Mr. Luchador
Member
I feel bad for Morrison. He had one hell of a match with Punk in ECW. It was a classic.
Sad to see talent go
That was what... 3 years ago?
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
November Wrasslin |OT| Apathy is Trending
- Thread starter Mr. Sam
- Start date
- Status
That was what... 3 years ago?
Same Reason Chris Masters and Carlito were in the January 2006 Elimination Chamber match.
BoboBrazil
Member
Morrison can deliver in the ring. Really it is a shame that he is getting buried in WWE, but supposedly Morrison wanted to stay but WWE doesn't want to keep him. I'm interested in seeing him break out in TNA and also get more air time and promo time where he can actually cut a promo that isn't written for him.
funkystudent
Member
who the fuck would anyone go to a smackdown taping when all the good smackdown people are on RAW.
Attendance has been declining a bit over the past couple of years, especially for the Smackdown shows. On recent Raws and Smackdowns, you can sometimes notice how the upper deck is darkened because they didn't sell enough tickets.
May as well post the matches.
I like that there's only two Cena matches in there. Also, I'm glad to see that Cody-Rey at WM is on there. That was definitely the best match of the night.
Net_Wrecker
Member
Nocturnowl
Member
No random chamber appearance can match Big Daddy V and Mike Knox, they looked so out of place in their respective matches.
On a similar note I feel kind of irked that Alex Riley is included in the the best ppv matches dvd by virtue of the MITB match.
Spider from Mars
tap that thorax
Hogan, Bischoff, Flair and Russo are going to run a train within the first 20 minutes of her being signed.
Mr. Enigma
Member
.
She can't run the ropes, but she sure can run red lights.
Because SmackDown's a consistently better show than RAW. Mind you, I'd avoid TV tapings altogether and go for a house show instead.
I don't know but I hope he stays there.
Keyser Soze
Member
I saw him on Superstars when I checked it out lately. I guess that means they are still happy with him, but waiting for a chance to push him. He'd be back in FCW if they were going to repackage him.
Why do you put so much stake at who's holding the titles? If only guys like Cody, Ziggler, and Barrett weren't constantly jobbed or looking like fools it wouldn't be an issue.
They'll have to kiss some HHH ass to get where they want to be, like Punk.
Yeah, ratings are dated and shit.
EDIT: Listening to the Bryan and Vinny show, 9 WWE title changes since May? Holy shit.
Are you being sarcastic? He basically rewrote the rules for being a heel. It's no coincidence that the WWE hasn't gotten any better (to put it veeeeery nicely) since he left.
And JoMo would be a nice add to the TNA roster..but with all that crazy amount of talent the have they maybe should think about a second show next to Impact.
His match with Ziggler was good. And the stuff he did on Z! these last two weeks, it was like, "Whoa! There is a personality under all that."
Perspicacity
Banned
Of the active roster Austin Aries, Samoa Joe, Eric Young, Doug Williams, Pope, Kendrick, Roode, Chris Daniels, Angle, and maybe AJ are all better than him but the rest of that roster is dogshit or past their prime.
It's actually a much better ratio of wrestlers better:worse than Jomo than in WWE.
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
I was just trying to post kayfabe.
Perspicacity
Banned
Shit, forgot that wrestling matters. Mah bad
bean breath
Member
Holy crap, Darren "Mr. No Days Off" Young, (aka Black Cena) is back from his wellness policy violation.
bean breath
Member
Damn, that's a sweet entrance theme.
Matt Stryker is brutal and kind of unbearable to listen to on commentary.
Wow, these NXT promos are so bad, they're good, lol.
"Is it me or was Maxine getting some serious eyes on my caboose out there."
The Internet
Member
Are you serious bro? He rewrote the rules of being a heel? I was a huge Jericho fan back in the day, I just didn't like that character he played. I don't see how it was amazingly different from other heels.
I bought his DVD mainly to watch his great WCW skits and interviews (which I thought they didn't show enough of) and quietly turned it off when it came to present day Jericho.
Don't hate, I'm from the mean streets of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Because he didn't rely on cheap heat. His insults were amazing and well thought of. He was very well articulated, ran around in suits and just tried something completely new (well at least to me).
Maybe I'm alone on this but I absolutely loved what he was doing.
bean breath
Member
The crowd was the best part of the match. Also, if you have a deep-seeded hatred of John Cena, watching this match will give you a cathartic release.
Spider from Mars
tap that thorax
You and I are Jeribros.
Wendel Clark
Member
jericho needs to retire
I wouldn't expect them to be that close. Goldust is 16 years older than Cody and they have different mothers. By the time cody was 5 and a half his brother was in the business full time.
Basically different generations with only ties to wrestling linking them together
bean breath
Member
Is Jeribro the PG Era version of Jerichoholic?
funkystudent
Member
now that I think about it I think I get why Punk / wwe didnt change the title design.
its right before Christmas and the new video game is out as well.
They probably don't want to hurt toy belt sales and make there video game look more out of date then it needs to be.
Wasnt there rumors a while back that they have basically been sitting on a new WWE title belt design and just haven't debuted it yet?
Hopefully next year will be the year. the spinner belt has been around 5 years now. thats pretty long for WWE title design.
Maybe at mania.
its right before Christmas and the new video game is out as well.
They probably don't want to hurt toy belt sales and make there video game look more out of date then it needs to be.
Wasnt there rumors a while back that they have basically been sitting on a new WWE title belt design and just haven't debuted it yet?
Hopefully next year will be the year. the spinner belt has been around 5 years now. thats pretty long for WWE title design.
Maybe at mania.
billy beane
Banned
If it's anything like the Diva's Title or the current Tag Titles, it'll be awful.
You know, in the 4 years I lived in Calgary I don't think I ever once saw or heard of any street that was the "mean street" other than like parts of the SE :lol
Wait, why do you have Taylor Hall as your avatar?
That Black Cena dude is NOT Cena? WTF I thought the few times i've seen his pic it was a photoshopped Cena.
Professor Beef
Banned
He's real. He even admitted hearing about the "Black Cena" remarks during an episode of Raw.
worldrunover
Member
McIntyre was pushed really hard at first, then backed off, then started getting another push early this year, and then completely fell off the map. I really felt like he was coming on too, his promos were still sluggish but he was good in the ring. I dunno what the hell happened, he's definitely in someone's doghouse, I would assume.
dream
Member
stop talking for a sec so I can spam yall
The Rock tearing down the house at Madison Square Garden on interviews, or even having a good match in his first time back as a participant in seven-and-a-half years should have been expected.
But watching a guy at 39 be even quicker than he was at 29, well, that first impression for his first in-ring sequence since 2004 was not expected, with a few lightning fast armdrags and a quick house cleaning of foils R-Truth and The Miz.
The 2011 Survivor Series on 11/20 was a very different show. For one night, wrestling was cool, and while Rock brought the people in, in many ways it was the fans who were the stars of the show. They came to see The Rock, to boo John Cena and to make Zack Ryder. Cody Rhodes came across for the first time in his career like a superstar who had arrived. C.M. Punk came across like the kind of guy who can lead the company. Ryder, who didn’t even wrestle, was, aside from Rock, the biggest star of the night to the degree that Rock even put him over as fans chanted “We Want Ryder” during his promo after the show went off the air.
Were they there to see wrestling matches? Not really. It was more to be not just at an event, but to be the event. It’s one thing when it was the ECW Arena in the 90s when you had 1,000 people doing funny chants in unison, and something else when you get 17,000 people doing it, and obviously it doesn’t take more than a few to start chants and a few hundred can make tons of noise and it feels like it’s the whole crowd, but it comes across so much more big time.
Rock got the reaction one would expect, and Cena did as well, but perhaps even more vehemently than usual. It was easily 90% negative to Cena, and vociferously so. This is a prelude to WrestleMania and says loud and clear that the audience that Rock brings to the table is an audience that hates Cena. The question then becomes what do you do with Cena for the next few months. The people have already turned him heel. But there’s the risk, in the sense that when it comes to big shows, yeah, you get that Male 18-34 who wants to see a big event. But when it comes to house shows, that audience is not coming in great numbers and it’s a kids and parents audience, plus so much of the merchandise income is based on catering to kids. The big kids favorites have been Cena, Rey Mysterio, who is gone with knee surgery, and Sin Cara had become a favorite with that group, and he’s also now needing knee surgery.
There are a lot of issues with turning Cena, including fear of alienating that fan base, his merchandise and all of his charity work. They’ve learned the lesson of the failed 2001 Steve Austin turn where business went down hard and fast and never recovered, with the idea that because Austin had brought so many people to the table, that his being a heel made them check out. Even though Cena is no Austin, he also has brought a lot of people to the table. In the past, while Cena being turned has at times been open for discussion, the talks usually end based on his merchandise sales. C.M. Punk may have passed him (Punk claims he has and I’m sure he did in August which was the big month but then September was down from the prior year), but it was noted that Cena is a proven long term merchandise seller while Punk had one big month and fell greatly. In addition, reportedly just this last week Vince noted that when you look at the people who move ratings, that Cena is far and away the biggest (except for Rock who is part-time) and the only person on the roster you can count on to move numbers. There is no guarantee with a heel turn that will still be the case. There have been babyfaces who were big ratings draws that were turned heel and their ratings drawing power went way down.
I wouldn’t use this night at MSG which drew a very specialized pro-Rock audience as a barometer for the world, but Rock or Punk or Mick Foley or the announcers or the other faces can’t endorse Cena and make this audience like him. And they’ve certainly tried every trick in the book, including Cena’s role as being the good guy who praises the fans when they boo him because he likes it when they express their unfiltered viewpoint. It’s almost comical to watch every trick they try and have an audience that is usually fairly easy to control and manipulate dig in their heels and resist all the tricks to get people to cheer Cena, even to the extent of booing other faces who praise him. Even though most figure Cena vs. Rock is going to do monster business, and it is, there are people not happy and noted that this was the exact fear of what would happen in booking a Cena vs. Rock program.
They can’t script him making saves for other faces, endorsing the Ryder like cult favorites that the people are behind or all the methods of subliminally tricking the audience to have the kneejerk reaction of being behind him. This is the same dynamic that Hulk Hogan faced in 1996, and if anything, it’s a lot stronger. The difference is that Cena is still moving merchandise and Hogan really wasn’t as a face by that point, and Hogan did have a hot angle that everyone knew was already a hot angle to jump into. Cena may not have a hot group, but he does have what could possibly be the biggest money single event in the history of the industry. But the good thing from a WWE standpoint is that whether they turn him or not, Cena is not just a heel in this program but a super strong heel to the audience that will be in Miami, and the cities leading up to Mania, and the majority of those watching on television.
If this exact crowd reaction took place in Montreal or Toronto or Mexico City, Vince McMahon would have ordered the announcers to insult their own audience. Instead, it’s New York, and in their minds, when it happens in Toronto, it’s people trying to ruin the show. If it’s in New York, it’s a barometer of where things are going, even if the day after the place was filled with people with Ryder merchandise and chanting his name loudly before, during and after the show. This in many ways was reminiscent of the night Giant Baba called the audible before the show based on his feel of the crowd and had Mitsuharu Misawa pin Jumbo Tsuruta, and I’m not trying to say Ryder could have become Misawa if he had won the U.S. title on this show, but for a company that changes plans dozens of times weekly, to have the guy on this night in his home city win what is essentially a meaningless mid-card title just to throw the audience a bone wouldn’t have been that hard to do. I expect based on the build that they have plans for Ryder to eventually win and it will get over. As far as plans for him to graduate to being a top guy, the way he’s booked now seems like they don’t take it seriously and see him at that level. Long-term, nobody knows, but to me, when somebody who doesn’t fit the mold of your perception of a top guy catches fire, you go with him and see how far he goes, instead of book him like a prelim guy for whatever mentality you have to show that you are in charge and you decide when stars are made. The thing is, they are pushing his petition and they did give Ryder a cameo tease where he looked good at this show. My gut is they put John Morrison against Ziggler instead of Ryder as a strategy to get the people wanting Ziggler vs. Ryder more, but I can’t believe anyone could have anticipated this level of groundswell. And clearly by his booking losing to Del Rio via armbar in just 2:24 at Raw, even now they don’t see him as above the Kofi Kingston level.
As for Rock, he did two promos, one early in the show and one after the show was over. The first was awesome and I wish it was done on the Raw go-home show because it would have made Survivor Series from MSG seen like a much bigger deal. They also did a great video package on his life and career (and with Cena as well), and again, why this wasn’t on Raw last week makes no sense. I get the fear that a video package may cause minute-by-minute ratings to drop, but in the big picture, that doesn’t even mean one-tenth of a rating point when the show is over and when the ability is there to make a PPV show seem special and out of the ordinary, those things should be taken advantage of. We’ve already seen with boxing and UFC what kind of dynamics today draw larger than usual numbers, and you can’t do that with 13 or 14 shows a year, but you can with three to five, and clearly you could have here.
Rock not only talked about his debut in Madison Square Garden 15 years ago at the 1996 Survivor Series, but went back farther than that, all the way to being a five-year-old in 1977 when his grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia, challenged Superstar Billy Graham for the WWWF title. He talked about 1984, at the age of 12, hanging out with Andre the Giant (which he said twice, the first time not getting that big a pop until he commanded the bigger pop), and watching his dad defend the WWF (which was sound edited) tag team title.
The second saw him say that November 20, 2011, was the greatest day of his wrestling career and he said this was just the beginning of his run. He thanked the audience, reacted to the audience including after the millionth Ryder chant of the night, put over Ryder (this impromptu reaction was the only part that made television). Fans were chanting “You still got it,” and “Welcome back,” at the same time and he joked that the fans would have to choose one or the other (they chose the former). At one point when he started to get emotional about being back wrestling in MSG (MSG itself was a big part of this because of what MSG represented in the territorial days regarding headlining that arena and the coincidences of Rock beginning, end and the night it really became clear he was going to be the next big thing all coming in MSG) and a fan said, “Don’t cry,” he responded back, “The Rock doesn’t cry” and made a reference to how you must have some good weed in these parts leading to a chant of “Weed, Weed.”
Johnson wanted to come back quicker and sharper in the ring than when he left and said he was in the best shape of his career. Cosmetically, dieted down, he looked more like a bodybuilder than the very fit football player look he had as a 260-270 pounder. But as everyone has seen for decades, looking like a bodybuilder gives no indication of being a great performer once the bell sounds. Now, doing some early practiced spots and a hot tag to a finish is very different from doing a 20:00 singles match, but his performance was exactly what it should have been. He came in, looked more impressive in his short stint than probably most expected. He showed enough to whet people’s appetite without showing so much that they think they’ve seen the real deal, which should be saved for WrestleMania.
Rock & Cena beat The Miz & R-Truth in the main event. Rock was in to shine at the beginning, with action so fast that he appeared to be the quickest big guy in the company even today. Most of the match was Cena selling, which didn’t get traditional heat. It was more amusing because the crowd wouldn’t get behind Cena no matter how much he sold. When Rock was in early there was a “Don’t tag Cena” chant. At the end, when he finally hot tagged in, he did several of his trademark spots, sold briefly, and eventually used the people’s elbow to pin Miz. Post-match, Rock and Cena took turns climbing to ropes to cheerlead the crowd, with the crowd cheering half of the team like crazy and booing the other half out the building. The final scene was Rock laying Cena out with a rock bottom.
From a wrestling standpoint, the show was really no better than most WWE PPV shows, and worse than many of the better ones. But almost everyone enjoyed it because they came to see one thing, and that one thing delivered, and the atmosphere made it come across as a special and historic night, the best since Money in the Bank. The crowd had its mind made up all night about what it wanted and what was going to standout and what it didn’t want. Even though John Morrison vs. Dolph Ziggler had a strong opener, the best wrestled match on the show, the crowd was mad because they wanted Ryder in that spot.
They didn’t want to see Mark Henry vs. Big Show, so they entertained themselves with chants for Undertaker (there were rumors that he would return at this show but I never put much stock in those), D-Lo Brown (Henry’s former partner), Sexual Chocolate (a one-time nickname and bad gimmick of Henry’s), Mae Young, Randy Savage (when Big Show did an elbow off the top rope). At one point, after Henry laid Show out with a tackle through the barricade, when a double count out was teased and Show just beat the count, the crowd booed. I’m not sure if it was because they wanted Henry to win, or more likely, they wanted the match to end. The match, aside from two memorable spots, the barricade spot and Show’s elbow off the top, wasn’t good. But the crowd made it worse with chants that had nothing to do with the action, booing both guys and “boring” chants. And the finish made it worse than that, as Henry was disqualified for a low blow to save the title, which saw the crowd turn on the match. They gave the people a post-match angle where Show put Henry’s ankle into a chair and leg dropped down on it. Henry was tended to by officials and said his leg was broken. But he’s still booked on all the shows, so they aren’t going to play the injury up that big.
They wanted to see Punk win the title, and got it with the Anaconda vise submission. For Punk it must have been something, winning the title in Madison Square Garden. These days the title doesn’t always mean that much, but winning it in Madison Square Garden still has an aura. Plus he got to use a finisher that a few years back the promotion took away from him, and even only using it a few times of late and never as a winning move, it was over enough that the place exploded when he locked it on. Punk on TV noted that the title, which has changed hands eight times in the last seven months (the same number as from the inception of the WWWF name in 1963 until 1979) would no longer be a hot potato.
Right now Vince McMahon has made the commitment to Punk as champion. They are back in the mindset of trying to strengthen the belt by not changing it every month (a strategy that often changes four weeks later when there is a PPV and Raw rating to jump). Punk is planned to be champion past Royal Rumble. As for Del Rio, McMahon has lost confidence in him according to multiple sources, and with the experiment of bringing in stars from Mexico, with the idea it hasn’t worked out as he had envisioned.
Henry vs. Show, likely in a chairs match, will be one of the big matches on the 12/18 PPV, the TLC show from Baltimore. The two matches advertised are Punk vs. Del Rio for the WWE title and HHH vs. Kevin Nash. Since Show used a chair to the ankle for an injury spot on Henry, one would think that would be a chairs match. HHH vs. Nash was scheduled for this show as a tables match a few weeks back. That leaves Punk vs. Del Rio as either a ladder match or a TLC match. Another top match appears to be Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett. The final angle of the show seemed to lead to John Cena vs. The Miz vs. R-Truth with R-Truth going face, but instead the angle, where Miz turned R-Truth face and laid him out with a skull crushing finale on the ramp, was to write R-Truth out due to a 30 day suspension for a drug test failure.
This one has a lot of people talking. When Evan Bourne was suspended for the drug Spice (a marijuana substitute that is on the company’s banned list), it was not a secret among the wrestlers that another bigger star was doing the same thing he was with him, who was said to be not suspended, but instead fined $2,500 for a marijuana violation. It was a big enough issue that there were these explanations going around about how maybe the usage of the marijuana covered up the Spice, and thus it didn’t show up, but why would that be the case with one wrestler but not with Bourne. The company does have a policy where if a guy fails a test, they’ll allow him to work the next television. If this test failure came up over the last week, his working the PPV and doing the angle to write him off with the injury would be common practice. But this is one filled with skepticism.
In the case of Ron Killings, we have it confirmed his suspension was for a marijuana substitute, presumably Spice, and that the test result came in several weeks ago. According to someone with complete knowledge of the situation, Killings was informed around the same time Bourne was suspended that he had failed the test for a marijuana substitute. Because he was not suspended, he presumed he was not being suspended, based on the idea that they had the European tour and he was in the main event at Survivor Series. He was never told anything different and had no idea he was being suspended until 11/22. We were told the writers were also not informed of anything, and that this had nothing to do with the lack of heat put on he and Miz to build the show. Michael Hayes had told Miz and Truth that for this main event there was no need to get heat, which nobody understood but felt to mean Rock was going to sell the show whether they did an angle or not, so why bother. Vince McMahon ordered the R-Truth babyface turn because he felt Raw only has two babyfaces that were over, Cena and Punk, and if one gets hurt the depth was bad. Plus, McMahon felt there was great potential in Little Jimmy merchandise.
In pro wrestling, nobody on the inside is ever going to have confidence that the drug policy is enforced equally to prelim guys and top stars. This would seem to indicate the idea that you fail the test and they write you out on the next TV is more that if you’re on top, they’ll allow you to work out your program for several weeks, but that eventually you are going to serve your 30 days. Although R-Truth is on top, he’s really not the level of guy that would alleviate the skepticism. There have been incidents that came out where Vince McMahon talked Dr. David Black (who is in charge of handing out the suspensions) into changing some things. There is always the issue of Randy Orton not being suspended with everyone else after the Signature Pharmacy names came out. Even Harry Smith, who was a prelim guy, when he got popped in developmental, he was not suspended for more than a month after he was informed he had failed the test. Then he was brought up to the main roster,. They waited until the day the policy changed where they would announce people testing positive, and then right away, he was announced as suspended when the policy changed. Perhaps there is an explanation, but that was years ago and none was ever given. From time to time there are stories among the talent of one of the guys at the top failing a test and somehow not being suspended. Again, given the confidential nature of the testing and nature of locker room gossip, all of these incidents can be wrong, or there may be foundation to them.
The fact football, baseball and the Olympics have all had a lot of questionable things regarding drug testing, tipping stars off (in baseball in particular this came out), covering up positives at times, you can’t trust that favoritism won’t come into play in any endeavor, sport or otherwise, from the high school level to professional, where a star system exists.
The other major story coming out of the show was Sin Cara rupturing his right patella (kneecap) tendon, requiring surgery and is expected to be out of action six to nine months. Early in the ten-man elimination match, Sin Cara and Kofi Kingston did a double flip dive spot with Cara on Hunico and Kingston on Jack Swagger. It was not the landing, but Cara’s knee went out either on the step before or the step of the take-off. Because the knee went out, he didn’t get the height in his jump and in going over the top for his dive, didn’t quite clear the top rope, and his leg hooked the rope, changing his trajectory. It was clear immediately he was hurt and the match stopped and there was about a minute of confusion . They ended up announcing he was unable to continue, as opposed to him crawling into the ring and doing an impromptu finish. He was then helped him to the back.
The timing of this was really bad because they had a ton of new Sin Cara merchandise about to be released and he was expected to be a major seller to kids for the Christmas season. So now both he and Rey Mysterio are gone at the same time. Plus, with a guy with his style, the first knee injury is usually the beginning of a series of problems. In addition, he and Mysterio were hoped to be a significant part of Mania because of the idea of doing the gimmick at the show of having everyone put on masks and breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of masked people in any one place in history, The Anaheim Angels baseball team had a Lucha Libre mask night last season and got a decent amount of pub breaking the record which sparked the idea in WWE circles. Sin Cara is unlikely to make it back for Mania and Mysterio, who has had two recent knee operations, is touch-and-go.
The show drew a sellout of 16,749, with about 13,000 paid and a gate in the $1 million range. We’ve got no early indication of the PPV numbers. The show legitimately sold out right away, but a lot of the tickets went immediately to the secondary market. Those sales at the end must have been soft because we had several reports of people being able to get good seats late for half or even less than the ticket value. The whole ticket dynamic for events that people perceive as being “hot” today with stubhub and Craig’s List is that tickets to hot events are like a stock market short-term investment, and this show, like WrestleMania, benefitted from that.
Mark “Bison” Smith, who had been one of the top foreign stars for Pro Wresting NOAH since his debut there in 2005 passed away on 11/22 in San Juan from a massive heart attack. Smith was 38.
Smith had wrestled on 11/20 in Sapporo, Japan, for NOAH on the final day of the Global League tournament, and then flew from Japan to Puerto Rico where he was scheduled to work the weekend shows, finishing with an 11/27 headline match with Primo Colon at the WWC Crossfire Show.
Details are sketchy as to what happened but it appeared he suffered a massive heart attack and was unable to speak, and was rushed to Hospital Regional in Carolina, PR where he passed away.
Smith, a 6-2, 280-pound thick powerhouse was an offensive lineman at the University of Colorado who started wrestling in 1998 at the All Pro Wrestling school in Hayward, CA. He started his career with APW and moved to Pro Wrestling Iron when his trainers, Michael Modest and Donovan Morgan left APW to start their own company.
His first career break was in 2003 in Puerto Rico, as Buffalo Bison, where he won the IWA world heavyweight title from Shane Sewell. Through Modest & Morgan, he got hooked up with Pro Wrestling NOAH and due to his size and because he did not sign on with a major U.S. group, he was pushed as one of the company’s top foreign stars from his debut in 2005. He held the GHC tag team title twice, with partners Akitoshi Saito and Keith Walker, and also with Saito won the 2008 tag team tournament. Smith & Saito were defending the titles on June 13, 2009, in Sapporo against Mitsuharu Misawa & Go Shiozaki in the match where Misawa died after breaking his neck taking a back suplex from Saito.
The Rock tearing down the house at Madison Square Garden on interviews, or even having a good match in his first time back as a participant in seven-and-a-half years should have been expected.
But watching a guy at 39 be even quicker than he was at 29, well, that first impression for his first in-ring sequence since 2004 was not expected, with a few lightning fast armdrags and a quick house cleaning of foils R-Truth and The Miz.
The 2011 Survivor Series on 11/20 was a very different show. For one night, wrestling was cool, and while Rock brought the people in, in many ways it was the fans who were the stars of the show. They came to see The Rock, to boo John Cena and to make Zack Ryder. Cody Rhodes came across for the first time in his career like a superstar who had arrived. C.M. Punk came across like the kind of guy who can lead the company. Ryder, who didn’t even wrestle, was, aside from Rock, the biggest star of the night to the degree that Rock even put him over as fans chanted “We Want Ryder” during his promo after the show went off the air.
Were they there to see wrestling matches? Not really. It was more to be not just at an event, but to be the event. It’s one thing when it was the ECW Arena in the 90s when you had 1,000 people doing funny chants in unison, and something else when you get 17,000 people doing it, and obviously it doesn’t take more than a few to start chants and a few hundred can make tons of noise and it feels like it’s the whole crowd, but it comes across so much more big time.
Rock got the reaction one would expect, and Cena did as well, but perhaps even more vehemently than usual. It was easily 90% negative to Cena, and vociferously so. This is a prelude to WrestleMania and says loud and clear that the audience that Rock brings to the table is an audience that hates Cena. The question then becomes what do you do with Cena for the next few months. The people have already turned him heel. But there’s the risk, in the sense that when it comes to big shows, yeah, you get that Male 18-34 who wants to see a big event. But when it comes to house shows, that audience is not coming in great numbers and it’s a kids and parents audience, plus so much of the merchandise income is based on catering to kids. The big kids favorites have been Cena, Rey Mysterio, who is gone with knee surgery, and Sin Cara had become a favorite with that group, and he’s also now needing knee surgery.
There are a lot of issues with turning Cena, including fear of alienating that fan base, his merchandise and all of his charity work. They’ve learned the lesson of the failed 2001 Steve Austin turn where business went down hard and fast and never recovered, with the idea that because Austin had brought so many people to the table, that his being a heel made them check out. Even though Cena is no Austin, he also has brought a lot of people to the table. In the past, while Cena being turned has at times been open for discussion, the talks usually end based on his merchandise sales. C.M. Punk may have passed him (Punk claims he has and I’m sure he did in August which was the big month but then September was down from the prior year), but it was noted that Cena is a proven long term merchandise seller while Punk had one big month and fell greatly. In addition, reportedly just this last week Vince noted that when you look at the people who move ratings, that Cena is far and away the biggest (except for Rock who is part-time) and the only person on the roster you can count on to move numbers. There is no guarantee with a heel turn that will still be the case. There have been babyfaces who were big ratings draws that were turned heel and their ratings drawing power went way down.
I wouldn’t use this night at MSG which drew a very specialized pro-Rock audience as a barometer for the world, but Rock or Punk or Mick Foley or the announcers or the other faces can’t endorse Cena and make this audience like him. And they’ve certainly tried every trick in the book, including Cena’s role as being the good guy who praises the fans when they boo him because he likes it when they express their unfiltered viewpoint. It’s almost comical to watch every trick they try and have an audience that is usually fairly easy to control and manipulate dig in their heels and resist all the tricks to get people to cheer Cena, even to the extent of booing other faces who praise him. Even though most figure Cena vs. Rock is going to do monster business, and it is, there are people not happy and noted that this was the exact fear of what would happen in booking a Cena vs. Rock program.
They can’t script him making saves for other faces, endorsing the Ryder like cult favorites that the people are behind or all the methods of subliminally tricking the audience to have the kneejerk reaction of being behind him. This is the same dynamic that Hulk Hogan faced in 1996, and if anything, it’s a lot stronger. The difference is that Cena is still moving merchandise and Hogan really wasn’t as a face by that point, and Hogan did have a hot angle that everyone knew was already a hot angle to jump into. Cena may not have a hot group, but he does have what could possibly be the biggest money single event in the history of the industry. But the good thing from a WWE standpoint is that whether they turn him or not, Cena is not just a heel in this program but a super strong heel to the audience that will be in Miami, and the cities leading up to Mania, and the majority of those watching on television.
If this exact crowd reaction took place in Montreal or Toronto or Mexico City, Vince McMahon would have ordered the announcers to insult their own audience. Instead, it’s New York, and in their minds, when it happens in Toronto, it’s people trying to ruin the show. If it’s in New York, it’s a barometer of where things are going, even if the day after the place was filled with people with Ryder merchandise and chanting his name loudly before, during and after the show. This in many ways was reminiscent of the night Giant Baba called the audible before the show based on his feel of the crowd and had Mitsuharu Misawa pin Jumbo Tsuruta, and I’m not trying to say Ryder could have become Misawa if he had won the U.S. title on this show, but for a company that changes plans dozens of times weekly, to have the guy on this night in his home city win what is essentially a meaningless mid-card title just to throw the audience a bone wouldn’t have been that hard to do. I expect based on the build that they have plans for Ryder to eventually win and it will get over. As far as plans for him to graduate to being a top guy, the way he’s booked now seems like they don’t take it seriously and see him at that level. Long-term, nobody knows, but to me, when somebody who doesn’t fit the mold of your perception of a top guy catches fire, you go with him and see how far he goes, instead of book him like a prelim guy for whatever mentality you have to show that you are in charge and you decide when stars are made. The thing is, they are pushing his petition and they did give Ryder a cameo tease where he looked good at this show. My gut is they put John Morrison against Ziggler instead of Ryder as a strategy to get the people wanting Ziggler vs. Ryder more, but I can’t believe anyone could have anticipated this level of groundswell. And clearly by his booking losing to Del Rio via armbar in just 2:24 at Raw, even now they don’t see him as above the Kofi Kingston level.
As for Rock, he did two promos, one early in the show and one after the show was over. The first was awesome and I wish it was done on the Raw go-home show because it would have made Survivor Series from MSG seen like a much bigger deal. They also did a great video package on his life and career (and with Cena as well), and again, why this wasn’t on Raw last week makes no sense. I get the fear that a video package may cause minute-by-minute ratings to drop, but in the big picture, that doesn’t even mean one-tenth of a rating point when the show is over and when the ability is there to make a PPV show seem special and out of the ordinary, those things should be taken advantage of. We’ve already seen with boxing and UFC what kind of dynamics today draw larger than usual numbers, and you can’t do that with 13 or 14 shows a year, but you can with three to five, and clearly you could have here.
Rock not only talked about his debut in Madison Square Garden 15 years ago at the 1996 Survivor Series, but went back farther than that, all the way to being a five-year-old in 1977 when his grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia, challenged Superstar Billy Graham for the WWWF title. He talked about 1984, at the age of 12, hanging out with Andre the Giant (which he said twice, the first time not getting that big a pop until he commanded the bigger pop), and watching his dad defend the WWF (which was sound edited) tag team title.
The second saw him say that November 20, 2011, was the greatest day of his wrestling career and he said this was just the beginning of his run. He thanked the audience, reacted to the audience including after the millionth Ryder chant of the night, put over Ryder (this impromptu reaction was the only part that made television). Fans were chanting “You still got it,” and “Welcome back,” at the same time and he joked that the fans would have to choose one or the other (they chose the former). At one point when he started to get emotional about being back wrestling in MSG (MSG itself was a big part of this because of what MSG represented in the territorial days regarding headlining that arena and the coincidences of Rock beginning, end and the night it really became clear he was going to be the next big thing all coming in MSG) and a fan said, “Don’t cry,” he responded back, “The Rock doesn’t cry” and made a reference to how you must have some good weed in these parts leading to a chant of “Weed, Weed.”
Johnson wanted to come back quicker and sharper in the ring than when he left and said he was in the best shape of his career. Cosmetically, dieted down, he looked more like a bodybuilder than the very fit football player look he had as a 260-270 pounder. But as everyone has seen for decades, looking like a bodybuilder gives no indication of being a great performer once the bell sounds. Now, doing some early practiced spots and a hot tag to a finish is very different from doing a 20:00 singles match, but his performance was exactly what it should have been. He came in, looked more impressive in his short stint than probably most expected. He showed enough to whet people’s appetite without showing so much that they think they’ve seen the real deal, which should be saved for WrestleMania.
Rock & Cena beat The Miz & R-Truth in the main event. Rock was in to shine at the beginning, with action so fast that he appeared to be the quickest big guy in the company even today. Most of the match was Cena selling, which didn’t get traditional heat. It was more amusing because the crowd wouldn’t get behind Cena no matter how much he sold. When Rock was in early there was a “Don’t tag Cena” chant. At the end, when he finally hot tagged in, he did several of his trademark spots, sold briefly, and eventually used the people’s elbow to pin Miz. Post-match, Rock and Cena took turns climbing to ropes to cheerlead the crowd, with the crowd cheering half of the team like crazy and booing the other half out the building. The final scene was Rock laying Cena out with a rock bottom.
From a wrestling standpoint, the show was really no better than most WWE PPV shows, and worse than many of the better ones. But almost everyone enjoyed it because they came to see one thing, and that one thing delivered, and the atmosphere made it come across as a special and historic night, the best since Money in the Bank. The crowd had its mind made up all night about what it wanted and what was going to standout and what it didn’t want. Even though John Morrison vs. Dolph Ziggler had a strong opener, the best wrestled match on the show, the crowd was mad because they wanted Ryder in that spot.
They didn’t want to see Mark Henry vs. Big Show, so they entertained themselves with chants for Undertaker (there were rumors that he would return at this show but I never put much stock in those), D-Lo Brown (Henry’s former partner), Sexual Chocolate (a one-time nickname and bad gimmick of Henry’s), Mae Young, Randy Savage (when Big Show did an elbow off the top rope). At one point, after Henry laid Show out with a tackle through the barricade, when a double count out was teased and Show just beat the count, the crowd booed. I’m not sure if it was because they wanted Henry to win, or more likely, they wanted the match to end. The match, aside from two memorable spots, the barricade spot and Show’s elbow off the top, wasn’t good. But the crowd made it worse with chants that had nothing to do with the action, booing both guys and “boring” chants. And the finish made it worse than that, as Henry was disqualified for a low blow to save the title, which saw the crowd turn on the match. They gave the people a post-match angle where Show put Henry’s ankle into a chair and leg dropped down on it. Henry was tended to by officials and said his leg was broken. But he’s still booked on all the shows, so they aren’t going to play the injury up that big.
They wanted to see Punk win the title, and got it with the Anaconda vise submission. For Punk it must have been something, winning the title in Madison Square Garden. These days the title doesn’t always mean that much, but winning it in Madison Square Garden still has an aura. Plus he got to use a finisher that a few years back the promotion took away from him, and even only using it a few times of late and never as a winning move, it was over enough that the place exploded when he locked it on. Punk on TV noted that the title, which has changed hands eight times in the last seven months (the same number as from the inception of the WWWF name in 1963 until 1979) would no longer be a hot potato.
Right now Vince McMahon has made the commitment to Punk as champion. They are back in the mindset of trying to strengthen the belt by not changing it every month (a strategy that often changes four weeks later when there is a PPV and Raw rating to jump). Punk is planned to be champion past Royal Rumble. As for Del Rio, McMahon has lost confidence in him according to multiple sources, and with the experiment of bringing in stars from Mexico, with the idea it hasn’t worked out as he had envisioned.
Henry vs. Show, likely in a chairs match, will be one of the big matches on the 12/18 PPV, the TLC show from Baltimore. The two matches advertised are Punk vs. Del Rio for the WWE title and HHH vs. Kevin Nash. Since Show used a chair to the ankle for an injury spot on Henry, one would think that would be a chairs match. HHH vs. Nash was scheduled for this show as a tables match a few weeks back. That leaves Punk vs. Del Rio as either a ladder match or a TLC match. Another top match appears to be Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett. The final angle of the show seemed to lead to John Cena vs. The Miz vs. R-Truth with R-Truth going face, but instead the angle, where Miz turned R-Truth face and laid him out with a skull crushing finale on the ramp, was to write R-Truth out due to a 30 day suspension for a drug test failure.
This one has a lot of people talking. When Evan Bourne was suspended for the drug Spice (a marijuana substitute that is on the company’s banned list), it was not a secret among the wrestlers that another bigger star was doing the same thing he was with him, who was said to be not suspended, but instead fined $2,500 for a marijuana violation. It was a big enough issue that there were these explanations going around about how maybe the usage of the marijuana covered up the Spice, and thus it didn’t show up, but why would that be the case with one wrestler but not with Bourne. The company does have a policy where if a guy fails a test, they’ll allow him to work the next television. If this test failure came up over the last week, his working the PPV and doing the angle to write him off with the injury would be common practice. But this is one filled with skepticism.
In the case of Ron Killings, we have it confirmed his suspension was for a marijuana substitute, presumably Spice, and that the test result came in several weeks ago. According to someone with complete knowledge of the situation, Killings was informed around the same time Bourne was suspended that he had failed the test for a marijuana substitute. Because he was not suspended, he presumed he was not being suspended, based on the idea that they had the European tour and he was in the main event at Survivor Series. He was never told anything different and had no idea he was being suspended until 11/22. We were told the writers were also not informed of anything, and that this had nothing to do with the lack of heat put on he and Miz to build the show. Michael Hayes had told Miz and Truth that for this main event there was no need to get heat, which nobody understood but felt to mean Rock was going to sell the show whether they did an angle or not, so why bother. Vince McMahon ordered the R-Truth babyface turn because he felt Raw only has two babyfaces that were over, Cena and Punk, and if one gets hurt the depth was bad. Plus, McMahon felt there was great potential in Little Jimmy merchandise.
In pro wrestling, nobody on the inside is ever going to have confidence that the drug policy is enforced equally to prelim guys and top stars. This would seem to indicate the idea that you fail the test and they write you out on the next TV is more that if you’re on top, they’ll allow you to work out your program for several weeks, but that eventually you are going to serve your 30 days. Although R-Truth is on top, he’s really not the level of guy that would alleviate the skepticism. There have been incidents that came out where Vince McMahon talked Dr. David Black (who is in charge of handing out the suspensions) into changing some things. There is always the issue of Randy Orton not being suspended with everyone else after the Signature Pharmacy names came out. Even Harry Smith, who was a prelim guy, when he got popped in developmental, he was not suspended for more than a month after he was informed he had failed the test. Then he was brought up to the main roster,. They waited until the day the policy changed where they would announce people testing positive, and then right away, he was announced as suspended when the policy changed. Perhaps there is an explanation, but that was years ago and none was ever given. From time to time there are stories among the talent of one of the guys at the top failing a test and somehow not being suspended. Again, given the confidential nature of the testing and nature of locker room gossip, all of these incidents can be wrong, or there may be foundation to them.
The fact football, baseball and the Olympics have all had a lot of questionable things regarding drug testing, tipping stars off (in baseball in particular this came out), covering up positives at times, you can’t trust that favoritism won’t come into play in any endeavor, sport or otherwise, from the high school level to professional, where a star system exists.
The other major story coming out of the show was Sin Cara rupturing his right patella (kneecap) tendon, requiring surgery and is expected to be out of action six to nine months. Early in the ten-man elimination match, Sin Cara and Kofi Kingston did a double flip dive spot with Cara on Hunico and Kingston on Jack Swagger. It was not the landing, but Cara’s knee went out either on the step before or the step of the take-off. Because the knee went out, he didn’t get the height in his jump and in going over the top for his dive, didn’t quite clear the top rope, and his leg hooked the rope, changing his trajectory. It was clear immediately he was hurt and the match stopped and there was about a minute of confusion . They ended up announcing he was unable to continue, as opposed to him crawling into the ring and doing an impromptu finish. He was then helped him to the back.
The timing of this was really bad because they had a ton of new Sin Cara merchandise about to be released and he was expected to be a major seller to kids for the Christmas season. So now both he and Rey Mysterio are gone at the same time. Plus, with a guy with his style, the first knee injury is usually the beginning of a series of problems. In addition, he and Mysterio were hoped to be a significant part of Mania because of the idea of doing the gimmick at the show of having everyone put on masks and breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of masked people in any one place in history, The Anaheim Angels baseball team had a Lucha Libre mask night last season and got a decent amount of pub breaking the record which sparked the idea in WWE circles. Sin Cara is unlikely to make it back for Mania and Mysterio, who has had two recent knee operations, is touch-and-go.
The show drew a sellout of 16,749, with about 13,000 paid and a gate in the $1 million range. We’ve got no early indication of the PPV numbers. The show legitimately sold out right away, but a lot of the tickets went immediately to the secondary market. Those sales at the end must have been soft because we had several reports of people being able to get good seats late for half or even less than the ticket value. The whole ticket dynamic for events that people perceive as being “hot” today with stubhub and Craig’s List is that tickets to hot events are like a stock market short-term investment, and this show, like WrestleMania, benefitted from that.
Mark “Bison” Smith, who had been one of the top foreign stars for Pro Wresting NOAH since his debut there in 2005 passed away on 11/22 in San Juan from a massive heart attack. Smith was 38.
Smith had wrestled on 11/20 in Sapporo, Japan, for NOAH on the final day of the Global League tournament, and then flew from Japan to Puerto Rico where he was scheduled to work the weekend shows, finishing with an 11/27 headline match with Primo Colon at the WWC Crossfire Show.
Details are sketchy as to what happened but it appeared he suffered a massive heart attack and was unable to speak, and was rushed to Hospital Regional in Carolina, PR where he passed away.
Smith, a 6-2, 280-pound thick powerhouse was an offensive lineman at the University of Colorado who started wrestling in 1998 at the All Pro Wrestling school in Hayward, CA. He started his career with APW and moved to Pro Wrestling Iron when his trainers, Michael Modest and Donovan Morgan left APW to start their own company.
His first career break was in 2003 in Puerto Rico, as Buffalo Bison, where he won the IWA world heavyweight title from Shane Sewell. Through Modest & Morgan, he got hooked up with Pro Wrestling NOAH and due to his size and because he did not sign on with a major U.S. group, he was pushed as one of the company’s top foreign stars from his debut in 2005. He held the GHC tag team title twice, with partners Akitoshi Saito and Keith Walker, and also with Saito won the 2008 tag team tournament. Smith & Saito were defending the titles on June 13, 2009, in Sapporo against Mitsuharu Misawa & Go Shiozaki in the match where Misawa died after breaking his neck taking a back suplex from Saito.
dream
Member
Smith was best known for playing the powerhouse foreigner for NOAH, and was protected in booking, not losing often, and usually only to the top tier of the Japanese stars. He was known for the Bisontennial, his finisher, which is the same move as A.J. Styles Styles clash, as well as the Iron claw, and Iron claw slam, but also did flying shoulderblocks and even Frankensteiners at his size. But most of his career was spent working Japan and Puerto Rico, mostly with IWA but of late he moved to the WWC.
Smith, who also had a brief run in 2009 with Ring of Honor, had a few challenges for the GHC singles title over the years. He was married to a woman from San Jose and had one son. We will have more on Smiths death in next weeks issue.
Details of Hulk Hogans divorce settlement with wife Linda Bollea came out this past week in a St. Petersburg Times news story, which noted that in the divorce settlement in 2009, Linda received greater than 70% of the couples marital assets, which explains why Hogan was in such bad financial condition and told people he was heavily in debt.
That also explains why his out of court settlement to the Graziano family regarding the auto accident when son Nick crashed his car, seriously injuring best friend John Graziano, was reported recently as being far less than expected, estimated at $5 million or less even though Graziano is likely to need round the clock care for the rest of his life.
Besides the assets, Hogan agreed to give Linda Bollea 40% ownership in several companies that he owned and $3 million as a property settlement. The previously confidential settlement went public this past week when it was attached to a filing made by Hogans attorney.
The filing showed that at the time of the settlement in 2009, the couple had $10,410,000 in the bank and in various investments. The split saw Linda get $7,440,000 in cash and investments and Hulk get $2,970,000. This doesnt include the other $3 million and whatever their businesses were worth. The agreement included Hulk not having to pay Linda any alimony.
The agreement was also that Hulk does not have to pay a percentage of any money he earns from personal appearances or from sales of his book, My Life Outside the Ring. Both agreed to sell their two major properties, a beach house in Clearwater and the mansion in Bellaire where Hogan Knows Best was filmed. The Clearwater home was sold for $1.65 million which Linda kept as part of her $3 million payment.
Hulk still lives in the mansion, which has been for sale for several years with no takers. It is currently listed at $8.87 million, after it at one point was for sale for more than $20 million. When it sells, Hulk will have to pay Linda the other $1.35 million off the top and the rest of the sale price will be split 50-50 between the two of them.
Also as part of the settlement, Linda got the couples Mercedes Benz, their Cadillac Escalade, a Corvette, a Rolls Royce and various off-road vehicles. Hulk kept all the other vehicles.
If Hogans settlement with the Grazianos was $5 million, that would put him financially in the hole, until he can dig out of it between his wrestling earnings and other business endeavors, until the sale of his house.
The details became public over a court order where Linda had sued to get her share of revenue from the various companies they owned. In December, a judge in Pinellas county ordered Hulk to pay $126,000. Hogan appealed the verdict, claiming that $126,000 would have been 40% of the gross revenues, and not 40% of the net revenues. However, the Court of Appeals sided with Linda.
David Houston, the attorney for Hulk, is arguing both rulings were faulty because she should only be entitled to cash in 40% of the profits, not total revenue. In theory, that would make sense as far as a business goes. Houston noted they have to make it clear because the ruling applies to all revenues and profits from his businesses going forward as long as these companies exist.
Hulk settled the often hostile divorce in 2009, and based on the terms, he got raked over the coals and just wanted it over since the terms were so generous to her. He also settled to limit what could be said publicly about aspects of their lives and to seal court records in the divorce, which would seem to indicate he felt things could be damaging to him to make such a settlement on such bad terms for himself.
The 12/2 IGF show at Sumo Hall will be headlined by Jerome LeBanner defending the IGF title against Josh Barnett. Barnett is still under his old contract that allows him to do pro wrestling, and is probably the only Zuffa fighter who can still do it. Also announced in Yuichiro Nagashima vs. Bob Sapp, which is a crazy fight since Nagashima is a lightweight kickboxer and Sapp is like 330 pounds.
Things look really bad for Matt Hardy. Hardy was in court-ordered rehab which were terms imposed to keep him out of jail. However, on 11/17, Hardy was kicked out of rehab and then arrested at 1:40 a.m. on 11/19 when he returned home. According to reports from tmz.com, the staff at the rehab facility was suspicious of Hardys strange behavior and ordered him to take a Breathalyzer test. He failed the test. Hardy was adamant that he wasnt drinking and claimed he failed the test because he had just used mouthwash. The people at the rehab facility didnt believe him, and kicked him out. While Hardy publicly said he was volunteering to go into rehab realizing he had a problem, it later came out that the Moore County prosecutors gave Hardy an ultimatum, either attend rehab or he would be put in jail on $1 million bond. Hardy is expected to remain in jail at least until 11/28, the date of his next hearing. On a $1 million bond, you could probably put up $100,000 to $150,000 of your own money, and get out through a bonding agency. While Hardy has made a lot of money in wrestling with big years through merchandising, I dont know what his current status is, as hes not employed and really has no prospects for employment right now past the indie scene. Spending that kind of money to get out nine days earlier is evidently not something hes doing. Hardy was still a month from completing the rehab stay when he was kicked out. He was booked into Moore County Detention Center for the alleged probation violation and held on $1 million bond.
Jesse Neal was at one point dropped from the promotion after he turned down an ordered move to Louisville. TNA wanted to send some of its lesser experienced talent to train at the OVW school and work on OVW shows to gain experience when they arent working at TNA. WWE does the same thing with a lot of the younger talent like Jinder Mahal, Brodus Clay, Ricardo Rodriguez, Mason Ryan, A.J., Kaitlyn and others who are based in Tampa and still train at the FCW school when they arent on the road. Neal has claimed that he still thinks hes with TNA as far as he knows, but did say they were not seeing eye-to-eye on the moving to Louisville. He later tweeted that he expects everything to be worked out and that he would remain with the company. He said hes got nothing against doing more training and its a financial issue and he cant afford the move. Neal and his girlfriend, Toxine, recently qualified for food stamps in Florida so his financial situation cant be good and having to start over in Kentucky may be an issue. On this situation, if the company is assigning people to Kentucky they should go as part of their job, but the company should pay moving expenses if they want somebody already with the company to move for work related reasons.
The reason the Jeff Hardy vs. Jeff Jarrett match at Turning Point went the way it did, and why Hardy hasnt done much in the ring is because he blew out his back a few weeks back but continuing to work and they are trying to let him heal.
Sarita may have been injured on 11/22 at Arena Mexico, where she works as Dark Angel. The report at press time was that during the third fall, she slipped on the top rope trying to do a dive, crashed on the floor and head to be taken to the hospital. That was the last update we had.
Nothing has transpired but there is interest in making another run at Dave Bautista. They made a run at him before given that Ric Flair and Bautista are close, but the first time they were far apart on money and in the past Bautista has said that if he wasnt interested in going with anyone who wasnt WWE.
HHH on the companys obsession with twitter in an interview with The Morning Buzz. You have to be at the cutting edge of that technology all the time. Kids today, they dont watch TV like they did before. TV is almost a background device now. Theyre on their phones, on their laptop, on their ipod, so that social media stuff becomes so important. Twitter and YouTube and Facebook are all just avenues to keep people involved in your product. I agree that you need to have a presence in all of those places (if I had more time, I would as well), but it should be natural as opposed to overbearing people with it. Putting graphics with peoples twitter handles when they come out should be done. I dont even mind a graphic that something is trending on twitter. But the announcers going off on it, or the company building its TV show around trending on twitter as opposed to trending naturally (because the fake trending on twitter means nothing; its not like when Matt Hardy showed up in TNA with a new hairstyle and suddenly Tyler Reks trended on twitter meant that Tyler Reks was now a star). He did say that twitter is both a positive and a negative, saying that he recently at a talent meeting told people to watch what you are doing on twitter. He told the talent that twitter is not like texting someone, because what you write goes out to the entire world. If you wouldnt say it on TV, dont say it on twitter, was his message to talent. In dealing with Vince more than anyone, he said hes come to understand that when Vince is going crazy and yelling at everyone that things are okay, but when you come up to him and hes quiet, then that isnt good. When asked about his relationship with Rock, he used the word unique, and said there was professional tension and weirdness to their relationship. He said that they get along great when it comes to business but they arent buddies, never hung out when both were in the company together and said about when both were on top, We had such a professional rivalry, no matter what we did, its like screw him, I can do better than that.
Smith, who also had a brief run in 2009 with Ring of Honor, had a few challenges for the GHC singles title over the years. He was married to a woman from San Jose and had one son. We will have more on Smiths death in next weeks issue.
Details of Hulk Hogans divorce settlement with wife Linda Bollea came out this past week in a St. Petersburg Times news story, which noted that in the divorce settlement in 2009, Linda received greater than 70% of the couples marital assets, which explains why Hogan was in such bad financial condition and told people he was heavily in debt.
That also explains why his out of court settlement to the Graziano family regarding the auto accident when son Nick crashed his car, seriously injuring best friend John Graziano, was reported recently as being far less than expected, estimated at $5 million or less even though Graziano is likely to need round the clock care for the rest of his life.
Besides the assets, Hogan agreed to give Linda Bollea 40% ownership in several companies that he owned and $3 million as a property settlement. The previously confidential settlement went public this past week when it was attached to a filing made by Hogans attorney.
The filing showed that at the time of the settlement in 2009, the couple had $10,410,000 in the bank and in various investments. The split saw Linda get $7,440,000 in cash and investments and Hulk get $2,970,000. This doesnt include the other $3 million and whatever their businesses were worth. The agreement included Hulk not having to pay Linda any alimony.
The agreement was also that Hulk does not have to pay a percentage of any money he earns from personal appearances or from sales of his book, My Life Outside the Ring. Both agreed to sell their two major properties, a beach house in Clearwater and the mansion in Bellaire where Hogan Knows Best was filmed. The Clearwater home was sold for $1.65 million which Linda kept as part of her $3 million payment.
Hulk still lives in the mansion, which has been for sale for several years with no takers. It is currently listed at $8.87 million, after it at one point was for sale for more than $20 million. When it sells, Hulk will have to pay Linda the other $1.35 million off the top and the rest of the sale price will be split 50-50 between the two of them.
Also as part of the settlement, Linda got the couples Mercedes Benz, their Cadillac Escalade, a Corvette, a Rolls Royce and various off-road vehicles. Hulk kept all the other vehicles.
If Hogans settlement with the Grazianos was $5 million, that would put him financially in the hole, until he can dig out of it between his wrestling earnings and other business endeavors, until the sale of his house.
The details became public over a court order where Linda had sued to get her share of revenue from the various companies they owned. In December, a judge in Pinellas county ordered Hulk to pay $126,000. Hogan appealed the verdict, claiming that $126,000 would have been 40% of the gross revenues, and not 40% of the net revenues. However, the Court of Appeals sided with Linda.
David Houston, the attorney for Hulk, is arguing both rulings were faulty because she should only be entitled to cash in 40% of the profits, not total revenue. In theory, that would make sense as far as a business goes. Houston noted they have to make it clear because the ruling applies to all revenues and profits from his businesses going forward as long as these companies exist.
Hulk settled the often hostile divorce in 2009, and based on the terms, he got raked over the coals and just wanted it over since the terms were so generous to her. He also settled to limit what could be said publicly about aspects of their lives and to seal court records in the divorce, which would seem to indicate he felt things could be damaging to him to make such a settlement on such bad terms for himself.
The 12/2 IGF show at Sumo Hall will be headlined by Jerome LeBanner defending the IGF title against Josh Barnett. Barnett is still under his old contract that allows him to do pro wrestling, and is probably the only Zuffa fighter who can still do it. Also announced in Yuichiro Nagashima vs. Bob Sapp, which is a crazy fight since Nagashima is a lightweight kickboxer and Sapp is like 330 pounds.
Things look really bad for Matt Hardy. Hardy was in court-ordered rehab which were terms imposed to keep him out of jail. However, on 11/17, Hardy was kicked out of rehab and then arrested at 1:40 a.m. on 11/19 when he returned home. According to reports from tmz.com, the staff at the rehab facility was suspicious of Hardys strange behavior and ordered him to take a Breathalyzer test. He failed the test. Hardy was adamant that he wasnt drinking and claimed he failed the test because he had just used mouthwash. The people at the rehab facility didnt believe him, and kicked him out. While Hardy publicly said he was volunteering to go into rehab realizing he had a problem, it later came out that the Moore County prosecutors gave Hardy an ultimatum, either attend rehab or he would be put in jail on $1 million bond. Hardy is expected to remain in jail at least until 11/28, the date of his next hearing. On a $1 million bond, you could probably put up $100,000 to $150,000 of your own money, and get out through a bonding agency. While Hardy has made a lot of money in wrestling with big years through merchandising, I dont know what his current status is, as hes not employed and really has no prospects for employment right now past the indie scene. Spending that kind of money to get out nine days earlier is evidently not something hes doing. Hardy was still a month from completing the rehab stay when he was kicked out. He was booked into Moore County Detention Center for the alleged probation violation and held on $1 million bond.
Jesse Neal was at one point dropped from the promotion after he turned down an ordered move to Louisville. TNA wanted to send some of its lesser experienced talent to train at the OVW school and work on OVW shows to gain experience when they arent working at TNA. WWE does the same thing with a lot of the younger talent like Jinder Mahal, Brodus Clay, Ricardo Rodriguez, Mason Ryan, A.J., Kaitlyn and others who are based in Tampa and still train at the FCW school when they arent on the road. Neal has claimed that he still thinks hes with TNA as far as he knows, but did say they were not seeing eye-to-eye on the moving to Louisville. He later tweeted that he expects everything to be worked out and that he would remain with the company. He said hes got nothing against doing more training and its a financial issue and he cant afford the move. Neal and his girlfriend, Toxine, recently qualified for food stamps in Florida so his financial situation cant be good and having to start over in Kentucky may be an issue. On this situation, if the company is assigning people to Kentucky they should go as part of their job, but the company should pay moving expenses if they want somebody already with the company to move for work related reasons.
The reason the Jeff Hardy vs. Jeff Jarrett match at Turning Point went the way it did, and why Hardy hasnt done much in the ring is because he blew out his back a few weeks back but continuing to work and they are trying to let him heal.
Sarita may have been injured on 11/22 at Arena Mexico, where she works as Dark Angel. The report at press time was that during the third fall, she slipped on the top rope trying to do a dive, crashed on the floor and head to be taken to the hospital. That was the last update we had.
Nothing has transpired but there is interest in making another run at Dave Bautista. They made a run at him before given that Ric Flair and Bautista are close, but the first time they were far apart on money and in the past Bautista has said that if he wasnt interested in going with anyone who wasnt WWE.
HHH on the companys obsession with twitter in an interview with The Morning Buzz. You have to be at the cutting edge of that technology all the time. Kids today, they dont watch TV like they did before. TV is almost a background device now. Theyre on their phones, on their laptop, on their ipod, so that social media stuff becomes so important. Twitter and YouTube and Facebook are all just avenues to keep people involved in your product. I agree that you need to have a presence in all of those places (if I had more time, I would as well), but it should be natural as opposed to overbearing people with it. Putting graphics with peoples twitter handles when they come out should be done. I dont even mind a graphic that something is trending on twitter. But the announcers going off on it, or the company building its TV show around trending on twitter as opposed to trending naturally (because the fake trending on twitter means nothing; its not like when Matt Hardy showed up in TNA with a new hairstyle and suddenly Tyler Reks trended on twitter meant that Tyler Reks was now a star). He did say that twitter is both a positive and a negative, saying that he recently at a talent meeting told people to watch what you are doing on twitter. He told the talent that twitter is not like texting someone, because what you write goes out to the entire world. If you wouldnt say it on TV, dont say it on twitter, was his message to talent. In dealing with Vince more than anyone, he said hes come to understand that when Vince is going crazy and yelling at everyone that things are okay, but when you come up to him and hes quiet, then that isnt good. When asked about his relationship with Rock, he used the word unique, and said there was professional tension and weirdness to their relationship. He said that they get along great when it comes to business but they arent buddies, never hung out when both were in the company together and said about when both were on top, We had such a professional rivalry, no matter what we did, its like screw him, I can do better than that.
dream
Member
Whether hes pushing for a match and trying to create an angle (after all, it ended up working for Cena), Punk was on a Sports Illustrated podcast complaining about Rock not shaking peoples hands and socializing with people at the last taping. It sounded like he was working an angle to try and get a match, but with Punk it could be a complete work or using what he perceives as reality in storyline form. Rock really was up at 3 a.m., worked all day on the set in New Orleans, flew to Boston and had to fly back immediately after the show to be in New Orleans first thing the next morning for more filming of the G.I. Joe movie. Because he worked all day and flew in, he arrived late and was described to me as being in the zone. As far as how he greeted people or didnt, when I asked, I was told he greeted people but was in the performing zone concentrating on his role in the show but the people I asked about it didnt think there was any issue and werent aware of anything Punk said. As for Orton, who had knocked Rock a few times in recent months, he said he was bitter when he came back and did that interview saying hed never leave and then wasnt around for months, publicly said that Cena was a better promo and without a Teleprompter would kill Rock in a head-to-head promo duel, said hes over his bitterness about him coming back. He said that he wished he was in his spot to main event Mania this year, but then talked about the reaction he got at MSG and how he got goose bumps from it and said that Rock has millions of fans and hes one of them. Rock did say Hi to Punk in MSG after Punks interview. Punk still criticized him the next day in the New York Daily News, so I guess its just angling for a match, saying, Hes not around. It doesnt help morale when the guy goes right from his limo to the dressing room to the dressing room to the ring. Hes very bourgeois Hollywood. He said it bothers him and criticized him for saying hed never leave and then not coming back for several weeks. Rock did respond to the criticism saying, Always remember that the ones who were vocal and disapproving about me coming backand we all know who the two are (presumably Punk and Orton, the latter of who this week changed his tune), are the ones who are most insecure and jealous. Maybe one day theyll smarten up and understand the greater perspective.
The WWE 12 game is now the single most pre-ordered video game in company history, topping the record set by the Smackdown vs. Raw game in 2008. The 2008 game had six platforms while this years game is only being released on three platforms. The main reasons for this are the change in title and buzz around the improved revamping of the game, plus The Rock being the focus of the pre-orders (Randy Orton in the English market and Sin Cara in the Latin market will be the focus of advertising going forward), and theyre also crediting the Lesnar character. In addition, the strong reviews on IGN (9 out of 10), considered the most important review, and G4 (5 out of 5) has given the game good word of mouth follow-up.
Maryse has said that she is done with wrestling and has no interest in going to TNA. She is now starting a fashion line called The House of Maryse, that will debut this coming summer. Apparently WWE had been wanting to cut Maryse for more than a year, even though she was over, because that was when they were really into the PG thing and Maryse had a history of non-PG activity. The reason she wasnt cut was apparently due to her relationship with Miz. At this point, they made the call to cut her since she was wanting out anyway.
WrestleMania has now topped 43,500 in ticket sales. A ton of this is scalpers, as one secondary market site alone (Stubhub) had 7,000 tickets for sale at press time and thats hardly the only one, so a lot of this advance was people buying as a business transaction to sell later and make money as opposed to the level of true fan demand. That is the case for other big events these days, but for pro wrestling or MMA there has never been an event where anywhere near this high a percentage of tickets were on the secondary market so quickly. The house is scaled if it sells out, which it probably will given its months away and the hard promotion hasnt even started, for close to $9 million. While its shy of the $12 million UFC did in Toronto earlier this year, there is no way WWE is spending anywhere close to what UFC did to put on a live show, so the profit margin will likely be the same or better. To put $9 million in perspective, the live gate for Mania will generate more money for WWE than any PPV in 2012 besides Mania.
Austin on wrestling Punk at WrestleMania: If it was the right time, right place could I do it? Yeah, I got a lot of respect for the kid, love the promos he cuts, love his work in the ring. Hes a guy that paid his dues, worked his way to top guy status and I wish him all the best in the world. Its a weird situation right now because hes a babyface and I think he became a babyface too soon, and I would have liked to work with him when he was a heel. It comes down to money and whats on the table. He said he doesnt know if there will be a second season of Tough Enough on USA, but if there is, he wants to be part of it. If there is a second season, hed better be a part of it since he was the best thing about the first season. When asked about facing Brock Lesnar, he just said he thinks Lesnars is entrenched in UFC.
Both Dustin Runnels and Booker T want to get back in the ring. Ironically, both are looking for a program with Rhodes. Booker T and Rhodes had been a talked about idea for months, and not all that long ago was already booked at house shows starting next month and they did the first angle on 11/21's Raw. Runnels went public with the idea he wants a IC title vs. career match against his younger brother at Mania, thinking they can tell a family story and get his father involved. The idea is said to be under consideration.
Cena on why hes endorsed Ryder: I saw a kid in an ear in which everyone is afraid to show their talents. This kid was like, `You know what, Im going down anyway, so Im going down swinging. And Ive been in that spot before...so when I see a kid like Zack Ryderhes just one of those guys that was willing to take a chance, and I admire that quality out of people. Its something thats not found enough in the WWE locker room. Whether hes battle tested and ready for the next level, Im not into that sort of speculation. I just like seeing a kid with a set of nuts who is willing to just throw it all on the line and risk it all, rather than, `Hey, man, I just dont want to rock the boat and I dont want to do anything thats going to draw attention to myself.
As noted last week, DiBiase was given the nod by Vince McMahon himself for a new push. McMahon wanted to reward DiBiase for the DiBiase posse gimmick where he tailgates with fans before shows, puts photos on twitter, etc. The idea with DiBiase and Ryder is to reward people for coming up with original ideas to get over.
However, Gregory Iron, the Ohio independent wrestler with cerebral palsy who is starting a twitter petition to get him into the Royal Rumble right now does not have people happy here. The idea is that because they embrace twitter, by his doing this they feel pressured not to piss off the twitter people who sign, not to mention coming off cruel to someone with a disability. But at the same time, they know what a complete hornets nest this opens up if they put him in based on a twitter petition that they didnt come up with on their own and push on their own TV.
During Raw, they did a fuzzy tease with the twitter icon twice during the show sending people to a youtube page for a vignette talking about a familiar force returning on Jan. 2, which is the Raw show in Memphis. The subliminal message thing built over time a big return of Jericho several years ago. This may have been too subliminal because an hour after the show was over, even though I had tons of e-mails pointing it out, the video had only been watched just over 300 times. But theyve got plenty of time to get the word out. There was also a mysterious video during the show about a scary person coming back. I was told that a masked Kane and a few minutes later, Masked Kane was trending on twitter as pointed out on the TV show. To me, if they are trying to build up a surprise return of Masked Kane, whether trending or not, you wouldnt put it on your show and give it away. But those rules could change when your master is twitter. Anyway, this stuff is probably building for Undertakers return, although anything is possible. Jericho came back with a viral campaign years ago and Id never rule anything 100% out, although theres no way they are doing a campaign right now with someone who isnt signed and committed.
Undertaker during his time off had both another shoulder and hip operation. Unlike last year where it was considered touch-and-go at this point whether hed be able to work Mania although most figured whether he was ready or not, he would, this year he has said hes recovered well and is on board to doing the show. We dont know his match but it has already been decided (the top three matches are decided for the show right now) and it will be the No. 2 match on the show, meaning the WWE or World title will be No. 3. Most likely Austin wont be wrestling on the show. People are openly talking about Austin vs. Lesnar as happening at some point after Lesnar is done in UFC. Both are already pushing the match in interviews. It all depends on how Lesnar does in his next few fights because as long as he can headline he can make more money in UFC. UFC fans are usually pretty good about accepting stars with multiple losses like Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva have shown, but I dont see Lesnar sticking around for any kind of a long losing streak. If he stays competitive at the top level, it wont be any time soon. But those in WWE are pretty bullish about the idea that the next two Manias are going to be real big. If you consider Rock is in the main event and Undertaker is in the No. 2 match, Austins idea of Punk would require a Punk heel turn because Austin doesnt seem to want face vs. face. Plus it would be better to save Austins first match in years if hes is willing to do another match for a show that he can be in the main event or at least No. 2 match in.
On the network front, Vince has a vision of it being called The Most Interactive Network on television or some kind of a buzz phrase like that. The idea was described of having programming that constantly has people in front of their computers, phones and iPads giving feedback, even with a constant twitter scroll on the bottom of the screen like the financials or sports news have. The way it was described is Vince has an idea of making the network into a constant Cyber Sunday where people vote on things like matches they would then put on and such. But nobody has fully developed how to implement past the concept and the obvious things.
Another joke being told is that having good matches, doing good interviews or even getting over with the audience doesnt matter if youre a new guy underneath, and the way to get over is to be entertaining on twitter and hope Vince finds out about it.
Vince is wanting certain people to change their twitter handles. The one mentioned was Ziggler because his name is @HEELZiggler as I guess heel is one of those words Vince doesnt want out there.
For the 11/28 Raw, they announced Punk vs. Del Rio for the title, which should build up their gimmick on PPV. That is, if it happens, given that on the 11/21 Raw, there were three things promoted ahead of timeJonah Hill as guest host and he wasnt never mentioned on the show; Clay returning and he wasnt there or mentioned; and the return of HHH confronting Nash, and Nash was there, but no HHH. Ross was backstage in Hershey so he was flown in to do an angle. The show was rewritten over and over again day of. Ross segment was eliminated. Apparently at first they wanted to do something with Ross and Cole because they are living and dying by ratings and the quarter hours that theyve done that angle have usually done well. But the day of the show, the argument was that the show the previous week was written as a blow-off and they decided pretty much at the last minute that it wouldnt make sense to have blown it off last week and then keep it going this week.
When Lawler had his voice almost completely gone from calling Survivor Series the night before, even though Ross was there, the reason they went with Booker in the spot was twofold. One was it gave them the chance to start the Rhodes angle in front of a larger audience than on Smackdown. The second was because after Laurinaitis had fired Ross, and then Ross lost the contest for him to come back, they felt it would be stupid to them have Ross announcing the very next week with the only explanation being Lawlers voice was weak and they needed a fill-in, pretty much exposing all the storylines as not real.
Morrison is either done now, or will be done after next weeks TVs. His contract actually expired over the summer and he signed a short-term extension. Hes really banged up with back and neck problems so may rest for a while. Bruce Prichard at TNA is said to be a big proponent of both Morrison & Melina, but the belief is for now Morrison is taking time off and looking at pursuing non-wrestling entertainment work.
The WWE 12 game is now the single most pre-ordered video game in company history, topping the record set by the Smackdown vs. Raw game in 2008. The 2008 game had six platforms while this years game is only being released on three platforms. The main reasons for this are the change in title and buzz around the improved revamping of the game, plus The Rock being the focus of the pre-orders (Randy Orton in the English market and Sin Cara in the Latin market will be the focus of advertising going forward), and theyre also crediting the Lesnar character. In addition, the strong reviews on IGN (9 out of 10), considered the most important review, and G4 (5 out of 5) has given the game good word of mouth follow-up.
Maryse has said that she is done with wrestling and has no interest in going to TNA. She is now starting a fashion line called The House of Maryse, that will debut this coming summer. Apparently WWE had been wanting to cut Maryse for more than a year, even though she was over, because that was when they were really into the PG thing and Maryse had a history of non-PG activity. The reason she wasnt cut was apparently due to her relationship with Miz. At this point, they made the call to cut her since she was wanting out anyway.
WrestleMania has now topped 43,500 in ticket sales. A ton of this is scalpers, as one secondary market site alone (Stubhub) had 7,000 tickets for sale at press time and thats hardly the only one, so a lot of this advance was people buying as a business transaction to sell later and make money as opposed to the level of true fan demand. That is the case for other big events these days, but for pro wrestling or MMA there has never been an event where anywhere near this high a percentage of tickets were on the secondary market so quickly. The house is scaled if it sells out, which it probably will given its months away and the hard promotion hasnt even started, for close to $9 million. While its shy of the $12 million UFC did in Toronto earlier this year, there is no way WWE is spending anywhere close to what UFC did to put on a live show, so the profit margin will likely be the same or better. To put $9 million in perspective, the live gate for Mania will generate more money for WWE than any PPV in 2012 besides Mania.
Austin on wrestling Punk at WrestleMania: If it was the right time, right place could I do it? Yeah, I got a lot of respect for the kid, love the promos he cuts, love his work in the ring. Hes a guy that paid his dues, worked his way to top guy status and I wish him all the best in the world. Its a weird situation right now because hes a babyface and I think he became a babyface too soon, and I would have liked to work with him when he was a heel. It comes down to money and whats on the table. He said he doesnt know if there will be a second season of Tough Enough on USA, but if there is, he wants to be part of it. If there is a second season, hed better be a part of it since he was the best thing about the first season. When asked about facing Brock Lesnar, he just said he thinks Lesnars is entrenched in UFC.
Both Dustin Runnels and Booker T want to get back in the ring. Ironically, both are looking for a program with Rhodes. Booker T and Rhodes had been a talked about idea for months, and not all that long ago was already booked at house shows starting next month and they did the first angle on 11/21's Raw. Runnels went public with the idea he wants a IC title vs. career match against his younger brother at Mania, thinking they can tell a family story and get his father involved. The idea is said to be under consideration.
Cena on why hes endorsed Ryder: I saw a kid in an ear in which everyone is afraid to show their talents. This kid was like, `You know what, Im going down anyway, so Im going down swinging. And Ive been in that spot before...so when I see a kid like Zack Ryderhes just one of those guys that was willing to take a chance, and I admire that quality out of people. Its something thats not found enough in the WWE locker room. Whether hes battle tested and ready for the next level, Im not into that sort of speculation. I just like seeing a kid with a set of nuts who is willing to just throw it all on the line and risk it all, rather than, `Hey, man, I just dont want to rock the boat and I dont want to do anything thats going to draw attention to myself.
As noted last week, DiBiase was given the nod by Vince McMahon himself for a new push. McMahon wanted to reward DiBiase for the DiBiase posse gimmick where he tailgates with fans before shows, puts photos on twitter, etc. The idea with DiBiase and Ryder is to reward people for coming up with original ideas to get over.
However, Gregory Iron, the Ohio independent wrestler with cerebral palsy who is starting a twitter petition to get him into the Royal Rumble right now does not have people happy here. The idea is that because they embrace twitter, by his doing this they feel pressured not to piss off the twitter people who sign, not to mention coming off cruel to someone with a disability. But at the same time, they know what a complete hornets nest this opens up if they put him in based on a twitter petition that they didnt come up with on their own and push on their own TV.
During Raw, they did a fuzzy tease with the twitter icon twice during the show sending people to a youtube page for a vignette talking about a familiar force returning on Jan. 2, which is the Raw show in Memphis. The subliminal message thing built over time a big return of Jericho several years ago. This may have been too subliminal because an hour after the show was over, even though I had tons of e-mails pointing it out, the video had only been watched just over 300 times. But theyve got plenty of time to get the word out. There was also a mysterious video during the show about a scary person coming back. I was told that a masked Kane and a few minutes later, Masked Kane was trending on twitter as pointed out on the TV show. To me, if they are trying to build up a surprise return of Masked Kane, whether trending or not, you wouldnt put it on your show and give it away. But those rules could change when your master is twitter. Anyway, this stuff is probably building for Undertakers return, although anything is possible. Jericho came back with a viral campaign years ago and Id never rule anything 100% out, although theres no way they are doing a campaign right now with someone who isnt signed and committed.
Undertaker during his time off had both another shoulder and hip operation. Unlike last year where it was considered touch-and-go at this point whether hed be able to work Mania although most figured whether he was ready or not, he would, this year he has said hes recovered well and is on board to doing the show. We dont know his match but it has already been decided (the top three matches are decided for the show right now) and it will be the No. 2 match on the show, meaning the WWE or World title will be No. 3. Most likely Austin wont be wrestling on the show. People are openly talking about Austin vs. Lesnar as happening at some point after Lesnar is done in UFC. Both are already pushing the match in interviews. It all depends on how Lesnar does in his next few fights because as long as he can headline he can make more money in UFC. UFC fans are usually pretty good about accepting stars with multiple losses like Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva have shown, but I dont see Lesnar sticking around for any kind of a long losing streak. If he stays competitive at the top level, it wont be any time soon. But those in WWE are pretty bullish about the idea that the next two Manias are going to be real big. If you consider Rock is in the main event and Undertaker is in the No. 2 match, Austins idea of Punk would require a Punk heel turn because Austin doesnt seem to want face vs. face. Plus it would be better to save Austins first match in years if hes is willing to do another match for a show that he can be in the main event or at least No. 2 match in.
On the network front, Vince has a vision of it being called The Most Interactive Network on television or some kind of a buzz phrase like that. The idea was described of having programming that constantly has people in front of their computers, phones and iPads giving feedback, even with a constant twitter scroll on the bottom of the screen like the financials or sports news have. The way it was described is Vince has an idea of making the network into a constant Cyber Sunday where people vote on things like matches they would then put on and such. But nobody has fully developed how to implement past the concept and the obvious things.
Another joke being told is that having good matches, doing good interviews or even getting over with the audience doesnt matter if youre a new guy underneath, and the way to get over is to be entertaining on twitter and hope Vince finds out about it.
Vince is wanting certain people to change their twitter handles. The one mentioned was Ziggler because his name is @HEELZiggler as I guess heel is one of those words Vince doesnt want out there.
For the 11/28 Raw, they announced Punk vs. Del Rio for the title, which should build up their gimmick on PPV. That is, if it happens, given that on the 11/21 Raw, there were three things promoted ahead of timeJonah Hill as guest host and he wasnt never mentioned on the show; Clay returning and he wasnt there or mentioned; and the return of HHH confronting Nash, and Nash was there, but no HHH. Ross was backstage in Hershey so he was flown in to do an angle. The show was rewritten over and over again day of. Ross segment was eliminated. Apparently at first they wanted to do something with Ross and Cole because they are living and dying by ratings and the quarter hours that theyve done that angle have usually done well. But the day of the show, the argument was that the show the previous week was written as a blow-off and they decided pretty much at the last minute that it wouldnt make sense to have blown it off last week and then keep it going this week.
When Lawler had his voice almost completely gone from calling Survivor Series the night before, even though Ross was there, the reason they went with Booker in the spot was twofold. One was it gave them the chance to start the Rhodes angle in front of a larger audience than on Smackdown. The second was because after Laurinaitis had fired Ross, and then Ross lost the contest for him to come back, they felt it would be stupid to them have Ross announcing the very next week with the only explanation being Lawlers voice was weak and they needed a fill-in, pretty much exposing all the storylines as not real.
Morrison is either done now, or will be done after next weeks TVs. His contract actually expired over the summer and he signed a short-term extension. Hes really banged up with back and neck problems so may rest for a while. Bruce Prichard at TNA is said to be a big proponent of both Morrison & Melina, but the belief is for now Morrison is taking time off and looking at pursuing non-wrestling entertainment work.
dream
Member
Foley filmed this past week some scenes for the NBC show 30 Rock that will air in an episode early in the new year. He will play his old role of Mankind on the show and has a kissing scene on the show.
While we never got anything official that they met, Bryan and Gene LeBell, who Bryan named his finisher after, were both at the Strikeforce show in 11/18 in Las Vegas, Bryan as a fan and LeBell with Ronda Rousey. Bryan named his finisher after LeBell even though they had never met at the time.
Rima Fakih, the Miss USA winner who did Tough Enough, said shes been in talks with HHH recently. Apparently this is to work on a TV project the company is looking at doing for the network.
In Hombre Magazine, where he is on the cover, Del Rio said hes looking at retiring in five or six years and doesnt want to wrestle past the age of 40. He said after retiring if WWE wants him for movies or television shows, hes up for that.
Brian James, who is now working as a producer, noted in an interview that not only has WWE paid to put him in rehab, but has paid for at least one rehab stint for all three of his brothers (which would be Scott, Brad and Steve).
bullet bob must be so proud of his broken down drug addicted conmen progeny
Phoenix noted that there was a time when she was starting out and broke that she couldnt afford continuing at the OVW camp before she signed her developmental deal (she came to OVW on her own, not brought in after being signed) and that Nora Greenwald (Molly Holly) secretly paid her OVW tuition to allow her to continue. Greenwald had told her that Randy Savage did the same for her and she saw Phoenixs drive and wanted to give her the same chance.
A lot of people noted that Foley wasnt on the show even though he was in town and performing a comedy show right after. Ryder, Ziggler and Morrison came to his comedy show a few blocks from MSG. Brian Gewirtz remains a big Foley supporter, thinking hes creative and a good performer but HHH always buries him, even now, thinking he doesnt look tough, people cant take him serious in the ring. His debut on Raw was more as a comedy figure that theyd do with one-off legends as opposed to an idea to bring him back with a storyline. He is scheduled to return as the guest host of the live Smackdown on 11/29.
They have done some announcer tryouts of late. They are looking at a former wrestler to do color, whether that means Booker being replaced to go back to wrestle, or just adding someone for one of the other shows, nobody seems to know.
While we never got anything official that they met, Bryan and Gene LeBell, who Bryan named his finisher after, were both at the Strikeforce show in 11/18 in Las Vegas, Bryan as a fan and LeBell with Ronda Rousey. Bryan named his finisher after LeBell even though they had never met at the time.
Rima Fakih, the Miss USA winner who did Tough Enough, said shes been in talks with HHH recently. Apparently this is to work on a TV project the company is looking at doing for the network.
In Hombre Magazine, where he is on the cover, Del Rio said hes looking at retiring in five or six years and doesnt want to wrestle past the age of 40. He said after retiring if WWE wants him for movies or television shows, hes up for that.
Brian James, who is now working as a producer, noted in an interview that not only has WWE paid to put him in rehab, but has paid for at least one rehab stint for all three of his brothers (which would be Scott, Brad and Steve).
bullet bob must be so proud of his broken down drug addicted conmen progeny
Phoenix noted that there was a time when she was starting out and broke that she couldnt afford continuing at the OVW camp before she signed her developmental deal (she came to OVW on her own, not brought in after being signed) and that Nora Greenwald (Molly Holly) secretly paid her OVW tuition to allow her to continue. Greenwald had told her that Randy Savage did the same for her and she saw Phoenixs drive and wanted to give her the same chance.
A lot of people noted that Foley wasnt on the show even though he was in town and performing a comedy show right after. Ryder, Ziggler and Morrison came to his comedy show a few blocks from MSG. Brian Gewirtz remains a big Foley supporter, thinking hes creative and a good performer but HHH always buries him, even now, thinking he doesnt look tough, people cant take him serious in the ring. His debut on Raw was more as a comedy figure that theyd do with one-off legends as opposed to an idea to bring him back with a storyline. He is scheduled to return as the guest host of the live Smackdown on 11/29.
They have done some announcer tryouts of late. They are looking at a former wrestler to do color, whether that means Booker being replaced to go back to wrestle, or just adding someone for one of the other shows, nobody seems to know.
The Bookerman
Member
who's the judge that gave Linda bollea that divorce settlement. 70% of what the couple owned? jesus, it's not like she was doing all the work.
Wendel Clark
Member
^ Judge was probably a dumb smark
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked