has drummed up quite a lot of interest for a PPV that, until this, had probably mediocre interest at best. People are going to talk about it, and again, depending on how this is handled, people are going to buy the PPV to see what Punk does next, if he'll make more history. </div><div><br /></div><div>And that is actually quite brilliant. As much as I want to believe that this is 100% shoot and somewhere Vince McMahon is PISSED... it's all just too convenient. </div><div><br /></div><div>However, the fact still remains that that is a great motherf$%&ing promo, and CM Punk is amazing. </div><div><br /></div><div>Also, <a href="http://www.gerweck.net/2011/06/28/video-cm-punk-sings-chicago-to-vegas-crowd/">this. </a> I think I just became a mark for Punk. Oh geez. </div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6228017214780266430.post-36058476698851080782011-06-26T16:00:00.004-04:002011-06-27T11:34:34.794-04:00ROH PPV -- Best In The WorldReview/recap of ROH's Best in the World PPV<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>First Match: Colt Cabana vs this guy, escorted by Prince Nana (...that's his name)</div><div><br /></div><div>I love to watch Colt wrestle. He always brings a measure of lulz to his craft and you can tell that he really just loves what he does, and you have to love that. The match itself was a pleasant enough opener, not too long or too intense, but a good way to start the action. </div><div><br /></div><div>Second Match: Mikey B the Prodigy against Jay Lethal</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm really excited to see what Jay brings in ROH. I always liked him in TNA though I felt like he was never really given the attention he ultimately deserved, especially in recent years when the X-Division went completely to pot. Jay definitely brought it in this match and Mikey B gave it back just as hard, except for that time when Brutal Bob stepped in and cheated, but what do you expect. Solid, enjoyable match from both guys and I'm excited to see what the future has in store for Jay in ROH.</div><div><br /></div><div>Third Match: Homicide vs Rhino (...Rhino?), also escorted by Prince Nana (...that's still his name)</div><div><br /></div><div>I thought I saw the match list say Rhino but I thought I was nuts. It's actually that Rhino. I didn't even know he was in ROH until I saw the list. Anyhoo. I find Homicide fun to watch too. He's not the most precise guy in the game, but he's never afraid to go all out swinging or leap from the top ropes. Or get a ladder. Or a table. Another good match, lots of energy and wild stunts, including a Gore through a table after the official end of the match. </div><div><br /></div><div>Fourth Match: Steve Corino (escorted out by Jimmy Jacobs) vs Michael Elgin</div><div><br /></div><div>I apologize in advance for not knowing who Michael Elgin is. Also, I want Kevin Steen. STEEN. THERE HE IS. I KNEW HE'D BE THERE FOR THIS MATCH. Heck with the rest of this. I want more Steen. Michael Elgin wins, is subjected to beatdown from Jimmy Jacobs, does not take that shit. MOAR STEEN! Baha. Beats up Corino. Epic win. I love Kevin Steen. Best part of that match.</div><div><br /></div><div>Intermission time. </div><div><br /></div><div>Match Five: El Generico vs Christopher Daniels for the ROH TV Championship</div><div><br /></div><div>FACD is billed from Sin City? Oh my god, he's a HEEL now? OH MY. Oh my. And he's all fondling the belt. Oh my. Excellent match. Absolutely wonderful. I figured FACD was going to drop the belt, so I'm not surprised at all, but oh. Lovely. Generico and Daniels are two spectacular competitors and I loved every moment. And heel!Daniels. Oh my.</div><div><br /></div><div>Match six: Tag Team Spectacular: Briscoes vs All Night Express vs KOW vs Haas and Benjamin</div><div><br /></div><div>Aw man, what do I say? I love me some Briscoes, first of all. Was sad when they were the first ones out. And Kenny King, wow. Did he beast it out there towards the end or what. I thought it started kinda slow, but it built well and I thought it was good, for the most part, though it might've dragged on a little bit too long. I think I'm too excited for the next one to really focus on this though. My head is just going "EddieandDaveyEddieandDaveyEddieandDavey..." so... I'm a little impatient. All this shit going on in the ring right now? It's wasting my Davey and Eddie time. </div><div><br /></div><div>Seventh and Final Match: Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards for the ROH World Heavyweight title</div><div><br /></div><div>Man. What do I even say? Worth every single penny of my $15, just this match alone. It seemed like the ending was really abrupt though. Did it seem that way to anyone else? It was going along really strong and then all of a sudden it was over. It really didn't feel right to me. I'm glad Davey won though, if one singular man deserved that title, it was him. I just wonder if someone got hurt or something and they had to cut it short. Like if Eddie actually for real hurt his leg or something, which is what I kinda worry about. And then my stream was freaking out after being perfect literally the entire time, so I missed 90% of the speech at the end, but I'm sure youtube will take care of me on that regard. Other than that, I loved every moment. Every single moment. When Davey had Eddie's leg through the ropes and was gonna do a twist on him, and Eddie was like "DO IT. DO IT!" I got chills. Actually, I think I had chills through most of it, it was so good. Worth the wait, worth the money. Worth it. Just wish the ending didn't feel so abrupt to me 'cause that's kinda buggin' me right now. I hope nobody got seriously injured. I can't imagine either one of them would cut a match short for an injury unless it was really serious business. Eddie won that Survival of the Fittest with a dislocated shoulder, right? I mean, these guys don't pussy out. </div><div><br /></div><div>I guess I would say a good PPV on the whole, I'd give it a 7/10, mostly for Davey and Eddie at the end there. </div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761630074902491200noreply@blogger.com0