I’m assuming that most people reading this already know by now that the injury Edge suffered at a WWE house show Friday night in San Diego was a serious one. According to pwinsider.com, Edge has a torn Achilles tendon, which could keep him out of the ring until early next year.

Obviously, losing one of the best all-around performers in the business for a significant length of time is horrible news for WWE. Edge joins Batista, The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels on the list of Hall of Fame-caliber WWE stars who are either injured or on hiatus.

Continue reading "Edge’s injury: What now?" »

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

Smackdown has been such a strong show as of late that it’s usually difficult to find fault with anything on the program. However, while Friday night’s episode was good, I do have a couple of nitpicks in regard to the booking.

Having The Hart Dynasty lose to Cryme Tyme in their Smackdown debut just seems ridiculous to me. The problem, which I noted in a post earlier this week about the WWE trade, is that Cryme Tyme is the only babyface tag team on Smackdown for THD to feud with, and I guess for it to be a true feud, the same team can’t win every time they meet.

Continue reading "Another solid Smackdown, but …" »

Posted by Kevin Eck at 1:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)
        

Pwinsider.com is reporting that Edge suffered an ankle injury after landing badly during his match with Jeff Hardy at a WWE house show Friday night in San Diego. There’s no word yet as to how serious the injury is, but he did have to be helped to the back.

If Edge is out for a significant length of time it obviously is a big blow for WWE, which just put the unified WWE tag team title on Edge and Chris Jericho last Sunday.

Note: Check back later for my thoughts on Friday night’s episode of Smackdown. I hope everyone is having a happy and safe Fourth of July.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

I want to preface this entry by saying that I like Jeff Jarrett as a performer. While there are many “smart” fans who think he’s overrated and that his pushes have been more about politics than ability, I actually think he gets a bad rap. Jarrett has always been a good worker, and while he has never been a huge box office draw, he is a star.

With that being said, however, Jarrett gave those who criticize him for using his position as TNA founder to excessively push himself plenty of ammunition on Thursday night’s episode of Impact.

Continue reading "There’s no quit in Jeff Jarrett on TNA Impact" »

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
        

So was world heavyweight champion CM Punk’s left eye partially closed at the end of Thursday’s episode of WWE Superstars because it was injured, or was he really winking at us because he had just pulled another fast one?

Punk, who suffered the (kayfabe) eye injury at last Sunday’s Bash pay-per-view, aggravated it during his non-title match with Edge Thursday. After Edge raked his eyes, Punk told the referee that he couldn’t continue, and Edge was awarded the match via forfeit.

Continue reading "CM Punk keeps his eye on the prize on WWE Superstars" »

Posted by Kevin Eck at 1:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)
        

I conducted a phone interview Wednesday with former WWE diva Torrie Wilson, who talked about her runner-up finish last week on the NBC reality show I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here, as well as her negative experience doing the divas battle royal at WrestleMania XXV last April.

So, what’s the first you did when you got back home after three weeks or so in the jungle in Costa Rica?

When I arrived at my house I had a very small party with my closest friends and family and I ate some vanilla cake.

I’m sure it tasted good to you.

Man it was delicious.

What was the toughest part about being in the jungle and what was the toughest challenge that you had to do?

I think the toughest part about being there was that some of the personalities were clashing, so it was difficult at times to get along with everybody. And, of course, the eating was really difficult. The hardest challenge – there was one where we stuck our head in something [a glass case filled with snakes]. I was really glad I didn’t get the tarantulas.

Spencer and Heidi Pratt and Janice Dickinson came off as incredibly annoying. What was it like being in the jungle with them?

Continue reading "Q&A with Torrie Wilson" »

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:10 PM in Q&As | Permalink | Comments (12)
        

With Jack Swagger, Evan Bourne and The Hart Dynasty having graduated with honors from ECW, a new class of young talent debuted on the show Tuesday night. Four performers from the Florida Championship Wrestling developmental territory – Yoshi Tatsu, Abraham Washington, Sheamus and Tyler Reks – appeared on the program.

It’s always exciting to see fresh faces, but it may have been too much to throw at the audience all at once. The combination of all the unfamiliar characters, a train wreck interview segment and a stupid booking decision regarding Shelton Benjamin made for one of the worst episodes of ECW in quite a while.

Continue reading "Rough start for new-look ECW" »

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (33)
        

Here are my takes on each brand’s acquisitions in the 15-wrestler trade that WWE announced Monday.

RAW

Evan Bourne (from ECW): The good news for Bourne is that he’s now on WWE’s top-rated show. The potential bad news is that he could get lost in the shuffle with so many big names on the roster. He may have been better off spending another year on ECW and possibly getting a title run there. A program with The Brian Kendrick could be interesting (if Kendrick can get back on television).

Continue reading "Thoughts on the WWE trade" »

Posted by Kevin Eck at 9:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)
        

Realizing that the rosters needed shaking up -- especially Raw’s -- despite having a draft just two and a half months ago, WWE moved 15 wrestlers to different shows Monday. Judging by Monday night’s episode of Raw, the landscape may have changed, but in some regards it’s the same old story.

The big news coming out of the show is that Mark Henry appears to be getting a major babyface push on Raw. The former ECW champion was the third man in a three-on-one-gauntlet match against Randy Orton, and “The World’s Strongest Man” scored a clean victory over the WWE champion.

Continue reading "Some things change on Raw, some don’t" »

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (68)
        

When critiquing a wrestling pay-per-view, ultimately only one question is relevant: Was it worth the money?

With regard to Sunday night’s WWE pay-per-view, The Bash, the answer is no. That doesn’t mean it was a bad show, it just means it wasn’t worth $40 in my opinion.

The Bash had its moments, including another terrific Rey Mysterio-Chris Jericho match and a heated CM Punk-Jeff Hardy contest, but there wasn’t anything on the show that you’d be kicking yourself for if you missed it.

Continue reading "The Bash thoughts" »

Posted by Kevin Eck at 5:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (46)