Maryland Championship Wrestling is giving 10 readers of Ring Posts access to a private meet and greet with former WWE and WCW star Ron Simmons at the MCW show Aug. 7 at The New Green Room in Dundalk.

Between now and Thursday, I will ask 10 trivia questions about Simmons. The first person to e-mail me the correct response to a given question will receive a general admission ticket to the show, a pre-show meeting and photo opportunity with Simmons, as well as an 8 x 10 photo of him.

The questions can be asked at any time and there will be a total of 10 winners (individuals cannot win more than once).

Please e-mail your answers to kevin.eck@baltsun.com and include your full name and a daytime phone number.

Good luck!

Posted by Kevin Eck at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

• John Morrison had another really good match, this time against Tyson Kidd. Morrison seems a lot more comfortable working as a babyface than he did at first, and he is starting to connect more with the audience. I was in attendance for this one Monday night at Verizon Center in Washington, and Morrison definitely had the crowd behind him. Kidd also looked good and got in a lot of offense before losing.

• The neckbreaker that Kidd hit on the apron looked nasty.

• WWE champion Randy Orton versus Primo at least was something different. The near fall that Primo got after hitting a missile dropkick certainly got the crowd’s attention.

• I’m not sure it was that noticeable on TV, but the fans in Washington booed Primo when he came out (although he did get some cheers during the match). Orton got a passionate response that was probably 70 or 80 percent boos. The difference is that Orton was booed because he is a good heel, while Primo was booed because he’s not as big of a star as Orton. The crowd popped big for the RKO.

• In a pre-match interview, Orton remarked how Shaquille O’Neal came up with the Beat the Clock Challenge on Raw Monday to find a new challenger for him. I wouldn’t exactly called John Cena a new challenger.

• That was a nice video package of MVP, but at this point, why even bother? I think the only chance MVP has of getting a major push is to turn heel again. The antagonist role seems like a better fit for him.

• William Regal and Yoshi Tatsu had a hard-hitting match. Regal got his win back after putting Tatsu over on last week’s episode of ECW, so it’s likely that they will meet again to break the 1-1 tie.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 5:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

With the way The Brian Kendrick has been getting buried on TV recently – including jobbing to 59-year-old Jerry Lawler and suffering a loss to Kofi Kingston in a match that lasted about five seconds – it comes as no surprise that he was released by WWE today.

Personally, I think WWE missed the boat with the talented Kendrick. Once his 90-day no-compete clause is up, I wouldn’t expect Kendrick to be out of work for long. Returning to Ring of Honor would surely be an option, but I wouldn’t be surprised if TNA went after him to bolster its X Division.

Kendrick, who has been with WWE off and on since 2003 and had an 11-month WWE tag team title reign with Paul London in 2006-2007, began getting a bit of a push as a singles heel on Smackdown last year.

He was a participant in the WWE Title Championship Scramble at Unforgiven last September and was “interim champion” for about six minutes during the match, but he also was pinned four times. Kendrick also formed a tag team with massive bodyguard Ezekiel Jackson that seemed to be modeled after the Shawn Michaels-Diesel tandem in the 1990s.

Kendrick, as the flamboyant, mouthy little guy who picks fights and then hides behind his huge ally, appeared to be getting over to some degree, but then he seemed to fall out of favor with WWE decision makers and his push gradually decreased to the point that he no longer could be taken seriously.

After he was drafted to Raw a few months ago, it seemed like things might be turning around for him. A story line began in which Kendrick – now separated from Jackson – went searching for a partner to take on WWE tag team champs Carlito and Primo. After a few weeks, however, the angle was abandoned.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (33)
        

I won’t give away any specifics about Tuesday night’s Smackdown taping at 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, but I will say that the world heavyweight title match between newly crowned champion Jeff Hardy and John Morrison tore down the house.

The other matches on the show, which airs Friday, are: Cryme Tyme vs. The Hart Dynasty to determine the No. 1 contender for the WWE undisputed tag team title, Eve Torres and Melina vs. Michelle McCool and Layla, Rey Mysterio and Finlay vs. Dolph Ziggler and Mike Knox, and The Great Khali vs. Charlie Haas.

Thursday’s WWE Superstars will be headlined by a non-title match between WWE champion Randy Orton and Primo, which was taped Monday at Verizon Center in Washington. Also taped that night was a match between Morrison and Tyson Kidd. The other Superstars match, Yoshi Tatsu vs. William Regal, was taped Tuesday in Baltimore.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 2:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
        

Here are some thoughts on Tuesday night’s ECW, which I watched live at 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore:

• New ECW champion Christian and Zack Ryder had a really good match. This was an important match for Ryder and he delivered. He was treated as a legitimate threat to defeat Christian, and that means WWE must see something in him.

• What’s more humiliating for Shelton Benjamin, losing to Yoshi Tatsu in a matter of seconds, or being told that he’s “not entertaining enough” to appear on The Abraham Washington Show? I think it’s the latter. When Benjamin told ECW general manger Tiffany that he would show her how entertaining he can be, I thought for sure that he was going to interfere in the Christian-Ryder match to kick off a program with Christian. In retrospect, I’m glad that he didn’t, because it would have taken away from the match.

• It seemed like the majority of fans at the show don’t regularly watch ECW. I got the sense that many in the crowd didn’t know Sheamus and thought he was some enhancement guy out there to put Goldust over. Goldust got a bigger pop than I expected.

• Ezekiel Jackson got a babyface reaction when he came out to stare down Vladimir Kozlov after Kozlov’s squash victory. However, when Jackson picked up the limp body of Kozlov’s opponent and hit a Uranage, he was booed. I think that was another example of fans not following ECW, because Jackson was just doing the same thing that Kozlov did last week. I don’t think the intention was to get heel heat on Jackson.

• Tyler Reks and Paul Burchill had a decent match. Burchill has to be one of the most underrated guys in the company.

• Drew McIntyre defeated Slam Master J (formerly Jesse) in a dark match. McIntyre has a great look. I was a little surprised at how much the crowd was into SMJ.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
        

Shaquille O’Neal proved on Raw Monday night at Verizon Center in Washington that if there ever was a professional athlete who is a natural for pro wrestling, he is it. To me, it’s a question of when, not if, Shaq dons the tights at a WrestleMania.

As I expected, he was by far the most entertaining of the celebrities who have hosted Raw the past three weeks. Shaq has a presence, charisma and a playful charm that makes it hard not to like him.

He’s also a wrestling fan – and it showed. Shaq, who has done angles in the past with WWE and WCW, interacted well with the wrestlers both in comedic and serious situations. The opening segment that featured a verbal confrontation pitting Shaq against Chris Jericho and The Big Show was tremendous. The spot at the end of the show in which Shaq got physical with Big Show was good, too.

What really made it all work is that Shaq, at 7 feet 1 and 325 pounds, is believable as a guy who can handle himself against even the biggest of wrestlers. This isn’t like Hulk Hogan selling for Jay Leno or William Shatner decking Jerry Lawler.

More importantly for WWE is that the company got its SportsCenter moment when Shaq and Big Show squared off. That type of mainstream exposure is what the celebrity guest host concept is all about.

Other thoughts on Monday’s show:

I don’t know how it came across on TV, but I thought it was a hot crowd, especially compared to the audience in Philadelphia Sunday at the Night of Champions pay-per-view. Not surprisingly, John Cena, Triple H and Randy Orton got the biggest reactions. Cena was mostly cheered. During his match against The Miz, a “Cena sucks” chant was quickly drowned out by a “Cena” chant. At least I think it was. It was hard for me to tell due to the shrill screams from the teenage girl sitting behind me. Apart from the three superstars, the wrestler who got the loudest ovation was Kofi Kingston. He is one good story line away from being a breakout star. ...

I like the Beat the Clock Challenge as a way of determining the No. 1 contender for the WWE title at SummerSlam on Aug. 23, but I wish this one would have gone down differently. When the five participants were announced – Triple H, Mark Henry, MVP, Jack Swagger and Cena – I knew immediately that MVP and Swagger didn’t have a chance. I was really hoping that WWE would think outside the box and give Henry an opportunity, especially since he already has a pinfall victory over WWE champion Orton. Anyone but Triple H or Cena. Of those two, however, I’m glad it was Cena who won. Orton versus Cena isn’t anything we haven’t already seen, but at least it’s fresher than Orton versus Triple H. …

Just how bad did I want to see Henry win Beat the Clock? So bad that I actually cheered for The Miz against Cena. Honestly, Miz immediately won me over when he busted on the Washington Redskins. In all seriousness, Miz really is starting to grow on me. After he cut his promo and we were in a commercial break, Miz’s music kept playing … and playing. Miz grabbed the mic and said, “Are you tired of listening to my entrance music?” When the crowd said yes, Miz paused and said, Too bad! Play it again!” …

The fact that not all five of the Beat the Clock participants won their matches makes it more believable and unpredictable, but I also think it speaks volumes that it was MVP and Swagger who did not go over. It’s painfully obvious at this point that MVP is what he is in WWE, and unfortunately, it isn’t a main-eventer. After going to a double count-out with the returning Chris Masters, I suppose we’re going to get a MVP-Masters feud. I can hardly wait.

As for Swagger, he may have lost some of the shine off his golden boy status. I have heard rumblings that some in WWE believe he is not as respectful of the veterans backstage as he should be. That’s a big no-no. I’d like to believe that Swagger’s loss to Evan Bourne was done to kick off a program between the two and was not the beginning of a burial of Swagger. …

Masters sported a ripped physique but was not freakishly large. A smattering of fans chanted “Welcome back” when he was introduced, which I found a little surprising. I think Masters is OK, but to me there’s just something missing. …

When Triple H got the Nancy Kerrigan treatment from Ted DiBiase Jr., I thought for sure it meant that Triple H would just beat Cody Rhodes with one leg in his Beat the Clock match. I marked out when Rhodes survived and Triple H was eliminated. Sorry, Trips. It’s just business. Nothing personal. …

With Triple H facing DiBiase and Rhodes next week in a handicap match, I can see where this is leading: DX versus Legacy at SummerSlam. …

Henry and Carlito didn’t work well together and the crowd never really got into it. Instead of booking it to go nearly seven minutes, it probably should have been about half of that. …

When Shaq told Jericho and Big Show that they would have to face Cryme Tyme in the main event, I was surprised that they didn’t burst out laughing. Why is Cryme Tyme on Raw, anyway? Aren’t they exclusive to Smackdown? …

Shaq kissing Jericho on the head was a nice touch, and Jericho’s reaction was great. It also was funny when Big Show told Shaq that he wasn’t going to fight him, and Jericho looked up at Shaq and said, “And I’m not going to fight you either.” …

The comedy bits Shaq did with Santino Marella and Hornswoggle were pretty funny. As silly as it was, I laughed out loud when Hornswoggle wiped out trying to dunk a basketball. I wonder if Jesse is upset that Marella stole his white rapper gimmick? ...

Could someone who watched Raw on TV tell me how it was explained that Michael Cole could be calling a match and then a few seconds later be in a backstage vignette with Shaq?

Who is more humiliated these days, Chavo Guerrero or The Brian Kendrick? I called the blindfold match between Guerrero and Hornswoggle two weeks ago. How much longer can WWE keep this angle going? As for Kendrick, his if-you-blinked-you-missed-it loss to Kingston was especially disappointing because I really wanted to see those two wrestle. …

There have been rumors of a Gail Kim heel turn, and we may have seen the start of it here when she tagged herself into the six-women tag match and scored the pin. I like Kim better as a babyface, but a Kim-Mickie James feud for the Divas title could be real good. …

I was surprised that Maryse wasn’t on the show, but then I read on pwinsider.com this morning that she likely will have to undergo knee surgery. She was in Birmingham, Ala., Monday to see renowned surgeon Dr. James Andrews about ongoing issues with her kneecap.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (59)
        

I attended Raw Monday night at the Verizon Center in Washington and will post my thoughts on the show later today. But before I do that, I want to talk about what happened at the arena after the show went off the air.

The post-Raw portion of the evening began with the dark match “main event” that pitted John Cena and Triple H against Randy Orton and The Big Show.

Orton walked out on Big Show before anyone even locked up, so it became a handicap match. Cena and Triple H immediately hit a double suplex on Big Show. Cena then lifted Big Show with ease and hit the Attitude Adjustment. Triple H finished him off with a Pedigree. I think the whole thing lasted about a minute.

Then the real fun started.

Triple H grabbed the microphone and mentioned that it was his birthday (he turned 40) and he knew the boys were planning something. Right on cue, a bunch of wrestlers and producers started making their way to the ring, each of them with a small cake in their hands. I’m not sure I remember all of them, but I know that Santino Marella, MVP, Mark Henry, Kofi Kingston, Cryme Tyme, Primo, Finlay, Arn Anderson and Ricky Steamboat were among those who came out.

You’ve probably figured out that those cakes weren’t for eating. Triple H did, too, and he made a run for it, with the cake-carrying wrestlers in hot pursuit.

After Triple H made it backstage, Vince McMahon came out and he and Cena called for Triple H to return to the ring so that they could sing “Happy Birthday” to him. Triple H, with some cake and icing on his face, made his way down the entrance ramp. As he approached the ring, Anderson ambushed him and threw cake at him. Triple H wiped some of it off his face and threw it in the face of a cameraman at ringside.

As Triple H entered the ring, most of the locker room, both babyfaces and heels came out. I didn’t see Orton or Chris Jericho, although I can’t say for certain that they weren’t there. A big sheet cake was brought into the ring, and McMahon led everyone in singing “Happy Birthday.”

Afterward, Triple H looked at Mark Henry and said, “I know I’m about to get a lot of cake on me, and I’m afraid you’re going to eat me. Try to control yourself.”

From there, the cake flew and Triple H was quickly covered in it. He then grabbed McMahon and smeared some cake on his father-in-law as they tumbled to the mat and play-wrestled.

Suddenly, Batista’s music hit and he joined in on the fun. Batista, who was at the show since he lives in nearby Virginia, was greeted by some cake in the face, courtesy of Triple H. Big Show then held Triple H for Batista to exact some revenge, but Batista nailed Show with a cake instead. Batista also was shoving cake down Big Show’s singlet.

Finally, McMahon, who had left the ring, came back with a cake in hand. He made like he was going to hit Triple H, but it was another swerve and Big Show got it.

It was cool to see the talent break character and have some lighthearted fun, although I was a little disappointed that Stephanie McMahon did not get involved in the festivities. I was hoping that she would jump out of a giant birthday cake dressed in this outfit that she wore during the Invasion story line. Oh yeah, it's good to be the King of Kings.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 5:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (25)
        

A world title match stole the show at WWE’s Night of Champions pay-per-view Sunday, but it wasn’t the one I expected.

Like a lot of fans, I’ve grown tired of seeing Randy Orton, Triple H and John Cena constantly battling each other for the WWE title. However, while their triple threat match Sunday wasn’t one of the greatest matches of all time, as Cena promised it would be on Raw last Monday, it was very good and got the biggest crowd reaction by far.

What made the match even more enjoyable for me was that Orton won. I think keeping the title on him is definitely the right call, but I was convinced beforehand that either Cena or Triple H was walking out of NOC with the belt.

I would love to think that Orton’s victory means that he now will move on to another challenger (perhaps Mark Henry or just maybe a returning Shawn Michaels), but there was enough controversy in the match for WWE to justify dragging out the three-way program through SummerSlam on Aug. 23.

The match that I was most looking forward to at NOC – world heavyweight champion CM Punk versus Jeff Hardy – wasn’t quite as good as the triple threat, but it still was a heck of a match.

Hardy regained the title, which probably surprises a lot of people since it’s hardly a secret that his contract expires at the end of the month. However, it was reported in the current issue of The Wrestling Observer that sources close to Hardy said they expected him to stay for another month and make his final appearance at SummerSlam. That made a Hardy victory much more likely, even probable. I’m guessing that Punk will regain the title from Hardy at SummerSlam in some type of gimmick match, perhaps with a loser-leaves-WWE stipulation.

In addition to Hardy’s victory, Christian (ECW title) and Mickie James (WWE women’s title) also won championships. In another noteworthy development, The Big Show was revealed as Chris Jericho’s mystery partner, and the new tandem retained the WWE undisputed tag team title.

Overall, I think NOC was a solid pay-per-view. Here’s a match-by-match look at the show:

WWE champion Randy Orton defeated John Cena and Triple H: Cena has been getting a lot more cheers than boos recently, but this show was in Philadelphia, so naturally he go a mixed reaction. Cena and Triple H worked together to double-team Orton in the early going, but eventually it was every man for himself. The match was laid out really well and featured a good mix of wrestling and brawling. At one point, Cena had Triple H trapped in the STF, and Orton – out of Cena’s view – set up for the punt to the head from the corner. Orton’s facial expression when he smelled blood was tremendous. Cena, however, let go of the hold at the last second and Orton whiffed. Later, Triple H put Orton in a Sharpshooter, and Cena, instead of breaking it up, applied the STF to Orton. Orton tapped out, but the referee acted confused as to who he should award the decision to. At that point, I figured the title was going to be held up and Cena and Triple H would face each other at SummerSlam to determine the champion. Instead, the referee just stood there. Legacy then hit the ring and attacked Cena and Triple H. That was allowed because it was a no-disqualification match. Cena eventually had Cody Rhodes set up for the Attitude Adjustment, but Orton hit the RKO on Cena and pinned him to retain the title at about the 22-minute mark.

Jeff Hardy defeated world heavyweight champion CM Punk to win the title: Early in the show, Punk cut another strong promo in which he again put down the fans for not living a Straight Edge lifestyle and cheering for Hardy. This one was unique because it began as a backstage interview with Josh Matthews, but Punk grabbed the mic from him and walked out into the arena to address the crowd. That reminded me of something The Rock would have done back in the day. As for the match, there was a lot of nice back-and-forth action. Hardy tried two Swanton Bombs – Punk moved out of the way on the first and got his legs up on the second. Punk eventually hit the GTS, and I thought for sure the match was over. I was shocked when Hardy kicked out. When he couldn’t put Hardy away with his finisher, Punk decided to grab his belt and make his way up the ramp, but Hardy cut him off and threw him back in the ring. Hardy finally connected with the Swanton and covered Punk for the victory after about 15 minutes.

Intercontinental champion Rey Mysterio defeated Dolph Ziggler: Ziggler made a good accounting of himself in the biggest match of his career to this point. Unfortunately, the crowd didn’t seem all that into it. I get the feeling that some fans don’t take Ziggler seriously as a threat to a star of Mysterio’s magnitude. Ziggler got in a lot of offense and had several near falls, but the more Mysterio kicked out, the more obvious it became to me that Ziggler wasn’t going to win. Mysterio won clean with the 619/springboard splash combination.

U.S. champion Kofi Kingston defeated Carlito, The Miz, MVP, Jack Swagger and Primo: Primo replaced The Big Show, who apparently took himself out of the match after joining forces with Jericho. It was a better match without Big Show, because all six of these guys can work and they put on an entertaining, frenetic bout with near falls occurring at a rapid pace. At one point, sibling rivals Carlito and Primo worked together, but Carlito later hit a Backstabber on him, and then Kingston immediately connected with Trouble in Paradise on Carlito for the win. Kingston definitely stood out in this match.

WWE unified tag team champions Chris Jericho and The Big Show defeated Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes: The Big Show being Jericho’s mystery partner was a big disappointment for me. I was hoping that an up-and-comer such as Dolph Ziggler or Jack Swagger would get the rub of being one-half of the tag team champions alongside Jericho. If you look at it logically, though, I suppose it makes sense that Jericho would select someone as big and nasty as Big Show to be his partner. Plus, it’s not like Big Show was involved in a high-profile program. The match was average at best. The finish saw DiBiase tap out to Big Show’s Colossal Clutch, which was set up by Jericho’s Codebreaker.

Christian defeated ECW champion Tommy Dreamer to win the title: This was a good match and the fans cheered both guys. There were several reversals at the end before Christian hit the Killswitch for the win. It’s nice to see the title back on Christian, who definitely has more appeal as champion than Dreamer. His first challenger might be Shelton Benjamin, who scored a pinfall victory over him on TV recently. Then again, it might be Vladimir Kozlov. I’m pulling for Benjamin.

Mickie James defeated Divas champion Maryse to win the title: There was zero crowd reaction for this match, mainly because it followed the WWE title match. The fact that there were some rough spots didn’t help either. Mickie hit a DDT for the victory.

WWE women’s champion Michelle McCool defeated Melina: I had a lot more interest in the other women’s match going into the show, but this one was far superior. McCool and Melina both worked hard and kept the match moving at a quick pace. McCool set the tone for the aggressive encounter before the bell when she drop-kicked Melina off the apron while she was doing her trademark split, and Melina hit the floor hard. At one point during the match, McCool hit a wicked-looking DDT on the top of the security railing. The finish came a little out of nowhere, as McCool turned Melina’s Thesz press into a rollup. The one drawback to this match was that neither of them sufficiently sold the high-impact moves.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 5:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (33)
        

Predictions for tonight’s WWE pay-per-view:

WWE champion Randy Orton vs. John Cena vs. Triple H: I would love to see Orton’s reign continue, but I have a feeling that Cena is going to end it. I might be reading too much into it, but Triple H said on Raw Monday that his main goal in this match is to make sure that Orton didn’t retain the championship. I’m guessing that Cena wins the title and then faces Triple H at SummerSlam.

World heavyweight champion CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy: Punk is the most compelling performer in the business right now, and with Hardy’s contract expiring at the end of the month, it seems like a no-brainer that Punk will retain the title. However, it has been reported that Hardy is expected to stick around for another month and will make his final appearance at SummerSlam on Aug. 23, so I think that he will win the title tonight and then lose it back to Punk in a gimmick match at SummerSlam.

Intercontinental champion Rey Mysterio vs. Dolph Ziggler: Ziggler has been on a roll and seems destined for a top-tier spot on Smackdown, so it wouldn’t make sense to stall his momentum with a loss here. Winning the title from Mysterio will increase his legitimacy.

U.S. champion Kofi Kingston vs. The Big Show vs. Carlito vs. The Miz vs. MVP vs. Jack Swagger: My first instinct was to go with The Big Show, but then I thought about it a little more. I have to believe that The Miz impressed WWE brass with his performance during his program with John Cena, and I think the U.S. title is going to be his reward. Plus, it seems pretty obvious that he and Maryse are going to be paired together, and she said that she wouldn’t give him a second thought until he did something impressive. Winning the U.S. title in a six-pack challenge would be impressive.

Unified WWE tag team champions Chris Jericho and a mystery partner vs. Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes: I feel confident that Jericho and his partner will emerge victorious. The question is: Who will Jericho’s partner be? My first thought was Dolph Ziggler, but if he wins the Intercontinental title, I’m not sure WWE would put two championships on him simultaneously. The only other guys I could see getting the spot are Christian, Jack Swagger and perhaps CM Punk, who is doing a self-righteous gimmick that is similar to Jericho’s.

ECW champion Tommy Dreamer vs. Christian: Since the show is in Philadelphia, it wouldn’t shock me if Dreamer retained the title, but I’m going with Christian. It’s time to get the belt back on someone with a little more credibility.

Divas champion Maryse vs. Mickie James: With Maryse getting the better of Mickie on TV recently, it would be logical to assume that the title will change hands. As much as I like Mickie, however, taking the belt off Maryse would be a mistake. I think Maryse retains the title, perhaps with an assist from The Miz.

WWE women’s champion Michelle McCool vs. Melina: I don’t see McCool losing the title.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 2:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (28)
        

Loafers Bar and Grill in Catonsville will be hosting a viewing party Sunday for WWE's Night of Champions pay-per-view. Talent from Maryland Championship Wrestling will be in attendance.

There is a $5 cover charge. For more information, call 410-719-2121

Posted by Kevin Eck at 1:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

"Sometimes it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.”

Those are the words of Smackdown announcer Todd Grisham, and I was thinking exactly the same thing as I was watching CM Punk’s promo Friday night on Smackdown.

Punk talked about his Straight Edge lifestyle and how everyone should “just say no” to drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. Sounds like a great message. But the world heavyweight champion delivered the promo in such a preachy and condescending manner that it got him heel heat.

Punk continues to gradually morph into the “I’m better than you” character that he played in Ring of Honor. It will be interesting to see if he goes all the way with it and his promos become more intense, like this one that he did in ROH in 2003.

Punk versus Jeff Hardy is the best program in wrestling right now, and one of the main reasons is because the contrast in their real-life personalities makes them natural adversaries. I’m looking forward to their match at the Night of Champions pay-per-view Sunday night more than any other.

Other thoughts on Friday’s show:

Hardy and Chris Jericho set the tone for another strong episode by putting on a pay-per-view-quality match. Since Hardy has the title shot against Punk on Sunday, it was absolutely the right call for him to win, although Jericho does seem to be doing a lot of jobs lately. …

Punk and Rey Mysterio also had a good match. It seems like you can’t go wrong with any combination of Hardy, Jericho, Punk, Mysterio, John Morrison and Dolph Ziggler. …

Speaking of Ziggler, I would have booked him to pin Finlay instead of winning by count-out. The idea is to build up Ziggler as a strong challenger for Mysterio’s Intercontinental title at Night of Champions, and it’s not like getting pinned by a rising star is going to affect Finlay’s spot in the pecking order. …

I was glad to see Mike Knox back on the show. Too bad he was squashed by The Great Khali. …

I liked the way the R-Truth-Charlie Haas match was laid out. R-Truth hurt his knee and Haas spent most of the match working it over before R-Truth pulled out the victory. Having R-Truth overcome the injury to gut out the win got him over more than if he would have defeated Haas in a one-sided match. …

During that match, Jim Ross said that Haas didn’t have a great sense of humor. How could he forget about Good Ol’ Jim Haas? …

Eve pinning Natalya is just wrong, although Eve is definitely improving and she did hit a nice moonsault. …

Just as I vowed I would do last week, I hit the fast-forward button as soon as Cryme Tyme’s Word Up segment began. However, when I saw The Hart Dynasty appear, I stopped to watch it. Jesse showed up and made reference to being from Badstreet, the home of The Freebirds. For those who don’t know, Jesse’s real name is Ray Gordy and he is the son of the late Terry Gordy of The Freebirds.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (28)
        

TNA Impact came off like a parody of itself on Thursday’s episode. All of the worst elements of TNA were accounted for: pole matches; naïve and inept babyfaces; tired swerves; and bad comedy.

Every time TNA strings together some good episodes and I think the company has turned a corner, it quickly regresses. This sub-par episode of Impact came on the heels of last Sunday’s poorly received Victory Road pay-per-view.

The most absurd thing about Thursday’s show was that there was yet another pole match. This time it was Office Keys on a Pole. You see, Kurt Angle somehow got the keys to Mick Foley’s office and he booked a match – more on how he had the ability to book a match later – between him and Foley, with the winner getting the office and apparently the stroke that comes along with it.

Foley underscored how ridiculous it is to have two big stars fighting for power in such a gimmicky match by making wisecracks about it throughout the show.

In addition to its fetish for poles, the TNA creative team also seems to get off on burying the babyfaces. The good guys had a very bad night at Victory Road, which they acknowledged as they vowed to turns things around. Instead, they were duped and defeated.

Eric Young, who has been a heel for a couple months now, convinced Foley that he had seen the error of his ways. Foley bought it and made Young the fifth member of the TNA Originals – A.J. Styles, Beer Money and Daniels – in their 10-man tag match against The British Invasion, Sheik Abdul Bashir and Kiyoshi. Everyone could see it coming from a mile away that Young was going to turn on his teammates – everyone but Foley and the TNA Originals, that is.

Other thoughts on Thursday’s show:

Speaking of “swerves” that were so obvious that they weren’t worth doing, Bobby Lashley made a dramatic entrance at the end of the show during the Main Event Mafia’s beat-down of Mick Foley. The MEM looked happy to see him, thinking he was on their side. The fact that Lashley was slapping hands with the fans should have clued them in that he was a babyface – then again, in TNA, the heels are the babyfaces. I guess the heels in TNA are just as clueless as their counterparts. Anyway, Angle gave the thumbs up, thumbs down gesture – Triple H and Batista should call gimmick infringement on that one – and Lashley acted like he was going to hit Foley and then – surprise! – he attacked the MEM. …

Taz cut a promo explaining why he became Samoa Joe’s adviser. Even though Joe is supposed to be a turncoat heel, it was a total babyface promo and the fans cheered throughout. Taz said that Joe reminded him of himself. Is that supposed to be a compliment? He also said that he was going to teach Joe about winning championships. Um, isn’t Joe a former TNA world champion? And if it’s all about titles, why did Taz advise Joe to hand the belt to Angle at Slammiversary? …

The first words out of Taz’s mouth were about him working for “a little company known as ECW.” Enough already with that. The original ECW has been dead and buried for nearly a decade. Yes, it was innovative at the time and both WWE and WCW stole its concepts, but ultimately the bingo hall company failed. And it would have failed much sooner than it did had Vince McMahon not been covertly funding it. …

I noticed that Taz dropped one of the z’s from his name, but it appears that he gained an l, b and s. …

Angle said that he has control of TNA now because he convinced the board of directors that it was the best thing for the company. TNA has a board of directors? So let me get this straight: TNA now has four authority figures – Angle, executive shareholder Foley, founder Jeff Jarrett and management director Jim Cornette. Speaking of Cornette, does he still have an on-air role at this point? …

Is TNA hoping that if it refers to Angle being a 13-time world champion enough that it will be true? By my count, he’s at 10. …

Samoa Joe wasn’t the brightest guy as a babyface, and his heel turn doesn’t seem to have made him any smarter. For some reason, he hit the referee during his X Division title shot against Homicide. Then he acted surprised when he was disqualified, thinking the referee had called for the bell because Homicide had submitted. …

It looks as if LAX is splitting up and Hernandez is going to get a big babyface push. I always liked LAX, but it’s probably better at this point for Homicide and Hernandez to go their separate ways. Hernandez could end up becoming a breakout star – if he’s given the opportunity. …

The high point of the show for me was when Rocco and Sally Boy appeared to be on the verge of upsetting Scott Steiner and Booker T. for the TNA tag team title. The crowd at the Impact Zone was going crazy when Rocco hit a big splash off the top rope onto Steiner for a near fall. I think Rocco could get over in a mid-card role. …

A women’s battle royal was held with the winner guaranteed a spot in the MEM. What if a babyface won and didn’t want to join them? As it turns out, it was another swerve. Traci Brooks, who was the referee for the battle royal, ended up winning after she tossed both Awesome Kong and Tara out. Before the match, Brooks said that she had been working on some projects in Hollywood. Insert your own joke here. …

Hey look, Sharmell and Jenna Morasca are co-existing in the MEM. What then exactly was the point of their feud and horrific pay-per-view match? …

Cody Deaner gives Cryme Tyme and Abraham Washington a run for their money as the most annoying act in wrestling.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 8:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (25)
        

Here are some thoughts on Thursday’s episode of WWE Superstars and Tuesday’s episode of ECW (a couple days late, but better late than never).

WWE SUPERSTARS

• There really isn’t a whole lot to say about this show. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t entertaining, because it was. I just don’t know how many different ways I can say that a match was good. When Evan Bourne versus Jamie Noble is the weakest of three matches, you know the other two – Christian versus William Regal and John Morrison versus Kane – must have been strong.

• This is the first time I recall seeing a singles match between Kane and Morrison, but they worked well together. Morrison gained more credibility as a legitimate title contender by pushing Kane to the limit before winning by disqualification. Kane has scored recent pinfall victories over Jeff Hardy and Rey Mysterio, so any type of win over him is a nice feather in Morrison’s cap.

• Kane had a good-sized mouse under his left eye. Probably the result of one of Morrison’s kicks.

• It was nice to see Bourne back in the ring after the scary-looking bump he took on his head and neck during a match with The Big Show last week on Raw.

ECW

• Someone needs to pull the plug on The Abraham Washington Show. Washington appears to have the gift of gab, but he is in dire need of better material.

• There’s something about Tommy Dreamer wearing a suit and carrying around a championship belt that doesn’t look right.

• Yoshi Tatsu looked good in his win over William Regal. I’m interested to see how far WWE goes with Tatsu’s push.

• Ezekiel Jackson is being booked perfectly for a guy with his look and limited skills.

• I was surprised to see Vladimir Kozlov come out and stare down Jackson after Jackson’s squash victory. A match between these two powerhouses could be “bowling shoe ugly,” as Jim Ross would say. If they do meet, which one would be the babyface? My guess is Jackson. I still can’t figure out why Kozlov was smiling and playing to the crowd on an episode last month.

• Tyler Reks scored his first win on TV in three tries, as he defeated Paul Burchill. Reks has a good look but the jury is still out on whether he has the intangibles to be a star.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 5:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
        

I hope everyone has had a chance to watch the three video interviews I did with Van Hammer that were posted a couple weeks ago. If not, they are archived under Video Interviews. The former WCW star gives a very revealing account of his ups and downs in the wrestling business and how he nearly didn't make it out alive.

In getting to know Hammer a bit, I realized that he also has a great sense of humor. Check out this YouTube video and you'll see what I mean.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Some of you have asked for my take on last Sunday's TNA pay-per-view, Victory Road, so here it is.

Keep in mind that my thoughts are based on reports that I have read on the Internet. I have not watched the show (although I did see one match on YouTube), and my comments are mostly about the booking decisions.

A good number of fans are saying that Victory Road is the worst pay-per-view so far this year, and that the Sharmell-Jenna Morasca bout is a Worst Match of the Year candidate.

I found the Sharmell-Morasca match on YouTube, and it is every bit as bad as people have said. It boggles the mind how TNA could waste time with this angle on TV let alone put these two in a match together on a pay-per-view.

I actually felt bad for Sharmell. When I worked at WCW in 2000-2001, all of the women on the roster were learning how to wrestle at the Power Plant, and Sharmell was picking it up quicker than the rest. Had she not suffered a serious knee injury later, Sharmell could very well be one of the top women wrestlers around today.

Morasca, however, had no business being in a ring. In fact, she probably has no business in wrestling, period. What exactly does she do to enhance the product? Her “offense” against Sharmell (who wrestled in an evening gown) looked ridiculous, as did her revealing – and unflattering – shorts.

To top it off, TNA felt the need to overbook something that should have never been booked to begin with. After Morasca won due to interference from Awesome Kong, Morasca for no reason at all slapped Kong, who then laid out Morasca.

Other thoughts on the show:

Kurt Angle said early in the show that if any of the Main Event Mafia members lost, he would fire them. That pretty much guaranteed that none of them were losing. …

Tazz was finally revealed as Samoa Joe’s mysterious adviser. I’m glad that TNA didn’t pull a swerve because everyone “knew” it was Tazz, but I’m really not that excited about him joining TNA. I always thought Tazz was overrated as a wrestler and serviceable-at-best as a commentator. Tazz has pretty much said that he doesn’t want to wrestle anymore, so what purpose will he serve other than perhaps cutting Joe’s promos for him? …

I have a hard time with Kevin Nash defeating A.J. Styles clean to win the Legends title, especially after Nash just pinned Styles on TV with relative ease in a six-man elimination match. I keep hearing that Styles is the future of TNA, but by the time TNA is ready to pull the trigger on him, will there even be a trigger to pull? …

Booker T. and Scott Steiner winning the tag team title from Beer Money also is perplexing. I’ll reserve final judgment on that one until I see how things play out, but on the surface it seems like the wrong decision. ..

With Styles and Beer Money both losing, the only “young guy” to score a big win against a veteran star was Samoa Joe, who made Sting tap out. TNA is pushing Joe hard, but his illogical heel turn has been counterproductive. …

With Angle retaining his TNA world title against Mick Foley, the Main Event Mafia now has the world, Legends and tag team titles. The average age of those title-holders is 45. That doesn’t seem like progress to me.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 9:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)
        

WWE announced today that actor Jeremy Piven (Entourage) will be the guest host for Raw on Aug 3. He is the latest celebrity to host the show, following Seth Green, ZZ Top and Shaquille O’Neal, who will host this Monday’s Raw at Verizon Center in Washington.

I know that everyone isn’t a fan of Raw having a guest host every week, but I like the concept. Having wrestling personalities and celebrities serve as hosts adds another dimension to a show that a lot of fans thought needed a spark. And remember, Raw isn’t just a wrestling program. It’s an entertainment program.

Since it appears that the guest host format might be around for a while, I came up with a list of potential hosts that I’d like to see or that I think there is a good chance of seeing. I tried to keep it at least somewhat realistic.

Here’s the list (in alphabetical order):

Steve Austin
Hulk Hogan
LeBron James
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
Stacy Keibler
Kid Rock
Kiss
Ray Lewis
Mr. T
Ozzy Osbourne
Terrell Owens
Regis Philbin
Roddy Piper
Dusty Rhodes
Sgt. Slaughter
Jimmy Snuka
Trish Stratus
The Iron Sheik
Mike Tyson
Jesse Ventura

Comments: Austin and Johnson seem to have moved on from wrestling, but they might consider doing a one-night-only appearance if they had a movie to promote. … Hogan would probably jump at the chance to get back on WWE TV and shoot an angle that leads to one final WrestleMania appearance. … Piper, Rhodes and Slaughter are all WWE Hall of Famers who are on good terms with the company and would be fun hosts. … Ventura and Vince McMahon have had a love-hate relationship over the years, so even though they aren’t on the best terms at the moment, that could change in a heartbeat. “The Body” is always entertaining. … James is a WWE fan, so he might be willing to do it. Getting an NBA mega-star such as James would guarantee coverage in the mainstream sports media. … Owens would draw a lot of coverage as well, although I think WWE may already have enough divas. …Speaking of divas, you have to have some women in the mix, and who better than Stratus and Keibler? Stratus is perhaps the most popular diva ever, and Keibler became a household name after appearing on Dancing with the Stars. … Mr. T (in the ’80s) and Tyson (in the ’90s) each played very significant roles in WWE becoming the dominant force in the wrestling industry. … Ozzy, Snuka and the Sheik would all be must-see train wrecks. WWE would be wise to pre-tape all of the Sheik’s segments. Who knows what he would say on live TV? That wouldn’t be as much of an issue with Ozzy because no one can understand him anyway… I’m a huge Kiss fan, so I’d love to see them do the show. Hopefully it would be better than their appearance on WCW Nitro a decade ago when The Demon was unleashed on the wrestling world. … Kid Rock and Philbin both have worked with WWE in the past. Philbin has a long association with wrestling and could help WWE reach an older demographic. … As a Ravens fan, I had to throw Lewis in there. It’s a little-known-fact that WWE tried to put together a deal to have Lewis face Triple H at WrestleMania in 2001.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (37)
        

The final Raw before Sunday’s Night of Champions pay-per-view wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t all that good either. While last week’s guest host Seth Green livened up the show, ZZ Top was just kind of there on Monday. The bearded ones weren’t really given great material to work with, and their comedic backstage segments with Santino Marella fell flat.

And speaking of flat, while the main event that pitted John Cena and Triple H against Legacy was good, it’s still hard for me to get excited about Sunday’s triple threat match for the WWE title between Cena, Triple H and Randy Orton. They undeniably are three of the biggest stars in the business, but they all really need fresh opponents. Cena unwittingly made that clear when he said that the same three guys headlined WrestleMania almost a year and a half ago.

Other thoughts on Monday’s show:

For the second straight week, Raw had a hot crowd. I’ve also noticed that audiences have been more pro-Cena than they used to be. …

Cena pretty much set himself, Triple H and Orton up for failure when he said that the triple threat at Night of Champions is going to be one of the greatest matches of all time. I know that he’s trying to hype the match, and I don’t doubt that it will be good – perhaps very good – but that was a bit much. …

The Cena-Triple H comedy during the opening segment was more corny than funny, especially Cena’s stuff. …

Not that I’m compaining, but why was Jericho on Raw again? I thought he was exclusively on the Smackdown roster and was only to appear on Raw or ECW if he was defending the tag team title. Whatever. You can never have too much Jericho. …

It certainly wasn’t one of Jericho’s greatest matches, but I thought his match with Mark Henry was entertaining. I’m enjoying Henry as a bayface. …

The final minutes of the six-man tag (Big Show, Jack Swagger and Carlito defeated Kofi Kingston, MVP and Primo) were exciting. …

Jerry Lawler defeating The Brian Kendrick is such a joke. Kendrick has now put over Marella (who never wins), a leprechuan and a 59-year-old man. It’s one thing for a guy of that advanced age to nearly win a major golf tournament, but wrestling isn’t golf. I do have to give the “King” credit for delivering a nice dropkick, though. …

The divas tag match that saw Rosa Mendes and Alicia Fox defeat Gail Kim and Kelly Kelly had its good moments. I was surprised that Mendes and Fox won. Poor Gail. …

It was nice that a diva got some mic time. It was even nicer that it was Mickie James. …

Every time I hear ZZ Top’s “Sharp Dressed Man” I think of Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin strutting in the ring in his sequined jacket while Precious sprays air freshener around the ring. …

I’m a Shaquille O’Neal fan, so I’m looking forward to him hosting next week’s show.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (41)
        

When it comes to the personal lives of pro wrestling personalities, especially as it relates to who is sleeping with whom, my general policy is to not write about it. However, if it has a direct effect on the business, I think it is appropriate to address it.

Such is the case with the Jeff Jarrett-Kurt Angle soap opera that has been a hot topic on the Internet. For those who are not aware, a person who distorted their voice called into the Bubba the Love Sponge radio show last week and claimed that Angle’s former wife, Karen, and Jarrett are a couple, and that she and her kids have moved in with him.

The plot thickened Sunday night when Jarrett was not backstage at TNA’s Victory Road pay-per-view. TNA employees were told at a company meeting last week that Jarrett was taking some time off for personal reasons, according to pwinsider.com. Wrestlingobserver.com reported that TNA president Dixie Carter made the call to send Jarrett home. The Web site also stated that Kurt Angle has said that he will not re-sign with TNA if Jarrett is in power on the creative side.

Obviously, this would have huge ramifications for TNA. Jarrett, who founded the company along with his father, Jerry, has been the decision-maker in regard to TNA’s creative direction from the beginning.

However, seeing as this is wrestling – and especially considering that it’s TNA and Vince Russo we’re talking about – I don’t take anything at face value. I’m not necessarily a conspiracy theorist, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if this is all an elaborate work to build for another Jarrett-Angle feud. If it isn’t an angle, I’m willing to bet that TNA would make an angle out of it, just as WWE did with the Edge-Lita-Matt Hardy triangle.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (30)
        

While compiling my list of favorite tag teams, I came across this clip on YouTube of Edge and Christian doing their trademark five-second pose. It took place on Smackdown in Oakland in 2001.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 6:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
        

As promised, here’s a list my top 10 favorite tag teams. Remember that the key word here is “favorite.”

1. The Valiant Brothers ("Handsome" Jimmy and "Luscious" Johnny): I was 7 and hadn’t been a wrestling fan for very long when the Valiants came to the WWWF in 1974. I immediately thought they were the coolest guys on the planet. They were the epitome of the cocky, bleached-blond, flamboyant heel tag team. The Valiants also were a box office draw and even headlined Madison Square Garden. They held the tag team title for one year, a WWWF/WWF/WWE record that stood for 14 years.

2. The Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk): In the mid-80s when jacked-up, larger-than-life characters changed the business, The Road Warriors were to tag teams what Hulk Hogan was to singles wrestlers. Animal and Hawk’s menacing look and mauling style sparked a number of imitators, but none could touch the Warriors. In the days when there were three major wrestling organizations, The Road Warriors became the only team to win the WWF, NWA and AWA tag titles.

3. The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts): The Freebirds were definitely ahead of their time. They are credited with being the first act to mix rock music with pro wrestling, and they also were unique from other tag teams in that they had three members who were interchangeable. Hayes was a tremendous talker and showman, and Gordy was a great-working big man. Roberts didn’t really add much to the team in my opinion. The Freebirds were big draws in a number of territories, and their feud with the Von Erichs in World Class was epic. A later incarnation of The Freebirds composed of Hayes and Jimmy Garvin did not measure up to the original group.

4. The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott): No team combined wrestling skills, athleticism and power moves better than the Steiners in their primes. American wrestling audiences had never seen anything like Scott Steiner’s Frankensteiner, and both he and Rick had an impressive arsenal of suplexes. The Steiners were big stars in Japan as well as the U.S.

5. The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty): When Michaels and Jannetty debuted in the AWA in 1985, they were viewed as nothing more than a Rock and Roll Express rip-off (it didn’t help that they initially were known as The Midnight Rockers, a stealing from both The Midnight Express and The Rock and Roll Express). In time, however, The Rockers not only made a name for themselves, they showed that they were every bit as good if not better than The Rock and Roll Express. Dubbed “tag team specialists” for their innovative offense, The Rockers took double-team maneuvers, flying moves and fast-paced action to another level.

6. The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Dennis Condrey/Stan Lane): As individuals, Eaton and Condrey were talented workers with bland personalities. Together, and with Jim Cornette as their motor-mouthed, heat-magnet manager, they were one of the best tag teams of the ’80s and ’90s. The Midnight Express became even stronger when Lane replaced Condrey.

7. The British Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith): With their working ability and high-impact style, the Bulldogs set a new standard for WWF tag teams when they entered the federation in 1985. They engaged in a long feud with The Hart Foundation that produced the perhaps best series of tag team matches in WWE history to that point.

8. The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff): The Hardys took tag team wrestling to the extreme. There had been high-flying tag teams in the WWF before the Hardys arrived on the scene on 1998, but no one was performing the high-risk maneuvers that Matt and Jeff were.

9. The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart): “The Hitman” and “The Anvil” were the prototype for tag teams that had a mat technician and a power wrestler. Real-life brothers-in-law, Hart and Neidhart had great chemistry and got over as babyfaces as well as heels.

10. Edge and Christian: They consistently had goods matches with a variety of opponents, and their TLC matches with The Hardy Boyz and The Dudley Boyz became instant classics. Plus, they were the originators of the five-second pose for the benefit of those with flash photography.

Honorable mention: The Rock and Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson), Ole and Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson, The Hollywood Blonds (Steve Austin and Brian Pillman), Steve Williams and Terry Gordy, The New Age Outlaws (“Road Dogg” Jesse James and “Bad Ass” Billy Gunn), The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and Devon).

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (44)
        

I’ve had a chance to watch a significant portion of the new WWE DVD, Allied Powers: The World’s Greatest Tag Teams, which was released earlier this week.

Overall, I give it a thumbs up. For those who long for the days when tag team wrestling was considered a featured attraction, you’ll probably enjoy this compilation.

Many of the teams you would expect to be on the DVD are profiled, including The Road Warriors (aka The Legion of Doom), The Midnight Express, The Rock and Roll Express, The Fabulous Freebirds and The Dudley Boys. The DVD also takes a look at teams composed of singles stars such as DX (Shawn Michaels and Triple H), The Megapowers (Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage) and The Rock N’ Sock Connection (The Rock and Mick Foley).

There are matches on the DVD from the 1970s to the present day, with WWF/WWE, NWA/WCW, AWA, World Class Championship Wrestling and Championship Wrestling from Florida all represented. Some of the highlights include: The Steiner Brothers vs. Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasake in Japan (1991), The Freebirds vs. Kerry and Kevin Von Erich in a Country Whipping Match (1983), The Midnight Express vs. The Fantastics (1988), The Rockers vs. Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson (1989), Nick Bockwinkel and Ray Stevens vs. Red Bastein and Billy Robinson (1972), Edge and Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz vs. The Dudley Boyz in a TLC Match (2000) and The Rock and Roll Express vs. Ivan Koloff and Krusher Kruschev (1985).

Among the special features are The Freebirds’ "Badstreet, USA" music video, and funny backstage vignettes with The Rock and Foley from 1999 and DX from 2006.

As far as the match selection, I would like to have seen more from the ’70s than just the one AWA match. I also wish WWE would have selected a Road Warriors match from the NWA or AWA instead of the WWF match against Money Inc. The lack of a Midnight Express-Rock and Roll Express match is the most glaring omission, as these teams engaged in perhaps the greatest tag team rivalry ever.

One thing I could have done without was The Miz and John Morrison introducing every segment. Their shtick got old very quickly.

Note: Since we’re on the subject of tag teams, I have put together a list of my top 10 favorite teams of all time, which I will post later today or tomorrow. I encourage everyone to send along their top 10 lists as well. The list should represent your favorite teams, not necessarily who you think were the best or most successful. So if you really loved the Mulkey Brothers or The Conquistadors, by all means include them. Also, only traditional tag teams should be considered. In other words, no teams made up of big-name stars who were only together for a brief period of time.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 6:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (78)
        

Friday night’s episode of Smackdown included two of the worst segments you’ll ever see on a pro wrestling show. I’m at the point now where I will hit the fast-forward button the second I see Cryme Tyme’s Word Up or a Pretty Ricky vignette on my television screen.

However, there was plenty to like about the show, most of which involved CM Punk and Chris Jericho. By now I’m think we’re all aware of how great a performer Jericho is, but Punk has been a revelation since winning the world heavyweight title six weeks ago.

Punk was money both in the ring and on the mic Friday. He cut a great promo on Jeff Hardy to open the show, picking up where he left off last week as far as condemning Hardy for his past mistakes. Punk also had another fantastic match with John Morrison, and he was good on commentary during the tag team main event that pitted Hardy and Rey Mysterio against Jericho and Dolph Ziggler.

As for Jericho, in addition to wrestling in the main event, he cut a strong promo on Edge. Edge was speaking about his ruptured Achilles via satellite when Jericho’s music suddenly started playing and he walked out to the ring with a dismissive look on his face. Jericho said that Edge was “pathetic” and “looking for sympathy.” He also said that the most impressive thing about Edge’s accomplishments is his list of injuries. Ouch.

Between Edge’s sincere promo and Jericho being such a jerk, Edge really came across as a babyface. If the estimates are correct and Edge returns somewhere around January, there’s little doubt that it will be Jericho versus Edge at WrestleMania. When Edge is healthy enough, WWE should shoot an angle in which he appears on TV and Jericho attacks him. I can hardly wait.

Other thoughts on Friday’s show:

I wonder if WWE is scripting Punk to get so personal with Hardy about his failed drug tests because the company knows Hardy is leaving when his contract expires and this is a way of de-valuing him. ...

Morrison now has two straight victories over Punk, solidifying him as world title contender. These two work very well together and they had a nice finishing sequence. Punk refusing to shake hands with Morrison after the match pretty much completes his transformation from tweener to heel – if it hadn’t already been completed. ...

Punk set Jim Ross up for a good line. When Ross seemed surprised that Punk was going to be doing commentary during the main event, Punk said: “Nobody told you?” Ross, who has been thrown a curveball or two on TV in the past, replied: “No, but that’s nothing new.” By the way, Ross and Todd Grisham have zero chemistry. It’s odd because Ross is the best in the business in my opinion, and I don’t think Grisham is bad either. ...

I would love to have seen R-Truth upset Kane, but Kane prevailed. At least the match was competitive. I’ve enjoyed Kane as a character at times over the years, but he is just so stale. I know WWE is trying to keep Kane strong for his feud with The Great Khali, but would it have been so bad if R-Truth got the win due to a distraction by Khali? ...

I was glad to see Natalya pin Eve during the six-person tag with Natalya, David Hart Smith and Tyson Kidd against Eve and Cryme Tyme. Natalya delivered a vicious-looking clothesline to set up the pin.

It was weird to see Layla suddenly become a babyface, but I guess it made sense since the show was in Miami and she is a former Miami Heat cheerleader.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 5:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (31)
        

After weeks of hype, Sarita finally made her TNA debut on Thursday’s episode of Impact. She made a positive first impression, but her opponent, also making her debut (well, sort of), was just as impressive.

Sarita faced “Future Legend” Alissa Flash, who actually has been in TNA for quite a while. For those who don’t know, Flash does the Raisha Saeed gimmick. She also wrestles as Cheerleader Melissa on the independent circuit.

Flash is a fine worker and demonstrated a good heel presence in this match. Her aggressive style was a nice contrast to the high-flying maneuvers of Sarita, who picked up a hard-fought victory.

I liked the fact that TNA thought outside the box and booked Sarita to debut against an unknown opponent who surprisingly gave her a strong run for her money. Instead of creating a potential star in Sarita, the company now has two potential stars on its hands.

I’ve said in the past that TNA needs to write out the Saeed character at some point and bring her back with a new gimmick that could better display her talent. Saeed also was on Thursday’s show, so it’s unclear whether Melissa Anderson (her real name) will play both characters moving forward or if Saeed eventually goes away. Hopefully, TNA will not make Flash turn out to be a flash in the pan.

Other thoughts on Thursday’s show:

The Kurt Angle-Sting cage match was OK, but certainly nothing memorable. It was just a means of setting up the post-match beat-down on the go-home show for Sunday’s Victory Road pay-per-view.

Kevin Nash pinning A.J. Styles early in the six-man elimination tag match after a poke to the eyes and a Jackknife Powerbomb was ridiculous. It’s not a bad move to have Nash pin Styles since Nash is challenging for Styles’ Legends title at Victory Road, but it should never have been that easy. ...

In making the point that he wrestles for the love of the business rather than the money like Nash does, Styles said that he would wrestle for free. That has to be one of the dumbest lines I’ve ever heard, and I’m glad that Don West said as much. If I’m TNA president Dixie Carter, I’m asking Styles to literally put his money where his mouth is. ...

Speaking of dumb lines, Jeff Jarrett said that Samoa Joe’s turn at the Slammiversary pay-per-view was “a memory for the ages.” Uh, no. ...

I’ve been saying for quite a while that Robert Roode should get a big singles push. Who knows if it will ever happen, but Roode was booked to look strong during the six-man elimination tag match. He put up a good fight when faced with a three-on-one situation. ...

A video aired that made it clear that Tazz was coming in without directly showing or mentioning him. The worst-kept secret in wrestling is that Tazz is Samoa Joe’s adviser, but I hope TNA just goes with it rather than coming up with some absurd swerve to “fool the marks.” ...

Abyss cut a good promo that was made even better by the visual of him sticking thumbtacks in his arm. It was sick, but at least thumbtacks won’t cause brain damage. Once again, Lauren’s bad acting took the scene down a notch. ...

It’s nice that TNA finally got around to letting Tara cut a promo, although she didn’t really get to say much. I think TNA should bring back the “Rough Cuts” segments and do one with her. ...

TNA has done a good job of coming up with some original concepts over the years, but the Feast or Fired briefcase gimmick is just a cheap rip-off of WWE’s Money in the Bank concept. Still, having Homicide cash in and score a quick victory over Suicide to win the X Division title right after Suicide had been on the receiving end of a post-match beat-down by The Motor City Machine Guns was fine as far as setting up what should be an entertaining title program between Homicide and Suicide. ...

Did I just talk about a match between guys named Homicide and Suicide? What are the odds that Vince Russo books them in some type of death match? ...

The Suicide-Chris Sabin match was good but I wish they would have had more time. ...

Speaking of which, why is TNA wasting TV time on the Sharmell-Jenna Morasca feud? Neither one of the characters is likable, so why would anyone care? ...

I knew that director of security Mike Davis had to be somebody from the business, but I couldn’t figure it out. Dave Meltzer recently revealed in The Wrestling Observer that Davis is former wrestler Bugsy McGraw. I saw McGraw wrestle in the WWWF in the mid-70s. He also was a star in other territories, primarily Florida.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 8:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
        

• The highlight of Thursday’s show was the verbal confrontation between Rey Mysterio and Dolph Ziggler. Mysterio has improved on the mic over the years, and Ziggler held his own and had presence. Ziggler running his mouth and then running away was a good way to get heat. I’m looking forward to the Mysterio-Ziggler Intercontinental title match at the Night of Champions pay-per-view a week from Sunday.

• Cryme Tyme defeated The Hart Dynasty for the second time in three meetings. Ugh.

• The Bella Twins are now 2-0 against Katie Lea Birchill, winning once again when they switched places. I don’t understand how the twin who doesn’t start the match always wins so easily. When their opponent is worn down and not expecting it, I suppose it makes sense, but Birchill knew they probably switched and had been in control of the match.

• It’s a shame that there are no other babyface teams on the Smackdown roster for The Hart Dynasty to feud with other than Cryme Tyme. It’s a similar situation with the women in ECW, as the only ones on the roster are the Bella Twins and Birchill.

• The Big Show-Kofi Kingston match wasn’t bad. Big Show came off as a monster, and Kingston got in a flurry of offense before losing.

• I liked the video package on R-Truth. Hopefully, “Pretty Ricky” has been future endeavored.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 4:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

I know I’m almost a week late on the subject of Brock Lesnar, but since several people have asked what my take is, I’m going to weigh in on the former WWE champion and his antics after his UFC match last weekend.

First of all, I want to make it clear that I am far from an MMA aficionado. In fact, I have never watched a single fight on pay-per-view. But I don’t think I really need to follow MMA closely to form an opinion about Lesnar.

Quite simply, I think Lesnar is the greatest thing to ever happen to the sport. Love him or hate him, every UFC fan has strong feelings about him, and that kind of passion is very good for business. I’ve seen buy rates for Lesnar’s successful UFC heavyweight title defense against Frank Mir last Saturday estimated at 1.5 million, which would be more than any WWE event in history.

Lesnar certainly is a compelling individual. Beyond his ability as a fighter, Lesnar’s abrasive personality and pro wrestling background have stirred the emotions of UFC followers, many of whom strongly dislike him for those reasons. People were talking more about Lesnar’s post-match behavior after he defeated Mir – he cut a promo on Mir, trashed a sponsor and flipped off the fans – than they were about the fight.

UFC president Dana White publicly condemned Lesnar’s post-match actions, but privately he had to love it (well, maybe not the sponsor part). I’m sure that White understands that antagonists such as Lesnar draw money. That’s true in legitimate sports as well as pro wrestling. Look at pro boxing over the years and the box office appeal of fighters such as Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson. As was the case with those two, Lesnar is someone fans are willing to pay money to see put in his place.

Was Lesnar’s behavior Saturday calculated or was he actually caught up in the moment? Personally, I think it was just Lesnar being Lesnar, but what does it matter? Scripted or unscripted, Lesnar is an awesome heel. And that makes him a very valuable commodity for UFC.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 1:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)
        

Bobby Lashley announced on ESPN radio Wednesday that he has signed a TNA contract and will appear at the Victory Road pay-per-view on Sunday. He also said that he is going to continue doing MMA in addition to pro wrestling.

I wasn’t the biggest Lashley fan when he was in WWE, but I do think this is a good pickup for TNA. While there are bigger stars on TNA’s roster than Lashley, he will be the youngest (Lashley turned 33 today) of the former WWE and WCW stars in the company’s top tier.

When Lashley first appeared in TNA last April, it was hinted on television that he would be a heel, but I didn’t believe it then and I still think it makes more sense for him to be a babyface. A program for the TNA world title between Lashley and Kurt Angle could be really good.

The negative with Lashley, who obviously has a great look and is a good athlete, is that he never fully connected with the crowd in WWE. His promos weren’t good and he didn’t display main-event-level charisma. Still, it’s a coup for TNA to land a guy that Vince McMahon was planning on pushing to the moon.

Two other guys who were getting a push at some point in WWE – Mr. Kennedy and Umaga – could very well join Lashley in TNA in the near future. TNA might even be able to book a match that was promoted as the main event at WrestleMania two years ago – Lashley versus Umaga.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (19)
        

ECW champion Tommy Dreamer and No. 1 contender Christian both suffered losses on Tuesday night’s episode of ECW. That’s doesn’t really make me excited to see the Dreamer-Christian title match at the Night of Champions pay-per-view on July 26. Then again, I wasn’t all that excited to see it in the first place.

However, with Shelton Benjamin defeating Christian, and Vladimir Kozlov beating Dreamer, I wouldn’t be surprised if the ECW title match at NOC ends up being a fatal four-way. Now that I would be interested in seeing, mostly because of Benjamin being in the mix.

Other thoughts on Tuesday’s show:

The Benjamin-Christian match was good, and it was a pleasant surprise when Benjamin won. That’s how Benjamin should be booked. …

When Kozlov did commentary on the Benjamin-Christian match, he was so bad that he was good. When Dreamer did commentary last week, he was just so bad. …

ECW general manager Tiffany told Tyler Reks that he was doing a “great job” on WWE Superstars. Actually, he’s done two jobs on that show, but I don’t know how great they were. …

As Matt Striker noted on commentary, the crowd seems to have taken to Yoshi Tatsu rather quickly. Perhaps that quick win over Benjamin wasn’t such a bad booking decision after all. ….

Tatsu and Paul Birchill did a nice job of improvising after Tatsu slipped off the ropes. It was obvious that the slip wasn’t supposed to happen, but Birchill didn’t hesitate as he scooped up Tatsu and delivered a suplex for a near fall. …

There was no Abraham Washington segment this week. That’s the good news. Now, the bad news: There will be one on next week’s show.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
        

On Monday night, actor Seth Green became the first non-wrestling personality to host Raw since WWE initiated the guest general manager concept a couple weeks ago. You never know how a wrestling crowd is going to react to this kind of celebrity involvement, but the audience in Orlando, Fla., immediately got behind Green and popped for him whenever he appeared. I’m glad the fans gave Green a chance, because he definitely added something to the program.

I think the guest GM deal has given Raw a needed shot in the arm. It has been a refreshing change from the typical GM/authority figure format.

Some “smart” fans probably hate the fact that the diminutive Green actually participated in the main event – Green, Triple H and John Cena faced WWE champion Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes – but the way it was done made perfect sense and the match was entertaining. It’s not like he pulled a David Arquette or K-Fed and pinned the world champion.

The crowd in Orlando certainly enjoyed the match. In fact, the fans there were hot for just about everything, and an enthusiastic crowd definitely adds to the excitement for viewers.

Other thoughts on Monday’s show:

How about that pop that Triple H received in the opening segment? I think even he was taken aback by it. It seems that the general fan – at least those in Orlando – aren’t nearly as bored with Triple H as hardcore fans are. Personally, I enjoy the smart-aleck version of Triple H that we saw Monday as opposed to the scowling, ultra-serious one. It was a smart move to have Triple H endorsing Green to get the fans on Green’s side right away. ...

I cannot wait for the inevitable Chris Jericho-Edge feud. Jericho made it obvious in his promo that Edge is going to be a babyface when he returns. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve written how strong Jericho is on the mic, but he was awesome again. This time he referred to the fans as Pharisees. The funny thing about him saying words such at that one and recalcitrant, etc., is that they don’t make sense in the context that he is using them – which, I think, is the point. ...

I think Jericho getting to choose a new partner to be the other half of the undisputed WWE tag team champions is a better option than having a tournament. My money still is on Dolph Ziggler. The explanation for Jericho getting to keep the title – he said he had it put in his contract because he feared that Edge would get hurt – was a bit of a stretch. It would have made more sense if Jericho simply said that he went to Vince McMahon and he OK’d it. ...

I really like the way WWE has been using Mark Henry. In the past three weeks, he has pinned Orton and defeated Cody Rhodes and Jericho by count-out when they ran away from him rather than stay in the ring and fight him. The strong push is working, as Henry has been getting over as a smiling but powerful babyface – the same role that the late Andre The Giant used to play. Granted the fans in Orlando seemed to pop for all the babyfaces, but it still was impressive when Henry would raise his arm and the crowd would emulate him, and then he would lower his arm and they would, too. ...

The crowd was solidly behind MVP as well. His match with Jack Swagger was OK, but I think they are capable of better. It’s a shame they can’t wrestle each other at the Night of Champions pay-per-view because of the all-title match format. ...

The bump that Evan Bourne took when he landed hard on his head and neck after being speared by The Big Show was one of the scariest I have seen. I really feared that we may have witnessed a tragedy on live television, but he seemed to be OK. ...

The bikini match pitting Mickie James, Kelly Kelly and Gail Kim against Maryse, Alicia Fox and Rosa Mendes may be my favorite divas match of all time. I really don’t think it went against WWE’s family-friendly directive, either. The women weren’t wearing anything that you can’t see at the beach. In fact, you can see more revealing bikinis at the beach than what they had on. ...

That was one heck of an implant DDT that Maryse gave James. ...

Carlito brought back the apple-spitting gimmick. That’s cool. ...

Yet another indignity for poor Chavo Guerrero. With one arm tied behind his back, Guerrero lost to Hornswoggle. That follows his loss to Hornswoggle when Guerrero had to fight on his knees. My prediction for next week: Guerrero has to wear a blindfold and Hornswoggle pins him one more time.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (47)
        

Former WCW world champion Ron Simmons is scheduled to appear at the Maryland Championship Wrestling show on Aug. 7 at The New Green Room in Dundalk.

Simmons, who became the first African-American to win a world title when he defeated Vader at the Baltimore Arena in 1992, will team with MCW champion Ruckus to face MCW tag team champions Zachary Shane and Tyler Hilton. Both the tag team titles and Ruckus’ championship are on the line.

Also announced for the show: Cobian vs. Patrick Brink, with Van Hammer as the special guest referee; and Ryan McBride defending the cruiserweight title against former partner Teddy Stigma.

For more information, go to marylandwrestling.com.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 9:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

It was an eventful night at the Maryland Championship Wrestling show Saturday at The New Green Room in Dundalk.

First and foremost, Ryan McBride won the ninth annual Shamrock Cup. The 24-year-old high flyer from Pasadena, Md., is deserving of the honor and has a bright future in the business (check out this very quick clip of McBride in action at a CZW show last year).

Earlier in the evening, McBride’s tag-team partner, Teddy Stigma, turned on him. McBride and Stigma had been MCW’s best and most popular tag team. Stigma, whose intensity was off the charts during his attack on McBride, is a fine talent, as well. I can’t wait to see the inevitable showdown between these two.

TNA stars Jim Cornette, Daffney and Stevie Richards appeared on the show, as did former WWE talent Kenny Dykstra. Patrick Brink, who had been under a WWE developmental contract in Florida, made his surprise return to MCW and was involved in a pull-apart with Batista look-alike Cobian.

As a referee on the show, I was one of the poor schmucks trying to keep these two powerhouses separated. At one point, I caught an elbow to the nose from Brink. My first thought after shaking it off was, “How cool would it be if there was blood pouring out of my nose? If the fans saw that, it might make the angle seem more real.” And at least I would have something to show for getting conked. Unfortunately, there was no juice.

I also had the honor of refereeing matches involving Daffney and Dykstra.

I first met Daffney when I was the editor of WCW Magazine in 2000, and she has always been very cool. She’s gotten herself in fantastic shape and has vastly improved as a wrestler since her WCW days. She told me how much she is enjoying being paired with “Dr. Stevie” Richards in TNA. Daffney also mentioned that she was driving to Virginia after the MCW show and was staying over at Mickie James’ house. She turned down my request to take me with her.

I had never met Dykstra before Saturday, but he was very easy to work with. I’d be surprised if Dykstra doesn’t return to WWE at some point. He’s only 23 and obviously has talent and a good look.

Another highlight for me Saturday night was conducting a backstage word-association interview with Cornette in which he gave his thoughts on wrestling figures such as Vince McMahon, Paul Heyman, Eric Bischoff and others. Needless to say, it was quite entertaining.

Video of my interviews with Cornette and Daffney will be posted in the next day or two.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 2:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
        

Anyone who watched Smackdown Friday night knows that the highlight of the show was yet another tremendous match between Rey Mysterio and Chris Jericho. At this point, I’m convinced these two incredible talents could wear blindfolds, tie one arm behind their backs and still have a great match.

The most noteworthy development on the show, however, was the elevation of Dolph Ziggler. It has been apparent as of late that WWE sees something in him (I do, too), and judging by this episode, it looks as if a significant push is coming sooner rather than later.

On Friday’s episode, Ziggler got up and close and personal with Maria in a closet (heck, even if his night had ended there it would have been a great one), pinned John Morrison, and then joined Jericho and Edge in a beat-down of Mysterio at the end of the show that got a lot of heat.

The way that angle went down leads me to believe that Ziggler will be the challenger for Mysterio’s Intercontinental title at the Night of Champions pay-per-view in two weeks. It wouldn’t totally surprise me if Ziggler had double duty that night, not only facing Mysterio but also being chosen by Jericho to replace the injured Edge in a tag team title defense against Legacy. I had speculated after Edge’s injury that Ziggler would be a logical choice if WWE decided to go with a new partner for Jericho rather than stripping him and Edge of the title. And that was before I knew that Ziggler had aligned himself with Jericho and Edge on this show, so now it makes even more sense.

It’s funny how things work out sometimes. When The Spirit Squad debuted in WWE in 2006, Kenny Dykstra got all of the attention and was being groomed to be a star, while the other members of the group were pretty faceless. Three years later, one of those faceless members, Nick Nemeth, is on the verge of becoming a star as Dolph Ziggler, and Dykstra is out of WWE and wrestling on an independent show tonight in Baltimore.

Other thoughts on Friday’s show:

What more can be said about the fantastic program between Jericho and Mysterio that hasn’t already been said? This match would have stolen the show on most pay-per-views. …

CM Punk cut an awesome promo on Jeff Hardy in which he got very specific about Hardy’s personal issues. With two guys feuding who have such different lifestyles, it’s a no-brainer that those differences should be incorporated into the story line, but I’m surprised WWE took it as far as they did. …

I’m not wild about Kane pinning Hardy, even with Punk’s distraction playing into the finish. What makes it worse is that Kane pretty much dominated the match. I’ve just become bored with Kane as a character. They need to put the mask back on him or something. …

Morrison’s spinning plancha over the top rope onto Ziggler on the floor was amazing. I didn’t expect Morrison to lose, but I don’t think hurts him. At least he lost a fellow up-and-comer instead of someone like Kane. …

As usual, Cryme Tyme’s Word Up segment was horrible until Jesse made his appearance. How about more Jesse and less Cryme Tyme? …

It was good to see The Hart Dynasty defeat Cryme Tyme after losing to them in their Smackdown debut last week. It’s a shame that there really aren’t any other teams on Smackdown right now for THD to have a program with. …

Wow, Layla sure landed hard and awkwardly when Eve Torres kicked her out of the ring during the tag match that also involved Michelle McCool and Melina. All four women showed good intensity. …

What’s up (pun intended) with that embarrassingly bad R-Truth vignette? I’ve been advocating a push for R-Truth for a while, but “Pretty Ricky” is not quite what I had in mind.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (28)
        

TNA talents Jim Cornette, Daffney and Stevie Richards are scheduled to appear on tonight’s Maryland Championship Wrestling show at The New Green Room in Dundalk.

The centerpiece of the event is the ninth annual Shamrock Cup tournament. Among the participants are Kenny Dykstra (formerly of WWE) and local standouts Ryan McBride and Teddy Stigma.

Cornette will be on hand to sign his book, The Midnight Express 25th Anniversary Scrapbook.

Other matches include: a triple threat for the MCW title between champion Ruckus, Christian York and Josh Daniels; a four-way tag team match featuring the team of Richards and Sugarmask; a grudge match between powerhouses Cobian and The Bruiser; and a women’s match pitting Daffney against Roxie Cotton.

Bell time is 7 p.m. For more information, go to marylandwrestling.com.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

There were quite a few intense segments on Thursday’s entertaining episode of TNA Impact, including the Main Event Mafia’s attack on Mick Foley at the end of the show. Foley being wrapped up in barbed wire while being struck with a barbed wire baseball bat was an effective visual.

The lengths that Foley is willing to go to entertain the fans at this stage of his career is either admirable or crazy, I’m not sure which. A weapons match between Foley and Abyss has to happen at some point. That could make the Necro Butcher-Randy “The Ram” Robinson match in The Wrestler look like one of those WWE divas pillow fights.

Speaking of Abyss, he was involved in an intense scene as well. Stevie Richards, who has been doing a great job as Dr. Stevie, spiked Abyss’ water with a drug that induces temporary paralysis and then slapped him around and smashed a glass over his head. They say it’s hard to do anything in wrestling that hasn’t been done before, but I think that’s a new one. At least it’s better than when Billy Kidman took Viagra – during a Viagra on a Pole match, of course – when Vince Russo had the book in WCW in 2000.

In other brutal attacks on the program: Matt Morgan smashed Daniels’ ankle in a chair; Samoa Joe choked out Sting with what looked to be a nightstick; and The British Invasion, Sheik Abdul Bashir and Kiyoshi destroyed Team 3D.

On the microphone, Sting got in Joe’s face and cut an awesome promo. Joe also played his role well, as he remained calm because he said his mystery adviser ordered him to. Speaking of the man behind the curtain, wouldn’t it be something if TNA pulled a swerve and it wasn’t Taz?

Other thoughts on Thursday’s show:

Foley got a huge babyface reaction when he came out for a promo to open the show. The fans weren’t nearly as enthusiastic about Jeff Jarrett, and they even chanted Foley’s name while Jarrett was speaking. Foley was very entertaining as a heel, but it makes sense for him to turn babyface now that he is in a program with Kurt Angle. ...

When Foley and Jarrett made a truce in the opening segment, I wrote in my notes: “They will be fighting again at the end of the show.” And that was before they were booked in a triple threat match with Angle. I guess it would have been difficult to get heat on Angle with two babyfaces ganging up on him, but I figured Eric Young as guest referee and the inevitable outside interference from the MEM would even up the sides. Speaking of Young, I was happy to see him in the mix in the main event. ...

I couldn’t believe it when Sting told Samoa Joe that it was because of him that “wrestling is as bad as it is right now” and “this company is as bad as it is right now.” I don’t know if that line was scripted for Sting or if he came up with it on his own, but it’s incredibly stupid to bury your own company like that, and it’s especially bad coming from a babyface, because they’re supposed to tell the truth. A WWE babyface would never be allowed to say something like that. ...

It was funny how Lauren started screaming “Leave him alone” in the parking lot before Joe even laid a hand on Sting. ...

TNA did a nice job in putting over Tara, as she not only defeated Angelina Love for the women’s title, but she did it immediately following a win over Velvet Sky. ...

We saw the first bit of tension between Love and Sky, and with Love losing the title after accepting the match to spare Sky from Tara’s tarantula, we’re probably going to see more. A feud between Love and Sky would mean something because they have always gotten along since teaming up over a year ago. Usually in TNA, there is dissension among allies almost from the moment they join forces. ...

When Don West said that Love had Sky’s back, I thought for sure he was going to follow it up by saying that he’d like to have Sky’s back – and her front, too. By the way, what was with the cameraman trying to grope Sky as she was entering the ring?

Morgan looked good during the tag match in which he teamed with Kevin Nash against Daniels and A.J. Styles. It was good that Morgan, who was pinned by Styles, got his heat back after the match, but it seemed like he recovered too quickly after taking a moonsault by Daniels followed by a splash off the top by Styles. ...

After hearing Suicide cut a promo, I think I know who’s really under the mask. It’s Ole Anderson, aka The Black Scorpion. ...

The Beer Money-Motor City Machine Guns match wasn’t quite as good as I thought it would be. I’d love to see these two teams in a program together rather than in a five-minute, throwaway television match. ...

Booker T.’s constant gibberish during the Beer Money-MCMG match was excruciating. ...

It looks as if Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed are heels again, although I suppose they never really were babyfaces. Kong needs to be a heel for her inevitable program with Tara. ...

It has been reported that Raven and Shane Douglas were only brought back for the Slammiversary pay-per-view. That’s too bad, especially in Raven’s case. There’s a lot of potential in a Raven-Stevie-Daffney heel group. ...

I don’t get TNA’s new slogan, “I will become.” Become what?

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 12:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)
        

ECW

• I like the Bella twins, but they sure have been annoying the past two weeks. For babyfaces, that’s not good.

• Katie Birchill’s new look is pretty cool. I loved how aggressive she was against Nikki Bella. Birchill is an underrated talent.

• Shelton Benjamin and Yoshi Tatsu had a good match. I was impressed with Tatsu.

• Ezekiel Jackson looked awesome doing his power moves against an enhancement talent. He’s raw, but WWE might have something here. I’m curious to see how he does when he isn’t working a squash match and he has to sell for his opponent and take bumps. Those are Vladimir Kozlov’s weaknesses.

• Why are the announcers, Tiffany and everyone else backstage acting as if they have never seen The Hurricane before?

• The Abraham Washington segment, with Tommy Dreamer as the guest, was better than last week’s. Then again, it couldn’t possibly have been any worse. If Washington’s gimmick is supposed to be that all of his jokes are lame, then he’s doing a great job. Nobody could write that material and actually think it’s funny, could they?

• Kozlov came off as a cyborg-like killing machine in his training video, but he was a lot less intense for his match against Christian. He didn’t have that goofy grin like he did a few weeks ago, but he was smirking more than scowling.

• In Dreamer’s commentary during the Kozlov-Christian match to determine his opponent for the ECW title at the Night of Champions pay-per-view, he said that Christian may not have been the result he wanted. I didn’t really get that. If he’s saying Christian would be a tougher opponent, that kind of buries Kozlov, who is supposed to be a monster. Plus, as a babyface, wouldn’t Dreamer welcome the competition, and wouldn’t he especially want a guy he respects to get the shot?

WWE SUPERSTARS

• There wasn’t a lot of star power on the show this week. It will be interesting to see if this is the start of a trend.

• The R-Truth-Ricky Ortiz match was better than expected. I didn’t think Ortiz would get in as much of offense as he did. It was his best showing since coming to WWE. As for R-Truth, it seems like the fans are really starting to rally behind him – and he doesn’t even have a towel.

• I figured Tyler Reks, who lost his debut match to Zack Ryder last week, would get his win back here. Nope. He’s now 0-2 on TV. I’m not sure how this gives Reks a chance to get over, but I’ll withhold judgment until I see where this is going.

• I have to admit that I found the Chavo Guerrero-Hornswoggle match amusing, but I’m starting to feel bad for Guerrero, who is one of the nicest guys that I know in the business. How many more ways can he be humiliated? I have a feeling we’re going to find out.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 8:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

My take on Thursday night's episodes of ECW, WWE Superstars and TNA Impact will be posted later tonight. It’s been a busy couple of days, and having four hours of wrestling to watch instead of three Thursday night didn’t help.

On a side note, I rarely ever promote anything that I do on the blog, but I strongly recommend checking out the Van Hammer video interviews, especially Part III, which I put up earlier today. Hammer (Mark Hildreth) has a good story to tell, and he is brutally honest about his demons and his time in the wrestling business, including his interaction with guys such as Vince McMahon, Sting, Dusty Rhodes, Mick Foley, Diamond Dallas Page, Bill Watts and others.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 6:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Legendary manager Jim Cornette will make an appearance at the Maryland Championship wrestling show Saturday at The New Green Room in Dundalk, where he will be signing copies of his book, The Midnight Express 25th Anniversary Scrapbook.

I conducted a phone interview with Cornette on Thursday.

How many indy shows are you doing these days?

This year I’ve done three – all with The Midnight Express. I toyed with the idea of retiring as a manager after our 25th anniversary, but as long as either me or Bobby Eaton or Dennis Condrey – Stan [Lane] has already decided that he’s not wrestling anymore – are all available on the same date and somebody wants us and we can all get to the ring and have fun, I’ve decided that I’m just going to do it a few times a year, because it’s great to see the boys. And why shouldn’t we? Maybe we’ll beat Bobo Brazil and The Sheik for the world’s longest program with The Rock and Roll Express. But other than the exception of managing The Midnight or something like this – because I’ve known [MCW owner Dan McDevitt] for ages and he’s always treated me good – I don’t really do them anymore because I’m not as agile, mobile and hostile as I used to be in my youth, as far as at ringside. I also did an NWA Charlotte show earlier this year, but really I just made an appearance to do some interviews there as sort of like the guest commissioner, which is more of my speed these days. I like to help some of these smaller independents that really put on good shows. But even then, with the TNA schedule I don’t have a lot of time for them, and I’d rather do less and enjoy it more.

What will your role be on Saturday’s show?

I have no earthly idea [laughs]. Danny had called and said, “We have this show on July 11 and would you like to come up?” and, as I said, I’ve always enjoyed working for Danny in the past, and at the same time, my wife and I had been talking conveniently enough about coming to Baltimore for a weekend just to enjoy the crabs and Little Italy and the sights, so we combined the two. I said, “Hey, I’ll be there for you because I know you’ve got a big tournament, it’s kind of a big show, so whatever I can contribute to the proceedings I’d be more than happy to.”

You drive from Kentucky to all these shows because you don’t fly, correct?
I haven’t been on an airplane in six years. I’m not in this for a career anymore. I have a full-time job with TNA – well, I work five whole days a month, so that’s full-time for me these days. Otherwise, I make the trips based around enjoyable weekends. I feel like there’s no reason to put myself through what I put myself through for 20-something years on airplanes, especially these days. You don’t know whether your pilot is going to drop dead over the ocean; you don’t know when you try to land whether the wheels are going to come down; you can be searched and seized and detained and quarantined. I’m just not going to put myself through that at this point in my life.

Tell me about The Midnight Express 25th Anniversary Scrapbook.

You know, it started out as just kind of one of those things: “Well, you know, I’ve got all the results of The Midnight Express’ matches; I ought to do a little record book. Just take it down to Kinko’s and maybe a few people would be interested in it.” And over the course of a year it grew into this 232-page, 8½ x 11, slick paper, 32-page color section, giant pictorial history of not only The Midnight Express’ seven years together, but also, conveniently enough, we were right in the middle of the beginning of the wrestling war. So it details the ’80s wrestling war between the WWF and the NWA and later WCW, and all the problems the business went through when Turner Broadcasting bought the company. Everybody sees every document there is to do with wrestling these days on the Internet and everybody knows what everybody makes and there are no secrets, but back then nobody saw booking sheets or paycheck stubs or memos to the talent, and I saved all that. So it’s reproduced there to give as much of an accurate picture as I think has been published of what wrestling was like 25 years ago and at the start of this whole fiasco. We’ve got a lot of rave reviews on it so hopefully I did a pretty good job. So it’s not just for Midnight Express fans; it’s for anybody who likes the inner or outer workings of wrestling. There are road rib stories and funny chapters. I tried to make it as entertaining for everybody as possible.

Will you be selling and signing the book at Saturday’s show?

As a matter of fact I will. It’s available at jimcornette.com for those outside the range of coming to the show, or Saturday I will be there with some books and we’re going to do a signing before the matches. When people first see it, generally you can tell the real wrestling fans because they kind of go, “Oh, my God” as they start flipping. And it’s also good bathroom reading because it’s really a rock and roll tour book, only we had a seven-year tour. So it starts with the first match and goes to the last match, with anecdotes and results and the gate figures from the show. It shows the tremendous amount of people that were going to live wrestling in the ’80s. You can kind of pick it up in the bathroom and pick a page and start reading and then put it down. It’s like potato chips for the mind.

I know you could probably talk for an hour just answering this next question ...

I can talk for an hour about anything. It takes me an hour and a half to watch 60 Minutes.

… what are your thoughts on the current state of the industry?

Grim [laughs]. Like you said, we could talk for an hour, but the biggest problem is that people from outside of wrestling have taken over the direction of the business through the corporate takeovers – and Turner Broadcasting started that. And Vince [McMahon] gave more power to the children, and Stephanie started bringing in the Los Angeles comedy writers. As a result of those things, a lot of bad things have happened, but chief among them for the perpetuation of the wrestling industry is that they’ve decimated their developmental system in WWE and there are fewer places for guys to get into wrestling and have full-time work, so therefore there’s fewer wrestlers than ever before, and there’s fewer experienced wrestlers than ever before. And if you notice, the main event stars are getting older. You know, that happens to most people as time goes on. And as a result, I wonder if in five or 10 years, even if there’s money to present wrestling, where are the wrestlers going to be that we present? That’s the one thing they haven’t been able to figure out.

And I went through that with my dealings with WWE when I was in OVW. We were really their only developmental program that they had for most of the past 10 years. They dabbled with others; they didn’t work. We proved ourselves; they decided they could do it themselves better than anybody. [WWE executive vice president of talent relations] John Lauriniatis has decimated their program. They get nothing out of Florida [Championship Wrestling], and there’s no steady supply of wrestlers being trained to take the place of the people who quit due to injuries, age or who haven’t made their money and decide they want to get out of this nutty business. Without talent, I don’t care how funny the writers are or how many comedy lines they come up, without wrestlers you can’t have a wrestling program. That I think is the biggest problem, and they’ve yet to address it, and as the industry leader, as they do, so do other people. I would love to see TNA get a developmental program. And, really, TNA has made some big steps with Samoa Joe, A.J. Styles, Beer Money, Matt Morgan, a lot of these younger guys that are now getting the opportunity to shine on national television. But you need more.

As you said, you work five days a month for TNA, but do you miss not having more of a central role after all the years as a manager and commentator, and running OVW and Smoky Mountain Wrestling?

Do you mean on camera or off camera?

Both.

On camera I don’t miss at all. I will still do it. The part that I have enjoyed with TNA the past few years is as the on-air management figure – being able to go out there and work with some of the talent and stir people up for their business and their matches. Instead of promoting something that I’m involved in, just selling other people’s matches – which is the same thing that I did on commentary with OVW. I like doing that a lot more now because I don’t have to take the bumps. But I like working in the production truck behind the scenes with TNA. And if I’m on camera, eh, it’s OK, but I don’t really strive for it because I’ve done that and I would rather have more of a backstage responsibility for putting together a good program.

I would think the perfect role for you would be sharing your knowledge with the young guys and especially working with guys on their promos. Are you doing that in TNA?

They have to be sick of me. You know, not only promos, but matches, too, and ideas. The way that you teach wrestling is by finding good talent that you think can learn and putting them in the ring with a variety of other good talents who have experience and giving them the opportunity to pick things up. And then when they have a match, if you talk to them afterward you say, “Well, why did you do that? It didn’t work and here’s why.” Experience is the only teacher in this business. When you get the experience, you have to have somebody tell you why what you did was either good or bad. Because if you watch a videotape of somebody flying an airplane, well you understand that they push the buttons, but why do they push those buttons and what buttons are they pushing? So it has to be explained. Yeah, I’m sure the young guys get sick of me at some point.

I know that you and Vince Russo butted heads when you both were on the WWE writing team in the ’90s. Now the two of you are in the same company again. How are you co-existing, and do you have any input as far as the story lines?

We have totally different styles and, no, I have no input in booking. Because we do have totally different styles, it would be counterproductive to the company. I will say nothing good or bad or anything else about Vince Russo or his booking because we have agreed to disagree [laughs].

Why do you think managers, who were once such a staple of the business, have been phased out?

Part of it is Vince McMahon. He decided that Sable, because they smashed her over despite the total lack of talent or personality, now all managers should look good in bikinis, which immediately eliminated me and Paul Bearer out of the equation. It became the dressing at ringside. Vince feels that you put the attention on the star and the personality. People follow the trends, and the trends at the highest level were to not have any male managers. Male managers were heat magnets. There is no heat anymore in wrestling. Everybody knows that you can’t get people to want to go to jail by taking a swing at the heels because they got one over on the babyfaces when they know it’s all a show to begin with. It’s just one of those things that went by the wayside, along with every other tool that we had to draw money.

The NWA and WCW had a lot of big shows in Baltimore, and you were a part of that. Do you have any memories from Baltimore – either in or out of the ring – that stand out?

Watching Ric Flair spend more money at Sabatino’s in one night than most people make in a month. Those were outstanding memories [laughs]. The Midnight Express and I had never come north until we started working for Jim Crockett, except for the one World Class wrestling event in the Manning Bowl in beautiful Lynn, Massachusetts, up around Boston. We started coming up to Baltimore and Philly, and at that time Philly was still not a “smart” town, so we had a ton of heat there and in Baltimore as well. That’s a great building, the Civic Center. Now it’s the Arena, right? Have they changed it again?

Now it’s 1st Mariner Arena.

That building was right across the street from the hotel. It was one of the first experiences with the fans hanging out. Down south the fans would follow you and hang out at the convenience store afterward, but we had people coming and getting rooms and camping out in the lobby and everything. It really was a big-time feel. And of course The Crockett Cup in ’87 – two nights in a row in the Arena. I think we did a total of over $300,000 at the gate and 20,000 people from two nights. There were big matches and we were drawing big money. It was just a great place. I remember doing sellouts at this building on a near-monthly basis, which my book reflects. Sometimes we’d do a $100,000 gate; sometimes it’d be $120,000 or $130,000, but it was always just massive. And the people were so appreciative. It was a great wrestling town – I mean going all the way back to Vince Sr. and [Bruno] Sammartino and [Superstar Billy] Graham – and it still is. That’s why I like the idea that Maryland Championship Wrestling is keeping that tradition going, such as it can, probably as best as anybody can.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Q&As
        

Speculation about Hulk Hogan possibly having interest in going to TNA has been making the rounds on wrestling Web sites. In an interview with The Southtown Star, Hogan spoke favorably about the company and said he still wants to wrestle.

Hogan, who also had complimentary things to say about WWE in the interview, said: “[TNA's] like the little engine that could. Everybody thought they wouldn't be around for long, and they've been chugging along for seven years. They gain momentum every week. They seem to be real fresh. When a lot of guys go over to that side of the fence, they seem to get a spring in their step.”

He went on to say: “TNA is lacking that one momentum-shifting move, that one big name that would even the playing field. … [TNA's] lacking the big piece of the puzzle.”

It certainly could be interpreted that Hogan was referring to himself as the missing piece of the puzzle. Keep in mind, however, that this is Hogan, who is one of the all-time great workers – and I’m not talking about his skills in the ring. Everything he says must be taken with a grain of salt.

Jeff Jarrett should know that better than anyone. Hogan had a brief flirtation with TNA in 2003, but he turned out to be a tease. After shooting an angle in which Jarrett smashed a guitar over Hogan’s head during a press conference in Japan, Hogan backed out of doing a match, citing knee problems. And that was that.

Who knows, given Hogan’s financial troubles stemming from his divorce, perhaps he would do business with TNA now. My feeling is that if Hogan was serious about wanting to join TNA, the company would jump at the chance to land “The Hulkster” even though he burned them once before. Based on his name recognition, Hogan would most likely raise TNA’s profile more than Kurt Angle and Mick Foley could ever hope to.

If he did come back, Hogan would have to pick his spots as far as getting in the ring. He’s two months away from his 56th birthday and has had multiple knee and back surgeries and a hip replacement.

In regard to his physical condition, Hogan told The Southtown Star: “I’m trying to not joke or fool myself. I’m trying to get a logical assessment. I’m dying to get in there. … There has to be a talented wrestler willing to slow dance with me.”

Posted by Kevin Eck at 6:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (29)
        

Jim Cornette's book signing that was scheduled for Saturday in Glen Burnie, Md., has been canceled, according to a representative of Maryland Championship Wrestling. He will now be signing copies of his book, The Midnight Express 25th Anniversary Scrapbook, at the MCW event Saturday night at The New Green Room in Dundalk.

For more information, go to marylandwrestling.com.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 8:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Beginning Wednesday I will be posting a series of video interviews with former WCW star Van Hammer that I conducted last week. His story is definitely one worth listening to, as he fell into the self-destructive lifestyle of so many pro wrestlers and actually lived to tell about it.

***
WWE.com reported that Edge did undergo surgery this morning to repair his torn Archilles tendon. Renowned surgeon Dr. James Andrews performed the operation in Birmingham, Ala. There was no mention in the article of how long Edge would be out, but the preliminary estimation when the injury first occurred was that he wouldn't be back before January.

***
Just a reminder that ECW will not be on tonight. It will air on SyFy (formerly known as Sci-Fi) Thursday at 7 p.m. this week.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 6:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

WWE promoted Monday’s Raw main event between Triple H and John Cena with a shot at the WWE title on the line as an epic clash between two of the industry’s biggest stars – and rightfully so. It was a pay-per-view-quality match-up that fans didn’t have to shell out $40 to watch.

However, while the match was very good, the somewhat predictable finish and the fact that these two have wrestled each other a number of times over the years took some of the shine off of it.

Like a lot of Raw viewers, I’m starved for fresh match-ups, so the most compelling segment on the show in my opinion was MVP’s VIP Lounge with Jack Swagger. Both guys stepped up on the microphone and showed why many fans and pundits – myself included – believe that they have superstar potential. Swagger most likely will get there, but I have my doubts about MVP at this point, and it’s not his fault.

Hopefully, MVP’s performance opened some eyes among WWE’s hierarchy. The fans in attendance noticed, because they started chanting his name during the segment. MVP’s criminal past was the focal point of the verbal confrontation. While WWE has made vague references to it in the past, this is the first time that I recall it being revealed on TV that MVP did hard time (eight years for armed robbery and kidnapping) when he was younger. I always thought if WWE incorporated MVP’s real-life background into a story line, it could really get him over as a babyface.

I asked MVP about that possibility when I interviewed him in 2007. “I think it would have to [be used in an angle] because I have a deep-seeded interest in using my past to help others with a similar background,” he said. “I made some bad decisions that cost me a sizable chunk of my life, and I’d like to be able to use my experience to show [inner-city kids] that there is hope and there’s a way out of that, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be crime or drugs. I’d like to be a role model. ... I think in order to do that, at some point we’d have to address it.”

As for Swagger, he played his role as a cocky, obnoxious heel perfectly – just as he always does. MVP-Swagger should be an entertaining mid-card program, but it can be more than that. It just might be a springboard for two deserving talents.

Other thoughts on Monday’s show:

While a lot of us figured out that there wouldn’t be a definitive winner between Cena and Triple H and it would result in a triple threat match between these two and WWE champ Randy Orton at The Night of Champions pay-per-view, we didn’t know exactly how it would go down. I liked what WWE came up with. It ended up being a double disqualification, thanks to interference from Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes, which Orton assumed meant that he wouldn’t have to face Cena or Triple H. But his plan backfired, as guest Raw general manger “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase ruled that it would be a triple threat. ...

It was good to see DiBiase, one of WWE’s all-time great heels, on TV. I liked the fact that he did not favor Legacy, which would have been predictable. The scene in which he and his son had a confrontation that ended with Ted Jr. giving a hard slap across the face to his father was well done. ...

Orton and DiBiase Jr. had a good match that was nicely booked. DiBiase Jr., who is destined to be a star, got in a lot of offense before Orton won. It seems a little soon for a DiBiase babyface turn, though. Hopefully, WWE will slowly build to it. ...

Speaking of slow builds (or the lack thereof), a brother versus brother feud between Carlito and Primo shouldn’t happen after just a one-week tease. It probably needed to be done at some point, though. The Colons most likely weren’t getting the tag team title back, and Carlito is better-suited to be a heel. ...

The Code Breaker-Spear combination used by Chris Jericho and Edge to beat the Colons looked great. It’s really a shame that the Jericho-Edge title reign has been cut so short. By the way, WWE posted on its Web site today that Edge was scheduled to undergo surgery for his torn Achilles tendon this morning. ...

It sounded as if Mark Henry got a nice pop when he came out for his match against Rhodes, but because Raw wasn’t live this week, the enthusiastic crowd reaction may have been the result of post production enhancement. ...

I was surprised that Evan Bourne pinned U.S. champion Kofi Kingston in their non-title bout. I would like to see a longer match between these two – one in which The Big Show is not involved. ...

Gail Kim and Mickie James – wow, talk about a dream team. Kim pinning divas champion Maryse (who was partnered with Alicia Fox) in the tag match was unexpected. Perhaps this is setting Kim up for a title shot with the winner of the Maryse-James match at Night of Champions.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 4:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (39)
        

For those who have asked how Edge could wrestle tonight on Raw with a torn Archilles tendon, it's because Raw is not live this week. The show was taped last Monday. Edge suffered the injury at a house show last Friday.

Edge will also be on Friday's episode of Smackdown, which was taped last Tuesday.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 9:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

As if WWE doesn’t already have enough talent on the disabled list, Matt Hardy is expected to be out for eight to 10 weeks after undergoing abdominal surgery several days ago, according to a report in The Sun (U.K).

Hardy suffered a torn abdominal muscle two weeks ago during a triple threat match on Raw against Kofi Kingston and MVP. The injury has to be frustrating for Hardy, who has been wrestling with a cast on his right hand since breaking it during a match with his brother Jeff at the Backlash pay-per-view in late April.

If there is a silver lining for Hardy, it’s that some time off TV may be beneficial to his character. He wasn’t getting much of a push on Raw before being sent to Smackdown as part of the 15-wrestler trade last week. WWE now will have the opportunity to hit the re-start button on his character when he returns.

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 8:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

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.

What makes the situation even more troubling – specifically for Smackdown – is that Jeff Hardy’s departure from WWE could be imminent. Hardy recently said in an interview with a TV network in Spain that he has a few weeks remaining on his contract and still hasn’t decided if he is going to renew it.

WWE also has to figure out what to do with the unified tag team title, which was won by the dream team of Edge and Chris Jericho last Sunday at The Bash pay-per-view. I wouldn’t be surprised if the belts were put up for grabs in a tournament (which could play out on Raw, Smackdown and ECW), with the final match taking place at The Night of Champions pay-per-view on July 26. Legacy (Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes) and The Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd and David Hart Smith) would be the favorites to win it, unless WWE wanted to put two top singles wrestlers together like it did with Edge and Jericho.

Another possible scenario is that Jericho is allowed to choose a replacement for Edge. That would present an opportunity for WWE to elevate someone by giving them the rub of teaming with Jericho. One guy immediately comes to mind – Dolph Ziggler. Then again, how fitting would it be if the man Jericho selected to take Edge’s spot was Christian? Jericho and Christian have a history and they would be great together, but it probably wouldn’t happen. It looks to me as if Christian is going to be getting the ECW title back soon.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (42)
        

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.

As the saying goes, however, you only get one chance to make a first impression. Some viewers may not have seen THD before, and a victory over a team fans are already familiar with would have immediately established Tyson Kidd and David Hart Smith as a force to be reckoned with.

The other finish I wasn’t thrilled about was Kane scoring a clean win over Rey Mysterio. I understand Kane needed to win his first match on TV since returning from his hiatus, but did it have to be against Mysterio, who was coming off a big victory over Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental title?

Other thoughts on Friday’s show:

The star of Smackdown once again was CM Punk. He was more heelish in his promo than he has been in previous ones, but he held back just enough to maintain his tweener status. His “just say no” line to Jeff Hardy was tremendous. …

The tag team main event that pitted reluctant partners Punk and Hardy against Jericho and Edge was entertaining. I liked the twist of Hardy feigning an eye injury to lead to Punk being pinned. With that being said, I don’t think Punk should be doing too many more jobs. He has now suffered clean pinfall losses on consecutive episodes of Smackdown. …

John Morrison showed some personality in the backstage skit in which he and Teddy Long were singing Michael Jackson tunes. WWE needs to do more things such as this to humanize Morrison, whose showy entrance and phenomenal moves are only going to get him so far. …

I figured Dolph Ziggler would defeat R-Truth since he seems to be getting the bigger push of the two. I’m all for elevating Ziggler, but I would love to see R-Truth get a similar opportunity at some point. …

The budding romance between Ziggler and Maria could be interesting. …

There are no words for how awful Cryme Tyme’s Word Up segment was. The only reason I didn’t fast-forward through it was because I was hoping Jesse would show up. Fortunately, he did. Jesse as a wanksta – now that’s funny. …

Finlay and Ricky Ortiz had a decent TV match. Call me crazy, but I still see something in Ortiz.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 1:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)
        

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 (9)
        

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.

In the tag team main event that pitted Jarrett and A.J. Styles against TNA world champion Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe, Angle had Jarrett trapped in the ankle lock while Styles was incapacitated. Jarrett was in the hold for a long time, but instead of tapping out, he “blacked out from the pain.”

Come on, Jeff. I understand that main-event-level babyfaces need to be protected, but there’s no shame in tapping out to Angle. Even Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels have done it. What Jarrett doesn’t realize is that by booking himself to look superhuman, he’s actually making his character less sympathetic and himself less likable.

The “blacked out from the pain” gimmick has been used in the past by guys such as Dusty Rhodes (when he was the booker) in the 1980s and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in the 1990s, but in those days there was more of a stigma to submitting. A top babyface would never give up. Because of the MMA influence on pro wrestling over the past decade, however, top guys tapping out has become more acceptable because it adds a sense of realism and is not viewed as such a sign of weakness.

Other thoughts on Thursday’s show:

I suppose Mick Foley is doing a babyface turn, but with TNA you can never be sure. I was enjoying Foley’s heel character. …

It was pretty funny when Angle asked Foley what his security guys Rocco and Sally Boy were going to do to protect him, and Foley said, “Probably nothing.” Then Angle said, “Get ’em, Scotty,” and Scott Steiner took them out with his lead pipe in about two seconds. …

During that opening segment when the MEM attacked Foley and Jarrett came out to make the save, I didn’t see anyone lay a hand on either Jarrett or Samoa Joe, yet they were both bleeding from the head. I think a piece of the guitar caught Jarrett when he smashed it over Foley’s head, but I have no idea how Joe got cut. …

I know that logic rarely applies to Abyss’ story lines (or any in TNA, for that matter), but did Dr. Stevie actually say that he had been treating Abyss for 10 years? TNA already has acknowledged Stevie Richards’ wrestling past, so are we to believe that he was treating Abyss in his free time while he was leading The Right to Censor in WWE? …

The TNA creative team must have been watching a lot of Rocky movies lately. Foley “wrestled” a Sylvester Stallone cardboard cutout in May, and Angle quoted a line from the movie on Thursday’s show. I thought Abyss was going to deliver another Rocky line, but he put a clever spin on it instead. He told Lauren: “I never asked you to stop being a woman, so I don’t want you to ask me to stop being a monster.” …

By the way, when do you think Lauren will turn on Abyss and start making out with Stevie? …

I swear I think the writers were intentionally trying to make Mike Tenay look silly by saying juvenile things that seemed totally out of character. When ODB was grabbing her breasts outside the ring during Cody Deaner’s match, Tenay said it was like a baseball coach giving signals: “One bounce of the boobs means swing away, two bounces and a grope means hit and run.” He later talked to Don West about “sexting.” Good lord. …

Speaking of Deaner, I’m so glad the talented Amazing Red didn’t have to put him over. …

Tara was wearing a t-shirt that said “Tara Rizing.” I hope she has more success with that moniker than Paul Levesque did in WCW 15 years ago. …

When Tara put her tarantula on an unconscious Velvet Sky, how many people were wishing that they were a tarantula? Actually, after seeing Torrie Wilson with snakes and giant cockroaches on her face on I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here, a spider crawling on someone’s stomach doesn’t seem all that scary. …

Why are Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed always the guys getting beaten up when a top star is on a rampage? I could possibly see it with Creed, but Lethal deserves better. …

I had to laugh when Sharmell said “Did I stutter?” to Matt Morgan. It would have been even funnier if Morgan had been scripted to say that line. …

Sharmell and Sojourner Bolt are friends? When did that happen? …

TNA is not doing a good job of making Jesse Neal a likable character. Given his story, it seems like the easiest thing in the world to do, but no one is going to care when Rhino turns on him. Hey, maybe it’s all a swerve and Neal is going to turn on Rhino instead. Actually, no one will care about that either. …

What’s the story with this Mike Davis guy, TNA’s head of security?

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
        

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.

Punk got a lot of heat from the crowd for conceding the match, as he took another step forward in his progression from tweener to heel. The announcers continued to play up the fact that there are two sides to every story and that Punk could really be hurt.

As I have said before, I think Punk is the most compelling performer in wrestling right now. As much as I’m enjoying his tweener phase, however, I think Punk is really going to get over once his heel turn is complete.

The other interesting thing about the Punk-Edge match is that Edge played subtle babyface. Edge is such an awesome heel that I hate to see him turn, but he hasn’t been a babyface in more than five years, so it will be a big deal when he does the turn at some point.

Other thoughts on Thursday’s show:

It’s so silly that WWE management has banned the announcers from saying the names of the referees. Most of the time it’s not a big deal, but referee Scott Armstrong was a key figure in Punk’s matches against Jeff Hardy at The Bash and Edge on Superstars, so to hear Jim Ross and Todd Grisham constantly referring to him as “this official” was ridiculous. I just don’t see how mentioning a referee by name on occasion in any way affects the product. …

The crowd seems to be gradually getting behind John Morrison, who followed up his big victory over Punk last week on Smackdown with a nice win over Charlie Haas. …

Santino Marella and The Brian Kendrick had a fun match, although it really demonstrated just how buried Kendrick is. Marella’s winning percentage is worse than the Washington Nationals’, yet even he beat Kendrick. I don’t understand why WWE just doesn’t put Kendrick on ECW and let him do his thing. …

It seems odd that Tyler Reks would lose in his first match on WWE television, against Zack Ryder. That's not exactly the best way to get new talent over.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 1:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)
        

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?

It was difficult to say the least. The energy that was sucked from you when they were going on their rants, it took so much out of all of us that by the time any of them left we just went, “Geez, I feel like I was just hit by a car.”

Did you get the sense that they were playing to the cameras or that they really were just that obnoxious?

At first I thought for sure Spencer was doing his rant for the cameras, but the longer I was around him the more I thought, maybe because he’s been on a reality show for so long that he’s started to let it blend into his real character. I don’t really know him personally so it was hard for me to differentiate, but it seemed like much of what they were doing – all of them – was very close to their true personalities.

The people on reality shows with obnoxious over-the-top personalities always seem to make the biggest impression with viewers. You came off as very normal. Do you think that hurt you at all in the eyes of the viewers who were voting for who they wanted to remain on the show?

The first couple episodes they pretty much devoted completely to Spencer and Heidi and Janice. Just looking around at those larger-than-life characters and seeing how hard they were trying to get camera time, I definitely thought in the beginning that it was going to be hard to compete with that, because I wasn’t willing to devalue myself and be someone I wasn’t just for camera time. So I definitely think in the beginning it hurt me, but I knew that if I was able to stick around long enough that people would appreciate who I was and that I just wanted to be myself.

I can’t imagine letting snakes or cockroaches crawl across my face like you did. What goes through your head? How do you get through it?

Really what I’m doing is thinking fully on the task that I’m trying to do. With the snakes and stuff I just reminded myself over and over again – and it was hard at times – that they weren’t going to hurt me. They weren’t going to put snakes that were going to bite my arm off in there with me, and I’m just so competitive that I was completely thinking about the task and beating the other person.

So which was worse, a snake slithering across your face or making out with Vince McMahon?

Oh, making out with Vince, for sure [laughs]. I’ll take the snake any day.

You talked about knowing that things weren’t going to bite you, but you actually did get bitten by rats during the challenge where you had to stick your hand into a rock, right?

Yeah. The biggest reason I was upset with that was because they kept telling me to put my hand back in after I had been bitten and I had blood everywhere. I had trusted them not to let something bad happen and they kept filming. For quite a few days afterwards they had heard me talking, saying that I don’t know if I can trust them to do another trial. What if they’re not thinking about my safety again? So it took me a few days to realize that they’re going to be extra cautious after that accident. They had to build up our trust again.

Yeah, I thought that one was over the line, especially when Lou Diamond Phillips kept his hand in there with the rats and came out bleeding pretty bad.

It was over the line. I can’t believe he kept his hand in there to get it gnawed off. He ended up getting like eight stitches. I’m like, “Man, this guy really wants to win. I’m not putting my hand back in there.” [laughs]

Did you surprise yourself with some of the things you were able to do?

Oh definitely. I always want to win and I know that I’m athletic and competitive, but anytime I won a challenge, especially against a guy, I surprised myself. There was a challenge where you had to go up on a high wire. I knew I was a little bit scared of heights but once I got up there I got really upset. I was crying and just didn’t know what I was going to do. John Salley really calmed me down. The fact that I got over that and did it was the greatest feeling in the world, to be scared to death to do something and just plunge forward and do it anyway and complete it is just the best feeling.

What kind of feedback have you gotten from your friends about your appearance on the show. Do you think you surprised any of them?

[Laughs]. Yeah, definitely. Pretty much everybody that I talk to says they don’t think they could do that. I like to say, “You can’t?” or “You won’t?” John Salley taught me that. It was such an amazing experience and it really changed me.

How so?

I really feel at this moment in time that if I can do that I can really get through any obstacle put before me. I’ve had plenty of obstacles in the past and things that frighten me, and I’m definitely not going to be as afraid. And I’ve changed my entire way of eating after the show. I became a vegetarian, almost vegan. I feel wonderful after having the cleansing I had there and getting off sugar. Of course my patience has been way better, and I’m just appreciating all the luxuries that I have.

There was one point on the show where they weighed everyone and they had all lost between 10 and 20 pounds, but you gained seven pounds. Were you just working out like crazy or what was going on?

[Laughs]. I was working out like crazy, but my body’s really weird. I gained seven pounds but I went down a pants size. I wasn’t working out that much because it was so hot; maybe like 30 minutes a day. My whole thing with that was that America is going to see that I gained seven pounds and not believe how starved I am the entire time.

They said on the show that the final vote between you and Lou Diamond Phillips was very close. How close was it?

Oh my gosh. They told me that the night before and the morning of that they thought I had it won, but then he ended up beating me by less than one-tenth of one percentage point. They even did a recount. It’s all good. I’m happy with second and I’m happy for Lou. Just knowing that I was that close to someone like him – he’s a big movie star with a huge following and to be that close with him in itself is an accomplishment for me.

A lot of these types of reality shows have a lot of back-stabbing and conflict, but when it got down to you, Lou and John Salley, you all came off as very likable and friendly toward one another.

I’m really glad that I did this reality show versus something where they try to set up lots of instances where you’re backstabbing each other. Of course we had a little bit of that, which we saw later when we got home, but for the most part I think everyone really was themselves. It’s kind of a relief not to see crazy larger-than-life characters all trying to backstab each other.

Do you think you will remain friends with some of the people that you met on the show?

Definitely. I’ve got all their information. I really miss them a lot already. It’s really weird spending 30 days with people in such close quarters with no interruptions. We got so close that we’re definitely going to be friends for life.

All of them? Are there any you won’t remain friends with?

You know, by the end I really learned to appreciate and love everybody. As many times as I wanted to strangle Janice, there are many aspects to her that I do appreciate. She’s definitely a complex person, but she’s been through a lot. I’ve just learned to understand that.

What’s next for you at this point?

I am working on a workout video, which I think we’re going to start taping in August. It’s a lot of the workout that I did in the jungle, really back to basics. We’re going to do a series of them. I’ve got lots of meetings out in L.A. now. Hopefully [the show] will open up quite a few doors for me. There’s definitely been a lot of interest.

What are your thoughts on the divas battle royal that you participated in at WrestleMania XXV? It seemed like a bit of a cluster.

I’m very mad at myself and embarrassed that I agreed to be a part of something like that. A lot of people in the audience didn’t even know that I was in that match because they didn’t even announce it. For me, that whole experience at WrestleMania was kind of like closure. I feel like maybe I’m not appreciated like I would have hoped. They just wanted all these girls there. Now I can understand why Trish [Stratus] decided not to do it; she was smart. Going into it I trusted them that they would use me in the right way and I should have known better. All in all, I learned a valuable lesson.

When you say it was closure, do you think that’s it for you as far as doing anything in wrestling?

I do. I just didn’t appreciate that experience and I felt very unappreciated after all of the years that I put in for them. You combine that with the fact that I asked them to do a little thing on wwe.com to “vote for Torrie” and they just ignored me. So, my feelings are hurt.

Torrie Wilson’s office Web site is www.torriewilsonusa.com.

Her MySpace is www.myspace.com/torries_space .

Photo: Getty Images

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Q&As
        

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.

After ECW general manager Tiffany opened the show by addressing the roster changes, things quickly went downhill. In the first match of ECW’s new era, Benjamin was defeated by Tatsu in a matter of seconds. As Benjamin bowed in a mocking gesture, Tatsu caught him with a kick to the head and pinned him.

Given yet another opportunity to do something meaningful with the athletically gifted Benjamin (like make him the ECW champion, for instance), WWE treated him like he’s Santino Marella. It really is mind-boggling.

The idea was that Benjamin’s arrogance and failure to take the match seriously cost him, but that same goal could have been accomplished with an actual match. Championship-level competitors just shouldn’t be taken out with one kick. The only way Benjamin losing like that makes any sense is if he does a promo next week saying that it was a wakeup call and he now is on a serious mission to win the ECW title.

As bad as that was, the interview segment with Washington was even worse. Washington, who bears a physical resemblance to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, can talk, but his material was beyond lame and his guests – the Bella Twins – were incredibly annoying. For some unknown reason, the Bellas are bickering again. To say that this segment died a slow, agonizing death would be an understatement.

Other thoughts on Tuesday’s show:

Vladimir Kozlov looks to be the next in line for a shot at ECW champion Tommy Dreamer. With William Regal as his partner, Kozlov pinned Dreamer in a tag team match that also involved Christian. Kozlov had a smirk on his face at times, but the goofy grin and waving to the crowd from three weeks ago were absent. …

Sheamus, who has been wrestling on WWE house shows and in dark matches for months, looked decent in winning a squash match. …

Reks, who had a backstage verbal confrontation with Zack Ryder to set up a match between them on WWE Superstars Thursday, has a good look. He was one of the top guys in FCW.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (36)