Bret Hart had some interesting things to say on a recent appearance on The Ministry of Slam, a U.K. radio show. Hart made three comments during the in-depth interview that really struck me.

When talking about some of today’s best wrestlers, you’ll never believe who the first person was that he mentioned – Shawn Michaels. No, just kidding. It was Melina. This time I'm not kidding.

“I think Melina is really creative and imaginative,” Hart said. “She’s an innovator and she comes up with some great matches. I love watching her wrestle. In a lot of ways, I think she’s the best wrestler in the world right now.”

Wow. Is she even the best female wrestler in the world? Or even in WWE? I think the key thing he said is that he “loves to watch her wrestle.” Anyone who read Hart’s book knows that he fancies himself as quite the ladies man. Sounds like he has targeted Melina as his next conquest.

When discussing his thoughts on John Cena, Hart gave Cena the highest praise possible – he compared Cena to himself.

“John Cena is like the 2010 version of Bret Hart,” he said. “Fans see him as a real decent, upstanding human being.”

Now I’m not sure if he’s talking about their babyface personas or them as real people. If it’s the latter, well, I think some people might disagree with Hart’s self-assessment.

One thing I did agree with Hart on was his take on TNA booker Vince Russo.

“I think they should take Vince Russo and hang him by the neck somewhere in the back of the parking lot,” said Hart, who worked with Russo in WWE and WCW. “Vince Russo knows about as much about wrestling as Eric Bischoff does. Neither one of them knows s--- about anything. I find it really bizarre that Vince McMahon or the lady in TNA [Dixie Carter] would hire such imbeciles to call all the shots.

“I don’t have any personal grudge against Vince Russo, but I just know watching the shows that all his shows look the same. TNA has turned into sort of another version of WCW when I was with Russo there. I think the best wrestling always needs to pretend to be real, and Vince Russo’s wrestling is so pathetically far-fetched and phony that I think he does a disservice to his wrestlers and the business.”

To listen to the interview in its entirety, click here.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (40)
        

The featured Ring Posts comment of the past week goes to Chris, who responded Wednesday to the entry "Raw: A conspiracy Jesse Ventura missed.”

There are a few lines here that people outside of Baltimore may not get, but the overall quality of this comment supersedes the provincial aspect.

Can you confirm or deny any of these rumors going around Kevin?

- Vince McMahon has a garbage truck parked outside the Baltimore City Courthouse awaiting the Sheila Dixon verdict so he can "take out the trash?"

I will select the Ring Posts Comment of the Week every Monday.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Comment of the week
        

I have been one of the people complaining about the same guys on top in WWE wrestling each other all the time, so this may come across as talking out of both sides of my mouth, but I am looking forward to seeing Batista and The Undertaker back in the ring against each other.

As expected, it was made official on Friday night’s episode of Smackdown that The Undertaker will defend the world heavyweight title against Batista at the TLC pay-per-view on Dec. 13.

Unlike the seemingly never-ending programs between John Cena, Randy Orton and Triple H, Undertaker-Batista doesn’t seem stale to me. That’s due in part to the fact that their feud has been dormant for nearly two years, but also because Batista turning heel adds a new twist. In their previous encounters, Undertaker and Batista were both babyfaces.

Batista has been rejuvenated as a heel. When you look back at his career, you’ll see that he never had the opportunity to be a main event-level heel before now. Nearly five years ago, he went from being the No. 4 guy in the four-man Evolution heel faction to becoming a top babyface, a role he remained in until his recent turn.

Bottom line: I’ll take another chapter in the Undertaker-Batista rivalry any day over the “fresh” Cena-Sheamus match-up.

Other thoughts on Friday’s show:

I understand the reasoning behind WWE becoming more kid-friendly, but I wish blood could still be used on occasion. Batista’s chair attack on The Undertaker at the end of the show would have been more dramatic if The Undertaker had been busted open. …

The Undertaker-Chris Jericho match was a little disappointing. The most entertaining aspect of it was Batista’s “commentary.” He sat down at the announce table, put the headset on and then never said a word, even when asked direct questions by the other announcers. I wonder if TNA could get Taz to follow Batista’s lead. …

The Batista-Kane match wasn’t bad for what it was. I wouldn’t be surprised if Batista won the title from The Undertaker and then defended it against Kane before moving on to a WrestleMania program with Rey Mysterio. …

It was weird hearing Jeff Hardy’s name mentioned within the body of the show (as opposed to just on commercials for his new DVD). Until Hardy’s well-publicized legal issues are resolved, I’m not sure it’s a good idea to glorify his “free-spirited lifestyle” as a way to get heat on the straight-edged CM Punk. …

I admit that when Luke Gallows first came out with Punk, I didn’t recognize him as the former Festus. I like that Punk now has a henchman, and I especially like that we now have an explanation for Festus’ comatose state – he was drugged out. I’m guessing that Slam Master J (formerly Jesse) tries to get Gallows away from Punk, and Gallows ends up destroys his former buddy. I can’t wait until Gallows cuts his first promo. …

Eric Escobar, we hardly knew ye. It looks as if he has been written out of the show after Vickie Guerrero dumped him following his loss to John Morrison. He was immediately given a great spot by being associated with a heel magnet like Guerrero, but it seems like WWE lost confidence in him pretty quickly. It definitely wasn’t a good sign when he was among those who were taken out of the Raw vs. Smackdown match at last month’s Bragging Rights pay-per-view. …

Guerrero usually is annoying in an entertaining way, but her screeching while breaking up with Escobar made me want to hit the mute button. By the way, didn’t WWE already do the bit in which her ex-significant other says that he couldn’t stand touching her and was disgusted by her? …

Jericho calling the fans “mucilaginous troglodytes” never gets old. I do have to take issue with one thing he said. Jericho claimed that a TLC match was the most dangerous match in wrestling. Isn’t that what WWE always says about Hell in a Cell? Come to think of it, they also say it about the Elimination Chamber. Well, at least no one has ever claimed that a something-on a pole match is the most dangerous. …

I’ve been a Morrison fan since before it was cool to be one, but I can’t deny that he just isn’t cutting it on the mic. His interaction with Teddy Long made me cringe. …

Mickie James, on the other hand, showed once again that she can cut a promo. WWE should give her more opportunities to speak. …

It was nice to see The Hart Dynasty score a decisive win over Cryme Tyme. It would have been even nicer if it had been a “Last Time Ever” match.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)
        

Here's a link to the cover story I wrote for today's Arts and Entertainment section of The Baltimore Sun about WWE's transition from the raunchy "Attitude Era" to a more family friendly form of entertainment. To read the story, click here.

Faces of the company: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (left) was at the forefront of the "Attitude Era," while John Cena (right) represents today's less-risque WWE.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)
        

Thursday’s TNA Impact featured a tournament that had an interesting premise and some good matches. Best of all, no one ended up in a turkey suit on this year’s Thanksgiving episode.

I’ve read that tournaments don’t do well in the ratings and that TNA’s Vince Russo books too many of them, but I have always been a mark for tournaments, going all the way back to the annual Thanksgiving tag team tournament held at The Omni in Atlanta in the early ’80s.

What made the TNA tournament unique is that it consisted of eight wrestlers competing for a title shot in the division that they currently compete it. For example, Kurt Angle would get a world title shot if he won, Suicide an X Division title shot and Robert Roode a tag team title shot (along with his partner, James Storm, of course).

Speaking of Roode, I thought he was the star of the tournament. He defeated Homicide clean in the first round and Angle (by count-out) in the semifinals before losing to Bobby Lashley in a competitive match in the final. I’ve long thought that Roode deserved a major singles push. As much as I enjoy Beer Money, I hope Roode’s showing in the tournament planted the seeds for him to break out on his own.

Other thoughts on Thursday’s show:

Since turning babyface, Angle has done a good job of helping younger guys get over. He allowed both Roode and D’Angelo Dinero to get in a lot of offense before they lost. Angle shaking Dinero’s hand after their match as a show of respect legitimizes Dinero. ...

I wrote last week that I thought there have been too many turns recently in TNA, and now it looks as if Kristal Lashley (and perhaps Bobby) may be turning heel. She feigned an ankle injury during Bobby’s first-round match against Abyss, which distracted “The Monster” and allowed Bobby to choke him out. And while we’re on the subject of Abyss being choked, it’s nice to see that he wasn’t killed on last week’s episode when he was hung by Raven and Dr. Stevie. TNA cut to a commercial during the attack and never mentioned it again the rest of the show. ...

I didn’t care for the finish to the Desmond Wolfe-Lashley match. Wolfe was disqualified for not breaking when he was choking Lashley on the ropes. Why would he do that with a title shot at stake? Mike Tenay’s explanation that Wolfe was so “focused on Angle” that he had a brain cramp doesn’t cut it. In Wolfe’s first-round victory, Suicide looked bad when he took the Tower of London. ...

An interview with TNA president Dixie Carter in which she discusses Hulk Hogan was announced for next week. Since TNA pulled a bait and switch last week with the Sting interview, I don’t know if I should believe it. ...

Daniels was so good on the mic that he really overshadowed A.J. Styles during their verbal confrontation. Daniels’ best line: “Tell your kids that Uncle Chris is sorry, but somebody had to put daddy in his place.” The promo could have been even more intense if it had been acknowledged that Styles and Daniels really did name their sons’ middle names after one another. ...

Does anyone know what Mick Foley actually said when he was bleeped after Scott Steiner asked him who the smartest man that he knows is? I couldn’t read his lips...

Kevin Nash said that Ed “Brutus Beefcake” Leslie is not coming to TNA with Hogan. I sure hope he’s right about that one. I loved it when Nash said, “Between you and me, if [Brian] Knobbs comes in, I’m quitting.” The downside to those lines is that they may be too inside for some fans. TNA does a lot of that stuff, and while I may get all of the references, TNA shouldn’t assume that everyone does. ...

Alissa Flash and Traci Brooks are supposed to be in a serious angle based on Flash “crossing the line” by going after Brooks’ real-life disability, yet when the two women were brawling, Tenay and Taz were chuckling and making jokes about fighting for the last turkey leg. Taz also said that someone should yell “catfight.” As much as I like and respect Tenay, I think Taz is bringing him down. ...

Daffney was the first one eliminated in the women’s battle royal – which was won by Tara – to determine the No. 1 contender for the TNA Knockouts title. Isn’t this the second time that Daffney was out first in a battle royal? TNA is missing the boat with her.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 8:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)
        

• I enjoyed the R-Truth-Dolph Ziggler match, which was put in the main event slot on Thursday’s episode of WWE Superstars. It was nice that R-Truth got the win, but it would have mean a lot more if Ziggler hadn’t become the modern-day version of The Brooklyn Brawler. Still, it looks as if the powers that be are starting to get behind R-Truth. If Rey Mysterio ends up being out for a significant amount of time, Smackdown will have an opening for another strong babyface, and R-Truth is a worthy candidate. ...

• Back to Ziggler for a second. I would like to think that him jobbing in all these matches has some purpose and that it will end up with him ending the losing streak in dramatic fashion and getting a push. It would be unfortunate if the skid is punishment for Ziggler perhaps violating some form of backstage etiquette. Wouldn’t it be ironic if it was because he failed to “show the proper respect” and by not shaking a veteran’s hand when first seeing him at the arena? ...

• The Miz-Santino Marella match was fun. Marella was his usual entertaining self, and Miz did a nice job of coming across as a serious heel despite being in the ring with a comedy wrestler. ...

• The Vladimir Kozlov-Goldust match wasn’t awful, but Kozlov -- who won -- really gets exposed when he has to wrestle in a give-and-take match that last longer than a few minutes.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. Mine was good, but very busy. In addition to doing the family thing, I spent most of the day – and a good chunk of today – writing a cover story for Sunday’s Arts & Entertainment section in The Baltimore Sun about WWE’s switch to PG-rated programming.

As a result, I still haven’t watched TNA Impact or WWE Superstars from Thursday night. I’m planning on watching them – and Smackdown – tonight, and I’m hoping to post my thoughts about each show on Saturday.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 9:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

• The ECW title match that I have been hoping for between champion Christian and Shelton Benjamin is going to happen at the TLC pay-per-view on Dec. 13. That’s the good news. The great news is that it will be a ladder match. That announcement on Tuesday night’s episode of ECW got a much bigger pop than the announcement on Raw that WWE champion John Cena would be facing Sheamus in a tables match at the show, which doesn’t surprise me. Expectations will be high for the Christian-Benjamin match, and I think they’ll steal the show – as Christian said he wants to do – if they are given the opportunity to do so.

• The match between Benjamin and Zack Ryder – which Benjamin won to gain the title shot – was good. Benjamin showed more fire than usual.

• It looks as if Ezekiel Jackson is turning babyface. He laid out both Vladimir Kozlov and William Regal after Regal’s loss to Yoshi Tatsu. Before Jackson became one of Regal’s henchmen, I wrote that I thought he had potential as a powerhouse babyface. If he is booked correctly – and by that I mean a Goldberg-type push in which he squashes people and isn’t asked to do too much – I think he’ll get over. As for the inevitable Jackson-Kozlov match, well, as Jim Ross would say, that one will be “bowling shoe ugly.”

• I laughed when Kozlov pointed at Jackson and said, “He did it,” after Regal demanded to know which of them shoved Tatsu toward him, which ended up costing him the match. I suppose Kozlov was hoping that Regal wouldn’t watch a replay.

• I was surprised to see Tatsu beat Regal so quickly, especially after Regal was talking backstage about not giving up his quest for the ECW title.

• How good did Rosa Mendes look sitting ringside? Is she paying tribute to the late Farrah Fawcett with her hairdo?

• Tony Atlas has emerged as the star of The Abraham Washington Show. Without him laughing, smiling and dancing, the past few shows would have been pretty bad. OK, some of you probably think they were bad anyway. It looks as if the seeds have been planted for a split between Washington and Atlas, but I’m not sure where WWE could go with that.

• That was a heck of a clothesline that Vance Archer gave to an enhancement guy. Archer is looking good, but the crowd doesn’t care about him yet.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 6:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
        

The featured Ring Posts comment of the past week goes to James, who responded Sunday to the entry "Smackdown puts focus on Survivor Series main event.”

In the post, I wrote the following about Vickie Guerrero: “You know, with the right lighting and a few beers ...” Here is James’ comment:

And here we have all the justification we need for CM Punk's Straight-Edge lifestyle!

I will select the Ring Posts Comment of the Week every Monday (or Tuesday).

Posted by Kevin Eck at 11:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Comment of the week
        

Most weeks, Jesse Ventura appearing on Raw and reuniting with former broadcast partner Vince McMahon at the announce table would be the most noteworthy thing on the show. But as great as it was to see “The Body” back on WWE programming as the guest host for Monday night’s eventful three-hour episode of Raw, the big news is that a young wrestler was elevated to main event status and will face John Cena for the WWE title on the next pay-per-view in three weeks.

The disappointing news – in my opinion, at least – is that the guy WWE hand-picked to be the chosen one is Sheamus.

Sheamus? To borrow a line from The Miz: “Really?”

Speaking of The Miz, I think he would have been a better choice for the spot. So would Jack Swagger. And Ted DiBiase Jr. And MVP. On the Smackdown side, I look at guys such as John Morrison, R-Truth, and Dolph Ziggler (more about him later) as being more worthy of breaking through the glass ceiling. I think newcomer Drew McIntyre also has more star potential than the “Celtic Warrior.” Heck, if WWE is so intent on elevating a monster heel, why not Mike Knox?

It’s not like I think Sheamus is a bad worker or anything, and he does have a unique look going for him. But from what I have seen so far, he just seems to be lacking the “it” factor. I’m not saying that I think he’s a lost cause as far as becoming a more significant player, but there is no way that he should be pushed to the moon this fast. He’s only been on Raw for five weeks. A few months ago he was losing matches to Goldust on ECW.

OK, so here’s where the conspiracy comes in, and it’s not one that Ventura will be talking about on his new “Conspiracy Theory” show on truTV. It has been all over the Internet as of late that Sheamus’ sudden push is the result of him being the workout partner of Triple H, who obviously wields a lot of power backstage.

I don’t know for certain what is behind the rapid rise of Sheamus, but let’s assume that the Triple H stories are true. It would be unfortunate for all of the guys I mentioned above, but it is what it is. As we all know, pro wrestling is highly political and making the right friends is important. But, ultimately, no matter how connected someone is or how hard they’re pushed, the fans will decide whether or not they make it as a top guy.

I will say this much for Triple H: The last two guys he anointed as the next big things were Randy Orton and Batista, so he has a pretty good track record.

Other thoughts on Monday’s show:

Ventura did a really good job as host and was a lot better than Roddy Piper was last week. “The Governor” still has that great delivery on the microphone. I would love to see him return to WWE as a color commentator (even if he just did pay-per-views and special shows) or an-air character, but it will probably never happen. The one nitpick that I have about his performance is that he needed to use a cheat sheet when making an announcement about two matches that would be on the show. …

I liked the “break-through battle royal” concept to determine a No. 1 contender from a pool of wrestlers who had never been world champion. Ventura’s promo about the need for new faces in the main events instead of the same guys over and over had to be music to a lot of fans’ ears. When the participants of the battle royal were finalized after a series of qualifying matches, I thought for sure that DiBiase was going to win. It was pretty much guaranteed that a Raw guy was going over since Cena needed a new challenger and The Undertaker didn’t (it’s highly likely that he’ll be facing Batista at the TLC pay-per-view on Dec. 13).

It wasn’t going to be Kofi Kingston or Orton – who had weaseled his way into the qualifying – because they’re probably going to be facing each other at TLC. Plus, I don’t think anyone – even the decision-makers in WWE – want to see another Cena-Orton match any time soon. Obviously, MVP and Henry weren’t winning, nor was Rhodes. Sheamus coming out on top crossed my mind, but then I discounted it because he’s clearly not ready for that spot. I keep hearing that DiBiase is going to get a babyface push, so it seemed to make perfect sense to elevate him on a night in which a trailer for his movie, “The Marine 2,” was shown. Plus, it would plant the seeds for an Orton-DiBiase program, since DiBiase got the shot that Orton so desperately wanted. I don’t know what’s going on, but DiBiase and Rhodes have lost their momentum. …

While I’m on the subject of losing momentum, Swagger was reduced to teaming with Chavo Guerrero and Chris Masters in a six-man tag match. As for Ziggler, what else is left to say? I don’t know what he did, but he must have ticked off someone important. Perhaps he should offer to be Cena’s spotter at the gym. ...

The old clips of Ventura and McMahon brought back some great memories from the Hulkamania era. I liked the idea of having Ventura and McMahon call a match together. Ventura was good, but McMahon needed to speak up a bit. Perhaps someone was yelling at him in his headset and distracting him. McMahon tried to morph into his old announcing persona, even bringing out one his staples – calling the finish before it happens and then being wrong. I can’t tell you how many times I heard McMahon say, “One, two, new champion … no,” back in the day. McMahon wearing the tuxedo and bow tie and coming out to Animotion’s “Obsession” – which was the original theme song for Saturday Night’s Main Event – was a nice touch. …

I give McMahon credit for sometimes being able to laugh at himself. I was definitely surprised that he allowed Ventura to say that Vince McMahon Sr. made Vince an announcer because he wasn’t competent enough to handle a job with more responsibility. ...

Ventura’s best line of the night was when he told Orton that he admired how he “retires guys that should be retired.” He also noted that when he retired, he stayed retired. Obviously, those comments were directed at Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. On a side note, Ventura, 58, is actually two years younger than Flair. …

I wonder if McMahon freaked out backstage when Ventura used the term “pro wrestling” during his promo instead of “sports entertainment.” …

The Cena-CM Punk match was a pay-per-view quality main event on free TV. Since the show had a Thanksgiving theme, I’ll say that I was thankful for that match. It’s no shock that Cena won, but Punk got in plenty of offense. ...

Punk made me laugh when he talked about how gluttonous people are on Thanksgiving and that after they push themselves from the table and say they ate too much, they then go back for dessert. That one hit home. I had dinner at a Chinese buffet Monday and was determined to get my money’s worth. After like six plates of food, I felt like I was going to burst. And then I got some ice cream. ...

I also laughed at the backstage segment with Shawn Michaels and Triple H when Michaels said that he didn’t mean to super-kick Triple H at the beginning of the triple threat match at Survivor Series. “You know I have the dodgy eye-thing going. I was aiming for Cena,” he said. As far as “Little People’s Court” being on next Monday’s show in Baltimore – which I will be attending – well, it’ll be a tall order to make that funny. ...

As I expected, Jericho and Big Show’s next tag team title defense is against DX. I’m looking forward to anything that gets Michaels and Jericho in the ring together. ...

It was interesting to see DX wrestling The Hart Dynasty, but Michaels’ and Triple H’s history with the Hart family was not really played up. ...

I thought Cena’s promo during the contract signing with Sheamus was excellent. However, when Ventura said the match at Survivor Series will be a tables match, I think I heard crickets. ...

Ventura said that he never got a shot at the world title when he was wrestling. Not true. He wrestled Bob Backlund in WWF title matches in 1982. I saw one of those matches at the Baltimore Civic Center. Wow, a (former) politician who lies. Hard to believe. ...

The verbal confrontation between Batista and Kane was good, and Batista got heat for backing down. Batista has gotten a lot better on promos, and he really seems to have found his voice as a heel. ...

It made Michael Cole sound like an idiot when Rey Mysterio’s music played and he actually thought Mysterio was coming out. Everyone knew it was going to be Batista, especially because he was shown walking down the hallway on his way to the ring right before going to a break. By the way, wrestlingobserver.com reported that Mysterio is hoping to get knee surgery now and be back in time for WrestleMania XXVI (presumably for a grudge match against Batista). ...

Speaking of Cole, his and Jerry Lawler’s fake laughing was even more annoying than usual during the six-woman tag match that featured the heels dressed as pilgrims and the faces dressed as Indians. Where’s Tony Atlas when you need him? ...

It wasn’t a well-kept secret that Maryse was likely returning on this show, so when Melina was being interviewed in the ring after the women’s match, it was obvious to me that it was Maryse in The Gobbledy Gooker costume. Her absence from TV was explained as her being depressed about losing the WWE Divas title, and no mention was made of her knee surgery. I wonder if WWE will revisit the angle she was doing with The Miz before her injury. ...

The announcers saying that Natalya must have gotten her looks from her mother and poking fun at Jim Neidhart’s rotund physique had to be a rib on his TNA appearance. ...

The Santino Marella skit was mildly amusing when he kept getting pies smashed in his face by the divas, but the punch line – Marella accidentally hitting Vickie Guerrero with a pie when she tried to join in on it – was laugh-out-loud funny. It wouldn’t be a WWE Thanksgiving episode without some sort of food fight.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 5:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (60)
        

While Sunday night’s Survivor Series pay-per-view – which I watched live at Verizon Center in Washington – may not have been spectacular, almost all of the matches were entertaining and the booking was sound for the most part.

In my opinion, what didn’t happen on the show was as significant – in a positive way – as anything that did. I’m talking about the fact that neither the WWE title nor the world heavyweight title changed hands. That ended a streak of five consecutive WWE pay-per-views in which there was at least one world title change.

Being a fan of both Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho, it would have been nice to see them win their respective triple threat title matches, but it would have been the wrong call. The belts have switched hands so frequently as of late that the changes don’t have as much impact as they should, so successful title defenses by WWE champion John Cena and world heavyweight champion The Undertaker made the most sense from a booking standpoint.

The other noteworthy development on the show was that Kofi Kingston was put over strong and appears to be on the verge of breaking into the top tier. Three other young guys that seem to be on the fast-track to becoming break-out stars – Sheamus, Drew McIntyre and The Miz – also were booked to look good. So while we did see six veteran stars competing in the two main events, it looks as if WWE recognizes the need to get some new faces in the mix.

Here is a match-by-match look at the show:

WWE champion John Cena defeated Triple H and Shawn Michaels in a triple threat match: It literally took just one second for the surprisingly weak buildup for this match to become a non-issue. Immediately after the bell rang, Michaels delivered Sweet Chin Music to fellow DX member Triple H, who was knocked out of the ring by the blow. The shocked crowd popped as Michaels stood there with his game-face on and Cena sold disbelief. The message was clear: Despite all the silly skits with Hornswoggle – who thankfully was nowhere to be found –and the fact that DX came out together rather than making separate entrances, Michaels and Triple H were going to be opponents not partners in this match. For the next 21 minutes, the three superstars put on the most entertaining match on the show. Michaels and Triple H aggressively went after each other, but at no point did it appear that there was major dissension. There was a great spot toward the latter part of the match when Michaels hit Cena with a super-kick and then nailed Triple H with one. A dazed Triple H landed right on top of Cena for a near fall that had a lot of people convinced that it was the finish. A couple minutes later, Michaels and Cena simultaneously covered Triple H for a two-count. The finishing sequence began with Michaels super-kicking Triple H as Triple H was setting up Cena for a Pedigree. Cena then gave Michaels an Attitude Adjustment onto Triple H and covered “The Game” for the victory. Triple H and Michaels hugged after the match, although I think the show was off the air at that point. There was a big sign in the crowd that said “HHH vs. HBK WrestleMania 26” that Triple H pointed out to Michaels. Hmm.

World heavyweight champion The Undertaker defeated The Big Show and Chris Jericho in a triple threat match: This one was pretty much by the numbers. There was nothing wrong with the match itself, but the fact that few people believed that Undertaker would lose the title made for a lack of drama. Undertaker won via tap-out when he reversed Big Show’s attempted chokeslam into Hell’s Gate.

Batista defeated Rey Mysterio: A lot of people in attendance must not have gotten the memo about Batista turning heel, because he got a huge pop when he came out. Perhaps the reaction can be partly attributed to the fact that the show was in Batista’s hometown, but I think it’s more than that. Not only was Batista cheered, but Mysterio was heavily booed (especially when he imitated the late Eddie Guerrero’s mannerisms), and the crowd was very into it when Batista destroyed Mysterio. Batista’s new remorseless, badass heel character is one that a lot of people are going to get behind. It’s not going to be easy to get people to boo him. Mysterio used his quickness early to gain the advantage and frustrate Batista, but once “The Animal” got a hold of him, the match basically became a squash. After Batista hit a powerbomb, the crowd chanted, “One more time!” Batista delivered two more powerbombs, and the crowd to give him a standing ovation after the third one. The referee stopped the match at that point and awarded it to Batista. After the match, Batista hit a spinebuster on a chair for good measure. Mysterio was taken out on a stretcher to a smattering of applause and boos. With Mysterio out of the picture for a while (he reportedly is about to undergo yet another knee surgery), it seems certain that a Batista-Undertaker title program is next.

Kofi Kingston, Christian, Mark Henry, MVP and R-Truth defeated Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase Jr., CM Punk, Wiliam Regal and Cody Rhodes: The main objective of this match – to make Kingston look like a star – was achieved. It came down to Kingston against Orton and Punk. Orton stood outside the ring watching intently as Kingston and Punk went at it. After several minutes of back-and-forth action, Orton distracted Kingston, and Punk tried to roll him up for the pin. Kingston, however, rolled though and pinned Punk. Orton then charged into the ring and was immediately hit with Kingston’s Trouble in Paradise and pinned at the 21-minute mark. So Kingston got a three-count two former world champions in a span of several seconds to become the sole survivor. You can’t ask for any more than that. I was surprised that DiBiase and Rhodes weren’t bigger factors in the match, especially DiBiase, who was eliminated after just five minutes. I’m starting to wonder if the reported plan to turn DiBiase babyface to coincide with the release of his movie, “The Marine 2,” and set him up for a high-profile program with Orton has been scrapped. Christian fared well in this match (and he also was the star of an entertaining backstage skit with his team members), as he pinned DiBiase and Rhodes and got a believable near fall on Orton before Orton eventually pinned him around 14 minutes into the match. As for Henry, remember about five months ago when he pinned then-WWE champion Orton on Raw and it seemed like the start of a big push? Well, Orton hit an RKO on Henry in the first minute here to eliminate him. So much for that.

The Miz, Drew McIntyre, Sheamus, Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler defeated John Morrison, Shelton Benjamin, Evan Bourne, Matt Hardy and Finlay: I think the right team won, but I didn’t care for how this match was booked. Ziggler shockingly lasted just three minutes and was the first person eliminated. Not only that, but he was pinned by jobber-to-the-star Bourne. That sure does send a message, and it’s not a good one for “Mr. Ziggles.” Morrison ended up being left at a three-on-one disadvantage against Miz, Sheamus and McIntyre. I thought for sure that Morrison would pin Miz to avenge his loss at the Bragging Rights pay-per-view last month, but then fall victim to Sheamus and McIntyre. Nope. Sheamus pinned Morrison clean and all three heels survived after approximately 21 minutes. It was nice that Morrison lasted to the end and fought valiantly against the odds, but I think it was a mistake not to have him take out at least one of the three remaining heels. McIntyre pinning Morrison would have been better because it would set up an Intercontinental title match between the two. Since Sheamus is on Raw, having him pin the I-C champ just doesn’t make any sense. I’m starting to resent the push that Sheamus is getting.

Mickie James, Eve, Kelly Kelly, Gail Kim and Melina defeated Michelle McCool, Alicia Fox, Jillian Hall, Layla and Beth Phoenix: It was ridiculous how rushed this was. There were eight pinfalls in a match that lasted all of 11 minutes. Then again, it was put on between the two world title matches, so it wasn’t meant to be anything more than an opportunity for a bathroom break. I went into this match thinking this just might be the night that Kim turns heel and gets a push. It turned out that she was the first person eliminated from her team, as McCool pinned her in the opening minutes. OK, I’m finally tapping out when it comes to thinking that Kim will amount to anything in WWE. Phoenix looked strong in eliminating Eve and Kelly Kelly before she was taken out by James. At the end it was James and Melina against McCool. Both babyfaces survived, as Melina scored the pin with the Last Call, which actually looked more like a basic sunset flip than a high-impact move.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (26)
        

Predictions for tonight’s WWE pay-per-view, which I will be attending at Verizon Center in Washington:

WWE champion John Cena vs. Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels in a triple threat match: The two DX members have been very chummy and silly as of late, but I think things will get heated in this match. Triple H and Michaels start out playing nice with each other but gradually become more aggressive. For the finish, I think one of the DX members will make the save at the last second when the other is about to get the win over Cena. While they argue, Cena recovers and hits the Attiutude Adjustment on one of them for the win. Let’s just hope we don’t see Hornswoggle anywhere near this match.

World heavyweight champion The Undertaker vs. Chris Jericho vs. The Big Show in a triple threat match: Sure, I’d love to see Jericho walk out of this match with the title belt – and by that I mean actually winning the championship, not just stealing the belt – but I don’t see either him or Big Show winning. This match just seems like a bridge to Undertaker’s next title defense, which will likely be against Batista. The wild card here could be Kane – who is not scheduled to be on the show – costing Undertaker the title. Personally, I don’t think we need another chapter in the played-out Undertaker-Kane feud.

Batista vs. Rey Mysterio: There has been talk on the Internet about Mysterio needing some time off because he has a bad knee, and with Batista making him sign the Hold Harmless agreement on TV, I’m guessing that Batista wins and “injures” Mysterio in the process. The other plausible finish would be for Batista to dominate the match before Mysterio pulls out a “slip-on-a-banana peel” victory. I’m sticking with my Batista pick.

Kofi Kingston, Christian, Mark Henry, MVP and R-Truth vs. Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase Jr., CM Punk, Wiliam Regal and Cody Rhodes: I think it will come down to Kingston being left alone to face Orton and DiBiase. Some dissension between Orton and DiBiase during the latter stages of the match will give Kingston an opening. First he takes out DiBiase and then gets a big win over Orton to further their program. Kingston is the sole survivor.

The Miz, Drew McIntyre, Sheamus, Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison, Shelton Benjamin, Evan Bourne, Matt Hardy and Finlay: Team Miz is stacked with young guys with a lot of upside; Team Morrison, not so much. I think McIntyre and Finlay will brawl to the back with each other and be counted out, making it a four-on-four match. From there, the other three babyfaces will be eliminated, leaving Morrison at a four-on-one disadvantage. He manages to eliminate Miz (getting his win back from last month’s Bragging Rights pay-per-view) and Swagger (whose inability to work with Miz is his downfall), but then Sheamus softens him up and Ziggler makes the pin. Team Miz wins, with Sheamus and Ziggler the survivors.

Mickie James, Eve, Kelly Kelly, Gail Kim and Melina vs. Michelle McCool, Alicia Fox, Jillian Hall, Layla and Beth Phoenix: I’ve been suspecting a heel turn by Kim for some time now, so perhaps it will happen tonight. I could see the match coming down to Kim and Kelly Kelly against McCool and Beth Phoenix, with Kim walking away from Double K, who is no match for the two heels. Team McCool wins, with McCool and Phoenix as the survivors. I wouldn’t be surprised if Fox survived, too. To further the angle between McCool and James, I think James will be eliminated at some point during the match by McCool.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

There were two angles on Friday night’s episode of Smackdown that raised questions as to whether WWE was sending the wrong messages, especially considering the fact that the company is trying to appeal more to kids and teenagers these days.

In one of the angles, CM Punk cut a heel promo in which he once again spoke about the ills of cigarettes, prescription medication and alcohol. On the surface, Punk’s message about clean living seems like a good one, but he was so preachy, obnoxious and arrogant that I thought it was a perfectly acceptable and effective way to get heel heat. What really made it work for me was the fact that Punk’s current rival, R-Truth, made it clear that his beef with Punk was over the fact that Punk thinks he is better than everyone else, not because he necessarily disagrees with Punk’s lifestyle choices.

I was more put off by how Punk’s character was handled on Tuesday’s episode of ECW. Two babyfaces – Christian and Tiffany – referred to Punk as a “prude” and a “nerd” because he doesn’t drink. That tells viewers that they aren’t cool unless they consume alcohol. For some kids, that thinking could make succumbing to peer pressure more likely.

As long as R-Truth keeps it on a personal level with Punk – “The truth is I don’t like you,” he said on Smackdown – and doesn’t make fun of him for “just saying no,” then I don’t think there’s any reason to be outraged.

The other angle on Smackdown that raised some eyebrows was the one in which Michelle McCool ridiculed Mickie James about her weight.

In the segment, a video appeared on the big screen of McCool signing “Old McDonald” and referring to James as “Piggy James,” complete with a pig nose on James’ face and her head superimposed on a pig’s body. The angle is obviously playing off Internet chatter about WWE being unhappy about James’ purported weight gain.

My initial thought was that it was mean-spirited and inappropriate, and I legitimately felt bad for James when she started crying. WWE seemed to be sending a message to young girls and women that you cannot be attractive unless you’re abnormally thin. James has an athletic build and would not be considered overweight by any rational person.

After thinking about the segment some more, however, I softened my stance. With pro wrestling, the whole idea is to get the fans to empathize with the babyfaces and hate the heels. This angle will only make the popular James even more likable, and it will get a lot of heat on McCool, who could use the help. I get the sense that fans have been pretty much indifferent when it comes to McCool despite her positioning as one of WWE’s top female heels.

The key for me with this angle is that it is a heel who is doing the name-calling and making insensitive and borderline outrageous remarks. It would bother me a lot more if the roles were reversed. For example, several years ago there was an angle in which Trish Stratus (a babyface) made fun of Molly Holly (a heel) for having a “fat ass.” Much like James, Holly did not have the cookie-cutter “diva look,” but she would not be considered overweight anywhere but in the fantasy world of wrestling. That made Stratus come off like the heel, in my opinion.

Pro wrestling, much like other forms of entertainment, is a cosmetic business and looks are important, but portraying fit, healthy women as fat is irresponsible. Now if someone, whether it be a man or a woman, truly is overweight, I do think it’s fair game for their rival to bring it up in a promo. To me, that’s no different than making fun of someone for being bald or having a big nose. In real life, two people who have a strong dislike for one another wouldn’t hesitate to use such insults.

I just hope that Mickie James – the real person, not the character – is able to put this story line in proper perspective. I also hope that the rumors about WWE being unhappy with James’ appearance are not true and that this is not the company’s way of trying to publicly embarrass her.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 1:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (23)
        

I won’t go so far as to say that I’m on the edge of my seat in anticipation for the triple threat match for the world heavyweight title at Sunday’s Survivor Series pay-per-view in Washington (which I will be attending), but I will say that WWE has done a better job of building the contest than it has with the triple threat match for the WWE title.

It’s funny, because I find the John Cena-Triple H-Shawn Michaels match more appealing on paper, but the nonsensical inclusion of Hornswoggle into the program and the lack of tension between the participants brings it down. Triple H and Michaels act as if they care more about Hornswoggle wearing their merchandise than they do about winning the title.

Conversely, for The Undertaker, Chris Jericho and The Big Show, the world heavyweight title is the Holy Grail. While tag partners Triple H and Michaels have said that they don’t care which one of them wins the title, Jericho and Big Show have made it clear that the championship takes precedence over their partnership.

That point was driven home in the main event of Friday night’s episode of Smackdown. At the end of the match that pitted The Undertaker and Kane against Jericho and Big Show, Jericho delivered the Codebreaker to his tag partner, and things were contentious between them throughout the show.

As I wrote last week, it’s possible that all the light-hearted stuff with DX on Raw is really just setting up a big swerve at Survivor Series, but that’s a risky strategy as far as getting people to the buy the pay-per-view.

Other thoughts on Friday’s show:

In regard to the somewhat controversial CM Punk/R-Truth and Mickie James/Michelle McCool segments, I will post a separate entry with my thoughts on them later. I will say that I’m glad that R-Truth is finally in a program with a top guy (if Punk is still considered a top guy by the powers that be in WWE, that is). ...

The main event was just OK, but the final few minutes were good. I didn’t care for Jericho running off the belt, though. I’ve always thought stealing the belt from the champion was silly. ...

With Undertaker, Jericho and Big Show all in the main event at Survivor Series, Kane was the odd man out in the tag match -- he doesn't even have a match at the pay-per-view. I wonder if he will play a role in the triple threat. I just hope he doesn't turn on The Undertaker. While he and his "brother" haven't had a program together in five years, their love/hate relationship is all played out. ...

The backstage segment with Jericho freaking out because he thought The Undertaker was in the room when it was just Big Show turning out the lights would have been good if WWE hadn’t done the exact same angle with Punk a couple months ago. ...

One of the Survivor Series matches I’m most looking forward to is Batista vs. Rey Mysterio. WWE has done a good job with Batista’s heel turn. He really came off like a dangerous, remorseless powerhouse in his victory over Matt Hardy. I also like how Mysterio continues to rely on his elusiveness to get the better of his exchanges with Batista to this point. ...

I was disappointed with the two-out-of-three falls match for the Intercontinental title between champion John Morrison and Dolph Ziggler. They should have been given a lot more time. Three pins in approximately 11 minutes just isn’t believable. Even though I enjoy watching Morrison and Ziggler wrestle, I don’t see how Ziggler getting any more shots can be justified after he has failed so many times to win the title from Mysterio and Morrison. ...

I would love to see a longer match and even a program between Mysterio and Tyson Kidd at some point. ...

It’s a good sign for Drew McIntyre that he one-upped Finlay once again. The veteran entered the ring all hot and seeking revenge for being laid out by McIntyre on a couple occasions, but McIntyre withstood the onslaught and went on to pin Finlay in the middle of the ring after hitting his finisher. ...

What is WWE waiting for when it comes to changing Finlay’s music? With Hornswoggle no longer by his side, it doesn’t fit his “I love to fight” persona at all. ...

Am I the only one who found Vickie Guerrero’s celebratory dance after being named a consultant for Smackdown oddly mesmerizing? (I love that phrase). You know, with the right lighting and a few beers. ...

Posted by Kevin Eck at 5:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)
        

I can’t believe I am actually typing this sentence, but it sure looks as if Mick Foley is turning heel. Again.

On Thursday night’s episode of TNA Impact, Foley was portrayed as insecure and paranoid because he wasn’t given a head’s up about Hulk Hogan joining TNA and TNA president Dixie Carter is not returning his text messages.

It was just a few weeks ago that Foley went babyface after a short stint as a heel during his feud with Abyss. If Foley does indeed turn heel in this story line, it will make the fifth time he has switched sides in his 14-month stint in TNA.

I get it that Foley is supposed to be unpredictable and unstable, but this is ridiculous. At this point, it almost seems like a rib on the audience. If you’re a casual viewer, you have to be totally confused.

Plus, every time Foley turns, it has less impact and weakens his character. It really shocks me that Foley – who has always had a good mind for the business from a creative standpoint – is allowing it to happen.

I think there are too many turns in TNA in general. In recent weeks, Kurt Angle, Team 3D, Daniels, D’Angelo Dinero, Traci Brooks and Jesse Neal have all turned. I don’t know about you, but all those turns have my head spinning.

Other thoughts on Thursday’s show:

TNA spent a week hyping that there would be a taped interview with Sting talking about his potential retirement and Hogan coming to TNA. Mike Tenay mentioned it at the top of the show, saying that the interview “evolved into an unprecedented turn of events.” Wow. I couldn’t wait to see what happened. Unfortunately, nothing did. Sting no-showed it. Talk about a bait and switch. Why go out of your way to tick off your audience? ...

TNA is doing a good job of making the partnership with Hogan come off as a big deal. Having the talent express their thoughts about Hogan in taped segments is a nice touch, and showing comments from Hogan and footage from his book signings also are effective at building anticipation for his imminent arrival. ...

I think I saw A.J. Styles’ nose growing when he was talking about how excited he was about Hogan joining TNA. ...

Kevin Nash told Foley that Hogan is not coming alone. I hope that doesn’t mean that he’s bringing Brutus Beefcake, The Nasty Boys and Jimmy Hart with him. Actually, I wouldn’t mind if “The Mouth of the South” came. ...

Nash bringing up his two-week suspension – which he got for blasting TNA officials backstage and cutting an unscripted promo because he thought the company did not properly take care of Chris Sabin after he suffered a scary-looking injury in the ring – was too much of an inside reference. Vince Russo has never been able to grasp the concept that not every fan reads the Internet. Once again, casual viewers are left confused. ...

The main event, which saw Desmond Wolfe and Daniels defeat Angle and Styles, was really good. Daniels, who scored the winning pin over Styles, is coming off more like a major star than he has at any time in his career. His ability as a worker has never been in question, but his intensity and mic work as of late have also been top notch. ...

So Raven and Dr. Stevie hang Abyss with a cable and TNA cuts to a commercial while he’s being choked out. Unless I missed it, the attack wasn’t mentioned the rest of the show. Was Abyss choked to death? Was he sent to the hospital? It’s pretty inexcusable to leave the audience, um, hanging. ...

Speaking of Abyss, I find him a lot more entertaining as a lovable-but-dangerous monster than when he was a mute monster. Based on what I read on the Internet, I’m in the minority on that one, but I think his former character was too one dimensional and needed to evolve. ...

Dr. Stevie appears to be the leader of the group consisting of him, Raven and Daffney, which I’m happy about. I like Raven, but Stevie is doing the best work of his career, and he shouldn’t be Raven’s lackey anymore. ...

I like Neal’s new look. TNA obviously wanted a dramatic physical transformation, and they succeeded. I do think it could have been accomplished without putting Neal in a sweatshirt and gym shorts when he first came on the scene, however. They could have just had him wear nondescript tights and boots. And if they were going to give him a gimmick haircut when his character changed, they should have had him start out with a normal one. ...

The Sarita-Alissa Flash match was good. Flash is quickly becoming my favorite female wrestler. Having her not show a lot of skin and teasing the crowd that they’re going to see some is a good way to get heat. She needs to do something like that because I think the fans at the Impact Zone want to cheer her. ...

The Hamada-Taylor Wilde match was hard-hitting and entertaining. Hamada also is becoming one of my favorites. The one problem I had with the match was that it was so rushed that the women didn’t have enough time to sufficiently sell all the high-impact moves. ...

I usually find ODB very entertaining, but the “Trash Talking” interview segment she did with Homicide was really bad. That would have never made it on the air if I was in charge. Beyond the fact that it just wasn’t funny, it didn’t make any sense for Homicide (a heel) and ODB (a babyface) to be so friendly with each other. They should have been trading insults. How can you mess up something that basic? ...

A backstage segment with The Beautiful People and Lauren immediately followed the ODB-Homicide disaster and it was almost as bad. Madison Rayne and Lacey Von Erich put on a cringe-worthy performance. ....

I was surprised that Tomko was shown on camera. I figured we wouldn’t see him until it was revealed that he was the mystery man who was attacking Styles. Perhaps he won’t end up being the attacker. Or perhaps the whole thing has already been forgotten. ...

Having a microphone on Don West and listening to him yell instructions to Amazing Red during Red’s match against Scott Steiner was annoying. I also thought it was totally backward how West, Tenay and Taz kept saying that it was unfair that Red had to face Steiner and he was going to end up getting hurt. How weak does that make Red look? Again, how can you mess up something so basic?

Is Big Rob Terry actually going to turn babyface? Why?

Posted by Kevin Eck at 12:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)
        

WWE Hall of Famers and former tag team champions The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff will be signing autographs at the Steel Cage Memorabilia stand in the Plaza Flea Market in Dundalk on Sunday between 12 and 2 p.m.

For more information, go to steelcagememorabilia.com

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

• The Mark Henry-Cody Rhodes match on Thursday night’s episode of WWE Superstars was better than I expected. I was surprised – but not disappointed – that there was no outside interference from MVP or Ted DiBiase Jr. It was an impressive win for Henry. He really seemed to be over with the crowd, but, unfortunately, I think the crowd noise was enhanced in post-production.

• It was time for Zack Ryder to get a win over Shelton Benjamin, so the result wasn’t unexpected. The finish, however, was pretty creative. Rosa Mendes jumped up from her chair at ringside and frantically tried to hand her cell phone to Ryder while the match was going on. It appeared that she wasn’t giving the phone to him to use as a weapon – ala Paul E. Dangerously (Paul Heyman) back in the day – but because he had an urgent phone call. Perhaps it was Grandmaster Sexay calling to say that he wanted his gimmick back. Mendes stepped into the ring, and Benjamin nearly splashed her by accident. That momentary distraction allowed Ryder to hit the Zack Attack for the win.

• Vickie Guerrero got her usual mega-heat when she introduced Eric Escobar for his match against Jimmy Wang Yang. I don’t think the crowd noise had to be sweetened that time. Despite having a heat magnet for a manager, however, Escobar just isn’t connecting with the audience yet.

• As he almost always does, Jimmy Wang Yang looked good before ultimately doing the job.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 1:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

A reader from Australia sent me a link to a story that appeared in the The Daily Telegraph, an Australian newspaper, about the recent brawl between Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan that took place at a press conference to promote The Hulkamania Tour.

The paper covered the incident with Hogan being bloodied up by Flair as if it was a legitimate scuffle. As a journalist, I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

To read the story, click here.

In other Hulkamania Tour news, another reader from Australia sent the following Thursday in regard to ticket sales for Saturday’s show in Melbourne:

As of [Thursday morning], one could still purchase ringside seats in the third row at the show in my home town of Melbourne. I don't know what such tickets would cost in America, but here they're charging $360 Australian (about $335 U.S.) for ringside, down to $50 ($46 U.S.) for the nosebleeds. Tickets have been on sale for a good couple of months so obviously ticket sales have been slow, which is not surprising given you can buy ringside seats for the TNA show for $75 less.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 12:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)
        

Here is an interview I conducted with former TNA Knockout Angelina Love last weekend at Steel Cage Memorabilia in Dundalk. Before anyone asks why certain questions weren't asked, she told me before the camera started rolling that she did not want to discuss anything regarding her release from TNA. And yes, that is SoCal Val talking in the background.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Video interviews
        

Here is an interview I conducted with TNA's SoCal Val last weekend at Steel Cage Memorabilia in Dundalk. Angelina Love makes a cameo.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Video interviews
        

It’s official: Diminutive actor Verne Troyer, best known as Mini-Me in the Austin Powers movies, will be the guest host for Raw a week from Monday in Baltimore at 1st Mariner Arena, WWE announced it on its Web site today.

As someone who will be in attendance at that show, I have to admit that I’m a little disappointed. I was hoping for someone such as Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis or former WWE diva Stacy Keibler (who says that she contacted WWE about the gig but no one returned her calls).

So Hershey, Pa., gets Jesse “The Body” Ventura this Monday, and we get Mini-Me. Baltimore really got the short end of the stick. Speaking of which, I’m sure there will be plenty of “comedy” with Troyer and Hornswoggle.

WWE also announced that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban will be the host for the Dec. 7 Raw, and comedian Dennis Miller will do the honors for the three-hour Slammy Awards version of the show on Dec. 14.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 8:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)
        

At a press conference in Australia to hype their matches on the Hulkamania Tour, Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan engaged in a brawl that resulted in Hogan bleeding profusely from the forehead.

It was obviously staged, but apparently the Australian media is a bit naïve, as it was reported in several outlets there that the fight was real. Oh, brother. If Hogan’s bad acting wasn’t a giveaway, the weak-looking slap that Flair knocked the mighty “Hulkster” down with should have been.

Hogan, old pro that he is, made sure to wear a white shirt to the press conference.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 2:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (22)
        

• It was nice to see CM Punk back in the Land of Extreme on Tuesday night’s episode of ECW. Punk was all over the show and came off like a guy who was visiting his high school after having become a big success.

• I liked the main event, which saw Punk and William Regal defeat Christian and R-Truth when Punk pinned Christian. With their stiff styles, Punk and Regal would make a terrific heel tag team.

• The Hurricane and Paul Burchill had a good match. As per the stipulation, Burchill and his “sister” Katie Lea have to leave ECW because he lost. The question now is: Where will the Burchills end up – Raw or Smackdown? I think there may be a possibility that they stay put. Someone else may have already suggested this, but I could see Burchill and Katie Lea coming back under masks to continue their feud with Hurricane. Every superhero needs super villains to battle.

• I think WWE is sending the wrong message by having babyfaces such as Christian and ECW general manager Tiffany refer to Punk as a “nerd” and a “prude” because he doesn’t drink. I thought the Attitude Era was over.

• Shelton Benjamin told Zack Ryder that he should be called Black and Decker because he’s “a power tool.” That was such a lame line, I’ll bet that even Tony Atlas wouldn’t have laughed.

• I think Vance Archer has potential, but it’s going to take some time to get the crowd to care about him.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)
        

Before I get into discussing the specifics of Monday night’s episode of Raw, I want to make a comment about ratings. If the numbers for this show end up being below average, WWE definitely will not be able to blame it on strong competition from “Monday Night Football.”

Take it from someone who actually sat through the Ravens’ 16-0 win over the Browns, it was about as exciting as a 60-minute Iron Man Match between The Great Khali and Vladimir Kozlov. The Ravens looked about as inspired as Kevin Nash at a house show, and the Browns’ offense was more pathetic-looking than a Lacey Von Erich chokeslam.

While the Ravens and Browns struggled to find the end zone (it was a scoreless tie at halftime), Raw at times felt like it had entered the Twilight Zone.

The show was hosted by the legendary Roddy Piper – who was more rambling than rowdy – and featured cameo appearances by “celebrities” such as the Latino character actor from “Boogie Nights,” the woman from “The View” that MVP took to the prom and some guy from “30 Rock” who looked like he could have been a regular in the front row at the ECW Arena in the ’90s. Oh, and The Iron Sheik also showed up because someone confused him with The Iron Chef (whoever that is).

The build – or should I say, lack there of – for Sunday’s Survivor Series pay-per-view was perplexing. The key figure in the triple threat main event for the WWE title between John Cena, Triple H and Shawn Michaels continues to be Hornswoggle of all people. This time a swerve was worked. Triple H and Shawn Michaels invited the little guy to join DX, but then Triple H gave him a Pedigree, and he and Michaels carried him out on a stretcher. I wonder if Hornswoggle will interfere in the match Sunday. I’m not joking, either. Speaking of joking, Cena cut one of his over-the-top ha-ha promos that was totally inappropriate to do six days for a pay-per-view.

WWE actually did a better job of building anticipation for WrestleMania – which is over four months away – than it did for Survivor Series. During the triple threat tag match that pitted Cena and The Undertaker against DX against Chris Jericho and The Big Show, Undertaker gave Cena a Tombstone piledriver out of nowhere after the match. That certainly seems like a tease for an Undertaker-Cena match at WrestleMania XXVI. I wrote this past April after WrestleMania XXV that I thought Undertaker-Cena made perfect sense for the next WrestleMania.

It another example of potential foreshadowing, Cena scored the winning pin on Triple H in the triple threat. Judging by WWE’s booking tendencies, you know what that means.

Other thoughts on Monday’s show:

The highlight of the show was a heated brawl between Kofi Kingston and Randy Orton, even though the confrontation got off to an inauspicious start. Kingston stood to-to-toe with Orton and ended up getting the better of him when he put Orton through a table with a soaring double legdrop off the railing outside the ring in the production area. The crowd was super-hot for Kingston, who really came off like a major star. It was a nice touch to have Kingston tease the spot – several referees prevented him from doing it at first – before following through. The angle started off with Orton attacking Piper. As Orton was about to deliver a punt to Piper’s head, Kingston’s music was supposed to hit to distract him. Unfortunately, the sound guy was a second late, and Orton had to hold up on the kick, which made him look bad. Still, this was a great segment. ...

Orton was busted open hard-way after Kingston smashed him over the head with a metal lid. The trickle of blood on Orton’s forehead was not acknowledged by the announcers. ...

The crowd didn’t like it when Triple H gave Hornswoggle the Pedigree, but I did. I’m not really sure what the point is of Hornswoggle being involved with DX. Hornswoggle as comic relief with mid-carders is fine, but he doesn’t belong anywhere near main event-level stars. ...

The interaction between Piper and Vince McMahon was entertaining because it seemed like a lot of it was improvised. In trading barbs, I have to say that I think McMahon got the better of the exchange. It’s probably for the best that the proposed street fight between the two did not take place. ...

Piper was all over the place with his promo before McMahon came out, but he made sure to get in a few shots at Hulk Hogan (as did The Iron Sheik in the opening segment). I know Piper didn’t mean any harm, but I didn’t care for his line that anyone who has gone up against him – he named Hogan, Bruno Sammartino, Lou Albano and Andre The Giant – ends up either bald or dead. Too soon after Capt. Lou’s death for that one. ...

The Madison Square Garden wrestling video retrospective was well done. Surprisingly there was a lot of Hogan in it. Kurt Angle, Mick Foley and former WWWF/WWF champions Superstar Billy Graham and Bob Backlund also were shown, but Sammartino – the biggest wrestling draw in the history of MSG – was not (unless I blinked and missed it). ...

WWE is doing everything right in trying to get Sheamus over as a star, but I’m still not feeling it. ...

I liked how Michael Cole showed concern for Jerry Lawler after he was attacked by Sheamus. That’s a huge contrast to the way TNA just goes about business as usual – including doing comedy – right after people are attacked and rushed to the hospital on Impact. ...

It made the babyfaces who are opposing Sheamus’ team at Survivor Series look bad when none of them came out after Sheamus issued a challenge to the locker room. I thought for sure that Evan Bourne was coming out to get squashed. Instead, Bourne got squashed by Jack Swagger, who got his win back from last week. I really don’t know why WWE bothered to do the winning streak gimmick with Swagger in the first place if this is all that came of it. ...

The Miz-MVP match was good. Miz winning was the right call. A few months ago I would have never said that. ...

Miz got a lot of heat before even saying a word when he had the mic prior to the match. I popped when he said that the Yankees don’t deserve to be champions because they bought the title. ...

Santino Marella’s bit with the New York jerseys was pretty good. ...

Was it me or did it look as if that woman from “The View” raided Michael Jackson’s wardrobe? ...

How does Chris Masters keep a straight face when doing his dancing pecs routine?

Posted by Kevin Eck at 7:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (52)
        

Jesse Ventura will return to his pro wrestling roots next Monday when he serves as guest host for a three-hour Thanksgiving-themed episode of Raw, WWE announced in a press release today.

Ventura and WWE chairman Vince McMahon have had a strained relationship over the years, but this announcement doesn’t surprise me at all. In fact, Ventura was one of 20 names I came up with last July when looking at potential guest hosts for Raw. No matter how they feel about each other personally or what they say about each other publicly, Ventura and McMahon have shown in the past that they won’t hesitate to do business together if it’s mutually advantageous.

McMahon obviously believes that Ventura will be a ratings draw, while Ventura certainly sees the value in having a vehicle to promote his upcoming series on truTV, “Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura.”

I’ve always found “The Body” to be entertaining whether he was wrestling, commentating, appearing on a talk show or governing the state of Minnesota. Selfishly, I wish Ventura’s appearance as guest host would have been pushed back to the following Monday, when Raw takes place in Baltimore at 1st Mariner Arena.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
        

The featured Ring Posts comment of the past week goes to Elevation, who responded Friday to the entry "A big ‘legend’ takes up space on TNA Impact.”

In the post, I noted how the fans in the Impact Zone chanted “You still got it” at Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart. Here is Elevation’s comment:

What does a washed up wrestler have to do in TNA to not earn a “You Still Got It” chant?

I remember when Scott Hall got one for cutting a promo with Kevin Nash. He then promptly no showed the PPV a week or two later.

I will select the Ring Posts Comment of the Week every Monday.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)
Categories: Comment of the week
        

TNA president Dixie Carter posted the following on her Twitter account:

Tell TNA to bring a live show to YOUR hometown in 2010. Starting Monday, vote for your city at TNAwrestling.com/demandit. Your voice counts!

Posted by Kevin Eck at 11:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
        

The first-ever singles match between Chris Jericho and The Undertaker did not end the way I thought it would on Friday night’s episode of Smackdown.

With Jericho on a roll as of late and the triple threat match for the world heavyweight title between Jericho, The Big Show and champion The Undertaker set for Nov. 22 at the Survivor Series pay-per-view, I expected there to be some type of non-finish due to interference from Big Show. Instead, Undertaker made Jericho tap out to Hell’s Gate. So much for that roll that Jericho was on.

It doesn’t make sense to me to have Jericho lose clean to the champion nine days before the pay-per-view – especially when WWE had been doing a nice job of re-building Jericho’s credibility in recent weeks. Perhaps WWE booked Jericho to lose on Smackdown because he is going to win the title in an upset at Survivor Series, but I really don’t think that’s the case.

As for the match itself, I thought it was good, and Jericho did come across as a legitimate threat to The Undertaker before the tap-out.

Other thoughts on Friday’s show:

I don’t know if Kane – who made the save when The Undertaker was being double-teamed by Jericho and Big Show after the match – is officially a babyface now, but I think it makes The Brothers of Destruction more interesting if one is a babyface and the other is a heel. ...

Matt Striker made a rare mistake when discussing wrestling history. He said that when Jericho defeated The Rock and Steve Austin in the same night, it was a triple threat match. Actually, he defeated each of them in one-on-one matches that night to become the first undisputed champion. ...

We’ve seen hundreds of in-ring contract signings over the years, but I thought this one with Batista and Rey Mysterio was pretty good. I love Batista’s intensity as a heel. His insistence that Mysterio sign a “Hold Harmless Agreement” was a nice touch. ...

The John Morrison-Dolph Ziggler Intercontinental title match was decent despite the double-countout finish. Perhaps Ziggler will finally win the title in the two-out-of-three falls match on next week’s show. Of course, I’ve been saying “next time” for Ziggler for quite a while now. I have to be right one of these times. ...

Morrison’s pre-match promo was one of his better ones, although he’s still got some work to do in regard to his mic skills. ...

Once again, Drew McIntyre demonstrated that a vicious beat-down sometimes gets you over more than a pinfall victory would. After wrestling to a double-disqualification with Finlay, McIntyre laid out the veteran for a second time. Sticking with the scene in the ring (Finlay was being attended to by trainers and officials) instead of cutting to a commercial at a point where you would expect a break added to the impact of the attack. ...

The match between CM Punk and R-Truth – which was won by Punk when he used the ropes for leverage – wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. It was slow-moving and lacked crowd heat. ...

The Mickie James-Natalya match was good, although I wish it would have gone longer than four minutes. I’d really like to see a program between these two. Instead, Natalya was used as a pawn in a Michelle McCool angle. That’s just plain wrong.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 6:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
        

As usual, there was a lot going on during Thursday night’s episode of TNA Impact.

Raven made his surprise return. Mick Foley’s face was burned as the result of a fireball thrown at him by Raven. Desmond Wolfe laid out Kurt Angle – again. TNA world champion A.J. Styles was pinned by Samoa Joe in a non-title match. TNA world tag team champions The British Invasion were pinned by Beer Money in a non-title match. Team 3D turned heel. D’Angelo Dinero turned babyface. Traci Brooks’ disability was acknowledged for the first time on TV and became the basis for an angle. Scott Steiner attacked Bobby Lashley in his hotel room while a horrified Crystal Lashley looked on. And TNA ripped off Raw’s guest host concept by having Super Dave Osborne involved in the show.

But what really stuck out was the appearance of Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart. Actually, what stuck out the most was “The Anvil’s” bulbous belly. I know Neidhart was never svelte, but good Lord.

How fat was he?

Neidhart was so fat that it looked as if Natalya was about to gain a sibling on national television. He was so fat that his profile made Alfred Hitchcock looked like Michelle McCool – if she hadn’t eaten for a week. People talk about Matt Hardy and Mickie James gaining weight, well Neidhart was so fat that he looked like he had swallowed Hardy and James. Neidhart was so fat that he moved slower in the ring than The Great Khali on a slow-motion replay. I’m here all week.

It was an embarrassment to put someone who looked like that on TV and it was absurd to have him beat one of the company’s talented young stars – “Black Machismo” Jay Lethal – clean. So much for Lethal’s challenge to the “legends.” By the way, referring to Neidhart as a legend is a real stretch. And speaking of a real stretch, Neidhart’s tights must have a heck of a sturdy waistband.

I’m not sure what TNA is thinking here, but I have a few ideas.

The most obvious answer is that Hulk Hogan is up to his old tricks and he’s bringing in a cast of WWF has-beens who will bury the young talent. I don’t buy it. If I know Vince Russo, he’s trying to work the smart marks into believing that’s the case. You know, another one of his infamous worked shoots? Perhaps the ultimate goal of this angle is for Lethal top shed the Randy Savage impersonator gimmick. If so, then I suppose the ends justify the means. While I do find Lethal’s act entertaining, he has no chance of moving up the card unless he takes on a more serious persona. A heel turn might do wonders for him, as well.

Other thoughts on Thursday’s show:

More on Neidhart: I was amazed that the fans at The Impact Zone were cheering Neidhart and booing Lethal. They also were chanting “You still got it” at Neidhart. As the WWE announcers would say, it was Bizzaro World. ...

TNA is doing a great job of making Wolfe look like a major star, but I’m not sure they needed to do yet another beat-down of Angle. Sometimes less is more. I think Angle cutting a promo and Wolfe appearing on the video screen would have sufficed. ...

I found it a bit ironic that Wolfe said he was healthier than Angle. The whole reason that Wolfe is in TNA and not WWE is because he failed WWE’s medical exam. I wonder if that was another one of Russo’s lines aimed at the smarks. ...

I’m not a big Super Dave Osborne fan (he’s no Ozzy, that’s for sure), but I didn’t have a problem with him being on the show – other than the fact that his voice started to annoy me after a while. I did think that it was stupid to have Osborne and Jeremy Borash doing comedy when talking about Foley being rushed to the hospital after having his face burned. That’s one of the big differences between WWE and TNA. If a major babyface had been injured like that on a WWE broadcast, the announcers would have been somber and it would have been referenced throughout the show. In TNA, it’s made light of and treated as just another angle on an episode that had so many of them. ...

When talking about Hogan, Angle said “The Hulkster” knows what works when it comes to wrestling. Yeah, he knows what works for Hogan. ...

It was good to see Raven back. I’ve always been a fan of the character, and I like him, Dr. Stevie and Daffney as a group. ...

Either wrestlingobserver.com’s report last month that Daffney had suffered a broken arm at the Bound for Glory pay-per-view was incorrect or she is a fast healer. She did suffer a concussion at BFG. ...

Team 3D are awesome heels, but like I’ve said before, the motivation for them and Rhino turning – their belief that the younger guys are trying to take out the veterans – is the exact same angle TNA did with the formation of The Main Event Mafia (and Team 3D and Rhino were on the opposite side in that one). Russo has gone to the young vs. old well way too often throughout his career. When I worked at WCW, I remember asking him one time about him copying WWF angles. His response was that those WWF angles were his idea and you can’t copy yourself. ...

Brother Ray referred to Hernandez as “an uneducated Mexican with no green card.” I don’t think you can say that. ...

I said several weeks ago that TNA was probably going to have to turn Dinero babyface since the crowd was cheering him. He’s definitely a lot more entertaining as “The Pope” than he was as Elijah Burke in ECW. ...

For those who were confused about the angle with Brooks, she suffers from Erb’s Palsy, which affects the nerves in her arms. I’m not surprised that it has been incorporated into a story line, but I didn’t understand why Mike Tenay and Taz were saying that Alissa Flash had “crossed the line” by targeting Brooks’ arm in their match. Isn’t going after an opponent’s weakness an acceptable thing to do? It looks like the idea here was to turns Brooks babyface, but the crowd booed her when she attacked Flash after the match. ...

I’m not really feeling the Styles-Joe-Daniels main event program. Perhaps it’s because the on-again, off-again friendship between Styles and Daniels is so played out. ...

When Foley told Osborne that he could book a match involving the Knockouts “as long as they’re dressed appropriately,” I figured it was just a shot at WWE toning down the divas’ attire in the company’s new family-friendly era, but then I saw The Beautiful People showing a lot less skin this week. Look, I don’t ask for much, but I’m begging TNA not to keep Velvet Sky in long pants. ...

I thought I had seen it all when Lacey Von Erich botched a chokeslam a couple weeks ago, but she looked awkward just locking up on this show. Any match involving LVE makes an Alicia Fox-Kelly Kelly contest look like Jack Brisco vs. Dory Funk. On a positive note, I thought it was funny how Sky and Madison Rayne stopped LVE from hugging Awesome Kong after the heels defeated ODB, Tara, Taylor Wilde and Sarita in an eight-woman tag match. ...

Steiner’s pipe shots on Lashley looked incredibly weak, but he made up for them when he smashed him in the head with a lamp. ...

I liked the six-man X Division match in which The Motor City Machine Guns and Amazing Red defeated Homicide, Sheik Abdul Bashir and Kiyoshi. ...

Eric Young had a nice line about Hogan: “I was a huge fan of his – when I was 3.”

Posted by Kevin Eck at 7:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (27)
        

• Thursday night’s episode of WWE Superstars was one of those shows that wasn’t a waste of time if you watched it, but it was no big deal if you missed it. The best match was the main event between MVP and Ted DiBiase, which MVP won. I think MVP needs all the victories he can get at this point.

• The Matt Hardy-David Hart Smith match wasn’t bad, either. Hardy won, as expected. I was just happy to see a member of The Hart Dynasty in a match that didn’t involve Cryme Tyme.

• Rosa Mendes isn’t exactly bringing good luck to Zack Ryder. Then again, if Ryder hooks up with Mendes, he’s a winner in anybody’s book.

• With his count-out victory over Ryder, Shelton Benjamin has actually won a couple matches in a row. They were both flukes, but it’s always good to see Benjamin win no matter what the circumstances. I’d love to see Benjamin really get on a roll and get an ECW title program with Christian.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

Former TNA Knockouts champion and Beautiful People member Angelina Love and current TNA talent SoCal Val will be part of the autograph signing at the Steel Cage Memorabilia stand in the Plaza Flea Market in Dundalk on Saturday.

The ladies will be signing from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.

For more information, go to steelcagememorabilia.com

Posted by Kevin Eck at 6:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

The Rock and Roll Express, Shane Douglas and Gillberg will be signing autographs at the Steel Cage Memorabilia stand in the Plaza Flea Market in Dundalk on Saturday at 11 a.m.

For more information, go to steelcagememorabilia.com

Posted by Kevin Eck at 5:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

The Baltimore Pro Wrestling Expo, an autograph-signing event scheduled to take place Saturday at the Best Western in Elkridge, has been canceled.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 12:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

• To the surprise of no one, Christian and William Regal – two masters at telling a story in the ring – put on a heck of a match on Tuesday night’s episode of ECW. While I really wouldn’t have minded if Regal had won the ECW championship match, I think it was the right call to keep the belt on Christian, whose second reign as champion began in July. A guy of Christian’s caliber holding the title for an extended period certainly adds to the prestige of the championship. The other positive thing about having Christian as champion is that he has the ability to have good matches with various types of wrestlers and always makes his opponent look like a million bucks.

• The look of disdain on Regal’s face when he walked away after a backstage conversation with ECW general manager Tiffany was tremendous. The huge smile on her face after he left wasn’t bad, either.

• I was confused when Goldust came out to face Paul Burchill, as I was expecting to see the blowoff match to the Burchill-Hurricane program. Apparently, that match is taking place on next week’s show. My bad. I must have been distracted by the oddly mesmerizing Katie Lea.

• I was disappointed with The Abraham Washington Show this week. I just didn’t find the interaction between Washington and Yoshi Tatsu very funny.

• Perhaps I’m in the minority, but I like the dream sequences with Zack Ryder and Rosa Mendes. What’s wrong with a little campy humor on a wrestling show?

Posted by Kevin Eck at 12:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
        

Orioles Hall of Famer Cal Ripken played in a major league record 2,632 consecutive games. Swimmer Michael Phelps made history by winning eight gold medals at the 2008 Olympics.

But neither can claim the Baltimore Celebrity Smackdown title. That trophy will sit on the mantle of former WWE diva and “Dancing with the Stars” contestant Stacy Keibler – well, it would if there was a trophy.

I spoke with Keibler on the phone from Los Angeles Tuesday afternoon about her monumental victory in the baltimoresun.com online voting contest to determine Baltimore’s biggest celebrity, as well as a few other topics.

How does it feel to officially be recognized as Baltimore’s biggest celebrity?

[Laughs] I don’t even really have words to describe it, especially with the people that were on the list. When I saw the category that I was in I was like, “Oh, great. I’m never going to beat Cal Ripken and Michael Phelps.” Cal and I have become friends, and I’m sure that we’re going to have a laugh the next time we see each other.

So you haven’t talked to Cal about it?

No, I had talked with some of the people who run his organization. After I beat him they promoted “Vote for Stacy.” I just can’t get over this. It’s so funny, but I’m so excited about it because I really have so much pride being from Baltimore, so it means a lot to me. I’m really proud that I was born and raised in Baltimore and some of the people on the list weren’t, so I think that also makes it special.

What do your parents and your friends from Baltimore think about all of this?

My parents are just so proud and excited. They’ve been following the whole contest and they were voting. They just can’t get over it.

Did you encourage people to vote for you on Facebook or Twitter?

Yeah. I started Facebook and Twitter pages a couple months ago. The fan support on both has been great and really helped to spread the word about the contest. It’s been great because I enjoy interacting with my fans whenever I can. It’s so great to hear fans’ responses. Some days I have more time than others to respond, but I try to post something every day.

You have to answer this one honestly: Before this contest, did you know who Marin Alsop was? She finished a distant second to you in the finals.

No.

Do you know who she is now?

She’s in music, right?

She is the BSO conductor.

Oh.

Don’t feel bad. I didn’t know who she was either. I had to Google her when I saw that she destroyed Brooks Robinson in the third round.

Oh my God [laughs].

Tell me about what you’re doing with “Dancing with the Stars.”

You know how Kenny Mayne does DanceCenter, the spoof on SportsCenter with him and Jerry Rice and Len [Goodman]? I’m now the special correspondent. I’m in the back in the Red Room. I did a whole bunch of different bits with different celebrities, but they’re only going to choose a couple of them, so I don’t know what exactly will air [Tuesday] night. It was so amazing to be backstage and not be stressed out. I sat there for the entire show watching people running around and dancing in the hallways. I feel like when I was on the show, all that went right past me because it was such a whirlwind. It was great to be backstage and see everyone’s energy.

You just did an episode of “Psych” [USA Network], right?

Yes. We don’t have an air date, but I believe it airs sometime in 2010. That was another amazing experience. My character is into extreme sports, so I’m white-water rafting and rock climbing. It was shot in Vancouver, which was gorgeous. I also just did a photo shoot for a magazine called Kurv, which is an Australian magazine. It’s a whole 1940s look. I’m sure they’ll be posted on the Web somewhere.

Any plans to come back home for a visit?

Yeah, I’m coming home for Thanksgiving. I come home for Christmas every year, but it’s like the first time I’ve been home for Thanksgiving since I was 18. One of the major reasons I’m coming home is because of the Ravens-Steelers game [on Nov. 29]. I’m actually going to be on the field. I’m not sure if I’m going to be doing the coin toss or just on the field for the player introductions.

Are you still optimistic about the Ravens’ chances this season?

I’m still optimistic. We had such an amazing start to the season. Now we’ve just hit a little rough patch. We can come out of it.

Raw is in Baltimore the night after the Ravens-Steelers game. Has anyone from WWE contacted you about guest hosting the show?

No one has contacted me. I actually had my management contact them, and nobody ever got back to us [laughs]. So I guess they’re not interested.

Has TNA reached out to you at all? I know you know some people there – Hulk Hogan, Mick Foley. Would you have any interest?

The organization hasn’t, but Mick and I talk regularly. They haven’t contacted me to do anything, plus I still have my deal with ABC, so I wouldn’t be able to do anything like that.

Stacy Keibler is on Facebook at facebook.com/stacykeibler and Twitter at twitter.com/StacyKeibler

Posted by Kevin Eck at 11:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Q&As
        

Monday’s episode of Raw, which was hosted by British boxer Ricky Hatton, did a 3.1 rating, which equals the worst number the show has done since instituting the guest host format last June.

The numbers seem to indicate that the guest hosts do have some impact on the ratings. The last time Raw did a 3.1 was on the Sept. 28 show, which was hosted by Rev. Al Sharpton. Hatton is not as big of an athletic star in the U.S. as past Raw hosts such as Shaquille O’Neal and Ben Roethlisberger, and Sharpton is a polarizing political figure.

Last week’s show, hosted by Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, did a 3.5 on a night when there was a World Series game on at the same time.

No matter how you look at it, a 3.1 two weeks before the Survivor Series pay-per-view isn’t a good sign.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 8:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
        

Assault and harassment charges against Kurt Angle were dropped today at a hearing in suburban Pittsburgh, the Associated Press reported.

Angle had been accused of attacking ex-girlfriend Trenesha Biggers (Rhaka Khan) last August.

Biggers also withdrew a protection from abuse complaint against Angle, and the two have agreed not to have any contact with one another.

Khan was released by TNA last month.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 7:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

With the Survivor Series pay-per-view less than two weeks away, the three participants in the triple threat match for the WWE title – John Cena, Triple H and Shawn Michaels – were still joking with each other and doing comedy bits with Hornswoggle on Monday night’s episode of Raw.

Doesn’t exactly make you want to shell out $40 to see them fight, does it?

While WWE’s booking of the title program certainly has been questionable to this point, I think there may be a method to the madness, especially as it relates to the DX members.

Rather than teasing tension between Triple H and Michaels, WWE is making it seem as if the two BFF’s are more interested in DX hijinks than winning the title. Therefore, when they eventually do put down the neon glow sticks and they morph back into “The Game” and “The Heartbreak Kid,” it will have more impact.

I’m guessing that things will get more serious on next week’s show during the triple threat tag team match pitting DX vs. Chris Jericho and The Big Show vs. Cena and The Undertaker. It already started during Monday night’s show when Cena, who was doing color commentary during the DX vs. Jericho and Big Show match, raised the question of whether Michaels would try to win the title at Survivor Series or help Triple H win it.

Other thoughts on Monday’s show:

I wasn’t real familiar with Ricky Hatton, but once I got past his rather ordinary, less-than-athletic look, I thought he did a pretty good job. He seemed like a likable enough bloke and he handled himself well on the mic in the opening segment with Jericho and Big Show. ...

I’m surprised that WWE ended Jack Swagger’s winning streak so soon and I’m even more surprised at how it ended – with a fluke loss to Evan Bourne thanks to The Miz’s distraction. Why even start the winning streak angle in the first place if you’re not going to do anything with it? At least have him keep winning until the last week of December, when a loss would mean something (he said several weeks ago that he not lose the rest of the year). ...

The verbal confrontation with Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes against Kofi Kingston, MVP and Mark Henry was good. The more Kingston interacts with Orton, the more Kingston looks like a star. ...

Orton intimidating the big security guy into letting him into MVP’s VIP Lounge by simply glaring at him was a nice touch. ...

It would have been nice if some mention was made during the six-man tag match of Henry’s pinfall victory over Orton last summer. Since it was never followed up on, I suppose it never really happened. It’s a shame, because Henry got a big pop that night, and I think a short program between the two could have been a nice break from Orton wrestling the same guys all the time. ...

I liked the Alicia Fox-Kelly Kelly match. Fox is getting better all the time with her heel mannerisms and aggressive offense, and Kelly Kelly plays the babyface in peril role well. I’m surprised Gail Kim, who accompanied Double K to ringside, didn’t get involved in some way....

Next week’s show with Roddy Piper as guest host should be entertaining.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 7:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (25)
        

Former WWE diva and Rosedale native Stacy Keibler used her 42-inch legs to run away with The Baltimore Celebrity Smackdown title.

Keibler – one of eight finalists from the original field of 64 in baltimoresun.com’s tournament to crown Baltimore’s biggest celebrity based on online voting – received a whopping 442,831 votes (74.6 percent), easily finishing ahead of runner-up Marin Alsop (149,005 votes, 25.1 percent), the conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. The other six participants combined accounted for just 0.3 percent.

To get to the final round, Keibler routed Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon (90.1 percent to 9.9 percent), Orioles Hall of Famer Cal Ripken (78.4 to 21.6) and record-setting Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps (79.7 to 20.3) in one-on-one-match-ups.

The people have spoken.

I’ll post some comments from Keibler later.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
        

Courtesy of reader Jon Laughlin, here is a report from Sunday’s WWE house show in Liverpool, England.

Take it away, Jon:

My friend and I went to the Raw DX Invasion Tour [Sunday] at Liverpool. Overall, the event was really good, though some of the matches left a bit to be desired.

First up, Kofi Kingston against Chris Masters. Kofi got a nice pop, Masters just got booed for the sake of it really. The match was good, one of the best of the night simply because of Kofi whose high energy was a good opener to the show. The match progressed with Masters in charge and Kofi attempted to come back, but Masters thwarting his attempts. In the end, Kofi fought back, there were a few near falls, but Kofi won after about 10 minutes with Trouble In Paradise.

Next was an ECW match between Hurricane and Paul Burchill. I was surprised there was no support for Burchill even though he is English. The match was fairly simple and there was pretty much zero crowd reaction throughout and Hurricane won in around 5 minutes.

The third match was Sheamus v Primo. Before it began Sheamus got on the mike, and bashed Liverpool as a city and then the football teams saying they were a 'joke'. Primo recieved some support and got in a little bit of offense but Sheamus won in around 5 minutes again with his kick to the head.

The next bout was between Evan Bourne and Jack Swagger. Swagger attacked Bourne on his entrance which got him a lot of heat, then he proceeded to beat him down, Bourne rallied and teased the Shooting Star Press a few times, but Swagger always got up before he could do it. This match was a good technical match and Swagger won by reversing a Bourne move and pulling him up into the Powerbomb.

Then The Miz fought MVP for the US Title. Pre-bout Miz got on the mike and asked why people chanted he sucked when he was the only Raw member to win at Bragging Rights, and he's awesome. Miz had tons of heat and was loving it. This match was very mat based and contained many submissions. Miz won in around 10.

Santino v Chavo was up next. Santino got a good pop and cut a promo saying he had been beaten by Chavo so went to the library and got out 7 books and 2 DVDs and learned martial arts. He had created his own martial arts Marella Martial Arts and was going to use his new move the Cobra which could paralyse his opponent. I had heard he cut promos about this before but he was genuinely funny, and throughout the match the 2 worked really well making the crowd laugh with Marella going to use his Cobra move. There was also a nice spot where Chavo went to the top rope for the Frog Splash and Marella rolled to the opposite corner so Chavo went to that corner and Marella rolled to the opposite one again. A decent match with some nice reversals and Santino won with a roll-up.

Then there was a Divas Tag match between Jillian and Alicia Fox and Melina and Kelly Kelly. Jillian started singing a Beatles song but was thankfully cut short by Kelly's entrance! The match was OK Kelly was exposed and teased the tag for a while before finally Melina got in and cleared house before pinning Jillian.

Chris Jericho v Mark Henry was next. Jericho cut a great promo talking about why the crowd was saying he sucked when it wasn't possible because he's not a scouser (a derogatory term for someone from Liverpool), he was brilliant on the mike and said that the reaction to him after he had flown a long way to be there meant he was going to leave, but Henry's music hit stopping him going. The bout took a long time to get going as Jericho was not prepared to lock up with Henry. Henry dominated, but Jericho tried to target his back and neck to keep him down, when this was failing he got a chair and hit Henry in the midriff and back to get disqualified, leaving Henry the winner. I thought it was good Jericho kept his momentum but a realistic finish without him cleanly beating Henry. Henry got his revenge and hit the Worlds Strongest Slam after the finish.

Finally, the main event was Cena and DX against Orton and Legacy. The match was good and fast-paced as you'd expect with a 6-man tag. There was a funny spot with Cena and DX pulling Orton and Legacy's trunks down to reveal their buttocks and the superstars seemed to be having fun with the match. The finish was a nice go home moment for the fans with the faces winning each one hitting their finishing move on a separate person.

Overall, the crowd took a while to warm up but was electric for the main event. Cena and DX got the biggest pop followed by Kofi, while Orton and Legacy got the most heat followed by Jericho.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 2:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
        

The featured Ring Posts comment of the past week comes from Jon, who responded Tuesday to the entry "It's vintage Ozzy on Raw.”

In that post, I remarked that "Chris Masters' chest has more personality than he does." Here is Jon's comment:

You could say that about most of the Divas on the roster as well.

I will select the Ring Posts Comment of the Week every Monday.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Comment of the week
        

Question 5 answer

Which NWA heel faction attacked Ricky Morton and rubbed his face on the floor in the dressing room?

Answer: The Four Horsemen. The first correct response came in on Saturday at 4:15 p.m.; the second at 6:39. The two winners get a backstage meet and greet and photo opportunity with Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson at the Adrenaline Championship Wrestling show on Nov. 15 at the Annapolis Boys and Girls Club along with a ticket to the show.

Congratulations to all 10 winners.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

We’re a couple weeks into Batista’s heel turn, and I’m giving it a thumbs up to this point.

“The Animal’s” switch to the dark side is working for several reasons, one of which is the way Batista’s character has been developed. He’s not a cocky, smarmy heel like Chris Jericho or a psychotic heel like Randy Orton. He’s a powerhouse whose frustration over his inability to hold the world title for more than a week over the past two years finally caused him to explode. His motivation for turning against his friend Rey Mysterio and his willingness to go through anyone who stands between him and the title is realistic.

During a backstage interview on Friday night’s episode of Smackdown, he was able to get his point across with just a few measured words and an intense glare. He also came off as a dangerous force in his match against Matt Hardy.

Another reason Batista’s turn is effective is due to the fact that he hasn’t been a heel in more than four years. Because he had a significant stretch as a babyface, his change in attitude has impact. Plus, he is a much bigger star now than he was during his last heel run as a member of Evolution.

Other thoughts on Friday’s show:

Even though Batista is getting the big push, he lost to Hardy by disqualification, which I thought was a good call. Batista looked dominant and demonstrated heel qualities – he assaulted Hardy outside the ring and hit him over the head with a TV monitor – without Hardy getting totally squashed. I was surprised that Batista didn’t follow through with the Batista Bomb that he teased after the match. ...

It was cool seeing Jericho and The Undertaker engage in a verbal confrontation, and it will be even better to see them in a one-on-one match on next week’s show. Somehow, two of the biggest stars of the past decade have only been in the ring together on rare occasions and have never had a singles program. ...

I liked the CM Punk vs. R-Truth match. It was nice to see R-Truth get a big – if somewhat predictable and fluky – win over a star such as Punk. I’m interested to see where the angle between Punk and referee Scott Armstrong is headed. ...

Despite the ridiculous difference in size, Mysterio and Mike Knox had a good match. Mysterio has always had a knack for making his matches against huge men look believable. ...

Here’s a surprise: The Hart Dynasty wrestled Cryme Tyme. This time it was in a six-man tag match also involving John Morrison and Dolph Ziggler. At least the right team won (the heels) and the right guy scored the winning pinfall (Ziggler). ...

I’m looking forward to Morrison vs. Ziggler for the Intercontinental title on next week’s show. Ziggler has to win it this time, right? I wouldn’t be surprised if Maria showed up, turned heel and cost Morrison the title, but I’m not sure if she is available due to her participation on “Celebrity Apprentice.” ...

I like what WWE is doing with Beth Phoenix, who squashed another enhancement talent.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
        

Which NWA heel faction attacked Ricky Morton and rubbed his face on the floor in the dressing room?

The first two people to send the correct answer to kevin.eck@baltsun.com win a backstage meet and greet and photo opportunity with Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson at the Adrenaline Championship Wrestling show on Nov. 15 at the Annapolis Boys and Girls Club along with a ticket to the show.

Please include your first and last name and a daytime phone number along with your answer.

Question 4 answer

When Ricky Morton turned heel in WCW in 1991, what was the name of his manager?

Answer: Alexandra York. The first correct response came in on Friday night at 8:01; the second at 8:29.

Note: Please remember to e-mail your answer. Answers posted as comments on the blog will not be considered.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Chaz Warrington – better known to wrestling fans as Mosh, one half of former WWF tag team champions The Headbangers – will be appearing on Maryland Championship Wrestling’s Legends of Maryland Wrestling show tonight (7 p.m.) at The New Green Room in Dundalk.

I conducted a phone interview with Warrington on Friday.

How much are you wrestling on the indys these days?

I’ve gotten a lot more involved with doing more indy dates over the last five or six months. I just kind of took a hiatus. I started a family – I got married and I have a 5-year-old son. I kind of got the itch back and liked the idea of being able to do some shows on the weekend but still not be gone like I used to be.

So are you wrestling mostly on the East Coast?

Yeah, East Coast, but kind of wherever. I live down in Florida, so it’s a lot of stuff there. I got a shot coming up in Milwaukee in a few weeks. So it’s just weekend shots here and there.

How far into your career were you when you started wrestling on the Maryland independents?

It was just before we had signed with WWF.

What are some of your memories from those days?

A lot of good times. We got hooked up in Maryland because of Axl [Rotten]. Glen [Ruth, aka Headbanger Thrasher] knew Axl from a long time ago and I met Axl when we were in Memphis. Axl brought us in with MEWF [Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation] and from there we kind of broke in. It was just good old-school fun. It was good, fun people who wanted to put on good shows, have a good time, and everyone had the same agenda. There were weekends where after the shows we would go out and hang out, but the main part was that the shows themselves were a lot of fun because everyone had the same objectives.

Do you think your time on the Maryland indy scene helped prepare you for going to the next level?

Absolutely. My whole career was a learning curve. There were a lot of people there like Axl and others who taught me different things, so that was huge.

What are your thoughts on the Legends show and seeing some of the boys you haven’t seen in a while?

I’m excited about it. I think it’s going to be fun. That’s one of my favorite parts of being gone for so long and now coming back into the mix – seeing the guys I haven’t seen in so long and sitting their reminiscing and talking about the old days. That’s what I’m really looking forward to besides just being in the ring and in the locker room with the same mix of guys from 10-15 years ago.

You were in the WWF during The Attitude Era and The Monday Night Wars when the company really picked up momentum and eventually surpassed WCW. What was it like being in the company at the time?

It was fun because, again, the guys in the locker room were fun. Stone Cold had that fun attitude. Undertaker was fun. Bret [Hart] was still there. Owen [Hart] was there, and he was a ribber, he and Davey Boy [Smith]. It just was a really fun atmosphere. Like you said, when I first got there, WCW was winning the war, and as we picked up momentum it made everyone want to go out there and put out an even better product than what WCW was offering.

I know you guys worked with The Road Warriors and some other big names in the business during that time. Do you have a favorite memory or match from your time in the WWF?

It’s funny you brought up The Road Warriors because that’s one night that was one my fondest memories. It was their first match back and it was our first actual week of doing house shows. Glen and I were going over every night on the house shows. We’re like, “Oh, this is great. We’re on TV. We’re going over, and maybe this is going to be time for us to take another step.” And then we show up to TV and see “Headbangers vs. Legion of Doom.” We’re like, “Well, so much for that.” But Hawk and Animal pulled us aside and said, “Hey, we sat down and talked to Vince [McMahon] for like an hour. He really likes you guys, he’s really high on you guys.” And we’re like, “OK, here we go. We’re getting buttered up before we get squashed.” And they said, “So, that’s why Vince wants us to do a double-countout tonight.” We’re like, “Really?” So we went out there and had an amazing match with them. They got an amazing pop and I had head-to-toe goose bumps when they came out. And then in that same night we found out we were going to be on our first WrestleMania and we found out that we were getting action figures. There were like three things that were huge for us in that one night.

Who came up with The Headbangers gimmick?

The legendary Jim Cornette. Glen and I were wrestling as The Spiders out in Arkansas. We wanted to go to Smoky Mountain, and Cornette wanted to have us in, but he said that he just didn’t like the whole Spiders thing. He said he didn’t like the masks or anything about it. We were like, “Look, we just want to come. We’ll try whatever.” He came up with the name and then he kind of gave us the idea. He went to a Danzig concert and saw these guys stage diving, which is kind of funny because I love that kind of music and I’ve been to those kinds of concerts, so I knew exactly what he was talking about.

I can’t imagine Cornette at a Danzig concert.

No, me either. But he was there and he came up with the idea. He said, “You guys are from the Northeast. You have these attitudes. You have the accents.” So he was the one who created it and we started it down in Smoky Mountain. At first we just wore shorts and boots and the Slayer T-shirts – which he brought and gave to us – and from there we went to a thrift store one time to buy some more stuff to wear in the ring, and we were like, “For the hell of it we should just buy skirts and see what kind of reaction we get.” And that’s how the skirts came to be.

You and Glen are going to be appearing at the upcoming Baltimore Pro Wrestling Expo together, correct?

Yes, it’ll be the first time Glen and I have been together for almost 10 years. I actually spoke to him on the phone [Thursday] for the first time in about three or four years.

When you went on your own after The Headbangers, you did the infamous Beaver Cleavage gimmick. It came and went pretty quickly. Is that something you think the WWF should have stuck with? Do you have any idea where it was headed?

At that point it was the Attitude Era, and everything they were doing was controversial. The old saying was “even bad press is good press.” They were going to start insinuating that I was having sex with my mother. That’s where the angle was heading. What happened was, as they were kicking that off, that’s when Owen had his accident, that’s when Sable left and filed her sexual harassment lawsuit, so they didn’t want to go that route with it anymore and that’s why it got killed. Everyone was like, “Oh, that was so dumb and so on,” but I’m of the attitude that I was having fun, I was getting paid, I didn’t care. To me it was a good opportunity. I would have been out there by myself and doing my own thing. But it wasn’t mean to be, so no big deal.

I’m guessing that Vince Russo came up with that gimmick.

I think Russo was involved, but actually where the idea came from was Gerry Brisco. The reason was, the very first passport I ever had, I think I was like 20 or 21 years old when I got it, and Gerry always joked around every time we were on the road that I looked like Beaver Cleaver in my picture. So he would call me that, and that’s when I guess Vince [Russo] came up with the idea of it. So I think it was actually a couple years in the making of people ribbing me and talking to me about it.

Do you still keep up on the business? Are you a fan of the current product?

Being a fan of the business – that’s tough to say yes or no. I’m a fan of old-school business. I believe in getting in the ring and performing and actually being able to tell a story in a match and not just going out there and flying around and doing a bunch of meaningless high spots. If I’m flipping through the channels and I see somebody I know or that I still talk to, I’ll watch it. If it’s two guys that I really don’t know or the match just doesn’t make sense to me, I can’t watch it and I turn it off.

For more information on MCW’s Legends of Maryland Wrestling show, click here.

For more information on The Baltimore Pro Wrestling Expo on Nov. 14, click here.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 12:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Q&As
        

I found the opening segment of Thursday night’s episode of TNA Impact to be one of the most compelling things I’ve seen on a wrestling program in a while. In footage recorded in an empty Impact Zone before the tapings began, TNA president Dixie Carter addressed the talent, who were all dressed in street clothes and were out of character. Her message was simple: You’re either with me or you’re against me.

Carter said that anyone not on board with the creative direction of the company and the “drastic changes” that she is implementing need to find another place to work. From my understanding, Carter’s speech was a shoot, and it was directed at those in the company who have a reputation for incessant complaining.

Making the meeting public definitely sends a strong message. It also conveyed to the fans that Carter is in it for the long haul and is committed to taking TNA to a higher level.

It seemed out of place for the meeting to be aired during an episode of Impact, but that is exactly why it was so interesting.

Other thoughts on Thursday’s show:

Rhino and Team 3D are doing a great job in their roles, but I’m not all that into the story line. The ending to the Team 3D vs. Matt Morgan and Hernandez match didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. Morgan and Hernandez were working on Brother Devon’s injured knee, and Brother Ray – after much prompting from Rhino – saved Devon by whacking Morgan and Hernandez with a chair. Afterward, Ray acted guilty about it, like he had no other choice. That’s what I didn’t get. Couldn’t he have made the save without using a chair? ...

Daniels was really good on the mic when he was confronting A.J. Styles. I don’t think Daniels has ever looked more like a major player than he did during that segment. Unfortunately for him, he was pinned by Styles later in the show. That comes on the heels of his pinfall loss to Kevin Nash in a tag team match two weeks ago. That sure is an odd way to build up a guy for a pay-per-view world title match. ...

One problem that I have with Daniels’ character is that he’s doing the “this company wants to keep me down” act. That’s way overdone in TNA, and it mirrors the motivation for Rhino’s character. ...

Samoa Joe is being booked as a cunning heel who is manipulating Styles and Daniels. That’s a lot better than when he was a gullible, hot-headed babyface. ...

We now know the person stalking Styles is not Daniels or Joe. Tomko? ...

It turns out that Mick Foley didn’t really turn heel after all. He was just trying to bring out the best in Abyss. After Foley saved Abyss from Dr. Stevie last week, I had a feeling they might be going this route. I remember when Mr. Wrestling II and Magnum T.A. did a similar angle in Mid-South back in 1983 – except without the barbed wire baseball bat and thumb tacks. I think the Foley-Abyss angle would have worked better if Foley hadn’t already turned so many times. ...

I couldn’t have booked Desmond Wolfe’s win over Cody Deaner any better. Bell rings. Lariat. Three count. Bell rings. ...

“Black Machismo” Jay Lethal cutting a promo about Hulk Hogan was pretty entertaining. I’m looking forward to the first face-to-face meeting between the two. ...

The Tara-Hamada match was good but too short. Even though Tara won, I thought Hamada was the more impressive of the two. ...

I know that Bobby Lashley is being booked as a monster babyface (as he should), but I think it’s questionable to have Homicide get squashed by Lashley when he is facing Amazing Red in an X Divison title match at the Turning Point pay-per-view on Nov. 15. ...

ODB had me laughing out loud during that bit with The Beautiful People (or the STD sisters, as ODB called them). Here’s my favorite part of the exchange:

ODB: I hear your next leading man is one of the Yankees.
Lacey Von Erich: Who, Alex Jeter?
ODB: No, yank deez nuts!

Posted by Kevin Eck at 9:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (24)
        

When Ricky Morton turned heel in WCW in 1991, what was the name of his manager?

The first two people to send the correct answer to kevin.eck@baltsun.com win a backstage meet and greet and photo opportunity with Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson at the Adrenaline Championship Wrestling show on Nov. 15 at the Annapolis Boys and Girls Club along with a ticket to the show.

Please include your first and last name and a daytime phone number along with your answer.

Question five will be asked on Saturday.

Question 3 answer

What team managed by Paul Jones upset The Rock and Roll Express for the NWA world tag team title in 1986?

Answer: Rick Rude and Manny Fernandez. The first correct response came in on Friday afternoon at 4:22; the second at 4:23.

Note: Please remember to e-mail your answer. Answers posted as comments on the blog will not be considered.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 7:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

• A match between two solid veterans who haven’t been in the ring against each other very often (at least not in recent years) highlighted Thursday’s episode of WWE Superstars, as Chris Jericho defeated Finlay in a hard-hitting, entertaining main event. It’s funny how Jericho never loses now that he is going to be in one of the main events at the Survivor Series pay-per-view on Nov. 22, but before that he was jobbing to JTG, Kofi Kingston, Christian and Rey Mysterio.

• Speaking of entertaining matches, I thought the Santino Marella-Chavo Guerrero match was fun. Having Guerrero around means that Marella actually has an opponent that he can beat.

• Jack Swagger looked impressive in his win over Primo. Perhaps he took Jim Ross’ advice to heart. In a recent interview with me, Ross, when discussing Swagger, said: “Every time he gets an outing, whether it’s in the middle of Raw, or the end of Raw, or the beginning of Raw, or on Superstars, or wherever it is, he has to go out and play like it’s the NCAA finals.”

• I think Swagger’s winning streak will end up doing more for his career than MVP’s losing streak did for his.

• Did Michael Cole actually say that Swagger and Primo have “developed quite a rivalry?” Yeah, it’s just like the rivalry between The Harlem Globetrotters and Washington Generals.

• Paul Burchill got a nice decisive victory over Tyler Reks. Reks was busted open hardway, which I believe was the result of a head butt. In keeping with WWE’s no-blood policy, a close-up was never shown and it was only mentioned in passing.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 6:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

What team managed by Paul Jones upset The Rock and Roll Express for the NWA world tag team title in 1986?

The first two people to send the correct answer to kevin.eck@baltsun.com win a backstage meet and greet and photo opportunity with Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson at the Adrenaline Championship Wrestling show on Nov. 15 at the Annapolis Boys and Girls Club along with a ticket to the show.

Please include your first and last name and a daytime phone number along with your answer.

Questions four and five will be asked between now and Saturday.

Question 2 answer

The Rock and Roll Express wrestled the "new" Midnight Express on a WWE pay-per-view in 1998. What were the names of the two wrestlers the R&R Express faced that night?

Answer: Bart Gunn and Bob Holly.The first correct response came in on Thursday night at 8:15; the second at 10:03.

Note: Please remember to e-mail your answer. Answers posted as comments on the blog will not be considered.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The Rock and Roll Express wrestled the "new" Midnight Express on a WWE pay-per-view in 1998. What were the names of the two wrestlers the R&R Express faced that night?

The first two people to send the correct answer to kevin.eck@baltsun.com win a backstage meet and greet and photo opportunity with Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson at the Adrenaline Championship Wrestling show on Nov. 15 at the Annapolis Boys and Girls Club along with a ticket to the show.

Please include your first and last name and a daytime phone number along with your answer.

Questions three through five will be asked between now and Saturday.

Question 1 answer

Which team did The Rock and Roll Express defeat to win their first NWA world tag team title? I need the names of both wrestlers.

Answer: Ivan Koloff and Krusher Kruschev.The first correct response came in at 5:20; the second at 5:26.

Note: Please remember to e-mail your answer. Answers posted as comments on the blog will not be considered.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 7:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

In case anyone missed it, the drug trafficking case against Jeff Hardy was continued Wednesday in a North Carolina district court, The Fayetteville Observer reported. A probable cause hearing has been rescheduled for Dec. 2.

A search of Hardy’s home in Cameron, N.C., on Sept. 11 yielded 262 Vicodin prescription pills, 180 Soma prescription pills, 555 milliliters of anabolic steroids, a residual amount of cocaine and drug paraphernalia. He was charged with felony trafficking in opium, two counts of felony possession with intent to sell or deliver a Schedule III controlled substance, felony maintaining a dwelling to keep controlled substance, felony possession of cocaine and misdemeanor possession of drug parap

Posted by Kevin Eck at 6:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)
        

Which team did The Rock and Roll Express defeat to win their first NWA world tag team title? I need the names of both wrestlers.

The first two people to send the correct answer to kevin.eck@baltsun.com win a backstage meet and greet and photo opportunity with Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson at the Adrenaline Championship Wrestling show on Nov. 15 at the Annapolis Boys and Girls Club along with a ticket to the show.

Please include your name and a daytime phone number along with your answer.

Questions two through five will be asked between now and Saturday.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Adrenaline Championship Wrestling has arranged a backstage meet and greet with The Rock and Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) for 10 readers of Ring Posts at the Nov. 15 ACW show at the Annapolis Boys and Girls Club.

I will ask five trivia questions about the R&R Express between Thursday and Saturday, and the first two correct responses to a given question will receive a ticket to the show and a photo opportunity with Morton and Gibson.

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

For more information about the show, go to acwprowrestling.biz.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 9:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

• I’m really enjoying the ECW title program between Christian and William Regal. It’s different than a lot of title programs because other challengers are in the mix, and just when you think Christian is done with Regal, he’s not. The verbal interaction between Christian, Regal and Tiffany on Tuesday’s show was good.

• The main event that pitted Christian and Yoshi Tatsu against Vladimir Kozlov and Ezekiel Jackson was more about the post-match angle than the match. The way Kozlov and Jackson targeted their attack on Christian’s back, weakening him up for his title match against Regal in England on next week’s show, sure makes it seem that Regal will be winning the belt. We’ll see.

• What the heck happened to Tatsu while Christian was being beaten down? He hit a plancha on Jackson on the floor and he just laid there forever.

• Had I not read somewhere recently that former TNA talent Lance Hoyt was wrestling under the name Vance Archer in Florida Championship Wrestling, I don’t think I would have recognized him in his short squash victory over an enhancement guy. When Hoyt (who wrestled in TNA under his real name and as Lance Rock in the Rock and Rave Infection) was released by TNA last February, I wrote that he “moves well for a big guy and has a decent look, so I wouldn’t be surprised if WWE showed some interest.” So WWE ends up signing him to a developmental deal and, of course, changes his look – and not for the better, in my opinion. What is it with WWE always making guys with long hair (Test, Christian, Billy Kidman, Zack Ryder, Kevin Thorn, Frankie Kazarian, etc.) get the cookie-cutter short-hair look? Kazarian reportedly refused to cut his hair, which is why he was out almost immediately after he came in.

• I thought the backstage segment with Zack Ryder fantasizing about Rosa Mendes was pretty funny. Mendes is much smoother on the mic than she is in the ring.

• The Ryder-Shelton Benjamin match was good while it lasted (about four minutes), even though Benjamin winning because Ryder was distracted by Mendes, who was sitting at ringside, was predictable.

• Another program that I like is the one between The Hurricane and Paul Burchill. It appears that it will come to a conclusion with their match on next week’s show. If Burchill wins, Hurricane has to unmask. If Hurricane wins, Burchill and Katie Lea have to leave ECW. My first thought was that Hurricane will win and the Burchills will end up on either Raw or Smackdown. Then I took a look at the rosters for those two shows and realized that Burchill would probably just end up as a jobber to the stars, so he’d be better off staying put. Hopefully, Hurricane will lose and go back to being just Gregory Helms, and Paul Burchill will get a push in ECW.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 7:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
        

As a matter of full disclosure and before you read any further, I confess to being a big Ozzy Osbourne fan. I still have my ticket stub from the first time I saw Ozzy in concert in 1982 at The Baltimore Civic Center (and the most recent time I saw him live last year at Verizon Center in Washington).

So while Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne’s stint as guest hosts on Raw Monday admittedly wasn’t great, I always find Ozzy entertaining, and being both an Ozzy fan and a wrestling fan, I thought it was cool to see the two entities cross paths.

Sure, Ozzy called Evan Bourne “Evan Braun,” a flub that is even funnier since it’s so close to his own name, but being clueless and speaking in an unintelligible manner is a big part of Ozzy’s shtick (it is a shtick, isn’t it?). Plus, the way Bourne has been booked as a jobber as of late, it seems fitting that his name would be mispronounced. It’s certainly not as bad as Cowboy Thorton, Kofi Johnston and Summerfest.

As for the the “Raw’s Got Talent” segment, it did fall a bit flat, but Chris Masters’ pecs keeping time with the Ozzy classic “Crazy Train” was hilarious. Masters’ chest has more personality than he does.

Sharon constantly saying “really” in the opening segment was “really” annoying, and I was expecting more from Ozzy’s interaction with Chris Jericho. I can’t believe there was no mention of Fozzy.

As you can see, Monday’s show could have been better. But for all the little negatives, there was one big positive:

The freakin’ “Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne, was on Raw!

One last thought on Ozzy: A live performance by him and his band would have really added to the show. In fact, I don’t know why WWE wouldn’t have all of its musical guest hosts perform.

Other thoughts on Monday’s show:

The non-title triple threat main event between WWE champion John Cena, Jericho and The Big Show was average at best. You can see that WWE is making an effort to restore Jericho’s credibility since he is challenging for the world heavyweight title at the Survivor Series pay-per-view on Nov. 22. After pinning Kane on Smackdown Friday, he pinned Cena on Raw and then laid out Triple H after the match. Sure, it was Big Show who actually did the damage on Cena and Triple H, but whatever. At least Jericho is winning matches again. ...

It was funny how Shawn Michaels and Triple H both remarked about being yelled out and instructed what to say by as voice in their headsets while doing commentary during the main event, obvious shots at Vince McMahon and his reputation for being overbearing with the commentators during the broadcast. ...

Sheamus’ powerbomb on Jamie Noble outside the ring was sick. Noble is crazy for taking that bump. It’s clear that the powers that be in WWE are going to do everything possible to get Sheamus over. At least for now, I’m not sold him being an impact player. We all want to see new stars being created, but Sheamus would not be my first choice. ...

When the Randy Orton-Kofi Kingston match was announced for the show, I didn’t really expect it to happen, so I wasn’t surprised when it was turned into a six man with Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes joining Orton, and MVP and Mark Henry joining Kingston. It would be crazy not to wait until Survivor Series to do Orton-Kingston. ...

The crowd was hot for the six-man, and Kingston, MVP and Henry got nice pops. The babyfaces going over was a good call. ...

The Miz-Bourne match was good. Even though Bourne lost again, he did look like more of a threat than he has as of late. It’s a shame that Bourne isn’t being used better, but Miz winning here was the right call. Miz definitely is on the rise. ...

And so it continues: Gail Kim was the first one eliminated in a six-woman battle royal to determine the No. 1 contender for Melina’s WWE Divas title. It wasn’t like wrestlers the caliber of Mickie James, Beth Phoenix and Natalya were in the match, either. The other five participants were Alicia Fox (who won), Kelly Kelly, Eve and The Bella Twins. I’m convinced Kim is going to turn on Kelly Kelly. ...

Hornswoggle dressed up as Jack Osbourne was funny. He actually showed a lot of guts getting so close to Ozzy. Back in the ’80s, Ozzy’s theatrical stage show involved doing some bad things to little people. I’m sure a lot of fans wouldn’t have minded seeing Ozzy do them to Hornswoggle.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 7:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (39)
        

Did all the media attention surrounding the announcement of Hulk Hogan’s business arrangement with TNA make a difference in the ratings for this past Thursday’s episode of TNA Impact?

Yes and no.

The rating for the show was a 1.3, which equals its best-ever rating (although it was not a company record for most viewers). During the first four weeks of October, Impact did between a 0.9 and 1.1.

Impact also had its best showing among males 18-49 and males 18-34 since April.

That’s the good news, especially since the show was going head to head with the World Series between the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies. However, when the ratings are broken down, the final segment, which showed clips of the news conference in which Hogan’s signing was announced – and had been hyped the entire show – was part of the lowest-rated quarter of the episode, according to prowrestling.net.

The drop in the final quarter hour notwithstanding, I think Hogan’s presence on the show – whether he’s actually in the Impact Zone or not – will continue to translate into ratings above Impact's usual level.

Obviously, more eyeballs on the show is a good thing. The key to whether the partnership with Hogan ultimately helps the company grow, however, depends on the direction TNA goes in creatively now that they have more people watching.

If Impact becomes The Hulk Hogan Show at the expense of younger guys such as Matt Morgan and A.J. Styles, the Hogan deal will end up doing more harm than good. Hogan has the ability to give those guys a rub, but he also needs to know when it’s time to get out of their way and not try to overshadow them.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 6:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

Former WWE diva, Rosedale native and “Dancing with the Stars” contestant Stacy Keibler waltzed to the finals of baltimoresun.com’s Celebrity Smackdown with a decisive victory over record-setting Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.

In the third round of the tournament to crown Baltimore’s biggest celebrity (based on online voting), Keibler routed Phelps, 79.7 percent to 20.3 percent.

The one-on-one match-ups are over, and Keibler now will compete against seven other local celebrities to determine the winner.

To place your vote, click here. Voting ends Sunday night.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 5:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

The featured Ring Posts comment of the past week comes from Sebastian Pex, who wrote the following Sunday in response to the entry "Hulkamania runs wild on TNA Impact.”

The best part of the Hogan presser was when he arrogantly alluded that this was just like the last time he "switched gears" and joined another company and made it dominant.

Really? That last company (that was infinitely bigger than TNA) that Hogan helped? The one that imploded five years after Hogan came, hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, and sold to Vince McMahon for pennies? THAT'S the benchmark?

I will select the Ring Posts Comment of the Week every Monday.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Comment of the week