June Wrasslin |OT| MADNESS
- Thread starter Mr. Sam
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British Monsoon
Member
Hype for PWG's 8th Anniversary show;
Good god, dat card. Hero vs Low Ki, Claudio vs Richards, Steen vs PAC, Ricochet & Generico vs Generation Next should all be freaking amazing. <3 PWG.
TigerDriver98 said:
Good god, dat card. Hero vs Low Ki, Claudio vs Richards, Steen vs PAC, Ricochet & Generico vs Generation Next should all be freaking amazing. <3 PWG.
Nelo Ice said:
There are always presales. Not all the best seats get taken in presales, some of them do, some are held back for the public on sale(I've tried on presales before, not liked what I was offered, decided to try the public onsale and got better tickets before), but most are put right on the resale market by the WWE.
British Monsoon
Member
Corino & Jacobs confirm who they're bringing with them to NYC to even the numbers against the House of Truth at ROH's Best in the World 2011 iPPV on June 26th;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG_9YG2hTX0
!!!
I'm liking where this feud is going - ROH is doing a good job at the moment of pushing this feud & the Homicide/Embassy feud via the videos. They seem to be devoting more time to storytelling with the undercard, which seems like a good strategy. We don't need a ton of videos to hype up Edwards/Richards as everyone knows it's going to be killer, but this definitely helps enhance feuds that otherwise would have felt rather throwaway or lacklustre.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG_9YG2hTX0
KEVIN STEEN
I'm liking where this feud is going - ROH is doing a good job at the moment of pushing this feud & the Homicide/Embassy feud via the videos. They seem to be devoting more time to storytelling with the undercard, which seems like a good strategy. We don't need a ton of videos to hype up Edwards/Richards as everyone knows it's going to be killer, but this definitely helps enhance feuds that otherwise would have felt rather throwaway or lacklustre.
dream
Member
The updated WWE chart for the first quarter of where actual profits, as opposed to revenues come from, all numbers in millions.
Sector Profits 11 Profits 10
Live events/tickets $4.7 $9.8
Live events/merchandise $1.9 $2.4
PPV $7.8 $17.0
Television rights $13.1 $12.5
Television advertising $0.0 $1.0
WWE Classics on Demand $0.7 $1.0
Other -$1.0 -$3.5
Licensing $17.3 $14.8
Magazines $0.0 $0.1
Home video $3.9 $3.8
Other $0.1 $0.0
Web site $0.9 $1.9
WWE Shop $0.6 $0.9
WWE Studios -$3.6 $2.1
TOTALS $46.4 $63.8
Now, these are profits within each division. This doesnt include corporate salaries that all of these divisions have to cover. For example, the first quarter profit total of $46.4 million actually translated into $13.2 million in pre-tax profits and $8.6 million in profits (with a $9.1 million dividend payout for the quarter that slightly exceeded overall profits).
Part, but not all of the reason for the declines in profitability when it came to live events, merchandise and PPV, is because of WrestleMania in the first quarter last year as opposed to this year. The second quarter numbers in that sense will reverse.
The company spent $5.7 million on Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber. Break even for the two shows would have been 156,766 buys, with Rumble doing almost triple that figure and Chamber beating it, although at 199,000 buys, not by a ton.
Licensing has now replaced TV and PPV as the most profitable arm of the company. This is due to the huge increase in toy income from the Mattel deal. They also increased Video game revenue even during a quarter where sales were down, as the new THQ contract calls for a substantially higher cut. WWE talent for the quarter in total received nearly $6 million in merchandise money.
The WWE magazines decreased in sales from 119,371 per issue in 2010 to 87,586 per issue in 2011, or a whopping 26.6%. Magazines, like television advertising, were sectors where the company basically broke even, as they cut cost and production by $500,000 year-to-year, allowing a break-even. But inevitably, the magazine division is treading on very thin ice. Its been that way for a while, but theyve attempted to make changes, and the changes have only resulted long-term in diminished sales. The overall magazine industry has been on a constant slide for more than a decade, although a year-to-year drop at this level is well above the industry average.
For those who believe the Internet is taking over on PPV, again, we are a long way from it. For last years WrestleMania (we dont have any figures available for this year yet), they did 885,000 buys worldwide through television and less than 5,500 buys worldwide on the Internet.
On average, it costs $193,506 per WWE house show. Thats a misleading figure because small market costs are significantly lower than that, and big market costs are significantly higher.
The production costs of a television taping has risen in the last year from $650,000 per television taping to $712,000.
Kenta Kobashi, one of pro wrestlings all-time greats, who most had figured his career being over, announced in Osaka on 6/13 on the second anniversary of the death of Mitsuharu Misawa, that he would be making yet another comeback.
Kobashi had been out of action since December 23, 2009, due to elbow problems and nerve damage in his right arm, the one he would do hundreds of chops with as almost his only offensive move in his last comeback. He had teased last year about coming back at the last big show of the year, but it didnt happen, and nobody had talked about him coming back.
Kobashi announced a return date on 7/23 in Osaka. Its telling that his comeback would not be on a major show in Tokyo, which shows how far the promotion has fallen. Kobashis career over the past ten years has consisted of numerous long periods off due to injuries and illnesses, with the highlights being his returns at Budokan Hall, which have been some of the most emotional matches of the decade, including drawing some of the biggest crowds ever in that building for any event.
Kobashis mentality of always delivering a four-star match and showing everything he could do in every match, destroyed his knees at a young age, as he was 6-2 and more than 240 pounds and did a fast-paced high flying, stiff style. Still, he was arguably the best pro wrestler inside the ring of the 90s even with his injuries.
His career looked to have ended prematurely at the end of 2000, where knee and elbow problems led to a multitude of operations. He was said to have the knees of an 80-year-old then, so you can imagine what shape his knees are in now. His first major comeback match was February 24, 2002, a memorable Misawa & Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata tag match. After all that time off, he came back and looked spectacular, but in having such a great match, he took so much damage that he had to take five months off. At that point it was believed that he could come back for a light schedule working comedy mid-card, but his body couldnt hold up to being a main eventer.
Instead, he came back a second time and was arguably the biggest in-ring star in the business. From 2003 to 2005, Kobashi won three Wrestler of the Year awards, the only person except Ric Flair to win three straight. He won three straight Match of the Year honors, with Misawa, Akiyama and Samoa Joe. His two year reign as GHC heavyweight champion was the peak of the Pro Wrestling NOAH promotion, including headlining two Tokyo Dome shows against Akiyama and Kensuke Sasaki. It was almost surely the best championship reign anywhere in the world from the past decade, between the spectacular matches and drawing big crowds on a regular basis for his title defenses, a level the company could never consistently do before or after.
In the 90s, he was a better wrestler because he was in his prime, he was a star in a promotion filled with stars. He was generally considered the No. 2 draw behind Misawa, but he was in a pack with a lot of wrestlers of that period, including Toshiaki Kawada, Akira Taue, Steve Williams, Stan Hansen and for a time, Big Van Vader. He had two matches of the year with Misawa in the 90s, was Most Outstanding Wrestler in 1993 and 1994 in an era when the competition was a lot stiffer due to far more major league promotions and stars, and was Wrestler of the Year in 1996. But it was really the 2003 to 2005 run where he played the role of the best wrestler in the world, as world champion, and played it convincingly.
In 2002, Kobashi was on the ballot for the Hall of Fame, and not only was he elected first ballot, but he was on 81 of 83 ballots that covered Japan, a 98% total that is unprecedented historically. And that came before his career defining run.
While those matches were clearly going to take their toll and he couldnt keep up that level forever, in early 2006, his ring work did start to deteriorate and physically he didnt look himself. In the summer of 2006, he announced he had kidney cancer and once again it appeared his career was over, and his needed one of his kidneys removed.
He was out of action until December 2, 2007, a Budokan Hall show headlined by Kobashi & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Misawa & Akiyama. It drew the biggest crowd ever to a wrestling event at the building (it was announced at 17,000, but they actually sold 2,500 standing room tickets before turning people away, so that would indicate closer to 18,800the biggest except for the night Hulk Hogan put 250,000 in the building according to one of his interviews), and there was a lot of question why they didnt book the Tokyo Dome for his return. While the match got over spectacularly live, Kobashi on this run was reduced to working a part-time schedule and his matches consisted of throwing 100 or more chops. In September, the chops had worn out both of his elbows and he needed surgery on both elbows. He returned again on March 1, 2009, symbolically on the final Budokan Hall show before NOAH lost its network television deal due to economic problems at NTV forcing the network to make some harsh and controversial cutbacks. The show drew 14,200 fans, the largest since Kobashis previous comeback and a number that was only topped since by the Misawa Memorial show in 2009. But this time Kobashi worked part-time, and could do little, and was almost immobile aside from the chops. At the end of 2009, his right arm went out again.
As TNA celebrated its ninth anniversary with its Slammiversary show on 6/12 in Orlando, a show that saw a very few good matches mixed in with some bad ones, the overriding theme was the audience.
The Impact Zone in Orlando had in the past been a rabid audience that in TNAs best days, made some good matches come across even better. But everyone seems to have their limits. This was a crowd that has seen so much, and TNAs endless storylines that go nowhere have led to the worst thing possible. Even the live audience has stopped caring. Yeah, if a match if great, theyll respond, but this was a tough crowd that didnt care about much. The good performers now seem less like stars, and the not-so-good performers come across as people who shouldnt even be in the ring, because they get cut no slack.
With a promotion where faces and heels are a blur, well, the audience reaction was a blur as well. The slogan Wrestling Matters would be more apropos as Nothing Matters, and thats what the crowd seemed to think. This is a company, that after nine years, has people in charge who think they have to reinvent the wheel. But what is worse, is that instead of a wheel, they have replaced it with a square many years ago. And after a few years of driving to drive a car with square wheels, where the ride is no fun for anyone, theyve yet to figure out why cars in the past had round wheels, and dismiss the entire idea because that may have worked in the past, but we know better. People watch TV to see the car with square wheels never be able to go anywhere, but nobody actually buys the cars. They have their excuses for lack of sales. Of late, its that they embrace the term car, but the problem is the name of the car. Well, they switched the name, but until they make cars with round wheels, they are going to be spinning their wheels with nothing to show for it.
Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett a few months ago was a program that led to slight increases in ratings and on PPV, but this thing, no matter how good all involved have been as performers, it seemed to lose steam with the preposterous stips of putting custody of Kurt & Karens children at stake in a wrestling match. While they had some strong matches since, and the Slammiversary match was yet another one, it was evident the people didnt care about the program or werent into the story. Once they got into the stretch run of a great match, they reacted, but it never felt like they cared more than being entertained by moves. And if Jarrett, one of the better people in the business at working the crowd like a real heel, cant get personalities over with Angle, and a cant miss real-life angle, well, who can?
Angle beat Jarrett to retain his Olympic gold medal, a stipulation it was clear nobody was even willing to suspend their disbelief on. With the win, Angle became the top contender for the TNA title, but at TV, he then talked nothing about facing Anderson for the title, but instead talked about going to the Olympics in wrestling. Mr. Anderson won the TNA title from Sting, a title the audience didnt care about, and it appears his next program is with Gunner. It was a world title match where both champion and challenger had lost on television to wrestlers who were not even on the PPV. The tag champions also lost on television to a team not on the PPV. Another match, Scott Steiner vs. Matt Morgan, was established in an angle that was all about who was the No. 1 contender for the title, but once the match takes place, all references to the winner being top contender were about because of Angle vs. Jarrett.
For the first time in history, the annual New Japan Best of the Super Junior tournament crowned an outsider as champion, with the DDT promotions Kota Ibushi scoring wins over ROHs Davey Richards and New Japans Ryusuke Taguchi on the final night.
A sellout crowd of 2,005 at Korakuen Hall saw Ibushi set up yet another match with IWGP jr. champion Prince Devitt, who was kept strong in the tournament, winning the A block with a 7-1 record. However, Devitt was pinned in 8:29 by tag team partner Taguchi, who placed second in the B block, with a small package to go to the finals. The B block champion, Ibushi, first pinned Richards in 11:17 after a firebird splash, before pinning Taguchi in 20:22 to win the championship. As has been the case a number of times, Ibushi, who lost in last years finals to Devitt, went from runner-up to following up as champion.
The Devitt vs. Ibushi title match was announced for 6/18 in Osaka.
Raw on 6/13 did a 3.06 rating and 4.51 million viewers for the three-hour WWE All-Stars show hosted by Steve Austin. The show did a 3.26 and 4.84 million viewers in the usual two hours. Given the hype of the show with the tag, and Austin being all over the show, the number has to be a disappointment. It also didnt have major competition, The Stanley Cup finals on NBC did a 3.18 rating and 5.48 million viewers, but with Vancouver vs. Boston being so much less marketable than last years Chicago vs. Philadelphia series, the Stanley Cup is way down this year (the same game six against Raw last year did 8.28 million viewers). It was the fourth highest rated show on cable for the night. It was the usual level 68% male audience.
In the segment-by-segment, the show opened at a 2.72 with the interplay with The Miz and Steve Austin. The interplay with Austin and Alberto Del Rio, plus Kane vs. Del Rio lost 210,000 viewers which is very unusual for early in a three-hour Raw, as you usually get people turning in throughout hour one as they remember about it. Sin Cara & Daniel Bryan & Ezekiel Jackson vs. Wade Barrett & Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes only gained 65,000 viewers. The Sheamus vs. Santino Marella lost 10,000 viewers to a 2.62. That almost defies logic.
But they went from a 2.62 to 3.29 immediately at 9 p.m., which showed the number of people who, even with the push last week, forgot it was a three-hour show, which is 924,000 viewers for the interview back-and-forth with Randy Orton and Christian.
Rey Mysterio vs. Christian lost 154,000 viewers. Thats not good considering who was involved, which also included Punk and Nexus. R-Truth/John Morrison with the Morrison injury lost 131,000 viewers. Jack Swagger & Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne gained 169,000 viewers. The Pipers Pit with Miz and Alex Riley, plus Piper vs. Miz with Riley as ref, gained 342,000 viewers, which is below average for that segment. Id have expected it to do a lot better due to Piper. The Price is Right footage and the seven vs. seven womens match lost 306,000 viewers. Steve Austin in-ring promo where he destroyed the General Managers computer and another Obama press conference promo for Capitol Punishment gained 72,000 viewers. The John Cena vs. C.M. Punk main event gained 501,000 viewers, which is below average, finishing at a 3.62 overrun.
Smackdown on 6/10 did a 1.79 rating and 2.71 million viewers, putting it third for the night on cable.
Impact on 6/9 did a 1.01 rating and 1.48 million viewers. It was the lowest Impact rating in months, but the NBA championship game that went head-to-head did 18.3 million viewers, and thats the reason. It was 8th for the night on cable, but in its time slot, was No. 2 in Males 18-49.
The show did a 0.73 in Males 18-34, which is about what they usually do, but only a 0.87 in Males 35-49, which is way down from usual.
The ratings pattern was negative, as the first quarter, that did a 1.11, was the highest rated quarter of the show. Perhaps curiosity based on the Mick Foley being fired ending. Mickie James & Tara vs. Winter & Angelina Love lost 132,000 viewers. Theyve managed to get people to turn the women off now. Alex Shelley & James Storm vs. Hernandez & Anarquia lost 73,000 viewers. Backstage stuff with Mr. Anderson and Gunner and Mexican America confronting Hogan lost 73,000 viewers as well, doing an 0.92 quarter, the lowest on the show. The Jeff Jarrett/Kurt Angle in-ring confrontation gained 135,000 viewers. Bully Ray vs. RVD gained 44,000 viewers. Velvet Sky vs. ODB lost the same 44,000 viewers. And the Sting & Eric Young vs. Gunner & Mr. Anderson match and post-match stuff lost another 44,000 viewers, ending with a 0.98 final quarter.
Everyone is really worried about Nobukazu Hirai (Super Hate) because he still hasnt regained consciousness. Although it was the Hirai incident that forced Keiji Muto to resign as president, he was burning out on the job after ten years of running the company.
Antonio Inoki announced an 8/27 show at Sumo Hall in Tokyo, going head-to-head with the All Together Now show at Budokan Hall. Inoki said that All Japan, NOAH and New Japan working together for a big show was a great idea, but that he would put together a bigger show. They are teasing he would bring in kickboxing legends like Ernesto Hoost and Peter Aerts. Aerts was announced as coming to the 7/10 show in Tokyo, but not wrestling on it, but there is talk he would be shooting an angle to build to his debuting on 8/27.
Tajiris SMASH promotion on 6/9 at Korakuen Hall ran a show with two women wrestlers, Kana vs. Lin Byron, with the stipulation that the loser would have to show the crowd their breasts. Byron lost, but then reneged on the stipulation, as she took off her top, ended up in her bra but wouldnt take that off. The stip did draw as they did about 100-200 more fans than they usually do.
Former WWE wrestler Rico Costantino, 49, was the subject of one of those I-Team investigative news reports in his home city of Las Vegas. Costantino, who used the name Rico, doing an Adrian Street gimmick, was a law enforcement officer in Las Vegas before starting pro wrestling at a relatively old age, first signing with WWE at 37. He actually did great in developmental, so great that when he and John Cena were a tag team in OVW, and they had great chemistry as a team, Costantino was the star of the team. But the age worked against him when called up, as they felt he was too old to invest in. The story noted that he just returned as a senior supervisor with the Vegas Taxi Cab authority after a lengthy suspension. The story quoted one officer as saying Costantino is a hot shot who crosses the line, enforcing laws that dont have to do with taxis, such as pulling over cars for traffic violations, and has rep for using excessive force and hes always in the middle of controversy. Officer James Dudley (yes, thats his real name, I wonder if theres an officer Johnny Rodz) filed a report noting in 2008 when a man skipped out on an $18 fare, the two worked together to find him in an apartment, and banged on his door. When there was no answer, Costantino pulled out a large knife, used it to pry open a window and got into the apartment. Dudley said Costantino was bragging and laughing about the incident. Another officer, Kevin Hinkle, said in 2009 he saw at least five incidents where Costantino tracked down people who skipped out of paying fares and used knives to pry open windows and get into their homes, that he also used a metal baton to smash private property and that he would sometimes drive up to 100 miles per hour to get to the scene of a minor cab fare dispute. In April 2010, Costantino responded to a call for someone who skipped out on a fare of less than $10 speeding down the strip, lost control of his car and smashed into a palm tree in front of the Imperial Palace, causing heavy damage to his police car. Okay, that scene clinches it. Im doing a movie on this guy. A cab driver filed a complaint against Costantino saying he pulled him over for a minor traffic violation, and handcuffed him to the bumper of his police car. Costantino worked from 1985 to 1987 as a police officer, but was so controversial at that job that the police chief had to call a news conference to fire him after he brutally beat up an Air Force Sergeant he pulled over for a traffic violation. It was the second time he had brutally beaten up an African American and was named in a multi-million dollar wrongful death suit. Another officer, Scott Lewis said, He used to tell stories about how he would get out of the patrol car with dog leash on his neck and his Sergeant would take the dog leash off and he would go into a house and beat people up and tell them to leave Las Vegas. Man, if that guy told those stories to Vince when he was hired, hed have been given this crazy vigilante cop gimmick which is a hell of a lot better than playing Adrian Street for longevity in this business. The story noted that Costantino is still the No. 2 ranked enforcement supervisor in the taxi cab authority.
Talent is going to be asked at the 6/26 show (or before) to sign new contracts with Sinclair Broadcasting. Most of the talent is already under contract to ROH and these deals would in many cases be revised deals and longer deals. The idea is the company wants to know who it has on board when it starts making plans into the future, not wanting to push people who WWE and TNA would then start raiding. Homicide is expected to be done at that point because hes signed with UWF which wouldnt allow him to appear on another television promotion. The big question becomes Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin, because WWE had Benjamin in a dark match not too long ago and I dont think these two would sign away the rights to go to TNA (even though TNA hasnt expressed interest even when Kurt Angle pushed for it) unless they were getting a lot better deal than the contracts here. Hunter Johnston (Delirious), who is the booker here, did get a TNA offer recently, which he turned down. Johnston didnt even know if those at TNA who contacted him were even aware he was the booker here.
Sector Profits 11 Profits 10
Live events/tickets $4.7 $9.8
Live events/merchandise $1.9 $2.4
PPV $7.8 $17.0
Television rights $13.1 $12.5
Television advertising $0.0 $1.0
WWE Classics on Demand $0.7 $1.0
Other -$1.0 -$3.5
Licensing $17.3 $14.8
Magazines $0.0 $0.1
Home video $3.9 $3.8
Other $0.1 $0.0
Web site $0.9 $1.9
WWE Shop $0.6 $0.9
WWE Studios -$3.6 $2.1
TOTALS $46.4 $63.8
Now, these are profits within each division. This doesnt include corporate salaries that all of these divisions have to cover. For example, the first quarter profit total of $46.4 million actually translated into $13.2 million in pre-tax profits and $8.6 million in profits (with a $9.1 million dividend payout for the quarter that slightly exceeded overall profits).
Part, but not all of the reason for the declines in profitability when it came to live events, merchandise and PPV, is because of WrestleMania in the first quarter last year as opposed to this year. The second quarter numbers in that sense will reverse.
The company spent $5.7 million on Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber. Break even for the two shows would have been 156,766 buys, with Rumble doing almost triple that figure and Chamber beating it, although at 199,000 buys, not by a ton.
Licensing has now replaced TV and PPV as the most profitable arm of the company. This is due to the huge increase in toy income from the Mattel deal. They also increased Video game revenue even during a quarter where sales were down, as the new THQ contract calls for a substantially higher cut. WWE talent for the quarter in total received nearly $6 million in merchandise money.
The WWE magazines decreased in sales from 119,371 per issue in 2010 to 87,586 per issue in 2011, or a whopping 26.6%. Magazines, like television advertising, were sectors where the company basically broke even, as they cut cost and production by $500,000 year-to-year, allowing a break-even. But inevitably, the magazine division is treading on very thin ice. Its been that way for a while, but theyve attempted to make changes, and the changes have only resulted long-term in diminished sales. The overall magazine industry has been on a constant slide for more than a decade, although a year-to-year drop at this level is well above the industry average.
For those who believe the Internet is taking over on PPV, again, we are a long way from it. For last years WrestleMania (we dont have any figures available for this year yet), they did 885,000 buys worldwide through television and less than 5,500 buys worldwide on the Internet.
On average, it costs $193,506 per WWE house show. Thats a misleading figure because small market costs are significantly lower than that, and big market costs are significantly higher.
The production costs of a television taping has risen in the last year from $650,000 per television taping to $712,000.
Kenta Kobashi, one of pro wrestlings all-time greats, who most had figured his career being over, announced in Osaka on 6/13 on the second anniversary of the death of Mitsuharu Misawa, that he would be making yet another comeback.
Kobashi had been out of action since December 23, 2009, due to elbow problems and nerve damage in his right arm, the one he would do hundreds of chops with as almost his only offensive move in his last comeback. He had teased last year about coming back at the last big show of the year, but it didnt happen, and nobody had talked about him coming back.
Kobashi announced a return date on 7/23 in Osaka. Its telling that his comeback would not be on a major show in Tokyo, which shows how far the promotion has fallen. Kobashis career over the past ten years has consisted of numerous long periods off due to injuries and illnesses, with the highlights being his returns at Budokan Hall, which have been some of the most emotional matches of the decade, including drawing some of the biggest crowds ever in that building for any event.
Kobashis mentality of always delivering a four-star match and showing everything he could do in every match, destroyed his knees at a young age, as he was 6-2 and more than 240 pounds and did a fast-paced high flying, stiff style. Still, he was arguably the best pro wrestler inside the ring of the 90s even with his injuries.
His career looked to have ended prematurely at the end of 2000, where knee and elbow problems led to a multitude of operations. He was said to have the knees of an 80-year-old then, so you can imagine what shape his knees are in now. His first major comeback match was February 24, 2002, a memorable Misawa & Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata tag match. After all that time off, he came back and looked spectacular, but in having such a great match, he took so much damage that he had to take five months off. At that point it was believed that he could come back for a light schedule working comedy mid-card, but his body couldnt hold up to being a main eventer.
Instead, he came back a second time and was arguably the biggest in-ring star in the business. From 2003 to 2005, Kobashi won three Wrestler of the Year awards, the only person except Ric Flair to win three straight. He won three straight Match of the Year honors, with Misawa, Akiyama and Samoa Joe. His two year reign as GHC heavyweight champion was the peak of the Pro Wrestling NOAH promotion, including headlining two Tokyo Dome shows against Akiyama and Kensuke Sasaki. It was almost surely the best championship reign anywhere in the world from the past decade, between the spectacular matches and drawing big crowds on a regular basis for his title defenses, a level the company could never consistently do before or after.
In the 90s, he was a better wrestler because he was in his prime, he was a star in a promotion filled with stars. He was generally considered the No. 2 draw behind Misawa, but he was in a pack with a lot of wrestlers of that period, including Toshiaki Kawada, Akira Taue, Steve Williams, Stan Hansen and for a time, Big Van Vader. He had two matches of the year with Misawa in the 90s, was Most Outstanding Wrestler in 1993 and 1994 in an era when the competition was a lot stiffer due to far more major league promotions and stars, and was Wrestler of the Year in 1996. But it was really the 2003 to 2005 run where he played the role of the best wrestler in the world, as world champion, and played it convincingly.
In 2002, Kobashi was on the ballot for the Hall of Fame, and not only was he elected first ballot, but he was on 81 of 83 ballots that covered Japan, a 98% total that is unprecedented historically. And that came before his career defining run.
While those matches were clearly going to take their toll and he couldnt keep up that level forever, in early 2006, his ring work did start to deteriorate and physically he didnt look himself. In the summer of 2006, he announced he had kidney cancer and once again it appeared his career was over, and his needed one of his kidneys removed.
He was out of action until December 2, 2007, a Budokan Hall show headlined by Kobashi & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Misawa & Akiyama. It drew the biggest crowd ever to a wrestling event at the building (it was announced at 17,000, but they actually sold 2,500 standing room tickets before turning people away, so that would indicate closer to 18,800the biggest except for the night Hulk Hogan put 250,000 in the building according to one of his interviews), and there was a lot of question why they didnt book the Tokyo Dome for his return. While the match got over spectacularly live, Kobashi on this run was reduced to working a part-time schedule and his matches consisted of throwing 100 or more chops. In September, the chops had worn out both of his elbows and he needed surgery on both elbows. He returned again on March 1, 2009, symbolically on the final Budokan Hall show before NOAH lost its network television deal due to economic problems at NTV forcing the network to make some harsh and controversial cutbacks. The show drew 14,200 fans, the largest since Kobashis previous comeback and a number that was only topped since by the Misawa Memorial show in 2009. But this time Kobashi worked part-time, and could do little, and was almost immobile aside from the chops. At the end of 2009, his right arm went out again.
As TNA celebrated its ninth anniversary with its Slammiversary show on 6/12 in Orlando, a show that saw a very few good matches mixed in with some bad ones, the overriding theme was the audience.
The Impact Zone in Orlando had in the past been a rabid audience that in TNAs best days, made some good matches come across even better. But everyone seems to have their limits. This was a crowd that has seen so much, and TNAs endless storylines that go nowhere have led to the worst thing possible. Even the live audience has stopped caring. Yeah, if a match if great, theyll respond, but this was a tough crowd that didnt care about much. The good performers now seem less like stars, and the not-so-good performers come across as people who shouldnt even be in the ring, because they get cut no slack.
With a promotion where faces and heels are a blur, well, the audience reaction was a blur as well. The slogan Wrestling Matters would be more apropos as Nothing Matters, and thats what the crowd seemed to think. This is a company, that after nine years, has people in charge who think they have to reinvent the wheel. But what is worse, is that instead of a wheel, they have replaced it with a square many years ago. And after a few years of driving to drive a car with square wheels, where the ride is no fun for anyone, theyve yet to figure out why cars in the past had round wheels, and dismiss the entire idea because that may have worked in the past, but we know better. People watch TV to see the car with square wheels never be able to go anywhere, but nobody actually buys the cars. They have their excuses for lack of sales. Of late, its that they embrace the term car, but the problem is the name of the car. Well, they switched the name, but until they make cars with round wheels, they are going to be spinning their wheels with nothing to show for it.
Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett a few months ago was a program that led to slight increases in ratings and on PPV, but this thing, no matter how good all involved have been as performers, it seemed to lose steam with the preposterous stips of putting custody of Kurt & Karens children at stake in a wrestling match. While they had some strong matches since, and the Slammiversary match was yet another one, it was evident the people didnt care about the program or werent into the story. Once they got into the stretch run of a great match, they reacted, but it never felt like they cared more than being entertained by moves. And if Jarrett, one of the better people in the business at working the crowd like a real heel, cant get personalities over with Angle, and a cant miss real-life angle, well, who can?
Angle beat Jarrett to retain his Olympic gold medal, a stipulation it was clear nobody was even willing to suspend their disbelief on. With the win, Angle became the top contender for the TNA title, but at TV, he then talked nothing about facing Anderson for the title, but instead talked about going to the Olympics in wrestling. Mr. Anderson won the TNA title from Sting, a title the audience didnt care about, and it appears his next program is with Gunner. It was a world title match where both champion and challenger had lost on television to wrestlers who were not even on the PPV. The tag champions also lost on television to a team not on the PPV. Another match, Scott Steiner vs. Matt Morgan, was established in an angle that was all about who was the No. 1 contender for the title, but once the match takes place, all references to the winner being top contender were about because of Angle vs. Jarrett.
For the first time in history, the annual New Japan Best of the Super Junior tournament crowned an outsider as champion, with the DDT promotions Kota Ibushi scoring wins over ROHs Davey Richards and New Japans Ryusuke Taguchi on the final night.
A sellout crowd of 2,005 at Korakuen Hall saw Ibushi set up yet another match with IWGP jr. champion Prince Devitt, who was kept strong in the tournament, winning the A block with a 7-1 record. However, Devitt was pinned in 8:29 by tag team partner Taguchi, who placed second in the B block, with a small package to go to the finals. The B block champion, Ibushi, first pinned Richards in 11:17 after a firebird splash, before pinning Taguchi in 20:22 to win the championship. As has been the case a number of times, Ibushi, who lost in last years finals to Devitt, went from runner-up to following up as champion.
The Devitt vs. Ibushi title match was announced for 6/18 in Osaka.
Raw on 6/13 did a 3.06 rating and 4.51 million viewers for the three-hour WWE All-Stars show hosted by Steve Austin. The show did a 3.26 and 4.84 million viewers in the usual two hours. Given the hype of the show with the tag, and Austin being all over the show, the number has to be a disappointment. It also didnt have major competition, The Stanley Cup finals on NBC did a 3.18 rating and 5.48 million viewers, but with Vancouver vs. Boston being so much less marketable than last years Chicago vs. Philadelphia series, the Stanley Cup is way down this year (the same game six against Raw last year did 8.28 million viewers). It was the fourth highest rated show on cable for the night. It was the usual level 68% male audience.
In the segment-by-segment, the show opened at a 2.72 with the interplay with The Miz and Steve Austin. The interplay with Austin and Alberto Del Rio, plus Kane vs. Del Rio lost 210,000 viewers which is very unusual for early in a three-hour Raw, as you usually get people turning in throughout hour one as they remember about it. Sin Cara & Daniel Bryan & Ezekiel Jackson vs. Wade Barrett & Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes only gained 65,000 viewers. The Sheamus vs. Santino Marella lost 10,000 viewers to a 2.62. That almost defies logic.
But they went from a 2.62 to 3.29 immediately at 9 p.m., which showed the number of people who, even with the push last week, forgot it was a three-hour show, which is 924,000 viewers for the interview back-and-forth with Randy Orton and Christian.
Rey Mysterio vs. Christian lost 154,000 viewers. Thats not good considering who was involved, which also included Punk and Nexus. R-Truth/John Morrison with the Morrison injury lost 131,000 viewers. Jack Swagger & Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne gained 169,000 viewers. The Pipers Pit with Miz and Alex Riley, plus Piper vs. Miz with Riley as ref, gained 342,000 viewers, which is below average for that segment. Id have expected it to do a lot better due to Piper. The Price is Right footage and the seven vs. seven womens match lost 306,000 viewers. Steve Austin in-ring promo where he destroyed the General Managers computer and another Obama press conference promo for Capitol Punishment gained 72,000 viewers. The John Cena vs. C.M. Punk main event gained 501,000 viewers, which is below average, finishing at a 3.62 overrun.
Smackdown on 6/10 did a 1.79 rating and 2.71 million viewers, putting it third for the night on cable.
Impact on 6/9 did a 1.01 rating and 1.48 million viewers. It was the lowest Impact rating in months, but the NBA championship game that went head-to-head did 18.3 million viewers, and thats the reason. It was 8th for the night on cable, but in its time slot, was No. 2 in Males 18-49.
The show did a 0.73 in Males 18-34, which is about what they usually do, but only a 0.87 in Males 35-49, which is way down from usual.
The ratings pattern was negative, as the first quarter, that did a 1.11, was the highest rated quarter of the show. Perhaps curiosity based on the Mick Foley being fired ending. Mickie James & Tara vs. Winter & Angelina Love lost 132,000 viewers. Theyve managed to get people to turn the women off now. Alex Shelley & James Storm vs. Hernandez & Anarquia lost 73,000 viewers. Backstage stuff with Mr. Anderson and Gunner and Mexican America confronting Hogan lost 73,000 viewers as well, doing an 0.92 quarter, the lowest on the show. The Jeff Jarrett/Kurt Angle in-ring confrontation gained 135,000 viewers. Bully Ray vs. RVD gained 44,000 viewers. Velvet Sky vs. ODB lost the same 44,000 viewers. And the Sting & Eric Young vs. Gunner & Mr. Anderson match and post-match stuff lost another 44,000 viewers, ending with a 0.98 final quarter.
Everyone is really worried about Nobukazu Hirai (Super Hate) because he still hasnt regained consciousness. Although it was the Hirai incident that forced Keiji Muto to resign as president, he was burning out on the job after ten years of running the company.
Antonio Inoki announced an 8/27 show at Sumo Hall in Tokyo, going head-to-head with the All Together Now show at Budokan Hall. Inoki said that All Japan, NOAH and New Japan working together for a big show was a great idea, but that he would put together a bigger show. They are teasing he would bring in kickboxing legends like Ernesto Hoost and Peter Aerts. Aerts was announced as coming to the 7/10 show in Tokyo, but not wrestling on it, but there is talk he would be shooting an angle to build to his debuting on 8/27.
Tajiris SMASH promotion on 6/9 at Korakuen Hall ran a show with two women wrestlers, Kana vs. Lin Byron, with the stipulation that the loser would have to show the crowd their breasts. Byron lost, but then reneged on the stipulation, as she took off her top, ended up in her bra but wouldnt take that off. The stip did draw as they did about 100-200 more fans than they usually do.
Former WWE wrestler Rico Costantino, 49, was the subject of one of those I-Team investigative news reports in his home city of Las Vegas. Costantino, who used the name Rico, doing an Adrian Street gimmick, was a law enforcement officer in Las Vegas before starting pro wrestling at a relatively old age, first signing with WWE at 37. He actually did great in developmental, so great that when he and John Cena were a tag team in OVW, and they had great chemistry as a team, Costantino was the star of the team. But the age worked against him when called up, as they felt he was too old to invest in. The story noted that he just returned as a senior supervisor with the Vegas Taxi Cab authority after a lengthy suspension. The story quoted one officer as saying Costantino is a hot shot who crosses the line, enforcing laws that dont have to do with taxis, such as pulling over cars for traffic violations, and has rep for using excessive force and hes always in the middle of controversy. Officer James Dudley (yes, thats his real name, I wonder if theres an officer Johnny Rodz) filed a report noting in 2008 when a man skipped out on an $18 fare, the two worked together to find him in an apartment, and banged on his door. When there was no answer, Costantino pulled out a large knife, used it to pry open a window and got into the apartment. Dudley said Costantino was bragging and laughing about the incident. Another officer, Kevin Hinkle, said in 2009 he saw at least five incidents where Costantino tracked down people who skipped out of paying fares and used knives to pry open windows and get into their homes, that he also used a metal baton to smash private property and that he would sometimes drive up to 100 miles per hour to get to the scene of a minor cab fare dispute. In April 2010, Costantino responded to a call for someone who skipped out on a fare of less than $10 speeding down the strip, lost control of his car and smashed into a palm tree in front of the Imperial Palace, causing heavy damage to his police car. Okay, that scene clinches it. Im doing a movie on this guy. A cab driver filed a complaint against Costantino saying he pulled him over for a minor traffic violation, and handcuffed him to the bumper of his police car. Costantino worked from 1985 to 1987 as a police officer, but was so controversial at that job that the police chief had to call a news conference to fire him after he brutally beat up an Air Force Sergeant he pulled over for a traffic violation. It was the second time he had brutally beaten up an African American and was named in a multi-million dollar wrongful death suit. Another officer, Scott Lewis said, He used to tell stories about how he would get out of the patrol car with dog leash on his neck and his Sergeant would take the dog leash off and he would go into a house and beat people up and tell them to leave Las Vegas. Man, if that guy told those stories to Vince when he was hired, hed have been given this crazy vigilante cop gimmick which is a hell of a lot better than playing Adrian Street for longevity in this business. The story noted that Costantino is still the No. 2 ranked enforcement supervisor in the taxi cab authority.
Talent is going to be asked at the 6/26 show (or before) to sign new contracts with Sinclair Broadcasting. Most of the talent is already under contract to ROH and these deals would in many cases be revised deals and longer deals. The idea is the company wants to know who it has on board when it starts making plans into the future, not wanting to push people who WWE and TNA would then start raiding. Homicide is expected to be done at that point because hes signed with UWF which wouldnt allow him to appear on another television promotion. The big question becomes Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin, because WWE had Benjamin in a dark match not too long ago and I dont think these two would sign away the rights to go to TNA (even though TNA hasnt expressed interest even when Kurt Angle pushed for it) unless they were getting a lot better deal than the contracts here. Hunter Johnston (Delirious), who is the booker here, did get a TNA offer recently, which he turned down. Johnston didnt even know if those at TNA who contacted him were even aware he was the booker here.
DKehoe
Member
Now granted I haven't been following ROH that closely recently butBootaaay said:
I don't like that they are going back on Steen having to leave ROH forever after the El Generico match. I think Steen is great and all so it's not that I have a problem with him. I just think they should stick to stipulations and if they do something like that again its going to make it a lot harder to be invested in. The final Steen Generico match really interested me because I thought that something major would happen no matter who won and that it would be something they would stick to
dream
Member
The 8/7 PPV will be called Hardcore Justice once again. It wont be an ECW reunion, but a night filled with hardcore matches, similar to WWEs Extreme Rules show.
Mick Foley wrote a long article on quitting TNA, not going into detail why, but almost coming across as having buyers remorse, noting he could no longer go to Universal and take his kids every few weeks on rides at the park, and for the first time in a long, long time, he wont be getting a regular paycheck. He said that after quitting, he asked himself, Is TNA wrestling really all that bad? The answer I keep coming to is `no, it really wasnt all that bad. In fact, it was pretty good. Sometimes it was really good. I was treated with respect, paid well, and pretty much liked everyone I worked with, including Russo, Hogan and Bischoff in case you were wondering. He said he now can see why they thought he was difficult to work with, noting an interview he did with Jeff Katz in November where he was critical of the company, the fact he did an interview with the web site of the opposition group, forgot to mention TNA on several mainstream interviews, did interviews that the company politely asked him not to do (this would include appearances on our radio show), sent out a fairly immature and hurtful tweet comparing my empty arena match with The Rock in 1999 to Impact house shows in terms of attendance. He said that last tweet would have been, with the exception of Congressman Weiners boner shot, may have been the most ill-thought and costly tweet of the month. He said he originally asked to be released to help trim the company of expensive fat, which I guess means his own. I had some genuine differences creatively with Impact, and honestly didnt think that the company should have to continue to pay good money to someone who had lost faith in the product. He said he felt when he agreed to play network executive, I should have just shut up and done the best I could in the role, at least until the Destination X show was over, at which point my departure could have become an interesting part of the show. He said he regrets that what he meant as an offer turned into a request, and maybe even a demand, based on what he thought was his own self-interest, and now he indicated he doesnt even think it was in his self-interest because he doesnt get free run of the park with his kids anymore nor get a paycheck. He said he now regrets how he left, and is sorry for things he did and said that hurt Dixie Carter personally. He did say that some of the criticism of TNA by him as well as others is valid, but without Carter, hundreds of talented wrestlers would have never gotten an opportunity to show what they could do and others would not have gotten second chances, or last chances to extend their careers. He said his nearly three years at TNA gave him a chance to enjoy three great years with his family, time to explore other passions like working with RAINN, even as his passion for wrestling was fading.
Ultimate Warrior resurfaced and said he had a full one hour documentary that he would release on Hulk Hogan. This stemmed from watching Hogan with Michael Schiavello on HDNet. He released a clip where he was claiming among other things, that Hogan was a cocaine abusing dope head (Wrestlers mad at Hogan have claimed that for decades), that he and Linda had an open marriage and both cheated on each other and that Hogan asked Warrior to sleep with Linda (okay, he lost me on that one), that Hogan and his wife were to blame for turning Elizabeth on Randy Savage and that Hogan is almost 60 and hes still wearing a do-rag. Plus, he exposed the horrible truth that Hogan wears hair extensions (which Hogan himself said in his most recent book), and that Linda is now engaged to a guy who looks like Hulk when he was young, and that Hulk slept with one of his daughter Brookes best friends (true, although the woman was 31). He didnt mention Hulks wife looking almost exactly like Brooke although there were 50 plus minutes left. He also claimed Hogan never reconciled with Savage as he claimed. What was notable is that interview played after Savage died and Hogan had the story about reconciling with Savage on it, but it was taped weeks before Savage died, plus Hogan had told the same story about bumping into Savage at the doctor and making up with him a long time ago so its not a story he just made up after Savage died. As far as it being true, who knows, its Hogan. However, just this past week, in an ESPN interview, for the first time Hogan claimed that he and Randy were going to go to a barbecue for Judy Poffo (Randys mother) over the weekend but Randy died on that Friday. That is suspicious to say the least given I cant believe that wouldnt have come out from Hogan or someone last month if it was true.
To Warriors credit, he did a great delivery of the promo and when I was watching it, I thought TNA should play it to build to another match, and who knows, maybe Warrior in his mind is doing this to shoot his own angle on the Internet. Otherwise he came off like a guy who didnt realize it wasnt still 1991. I mean, as much as you can say Hogan dressing like that at almost 58 is silly, he is on television and it is what people want him to look like. But Warrior still pretending to be Ultimate Warrior after being out of wrestling for 13 years and being in his 50s isnt much better. At first Hogan said he didnt want to be taken down in the negativity, but later in the day threatened to sue him. I wouldnt expect him to file, as Hogans M.O. is to get his lawyer to write one scary letter and drop things. Plus, with the exception of Hogan asking Warrior to sleep with his wife, nothing he said was anything that hasnt been said by plenty of people in the past.
The New York Times actually wrote a story on Hogan wanting to go on tour with 90 minute Q&As. This is the new version of the Hogan & Friends talk show tour which after all the hoopla, ended up as a one-and-done (although there is still a Wisconsin date that is supposed to be fulfilled). The show will be called, In Conversation: Outside the Ring with Hulk Hogan and he claimed there would be some dates before the end of this year and a world tour in 2012.
Also on Hogan, the TV show 20/20 did a special on Reality TV, and one of the producers who worked on several VH-1 shows talked about how people start out very uncomfortable with the cameras and mics everywhere, but after filming is done, noted a lot of the characters on reality shows go into a depression which he compared to a postpartum depression. He said the worst case he had ever seen was the Hogan family after Hogan Knows Best ended.
Hogan was asked by ESPN if there is someone on the TNA roster who can be the guy to carry it to the next level. He answered Matt Morgan, which tells you his mentality after all these years. But he said Morgans entire interview approach would have to change. He said he was frustrated when Steiner would call Morgan all kinds of names, and then Morgan would come back talking about how he respects Steiner as an athlete. I think if we sit down and really dial Matt Morgan in, he can be somebody who can really turn things around and lead Impact Wrestling to the promised land. Geez, theyve had 18 months to have that conversation. Hogan also said if he was going to wrestle one last time, the guy hed like to wrestle would be Austin, as opposed to someone in his own company.
Bischoff, on Monday Night Mayhem, regarding Chyna, said, I didnt know she made the comment that TNA missed the boat, but I was not excited with the fact that the company decided to bring her in for the PPV. The initial thought was a turnoff for me, but I kept my mouth shut. When I saw her at the PPV and saw that deer in the headlights look in her eyes when it actually came time to do something, it kind of confirmed what my instincts told me. Then I read about the fact that she wants to build her career around doing anal sex videos for Vivid. I was really, really, really, really glad that I dont have to try and explain to anybody why I work in the same company as her."
He also had his hilarious attempt to say TNA is actually doing well. People keep making statements about how TNA is not doing well, or TNA sucks, or whatever juvenile trite that comes out of their heads. It occurred to me that no one is talking about how TNA is doing as a company (jeez, we just had the charts last week and have them regularly and talk about it weekly). Coincidentally, I got an e-mail from Spike TV talking about last Thursday nights rating (this would be the 6/2 show). In the e-mail, it said that Impact Wrestling was the No. 1 rated show in its demo in its time period, despite that we were up against the NBA finals. Impact Wrestling is the No. 1 program on all of Spike television. We outperform the UFC. To be able to be the No. 1 show on that network in prime time is a very significant achievement. I just wanted to point that out, because not enough people are talking about the good things going out in TNA. That was almost hilarious. Did he actually believe there was a demo where they beat the NBA finals? The reason they were No. 1 on cable in a specific demo (Males 35-49) in their time slot on cable is because the NBA finals werent on cable, they were on ABC, but he actually talked like they were beating the NBA in their demo. Its true that this season of Ultimate Fighter is doing lower ratings (although significantly higher in the Male 18-49 demo which is Spikes goal) than Impact, but the live UFC beat any Impact show in months, and just the idea that TNA is outperforming the UFC, which did 40 times what TNA did in the U.S. and 100 times in Canada with a down PPV that lost its main event in last months comparisons tells you just how valuable each television show is.
Austin Aries, Kid Kash, Jimmy Rave and Jacqueline Moore all returned at the 6/13 tapings and will be on TV this week. Aries beat Kash and Rave in a three-way with the stip that the winner gets a TNA contract. Aries has indicated he was leaving wrestling a few weeks ago as last weekend was his final weekend for the Dragon Gate USA promotion. Aries (Daniel Solwold Jr.), was hoping to get a deal with TNA or WWE. He had been hinting getting out of wrestling for a while, and after being in the final cuts and not making it to Tough Enough because they felt he was too short, he started hinting retirement. He told Dragon Gate USA that he was going to be done with the WrestleMania weekend shows, and they did the stipulation regarding him either winning the title or leaving, and then he lost, and then they tried to get out of it by doing an angle saying he worked everyone and wasnt leaving. Then a few weeks later, he decided again that he wanted to leave. He actually said he was tired of working for smart mark promotions, which was the term I was given (not sure if he used that term or something approximate) because it is too physically hard a style for too little money, and hes now 33 and has been working indies for 11 years. But hes always been looking to get into WWE or TNA where he can make more money, or at least not be pressured into working such a physically demanding style.
Another twitter failing. Jesse Neal on his twitter, in a message to girlfriend Christina Kardooni (independent wrestler Christina Von Eeerie), Yayyy, we qualified for food stamps!! I can eat now! Shouldnt that be a private family thing? Plus, how bad does it make TNA look when one of its wrestlers, a regular on television, makes so little he qualifies for food stamps and needs to in order to eat? I know hes missed a few weeks due to an injury and in TNA, you dont work and you dont get paid and guys at his income level (for him to qualify hed likely be earning less than $30,000 per year) can often be living paycheck-to-paycheck.
Orton suffered a legitimate concussion on the 6/12 show in Madrid, Spain, doing a three-way with Sheamus and Christian. Thats why he couldnt wrestle on either Raw or Smackdown the next two days. On both shows, they acknowledged the concussion, but they were pushing on both shows that he would be wrestling Christian on the PPV. For the old wrestling business pre-2007, that would be a given, and hed probably have wrestled on TV as well. But if he got a concussion on 6/12, the idea that hed be fine to do a match on 6/19 is very questionable. Company policy is that with a legit concussion, you have to pass Dr. Joseph Maroons Impact testing to determine whether you are fit to go back out. Its hard to believe that they would violate their own system and allow Orton to do anything where hed have to take a bump until he was cleared. But its also operating very shady to the public to still be pushing his match for the PPV on Sunday. That in itself is a controversial subject, as the entire concussion diagnosis issue is filled with politics and agendas and contradictory viewpoints. There are a number of leaders in the field who dislike each other and run down the beliefs of the other. But whats bad here is with a legitimate concussion, how can they possibly know the next day when taping Raw after Orton flew from Madrid directly to New York that Orton would be fine to wrestle six days later? If he passed the testing the day after a concussion, then all a sudden you have to wonder about the testing. If he didnt, then WWE had no business pushing him wrestling for Sunday past saying hes questionable and they would update later in the week. And if he cant, given that Orton vs. Christian on paper is the No. 2 match on the show, but many consider it the No. 1 match on the show, they should at least on Raw and Smackdown push that there is a question regarding if this match can take place. It comes off really shady for a company that has worked hard to cleanse what has been a very negative image, particularly since it has to do with misleading its most loyal 2% of its audience.
In the ever-evolving science of concussion research and understanding, Dr. Bennett Omalu, who is, within the medical world considered the No. 1 authority on concussions, believes that any athlete who suffers a concussion should be kept out of action for 90 days. His reasoning is a concussion often involves head rotation, not limited to a blow to the skull, and that can cause tearing of brain tissue and can take 90 days for brain fluid to return to normal. The NFL and WWE, for instance, use Maroons system to determine whether a competitor has recovered enough to return. Among players, there has been talk that taking Ritalin can help you perform better in that testing and get you back on the field. Its not like in MMA and boxing, if you are diagnosed with a concussion in a fight, you have a time frame when you cant spar (although that is not always adhered to) and cant fight. The time frames in major sports, as well as pro wrestling, are not usually as lengthy.
They are doing similar gimmicks on the next two Raws. The 6/20 show, a three-hour show from Baltimore, will revive the Cyber Sunday format, where fans will get to vote on matches and stipulations. Given that the writing team was already overworked, this means they have to come up with a variety of different things based on possibilities. This was announced during the 6/13 show as Steve Austins idea for next week. Then as Raw went off the air, they directed people to the web site. In theory, they should have had all the matches and stips to vote on up when Raw ended, but because of the PPV, they probably wont do it until after, meaning this was really a bad week for this kind of a gimmick. But it was USA, not WWE, that decides when it wants three-hour shows. A lot of people were talking about doing a one-night King of the Ring tournament on this Raw, but the one-night King of the Rings in recent years didnt do well in the ratings. Then, on 6/27, from Las Vegas, where they are taping both the live show and the 7/4 show, the first show will be Raw Roulette, where they spin the wheel for stipulations.
Creative has been dreading this period ever since people noticed the schedule. Besides the three-hour Raw on 6/13 and Smackdown, this coming week has a three-hour PPV on 6/19, a three-hour Raw on 6/20, Smackdown, and then coming back with a double Raw on 6/27 in Las Vegas and Smackdowns on 6/28 and 6/29 before having them take the July 4th week off.
The new WWE 12 game did well at last weeks E3 convention. It got one Best Sports Game award and was nominated for a second. David Arquette showed up to play the game and said his favorite wrestler was Orton and that he wants to do more with WWE. Royce Gracie was there and recognized Alberto Del Rio and Kelly Kelly, and when he saw them, wanted his picture taken with them. Roddy Piper played the game and Verne Mini-Me Troyer was with Miz for a photo op. Gene Simmons was playing the new UFC Trainer video game with Shannon Tweed.
They are returning to Atlanta at the Phillips Arena for the Halloween night Raw. That will be interesting as the last time Smackdown ran on Halloween night, they got killed in the ratings.
(go RBH!)
Newcomer to FCW going by the name of C.J. Parker is the wrestler known as Juice Robinson while working for Dream Wave Wrestling out of LaSalle, IL. He has Evan Bournes face with Carlitos hair and the same body half the guys in developmental have. Yes, they named one of their wrestlers C.J. Parker, which was the name of the character Pamela Anderson played in Baywatch.
The stock price closed at press time at $9.30, which is the lowest level its been trading at in more than one year, showing Wall Street is not convinced at all regarding the companys future. It closed as low as $9.13 on 6/13 before a slight increase the next day. It fell as low as $8.88 in recent days. The slide started with the announcement they would be going on a spending spree to buy new companies, and continued with the dropping of the dividend, making the stock less attractive as it is far lower than it was when it first went public more than a decade ago and its saving grace was the dividend, but that wasnt sustainable. If you really look at the company, it is healthy, profitable and will be profitable for some time to come. There are no signs of the company getting more popular, but there is potential in international growth, and perhaps the television station can be a success, but clearly Wall Street is not impressed at this point.
Sin Cara is fully aware of his situation of being in the right place at the right time, given hes HHHs first ever guy that was brought in as an international star. Hes noted to friends how much help HHH has been with him and talked about the frustration of having to learn a new style while the spotlight is on him. For what its worth, Chavo Guerrero took all the heat from management for their match at Over the Limit not going well. Guerreros job in the match was to make Sin Cara look good and they felt he didnt accomplish that. One of the problems is that Guerrero was put in that match because they figured he was a Luchador and would understand the style, but the reality is, while he comes from a family of famous Luchadores, he himself has done very little wrestling in Mexico, and almost none as a heel. Guerrero for years has been frustrated with never getting a break even though he did well as a tag team partner of Eddy and in a feud with Mysterio years back, but in recent years his career has sputtered badly. It was said they gave him the opportunity for a program and then he didnt do well with it. HHH has gone to Sin Cara and tried to teach him the American psychology and asked him if there was anyone hed like to bring in to work with, which is how Averno got his job. It was noted that theyve never done that for anyone else coming in, actually bringing in their best opponents from where they worked. From a marketing standpoint, Sin Cara merchandise is doing really well and hes getting over with kids, so the push is working business-wise. Another interesting note is that when he signed with WWE, he went to Paco Alonso and to thank him for giving him his break, he said he would request from WWE the ability to work a few dates per year in CMLL out of loyalty, the similar deal that the Colons had with Puerto Rico. However, Alonso told him that youre either with him or against him, and had no interest. WWE forgot to trademark the name Sin Cara, so when CMLL found this out, as a nuisance, they trademarked the name Sin Cara for use in Mexico.
Both Luke Robinson and Andy Leavine were told in a rehearsal before the show that the winner would get slapped by Vince and stunned by Austin, but they were not told who would win. Im surprised they didnt hint and do a swerve. The year Daniel Puder and Miz were the last two (2004), Puder was told he was going to cut a promo on the show and while they didnt tell him outright he was second, they all but did, telling him to basically work on a concession speech, and then when he was in there thinking he lost, they told him hed won. Then again, there were people politicking for Miz to get it even though Puder got the fans voting until the last day, feeling he was the better investment. I guess those people were right.
Drew Carey, while on The Price is Right episode on 6/14 with the Bella Twins and Kelly, thanked the women at the end of the show and said they, Were going into the Price is Right Hall of Fame, but in the wrestling wing, so the fans dont get upset."
Mick Foley wrote a long article on quitting TNA, not going into detail why, but almost coming across as having buyers remorse, noting he could no longer go to Universal and take his kids every few weeks on rides at the park, and for the first time in a long, long time, he wont be getting a regular paycheck. He said that after quitting, he asked himself, Is TNA wrestling really all that bad? The answer I keep coming to is `no, it really wasnt all that bad. In fact, it was pretty good. Sometimes it was really good. I was treated with respect, paid well, and pretty much liked everyone I worked with, including Russo, Hogan and Bischoff in case you were wondering. He said he now can see why they thought he was difficult to work with, noting an interview he did with Jeff Katz in November where he was critical of the company, the fact he did an interview with the web site of the opposition group, forgot to mention TNA on several mainstream interviews, did interviews that the company politely asked him not to do (this would include appearances on our radio show), sent out a fairly immature and hurtful tweet comparing my empty arena match with The Rock in 1999 to Impact house shows in terms of attendance. He said that last tweet would have been, with the exception of Congressman Weiners boner shot, may have been the most ill-thought and costly tweet of the month. He said he originally asked to be released to help trim the company of expensive fat, which I guess means his own. I had some genuine differences creatively with Impact, and honestly didnt think that the company should have to continue to pay good money to someone who had lost faith in the product. He said he felt when he agreed to play network executive, I should have just shut up and done the best I could in the role, at least until the Destination X show was over, at which point my departure could have become an interesting part of the show. He said he regrets that what he meant as an offer turned into a request, and maybe even a demand, based on what he thought was his own self-interest, and now he indicated he doesnt even think it was in his self-interest because he doesnt get free run of the park with his kids anymore nor get a paycheck. He said he now regrets how he left, and is sorry for things he did and said that hurt Dixie Carter personally. He did say that some of the criticism of TNA by him as well as others is valid, but without Carter, hundreds of talented wrestlers would have never gotten an opportunity to show what they could do and others would not have gotten second chances, or last chances to extend their careers. He said his nearly three years at TNA gave him a chance to enjoy three great years with his family, time to explore other passions like working with RAINN, even as his passion for wrestling was fading.
Ultimate Warrior resurfaced and said he had a full one hour documentary that he would release on Hulk Hogan. This stemmed from watching Hogan with Michael Schiavello on HDNet. He released a clip where he was claiming among other things, that Hogan was a cocaine abusing dope head (Wrestlers mad at Hogan have claimed that for decades), that he and Linda had an open marriage and both cheated on each other and that Hogan asked Warrior to sleep with Linda (okay, he lost me on that one), that Hogan and his wife were to blame for turning Elizabeth on Randy Savage and that Hogan is almost 60 and hes still wearing a do-rag. Plus, he exposed the horrible truth that Hogan wears hair extensions (which Hogan himself said in his most recent book), and that Linda is now engaged to a guy who looks like Hulk when he was young, and that Hulk slept with one of his daughter Brookes best friends (true, although the woman was 31). He didnt mention Hulks wife looking almost exactly like Brooke although there were 50 plus minutes left. He also claimed Hogan never reconciled with Savage as he claimed. What was notable is that interview played after Savage died and Hogan had the story about reconciling with Savage on it, but it was taped weeks before Savage died, plus Hogan had told the same story about bumping into Savage at the doctor and making up with him a long time ago so its not a story he just made up after Savage died. As far as it being true, who knows, its Hogan. However, just this past week, in an ESPN interview, for the first time Hogan claimed that he and Randy were going to go to a barbecue for Judy Poffo (Randys mother) over the weekend but Randy died on that Friday. That is suspicious to say the least given I cant believe that wouldnt have come out from Hogan or someone last month if it was true.
To Warriors credit, he did a great delivery of the promo and when I was watching it, I thought TNA should play it to build to another match, and who knows, maybe Warrior in his mind is doing this to shoot his own angle on the Internet. Otherwise he came off like a guy who didnt realize it wasnt still 1991. I mean, as much as you can say Hogan dressing like that at almost 58 is silly, he is on television and it is what people want him to look like. But Warrior still pretending to be Ultimate Warrior after being out of wrestling for 13 years and being in his 50s isnt much better. At first Hogan said he didnt want to be taken down in the negativity, but later in the day threatened to sue him. I wouldnt expect him to file, as Hogans M.O. is to get his lawyer to write one scary letter and drop things. Plus, with the exception of Hogan asking Warrior to sleep with his wife, nothing he said was anything that hasnt been said by plenty of people in the past.
The New York Times actually wrote a story on Hogan wanting to go on tour with 90 minute Q&As. This is the new version of the Hogan & Friends talk show tour which after all the hoopla, ended up as a one-and-done (although there is still a Wisconsin date that is supposed to be fulfilled). The show will be called, In Conversation: Outside the Ring with Hulk Hogan and he claimed there would be some dates before the end of this year and a world tour in 2012.
Also on Hogan, the TV show 20/20 did a special on Reality TV, and one of the producers who worked on several VH-1 shows talked about how people start out very uncomfortable with the cameras and mics everywhere, but after filming is done, noted a lot of the characters on reality shows go into a depression which he compared to a postpartum depression. He said the worst case he had ever seen was the Hogan family after Hogan Knows Best ended.
Hogan was asked by ESPN if there is someone on the TNA roster who can be the guy to carry it to the next level. He answered Matt Morgan, which tells you his mentality after all these years. But he said Morgans entire interview approach would have to change. He said he was frustrated when Steiner would call Morgan all kinds of names, and then Morgan would come back talking about how he respects Steiner as an athlete. I think if we sit down and really dial Matt Morgan in, he can be somebody who can really turn things around and lead Impact Wrestling to the promised land. Geez, theyve had 18 months to have that conversation. Hogan also said if he was going to wrestle one last time, the guy hed like to wrestle would be Austin, as opposed to someone in his own company.
Bischoff, on Monday Night Mayhem, regarding Chyna, said, I didnt know she made the comment that TNA missed the boat, but I was not excited with the fact that the company decided to bring her in for the PPV. The initial thought was a turnoff for me, but I kept my mouth shut. When I saw her at the PPV and saw that deer in the headlights look in her eyes when it actually came time to do something, it kind of confirmed what my instincts told me. Then I read about the fact that she wants to build her career around doing anal sex videos for Vivid. I was really, really, really, really glad that I dont have to try and explain to anybody why I work in the same company as her."
He also had his hilarious attempt to say TNA is actually doing well. People keep making statements about how TNA is not doing well, or TNA sucks, or whatever juvenile trite that comes out of their heads. It occurred to me that no one is talking about how TNA is doing as a company (jeez, we just had the charts last week and have them regularly and talk about it weekly). Coincidentally, I got an e-mail from Spike TV talking about last Thursday nights rating (this would be the 6/2 show). In the e-mail, it said that Impact Wrestling was the No. 1 rated show in its demo in its time period, despite that we were up against the NBA finals. Impact Wrestling is the No. 1 program on all of Spike television. We outperform the UFC. To be able to be the No. 1 show on that network in prime time is a very significant achievement. I just wanted to point that out, because not enough people are talking about the good things going out in TNA. That was almost hilarious. Did he actually believe there was a demo where they beat the NBA finals? The reason they were No. 1 on cable in a specific demo (Males 35-49) in their time slot on cable is because the NBA finals werent on cable, they were on ABC, but he actually talked like they were beating the NBA in their demo. Its true that this season of Ultimate Fighter is doing lower ratings (although significantly higher in the Male 18-49 demo which is Spikes goal) than Impact, but the live UFC beat any Impact show in months, and just the idea that TNA is outperforming the UFC, which did 40 times what TNA did in the U.S. and 100 times in Canada with a down PPV that lost its main event in last months comparisons tells you just how valuable each television show is.
Austin Aries, Kid Kash, Jimmy Rave and Jacqueline Moore all returned at the 6/13 tapings and will be on TV this week. Aries beat Kash and Rave in a three-way with the stip that the winner gets a TNA contract. Aries has indicated he was leaving wrestling a few weeks ago as last weekend was his final weekend for the Dragon Gate USA promotion. Aries (Daniel Solwold Jr.), was hoping to get a deal with TNA or WWE. He had been hinting getting out of wrestling for a while, and after being in the final cuts and not making it to Tough Enough because they felt he was too short, he started hinting retirement. He told Dragon Gate USA that he was going to be done with the WrestleMania weekend shows, and they did the stipulation regarding him either winning the title or leaving, and then he lost, and then they tried to get out of it by doing an angle saying he worked everyone and wasnt leaving. Then a few weeks later, he decided again that he wanted to leave. He actually said he was tired of working for smart mark promotions, which was the term I was given (not sure if he used that term or something approximate) because it is too physically hard a style for too little money, and hes now 33 and has been working indies for 11 years. But hes always been looking to get into WWE or TNA where he can make more money, or at least not be pressured into working such a physically demanding style.
Another twitter failing. Jesse Neal on his twitter, in a message to girlfriend Christina Kardooni (independent wrestler Christina Von Eeerie), Yayyy, we qualified for food stamps!! I can eat now! Shouldnt that be a private family thing? Plus, how bad does it make TNA look when one of its wrestlers, a regular on television, makes so little he qualifies for food stamps and needs to in order to eat? I know hes missed a few weeks due to an injury and in TNA, you dont work and you dont get paid and guys at his income level (for him to qualify hed likely be earning less than $30,000 per year) can often be living paycheck-to-paycheck.
Orton suffered a legitimate concussion on the 6/12 show in Madrid, Spain, doing a three-way with Sheamus and Christian. Thats why he couldnt wrestle on either Raw or Smackdown the next two days. On both shows, they acknowledged the concussion, but they were pushing on both shows that he would be wrestling Christian on the PPV. For the old wrestling business pre-2007, that would be a given, and hed probably have wrestled on TV as well. But if he got a concussion on 6/12, the idea that hed be fine to do a match on 6/19 is very questionable. Company policy is that with a legit concussion, you have to pass Dr. Joseph Maroons Impact testing to determine whether you are fit to go back out. Its hard to believe that they would violate their own system and allow Orton to do anything where hed have to take a bump until he was cleared. But its also operating very shady to the public to still be pushing his match for the PPV on Sunday. That in itself is a controversial subject, as the entire concussion diagnosis issue is filled with politics and agendas and contradictory viewpoints. There are a number of leaders in the field who dislike each other and run down the beliefs of the other. But whats bad here is with a legitimate concussion, how can they possibly know the next day when taping Raw after Orton flew from Madrid directly to New York that Orton would be fine to wrestle six days later? If he passed the testing the day after a concussion, then all a sudden you have to wonder about the testing. If he didnt, then WWE had no business pushing him wrestling for Sunday past saying hes questionable and they would update later in the week. And if he cant, given that Orton vs. Christian on paper is the No. 2 match on the show, but many consider it the No. 1 match on the show, they should at least on Raw and Smackdown push that there is a question regarding if this match can take place. It comes off really shady for a company that has worked hard to cleanse what has been a very negative image, particularly since it has to do with misleading its most loyal 2% of its audience.
In the ever-evolving science of concussion research and understanding, Dr. Bennett Omalu, who is, within the medical world considered the No. 1 authority on concussions, believes that any athlete who suffers a concussion should be kept out of action for 90 days. His reasoning is a concussion often involves head rotation, not limited to a blow to the skull, and that can cause tearing of brain tissue and can take 90 days for brain fluid to return to normal. The NFL and WWE, for instance, use Maroons system to determine whether a competitor has recovered enough to return. Among players, there has been talk that taking Ritalin can help you perform better in that testing and get you back on the field. Its not like in MMA and boxing, if you are diagnosed with a concussion in a fight, you have a time frame when you cant spar (although that is not always adhered to) and cant fight. The time frames in major sports, as well as pro wrestling, are not usually as lengthy.
They are doing similar gimmicks on the next two Raws. The 6/20 show, a three-hour show from Baltimore, will revive the Cyber Sunday format, where fans will get to vote on matches and stipulations. Given that the writing team was already overworked, this means they have to come up with a variety of different things based on possibilities. This was announced during the 6/13 show as Steve Austins idea for next week. Then as Raw went off the air, they directed people to the web site. In theory, they should have had all the matches and stips to vote on up when Raw ended, but because of the PPV, they probably wont do it until after, meaning this was really a bad week for this kind of a gimmick. But it was USA, not WWE, that decides when it wants three-hour shows. A lot of people were talking about doing a one-night King of the Ring tournament on this Raw, but the one-night King of the Rings in recent years didnt do well in the ratings. Then, on 6/27, from Las Vegas, where they are taping both the live show and the 7/4 show, the first show will be Raw Roulette, where they spin the wheel for stipulations.
Creative has been dreading this period ever since people noticed the schedule. Besides the three-hour Raw on 6/13 and Smackdown, this coming week has a three-hour PPV on 6/19, a three-hour Raw on 6/20, Smackdown, and then coming back with a double Raw on 6/27 in Las Vegas and Smackdowns on 6/28 and 6/29 before having them take the July 4th week off.
The new WWE 12 game did well at last weeks E3 convention. It got one Best Sports Game award and was nominated for a second. David Arquette showed up to play the game and said his favorite wrestler was Orton and that he wants to do more with WWE. Royce Gracie was there and recognized Alberto Del Rio and Kelly Kelly, and when he saw them, wanted his picture taken with them. Roddy Piper played the game and Verne Mini-Me Troyer was with Miz for a photo op. Gene Simmons was playing the new UFC Trainer video game with Shannon Tweed.
They are returning to Atlanta at the Phillips Arena for the Halloween night Raw. That will be interesting as the last time Smackdown ran on Halloween night, they got killed in the ratings.
(go RBH!)
Newcomer to FCW going by the name of C.J. Parker is the wrestler known as Juice Robinson while working for Dream Wave Wrestling out of LaSalle, IL. He has Evan Bournes face with Carlitos hair and the same body half the guys in developmental have. Yes, they named one of their wrestlers C.J. Parker, which was the name of the character Pamela Anderson played in Baywatch.
The stock price closed at press time at $9.30, which is the lowest level its been trading at in more than one year, showing Wall Street is not convinced at all regarding the companys future. It closed as low as $9.13 on 6/13 before a slight increase the next day. It fell as low as $8.88 in recent days. The slide started with the announcement they would be going on a spending spree to buy new companies, and continued with the dropping of the dividend, making the stock less attractive as it is far lower than it was when it first went public more than a decade ago and its saving grace was the dividend, but that wasnt sustainable. If you really look at the company, it is healthy, profitable and will be profitable for some time to come. There are no signs of the company getting more popular, but there is potential in international growth, and perhaps the television station can be a success, but clearly Wall Street is not impressed at this point.
Sin Cara is fully aware of his situation of being in the right place at the right time, given hes HHHs first ever guy that was brought in as an international star. Hes noted to friends how much help HHH has been with him and talked about the frustration of having to learn a new style while the spotlight is on him. For what its worth, Chavo Guerrero took all the heat from management for their match at Over the Limit not going well. Guerreros job in the match was to make Sin Cara look good and they felt he didnt accomplish that. One of the problems is that Guerrero was put in that match because they figured he was a Luchador and would understand the style, but the reality is, while he comes from a family of famous Luchadores, he himself has done very little wrestling in Mexico, and almost none as a heel. Guerrero for years has been frustrated with never getting a break even though he did well as a tag team partner of Eddy and in a feud with Mysterio years back, but in recent years his career has sputtered badly. It was said they gave him the opportunity for a program and then he didnt do well with it. HHH has gone to Sin Cara and tried to teach him the American psychology and asked him if there was anyone hed like to bring in to work with, which is how Averno got his job. It was noted that theyve never done that for anyone else coming in, actually bringing in their best opponents from where they worked. From a marketing standpoint, Sin Cara merchandise is doing really well and hes getting over with kids, so the push is working business-wise. Another interesting note is that when he signed with WWE, he went to Paco Alonso and to thank him for giving him his break, he said he would request from WWE the ability to work a few dates per year in CMLL out of loyalty, the similar deal that the Colons had with Puerto Rico. However, Alonso told him that youre either with him or against him, and had no interest. WWE forgot to trademark the name Sin Cara, so when CMLL found this out, as a nuisance, they trademarked the name Sin Cara for use in Mexico.
Both Luke Robinson and Andy Leavine were told in a rehearsal before the show that the winner would get slapped by Vince and stunned by Austin, but they were not told who would win. Im surprised they didnt hint and do a swerve. The year Daniel Puder and Miz were the last two (2004), Puder was told he was going to cut a promo on the show and while they didnt tell him outright he was second, they all but did, telling him to basically work on a concession speech, and then when he was in there thinking he lost, they told him hed won. Then again, there were people politicking for Miz to get it even though Puder got the fans voting until the last day, feeling he was the better investment. I guess those people were right.
Drew Carey, while on The Price is Right episode on 6/14 with the Bella Twins and Kelly, thanked the women at the end of the show and said they, Were going into the Price is Right Hall of Fame, but in the wrestling wing, so the fans dont get upset."
British Monsoon
Member
DKehoe said:
I think it's always been a given that
Steen would return at some point, whether it's too soon or not is another matter, but I imagine he's a guy they'd want back in the fold by the time the TV tapings start. I think they'll play this as Steen not being authorised to appear in ROH. When Jacobs turned up as Corino's sponsor, ROH officials threw him out of the building, and would only allow him to accompany Corino to ringside after both men convinced them that their evil ways were behind them. Steen is another matter entirely, as Corino says he's more of a force for evil in ROH than either of them were, so I don't believe he'll return in NYC and then be back competing as an ROH-sanctioned wrestler the next show.
There's two ways I think they can take this, either Corino brings Steen in and he causes a ton of chaos, which would anger Jacobs and could set up some form of a Jacobs/Steen/Corino feud, or that Steen comes in apparently a changed man just like Corino & Jacobs, but it's all a ruse by Corino to get the two most evil men ROH has ever seen back in the company and start a new heel faction.
Seraphis Cain
bad gameplay lol
Man, reading above about Kobashi is kinda sad. He's such an amazing wrestler, but he's also basically the biggest example of what the Japanese style can do to a person. I really hope he doesn't push himself too hard in his comeback match next month.
Mr. Enigma
Member
Ultimate Warrior turns 52 today.
Black Republican
Member
AnEternalEnigma said:
another year closer to death!
DKehoe
Member
continuing ROH spoiler talk:Bootaaay said:
if the plan was always to bring Steen back they should have planned ahead for that and figured out some sort of loophole for the stipulation to allow it. I know they are probably going to say in storylines he "isn't under contract" and "isn't supposed to be there" but thats just a technicality. WWE and TNA make and break stipulations so much that I was actually hoping that ROH would be able to stick to them in order to make them meaningful. The big selling point of the final Steen/Generico match was the stipulations and the major ramifications they would have. It's going to make it hard for ROH to sell a PPV based on something like that again since they have gone back on this one.
GameplayWhore
Member
dream said:
That's kind of impossible. You can't cheat by following the rules.
I hate Vinnie Mac.
NihonTiger90
Member
Ryder's not going to be on the Raw after the PPV. They'll just play with the vote totals a bit. "Oops, your vote didn't count. Please try again later!"
http://vids.wwe.com/12314/wwe-superstars-june-16-2011
-Zack Ryder vs. Primo
-Drew McIntyre vs. Vladimir Kozlov
-Yoshi Tatsu vs. Chavo Guerrero
-Kane vs. Tyson Kidd
Kccitystar
Member
What a fucking pop for Zack Ryder
Seraphis Cain
bad gameplay lol
DMeisterJ said:
Glad to know it's not my computer. Yeah, fucking terrible video quality. Oh wait, Vince hates the internet. I see now. :lol
Seraphis Cain
bad gameplay lol
RBH said:
Holy shit.
Mr. Enigma
Member
Wasn't Castagnoli signed to a developmental deal a few years ago?
Mr. Enigma
Member
I'm sure the fans appreciate having a big fucking flag blocking their view.
Net_Wrecker
Member
RBH said:
I can't even get excited. No matter if they're brought in as a team or separately, the WWE will screw it up.
Net_Wrecker
Member
Cotdamn this is a really fun match. Austin Aries is still as good as ever.
- Status